Movin' and Groovin'

It's been over a month since our last post and I don't know where to start when it comes to sharing all that Jason can do now. I remember hearing lots of other parents describe their kids as "doing something new every day," but I didn't believe it until having a kid of my own. It's amazing! He's crawling everywhere, even up and down steps. He pulls up to standing on pretty much anything that remains somewhat still; although, he quickly learned how unreliable Puck can be as a support. No matter how many toys or books are on the floor for him, he will always (ALWAYS) beeline for any electrical cords, remote controls and technology in any form that are within a mile of him. He is his father's son.

We've exchanged our coffee table for a ball pit; keeps him contained when I just have to get something done, and it doesn't bruise his head if he bumps into it while crawling. We also put a long board up against the fireplace, to keep his hands away from the T.V. (I know some of you are asking why our T.V. is in the fireplace, but you'll have to speak to my husband on that one). Unfortunately, I can tell that Jason is inspecting all the things around the board to see how exactly he can climb up and over the board. Won't be long before he figures it out.

We've also had our first experience with middle-of-the-night calls to the doctor and even a run to a Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Immediate Care Center. Just when we'd pretty much gotten Jason to sleep through the night again, he came down with another cold, a stomach virus, horrible diaper rash as a result, high fevers that wouldn't come down, and blisters in his throat so he wouldn't eat. We also were told by the doctor at the immediate care center that he had an ear infection, so we have him on antibiotics. However, when we went to see his regular doctor and day and a half later, there was no ear infection, but of course, we have to stay on antibiotics once we've started. I guess it's a rite of passage to have to deal with this, but man, is it miserable on everyone! We are very happy to have our happy, playful, eating baby back!

Other than having a sick baby, our Thanksgiving went nicely. Steve had to do all the cooking this year, which I felt bad about, but he had access to our neighbor's newly renovated kitchen with three other ovens and a warming drawer, so it was one of the least frenzied dinners we've had. We had smoked turkey, deep-fried turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, lobster mac-n-cheese (a new tradition, I think), roasted sweet potatoes, roasted fennel, onions and carrots, sauteed greens with raisins and almonds, yeast rolls, cranberry sauce, and baked apples and cinnamon ice cream for dessert. Our friends also brought pumpkin mousse pie, carrot cake, and pumpkin oat bars. Very tasty Thanksgiving!

Halloween!

So, any excuse to dress up the baby, right? My mom offered to make the pirate costume, but she thought it was going to be too big, so we also borrowed the lobster costume from a friend. Both are really cute, of course, but I'm partial to the one that works with the dog!

Fun with Food

We've added avocado and peas to Jason's menu, although both are more enjoyed when cereal is mixed with them. I've totally gotten over trying to keep his hands out of his mouth, but more and more, I've decided that he needs to also be wearing nothing other than a diaper when he eats. And if I could hosedown the highchair after the meals, I might be able to keep it somewhat clean. But, it is fun watching him try new things. I still can't get the video uploaded to blogger, but here's a still shot to show you a piece of what it's like.

Happy Half Birthday, Jason!

Can't believe it, but my son is half a year old! These last six months have flown by and it's amazing how much he's changed since he was born. The six month birthday was bookmarked with two firsts - his first ear infection and his first taste of solid food. One we've repeated since, and the other I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy!

We celebrated his half birthday with our friends at Lake Jackson. Steve made a wonderful low country boil (with artichokes and mushrooms along with the usual fare) and a red velvet cake (halved, of course), that read "Hap Birt Jas."

The pediatrician weighed Jason at 15 lbs. 0.9 oz. and 25 inches long and said he's doing great in terms of building up strength in his legs. I sure hope so, since he's been standing on them since 3 months. He's really getting good at grasping things and bringing them to his mouth too. The drooling has continued and I have a feeling it won't be much longer before I'll be really sorry I let him gnaw on my finger.

I have a great video of him having some cereal but I'm having some trouble uploading it. Hopefully, I can get it working in the next day or two. It's a very messy process, but he really seems to enjoy it, and the best part is he's back to sleeping 11-12 hours at night since starting it. Everyone is happy about that. Steve's plan is to take him to sushi in the next few days and give him avocado as his next food to try! I'll let you know how it goes.

First Week of School

Jason started at day care this week. Steve dropped him off (not only did I have to be at school before the center opened, but I don't think I could have left him anyway). When I called the first chance I got during the day, Steve said he seemed pretty good. The teachers were all taking care of screaming babies, so Steve just left him sitting on the floor in this big foam U-seat with some toys (see picture at right). He looks pretty unsure and overwhelmed to me, but at least he's not screaming.

As soon as I got out of work, Steve met me at home and we immediately drove over to get him. When we got there, he was being held by one of his teachers, but he wasn't crying and smiled when he saw us... aaaaaaahh, makes my heart melt every time!

So far, the only thing that's a little frustrating is the fact that his teachers are over-feeding him. I'm trying to avoid my son looking like all the other over chunky kids at daycare, but I guess I prefer him getting too much than not enough. Otherwise, I LOVE his teachers and feel as good as I can about having to leave him all day. They do plenty of tummy time with him (good luck to them) and talk and sing to him (sometimes in Spanish!). All in all, I think this is a great place for all of us and that is a huge relief! One week down!

What a 4th Month!

Well, it's been almost a month since I updated this (sorry), and I start back to work on Monday (ugh!), so I thought I better post something before then. Besides, Jason is starting to do so much more and I have some pictures and videos to show as evidence.

The first great change is that he can roll over from tummy to back... for the most part. Sometimes, he forgets and gets frustrated and screams, but usually he doesn't have any trouble. Now, rolling from back to tummy doesn't even seem to be a thought in his mind. Why should it when he can't stand being on his tummy? There's no incentive. Maybe if he gets frustrated enough that he can't move where he wants, he'll figure out how to roll on his tummy and crawl. Wait, am I actually inviting that?!?! There are two videos that follow; one has better quality video, but the rolling over part looks a little cheated. The second one has a much better roll, but the quality isn't as good.

More than rolling, Jason loves standing, and better yet, if he can walk while standing, he's a happy boy. Besides walking on the floor, tabletops, and counters, he also walks up people. My dad says I used to do this as a baby. My dad also mentioned that I walked on my own at 9 1/2 months. Uh oh....

We've pulled out two new pieces for Jason to play with - the exersaucer and the doorway baby jumper. He's not too sure about the jumper yet, but the exersaucer seems to be very good for gnawing and drooling on so that works. Plus, there are some buttons that play songs when Jason hits them accidentally, which always surprises him and makes him jump, which then makes us laugh.

So, as I said, I start back to teaching next week. Jason doesn't start at his childcare center until the following week, but I'm anxious about the whole transition. I feel really good about the center, but it's hard for me when I'm going from the summer, where I see him all day long, to the school year, where it's just a few hours in the afternoon and evening before he goes to bed. He won't even be awake before I have to leave for school! I know it will get more comfortable, but it's going to be hard on me in the beginning.

In this corner, weighing in at...

Jason had his four month check-up today. He did really well, and we also decided we're starting to feel much more comfortable as parents, since the amount of questions we had for the doctor were significantly less than at the 2 month appointment. He weighs 13 pounds, 1.5 ounces and is 24 inches long! Two feet tall! He had 3 shots today (5 vaccines), but I thought they went much better than the 2 month shots. Maybe he's getting better at handling them, or maybe the Tylenol I gave him kicked in faster. Either way, he was giggling and hooing a short time later.

Weekend in the mountains

We're back from a nice 3 day weekend in North Carolina. Jason did really well, considering he spent a great deal of time in his carseat. Steve made a CD of over an hour of pink noise ("white noise, only deeper," Steve says), that saved us more than a few times in the car. Jason could be screaming at the top of his lungs one second; we put the white noise on, and poof! he's in a trance the next and asleep a few minutes later.

Once we unloaded the car at the house on Friday, we got back in the car and drove an hour to Asheville. We enjoyed doing some window shopping (especially since many stores closed early due to the holiday), got some tasty frozen custard, bought as much beer as would fit in the bottom of the stroller, and finally ate a fantastic dinner at Tupelo Honey Cafe. Other than having to nurse Jason in the car twice (we didn't bring any bottles and I can't find nearly enough comfortable places to nurse in public - my newest rant these days), we all really enjoyed ourselves. We made it back to the house around 9, just in time to watch fireworks. They weren't as impressive as I thought they'd be, since they were further away than I thought they'd be.

Saturday was a really relaxing day. We went into town for lunch and met up with Steve's parents later that afternoon. We went out to dinner at the largest Chinese buffet EVER and then went back to the house where we hung out on the deck and watched a gorgeous sunset.

It rained really hard overnight, but cleared by 10am. We went into town for Brunch at Hobnob, cleaned up the house and left around 3:30. We went home a longer, but more scenic way and stopped at Carolina's Smokehouse (the best bbq ever!) for an early dinner. We were still full from brunch, but the bbq is that good!

Jason hit his limit after dinner and no amount of pink noise or ssshhhing would calm him for very long the last hour of the drive home. I don't blame him since we all were ready to be out of the car, and we had been able to walk around and stretch. When we got home, Jason got a nice long bath to relax in (he was cooing and smiling by the end of it) and he fell asleep while nursing.

So, we survived our first trip away with baby and were able to relax too. Phew!

Then and Now

Here's a picture my sister took just a few days ago, much more updated than the picture from the last post.

We're going away for the weekend, so I'm hoping to have some good shots of Jason enjoying the mountains when we get back.

First Post

Here's the first posting on our new blog. I've created this mostly for my parents, who are about to move to Indiana, as a way for them to keep up with all the many changes of their grandson. But, I figure our friends that we just don't see often enough might want to take a look at it every once in a while too.

Thanks to our friends, the Schmidts, who have a blog here for inspiring me to do this.

So, here's the update on Jason. He's almost four months old (update on length and weight after Monday's appointment) and is surprising us with new things on a daily basis. He sleeps through the night, 10-11 hours, (woo hoo!) and oftentimes sings and "hoo's" to himself when he wakes up. He's in his own crib in his own room (woo hoo!) and smiles a lot in the morning hours. He's found his thumb (left one only at this point), and sometimes sucks on it so hard, I think it's going to bleed. He still hates being on his tummy, but loves to stand up. In fact, when I lift him from a lying position up to seating, he doesn't bend at the waist, but rather pushes himself up to stand! And he stays like that for a good minute before getting wobbly and wanting to take a break. He's learning to dance too (with Daddy's help). If he gets upset, all I have to do is take him outside, and he calms down immediately. We pretty much spend the "cranky time" (between last nap and bath time) outside, as it keeps us all much happier.

We'll get some new photos up soon, as this one is still one of my favorites, but was taken when Jason was only a couple weeks old, so stay tuned.