Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Not Normal, But Okay!

So, sometimes Jack does things that make me go "hmmmmm". I wonder if he's normal, or not. But at the end of the day, it's all okay. He is smart, growing and overly curious.

Not normal:
* Drinking the dirty bathwater straight out of his stacking cups.

Not normal for a baby (in my humble opinion) of his age:
* Realizing that he can reach things on high shelves by stacking or standing on something else.

Not normal and certainly NOT funny of any human:

* Farting and then giggling.

Yep, that's my boy!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Go Big Eater!

I am so proud of my boy. For a child who doesn't seem to eat very much, he had a voracious appetite this weekend.

It started on Friday when he went to Nana's house (as usual). She always feeds him tons, and this week was no different. For breakfast, he polished off almost an entire large container of mixed fruit with yogurt. Midmorning snack he ate a handful of Cheerios. Lunch consisted of turkey with mixed veggies and some fruit. Midafternoon snack was two Mum Mums and some of Nana's roast beef sandwich (and she may have given him a couple of nibbles of Angel food cake as well). For dinner, he ate with us and had some beets (icky!), applesauce and some of our ravioli. Keep in mind, this was on top of all the formula that I sent along.

I was bound and determined to see if I could get him to eat for me on Saturday. He usually only tolerates being in the highchair for me for a few minutes and I am lucky if I can get three or four bites in him. On a good day, he will eat maybe one container of baby food all day.

Saturday, Jack sampled all kinds of yummy new foods! Besides an entire baby food container of fruit and granola, he had Cheerios, a whole container of green beans, roast beef, some cheese (this was new for him), and his favorite: Peanut butter! He couldn't shove the bread into his mouth fast enough.

Now before you freak out, I have read numerous articles that the AAP now recommends exposing babies to nuts as young as 6 months as long as they haven't shown any previous food allergies and no one in their immediate family has nut allergies. I figure at almost 10 months, with no food intolerance, Jack fits this bill.

Sunday was no different. Jack ate really well again. My biggest surprise was for snack. He ate an entire container of yogurt. That was a snack! Dinner consisted of green beans mixed with rice, and some whole wheat bread with a tiny bit of peanut butter.

Some foods that Jack doesn't like? So far, he isn't a fan of apple juice (I have given him 100% whole juice with no sugar added and diluted it), spaghetti, or meat in general. He has sampled some chicken, but I think the texture doesn't mesh well with him.

I am really, really proud of my boy. For a guy with reflux and gagging issues, he has done so great. In a span of just a month, he now goes from throwing up at almost every solid meal to eating like crazy. I can't believe how far he has come!

Thanksgiving will be really interesting. Since he has shown his love for carbs, I have a feeling he will love the stuffing. And since green beans are his favorite, green bean casserole will go over well.

My big boy is growing up!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

My Trouble Maker

Well not truly a trouble maker. This child is just mischievous. He takes after my brother after all.


Those are the remains of my Yankee Candle catalog. Apparently, I don't feed my child well enough that he needs to eat paper.

What else does he do?

* Tries to play in the cat's water bowl
* Unrolls the toilet paper in the bathroom
* Pulls books off of shelves and rips pages out of them if we aren't fast enough to stop him
* Opens the refrigerator, cabinet doors, the washing machine and he is starting to try and turn doorknobs.
* He ate a piece of catfood for the first time today. I was unloading groceries from Costco and didn't notice the catfood bag had a tear in it. A few pieces spilled out, and Jack got a hold of one. He had to have been chewing for a while because when I got to him, it wasn't crunchy anymore.

My brother very much had a mischievous streak. This was the child who stuffed peppercorns up his nose, emptied the entire contents of the refrigerator, and most famously: Held his breath until his nose would bleed.
The first time he did this, my mother and father about had a heart attack. Charles was around two and we were all eating a steak dinner. As my mom was cutting my brother's steak, he insisted "I can do it!". He wanted to cut his steak with the sharp knife. My mom and dad told him "no" and apparently this pissed him off. He held his breath, started shaking and turned blue and then his nose started to bleed.

Yep, that was a pretty common occurrence when he was a toddler.

Jack is starting to show signs of these mischievous and temper issues.

Boy are we in trouble. Thank God he's cute.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Deep Breath

I am almost to write this out, so bear with me if it seems jumbled and rambly.

These past couple of weeks, I really feel like I have hit my groove with being a mom. Along with those feelings come a yearning: I want another baby.

There, I said it.

I never thought I wanted more children. It was hard for me to come to the decision to even have one. But, as Jack gets older, my feelings for him and children in general grow. I mentioned to Jason the other day that if money was not an object, I would 5 or 6 kids. Can you believe that nonsense?

I want a baby again. If we could start trying now, we would. It would be great if Jack could have a sibling close together in age. But, with the size of our house, and our short term goals not being met, it's just not an option right now. A few things need to happen first. We need a bigger house obviously, I need a new job that enables Jason to be a SAHD and I want to get my PPD more under control. Don't get me wrong, I have felt really good lately, but if I were to stop taking my medication, I would probably spiral out of control again.

It really doesn't help that a lot of my online and Facebook friends are already pregnant with number 2. Some of our babies are close together in age, so I feel a tiny bit like it's a competition. It's not though. Don't misunderstand. I just really have a yearning to be pregnant again and add a new baby to our family.

Jason feels the same way I do, which is awesome. Now, I just need to get my butt in gear to take care of those above goals.

Anyone hiring?

Monday, November 8, 2010

A Night Out

Well, it's been 9 months. I think Jason and I have been on a date without Jack a grand total of three times. Let's see......There was the time he needed to get a tux fitting for a wedding and we went to dinner afterwards. Jack was two weeks old at the time. There was the wedding rehearsal (see a pattern here?) when he was 5 months old. There was also the time we went out to dinner about 2 months ago. There may have been a couple of hours during the day on a weekend here and there also.

What I am trying to get at here is the fact that we desperately need to get out as a couple. It's been 9 months and it's time.

Our anniversary is on Thursday so there presents itself the perfect opportunity. My mother-in-law has asked, errrrr.....begged to take Jack overnight. We are finally taking her up on this opportunity. I have tried to prepare her as best as I can. I don't think she believes me that Jack wakes up during the night three or four times. I also think that she thinks he is going to be a perfect angel and sleep well in the crib.

I think she's sorely mistaken. But you know what? I don't care. He will be just fine. Her? I predict we will pick Jack up in the morning and she will be bleary eyed with bags under her eyes. And I will giggle and say "Told you so!".

The plan? Saturday night: Fancy hotel stay in downtown Portland. Dinner at an even fancier restaurant. "Adult time" thrown in there and then a blissful night of sleep, with hopefully no wakeful moments. I think we might even sleep in Sunday morning. I will be shocked if I make it to 7:00 for my "sleeping in".

Sunday afternoon will probably consist of trying to get my dreadfully tired baby to nap while I giggle in delight over my restful weekend. There might also be a giggle or two at my mother-in-law and her newfound realization that yes, Jack really DOES wake up three or four times a night.

Tee hee heee!

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Better Late Than Never!

Happy Halloween!

Jack and Mommy at my work party. Isn't his tail the cutest thing?

He is probably the cutest Triceratops that ever walked (stomped) the earth. He even had the "Rawrrrr" down.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Jack At Nine Months

Jack, you are 9 months and 1 day old today. I waited until today to post your monthly update because you had your 9 month pediatrician appointment and I wanted to add your height and weight to this post.

I was just saying to your Daddy yesterday that I love you so much and that I miss so many things about you. This isn't a bad thing buddy, it's only because you grow so fast that we can't keep up! I remember when you were a tiny baby. You had so much hair, long fingers, almost unusually large feet, and boy did you make the sweetest cooing sounds. You lost your hair when you were 3 weeks old and looked like a balding old man. I remember the first time you were able to hold your head up, grasp a toy by yourself, and of course, that first smile. Those are the things that I miss: Those first sweet milestones.

For now, I am going to thoroughly enjoy you and your fun personality.

Some things about you:

* Boy, do you have a temper! Your Daddy had quite the temper when he was a baby and so did your Uncle Charles. It must be in your genes! You take after your Uncle in many ways including his mischievous streak. If we tell you "no", you immediately turn, smile at us, and then turn back to whatever you were doing that got you in trouble! I have a feeling you will turn out to be extremely smart and strong-willed just like Charles too.

* You weigh 20 pounds (45th %) and are 29.5 inches long (80th %). You went down in weight percentiles, but Dr. D says that is normal when a baby starts getting more active.

* You still sleep with Mommy. Ssssssshhhh, don't tell anyone, but she secretly likes it! We both sleep better and it's our bonding and snuggling time. You average about 3 to 4 wakings a night.

* You wear 9 month clothing although you are so long that 12 month pants fit you better.

* You are in size 3 diapers still but I have a feeling we are going to need to switch you soon.

* Goodness gracious you are a mover! You are constantly crawling, climbing and getting into things. I can't turn my back for one second because you disappear so fast! You don't like sitting still and playing with toys. You would much rather be exploring. It saves us money on toys, that's for sure, but it makes it hard to "entertain" you. You especially love "adult" things like remote controls, cell phones, Daddy's computer, Mommy's books on the shelf, and any electronic you can get your hands on.

* You stand all the time. Pulling yourself up is a breeze and you are starting to stand on your tippy toes to reach things. You once in a while will talk a hesitant step. I have a feeling in another month, you will be trying to walk. I am not ready for that!

* Lately, some of that separation anxiety is creeping up. You love your Mommy and only want to be held by her if there are people around that you don't know. Even with Daddy in the room, you want Mom. You sometimes will cry even if it's Daddy holding you! That's okay. I know it won't last long and it's only once in a while. When you know everyone, you are more than happy to let them hold you.

* You are babbling up a storm. Mostly just "dahdahdahdahdah" or "babababababa", but once in a while, you will see "deh" or "meh". It cracks me up because you sometimes talk to yourself in the mirror or in a certain tone. When you first see me when I pick you up at Karen's, you have this high pitched "dehdehdeh" that you say. I think it means "I am so happy to see you!". I just wish I knew what everything else you say means.

Jack Jack, we love you, that is obvious. If someone told me a year ago that my heart would be this full, I don't think I would have believed them. I sometimes wonder if I have room in my heart for any more little ones just because I love YOU so much.

Keep growing up little man. You have so many more milestones coming and I am excited for them!