My Favorite Non-Baby Baby Item

My favorite non-baby baby item happens to be a little wall decor piece. It has four swinging swallows hanging from a black box. Doesn’t sound attractive? It actually is, and Jameson loved it. He still enjoys it, but now that he notices color he’s been more fascinated with the owl and tree wall decal right next to my nursing glider. But for a long time, that swinging bird piece would keep him from crying whenever he noticed it. He’d just stare forever. It runs on batteries, and is super quiet. It has been running now for about 6 months and one of the birds just finally stopped, needing some replacement batteries which are double AA’s.

So I bought it from one of those places that send you a thousand catalogs and has some fun random giftables. But really, I had a great experience and I’d buy from them again. And as far as I know, Signals is the only place you can get the Swallows Kinetic Wall Art. Bonus: It’s on sale. (Here’s some more about Jameson’s nursery, and the leaves for his mobile are Bazzil from Overstock).

Jameson lately has also been loving the large red plastic cup we use to rinse him off during bath time. Something about that running water that he loves. Makes me tempted to get one of these… last time I looked it wasn’t available via Amazon Prime but it is now. Soooo tempting…

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Mom’s First Night Away

There are a lot of moms who talk about how they can’t sleep because they are worried or anxious about their baby. I don’t seem to be one of them. That’s not to say that I wasn’t, because when baby is brand new, sure, there was definitely some paranoid-check-baby-check-baby-again nights. But after Jameson started sleeping in his crib, after I got used to the monitor instead of having him right next to me… it became very easy for me to fall asleep, stay asleep, only get up when baby is crying, and go right back to sleep (though I should add a disclaimer that for the most part, Jameson is an excellent sleeper even though he doesn’t sleep through the night yet he only gets up to eat once usually).

That said, I have kind of surprised myself, because overall my friends can attest that I’ve always been somewhat of a worrywart. I attribute most of this to Brian, who has helped me overcome a lot of that time wasted (though he will tell you I still worry too much). Anyway, right now I think we mesh very well in our parenting styles for Jameson.

When I went on my first outing without Jameson almost a month to the day after he was born, I thought for sure that I’d worry about him. But turns out, either the trust I have in Brian or my new worry-less attitude (probably a little of both), I didn’t care at all, except when my milk said hello. That’s not to say I didn’t think about him (after all, I was at my friend’s baby shower, and you can’t help but think about babies at a baby shower), but I was unconcerned, enjoying myself without being anxious to return home.

Now, after my first overnight trip away from Jameson, I can say the same thing. And I surprised myself again, because it was easy. (Hopefully, that doesn’t make me a bad mom, haha) On Friday I visited some college friends of mine and stayed overnight. We hung out, ate Chinese food, had an ice cream pie for my belated birthday, and had some a lot of wine. I brought my pump, and even though I am not pumping surplus for Jameson and probably shouldn’t have wasted that milk, I let myself have some fun and dumped it in the morning. I even stayed until 11 o’clock the next day. And you know what? Brian and Jameson were both fine. Jameson had his bottle overnight, went back to sleep like a champ. Brian enjoyed spending the time with him and even sent me some pictures of their time together:

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Changing Routines, Choosing Daycares

Brian and I made the choice well before our baby was born to send him to daycare. We sort of tried to get Brian’s mother to take the responsibility at least a couple days a week, but his parents (as in love with their grandson as they are!) are in the prime of their fun traveling years and couldn’t commit.

Fair enough. So who else can be as good a mom as me to my son?

I briefly debated about a nanny or a home-run childcare. But I believe in safety in numbers (so-to-speak) and child/teacher ratios and even germs (that was all theoretical until Jameson brought home his first cold, haha) and so daycare it was. And Brian and I got so lucky. More lucky than I think we realized, until I had to go select a new one. Because I’m changing jobs.

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An Hour a Day: Pumping at Work

So I know you’ve all been wondering exactly how, with a full time job 8-5 (actually 7:30-4:30) have I been able to post so frequently. The truth is that I am writing on my phone while I pump. Because after a month of shopping, surfing Facebook, and reading blog posts on my little phone, plus reading all the magazines in the lactation room here at work… I get bored pumping. What else would you do pumping 20-30 minutes (like 15-20 actively pumping) three times a day!? An ipad would be nice, don’t you think? haha

This is where I spend my time. Lots of magazines, I’ve looked at them all.

From here out, I’ll be discussing practicalities of pumping, so if that doesn’t interest you, feel free to stop here. You won’t be missing any cute baby pictures 🙂

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New Discoveries

Over the past two weeks, Jameson has discovered some new abilities. For about a week straight, he enjoyed making spitting noises (without the spit). I tried to get it on video camera, but it seems as quickly as it was a fun novelty for him, it became boring and old. Within a week, he stopped!

He’s also begun trying to stand on his feet more. He likes us to hold him up to help support him, but just like when he discovered sitting up, he seems to like to be in positions he can’t quite do by himself yet!

And last he has finally discovered his feet! I took some photos of him with my brand new camera a couple days ago, and they turned out great! I had some difficulties getting it hooked up to the computer first though, and Lightroom doesn’t read the RAW format very well yet (since the camera is brand new.. I feel like maybe they rushed a bit on the new profile?). It’s very contrasty, and I did three edits of these photos before I was satisfied. I may install the provided Nikon software since that should read their RAW format the best.

Without further ado, here’s a few from this mini photo shoot with the new Nikon D5100.

Click through on this last one, when you view the large size of this photo, Jameson’s eyes are crystal clear! A great shot from the new camera.

In just a couple short days, Jameson will be 5 months old. The time has definitely flown by, and he is currently sitting in my lap while I am on the laptop, getting a little antsy with sitting still and hanging on to his pacifier which he is slowly getting better at getting back into his own mouth.

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Wherein Brian Gets a Surprise During Bathtime

On Saturday, since I was spending the day with my friend Emma, Brian had Jameson all to himself most of the day. They did fun man-things… like go to the park and pick up flowers for mom.

So it was the first time dad did the bedtime routine by himself, as in alone. He’s done parts but I have always been home around somewhere. Not that he ever needs me to – you know – hand him Jameson’s towel during bathtime because it lay forgotten in the closet still or anything like that. (To be fair and honest, I do the same thing, and I have only done the bedtime routine by myself a few times also) …but this story is not about me, it’s about Brian 😉

Brian is an excellent dad. He has limitless patience for rocking to sleep and has a hard time letting Jameson cry in his crib. Sidebar: I have been known to sleep through Jameson crying with the monitor on loud next to my head. Brian loves bathtime, and I’m sure that as soon as Jameson starts playing with all those bath toys we have, it will be even more fun. Right now though Jameson still thinks of himself as a fun toy and splashes his feet around like a frog. Super cute.

Anyway, we have experienced many of those special events that all parents go through: we have been pee’d on, we have been spit up on ALL THE TIME. But we had never had the opportunity to experience the event known as Poo In The Tub. That’s right, Jameson is almost 5 months and we had been that lucky. Until Brian received the surprise by himself on Saturday night.

Not only that, but Jameson has started on solid foods (oatmeal, and last night, brown rice). So of course… it wasn’t the kind we have been used to seeing. I would’ve given anything to see Brian’s face. Alas, I can only make do with the description that Brian has relayed which I will refrain from repeating here. But apparently, before he realized he’d have to do all the clean up, dad was proud of his son. That’s another man-thing.

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Celebrating Mother’s Day (Weekend)

This weekend, I enjoyed the company of one of my oldest friends, Emma. Emma flew in for the weekend to meet Jameson. She adored him. This is her favorite photo from the weekend. I haven’t posted the rest yet. She likes the funny look on his face (this was near the end of their photo shoot and he was starting to get cranky!)


Poor little guy is coming down with a cold, so he wasn’t quite himself yesterday. Though somehow he managed to find the energy to plant me a little marigold at daycare; buy me a new Pandora charm; buy me roses and a card. haha


Most of my weekend was actually spent away from Jameson. Emma and I went to Melt Bar and Grilled (her request since she had never been). I enjoyed my Parmageddon and she had their newest permanent menu add, The Dude Abides which has mozzarella sticks and meatballs. We also tried their spinach and artichoke dip which was good and just a little spicy, and a local hard cidar.

I couldn’t believe the days this weekend turned out so nice! We had to walk around Legacy Village and stopped in the new Gymboree brand Crazy 8 store. I got Jameson an adorable shirt with a moving eyeball on it and finally found a nice sunhat for him, with a nice mesh inside for sweat.

We went on many walks this weekend and Brian even took Jameson to the park. I was sad to see the weekend end. Before dropping Emma back off to the airport, we hit up B.A. Sweetie‘s and picked up some candy. What a great place! I had never been there before, but they had all kinds of old-school candy in warehouse style: boxes and boxes of tempting candy and chocolate!

We spent Sunday evening at Brian’s parents for burgers. It was so nice to have someone there to hold Jameson so Brian and I both got to eat in peace, haha. It was a lovely reminder of how grateful we are to have some family nearby for babysitting, watching, or playing duty. And for my mother, I sent her flowers (tulips this year) like I do yearly, plus a new ebook that just came out with short stories by mom-bloggers called “Stories I Only Told My Mom“. I’m rather excited to read it myself too.

This year I’m particularly appreciative of how difficult a mom’s job is! And how nice it is for us to have family nearby, how difficult it must have been for my parents living so far away from family when I was born. Oh, and there was no Internet you know. I love how connected we all are now.


Mom, me, and grandma on Mom’s side for her first Mother’s Day


Me and Jameson, our first Mother’s Day

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New Videos

Have you visited and subscribed to our video channel on YouTube?

I finally stole Brian’s thunder uploaded some videos from our camcorder. I have a lot more to add, so look for more in the next few days. But last night I was able to load 3, “Jameson’s Rolling Outtakes” (wherein Jameson does not rollover); also “Jameson Rolls Over” (finally); and “Jameson Eats Cereal” (from a spooooon, and Brian and I harass each other).

Visit! And watch adorableness.

Jameson Rolls Over:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnzwZuMN8h0]

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Spoon = Fun (+ Mess)

On Wednesday, Jameson had his 4 month (2 weeks late) appointment. He is in perfect health, still a little peanut in the 10th percentile for weight. He weighed 13.4 pounds and is 24-1/2 inches long. He even showed off for us, rolling over! I finally got to see him do it, but alas he is still camera shy so I don’t have video of him rolling to share just yet.

Doc said he is gummy, so no teeth yet! And I could’ve sworn he really was actively teething… guess he was just being cranky. My baby is still toothless for sure.

The doctor gave us the go ahead to start feeding him cereal. We asked about what kinds of foods to give him since he has this odd habit of “holding it in” for days. Not regular at all. So she recommended some oatmeal or multi-grain with more fiber in it.

Though, really, we probably could’ve started sooner… but I kind of like my little sweet baby. I have mixed feelings across the board when it comes to Mr. Jameson getting bigger. I love seeing him do new things and become more active, but sometimes I miss him when he was wee little, sleepy all the time (particularly on mom) and I was home just drinking him in.

Anyway, he has been sticking his tongue out at us for about a week now and knowing he has more control over it, it seemed appropriate to start teaching him the spoon on Friday.

He liked it the oatmeal plus milk… up until the point where he decided that the spoon wasn’t fast enough dangit! But on Sunday for his second try, he got really good at it and ate more. He also tried to chomp and grab at the spoon himself, so I suppose it might become his new favorite toy.

Saturday, Brian and I celebrated my 26th birthday. I am on the later half of the twenties now, which I suppose makes me old awesome. Brian will always be older though, so I don’t mind. Jameson got me Pinocchio which we are going to watch together, and a digital picture frame. Funny that we had gotten one for every other member of the family but never had one ourselves! I already put some photos in it.

Speaking of picture frames, I have a small pile now of black frames which I want to put up in the entry way or stairway, I can’t decide, in a method similar to this:


Or these others.

On Friday, work had a huge sample sale, and I accumulated some more picture frames for this purpose, as well as some other giftable items and craft supplies. One of these days, I’ll get around to crafting again. Just have to find that time. My next project will be a table runner and/or placemats. And maybe some new pillow covers? And some pants for Jameson. I have lots of sewing books, and somewhere I have that DVD which will show me for the 20th time how to thread my sewing machine…

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Family Fun & Happy Easter

I have pictures in my queue for editing! We had a great weekend, visiting lots of extended family and enjoying Easter dinner. Friday night we visited my aunt and uncle, cousin Carrie and Brian and their daughters. So I was curious as to what exactly Jameson is in relation to their daughters, and my guess was second cousins once removed. Was I right?

According to Cousin Calculator, Jameson and my cousin’s daughters are actually only second cousins. Removed references a generation difference:

“When the word “removed” is used to describe a relationship, it indicates that the two people are from different generations.

The words “once removed” mean that there is a difference of one generation. For example, your father’s first cousin is your first cousin, once removed. This is because your father’s first cousin is one generation younger than your grandparents and you are two generations younger than your grandparents. This one-generation difference equals “once removed.”  The one-generation difference has nothing to do with age, but rather with descendance from the same person.

Twice removed means that there is a two-generation difference. You are two generations younger than a first cousin of your grandmother, so you and your grandmother’s first cousin are first cousins, twice removed.”

Therefore, my relationship to my cousin’s daughters is that we are first cousins, once removed.

Jameson sat in a borrowed high chair for the first time; not to eat, but just to sit with us as we ate salmon marinated in a honey and balsamic vinegar (plus a few other ingredients but we didn’t see the recipe). The fish was baked and was a little sweet. Very good. I forgot my camera though! I was very disappointed. They took a few photos though, I will have to see if I can get a hold of them.

On Saturday, we drove about 2 hrs and 45 min, Jameson’s longest car ride. He slept the entire time! We were so excited to see Brian’s grandmother in good spirits, talking and reaching out to hold Jameson. It is the best we have seen her in several years. We have some wonderful photos of Jameson and his great grandmother. I couldn’t help but be a bit of paparazzi, simply thinking that if my grandmother were still around, I would want a thousand photos of him and her together. We never know how much time we’ll have.

Sunday, I dressed Jameson in his Easter finest, and Brian was super pumped dressed to match him. We took some family photos, of which I only have one right now, but I have some great outtakes which I’ll be posting to flickr soon. We managed to get Sasha in the photo nicely, I think the only photo we have of all of us together, in focus (since she likes to move so much, of course!).

I don’t know if I have mentioned, but poor Sasha has been to the vet a lot recently! After the infection in her leg, she then got a hematoma on her ear, which I think is fairly common for dogs (could have been caused by her scratching her ear). We have opted not to do surgery on it though because of her older age and because antibiotics would be harmful to her already compromised liver. So it’s a big pocket of blood on her ear, but apparently smaller as far as hematomas go, and we’re just waiting for it to heal on its on. On top of that, she started limping again on Sunday so we have confined her again to the first floor. Brian had to sleep downstairs that first night but she’ll learn quickly again. We’re waiting a few days before going to the vet again; thus far, the limp doesn’t seem to be getting worse and actually seemed slightly better, we shall see.

Of course, the biggest, best news I have saved for last! On Sunday, Jameson rolled over, belly to back! I have yet to see it, and we don’t have it on video yet, but when we do I will be posting it (we have probably 20 minutes now from various 5 minute attempts of tummy time to get this rolling over on video, haha). His first roll was on Sunday morning while I slept in: Brian turned around while Jameson was on his belly and when he turned back, Jameson was happily on his back. He did it again later while Brian’s parents and sister were over for Easter dinner. None of us but Brian saw it though. For second I thought he’d do it once more after we put him back on his belly because he tipped himself but then he stopped.

Speaking of video, we have a lot of video captured on our video camera (as opposed to my camera phone which I used in his early days). However, we haven’t edited any of it. Brian’s been talking about exploring iMovie on our first ever Mac computer, but hasn’t had a chance yet. It won’t be long before I steal his thunder though and do it myself, haha.

This weekend is my birthday (and I will finally be on the later half of my 20’s), and Brian and I are having Brian’s sister Melissa babysit for us while we go out to dinner at a fondue place. I love going there because it’s always what I like to call a “slow” meal. Since Brian and I are very quick eaters, its always nice to go somewhere that forces us to slow down and chat a little. Melissa is excited because since Brian’s parents are out of town there’s no “competition” for Jameson’s attention. And a great time will be had by all!

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