general life, life with baby

Everybody’s Working for the Weekend

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TGIF!

This week went by fairly quickly though actually. Hopefully soon I’ll be able to share some fun news, I am crossing my fingers and toes.

Last Saturday, Jameson visited with his friend Jonathan again. Jonathan is getting so big; he’s also a very hungry little boy! He had 8 oz of formula/milk just while we visited that evening! Meanwhile, Jameson’s pretty casual about his eating (until he gets really hungry like at night). Oh, you would like to feed me now?  Okay, I’m game.

Lisa has to go back to work soon, and I know that’s rough, so we definitely wanted to have a fun night with them before their routine changes again. I think sometimes that’s the hardest part. Not really leaving them (because sometimes it’s nice to leave them, really), but it’s just changing up the routine.

And on Monday we finally got to visit with Carrie and Matt and Jameson’s new friend, Nicholas. Nicholas is 2 months old but very alert. Him and Jameson had a little staring contest, it was funny to see them so aware of each other.

This week was also exciting for Jameson; he got to go in the exersaucer at daycare! The exersaucer is the round toy-filled fun standing seat. It helps them practice putting weight on their legs while being surrounded by super fun toys. So Brian put together our exersaucer at home and put a blanket underneath because even at the lowest setting he wasn’t quite touching the ground. Jameson immediately started reaching for the toys. I have a couple photos to post soon.

I also want to share my new favorite site, Pinterest.com. It’s like a bookmark in that you save sites you visit, but it’s all about the images. So I have some new inspiration boards, particularly for our basement which will eventually finish off, and also for Jameson’s first birthday party (it’s never too soon!)

Tonight we’re seeing Jameson’s great Aunt Carol and cousins. It will be a fun visit! And tomorrow we’ll be doing our longest drive with him yet, to visit his great grandma and more aunts and cousins! It will be a fun filled Easter weekend for him, full of family and up to 6 month clothing (since I finally washed it all haha). And maybe he’ll sleep through the night again? He did last night! but not earlier this week, so maybe it’s wishful thinking.

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general life, life with baby

A 4 Month Recap

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This past week, I realized that I haven’t taken as many photos of Jameson this month as in previous months. It must be because of going back to work, but it made me a little sad because Jameson is so much more active and aware now. I weighed him and he is about 12-1/2 pounds right now. One of the biggest changes this month since he started daycare is his “tummy time”. He will now stay on his tummy for minutes at a time, and his head is way up, about 90 degrees (though not consistently the entire time he’s on his belly). Some of his recent photos demonstrate this, but I love this one from his 4 month photo shoot this weekend.


The second biggest change this past month is the development of his napping schedule. I think I’ve talked about this a couple times already, but okay, it’s still not really a schedule, but at daycare he will sleep 2-3 hours at a time, and at home on the weekends he’ll nap for 30-45 minutes at a time. That may not seem like a big change at home, but he is napping in his crib!

Jameson’s bedtime is also gradually getting earlier. We’re working our way to an 8 o’clock bedtime. A couple weeks before starting back to work, we started him at a real bedtime and routine at 10. Since then we dropped to 9 after daylight savings, and now on most nights it’s 8:30. I’ve been avoiding an earlier bedtime, fearing that he’ll wake up twice at night, but the past two nights he has slept through the entire night (not just the 5-6 hours that doctors consider “through the night”, but a full 8-9 hours) Hopefully the trend continues and it wasn’t just because it was the weekend and he didn’t have as many naps during the day!

His photos on Saturday made him look so big! I put him in shoes, and a white button up onesie which my mom ironed for me last weekend when they were here. It was his “alternative” baptism outfit. He sat there with his little knee upright without my posing. And what a smile, right at me and the camera! He was sitting still enough there’s no blurriness.

Compared with his previous month photos below. I think I’ll have to do a little collage at the end for his 1st birthday party or something.


Can I just point out too, how my photo taking and editing is getting so much better? Look at how yellow the earlier photos are. I’m going to have to go back and re-edit some of those good ones!

In other news, Brian and I left his with Brian’s mom last Monday night while we went to the PACE Awards! Brian’s company didn’t win a trophy, but they did get a plaque, which is wonderful considering they go through thousands of applicants. There were a lot of engineers there, and we saw some great new innovations coming to the auto industry! A couple of my favorites (ie., I could understand what the innovation actually was) were the inflatable seat belt, which is effectively an airbag for the rear seat passenger, coming out on a Ford model. And also the high beam headlights which you don’t need to turn off because they automatically adjust the angles to avoid direct lighting in oncoming traffic, coming in a Mercedes model.

It was fun to get dressed up, and we met with Brian’s client and his wife, some other co-workers who I have met before, and his CEO and his wife. It was wonderful to be able to talk about Jameson (actually having something to talk about).


Jameson did great, and Becky successfully put him to bed without us for the first time. When we left he was giving his grandma all kinds of giggles so I knew he would be fine. He woke up when we got home for a feeding, and slept the rest of the night. The latter half of last week was a little rough on me though for lack of sleep since we got home so late. It was nice to sleep in on Saturday while Brian took Jameson, and I let Brian sleep in on Sunday. This is usually how our weekends go these days, taking turns.

This weekend, Brian has off on Good Friday and will be brewing beer (he says this batch will be a citrus-y IPA); on Saturday we are hopefully going to visit Jameson’s great grandma and more extended family who he hasn’t met yet; and Sunday will be a relaxing day after church for Easter. I am getting two pansy baskets in memory of Brian’s grandpa and my grandma. If it’s nice, I have been thinking about planting lettuce in either a basket over the railing of the porch or in a pot if their roots need more space. I got the idea from a recent Better Homes & Gardens issue. (like this but a little different).

Also, hopefully this week we will finally get to meet little Nicholas; our friends had their baby over a month ago now and due to a series of unfortunate illnesses (us and then them!) we haven’t been able to get together. Hopefully tonight will be the night!

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general life, life with baby

Jameson’s Baptism Weekend

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Jameson had a great weekend (and we did as well!). On Saturday, we visited my grandma’s house which we are still cleaning out as its for sale, and Jameson got to meet his great-great aunt Dee (my grandma’s sister). It was really nice to see her, though it is still unfortunate that he never got to meet his great grandmother and being in her house made it a little sad.


He was in a great mood this weekend, even though he didn’t nap very well at all on Sunday! On Saturday, he mostly slept in the carseat because we were on the move so much, first during shopping on Saturday morning and then to grandma’s and back. Sunday he only slept for five 30 minute naps! Usually at daycare he sleeps in a 2 or 3 hour chunk, twice a day.

I think Jameson loved seeing all those people smiling at him on Sunday! He saw both his grandmas and grandpas and his aunts, and his great aunt and uncle! It was disappointing that my brother couldn’t make the trip, since he missed a lovely family photo with Jameson and his family. My dad hadn’t seen Jameson since he was born so it was great he got to see him.

He didn’t fuss much at all, and he slept right through the baptism, waking up at the end of the service. What a little angel! He wore his little bonnet, which was almost too small for him, so it was great that he was able to wear it. Pastor Mike made it fun like usual, and invited the congregation’s children up in aisles so they could see. Pastor Mike even integrated Jameson’s baptism into the sermon, which was really good this week. I was proud to have family with us and see what a great friendly church we attend! Jameson got a certificate, and a keepsake candle and medallion.

I have a better photo of his hat close up, but I didn’t post it to flickr, so here’s one farther away with Pastor Mike. This is the hat that mom made out of my baptismal handkerchief, and gave it to me for his baby shower.

I am so happy to have a nice family photo of just us too; every photo of the 3 of us has been with him sleeping. He was actually alert in this photo, looking around. These photos in the church were hard to edit; the lighting was so weird! I finally got some natural looking skin tones though.


Earlier that weekend, there was some drama on my part trying to decide what he should wear! I had a sweater outfit for him but of course, the weather didn’t cooperate and it was going to be 80 that day! So he wore it that morning but we changed him when we got home. He had little red cheeks most of the day, he certainly wasn’t used to that kind of heat. But I don’t really know why I was so concerned about what he was going to wear, things worked out just fine. Seems like I am often concerned about things that end up fine, particularly where Jameson is concerned. I did buy him a spare outfit which I had mom iron (yes, a baby shirt was ironed). He’ll wear that for his four month photos on Saturday. I can’t believe he’s almost 4 months!

It was so nice though that it was warm. We had the windows open and had a family lunch with spiral ham, pasta salad, baked beans and appetizers, with cheesecake for dessert. Later, we went on a walk while Brian fixed brakes on his car. A great end to a great day!

Tonight, Brian and I are driving 3 hours away for an awards dinner/ceremony for his work! They have been nominated for an award. It is a black tie event, so I am really excited to get dressed up. Jameson will be staying home with Brian’s mom and she is super excited to babysit. It’s the farthest we’ve ever been from him, and the longest we’ve both been away at one time, so I’m sure I will be nervous but it will be good to be away for a little while. Can’t wait!

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general life, life with baby

We Don’t Need Mittens

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Recently, I had my first incident of unsolicited advice. People say they get it all the time out shopping, and maybe it’s because I don’t shop much but I haven’t really experienced any until now. Brian and I were going through the check out at Giant Eagle and the checkout lady said something along the lines of “he should have mittens to protect that little face”. Jameson had scratched himself again, but really, I haven’t used the mittens I bought him more than once. Brian said that Jameson pulls the mittens off. Okay hun, at least you’re making it sound like our little man is a genius!

We’re still recovering from our cold. On Saturday we visited the doctor because Jameson had a cough that was getting worse. Turns out it was just continued drainage and cold symptoms, and Jameson is feeling a lot better now. He weighed 11 pounds 5 ounces! Which is actually a little smaller than I thought he’d be.

I thought Jameson was home free, but we had a troubled night’s sleep last night. (For Brian and I anyway; Jameson took it all in stride) Jameson got up every couple hours last night, not crying for food but just fussing. I think he was waking up from his congestion and needed his pacifier back in to fall asleep. Regardless, he woke up in the morning extra cheerful! Today daycare is only going to let him take two hour naps also, in case he has been getting too much sleep there. I do have to keep reminding myself how lucky we are that he only gets up once at night, but tonight I will just be grateful as long as he returns to his usual once-a-night self.

This week has gone by pretty quickly, which is great. Regarding work, I have (hopefully) some good opportunities coming up, so we’ll see how things go the next couple weeks. The worse that can happen is that nothing changes, which all things considered wouldn’t be a horrible outcome.

At Brian’s work, things are going well. We are attending the Automotive News PACE Awards Dinner in Detroit in April, which will be fun. Even more fun is that it is a black tie event and so this weekend I will be out in search of my first nice dress since prom (wedding doesn’t count, those dresses are on a whole different level). I am very excited, both to shop for a nice dress and to have an evening out with Brian without Jameson, though I am sure I’ll be worried about him as well. Brian and I haven’t been out without Jameson much at all since his birth and it’s been dinners nearby. This is quite a ways away, but I’m sure things will be fine.

Also coming soon is Jameson’s baptism! I have an array of cute outfits, depending on the weather. I can’t believe that it was so nice last weekend that we were able to go on a nice walk on St. Patrick’s Day and now it’s about 18 degrees outside (and no, Jameson has a furry car seat liner and doesn’t need any mittens). At least I don’t have to worry about him growing out of anything. He seems to be growing longer instead of thicker, so the separates in 0-3 months continue to fit him fine. He did however have is very first 3-6 month sleep ‘n play on last night! I put him in the cute navy elephant PJ’s that I loved in the newborn size. I couldn’t help but buy it again. This weekend, I will take a photo of him in it so we can see how much he’s grown.

Speaking of photos: I have been having problems. We purchased a Mac computer for the first time (we were previously PC people). My photos looks very different on the Mac. The problem is that when edited on the Mac and looked at on the PC, they actually look bad. When edited on the PC, I already know they print fine and look great. I am not sure how to resolve this, since I already did the basic calibration on the Mac. I think I will do some experimentation this weekend. Hopefully I’ll post more photos soon if I can figure it out! I have some cute 3 month photos to share.

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general life, life with baby

Thanks A Lot, Dude.

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My first full week back at work, and I already had to take PTO and missed out on the training at Baldwin-Wallace that all my fellow Solutions Analysts were able to go to. Really?! Jameson gave me his cold earlier this week, which I believe he caught at daycare (I saw a little girl with too-rosy cheeks coughing in there!). My cold seems to be much worse than his though. He’s already starting to get better, less snotty and with just some extra coughing here and there now, probably from drainage. Mine however is in full throttle, giving me a fever and swollen neck on one side. I thought for sure I had a sinus infection. The doctor says its a virus (though I’ve never gotten a fever from a cold before). No decongestants for me cause of the nursing, so I’m on tylenol for the fever only. It’s just miserable.

Jameson stayed in pretty good spirits throughout his cold, sleeping okay up until last night when he was up every hour after his 2am feeding. Lucky for me, Brian took the monitor and I didn’t hear a peep. However, we did have one little mishap with the cold, which caused him to have to stay home on Wednesday. He vomited on Tuesday and daycare had to send him home. So Brian worked from home on Wednesday. Apparently, Jameson wasn’t too bad for him, though for some reason he just doesn’t want to nap good at home like he does at daycare!

I asked earlier this week how he naps so long (thinking that he really likes the swing or bouncer there), but lo and behold, they put him in his crib for naps, and he sleeps for hours at a time! Amazing. I had bought him a little mobile for daycare, and I am going to take it home with me this weekend to see if I can get it to work it’s magic at home too. Apparently he stares at it for a bit, sucks his pacifier, and ouuut! They must be good. Or maybe he’s sucking down more food from the bottle and he’s happier? He’s at around 4oz per bottle there.

He’s also already doing tummy time much better. I feel like so far, daycare is awesome. He loves it there, and I get to pick up a happy baby everyday. I just wish I had more time after that to hang with him. The hard part isn’t him being there, it’s bringing him home and only having a couple hours.

He looked adorable yesterday in his St. Patty’s Day onesie which said “1 Lucky Kid!” I took his picture this past weekend to be prepped and ready. Thank goodness I did, cause it was hard enough to do his 3 month photos after work on Wednesday. He’s getting big! I am going to weigh him tomorrow on our regular scale (me without him, then me with him and check the difference).

We went on a walk yesterday because it was so nice out, even though I wasn’t feeling too great. It was nice to get some fresh air. Brian and I are supposed to have a date night this weekend, we’ll see if I’m up for it. Tootles.

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general life, life with baby

So Far, So Good

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Today is Friday, so my third official day back at work. So far, so good. Jameson had some great days at daycare, the ladies love him (though I think they may say that off all the new babies!). He finally poo’d at daycare on Wednesday right before I picked him up (phew, glad I missed that). He’s been doing good the past couple nights staying up til 9.

Last night in particular was great! It was his first night of no feedings during the night. He woke up and made some noises around 4:30 and we popped his pacifier back in and he was good! Usually he cries outright for food in the middle of the night, so I thought maybe with the mild fussing we would be okay with a pacifier, because I really didn’t want to get up to feed him at 4:30, that would have put me way off sleeping, I would’ve just stayed awake after that.

I don’t expect we’ll have a change to sleeping through the night all the time now because he is nursing and they still digest quicker, but maybe we’ll see some more of these, that would be nice.

This week at work pumping has been okay — they have rooms for us, which is nice, though the first day I wasn’t on the schedule so I was jumping around to the other one across the building to do it. I have been feeding him at lunch, though today is the first day that I’m not going to do that since he’ll want to eat around 12:30 and I will be going out to lunch today. The whole thing is just kind of annoying, but not inconvenient yet because I haven’t had meetings. We’ll see how next week goes!

Also next week I have training at Baldwin-Wallace on Thursday and Friday. I am not looking forward to finding a place to pump at a college campus. I guess I’ll probably end up in the car, which is fine, but so far as I know we only get one long break so I may have to escape in between.

Jameson will be 3 months next week! I have all kinds of pictures to take. I have a cute outfit for St. Patrick’s Day that I may take pictures of him in this weekend so I can post it on St. Patty’s haha. Then he’ll wear it to daycare on Thursday. So cute! He is starting to get so much hair, I love it.

We’ll I am going to run now. I will be posting pictures this weekend of his first day at daycare in his cute outfit.

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diy, general life, life with baby

Last Day as a SAHM

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The acronym means Stay At Home Mom. Today is my last day of relative freedom (relative because of course there’s a little baby who needs me all the time :)) Today we are dropping Jameson off at daycare in the afternoon while Brian and I go up to Cleveland for lunch at Melt for a super unhealthy but tasty extravagant grilled cheese sandwhich. I’m pumped! Then after I will get my hair done and a manicure. So after they cut my hair they’ll straighten it, which will make getting ready for work pretty easy for a couple days til I wash it again.

Jameson had his first day of daycare yesterday, for a half day in the morning. We took some pictures of course, cause it was like the first day of school lol! Brian was all dressed up for work (he didn’t take off work yesterday, so it was a real trial run) and Jameson was spiffy in his favorite outfit, jeans and rock ‘n roll t-shirt. I’ll post the pics soon. It was a lot of work getting him ready, but some of that was because of me. I will have to get up a little earlier to make it in time for work. Also I was trying to get my pump ready to go, since I intended to pump in the car since I would be out all day til I picked up Jameson. I didn’t end up pumping, but getting all that ready was a pain.

The ladies at daycare said that he did great, that he a very easy going baby (which of course I already knew). I told them he does tend to get fussy in the afternoon, so we’ll see how he does today since he’s going to spend the afternoon there. He ate all his bottles and enjoyed watching all the activity. I know, because when I stopped in at 11, he barely noticed me, he was so intent on watching everything since it was all new. I think that’s the most activity he’s ever been around, and I think he’ll probably really enjoy it. There’s one other small baby there, and maybe one other that’s not too far off from his age. The other really small baby is 3 and a half months old but she only weighs 8 pounds! The ladies told me the the doctor has told her mother to add formula to her milk because she’s not gaining enough weight (they call that “failure to thrive”). And I thought Jameson was small for his age!

While Jameson was at daycare, I went shopping. I found the most ADORABLE outfit ever from Target. It’s a onesie, a jacket and pants all covered in elephants! The onesie says “mommy’s peanut” on it. I lovvve elephant outfits. I almost bought this outfit too, but I couldn’t spend all that money on him. I thought it would make a cute Easter outfit, but I think I have some other clothes that will fit. We still have almost two months before Easter and who knows what size he’ll actually be in! He’s still in 0-3 most of the time, but the sleep ‘n plays are starting to get too short on him, so we may have to move those up sooner rather than later.

I then went to Hobby Lobby where I found the coolest frames ever! For Christmas this past year, I made Brian a perpetual calendar with no days of the week. Anyway, I used a flip photo thing from Kohls as the base, but these are even better since they’ll hang. I bought all they had, which was just two, so maybe I’ll make one for myself too. I also bought a few frames to put on my desk at work. Then I went to the dentist, which was fine (still no cavities, yay!) but I found out I have the “remnants” of pregnancy gingivitis. Ew. So to clear it all up I need to be extra diligent about brushing and flossing.

I stopped to see Jameson then who pretty much ignored me and then went over to get a free shirt from Ann Taylor Loft. They sent me a “we miss you” coupon for free $20 with a $20 minimum purchase. So I bought a $20 shirt, which was free. Score! Then I stopped by Little Tikes with Jameson to show him off to friends and co-workers. They all think he looks like Brian 🙂 It was a very good day.

In other Jameson news, he hasn’t poo’d since Friday late afternoon/evening. He’s usually an every other day kind of guy, so I was getting concerned, but now I’ve read up on the inter web that sometimes they can go up to week without going. He’s very unlikely to be constipated since he’s exclusively breastfed. Thought last night we thought for sure he was going to go since he was fussing a bit, turns out he was just overtired!! I think maybe we’ll have to move up his bed time. Now that he’s getting used to this schedule of getting up earlier, he’s usually fussing by 8 o’clock. As much as I love him up til 9, it’s not a happy time for him if we’re forcing him to be up and he’s tired. So 8 may become the new bedtime. I’m going to wait til after DST starts though and see how he does, since for a little while 9 o’clock may feel like 8 to him. He’s still doing really well at only getting up once, and I’ve eliminated the extra feedings in the evening and he’s still sleeping well. He always gets a feeding right before bed, but no forcing extras in between. I think this is probably as good as it’ll get until he’s either on formula or starting solids.

The plan is right now to start weaning him to formula (which, knowing him, the easy going and easy bottle feeding baby that he is, he won’t even notice), sometime in his 6th month. Brian is going to San Diego for a conference around our anniversary, so there’s talk of me going for a couple days too, and it would be great to be done breastfeeding by then. I already feel guilty about, lol. It may be a little rough, we’ll see how things go. Plus I do really like losing the weight so easy! I broke into the 130’s for the first time in a couple years earlier this week. Another week or so and I should be a solid 139, which would feel really great.

Picture time! Last week I took some fun photos of Jameson and Sasha. She is really good with him. We spent some time on the floor on Sunday together, me in between Sasha and Jameson. I think she would lick him all over like a newborn puppy if we let her, haha. We’re still super careful since she doesn’t know her own strength, even around us, but she’s doing really good. I posted one of the photos up on “Baby’s First Year” a website part of Babble.com as part of their babies best friends contest. Voting starts on March 16th, so I’ll be posting a link to vote then!

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general life, life with baby, pets

Squirmy

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Jameson has been really squirmy the past few days! He’s really starting to move around a lot and always wants to be moving. He’s also been sleeping a lot better — 4-5, even a 6 hour stretch one night. He is usually only getting up once a night right now. I say “usually” tentatively since he could lapse back to old habits any time! But I’ve really been enjoying the extra sleep. His bedtime is officially 9pm, and though he’s sleepier earlier than that, I think that he’ll adjust even better after Daylight Savings Time begins. Next week, we’ll be waking him at 6:15am to eat, and my hope is that he will eventually sleep solidly from 9-6. That would be a-mazing!

He’s grasping, involuntarily, at all kinds of things now. His giraffe toy on his activity gym is easy to grab, as is necklaces, shirts, and of course, hair!

On Sunday, Hollie, Jeff and their girls came over to visit. They were cute, as always. I edited the photos but for some reason on this laptop they seem a little cool colored. I may go back and tweak them some. Anyway, the girls are getting so big, particularly Allison (the youngest). I first met her when she was about 1 — she is turning 5 now.

Crazy to imagine the time going by and Jameson turning 5 too. I had a dream last night that he just went and sat up all by himself. Using only one arm! hahaha But really, I think he’s going to be a quick learner, he is getting really good at holding his head up.

Yesterday we visited the daycare and got the scoop on what all we need to bring. I’ll be dropping that off tomorrow after my massage that Brian bought me when he was in Mexico. Should be lovely! And Aunt Carol will be watching Jameson while I’m away. He should be good for her though, he’s very happy most of the time now, and he’s actually really started liking his swing this week. I think the swing is new enough that it’s still very exciting for him and the swing plus a pacifier calms him right down when he’s upset.

Sasha went to the vet on Friday and her bloodwork showed some liver issues, so she’s on a liver health pill and will get bloodwork done again in 3 months. But she’s officially a senior citizen now which is kind of sad. But she’s still as perky and smart as ever. Whoever said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks never met Sasha 🙂 She’s even learned to hover over her water dish and wait a bit for us to wipe off her face! We’ll see if that lasts though after I go back to work and no one’s here to do it during the day though.

Well, I am off now to go visit Lisa and Jonathan again!

Oh, and for those wondering, I did successfully make dinner on Monday, though I had to feed Jameson in the middle and so Brian did the last couple tasks. But it came out great as usually and we doubled the batch for tasty leftovers! Here’s the recipe:

A Healthier-for-you Restaurant-Style Zuppa Toscana

Brian adapted the recipe from: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Restaurant-Style-Zuppa-Toscana/Detail.aspx

1 (16 oz) package turkey smoked sausage (like turkey kielbasa)
3 potatoes, cut into 1/2- to 1/4-inch slices
2 large onions, chopped
6 slices bacon, chopped or crumbled
1 Tb minced garlic
2 cups kale or escarole, washed, dried and shredded or cut (approximate, Brian just buys one bunch and uses it all)
2 Tb chicken soup base (or 5 bullion cubes)
2 quarts water
8 oz heavy whipping cream
2 Tb olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F
2. Place sausage links onto a sheet pan and bake for 25 minutes or until done, turning once. Cut links in half lengthwise, then cut at an angle into 1/2-inch slices. Set aside.
3. You can either cook onions and bacon together with olive oil, or I baked the bacon at 400 degrees F separately to eliminate some of the bacon fat and grease splatters 🙂 Cook onions in olive oil over medium heat until onions are almost clear in a large saucepan (I used a big pot and added everything else to this to make cleaning easier). When bacon is cooked, remove from onions if they were cooked together, crumble or cut and set aside.
4. Add garlic to the onions and cook an additional 1 minute. Add chicken soup base, water, and potatoes, bring back to a boil and let simmer for 15 minutes or until potatoes are softish.
5. Add crumbled bacon, sausage, kale, and cream. Simmer 4 minutes and serve.

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Happiest Baby

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Jameson is just a great baby recently — and when he is grouchy, I am starting to get a clue as to why! Usually, he is grouchy when he is overtired or bored. Of course, when he is hungry also, particularly at night.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xcmuOeTxAM]

Last night was a great night for us; the past couple nights we have been putting him to bed at 9. This seems like a great time because he is already getting tired, but I don’t think I’ll feel like he is going to bed right away when I get home from work. Also it gives me like an hour or two of alone time or time with Brian, which is nice. Anyway, last night we gave him a bath and this time I got in the bath with him so he could experience more water while Brian did the washing. It was fun, I think we’ll enjoy bath time. Then I fed him and we put him to bed drowsy but awake. I had to put his pacifier back in about 4 times, but he was asleep by 9:20 and he slept until 3:30!! That is almost 6 hours of sleep. I went to bed a little after 10 and got 5 hours! Just great. I hope we can keep it up! To top it off, it was storming like crazy (apparently both Brian and Sasha had trouble sleeping) and neither Jameson or I woke up (at least until he cried). This is much better than our usual, which is him getting up every three hours. Maybe we can get this down in a couple weeks and start working on better naps!

On Friday we went to see Lisa and new baby Jonathan. He was a little less grouchy than last time we visited and since it was daylight, we got some of the cutest pictures of the two of them together. He still has a big set of lungs on him while Jameson is still just starting to discover his. Lisa and I talked baby the entire time. I’m going over again this week too!

Lynne dropped by last week also and we got some cute pictures of him smiling at her.

Hollie and the girls visited yesterday and Maria is coming over today to meet Jameson, so the next post should have some cute photos of them! Tonight I am also going to attempt to make dinner, like one of the soups at Olive Garden, so that should be interesting! Last time Brian made it we took a photo, here’s what it should look like if I do it right:

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life with baby

Sleeping

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This week, sleeping has been on my mind a lot. Particularly Jameson’s sleep, though my sleep is included in that! After grandma’s visit the other week when Jameson was so cranky, he’s been a (relative) angel during the day. But we are still on a crazy non-nap schedule where he seems to go some days awake all day long and other days asleep all day long. Night time sleeping varies, some are better than others (last night I got the most sleep in a row that I’ve gotten since he was wee little and sleeping all the time, a whole 5 hrs straight).

So I bought a book which hasn’t come yet to help me scheduling him. I would love to have him on some sort of schedule by the time he goes to daycare, which is just 3 short weeks away. At least, a schedule for feeding him so that the week before I go back to work I can practice pumping at certain times of the day, more than the once a day I’ve been doing now, and so that I can schedule him to nurse at around noon so I can visit at lunch and feed him. And with the feeding I hope the napping will come! I can’t figure it out, it’s like he’s on a 48 hour schedule instead of 24. He spent most of the day awake yesterday but today he has slept with only me waking him to eat most of the day!

I still wonder if some of that is his congestion, and I’m also wondering if maybe it is allergy related instead of cold (because if it’s really a cold, it must be the mildest cold ever). I wouldn’t be surprised since the house has been closed up since winter started, we had super dry air (Brian just installed the house humidifier on Sunday) and I only clean every couple weeks and we have a large dog that shakes off a whole small dog’s worth of fur whenever she moves. Sasha causes me allergies sometimes too.

So Jameson turns 2 months tomorrow, and his 2 month doctor’s appointment is on Saturday so I’m not taking him back to the doctor for his congestion. We’ll see if she’ll still want to give him his vaccine’s since he’s still showing congestion symptoms when he’s upset and when he’s been on his back for extended periods of time.

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