Easter Weekend

For Easter this year, my mom and sister came up to visit, and we enjoyed family all together on Sunday for Easter supper. This was Aunt Holly’s first opportunity to meet Coraline!

The weather was looking up a bit, so we spent some time outside on Saturday with Coraline all bundled up.

Jameson loved playing basketball with Aunt Holly (it was mostly just throwing and playing catch, but Jameson has taken to calling that basketball).

Meemaw brought the extra large bouncy ball! It quickly blew through the yard on the windy day, and I’m pretty sure Jameson encouraged some of that blowing away so they could run down the street chasing after it.

On Easter morning, Jameson very quickly saw an egg and understood the name of the game. He took a quick break to eat some breakfast midway through (thankfully, since he enjoyed eating a jelly bean or two from each of his eggs).

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqNM1ROJj4U]

After finding all the eggs (18 eggs, filled with jelly beans, chocolate which he insisted he didn’t like, and 3 little cars), then it was time for the Easter baskets.

Both Jameson and Coraline have Easter baskets; Coraline’s basket is gray and pink, and Jameson’s is green and white, made from loopy chenille which is now a discontinued product and hard to find. The yellow basket you see in the photos above is my basket from my childhood.

Coraline got a giraffe hooded towel (kid-sized, so I expect Jameson will use it before it fits her!), a baby toy with mirror, small stuffed bunny, bunny rattle, puffs and yogurt drops for when she is introduced to food, a bunny rubber duck bath toy.

Jameson’s basket had pez and animal crackers, a shark hooded towel, coloring book, 3 mini reading books, flashlight, puzzle, and Finding Nemo. Finding Nemo did not overtake his love of the Lion King, but he did sit through most of it.

Meanwhile, Brian made a breakfast casserole for us. After all that activity, we didn’t make it in to church, but I did have everyone dress up for our first family photo post Coraline’s birth.

Contrary to this lovely photo’s appearance, it was much much harder to get everyone looking at the camera and smiling.

And by everyone, I mean Jameson and Sasha (I didn’t expect Coraline to be looking at the photo, though by some miracle, we captured a photo of her looking at the camera and not screaming). This was actually the only photo we got of Sasha in the frame as well, since she kept insisting on laying down.

Jameson was concerned about Coraline crying and the rush of the photo, and kept sticking his hand in dad’s pocket until we let him take a few of the photos himself.

I think everyone (including my belly, which was stuffed into those pants temporarily) was relieved when we managed to capture a couple good photos, and we were finished. These family portraits are important though, and I am happy we managed to take them at least twice a year.

Brian’s parents and sister came over then for supper. They brought over more Easter goodies for Jameson and Coraline, including clothes and toys and candy for Jameson.

Jameson’s fascination with spinning things made these tops a hit.

For supper, we had ham and turkey, salad, potatoes and green bean casserole, and fruit pizza for dessert. Coraline was sleeping off her own supper time in the bouncer.

After taking a couple photos of Jameson’s stash of blankets and toys on top of Coraline, I came back just moments later to find her head actually covered up under two layers of blankets. Ooops! We had to tell Jameson he can’t cover her head.

It is so nice of him to share his toys though, so we encourage that particular behavior and I love the way he wants to keep her warm and seems to believe it will help her sleep, just like they do for him.

After our nice family dinner, Meemaw and Aunt Holly had to leave and we relaxed for the evening. Everyone was exhausted!

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Coraline’s First Week

We all enjoyed Coraline’s first week at home, but I am getting antsy to get out some more and hope the weather turns around soon so we can all go on walks together in the evenings.

Coraline as I’ve mentioned seems pretty laid back. So far, she hasn’t taken to the pacifier but its still early. Mostly, shes pretty content while awake. She is usually awake for a couple hours at a time, and gets frustrated when she can’t fall asleep or when she is really hungry or cold. She smacks her lips and makes little baby grunts at night when she’s hungry, which I awaken to, for now, since she’s right next to our bed in the bassinet.

My mom came up on Sunday through Friday last week, which was convenient and enjoyable, especially for providing a little extra entertainment for Jameson while he was home from school ill. Coraline wore her green for St. Patrick’s Day most of the day, before she had an accident!

My mom also helped me take newborn photos of Coraline, who only really messed on the blankets once (but it was a big one! Thankfully mom got the stain out!) She didn’t want to fall asleep, no matter how hard I tried! She was just like Jameson, wanting to stay awake for her official photo shoot. I only got to use the new backdrop stand a little, but it seemed to work really well. I was happy with how her photos came out, and have already ordered her announcements.

It is a good thing we moved so quickly on her newborn photos, since she gets bigger by the day. She was back up and over her birthweight at 4 and a half days old (7 pounds, 3 ounces) and she matches Jameson’s weight at one month old of 7 pounds 6 ounces at one week.

Coraline had her first tummy time, but she was so exhausted from her photo shoot earlier that she passed out right there.

I love her little swirl of hair on the back of her head. She also has a birthmark on the back of her head there and on her forehead and eyelids which will all disappear by one year old. The sweet little eyelid marks are cute though, and I wouldn’t mind if they stayed. Her forehead mark is only apparent when she gets angry for the most part, but it is a pleasant reminder that even though she has a lot of similar features to Jameson, she is her own sweet little person.

Brian also was home from work all last week. We aren’t able to have him home extra like we had off for Jameson, so we are disappointed he has to go back today. Although, Jameson thrives on routine, so it will be good to return to that normal time of getting up and going to school.

She eats really well, which is such a wonderful difference from our first, and she was a little greedy the first few days of life which means my supply is still adjusting to her demand, but it hasn’t been too bad.

Coraline did not enjoy her first bath, but I did better with her second one keeping her warm with water down her back and wash cloth over her chest. It was almost as if I had forgotten how to bathe a newborn (I really had). Her cord still hasn’t entirely fallen off yet, but its still quite a bit easier than dealing with vasoline and a circumcision!

We also got to visit her Great Aunt Carol and meet my cousin Carrie who was in town. It was a lot of activity for our little one week old!

It was our second outing, after the doctors, to go visit Great Aunt Carol, who just had hip surgery. She loved seeing Coraline, and even put her to sleep without a rocking chair or swaying. She has the baby touch!

We were sad to say goodbye to Meemaw on Friday, but we’ll see her again this weekend for Easter, and Coraline will get to meet her Aunt Holly too! The time, as ever, goes quickly.

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Coraline at the Hospital

We didn’t get settled and sleeping our first night until about 3 am. The hospital does things a bit differently since just two years prior when I gave birth to Jameson. They did most examinations in the room with us!

So we got to experience Coraline’s very first bath at the hospital and watch them stamp her feet on her card that very night.

Will she be a self soother? So far, she isn’t a fan of the pacifier but she doesn’t have a good handle on her hands yet either. Right now, she is using me as a pacifier instead!

The next day, she met her Grandma and Aunt Melissa, and later on her Grandpa too on dad’s side of the family.

Dad went home for a little while to set up the bassinet, pack and play and bouncer at home.While dad was away, we went to visit our friend Teresa just across the hall and her brand new baby! It was nice to have a little company, and a reason to walk around the hall.

She passed her hearing test. First they tested her in the room with us which was inconclusive in one ear, and then was tested in the nursery where it was quieter just to make sure.  The only thing they didn’t do in the room with us was have the pediatrician look her over, but she was noted as “perfect” after her visit with the pediatrician too!

Coraline decided that she was mostly done sleeping for the day then, and stayed up from 3 in the afternoon until late that night when we finally requested a nurse to take her to the nursery for a little while so we could get some sleep. It was difficult because every time she fell asleep, the nurses would make their rounds for either myself or her.

For the most part though, they really seemed to leave us alone. We were surprised just how much so compared to our first time. It helped that she is such a great eater! It was such a relief for us not to have to worry about each feeding with her.

The next day, we simply waited to go home.

And waited, and waited and waited. I was discharged early that morning, but little lady wasn’t officially discharged until early afternoon around two.

We finally got home around 4, after just over a day and a half at the hospital.

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Visit to Great-Grandma’s

Our last family Christmas outing was to great-grandma’s on the Friday after Christmas.

Jameson was a totally nightmare in the car, but thankfully Aunt Melissa rode with us, and we are also thankful for the ipad.

Great-Grandma's

Great-Grandma

Great-Grandma and Grandma

Jameson insisted on trying a good four of five cookies, but didn’t really like any of them. He ate the most of the pistachio one which was funny!

We had lasagna and salad, which Jameson squirmed his way through. Since he didn’t really nap that day, he was extra wired!

Cookies

Cookies

Yucky Cookie

I don’t do so great with the cats in the house (I’m allergic), but Jameson loved them! He tried to catch a couple but he was not quick enough.

Petting Kitties

Here he is, sitting next to me relaxing for a moment. I look really pregnant.

Jameson and Mom

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He also loved playing with his cousins and their toys (probably mostly their toys — filled with small things and sophisticated levers and big-boy-awesome.

Toys

He wouldn’t let great-grandma hold him this time, but he was happy to blow kisses and give her a high five!

Blowing Kisses

High Five

We left after dinner and opening a few gifts. Jameson got a puzzle and baby got some clothes from Uncle Chuck and Aunt Sue! It is always nice to see great-grandma happy and surrounded by family. What a nice holiday!

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Home for the Holidays

After returning from my parents, we had a second Christmas at home the following morning. These were the gifts from us to Jameson and to each other.

Christmas

First up was Sasha, since her gifts are partially unwrapped so that she can see them, she got very excited!

Sasha's Gifts

Sasha

Sasha

She tore right into her first “buddy”, and opened 3 of her 4 new toys.

Jameson’s second gift was a hit: as soon as he opened it, he didn’t want to open any more gifts!

Broom

Broom

Jameson ran around with his broom and wouldn’t put it down! The only way he would open more gifts is if he could hold onto his broom. This little cleaning set was my idea, so I was tickled that he loved it so much!

Opening Gifts

Train

We got Jameson a new RC controlled Thomas the Tank Engine. He has a car, but it only used one button. The new toy has two buttons, so it’s an upgrade! Also, it makes real steam. I was surprised that it actually works really well on carpet as well.

Jameson also received a build-your-own firetruck, which has nuts and bolts and will be one to grow into; and an Elmo play-doh shape maker, which occupied him for about 15 minutes one day (that’s a record for a sit down toy)

Gifts

Last but not least was a set of classic wooden blocks; Jameson used the gift as a launch pad for jumping!

Later that afternoon, we dropped Jameson off at Brian’s parents and I had a doctor’s appointment, for which we drove very carefully through the snow for for all of a 5 minute appointment. But we are thankful things continue to go well, and I’m now measuring on schedule.

After returning to Brian’s parents, while grandpa finished cooking, we opened a few gifts at a time with Jameson to keep him occupied.

Bilibo

Rides

Gifts

Magnadoodle

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my265guNM9U]

There was a lot of hiding and peek-a-boo.

Hiding

Swinging and going upside-down.

Upside Down

And playing of the harmonica. That harmonica got more action than the whistle party favors from his birthday. It sounds just as gross though when he sucks his spit back in. I haven’t been nauseous for this pregnancy for a few weeks now, but that always makes me gag a little.

Harmonica

Jameson’s big gift was a table and chairs set! We haven’t decided where to put it yet but are looking forward to lots of arts and crafts there.

Big Gift

We are also excited that Jameson got a bike seat for the summer; Brian will love taking him out for rides. (I might be a little jealous, since I plan on being left behind with the newborn). What a blessed Christmas we had! And it wasn’t over yet. We still had a few more days off to enjoy family.

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Christmas

Christmas Eve we relaxed at my parents house. Jameson really started enjoying the dogs and wanted to pet them all the time. They are quite a bit more tolerant than Sasha is at home!

Dogs

Dog

Dog

Jameson skipped a nap; he may have fallen asleep for about 20 minutes or so but all the activity downstairs had his attention. A couple of my dad’s friends came over, one bringing a huge locally smoked ham for our dinner that night.

Ham

You would never know that Jameson had skipped a nap though. He was cheerful and running around until the end of the day! He did so well sleeping at my parents house in the big boy bed.

Running

(Here he is wearing my brother’s socks which he actually put on all by himself!)

Christmas Tree

For a few moments he sat still, playing with my brother and dad’s old cars. I was excited to take a few photos without flash for it.

We all attended church post Jameson being in bed, rotating with my parents. It was a little too much for me to imagine taking him to the service. Maybe next year he will be better at sitting still!

And then Santa came!

Christmas Day

Santa brings Jameson 3 gifts (plus a stocking). This year, Santa brought him new eyeball shirts for spring, new Dr. Suess books, and his very own laptop. He’s pretty funny with the laptop. It’s a little outside his age still but he will sometimes sit with it on his lap like mom and dad do.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF7XdCghxT8]

He wanted to put on one of the eyeball shirts, but when he noticed there was a sticker on there, he wanted the sticker instead!

Sticker

Jameson got a lot of great gifts, and he just loved opening everything. He continued to be a very neat unwrapper.

He wanted to help Uncle Tyler put batteries in his brand new music player! And Aunt Holly played with his new pegboard.

Gifts

Pegboard

My sister, brother and I each got a beautiful handmade quilt from my mom, made from our t-shirts. I thought the big sister shirt, saved from when I was 4 years old, was adorable.

T-Shirt Quilt

Quilt

Then it was time to open stockings, and as soon as Jameson saw his first prize, he wanted nothing to do with anything else!

Snack

Goldfish are always a hit.

He has also been pretty entertained by his very first slinky! (Once we rounded him back up from hiding with his snack, anyway)

Opening Stockings

We watched Jameson’s new movie, The Lorax, which only captured his attention for about 15 minutes. We were all entertained by it though!

By early that evening, we were packing up to leave. There was a blizzard warning to start overnight; not wanting to get caught in that, we headed out.

Not without a few family photos first!

Meemaw and Jameson

For being such a good sport with photos, he got a slice of bologna!

Bologna

Family

(Yes, those are batman pants! We call them his lounge wear, and he gets to wear them most weekends.)

(Yes, he is trying to put a sock on his hand. What a funny kid!)

It was such a nice visit, and great to spend it with my side of the family for the holidays this year.

He didn’t sleep at all going home though, which made the ride tough! He has begun asking for “itsy bitsy ipad” (an app I have), which makes me laugh. I am not sure what parents did before the ipad!

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Woodland Lights

Sunday night before Christmas we went to the Woodland Lights as a family. We told Jameson he was going to see the lights, and talked about how pretty they were! He was pretty excited just to get outside, I think.

While we had just gotten a lot of snow where we live, there wasn’t any at my parents’, so it was easy and not too cold to walk around that evening.

Lights

Lights

Jameson took hold of Aunt Holly’s hand right away and walked with her almost the entire time!

Lights

Aunt Holly and Uncle Tyler, waiting for tickets to get in!

We took a few family photos before getting too far. Jameson really wanted to walk though, he wasn’t too interested in standing still for photos!

Family

Family

Family

We had one more task to do though before we could leisurely walk through the rest of the lights; we had to see Santa!

Jameson already saw Santa once this year, but there was no line so close to Christmas, so we decided to go ahead and see him once more! Here’s Jameson and Meemaw:

Santa

He still wasn’t willing to sit on Santa’s lap, but he sat next to him just fine.

Lights

Ornaments

Aside from lights, there are a few animals to see. Jameson got to see chickens (which was great, since he only wants Owls and Chickens on his farm when we sing Old McDonald recently).

Chickens

He also saw fox and the stars of the show, reindeer! Jameson tried to feed the reindeer the candy cane treat he got from Santa, but dad rescued it.

Walking

Lights

Meemaw and Jameson

Jameson did great. He didn’t ask to be held much at all, and loved walking around and seeing all the pretty lights.

Last stop was to see the gingerbread houses inside. There was even a farm gingerbread house!

Gingerbread Houses

We all enjoyed visiting the Woodland Lights. It was their 20th anniversary, and we had gone a lot as kids but not for a long time, so it was nice for everyone to do it together, for Jameson!

Oh, and for the record, he did enjoy his first candy cane. I thought I might get to eat it, but alas, he ate near half the small treat before he was finished.

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Celebrating December Birthdays

Last Saturday, we headed down after swimming lessons and lunch to my parents house. (After being dunked for the first time! Thrice!) It was my mom’s birthday, and we were due to celebrate not just hers but three December birthdays at once. Holly is first on 12/4, followed by Jameson and then my mom on 12/22.

Jameson was okay during the trip. He no longer sleeps in the car, as we discovered several times throughout longer car rides this holiday season, but with plenty of snacks, books and the ipad, he was okay. He was excited to open gifts when we arrived. I am pretty sure he thinks December means an endless supply of unwrapping gifts.

Holly

No one had a problem with allowing him to assist in opening all the gifts, not just his own.

Disney Gifts

Jameson got a few Disney gifts including a plate and new hat from Meemaw and Grandpa.

Hat

I was surprised that he took right to his meemaw, grandpa, uncle and aunt, since it had been awhile. I guess we talk about them enough that he felt he already knew them! Although it should be no surprise he took right to Aunt Holly since he is around a lot of young ladies working at his school!

Unwrapping

My delicate unwrapper neatly tossed all the wrapping paper to the nearest adult to put in the trash.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIStGepFx44]

Firetruck

Jameson opened a new eyeball shirt from Meemaw and promptly did a monkey imitation, complete with eee eeee ooo ooo and hands in armpits. We tried to get him to do an instant replay for the entire rest of the holiday. No dice!

Monkey

No birthday celebration is complete without dessert!

Meemaw enjoyed a red ice cream cupcake and painted her lips bright red with it. (I was smart and chose white for Jameson and I, haha!)

Dessert

Dessert

The following day was spent in relaxation and enjoyment of the entire family together for the first time in a long while for Christmas. Jameson loved playing with his relatives, and created new games.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQpXOb9au48]

Blocks

He played “pokey carrots” with grandpa, which had us all in stitches, at least until the 6th or 7th round when we wondered how long the game might last.

Carrots

Carrots

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpyrxZ4rdVg]

He also played with Uncle Tyler and Grandpa’s old matchbox car set.

Cars

That night we went out to see Christmas lights at the nearby recreation center, but that’s to come!

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Elmo Birthday Party

We weren’t originally going to have a party for Jameson, but I got it in my head to make some invitations and it was all over after that.

elmoinvite-web

We did tone it down quite a bit as compared to last year, and banners and party favors were purchased at a party store. They make it so easy! We also invited quite a few less people so the house wasn’t so crowded.

The other Elmo touches were brought in by our cupcakes and fruit tray, inspiration courtesy of Pinterest.

Elmo Cupcakes

Elmo Cupcakes

The cupcakes themselves were a box mix (had to make something easy!); the mouths are Oreos which were tough to cut right. The eyes are large marshmallows, cut in half, and topped with store-bought brownie icing pupils. The noses are candy orange slices.

The icing was the hardest part. I borrowed a fancy icing tool from a friend and used a star tip to get the fur effect, and by the end my thumb was numb for a day or so! We used the red food dye in a tube from the bakery aisle to get the very red color, and used the majority of the small tube for it.

Elmo Fruit Tray

Elmo Fruit Tray

We thought we would half left-over fruit for sure, but as it turns out, young kids love fruit! And parents love giving it to them. We had no fruit left! Brian also made little hot dogs, buffalo chicken dip and a jarlsberg cheese dip. We didn’t actually have that much food left over this time.

And that was about it for Elmo decor! From there, it was all about Jameson, his friends, gifts, blowing out the candle and capturing all those moments on camera.

Playing with Grandma

Jameson’s cousin Griffin loved playing with the boys. He played fort, ball, and assisted wherever he could! Jameson and Jonathan loved him.

Playing

Playing

Lily, another one of the older kids of the bunch (though only by about 6 months or s0!), also wanted to be a helper! Jameson didn’t mind at all. He’s pretty expert at opening gifts now, but extra hands never hurt!

Opening Gifts

Opening Gifts

Opening Card

I had dad help with most of the unwrapping so I could capture the moments on camera. Jameson was very serious about his gift opening, rarely pausing to relax. This was one of the photos where I actually caught a reaction from him.

Books

Jameson got some new books from mom and dad!

Mr Potato Head

One of the other big hits was the tools. Brian said yesterday Jameson was playing with his toy tape measure and wrapping it around his head (like they did at the doctor’s office just last week!)

Tools

Brian’s Uncle Mike and cousins Gabrielle and Griffin gave Jameson extra large gifts!

Big Gifts

Big GIfts

Perfect for his current love of the Lion King and wild animals! Jameson got a couple wild animal playsets. We can’t wait to get these set up for him!

We followed gift opening with dessert!

Dessert

Blowing out Candles

Jameson actually blew out his own candle! Way to go Jameson!

Eating Cupcakes

Cupcakes

He knew they were Elmo cupcakes! Jameson’s friend Jonathan also knew it was Elmo and got very upset when his dad pulled off one of the eyeballs, it was too funny!

After dessert, it was play time again!

Playing Keep Away

Included in the party favors (which I may or may not have forgotten to mention to the first party-leavers, oops!) were whistles, which I’m sure all the parents loved. Jameson’s doesn’t leave his mouth!

Whistles

We had been telling Jameson “Happy Birthday” all day long, with his response occasionally being “happy day”. Without prompting, at bed time and after goodnights, he told me “happy day!” so sweetly. Yes it was Mr. Jameson!

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Thanksgiving at Home

This Thanksgiving, we spent our time at home. It was nice to have 4 full days off with no real obligations! We made big changes for Jameson, which I’ll share soon, and spent Thanksgiving dinner at Brian’s parents.

At grandma’s house, Jameson has duplicate versions of his loveys at home. So there are two blankets and one bear, just like at home. Our blankets at home though are getting a little more ratty than these… Jameson loves to lay his head on the soft blankets.

Jameson is becoming quite the demanding little toddler, but his grandparents and Aunt Melissa don’t mind! When he said “sit!” they sat.

Time for dinner! I broke out the bib that I bought for him last year, which he never got to wear since I forgot it then.

Jameson enjoyed stealing green beans from grandma’s plate. He was a pretty good sport about trying most everything but the turkey, and he particularly loved grandma’s homemade cranberry relish.

Dinner was early enough that there was plenty of time to play after.

Jameson wanted to help re-inflate the beach ball…

Which they used to stand on.

The best games are at grandma and grandpa’s house, for sure.

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