life with baby

Easter Holiday, part 1

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Saturday my family came up to visit. Jameson’s grandma and grandpa and Aunt Holly were very excited to see him! It was nice outside, so we spent some time outdoors.

It was nice to see my family again. Jameson is a better walker now than he was a month ago when we last saw them. In fact, his daycare daily review sheet said just yesterday:

“Jameson’s favorite activity today was running back and forth in the classroom while screaming.”

As usual, we helped Jameson pick some “flowers”. He wanted to put them back for a little bit though. I can almost see his little mind working the puzzle. But they came from here…

Jameson is really showing expression in the wagon now, I think he’s gotten used to it. He just loves it. Brian, Aunt Holly and Grandpa all pulled him along the wagon.

Aunt Holly loves Sasha (and Sasha loves anyone who will give her pets)

Jameson was very excited to get gifts again (he is the first and only grandchild on both sides of the family)! Little did he know that Sunday would bring more as well.

Grandma selected a dog bag, which was cute, but Aunt Holly’s packaging took the cake. It was sparkly.

We’re book lovers at heart on my side of the family. I’m pretty sure Jameson knew this was a book too because he sat on Grandma’s lap with it still wrapped up.

Jameson has been very into books lately. He’ll go and get them out of his book basket downstairs and bring them to us to read to him. If we’re on the floor, he’ll feel free to climb into anyone’s lap for a story. Just this week, we read a book about puppies which he loves and I love because it doesn’t have flaps to rip off, it slides (our friends had this same book), and he signed “eat” and “sleep” while we read what puppies love to do. It was so fun to see him understand.

For dinner, we had burgers and pasta salad with squash. A true summer style meal, even though it was cool outside. Jameson ate some pasta salad, but showed little interest in much else.

He’s definitely been having eating issues recently that we are working through. We try to offer him a mix of pasta, meat and vegetables for dinner since he gets a lot of fruit at daycare. But often have been following it up with a baby food pouch which he thinks are fun or some cheese.

The day went so quickly and overnight, the Easter bunny arrived!

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life with baby

Over the River and through the Woods!

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Grandma and grandpa had a lot of fun with Jameson this time around! He has been in such a great mood the past few days, less cranky in the evenings and just a joy to be around. Plus, grandma and grandpa got to experience some walking!

Bonus was that Aunt Holly was there too! In fact, we picked her up from college on our way, and dropped her back off when we left. It was nice to have some company during that long 3-1/2 to 4 hour drive.

The key is to keep Jameson occupied and entertained by moving him around and introducing new/old toys. My parents stored a Little Tikes car in the basement from when I was probably just a little older than Jameson. The car was dirty, but grandmas and grandpas don’t care about that sort of thing inside their home.

Jameson loved making his “vroom vroom” spitting noises, getting driven by grandma and grandpa all over the house, and getting in out of the car the right way, and the wrong way on the opposite side.

The dogs, as always, were a favorite part of the visit.

Shiloh is always up in his business, but Jameson got her back by stealing her dog bed several times.

Jameson even read a book to himself there. I swear he was pointing at the dogs in his book and talking about them. I think he may understand that dogs say “woof woof” because he makes a distinctly different sound while looking at dogs on occasion that sounds a little like “wuh”. His favorite dog book is Doggies by Sandra Boyton.

Grandma played a lot of Trotty off to Boston with him. Do you know Trotty off to Boston? You bounce baby on the knees, facing either way, and say this scary sounding old rhyme: “Trotty off to Boston to buy a loaf of bread, Trotty back home again and old… Trots… DEAD” and drop pretend to drop that baby down to the floor. Jameson LOVES it. Pretty much anything like a thrill ride will keep Jameson going for hours.

We also practiced our new skills with stacking. My mom has saved these stacking cups from Discovery Toys that Jameson stayed focused on for a while. In their newest iteration they have fun edges. They are out of stock now, but I’m watching them. The nice thing about these is that they come with 12 cups (versus the typical 8 in these kinds of sets).

Oh, contrary to what you might think, Jameson did have regular clothes on for some of the time he was there. We didn’t keep him in pajamas all day, I swear.

It was so nice coming again so soon, Jameson is really starting to pick up on going to grandma and grandpa’s house and doesn’t seem intimidated when we go now at all. He is a lot more comfortable with grandpa (Men are scary you know) and he sleeps well there. The car ride home was much better this time as well (I didn’t even have to use my new children’s CDs!) Jameson was up for 2 hours straight in the car with minimal complaining! Way to go Jameson.

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life with baby

For Valentine’s Day, Something Pink

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Jameson had a great Valentine’s Day on Monday. Well, the evening anyway. He was fussy at daycare, but he got to see grandma in the evening for a couple gifts. Lucky little man, he finally got to open some of his own presents!

Oh, and he’s in his jail time outfit. This is our spare daycare outfit. It’s always kind of fun to walk in that day and say “Oh! Jameson’s in his jail time outfit! He must have been messy today!”

Jameson just loves his new duck (and his new outfits too, of course). He loves to put his face into soft things and lay on them like pillows.

That night, he also decided to start “walking” again, or at least taking steps. He’s also making strides in standing up on his own from his feet (rather than just stepping away from something). He occasionally does a weird crawl on the palms of his hands and feet. Today I think he finally did it on his own, but I missed it!

Now you might be wondering at this point, what else Jameson got. Something pink.

Pink EYE!

On Tuesday he came home from daycare with goopy eyes and one that looked a little swollen. I was certain he had pink eye, and the doctor confirmed it the following morning (Bacterial Conjunctivitis is our technical name). Jameson at this point isn’t contagious anymore since he’s now been on antibiotics and eye drops for 24 hours, but we had to miss daycare yesterday and today.

In addition, Jameson has a cold and a bad ear infection (which is possibly the same one from before). So he is on stronger antibiotics this time around which will hopefully knock it out. He already seems like he is feeling better today, and the eyes are clearing up. Yesterday was a bit of a nightmare, except for our doctors visit where Jameson was so worn out he actually laid on my shoulder for that entire half hour we were there. Small blessings!

Even though most of our day looked like this today:

He is still clearly sick, with irritated skin under his eyes, snot coming out of his nose, and extra naps (at 5:30 pm, he is taking his second nap!)

I did try and get some 14 month photos today, but since I didn’t have Brian to help me, they ended up like this (aka dangerous). I will try again later tonight or maybe even this weekend.

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Family Reunion

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Last weekend, I visited my parents with Jameson. I went to look at the room we have planned for Emma’s bridal shower, but it was also a good excuse to get Jameson to his grandparents to catch up!

It turned into an impromptu family reunion of sorts: My sister, brother and his girlfriend came for the day on Sunday; and my cousin Stacey, who Jameson hasn’t seen since he was one month old, and her husband came to visit as well!

I think that maybe Jameson even remembered his previous visit for Thanksgiving! He didn’t seem concerned with his surroundings, he slept through the night both nights, and he didn’t seem frightened of his grandpa this time.

He spent the weekend going up and down the stairs, over and over. He’s become an expert and going down stairs now.

He definitely still loved the dogs. He kept pointing at this saying “dahw” or “og”. So close. I am pretty sure this will be his first word after mama and dada.

Brian and I have been searching for a little kid chair for him after seeing how much Lily next door loves hers. I found one while I was visiting, appropriately named “Dog Chair” with a cute little dog face on it. Bonus: It matches our furniture and the drool dries nicely on it. It’s also pretty heavy so he can’t push it around as a walking toy like he does most everything else.

He loves it! And he can even get in and out of it himself, which is great.

He is developing such a fun personality. He leaned back in the chair to relax (for a millisecond), just like mom and dad would!

He also loved playing with the “grandma toys”. Brian’s girlfriend Emily played telephone and blocks with Jameson.

Surprisingly for him, he also ate really well while we were there. Jameson loved Sunday Spaghetti Supper (tradition). It’s the first time he had real spaghetti (baby jar food doesn’t count).

We’ve continued to try this Tommee Tippee suction plate & bowl system, and it’s working better after initial disaster. We found that a little water on the bottom of the suction piece makes it work a bit better. Jameson only occasionally gets it up now, and I think I am liking it a bit more (for sure it is better than getting a thrown plate every time).

The dogs love Jameson eating too.

He also was a big fan of my yogurt. He wanted to try some of my blueberry greek yogurt, and we ended up giving him half of it. I had to open another cup!

He even signed “more” for it (distinctly, a couple times!) Mom, I like your surprise face here. Too funny!

His sign for “more” was a pointer finger against the other palm, which isn’t exactly like we learn in Signing Smart classes. I am not sure if it’s an approximation, or if that’s how they sign “more” at daycare.

It was a great weekend of fun and play and family. And Super Bowl, though I am not a sports fan so I didn’t watch it (gasp).  All in all… we tired a baby out. Grandma got to enjoy some quiet restful time with Jameson for almost 10 minutes straight! This is unusual for this go-go-go baby.

And he was a bit cranky the way home, waking up after just an hour and a half or so. I sang songs for 45 minutes straight at the end to keep him quiet, but my repertoire is very small. I sang mostly Christmas songs, Jesus Loves Me, and a very few nursery songs. I think I might need a children’s song CD for car emergencies!

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Happy Birthday Grandpa

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On Friday last week, we celebrated Brian’s dad’s birthday with pizza, chicken and wings! It was one of the first real tests of my new-found resolve to limit my calorie intake each day, and I did pretty well. I refrained from dessert since I had two slices of pizza. (Cue a collective gasp. I know, I turned down dessert!)

We realized that we didn’t have a lot of photos of Jameson with his grandpa, so we made sure to get a few shots of them together.

Jameson played cars with grandpa and dad, and they practiced waving together.

It was a great evening, and after Jameson went to bed, grandpa opened gifts. He made a sourpuss face when I tried to take a photo of him though. Apparently photos are only allowed with Jameson, haha.

P.S. Does Jameson’s hair seem like it’s getting long? I am not sure what to do with it, to cut it or leave it… it’s still very thin, just some wacky strands that are out of control. I think he might have his daddy’s hair…

P.S.S. Jameson’s other grandpa has a birthday earlier in January, but we are never around to celebrate it since it is just after the holidays. Gets me thinking that maybe he’s got the shortest end of the stick, as compared to birthdays around Christmas. Anyway, Happy Birthday Dad!

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general life, life with baby

91

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Brian’s grandpa turned 91 yesterday, and we all went to visit him for a party!

I was also really excited for the chance to try again at taking photos of the 4 generations together, since last time we went I wasn’t thrilled with the photo.

You may not be able to tell, but the lighting in this room isn’t very friendly! (Not to mention, the wallpaper…) I had my old Nikon D40 and attempted to take photos without flash. That photo is slightly out of focus, but I tried to correct for that too.

But this time was much better. I am still a little grumpy at myself for not bringing proper batteries so my flash didn’t work, but this camera the D5100 did a much better job of focusing and taking crisp photos in low light.

And on the other side of the family, Brian’s Uncle Mike, cousin Gabrielle and her son Griffin posed for this photo (also, they got smart with the props there putting the cake in front)

That’s Finley, Gabrielle and Griffin’s new beagle puppy. She was really cute, and hard to capture without my flash. I got one out of about 15 photos of her in focus.

Great-grandpa sang Silent Night while we were there and was in good spirits.

Jameson was also happy, even though he is teething hard recently. I was excited to get a few photos of him with his grandpa too.

We had fruit, meatballs, pulled pork and pasta salad. Jameson enjoyed the pasta salad a lot, which was funny since he didn’t like my pasta salad last time we made it.

It was nice to all get together and celebrate, we had a great time. Except I did overeat. So worth it.

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Merry & Happy

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Sadly, I am returned to work after some 10 days off at home with Jameson and Brian. It was lovely, and now it’s over, so forgive me as I try to get back into the swing of things.

Hopefully this is not as late as it seems to me now, but I had to share our Christmas fun!

On Christmas Eve, we joined the neighbors for dinner and exchanged a few gifts. Jameson wore his brand new overalls from his aunt and uncle!

Just before we sat down for dinner, Santa and my aunt arrived for a quick visit. However, things did not go as smoothly though as they did for Jameson’s visit with Santa a few weeks ago, and Lily was also beside herself.

Oh well, there’s always next year!

Lily is an expert with the fork and was even practicing before the food was in front of her.

Here is Kelly holding Jameson and Lily was grabbing at his hand. This is why I always leave the camera on so all I have to do is pop off the lens cap.

I made a homemade gingerbread which I used with our mini bundt cake pans (I first used these for Jameson’s birthday you might recall).

It was delicious, and I think that the second day it tasted even better. Brian did the molasses and beer part, and I did the rest. It was actually really easy (just a lot of ingredients) and so rich and wonderful.

Jameson and Lily are really interacting a lot which is adorable. Lily wanted his pacifier, and Jameson offered her his socks in trade for the laptop.

Christmas Day, Jameson awoke ready to open gifts (by now he is an expert!)

However, we only made it through a couple before he lost interest in the opening part and just wanted to play with the new toys that were opened, so we helped him open his gifts.

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

We have decided to adopt the 3 gifts from Santa rule. That is, Santa is only allowed to fill his stocking and bring Jameson 3 gifts for under the tree: something to read, something to wear, and something to play with. This year, Santa brought him a snowsuit, gloves & mittens, and boots which all went together of course; a board book; and a sled!

Midway through opening gifts, we stopped for cinnamon rolls!

Sasha enjoyed some of her gifts as well (some of them are still wrapped up for her later)

But the fun didn’t stop there. While Jameson napped and Brian worked on food, I went to church. Then Jameson woke up just in time for Brian’s parents and sister to arrive to celebrate and have Christmas supper.

He practiced his patty cake with grandma.

And then we dove in with Charlie Brown Christmas in the background (Jameson got it in his stocking along with some snacks and You Are My I Love You board book)

We had a lot of fun and are so grateful for all the wonderful gifts we received. And I think we did a pretty good job this year on the giving. Jameson makes it pretty easy.

Both sets of grandparents got this birth through 6 months digital scrapbook (what do you think I’ve been working on this week? the 6 month to 1 year one… slowly). They also received a family photo on canvas (thanks to Groupon) from Picture It on Canvas. I’ve now used both Canvas on Demand and Picture It, and I’ve been really happy with both results.

I hope you and yours had a wonderful holiday as well! I’m sad it’s over, but our lights will still be up through this week to help the celebration continue on!

P.S. If you love my family and adorable pictures of Jameson, here are the rest of our Christmas photos, and a few more cute videos of Jameson ringing bells here and playing with one of his new-old toys here.

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life with baby

The Party

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Saturday was The Party. Clutter was cleared out to the upstairs spare room, balloons were blown up, cakes were iced and decorated. It was a little bit of last minute chaos but it all came together.

My parents, sister and brother came up for the day, along with my brother’s girlfriend who I was finally able to meet.

The outfit Jameson has on, he had on for his photo shoot on Friday too. They were a clearance find, along with his first birthday bib, from Babies R Us. The bow tie was $2! Note the upside down polar bears on it though. Both my dad and Brian seem to have trouble putting it on right side up. Oops!

Jameson’s always a little uncertain of his grandpa he doesn’t see as often, but he warms up after just a little while. My family and Brian’s parents & sister kept Jameson occupied while we finished up the details. Like borrowing an ice bucket from the neighbors and getting help from said neighbor, my sister, and cousin Sam to work the balloons.

And then the guests began to arrive!

JP, Lisa and Jonathan in his adorable hat (he’s so good with hats) came with the nachos and taco dip. Jason and our other friend Lisa came with not as little Vivienne!

Carrie, Matt and their son Nicholas arrived too. We hadn’t seen them in a long time (not quite this long, but still long).

Cousin Nicholas who’s birthday was just last week arrived too with parents Jerry and Lisa and brother Nathan. (Lots of Lisa’s)

That’s a lot of babies!

After some play time (Jameson has a thing for water bottles right now), and food for the adults, it was time for cake!

Jameson didn’t blow out any candles this year. He also was quite a bit more delicate with the cake than I expected, though he enjoyed it! He was also fascinated with the balloons attached to his highchair.

We didn’t expect to open many gifts, but Jameson made it through all the gifts for the people who were there with us. First up, neighbors Kelly & Curtis and their daughter Lily. Then came Lisa, JP & Jonathan.

The babies wanted to help open the gifts they got for Jameson, it was so cute!

Jameson is learning how to clap, or maybe it’s patty cake (per his grandma). This is the very first time I saw him do it, and it was even captured on camera!

Uncle Ty’s girlfriend Emily took the camera from here and got some great shots. I was really excited to be in some photos for a change (open mouth and all).

Proof that some of the classic, old school toys are the best. Jameson wouldn’t let go of his little man peg (reminiscent of the Game of Life) the entire night from Jason, Lisa and Vivienne.

Here I am, trying on Jameson’s onesie from Aunt Holly. Captured on camera thanks to Emily, haha.

This used to be a card from his grandma and grandpa.

One of the last gifts of the evening, and one of my favorite photos. A frog hat, from my friend Teresa.

Jameson had a good time, but he missed an afternoon nap and was so tired at the end!

We had a great time! We opened more gifts, from us to Jameson and others who missed the party, on Sunday. Jameson really got the hang of opening gifts by the end. Some of his favorite things, of course, are the wrapping paper, bows and tissue paper. It’s the simple things, right?!

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Birthday Boy

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Jameson’s party was a huge success. He enjoyed seeing all the people, opening gifts (so much so that he crawled toward the Christmas gifts under the tree yesterday thinking there was more!), and playing with friends.

I’m honored with how many people came to see Jameson and wish him a happy first birthday, but I can see why sometimes second children get the shaft 😉 Parties are hard work!

The celebration started on Friday with Brian’s parents and sister coming over on his actual birthday to have pizza and open their gifts.

The first gift he opened was a little animal that sang Happy Birthday to him, opening and closing it’s mouth which Jameson tried to put his hands in.

Jameson loved the bows that his grandma put on the gifts!

We had to pause to read a couple of the new books he got.

He’s really starting to get stronger wants and needs and when he got new puffs, he really wanted to keep them. He was so upset when we took them away to open another gift, so we had to give them back.

But he forgot about them once he opened the big gift. His Aunt Melissa got him a new walking toy which he loved!

Jameson was really good about opening gifts and loved playing with his new toys! Little did he know there was more to come on Saturday…

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Cousins

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Saturday, we went to Jameson’s 2nd cousin’s first birthday party! Nicholas and his parents, my cousins, live less than 5 minutes away but this is the first we’ve ever been to their house. Life really does wrap us up sometimes, but we were happy to finally meet Nicholas, see how big his brother Nathan has gotten, and see relatives all gathered who I haven’t seen all together since my grandpa passed away a few years ago.

I refrained from dragging along my monster camera, but I couldn’t help but take some photos with the iPhone. Here’s a few shots of Nicholas’ Mickey Mouse themed party!

Would you believe that cake was made and decorated by Nicholas’ mother Lisa and her mom? Jameson loved it, his mouth went all black with Mickey Mouse icing. He wasn’t sure about the ice cream, it was a little cold. That’s him at the end pulling his sock off with his teeth.

He was a champ the whole time, and kept his great Aunt Carol entertained by showing (not sharing) his toys. That’s his new thing, so show off the toy and then take it back. Jameson also is enjoying sticking his fingers in other people’s mouths, so hopefully he doesn’t get sick again before his birthday at the end of THIS WEEK.

In other news, he woke up this morning at 4:30 crying, we’re not really sure why. He fell back asleep on me propped up on my shoulder, rocking. I kind of loved it, even at 4:30 in the morning. Except that he woke up when I went to lay him back down, so I did what any other mother in my shoes would do and I gave him to dad. Haha.

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