Monday, January 31, 2011

Day 31- Red


I've got almost everything done and I'm ready for bed, so a super quick post. This week's challenge is "red." Jackson and I were running late getting home so he fell asleep. I had to wake him up to get him ready for bed so he'll sleep longer. Here he's chewing on his toothbrush, hanging out with elmo and rocking his perfect size fuzzibunz :) Probably one of the only times I could get a decent picture of him all day. These long days are rough!

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Day 30- Food! Picture heavy!


We took baby led weaning to full swing today. Jackson had breakfast and dinner with us. I'm pretty sure that I will have a full day of school tomorrow (and maybe all week if that storm hits us a rain instead of ice or snow) so I will let the pictures and the captions do the talking today. So far it's been really successful and I'm really happy with our decision to do baby led weaning. Jackson enjoys it and has fun. He's adventurous and only eats what he wants. I keep trying the sippy cup, he gets so frustrated. I let him have the trainer, he gets wet, but drinks some- on his own and is one happy kid.
The hardest part I have with baby led weaning right now is not praising him or helping him out too much. They say don't praise because once they understand there is a right way to do it (pick it up get it in the mouth) they will understand that there is a wrong way and frustration can set in. My job is full of constant praise, so it's hard. So I've relegated myself to talking about the flavors, textures, and colors as we eat. It's also hard not to stare because I'm so amazed at his proficiency already, but again- no pressure. I know I don't like to eat with everyone staring, so I've got to try to make sure I'm looking during conversation and eating myself and not just watching him.
Jackson loves his new highchair- thanks Aunt Chris and Uncle Charlie!
Practicing with his food while I make our breakfast
Our breakfast is all ready. I get toast with peanut butter and oatmeal with oj, Jackson gets watermelon, a piece of dry toast, oatmeal and water
He heads right for the watermelon- yummy!
Well- I drink from a cup like this, so this must be how I get what's in the bowl
He did actually get a little to eat with this method
Oh- this stuff feels cool!
Ok- Mom uses a spoon, but I'm not sure how to get the food there. If I put the spoon in my mouth with one hand, I can put the food on the spoon with the other. Very creative method, he's a smart kid!
This eating thing is tough work!
Dinner time- bananas and avocado- he's munching on some avocado here. It was really hard to get a hold of, so slippery!
Banana time- he ate almost the whole thing! (well his piece)
Working hard to chew it all up!
I love dinner!!

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Day 28-shopaholic day


So Jackson did fairly well in the crib last night. He went down on his belly, woke up at 1:30, 3:30 (ugh- ever since the exorcism of emily rose I'm terrified to get up at this time), 5:00, and up for good at 7:15. I put him on his back after feeding him at 5:00 and he did great. I know it's OK for him to sleep on his belly, but it still just freaks me out. I'll do it if he won't sleep anyway else, but if he's cool on his back, I'll sleep a little better.
So Jackson and I spent the morning playing and had a little nap. We had to wait until 11 for Russell to get up, but when he did we decided to get some shopping and returning done in Clarksburg. We finally got out of the house around 2:30 and hit Kohls. We exchanged 2 things from Christmas and got 3 outfits. We also got Jackson's Valentine's Day present- 3 Eric Carle books. The Kohl's Cares for Kids books are such an awesome deal and they go to a great cause. We already had a The Very Hungry Caterpillar (thanks mom), but we got The Foolish Tortoise, The Grouchy Ladybug, and The Mixed Up Chameleon all for $15. Jackson loves the Very Hungry Caterpillar all the colors and the fun story, so I know he's going to love these books too!
Anyway after Kohl's we went to Home Depot because Russell has to fix the tub so it does more than a shower since Jackson's getting too big for his tub and install a diaper sprayer since Jackson is starting on solid food.
Next, we went out to dinner with Russell's parents at Outback. Jackson was a little fussy and I had to take him out to calm him down, he took a power nap and was good to go. He had a little broccoli and cracked me up. He kept bringing it to his mouth to taste it, he'd make a terrible face, but kept shoving it in his mouth. Finally, he gave up on it.
We spent the rest of the night at the mall doing exchanges. I tried to buy the California Baby cold and flu bubble bath to help with Jackson's congestion- but I guess a lot of people need it this time of year b/c it was all sold out. By the time all of this was done it was 8:30, already past Jackson's bed time. Looking at Jackson, aside from some eye rubbing, you would never know. He was pleasant and fun and smiling. He's such a trooper. He was good and awake for most of the drive home.
He was happy through about 5 minutes of bath time (my picture for today) and then we finished our nighttime routine and he's in his crib again, sound asleep on his back.

I'm so lucky to have such a happy, go with the flow kid. While I try really hard to stick to our routine, sometimes it just doesn't happen and he is so flexible. I'm really thankful for his awesome personality. I'm also really tired and am sorry for this ramble of a post. I'm hoping to get some sleep tonight so it'll be a much better post tomorrow night!


Friday, January 28, 2011

Day 27- Movin' on up


Jackson was up again every couple of hours last night. I miss my sleep through the night baby. Fortunately he did take 2 decent naps today so he was pretty pleasant most of the day. I then began brainstorming why he's up. It could be a lot of things teething, growth spurt, not eating enough during the day b/c he's into EVERYTHING, or maybe he's outgrowing the rock n' play. I then thought about how my reasoning for not sticking with the switch to the crib last night was that he sleeps fine in the rock n' play. Well, he's not sleeping so good there anymore so no excuses. It's time for the crib to become more than a place to play while I get a shower. The pediatrician said I could start letting him sleep on his belly starting at 6 months. He's pretty close, he has excellent head control, he sits up on his own, he can roll belly to back, he sleeps in a sleep sack, and there is nothing in his crib except for his seahorse. So tonight is his first night in the crib. He looks so tiny in there! He went down without a fuss (thanks to the seahorse) about 15 minutes later he started to get fussy, I went in patted his back, turned on the seahorse and he drifted back to sleep. I hope we have a good night tonight! Not getting too far ahead of myself but so far tonight has gone so much better than the last time we tried. I'm probably in for a long night, but I think the longer I wait the worse it's going to be SO might as well suck it up and do it now that he's having trouble sleeping anyway.

It's reminiscent of the glow worm, but it has ocean sounds in between the classical music and will play longer. I thought it was pretty ugly, but some friends from my August mom chat group swear by this thing. They were right about the rock n' play and the seahorse was half off on black friday so I thought- why not. The next 3 days after Jackson got it, he slept on his own! This thing does work some magic. He starts to fuss, I turn it on and he's mesmerized. Definitely one of our very important purchases. I recommend any of my friends with new babies or babies due get one.

Our picture today is from Jackson's new toy, a present from his friend Bradie. Brandie and David were kind enough to give us Bradie's old walker. Jackson loved it right away. It took me forever to get a picture of him smiling b/c he was concentrating so hard on the toys and how he was moving. It only took him a minute to figure out how to go backward and about 5 minutes to figure out how to go forward. He had a great time! I know he'll be so excited b/c he's just starting to get frustrated at not being able to move around on his own.


Thursday, January 27, 2011

Day-26 Snow, Sippy cups, and cleaning out clothes




So we got to enjoy another snow day today (with tomorrow already called off). I'm starting to feel like a stay at home mom, and it's not too bad. However, I do require more adult interaction to feel human. I give major credit to all the stay at home moms out there- I'm exhausted and I still need to finish dishes and sweep. Though I really enjoy only pumping once a day- that's such a PITA. I also decided to start the post today with a picture of Jackson learning to read on his snow day. He read the book upside down and then chewed on it, but he did turn the pages. Thanks Aunt Bobbi- he loves that book!

The snow is really deep and we're supposed to get a little more tonight. Jackson and I are going to have to suck it up and go out and shovel tomorrow :( I've enjoyed the warmth, but the poor mailman is probably not thrilled. Fortunately a neighbor plows the sidewalk, so it's just the walk up to my door. I like this heavy snow though b/c it really is beautiful. I put another picture in there from today. I really wish we didn't live in the city. I see all kinds of picture from my friends who live more rurally and they are beautiful. There really are no benefits to living in the city now. There is no real running out real quick anymore, it's a task to get all the stuff for Jackson together, then feed, change, and make sure he's rested before we go. A few more years and then Joe, Bernie, and Jackson can have some space to run!

I decided to let Jackson try with the sippy cup again. He was not a fan. I took a picture of how he spent the 3 minutes with the sippy cup before he threw it on the floor and did not whine for it back.
Definitely not impressed. So I switched and gave him the training cup. He wasn't very accurate, but he was a much happier baby. Good thing I'm a special ed teacher, I totally understand that learning is messy and I'm fine with it :)


Finally, our big task of the day was pulling out the 6-9 month brands that run smaller (gap, old navy, gerber) for Jackson to wear, along with all of the footies or one pieces since he's so tall. We also cleared out those smaller 3-6 clothes, his 3-6 jeans, and 3-6 one piece outfits. I got all the socks that are too small out and put away too. There is a picture of the clothes that I'm washing to wear now and the clothes we are saying goodbye too. He is growing so fast!!

Hello 6-9 month clothes!
Goodbye 3-6 month clothes, we didn't get to spend enough time together!

Hope everyone has a great night and stays safe in all of this crazy weather!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Day 26- snow, snow, snow


I'm still having video issues, but I did get one up yesterday. Today was another glorious snow day and tomorrow is already called off. Today I put a picture of Jackson in his onesie from Lots of Laughs boutique with newborn babylegs as arm warmers and comfy fleece pants. We had a busy day full of playing and napping. I had watermelon for lunch and Jackson wanted to try some, so I strapped him in and gave him a piece- he loved it! He did a great job with it too. So I've shared some pics of him working on his watermelon. We aren't officially starting solids for 2 more weeks, but every now and then when he reaches and whines for something we are going to let him sample a small piece. He sang himself to sleep tonight. I fed him and put him to bed where he always wakes up. He usually will suck his thumb and drift off, but tonight he decided to sing himself to sleep :)
I'm also posting some pics of the snow that I took. I know this heavy snow is rough, but it is really beautiful. I'm headed to bed early tonight so I have lots of energy for Jackson and the dogs tomorrow. I've got laundry and grades done so it was a rather productive night, leaving me with very little to do tomorrow except play! I put captions b/c they are all out of order and with the in and out power I'm tired of rearranging them.

Evil Bernie playing at night, mad b/c Joe keeps dragging him in the snow.
Snow at night
Snow during the day
Bernie tasting some snow
Joe getting snowed on
Jackson gnawing on watermelon
yum
Jackson relaxing on his activity mat

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Day 25- Jackson and his BFF


Basketball started today. I love to coach, but it does make my time with Jackson shorter in the evenings. So I took a couple of videos of our night time fun to show you all that we really try to make the most of it.

In addition to the video I have 2 pictures of Jackson and Joe dog. This week's challenge was BFFs. Jackson loves his dogs and while Bernie is protective of Jackson, he still prefers to do that from a distance. Thank goodness for Joe- he will sit there through every ear pull, nose grab, and tooth exploration with patience and a kiss.

So since it took me forever to focus on this rambling post due to not enough sleep- I'll leave you with the pictures and videos. Oh and have you figured out that Jackson's favorite toy is his WVU basketball- thanks JRES folks!

Everyone do your snow dance tonight so that Jackson and I get some quality time together this week (and all my teacher friends can enjoy one of our professions greatest benefits!)



**Edit- I"ll add the videos tomorrow b/c they are taking forever and I need to get to bed!!

Monday, January 24, 2011

Day 24- Big boy cup

Are you wondering why there are random "dones" and "likes" and fan pages that I join in mass numbers? Well I have discovered the great world of facebook giveaways. Most of them focus on things for baby. I've already won close to a dozen things and it takes very little. Tonight I'm playing 2 games to try and win so this is going to be a short entry.

Jackson and I got to Skype with my mom and George tonight. It was really nice for him to hear their voices and see their faces and definitely helps to close the distance.

We also got a package from amazon today. (Moms, moms to be, or people who want to pretend to be moms- you get free 2 day shipping from amazon through the amazon mom program, it is so wonderful. I can read about something or realize he needs something that one of the 3 stores that has kids stuff in this town doesn't have, which happens often, and I"ll have it 2 days later with no extra cost. http://www.amazon.com/gp/mom/signup/info)
Anyway the package has the book "The No Cry Nap Solution" which we desperately need to work. Currently, though sometimes I love it, Jackson will only take naps on me. Every once in a while he'll go in the crib, but most of the time fights it. He needs sleep badly so I usually give in and let him sleep on me. I really hope there are good tips in this book- I'll let you all know if it works. Hopefully it will help to get him ready to transition from the Rock n' Play to the crib next month too.

The other thing we got was his training cup. He HATES sippy cups. Like, throw on the floor and scream, hates sippy cups. However, he loves to drink water from my cup and gets frustrated when I won't let him drink anymore. So I found this training cup. Of course it's messy, but it's better than a regular old plastic cup. He did get the hang of it, but preferred me to hold it. I think he'll be drinking like a pro from it by April. http://www.oxo.com/p-990-training-cup-7-oz.aspx
So here are his pictures, one practicing with the cup and the second his oops pic.

I can do it!
Oops, I spilled some- but I'm cute and just learning so it's OK!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Day 23- Steelers and Mountaineers



The Mountaineers won today which was good after their disappointing performance against Marshall. The Steelers are playing currently and their lead is dwindling. I'm watching the game and don't want to stay up late as Jackson was up with his cold 3x last night. This is going to be super short so I can concentrate on the game. Below are pics of Jackson in WVU/Steeler fan modes. My favorite is Jackson's "game day face."

Watching the game with Dad
Hanging out with Bernie watching the end of the Packers game
Reading about Steeler Super bowl MVPs
Jackson showing his best game day face
Silly kid lovin' his terrible toddler towel

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Day 22- Date Night- well evening



Jackson and Dad watching Jeopardy
A HUGE thank you to Candy and Patricia for watching Jackson this afternoon. It was great headed out not worrying about feeding, naps or diaper changes. Russell and I went to see The Dilemma, it was pretty funny and then grabbed dinner. Jackson really seemed to have a good time and was tired out.

Today's pictures are a result of diaper laundry. I have some diapers coming in the mail, either ones that I won or ones that I got a really good deal on- so I decided to take stock of what we have. I have a picture of Jackson with our diaper stash, then pictures of how we store our diapers. In the mail I have 2 diapeze diapers, a nifty nappy fitted, a click-a-doo AI2, a WAHM trout diaper, and a nifty nappy swim diaper. He's growing out of some of his sized diapers, so those are all replacements.

Here is Jackson with his stash- the fitteds are in the top left, all the BG and Kawaiis go to Miss Brenda's and the hodge podge of brands left over are ours. Those are SBISH longies in the center, CC Baby longies to the left, Sbish soaker in blue bottom right, a mama bear wool wrap in merino wool in the tan, and the cream is a little to big beetle wool cover. I'll be reviewing all of these throughout the year.
Our diaper pail with a pail liner from Etsy which rotates with a planetwise diaper pail.
This holds extra inserts, some prefolds, diapers he doesn't fit in yet, and his swim diaper. Great storage space.
This is the basket we keep all the pockets, AIOs and AI2s
This is our basket of fitteds
Extra inserts that I use for long trips or naps
All the PUL covers I used with prefolds when he was itty bitty.
View of the set up and his A&A cozy sleeping bag
Our wipe container- flannel wipes on the left, terry scrubby wipes on the right
The beautiful shelf that Russell built that is directly above the changing table. The peri bottle has our wipe solution which is 3 drops tea tree oil and the rest is water. The big white tub is CJs BUTTer (an all natural diaper cream), vitamins, tylenol, eye drops, tooth brush, vaseline, the basket on the left has snappis and his amber teething necklaces. This is a very handy shelf :)
This is our bumble pocket http://www.bumbledoo.com/ I won it on a FB comment game. This hangs off the side of the crib (behind his kick n play piano) and holds all of the wool. This is extremely durable and a perfect solution to keeping the wool in a place it can dry without taking up too much space. As he gets older the wool will go to the storage underneath space for easy access and this will start to hold his favorite toys and books. I love this and am really happy I won it b/c I'm not sure that I would have bought it and I never would have known what I was missing out on. There are a ton of patterns and each one is hand made- you can't beat that!

About This Blog

This blog will document the lives of Jackson, Joe, and Bernie throughout 2011. The purpose of this blog is to learn to celebrate and appreciate something every day. It will also have comments from me about being a new mom, trying to raise a child to appreciate and respect all things in nature.