11 months under my belt.

As I quickly approach the one year mark with Joseph/Joe/JoJo (I still have no idea what I’m going to call the kid), I honestly can’t believe how quickly the year has flown.  I know I keep saying that, but it seriously blows my mind, man.  I mean, one minute I’m in the hospital having my baby, the next minute I’m freaking the heck out because his one year birthday is right around the corner, and I’ve done nothing – NOTHING – to prepare.  And I’m not just saying that.  I’ve really done nothing.  Who wants to help me put together a party.  I will pay you. 

…with beer.

God, help me. 

First, pictures.  Now that I have a new camera battery charger, I didn’t have to use my phone to take crappy shots.  I could use my nice camera to take crappy shots.  Photographer I am not.


If you’ll notice, the photos that are blog-worthy are fewer and fewer each month.  That’s because this kid refuses to sit still for longer than 20 seconds.  As you can tell in the last shot, he’s already totally over it and ready to move on in life.  Photos with Anna?  Heck no.  He’s not havin’ it.  Oh well, I tried.

The majority of his photos look like this:
 
Here’s a monthly comparison (click to see it enlarged):
 
Temperament:

Impatient is the word of the month.  Joe wants what he wants when he wants it, and if he doesn’t get it, your ear drums will pay dearly.  He’s still a very sweet little boy, and he still gets lots of compliments from daycare and other people who watch him, but Lord have mercy the kid has melt-downs of epic proportions if he doesn’t get what he wants (usually food, sometimes attention).  I think he’s really coming into his own these days and understanding his wants and needs.  And while I welcome this assertiveness as I know it means he’s blossoming into a toddler, I do have to say that I admit the more passive days of old. 

Feeding:
Bottomless pit = Joe (my husband and my son).  There are no foods that he turns away from at this point.  Green beans?  Yes.  Peas?  Yum.  Squash, carrots, chicken and rice?  Heck yes!  He’s not quite eating table food yet although I do think he’s ready.  I’ve been giving him yogurt melts and puffs, and he’s mastered the fine art of eating those, so I do think he’s ready to move on to more substantial foods now.  I do have some concerns about his lack of weight gain and small size (more on that later) considering he eats so much yet never gets any bigger. 

Per his pediatrician’s recommendation, today I started mixing his formula with whole milk.  I’m hoping that 1) he will tolerate it well and 2) it will help him put some much needed chub on those bones.

Sleeping:
Sleeping goes well most nights. After the sleep training technique was used, he manages to stay asleep most nights all through the night.  If he wakes up and cries, I just let him cry it out for a few minutes, and he usually puts himself back to sleep.  I try to not give him a bottle in the middle of the night, but there have been a few nights here and there where he refuses to fall back asleep, and to save my sanity, I give in and give him a bottle.  We do what we have to do in the midst of sleep deprivation.

Milestones:
He’s still not walking yet, but he’s standing for longer periods of time on his own.  He will let me lead him around, and he will move his feet to walk, so I know it’s only a matter of time. 

He’s had a bit of a verbal explosion over the past month, so I’m wondering if he’s going to be a verbal child.  Here’s what he can say so far (and attribute it correctly):
- Mama
- Dada
- Ann (for Anna)
- Ca (for cat)
- Baba (bottle)
- Uh (for uh oh)

He understands certain phrases like “go ni-night” or “look at the birds” (and I point to his mobile) or “did you go poo poo?” – I say that one a lot. 

Health:
There’s always drama on this front.  It seems like my poor boy is always sick with something.  This month?  Skin lesions. Or the correct medical term is nummular eczema.  After the first lesion popped out, I was convinced he had ring-worm.  Once the lesions started popping up in different areas, I knew we were dealing with something entirely different, so I took him in to the pediatrician for a look-see.  So, he has skin allergies to something – food, environment, stress, who knows?  Needle, meet haystack.  After a horrific blood draw at the doctor, hopefully we will have some answers.  They’re going to run an allergy panel on him, check to see if he has gluten allergies or whatever else may cause the eczema.  Good times.

For now, I have to put some cream on the lesions twice/day, use fragrance free detergents, don’t try anything new food-wise, and hope and pray to baby Jesus that the environmental allergens aren’t coming from my precious cats.  That was the pediatrician’s first question – do you have any cats?  She also said that based on his swollen eyes that it’s probably for sure an allergy.  We just have to figure out from what. 

I was also concerned about Joe’s small size, so I brought it up.  When they weighed him there, he’d only gained 1 ounce since his NINE MONTH visit.  ONE OUNCE!  Granted, he’s had some really awful stomach viruses (Oh yeah, I haven’t mentioned that yet), so she said that could be a set-back for him, but he’s in the 5th percentile with weight now, and it’s definitely worrisome.  Hopefully the tests will come back with something conclusive.  I don’t know.  We shall see.

Size:
As mentioned above, my kid is small.  He’s much smaller that most of the infants in his class.  And now that it’s confirmed he’s in the 5th percentile for weight, I don’t imagine he’ll be growing out of his 9 months – 12 months clothes anytime soon.  Still in size 3 diapers.  Size 3 – 4 shoes. 

Activities:
My mom and sister came over a few weekends ago and brought the kiddos with them.  It’s always totally crazy and chaotic in my house with four kids, but we have such a great time.  Anna and my nephew Jackson had a picnic in the back yard.  Please excuse the powder puff outfit Jackson had on.  He obviously dressed himself.  Future blackmail photos?!

 
And of course the “twins” (Joe and my niece Jocelyn) were having crib wars. 
(And before you call CPS on me, yes, that outlet has been covered – I’d just taken off the bumper earlier that day.)
Joe obviously doesn’t like being woken up.  Poor kid.

’Til next month.  Or in Natalie time, two months from now.

Always Golden.

I’m going to write about my child.  I love being able to look back months/years down the road and see what she’s up to during certain periods of time.  It seems like she grows so quickly.  I look at her and she’s 1” taller and a gagillion times smarter. 

What does Anna look like now?
Crazy.  A little crazy ball of energy with SO much personality.  Messy hair, bumps and bruises, sweaty – this is what she looks like on a daily basis.  Anna, once again, decided to crash Jackson’s two month photo shoot.  Except instead of sitting quietly while I took her picture, she did her best Britney impersonation and made her mean face.  She also kicked at me for good measure – but in a loving way.  <—Is that possible?

 

Here’s a photo of my nephew Jackson at two months.  Isn’t he precious?

 
And here he is flipping all of you off.

Back to Anna. 

I’m not sure how much Anna weighs at this point, but when I stood her on my home scale, it looked to be about 27 lbs.  When I pick her up, it feels more like 270, but that’s because I’m weak and should probably start lifting weights.

She’s a tall, sturdy little girl – rough and tumble.  She likes to run and play and act crazy, spin in circles, dance to music, sing, yell, eat eat (that’s how she says she wants to eat, she always says it twice), feed Cosmo the dog.   She’s already in 2T, sometimes 3T clothes and 6, almost 7 shoes.  Her feet were newborn size for nearly a year, then BAM, boat feet central (just like mom).  That’s OK, it gives her more leverage when she dances.

She’s having a word explosion now.  She can pretty much repeat whatever we say, so now we have to be more aware of the words we use.  Then again, we’re perfect angels with a flawless vocabulary, so of course she’ll only learn appropriate words like love, light and charity. 

The cutest words she says are as follows:

Corn
Onion

Dr. Pepper

Cosmo (maaamo)

Cat
Car (caaaaah)
What that? (except it totally doesn’t sound like this, but we can tell from the inflection and the fact that she puts both hands out in a way that we know what she’s asking)
Shoe
Catch (cak tc)
Keys
Oh no (but it sounds like meow meow)
Eat eat
Cheese
Please (peas)

Thank you (da doot)

Juice (booce)
Milk (meeel)

Laptop (yes, I am serious)
Phone
Paw Paw

Lea Lea (her favorite auntie)
Jackson (babakso)

These are the words I can think of off the top of my head.  There are more, but I’ve forgotten them because that’s what good mothers do.  We forget important things like this.  At this point, she can mimic most of the words we say, and there are many words that she says that only I can understand.  She and I have a language.  I speak baby. 

Her favorite activities are dancing, poking me in the butt, watching Golden Girls, riding in cars, wearing jewelry, stealing all of my purses and wearing them all at one time, playing with her cousin Jackson, spending time with her grandparents, hitting (I mean, petting) Cosmo the dog and Harley and Chloe the cats, trying to hack all things technical – cell phones, laptops, television, DVRs.  She can touch something and completely change all of the settings in 1.5 seconds.  You get your phone back, and everything is in Chinese.  It takes 2 years to fix the damage she’s done.  Hopefully she can use this talent for good instead of evil one day.

As I mentioned above, my child loves watching Golden Girls aka GIRRRRLS.  Whenever she’s angry or upset, I say, “Want to watch Girls?  She immediately shouts, “GIRRRLSSS!”  Then she will watch about 2 or 3 episodes with me.  I promise you I’m not making this up.  She’s way too cool for Yo Gabba Gabba.  She’s traded Foofa for Rose Nylund and Brobee for Sophia.  I can’t say that I mind.  It’s far less annoying to chant the Golden Girls theme in your head all day long vs. some of the ridiculously mind numbing music of YGG (although I do admit to loving the song I Like Sandwiches and I Love Balloons).

Here’s an old skool video of Anna watching Golden Girls.  So, her obsession has been long lasting.  I’m guessing she probably became addicted in utero since I watched the show daily.

So, this is my child.  A funny, sweet, crazy, bundle of energy who loves to laugh, run, jump, play and be around people.  We are truly so blessed to have such a precious child in our lives, and I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to be her mother.  I am looking forward to watching her grow and learn and be everything she will ever want to be.

I love you, Anna. 

They meet.

So, I’m a little behind with posting lately.  For that, I apologize.  Take a trip with me in the way back machine to the first day that Anna met my little nephew Jackson.  May 23, to be exact.  Oh, and for the record, we’ll be on this way back machine for the next few blog entries, so don’t feel like you’re a crack head when I post about Mother’s Day months after the fact.

This is Anna’s first glimpse of her favorite cousin.  She greased her hair with Crisco just for this special occasion.

She tries to eat the baby.

We tell her no.

She points and laughs at the baby.

Jackson doesn’t care. 

Then she decides to crash his photoshoot and take a letter off of his name basket (see below).
 
Then she decides to steal his hat.

I’ve decided I need an action lens to photograph my child from now on.  She’s too quick!

So, all in all, it was a good first meeting.  I can already tell they’re going to be great buds – as long as Anna will quit stealing his stuff!

5.13.10

 

As promised, I’m going to share my sister’s birth story with all of you (she gave me permission).  Since I got to take part in the whole process, I figured I’d post about it on here (for memory’s sake).  Here goes!

I get a text message from my sister at 5:45 a.m. on Thursday, May 13.  Unfortunately, I’m a loser and deleted it from my phone by accident, but it basically said that she was in labor and on the way to the hospital.  I called her immediately to confirm.  She said her bag of water had broken, and she was having steady contractions, very close together.  She was only a little over 37 weeks at the time, so none of us were expecting Jackson to arrive so early.  Then again, Anna was impatient, too, so it all was eerily similar. 

I started running around my house like a mad woman (just like I did the morning I went into labor).  I was throwing stuff in a suitcase and hurriedly getting ready.  My sister lives an hour away from me, and her hospital was an hour away from that, so I still had 2 hours of driving to do.  Since her contractions were timing so close together, I was in panic mode that I wouldn’t be there in time. 

Fortunately, Joe was off of work that day, so he stayed home to watch Anna.  I drove as quickly as I could without getting arrested and picked my mom up from her house.  Then we made the hour long trip to the hospital.  It was the longest drive ever!

We finally arrive at the hospital and run like mad women to my sister’s labor room.  The hospital was HUGE and terribly confusing, so we spent a good 15 minutes just trying to find her room.  By the time we got there, she was in the midst of contraction hell, and I could tell by the look on her face that an Epidural wasn’t far off.

Niki in the midst of a contraction.  Poor thing! Trent was a great labor partner!

My poor sister never really got a break with the contractions.  She had one contraction on top of another.  Later we would find out that’s because she was dilating at the speed of light.  She basically went from finger-tip dilation to 6 cm within a two hour span.  So, yeah, she’s pretty darn strong and awesome to deal with that intense amount of pain before begging for an epidural. 

There was a tense moment before she got an epidural.  Jackson’s heart rate kept dipping pretty low everytime she’d have a contraction.  The OB on call kept coming into the room to get my sister to change positions.  She finally decided to do a fluid immersion since she could tell that Jackson was pressing down hard on my sister’s pelvic bone.  Since her bag of water had broken earlier that morning and she was contracting so quickly, they wanted to give him a little padding in utero until he made his grand entrance into the world.  Once they did the immersion, his heart rate never dipped again.  Good thinking, Dr!

Ahh, sweet relief!  She’s finally getting an epidural.  Since they didn’t give her fluids when she first got there, she had to wait until an entire saline ringer bag of fluid was drained out.  We each sat there watching it with nervous anticipation.  I kept thinking to myself – HURRY THE HELL UP!

MUCH better now! Now we can take a family photo – me, Niki, mom

Even after she was given the epidural, she kept progressing very quickly.  Each time they would check her, she had dilated at least a centimeter.  It was pretty amazing considering this is her first child. 

Her good friend Christy came by to visit. L to R: Jessica (Niki’s sister-in-law), Stephanie (mother-in-law), Ray (father-in-law), Noah (Jessica’s son, Niki’s nephew), Trent (hub)

The nurse comes in after a while and tells us that Niki is ready.  We all stood around looking at each other completely dumb founded.  Didn’t we just get here?!  She went into labor around 4:45 that morning, and here it is 11 a.m., and she’s 10 cm and ready to be a mom.  Wow! 

So, they wheel in the baby incubator cart thing (sorry I don't know the technical name for it), and we all get super excited that we’re about to meet Jackson for the first time!
Then the nurse comes in and starts doing the test pushes with my sister.  Jackson had basically dropped to the lowest point at this time, so we didn’t think it was going to take much to get him out.  Starting the test pushes.  Now it’s time to really push!  He’s almost here!

All told, my sister pushed for about 45 minutes.  It was tough, but she pushed through, and at 12:45 p.m. on Thursday, May 13, 2010, Jackson Trent was born into this world! 
 

The proud parents setting their sights on Jackson for the first time.

Mimi looking @ Jackson for the first time. Daddy cutting the cord!

The first time Niki gets to hold her son.  Time for a clean up. Jackson was having a hard time breathing, so they gave him some O2.  Teeny baby!  5 lbs. 13.5 oz.  Trent finally gets to hold his son. He’s a pro already! First family photo. Since Jackson was having a hard time breathing, they wanted to keep him in the nursery.  Trent never left his side. The first time Mimi got to hold Jackson. Time for a bath! He was not a happy camper. All clean now. Jackson in his first onesie. The first time Jackson’s maternal great grandparents got to hold him and see him.  The first time Jackson’s paternal great grandparents got to hold him.Jackson and Paw Paw Jeff. 

Jackson and his favorite Auntie. First Dr. visit. First diaper change – it’s a family affair. Jackson snuggling with his beautiful mom. The proud parents are finally home. Jackson’s reaction when he sees his new home!

Snug as a bug his first night at home.

So, all in all, it was an incredible and beautiful experience for everyone.  I’m so honored that my sister allowed me to take part in such a special event.  Words cannot express how amazing it was to see my little nephew take his first breath of air.  I love you, Jackson.  Welcome to our wonderful (and crazy) lil’ family. 

If you’ve made it this far, hang in there a few more seconds.  Below are his newborn pictures.  He was the perfect little model!

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