Growing Like a Weed

Gosh, the days are flying by! I can't believe I am already 17 weeks pregnant, which for me may mean I am already more than halfway through the pregnancy! This baby is VERY active...much more so than Jack was. I felt him moving at a much earlier stage and I feel him pretty frequently!

Yesterday, we had a checkup for Jack. Just a normal well-baby checkup but I thought this was as good a time as any to write down a few things about my baby boy and what he is up to these days.

Starting with cold stats--he is in the 50th percentile for height and somewhere between the 25th and 30th for weight. He is 31 inches long and 23 lbs at 16 months. Quite an accomplishment for a kid who wasn't even on the charts at birth and hovered near the 4th percentile for a large portion of his first year. That means he has grown 500% (in weight) since birth!

Still no talking. :-( But, Jack is becoming more and more independent and we are really starting to see his personality develop. He is silly, he loves to make this "cheesy" smile for us (he wrinkles up his nose and shows all his teeth). Unfortunately, we haven't been able to get it on camera yet. He LOVES phones--of all kinds, but he isn't tricked by fake phones. He holds it up to his ear, "talks" into it and then will try to hold it up to your ear. He loves to be chased, especially after his bath when we are trying to get him in pajamas. He's become very affectionate and gives me big hugs. There is nothing that warms my heart more than him falling into my arms for a hug. He has started bringing me books to read to him. He likes to dance. We have this little LeapFrog magnetic puzzle thing on the refrigerator and if you press the frog, it plays silly banjo music. He likes to press it and does this silly little dance all around. He's a great mimic--you show him anything once and he'll have it down. For example, he watched me using the Doppler to listen to the baby's heartbeat and now, whenever he sees it, he'll grab it and run it along his tummy.

Bad Mommy

Preface to this post: I am blessed by a baby who goes to bed around 6 pm each night and goes easily. No complicated bedtime routine, no fussing. We bring him upstairs, lie him down awake, turn on his seahorse and off to sleep he goes.

I officially feel like the world's worst mommy. Last night, Jack was in a rare state. I picked him up from daycare and he was throwing a fit about not being able to play with a broom. The fit continued when I strapped him into the car. By the time we got home, he was mostly calm but as soon as I got him out, he got mad again because he wanted to play outside and we were headed inside. Fortunately, Jared was home early yesterday so I promptly handed my screaming toddler to my husband. :-) It didn't end there...there were tears through dinner and bath and at this point, we were slightly concerned because he just wasn't acting like him. We took his temp. We gave him teething tablets and some Tylenol. All to no avail. Finally, we decided he needed to go to bed. The first attempt did not work out. He came back downstairs, played nicely for about 3 minutes and then was inconsolable again. After all this, we decided he really, really needed to go to bed and he would just have to cry it out. Cry it out he did--really, it only lasted about 15-20 mins. Later, I went to check on him. He was sleeping peacefully. This morning, I noticed his face and hair were somewhat crusty and felt guilty thinking it must have been mucus from all the crying.

Well, this evening, I went upstairs to get him a towel for bathtime and for some reason, pulled the blanket out of his crib. And realized it was covered in vomit. My poor guy had thrown up last night (likely the cause for all of his fussing last night) and we let him sleep covered and lying in his vomit. I feel so terrible. Next time, I will try to problem solve a little more.

On an unrelated note, my best friend's daughter (and my namesake!), Katy, is having surgery on Thursday to have tubes put in her ears. Although a relatively minor surgery, it's always scary to have your baby put under anesthesia. Please keep them in your prayers, for Jennifer and Robby's peace of mind, that the surgery goes easily and that it is successful in helping keep these chronic ear infections Katy's been having at bay.

First Haircut

Sniff, sniff. My baby now has enough hair to have a haircut. Last weekend, when we were in San Diego, I brought him to a place that specializes in kids haircuts (figured we would have less chance of losing parts of ears or having large holes in his hair!). They clipped away and the result is very cute. He behaved himslef for the most part until the end, when he wanted very badly to get out of the chair! They gave us a lock of his hair and a certificate commemorating his first haircut.

Congratulations James and Stefani!

Ok, a week late...but better than never...

Last weekend, we had the privilege of attending the wedding of some close friends of ours, James and Stefani. Jared was the best man and he did a smashing job, if I do say so myself. :-) The wedding was beautiful. It had been a gray and rainy day all day and, as I drove up from San Diego through on- and off-again rain, I worried about this outdoor wedding. As soon as I pulled off the exit to the wedding location, the sun broke out and stayed! It was a beautiful afternoon from there on out. Stefani looked stunning and everything went off without a hitch.

Best wishes to both you! Thank you for including us in your special day!