Year In Review

Oh it's the last day of the year, so I might as well get on the bandwagon and do my Lew family year in review.

January: Introduction of Little Man blog. I get a new job as Director of Strategic Sales and Communication at CU Athletics. Jason wins dodgeball championship.

February: Another month with a grand total of one blog post. Jason assembles Little Man Lew's crib and other accoutrement for his room. Double root canal for me.

March: Baby shower(s) with Chickfila and CU. Amazing childbirth classes, where we meet friends Beth and Steph and husbands. Juno. Dedication to an epidural. Painting the room. WNIT. Visits from Jason's family.

April: Baby Mama. First kid born from childbirth class. Braxton Hicks. Baby pool at work. CU football spring game featuring debut of Ralphie V. Our last month of a two person family. At last doctor appointment on April 30, we schedule induction for May 6. We didn't need it.

May: On day two this month we welcome Jackson Conrad Lew to the world. Home at last. Circumcision (ouch). First trip out. Lews visit. First Mother's Day! Jason back to work. Big 12 Track! First online videos of Jackson posted. Meeting the Anhold family. Baby Bjorn trips. Jason's birthday.

June: Lifting of head. One month old. First trip to IBM and to CU main campus. First girls night out. First smile! First Father's Day! Lew and Davis families visit. Mom back to exercise and first soccer games. Cooing. Mice at work. Baby class reunion, take 1.

July: Shots. Fourth of July outing in the park and fireworks. First time sick. Escaping the swaddler. Ed and Kristen's wedding. Blackhawk. Mamma Mia. My birthday. Turned around in the crib for the first time. Football 101. First time sleeping through the night (930 pm-6 am!)

August: First studio photos (ha!). Back to work for me. Boulder County Fair. First time rolling over. Sick again.

September: First solids (cereal) and first real food (sweet potatoes). Attempt at first CU football game. More sick. Maybe rolled from tummy to back, maybe not. Baby picnic, take 2.

October: Real roll over from back to tummy. Uncle Eric and Aunt Jennie's wedding. Meeting his great grandma Dot and lots of aunts and uncles and cousins. Grabbing feet. Raspberries. Real rolling over. Jason to Indiana. Halloween and trick or treating.

November: Six months old. Second studio photos. Election! Sitting up on his own. Horrible, horrible sickness hits entire family. Stage 2 foods. Splashing in the tub. Thanksgiving and first meats.

December: Attempt at Cheerios. Photo with Santa. On again, off again 10 pm bottles. Light parade in Longmont. Tortured toenails from jumperoo. Teething..is he or isn't he? He is. Throwing up in mommy's mouth. Christmas! Almost crawling. And on the last day of the new year...clicking his tongue and using his pincers on cheerios for the first time.

Happy New Year...I will miss 2008, the most special year of my life.

No News is No News

Not much going on in Jackson land really. He still has his two lower front teeth that are just sitting there. Tiny little nubbins that if you feel them with your finger they are for sure the tops of his teeth and to an unseasoned veteran of teething they feel like they are through to me. But they haven't sprouted upward yet really.

Last night we had ridiculous winds that continue still in Boulder. So I didn't get much sleep but Jackson and Jason both did. I was so desperate I even attempted to sleep in the spare bed in Jackson's room while he was in there, but no dice Chicago. Jackson didn't seem bothered by them but for the second night in a row has awakened at 5:30 am with a ridiculously full pee diaper that I can't blame him for not sleeping through.

Public Service Announcement

I hate Microsoft and Microsoft/MSN customer service. Without going into too much detail, I tried to cancel a monthly service I had subscribed to for $14.99 a month on November 13. I have subsequently been billed twice by them for it and it was not until I called my credit card company to dispute the charges did I get the phone number. Not that I didn't try to find a phone number or an email address or a contact form for MSN Games for like an hour. F. Not even by Googling it could I find a phone number.

So I called Microsoft MSN customer service and blah blah blah after talking to a supervisor I got them to give me back one of the two disputed months of charges and she would not cave on the other. So I'm going to weigh my options and have yet to decide if I'm going to call my cc company and make them dispute the charge or call back Microsoft MSN customer service and make them give me the charge, but in the meantime, for all of you out there googling those jerks here are two Microsoft MSN customer service phone numbers that I couldn't find:

Phone number to contact MSN customer service (JUST PRESS 0 when you call): 1-800-386-5550
MSN Billing Inquiries (1-866-672-4551)

Tell them I say hi. Jerks. We now return to our regularly scheduled topics.

Attempting to Crawl

Key concept here is attempting....

First Christmas

It was Jackson's first Christmas. Obviously. And judging by the photo at left, I would say it was a success. Jackson did well which isn't altogether unexpected considering he didn't know what was going on really. By the second round of presents after a fantastic morning nap he had figured out 1) to pull the paper off and 2) how to pull the paper off, but he just did it because he liked the sound, not because of what was inside. Last night we went to Aunt Rita and Uncle Willy's house and had a full table with all the cousins and their kids and their kids kids. It was lots of fun. We spent the last few days in Lakewood and will probably head north tonight. My brother gets back from Kansas today as well. Jackson did beautifully all week really.

He actually started doing some things this week he hasn't done before. He was never one for repetative sounds...but of course now it's dadadadadadadadada and gagagagagagagagagaga all the time. Missing from this list is mamamamamamamamama but someday it will join the ranks. He also made his first efforts at crawling forward...doing usually one arm and the opposite leg before collapsing into a heap of giggles and drool. He also has the very top of a tooth coming through on the bottom left front...we'll see when it decides to actually appear as it apparently has a shy streak because it's up, it's down, it's up, it's down. When it's up, it's interfering with him wanting to eat anything but it's nothing a little T to the Y can't fix in 15 minutes if needed.

Hope you and yours had a Merry Christmas and look forward to a Happy New Year!

Grossest Thing Ever

Jackson threw up in my mouth. I figured I would just cut to the chase on this one. I was laying on the floor, he was sitting on my chest and he was dancing and I was singing. The word I was singing was "Goooooooooooo," and the next thing I knew, regurgitated beef with carrots and corn, winter squash and formula were in my mouth.

There's really not much to say about this other than I'm scarred for life.

Is He or Isn't He?

Teething.  There is a lot of this guessing game going on lately in Jackson's world as he has had some uncharacteristically unhappy moments.  On again, off again fevers.  On again, off again screaming. On again, off again disinterest in his bottles. Or food. Sometimes there's a bump, sometimes there's a red spot. Sometimes not. 

Jason didn't get teeth until he was like nine months old.  I got my first tooth on my five month birthday. We are approaching Jackson's eight month birthday so who knows.  I'm in no hurry for it as most of my friends have had their wee ones struggle a bit. 

When the time comes, we're as prepared as we're going to be to help him through it. And there's always tylenol. 

Baby Pedicures Anyone?

Something funny we discovered recently was the damage he is inflicting on his toenails. See, he loves his jumperoo. Loves it. And he will only be able to use it a little while longer since he is getting to be in the weight range where its a no go. So far be it from me to deny him the jumperoo whilst in the jumperoo approved weight range. The issue is that he doesn't jump off the balls of his feet like you and I. He basically jumps off the ends of his rolled over toes. Yes, like a ballet dancer. I can't tell you how much that description troubles me....particularly since it is entirely accurate.

My work friends Megan and Justin used to tease me when I was pregnant about how they were going to buy the as yet undetermined gender baby Lew cheerleading outfits in the event that it was a girl. And how they would buy it theatre costumes if it were a boy. Let's be honest, if this kid wants to do anything other than play sports I am so screwed. Which virtually guarantees that he will want to do everything other than play sports. Cheerleading is fine...for other people's children. Ha.

We also need to have a long talk about Amish Friendship Bread. Jackson's former teacher Tiffany threw this bag of goo at me on December 7 when I picked up sweet pea from day care. I wanted no part of a bag of goo sitting around my house for 10 days while I waited around for December 16 to bake this stupid bread. But I accepted it, and did all the mashing and the adding of ingredients as was directed by the instruction sheet. Today was baking day, and blah blah blah after all the mashing and the adding and the mixing and the baking, the freaking things were sunken in the middle. I'm not happy about it. So hear this: don't give me any Amish Friendship Bread starter goo. It will end up in the Amish Friendship Trash.

Where's My Parade?

It's Saturday night in Longmont and we did a community thing and went to the community holiday parade. Jackson wore his very snuggly bear outfit to stay warm, which he did.

I don't think I can reiterate what a good kid we have and it may be a jinx to say so, but all evidence to date is to the contrary. He just chilled out and watched the parade. Every other kid was whining, crying or doing something other than chilling out and watching the parade. My friend has two nieces and niece 1 kept asking, while watching the parade, when the parade was starting. The first loud noise happened, Jackson was startled, and after that, he didn't flinch. He fell asleep in the stroller until the Longmont HS Marching Band came along.

Then he went to Chili's with his mom and dad and the only thing I could even describe as being remotely out of order was that he slapped the tiles on the table for a good 20 minutes. No, no toys, no food. Just want to slap the table, thanks. Oh wait, food? Okay I will down my bottle in like five minutes in an awkward place and position, and then inhale an entire jar of baby food all between when mom and dad order and receive their food.

Before we left he spent some time in the jumperoo. At one point he was just standing there staring. Which I now really need to remember means he's dropping off the kids at the Pampers. Because he finished staring and started jumping. When I took him upstairs for a fresh diaper before we took off for the parade he had kids creeping up the back of his shirt and I was at a loss for a plan of action. Good thing daddy was there to figure it out.

Sidenote: Jackson has a cold, which he had before the parade for all you cautious judgementals that read my blog. Of which I am guessing there are none. So he's been coughing and I have been trying to keep it under control so that he'll sleep, so I'm watching SNL. Amy Poehler came back for a couple of shows but at the end of weekend update she just announced that, no, really this is her last show. Boo to that...she is genius. I'm totally bummed. The Baby Mama is gonna spend time with her boy and be a baby mama. Oh and star in her own primetime show on NBC.

TGIF

It's Friday! Today was a productive day at work for me and a fun day as well as Jackson came to visit in the afternoon. He hadn't been to campus since homecoming on Oct. 4 when he was five months old so I decided it was time to return. What a difference 2.5 months makes as now he can sit up, creep around, play with stuff.

Uncle Mike and Uncle Justin were nice enough to hang with us for a bit, and Mike hooked up Jackson (or A-Jax as Justin calls him) with a new hat, which you see at left. Yeah, he's a badass. What are you gonna do about it?

There is Another Skywalker

It is so interesting to me how differently I react or feel about baby news now that I'm a mom. Before Jackson, friends would drop the baby bomb and I was like, whatever, hooray for you and to be honest I probably didn't care too much. Sorry friends with children older than mine, I was probably more terrified by your news than I was happy about it. I mean I was happy for them I suppose, but as far as like the Oh My God reaction and shrieking with excitement and stuff...not so much. Usually it was more about me dealing with my terror at the prospect of being pregnant myself. Yeah, I did set myself up to hate being pregnant but I would have hated it anyways.

So now obviously it's much different. I'm happy for them all (and lately there a LOT of them). Each time a first time future mom drops that bomb on me, I'm so excited for them because I seriously dig this whole deal. Jackson absolutely rules.

However, lately the new phase we are dealing with is the friends who have toddlers and are pregnant again. Each time Jason and I learn of a friend with the deuce on the way, particularly those with kids younger than 3 already, we look at each other and say NO WAY. We are in the NO WAY phase. As in no way will there be another. Of course everyone says, oh you say that now, blah blah blah. And yeah, we do. And yeah, I know that the more awesome Jackson gets and the more he is a person and not just a baby there is a likelihood that we will change our minds and roll the dice again. We both come from two kid houses but we had very different experiences. My brother and I fought constantly. Jason and his sister didn't. I don't know too many only children, but the ones I do know are pretty cool grownups now. There are pros and cons to both.

But for now...and for the foreseeable future...one is enough. When you've got a dream kid, why would you try again? As far as we are concerned we already broke the mold. So to my friend who minutes ago broke this news to me of another Skywalker...congrats...and I can't wait to see how this scenario plays out. Love you girl!

Moving Right Along

We've had a fun week around here. Jackson is Mr. Personality and it's more and more rewarding and entertaining everyday.

Yesterday he had a doctor appointment to get his second flu shot and I think the last Hep B for awhile (ever?). I was prepared for the worst as shots tend to turn into bad stuff in these parts. We arrived at the doctor and as Jackson sat on the desk while we signed in, he flirted with the receptionist in a way I haven't seen him do in a month. He was giggling, smiling, pretending to be shy...it was fantastic. Then when he sat on the doctor's table he discovered the white paper and went crazy with it. When it came time for the shots, he got an injection in each leg. His reaction was basically to stop smiling. Then go back to playing with white paper. Fantastic.

For the last few nights, he also hasn't woken up to eat at 10 p.m. On one hand it's exciting because he's sleeping from about 8:30 p.m. until 7 a.m. On the other hand, I'm kind of heartbroken. The nighttime feedings have pretty much always been mine. Anything after 9 p.m. was always mine to do from the time he came home from the hospital. Midnight, 3 a.m....those were always our times. Its also the only time he will do the super sleepy cuddle. He so far is not a kid that will just fall asleep on our shoulders, mostly because when he was a newborn that was the ONLY place he would fall asleep so we worked really hard to get him to sleep in his crib, which he obviously sleeps very well in.

So now I don't get my special time, and I also don't get my super sleepy cuddle, and it makes me sad. So we'll see if he continues to not wake up for his 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. chow, and if he doesn't, I'll have to identify a new Mommy-Buddy time.

Super Sunday Spectacular

Really it's true of the entire weekend. We got a lot done, including the majority of our Christmas shopping. At least that's true of those members of our family who have sent us their lists (hint, hint). Today we went to Target because we needed wrapping paper and gift tags. Jackson had his first ride in a filthy shopping cart. I know there are lot of filthy things he is around, but when he himself sneezed on the handle...we caved and the next time he's at Target with one of us he will have a sassy thingy to sit on that covers the nasty cart handle. Whatever. I can let most things go but today I bit the bullet. At least we were able to commemorate the experience while shopping because I take my camera everywhere.

We also hit the Crocs warehouse sale which apparently was going on for a long time but we just went today, the last day. It was insane. They set up in an old JC Penney's at our local mall which is like a mile from our house and just had rows upon rows of every kind of Crocs known to man. And accessories. It was out of control...hundreds of people digging through cardboard boxes, other people loading more Crocs into said boxes. Jackson came with us and just took it all in from the comfort of his stroller. Then he retired to the mall with daddy and had his lunch of bottle and squash while mommy went back looking for bargains. Crocs wasn't the only business reaping the benefits of the sale. There was a Pretzelmaker just outside the exit of the store into the mall and I'm telling you they were throwing dough all over the place.

In other Jackson news, he is eating like he's being paid for it. He routinely polishes off the entire jar of baby food after eating 6-8 oz of formula. He can eat a LOT of homemade mashed potatoes. In physical milestones, there isn't anything really new. He can do a lot more looking around...little things that aren't like show stoppers but things we notice he does better or more of. He gets on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth, but that hasn't morphed into any crawling or anything.

Santa Baby

This is our little Santa baby. He took photos with Santa but I forgot to bring them to scan them so this will have to do. Baby's First Christmas bib and the outfit underneath says I Love Santa.

Seven Months Old

When people say that the time with a baby flies by, they mean it. And there is nothing in the world to prepare you for how fast it goes. Jackson is seven months old today.

To celebrate his little mini-birthday, he has advanced to the infant two room at day care now for the entire four days each week. He had been spending two days in the infant one room and two days in infant two to get him adjusted. I guess he's not loving the back and forth and so as of today, he has progressed to infant two.

So I guess yesterday's blog told a good story as far as how I'm feeling about all of this big boy stuff. He has gone from being one of the oldest and biggest in his last class to one of the youngest and, well, still one of the biggest, but one of the least mobile of the group. But he plays well with the other babies in the little room and hopefully he will adjust to the big kids in his new room that can crawl and climb and stand and even start to walk without much incident.

For him, the biggest adjustment will be napping with seven kids instead of three...so we'll see how that shakes out. He has always been good at making changes, so this will hopefully just be another one he rolls with.

This time last year at work we were getting ready for a bowl game and getting fired up about a new basketball coach. I was just into my second trimester, feeling better, having lots of energy and getting bigger. Talk about an adjustment...wow what a difference a year makes.

Cheerios

Jackson had Cheerios today for the first time. I'm not sure how I feel about that. It's another step in his progression towards being a "big boy," a phrase I find myself saying all the time. He's in the big boy car seat. Sits in the big boy high chair. Sits up like a big boy. Eats like a big boy.

Moms and dads of baby boys are always hoping they will do things like a big boy...potty train, fall down and get back up, keep their pants on when in public, etc. I think that Jason and I will wake up one day sooner than we think and find we have a big boy and will desperately miss these days when he isn't one. I think that's when people pull the goalie and have more kids...when their baby turns to big.

Today at dinner he was having potatoes again...an instant favorite he discovered yesterday. Mixed with chicken and sweet potatoes. We like to all eat together at the table now, but because he's not really feeding himself yet we feed him first and then he plays with the toy that fits on his tray. So he was playing with his toy and I was across from him and Jason was next to him. I don't know why, but he kept peering at me through the gaps of this tree that sits on his tray and giggling. It wasn't really peekaboo, a game we know well. He just thought I looked funny or something. Then I would laugh back and he would laugh louder and louder until he sounds like Randy from "A Christmas Story" and Jason and I melted right there in our chairs. He does it when he's on Jason's shoulders too...pictured above. Note the fabulous hair.

There are days I wish I knew what he wanted or wish he could tell me. There are days when we jokingly say to him, while he is screaming for food in that three minute window when he wakes up and expects his bottle and it is not there, "Jackson, why are you being such a baby" and then we laugh. I would not trade those days and those times and this phase in his life for anything on this planet. He is such a sweet pea and I love it. I love my little big boy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving. Yum. Fantastic. We went down on Wednesday night to Grandma and Grandpa's house to go out for Grandpa's birthday, had a lovely dinner at Bushwood. Then Grandma, Aunt Jennie and I ran the 4 mile Turkey Trot on Thursday morning...brutal. Result was three tired ladies pretty early on in the festivities.

Jackson sported a fancy Thanksgiving outfit from Grandma that featured turkeys and all the fun stuff. He napped while the grownups ate their dinner, but when he got up, he enjoyed his first turkey dinner...his first meat of any kind actually. It was a fun time.

Then dad came home to Longmont since he had to work on Friday, but Jackson and I stayed in Lakewood and made cookies and watched CU almost beat Nebraska. It was a nice time. Then today we had our first real snow of Jackson's little life...should be fun to see what he thinks of it.

Hooray

Hooray for probiotics. Hooray for happy and healthy Jackson just in time for Grandpa's birthday and Thanksgiving!

Yesterday at day care Jackson delivered his first normal poop in 10 days. I never thought I would be so excited for a poop, but when I checked in at school and they told me that I cheered and announced it to my coworkers. No, really. When I picked him up from school he was a total riot. It would seem that we have a new and improved version of our son, as he is as smiley and giggly as ever.

We also have a more mobile version of our son. Last night he was playing on the floor with daddy and he rolled in one motion from tummy to back to tummy across the floor. Lock up the breakables, Jackson travels!

Desperation Throw

It's a short work week thanks to National Pig Out day on Thursday. It's a nice time to have a short week after the chaos of last week. Man when I named this blog countdown to chaos man was I right on. Last week was the hardest I've ever had. It wasn't just the various manifestations of Jackson's illness, or those of Jason or even mine. It was that, plus the stress and anxiety over would he get better, when would he get better. Then we thought he did, and boom, right back where we started from 48 hours later. It was brutal. I told Dr. T on Thursday that it was the hardest week I've maybe had ever...she asked me to compare it to the first week of Jackson's life and I was like...yeah, it was harder. One of us was out of commission for two of the five days of the week. We thought he had overcome it and we hadn't. I was missing work. And he WASN'T GETTING BETTER.

So now it's Monday. We had a fantastic day with him yesterday. Other than a few gross poos, he is himself completely. He is not over this lactose ordeal. It makes his poo liquipoo all morning and as the day progresses it gets more normal again only to have it go all liquipoo again in the morning. I had to reassure the daycare people that its not the virus anymore, its the lactose. I'm so desperate to make it stop that I've become a Boulder mother and have put him on freaking probiotics in two bottles a day because the doctor said it *might* actually help. She did not say, "Do it and he'll be cured" she said MIGHT. Did I miss something? I actually went to Vitamin Cottage. In Longmont. That is how desperate I am.

The tremendous upside to the desperation trip to Vitamin Cottage? It is next to Little Caesar's Pizza. Did you even know there were still those around? Apparently there are TWO in Longmont. Unbelievable. Anyways, since Jason is down to a weight he hasn't seen since high school thanks to our ordeal, I figure there is nothing like a $5 pizza and bag of crazy bread to fatten my skinny man up. So that was his dinner tonight.

The Never-Ending Story

Alas, it seems our vomitron story will never end. We seem to think we have cleared one hurdle on the road to healthiness, and instead we clip our toe and topple over again. Luckily mommy and daddy are the sort that will get up and continue to stumble and stumble until we reach the finish line and get our little man back on track.

Yesterday's doctor appointment was reassuring. We did all the right things, and Dr. T is pretty sure it was viral and that it's winding down. There's been no fever. There's been no vomiting. The issue of liquipoo was all that remained, and she said that could be attributed to some babies developing a lactose intolerance when they have a stomach virus. He has lost at least a pound...and it shows, poor skinny thing. That's par for the family...Jason lost six and I lost eight during our endurance of this evil evil virus.

So we switched him to lactose-free formula, just for the week. The benefits seemed to be in play within the evening as the frequency of liquipoo plummeted almost immediately. He got up this morning and for the first time since Monday there wasn't a diaper of poo waiting for us. Unfortunately, the lactose-free formula doesn't stay down as well as the AR, so the spitting up of days gone by has made a reappearance..hopefully we can figure out some combination to keep the liquipoos at bay and the food in his sweet sweet tumtum so he can return to plump and jolly form. And he had a massive poo in the high chair, which was kind of disgusting I won't lie to you. But it wasn't liquipoo.

The upside is he is symptom-free, but hasn't been for 24 hours so no school again today. Monday though...keeping our fingers crossed and hoping for Monday.

Vomitron: The Saga Continues

Oh how wrong I was. It's now Thursday morning. Jason is back to work after two days at home, Jackson and I are still recuperating. The vomitron virus struck us all. Jason got it on Tuesday morning at about 1, and I picked it up at about 4 pm that day. Luckily he recovered much faster than I did, as I was basically in bed or, ahem, elsewhere, for 24 hours.

Jackson...oh poor Jackson. He's still not over it. It's still coming out the end with no end in sight. I'm getting pretty concerned about it so we are going to visit the doctor today just to rule out anything treatable at this phase of the foulness.

Vomitron: Update

Well, things are looking up around here. We got through an hour long cycle of the two teaspoons every five minutes without puking, then a nap. Then we got through an hour long cycle of four teaspoons every five minutes without puking, and are wrapping up the first hour of what hopes to be a long nap. At 11 pm, we'll roll the dice with diluted formula...then hopefully a good night of sleep for everyone.

Jason and I had the ultimate tag team going. One of us would feed the teaspoons of fluids with a bottle, the other would then take the bottle and do another round of the fluids in there. During the first hour of this experiment it was a precarious time as the Vomitron was not keeping anything down and so as soon as he would cry out, we would take him to the bathroom sink where he would puke. Then we would wait five minutes and try it again. It was a brutal two hours before things actually stayed down and we could relax.

So anyways, he is doing much better and Jason is taking a nap while I watch the Godfather Part II.

Vomitron

I had a friend coin the term Vomitron. It's more of a name really. In that instance it referred to someone who had been overserved and whose body was violently punishing them at that time.

In this case, it refers to my child, who has apparently caught a stomach flu that is sweeping Boulder County. It started this morning while I was sleeping. Jason fed him breakfast and he puked...but that's really not that uncommon of an occurrence.

Then when I got up at 10 (I know, how great is that) Jackson was playing in his crib on his tummy. He didn't want to sleep, so I brought him into our room to play on the bed while I folded and put laundry away. This was a mistake, as he threw up on the bed.

I changed his clothes and put him in his crib. He threw up again. Lather, rinse, repeat. Threw up again. All told, he threw up like eight times. Then I gave him some pedialyte. Five minutes later he threw most of it up. 10 minutes after that he threw up some more. Then I called the doctor to talk hydration plan, diaper monitoring, etc.

So we will now attempt to feed him two teaspoons of clear liquid every five minutes while he is awake. Once he goes four hours without throwing that up, he gets four teaspoons (be still my heart...four whole teaspoons!) . Once he goes four hours without throwing THAT up, he gets two ounces of diluted formula. Then once he goes four hours without throwing that up, he gets two ounces of regular formula and we can get on with our lives. We don't need to really panic until he goes eight hours of the two teaspoon plan and nothing of that stays down. Right now we get a few to stay down, a few to come up...he is finally asleep right now for a little bit so I can violently wash my hands before inhaling some food to make it through the rest of this day and what is sure to be a long night.

Needless to say, I'm not going to work tomorrow. I'll be busy monitoring the length of stay of fluids in my child's tummy. And trying to figure out how long it will be before Jason or I start seeing our own manifestations of this illness.

Splish Splash I Was Taking a Bath

So now that Jackson basically sits up on his own he has graduated to the big bathtub. Obviously we are still there making sure there is no tumbling, etc., but he can pretty much just hang out in the tub with no issues.

Apparently along with this development is a whole new level of splashing. He has always sort of splashed for the past few months. A little smack of the water here and there. Well Jackson has graduated to a completely different understanding of what happens when we hit the water repeatedly with our hands.

He splashed for 10 consecutive minutes, stopping only to maybe pickup a bath toy every couple of minutes. He would then put that down and resume crazy splashing. When I took him out of the tub his face was dripping with water from his splash-o-rama. Adorable. Next time we will have to get these shenanigans on video.

Foooooooooooooooooooooood

It is so entertaining attempting new foods with Jackson. He is on to stage two foods, so he has been trying some combinations. He was loving sweet peas and rice. He has loved all the fun fruit combinations.

However no reaction was as outstanding as the "Summer Vegetable Dinner" we tried tonight. He hated it. I mean he HATED it. The look on his face when he first tasted might as well have said "summer vegetable crap" as his father just described it. Jason tasted it and said it tasted like Elmer's paste. Jackson agreed. He was a trooper and ate about seven spoonfuls. We followed it up with apples and blueberries, which he is much more fond of.

Right now he is going crazy in the Jumperoo and Jason is making him laugh simply by laughing in Jackson's face and swaying around in front of him. When Jackson gives a big belly laugh there are few things more awesome in this world. Does anyone know if jumping and jumping and jumping in a jumperoo is bad because if it is, we're in trouble. He loves it like a fat kid loves cake. The photo above...is from Jackson's 6 month birthday! Hooray JC Penney!

Milestones

So at the doctor there is this checklist where you circle yes or no to these different developmental milestones. Once you have circled three nos, you stop, and then pick up where you had nos the next trip and go as far as you can again.

Yesterday my third no for Jackson was, "Is able to sit up without assistance of person, pillow, etc for 10 seconds on own." The answer yesterday afternoon was no. Tonight, the answer is yes. Jackson officially sat up on his own tonight while playing on the floor with us for an extended period of time.

This was of course after throwing up his evening formula all over himself, his mother and the couch. Is that a milestone?

Doctor Day

Ugh...show of hands for who hates doctor day? I mean really, what's good about it? So we find out how big he is. 18 pounds, 2 ounces. 27 inches long. A big head still. Everything developmentally sound and progressing normally.

But really, I feel like more bad news is possible than good. Plus all the poking and prodding. Shots. Things of this nature. It's really not so fun. And let's pile on top of that that the lad is teething and you have a recipe for ick. He did fine really and is sleeping great so far tonight, ate reasonably well for dinner.

In the end, he is a super healthy, super happy boy and we are blessed. So I have that to be happy about, so a few shots and such really aren't much to endure.

Kind of a Neato Night

So it was a neato night as the family sat around and watched election results. We hope that the new direction our country is headed will work out and we are excited about the potential. I have a lot of conservative friends who are disappointed and/or worried about the future. I said to them, "Well, the country has taken a leap of faith. Now we see if we land on our feet or on our ass."

In the world of Jackson, he got his high chair! We had our first time eating in the high chair. We had green beans. He was a fan of the chair. It was a lot of fun. Of course now our place has another Fisher Price Rainforest ginormity, but hey, we are consistent!

Six Months Old

Yesterday Jackson turned six months old. It's unbelievable. Six months ago he could lay with his head in Jason's palm and his body would fit on Jason's forearm and a 12 inch cold cut combo from Subway was heavier than him. Six months ago he couldn't lift his head, turn his head, lift his legs...he couldn't do anything besides eat, pee, poop, cry and sleep. He ate two ounces every three hours. He needed us to help him fall asleep in his crib. He couldn't see more than 10 inches away but when he looked at us it was the best thing ever.

Today? He weighs like 20 pounds and is probably 27 inches long. He can lift up his whole upper body with his arms and crane his neck to get a look at whoever just walked into the room. He can roll over anyway he wants and basically pull himself all across the floor. He tries to get on his hands and knees but hasn't quite figured out how. He can make dinosaur sounds. He can smile and laugh and flirt with every lady he sees (and does this by the way). He recognizes mom and dads voice from another room at day care. He holds hands at day care with his playmates while they drool all over the floor. We have to turn off the TV in the room when he eats because he gets distracted. When he has a super fun time he does a happy dance. When he's really happy and we are holding him, he gives us a shy hug and a squeal and its the best thing ever.

Today he had his first day in the next up classroom at day care and I got totally bajiggedy. My little man is growing up so fast and I'm glad I get to see as much of it as I do, but I can't help but be sad about what I'm missing.

Happy Halloween!

Yay for Halloween! Jackson rocked two costumes this holiday. On Thursday, he went with me to my work party as Darth Vader to my Princess Leia. It was cute. Then today to school he wore an outfit that says, "So Cute It's Scary" along with a Jack O'Lantern hat.

We came home from work and school and played on the porch with our pumpkin lanterns and stuff just relaxing and decided we would take Jackson for his first trick or treating. Not really, but we wanted to meet a few of our neighbors and this is a good way to do it. So daddy strapped him into the Bjorn and we went on our way.

Mom and dad were a little gun shy to knock on doors, but we decided to do it and met a few nice neighbors...the photos tell the story. Needless to say, Jackson was a total hit.

Daddy's Home!

Jackson's daddy went to visit his family this past weekend in Indiana and we were BOTH excited for him to be home yesterday. I was certain Jackson would be excited to see him and I was not disappointed.

He has developed this thing I like to call the happy dance. He is like too overwhelmed to shriek with glee from time to time when he is happy, so instead he does this flailing dance which I hope to soon get on video and onto You Tube. Daddy also brought Jackson some neato gifts from Purdue...a football, a beanbag man and a pennant for his room. We have started hanging pennants along the wall so he has some fun things to look at...as well as get him some idea of who the proper teams to cheer for are.

In the meantime, we are counting down to Halloween and the unveiling of Jackson's fantastic costume...tune in Thursday morning for that. By the way...Jackson turns six months old on Sunday. I can't believe it either.

This Time, I Didn't Miss It

So Jason is in Indiana visiting his family and watching football games. I'm here in Colorado hanging out with my boy. I had eye doctor this afternoon, so we cruised down to Lakewood for that. I stopped at Grandma and Grandpa's to drop off Jackson so I could make the trip to the doc very simple. We were looking through the Colorado Vault, a cool book my old boss Dave Plati did while Jackson was playing on the floor.

He started out on his back, and of course flipped over to his tummy since he's such an expert now. Then my mom says, "Hey, what is he doing?" and I look up just in time to see him flip back over from his tummy to his back! I saw it this time! Yes! Finally! The fact that it took this long for a repeat performance leads me to believe that perhaps I was hallucinating the last time I thought he did it...but you never know. I don't care. I saw it this time!

We called daddy to let him know. Maybe tomorrow he will sit up? Not so much.

Wednesday Morning Musings

So nothing really that new to report. He still grabs his feet and tries as hard as he can to situp but he's not quite there yet. He does lift his belly up when he's on his tummy and pushes up with his arms so that's a fun new development.

Last night sweet peas were a huge hit, which was nice. This morning he went all fire hose all over the living room couch and his father, which was not too nice. He's napping now and I'm waiting for some data to run as I work from home.

The pterodactyl sounds made a return today as well, which was kind of cute. He still babbles and loves to look around. Watching him in the jumperoo is a total blast the kid LOVES to jump.

That's all for today...

New Skills

Jackson has been picking up some new skills. A week ago he grabbed his feet for the first time as previously reported, which is an entertaining endeavor for us all, most of all him.

Sometime on Tuesday he learned how to make the "raspberry" sound. This consists of pursing his lips together and then blowing as hard as he can.

If you try this yourself, you will learn that this is basically making fart sounds. Obviously that is not his objective as he is just learning how to use his mouth and make different sounds, however it is still hilariously funny. Especially when he does it right when someone bends over. Which happens more than you would think it would.

My What a Busy Weekend

Jackson's uncle Eric is getting married today. So we have been keeping a pretty busy schedule with all the associated activities. He went on his first hike ever on Friday with Aunt Gay and Cousins Dan, Amy, Shari and Becky. We went to Chautauqua...he didn't last long as it was right in the middle of his lunch time so we had to address that mid-hike.

Then he went to Lakewood and met his Great Grandma Dot and his Grand Uncle Bill...my mom's mom and brother. That was a nice time. Then we hit the pre-bash at Uncle Eric and Aunt Jennie's where he got to sit by the fire with his daddy and his second cousins.

Saturday we undertook the task of attending the rehearsal dinner. Jackson did a fantastic job and played in the corner on the floor of the fancy restaurant right next to me and Jason. We brought his quilt and some toys so he was right at home. He was awake for a long time so he sure slept good that night.

Jackson LOVES to look around at absolutely everything right now...if there is too much going on he can't even pay attention to eating he is so tuned in to all the excitement in the room. It is a blast. He is a sweet little guy who loves to cuddle and smile and laugh, and is starting to assert himself when he wants to move around and can't because too many hugs or too much car seat time. But he is still a sweetheart.

Rollin With My Homies

So as previously reported, Jackson joined the rollover crowd I guess it was two weeks ago as far as the stomach to back version. He did the back to tummy like 7 weeks ago, but hadn't really demonstrated any real proficiency or affinity towards that.

Ya that's changed. Yesterday he decided it was game on and rolled over at school and at home about four times over the course of the day. Today I basically stopped counting, and that was just in an hour in the morning and another two tonight in addition to reports from school. He is officially a roller. Changes must be made in our home.

He also has some wicked bad diaper rash due to some overnight poo on Sunday night/Monday morning. You'd think sleeping in your own feces would bother a five month old, but alas, it does not. So now we have some lovely reda$$ to deal with. Super.

When You Least Expect It

So last night was kind of brutal. Jackson is over having his hands restrained via swaddling when he is napping or sleeping, so we are in the process of retraining him to sleep sans the full swaddle. Now that he has full hand access, he eats them, yells at them, pulls on things with them, all at 3 a.m.

Last night was the first attempt at overnight sleeping without hand restraint, and it took him a little while to fall asleep. He was still doing his leg booms, which keeps Jason awake so Jason retreated elsewhere in the house to attempt to sleep as we always try to take turns being the one who gets to sleep. Meanwhile, I stayed in our room to address any needs that might arise. Turns out there were several.

The typical 3 am pee diaper was followed up with an atypical 4 am poo diaper. At 1 am he needed something and was shrieking about it. I can't remember what. At 545 am (10 minutes after I finally fell asleep after the 4 am shenanigans), more of the same. (I obviously know that he is learning that he can do things and the result is that mom and dad will come into his room to help him...we are learning the difference between "I need something" and "I want to see mom or dad and smile and coo and play so I will make a noise because I think that will make them come in here to see me") Then sometime after 6 am more noise and I was like, "Honey, I love you but you have to wait it out utnil 6:30 and then I will come in."

But something sounded a little different in his chattiness with himself, so I decided I would peek in and make sure all was well (we just removed his crib bumper the day before). I peek in and behold! My child has rolled over onto his stomach in his crib for the very first time! I was so happy that I picked him up, took him to his father (who was blissfully asleep until that point), went back into our room and slept for an entire hour in a row for the first time all night/day.

So after the longest night of Jackson's short life (FIVE MONTHS OLD TODAY!) I was rewarded for my patience and love with a pumpkin who finally rolled over on his tummy.

Baby Picnic, Round 2

So we tried to get together with the baby class again, and we had four babies this time around...that would be Jackson at 6 o'clock, Colby at 9, Jack at 12 and Eva at 3. Jackson would be the one laying happily on his back in the Cubs outfit. He was cute and laughed his face off most of the time (he is laughing here) but is the only one of the group not doing the super roll over all the time. That would be due to swaddling him still...which I've been considering trying to taper off and now am sure it needs to happen. I know, I know...they all develop at their own pace and it's not a race, but seriously, he is almost five months old he should maybe be a little further along in the rolling over department in my very unexpert opinion. In any case, he struggles to get his arms out most naps anyways and then just falls asleep, so as of now he is swaddled with arms out so we don't have to mess with that whole ordeal of him getting his arms out and then falling asleep.

He also is rocking some fantastic eye goop, which I will be calling Dr. T about in the morning. I swear I should just put them on speed dial. I have read like 90 books and websites about what to do about eye goop, and they all say that he doesn't have pink eye but needs some drops anyways. So I guess I will see about getting him some drops. Suuuuuper.

I would also like to add that we tried squash as his latest vegetable, and it was another super success. So far he likes sweet potatoes, squash, bananas, apples and is okay with carrots and sweet peas and not so much with peaches.

Things That Are Awesome

Jason got up with Jackson this morning so I could get a few more winks in, and also because I got up to change Jackson's diaper that was filled with four pounds of pee (what has affectionately become known in office coffee trips as simply, a "pee diaper" courtesy of Justin who has no children and still endures pee diapers stories in exchange for a free ride to Fivebucks) at 4 in the morning. Then Jason went to the basement and I finished laundry, and started to make some potato salad for our baby class picnic later today.

Whilst folding laundry and boiling taters, I heard the familiar BOOM from upstairs at about 9:30, like 45 minutes into Jackson's morning nap, so I went in there to check on him. As soon as he saw me, his entire face lit up and he started flailing around with a huge grin on his face he was so happy.

You can't buy that kind of awesomeness, nor can you describe what it looks like or how it makes you feel. There just aren't words.

I have a lot of married friends at work who don't have kids. And I hated being pregnant so much and was so totally honest about how it made me feel that I think I scared them out of it, which is okay because I think that honesty is the best policy. But for as much as I hated being pregnant (and trust me here people, I have NOT forgotten) I love having my little man and think being a mom is sofa king cool.

Additional cool things:

Inappropriate!

So Halloween is in a month. Based on how long stuff has been in stores, you would think it was tomorrow, but yeah, still five weeks away. I have already made our first Jackson Halloween costume decision and purchase, and I will not be sharing...you will have to wait for the unveiling. All I can say is I am fired up for the CU Staff Spirit Council's Annual Halloween Breakfast on October 30, because A, it will be fun, and B, we get to dress up again on actual Halloween the next day.

So yeah, back to my inappropriate comment. So I was checking out Target and various Halloween costume store and I noticed something. All the women's costumes are sexy witch, sexy nurse, sexy cop, sexy kitty, etc. Sexy whatever. Obviously with my jolly post-baby body none of these are options and probably would not be anyways. Here's my issue: one row over are the kids costumes. The girls costumes (not TEEN girl costumes, girls costumes) nearby? Cute witch, cute nurse, cute cop, cute kitty. Sure, cute. Or, are they just mini versions of the aforementioned sexy costumes?

PEOPLE THEY ARE THE EXACT SAME THING. Same exact thing just smaller. Am I the only person noticing this? Or worse yet, the only person who thinks it's gross?

That Did Not Just Happen

So I've had a unseasonably rough few days at work, so my work from home day today could not have come at a better time. I got a ton of work done and took breaks to feed Jackson, but other than that I cranked and cranked on stuff.

Jackson ate his dinner at about 6 p.m., so we had our bottle and then a combo of sweet peas and sweet potatoes. I'm working on some data analysis so while he played on the floor I whipped out my laptop and sat with him while he played. I also put the laptop to the side and super played with him and then he got bored with me so I put him on his tummy about 6 inches to my right as I sat and did some work.

So after about two minutes...not even two minutes... I was like, "Wow Jackson is really kicking the heck out of my leg," so I set my laptop on the table next to me and looked down to engage in some frolic with him some more. He was on his back.

"Wait a minute? Did I put him on his tummy or his back right there just now? Did he get upset and I rolled him over but have now totally forgotten doing it? Did he just roll over completely in my peripheral vision and I totally missed it? No, no...I must have put him on his back. Because that has to be what happened. Because if I just missed my son rolling over for the first time because I was doing work at 7:30 at night on a Wednesday then I'll never forgive myself."

The correct answer would be the last one. I'm 99% sure of it. I called my mom, starting telling her the story and she finished the end of it before I could even get it out. I have been waiting for him to roll over from his tummy to his back for I don't know how long. I was hoping desperately that he would do it while I was there and each day when I drop him off at daycare I remind them not to tell me when he rolls over because I want the first time to be when I see it as far as I know. Turns out he did do it when I was there, but I was staring at freaking spreadsheets SIX INCHES AWAY FROM HIM when he did it. I think I'm going to cry.

In any case, I will send a shoutout to Courtney and Kevin Joyce and their little girl Delaney and congratulate them on the birth of their son Garrett...well done CJ! Make sure you're not on your laptop when he freaking rolls over for the first time. She has a blog, which I didn't know, and I like it. It can be found at: http://momsoup.blogspot.com/

Quarantine

Really, our house should be in quarantine. How it works is Jackson gets sick, then I get sick, then Jason gets sick. Usually I get better first, followed by Jackson, followed by Jason. It seems like Jackson has been sick for two weeks. I won't say that we're in the midst of a respite, but the way he's eaten today I will go ahead and say that we are getting a day without a sick boy. He slept like eight hours last night in a row and was happy as a clam when he got up. In fact he did not wake us up with crying...he woke us up with the "boom" as we have started to call it.

He wakes up, and starts to lift up his legs and then slam them into the mattress over and over again. It gets progressively louder and eventually we hear it, or he will add screeching to it. Today he was very chatty and shreiky whilst playing with Jason and I. We watched the Cubbies clinch and he wore a special Cubbies shirt to celebrate and took photos with his daddy.

So all in all, it's been a good day. Can we make it two in a row?

It's Been Such a Long Time

I did not realize it has been so long since I had a fun and exciting blog entry! My apologies! It's been a pretty standard week. Jackson has now had sweet peas, carrots and bananas in addition to the initial foray into sweet potatoes. Sweet peas were not his favorite, but he ate them so I can't complain.

He has, of course, developed yet another illness and has a lovely cough and fever. We had our first call from the day care to come get him...and of course Jason is in Tahoe with the Pikes and Steele partying it up at their annual reunion. So I got to be a single parent all weekend AND go to the doctor. Super. But he rallied last night when Tera came over to watch Baby Mama and hang out and laughed and played like always. Plus I gave him bananas for the first time, which my friend Sarah says are "like crack for babies" and his reaction did nothing to deter me from agreeing with her assessment. He went down at like 9:30 pm, woke up at 1 am for what I am happy to report was just a diaper change, and then slept until 7:30!

Today we are at Grandma and Grandpas, where Jackson will be having his first night sleeping somewhere other than a crib at home or at school. Tomorrow morning Grandma Jane and I are playing in a golf tournament and so rather than get up extra early and drive down in the dark, we are spending the night here and Grandpa Monty will be babysitting all day. Hopefully Jackson doesn't deviate from his usual. Anyways, we miss his dad and will be happy to see him tomorrow, that is for certain.

First Football Game...Well Not Really

Technically, it was. But I'm not counting it, as we did not spend a moment in our seat in the stadium watching the game. I have decided that the first one will have to wait until November when it's cool and he can get bundled up. At this stage it's too tempting to take him into my office and let him nap in there in the dark then having him sweat and fuss in the seats in section 120 strapped to my chest in a Baby Bjorn. So this one doesn't count.

Today he spent most of the day with his daddy. I slept in for a long time and then had soccer at 11:20 am and 1:50 pm so I stayed in Boulder. I came home to two happy guys having fun together, which was just about the best thing I've ever gotten to come home to. Jason said that they had a great day playing and stuff. Apparently my child was posing throughout the afternoon for Jason and his friend Brent. The evidence is at left.

Jackson also had his first round of sweet peas after sweet potatoes were a rousing success. They were not the big hit that sweet potatoes were, but he still ate some. Jason kept saying, "Add sugar to it add sugar to it," as that is his solution for everything. I'm only half kidding (love you dear). Of course I did not add sugar to it. I'm not going to trick him...especially since all that would do is trick him into really liking sugar. He will learn to like many more things than I do I hope. I am the pickiest eater of all time and I really hope he isn't because I know there are many things I'm missing out on. But I'm okay with missing out on them. I like the things I like enough to get me by.

Sweet Potato Pie

We emerged relatively unscathed from the doctors office. Jackson weighs 15 lbs, 9 oz (Samsonite, I was way off!) is 25 inches long and his head is big we already know that. He is 65th percentile for weight and 50th for the others. Whatever my kid is like the tallest kid in his infant room at school and he is the second youngest. I think the height measurement technique is flawed.

Today he got to be one of the very first to have a new combo vaccine at his doctor (it's already a worldwide combo they just didn't have it yet as his ped office) that cut down his shots from four (suck) to two (ck). I could not have said yes to that faster. He also got the green light for something other than Krusty's Imitation Gruel and gave it an enthusiastic response, attempting to feed himself for the latter portion of his dinner.

We were hoping he would not have another 72 hour schizophrenia attack after his shots like we did back on July 3-4-5 so we could A) rock the veggies and B) rally for the CU football game on Saturday. I think we might get both as A was a total success. After pounding his usual Enfamil, we busted out the organic sweet potatoes from my new best friends at Gerber. Really, I'm their new best friend because the way my child eats I should own stock in their freakin company.

Jason mixed up the OSP with some rice cereal and off we went...I can't do it justice just check the photo. Also worth noting: for the second day in a row Jackson has met a female stranger and put on the biggest laugh/giggle/coo show in all of babydom. It's so funny when he laughs that all you can do is laugh too and then no one gets anything done! I will attempt to get this on video soon.

Send Good Thoughts

Doctor appointment tomorrow afternoon...Jackson's standard four month checkup. The over/under on his weight is 17 pounds if anyone wants to weigh in on that. I have no idea how tall he is other than he is tall...if I really wanted to put him 9 month old clothes they would probably fit. But his six month stuff still fits and many outfits he has worn like once. So if you are planning on buying any clothes for Jackson...9 months or larger! :)

He is still eating cereal, though tomorrow we will inquire as to what other types of food he can eat besides Krusty's Imitation Gruel. I'm serious it's like he's eating nothing. But he apparently likes it, because he couldn't get enough of it today. I'm hoping for some banana permissions, maybe rock some sweet potatoes, green beans? We have fresh peaches from grandpa's trees so it would be nice to be able to hook him up with some homemade pureed peaches.

A few of my friends have been stunned that he gets to have solids already, but my doc said four months, so we said okay let's roll it out. Formula smells horrible...the kid deserves a shot at the good stuff if he has to keep drinking that swill.

But yeah, send good thoughts. Because routine doctor appointment means shots. Unless he has a cold then I think shots are a no go...but we'll see. Shots sucked last time and I can't see how they will be any better this time around. He stopped rejecting the formula so that whole allergy scare was just that. I still feel bad for Aunt Jennie because she had to deal with him for like six hours of hell. He'll make up for it with coos and giggles I'm sure.

Cereal Day! And 100th Post!

Yay for 100 posts! I'm not sure all of them were worth reading, but I had fun writing them for some reason so yay for us.

So I still don't know what the F is going on with my child. He hasn't had major allergic behaviors at all today so maybe that was just a passing phase like everything else. But since he had back to back good bottle feedings, we decided that today, the day before his four month birthday, we would try cereal for the first time! Yay cereal!

So he ate a lot of it actually. He didn't push it out with his tongue until he didn't want anymore. But I fed him a bunch and then let Jason have a go at it. I should not be surprised that Kobayashi Lew ate a lot of cereal his first time out. He eats a lot every time.

I will post the incredibly riveting video here: because unfortunately today I do not. Although it is Labor Day and a national holiday, I have laboring to do and can't edit boring baby videos for you all to see I have to send emails instead to people who may or may not buy tickets to see CU Football.

The Uncertain Can Suck It

So my child has been sick. Or so I thought. He might be. I don't know.

I have had a cold for a few days...or a week. I can't keep track. But my symptoms have been watery eyes, postnasal drip, runny nose, cough, etc. My child...started out with a cough, but in the last 24 hours those others have come into play. So I naturally assumed ah yes, Jackson got my cold.

Then I noticed that when I get him up in the morning or from any given nap, he is totally fine. No symptoms. Then I feed him. Then he spits up some, as usual, although honestly it seems like lately it has gotten more frequent and more voluminous. Then I noticed that the symptoms come back soon after I feed him. It wasn't until he got really red watery eyes, a really runny nose and a really stuffy head and then puked up his whole lunch that it occurred to me that it might be a food allergy. I now have reason to suspect my son is allergic to his formula.

But of course this isn't your typical Sunday evening determination. It's Sunday of Labor Day Weekend, so the doctor isn't open tomorrow. So I get to call the on-call doc in the morning and figure out what the hell to do now.

I feel so bad for him. He's such a good baby...he really is. He doesn't fuss much, he sleeps awesome, eats like Kobayashi. He smiles and laughs even when his nose is running and his eyes are red and watery. Just now after we opted for 70% Pedialyte 30% formula dinner (obviously not at the same time) and he still spit up some Pedialyte, we put him in his jammers and held our collective breath that he would settle down. I handed him a pair of sassy rings and he proceeded to talk to me and play with rings until I decided it was bed time. It was wonderful...and makes me that much angrier that he has to put up with crap like this latest development. But at least I will be able to sleep after I got some giggles and smiles before bed.

Video Cameras Rule

You just have to trust me on this one...

Really? REALLY?

So this morning I ventured out with future Aunt Jennie and Sally O'Malley to see the movie The House Bunny. It was funny...the last 10 minutes they handed over the script writing duties to a kindergartener, but it didn't ruin the entire movie for any of us. It was the typical, hey this girl is a homely misfit with glasses and a ponytail, and we take off those glasses and lose the ponytail and suddenly she's America's Next Top Model. Not Another Teen Movie makes light of that very same thing for a reason...it happens in every movie it seems like.

Following the movie we stopped for a delicious Starbucks and then went hunting for a few minutes for shoes for FAJ's wedding to Uncle Eric in October. We were walking past Pottery Barn Kids and I wanted to duck in to see if they had the elephant teething blanket that Jackson got from a friend of ours so I could consider purchasing it for the baby of the week, Gavin Pierce Swanson, son of Deric and Heather, born Friday morning at 12:03 am.

The three of us were strolling through the store and I basically stuck to the boys side of the store because hey, that's what I have and that's what I was shopping for. Sally and FAJ were lagging behind, and I would soon learn why. I decided to walk back out of the store down the the girls side of the store, and I'll be honest...I was completely disgusted by what I saw.

Boy toys: Trucks, tools, sports stuff. Girls toys: stoves, dishwashers, clothes washers and dryers. Seriously. And then 50's retro versions of same. Cause yeah, we should tip our hat to that era of existence since clearly Pottery Barn Kids is still pulling their product development from that time. I mean really? Okay I can get on board for an EZ Bake Oven. I desperately wanted one as a child, and my parents decided to forego the 10% cooked cupcakes baked by a Lite Brite sized light bulb. But really, the ENTIRE Sally Homemaker set? I'm sorry if you happily purchased this for your female child and are offended by this little diatribe, but I find it completely insulting that this is what we position as the top products we should want our little girls to play with. Like we're prepping them for a lifetime of domestication.

I was reviewing my baby photo album from my parents recently, and I noticed something. Nary a doll, stove or washing machine in the lot. Is there a mini-basketball hoop? Heck yes. I don't know who was responsible for that purchase...if they sensed that I wasn't going to be into that Peggy Sue stuff or if sports was what they had hoped I would be into, but thank goodness that was the route they took no matter how they chose it. I can cook (no, really), I can clean (though I'll be honest, Jason is better and more interested in cleaning than I am), I can't sew much, and we both do laundry. And somehow, I still got married to an outstanding guy and produced an amazing child and have a career and a home and a wonderful life....and my favorite toy as a little girl was a basketball hoop. Funny how that still worked out.

Something in the Water

Well something is in the water in the lives of people in my life right now. Last Monday, August 11, my friends Amber and Chet gave birth to beautiful baby girl named Avery Blayne. Amber was in labor for four hours and was in the hospital for barely two before the kid emerged. I don't have words to express how I feel about that.

Then on Thursday, my other friends Leslie and Jon had a little boy Jack, to go along with their other sweet boy Henry. I can't wait to meet them both! Jason's friend from high school Rob and his wife Jessica had a little girl on Saturday....Then we have my poor friends Deric and Heather. Heather's little one was due Thursday and still has stage fright. Then my high school friend Marci is also overdue with her pumpkin.

So yeah, that's a lot of babies. What is going on?!

Plumpkin

He's not really a plumpkin, he's just eating his freakin weight in formula! Jackson had what I can only imagine or hope was a growth spurt on Saturday. He woke up at 2:30 am for what I thought was just a diaper change but was instead a full blown meal attack. Then for each of his feedings the rest of the day...at 7 am, 11 am, 2 pm, 6 pm and 10 pm, he ate 8 ounces at each feeding. Which was like 46 for the entire day. And he barely spit up any of it.

Sunday he was back to normal, but my goodness! I was just glad that he didn't wake up at 2:30 to eat...just at 4:30 for diaper, which is the new addition to the repertoire, but so far he has gone back to sleep after this for the most part.

He's back at day care today and I still hate it.

Milestone Reached!

He rolled over. He did it this morning when we were getting ready for work. He was laying on the bed in our room while Jason was in the bathroom brushing his teeth and I moved over on the bed and watched. He did it in one big move...just like he had been doing it for ages. It was pretty fun that I got to see it and I was glad it didn't happen at day care. Although it might have and they were just obeying my "don't ask, don't tell" policy about his milestones.

We got the photos back from JC Penney. My friend Sally O'Malley saw the one at left on Facebook and said, "What is this a baby Glamour Shot?" HA! That's totally what it looks like.

Enough Already!

We've been getting hit with a barrage of gooshy ads it being Olympic time and all. Today I was treated to these ads consecutively: Jennie Finch with her 2 year old son Ace, who "makes it a little better when I come off the field" pitching a website for NBC, followed by a mom making her little boy laugh just by talking into a plastic cup courtesy of Kaiser Permanente, followed by the one where the guy messes up his leg in the 400 meters in the 1992 Olympics and his dad comes out of the stands and carries him to the finish line thanks to the fine folks at Visa. Three commercials, three parents, three sons.

Are you kidding me? I don't watch the Olympics to be brought to tears by a bunch of freakin ads. I'd rather be moved by performances and things like the 9 year old Chinese hall monitor that saved two classmates from earthquake rubble because he's "the hall monitor and its my responsibility". These ads are so unfair...how can a new parent be expected to withstand that and emerge unscathed? Like why don't they just stick a fork in my eye and get it over with. Geez.

Roll Over...or Don't. Whatever You Want.

Now that our quality time with the pumpkin is limited, we try to cram a lot into it. Spending time feeding him then hanging out with him. Truth be told we'd probably let him just sit on our laps and smile and coo for two hours. But in order to foster his development we have to do some play time.

So lately we've been putting a quilt on the floor and alternating between his back and his tummy for play time. Back time has been the most exciting lately, as Jackson is SOOOOOO close to rolling over from his back to his tummy. He lifts his ham hock legs in the air and swings them to the side and gets up on his side and then just rests on his side. If he leaned even a centimeter more, he'd roll over to his tummy.

I hope he does it today because if he does it at day care tomorrow, I don't want to know. :)

Good Times

So day care is going pretty well so I can't say much more about that. I picked him up on Tuesday and he took one look at me and screamed as if to say, "Where the F&^% have you been?!" because he had slept a grand total of 2 hours and 15 minutes. Sweet. So when we were home telecommuting on Wednesday Jackson slept in a very bright room without a bunch of white noise and it paid off with his best nap yet on Thursday at school.

We took a family trip Tuesday night to the county fair, during which Jackson did his first trip in a Bjorn facing out and did very well with it. We were joined by Tera, Sabrina as well as Beth, Chris and Jack. We didn't check out too many animals and may do so tonight. Last night we went to see Jason's last softball game of summer leagues, which they won and won the championship! It was super fun.

So that's where we're at. Happy Weekend!

What a Warm Welcome Back!

So I'm back at work...and Jackson is in day care. I hate it, but it's a reality of today's economy and our plans for ourselves and him that we both need to work. I have taken him there three days and all three days I had some form of crying upon leaving. I have thus far managed to not sob whilst in the day care, so I'm kind of proud of that. He is adjusting and is his usual happy self but has not gotten used to our new morning routine and therefore isn't sleeping great there, but we are all doing our best to make it work.

Upon returning to work, I was welcomed back with the following: my phone turned off, internet down in the whole west side of the stadium, and the latest, some strange form of insect inhabiting my desk. Yes, I said inhabiting. It kind of looks like an ant, but also looks like it isn't an ant. When campus bug man arrived to check it out, of course they had all gone into hiding and were no longer crawling all over my desk although I keep thinking they are crawling all over me. I have the majority of my desk packed into boxes and I'm hoping they will come take it away and replace it with another desk. Super. Go Buffs!

How is it Possible?

How is it that my son is three months old? I'm serious. It's just absurd. It's been 13 weeks and one day since Jackson joined our little familia and there aren't words to describe how great it's been but I refuse to believe it's already been that long.

For his three month whatever you want to call it, birthday or whatever, Grandma and Grandpa came up and we all had dinner and watched some baseball. Jason and I made an actual meal and we sat at the "dining room table" HA which basically served as the pile of crap for the last three months...or three years, but really who's counting?

Anyways, it was a nice night and obviously he was in rare form as you can see from this photo with Grandpa. He has made it three nights in a row from 9:30 pm to at least 6 a.m. Today it was 6:45 a.m. so we are happy for him that he's sleeping so well.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

It was a big day for the Lews. First the good...We had our first studio pictures taken today at JC Penney, which I feel like is a rite of passage for every family in America. We went with Beth and Jack so we got to see someone else do it first and it was so entertaining. I thought I had picked a time that would be a good time for Jackson, that he would be his alert and happy self. I was wrong. He wasn't unhappy, he just wasn't alert and the super smiley kid I'm watching play with his daddy right now. But we took a few photos and found some we liked and I bought them. I think JC Penney should seriously consider making all their photos available online so that people can buy...I had to buy all the photos then and there or else the price went up! That's crap!

So after the photo session, we took a trip to Boulder for the bad. The bad was Jackson's first trip to day care. Basically it was a dry run. So I took him and just sort of was loitering and finally after dotting the i's and crossing the t's I made myself leave. I managed to actually get INTO the car before my total breakdown. At which point I called Jason and informed him that we needed to win Powerball so that I never had to take him to day care again. Then I decided to take advantage of my dry run time and go to work to pick up some things. I determined my best route at work was to go to Dal Ward and go down the back stairs so no one would see my splotchy face (the ugly), but my plan was foiled when my boss came out of the Fieldhouse. He said, "Hi double L!" and I said, "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii" while sniffling and biting my lip. He said, "Wow, not happy to see me are you?" and I said, "I *sniff* just took Jackson to day carrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee," and he was like oh it's okay yada yada yada.

After I pulled it together I realized something about going back to work. First of all, I do really like my job and it's going to be great to be back. But if I'm gonna be there instead of with Jackson, then I better make every single second I am there count. As Jason says, "No more checking Facebook!"

I Almost Forgot

Last night I put Jackson down at 9:30 pm and decided to roll the dice and not get up at midnight to feed him and see how long he would sleep.

He got up at 6 a.m....8 and a half hours later. My body didn't know what to do this morning! Everyone keep those fingers crossed for a repeat performance this evening :)

Superstar!

Wednesday was the third annual Football 101, a clinic that CU football puts on for people, specifically women (there are always a few dudes that come for some reason). So myself, Grandma Jane, Sally O'Malley and my friend Beth attended with other various buddies from CU Athletics.

The clinic was a blast. I won't go into too much detail but it was super fun. The highlight for me was not related to the actual clinic. The boys of Buffvision have started producing some Vote Colorado Football Spots (to see them for yourself visit www.youtube.com/buffvision) which I think are witty and clever. The latest one will feature head coach Dan Hawkins with a cameo by, you guessed it, Jackson Lew! I will post it here when it is completed.

Colds Suck

There's really no other way to put it. Colds in a 12-week old suck. We are on day whatever of this cold, and mamacita is over it. This morning he had a lovely fever again and was eating like he couldn't care less if he ever did again, so it was back to the doctor's office as he was throwing some signs of ear infection out there. Ps, I had to stick that thermometer in a place I never wanted to stick it as I was done trying to get it in the right spot in his armpit for an accurate reading.

So we went to the doc. And the nurse practitioner we had to see can't see Jackson's eardrum because there was so much wax in his ears (GROSS, incidentally). So she whips out a little tool to get it out and instead of her getting the wax out and us getting on with our lives, he screams unlike anything I have ever experienced in his short little life. He was screaming so hard and so long that not only did he sweat through his onesie, he sweated through my tee shirt. F...is an understatement. So then because we can't get all the wax out, the on call pediatrician has to come and get it out, so naturally Jackson is asleep on my shoulder and we have to go through this again. I think all my hair turned gray today. The best part is that he doesn't have an ear infection and when we got home, he smiled and cooed at me and then fell asleep. How short their memories are. Then he woke up and ate his dinner like the old Jackson. Huh...who knows what the hell goes on.

What Goes On at Night?

This morning I had an experience that I'm sure almost all new parents have and either freak out or laugh about.

When I put Jackson into his crib each night for his big block of sleep (between 12 and 6 am) I have him neatly swaddled and his head is facing north. For 11 weeks and five days, when I walked back into his room in the morning, or any other nap time, that was essentially how I found him each time. Once or twice he has been totally unswaddled but always he is in the north end of the crib with his head in that direction. That changed this morning.

He was up at 5:15 am (ugh) and I walked in there and found him facing the opposite direction in the opposite end of the crib. The swaddle blanket was in a ball tucked into the corner of the crib. He was laying there in his onesie, probably chilly, waiting for us to come get him. How I think it went down: his mattress is at a slight incline right now to help with his schnoz congestion during illness. I surmise that he wiggled his way down to the south end of the crib and then in the process of pulling a Houdini out of his swaddle, somehow rotated 180 degrees. I got him out and then went and got dad to show him what I found and we were both just sort of speechless.

Needless to say, tonight is night three of the jammies experiment.

Happy Birthday to Me

Well this is quite an interesting birthday for me, my first as a mom. I'm earning my mom stripes today as Jackson is sick, again. He's got an upper respitory infection. He doesn't like to eat much as he has quite a sore throat so feedings that took 15 minutes on Monday take an hour now. I feel bad that the pumpkin is sick, but he is as smiley and cooey and darling as ever. Its almost like he appreciates how hard we're trying to make him comfortable so he does the only happy things he knows how to do...smile, coo, shout at his bouncy seat and dance around everywhere else.

Last night I had a lovely girls night out with a group of great friends and we saw Mamma Mia. It was fabulous. But Pierce Brosnan should never sing again. Amanda Seyfried on the other hand, whom I only knew as Karen the dumb one from Mean Girls, was surprisingly outstanding. If you like ABBA music, go see it. Jackson was home with his dad and slept great finally...ah the wonders of tylenol and a humidifier. Tonight we will perhaps venture out to meet Jason after his softball game.