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.