A New Camera!

I finally got my new DSLR camera up and running this week.  I cannot believe the difference in photo quality, even though I've just been shooting in auto.    I can't wait to see what this baby can do when I know how to use it!

It was 83 and sunny here today and Brent, Bonnie, Jack and I ventured to our subdivision park for a little photo shoot.

Canyonlands Half Marathon

We loaded our SUV to the brim last Friday and made the six hour trip to Moab, Utah for the Canyonlands Half Marathon.  Moab is a small town near Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park (for reference, that's where the guy from 127 Hours was stuck and had to cut off his own arm).  The race cuts off registration at 5,000 entrants and has a lottery system for most people.  Brent was pretty excited when he got in through the lottery.

First stay in a hotel room!  Rolling around on the bed while we wait on our pasta carry-out Friday night.

Waiting at the finish line

Here comes Dad!

I am thrilled.  

On our way out of town we stopped at Arches National Park.  Jack was taking his long nap and we wanted to save as much of that nap for our drive home as possible, so our drive through Arches was short.

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

What's that, you say?  Don't we know that St. Patrick's Day was two days ago?

Please direct all comments about tardiness to Mom.  I've clearly already done my part by wearing this shirt and looking adorable.  

Independence Day!

(a Big Lou guest blog)

That's what it says for March 12th on the calendar in Rob's hospital room.  He's been in rehab on the fourth floor at Parkview Hospital since February 20th.  He is scheduled to be discharged on the 13th, so today we asked his nurse just what was meant by Independence Day, as in, will he be allowed to go wherever he wants and do whatever he needs to do with out someone hovering nearby and so forth.  She said it just means it's his last full day and that we'll be crossing our t's and dotting our i's and making sure we're ready for Tuesday. 

So, sorry, Rob.  Probably won't have any real privacy on your "Independence Day," But.....it won't be long.  Rehab has been painful and grueling, but it's the only way back, and he's working hard.  I took a camera today, thinking I might get a current picture, but Rob says that people in the hospital don't want to
be photographed, so here's one of all of us taken two years ago in Vegas.

We're independent.  We're happy!

Five Months.

Happy 5 months, Jack Robert!  Your dad and I celebrated 5 months of keeping you alive by eating a half pan of brownies after you went to bed.  It's a good thing it will be a long time before you can read this, because surely by then enough time will have passed for you to be over it.   

Weight - Between 14 - 15 pounds.  You're chunkin' up, punkin!

Length - No educated guess here, but maybe 26 inches?  I am still positive that the nurse measured you a little short at your four month appointment and you were really 25 inches instead of 24 3/4.  But what am I going to do, protest and be THAT mom?    

Head Circumference - Bigger than it was last month, that's all I know.

Clothing Size - Your 3-6 month clothes are on their way out the door and you've moved mainly into the 6-9 month size.  You can still wear 6 month in Carter's, but the 9 month size also fits okay.  You wear size 2 diapers and the middle set of snaps in your BGs.

Hair - You still have the bald patch in the back but I think your hair is starting to fill in all over.  It's still reddish but a little bit lighter now.  

Sleeping - You aren't sleeping through the night as consistently as last month, which is a direct result of the swaddle weaning we've been doing all.month.long.  You love your swaddle sleepsack but since you roll all over yonder and back at night we've been trying to get you out of the swaddle.  We've got the one-arm-out deal down pretty well, but it also means rescuing you in the middle of the night when you've chucked your binky with your free hand.  You go to bed around 8:30 - 9:00 and sleep until 5:30 - 6:30.  When you wake up, you get your diaper changed and have a bottle, then you're back down for another hour or two.  You take two short morning naps and a longer two or three hour nap in the afternoon.  Lately we've been putting you back down for a cat nap around 5:30 and 6:00 in the evening because you just act so tired.  This seems like an abnormal amount of sleep to me, but you're growing and it's keeping you happy so whatever works.    

Eating - You're eating 5 oz every two - three hours. You have about 14-15 oz of breast milk first from what I pumped the day before and then we finish the day with formula.  The goal is still to get you to around 30-35 oz a day if you seem interested...and you still always do.  We tried cereal starting at 4 months, 2 weeks and tried sporadically until last night when you really seemed to get it.  You ate with us at the table again tonight and finished all your cereal.  As soon as we get to another weekend when I have some time I'm going to whip up some veggies for you!     

Movement - You're a crazy little wiggle worm.  Always moving your legs, trying to get down, grabbing at things, etc.  Busy, busy, busy!  You started sitting for brief periods of time, which become very brief if you have a toy in your hands.  You're pretty unstable but I can already tell you're better at it than you were last week.  The jumperoo doesn't seem to be any more appealing to you than it was last month, but I think once you figure out you can JUMP you'll think it's more fun?

You know what they say - you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him jump in his jumperoo.

You love to roll, roll, roll.  Marissa, your nanny, made a "rolling corridor" for you one day with blankets and said you were all over the living room.  The rolling doesn't stop when you're in the crib, and unfortunately you've whacked your head on the bars a few times.  I wish I could put crib bumpers in there without worrying about you suffocating and checking on you 35x a night.  Better a red mark or two on the head, I guess.  

Milestones - You perfected the back to belly rolling this month, and now consistently hold your bottle each feeding.  You think you're ready to feed yourself with a spoon, too, but I disagree.  You met two other baby friends this month - Mr. Theodore O. and our BRAND NEW friend Jackson Herbert Benjamin B. - otherwise known as Jack.  When new Jack's big sister, who's almost 3, met you this fall, she decided that her brother was named Jack, too.  And so it was.

You had your first overnight trip to somewhere other than Grandma and Grandpa's when we visited Copper Mountain.  You did well sleeping in your Pack 'n Play again after a few months away from it.

You saw 22 inches of snow for the first time in your life - which was a milestone for Mom and Dad, too.  We all had a snow day and stayed in our jammies all day.

You celebrated Valentine's Day and got two new Valentine's books and a toy from Mom and Dad.      

Favorite toys/activities - When you're fussy a good song or two will pull you out of your funk, for five minutes or so at least.  Your favorites are "The Wheels on the Bus", "You Are My Sunshine", and "How Much is That Doggie in the Window?".  You must love putting your right hand in your mouth, because it's always in there!  I think you might be teething.  

Your favorite books are still "Moo, Baa, La-La-La" and "Barnyard Dance".  Mom also likes "Hippos Go Berserk", another Sandra Boynton.  [Friends, if you don't have this book for your kiddo, get it.  It's awesome.]  

Dislikes - Being still, burping (which you despise even more than you did last month), an empty bottle.  Having your face wiped.

These monthly photo shoots??

How many more of these?

What we love - Your awesome belly laughs during certain silly games, your greeting smiles when we come into your room after a nap and when we come home from work.

What we don't love - Swaddle weaning.  We're over it.

What we're looking forward to - Making your baby food (the first batch anyway), a weekend trip to Utah, and warmer weather.  

We love you!

Mmmm, Cereal!

Look who has a seat at the table now!  We've tried cereal two or three times over the last few weeks, but we just got his high chair put together this weekend.  Cereal and some veggies will start to be part of our evening meal now, we do believe.  He ate a whole bowl of rice cereal tonight (all 1-2 tablespoons of it), so I think we're maybe ready to start introducing more foods.

Mom, I don't get the concept of eating from a spoon as much as I like the idea of chewing on it.