Week 27 - The Good, the Bad, and the UGLY!!

(2/17/08 - 2/23/08)

Week 27 - The Good, the Bad, and the UGLY!!

First let me say that I am now the proud Mommy of a 6 month old!!! YEA!! Secondly let me say that the world has a horrible conspiracy against me and once again the MY GYM free trial class was canceled. Jake and I got all dressed and drove 20 minutes into town and when we walked into the My Gym place the lights were out and the young lady inside looked at me with confusion. I told her that we were here for our free trial class (which by the way I filled out paperwork for and signed up for) and she said that 4 of the other young children in the class mothers had called in sick so they had canceled the class. They didn't switch me from last weeks class so I wasn't on the list to call!!! GREAT!

So I am going to throw this out into the wild blue yonder that is the INTERNET....Has ANYONE ever gone to My Gym?? When I finally get the chance to go will Jake and I like it?? We are trying once again this coming Wednesday so I will write about it then.

NOW.....drum roll please.... on to why I titled this posting "The Good, the Bad, and the UGLY!!"

Last year when I was pregnant and starting to think about what I would need when I was a mother I of course read books, researched, asked other mothers, and then......went out and registered for whatever the heck I THOUGHT I needed. Hey, I was a well read expecting mother, I knew what I needed for my little one....right??

Well I of course in my whole SIX MONTHS as a mother have been slowly finding out that maybe I should have listened to all of those other mothers and saved some money on things that just aren't needed!! (I can hear all of the mothers out there laughing at me).

Here is my list of things that I have found are the Good = use them daily, and Jake loves them, Bad = are a good product in and of itself, but just doesn't fit into my lifestyle or Jake doesn't like them, and the UGLY = Items that I just should have known better not to get!

Good:
Lap Pads - For those of you who don't know what these are, my Grandmother got me these and when I opened them the first thing that popped into my head was....did she give me the receipt? Well let me tell you, I have a lap pad in my diaper bag so that little Jacob's tooshy doesn't have to lay on public changing tables, and there is always one on his changing pad at home. So when he decided to pee pee on the pad it doesn't soak the changing pad cover and I can quickly put a new lap pad down for the next changing. I am so glad my grandmother didn't include a receipt!

cloth diapers - These are the most AWESOME burp clothes in the world. Again when I got this gift at my shower, I hate to admit it, but I turned up my nose. Well lets just say that they are now used for everything from Jake's "bankie", to peek-a-boo, and of course burp clothes. The actual "burp clothes" that I was given are used as dust rags.

Baby Bjorn - This has saved Paul and I on more than one occasion. There isn't much to say but that Jake loves being in it, and we love walking him around.

Play mat - This mat has been great, when Jake was tiny he would lay under it and just stare at the toys hanging from the arches, and now that he is older, he plays with the toys, looks at himself in the mirror and will even grab all of the crinkly soft fuzzy things on the mat itself.

Bumbo Seat - This seat is great, but I have to recommend that you purchase the tray that goes with it. Jake didn't like the seat until I got the tray and now he will sit in it for over 1/2 hour just playing with toys that you put on the tray and banging on the tray with rattles and stuff. He really loves it.

Bad:
Crib - Jacob's crib is BEAUTIFUL it is a cherry wood sleigh bed that is a 4 in 1 crib. So it is a crib, day bed, toddler bed, etc.....all in one. I of course was thinking about how I wanted this beautiful crib for my son and how everything needed to match his room "theme". Of course there is nothing wrong with this bed, but now that I have a baby actually sleeping in it I have learned that while beautiful, sleigh beds aren't exactly "toy friendly" and to get any sort of toy attached to the crib you need to use string or a bunch of those links to wrap around the large "sleigh" part of the railing.

High Chair - Again, Jake's high chair is a beautiful high chair and I am in no way unhappy with it. But when I chose it I was choosing it as a "decorator" and not a mommy. The chair is for children who can sit unsupported, it doesn't recline, or have wheels. So as the mother of a 6 month old that can't quite sit unsupported yet but is eating solid foods I am struggling. What you can't tell from the picture above is that Jake has receiving blankets stuffed onto either side of him to keep him from falling to the side and there are chair pads under the legs to help me slide it along the hardwood floor when I put it away. I am sure in the next few months when he can sit better the chair will be a nice tool, but right now I wish I had a plastic one that reclined, and had wheels.

Bouncy chair - This item was almost too small for him from the day I brought it home. I originally picked this out with my mother with the idea that I was going to be taking a newborn outside, and that it would be nice to zip it up to keep anything away from the baby. Well, I didn't go near the outside with Jake for the first weeks and by the time I did it was just a pain in the butt to haul this chair outside. So I just used it inside for Jake to sit in. Well....I am the mother of a 96th percentile baby. To give you an idea of what I am talking about at 6 months old he is 29 inches long and 19 1/2 pounds. So even when I would put him in it at 2-3 months old he was too long and the zippy part would bump his legs and make him have to bend his legs to fit in it!

Car Seat - The only problem I have with this item is its weight/length limit. Again I chose it for the colors and the reviews but since again I have a child that is so large for his age Paul and I are going to have to get a new car seat at 6 months old as the weight limit is only 22 pounds. We have barely broken this one in and we have to get another one. So my advice to anyone is get one that goes up to 30 pounds. I sure wish I did.

UGLY!!:
Video Monitor- Well in theory these sounds great...right??? Well yeah as long as you don't have cordless phones or wireless internet in your house. Needless to say this was taken back almost immediately and I am now a perfectly happy mother with nothing more than a 50$ sound monitor!

Hope my reviews have helped. I have many more items that I could review and will maybe do a "The Good, the Bad, and the UGLY!! Part 2" at a later time.

Week 26 - Will you be my Valentine?

(2/10/08 - 2/16/08)

Week 26 - Will you be my Valentine?

There was a lot going on this week. First Jacob and I had a fun filled jam packed week scheduled, Tuesday we were supposed to go to Hagerstown to eat lunch with some friends, and Wednesday we were going to MY GYM to try out our free class with other youngsters, and Thursday was V-Day and we had a Corcoran party over at the Grandparents, and then finally Friday we were supposed to head over to West Virginia to hang out with the Great Grandparents.

Well let me tell you, it didn't start off well. This winter has been extremely mild and there hasn't been much of anything snowy or white to speak of. So of course the one week that I am excited about our schedule we get this freak sleet/freezing rain storm that comes through on Tuesday canceling my plans for Tuesday and Wednesday. But that is OK, I called the My Gym people and we will be going this coming week (stay tuned for details on how that goes).

So needless to say by Thursday Jacob and I both were ready to get out of the house. We went to town to the bookstore and got a few new books for Jacob (my favorite being "Mollywitch does magic tricks" with magic changing pictures) and then went over to the In-Laws for the annual St. Valentines Day party. Friday we headed out again to WV and spent a few hours with my grandparents (Jake's Great Grandparents) it was really good to see them and Jake had a good time.

Jacob has really changed in the past two weeks. He officially sat while supporting himself on his arms for over 3 minutes and even sat without support for about 20 seconds once or twice. Paul and I are very excited to see him growing and changing right before our eyes. He has even started being more social and has started spending time learning and looking instead of worrying about when he is going to eat, pee, or sleep next. As silly as it sounds it is like he has stopped being a newborn and started being a little person with his own unique personality, preferences, and quarks!

On a seperate note, Paul and I are very happy to announce that Jacob has a new second cousin. Cathleen and Tom had their baby boy last week, Thomas Royals Jr. He is doing well and is home with his parents. We wish them the best and can't wait for Thomas and Jacob to meet each other!!

Week 25 1/2 - Just hanging out!

(February 10th, 2008)

Week 25 1/2 - Just hanging out!

I know I usually only post one thing a week, but Jacob was in such a good mood yesterday and was hanging out so good that I got a really cute picture of him and wanted to talk about why he was in a laundry basket!

The one problem I haven't been able to figure out how to fix yet is "What to do with Jake when I need to do something". I have a chair that he sits in OK in the morning while I am making breakfast or cleaning the kitchen, but it is kinda big and I guess I could haul it around everywhere with me but it is a pain. So the other week Paul and I were over at his parents house and I was talking to Jake's Aunt Renee. She made a comment that when her kids were younger the older ones would help out with the younger ones (she has 5 kids). She then mentioned that the older ones would push the younger ones around the house in the laundry basket and the babies would LOVE IT!

Well I knew I wouldn't be able to put Jake in a laundry basket because the one that Paul and I use is a large deep one, and putting Jake in there would be a disaster, kinda like baby jail!!!

So the other day I was up in the bathroom getting ready to head out for some grocery shopping trying to figure out how to do my hair and put on my makeup with Jake. I really didn't want to haul the chair upstairs so I just layed him on the floor with a toy and went about getting ready. Well that lasted about 2 seconds before he wanted NOTHING to do with laying on the floor. I thought back to the conversation I had with Renee and realized that I did have a laundry basket, I just don't use it for laundry I use it to hold all of my rolled up clean towels in the bathroom!

So with a little improvising, TADA!!! Instant seat for Jake, and all you have to do is look at him and say "Are you sittin in a basket?" (of course in a funny high pitched baby voice) and he absolutely cracks up!!!! HE LOVES IT!!!!!

Week 25 - Not too far from the tree

(02/03/08 - 02/09/08)

Week 25 - Not too far from the tree!

Well this week I got a nice surprise! Jake was born in to a very very large family, which is very different from what I grew up around. You can fit my entire family in a minivan (that includes, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc....) but Paul's family is a little different.

Paul is the 7th child in a family of 9 brothers and sisters, Jake is the 32nd grandchild in the family (#33 is due next summer). So when Paul and I found out we were expecting I of course wanted to get my hands on all of the baby pictures of Paul so that I could day dream about what my son was going to look like.

WELL.....that didn't exactly happen. I have heard that most second children don't have the pictures and updated albums like the first born children do, so you can imagine what your baby album looks like when you are the 7th child!!! I did get my hands on a picture of Paul when he was about 3 months old, but it was from a distance and it wasn't a very good picture. The next picture I had of him was from when he was 2 years old. He was ADORABLE! But it didn't really help me out in my "imagining"!

So of course once Jake was born I either couldn't tell who he looked like (honestly he didn't look like either of us) or everyone would tell me he looked like me and nothing like Paul.

So yesterday when Paul was out of town on business Jake and I went over to Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner and I was told that a picture might have been found of Paul when he was little. I was soooooooooo excited, and just hoped that it was a good one and not a distorted or distant image. Well as you can see from up top, it was/is a very good picture of Paul. We are estimating his age around 2 months. But the best part about it is that YES Jacob does look like his father (at least when he was 2 months old). So even if he ends up looking more like his mommy than his daddy I at least know that there are definately some Paul traits hiding in there somewhere!

Hopefully you all can see the resemblance too and it isn't just me grasping at straws!! But I think it is pretty obvious, and Paul thinks so too!

So it turns out that the apple didn't fall too far from the tree afterall!!

Week 24 - Three letter bad word!

(1/27/08 - 2/2/08)

Week 24 - Three letter bad word!

Well Jacob learned his first three letter bad word this week. Actually Jake and I both learned it, and I have to say that it is the most horrible word in the entire english language and I hope to not have to utter it again for a very very very long time. I am sure you are wondering what this bad word is....well.........it's F-L-U!!!!

Yes that's right Jake got the flu and trust me it was pretty sad! Last weekend we went over to visit some family after church and had a great time. The kids were hanging all over Jake and playing with him and of course his grandmother was holding him for awhile as well as his Aunt Renee. Two days later I noticed one evening before bed that he felt a little warm. So I took his temperature and it was 100.5. I had been feeling achy that day so I just assumed that he was coming down with whatever I had so I gave him a little bit of tylenol and put him to bed.

That night he woke up every 2 hours coughing and his temp continued to go up. I too was getting sicker by the hour and had finally gotten a temperature myself. At one point around 2AM Jake's temp was 102 and he was very congested sounding.

We made it through the night and the next morning (Wednesday) we got up like normal....at least normal for feeling like you got run over by a truck...... But one thing was really worrying me about Jacob, he wouldn't eat. The one thing that you can always count on with Jake is that he ALWAYS eats. Luckily Paul was working from home that day and he could juggle his schedule and help out. I was soooo achy and feverish myself it was really hard for me to take care of Jake. All morning his fever was staying around 102 and at one point got up to 102.5 and he still wasn't eating. I put a cold cloth on his head which seemed to help a little bit but he was soooo tired, hungry, and achy that he just couldn't sleep and the tylenol was only helping a little and not taking his temp away.

I finally called the doctors office and they wanted to see him. We had an appointment for noon so we bundled Jake up and headed into town. When we got there both Jake and I got poked and prodded and they took a swab of Jake's nose and we found out he had the "Flu strain A" whatever that means. But of course he is too young to be on any medicine, but I am still glad we went. I kept giving him the tylenol and eventually by Thursday his fever broke. He still even today (Saturday) has a bad cough but is eating well, playing, and sleeping through the night (except for an occasional coughing fit).

And it turns out that everyone at the house that day ended up getting sick. So probably one of the kids was sick and then since they were all around Jake anyone who held him got sick. So poor grandma and Aunt Renee as well as the kids that day all got the flu, it was like a "prop epidemic" hehehehehehe!

I hope we don't have to go through this too often, it is one bad word that I don't EVER want have in my house AGAIN!!!!!