Week 41 - This, That, and The Other!

Week 41 - This, That, and The Other!!

(5-25-08 - 5-31-08)

This week was a GREAT week! It seemed like Jake was doing something new every single day! I think I mentioned the other week that he was starting to mimic Paul and I (and other people) if we would shake our heads in a "no" fashion. Well this week the mimicing was in full force. He started doing two things. He is now our little faker and will "fake laugh" when you are laughing or when he wants you to laugh. He does this "bahahahaha" sound and will do it with this little grin on his face. He also has started trying to imitate us when we make this other sound (I have no clue how to describe it). It is really quite cute!

Pointing is now in full force, although he doesn't point on command so if you ask him "Where's the light?" or something like that he won't point to it, even though sometimes depending on what the item is he will look at it and acknowledge that you asked about it. But he will point to birds or a plane or even to me or Paul when he wants to show you what he is looking at.

The BIGGEST two things that happened this week are that he got his sixth tooth! For those of you who are keeping track that is 6 teeth in 5 weeks!! UGH!! But he now has four lower teeth and his two top teeth! He looks so cute with them, it has really changed how he looks...he is all grown up!! hehehehehehe

**DRUM ROLL PLEASE**

Jake has started to try and crawl!! For the longest time Paul and I wondered if he would ever crawl or heck even walk in a timely fashion. He was and has been content to just sit. We never did much tummy time with him so his arm strength has left much to be desired, but I just figured that eventually he will crawl and walk and I wasn't too worried about it....I mean hey...have you ever seen a kindergartener that couldn't walk, run, hop, skip, and jump?? Me either....so Jake has a little over 4 years to figure all of this out. So it was shocking to Paul and I when last week Jake started to position his legs to the side when he would reach for something that was far away from him on the floor. Usually it would just end up in him falling flat on his face and then crying for 10 minutes, but we figured it was progress none-the-less.

Then two days ago he started rocking up onto his knees and trying to reach for stuff....he still falls on his face, but this is DEFINATELY the start of what he needs to do to crawl. I am giving it another month tops and we will have a little mobile terror on our hands....it is one of those catch 22's. You want him to progress and crawl, but it scares you to death that you won't be able to watch him every second and he could get hurt! Child proof safety home HERE WE COME!!

I have put a video of him trying to crawl up top!

Week 40 - Who are these people??

Week 40 - Who are these people??

(5/18/08 - 05/24/08)

First let me say that I am now the proud mommy of a 9 month old! Holy Cow! I have a 9 month old!!

Now, what it truly means to have a nine month old! Over the past nine months (heck, even when I was pregnant) I have read many many books, magazines, online articles, etc....about babies, infants, milestones, yada, yada. The one thing that has always come up has been stranger anxiety. Jake went through a minor phase around seven months where men were a big issue. If you were a man and he didn't know you WATCH OUT! If you were a woman you could pick him up and carry him away, but be a man......NO WAY!

He only went through this phase for about a month and it was over and I thought that I was going to luck out and have a baby that would let people hold him and allow his parents to have many many many date nights and get many many many breaks from holding and "entertaining" him. Well as you can see from the red eyes, snot dripping out of his nose, and overall pathetic and sad look of the picture above yesterday was stranger anxiety OVERLOAD!

Paul and I knew that yesterday was going to be a bad day for a 9 month old, but unfortunately two major things were scheduled for yesterday and we were obligated to do both. We had my family reunion and then had a high school prom to go to. For those of you who are wondering why I would need to go to a prom, my students from last year had been emailing and texting me a few times over the past two months asking me if I was coming because they wanted to see me. Paul and I figured that since this is the last year where I would know any of the students that it would be nice to go and see them. But Paul and I honestly thought the only problem to the whole day would be that it was going to be one heck of a looooonnnnggggg day! Since strangers hadn't been a problem for two months or more it never occurred to us that in addition to the long day the strangers were going to be in abundance, and hence the snot, red eyes, and screaming/crying!

We first started to sense that this was going to be an issue when we got to the reunion. He had just woke up, was well rested, and in an overall good mood! Within 10 minutes of being there with no one even looking or talking to him he just started crying. At first we thought it was his teeth (he has gotten three teeth in three weeks...and three more are swollen and ready to pop). But the more we disected the situation it had to be the strangers. We fixed this problem by setting up our blanket and toys a little bit away from everyone and positioning Jake so that the only people near him were people he knew and was comfortable with. We got through the reunion relatively unscathed after the initial crying spell.

Then came the icing on the cake......we got to my friend Rossana's house (his godmother) and all was going well he had just taken an hour and half nap, was in a good mood, and seemed like all was going to be well for the prom. Well, the prom didn't start until 8:00pm ( I know, I know...we were crazy to even try). During dinner it started to go downhill, he was getting antsy, didn't want to eat, sit, play...nothing! We finally got to prom at 7:30.........said hello, got our picture taken......THEN......... WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

It didn't stop for 40 minutes! If you so much as looked at him crossed-eyed the water works started! But hey who could blame him, he was tired (hell Paul and I were down right exhausted), there were TONS of people coming up wanting to see him, get in his face, make high pitched squeling "OH HOW CUTE" noises.....it was SENSORY/STRANGER OVERLOAD!

So now that I know my son has a normal healthy case of stranger anxiety, I can check another milestone off of the list! Even if this milestone will be keeping Paul and I from our many many many date nights!!!

**If you haven't checked it out there is a new video up top**

Week 39 - My Top Ten! (So Far)

Week 39 - My Top Ten! (So Far)

(5/11/08 - 5/17/08)

Since this week had Mothers Day (my very first) and mine and Paul's 7th Anniversary, I have decided to write down my top ten list of why I love being a mom! Of course there are more then ten things, but it doesn't sound as exciting to say that I have a list of 1,500 things!

10) Realizing that I just missed all of my favorite shows because I was too busy playing with blocks and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (and I was able to sing along to the theme song!) and not caring!

9) Being able to talk about pee and poo and it seems perfectly normal and will provoke other parents to chime in about their childs bathroom habits too! (You know you have done it!)

8) Knowing that every day Jake will surprise me with doing something new and exciting!

7) Having strangers tell me how cute Jake is, and trying to act humble even though inside I am like HELL YES HE IS CUTE!!!

6) Seeing how exciting bathtime is for him, even though it can sometimes be miserable and wet for me!

7) Dressing him up in "big boy" clothes and giggling about how cute he looks!

6) Having someone to talk to even if he doesn't understand anything I am saying!

5) Being excited to get up everyday, cause I get to spend it with Jake!

4) Having Jake fall asleep in my arms and instead of taking him upstairs to bed, enjoying the moment for a few extra minutes!

3) Seeing Jake and his father playing and having fun! He loves his Daddy! (So do I!)

2)Knowing that everyday no matter what type of day I am having when I go to get Jake up from his nap he ALWAYS has a smile on his face and is happy to see me!

1) Knowing that even though it took Paul and I 6 years to have Jake, that the BEST THINGS are worth the wait!!

Week 38 - Now THAT'S a milestone!!

Week 38 - Now THAT'S a milestone!

(5/4/08 - 5/10/08)

This week was a very special week, Jake's Great-Grandparents celebrated their 60th Wedding Anniversary on May 8th. They were married waaaaayyyyyyy back in 1948! This is a true milestone that I hope Jake will be able to celebrate in his life as well as Paul and I. But since Paul and I are only celebrating our 7th anniversary on the 12th we have a lot of years to go before we will hit that particular milestone!

Jake and I went to see his great-grandparents on Thursday to take them out to lunch for their anniversary. We had a great time and Jake showed off his many new talents for them. A few more milestones for Jacob were also accomplished this week as well. He is a master of picking up cheerios and feeding himself. That darn "pincer grasp" has been giving him a fit these past couple of weeks but he finally got the hang of it and is a "pincer grasp master"! He has also started to mimic people which is a huge milestone. He likes to copy you when you shake your head in a "no" fashion. It is the most adorable thing. He isn't waving yet, but hey! I am more than happy with what he has accomplished and am so proud of him!

My mother, her fiance, and Paul and I got my grandparents this really awesome gift for their anniversary. It was a gift basket that had many many 1948 memorabilia items in it. When Jake and I were there on Thursday we went through the gift basket with them and they talked about different things that they remembered and how things are different (and waaaaayyyy more expensive) now than how they were back then. Of course the one thing that was on my mind was......How much was gas??? Well there was this book that came with the gift basket that had all of the answers to all of those questions. Here are a few things that I found particularly interesting:

In 1948:
New House: $7,700.00
Income: $2,936.00
New Car: $1,230.00
Movie Ticket: $0.60
Gasoline: $0.16 /gallon (Yes, you are reading that correctly!)
Postage Stamp: $0.03

Sad day! We'll miss you Chedder!

Today was a sad day. Our cat Chedder passed away. She was a great cat, and Jake absolutely loved her. I swear his first words were "Key-Key" (Kitty Kitty). Every morning when Jake and I would come downstairs the cat would come over to us and Jake would just light up and smile at the "key-key". She was a very old cat, and I hope she is happy where she is in "Key-Key Heaven". We will miss her!

Week 37 - I will take that chemical free food to go please!

Week 37 - I will take that chemical free food to go please!

(4/27/08 - 05/03/08)

Before Jacob was born I have to admit that I would eat just about anything that anyone gave me without thinking too much about what I was eating, or how it could affect me. Anyone that even remotely doesn't live under a rock knows that the newest craze is "Eating Organic". Well this can be a very expensive thing to do. Since I am a mother to only one little angel, and am lucky enough to be able to be a stay at home mommy I have been making my own baby food for Jake since he was 5 months old.

His favorites from the beginning have been sweet potatoes, peaches, and pears. But there are other things that he likes as well. Most people might think that making your own baby food is time consuming and expensive, but in fact it isn't. I purchased a baby food cookbook (Solely for the age appropriate recommendations and spices), the book also came with two ice cube trays that have 1 ounce sections with a lid.

To let you know how NOT EXPENSIVE it is I will give you a scenario of making vs. buying. If you are looking at the 2.5 ounce stage 1 sweet potatoes (non-organic) they are approx. $.49 (let's round up to $.50), one ice cube tray has 12 sections or 12 ounces in it. So if you do that math you have about 4.8 or 5 jars of baby food per tray. I can purchase 4 sweet potatoes (average size not too big not too small) and once I peel, boil, add some bottled water, and puree it. It will fill up two and a half ice cube trays or make approx. 12 jars of baby food......if purchased that would cost $6.00 and I only spent $1.99 for the raw sweet potatoes. Add that up over months and months and you see my point. Depending on what food you are talking about you could save a little more or a little less.

I then label everything, pop them out of the ice cube trays into plastic bags and when I need them I put them in a little gladware bowl with a lid and head out! Yes it takes a little more time but once you get it made it is worth it.

Now onto the reason for this post.....I was reading the other day about organic foods and how with childhood disease, ADHD, Autism, etc.etc. people are starting to go organic and watch more closely about what they are putting into their children. I found the most awesome website: http://www.foodnews.org. They have a pocket guide (and a link to a full 45 item list) on this website. What blew my mind was the "dirty dozen"!

Well if you look at this list and you remember back to about a dozen sentences ago Jake's favorite foods are in the TOP 12!!!! HOLY CRAP!!!! I thought I was being the best mom in the world by making my own baby food and it turns out his favorite was pears and peaches!!! The WORST ONES!!! The chemicals in peaches alone are enough to make you want to scream, and enough to make me want to breastfeed until Jake is old enough to get a job, move out, and purchase his own ORGANIC Chemical Free food!!!

So this week has been spent researching organics, remaking his "dirty dozen" foods with Organic produce, and purchasing other items that are ALL NATURAL like laundry detergent, cleaning supplies (that come in contact with his toys), and just trying to be more natural.

Yes, yes, yes...I know some of you think I am being crazy, I am mean hell we grew up with metal sliding boards, gravel underneath our swingsets, no helmets, yada.....yada....but hey!! We also didn't have the crazy problems that kids these days have to face and if I can do something that will help make my son, my husband, and myself healthier then so be it!!! CALL ME CrAzY!!