Week 31 - Pimp My Ride!

Week 31 - Pimp My Ride!

(3/16/08 - 3/22/08)

First let me say that I am the proud mother of a teething 7 month old!!

A few months ago Paul and I realized that we had a baby on our hands that wasn't going to stay small for long. When the 6-9 month clothing was getting purchased when Jake was only 3 months old that was the final HINT that clothing and other "size" items weren't going to stay in the Corcoran house for long! In one of my previous posts I mentioned that there were items that I received for my baby shower that at the time seemed to be the perfect gifts, and in all honesty they were very very nice gifts and more than did what they were designed to do. So when Paul and I were at Jake's 6 month checkup and saw that he had outgrown his carseat we had to start frantically researching for a new and safe way to drive Jake around.

I researched for a long time and found that one carseat kept coming to the top of almost every website and "reviews postings" that I read. The name is BRITAX. I had never heard of them, you usually hear of Graco and Evenflo the most. The one thing that of course jumped out about the Britax seats were their price, they are NOT cheap. But the good thing about them is that they go up to 65 pounds! Now I can't say how long that is going to last Jake, but it sure as heck is going to last longer than 7 months which was all we got out of his baby carseat.

I ended up going with the Britax Marathon carseat. It was extremely easy to install and can install using a LATCH system where it bypasses the seatbelt and uses two hooks/latches that hook directly into the cars frame under the seat. You get absolutely NO side to side movement (something we had with his baby carseat) and it is very comfortable feeling. But do you know that I love about it the most? It had a velcro fastener on the straps so when you are getting Jake out or putting him in the straps don't get caught underneath of him. HOW GENIUS IS THAT!!!!

The one downfall is that Jake is sitting but still isn't really ready for shopping carts. He can tolerate them for short grocery runs or store outings but can't sit in them for long. Also the one thing Paul and I could bank on is that Jake would always fall asleep in the carseat, now even if he is asleep we have to wake him up and get him out of the seat, when we used to be able to carry him inside and sometimes prolong his naps. I guess that is a transition all parents have to make sooner or later, we just have to do it sooner.

I have posted two new videos at the top of the blog, please check them out.

To those of you who have posted comments on this blog, I am sorry but I have stopped using Haloscan for my commenting system (too many problems) so unfortunately I have lost your comments. I love hearing what you have to say so please please please continue to leave me your comments! Now you just have to click on the "comments" link right below each post instead of having it right there handy for you to start typing! Sorry!

Week 30 - It's all Greek to me!

Week 30 - It's all Greek to me!

(3/9/08 - 3/15/08)

A lot has happened this week. We had Jacobs 6 month checkup/immunization shots. He weathered the shots fine with only a tiny fever the first night. He weighed in at 20.5 pounds which is in the 95th percentile but measured in at 30 inches long which is the 104th percentile....how you get to be over 100% I don't know but I have one heck of a long child!!! Let's hope he has some coordination when he gets older and can use his height to play some basketball!

We have also started having our own unique conversations with Jake. They go a little like this:
Nananana Bababababa *high pitched squeal* Dadadada Nanananana Bababa *spit bubbles* etc....etc.....

It is a lot of fun to hear him talking. Jacob has always been a very vocal little baby, but was never the textbook cooing, goo goo gaa gaa baby. His first nickname was "The Pterodactyl" because he would screech and screech in the highest pitch you have every heard. It was the funniest thing. He then progressed to grunting which was funny too because he couldn't grunt at you unless he would straighten his arms and legs and grunt with his whole body! So now we are at the next stage of "Talking". The cutest thing he does now is he will "cough" to get your attention. He will even play a game with you and "cough" back and forth. Even though all of his "talking" is completely indiscriminate Paul and I still have a lot of fun having our own conversations with him! Although I am sure we have had more than one stranger think we are a little CrAzY when they see two grownups speaking in Baba's and Nana's!

On Friday Jake and I tagged along with Paul on one of his work outings. He had to visit with a client in Old Town Alexandria. Since the weather was supposed to be 67 and sunny we took the opportunity to take Jake on his first "vacation". While Paul was working a few blocks away Jake and I walked around into all of the shops and around the boardwalk near the water. Jake enjoyed seeing the seagulls and the boats. Once Paul was out of his meeting we had a nice lunch at "The Wharf" where we got to sit overlooking the water. On the way home we stopped by an observation area at Reagan National Airport and watched the planes take off. Jake seemed to like this a lot and watched the planes fly over the water and over our heads. It was very loud so I had to cover his ears, but it was a lot of fun. The picture above doesn't really do the planes justice, they are very big and fly right over top of you on there way out of the airport!