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 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

Week 29 - Milestones

(3/2/08 - 3/8/08)

Week 29 - Milestones

We hit a new milestone this week (actually we hit two milestones). Well one didn't end well, but it was a milestone none-the-less. If you have read all of my previous posts you know that Paul and I have had a problem with Jacob being on his belly for "tummy time". He has hated it from the beginning (which was partially our own fault) with the new "sleep on your back" routine that they push from the second your child is born (we even had to sign a paper at the hospital stating that we understood that back sleeping is the appropriate SIDS prevention position.) Because of this, we didn't start putting Jake on his belly until he was 4 weeks old to play and by then he wanted nothing to do with it. He would scream bloody murder so we would immediately turn him back over. We have since tried to have Jake on his tummy at least once a day and over the past few weeks he has gotten better, he still (at almost 7 months) can't do a "baby push up" but can now prop himself up on his elbows and stay on his tummy for awhile without crying and occasionally (unintentionally though) will roll over to his back.

So what was his new milestone you ask...........well...... the other night Paul and I were on the floor playing with Jake, Jake was sitting in front of me and trying to get a toy that Paul had placed on the floor in front of him. Jake then preceded to get up onto his knees with his arms locked and stayed in a "crawling" position for about 5 seconds before he face planted and screamed for 5+ minutes (I think his pride was hurt more than anything). What's the big deal???? Well for a baby who has been plagued with tummy time troubles, it was a HUGE milestone and one that Paul and I are extremely happy with. It shows us that no matter what, even if later than other babies he will eventually crawl and do everything else as he continues to grow and get stronger and stronger.

As you can see from the picture, the second milestone that we reached this week is SITTING!!! YEAH!!!! I still can't leave him alone, but he can now sit pretty good on his own. He will still occasionally topple over especially if he "isn't in the mood to sit" but he sat for over 20 minutes the other night without falling over and he did it while playing with toys. He has even figured out how to put a hand down to steady himself.

We went back to My Gym this week, Jake still didn't smile but had more fun with the toys and
the other babies. I am still hopeful that he will crack a smile and I am determined to have my camera with me every week so that I can capture the moment!