Tuesday, December 2, 2014

The (semi) calm before the storm- Jay's 7 Month Update


Here's the deal- Im having a hard time accepting that my baby boy 
is becoming less of an infant and more of a mobile little person.
 The first step is acceptance though, right?? 


This month has been a slight glimpse into the very near future
 when Jay gets totally mobile and I'm already tired. Ha.
 Jay has started to be able to army crawl and roll to different
 toys and places he wants to be on the ground. He is a very
 determined and focused little guy. I know I say this
 a lot, but it is the coolest thing to watch him discover and learn. 

Speaking of being mobile- that doesn't end when he's
 on the ground with his toys. Bath time has become
 quite the event with me basically wrestling him the whole
 time trying to make sure he gets clean/doesn't slip
 and whack his face. I'm sure it would be comical to watch. 




We introduced some puréed food this month and at first
 he was NOT impressed. Closing his mouth shut after
 about three bites. The past week, though, he has
 started acting like he's digging this whole food thing. 


He's uhb-sessed with tags

I heard that around this age baby's will start to have separation
 anxiety from their moms and I think it's safe to say we're there.
 He's become very clingy.. Literally, he clings to my
 neck/shoulders/hair. I love that he loves me so much
 right now so I'm trying to just soak in all the love because
 I know soon enough he will be running around and i'll
 be begging for my clingy baby back. 



After 6 long months of middle of the night feedings I am
 SO happy to say that he is now sleeping 11-12 hours
 each night before waking to feed in the mornings.
 I feel like a new woman! We're still working on the naps. In fact, as I 
write this I'm sitting in my garage with a sleeping baby in the back
 because he refused to nap in his crib this morning. I'll probably
 have to do this for his afternoon nap today too. Oh well, with
 time I think he will come around. 
Like my husband says: "Give him a break. He's a baby."
 I do need to hear that every once in a while because 
I forget that he's still figuring out life and what 
works for him so I'm trying to roll with it. 


 Jay is just the most fun, relaxed and smart little boy
 and we are so proud that God chose us to be his parents. 

We love you, buddy! 



Thursday, November 6, 2014

Happy (Half) Year Birthday to our BOY!


Wow, six months already?? Sorry Im a few days late on this update. 
I'm in denial lazy. Jay is now a whole half year old and I am 
officially having a mommy moment where I'm actually depressed
 that he is getting so big. Everyone says that it goes by so fast, but wow
- this was faster than expected. It seems like every day Jay
 does something else that makes him a little bit more 
independent from me. Im proud of him and in 
awe of the person he's becoming. 





Jay can sit up now all by himself. He will plop down on one side
 if he leans too far one way to grab a toy, but for the most part he's
 got that whole sitting thing down. I like to lay out a blanket
 on the floor with lots and lots of toys around him and let him just explore.
His little mind goes a mile a minute and loves to examine his 
toys, chew on them, and move to the next. 




Jay was the Michelin Man for Halloween because... naturally. 
He is so much more vocal this month. Raising his voice when
 he gets excited and saying lots of "AHH's and WAHH's." 
I may or may not have been saying "Maa, maa" more
 than the other noises to him... don't tell Scottie =)


He's starting to scoot.. backwards. Is it bad that Im not encouraging
 the whole crawl stage? I like my baby immobile, thank you very much.
 It makes me slightly stressed out to think of him crawling 
around and grabbing at the Christmas Tree- so i'm hoping
 he will start moving around AFTER Christmas. 
This baby, though, likes to go against my plans, so he will
 probably be walking by then with my luck. 


These two crack me up
We took Jay to his first Florida/Georgia weekend this year
 in Jacksonville. I have been going to that game since
 I was his age, so it was really special to watch him there.
 We tailgated and Jay LOVED people watching. Scottie grabbed him
 for a while and stood out near the street. Talk about babe magnet.
 Don't get me wrong... my man is GOOD LOOKIN' on
 his own, but stick a baby in his arms and the ladies
 love him. 

This coming month we are starting to introduce Jay to solid foods.
 I cant wait to see what his likes and dislikes are.
 Right now, when we eat he is so enamored with what
 we are eating its going to be fun to watch him get to eat his own meals. 

Happy six month birthday to our precious baby boy. 
We love you with all that we are! 







Thursday, October 2, 2014

Jay's 5 Month Update





Can I just start by saying this is such an awesome stage for babies!?
 Hands down, this month has been the most fun for me to watch Jay
 learn and grow. He is so interested in everything and loves
 to take everything in. I can almost see his little 
brain growing as the days go on.
 He loves to grab at everything. Cups and bottles are some of his
 favorites to get his hands (and mouth) on. He's been eying our
 remote for a few weeks now like its a piece of steak, but i've
 watched too many news stories about how the remote is like a
 toilet seat when it comes to germs, so we try to keep that at a distance.
 He's also become a lot more vocal. Lots of grunts and this weird
 high pitched squeal that almost sounds like a baby dinosaur.
 We think its hilarious!
 He can roll over from his stomach to his back, but its
 only when he's feeling like it... most of the time he would rather
 just stay on his tummy and look around. He is a little
 jumper and bouncer and loves to stand up and sit up to play now.
 He *almost* can sit by himself which is awesome and a little
 sad for me at the same time. Where is my little baby going!!??!?









Jay is starting to recognize familiar faces and just ADORES his daddy.
 It's the sweetest thing I've ever seen. He lights up when Scottie
 gets home from work. It's hard to say who is happier
 to see the other.
 I just love watching the two of them interact. Jay already has so many
 of Scottie's traits, I know they will be such great buddies when he gets older.




Speaking of buddies- Jay and Hagen are starting to grow quite the bromance.
 Jay loves to pet his head and pat Hagen.
 I cannot wait to watch the two of them together in a few months. 




Remember when I said how blessed we feel to have a healthy baby?
 Ahhhh, life.
 Jay was not sleeping well about a week ago and started to get a hoarse voice.
 At first I figured he was going through the "4 Month Sleep Regression"
 where babies commonly go through a few weeks of bad sleep,
 but his hoarse voice wasn't going away.
 I took him into the doctor even though he was still acting just
 as happy as normal and he didn't have a fever.
 Sure enough, he had an ear infection. Poor guy. 
He's on amoxicillin for 10 days and hopefully that will clear it up.
 Nevertheless, I still feel blessed that this is all we have 
been dealt (knock on wood, life).




Jay's naps have started to become more predictable and lasting longer.
 We're down to three naps a day that last a little over an hour each. 
That's all great and a huge improvement from last month,
 but we're still in the stroller and I still have to work
 to keep him asleep for that long.
 I've decided to wait until 6 months and then we will have
 a rough  week of sleep training in his crib and 
**hopefully** 
things will get much better after that. We will see though.
 This baby likes to keep me on my toes.








Bath time is one of Jay's favorites and we are getting 
real close to moving him to the bathtub because he is 
starting to get to be too big for that infant tub. 






What a life... bath and some football. What more could
a guy want??

Jay took his longest trip to date this month all the way up to 
Savannah, GA (5.5 Hours). I was so nervous that after
 about 3 hours he was just going to cry the rest of the way, but he
 did remarkably well! I wish I could say we went all
 that way for another reason, but my grandmother passed away so
 off to Georgia we went. She was very sick and bedridden for a 
long time, so I was happy that the Lord took her and she was able
 to be with my grandfather again. Ever since he died six years ago she
 hasn't been the same. I must say, there is something terribly sad,
 but terribly beautiful about losing such a long and true love.
 She walked around like a lost soul because half of her was gone.
 I'm so happy to know they are both complete again.
 I could go on and on about how in love they were
 with each other and how inspiring their love was to 
me, but I'll just leave it at that =). I have so many amazing
 memories as a kid coming up to Savannah to visit my
 grandparents and this trip also forced me to say good-bye 
to their neighborhood that I loved visiting so much.
 It was a sad, but necessary trip.
 Having Jay there definitely helped everyone deal with the loss, though.
 One life ends and another begins. God knew what he was doing when he created us.

This was the only pic I took of Jay all dressed up.. the days
were a little hectic, but how CUTE is he!?

Speaking of... Jay also had a really important day this month when he was Baptized.
 It was a really special day for the whole family
 and we were so happy to have everyone with us to witness his sacrament of Baptism.




What a blessing Jay has been to our lives. I always thought my life was happy and full,
 and it was but not to this extent. Daily, I wake up feeling 
like my heart is so full. 
It's the best feeling in the world!


Happy 5 months to our sweet, smart, easy-going little buddy. We love you!


Uhh, side note- these pics are getting difficult
in his chair. ha ha