How Daddy gets his work done . . .

This and That

We took Isabella to the movie Tangled tonight, it was so good, we all really enjoyed it! My mother-in-law came to stay with us today until tomorrow, so she stayed home with Jaymes.


I'm an aunt for the 12th time!! My newest nephew and soon to be Godson, John Paul, weighed in at TEN pounds, and was 22 inches long. He's the biggest newborn I've seen, but he still seems tiny since I'm used to Jaymes. He's such a little sweetheart, I'm so glad we got to meet him over Thanksgiving.



Jaymes and I went to the "big city" 100 miles from us a week and a half ago, to get my Christmas shopping done. Toys R Us was CRAZY, and it was a weekday before Thanksgiving! I can't imagine what's it's like now. He and I had a great time together! :)



Our bank has a rewards program for using debit cards. Every time you use your debit card you get so many points that you can then redeem for certain things. We got a notice that we finally had enough points to redeem, I thought we would only be able redeem something super chincy, but was so pleasantly surprised when I logged on and found hundreds of really nice things we could get. We ended up getting a portable DVD player for the car and a $50 Toys R Us gift card, which we used for Christmas shopping. Awesome!! I used to be totally against DVD players in the car, but have come around. It's a four hour trip (one way) to my parents, so it will be really nice to have, and we'll only use it for long trips like that.




Isabella has gotten totally in to Barbies lately, and wants Barbie stuff for Christmas. That's all I ever did as a kid was play Barbies. However, I'm so discouraged by the Barbie clothes they have these days. I will not let Isabella dress her Barbies in anything immodest or skimpy, but decent Barbie clothes are impossible to find in stores. I was able to find some very cute, modest Barbie clothes on Etsy.com and am excited to give those to her for Christmas!




It's cold here! Temps have been in the single digits, but I know it will only get colder. This time of year I become sort of a hermit, and prefer to stay home most of the time. I'm so glad I usually don't have anywhere I absolutely have to be, since it's kind of a pain to get the kids dressed in a zillion layers, keep the baby completely covered, etc. and be in and out of the vehicle. I'll probably start doing errands while Monte's home so he can stay home with one or both of the kids, when it's so cold out.




I can't wait to start Christmas baking with Isabella!




In some ways I love having a newborn, but mostly I'm glad that stage is over. I love that he's on a good routine now, I love the early bedtime and sleeping all night, and I LOVE all the smiles, laughs, and coos that he gives us! And now he can slow down with his growing, because I want him to stay like this forever!

3 Months Old!

I am SO in love with this little guy, and he is a Mommy's boy for sure. I'll admit, when we found out we were having a boy I was just a teeny, tiny little bit disappointed, I know that sounds terrible. What was I thinking?! I am overwhelmed with love for my sweet boy. I think I'll baby him forever! :) I am just so happy, and also so thankful that I don't have any post partum depression this time around.

The first two months were rough, he wanted to eat non-stop, and was really fussy, especially in the evenings. I refused to accept the term colic, I felt like if he was crying and fussy there had to be some reason for it. I went off of dairy, but it didn't seem to help. We finally realized he was overtired! It sounds crazy, but that was all the problem was. We were keeping him up too late, giving him his bath late (around 8:00), which caused him to be overstimulated and overtired, which in turn caused him to not be able to settle himself down to get to sleep no matter what we tried. As soon as we started putting him to bed early, he became such a content, happy baby. He goes to bed every night at 5:30, then sleeps 12 hours until 5:30 in the morning, when he eats and goes back to sleep until about 6:30 or 7:00. During the day he can't be awake for more than about an hour at a time before he needs a nap, he sleeps A LOT! He's on a good routine now, and goes about 3 hours during the day between eating (I'm so glad the round the clock eating is over!). He goes to bed so early, it's kind of nice to have the evening free to spend a couple of hours of special time with Isabella, and then some time to ourselves after she's in bed.

He still likes to be swaddled. Question to fellow swaddlers - when did you stop swaddling?? Do I just keep doing it until he starts trying to "break free"?

He's all smiles for big sister! She's getting better with him, I really want to take the time sometime to blog about her adjustment, it wasn't going so well for awhile there . . .

There was a time when I thought he'd be attached to me in the Bjorn forever (and I'd then be in a wheelchair with a broken back!). But alas he really enjoys being put down and playing now. He loves this play gym and also his bouncy seat with the toy bar on it.

Hanging out on my bed, watching me pack for our weekend trip to Monte's parents.

I love fall!

Even though we've had our first snowfall, it melted fast, and it's still fall around here . . . for now.

Birthday Girl

November 2nd marked Isabella's 4th birthday, I can't believe my sweet baby girl is 4! She's had a couple of birthday celebrations, with one more yet to come with my family.

Here's my attempt at a Dora cake.

Celebrating with Monte's family.

This is what she saw first thing on her birthday morning - a Dora tablecloth, Dora balloon, Dora plate and cup, and presents waiting for her!

She's been REALLY wanting a coffee maker for her kitchen for the last year, she was thrilled to finally get one.

Magnetic wooden dolls, today's version of old fashioned paper dolls.

My mom came out to spend a couple of days with us, she offered to stay home with Jaymes while we did something special with Isabella on her birthday. She wanted to go the park and the zoo, and Applebees to eat. We made it to the park at the zoo, but unfortunately the zoo was just closing when we got there because they're on winter hours now. Thankfully, she didn't seem to mind.

Ending the day with a DQ ice cream cake brought by grandma!

Daddy's Girl

She is SO in love with him . . .

Trick or Treat

Old Pictures

Starting with the most recent ones-

Such a sleepy boy, he even sleeps through some of his baths.

My friend Kelley had a baby girl (after having 4 boys!) exactly one week after Jaymes was born, and our Bible Study group threw us an awesome shower, it was such a fun night. This was about 5 weeks ago.

I thought this diaper cake was such a cute and creative present!

The guests of honor.

Can't leave this sweet thing out!

Twins Game!

The bank my brother works for owns season tickets that the bank officers get to use. My brother (and his bank) was nice enough to let Monte and I use the tickets a couple of weeks ago. It was quite a ways a way for us, we spent about 7 hours on the road that day, but it was so worth it! It was awesome to see their brand new stadium! We weren't even thinking about going, my mom just called us, said she had tickets for us, and that she was making the trip out to our house to babysit. I had a good supply of milk in the fridge and freezer for Jaymes, and he takes a bottle really well, so it worked out great.

The tickets were right behind home plate, and were Legends Club tickets (VIP apparently). We sat right by all the press, and had our own special area with VIP treatment!

It was a great day, although it ended terribly, that was the night Jaymes quit breathing. Also, Isabella got really sick while we were gone, and really wanted us. I don't remember the last time she was sick, but of course she would get sick when there's a new baby in the house! Thankfully he never got it. We did have to take her in to the doctor, and she had her first ear infection, and was on antibiotic for the first time ever. Hopefully that's not a start to how our winter will go, I hope she stays as healthy as she normally does, but time will tell . . .

Fall is here

The leaves are falling . . . and being raked.

The heat is on.

There's a lot of baking going on.

My kids are wearing cozy footy pajamas.

And life is good.

Jaymes Update

Our week of Doctors appointments is over. Isabella went to stay with her grandparents for most of the week, which really helped out, but boy was our house quiet! Jaymes did great for his upper GI series, I was worried about how that was going to go with an 8 week old, but he didn't even let out a single cry. And he was hungry enough when we got there that he drank the barium from a bottle no problem. It was really interesting to watch, as he was drinking the barium, we were watching everything that was going on inside of him on a monitor. We could see it going down into his stomach, then they had me stop feeding him, and sure enough within a couple of minutes, everything started coming back out of his stomach, and sitting in his esophagus, he also started to get fussy just as that was happening. Poor guy, but I'm so glad to know all this! There were no abnormalities that showed up, which is what they were looking for, but hoping not to find, so we can let out a sigh of relief! The pediatrician thinks his long episode of not breathing was just a one time sort of thing, and that his very short episodes of not breathing while he's eating is definitely related to his acid reflux. He changed his reflux meds, so hopefully that will help. He also said he should grow out of it around 6 to 9 months.



Jaymes is 9 weeks now, and he had is two month checkup two days ago. He weighs 12 pounds 2 ounces (60th percentile) and is 22 and a half inches long (50th percentile). I was thinking he was going to be really on the top end of the charts, but I guess he's more average than we thought. :) He's filling out 0-3 clothes quite well right now. Now hopefully we can take a break from Dr.'s appts for at least a little while!

Pumpkin Patch

We had a fun family outing to the pumpkin patch today, we're starting to get out and about more now that Jaymes has been around for a little while, and it's been nice. We enjoyed the afternoon at the pumpkin patch followed by a nice meal at our favorite Chinese restaurant, although we sneaked into the restaurant a McDonalds happy meal for Isabella. :)

Looking for the perfect pumpkin.

She had to pick some little gourds for Jaymes.

Two Months Old!

Mr. Smiles

Jaymes has been gracing us with his wonderful smile for a couple of weeks now, it seems lately, though, he's gotten extra smiley!

And lest you think he smiles all the time, I leave you with this. :)