LG Update

Ms. LG underwent her transplant surgery on late Monday/early Tuesday and the 2nd part of the surgery was completed about two hours ago! So far, she is not out of the woods, but her recovery is going well. Thank you for your thoughts & prayers!

7 Random Things 'bout Me

Nearly a week ago, I was tagged by Emily to give 7 random facts about myself... a meme (an idea shared from blog to blog.) Well, I'm finally getting around to it. Emily's son, Gabe, had heart surgery yesterday (he's doing well!) - that's his cute mug right there at the top left of this page!

So, without further adieu, my seven random facts:

1. Drew Barrymore was enrolled in my third grade class. (She was filming Firestarter.)
2. I was born in Ohio and we moved to Carolina Beach when I was 8 years old. We lived 3 blocks from the ocean.
3. I've been to London.
4. I cannot stand having my face wet, in the shower, pool, etc.
5. I've lost 50 lbs since January 2001.
6. I'm one-quarter Swedish. (My Grandma Elsa was born in Sweden.)
7. I scored a 4 out of 5 on the AP Calculus exam, but I couldn't tell you the first thing about Calculus now!

And now I must tag others.... Kellie, Tracy, Christine, Julia, and Terri. I hope some of you will decide to play!

Mother's Day Weekend

First, some pictures!

Jacob Napping

Making a mess at dinnertime!

New use for the pacifier he doesn't like?

He prefers boxes to his toys!

He likes boxes!


We all had a good Mother's Day weekend. Jacob is still fighting off this cold. He had his 9 month (well) check up on Friday. He was about 18 lbs, 2 oz and 28.5 inches long. I'm not sure the weight is quite right because he was squirming and the scale they use is too small for him now. He did drop down a few notches on the growth charts, but this was to be expected since he is so much more active now. He pulls up all the time and is crawling everywhere!

On Saturday, we went to a birthday party for our friend's Chris & Nicole's 2 year old daughter, Devyn. She is so cute! They put the cake in front of her to blow out her candles, and she said "Where's a fork?!!"

For Mother's Day, I got a lovely card from Jacob and another one from Jeff. I also got a Mother & Son keepsake box by Willow Tree and a necklace to wear my Mama-Baby charm on that Jeff gave me when Jacob was born. (My other necklace broke in February!)

Later, we drove to Wilmington for the day to see my Grandma Elsa who is visiting from Florida. Odd, since it was Mother's Day that we were with my Dad! But, our moms understood. My mom was here the previous weekend, and Jeff's mom will be here this weekend. We let Jake swim for about 10-15 minutes in Dad's pool with his new baby float.

This thing works GREAT! He loved, loved, loved it!

I don't want to jinx us, but Jacob has been sleeping soooo good for about 2-3 weeks now. He's going to bed at 6:30p to 7:00p, and he sleeps until the next morning around 6:30a. He did wake up at 9:30p last night, crying, but I went and checked on him and no fever, no wet bed or anything. He settled back down and stopped crying. I don't think he ever actually woke up though. Maybe he had a bad dream?

Somber Day

It's somewhat of a somber day around my office. For those of you who don't know, I've worked in State Government for a little over 2 years now. When I first started, a coworker, we'll call her LG [she's a very private person, so I want to try to protect her privacy], showed me around and even attended some of my first meetings with me, riding 2 hours in a car each way together. Shortly after, LG switched jobs, but was still in my Section, so I'd still see her, but we didn't work together.

About a month ago, we found out LG was in the hospital. She's young, around 29 years old. Apparently, she was born with some type of congenital condition with her liver. She had reached a point that she was in desperate need of a new liver and had been placed at #1 on the Duke liver transplant list. This all came as somewhat of a shock to our coworkers, who had no idea she was sick. About two weeks ago, we all took a picture of our entire staff wearing Duke t-shirts, framed it and gave it to her because she is a huge Duke fan, and in fact is at Duke right now. She was very impressed, especially because probably at least 1/2 of our coworkers detest Duke sports, and love UNC or Wake, etc.

Today, we were told that if LG doesn't get a liver in the next few days, she will not live. She's reached a critical point, and her kidneys have failed. In a conversation just yesterday, I was talking to some other moms a few years older than I am. (They have teenagers.) One was telling us that she has found that even when things are grim, you have to count your blessings, and pray that God's will be done. That is so hard, but right now, I just keep thinking, Thank God that LG is still healthy enough to receive a transplant. The Lord has a plan for all of us, and he does work miracles. I would ask that you keep LG in your prayers, as well as her family at this difficult time.

Nine Months Old!

Jacob was nine months old on Tuesday. That evening, he had a "first." He pulled himself up to standing at the bottom of our stairs! (Of course, Jeff and I were standing right there in case he fell, but he did it all by himself.) I think it's entirely possible he will be at least "cruising" before he is one. He has also been sleeping just great from 7:00 pm until about 6:30 a.m. He will occasionally cry out during the night, but he quickly goes back to sleep on his own. We are SOOO lucky!

Jacob has been on antibiotics since Thursday and he seems to be doing better. He's been going to Chrissy's this week, and you can tell he is so happy to be there! Yesterday, when I dropped him off, I put him on the floor with Sam. He went to crawl over Sam, remember - Santa baby, and he got stuck because Sam's belly is so big! Chrissy helped him crawl on over. Chrissy says they are so funny playing together and that it reminds her of little puppies! Jeff said yesterday when he picked Jacob up, he even cried a little because he didn't want to leave!

I've been on the road for work - Monday in Wilson; Tuesday in Statesville; and Wednesday in Fayetteville. Also, Monday through Wednesday, we had our house painted. We thought we had picked a shade of tan (Sea Sand by Porter Paints) that would be darker than our yellowish tan, but it looks almost like the same color. On one hand this is a little disappointing, because it's not what we were going for, but on the other, we will not have our HOA breathing down our neck for not getting the color approved ahead of time! In any event, we are glad it is done, because it needed painting! We have hardiplank, but the house is 10 years old this year!

It's all in the family....

Yes, it was bound to happen. After three days of your little one sneezing on you, coughing on you, and generally using your clothes as a snot rag, you are going to get sick yourself.

Jeff and I started feeling the effects of what little Jacob has been going through yesterday afternoon. Lots of congestion, sore throat, general fatigue, headache, etc. I think it is hitting Jeff a little harder than it is hitting me today. Either that, or I've found a right combo of meds with taking that psuedo-Sudafed (the on-the-shelf variety) + 600 mg of Ibuprofen. I decided to come on into work and get as much done as I can today. I was supposed to attend a dinner tonight, but I don't know that I'm going to make it in light of having a sick husband and sick kid at home by themselves all day.

On a good note, Jacob did sleep through the night last night for the first time this week! He awoke at 8:37 pm and cried for one minute. Then, quiet. About 8:42 pm, cried for another minute. Then, silence. The entire night. Not even a cough from him. At 6:00 am, I went in and he was lying there quietly. As I opened the door, he lifted his head and crawled towards me in his crib. You could almost hear him thinking.... Mom, pick me up! Mom, pick me up!

Sick once again...

Starting on Saturday, Jacob seemed to be coming down with something. He went to WalkAmerica with me, but wasn't himself. He was very quiet. By that afternoon, he felt hot, and I took his temperature - 102.5. Gave him some Infant Motrin and it went away. Sunday & Monday, I don't remember him feeling hot, but he started sounding congested - just upper respiratory. Tuesday, same thing, congestion, no fever. I think it was Tuesday night he woke up and felt hot. He was also very lethargic from the sedation they gave him at Duke. We decided to stay home with him on Wednesday. Needless to say, Jeff and I slept very little Tuesday night. We were so tired Wednesday, Jacob went to bed at 6 pm and Jeff and I were shortly behind him at 8 pm. That is the earliest I've gone to bed in my life. Even growing up, bedtime was 9 pm! We were asleep by 8:30 pm. Jacob woke up howling at 9:30 pm. He was HOT. I took his temperature - 103.4. We gave him some Motrin and spent 2 hours trying to get him to sleep in his crib to no avail. We finally let him sleep with us around 12 midnight. When he awoke at 5:30 am, he was not hot, and it had been more than 6 hours since we gave him Motrin, so I figured the fever was over. But, he was having major sinus drainage. I've even seen some green drainage near his eye! By 7:30 am, he was ready to go down for a nap. I called the doctor at 8:30 am and they said to bring him in at 9:30 am. I went to wake him up at 9 a.m. to get ready to leave, and he was hot again. By the time we got to the doctor, his temperature was 102.5. The nurses were very concerned about this and immediately gave him Tylenol drops. Dr. Ryan examined him and his ears & throat were fine. She sent us down for a chest x-ray since Jacob had pneumonia at the end of February. She also ordered blood work. Fortunately, the lab & the x-ray are all in the same building as our peditrician's office. We have already taken advantage of this on multiple occasions. It took approximately one hour to get the lab work & x-ray completed. Believe it or not, the chest x-ray was much more stressful on both Jacob and I than drawing blood! Drawing blood was over in a matter of seconds. The chest x-ray required Jacob be placed in this plastic contraption with his arms straight up over his head and the whole thing tightened around him. He screamed the entired time. The technicians reassured me... don't worry, we get better pictures when he is crying because his lungs are filled with air. Needless to say that did not make me feel better. It was one of those times you want to run in and get your child and run out of there. Finally, after that was over and we went back upstairs to see Dr. Ryan & get the results, which were good. The CBC was normal and the chest x-ray, based on her unofficial reading, looked fine, and was definitely better than February's x-ray. She had already told me that with his history, regardless of the results, she was going to give him an antibiotic. So, Amoxicillin for Jacob and I had to go to Kroger to fill it on the way home. What an exhausting morning! On a good note, we go back for his 9 month check up in 2 weeks - I made the appointment. I noticed the only "item" for that appointment is a blood count. I asked Dr. Ryan as we were checking out if we could use the blood work we did today and not have to stick him again in 2 weeks and she said that was fine and to remind her of that!

I'm so hopeful he will start feeling better. The poor kid is just not himself. When he has a fever, he just moans and moans. I am glad we decided to take him on to the doctor though.

A visit to Duke Children's Clinic

Today, we took Jacob for his 5th follow up visit since his discharge from Duke on August 16. We see Dr. Delaney, who is Jacob's pediatric cardiologist. Dr. Delaney is also an interventional catheterization specialist - he was there the morning Jacob arrived at Duke and performed Jacob's balloon septostomy along with Dr. Rhodes. Dr. Delaney also sat down with Jeff and I before Jacob's surgery and detailed Jacob's condition and surgery and let us ask questions. He is a good doctor and has a good "bedside manner." Anyway, on to the visit...

After our traditional breakfast at Elmo's, we arrived at Duke at 8:45 a.m. We were taken back for a height & weight check. Jacob's length was 28 inches and his weight was 18 lbs, 7 oz. Then, it was over to the main hospital for the echocardiogram. This was Jacob's third outpatient echo, so Jeff and I thought we had the routine down. We arrived on the 7th floor to find a sign that said something to the effect of wait by the elevators for x, y, z and peds echo. That was odd. The paper we were given at the Children's Hospital said to go to the waiting room at 7416, which is where we usually went. We walked towards the waiting room anyway, and found doors covered in plastic. Something was definitely different. We went back to the elevator area. A nice woman we'd seen on the elevator figured out we were there for a peds echo and offered to tell them we were waiting. A little later, they came out and walked us back to the echo room. The nurse explained that they had a pipe burst in the waiting room and it was being repaired. It's funny because the Children's Hospital receptionists had no idea about this.... Anyway, so we get back to the echo room, and we wait.... and we wait... and we wait. It was 10:00 a.m. before the doctor overseeing the echo labs came in to examine Jacob. He recognized him from his treatment last August and noted how great Jacob looked. This happens to us pretty frequently at Duke. Nurses & doctors that we don't necessarily remember, remember us and remember Jacob. While heart defects are 1 out of 100 babies born, transposition (a.k.a TGA) is seen about 1 in 1000, so Duke sees maybe about a TGA baby a month (a nurse told me this), so they tend to remember those patients.

Anyway, Jacob finally got the sedation medicine, chloral hydrate, about 10:00 a.m. For the next 15 minutes, he went from crying, to babbling and doing raspberries. He was quite funny. We noted he was a funny "drunk." Finally, we went to sleep about 10:20 a.m. and they began the echo. After taking echo pictures for about 25 minutes, the technician went out to discuss everything with the doctor. The nurse came back in about 5 minutes later and said we were all done. We headed back over to the Children's Clinic and were immediately taken back to the exam room since our appointment was 11:00 a.m. with Dr. Delaney.

A little later, another doctor came in. He introduced himself, but all I caught was "Roddy" was his first name. He talked to us about Jacob's last 3 months, and then went to discuss with Dr. Delaney. A little later, Dr. Delaney came in and said that the echo results were "excellant." Everything is flowing along just great. Of course, they are keeping an eye on the pulmonary artery, as well as the arteries (?) to the lungs for stenosis, but so far, so good. They were very pleased that Jacob doesn't even sound like he has a murmur on exam, which would be typical. The best news is we don't have to go back in 3 months! They told us to return in 6 months and Jacob will have another echo at that point. For probably the next 2-3 years, they will want to echo him every 6 months, but in January, he mentioned they would want to see him every 3 months in between echos, so this was good news! Dr. Delaney did mention that Jacob's weight had fallen down a notch on the growth curve, but this is likely due to Jacob crawling and becoming more active. We have Jacob's 9 month check up with his peditrician in a couple of weeks, so I'm sure we can address that then. From what I understand, that isn't all that out of the ordinary.

So, the bottom line is Jacob gets an A+ on his echo and no return for 6 months!!

He slept until 12:30 p.m., had a bottle, a little lunch around 2:00 p.m. and passed out again at 2:30. He's still asleep at 4:45 p.m.! I need to go wake him!

Good Monday Morning!

Our weekend went pretty well! Jacob slept great! He even let us sleep in until 7:30 a.m. on Sunday! Wow!

Saturday morning, Jacob and I went to March of Dimes' WalkAmerica at Nortel Networks. I ended up raising $230 of my $250 goal. Not bad! Our team raised $3,240 so far, and our goal was $3,000! We walked the 3.1 miles. Jacob was such a good baby! He didn't cry one time. I don't think he was feeling very good on Saturday - he was rather quiet. When we got home, he was running a little fever, but seems to have beat whatever he had. (Keeping fingers crossed!) Since he was running a fever, we skipped the birthday bash across the street and the wine festival. My mom ended up taking herself to the airport. So the rest of Saturday and most of Sunday were pretty quiet.

Last night, Jacob did not want to go to sleep. After 45 minutes of trying to get him to sleep (reading, rocking, back-patting), he still wanted to cry whenever he was in his crib. I finally gave up. We had to let him cry. From 7:45 p until 8:15 p, he cried off & on. For example, he would cry 6-7 minutes, and then stop for 5 minutes, then repeat until about 8:15 p. He did sleep the rest of the night without a peep. This morning, at 6:30 a, he was awake and cheerful.

Tomorrow, please keep Jacob in your thoughts & prayers. He has his appointment at Duke with Dr. Delaney, his pediatric cardiologist. Prior to seeing Dr. Delaney, he will have to be sedated for an echocardiogram. These appointments seem to get more difficult the older he gets, and I think that will continue to be true. I'm praying we continue to get the good news we've had at his last 3 appointments in September, November & January.

I've uploaded March & April pictures to shutterfly. They will be added to the collection really soon! I just need to do some editing!

Cars, UGH!

Just got a call from our mechanic....

My 2005 Escape not only needs new brake pads, but also new rotors, servicing the rear brakes, and a brake fluid change, plus an alignment. At least he's going to rotate the tires while he's at it...

Total cost $595.00. On the bonus side, Jeff found a $10 coupon - so it's only $585.00 now. :D

T.G.I.F.!

What a week....

Sunday night, Jeff & I attended the A.P.A. opening reception at the Grand Hall of the PA Convention Center. The reception took place on two different levels and approximately 6000 people were there! They had lots of fun foods from Philly & a great band!

Monday, we recovered from Sunday night, and toured the U.S. Mint where they make coins.

Tuesday, I flew home and was so happy to see Jacob!

Wednesday, Jeff flew home, and I picked him up at the airport. After a quick BJ's run for diapers, formula, baby food (do you also run out of everything at once?), we went to pick up Jacob from Chrissy's. He was very happy to see his "da-da."

Thursday, first semi-normal day this week, except Jacob did not sleep well again Wed. night - he decided to be up from 11:30 p.m. until 1:00 a.m. when we finally gave up fighting and let him sleep with us. And, I had to go to Greensboro for work.

And, now it's Friday. The weather will be beautiful this weekend! Jacob slept great last night! He did wake up crying at 8:15 p.m., and for the first time, we let him cry. He only cried about 15-20 minutes and went back to sleep. We did not hear from him again all night! Around 6:15 a.m., Jeff went into his room, and Jacob was awake and said, "Hi Dada!" He says, "Hi," and "Hey" and adds in Dada too! He also says "ba-ba" and he means it! It's so precious!

Tomorrow, Jacob and I will be doing the 5K walk for WalkAmercia for the March of Dimes! In fact, it's not too late to contribute! www.walkamerica.org/jennimc1975 is my walker page! I think we can take contributions for a few weeks after the event. I'm walking for my friend Audra's twins, born 2 years ago, who did not survive; my coworker Vanessa & her 27 weeker, born in October, who is doing very well; my sitter Chrissy's twins who were 30 weekers and also doing well now. Another friend, Laura, is an aunt to a 32 weeker. So many preemies! And of course, I'm also pleased that March of Dimes supports congenital heart defect research, though of course, there focus is prematurity. P.S. - Thanks to all of you who have contributed already!!!

Also tomorrow, we have a belated birthday party at our neighbors for their son Gavin who turned one a few weeks ago, but was quite sick on his birthday. And, we are taking my mom to the airport - so she can fly to Texas to see my brother, and then we are going to the Great Grapes Wine Festival, which I won tickets to this week!

I will try to get more pictures uploaded here & to Shutterfly this week!
If you haven't checked it out - Jacob's Shutterfly link is www.jacobjones.shutterfly.com

Pictures of Jacob & Caitlin

Jacob meets Caitlin for the first time in 7 months...


At first, she's not too sure about him...


After much persistance on his part, she starts to warm up to him...



And, a little while later, even gives him a little peck on the cheek!


The truth is, this is about the 3rd kiss she gave him - we finally captured this one on film!

Good Morning from Philly!

Friday night, Jacob continued to improve! He awoke at 11 p.m., but went back to sleep in his own crib with his old pacifier as a chew toy until 6:50 a.m. I dare say that is the most we have slept in now in 8 months! Jeff & I woke up and went to check on him and he was awake and chewing on the handle end of his old pacifier! Whatever works!

It's quite rainy today!
Yesterday, the weather was just fine. Flight was good, took the R1 Commuter Train from the airport to downtown, and walked 2-3 blocks with luggage to the hotel. Not too bad actually. It was mid-50's and we got checked in, then walked to the Convention Center to get Jeff registered for the APA conference. Next, we walked on down to the Independance Mall area. We saw the Liberty Bell - security was tighter there than the airport! We walked back and went to the Independance Brew Pub (www.independancebrewpub.com) for dinner. Checked out the WaWa for snacks & soft drinks for the room... reminded me of an urban Sheetz without the gas station of course.

We called "Gram" this morning, who is staying with Jacob at our house. She reports that he slept 11 hours straight last night from 7:15 p.m. to 6:15 a.m.! I hope he continues because that is how he used to be!!

The weather is pretty rough here today. LOTS of rain and flooding forecast. I'm going to take a cab to meet Jeff for lunch at the Convention Center. Not sure how much sight seeing I'll get to do today, but I'm hoping to do this Philly Tour thing tomorrow. www.phillytour.com.

Jacob's Latest Stats

Jacob had his last Synagis shot for the season today! Seven shots - seven months. And we get to do it all again next fall-spring...

They get his weight each time because they have to measure the dosage... so today he was 18 lbs and 2 oz. He is just shy of 30 inches long! We'll have his 9 month appointment in a few weeks so we'll have the official numbers then.

Meanwhile, he slept "better" last night. Woke up at 11 p.m., but I got him back to sleep (in his own crib) until 4:11 a.m. Took about 45 minutes to get him back to sleep at 4 a.m., and by then it was almost time to get up!

Jeff and I are preparing to leave for Philly tomorrow! Not sure of what kind of internet access we'll have but I'll try to update when I can!

And I think we have an answer....

Last night, more of the same... but first, Jacob did eat really well - an entire 4 oz jar of Vegetables & Turkey plus a 4 oz jar of bananas and most of his bottle. He has a lot of formula during the day too. I'm glad he's eating more because he needs to fill out a little!


Anyway, he went to bed okay according to Jeff. But at 11:00 p.m., he started with his little whimpers. Those progressed and we finally went in and gave him a bottle (water again... no more formula in the middle of the night... bottle cavities and all); changed his diaper, etc. I actually got him back to sleep on 3 different occasions between 11:00 and 11:20 p.m., but within a minute of me stopping the back-patting, he'd wake up and whimper. Back to patting, stop, whimper. Finally at 11:20 p.m., I returned to the bed to find Jeff snoring. At 11:22 p.m. he was whimpering again. Then, it stopped. Started again about 11:30 p.m. Stopped again. Started again at 11:40 p.m. Got progressively louder and was now full out crying. Jeff and I got up again about 11:45 p.m. Gave him teething gel. (He had Ibuprofen before bed, so couldn't have more until 2 a.m.) Jeff spent another 10-15 minutes getting him settled and asleep. Finally sleeping and it's 11:55 p.m. But no. More whimpering by 12:01 p.m. Now that this had been going on an hour, I told Jeff I was going to just put Jacob in bed with us because I could not stay up any longer. We put him in between us, got him settled and he was sound asleep within minutes. He then slept 6 straight hours and did not awake until 6 a.m. This is particularly impressive since he is usually up like clockwork at 5:00 a.m. So, now the theory we have is:


Teething pain from the molars/sleeplessness + Separation anxiety/sleeplessness + crawling/developmental milestone sleeplessness = two sleepy parents and one happy infant sleeping between them!


It's not that we ever wanted to be "co-sleepers" but I'm just not going to try to beat all those problems on a Tuesday night!



*****


The rest of the Easter wrap-up is that Saturday Jeff and I went shopping in the morning. Later that afternoon, we went to visit my dad. My dad got Jacob a baby float for the pool for Easter. Nancy (a.k.a. Nana) got Jacob a singing bunny rabbit. He sings "Bunny Rock Hop," and his ears flap up and down.... so cute!

Sunday, we went to Dad's for a breakfast of Shrimp & Grits.... Dad is a REALLY good cook too! Then, we went to church and introduced Jacob to Bob, the pastor who married us and who had been very nice to check on us several times when Jacob was at Duke. This church, Grace UMC, prayed for Jacob and had him on the prayer list for several months, so it was very special to be able to take him there and have the congregation see him in person finally! Jacob did fairly well in church. He got a little excited with bouncing in his dad's lap and giggling during the sermon, but that sure beats crying! After church, we went back to my Dad's for Easter dinner of pork tenderloin and other yummies! We finally made it home by about 4:30 p.m.

Sleepless Nights

Jacob was up from 1 a.m. until about 3 a.m. last night. He is cutting his top teeth and I think that is the reason for his restlessness. Normally when he awakes at night, he doesn't usually cry. However, last night, he started off fussing, and he got progressively louder. He doesn't go back to sleep without a bottle, so last night I decided we'd start putting water in the bottles instead of formula. He did not care one bit.

We finally got him back to sleep & resting about 1:40 a.m. By 1:52 a.m. he was awake and about to begin crying again. Jeff went in and rocked in for a little while and we went ahead and gave him infant Ibuprofen. I think that must have helped but it was another 30 to 45 minutes later before he finally went back to sleep. Then, he was up at 6:20 this morning, so none of of slept well last night!

***********

We had a good trip to Wilmington over the weekend. On Thursday night Heather brought Caitlin over to see Jacob. We realized we have not had them together since Jacob was one month old (Caitlin was 10 months then). They were very cute together. Jacob crawled right over to her and tried to get her pacifier. Now, he does like pacifiers when we've tried to give him one (believe me, there are actually times I wish he would take one!), but when he sees other kids with them, I think he thinks it's a toy and he wants to play with it, or chew on it.... Chrissy informed us that Jacob does the same things with her twins & their pacifiers.... not too thrilled about that... Anyway, back to the story. Caitlin and Jacob are now friends. Caitlin gave Jacob several "kisses". I'll have to get the pictures posted!

Friday, we went to see Jeff's mom! Jacob got a shirt, sandals, and a blue stuffed bunny for Easter, bringing the Easter bunny talley to two. We went down to the outlet stores in Myrtle Beach and just had to buy Jacob more clothes! He should be well dressed this summer! Of course, it's been so darn cold around here lately, that I'm running out of things to put him in that still fit him!

More later on our weekend!

Easter!

Here's our picture from Easter. It was taken at my dad's house. We took Jacob to church. He did really well! He is now definitely crawling! I will post more later about our weekend! Happy Belated Easter!

Live from Wilmington!

Whew.... we made it here. Finally!!

Last night was a rush to do laundry, pack, in addition to all the normal evening activities - feeding Jacob, getting him to bed, etc. I didn't even have time to go work out! So, I planned to go at lunch today, but it was not to be... I'm on the criminal appellate brief rotation at work and I have a criminal brief due next week. I had to get things organized for that and ended up having to meet with my supervisor on the issue, etc., which took up the time I would have been working out at lunch.

Jeff came to the office around 3:00 p.m. and we took Jacob around to see my co-workers. This was the first time they have seen him since he was about 8 weeks old, except in pictures of course... many many pictures. We finally got on the road about 3:30 p.m. We brought both vehicles since I've got to go to Whiteville tomorrow. So, this necessitated stopping half-way on a two hour journey to feed the fussy boy. This turned into a THIRTY minute stop... So, a trip that should take 2 hours or less, took nearly 3 hours!

Jacob was very happy to see his "Gram-Gram." He gave her hugs and his open-mouth kisses where he tries to eat your face. Gram-Gram bought him the Hallmark talking bunny rabbit. He didn't know quite what to think of it. He slept the last 45 minutes or so of the journey down here, so he was full of energy and stayed up until 8:00 p.m. I honestly cannot remember the last time he was up that late. He's been pretty consistent with a 7:00 p.m. bedtime lately. Even at 8:00 p.m., he did not seem sleepy, but we knew he needed to go to bed. He's sleeping in his "new" Tot-Block that we bought last weekend. I'm sure Jacob will wake us many times tonight, since we are in the same room with him!

Tomorrow evening, my best friend Heather is coming over with her daughter who is about 16 months old. Friday, we'll go to Ocean Isle Beach to see the other Gram. Saturday, I think we are going to my dad's. Sunday, we'll probably go to the service at the church where we got married, Grace UMC. And, in the meantime, I need to find time to go work out, and to write this criminal brief!

Tuesday Ramblings

Jacob was up just before 5 a.m. this morning. He had poopoo on his Pooh (pajama) pants. It's such a great way to start the day! We changed him, fed him and put him back in his crib in just his diaper & pooh shirt. Fortunately, he did go back to sleep until about 6:45 a.m., so he was in a much better mood today.

Yesterday was rough for him. I think he has difficulty adjusting on Mondays! Don't we all! He was fussy at Chrissy's too, and he fell asleep in the car on the way home. We let him sleep for a little while, but I could tell he was getting really warm in his car seat, so I finally got him up. He ate about 1/2 jar of Carrots & Beef, then he decided he didn't like it. He had Pears & Raspberries, maybe 1/2 of that jar, and then was ready for bed. He made it until about 6:30 p.m. or so before passing out! He did sleep until 5 a.m., so I guess I can't complain too much!

Tonight we've got to pack to go to Wilmington!

Weekend!

Saturday morning, we finally got an estimate for painting the exterior of our house. We were pretty happy with the price and what is included in the price. We are thinking we will probably go ahead and use this guy. He's painted at least 4 houses in our neighborhood that we know of, and does good work. He was also very quick to get out to give us an estimate. I called him Friday afternoon & he called back Friday evening and came out Saturday morning. I am so excited that we will finally be getting this done soon!!!

Later in the morning, we went out to the Spring Fling community yardsale. When we went last year (or was it the year before?) we did not seem to find near as much stuff as we did Saturday. Then again, that was before we had Jacob. There were two particular sellers who had a LOT of baby boy clothes. One of those two really had very nice, hardly used stuff. We got Jacob the cutest zip-up style of baby Nikes, a little OshKosh bucket hat, and about 7 outfits + four snap type shirts from that seller. I offered her $15 for the entire lot of it and the seller happily accepted. That is one benefit of waiting until 11:30 a.m. to shop a yard sale! I would estimate these clothes/shoes would have easily cost us $50 at a Kid-2-Kid or Once Upon a Child type place. From the other seller, we got Children's Place 2 snap-shirts and 2 pair of blue jeans + a Graco square PNP for a total of $26. It's very similar to this one: http://www.specialtybaby.com/grtotblpanpl.html
It was a good buy because we wanted one to leave it at my mom's house since Jacob has outgrowno the travel crib.

Saturday afternoon, we went to Austin's 1st birthday party. There were two other babies Jacob's age and it was neat seeing them all together. One has the same birthday as Jacob, and was born just 12 hours later! We had a very nice time. They had a delicious cake, and Jacob got the cutest favor bag to take home with him!

On Sunday, Jacob woke up at 5:30 a.m., but we changed him and gave him a bottle and he actually went back to sleep until 7:00 a.m. Let me tell you, that's sleeping in for us! Later that morning, we went to the Target over by Southpoint Mall and played with the car seats. We also went to Babies R Us to check out their car seats. I was really not impressed with their selection of convertible styles. They had about 5-6 Britaxes, about 5 of the EB style Cosco's, and then just a few others. I thought Target had a better selection in different price ranges. I think we are getting close to making a decision. At Babies R Us, we did end up buying Jacob an Easter-type outfit, with a polo shirt, sweater vest and matching shorts. We also got him the cutest baby loafers.

Sunday afternoon, Jacob & I went to the Triangle Mommie's 2nd Birthday Bash at Umstead Park. It was fun to meet everyone! Here is Jacob at the party:
http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u104/tmbirthdaybash07/?action=view&current=DSC02847.jpg

Jacob was very interested in this fellow's facial hair - in fact at one point, he seemed to be reaching for this guy because I think he wanted to pull his beard!
http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u104/tmbirthdaybash07/?action=view&current=DSC02844.jpg

Incidentally, the baby that the guy is holding was born on Jacob's due date - Aug 11 - so they are the same age too!

This will be a short week - we are heading to Wilmington on Wednesday. I am "working" on Thursday, but I have a mediation in nearby Whiteville, so it works out well!