Jacob LOVES his bath

Justin's first week back at work

This past Monday was Justin's first day back at work after his third and final surgery. I talked to him at lunch time and he told me that he had woken up with a sore throat. What a first day back, right?

As the day progressed my throat got scratchy, then sore, then my ears started hurting. By the time we were going to bed both me and Justin were running low-grade fevers. Tuesday Justin stayed home from work and we went to the doctor to find out that I had an ear infection (I get an ear infection almost every time I get sick) and Justin was diagnosed as having a sinus infection. Are you kidding me?

All week long, we never really got better - we took turns running low grade fevers and just generally feeling miserable. Luckily it seems that Jacob has only had a little congestion and a little bit of a cough.

So Justin's first week back at work ended up being only one day back. Today, Justin is doing lots better, but I still can't seem to kick the congestion and head pressure. Here's hoping that tomorrow I wake up and miraculously feel great.

Four Months Old

Believe it or not, Jacob turned 4 months old today. He is still smaller than a lot of 4 month olds, but he is trying really hard to catch up! He weighed in today at 12 pounds, 12 ounces (15th percentile); was measured to be 23.5 inches tall (5th percentile); and had a head circumference of 39.5 cm (5th percentile). As the doctor put it, it is hard to believe that he was a preemie by looking at him now.

We should have taken his picture before going to the doctor and having shots today, but at least we got some pictures today where he isn't crying.




Over the past month, Jacob has really discovered his hands. He loves to hold his fists up and stare at them and then try to get them in his mouth (although his aim is not always the best). He loves to have people hold him and talk to him so he can smile and talk back. He still doesn't like tummy time much, but he is getting lots better at holding his head up. He loves it when his daddy holds him and they take turns sticking their tongues out at each other. He loves it when people imitate his laughing back to him, making him laugh his cute little laugh even more. He is a wonderful sleeper at night, sleeping anywhere from 7 to 10 hours at a time. He is not such a good napper during the day though, making it difficult for mommy and daddy to get things done.

The past month

First, Justin's last surgery went just as well as we could have hoped - he is doing great and will return to work on the 20th (although we wish he could just stay home with us all the time). Here are some pics from the night that Jacob got to visit Justin in the hospital.




Jacob has really started smiling at us, although it is really hard to get him to smile once we pull the camera out. Here are some pictures we have taken of him recently.




Jacob got his first visit from the Easter Bunny.


He also got a visit from his Aunt Sheila (and Grandma Mac - even though she isn't pictured) and then we went and spent Easter with Justin's dad's family and Jacob's 2nd cousins love him!

Things I love

In the short months that I have been a mom, I have found a few things that I LOVE and either couldn't do without or wouldn't want to do without.

1) Boppy pillow. This thing saves my arms from getting tired holding Jacob. Both Justin and I love it and we use it anytime we are holding him, not just when we are feeding him. We have one that we keep upstairs and one we keep downstairs.

2) Bibs with waterproof liners. These are actually not so easy to find (even online). Sometimes when Jacob eats, he doesn't lose a drop but other times there is an almost constant dribble as he eats. The plastic type bibs will be good when he moves on to solid food, but I have to have bibs that are absorbent for the times he is dribbling. We have lots of cute bibs that match some of his outfits but these soak through really fast and soak his clothes too. The bibs with waterproof liners are great - they are really absorbent, but his clothes don't get soaked just the bib. I have found some at Target and I was given some - I can't help but find it strange that I couldn't find any of these at Babies R Us.

3) Padded changing station. We had a changing pad that came with our diaper bag, but when we tried to use it to change Jacob's diaper he slid all over it which doesn't make for very easy diaper changing. We went back and forth about whether or not we would buy this, but it is fabulous. And I know that it is way more comfortable for Jacob when we have to lay him on a countertop or a changing station in a public restroom for a diaper change.

4) Formula dispenser. I love these! I know that these are mainly to carry in the diaper bag to prepare bottles when you are away from home. I use them for that too, but I also prepare Jacob's formula at night before going to bed so that I don't have to measure it out when he wakes up in the middle of the night. The less I have to do in the middle of the night, the better.

5) Pacifier clip. Jacob seems to only like the Soothie pacifiers (the ones the hospital gives). We had other pacifiers and pacifier clips that we had gotten before he was born, but he doesn't really care for them. The Target closest to us carries the pacifiers, but not the clips so we didn't even know they made clips for Soothies. When we were at Justin's brother's wedding, we lost one of Jacob's pacifiers and the next day we were at a Target there and saw the clips. Now I don't know what we would do without it. It is so nice to not have to wash the pacifier everytime it falls out of his mouth since it never hits the floor.

6) Cradle swing. We are really lucky that Jacob sleeps pretty well at night, but he does not nap well. If we try to lay him down for a nap, he screams and cries. I once tried to let him just cry it out but after 20 minutes I couldn't do that to him anymore and had to pick him back up. He doesn't nap great in his swing, but he does nap ok even though only for a very short time (long enough for me to write this blog entry!)

7) Sling and Baby Bjorn. It is hard to get anything done around the house wearing either the sling or the bjorn, but it is great for going shopping since Jacob is still too small to sit in the shopping cart and I don't like to take up room in the cart to put his carrier in the cart and I don't feel comfortable attaching it to the top of the cart. If he needs to nap or seems tired, we use the sling. If he seems wide awake, we use the Bjorn.

If there was ever a doubt

If anyone ever doubted that Sherry and I have VERY similar tastes you should look at the picture of Jacob here and the picture of Grant here. We have unknowingly bought the same clothes for ourselves in the past, but now we are doing it to our kids.

Scary.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Three Months Old!

Jacob is now officially not a newborn anymore! On Saturday, Jacob turned 3 months old - here he is next to his elephant.

We took a few different shots and this one was the best one, even though he has a really goofy look on his face. You can really see how he is plumping up! Although he didn't have an official check-up this month, I took him in 2 weeks ago to have his ears checked before we flew out and he weighed in at 10 pounds even! This is the last newborn-sized outfit that he still fits in. Here are some of the other attempts we made at taking his 3 month old picture:




Over the past month Jacob's biggest accomplishments are that he has really started smiling at us and he has even laughed a couple times. And he loves to lay down and play on his play mat a couple times a day - as long as he is wide awake, lay him down when he is sleepy and he doesn't like that at all! Here are a couple pictures of him playing on his play mat.



Jacob continues to sleep pretty well at night and wakes up usually twice a night to eat, although once he slept straight through until 5:30am when we woke him up to eat because we had to leave. That was a very good night!

Jacob is also pretty tolerant of Colby, although sometimes he gets tired of having his head licked. We hope that as Jacob continues to get bigger and be more aware of his surroundings, he and Colby will be best of friends. Here they are together:

Scheduled

Last week, the day before we left for Orlando, Justin was able to schedule his 3rd and final surgery. The surgery will be on Tuesday, March 24th. Justin will be in the hospital for approximately one week and then recovering at home for either 2 weeks or 4 weeks. The surgeon won't know until he begins operating whether or not he will have to completely open Justin back up again the way he did the first two surgeries which is why we are unsure of the recovery time.

We are both excited to get this all over with and for Justin to be as normal as he can be with no large intestine.

We survived!!!

I was so nervous last week as it kept getting closer and closer to Thursday. Would we forget something we would need on the plane or something we wouldn't be able to find in Orlando? Would Jacob not suck on his pacifier enough at take-off or at landing and cry the entire flight? Would he not sleep in a strange place? Would he make a lot of noise and completely disrupt the wedding?

We are so happy that Jacob was a very good baby the whole trip! In fact - he was less fussy than he is for me on a normal basis. After the flight over to Orlando, people on the plane commented on how good he was and that they didn't even know that a baby was right behind them!

Jacob handled everything in stride this weekend - the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, the ceremony and all the festivities afterward (which he almost completely slept through) and the brunch Sunday morning.

Things being the way there were - we didn't get very many pictures taken at Eric (Justin's brother) and Joanna'a wedding, but here are a few.
A bit dark, but here is the bridal party after the rehearsal.


Justin's mom and step-dad with Jacob.


There was actually only a small portion of actual cake in the beautiful cake so the bride and groom could cut it and feed each other - we had cupcakes instead!


Sadly this is the only decent picture we got of the happy couple. At least it is a really good picture though!


Here's our little family all dressed up.


One of the few times Jacob was awake for all the festivities on Saturday.


After cutting the cake.


The groom with Jacob Sunday morning.


The bride with Jacob Sunday morning.