Jay's 1st Halloween!

Growing up, we went Trick or Treating every year until we were too old and it wasn't cool anymore (then we'd pass out candy). Not that we were celebrating Satan or anything like that, but just as a fun time to dress up with everyone as part of tradition. Every since my sister was too old to dress up for it, my mom has looked forward to making costumes for her grandkids and I admit, I looked forward to dressing my own kids up in cute, awesome little costumes too - especially after seeing friends and acquaintances showing off their kids in adorable little costumes!

While hubby's family never partook in Halloween traditions (his dad absolutely HATES Halloween) let alone any holiday kid traditions (ie: easter bunny, Santa), we had to come to a compromise. Basically, he got his way with us not doing Santa, the Easter Bunny or the tooth fairy, but my mom and I would get to dress our kids up all cute and take them to our church's Trunk or Treat outreach event if they wanted, so long as they weren't dressed as anything scary or evil.

Baby Wicket the Ewok!!

For Jay's first Halloween we dressed him up as the cute and cuddly Wicket the Ewok from Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Originally I was thinking he'd make a cute little Yoda, but after watching Return of the Jedi once again over the summer I thought the Ewoks were just too darn cute and cuddly and decided Jay should definitely be an Ewok. Plus, since the costume is essentially a bear outfit, it would be nice and warm with the fur since it tends to always be cold on Halloween around here (I believe this year it was in the 40s!).

My mom's a seamstress so obviously she did the costume for us! And it turned out GREAT! And completely kept him warm too! While I didn't dress up too much, I did find a cream sweater and I did my hair in Princess Leia buns (cuz, ya know, Leia's hanging out with the Ewoks for the last half of Return of the Jedi) - a few people recognized Jay and I as Princess Leia and an Ewok and commented how awesome we were =)

Leia and baby Ewok

We took him over to my mom's for a visit, walked 3 houses over to my old neighbors who had requested we stop by with him and then down the street to my aunt's house to say hi before heading up to our church's Trunk or Treat outreach event (it's basically a safe alternative in town for trick or treating as hello - we've been in Forbes' top 10 most dangerous cities for 2 years in a row now and there's lots of areas in the town, especially on the west side and down near the river, that just aren't safe for anyone, let alone kids, to be walking around at night). He really seemed to enjoy it though, as there were so many people dressed up as fun characters.

He got some candy he can snack on too and for his piece tonight he selected a Reese's cup, which he devoured and then threw up 2 seconds later before bouncing around on the couch, lol...

Gotta say, my favorite part of Halloween is the cute, creative costumes people come up! I haven't seen too many people on Facebook post party-related ones (probably cuz most of us are married with kids now, lol...), but at Trunk or Treat I did see an adorable little Spongebob and Sandy the Squirrel!! Hubby also showed me a picture of one of his co-workers who dressed up with his son as UPS delivery men! Hubby said he'd like to do that with Jay one year, which I think would be cute!

Trick or Treating for our city started at 530 and went til 730. We were home til about 645, as hubby had to work til 6 and I wanted Jay to take a little bit of a nap before we went out for the evening, so I got to pass out candy for a bit. Unfortunately our doorbell only ran like 6 times - a few kids solo and a few groups of small kids with their parents (one very little girl - think it might have been our neighbors - was dressed in a cute Eeyore costume!). One kid, whom I would guess as being about 8 years old, was dressed as Michael Meyers - maybe I'm getting old, but doesn't it seem a bit inappropriate for young kids like that to be dressed as serial killers? One girl I know on Twitter posted that one kid reminded her of the infamous Dexter, as his response to her asking who he was was that he kills people! Oh well... we left the bowl out when we went up for Trunk or Treat (which was from 630-8ish) and sadly, when we got home around 9 it looked like no one had touched it! Oh well, guess I know not to get a huge bag for next year!

How was your Halloween? 

What cute/creative costumes did you see this year?

Fun with Our Phones Monday #5

 

It's Monday! Which means it's time for Fun with Our Phones Monday!!! I have quite a few to share this week too!

Being a silly boy on the couch

That's Tiger, laying in her usual spot on the loveseat in front of the window, only she's completely stretched out over the pillow there, her feet hanging out over, lol...

Maybe a little hard to see, but the license plate says Ryne S and it's a Chicago Cubs license plate. This was here in Rockford... I thought it was a bit odd and was curious if maybe it was THE Ryne Sandberg, who was my favorite Chicago Cub while growing up. I didn't get to see the driver unfortunately =(

I busted out my Apple Strudel candle we got from the Apple Orchard last year - it's officially fall, so I figured why not? I LOVE this candle, it's PERFECT for fall!

He decided to just climb over his activity table to play with the toys on the opposite side there, lol...

Caught him trying to break into the kitchen cabinet, lol...

My sis took this one - too funny though!

I ALWAYS put his hat on straight but within seconds (it seems) he has it flipped over to the side like this, lol...

We went shopping at Kohl's and I bought him a Clifford stuffed animal (it was $5 with proceeds going to charity). He loves it and fell asleep with it in the car.

A friend posted on Facebook photos of all the dead fur and junk this product called the Furminator brushed off her cat. Tired of Tiger's shedding all over the place, I checked into it and found a great deal on it on Amazon. This is just the 1st 2 sittings I've done grooming her (she doesn't like to sit still) and it definitely got A LOT! I soooo recommend this product!

 Hubby got off work early on Thursday and we met him for a late lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings. They gave Jay a kid's menu, which he had fun destroying, lol...

 I took Jay to the big indoor playworld again this week and he decided to play a bit this week (last week he just sat and watched the other kids, staying glued to me with a death grip!). Hubby came with, so I think that helped!

We went to our favorite sushi restaurant and let Jay play with a pair of chopsticks

 He had THE MOST fun with these little plastic cups you put soy and other sauces in - he even took it home with us and has been playing with it around the house, lol... it's just his size!

We stocked up on stuff at Sam's Club, including paper towels! This beast of 15 rolls took me a bit to figure out where to store them all!

Our 1st visit to the Edward's Apple Orchard in Poplar Grove this year!

We let Jay try an apple cider donut - he LOVED it and at probably 1/4th of hubby's donut! We also let him sip some cooled hot apple cider too, which he also loved and started smacking the cup for more, lol...

They have a mini-petting zoo, which we let Jay check out the animals

And there's this growth sunflower you can check your height at - hopefully we remember to do this every year!

He was FASCINATED by the huge fans inside the store.

Watching his Grandpap's team (the Steelers, as my parents are both from the Pittsburgh area) lose on Sunday Night Football while he plays with his daddy's hair, lol...

Urology update, playgrounds and the ghetto zoo

Tuesday was our 3 year wedding anniversary. We had an adult evening out, going to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and then stopping at Red Mango and just sitting around and chatting as we had a few hours baby-free for the evening.

Earlier in the day I had to run a few errands and decided to take Jay to Sapora Playworld which is the big local indoor playground area in the same building as the indoor ice rink. They have a baby area with a smaller set of play tubes as well as some squishy mats the kids can play, crawl and climb on too. I thought it might be fun for him and my mom pointed out last week that he should probably spend some time interacting with other kids and babies as he's mostly around adults.

Well, he was a little freaked out and stayed glued to me the whole time.

I tried to sit him down on one of the squishy block mats and he cried so I sat on one and held him on my lap til he got comfortable with the setting and then I sat him down on the mat next to me, with him clinging one fist to my shirt. There were a few other smaller kids there - one little girl came right up by him and he though she was funny. A few 6 year old girls came over and were fussing over him, but kept inquiring why he wasn't crawling if he could do it and why he wasn't playing - why was he just sitting there, watching? My response that it was his 1st time there and he was just taking it all in and that he didn't want to crawl right then didn't seem to satisfy them, lol... I tried to get him to climb/crawl on one of the squishy mats up to the next one but he freaked out instead.

We spent a half hour there though, so maybe if we make it a regular thing he'll get more comfortable and start playing. Under 11 months is free and then it's $1 til he's a little older, but they also do half price Tuesday.

He had another night terror Tuesday night. I was tired and so was he so we both went to bed a little early, however he woke me up at 230am, shrieking. I jumped out of bed to check on him, picked him up, and sure enough, he was having one, eyes clenched shut and no sign of snapping out of it. It lasted a few minutes, however he didn't seem to be able to get comfortable in his crib, freaking out when I laid him back down, so he snuggled in bed with me for a bit til he was sound asleep again. I hate these. He hasn't had one in awhile so I guess we were overdue for one =(

Wednesday night Jay learned how his bottle nipple works and that if there's milk in it, then it probably isn't a good idea to squeeze it with his hands or flick it - while playing with the bottle nipple instead of drinking he sprayed milk all over his face, the couch and my mom's leg, lol... he startled himself too, as he didn't realize what he had done right away - it was pretty funny!

Thursday we got up early and drove up to Madison for his urology appointment with the pediatric urology specialist up there and also had an ultrasound so they could see how it's doing.

Nothing new really - they said his left kidney is slightly more dilated than before, but not much and that it was nothing to worry about at this point. He said he'll probably have us do another check-up around his 1st birthday, then come back for another one 6 months later and then at around 2 years old we'll start discussing doing the surgery. Unfortunately, we're not sure yet if we'll be seeing this specialist again yet - he told us he's transferring in the next few months to the children's hospital in Milwaukee to be the pediatric urology chairman there. He invited us to come see him there, but I'll have to check with our insurance to see if they'll let us go there. He also referred us to his associate there in Madison, whom he had us make an appointment with for next time in case we decide to stay there, and he also gave me the names of the specialists at the children's hospital in Chicago that he would recommend if we chose to go there.

Jay was amusing during his ultrasound - the tech needed to check both his kidneys and his bladder to make sure there was nothing new and while checking his right kidney she needed me to roll him on his side, facing away from her. Well... him being curious like he is, he kept wanting to roll back over to see what she was doing and check out the ultrasound monitor, lol... he laughed when she rolled the wand over his bladder area so I'm guessing he's a little ticklish there (he's also ticklish in his armpits and on his sides - both mommy and daddy's ticklish spots! lol...). She let him stay on his back for his left kidney but then he noticed the other ultrasound wands within reach and their cords and started grabbing for those! lol... He freaked out during the visit with the specialist when he picked him up to check him out, but was fine 2 seconds later when mommy took him! Silly baby!

They weighed him too - he's now 18lbs even! Yay! My baby's gained 1lb and 1oz in a month!

We stopped at the infamous Ella's Deli for lunch before heading back to town. My parents used to take me there when I was little as there's soooo much stuff to look at, including all sorts of things moving around above your head, a little train on a track that goes all around the restaurant, a working carousel just outside and lots of other fun stuff! Jay seemed to enjoy it - he was starring and looking around at everything. They're also known for their ice cream desserts so I ordered a small dish of mint chocolate chip and let Jay eat some of it after he had his lunch - he still likes it! (we had let him have some at the fair last month).

It was a tiring day and we spent the late afternoon out at the mall with my mom and sister, getting stuff for her and holiday clothes for Jay since that stuff sells fast at work!

Today I had my annual gyno exam and since I didn't bring Jay with me to my 6wk follow-up, I brought him with this time so they could all see him. They all fussed over him and he ate it up.

We had to run a few errands too, one of which was getting kitty food at Petco (we buy the Hills Science Diet stuff and the only places that seem to sell it are Petco and Petsmart) so I took Jay with and we walked around looking at all the animals and fishies. A friend on Facebook referred to it as the "ghetto zoo" which is quite funny, but true! Jay was once again fascinated by all the fish, as well as the ferrets and guinea pigs too this time! The turtles were mostly sleeping, as were the birds, hamsters/gerbils and cats. We didn't see that many people walking doggies with them this time either. He still enjoyed it though!

Jay welcomed September with a thud

Jay greeted the month of September with a THUD this morning as he fell off our bed and onto the floor =(

Jay playing with his blocks and Baby Einstein's turtle

Poor guy... that's the 3rd time he's gotten hurt this week, as he banged his head on the back of his changing table earlier this week while my mom was changing him (which is the 2nd time now that he's whacked his head while getting changed as he won't lay/sit still...). Then Wednesday night, while we were playing in his room with his blocks he was sitting up but fell over on me, his face smashing into my glasses and giving him a little scratch on the side of his face...

...and then this morning.

Every morning he wakes up between 930-1045am and usually lays in bed with me and we snuggle as he watches Sesame Street and mommy gets a little more shut-eye (he usually lays on my chest with my arms around him or next to me with my arm around him). This morning though, he was laying next to me and got away. I heard a loud thud, opened my eyes and as he started screaming it registered that he was no longer in the bed. I sprang up out of the bed and ran over to the other side and there he was, face down on our laminate floor, crying at the top of his lungs. I quickly picked him up, checking to make sure there wasn't any blood. His teeth were still intact, his nose didn't seem broken, I felt his ribs and they all seemed okay and once he calmed down (he was snuggled up on me bawling for a good minute or 2) I bent his legs, knees, arms, elbows and wrists to make sure they didn't hurt and weren't broken or sprained either.

I also called hubby to see if he thought I should take him to get checked out - just as he said the time Jay whacked his head on the shelf above his changing table, he reminded me that babies fall time to time and that as long as I checked him out and he seemed to be okay then not to worry about it, just keep an eye on him and see if he behaves like his normal self. I called my mom to see if she knew what signs I should keep an eye out for and Googled as well. No vomiting or seizures and I kept him up for a couple hours before letting him take his nap just in case he had a concussion or anything. He was a little clingy the rest of the day but other than that he seemed like his normal self, so that's good!

Fortunately our bed is only like 3 feet high, so it could have been worse. I think he was just more scared than anything as he's never fallen like that before. Well I guess you could say he learned why we don't let him get close to the edge and always pull him back when he crawls/rolls too close to it! Gotta say though, I was pretty scared at the time though and felt sooooo bad for it happening as it could have been prevented.

We have an escape artist!

That's right folks - Jay has become a little escape artist!

This afternoon I decided to leave him parked in his walker in the living room (it doesn't move on carpet) with some toys and PBS Kids shows on while I went around the corner to get myself ready to go for the day. I came back after brushing my teeth and checked on him and he was sitting there, watching TV and playing with toys, so I went to go get dressed.

I wasn't even gone 5 minutes, finishing up what I needed to do and went to go get him to get him ready to go as well (and change his diaper as it was quite stinky!).

I come around the corner and see the seat of the walker lifted upward like it often is when we pick Jay up out of it... but yeah... Jay wasn't in his walker!

I looked around and there he is, on his tummy on the floor next to his walker, playing with the toys he had dropped!

I have NO CLUE how he got out of his walker! You'd think if he fell I would have heard a thump and obviously the walker wasn't tipped over... craziness!

Guess this means he's getting put in the pack n play from now on when I get ready - no more unsupervised play in his walker, even if it's only for a minute!

True Life: I'm a [Mommy] Blogger

A few weeks ago I linked-up my general/catch-all blog for the "True Life: I'm a General Blogger" link-up that Tara and Mrs Monologues were hosting... this week they're hosting a "True Life: I'm a Mommy Blogger" link-up!

For all the newbies from the link-up, welcome!

I'm Rachel, we live in northern Illinois and I am a new mommy to 6 and a half month old Jaydran Alexander (we call him Jay for short), born on February 4, 2011.

August 14, at his 1st county fair!

My son's name is quite unique (our last name is Johnson, so we felt he needed a unique 1st name since there's a million and one Johnsons in our town!) and if you do a Google search you'll find that he's the only one with that name too! The story behind it is that my husband came up with it. He writes sci-fi as a hobby (and hopefully professionally someday!) and when he played baseball as a kid, one of the boys on his team had a sister named Jaydra. Liking the unique-ness of the name, he decided to make Jaydran the male version of it and use it for his writings. And yes, it's also the name of his World of Warcraft character, which caused me to initially veto the name but it grew on me and it seems to fit Jay as well, as he's quite an awesome little boy!

So this is my mommy/personal blog, as I chronicled our journey of trying to have a baby, my pregnancy and our adventures of being a family!

Having dealt with quite a bit so far (gestational diabetes, "failure to thrive" and eating troubles, breastfeeding woes, hydrophrenosis and a UVJ Obstruction requiring eventual surgery), I hope that by sharing my experiences and struggles I might be able to help other moms experiencing what I have and give them answers and insight to things they might be wondering (I know I tend to Google a lot when I'm looking for an answer or someone who's been there, done that and can offer insight on what I can expect).

Anyways, Jay is a special little guy who's had quite a rough start in life.

He LOVES Elmo!

Before he was born they were concerned about his femurs being a little a on the short side and his left kidney appeared to be enlarged. Due to a lack of growth between weeks 30 and 37 they decided to induce me at 37weeks, 5 days so he was a few weeks early. To be honest, labor was pretty easy - took just under 9 hours and was natural (but with a dose of dilauted to help with the back labor) and I honestly didn't feel much of anything until the last few hours, not to mention I went from 7-10cm dilated in about 10 minutes and the last half hour just flew by (you can read his full birth story here). His kidney was still enlarged though so they diagnosed him with hydronephrosis and had us start seeing a local urologist.

We also tried breastfeeding for the 1st few weeks however instead of gaining weight he lost weight! Then he gained a little back but not much so the doctor had us spend a week in the hospital while we tried to figure out why kiddo wasn't eating enough to grow. I found out at my 6 week post-partum check-up that they failed to mention to us that there was a knot in the umbilical cord, which would explain his eating problem - he got used to eating just enough to survive and his stomach never got big enough to take in more! Ever since the week in the hospital with him hooked up to a feeding tube to stretch his stomach out he's been quite the eater now, eating several full bottles a day, 2 servings of rice cereal for breakfast and veggies and fruits for dinner (he hates peas though, lol...).

He had a little too much fun
with his peaches!

As far as his enlarged kidney... the local urologist sent us up to the children's hospital in Madison for further testing where we learned that the blockage is at his bladder and not up at the kidney like we initially thought but that there is no reflux which is good. They referred us to a pediatric urology specialist at the children's hospital up there who has us coming up there every 3-4 months to check on it, saying that it appears to be a UVJ ureter obstruction. He'll most likely need to have surgery by the time he's 2 to correct it though, as his left ureter tube is pinched off at the bladder and they'll go in, take it off, snip it and reattach it to the bladder.

The idea of my baby having surgery so young is something I try not to think about, as I don't want to worry about it until it's time, however the specialist was very comforting and made me feel confident about it, saying he's done it plenty of times and has always been successful so far. I am not too thrilled though that he'll have a surgery scar though. Not gonna lie, with his week long stay in the hospital and all the testing they've done on his kidney, it's been really hard having to watch them do all this stuff to him... fortunately he's so little he probably won't remember it when he's older, although it wouldn't surprise me if it's what causes his monthly night terrors (he's had 1 a month since he was born, where he freaks out in his sleep for several minutes and won't wake up out of it).

Chillin' with daddy!

My hubby works a lot (he has both a day job as an inventory & purchasing manager for a Verizon authorized retailer and works 3rd shift as a part-time UPS supervisor - we're hoping he goes full-time there soon though so he can quit the day job) leaving me to take care of Jay most of the time during the week. I do work part-time though at The Children's Place which is pretty nice as I get 25% off Jay's clothes (and sometimes 40% when they do employee appreciation weekends!) on top of whatever the sale price is - he is quite the well dressed little guy! Fortunately my parents don't live too far from us so my mom babysits Jay when hubby and I both have work so we don't we have to worry about daycare.We also have a domestic Egyptian Mau kitty named Tiger and she will be 3 years old in October and we just bought and moved into our first house back in April! Needless to say, it's been quite a year for us!

Showing off his shades!

For now, Jay is our only child and we've discussed it and decided that we'll most likely wait until after his kidney/ureter issue is resolved before we decide to try for another (so probably when he's close to 3). Ultimately we'd like to have at least 1 more kid and maybe a 3rd (I love Jay despite my lack of experience with little boys however I would like to have a little girl too).

Jay is quite the well-behaved baby though, only really crying when his mouth hurts (due to teething - he currently has both his bottom front teeth) or he's hungry or overly tired - he behaves very well in public! He loves Elmo and anything with Elmo's face on it, he enjoys staring at pictures and playing in his baby walker. He is also VERY curious about electronics such as smartphones, computers, the remote control and the PS3 controllers! He doesn't crawl yet, but is very close (he drags/scoots himself across the floor instead!) and he does like to roll EVERYWHERE! His bedroom is being painted to look like world 1-1 from Super Mario Bros and he has various Mario Bros and Star Wars collectibles throughout his room!

 And some more pictures of Baby Jay:

One of his 1st pics, 6lbs 7oz, 19inches long & a full head of hair!

One of my favorite pics - Jay & daddy

 

He was soooo little!!

My poor baby with his feeding tube in,
pumping his tummy full of milkies

Being all cute during our move from
a 1 bedroom apartment to a 3 bedroom house!

Our little family (minus Tiger our kitty!)

Jay's 1st fair

Where we live, there are 2 big fairs that happen every year. And while we technically live in one county, we usually go to the other nearby one just because it's bigger and has more to see and do.

Originally we had planned on going on Friday as I requested off work for it, however around the time hubby got home from work the weather took a turn for the worse and there were tornado warnings going off for nearby counties and it started raining pretty bad. The outlook for Sunday looked clear though so we decided we'd try to go then since neither of us had to work that day either.

Jay petting a lamb with daddy at the fair

This morning we slept in a little bit as a family and Jay did 2 amusing things - first, after I farted in bed with him snuggled up next to me he looked up at me with this disapproving look as if he was like "Mommy... that's gross." Then later, after I had gotten myself ready to go I walked into the living room to retrieve Jay from his daddy to get him ready to go - my husband was sitting on the couch but I didn't see Jay so I simply asked "Where's Jay at?" As if trying to get my attention, I notice him in his walker on the other side of the room, raising his hand like "Here I am, mommy!" It was pretty cute!

Anyways, we got out to the fairgrounds at about 2pm and put Jay in his stroller like a "big boy" (he's got about 5lbs til he's outgrown his carrier so we've been transitioning him out of being in there all the time when we're on the go). He didn't know what to make of the fairgrounds! He was looking around at everything, mouth wide open like "whoa!!" We met up with my parents and took him to the petting zoo and wee animal farm. He didn't know what to make of all the animals he had only seen in his books or on TV before. The petting zoo had mostly lambs with 1 shy goat, but we did get close to a lamb for him to pet! I got my regular fair food - a baked potato, a corn on the cob from the boy scouts, and ice cream from the Milk Maids. We let Jay try some of our ice cream - mine had 1 scoop of mint chocolate chip and 1 scoop of cookie dough. Jay *really* seemed to like my mint ice cream so we let him have several scoops.

Poor kiddo though - he was so in awe of everything and all the people that he was fighting his nap all afternoon (he usually falls asleep between 130 and 2pm and naps from 45min to several hours!). About 430 he passed out... but only for 20 minutes! He did take a nice 3 hour nap after his dinner though and crashed for bed a few hours later.

All in all I'd say it was a good 1st trip to the fair for Jay!

On a side note, we're trying to teach him to say "Mmm Mmm" "Nom nom" or "Yum yum" to mean he wants food, as he does make similar noises while he's eating his food - it's pretty cute!

6 month check-up

Today we had Jay's 6 month check-up and it went VERY well!

He weighs a whopping 16lbs 14oz - just under 17lbs! - and is 26.5 inches long! Last time, at his 4 month check-up he was 13lbs even and 25 inches long, so he hasn't gained much length-wise but he did gain almost 4lbs in 2 months! This puts him in the 50th percentile for weight for 6 month boys and 50th percentile for his weight for his length, meaning despite a rough start our baby boy is now average for his age!

So exciting!

His next check-up isn't until his 9 month one inNovember (aside from his trip up to Madison in September to meet with the pediatric urology specialist). The doctor said physically everything looks good and told us to keep using the Johnny Jump-Up (he said he wasn't fond of walkers) and to make sure he's getting plenty of tummy time since he'll probably start crawling soon. He didn't say too much about his bottom front teeth already coming through, other than the average age for teeth is 6-9 months so he's a little ahead there. He did say he's got great muscle control in his neck though! He said to keep him on formula and the solids until a year old...

Little Man (with daddy) greeting mommy after
a night of work

...which means we can put the sippy cup on hold, as Jay doesn't seem to really be taking to it much either. The 1st day he at an ounce or so and the 2nd day he ate 2oz but he hasn't been interested in it since. I think he gets too frustrated with it as he can't drink it as fast as he can a bottle. Guess we'll just keep trying from time to time though!

We've finally gotten through all the veggies and fruits. Jay doesn't seem to like green beans but he'll still eat them - the only solid we've tried that he won't eat is peas, lol...

We also tried giving him a bath in the "big tub" as he's definitely outgrown his baby tub (we put him in it and all the water goes out, lol...). He LOVED the big tub! He hasn't played with any of his bath toys yet, as he's too busy splashing in the water while we clean him, lol... bathtime has been much more enjoyable for all of us since moving him to the big-tub as he would scream and cry in his baby tub for no apparent reason! But not anymore - no more crying at bathtime!

It *finally* happened!!

Today my sister and I took Jay to go see the new Winnie the Pooh movie, as my sister has ALWAYS liked Winnie the Pooh and I'll admit, the new movie looked cute (I was always a Tigger fan). Technically, his 1st movie in the theater was when we saw Thor with my in-laws on Mother's Day, however Jay slept that entire trip to the theater.

He did pretty good today though - he was awake when we went into the theater and the trailers were already playing... as I went to unbuckle him from his carrier to sit him in my lap I noticed he was starring at the movie screen all wide-eyed - it was funny! He laughed and grinned a few times and stayed awake during the Disney short at the beginning (it was about Nessie the Loch Ness Monster) but he fell asleep about 10 minutes into Pooh. He let out a cry when he woke up, but was fine as soon as he opened his eyes and realized mommy was there and where he was and watched the last 10 minutes or so of the movie. There were mostly toddlers in the theater and I think I saw 1 other baby, a little older than Jay.

Afterwards we stopped at Sam's Club to pick up kitty litter and a tub of ice cream (because we keep eating the smaller tubs too fast! doh!) and while walking down the book and movie aisles I found some with characters that Jay would recognize like Curious George and Dinosaur Train and got him laughing. While he was laughing I noticed a little white bud/bump on his bottom gum and proceeded to see what it was...

...he finally had a tooth break through!

It hasn't fully come in yet but it's definitely more progress than just his gums hurting as there's finally some visible proof! It's his front, bottom left tooth, which is surprising as his top front right ones seem to be where his gums hurt the most!

Dropping my sis off at my mom's house earlier, mom told us they had the free 8x10's from our church pictorial directory shoot available for pick-up last Sunday and since she didn't know when we would be there next she got ours for us.

 

I'd say it turned out pretty well!

First Haircut & First Walker

Some more firsts for Jay this week!

Last Monday he had his first haircut!

I know some babies that don't get their 1st haircut to closer to their 1st birthdays, however Jay had quite the baby mullet going on (I'm sure it could have rivaled Billy Ray Cyrus' in his "Achy Breaky" days!). Hubby's mom brought her hair cutting stuff with her when she came for her weekly Monday visit and went ahead and cut it. I wasn't there - unfortunately I had to work that night, but hubby took video of it and it was quite amusing! Jay freaked out, like it was the most traumatic thing ever! He *really* did not like the cape she put on him and stopped fussing for a moment when she went to get the buzzer, but royally freaked out again when he realized she was putting it to the back of his head! LOL...

We also finally got him a baby walker after taking forever to find one I liked that didn't have a buttload of toys on the tray (I swear it's impossible to find just a plain simple walker with nothing on the tray like the one I had as a baby!). He seems to enjoy it - at first he didn't realize he could move himself around in it, and now he's figured out how to push himself backwards - still hasn't really figured out going forward yet though! He's only used it in the alley way of the kitchen so far - we need to order a gate for our stairs, which he can't get to from the kitchen and we supervise him the entire time he's using it. It seems to have been a good buy though!