Can You Hear Me Now?

We took JD to the doctor this morning and all ear and respiratory infections are cleared up! The doctor took a look at his molars and said they were most likely the cause of all of our troubles.


I guess we will see if being able to chew food is worth three weeks of misery...




In other news, Jon and I went to the Stars game last night and they won in overtime!! Woo-hoo! Go Stars! (JD is just pouting because we got to go to the game and he didn't).

Push 'Em Out

If anyone is a fan of Bill Cosby, then that headline might have struck a note with you. JD still has his little hoarsey voice today, which breaks my heart when he tries to cry.

BUT...I did notice with the almost silent crying, that his two bottom molars are almost through the surface!! I never realized that I would become a cheerleader for teeth, but I can't wait for JD to be through this round of 1st year molars!!

Come on Baby - Push 'Em Out, Shove 'Em Out, WAAAY Out!!

Put Your Head on My Shoulder

My poor sweet baby boy has still got the sickies hanging around. Just when I think he has turned the corner, he comes down with something else (or the original stuff just keeps flaring up again). We are entering into Week Number Three of "Sick Miserable Baby."

We went out to Jon's family's new house this weekend to check on the progress and to get the guys to help finish out their new bonus room. JD was great! His nose seemed to be drying up, no coughing and NO FEVER! We were so excited about spending the day with the family.

But then this afternoon, when JD got up from his nap, he was coughing really terribly, way deep down in his chest. And his little voice was all hoarse. He had tons of congestion again and was just miserable all afternoon.

But the best way to determine if JD is really sick is when he just lays his head on my shoulder. He NEVER does this when he is well, not even when he was a baby. When he is sick, it seems like he just needs to relax on mommy so she can fix it all. I would love to just take it all away for him and make him happy again. I'm praying for my little guy to feel better tomorrow! If not, I'll let him snuggle on my shoulder for one more day...

Foreign Language

My little guy is still working on his language skills. He seems to latch on to a part of a word as the actual word itself. For example:

Duck, Quack, Truck - all are "Kuh"
Car, Cook (as in Daniel Cook, a tv show we see) - "Caa"
Yogurt, Wiggles - "Guh"

But the trickiest is "Baa" or "Baa-baa". This can mean ball, bottle or bye-bye. So I have to pay attention to the surroundings in which he says it to know what he means. If he is playing around and says "Baa-baa" then I know it means ball. If he is waving his little hand, then you can guess what he means. And if he is whining and crying and pacing around his high chair and refrigerator, I have to think he wants a bottle...it's all a matter of context with JD.

It reminds me of the days in high school and college where I had to listen to an old French radio program and write down what they were saying in French. I actually had to write down the French words, not the English translation. As in the English language, there are many words that sound the same, but are not. I can't really remember it too well, but I do remember my professor laughing at some of the things I would write!

It makes me laugh at all of the baby toys now that are bi and sometimes tri-lingual. I think it is hard enough to figure out the English words JD is saying, without throwing in Spanish and French possibilities!

Triple Whammy

Well, JD doesn't do anything halfway. About 2 weeks ago, we found out that JD had his first ear infection - one in each ear. The doctor put him on antibiotics and we dealt with the fussiness and bad sleeping patterns of a ear infected kiddo.

Then at the end of last week, we noticed that JD was having a hard time breathing and there was a bunch of gunk in his lungs. So we took him into the on-call doctor at his pediatrician's office.

The doctor there was very concerned and ordered a round of chest x-rays because she was worried about pneumonia. Yikes! They did the x-rays and ruled out pneumonia, but said he definitely had some respiratory issues. She gave us some top secret decongestant (since there aren't any over the counter anymore) and another round of antibiotics.

The funny thing about JD is that he really isn't that badly behaved for a kid with all these issues. He is still running around playing, albeit with a nose dripping like a faucet and coughs like a lifetime smoker. He is smiling and happy for the most part, but has definitely been whining a bit more than usual. And he seems to melt down a bit quicker than normal.

I am attributing all of this mess to his 1 year molars that have been threatening to pop through for a few weeks now. They swell up and then they go back down again and he drools like crazy and bites on everything.

I am ready for my poor little monkey to start feeling more like himself soon!!

First Haircut

JD's hairdo was getting a little shaggy around the edges, so we took him in for a trim yesterday before it became a full-fledged mullet.

He wasn't excited about it at first.

And then he was downright mad about it. Especially when she brought out the clippers!

But he recovered at the end, safe in his daddy's arms. Any resemblance to daddy's haircut??

Yee-Haw

JD had a good time playing outside the other day. He is getting used to the ideas of hats, both outside...

And inside!

Storms, Sirens, Sleepy

My husband is a firefighter, as many of you know, so he is ALWAYS on call for any emergency city-wide situation. During the spring and fall storms, he is on the lookout for any tornadoes, since he gives the go ahead to turn the sirens on in the city.

So around 3:40 last night, his handy-dandy storm tracker radio went off and we both got up to check out the situation. The weather service had issued a tornado warning for our county, so Jon had to make the call.

About this time, Jon went and got JD out of his crib and put us all in the closet in our bedroom with flashlights and his radio. We heard the wind blowing all around us with lots of thunder. Our power went out once, but came back on pretty quickly.

JD thought it was great fun. He was playing in daddy's closet, what could be more fun?? Plus he loved the flashlights. All I could think about was not having any baby food or diapers in the closet, should the situation get bad.

Jon's cellphone kept ringing from work, so he decided he needed to get in to assess the situation. He left right after they canceled the warning for our area.

I got JD settled back into bed (he went right back to sleep thankfully), but I was wide awake. I tossed and turned until 5:30 am.

This morning, the aftermath was pretty bad, but not devestating. Some houses on the west side of our city got hit by a small tornado and lots of fences and trees were blown down all over the city. I saw lots of roof damage and debris in the street as I was heading to Baby Boot Camp this morning. The power is still out in parts of the city.

Now of course, it is sunny and shaping up to be a beautiful day. All I want to do is crawl back into bed!!

JD Has a New Cousinette!

Little Kenna Beth Boyd made her way onto the scene today, full of dark hair and a sweet little face.

JD was so excited to meet his new baby girl cousin! He was full of smiles for Aunt Heather and Uncle Dan.

Kenna weighed in at 6 lbs 7 oz and 17 1/2 inches long! She is a sweet little thing! Heather and Dan are already proud and happy parents!

The Patio and the Faux Hawk

I promised pictures of the completed patio and here it is.

We still are planning to put in an outdoor kitchen cabinet and countertop beside the grill. But at least it is finished for now. We have been enjoying it in the evenings, eating out on the patio and watching JD play in his yard.

In other news, Jon slicked up JD's hair last night into a 'faux' hawk while he was playing and it just really made me laugh!

And this face is still making me laugh today!

Birthday Festivities

By all industry standards, JD had a great first birthday!

On his actual birthday on April 3, we did the ceremonial turning of the car seat, so he is facing forward now. I also fixed his favorite people food - Spanish rice and we had a little cake for him. Jon and Uncle Nathan finished the patio too! (I'll post those pictures later)

Sidenote: We want to thank all the helpers that contributed to the porch completion - Michael, Nathan, Daniel, Josh Eason, our friendly neighbors...

On Saturday, we threw a family birthday party on our new porch. Jon grilled up some fajitas and we set up some folding chairs (since we haven't found any patio furniture yet). The kids played in JD's new sandbox and played on the swingset.

My sister made a great cake - both a big one and a small one for JD! It was so cute and delicious too!

JD enjoyed opening his presents and got lots of fun toys and new clothes! He played and played and played all afternoon. The minute that everyone left, he totally crashed and went right to bed. So much fun!!

Happy First Birthday Jonathan Douglas!

We are so blessed to have such a sweet baby boy in our family! What a wonderful year of discovery and growth!


This year JD has grown from a tiny helpless newborn, crying for everything he needed and gracing us with a sweet smile when we got it for him...







To an independent toddler, who can run around, ask for food (with lip smacks), say Mama and Dada and Bye-Bye and Uh-Oh.







At One Year, JD waves hello and goodbye, claps his hands, knows his favorite people, loves to play with bouncy balls and toys that make noise and light up, falls asleep all by himself, eats everything and anything.






JD is so friendly and easy-going - he will smile at anyone. He genuinely loves life and gets so excited to see new things.





I can't wait to see what this next year will bring for Jonathan Douglas!

Almost Done!

The patio project has been very slowly progressing. We had some setbacks with Easter weekend and some bad weather, but we are almost done!

We had some help last night with the installation of the flagstones. They finished laying them all out at about 9:30 pm. Now we just need to push dirt into the crevices and wash it all off and we will be done!

We are hoping to install a screen door before JD's birthday on Saturday also. We didn't get any patio furniture picked out, but I think the families will still enjoy it, using Jon's homemade table and folding chairs. We have some new toys to set up in the backyard too, so the kids should have a good time.

It is definitely a relief that the patio itself will be completed before Saturday!!

First Few Days

In honor of my son's upcoming first birthday, I'm going to reminisce a bit about the first few days with my new baby after he was born.

Since I had a c-section, I was pretty immobile that first night. New Daddy Jon was on his own with JD as far as diaper changes were concerned. I remember that first diaper change that was full of yucky black stuff (like an oil spill) and JD peed all over Jon. I was trying so hard not to laugh (because it hurts like crazy after a c-section), but it was so funny.

JD had a little bit of trouble with the whole nursing thing. Or maybe I had trouble getting him going. I'm not sure. The lactation specialist came in and helped us out (no problem, since all of my modesty had gone out the window at that point). From the very first feeding, JD LOVED to eat.

He stayed with us in the room and Jon toughed it out on the miserable fold out couch that pretended to be a bed. Jon brought JD over to me for feedings and I loved to hold him in my arms. Somebody very wise (my sister) gave me some good advice about c-sections and what to eat (or not to eat) while staying at the hospital. I stayed on a liquid diet during my stay at the hospital and although I was pretty hungry, I never regretted that decision.

We had so many visitors during those first few days - family and friends. As I was getting up and around again and learning how to stand up and walk around, it was nice to have some distractions with all the visitors. Jon was so patient with me and helpful, forcing me to take walks around the hospital while JD was getting tests and things done. This helped out a bunch. I never needed any major pain medication - just Motrin.

We ended up going home on Thursday afternoon. We were so ready to be in our own home with JD. By the way, I had to send my mom over to my house to get me different clothes because the ones I brought wouldn't have worked with my new incision scar. I was still pretty huge too. They say to bring clothes for when you were 4 months pregnant, but I think I looked like I was still 6 months pregnant. I was still carrying around a ton of fluid.

That first car ride home was nerve racking. I felt every bump on the road because of the c-section, but also because I was thinking about what JD must be feeling in his new car seat in his VERY first car ride EVER! We enjoyed having him home with us and set him up for his first photo shoot pretty quickly.

Easter Sunday was that weekend, so we went over to visit my family (one block away) and show off our little guy. I was still feeling pretty sore and huge. JD slept most of the time, but still managed to look like a sweetheart.

Jon was on paternity leave, so he helped out a ton on the night shifts during that first week. I think he and JD bonded over late night viewings of Bobby Flay and pre-recorded Stars games.

I developed mastitis in that first week, which you can Google if you don't know what it is. It gave me a 104 fever which lasted about 4 days and I was pretty miserable. Again Jon was SO helpful during this time and took over much of the babycare except the feedings.

JD lost some weight during this time because I was being so stubborn about not supplementing with formula. I really wanted to give my body the chance to feed him as much as he needed, but looking back, I should have supplemented with a few formula bottles until I got well. As soon as I got well, JD's weight took off and he hasn't stopped since!

The whole nursing thing at that point made me feel like a cow and not a mom because all I did was feed him over and over again. And I was extremely sore from all this feeding to the point that I could barely hold JD in my arms. If it makes any of you new moms out there feel any better, I was very frustrated about nursing and cried a lot in that first month. I put in lots of phone calls to experienced moms and lactation consultants. But after the first month, everything was much more smooth. JD took to nursing like a champ and I am so glad that I stuck it out for so many reasons.

We became such a great little family in those first few days. It feels wonderful to be starting a family and have a bond together like no other.