James 11 weeks, Jimmy 29 years

Jimmy turned 29 years old and James was 11 weeks old on Tuesday! Lots to celebrate!

Below is the daily "how I found James in the morning" picture -- always a surprise! I think he woke himself up this morning by kicking the back of his crib. I took him back to the doctor to check and see how the weight gain was going and...we have one Chunky Monkey on our hands! He gained 12oz in 6 days!!! If you remember from last time, infants should gain about 1oz per day and James had only put on 5oz in 9 days. Needless to say, the doctor was very happy with him weighing 9lb, 14oz :-) So I don't have to force feed him every 2-2.5 hours anymore but I still need to make sure he doesn't go longer than 4 hours between daytime feedings. She thinks it is a good idea to keep giving him a 4oz bottle of formula at bedtime to make sure his belly is nice and content for a good night's sleep -- still going 7-8 hours, so that is great! We then met up with Jim and Mikey for lunch at Portillo's -- yummy!









It's so fun to be 11 weeks old! He was giggling at me here -- it still doesn't happen very often or on purpose, but the smiling does for sure!









One happy baby on his changing table









The birthday boy and his son!










Not a clear picture (Jim's finger was over the flash) but it was the best family photo we got w/o James screaming his head off! Maybe he was just singing "Happy Birthday" to Jimmy in his Gerber language?!?

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a busy Memorial Day weekend -- lots of things to do around the house (well, mostly for Jimmy) and people to see!

(1) the outfit Uncle John got James
(2) our backyard was the field trip spot for a geese family (they had 2 babies w/ them)

(1) Jen K came to visit Friday
(2) James workin' the camera in the morning

(L) James and Daddy
(R) Jimmy got creative and put our wedding rings on James toe (we've tried before but James wouldn't cooperate)

(1) Sat. was a long day of crying for all of us
(2) Sunday I "wore" James in the Bjorn - very nice that he's finally big enough for it (I still use my Moby wrap though bc it's fabulous too

We invited ourselves over to Eddie & Jamie's new house -- just promise them baby time and they're putty in your hands ;-) Thanks for forwarding the pics Jamie!
(1) Eddie & James
(2) Uncle Ed spent a lot of time soothing James

(1) James finally a) awake and b) not crying
(2) Laura, James and Dani

(1) Aunt Mary Jo got James to quiet down

(2) Jaime gave James the tour of the house

James was tired after a long weekend!

Take Baby to Work Day

Wednesday morning James was having a good ole time playing with his hands and feet while I got ready. He isn't really much of a sucker but he does enjoy putting his hand in his mouth for a couple of seconds before throwing another air-punch. He has also started recognizing his feet. He will pull them up like the middle pic at the abs and then accidentally grab them and get so overly excited he kicks them back out. The way he pulls them up makes me think he may figure out how to roll over from his back to his belly soon but we'll have to wait and see!

Found his thumb

Found his feet

Trying to stuff both hands in his mouth at once

I was getting ready so I could take him down to work to let him meet everyone! It was nice to see everyone but I sure don't miss that drive!

At my desk

With Vicki

With Heather

Jenny thought the best place to change James' dirty diaper was on my desk neighbor Scott's desk. Scotty is a bit of a clean freak about his desk as he clears it off on Fridays and disinfects it and he eats lunch at my desk so mine gets dirty and not his...He's lucky we like him and that diaper didn't even come close to touching his desk :-)

He started crying just as I got the camera out to get a pic of him and Jenny

Nick kept asking Jenny when I was coming in to school to visit. He stayed at school for 2 extra class periods after his early release to see me and meet James, which is pretty fantastic! That's easily the longest he's been at school in a looong time so I feel pretty special. I'm very proud of him because while he may not be the best "typical student," he's come a long way and is leaving to become a Marine in mid-June. He'll be back to visit in September hopefully before he gets deployed to Afghanistan...thanks for helping to defend our country Nick, make us proud!

Gina G. and myself in the Field House. Gina is a first year teacher and a victim of the bad economy as our school district RIFed (reduction in force) all 1st year teachers. I have really loved working with her and am keeping my fingers crossed that something will work out so she can remain a part of our team. She is also a huge Cubs and Blackhawks fan, which makes her even more fun to have around and helps us even out the Cubs fans with the Sox fans.

After work I took James to the doctor for a "weight check" to make sure our little peanut is gaining weight. At his 2 month appt the doc said she thought his evening fussiness is probably related to him being hungry due to him being tired and my milk production decreasing as the day gets later. I used the Wii Fit to try and weigh James (not the most accurate of measuring devices, I know, but what I have handy to get close to ounces) and he was still registering under the 9lb mark on it, so I decided to give the doctor a call. Babies of James' age are supposed to gain about 1 oz per day. It turns out James finally broke the 9lb mark! He weighed in at 9lb, 2oz; however, this weight gain was only about 5 oz over 9 days. While he is gaining and that's good, it's still not at a rate that they like to see....so that means we (well, mostly I) have to feed him more often during the day to try and fatten this skinny minnie up! He had usually been pretty content with eating every 3-4 hours, but now we're feeding him every 2-2.5 hours during the day so he gets 5-6 solid feedings during the day and one before bed. I felt like a milk machine before but definitely now :-) I can hear him Moo-ing from across the house, hehe. We are supplementing him with a bottle of formula at his last feeding before putting him to bed to make sure his belly is good and full for the night. I almost cried right there in the doctor's office when she told me she wanted me to wake James up after 5 hours of sleep -- I mean, I have a newborn who will sleep 7-8 hours at night and she wants me to wake him and break that pattern -- is she nuts?!?! So we are going with the formula at night to fill him up and then not letting him sleep past Jim's alarm clock in the morning as a compromise. He is going to get his weight checked again on Tuesday, so we'll see if what we are doing is working -- if not, then I'll just be setting and re-setting an alarm clock throughout the night and day time because I'm freakin' exhausted already, let alone with having to wake him in the middle of his nights sleep.

Ten Weeks Old

James has become really funny about sticking out his tongue. He tries to imitate a raspberry-like noise that I make, but the only part he can accomplish is sticking his tongue out at me -- so funny because you can see his brain turning quickly trying to figure out how to get his body to do what he wants it to do. He has also become enamoured with the colors on TV...here he is watching the Today Show -- at least he's watching the news! He loves the 4th hour with Hoda & Kathie Lee :-)
He can be super un-happy and then I'll put him on his diaper changer that is attached to his Pack 'n Play and he acts like it's the best thing ever! He turns in to a little mover and shaker -- kicking and punching and talking to just being all spastic with his movements but you can see him thinking about it and he is just so full of energy when he is on there. I wish I could leave him up there alone and take a nap because I'm sure he'd stay up there and play for a long time by himself -- too bad it's really not safe to do so.
A close-up of the tongue out.

I HAD to get out of the house on Tuesday, James was fussing a bunch and Easton was driving me absolutely batty. So I put James in his car seat and leashed up Easton and we went on a little walk. Quite interesting because Easton is super strong and not the best walker and I was only holding on to him with one hand and trying to steer the stroller with the other -- needless to say, it was a slllooooowww walk but productive in getting us out of the house. We had to cut our path short though as the timing meant the elementary school was letting kids out and I didn't need Easton mauling any 1st graders! James finally fell asleep and took a nap after being awake from 8am - 3:30pm...it was quite warm out, so we got a good look at his chunky monkey legs that are finally forming on this long, lanky boy :-)

Here is James showing his best moves on the diaper changer -- I love to watch his facial expressions and how intensely focused he is at what he is doing. It's not his most active video but it shows him moving and him trying to imitate my facial expressions -- he can really get a move on in there, the speed at which he can move is amazing and he cracks me up with how excited he gets...like he's trying to talk to me through his movements.

First BBQ

Last Saturday we took James to his first bar-b-que at the Liszka's house. Here is a picture of some of the folks that attended: (L to R) friend of Lynn's, Lynn, John, Jim, Aaron, James Edward (hehe, he likes to think ours was named after him)!John used to "play afraid" of babies but he was all about holding James...then quickly gave him up saying he was "too heavy"...I think that's hilarious considering how peanut-sized James is at the 3-4th percentile and still under 9lbs! John better get used to it, his 5-year post-marriage w/o a baby grace period is quickly coming to an end!

James flirting with Julie

Julie's mom was knitting a hat for an infant and wanted us to check out the sizing...so I tried it on James as Dennis was giving him a bottle....our little prince :-D (Reminds me of the movie "Coming to America" with Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall for some reason).

James spent a majority of his first BBQ sleeping (with his arms up in the air) instead of playing with all the kids that were there. His friend Becca was there and they got to hang out together as they ate dinner at the same time. James also had his first diaper blow out -- of course, it was at someone else's house! I was prepared with numerous back-up outfits though for just an incident ;-)

Rock Star

The rest of the week since James' doctor appt has gone really fast (as it feels all weeks are flying by). We had him and Easton in the car together for the first time -- very interesting, but we know we'll be able to travel with them both now :-) Easton had to go get his yearly check-up and get his Bordatella (Kennel cough) vaccine and Rabies vaccine...both are necessary to go to Doggy Day Care and get kennelled when we go on vacation. He checked out well -- all "A"s and one "B+" on his puppy report card :-) so funny! We are going to try and take E to Doggy Day Care one or two days so he gets practice in that setting and can be kennelled w/ his cousins when we go on vacation in June w/ my family -- hopefully he passes! Jamie S. and Gma Chele visited on Thursday afternoon. Jamie joined James and I while we shopped for Jimmy's birthday -- James just slept away as Jamie pushed him in the cart (the cart motion rocked his car seat) -- it was nice to get out of the hizzouse! Today Laura S. came to visit for a little bit on her day off work -- too bad it was raining and we couldn't go outside.

This picture is a favorite of mine.

****ROCK STAR****

It never ceases to amaze me how quickly and in what funny positions babies can fall asleep -- looks like he got KO'ed here -- just a milk coma though :-)

James LOVES being on his changing table from his Pack'n Play -- he prefers kicking/punching/shaking on it over actually being in the play part -- he usually starts crying within 2 minutes of me taking him off of it. Here he was dancing to Pink's "So What -- I'm Still a Rock Star!" as she was singing with Ellen on her show :-) (I think he likes that song because I sang it A TON when I was pregnant). He also LOVES when the artists come and sing on the Today Show -- he kept turning his head to watch Jennifer Hudson this morning -- better join his en tourage now, hopefully there is some space for his parents! He was smiling lots today but I didn't have my camera at that time (of course)! He's getting much better at "responsive smiling," but it's usually in the morning after a good night's sleep! He's really good at mimicking me when I do a noise that ends w/ my tongue sticking out -- so cute!

James likes to check out his Daddy when he gets home from work -- he looks so small and like his Peanut-self when Jimmy is holding him

Easton cracks me up -- falls asleep anywhere and in any position -- just like James!

Two Month Dr. Visit

On the scales...

I took James for his 2 month doctor appointment today and it turns out that our Peanut is...just that, a little peanut! He was 21.5 inches long (that's 2.5 inches in 1.5 months, I'm impressed) and 8lb 13oz. So he's just a little guy and in the 3rd-4th percentile for both of those categories -- he started in the 5th percentile, so no big deal as he's just keeping with his growth curve. He's got a head full of brains though, with a circumference of 32.8cm (20th percentile). It's funny because I can recognize when his head is growing -- it gets bigger at the top and then the face matches it the next day or two. The doctor said he checked out well and all looks good! She thinks the fussiness at night could just be because he's hungry, so we are going to feed him more often towards the second half of the day when he starts to get tired (thus, a weaker suck action) and my milk supply slows down -- should keep him satisfied and help me produce a bit more for him too...can you hear him MOO-ing??? Our little trooper got one oral vaccine for rota virus (the nurse was impressed with how well he drank it all up) and 3 other vaccine shots (not as traumatic for him or me as I thought it would be) for 5 total immunizations started. I think it was a good idea for them to put more than one vaccine in a shot to stick people less...smart thinking doctor peoples!

Oh yeah, and the best part of the visit other then James getting a clean bill of health...if the revised feeding schedule seems to work on the fussiness --- I can begin to slowly phase dairy back into my diet! WOO HOO -- I hope it works!