Farewell, Tobi!! :(

Saturday night, I attended a party for one of my "internet friends" who is moving away...I say "internet friend" because originally, I "met" Tobi via an online group for local women. I got to know Tobi in real life through our Book Club...and at this point, I feel safe to drop the title of "internet" and just use the word "friend". :-) Tobi is so much fun to be around and I'm so glad I had the chance to get to know her...she and her family are relocating so a party was thrown in her honor over the weekend.

The party had all the main components...good food, a lot of laughs and good friends. I even got to meet a few new people, which is always nice. Here are some pics from the party...you will be greatly missed, Tobi!! (and you know that every time I eat Chick-Fil-Et I will always thinking of you now....)


Bottom Row, L-R: me, Lisa, Kris, Tobi, Melissa
2nd Row, L-R: Amy, Kate (holding Gideon), Sami (kneeling), Maria, Meghan, Melissa, Anna, April
3rd Row, L-R: Beth, Amanda (kind of hidden), Leiann, Sarah, Gwen, Amber, Michelle, Lisa


Kate, Gideon, Sami


The pregnant ladies :) Melissa & Meghan


Lisa, Anna, Beth, Tobi


April, Amy, Michelle


Maria, Amber, Sarah, Gwen


Maria, Sarah, Kris, Leiann, Gwen, Melissa, Amber, Meghan

A Must-Share Story

We all know how much Jake loooooves his books (and if you don't know, stop by my house...I'd be happy to let you read him book after book after book for a little while!) and last night after I got home from work, we started the marathon of reading. One of his favorite books is called Mirror Me and one of the pages has a big picture of a sun with a face and the caption says "The sun has a sunny smile-say cheese!".

So last night, we weren't reading that one (yet) but we were reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar....and we came to a page with a picture of a sun, so I read the caption in the book then said the line from Mirror Me ("the sun has a sunny smile...") and as soon as I said it, Jake sat straight up in my lap, looked at me, looked at his book basket, looked back at me, then scrambled off my lap. First, I couldn't figure out what was wrong....then I realized that he was reaching in the basket for Mirror Me!! Sure enough, he brought it over to me with a big smile on his face. :)

Here he is, sharing his book with Gracie...and the dishwasher.

Gentle touches!

Trying to teach Jake gentle touches on Gracie....and some other stuff (pretty long video, Brian got a bit carried away):

Mad Skillz.

Here are some videos of Jake showing off his "bah" skills :)

(and in the first one, poor Gracie gets nailed in the head with said "bah")

Breaking up is hard to do.

Breaking up with breastfeeding, that is.

As a general rule, I didn't really talk about my breastfeeding relationship with Jake to a lot of people, aside from my mom, mother in law and a very few close friends (and during a few breastfeeding catastrophes, my "internet friends") :) it's not that I was at all embarrassed by it...it's just that to me, it was a private thing between myself and my son.

But now that it's come to an end, I felt like I should write something about it, just to reflect on how far we came. It was a rocky beginning for us....since I was on the magnesium drip for pre-eclampsia, Jake felt the side effects of that in his first few days of life and he was (what the lactation consultant referred to him as), a lazy sucker. He would latch on perfectly and it would appear that he was eating, but he was actually just hanging out, kind of moving his mouth (and normally falling asleep) In order to fix this problem, we spent 3 days doing (as Brian called it) "suck training": I would pump while Brian fed Jake previously pumped milk with a syringe; after he got a few gulps that way, Brian would hand him to me and I would feed him from there. Thankfully, this only went on for 3 days until he got the hang of it....if it had gone on much longer than that, I'm not sure if I could have stuck with it. I was exhausted, physically and emotionally...and the routine that I just described took almost an hour and Jake was eating every 2 hours. It wasn't very pleasant.

But---we got through that and his weight started picking back up and everything was back on track. There were still times that I was tempted to quit...mostly those times were at 3am when I had been up for the 4th time that night feeding him and felt like I hadn't slept in days, or during his growth spurts when he would literally nurse every hour, on the hour for days at a time. I'm not sure what kept me going, to be honest....I had set little goals for myself (3 months, 6 months, a year, etc...) and every time I met one of those goals, it just seemed easier & easier, so I stuck with it. Plus, anytime I saw a can of formula in the store and saw how much money we were saving, that gave me more incentive to stick with it :)

After those first few weeks, it was pretty much smooth sailing with just a few bumps in the road....I had a clogged duct that was pretty painful when he was 2 months old, thrush from antibiotics he was on when he was around 6 months old and mastitis just recently when I started the weaning process.

Fast-forward to January....I knew that I was going to wean after he turned a year and when the time finally came, I was ready. I was ready to be done with my pump at work and just ready to let my little baby move on to the next step in his life. I had braced myself for the worst (he was quite the milk machine, I thought he would have a hard time) but he seemed to get over it pretty quickly. I started by dropping bottles at daycare, figuring it was easier since I wasn't with him at that time and he's so busy there, he'd be less likely to notice. They said he did ok overall...the 2nd day of no bottles one of the babies was getting a bottle in a rocking chair & Jake stopped what he was playing with, went over and sat down in front of the chair & just watched, looking sad :( But, one of the other teachers came over & snuggled him for a few minutes in another chair & that seemed to be all he needed...he was back to playing within a few minutes.

I'm pretty sure I miss it more than he does at this point....even though I was ready to be done, I still had a hard time letting go of what seemed like the last "baby" thing that I had to hold on to. He's such a little boy now in so many ways, but holding him in my arms while nursing him made it feel like he was still an infant, like a whole year hadn't passed yet. I know there's a whole lot more to look forward to and I love all the new things I see in him everyday....but I still like to think back to those times when it was just Jake and I, snuggling on the couch together for a late-night feeding (but let's be honest-I'm grateful that I'm now sleeping at 3am!), or enjoying those last few minutes before bedtime at the end of the day. I'm grateful to have been able to make it to a full year and I appreciate anyone who offered advice and support, especially Brian, who was my biggest cheerleader....he's an amazing husband in many ways and there was no way I could have stuck with nursing if he hadn't been so supportive.

I know there are quite a few moms and moms-to-be who read my blog, so if you have any questions about breastfeeding or weaning or anything, you know where to find me via email :) I'm happy to help out in any way that I can.

Jake is a busy boy.

Jake has been so busy learning new things, I haven't been able to keep up with posting them so I figured I'd put them all in one big summary. It seems like every time I turn around, he's doing something new, it's amazing how fast he's picking up on things.

*He waves (and says) "bye-bye" when someone leaves...sometimes he'll even do it if he sees you putting your coat on.

*When you're putting on his shoes or socks, he'll lift his foot up so that you can put it on

* He says "ball" (though it sounds more like "bah") and if you ask him where the ball is, he'll go find it & bring it to you (and he will roll it, throw it and kick it)



*He will sit down when you ask him to.


*He is a dancing machine.


*He loves for you to sing and do the motions with him for "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider".

*He signs "more" when he wants more food and "all done" when he's finished eating...here he is demonstrating "more":



*He plays peek a boo with a blanket


*If you put him on your lap & ask if he wants to ride the horsey, he'll grab your hands & start bouncing up & down (GG taught him that one!)

*He is a book-a-holic, which is just adorable. He will bring you book, after book, after book...hand you the book, then turn himself around to sit down in your lap :) His favorite books are the touch & feel, ones with flaps and ones with the sound buttons on the side.



*He can stack his nesting cups, up to 3 on top of each other

*He will try to climb on top of or into just about anything...like this laundry basket:



*He has a BFF at school. His name is Dominic & according to the teachers, he & Jake are inseparable...they eat all of their meals together, nap around the same time and play together the rest of the day. Dominic is almost 6 months older, but they say that Jake keeps up very well! Brian & I have made up a whole scenerio about them including the fact that they have formed a baby clique and refer to each other as "Dom the Bomb" and "Jake the Snake".


*He has a favorite teacher at school...whenever Miss Denise leaves the room, Jake gets upset and tries to follow her out of the room. Miss Denise was on vacation for a few days and when she came back last week, Jake was playing with a toy when she first walked into the room...he proceeded to throw the toy behind him, stand up & run across the room to her and give her a big hug. It makes us feel good to know that he likes school so much!!

*You may remember my post from a few months ago where Jake was eyeing up the food all of the other babies...my prediction of him turning into a food thief came true. Last week, he stole half of a banana right off of his BFF's tray and shoved it in his mouth! Fortunately, Dominic forgave him.

*He's showing a bit more interest in the shape sorter....obviously, he still doesn't know which shapes are which yet, but if you point to the slot it's supposed to go in to, he can manipulate the shape to be able to fit in and drop it into the bucket.

I think that's about it for now :)

Evolution of a Mohawk

June 2008 (my first 'hawk)

September 2008 (channeling his inner Jeff Reed)

January 2009 (this particular mohawk was given to him by one of his teachers at school!)

February 2009 (getting a bit long!)

Here We Go Steelers, Here We Go! *clap clap*

Things that were heard in our living room during the Super Bowl:

"Honey, calm DOWN, you're going to have a heart attack...or wake the baby up!" (me to Brian, on several occasions)

"OUCH! Watch it with that thing!" (Brian to me, when I would accidently whip him across the face with my terrible towel)

"What? What does that mean? Why is the ref making a triangle above his head? What's going on??" (me during the safety they got from the holding call...clearly, I hadn't seen that one in football yet!)

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! KEEP RUNNING! GOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!" (Both of us during Harrison's interception)

"Oh my God, feel my heart...I think I'm having a stroke." (me, by the end of the game)

"OMG, my shoulder is killing me...ouch, it hurts to even move my arm. I think it's from waving the Terrible Towel!" (me the next morning...which you could take 2 ways: I'm either a really dedicated towel-waving fan, OR I'm just that pathetic & out of shape)

Needless to say, it was a very exciting game to watch! The excitement for us began earlier in the evening, as we got Jake ready for the game.

But I don't think anyone was more excited than Gracie:

Weekend Update

We had a somewhat eventful weekend (eventful for us anyway!)....Saturday night, we went over to have dinner with our friends Neal & Whitney. They quickly got a crash course in babyproofing once we unleashed Jake into their home :) They were also nice enough to get Jake birthday presents, even though they had been unable to make it to his party. Here is he hanging with them & enjoying his new gifts:

By Sunday, we had a lot of snow on the ground but it was pretty warm that day, so we decided to head outside & let the kids play in the snow.

After feeling embarassed about the shirt that I put on her, Gracie spent the rest of the time outside running around like a maniac and sticking her face directly into the snow. I'm not sure what she was hoping to accomplish.

Jake went down our very small hill twice on the sled with Brian...the 1st time he seemed ok ...the second time, not so much. So that was the end of the sled riding for the day.

After that, we came in & got everyone dried off and settled...we then spent the rest of the day hanging out & getting ready for the Super Bowl that night....stay tuned for the next post about that :)

The Big Birthday Bash

Well, maybe it wasn't big, but it was certainly a big deal to us :) We had Jake's 1st birthday party this past Sunday at our house....it was scheduled from 11am-naptime, thank goodness the Steelers game didn't come on until 6:30 that night!

We were able to get Jake to take his morning nap late, which I think was a key step in the success of the party....he made it until about 2pm and by then people were starting to filter out anyway so we put him down for a nap.

Before we recap the day, I have to show off the adorable invitation made by Polka Dot Bumblebee....I've ordered stuff from her before & it always turns out great, I highly recommend her if you're looking for invitations, photo cards, favors, etc....

He sat on my lap very nicely and opened his gifts...we have such generous friends and family, we loved all of his gifts! Here he is enjoying a few of them:

After that, we huddled around the TV to watch the photo slideshow I made of his first year (see previous post)

Then, it was time for the main event: the smashing of the cake. Well, the giant cupcake in this case. I ordered his awesome (and delicious!) cake from Creative Cakes by Gwen.

At first, he didn't seem to know what to do with the cupcake (see 2 posts below for video) but once I showed him that he could eat it, he became a bit more interested. But I think overall, he enjoyed the texture of it the most and really derived pleasure from spreading it through his hair & ears.

He's also very much into sharing right now, so he was offering up bites of his cupcake to everyone, which was quite generous of him. (He certainly doesn't get that from me....I would bite someone's finger off if they tried to take a piece of my cake) Here he is sharing with daddy and Aunt Melissa:

He even shared with the dog (and if you read in my previous video post, in the end, he shared the whole cupcake with her....directly on top of her head)

I think he really enjoyed the day and we are always happy to have an excuse to get together with friends and family. Here are some other random pics from the day:

Aunt Melissa and Ben made the trip up from Virginia!! (how adorable is Ben??)

12 month appointment

Jake had his 12 month check up earlier in the week...I could tell he was nervous for the big weigh in. Did he gain a lot from all the icing at his party earlier in the week? Was he maintaining his slim physique from all the running around he's doing?? Here are the results:

Weight: 21.5 lbs (30th percentile)
Height: 30 inches (55th percentile)

He had dropped in the whole percentile thing, which of course concerned me, but the doctor assured me that it's completely normal at this age for that to happen...they stop growing so rapidly and he's working off a bunch of calories from walking all the time. he said as long as he's eating fine (if anyone has ever seen him put away a 3 course meal, you know this isn't a problem) then there's no reason to worry about what the "average" size is. Good to hear!

He got 3 shots, blah. It was terrible because I was by myself this time & he screamed worse than ever before...he ran a fever yesterday & was pretty miserable, but seemed to be back to his happy baby self this morning, so I was grateful for that. I can't stand to see him so uncomfortable!!

Hopefully we won't be returning to the dr's office until his 15 month check up in April....

Jake's 1st Birthday Video Montage

I made a slideshow of Jake's 1st year using One True Media (a great site if you have a need to make a slideshow---very easy to use, super fast delivery!) Here is a link to the show!

http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=78a23b4c77096cf817e201&skin_id=601&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Let Them Eat Cake

I'll have a full post about Jake's first birthday bash, but to give you a sneak peek, here he is going to town on his giant birthday cupcake (what happened eventually that is unfortunately not featured in the video, is that Jake dumped the entire cupcake directly onto Gracie's head...she was patiently waiting under the highchair for something to fall. I think she got more than she bargained for!)

Bust a move.

You can't hear the song very well, but Jake is getting the Led out. Brian had the stereo on and for the first time ever, Jake stopped walking, paused in front of the music & got his groove on.

The Next Bachelorette??

After swearing up and down that he was not going to watch this season of "The Bachelor", Brian cracked and couldn't resist when I turned it on the other night. We agreed on a few things.

This girl had strange teeth that were waaaaaaaay too white (and she was stalker-esque):



Doesn't it kind of remind you of that episode of "Friends" where Ross bleaches his teeth so much they glow in the dark??

We couldn't imagine leaving our 14 month old baby to do a reality TV show, like this girl (from Pittsburgh!) did:





But the highlight of the evening came from the look on the face of one of the girls...a bizarre twist of her lips and opening of her eyes that was just begging for mockery. So like any normal happily married couple might do on a Friday night, we paused the DVR, got out the camera & took pictures of me doing my best "Bachelorette" impression.