Midweek

James broke his sleep through the night streak. He woke up at 3am for a feeding. I forgot that Jim had a job interview today and probably needed the sleep, and I let him go. I was having weird leg pains and not feeling well. Thank God for Jim's willingness to do anything and everything with James. I might be the organized one (bottles, washing clothes, nursery) but Jim is hands on and so wonderful with James.

I heart Jim!

I can't stop smiling at James this morning. He is the cutest! He's been in a great mood, laughing and "talking" with me. I can't believe that this little baby is ours to love forever :)

The picture above is from last night. James is doing very well with sitting in the Bumbo seat and keeping himself content. This morning I was able to clean a little and get organized for work while James sat in the Bumbo and watched. I might use it more often to get things done then! I can probably sit him in the seat while I cook dinner, talking and explaining to him how to cook :)

Jim has three interviews this week. Good luck to Jim!

February is I Love to Read Month

It really is! And look at what Baby James can do!

Little James slept through his second night in a row! Thanks Baby James! I say this with excitement but he does wake me up a couple of times during the night. He usually is crying out in his sleep- probably the baby nightmares again- but then he goes back to sleep and so do I.

I had a late work night last night due to a student celebration and dinner. We took 70 students out to dinner for honor roll achievements at Old Country Buffet. I worried about Jim having such a long day with James, but he said it was okay for the most part. He was very fussy in the early evening, crying non-stop for over an hour. I don't know if Jim ever figured out why but he did think James was just hungry.

I was so happy to see James when I got home. I didn't think I would miss him so much, but being away from home for over 12 hours was too much!! It was a long day without Baby James!

I have a busy work day today too. I'm in charge of a Mix It Up Day at school, where we're asking students to leave their comfort zones and sit with someone new at lunch. The kids, of course, are resistant but hopefully it will go well. After all, there are prizes! Off I go.

A great start to the week!

Little James slept through the night again! When I left for work this morning, he was stirring but not awake yet. I hope he let his Daddy enjoy some morning coffee before starting the day :)

I actually am very surprised he slept through the night since he napped so much yesterday. Maybe he's hitting another growth spurt!

Grandma Laura came over for dinner last night, so James had a chance to show off. He "talked", drooled, and sat in his Bumbo seat while we ate dinner. I know she was impressed :)

James is the best baby!

Please see the new pictures in Baby Album "February" and the two new video clips.

White Sunday

We're getting another blast of snow today. Jim went outside to shovel, but the neighbor across the street came over with his snowblower and helped with the majority of it. The snowblower couldn't touch the HUGE pile of snow at the end of the driveway, left over from the snow plow. I'm glad the neighbor helped and Jim didn't have to do the whole thing himself.

James has been pretty quiet today. He's down for his second nap and its only 12:00! Since he's been napping regularly James hasn't slept through the night. I guess he's getting enough sleep now.

Snow storm

James got an early morning bath to get the weekend started. I had waited to give him a bath, letting his head/skin clear up with the hydrocortisone cream. Every time he gets a bath, he flakes even worse so hopefully I gave it enough time to heal. So far, so good.

Jim went grocery shopping and made a Sam's Club run before the storm hits. I forgot to ask him if everyone had the same idea and if the stores were busy, but I suspect so. We now have plenty of formula, diapers, and even some movies to watch tonight or tomorrow.

James is now taking his afternoon nap. He's been a little fussy so Jim put him down. He fell asleep pretty fast.

I'm trying to get myself motivated to clean or to do something else constructive. Its so tempting to just sit and relax.

Late entry

Its late for an update but I know I won't have a chance to write tomorrow (Friday) because of a busy, busy work day. I will literally be running from the moment I get to school for an early meeting until the end of the day. I hope I can squeeze in a lunch!

I'm home alone with James because Jim went to his Thursday night pool league. I'm glad because he has been sick for a while and/or not going to pool for other reasons. I hope he's having fun!

James was a perfect baby tonight. I had lots of opportunities to play and "talk" to James. He was pretty happy and cried very little. I think the scheduled naps were a good idea on Jim's part. James seems much happier.

Another good thing is that I think I've conquered the cradle cap. Poor James had a very dry forehead and lots of icky yellow scales on his head and side of his face. I bought some hydrocortisone cream and it seems to have worked overnight. His skin is much smoother and clear.

We don't have any weekend plans. This is a good thing because there is supposed to be a big snowstorm starting Friday night. We'll see if it actually happens!

A much happier baby!

Jim is a daddy genius. Yesterday, he started to put James down for naps in his crib, forcing him to take a nap. He cries for a couple of minutes but will soon fall asleep. Jim did this twice yesterday (morning and afternoon) and James was a much better baby for it! He was happier than we've seen him for a while- minimal fuss!

So this will happen again today and we'll see if James is responding to the naps the same. Poor thing, he may have been fussy these last few days because he was tired! All of a sudden he stopped taking naps and we thought that it was a natural 3 1/2 month thing. Two naps makes much more sense, according to what I've read for (near) 4 month olds.

I wonder if he really is teething then?

And now we just really have to work on the cradle cap. His poor little head is so dry and scaly. Its much worse after a bath, if that makes any sense!

There's not much else to report. Life is good!

THE WHOLE NIGHT!

James slept through the entire night! He had his last feeding at 8:30pm, we put him in his crib at about 9:15, and he slept until nearly 7:30am! I heard him cry out once at 2am, but he didn't wake up. Must have been another baby nightmare :)

I can't believe James is already taking a nap. Its only an hour after he woke up! He just had an active 30 minutes on his playmat, so maybe he wiped himself out.

Last night, we think he just exhausted himself by fussing all day. He was constantly crying, whining, and desperate for our attention. Its very frustrating not knowing what to do to help him. We think he's teething but we're waiting to call the doctor before we put Orajel on his gums or any other medication. We're also going to ask about giving him cereal soon. The earliest you're supposed to start solids is 4 months, which is only 2 weeks away now. I don't know if our pediatrician will approve solids. She might tell us to wait. I think she's pretty conservative.

We had a pretty quiet weekend. We took James to the mall yesterday and he was perfectly behaved. I think the stroller motion is pretty soothing (the car too). Then we stopped at Grandma Laura's house to say hi.

Today is Monday and I don't have to work! My friend Anna is coming over to visit, and my sister Ana is also stopping by on her way home from St. Cloud (she has a deposition). I should probably get ready for guests! :)

There are some new pictures from the weekend, and a new video, if you haven't seen it yet.

Our Scorpio Baby

... is demanding! (No offense to the other Scorpio, Tia Ana!)

James is crying in this picture because he wasn't satisfied with his penguin teether. It might be too big for his little mouth still.

James is demanding lately because he likes to be held or at least have our attention. The best example of this is at dinner time. He always seems to be awake despite our attempts to put him down for a nap. He'll cry until we either hold him (and eat one-handed) or we put his swing right beside our place at the table. And then we have to keep talking to him or smiling at him.

I do enjoy playing with James and holding him. If you put him down, watch out! I think I might need to do that and let him cry a little, he needs to get used to playing by himself.

Jim is making me breakfast as I write this! He was letting me sleep in but it only lasted until 8am, when James woke up. I got up to change his diaper and get him dressed for the day. Now he is sitting quietly in his swing, chewing on his hands.

We do have to find him some good "chew toys". He is chewing on his hands, my finger, his frog toy. He is also a drool monster! The front of his shirt was soaked yesterday at one point because he kept drooling, and drooling, and drooling.

See the new pictures in Baby Album "February" and the new short video.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm back at work today. I've been so busy that I haven't even paused for lunch.

Jim is still not feeling his best, but he's at home with James. I hope James is letting his Daddy have a relaxing day!

So James had a late feeding last night at 8:30, I thought he would be out until at least 4 or 5am. Wrong! He woke up at 2:30. I can't figure out that baby! Why didn't he sleep as long? Six hours is still good but nine or ten would be better!

I can't wait to go home to Jim and James today to celebrate our first Valentines day as a family :)

Still sick :(

Jim is still sick. He's still up in the bedroom. I've brought him both breakfast and lunch today in bed. Hope he's feeling better soon!

James and I had to make an emergency run to Sam's Club this morning, we were nearly out of formula. We now have enough for about 3 weeks. I thought about getting diapers too but the Size 1-2 diapers at Sam's Club say that they fit babies up to 15 pounds. If James is truly 16 pounds then we'll have to move up to Size 2 already!

He behaved perfectly at Sam's. He was content to look up at the ceiling and smile at me. He looked very cute in his Twins outfit, jean jacket, and blue knit hat. He looked angelic :)

James is now fussing. I thought I would have more time to update but maybe I'll come back later.

Big news: James went 10 hours between bottles last night! He really only slept for 8 hours but that's a huge amount :) He had only one feeding at 4:45am. This is good especially now when Jim isn't able to help out. I would feel terrible asking him to get out of bed to help.

So far James and I have avoiding getting sick too!

New video and pictures!

Home & Sick

I've stayed home today from work because Jim is sick! He has been feeling miserable since Saturday. I guess part of being a Mom is taking care of the whole family- I know Jim can take care of himself but he still needs TLC. And with Jim being sick, he couldn't take care of James during the day. Jim has actually isolated himself in the bedroom to avoid getting James and myself sick. I can't imagine Baby James being sick YET- oh what a cranky baby he would be!

Well the latest James news is that he slept for NINE hours last night! Again, too bad that it was from 6:45pm-3:45am. I just can't get him to stay awake until 9 or 10pm. He has his own hours and he's sticking to them! So he woke up at 3:45 and then stayed asleep until 8am. Its like we were able to sleep in! :) It was one of those mornings when my internal alarm clock woke me up before James woke up. I was ready by 8am for the day.

So because I've taken care of James nonstop since Saturday, I'm once again familiar with his daytime routine. He is quite active during the day, napping only occasionally and not for very long (though sometimes he does nap for 1-2 hours). Taking care of James is a full-time job. He's such a happy baby though! It is fun to play with him but it leaves little time for anything else. I really don't know how Jim would have worked from home now. I think Jim started to realize this too...

I did put James into a new outfit today- 6-9 month size! It fits just fine. I thought it would be too big but it looks pretty good- just a little long in the sleeves and pants. He's such a big boy now!

I just made a whirlwind grocery store run. I bought Jim his orange juice, NyQuil, cough drops, chicken soup, popsicles, and Toll House cookies for a treat. I hurried because James was napping and Jim didn't want to have to pick him up, exposing him to germs. Everything was fine, James was still napping when I got home.

James should be waking up soon for his late morning bottle.

Again, please see our new pictures in Baby Album "3 Month Professional Pictures" and "February". I think there's also a new video that I added this weekend.

End of the weekend

We had an exciting day yesterday with James' photo shoot at our house. A photographer, Jessica, came over and snapped over 200 pictures of James and then the three of us as a family. And can you believe we already received the website link so that we can view the pictures? They turned out pretty good- though Jim thinks that I could do the same kind of work if I had a professional camera :)

James had two wardrobe changes and his first naked picture. Okay, he had his diaper on, but its cute that in the pictures you can see his baby fat!

I'm pretty happy with the pictures overall. I've put some of the best pictures in Baby Album "3 month Professional Pictures". They aren't high resolution because I copied them from the photographer's website. They wouldn't develop quite right- maybe wallet sized at best.

Today's plans: Grandma Laura, Uncle Joe & Aunt Kathy were supposed to come over for dinner tonight but I just called to cancel. Jim woke up at 11am, ate breakfast, and then went back to bed. He's still sick :(

James is napping and I'm doing his laundry. I'm washing his next size up in clothing because I think he'll be fitting into them soon! His 3-6 month clothing fits just right so in a couple of weeks I'll probably move him up to 6-9 month.

Thursdays

First, last night was an unusual James night. We didn't stray from our normal schedule but James woke up an hour after being put down in his crib, so like at 10:15pm. Jim gave him a little bit of a bottle and he fell asleep, but only until 11pm. I tried to give him the rest of the bottle but he wouldn't take it. I finally was able to get him back to sleep by cradling him in my arms, swaying back and forth, and shushing him to sleep. Well, then he woke up at 2am for his bottle. This would have been normal if he had not woken up the two times before. His next bottle was at 6:30 as I was getting ready for work.

We wondered if he slept TOO MUCH during the day on Wednesday. Who knows?! I guess right when you think you're on a schedule with a baby, he proves you wrong! :)

He was an angel baby though last night. He was pretty happy!

Not much else to report! Daddy Jim had another interview this week, a phone interview too, and then has another interview tomorrow. He's keeping himself pretty busy between taking care of James and the job hunt.

Today's update

Today (I'm told) was a good James day. James slept a lot during the day and was pretty quiet. He was in a good mood too when I came home from work.

I've noticed James smiling more at me. I'm so glad he loves his Mommy too! Jim got most of the smiles before but I'm getting my fair share now too.

I thought that James might be teething but now I'm not sure. I looked and he had a lot of the symptoms- drooling, fussiness, decrease in appetite (slight), etc. He's pretty calm now so I don't know what to think. I guess I'll just be on tooth watch!

I weighed James on our bathroom scale and he's coming in at 16 pounds!

There's not much else to report. James is just doing so well!

Happy Three Month Birthday to James!

James is 3 months old today! He has grown up so much- especially, it seems, in the last week or so. (See past entries for his latest accomplishments.) He's doing so much more and is a lot of fun.

Well, except for yesterday during the day. Jim said it was the hardest day YET because James was crying, screaming, and extremely fussy all day. I got home a little later than usual and then James was fine. I don't think it was because he was separated from me, but he must have got all the fussiness out of system. He smiled, played, and slept a little in the evening. He did require constant attention so I wasn't able to do anything else last night. I was just glad to give Jim a break after a hard day.

I'm very excited because we have a professional photographer coming over on Saturday morning to take portraits of James! She seems to be pretty good but what I like the most is that she comes out to your location- it seems much more personal than a studio session. Jim and I might also sneak into a couple of pictures!

There are new pictures in Baby Album "Three Months old!"

Please sign our guestbook today!

Sleepyhead

James slept for 8 hours! His last feeding was at 7pm and he woke up at almost 3:30am! I woke up when he started to cry, looked at the clock, and thought "WOW!" He was really, really hungry when I got to him with his bottle. He fell right asleep after the bottle and then woke up again before 7:30am. I was just leaving for work when Jim came downstairs with James. I got to say goodbye to both of my men :)

James also "WOW"ed us last night when he did a little tummy time. I had him propped up on the boppy pillow and he was lifting his head completely up! He was doing a perfect tummy time. Also, his little head is so much steadier when he holds it up as he's sitting upright. I don't know what kind of miracles Grandma Rosie did with him when she was babysitting :)

He's still starting to grab at things that we dangle in front of him. I put his feet in his line of vision last night and you can tell that he was intrigued. I think it will be a couple of weeks/months before he can figure out that his feet are attached and he can pull them up!

James was a little fussy last night. I was busy making banana muffins and then dinner (chili) so Jim was holding James while trying to watch the Superbowl pre-game stuff. James had a constant whine and cry going. Its always a little frustrating to hear our good baby fussy or upset. I would say that 80% of the time James cries for a specific reason- like he needs his diaper changed, he's hungry, he needs to be burped.

I'm trying to think of the other exciting things that happened this weekend but I'm getting distracted. If I think of anything, I'll update again!

Have a great week!

Bye Grandma Rosie!

Grandma Rosie and Larry left this morning. I know my Mom was sad to say goodbye to James. They had a pleasant day together, while Jim and I had a "date". We didn't go to the Science museum as planned, or even go see a movie, instead we ran errands that were James related. We went to the toy store (browsing), looked at baby clothing, bought a room darkening shade for his bedroom, etc. It was still fun to be with Jim and know what James was safe with his Grandma Rosie.

Grandma Rosie said that James was perfect. He slept well, ate well, and they had a great time playing. He also got some tummy time and showed his Grandma that he has a loud, developing voice!

That was yesterday (Saturday). Tia Ana and Crazy Uncle Rich came over last night too. We had dinner and just hung out with each other and James too!

Some firsts from this last week:
I saw James sucking his thumb! He's been sucking on his hands but it was the first time I've seen him sucking his thumb to get himself to sleep. I'm glad about this because it will mean less time with the dreaded pacifier!

Another first- James showed interest in his dangling toys above his swing. He actually grabbed on to one of them, triggering the music. He's grasped onto our fingers before, but never really an object. He had it in his hand for almost 15-20 seconds.

New pictures in Baby Album "Week Thirteen"!

EXCITEMENT!

Grandma Rosie is coming! Grandma Rosie is coming! Enough said :)

I'll try to update later. Its a very busy day at school. I have student groups all day (why do I do this to myself?!)

James is wonderful and happy!

James is back!

Our happy baby returned to us yesterday. He even slept well last night- going 7 1/2 hours between bottles! His last bottle was at 7:30pm and I got up at 1:30 when I heard his crying BUT he went back to sleep. I fell asleep in the guest bedroom, waiting for the crying to start up again, but he slept for another hour until 2:30. He got his bottle then and then woke up again at 5:30am, Daddy Jim fed him that time.

I typically leave in the mornings at 7:15, so I usually don't see him awake before I leave. I always go into his nursery to whisper goodbye though :) I remember feeling so sad the first day I went back to work because I didn't get to see him awake. Now I'm glad when he's sleeping because it means his Daddy can sleep in a little too!

There are a couple of new pictures in Baby Album "Week Thirteen". I'll be glad when James sits up on his own so we have a different variety of poses!

I'm now a little worried that James isn't getting enough tummy time. I watched this short video on a babycenter.com about 3 month milestones and the baby in the video was able to hold up his head at a 45 degree angle when on his tummy. James isn't able to do that. He doesn't show much interest in doing that. I guess we have some work ahead of us! I know babies don't develop at the same rate, so I won't worry TOO much yet.

Hope you're having a great week!

I put links to the "Developmental Milestones" videos and chart in the FAVORITE LINKS part of this babysite. Enjoy!