Friday

Its the end of the week! The week went by so slow. I guess because I was on high alert with James' fever and then rash. We have our happy baby back! Still struggling with naps, still waking up once a night. I'm waiting to try the CIO techniques. The examples I've been reading in the book are from extreme situations, where parents are getting up 5 times a night! Or babies are staying awake for hours when they wake up. I guess we have it okay with one wake-up at 3am, for only 20 minutes while we diaper and feed.

BUT I have to figure out what daycares do for naps. What if they CIO it anyway? I don't know what they do for naps, if they would take the time to rock him or soothe him to sleep. I'll find this out next week! I've been calling a couple of home daycares and we have an appointment (or interview) with a lady that I feel reallly good about. She lives near our local library, which is on the way to my work. BUT her location will be a problem when the construction starts on Hwy 65. That intersection will be closed off and I'll have to figure out some way to get to her house.

I found out that I start work on August 20th. A little sooner than I was told before. So I need to get going on James' daycare. It might take a while to figure out our arrangements and I'd like for him to start a day or two before the 20th.

Tia Ana and Tio Rich are coming over tonight! I'm excited to see some peeps! Even with errands, I've felt a little isolated at home.

Our plans today: cook a feast! play lots! and hopefully nap lots so I can take a shower! :)

No beer for life?!

This is what I thought was in James' future. James woke up with no fever! Yay! But half an hour after his breakfast of his bottle and then barley cereal with bananas and nectarines, he broke out into a rash on his legs, arms, and parts of his stomach. I immediately thought it was a food allergy to the barley cereal. I don't know why I tried to reintroduce a new food to him right after his illness. So I looked up the food allergy symptoms and they kind of fit. I was imagining not being able to have barley ever and the horror of no beer!

Someone on a message board instead suggested it was roseola, caused by a virus. Roseola usually follows a fever with increased fussiness and is a pink/reddish raised rash on the legs, creases of elbows/knees, and on the trunk. The description exactly matched James' symptoms.

I had put in a call to the doctor and they pretty much confirmed the roseola. So it will go away within a few days but we're confined to home still. He could be contagious. There isn't anything to do but continue the Motrin/Tylenol. And I'm supposed to call the doctor back if James develops any different symptoms. Though I think the fussiness is enough for me! I thought I was going to go slightly crazy if there wasn't any explanation for the constant crying this morning.

I've cancelled a work appointment tomorrow and I turned down a dentist appointment too (they called with an opening)- I need to be home with my baby!

This Mama needs a nap!

7:30pm update: Its bedtime for James and all is well! (Well, that is, if Jim can get him to sleep okay.) Jim and I checked his temp and its 98 degrees, normal! We gave him some Motrin just in case, because the temp seems to go up at night. I put a call into the doctor today and they said to come in tomorrow if he's still running a temperature. James was pretty happy today and only ran a slight temp at 2:30pm. Just barely above normal. No more poop explosions :)

It was a long night. James woke up 5 times last night. Most of the times I was able to soothe him back to sleep, but I know he wasn't feeling well. I was scared again because his temperature was back up to 102.9 and he was limp in my arms, very warm, and made no attempts to roll/sit in the crib or while I was changing his diaper. He just laid there and cried. It broke my heart to see him so miserable. Because he was so warm I didn't want to cradle him too much, thinking my body heat would make him warmer. I held him on my lap and rocked him back to sleep after his bottle at 2:30am. I slept on the floor of his room for a while until I knew he was truly asleep and he felt a little cooler. That Motrin works pretty fast!

This morning he was wide awake, alert, and happy again. He wasn't warm and his temperature was back to 98.3 degrees. He's taking his bottles well.

He's down for a nap finally at 10am and I'm unable to take one myself. I tried but I couldn't fall asleep. Maybe later.

I may have given him too many prunes yesterday (for his constipation) because he's had some major poops since then! One big poop blowout this morning! I'm glad it doesn't gross me out anymore.

I don't think I'll get too much accomplished around the house or any of my website work done today. I'm okay with this. I need a day to regroup! Hopefully soon James and I can go to the park or run errands. It makes the day go by faster and the change of scenery is probably good for him (and me!)

New pictures in Baby Album "June". We did get *some* smiles this weekend.

Sunday

This will be quick because I know James will wake up from his nap very soon. He always does when I log in!

James still has a slight temperature but he seems to be okay. The last time I checked his temp was 100.4 (100.3 is the max normal for rectal temp- TMI!) Oh, as long as we're sharing this kind of information- James is also constipated, straining to poop. He has hard poops. I've been giving him Gerber prunes with applesauce baby food. I hope it helps! I also read to give him high fiber fruits like apricots/nectarines.

He's been taking long naps. This afternoon nap is now past 2 hours long. I took advantage of the time and went to Target to stock up on his diapers, baby food ingredients, rice cereal, baby juice, baby yogurt (new!) I also bought Jim and I some ice cream treats :)

I also bought James some swim pants/diapers. We have a kiddie pool so when he's feeling better we'll blow it up and let him cool off in the pool. I can't wait :)

So James is doing fine. He's not too crabby anymore, but I'm just waiting for him to be back to his usual, happy, wonderful baby self!

Fever!

UPDATE 8:30pm: James' temperature went down to 98 degrees in the early evening. He seemed to be back to normal. He became whiny at 7pm and so I went through our nighttime routine a little earlier, thinking he's hungry or tired. I took his temperature again and its back up to almost 102 degrees :( I can't give him more Motrin until after 10:30pm, so when he wakes up later tonight (this is a given!) I'll give him more. Crossing my fingers that he'll sleep well!

Oh, and I think I definitely am sick. Of course the focus is not on ME- I can handle it! But my head is pounding and I'm groggy. I hate being sick!

See the video below! When he was acting normally this afternoon I caught him on video crawling/dragging himself forward! Not quite crawling because its not on his hands and knees, but it was pretty exciting!

UPDATE 2:30pm: At 12:00 James had a 103.3 temperature! It went up from the morning so we called the doctor. They suggested that we bring James in to urgent care because they've had some viruses going around. We took James after his bottle and after giving him some more baby Tylenol. At the doctor's office the nurse took his temperature and it had gone way down to normal, but the doctor said she was certain he still had a fever. He was still "ultra-sensitive" to light, touch, and sound. I did notice he was a little limp in my arms, BUT pretty alert. He was the best behaved little baby in the waiting room- you couldn't tell he was sick!

So they ruled out an ear infection (as of today) and his throat was clear. The doctor suggested adding Motrin to his medications and alternating it with the baby Tylenol. We are to go back if his temperature stays high by Monday.

7am: James was pretty upset/fussy yesterday, almost as soon as Jim walked through the door coming home from work. I worry sometimes that this will scare Jim away! James ended up going down okay after his nighttime routine, but he woke up at 12:30am, and then at 2:30am very, very fussy. Jim was awake with him for more than an hour trying to get him to go back to sleep. I helped towards the end and we got James to sleep. Jim then mentioned that he thought James felt a little hot. I hadn't noticed and because he was already asleep we didn't take his temperature. At 5:30 James woke up again, crabby, and noticeably hot. I took his temperature and he does have a fever! Its not much of one but enough that we're going to cancel our plans for today.

Originally we planned to go to the zoo. Even without the fever, I don't know if we would have ended up going. Jim, I'm sure will be very tired. I was also awake most of the time, hearing James crying and hearing Jim tending to him. I guess both of us will be tired.

So we'll stick close to home and hope that James will be okay. He's awake and not himself, but not too bad. He's watching his video. I've been able to get him to smile so I feel good about that. And hopefully the Baby Tylenol will work wonders! This is the first time that James has been sick! I wasn't feeling so hot yesterday, actually laying down for a nap and feeling achy. I know that *I* can't be sick because I have to take care of James!

Behind bars

Check for a journal entry later. I only had time to upload some new pictures and video. Besides, the day has just begun!

See videos below, "Standing!" and "Behind Bars".

Happy 30th B-day Tia Kiki!

James is napping so I'm taking a moment to pass along his message to his Tia. We are missing her and loving her mucho! What is Tia up to today?

Please see yesterday's journal entry if you haven't already. I wrote a long one!

Today's news: Well, last night we lowered James' mattress in his crib. I was so worried that he'd pull himself up and fall out of the crib. Now the crib mattress is so low that I'm worried about my back as I have to lower him into the crib. This is hard when you're trying to be careful with a sleeping baby in your arms, trying not to jostle him too much and wake him! The side of the crib drops down but then you run the risk of waking him with the noise when you raise it back up. ARGH!

James is down for a nap. This is a relief. I could tell that he was so tired but he wasn't falling asleep with my normal methods. He refused to be rocked, didn't need a bottle, had a clean diaper. All his needs were met but he just cried. Finally I got him pretty drowsy and I lowered him down into the crib. I was upset because he started to whine again and cry. I could see his eyes were still closed so I thought maybe he would stop whining after a bit. Sure enough, he kind of soothed himself to sleep. Relief!

Last night I need to soothe MYSELF to sleep. At 10:30pm James woke up unexpectedly. We had just gone to bed ourselves within that hour so I was a little cranky and tired. It took me almost an hour and a half to get him back to sleep! I don't know what was wrong. I tried EVERYTHING. I even gave him another bottle though I knew he didn't need one. Finally he went back to sleep at around 12:10am. He was out for the rest of the night, thankfully. Even waking up a little late at 7:30am.

Thinking of Tia Kristina today!

Playdate at the Children's Museum

James and I traveled all the way to St. Paul today to meet with a Multicultural Mommies group at the Children's Museum. We didn't explore too much of the museum but just the Habitot area, where kids are encouraged to crawl, explore, feel, and learn about nature. The baby area was a padded pond. There were leap pad pillows, stuffed frogs and beavers, chewable stuffed reeds, and water toys. James was more interested in the other babies. I was so glad to see him respond so well to other children! The picture is another Multicultural baby named Chloe. Her Mom was very nice and we said we would look for each other at the next playdate. I was so glad to meet someone nice, which was the point of joining one of those groups!

James became very, very fussy at the changing station at the museum. He's never responded so much to those hard, plastic changing tables. He screamed so much, I was becoming really terrified there was something else wrong. Maybe it was the big poop?! (He seems to wait until we're out in public to poop!)

So, continuing about the Mommy group, there was four other Moms total. Actually, one was a nanny who wanted to join to have other adults/children to play with. Everyone was very nice. I guess the other playdates haven't been well attended. I'm just hoping to go to the ones that sound interesting to me, that James would enjoy, or those that are close to us. I didn't mind the St. Paul one today because I had hoped the Museum would be fun for James. I can't wait to go back when James is older! There were whole areas of the museum that I peeked into (but didn't go into) because James was too little. They have a rooftop art area that kids were coming downstairs from, with mosaic art. Cool!

We have another playdate scheduled for Thursday. The Mom's group is having a park playdate in Coon Rapids. Oh, and on Friday we're meeting Grandma Laura at our own Lakes playground.

I've watched James pull himself up twice today! Or at least try to. We were sitting on the couch and I had him facing the window. He loves to look out the window! He actually grabbed the back of the couch and pulled himself up, using his elbow to push himself up (against my shoulder- ouch) and then he was standing! A little awkwardly, but it was definitely standing!

The second time was when I put him the crib to play while I was getting ready for our playdate. I came back into his room to check on him and he was using both hands to pull up on the crib railing! His bottom was off the mattress! Oh wow, I told Jim that we definitely need to lower that crib mattress tonight. I had a horrible vision of James pulling himself up and falling out of the crib, head first. Even right now he's taking a nap in the crib but I'm on high alert for any activity in there.

James had a good day yesterday with his solids. In the morning he had a feast of apples, pumpkin, and rice cereal. There are some pictures in the June album and then a short video below. In the afternoon he had a feast of mashed potatoes, pears, and carrots. Yum-o.

Today's menu: green beans and apples. This wasn't well received!

Well, it was a happy, full day. I don't have any definite plans for tomorrow but to get myself organized and do some work from home (I have some summer hours to work on my district's website). I have a couple of errands to run but mostly I need to get this baby on a regular schedule. Today is pretty screwed up due to relying on the car ride for his nap time. I hope it all ends up well! :)

Thanks for reading this long journal entry!

My Dad is the Man!

We had a really great day today for Father's Day. Jim started off the day with Cinnabon, his favorite! I think he was happiest about that gift :) Oh, James also surprised him with the tshirt in the picture above. It was good for a laugh :)

We ended up going to the Mall of America for fun. One of the first places we head for always is LegoLand. We never buy anything but its just good for atmosphere. Haha. There's a picture of James and Jim posing in front of a Star Wars Jango Fett statue.

I hope Jim felt spoiled and loved today. I tried to do everything I could think of to make it a great day for him. I hope our gifts were to his liking ;)

I told James all day that it was Da-Da day. I think he's going to say Da-Da before Ma-Ma!

A James accomplishment: He can pull himself up to sitting now! He'll be laying on his stomach and he'll scoot himself up to a sitting position. Today I put him down in his crib so that I could do something in his room, and when I went back to get him, he was sitting up and holding on to the crib railing. We decided that we'd better lower his crib mattress, especially since his chin is right at the railing level.

Well, James is sleeping and its quiet. He's been getting his bath, book, and bottle every night at around 7:30/7:45. No trouble tonight!

Happy Father's Day to Grandpa Frank, Grandpa Larry, and Grandpa Roger!

The week flew by!

It really did! All of a sudden it was Friday and I knew I would have Jim home with us for the weekend. It just seemed like such a busy, full week.

James woke up pretty early this morning, and though it was my turn to sleep in I woke up with him. I couldn't sleep anyway because my back is aching. Probably just slept funny on it. Well, I guess we can call this an early Father's day present- Jim is sleeping in! (He gets tomorrow too.)

Do you see the picture? These are Jim's Father's Day presents. I am horrible about secrets and presents. I've been tempted to give Jim his presents early because I can't stand the waiting. I've had one of them for weeks now. Jim is good about waiting though.

James is a great baby! He has been really good all week, hardly any fuss. He still isn't sleeping through the night, despite our efforts at a nighttime routine, but maybe it will come soon.

Today James and I are going to make an appearance at a wedding shower. Its Jim's second cousin who is getting married. She also has a baby and I hope he'll be there too! We won't stay for too long because I feel like Jim hasn't spent too much time with James, and I haven't had much alone time myself. I'm anxious to get back home! I'm also not sure about entertaining James in a strange place for longer than an hour.

Well, a weekend update will be soon. Especially after Father's Day!

Career Day

James explored a career today by visiting his Tia Ana at the Yost & Baill law firm in downtown Minneapolis. I think he enjoyed his visit- maybe he'll become our next family attorney! The women at the law firm went nuts for James. He was very smiley and happy. We (Ana and I) just about died when he grabbed this woman's face very hard and wouldn't let go. I think she's okay and not scarred. I guess I'm used to the hair pulling, face grabbing, and hitting. All very mild, usually, but worse when he's crabbypants!

Speaking of crabbypants, James didn't want to go down for the night when his Daddy tried tonight. I think he's getting too used to ME- its all that bonding during the day- and he could have just been fussy anyway. I hope Jim doesn't get discouraged because he's a great Daddy! James still lights up when Jim gets down on the floor and plays with him. Yesterday Jim had James in complete, total happiness and laughter when they were playing with a puppet. I've never heard James laugh so enthusiastically.

In the June album there are a couple of pictures from yesterday's party on the lawn. James and I sat on blankets and watched the ducks (kind of) and enjoyed the shade/sun. He was really curious about the grass and seemed very interested in exploring. We had to go inside early because he spit up and I wasn't prepared. It figures that I had everything else imaginable outside except for a burp cloth or something to wipe him up with.

We tried our new grocery cart cover at Target today with a bit more success. James didn't cry or fuss until we were at the checkout line, standing still. The grocery cart cover is really cool because it has a soft steering wheel attached with a horn, teething keys, a play radio, and other little things to look at. Its much more interesting than the cheapie one I just returned to Target. Yay Marshall's!

This last weekend we also bought a new car seat for James. Its for big boys! It will be his seat until he is 40 lbs. When James is one year old, we can turn the seat so that it faces forward. The next seat will be a booster seat- that's at least a couple of years away!

James is still working on crawling. We laugh when he's rocking back and forth on his hands and knees. He gets this goofy grin on his face at first, but then gets frustrated when he doesn't go anywhere. I hope he crawls or shows progress soon, for his sake. He's such an independent little boy. Today I was amazed that he was feeding himself the bottle, all by himself! I started the bottle, with him laying on the Boppy (Tia Kiki style), and then he just reached up and grabbed the bottle. He had such a good grip that I let go and let him feed himself for at least a minute or so. Its a great start! I'll be a little sad when he doesn't need me to help though. I can just tell that he's going to be a strong little boy. This makes me happy because I don't want him to be shy and insecure like I was when I was pretty little (and big!)

That's all the news I have! Have a great rest of the week!

Sorry, Grandma Rosie, that there aren't more pictures. I know you want new ones every day but I honestly just forget sometimes. What am I thinking?!?!!

Father's Day is coming up! Jim's first!

Please see the videos below, one is "Not Camera Shy" and the other is "Teething tantrum". They are both from the last couple of days. I figured out how to make the videos private on youtube, but I'm still able to post them here.

Good Morning Sunshine!

Happy Monday!

2:30 update:
Just added a new video to the bottom after trying out pacifeeder for the first time. I bought this for Jim when he thought he'd be a Stay-at-Home-Dad and juggling work and James. James had a good first few minutes but then got terribly fussy. I don't think it had anything to do with the pacifeeder because he didn't take the regular bottle, or an ice cube, and then had to be rocked to sleep. Poor James. And this is after I bragged about how he's doing well with his teething!

Morning: Its my first full week at home with Baby James. So far we've had a good start. He's taking his morning nap and I'm going to rush around and get some things done around the house. I've made out my to-do list for today and I've already got 3 of 6 things accomplished :)

I keep forgetting to update this babysite with this important news: James has FOUR teeth coming in on the top! The middle teeth were really obvious but there are some itty bitty teeth coming in next to them. The teething hasn't been too bad. He's been a little fussy but nothing major. Usually if you can distract him with a toy or by picking him up, he stops crying.

James slept through the night! He must have known it was MY turn :) We have changed our nightly routine by a lot- James now has a nightly bath, some wind down time in his room, a book read to him, and the last bottle of the night. He falls asleep pretty well with all that. No trouble with the last two nights. Last night's difference was that because its a little warm in his room, we left a fan on his room all night. I don't know if its the constant white noise that he likes?

I say he slept through, but he did wake up at 5am. I quickly went to his room and turned on his Baby Tad music. He fell asleep for another hour, up at 6am! It was a little earlier than I'd like, but we called it the start of our day. I came downstairs with James, made coffee and scrambled eggs for Jim and myself, while James watched his video. The morning is one of the few times that I'm going to allow him to watch the video. Maybe a little at night, but we're going to limit his TV time. He's getting much better about entertaining himself with his toys, so maybe the video isn't needed as much.

We went to the grocery store as a family, James handled the grocery cart a little better but I decided to go on the hunt for a good grocery cart cover. We found one at Marshall's yesterday and I hope it makes a difference. I can't imagine not being able to shop with James!

We had a nice weekend. Its going to be a hot week, but I hope James and I can make it outside for a walk or maybe to play on the grass.

A couple of new pictures are in the June album.

First day of summer

Yesterday I got home from work in time for the neighborhood playdate for the Moms that stay at home. I included myself because I'm now a Mom at home! There are a couple of pictures in the June album of James on the swings. You can see some of the neighbor kids in the background. I think James was the cutest- just this Mom's opinion!

Simone is the little girl in the swing next to James. She is 8 months. She seemed to be doing as well as James, though James has more teeth and is making moves to crawl. Simone is happy just standing on her toes and sitting. Simone's mom told me that there is a Lakes email newsletter and that there were several postings about daycares opening within the Lakes development. I'm definitely looking into that! I would love it if James' daycare was just a short distance!

Today (Friday) is our first complete day at home. This morning we went to my district office to fill out some insurance papers, but then we've been home ever since. James is on his 2nd nap at this moment. He's been a good boy except for throwing up on me- which he can't help. Maybe he didn't like the watermelon after all? One more day to try it!

Staying at home is hard work! I have a list of things that I'd like to accomplish (cleaning, organizing, fun) this summer and I started today. I won't go overboard because I'd like to enjoy my days with James. Today James and I danced, blew bubbles, James had a long, playful bath, and he jumped in the Jumperoo while we played peek-a-boo.

We already have a lunch date planned for next week with Tia Ana! I'm so glad that we'll be able to show off James to all of her co-workers. They've been keeping track of James as Ana views the babysite at work. Ana said that there is a girl at her work that looks forward to James' new pics every day :) He has a fan club!

Well, the weekend is here and I'm glad. Jim will be home and we can have a relaxing weekend. I think the weekends will improve because we won't have to rush around and clean/organize- I'll be able to chip in during the week now! We should go somewhere fun. Maybe to see some Star Wars mailboxes :)

Have a great weekend!

7 months old!

James is 7 months old today. I finally took my usual monthly pictures tonight because this morning I had to rush off to drop James off at Elizabeth's and then go to work.

There is a new video on this front page of James and his attempts to crawl. Poor James, he is getting pretty frustrated, I think. He is going to be really independent, I know it. I think when he starts moving around on his own he'll be happy.

Today was James' last day with Elizabeth and Alex. The two boys have been playing really well with each other. I guess when James cries or is fussy, Alex would try to soothe him by giving him a toy. Cute! Elizabeth and I talked about getting together for playdates this summer.

Hope you enjoy the pictures in Baby Albums "June" and "7 months old!!"

Weekend update

First, you probably want to know about the sombrero. The sombrero is a gift from Tia Ana and Tio Rich's trip to El Paso and Juarez, Mexico. They go on a business trip every year and this is the souvenir they brought back for James- the lucky boy! I LOVE IT! I actually brought out a craft project that I put away months ago- a monkey hook that I needed to paint, so that I could hang up the sombrero in James' room.

This weekend my family- Grandma Rose and Larry, Tia Ana and Tio Rich- came to visit. We were supposed to go to HS Grad Open House but it ended up being at 6pm, which is way too late to visit Chanhassen, especially with James. So Grandma Rose and Larry came over to our house after stopping at the party. We already had a party started over at our house with Ana and Rich. :)

On Saturday James and I ran errands, shopping for Jim's Father's day gifts. Yay! But I'm close to ruining the surprise gifts- I want to give them to Jim very badly. It will be hard to wait another two weeks.

I have only three/four days of work left! On Thursday I plan on taking James with me to my very short work day, but also to say goodbye to my co-workers and students for the summer. James has three more days with Elizabeth and Alex. Its worked out so well, I'm so glad!

I joined some Mommy groups for the summer. One is for Multicultural families and then an Anoka County Mom's group. I hope to fill our days with fun activities and playdates!

Please see our pictures in Baby Album "May" and "June". And a silly album in Family Albums, "Bafat". Bafat is Tia Ana's stuffed bunny.