7 Months Old...Already!!

So my little boy turned 7 months old on Monday! Time is flying by! Here is a quick update on his development and new skills!

• Jack is sitting completely unassited and without any pillows or people for support/security! I can leave him on the floor and he is perfectly fine. He lifts both hands off the floor to play with toys, he turns from side to side and leans over to grab toys and then sits back up. He hasn't figured out how to sit from laying down though - I think it has to do with him not liking to roll?
• Jack is still sleeping from 7pm until anywhere between 5:30-7:30am. If he wakes early he gets a bottle and goes back to bed - sometimes until 9:00am! What a good boy!
• Jack has started eating baby food. We skipped over cereal for now and he has had Pears and Squash with no tummy troubles! I think every weekend we will be adding a new food and see how it goes!
• Jack still doesn't have any teeth, but has been teething hard lately so hopefully soon!
• Jack is a jabber box! Dadadadadadadadada is all I hear!
• Jack is also a major screamer! He screams when he is excited mostly and flaps his arms up and down to add to the excitement! Tonya says he screams at all the kids all day long at daycare! I'm sure she loves that! But its how he communicates so I'm fine with it!
• Jack is starting to show some seperation anxiety tendencies - mostly when Momma leaves, but he loves daycare so we never have the problem there! It's mainly when cranky, tired, or hungry!
• Just last night Jack started getting his knees under him while on his tummy and pushing backwards! He's been wiggling around on his belly spinning circles for a few weeks now though. Hopefully crawling is in the future in the next couple months! Although he still has no desire to stand, at least not for too long.

xoxo

Jack's First Christmas Morning!!

Waking Up!

Present Numero Uno!

Sophie the Giraffe - It's a teether.

Move and Crawl Ball

Opening Daddy's Special Gift!

Eating Paper!

He would fling the gifts around until the contents fell out!

Giving the thumbs up about his Columbia Vest Daddy got him!

Shape Sorter.

Jack with all his gifts from Mommy and Daddy!

xoxo

Bad Blogger

I know I've been a bad blogger! It's been about 3 weeks since my last post and so much has happened in those 3 weeks - Jack had his first Thanksgiving (actually 4 Thanksgivings!), he turned 6 months old and had his 6 month pictures taken!, Mom cut 8 inches off her hair!, Chris has been traveling non-stop for what seems like months, but was only about 2 weeks!, Mom had a day away shopping with the girls in Tulsa!, Our heater proceeded to break on a Sunday (of course a Sunday!), Chris passed his Professionals in Human Resource Test!, Mom is busier then ever at work with Budgeting!, Christmas shopping has been an in between and here and there thing this year!, No Christmas Tree in Sight at the house - poor Jack! That's about it!

xoxo

6 Month Milestones!

I know I'm totally late on this, but things have been hectic to say the least in the Spear Household the past few weeks! I just wanted to make a quick post to mark some of Jack's milestones for his 6 month mark!

• Rolling from tummy to back like a champ - but still working on back to tummy!
• Sitting by himself fairly well, but we still need pillows for fall protection!
• Starting to stand and not buckle at the knees!
• Babbles like nobody's business! He is saying all kinds of things and it just seemed to happen overnight! Bababababa! Dadadada! An occasional Mama! Hi! Gagagaga!
• I'm starting to see signs of some "Stranger Anxiety!"
• Still NO teeth!
• Temper tantrums are in the making!
• Still NO baby food - formula only!
• Sleeping like a champ 98% of the time!

xoxo

Quick Update: I just wanted to add for my records that Jack weighed in at 17 pounds 8 ounces at his 6 month Well Baby Visit and was still only 25 inches long!

6 month pictures!

We had Jack's 6 month pictures taken on Saturday and they are already online! Here is the website: http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/store.aspx?p=48091

Go to Recent Photos, Click on Jack Spear - the password is nolan. ENJOY! I love them!

xoxo

Size Stats

On Tuesday I took Jack to the Dr. because he has been having chronic runs! Yuck! But no fever, ears looked good, chest/heart sound great, etc. Dr. said it was probably just something viral that would run its course - GREAT! But the exciting news is that since we hadn't been there in 6 weeks I was excited to see how much he had grown!


He is now 25 inches long, up from 24.5 inches at his 4 month appointment! His head was still normal - I don't concentrate much on that because no one ever says anything about it so I guess he is average!? And he weighs a WHOPPING 16 pounds 14.5 ounces!, up from 14 pounds 13 ounces at his 4 month appointment!

So I guess the no food thing isn't hindering his weight! :-) Dr. did say that they do like you to start solids at least around 6 months and that we don't need to necessarily start with the cereals if he doesn't seem to tolerate them and could skip to veggies and fruits. I'm still going to wait it out a little while and then we'll see!

xoxo

Snap Shots of My Little Man!

Where's Waldo, I mean Jack!?

Practicing Sitting Up!

These rings taste GREAT!

Smiling Boy!

That'll be $20! Jack helping Steph at Bella Capelli!

Jack has discovered his feet and is constantly grabbing at them!

This was Jack's first morning in his crib in his room! What a big boy!

Tonya took this picture at her house one day and I love it! It's kind of old, but still one of my faves!

xoxo

BIG THINGS ARE HAPPENING!

Last week was a pretty momentus one for Jack! First, on a random Thursday night I decided, "Hey, lets put him in his room tonight and see how he does!" Actually it was partly prompted by Chris because he was getting up at 3:45am to go hunting and he always wakes Jack up! So we set up the monitors (yes monitors - a video monitor and a motion sensor/audio monitor and yes I understand both of them might equal over kill, but hey it's what works for me!) and moved everything from his pack n play to his crib! I wanted his crib to seem just as familiar as his pack n play - I wouldn't even let Chris switch his lovey, his blanket, or anything! Still haven't actually...but none the less...we put him down around 7pm which is his normal time and I'd say it took maybe an extra 10 minutes or so for him to go to sleep, he seemed to play longer then normal, but eventually he fell asleep just like always! He did GREAT! He slept until I think 5:15am and I didn't get up to check on him but once when Chris got up because he woke me up! No button replacing in the middle of the night, I never heard him moving around (which he does constantly and wakes me up), and he never woke up crying! I fed him and put him back in his crib where he fell back asleep until I woke him up around 7:15am for daycare!



The second big accomplishment is that Jack has proven his ability to ROLL OVER! Yes, I said it - he can roll! Friday night (11-13-09) we were playing on the floor and we have been working with him to roll over for a couple weeks, but he was just totally uninterested! But we were playing on the floor and I used his favorite toy to "tease" him to roll over and sure enough he follwed that toy with his eyes, head, and body and rolled from belly to back, then back to belly, then belly to back again! I was amazed! Too bad Chris wasn't home to witness the big event! Jack and I showed Chris the next morning and we worked on it again some yesterday! He can roll over, but still doesn't really want to roll over! But at least we know he can!

Adventures in Sippy Cupping

We started giving Jack a little bit of Apple Water (more water then apple juice) in a sippy cup so that he could start getting familiar with the whole "cup" idea! At first he totally didn't understand! He would just go face down onto the spout and then quickly become bored with it.

This past weekend I decided to lay him down (the other times we have tried he was sitting up) and he seemed to have a totally new perspective of the sippy and quickly figured out how it worked!

Just checkin' things out...

What's in there?

What Mom? It's just a sippy cup I'm drinking out of?! What's the big deal?

I was thrilled he figured the cup out, but he wasn't feeling the Apple Water! He would suck and get some in his mouth then spit it out!? It was really funny, but at least he is catching on!

xoxo

Living for the Weekends

I think most people "live for the weekends" although I'm sure there are those people that just love their jobs and gladly go to them everyday, but in general I think people live for the weekends!

I think I can say I've always been a "live for the weekender" but now I live for the weekend for a completely different reason then I have in previous years. In my pre-motherhood years to be more specific. Working full-time is a necessity not a choice (although I'm not sure I could be a 100% SAHM even if it were a possibility, but I would enjoy a day or two a week at home with Jack), but it totally stinks! It's like I don't even have a child Monday-Friday! I get a total of maybe 2 hours with Jack each day Monday-Friday, usually never more then 2 hours and sometimes it's more like 30 minutes.

Example: Last night I had to work late and didn't get home until after 7pm and where was my adorable little boy? In bed fast asleep! I love that we have allowed him to develop healthy sleep habits this early on and that he is getting all the sleep he needs for his age, but it totally stinks that he is in bed by 7pm b/c I get NO JACK TIME! He is in bed by 7pm and usually wakes between 5 and 6am, eats and back to bed until I wake him around 7:15am to get up and dressed and head to daycare!

So I used to be a "Live for the Weekender" to party and see friends and go to dinner with Chris, but now I'm a "Live for the Weekender" so that I can spend some QT with my super cute little boy! He is getting so big so fast and I'm totally missing it! Ugh...Grr...

And people don't get why, "No you can't keep Jack for a weekend!" I mean seriously?!

xoxo

Bad Cereal...

Yes, rice cereal is B.A.D! I gave in this past Saturday and we gave Jack his first little bit of rice cereal. I have to admit I was excited; excited to feed him with a spoon, excited to see how he did with the spoon, excited and hopeful all would go well...

He did awesome with the whole spoon concept! From bite 1 he was waiting with an open mouth! And once I figured out I needed to put the spoon in a bit farther he never even spit any out! So obviously developmentally he is ready for solids. I was hopeful after the great experience of the actual feeding/eating...

6 hours later however - I regretted it! Jack was screaming in pain, pulling his legs to his chest and passing gas like I've never heard! Poor guy! He would cry and cry and toot and toot and wiggle around so uncomfortable! I seriously haven't heard him cry like that in over a good 2 months - it was an all out screaming cry! I tried to hold him, rock him, calm him, I even ended up swaddling him - nothing was helping, so I finally gave him some gripe water and that seemed to settle his tummy and he fell asleep!

Needless to say it's going to be a few more weeks before we try cereal again! And I might even skip the rice and go for oatmeal b/c I heard it doesn't give them gas/constipation like the rice can...we'll see. I'm just like when is he going to be able to eat normally? I mean he still can't even digest a "regular" formula for goodness sake! Is he is going to be a toddler and living off milk? YIKES!

xoxo

Food for Thought

Here we are at 5 months and 1 week old and "The Mean Momma" (aka me!) has yet to let my little man have any food even brush across his perfect little lips (well except for that one BBQ chip Daddy let him lick before I had a chance to scream NO!).

I'm just not ready, it's not that I don't necessarily think Jack is/isn't ready, but I'm not ready either. I'm worried about his little tummy! He still seems to have a rough go at it as far as digestion goes - have I mentioned he has had hard BM's for about 3 weeks now? He goes once if not twice a day but some are formed, some just dry, some really pasty - I know it's from the formula switch, but I was hoping his little system would adjust but so far no luck! The only thing that is keeping me from flipping out is that he doesn't seem bothered at all my any tummy troubles - no more gas then usual, his belly is soft and not hard, he doesn't cry or scream while having a BM, etc. He seems perfectly fine, but doesn't it sound wrong? For a 5 month old who is still formula only to have hard, dry BM's? IDK - maybe it's normal?!

I also know that there are some foods that will make it worse (BRAT - bananas, rice, apples, toast - the ole BRAT diet staples), but I'm not sure what everything else will do to further stop him up! Poor little guy! I know there are foods that should help, but I don't really know which foods those are - I mean in baby food world?

I swear everyone looks at me like I'm "The Mean Momma" and not letting him have food, "He must be starving!" they say, well more like they give me a weird look and I know what they are thinking...Ugh! Well you know what, my 5 month old is close to 17 pounds, chunky, happy, healthy, and sleeping through the night for 10 hours (knock on wood - we don't want to go down the sleep path again) so I say, or scream - HE IS NOT HUNGRY OR STARVING - BACK THE TRUCK UP! OK?

xoxo

Halloween!!

Happy First Halloween Baby Jack!

Showing off his costume's full potential!

My favorite picture of the evening!

Super Cute! He was the best lion in SEK!

Mom/Dad - why do you torture me like this?

After we got home! He was T. I. R. E. D.

Over it!

Daddy and his little lion!

Too cute!

At Great Grandpa and Grandma Spear's for Chili Dinner!

I thought the tree was a good idea - it wasn't! He quickly scooched down and got mad!

Overall he did great and was a trooper! He was definitely tuckered out though once we got home!

xoxo

Happy 5 Month Birthday!

Today is Jack's 5 month birthday! It really doesn't seem like it's been 5 months, but it has! Really there isn't much new this month in the way of milestones, but here is a list of some new things and changed things!

• Jack now blows Raspberries like nobody's business. I'll wake up in the middle of the night and he is blowing and blowing and blowing, and in the morning when he wakes up he is automatically back to blowing. It started out really cute, but then he started getting a little more spit behind them and now if you are within a foot of him you are most likely to get sprayed! Ha! It's still cute, even though Chris cannot stand spitty/drooly babies. He thinks they look dirty or something.
• Jack is talking more and more and is starting to make some sounds like ba and da every once in awhile. He is still more in the just babbling weird noises stage, but every so often we here a syllable or two.
• Jack made the transition off his Nutramigen formula and has been on Parent's Choice for about a month. It all went pretty well although he now has to get about 1 oz of apple juice with 3 oz of water every day to keep his system going or else he gets a bit stopped up...ugh!
• Jack is sitting up better with every day that goes by - I'm really hoping that by the time we get his 6 month pictures he will be really good at it! We'll see.
• Jack still isn't rolling over, but he is getting closer - I just don't think he has any interest in it?
• We've had a bit of a sleep regression or well, maybe a change is a better word. He still goes to bed at 7pm. He used to get up anywhere between 1 and 2 or would sometimes sleep all the way through - it was totally unpredictable. The last week or so he has started sleeping until almost 4am, he eats then goes back to sleep until I wake him up to get ready for daycare - usually about 6:45am. I actually kind of like this schedule better b/c it allows me to get ready for the day before he is awake and screaming for me to pay attention and play with him! I'm just hoping that gradually 4am will turn to 5am, then 6am, then 7am! That would be nice!
• Jack does not NAP on the weekends! He takes a morning nap of about an hour and an afternoon nap of 2-3 hours everyday at Tonya's, but when he is home on the weekends - I'm lucky to get 30-45mins a couple times a day! What the heck!?
• Jack has also began to show his displeasure with a situation - it's like on command. Here are a couple examples: he will be sitting contently and will then follow you as you leave the room and he will turn his neck, look over his shoulder, until at last he cannot see you and then immediately SCREAM! Ha! Another example, he was happy as a clam swinging the other day for like 15-20 minutes by himself in the living room while Chris and I were cleaning up around the house, but as soon as I made the mistake of walking through the living room in his direct line of sight and then back out he was SCREAMING again! We haven't experienced any "stranger anxiety" or anything like that - he will still pretty much flash smiles at anyone and everyone so that's good!
• Jack is getting bigger and bigger! Another last note is that we went the whole month without going to the dr. for some random reason! This is a first - before this past month I don't think we went more then 2 weeks without some reason to go to the dr.! I think my new momness is starting to wear off and I'm not totally freaking out about everything!

I think that's pretty much it for month 5 in Jack's world! xoxo

Pumpkin Patch!

We made a trip out to The Wood's Family Pumpkin Patch outside of Pitt this Saturday! It was so packed, but so neat! I must admit I haven't been to a Pumpkin Patch in FOREVER, if EVER?! Anyway, they have all these spots set up for pictures, a little train ride, inflatable jumping toys, slides made inside big hay bails, a pumpkin sling shot, a corn pool, and a little petting zoo! I can't wait until next year when Jack is running around - it will be so fun! Jack was quite a trooper b/c it was pretty cool and windy! His nose was running the whole time and the wind kept taking his breathe away! We didn't stay long, but I got a few pictures while we were there! Enjoy!

xoxo

Congratulations...

to Jenny and Cary on getting engaged! FINALLY! Yea! I'm so excited and happy for the both of you!

xoxo

Momma Update

So I'm actually feeling pretty well, which I'm pretty surprised b/c usually I'm am the WORST sick person. I can't handle not feeling well, but I'm doing good and I'm proud of myself! Thursday could not have gone any better - well my scar could maybe have been smaller, but other then that all went well. Turns out I had something called Hashimoto's Thyroiditis - its an autoimmune disorder where my body attacks and destroys the thyroid. It also causes the thyroid to swell and essentially grow goiters - which was the what the "growth" was. So no cancer, nothing dangerous! Yea!

But my surgery lasted a little under 2 hours, and I felt decent from the time I woke up. I do remember being a little "out of it" when they woke me up and Chris and Mom said I was saying some funny things when I got to my room, but nothing too bad! Ha! I didn't have a bad reaction to the anesthesia and came off of it pretty easy! My throat feels really sore, my neck feels really stiff and I've had a constant headache, but really nothing too horrible! I also have limited mobility in my neck as far as turning side to side and I can't drive for about a week. I have to take it easy with Jack, but can still hold him and today I fed him for the first time, which was great! It's just hard b/c he likes to play with my hair and throat when he is going to sleep, which is impossible at this point!

My scar is about 3-4 inches long right in the skin fold at the base of my neck. I don't have any stitches or staples, just skin glue so hopefully the scar won't be too bad. It looks pretty nasty right now b/c there is blood and stuff under the glue, so I can't get a real good idea of how bad the scar looks...but overall I think it will be OK. That's it for me!

Check out Jack's new 4 month picture! It's my new favorite!

xoxo

It's Official...Part 2...

It's official! Not only is Jack a chunk, but Momma is a chunk too! I know baby weight, baby weight, baby weight! But in my mind it's not really "baby weight" if it doesn't come off magically in the first say 3 weeks or so after giving birth! The remaining weight is just "sorry you took advantage and simply ate way too much while you are pregnant" weight. Just F.A.T.

So Momma is a Fatty, Fat, Fat, Fat! I gained 55 pounds total while pregnant - of which only 30 was true "baby weight" the rest was just F.A.T. Since then I have lost about 5 pounds of the remaining 25 pounds, so I have at least 20 to go, but ideally it's more like 30!

I have no self control when it comes to food, never have, I have a major obsession with food (as many of my HS girlfriends know! remember the McD's every 3 days diet with only water and cigarettes in between phase? Yeah, horrible!) and I love junk food, fast food, F.A.T food!

Chris has even threatened to divorce me in 10 years if I continue to eat like I eat and end up F.A.T.-T.E.R! Ha, I'm pretty sure he was kidding - I hope he was kidding....???

But I've come to a realization that I don't want to be F.A.T. no matter how good McD's tastes - oh the thought of a Quarter Pounder with Cheese Only....yum! Wait, what am I saying! I need to cut out the F.A.T. and make exercising a priority again!

So here is my promise to myself! After surgery tomorrow and recovery I am getting back on the straight and narrow - no more junk food (except maybe on the occasional special ocassion!) and I think I'm going to start doing Weight Watchers again. I started doing it for a short while before my wedding (based off recommendations from Chelse) and lost those last few pounds. It's fairly easy and you can still eat what you like, but just not as often or as much and if I really want that Quarter Pounder with Cheese Only - then I will have to sacrifice somewhere else that week! I'll give an update when I start this whole "plan" - I'll have to see how long I'm going to feel totally crummy from surgery, but I'm hoping no later then 10/25/09 - it's a Sunday and a good day to start my new "life" of not being F.A.T - or at least not doing anything about it!

Wish me luck! xoxo

It's Official...

Jack is a CHUNK! Ha! We went for his 4 Month Well Baby Visit this morning with Dr. Mijares, all looks good in Jack's world. He weighed 14lbs 13ozs! CHUNK! And he is now 24.5 inches long! I can't remember how big his head was...maybe like 41cms? IDK.

She said he looks great and that she isn't concerned about him not rolling over yet. She said that ever since the "Back to Sleep" campaign has been going on that lots of babies roll closer to 6 months then 4 months, which was the previous benchmark. She said he does hold his neck really well and he does push up, which is all good! I guess he will just get there on his own time!

He had to get more vaccines today - 2 shots and another oral one! OUCH! The mean nurse wouldn't even let us hold him - he just laid there all by himself on the table. He did really good though, he only cried for like maybe 30 seconds then he calmed right down!

I took him back to Tonya's and stayed to give him his noon bottle and a little cuddle time with Mama! He seemed in a fine mood though! Tonya did tell me that he was SO close to rolling over yesterday from his back to his tummy, but just couldn't quite make it - so I think any day now he will be rolling all over the place! I'm still more focused on sitting up though b/c I think that will be way more fun then rolling!

xoxo

More Pictures!

These are from the end of September (towards the bottom) and from Tonight (at top)! Enjoy!

We've started working on sitting up since he REFUSES to roll over! Ha! He is pretty good already!

Showing off the BabyLegs! Too cute!

xoxo