Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Neti Pot Journal

Day 1 (Monday): I did my Neti Pot before bed and just drops came out the other side

Day 2 (Tuesday): I did my Neti Pot before bed and a few more drops came out than the night before, but it hurt worst.

I love my Neti Pot.
I hate my Neti Pot.
I'm going to write a poem about my Neti Pot.

What is a Neti Pot you ask? It is the most wonderful thing! I first heard of it when I was pregnant with Jacob and had a sinus infection. I fell in love with it when we were in Denver and I was miserable with a sinus infection and I used it and the infection was gone by the time we got home. Even Oprah did a show about it!

It is a water pot looking thing that you put this salt solution and water in. Then you hold it up to one side of your nose and pour and it is supposed to come out the other side. It feels really weird, but it cleans out your sinuses. Some people use it everyday!

I'm not feeling well. Thankfully it is all in my sinuses, so I'm not contagious. I don't feel pressure at all, I just have a scratchy, sore throat and I can feel the drainage going down my throat into my stomach (ewww, gross, too many details!).

I'll keep you up-to-date on my Neti Pot Journal and I'll share my poem when I'm done with it.

Friday, April 10, 2009

He just had to do it in public!

Jacob had his first public meltdown today. I guess I should be grateful that it took this long to happen instead of embarrassed.

I was having lunch at First Watch with a friend when the event took place. He was doing ok. Rebekah said that he was cranky yesterday. I think he is teething. Everything was going ok at lunch. He was off, but seemed to be handling everything ok. I did make a fateful bad decision that I think change the course of the lunch...I forgot to bring in his paci!

Jacob reached a point when he didn't want food anymore. I gave him a toy out of his bag. When he was over that, I gave him another toy. This continued until I ran out of toys (at one point, one of the waiters picked up the 3 toys that he had thrown on the ground and that I have ignored). I put him in my lap and let him grab things out of his bag. He tried to knock me out with the hand sanitizer, but I bobbed and weaved and avoided that drama.

When he was over playing with toys and other random things in his bag, I put him down on the floor and gave him my keys. He stood close to me and did good and then he made a decision that ended the lunch. He sat down in the middle of the isle and wouldn't move. I then moved him and he decided that his best option was the scream and cry big tears. Well, that was the end of lunch. I tried to check out quickly, but with a screaming child and (what felt like) all eyes in the restaurant on you, it took some time.

I wanted to shout: "He is a good child. I am a good mother. I think he is teething and it is past his nap time. All he wants is his paci. He is normally so happy and cute." I'm sure that that event will not be talked about around dinner tables of the people who were still trying to enjoy their lunch, but for me it seemed like a really big deal.

To add insult to injury, he was a perfect angel on the way home. He cried for about 5 min and did get really mad when he couldn't get his sock off, but he quickly got over that and was smiling and laughing and talking.
I do think my child is teething and I will make sure I have 2 paci's in his bag from now on, that way if one gets taken out, I always have a back-up.

Just another fun parenting lesson to remind me that no matter how well I think I'm doing at this mommy thing and no matter how well I think I know my son, I still have a lot to learn!

Thursday, April 09, 2009

He is on the charts!

Jacob had a doctor's appointment last week and he is finally on the charts...barely on them, but still he is on the charts for the first time since he was born! He weighed 20lbs, 9oz and is in the 5th percentile and the 7th percentile in length (50th is average, above that would be big for their age and below that is small for their age; no surprise where Jacob fits).

He is walking more and more. I realized yesterday that I need to pay attention and see if he even crawls anymore. He walked around the corner yesterday and startled me. I'm not used to him walking so much.

I watched a friend's 3 kids for about an hour the other night. Luke, who is 2 weeks younger than Jacob, is walking but not as much as Jacob. I figure as long at Jacob keeps up with Luke then we are good to go. Evie, Luke's 5-year-old sister, was impressed with Jacob's skills. It is fun to see your child through someone else's eyes, especially another child's eyes. She was impressed with the way he just stood up and how much he walked. I wasn't surprised. Jacob is just amazing like that!

I hope to get more video of him to post. Our computer is in the living room and most of his toys are in the family room so it is hard to get him to "perform" for me in the living room for the web cam. I guess you'll just have to come by and see my amazing little, BIG boy!

Friday, April 03, 2009

I'm Walking

I "marching" in the March for Babies walk on April 25th at Lake Lilly. I'm so excited to be able to give back to an organization that is partly responsible for doing the research on the medicine that was used for myself and Jacob when he was born. Check out my page

http://www.marchforbabies.org/ForBabiesLikeMyJacob



Do you want to walk with me, Adam and Jacob? You can sign up on my page.

I Walk!

Thursday, April 02, 2009

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

A Day of Running Around

Having a child makes it difficult to run errands. I am always under a time frame with Jacob. When I do have errands to run, I try and get up and get out the door early so that we are home in time for him to eat his lunch a noon and then take a good long nap (since he has to skip his morning nap). Previously, in my eagerness to get all of my errands done, I end up at the store before it opens. Thankfully today my timing was almost perfect (even though we left the house at 8:30am!). We had a full day of going to . . .

  • Target: they have the best prices on baby food
  • Babies R Us: for diapers, they have a frequent buyer card and your 10th value size box of Pampers diapers is free!
  • Family Christian Bookstore: they had a sale on Bibles and I would like a new one; the one I liked was not on sale and is $75 so I think I'll wait a little
  • Dillard's: I found an Easter dress and I think I like it, but I need Adam to help me be sure: Jacob did great and just played in the dressing room with his stroller while I tried on 20+ dresses!
  • Toys R Us: their Little Tykes toys were buy one get one free and I had a $15 gift card; I got 2 toys for $6.30!!!!!
  • Costco: we needed more chicken; they have the cheapest boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • Wendy's: to buy a coke because I had a bad headache and didn't have any coke at home
Jacob did great. About 5min from the house he started crying and would not stop, but it was 12:45 and I had pushed him as far as I could.

He is getting so big so fast. I love watching him grow and discover things. Now he . . .
  • Walks most of the time and actually picks up his legs some instead of just shuffling his feet (he does look drunk and it is sooooo funny!)
  • Says so many words
  • Says "down" when he wants down
  • Gets so excited when Adam gets home from work he crawls like crazy in a random pattern and screams
  • When you sing Itsy Bitsy Spider and get to the part "down came the rain" he says "down" with you
  • Loves watching TV. I let him watch Handy Manny, Little Einsteins and Veggie Tales
  • Shakes his head really funny (and it shakes the rest of his body) when he hears music (he even did it to the patterned sound of the shopping cart today)
  • Says "hi dada" all of the time (even to me!)
  • Says "hi" and waves to everyone
  • Tries so hard to say words. He even tried to say "elephant" and it came out so cute!
I take him to the doctor Friday and hope he weighs enough (22lbs) to upgrade him to his big-boy car seat.

So today was the first day that I bought him a toy and he actually showed that he was excited about it. I got him this guitar at Toys R Us. He loves it. He didn't want to let go for them to ring it up and was really concerned when I put it on the floor board of the car to buckle him in. He played with it all of the way home.

Here are the next 2 toys I want to get him (and Handy Manny tool box and Rocket from Little Einsteins-it transforms into 3 different things!). Surprise, surprise, but we have a budget for him each month and since I loaded up on diapers and food on the first day of the month I have to wait until the end of the month to see if there is enough money left over to buy them. I do have 2 $5 off coupons (so they would be only $45 total) that are good until the 23rd. Hopefully he will be enjoying a late Easter present. He went crazy when he saw them and started dancing (there was no music). He LOVES Handy Manny and Little Einsteins.

It is raining again. UCK! I hate this humidity, but we need the rain. Off to fix dinner and do my other chores that didn't get done while I was shopping (I need to fire my maid; she isn't very good!) =)