Weekends

Again, this is a 2 weekend update. Both were super rainy, so not many pictures. Two weekends ago, Jake stayed with my parents so Robbie & I could go to Auburn for the weekend just the 2 of us, and we could both go to the game. My parents were relieved to get to dress Jake in Bama clothes & Jake had a great time playing with his cousin Marrell. Of course a monsoon had right before the game started. Robbie & Gary got stuck trying to get all of the canopies lowered and chairs & tables put up. Everyone else had already left for the game, so it was just the two of them (and Summer & I!) It was crazy! By the time the rain had stopped and the delayed game was going to start, Robbie said that he just didn't feel like going anymore, and would rather watch the game at the RV. (Fine with me! Even though I was looking forward to going to the game with Robbie.) On Sunday, my family all got together to celebrate my grandmother's (Maw-Maw) birthday. Happy Birthday Maw-Maw! I have so many wonderful memories growing up with Maw-Maw. Her house was just right around the corner from ours, so my cousins & I were always over there. My grandmother is one of the few grandmother's I know that wore high heels. We used to LOVE to play in her heels & jewelry. There is no telling how much jewelry of hers we lost while we were playing, but she never got on to us. We would spend hours back there playing. She let us even play with her make-up and perfume. Such wonderful memories!

Jake eating his carbs before the big game

Excited for some football
Dad & Jake sporting their Bama gear

Best Cousins! Marrell (1 year) & Jake (9 months)

Marrell trying to brush Jake's crazy hair (That is a hair brush in her hand. She kept chasing Jake with it!)

At Maw-Maw's Birthday party. All of her great grandkids.

Jake & Marrell

Maddox entertaining the kids

Maw-Maw with her grandchildren (Tiffany, Lindsey, April, Billy & me) and great-grandchildren (Jackson, Isabella, Maddox, Marrell & Jake)

Everyone again, this time with our spouses

Isabella & Maddox helping Maw-Maw blow out her candles

Then last weekend, we had a very special guest at our tailgate. Robbie's best friend from Delaware, Robbie Page, flew down. We picked him up from the Atlanta airport on our way to Auburn. What would you know. Another rainy Saturday! We still had a great time! Jake & I stayed at the RV while everyone else went to the game. That was fine with me. It has been a while since Jake & I had an evening to ourselves. We played, ate some dinner and then he feel asleep in my arms. It was a perfect evening! I'm so mad at myself for not taking pictures. I didn't get one single picture of the Robbie's or Robbie P. with Jake. It was just too crazy with the rain, Jake, the people, etc... Robbie did snap one picture of Jake. This is him taking a nap. He is dreaming of touchdowns. (Auburn touchdowns, Bama touchdowns or Troy touchdowns??)

Happy Belated Birthday!

Okay, so this post is a little late, but things have been so crazy! Last week, Robbie, his mom Judy & Jake all celebrated birthdays. Judy's birthday was Tuesday. We wished that we lived closer so that we could have celebrated with her in person, but we had to settle on celebrating that weekend at the Auburn game. We had a great time & I just can't say enough about what a great mother-in-law I have! She is one of the strongest, and sweetest women that I know and I have so much admiration for her. On Wednesday was Robbie's 31st birthday. Words could never describe how thankful I am for Robbie and for what a wonderful father & husband he is. Jake & I are so lucky. I feel like each year since Robbie & I met, something crazy goes on in my life. He is my rock and my best friend, and I couldn't imagine getting through something without him by my side. I also thank his parents, for raising such a sweet, strong, smart & amazing son! Thank you for giving me such an amazing gift! Lastly, on Thursday was Jake's 9 month birthday. Can you believe it?!? 9 Months! He is at the stage where every week he seems to discover something new. A few updates on him:

• He is mobile!! He kind of crawls. He drags one leg and pushes off with the other. But he can get from one end of the room to the other, so it is close enough to crawling for me!
• He is pulling up on everything. His favorite thing to pull up on is our coffee table, which is probably the most dangerous piece of furniture. It has iron legs which curl up at the end, and 2 layers of points at all 4 corners. Needless to say, it is impossible to baby proof it without it looking completely tacky. So now we are in the dilemma of what to do with it. We have 20 other things for him to pull up on, but of course that is what he goes for every time.
• Speaking of which, he loves anything that is not a toy and anything that he is not supposed to have. We are going to have to use major reverse psychology on this kid. Example - he loves remotes. But only remotes that we use. We thought we were being smart & taking the batteries out of an old remote. Nope. He knows that we don't use that remote, and refuses to play with it. He wants the remote that we use. So now, Robbie & I have to pretend to use the fake remote. Then he wants to play with it. He also loves cell phones (again, not the old one we gave him, but mine or Robbie's), paper & envelopes.
• When he doesn't get his way, he throws a fake fit. There are no tears and he stops half way to see if you are looking him. Then he goes back to the fake fit.
• He is clapping, but only when you say "Yeaaaaaaaa". We were out for dinner one night, waiting on a table & he was clapping. The lady next to us, asked him if he was playing patty cake. She started singing it clapping. Jake looked at her like she was crazy. We had to tell her that he only claps for "Yea". She she started saying "Yeaaaaaa" and he started clapping. At first he would just move his hands in the motion of clapping & hit his fists together. Now he realizes that the palms of his hands make the clapping noise. He loves to hear it. Sometimes he does his golf clap which is very soft. They said at daycare sometimes he will be crying & then will start clapping like he is trying to cheer himself up.
• He will play "Where's Jake?" with the burp cloth (or anything else he can use to cover his eyes). At first he was just doing the arm motions to mimic me, but now he realizes that it is a game. I tried to get video of it in the car, but he kept smiling at the camera like I was taking a picture. We are still working on catching it on video.
• He has 7 teeth. 4 on top & 3 on bottom.
• Therefore, I am no longer breast feeding. (Just kidding, that is really not the reason.) We have slowly phased out breast feeding and introduced formula. For the first 4 months, it was all BM. Months 5 & 6 were a combination. By month 6 I had had all I could take with lugging that breast pump to work. It was a huge challenge trying to work around meetings & conference calls. So starting in month 6, we went to formula during the day, but I was still breast feeding him first thing in the morning & last thing at night. We have now dropped that last feeding (I honestly don't even know if I was still producing milk) and I have recently started giving him a bottle when he wakes up. I have to say that the whole thing was a much better experience than I would have thought. I went into it thinking if it works, great, if not, all well. I was formula feed from day 1 & I'm one of the healthiest people I know! I certainly wasn't going to starve my child or make myself miserable just to say I breast fed. It just so happened that it all clicked. Even though it wasn't something that I thought I had to do, I'm so glad that it worked out. I needed it as much as Jake! Having to go back to work unexpectedly so soon after having him, and then being away from him so much during the week when I went back to the office, it was our chance to bond. I guess it kind of eased my guilt of being away from him so much. It was something that I knew that only I could give him.
• He is saying ma ma ma ma ma & da da da da da. It is that age old question, is he saying mama & dada or just blabbering? I don't care. In book he is saying mama & dada. He says mo mo mo mo when he eats all of his puffs, so maybe he is saying more?
• He has figured out that he can sit up in his crib & pull up to stand in his crib. It has made putting him to bed some nights a little challenging. He thinks if he is sitting up, then someone should be playing with him. I do love it in the mornings though when he is in his crib "talking" and we walk in there, and he is standing up waiting for us. Sometimes we'll catch in looking in the mirror in the armoire that is across from his crib. He waves at himself!

Well, enough rambling! I had to write enough updates though since this is now my baby book! Happy Happy Happy Birthday Judy, Robbie & Jake!! I love you guys so much!

Jake playing "where's Jake?". It was the best I could do!

Jake crawling (front)

Jake crawling (back)

Sorry for the delay in posting. It has been quite a week. It started last weekend with us going to Auburn. We went down Thursday night for the weekend. On Friday Robbie wanted to take Jake around Auburn & get some pictures of him.

Back at the tailgate on Friday, setting things up.

This is Jake "crawling"

And pulling up

Setting up makes you tired

Back awake!

Friday night we met up with friends and went to a free concert in downtown AuburnSaturday was of course game day. Jake did great tailgating. Might as well break him in early, because he will be doing it for the rest of his life! Sometimes it is hard with the RV, because you can never get away from it, but other times it makes it very nice because it at least offers a slight immediate break. Example -Jake had to be at the tailgate all day. It wasn't like we could go home for a few hours & then come back. But on the other hand, it was nice to just put him inside in the bedroom when it came nap time. He loved being outside and having so many people around.

Game Day!

Playing with good friend Bruiser

Ready with his game day gear

Robbie, Jake & I with Robbie's parents (and the people who make our Auburn weekends possible!)

I had originally planned on staying at the RV with him while everyone else went to the game. But since the Bush's had some extra tickets, we decided to take Jake for a little while. It is so annoying that you have to buy a ticket for an infant! I'm surprised that they didn't make me buy a ticket for him when I was pregnant. I was carrying him in the Baby Bjorn, so it wasn't like he was taking up a seat. He was taking up no more room than when was in my belly. Anyway, that is my rant! Kickoff was close to bedtime (eastern time), so I knew that he wouldn't last through the whole game. We ended up staying for the first quarter. Jake did great! I will say that the Bush's have perfect kid friendly seats. We are on the first row of our section, so there is no one sitting directly in front of us. You have plenty of leg room and kids have room to stand. We are also the 6 end seats, so it is easy to get out to go to the restroom, concession stand, etc... Plus you don't have to climb any stairs! Jake could have stayed longer, but I wanted to get back to watch the Alabama game and it looked like it could rain at any moment. Plus, I forgot to change Jake's diaper before we went to the game, so I knew if he had a blowout, we were dead meat! (I was too lazy to bring the diaper bag! I knew we would not stay long enough to need it. It was a risky move, but paid off!)

Robbie's parents used to take him to the games when he was Jake's age as well. (Can you tell Jake was starting to get tired?!)

The next morning. Riding the tiger that the Mimi & Granddad bought him

I've made this disclaimer ever since Robbie & I met, and I will make it again. I AM NOT AN AUBURN FAN. NEVER HAVE BEEN ONE, NEVER WILL BE ONE. Robbie accepts that and would never want me to convert. It is weird though seeing my son wear the Auburn logo though. I never thought that I would ever see someone in my family wear orange & blue. I try to be a good sport though.

It was Saturday night that I noticed that Jake had some small bumps on his feet. I figured that it was from him playing in the grass earlier. By Sunday morning, the bumps were much larger and had moved up to his legs. I hoped that this was surely not chicken pox. (A little girl in his class had them a few weeks ago, but they thought they caught it before it spread.) This would be the worst week for him to be sick. I had a very hard and very important audit at work the upcoming week. Plus I felt like the worst mom that my child had been at the tailgate with a virus! Thankfully we were outside & Jake is too young to play or really share toys with the other kids. None of them were ever too close to Jake, but I still can't help but feel bad! We kept our fingers crossed that the bumps would go away! We were supposed to go to my niece, Marrell's 1st birthday party in Prattville. We headed to Prattville, but had Marrell's mom (my sister-in-law who is a nurse) look at Jake's legs. Leigh Ann felt like that it was chicken pox. So Robbie stayed home with Jake while I went to the party. (I made sure to disinfect and to not hold any children.) The party was lots of fun, and I just hate that Jake had to miss it. He missed his cousin Marrell! Happy Birthday Marrell!!

The birthday girl

Blowing out the candle on her cake

Upset that she stuck her foot in the cake

Robbie & I felt like on Monday, if it was chicken pox, then he would be broken out in bumps, but if it was an allergic reaction, they would be gone. Monday morning (Labor Day) the bumps were worse on his legs, but had not spread. He had a few very light bumps on his stomach, but they disappeared as the day went on. I had to go into the office, so Robbie hung out with Jake at home. A pretty uneventful Labor Day! Robbie's sister (who is also a nurse) came over to look at Jake & she too thought for sure that it was chicken pox. We decided that Robbie would stay out with Jake on Tuesday to take him to the doctor. That was such a hard day. As a mother, you are supposed to be with your child when they are sick. It is hard not only being a working mom, but a 50+ hours a week working mom. But to have to leave to go to work when your baby is sick is just the worse & most guilty feeling. (Disclaimer - all moms, stay-at-home or office moms are working moms!) Thankfully, Jake is such a trooper. He could have made me feel so guilty (more than I already was). But he wasn't acting sick at all. He was excited to get to stay at home & play. My super sweet father-in-law worked from Chattanooga Wednesday & Thursday, so he was able to watch Jake those 2 days. Thank you so much Chuck!! My auditors were leaving Thursday night, so I was able to work from home & stay with him on Friday. (Which, by the way, the audit went good. Thank you to those of you who were praying for me and for all of the kind words and sweet messages.)

Jake has started to pull up on things. Here he is pulling up on the coffee table.

And on the bench

We still don't know if Jake really had the chicken pox. They were only on his legs. He never ran a fever and never scratched at them. A few of them scabbed over, but most have just disappeared. Plus he was in a great mood all week. To play it safe, we decided to skip this weekend's ball game & stayed in Chattanooga.

Robbie promises that he will remind Jake when he is older that he made him miss an Auburn home game. And an SEC one at that! Here the boys are on Week 2 Game Day. (Note: Jake was wearing his Troy outfit earlier in the day. Before I could take a picture of him and before the game had even started though, Jake had a blowout & it got on his onesie. Guess I should have realized that it was a sign for the way that the game turned out. We had to change channels by half time. It was just too hard to watch. Plus I was tired of Tebow love-fest.) Now I know that probably my whole side of the family & friends are yelling where is the Alabama gear?!? Jake did eat his snack off of an Alabama plate. Robbie & I agreed not to buy Jake anything Alabama or Auburn. Only Troy. But what our families did, was okay. Somehow, Jake has ended up with lots of Auburn clothes, but no Auburn accessories. And we have lots of Alabama accessories, but no Bama clothes. So he really needs a particular aunt who graduated from Bama to buy her nephew some gear!!

He lost a puff on his nose

Jake eating puffs. He gobbles them up. Literally!

This is how we now find him when he wakes up

Or like this. We lowered his mattress & took down one side of his bumper pad.

This is Jake throwing a tamtrum. He cries very dramatically, and puts his head down. It is completely fake though. He stops immediately when you pick him up and there are no tears.

I end this very long posts with 2 videos. The first one is of Jake giving a high five. (Okay, I know that it is a stretch, but he is kind of giving a high five!!) The last one is the most precious sound that he makes, his laughter. (Please ignor the horrible sound I am making that makes him laugh.) Jake loves to laugh. (Please also ignor the mess in his room. We were in the progress of lowering his mattress.) He is very tickleish and easily laughs if you just make a funny face at him. I can have the hardest longest day at work, but when I come home to that precious laugh, it is a reminder of what is truly important in my life and what makes me happy.

Products that I love:

1) Boogie Wipes. These wipes are awesome. I bought a package at Babies R Us. It was $3.99 for a package of 30. They have saline in the wipe, so it makes wiping Jake's nose so much easier. It is great for removing the nasty dried up crusty junk. You don't have scape or scrub. Pretty much just 1 swipe removes it all. Much softer than a tissue.

2. Evenflo To-Go Highchair. I've been debating on what kind of high chair to get since I was pregnant. We don't have a lot of room, we're already flooded with so many big bulky baby items in our house, and we never actually eat at our kitchen table. But, Jake had outgrown the Bumbo, so we needed something. We were in Babies R Us and saw this highchair on display. We initially loved it because we thought that we could use it this fall at the RV. It was going to be Jake's tailgating chair. Once we got it home though, we really feel in love with it. It is small & compact, so it is easy to put out of the way. Plus it folds up so it is easy to transport. It is nice because we can move it to whatever room we need it in. We've taken it to friend's houses for parties, to the park, outside, etc... It is great because Jake can be right there with us, but still out of way. I read some reviews where parents complained that the tray was too small. What are you feeding your kid? A steak dinner?!?! I think that the tray is a perfect size. Jake loves eating puffs directly from it! We did have to remove the center leg separator from the tray. Jake's thunder thighs weren't fitting, but it was easy to remove. Just had to take out 2 screws. Considering it was less than $50, it has been one of our best purchases.

Product that was a disappointment:

1) The Ultimate Crib Sheet. Changing a crib sheet is so hard. Especially if you also have a bumper pad. I had read about this product & thought that it would be life saver. It works okay, but the corner straps don't fit around the corner posts of Jake's bed. His corner posts are too wide. If you put the corner straps around another panel, then the crib sheet is all wrinkled and doesn't lay flat. We still use it, just because I hate changing Jake's crib sheet more than once a week, but overall, this is not worth the $20 price tag!

Family Pictures

For Mother's Day, my brother, sister & I all went in together & got my mom a gift certificate for us all to have our photo made together. I paid extra to have them take some extra pictures of Jake to count as his 6 months photos.