Sitting!

Jac is getting better and better at sitting on his own. Last week he was playing with Adri (his babysitter - she comes by a few times a week - always with me here) and he was doing a really good job of sitting on his own.

He has not figured out how to get himself into a sitting position or to recover when he falls over - we are working on those things - but the sitting part on its own he is getting better at. It is amazing to me how quickly he has gotten better at sitting. We really only started working on it about a week and a half ago. It took him several months to figure out rolling over from his stomach to his back. It seems like all of the core strength the he developed from doing that has made learning to sit much easier. He is really going to have to improve his arm strength more though before I think he is going to be able to get himself into a sitting position or be able to crawl!

Kicks from No. 2

In the last few days I thought I was feeling No. 2 kick - but today I am sure. This evening I have felt a couple of good kicks! Yeah! Grow No. 2, grow!

Better and better sitting

Tonight we went out to dinner with a friend and Jac was doing a lot of practice sitting (and pretending he is a rotisserie - which is when he flips over in our arms or on the bed). He spent about 2 minutes sitting on the bench next to Daddy - without Daddy holding on to him. He was able to fold in half and then bring himself back to a sitting position! Yeah!

Happy Bathing Baby

Jac is now really enjoying his baths. We have started to add some toys to bath time and he is really getting into splashing around and reaching for his toys. It is so amazing to watch this after so many months of thinking that he did not like water - and such a relief!

I think I am going to take him to a swim class this summer - hopefully I can find something that fits into our busy travel schedule!

Jac sitting on his own and playing

Jac has been working on his sitting. He would rather work on standing but we are encouraging him to learn how to sit! Before Daddy took this video he had been playing on his own for a minute or so! Of course when Daddy got the camera and started to take a video he toppled over!

On my way home

I am on Caltrain on my way home. All of the reports I have gotten from
Joseph about he and Jac have been good. We had a great bachelorette
weekend with the girls and I am now even more excited for Alexis'
wedding!

Sent from my iPhone

Mommy is in San Francisco

I am on the Caltrain right now headed from San Jose to San Francisco
for my sister's bachelorette party. I am all by myself and it feels
weird.

Joseph is holding down the fort at home. This is the first time I have
spent a night away from Jac since he came home from the hospital.

I already miss them.

Sent from my iPhone

Super power nap

Uh-oh, I'm in trouble now! Jac took a reallllly long nap this afternoon. 3 hours, to be exact. He fell asleep just before the babysitter came (so that I could continue working this afternoon), and woke up just a few minutes ago. The baby sitter is scheduled to leave in about 40 minutes... And I'll have a really well rested baby on my hands!

"I can move my tongue!"

Jac has discovered his tongue! It is so funny to watch because just yesterday he realized that he can move it all kinds of different directions. He twists it around now and sticks it out! So cute!

I have been sticking my tongue out at him and trying to get him to imitate me, but I have not gotten anything yet. I am not sure why I am encouraging this except that it is so cute!

I took a video of him this morning after he woke up and was laying/playing in the bed. I had my iPhone with me to make a few calls and he was eating it and playing with it. He is going to be surfing the web in no time if this keep up!



BTW, Aunt Judy K - Jac sleeps on the quilt you made him every night and I think we are probably bringing it to Italy with us!

Parenting is very humbling

Today we made a very humbling discovery. If we don't wash Jac's face
first when we give him a bath he doesn't cry during his bath - and
almost seems to not hate it! Hello! So obvious and yet it took us 10
months to figure it out. Humbling I tell you.

Sent from my iPhone

No. 2 is right on track

I had my 20 week ultrasound today and No. 2 is growing well. (He) is
measuring a few days large and all systems are go. Yeah!

Sent from my iPhone

Over 10 pounds!

Oh man! Jac finally made it over 10 pounds! Yeah! We weighed him last night and he was 10 pounds 3.5 ounces! Go Jac go!

Now that he is feeling much better his appetite has improved and he is sleeping more. Last night he slept from 11:30 pm until 10:30 am and only woke up once at 2:30 am to eat. Amazing!

He has also been going to sleep earlier (~ 9:30 pm - 10:30 pm) most evenings which has also been very nice!

Jac sleeping on Daddy at the mall

Yesterday we took Jac to the Cherry Creek mall. It is a very nice mall in Denver and it is fun to take Jac there. We did some shopping for Momma and spent some time wandering around. After all of the shopping little Jacie fell sound asleep on Daddy!

No.2 Systems Ultrasound tomorrow

I have a big, important, ultrasound tomorrow. This is the Systems Ultrasound in which the doctor looks for all of the babies systems to make sure everything is in the right place.

This ultrasound is also going to tell us more about how well No. 2 is growing. I am a bit nervous, but the 17 week ultrasound looked so good that I am very hopeful that No. 2 will still be growing well. Jac was already 2 weeks behind by the time he had his 20 week ultrasound.

Joseph and I have decided we do not want to know the gender of the baby so I am going to ask the doctor not to tell us what gender the baby is (hopefully it will not be obvious to me - I suspect it will not because I could never tell with Jac).

I am going to this ultrasound with Jac but not with Joseph. I wish Joseph could come but it all the way down in Denver and I don't want him to have to take so much time off of work. Jac and I will do it together. Joseph has been able to come to the ultrasounds that have happened in Boulder!

Ear infection and diaper rash

Jac was sick with this cold that he and I caught in LA for weeks! Jac went to the doctor for this cold 5 times! A nasty cold like this one is tough for a little one!

He got an ear infection - which was really almost inevitable when he was congested for 2 solid weeks! Dr. B and I avoided giving him antibiotics for as long as we could but finally we had to do it. The antibiotics helped his ears and his congestion almost immediately but unfortunately they had a rather nasty, and common, side effect.

Within a couple of hours of starting the antibiotics his poop changed colors, from its normal formula baby green, to brown. Tummy flora, gone!

By the day after he started the antibiotics he had started to develop a very raw looking diaper area and by the day after that he was shaking when I cleaned his diaper area! Bad!

We called the nurses at Children's Hospital and took him to see the doctor. We started giving him daily baths (which he hates!) and rinsing his diaper area with water at each diaper change and within 48 hours his diaper area looked almost back to normal. Yeah! It was so hard to see his diaper area so raw, he was so unhappy! He is feeling much better now though and the ear infection seems to be gone also.

We are giving him probiotics to try to help his tummy get back to normal. I found a liquid, soy based one, at Whole Foods. Hopefully once he gets off of the antibiotics (tomorrow is his last day) the probiotics will help his little tummy recover its normal flora!

Sleeping with his behind in the air

Jac is now consistently able to pull his knees underneath him when he is sleeping (he could do this before be could roll but not very well).

Now that he can, Jac sleeps on his stomach. He has been doing that since he learned to roll over. When he was in LA he would roll over on the floor after eating, and fall asleep!



Back here in Boulder, he is sleeping on his stomach, with his behind in the air! He alternates between knees under and knees down.

Did it! - March for Babies - April 26, 2008

I did the March for Babies in Los Angeles on Saturday the 26th. It was a pretty long walk - 5 miles! - with lots of people. The estimate I heard was 9,000 people! Whoa!

It was very hot - in the 90's - even early in the morning. I was very glad I decided to leave Jac at home with Grandma and Grandpa because I don't think he would have been very happy!

Thank you to all of you for your donations - they were much appreciated and they were all passed along to the March of Dimes.

The weather that makes Boulder so "special"

Boulder weather is crazy. Almost literally. It might be called Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde.

On May 1st it snowed. May 1! Here is the video to prove it!



On May 4th we took these photos of the beautiful tulips on the Pearl Street mall!

Drinking from a glass

Jac has taken a very strong interest in anything we are drinking (more so than what we are eating at this point). He really likes glasses and cups - anything he can try to drink from. He is pretty good at it - and we are getting better at not spilling too much on him.

I offered him a straw the other day and now if you have a drink with a straw in it he wants the straw! Ooops!

It is really fun to watch him try to drink from the glass - he sticks his tongue in and gets at least a little bit of the drink and swallows it we think (Joseph has heard him swallow). At the very least he is practicing and we are having a grand time watching him.

Update on Second Trimester Screening

I got the results of my Second Trimester Screening on Friday. This screen is another blood test that was performed about a week ago when I was 17 weeks.

Yeah! The results were all good.

Chances of Down Syndrome from my age: 1 in 370
Chances of Down Syndrome from the tests + the age calculation: 1 in 10,000

Chances of Trisomy 18 from my age: 1 in 1400
Chances of Trisomy 18 from the tests + the age calculation: 1 in 10,000

Chances of Neural Tube defects: 1 in 2000 (Considered low risk - Not based on age)

The interesting thing about all of these tests is that they don't rule out that the baby could have any of these problems - just calculates their likelihood of occurring in this pregnancy. These tests are a bit controversial in how accurate they are considered to be. They do have a 5% false positive rate and a varying level of accuracy in their detection rate (I have between 60 - 80 % detection rate for Downs). So - we are not totally out of the woods but something tells me these things are not what I need to worry about with this pregnancy so I am not going to!

Dr. Plotnick was also worried about my AFP level. He told me that a high AFP level could indicate that their is a problem with the placenta. At this early stage of the pregnancy that would be very worrisome.

The interesting thing is that I turned these screening tests down with Jac. In California an OB is required by law to offer the tests (and I felt like I was really being forced to have them). We decided that we would not have them (mostly me). I wonder now if Jac's IUGR would have been caught a bit sooner (due to an elevated AFP level) if I had not turned down the screening. Hmmm... No way to know!

Ten Months Old

We can hardly believe that Jac is now ten months old! Wow! What a ride this has been. He is really starting to make some fun and cool developmental strides and we are having so much fun watching him learn right in front of us on a daily basis!

He is still less than 10 pounds. We weighed him this morning and he was 9 pounds 13.5 ounces. He has lost an ounce or so with this cold - we are hoping that he will get back on the great growth curve he was on before the cold once he is all better!

Rolling!

Little Snack Attack (one of Jac's nicknames) has learned to roll over! While we were in LA! Yeah!

It was so great to watch him learn while we were in La Canada at the Grandparent's house! He wanted down out of my arms more and more, and then he started rolling. At first he only did it when I was out and he was home with Grandma. The first few times I didn't see it. And then I did! Yeah! Amazing.

This first video is when Jac was just starting to roll and each time was a really new experience.



The first part of this second video is me talking with Jac while he is lying on his tummy which is in and of itself amazing. Jac has never liked tummy time (not unusual for a baby with reflux) and so to have a whole talk with him while he laughs and smiles on his tummy is pretty amazing.

The second part of the video Jac is rolling around in his Baby Einstein play gym while we have a chat.

Update on 17 week Ultrasound for No. 2

Okay - we are in fact alive. Mostly. I am sorry it has been so long since I have updated the blog. Since we got back from LA we have been so sick and not sleeping etc. that I have not had the time or the energy to post!

Last Friday we had an ultrasound of No. 2. My new OB is following No. 2 very closely - ultrasounds every 2 weeks. I was very nervous about the ultrasound because this would be the first time that we would be able to see if No. 2 is growing properly. I am still pretty skinny and I am just barely showing so it is hard to see from the outside that a still very small baby (~150 grams) is growing well!

No. 2 was moving all around during the ultrasound - always a good sign - and he is reading LARGE for dates. About a week large! Oh man! I felt so relieved when Dr. P said that! So at least for now things are going well. I know very well that things can change though.

My next ultrasound is my Systems Ultrasound on May. 19 - which is generally considered the first time we can really see whether No. 2 is growing well. We should also be able to see all of "his" organs and check that they all look good. Grow, baby, grow!

Still Alive

Sorry it's been a while since we had any blog postings.

Taj and Jac came down hard with colds, and they were absolutely miserable all last week.

Jac had a few days of fevers which worried us, and made him awfully unhappy. The poor thing often had a woeful exhausted look. :( Moreover, he started gagging on his snot, causing him to throw up frequently. We had concerns about him getting dehydrated -- he peed much less than usual.

It seems like Jac was getting better over this weekend, but he still has a fever, and he is still having lots of snot (and throwing up).

Taj was pretty much knocked out during the peak of her cold -- she still has it; but the good news is that she's clearly over the worst part.

Right now, I've got the coughs, sore throat, head aches, and body aches. This is not fun.

Boy, the three of us are doing Kimberly Clark proud right now...