Captured moments

I was talking to my mom tonight and telling her about how much farther Jayden can crawl now than even four days ago.  And she pointed out that I needed to capture as much as possible on video, even if I didn't post everything.  I'm always so busy trying to get photos or video for the blog that sometimes I forget to make sure I'm capturing memories for me and for Jayden.  So today I took some more video.  And of course I'm posting it - because it's just so cute!

The best thing about Jayden's crawling is the noise that comes from him.  I don't know if they're hard working noises or if he's trying to tell me something, but either way they're hilarious.

Enjoy!

It's crawlin' time

So, for some reason, Jayden decided to start crawling yesterday.  I guess he's been hinting at it for a couple of weeks, rolling forward and moving up to his hands and knees, but he never even tried moving forward.  But yesterday, Carmen was playing with him in the ball tent and he moved forward.  

And this morning, we were upstairs on the landing and I came up the stairs.  And he started moving forward towards me!  It was so great.  And you can tell he's so proud of himself.  I couldn't get the first one on video, but I was able to get him on video this afternoon when we got home from our various errands.  So long as we put either me or some toys in his sights, he'll get started in that direction.

He picks his hands and legs up so carefully - but he loves that he can move.  It only lasts so long, and then he collapses forward, but he gets a few steps in.  I think our world is about to be turned upside down (or about to go in fast forward)!

Pictures as promised

I am finally getting around to posting the pictures I promised you last week:

It was SO hot in the house with no A/C.  So all the clothing that was required (of Jayden) was a diaper.

We went to the children's museum on Monday.  Jayden was super quiet and reserved.  And then I dropped him in the "garden" with the fake bark.  And he spent the next 20-30 minutes picking up pieces of bark and dropping them in the watering can.  My friend, meanwhile, was chasing her daughter all over the museum and we barely got to talk!

Finally we found the "marina" and Jayden was in splashing heaven.  Both he and I ended up slightly soaked, but it was worth it.  He had a great time.

On Tuesday the ball tent arrived!  And we were so excited we played in the tent for  a little longer than we should have.  

But this was the look I got when I asked if he was ready to go upstairs.  Seriously?  No, I have 100 more balls to throw somewhere.

Falling in love (again)

I feel like this blog sometimes turns too much to complaining.  So tonight I am not complaining.  Instead, I am expressing my awe, amazement, love for my little baby boy.  I love how he is so cuddly, and whether he knows what he's doing or not, he reaches for me and hugs me.  And he holds me so tight I think he'll never let go (and sometimes he causes little bruises on my arms - but they're cute bruises because they come from him). 

Tonight I was putting him to bed.  Sometimes he falls asleep while nursing, but I'm trying to get him used to not doing that regularly.  Tonight he finished nursing and was still awake.  Carmen's boss gave us this nightlight that displays stars all over the ceiling which we just recently set up.  So he was laying in my arms staring in awe at the stars projected across the ceiling.  A couple times I leaned down and kissed his cheek or his forehead and he would half smile up at me.  Every once in a while he rolled over and curled more into my arms, or curled away from my arms.  Either way, it was endearing because he was making himself comfortable.   Finally I could tell his eyes were getting heavy, but because he was on his back he kept staring at the stars.  So I picked him up and laid his head on my shoulder and he was asleep in a minute.  [A funny note: at one point he leaned forward and almost fell asleep bent over with his head on my knee - I tried to get a picture but my phone won't take pictures in that dark of room without a really horrible jarring flash] 

I put him down in the crib and he rolled around a bit, opening his eyes a few times.  He'd grab my arm and cuddle with it and then roll over to get himself more comfortable.  Finally, he rolled over to his regular sleeping position and passed out for good.  I was happy for him, but part of me wanted to just crawl in the crib with him and cuddle the rest of the night. 

We're so lucky to have such a sweet little baby who is so adoring and so cuddly.  I'm going to miss this time once he starts running all over the place and wanting nothing to do with cuddling with his mom for an hour (or five minutes!). 

[I have some pictures to share, but the website isn't allowing me to upload them.  I'll try again later or tomorrow.]

Kian turned two! And other news.

Bardis and Jody's oldest turned two a couple weeks ago, and yesterday they had a party to celebrate.  All three of us went down to their house.  It was a lot of fun - there were a bunch of kids there, some excellent food and a great toy that we came home and bought for Jayden!

Smiling for the camera - Daddy and Jayden were exploring the balloons.  Then Daddy popped a balloon.  Luckily Jayden was still smiling.

Exploring a new pool.  Feels about the same.

LOVING the ball tent.  One of these is one its way to our house as we speak.  He could've spent hours in here.  It's a never-ending supply of items to throw.  And it doesn't involve his parents going to retrieve those items on a regular basis.  In other words, it's a winner!

As I mentioned in a previous post, our A/C broke on Friday.  The repair people can't come out until Wednesday.  So in the meantime we have all of our fans on high, we have windows open, and we are trying to spend as little time in the house as possible.  Yesterday we went out to dinner - the early bird special for Jayden's sake - and then came home and didn't move.  Today we are going to go walk around the mall, just so we don't have to sit in the house.  We're hoping the temperatures drop in the next day or so, but we don't really think that's going to happen unfortunately.

Luckily, Jayden stays pretty happy through all of this, including getting a tooth (#4!) during this heat wave.  He has the two bottom ones in the middle, but the two on the top are off to the side, not the middle ones.  Hopefully the top middle ones come in at some point. 

To beat the heat (and thanks to a reminder from my sister), Jayden is wearing his sandals!

He can stand up, but he definitely needs the support of a parent or an object.  And he still hasn't figured how to pull all the way up to standing.  But he tries - and he gets up to kneeling.  We'll get there eventually.  I'm trying to teach him to bend his knees to take steps, but he's not super excited about those lessons.

Waiting for the car

Here are some photos from a couple weeks ago, when Jayden and I took my car in for service:

 Sometimes he looks so much older than I think he is - he looks like a little toddler here!

 Getting ready for his next visit with Grandpa Allan - Dad, he has some good recommendations for you!

Pulling himself up on the arm of the couch to peer at Mama







On the move (take two)

So, this was supposed to be posted on Thursday.  I wrote the whole post, uploaded the video and the pictures, hit "publish" and got nothing.  By that point, I was tired and hot (our A/C broke on Friday and we've been suffering ever since in the 90+ degree California heat) and I gave up. 

So, here is my attempt to recreate that post:

Jayden is developing faster than we can keep up with him.  This past week he learned how to wave!  It's not consistent, but he waved at Jasmine from the bathtub on Wednesday night and he waved goodbye to a little girl at daycare on Thursday.  AND, Thursday night he waved at me while eating dinner!

Recently, I have been able to pump quite a bit less - I used to pump 5-7 ounces at night.  Now it's closer to 4 or 5.  And when I pump during the day, it's usually 3 ounces at a time, where it used to sometimes be 4 or 5.  And Jayden is slowing down a little, but not a lot.  He isn't necessarily eating 24 ounces a day anymore, but he does still eat 18-22 or so.  And there's just no way for me to keep up.  Julia had been mixing the breastmilk and the formula for Jayden, which meant that if he didn't finish a bottle then she would have to throw out the rest.  Well, I was getting frustrated that I was providing all this breastmilk, but Jayden wasn't actually getting all of it.  So I finally asked her not to mix them anymore and to just feed him breastmilk until there was none left and then switch to formula.  She had no problem with that, so now he's getting all the milk I can pump and then getting 3-4 ounces of formula a day.  Thank goodness!

On that same note, I'm scared to death to go through the weaning process.  Jayden is learning to drink out of things other than bottles - so far only water bottles and regular cups are acceptable - but it's not easy.  And I think it would take us 8 hours for him to drink 25-30 ounces a day that way.  AND, he's super attached to nursing, so it's going to be a huge adjustment for him and for me.  Part of me is ready to be done and part of me is really sad to have that conncetion with Jayden end. 

I have a few pictures from when Carmen's dad was here that I haven't put up yet:

The boys at the beach.

 Smiling for Mama and the camera, even though he's mad about wearing the hat.

 Splashing in the pool with Grandpa Carmen (aka Pop-pop).

Once Meses!

I'm guessing most of you can figure out the title, but just in case . . . Eleven Months!  I seriously can't believe that 11 months have passed, or that in just one month Jayden will be one!  It sounds so much older, even though it's just one month more from now. 

I think today finally made me realize that I should have invested in those onesies with the numbers on them, instead of relying on my homemade signs.  Oh well.  Today's photo shoot took place over a few hours, in a few different locations, using a few different tactics . . .

Oh, you think you're going to take my picture?  Funny story Mama.  I'm going to move anytime you try to take it and then I'm going to try to grab the camera so if I'm not moving you are and it'll be blurry anyway, HA!

Yeah, we can both hold the sign, but you know I won't look at the camera while holding it.  And I DEFINITELY won't smile...

Fine, I'll pretend the sign isn't touching my foot and I'll just play with my book.  But I'm still not looking at you.

Oh, you think this'll work better while I'm eating?  Nice try.  I'm just going to reach for your camera with my hands covered in yogurt and mango and muffin and make an even bigger miss.  I win again!

BEST new game ever!  Mama and Daddy put a sign on my tray, Mama tries to take a picture and I see how fast I can grab it before the picture is taken.  I'm really super duper fast so I usually win.

Okay, Mama, you've been working really hard all day and taking good care of me, even though I whine constantly while I eat my solids and I hit the food out of your hand all the time.  So just this once, I'll let you get a picture of my face while I'm happy AND the sign.  (Mama says "thanks Jayden, you just made my day!")

We've had a good weekend visiting with Carmen's dad - we've been to the beach, to an outlet mall and to old town Orange.  Jayden is warming up, although slowly.  He smiles at big Carmen but is still not sure whether or not he can trust him!  I've tried to leave the house a couple of times so that the boys could play together - Jayden is usually better with people when I'm not in the room. 

Tomorrow we're not sure what we'll do, maybe go back to the beach (big Carmen loves the beach) or find something else fun to do in the ridiculous heat.  It has been in the 90s and somewhat humid. It's nothing like the east coast, I'm sure - but it's been much hotter than we are used to.  Big Carmen and Carmen have definitely taken advantage of the pool this weekend. 

Jayden is continuing to learn new things almost daily.  Over the past few days he has figured out how to stack one of his toys - and he has been putting things in boxes, taking them out and putting them back in.  Finally, he can help me clean up!

He got two on and figured out how to get the green one on.  At one point I looked over and he had stacked them all in order, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple.  Have I mentioned our child is a genius?!?

The poor baby has also been teething like crazy.  As exciting as it is for us to see him get teeth, I think it is ten times more painful for him.  Last night he was up quite a bit, three or four times at least.  Carmen was incredibly nice and took the brunt of the responsibility.  I feel so bad for him because he is practically still asleep, he just keeps wailing.  He had a fever, he ate less than normal and he was congested - all side effects of teething!  Thank goodness we only go through this once in our lives, it's just too bad it happens when we're so young we can't do anything about it. 

A couple more photos, from Laguna Beach yesterday and Orange today:

Jayden at breakfast, checking out the table next to us and the Carmens walking around Laguna after breakfast. 

Wearing Daddy's hat at lunch today.

Doin' the snake..

Big Carmen, aka Pop-pop arrived today.  Carmen picked him up at the airport and they enjoyed a relaxing afternoon lunching and swimming while I spent my afternoon toiling away.  Jayden and I got home a little early, but still close to 6:00 pm.  Jayden was still a little shy, but I think he'll warm up over the weekend. 

Jayden, as always, is constantly developing.  Today he almost crawled, sort of.  He at least got up on his hands and knees:

He didn't move much on his hands and knees, but the fact that he was supporting himself that way is big news!

The best part about tonight?  Yes, that's right, the snake.  It goes a little something like this.  You scoot yourself backwards so that you're entirely underneath the bench.  You poke your head out, look around, and then snake yourself out from under.  Who knows how he discovered this move, but I swear it's going to be the new sensation across the country...

Teetheses

I don't have pictures to post, just a quick bit of news: Jayden is growing a third tooth! When I picked Jayden up from Julia's today, I was talking to her for a bit and playing with Jayden in my arms.  He loves being dipped upside down and then brought back upright - slowly of course, so as not to give hi a head rush. Well, today I dipped him and Julia and I were tickling him while he was upside down and I saw a speck in his mouth. I thought that was weird, because I knew he hadn't eaten anything recently. I thought it might have been fuzz, so I tried to pick it off, and it turns out it was a tooth!!! I guess it must have come in this morning or sometime today.

Poor kid, getting all 46 teeth all at once!

Clap your hands!

I can barely keep up with Jayden and his developments.  This past Thursday (August 2nd) he started clapping.  Carmen called me from his car while he was driving Jayden to Julia's and said that Jayden was clapping along to Lenny Kravitz.  That night in the bathtub he started clapping again.  Every time he clapped, Carmen and I clapped and said "yayyyyy!!!"  We did that for probably five minutes (or it felt like five minutes, it was probably really only a minute or two).  It was hilarious.  And exhausting. 

Today, we put him in his walker to encourage him to move his legs and he figured out how to go backwards.  Apparently he does everything backwards first.  He did move forward, but only once or twice.  Carmen was trying to teach him how to move his legs forward and he was sort of getting it, but really just dragging his feet along.  Then we left him alone for a minute and he pushed himself backwards! 

Back by popular demand

One night later!

I was able to get video tonight and have some even more exciting news.  First, the video of the backwards crawling - which is really just pushing himself backwards with his arms:

BUT, what came before this was even better, and lucky me I had my camera out already.  He started moving forward!  He still doesn't use his legs, he just pulls with his arms.  But he moved forward!

He did it again a few minutes later, but again, all arms.  I kept trying to help him push off with his feet, but he was not so interested.  We did realize that we are officially in trouble and will likely be making a trip to the store for babyproofing materials this weekend.  He got himself over by the fireplace, which is full of sharp edges.