Prayers Needed

Welp, it's that time again... spring is coming and we have to decide where to live. Will we stay put, rent elsewhere, buy, move? Ever since we moved last year when i was 38 weeks pregnant, we have been praying for this moment when we have to make yet another decision. And here it is. We are somewhat frustrated because even though we have been praying and praying, we still don't have an answer. But we know God is working this out for us, we just don't know how yet. We have a lot of confidence in that. However, it doesn't change the fact that we are human and want to plan and prepare. We want a home. Not just a house. We want a home for Jayden to grow up in, a town where he can play sports for fun -not competition, and life not full of "driving time." (And I personally want sunshine and palm trees) We are ready to move, but the issue of finding a job comes up. So we feel stuck. We could really use some more prayers to figure out our next step.

"May the God of hope fill you will all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13

Getting ready for Disney!

Daddy made Jayden a Mickey Mouse pancake for breakfast to get ready for our trip. He ate almost the whole thing! We have also been watching the Mickey Mouse Club and he now recognizes Mickey's face/voice. Can't wait for our trip!

It's great that Jayden can crawl and all but I am exhausted at the end of the day! He doesn't stop moving! At all. Ever. He just goes and goes and goes and goes.....

Little Leprechaun's 1st St Patricks Day

This Little Leprechaun is a mischievous one. He likes to get into everything! Just yesterday I noticed the corner of my book literally chewed off. All 423 pages had been gnawed. Apparently I dont watch him quite close enough?!

This little leprechaun is also the spitting image of his daddy. They are great at making mischief together!

We caught little Leprechaun and confined him to a Bjorn. He was a hit at the office party while he sipped on his green Gatorade and Daddy sipped his green dad juice.

At the end of a busy st. patricks day, all little leprechaun wanted was his mommy and lots of kisses.

And as I tucked him into bed that night, I couldn't help but remember this very day last year when Little Leprechaun was a teeny tiny wee one....

What is Jayden up to?

It seems like every day someone asks me if Jayden is crawling yet. Yes he is. But now that he can crawl, it has opened the door for him to be able to crawl to tables, chairs, couches, and pull himself up to walk around them. Today we set the pack-n-play out for our trip. Jayden spent over a half hour just crawling/walking/climbing around and over it. He can now walk if we hold just one of his hands. I'm amazed at how quickly he is learning to balance on his own. It is SO much more work now that he is on the move. But I am soooo excited for him to walk on his own because that means I dont have to help him walk everywhere all... day... long. He is also learning things like "give a kiss" and wave "bye-bye" which I tried to get him to do in this video.

Jayden loooooves slides!

Watch him inch himself forward to go down. He has no fear!

I went to get him from a nap and this is what i found.... we lowered the crib immediately.

ON THE GO!

Fun Firsts

Jayden loves watching us brush our teeth so we figured its time for him to brush his. He had so much fun brushing those two toofers for the first time!

Also this weekend, Jayden tried out a swing for the first time. It was a huge hit!

Jayden is a great reminder of how we can find joy in the little every day things. What a fun little guy!

Happy Eight Months Jayden!

Dear Jayden,

Today is March 8^th, 2011 and you are 8 Months Old! This past month has been a month of big CHANGES! Wow are you growing up! The past few weeks you have rejected anything that makes you a little baby. You want to be a big boy so bad. We are so amazed at what you can do now. I’m so proud of how hard you are working to grow big.

You stopped nursing 3 weeks ago. One day you just turned away and sat up and that was that. You wanted nothing to do with it anymore. Now you drink formula from a bottle. Later that same day you started to refuse baby food. Now you no longer accept any pureed food. In fact you will ONLY eat chunky food. (Except for yogurt which you love) You are eating what we eat. We just cut it up into tiny little pieces and you LOVE it. Casseroles are your favorite. One of the most exciting things you have done this month was feed yourself. You’ve got the pincher grip down and you can pick up little pieces and put them straight in your mouth. You are getting so fast at feeding yourself. Today we met Daddy for lunch at Olive Garden. You were so excited to sit in the high chair and feed yourself. You LOVE restaurants! You are also drinking from a sippy cup all by yourself. You put it in your mouth and tip your head way back and gulp, gulp, gulp. We give you water, pedialyte, and juice in it. You are soooo cute and happy in your highchair.

Every day Daddy and I go back and forth on whether you will crawl or walk first. Right now its walk. You learned to pull yourself up to a push walker and you can walk with it. I was shocked the first time I saw you stand up and step across the room. Woah. Your absolute favorite thing to do right now is walk. You are constantly grabbing for our hands and pulling yourself up to walk. You think it’s so funny to chase Maya around the house. You like to stand at your play table and I’ve seen you turn away from it and take a step. So we’ll see if walking is weeks or months in your future. As for crawling, you really don’t like to. You crawl about two times and then you just fall down and cry for us to come get you. For some reason you think it’s much more work than walking. You do like to crawl in a circle which is pretty funny. Again, we’ll see if you are hours or days away from happily crawling. You’re so close, we don’t know why you won’t just crawl, crawl, crawl!

You have two bottom teeth and you love to use them to bite. YIKES! Your favorite books have two little teeth marks on them. You learned to click your tongue and you love to do it when people talk to you. You also say “huh, huh” constantly. It’s cute. When music is played and you are standing, you bounce your little bottom. I had been trying to teach you to “dance” and was so excited the first time you did this. One thing I’m not so excited about is the little temper you are starting to get. You clinch your little fists and “growl” when you don’t like something. Hopefully it is just a stage.

A big part of this past month was sickness. You had an ear infection and then got the Rota/NoroVirus. You were SO sick. You became dehydrated and needed to go to the hospital. Unfortunately Daddy and I were too sick to take you but that night you started to improve. We were so thankful Grammy drove through the night to care for you. She really loves you and does an awesome job of spoiling you. You really missed her when she left. We chat with Grammy and Grandpa on i-chat and you smile when you see them and squeal. So cute.

At the doctor last week you lost weight because of being sick. You weighed 18lb 4oz but I think you have gained a whole pound since then! You are eating so much lately. You wear 9 month or 6-12 month clothes and size 3 diapers. You drink about 4 bottles a day and eat whenever we will feed you. You sleep well but still wake up once during the night. Dad and I take turns giving you a bottle then.

Well, that is just a quick review of the big and exciting things you are accomplishing. We’re proud of you and we love you so much little man.

Forever,

Mommy

Wordless Wednesday

Super Grammy!

The past 3 weeks have been so much of a blur. I forget what every day life is like! I'm just now starting to feel good but am still pretty wiped out. YIKES were we ever sick!

It all started 3 weeks ago. Jayden stopped nursing. He literally just sat up or turned his head whenever I tried. He also started refusing baby food. (Like purees and stuff.) He only wanted chunky "adult" food. Then a few days later he kinda just stopped eating altogether. He also was up every hour at night. I took him to the doctor thinking he might have an ear infection. She said he didn't. We made the trip to Michigan for a few days where he continued to drink a maximum 10oz of milk a day. On the drive back to IL it all started. He had the most foul smelling diaper you could imagine. Absolutely horrid. We stopped at a McDonalds and changed him there. It was the start of the extreme diarrhea he would be having. The next day I took him into the doctor. She said he did have an ear infection and also the rotavirus. I was surprised by the rotavirus because he had already received a vaccination for it. (the vaccination doesnt cover all the strains of it) The doc put jayden on amoxicillin which made the diarrhea he was having even worse. The poor little guy was soooo sick! He was feverish, vomiting, and having up to 20 bad diapers a day. Jesse and I blew up a mattress and slept on the floor in his room. He was requiring constant care. Over the next weekend, jayden was eating less and less and having even worse diarrhea. By Sunday he was dehydrated. Thats when it got even worse... I came down with it. So monday jesse took Jayden to the doc and she said that yes he was dehydrated but we could wait to take him to the hospital the next morning. Monday night jesse came down with it too. So there we were, stuck with a dehydrated baby and no one to take him to the hospital. So we prayed and prayed all night that Jayden would get better. And he did. The diarrhea stopped over night! It had lasted a week. It was breaking my heart to think of Jayden going to the hospital and me not being able to go with him! That is when Super Grammy came into play! We could NOT have done it without her!! My mom had come home from MI with me to help watch him. My dad joined us over the weekend and helped too. It took all four of us to take care of one sick baby. My parents went home on saturday. When my mom found out how sick we all were,(and that jayden needed hospitalization but we were too sick to leave the house) they delayed their trip to Virginia and my dad drove my mom all the way here over night and then drove himself back for work in the morning. THANKS DAD! We honestly couldnt have done it without you. I was so sick, I couldn't keep down even water for 3 full days. I didn't eat anything for 5 whole days. Thats how sick I was. I couldn't stand up much less pick up Jayden. Jesse was sick in bed too. Thankfully my mom is the closest thing to me and did an amazing job caring for Jayden. She knows his schedule and just what to do. That makes sense i guess... everything i learned about being a mom I learned from her. Not only did she take care of jayden, but she took care of Jesse and I too. When she was here, i didnt have to worry about a thing. She cleaned the house, did the laundry, and kept us feed. In fact, even when she left, a dinner was cooking in the oven for us that night. She truly is Super Grammy! THANK YOU MOM!!! We could NOT have survived the week without you! As Pappy said earlier this week, "you have angels right in the family."

So that is the update. Jayden is on a new antibiotic to fix the ear infections he still has. We hope he is back to normal very soon!