I can't get enough of this video I forgot from last weeks Denver trip...they were hilarious!
If this kid is 40 weeks old, that means he's been outside my belly just as long as he was inside it. My concept of time seems to be about as on point as my internal compass.
11-8-2013 - Fun with wrapping paper already!
11-9-2013 - As in past years, we always do the Russell Christmas early in order to allow as many people as possible to come. It was the first year without Grandpa and even though he planned ahead and left us extra special gifts, he was still very missed.
I've been told they look alike...
Yep....I see it
Some of the Great-Grandkids waiting for Santa
"Is that the real Santa?" He's still at the age where, "that's Santa's helper" works...won't be long :-/
I was so excited for Jase to meet Santa, I didn't even realize how
strange it was to be celebrating Christmas in November. Jase was
exhausted after dinner so Kiel took him for a drive around the block to
get a quick nap in. They made it back just in time for the handing out
of presents...I was so happy to be introducing Jase to a family
tradition as long standing as this. I'm still hopeful we'll bring back
the talking tree someday. He did great :)
Santa said "This is the only baby I've never seen cry"
hahaha
He really wasn't all that into the paper
Still got that present :)
Santa video: Please excuse Kiel's shaking hand...his videographer skills need improvement. When I take Jase's pacifier out of his mouth he makes a hilarious face like he's going to cry and when everyone starts clapping he just goes deer in headlights.
11-11-2013 - The week of no pumping at lunch! It was so...AMAZING! I didn't care how engorged or uncomfortable I was, I didn't have to rush home to get my 12 min of pumping in. It was like Christmas came early. Ok maybe not that great, but you get the idea. I was good all weekend, not nursing during the day even though I was with Jase, but instead giving him bottles as if he was at daycare and pumping only in the am and around lunchtime. I think this significantly helped as I transitioned into only pumping in the morning and nursing him at just at the bedtime feeding. I was starting to think quitting wasn't going to be as painful as I had been lead to believe. To which the nursing gods responded "challenge accepted!"....to be continued
11-13-2013 - Today we had Jase's 9 mo well check. I'm not really sure why they're scheduling them 2 weeks late...oh well.
Our boy isn't really gaining any weight, but he sure is stretching out! He weighed in at 20.6 lbs (up less than a lb in 2 mo), but grew almost 3 inches. When the nurse said 31.5 inches, I was sure the scale would read 22 or more, but I was obviously wrong. Not like it matters. You can tell by his belly he's well fed :)
And Happy Birthday Grammy :) Love, A Little Teapot (video)
11-1-2013 - They say every stage is better than the last...agreed. This kid is so much fun!
We don't go to the dr for Jase's 9 mo well check until the 13th of this month, so I don't have growth updates right now. I will, however; mention how much fun we had taking his sticker pictures. I can't fake these...he's such a cheeseball!
Right now our biggest change is in the food department. He's really getting good at finger foods so we try to do that as much as possible. Puffs are a current favorite. It's even hard to buy them when he's with me because once he sees the yellow can, he wants some...now! I'm still pureeing most fruits (add pineapple to the list) and veggies, except for blueberries because I'm not paying those ridiculous prices and foods he can pick up and eat himself if cut into small pieces like green beans, grapes, and pasta. If he gets tired or bored, he'd much rather you feed them to him, but for the most part he's working away from "baby food."
I love the ones where he's leaning over looking towards the door. He
would hear a noise and I would say "what's that?!?!" He's so aware of his surroundings, always checking everything out. Nothing gets by him. Peek-A-Boo is still a crowd pleaser as you can imagine.
Jase is a rolling machine. He'll roll and roll and roll to get a toy or to get to Kiel or me, but he still hasn't gotten the urge to crawl I guess. If a toy he wants is out of his reach he'll strain for it for a minute or so, but then usually just grabs something closer. Resourceful or lazy?!?! He doesn't really seem to be too upset about it so I'm sure he'll do it when he's ready. I am just trying to soak up this non-mobile time.
In other food related areas, we're in the home stretch of the end of nursing. I knew I needed to start preparing for this so I had been doing a lot of research and talking with other moms who had gone through the weaning process. Everyone kept telling me to "just cut a session out and then another and another until you're down to none." I couldn't even fathom cutting down in fear of how engorged I would be...I don't think anyone really understands how much milk I was actually producing (not complaining, it's a good problem to have I know). But, I finally bit the bullet about 5 weeks ago and stopped pumping after work. Jase usually nursed twice at night so it really wasn't the near death experience I had anticipated.When I stopped nursing him in the morning at the beginning of October, I did notice my supply decreased slightly. This makes me hopeful for the weeks to come.
I made the decision to wait to cut out anymore sessions until after I went to Denver to visit the Voigts's so I didn't have to deal with taking milk on the plane. Cue mixed emotions for mama! Hard to believe how attached I am to nursing when I didn't even really want to do it in the first place. Physically I am more than ready to be done. I can't wait to put that pump away! Never thought I'd miss under-wire, but I can't wait to wear regular bras! I can't wait to stop buying nursing pads and milk storage bags...I'm just ready! How emotionally ready I am is a different story, but I'll keep that in my pocket until I am actually done.
Speaking of going to Denver...
Kiel was not thrilled to say goodbye to Jase Friday morning before work. I'm sure he was really upset about me leaving too ;) Neither of us have been away from him for more than a night so I can't say I blame him. Nonetheless, we left daddy to go make the pennies and log some hours in the deer stand.
Jase & I hopped on a plane to meet Mr. Leo Voigts, play with Jack, and do some catching up with his parents. We've been counting down the days for weeks and it was finally here!!!! Normally, I love to fly but there's something about putting your child at risk that made me just a little anxious. Thankfully, our flight was smooth and Jase did not disappoint, proving yet again how lucky we are.
FYI - pay the extra money to fly out of Bloomington whenever possible. Easy peasy!!
I couldn't have timed it any more perfectly if I tried. Our flight was boarding by the time we got through security and just as we walked up to the gate, they called for all passengers traveling with small children. Right as we were getting ready to take off Jase got hungry so I nursed him and he immediately fell asleep. We lucked out and had an open seat next to us so he slept for about an hour and a half (flight was 2 hrs & 15 min) and played with my water bottle the rest of the time :)
Lindsey & Leo picked us up at the airport and took us home to play with Jack!
Even though it's been months since they've seen each other, there were smiles and hugs all around when we got there! Just like their mamas!
Movie junkies...seriously...my kid has a problem
There's the man of the hour! All dressed up in his tux for our visit :)
I was NOT kidding
I can't even begin to describe how thankful I am Lindsey has kids. Had I needed to bring things like a pack-n-play or a carseat, this would have been a solo vacay for me ha! I just brought the monitors and his sound machine so he slept in Leo's room (he's still with mom & dad) the first night & it worked out perfectly!
Normally, Lindsey & I would be up til the wee hours of the morning catching up over cocktails, but our "new normal" sent us to bed at a fairly decent time and the morning looked headache free :)
11-2-2013 - Jase was up around 7 so we had some breakfast and got ready for the day.
It just so happened that The Kamis's were having a bowling birthday party for Ava and Ailey while I was in town and I'm so glad! It's not everyday you get a picture like this...
My first reaction to this picture was, "how did we all end up with such cute kids?!?!?" As I sat and looked at it a little more, I got a little choked up thinking about truly blessed the 3 of us are. Three friends ending up with 5 HEALTHY children is nothing short of a miracle. Having them all turn out beautiful is just a bonus. And being able to get them together, even if it's only once a year for an hour, is something we should all be thankful for. Actually if they're anything like their mamas, it might be a good thing we live so far apart so they won't all go to HS together ;)
Happy Birthday Ava & Ailey!!!!! Thanks for inviting us to your party!
The phrase "time flies when you're having fun" pops into my head hourly whenever I visit Lindsey and this visit was no exception. By the time we got home from the party, it seemed like the day was already over. We attempted a community bath and for about 5 seconds, it was welcomed...
I was so shocked when Jase started bawling! Not sure if it was being in their with someone else or just a different tub, but he was NOT having any of this business! Quickest bath ever. Bedtime was calling our name!
Back in Pontiac, everyone was attending a funeral service for a hs
classmate of our's. Officer Casey Kohlmeier and his K-9 Draco were hit by a drunk driver while on duty 10-30-2013.
All pictures are from the FB page honoring Casey & Draco
Between fb posts and the news sites, we were able to keep up with a lot of the coverage and the services seemed to be amazing. Officers, friends, and family from all over came to honor Casey and Draco at the HS in Pontiac as there was no where else big enough to house everyone wanting to pay their respects.
The videos of the procession of cars bringing their bodies back to Pontiac from the hospital in Bloomington were unbelievable. An endless row of headlights going down the interstate in the dark. And the ones of the procession for his funeral were nothing less.
On the plane to Denver, the woman (from Peoria) who sat next to me asked me if I had heard about the officer and his dog who died in the accident near Pontiac when I told her where I was from. She said she had heard he was such a great person and devoted his life to his job and thought we needed more people like him. Well said.
Thank you for your service Officers Kohlmeier & Draco. Your names will carry on with honor.
11-3-2013 - When I booked my flight to Denver, I did not realize we would be there during daylight savings time. Normally, an hour wouldn't really be that big of a deal, but CO is already an hour ahead of IL so come Sunday am, we were now 2 hours ahead of schedule. Jase still wasn't really adjusted to the hour time change or altitude so when I went to bed Saturday night, I brought him upstairs with me to sleep in a pack-n-play in my room in case he woke up early. Thank goodness I did. While I don't have a problem getting extra sleep from the time change, Jase apparently does. He was up at 4:45 am raring to go. So glad he still takes a nap about an hour after he gets up...I would have been a wreck had he not gone back to bed at 6am and took a 2 hour nap. Thanks buddy :)
Impossible to get a picture of grabby hands next to Leo. We are not ready for siblings.
I love this sequence of photos
Jack loves to wrestle
Just had to stop to check on Baby Brother...
and daddy...
After everyone had an afternoon nap,
all 6 of us ventured to the aquarium...Jack was an excellent guide :) Special thanks to Lindsey for taking all the great pictures you're about to see. Unfortunately that means she isn't in any of them #mommyproblems
The submarine you can see in this picture is a camera that you can control from a remote off to the right of the tank. Justin was controlling it and could see us on the screen below...I probably got a bigger kick out of it than the kids.
Lindsey did a great job of catching the few and far between moments when Jase wasn't clutching to my arm and crying at the fish :/ Don't worry...she got some good ones of those moments too.
Fish face!
The snakes were not as terrifying I guess...
Totally worth the tears to get him with the big grouper...sorry buddy
Love this one
This just makes me laugh...
In his defense, he was super tired our entire trip not only because it's a big change period but probably because of the altitude so we can cut him a little slack for losing it.
The wind tunnel - this pic is nothing like seeing it in person. Their expressions were priceless!
The sting ray tank was a huge surprise for me. I've seen sting rays before, but these weren't normal sting rays. When you leaned over to feed them, some of them would literally climb up the wall of the tank and flap their...fins?...at you for fish. The feisty ones would do it even if you didn't have your hand in the water as if they were begging for food like a dog. I couldn't believe how far out of the water they got and how much water they threw over the side of the tank.
Thanks for sharing one of your favorite places with us Jack <3
11-4-2013 - Getting ready and a quick morning nap pretty much took up our last day in Denver.
Man that was fast! I started out really nervous to take Jase on his first plane right, but I'm pretty dang proud of myself for flying with a 9 mo old on my own!
I hope Jack, Jase, and Leo get to continue making memories together for a VERY long time!
Getting serious over here! Hugs and kisses for Jase :)
Over here Leo!!!
And then the wrestle moves came out...head slam?!?!?
"Sitting around being moms" with my best friend and her family was exactly the kind of weekend I needed. Thanks Justin, Lindsey, Jack, and Leo for having Jase and me...we can't wait to come back!!!
Bye Bye Denver!
11-5-2013 - As I mentioned a couple days ago, I had decided to wait until after our trip to wean out any more pumping sessions. The first night back, I cut out the one before bed. It was such a great feeling to decide I wanted to go to bed and just...go to bed! Mornings for the rest of the week were pretty rough. I was so engorged even after pumping in the morning that my boobs actually felt bruised underneath. I questioned my decision all week thinking I should have just quit cold turkey so I didn't have to go through this pain each time I cut back. Pumping at lunch helped a little, but nursing Jase at night is what got me through. By the end of the week, I was feeling a lot better and excited for my first week of not having to pump on my lunch break. To be continued...
Video: Jase learned to clap! We were watching The Voice and during one of the songs he just started clapping. You can tell by the end of the video, he's very proud of himself!
11-7-2013 - And we'll end the week with a picture representing my excellent parenting skills...
Hope you didn't strain your eyes starring at the computer screen for so long! We had a big week!
-Nicole
