51 Weeks - assisted walking/meeting Kannon/1yr pics

1-24-2014 - Kiel & I took the day off to travel to Mascoutah to meet baby Kannon and Bethalto to get Jase's 1 year pictures taken and hang with his future bride to be.  I am SO glad we did as we were able to catch this exciting moment on video before we left...

Unfortunately, when we arrived at the Shemwell's, I discovered Jase had a fever...dun dun dun!  How horrible is it to bring a sick kid into a home with a 7 week old?  I was 99% sure it was teeth as usual, but I restrained from getting pictures of the boys together and didn't kiss on Mr. K like I wanted.  Guess we'll be making another trip to make up for that :)

So glad we got to meet you baby boy!  Keep those cheeks chubby and that head bald til next time!!!

We headed to Bethalto to meet up with DeVries fam for dinner and to get settled in for the night.  I had given Jase a couple doses of Motrin so his fever was down and he seemed to be acting fine...just to be on the safe side, I was prepared to keep him from kissing Reagan if necessary ;-) 

1-25-2014 - He slept pretty good that night, but woke up warm again.  I checked his mouth and discovered a white spot where a tooth looked to be working it's way through :-( 

A little breakfast with Reagan <3

 We started pictures after his morning nap but my ham-for-the-camera-baby was full of nothing but blank stares and little fits of crying pretty much the entire shoot.  I'm sure Suzy worked her magic and got a few good ones of him regardless of his mood.  I can't wait to see them!

1-27-2014 - 50 mph winds kept Daddy overnight.  Jase is really starting to become aware of when Kiel is gone.  I can tell he's looking for him at bedtime and in the morning when he wakes up...melts my heart.

1-28-2014 - His favorite spot (aside from the bathroom, why is that?)

Where's Jase?  hahaha

Playing with daddy (video)

 

1-29-2014 - Our first battle wound!!  haha it's hardly noticeable.  Just a little bump from falling out of a chair at daycare.  I'm sure one day I will look back at this and wish bruises were still this small.

-Nicole

50 Weeks - Snow Baby/Standing

Another week of slacking...only one day of pictures :-/

1-18-2014 - I woke up to someone who figured out how to stand up in his crib...YIKES!

The last couple of times it has snowed Jase was under the weather so we hadn't taken him out to play in it.  Today we finally got the chance and he was SO excited!

I see a lot of this look in my future

 Ya, he doesn't have boots on...don't judge us.

We were outside for less than 10 min...we covered a lot of ground :)

We had some visitors later in the day...

Perfecting her multi-tasking skills...she'll make such a good babysitter lol

 

Yep...that seems about right :)

Oh and btw....I can stand up now (video)

1-21-2014 - Got a text from the sitter this morning asking if Kiel had put Jase's shoes on because they were on the wrong feet.  hahahaha sorry buddy!  Guess I was in a bit of a hurry today! #mommyfail

-Nicole

49 Weeks - shortest post ever

There was not one single picture on my camera this week and only 2 on my phone...what the?

1-12-14

1-14-14

1-15-2014 - Good thing I got this awesome video to make up for my slacking...

Jase is getting SO good at mimicking us!  I think we would have sat and tried to get him to repeat our actions all night had he not gotten tired.  Just love him....

I will aim higher next week.

-Nicole

48 Weeks - Snow & lots of videos

This should have posted last Friday, but apparently I haven't figured out how to schedule a post...

Was so excited to do this weeks post, I forgot a video from last week.  Jase loves to listen to music on Kiel's phone.  He will come crawling from wherever he is when he hears this song and will sit and hold the phone like a boom box when the song changes...always dancing of course!

1-3-2014 - Impromtu dinner date with Grandpa & Cindy <3

1-4-2014 - Nosey baby...

What?  You don't use pears for hair gel?

1-5-2014 - Snowmaggedon 2014 has arrived!!!  Now begins a 4 day house arrest for the Jman.

Glued to the window watching daddy clear off the driveway.

1-6-2014 - I got a call Sunday night from my boss telling me to stay home on Monday because of the weather.  Jase's sitter lives in the country so we all figured it would be pointless for me to try and take Jase there.  Greatly appreciated since it was -30 degrees with the windchill.  Snowday for Jase & Mommy!!  Kiel went into work and ended up working all night so Grandma Pam came over in the afternoon to hang with Jase while I ran a couple errands.  There was NO ONE out so I took advantage of being able to stop in the middle of the road for some pictures...

Giant snowpile from plowing the roads around the square downtown

Snow dogs around the sun just outside of town

Jase's house

Jase loves all of the animal books we have and has been making the "woof woof" sound every morning at the sitter's dog for awhile now.  I was in the kitchen cleaning up from breakfast this morning and heard him "woof woof" in the living room.  I came around the corner to see Pluto from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the screen.  Hilarious.  During bath time he told me what the duck says (video)...sounds more like calling turkeys according to Kiel.

1-7-2014 -  Another day of ridiculously cold weather so Kiel took one for the team after working all night and gave up sleeping so Jase didn't have to venture outside one more day.

All of the sudden, Jase is showing a little (very little, but still a little) interest in walking.  He loves to stand up, but Sunday was the first time he willingly took a step while assisted and tonight before bed, we got it on video!

1-8-2014 - Seriously...where did my baby go?  He takes up more than my entire lap!

It seems like he learns something new everyday and every time I turn around he's grown another inch and gained another lb without me noticing...it's all happening so fast.  I find myself wondering how much of this stage I will forget and when he's 30 will I be able to remember how it felt when I held him and he wrapped his little legs around my side.  I have been wishing away weeks and months my entire life waiting for a school break or a sunny vacation and now I would give my right leg to slow time down.  I feel so unprepared for how emotionally attached I am to this little man.  He makes me smile every single day :)

-Nicole

47 Weeks - 11 months

January 1, 2014

12-27-2013 - Despicable Me 2 is not just for kids..

12-29-2013 - Showing more & more independence everyday...he's really been good about playing in the living room by himself when I'm in the kitchen. 

 I might have more fun sticking the letters to him than he does...

12-31-2013 - We spent NYE at The Brummel's playing yahtzee and eating popcorn & milkshakes YUM!  All the adults made it to midnight, but you can bet we were in bed not long after.

I think 2013 was officially the fastest year of my life.  Fastest and bestest :)

Happy New Years!!!

1-1-2014 - I was so excited to see what 2014 had in store for us until I realized my baby turns a month older the very first day.  11 months old...this kid will be 1 in a month, which means I've been a mom for almost an entire year.  Holy.   Crap.

This is the first time he's cried when I put him in the rocker to get pictures.  I must have been projecting my feelings about his age...it lasted for about 2 seconds.  Who's baby is that in the 1 month picture?!?!?!

Our sticker pictures usually take about 5 minutes and consist of me making funny faces while Jase humors me by smiling and looking cute.  This month was a little different.  Kid is no longer content just sitting in the rocker.

He was up, he was down, he fell out of the chair, turned his back to me, and spent a good 2-3 min trying to rip the 11 mo sticker off.  We have really been practicing the word "no" lately and for the most part, Jase either finds something else to play with or just laughs and gives me a huge grin when I say it to him.  If it's something he really wants like the remote or to touch the stove, he will actually break out the bottom lip and force himself to cry.  I'm in trouble...

No well check until February so no official stats.  According to our scale at home, monster man is around 23 lbs.  He's still in 18 mo or bigger clothes and transitioning into size 4 diapers...yikes.  In the last week, 2 new teeth have popped through, bumping the total up to 4 and bringing with them clingyness and low grade fevers :(  I am still struggling with knowing what to do when he wakes up with a fever.  Thankfully, I have a very experienced, calm sitter and lots of other mom advice readily available.
 
As far as sleep goes, I'm happy to report we still have an excellent sleeper.  Seems like he's making it to 7pm more frequently lately, but we have still had some 6:30 nights.  Bath is usually between 6 & 6:30 with a 6oz bottle after and then we rock and sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".  Sometimes he just wants to lay down so I don't get to rock him.  Other nights, he's out like a light before I even finish the song, but most of the time I put him in bed awake and he moans himself to sleep.  Have I mentioned the moaning?  Since day one, Jase has been a noisy sleeper which is probably why I moved him to his own room so quickly.  It must be a comfort thing because he does it when he's tired until he falls asleep.  He also does it a lot when he's eating.  It's pretty entertaining and quite a topic of discussion.  I'm pretty sure it's just because he loves my cooking so much :)     

He's still accepting any and all food given to him at any time of the day, by anyone.  Waffles have been a big hit lately and judging by the look of his burp rags when he comes home from daycare, he has been eating a lot of spaghetti lol  But our favorite development, by far, is Jase's love for cookies.  I started buying those Gerber Arrowroot cookies (which are actually very tasty) and offering one to him after lunch and/or dinner if he ate the majority of his food.  Just mentioning "cookie" puts a huge smile on his face and it's completely obvious he would say thank you if he could talk. 

I no longer have the element of surprise on my side as Jase definitely has our daily routine figured out.  If that cup of milk isn't ready when he wakes up, you can bet you'll be seeing some crocodile tears.  If he sees you get a bottle out of the fridge, don't even think about warming it up unless you are prepared for some seriously hurt feelings.  And forget asking him to come to you if you have food ready for him.  He may not be able to "throw" himself on the ground, but I've seen him act like a turtle on it's back until you bring his bottle to him or him to his high chair.  Oy.

Another thing Jase is getting the hang of is sign language.  I am no expert on it, but I know a few of the easy ones and try to do them as much as possible.  "More" "all done" (his hands are ALWAYS moving so this one could just be a coincidence) "fan" and of course "cookie" are about as far as we've gotten, but he uses all of them pretty regularly.  






Since I am a week behind in posting, I am tempted to write about all of Jase's new achievements, but most of them didn't happen until 48 weeks so stay tuned for some cute videos!

-Nicole