2009, 2010 and other ramblings...

There's just something about little boys in overalls. Even when they are sleepy :) These overalls are a little too small for Jake (they are supposed to be pants, not shorts!) and his socks are always falling off unless we pull them way up, but I love this photo regardless! He looks like such a big boy!

Jakey seems to be feeling much better and is halfway through his 10 days of stronger antibiotics, so hopefully this time his ear infection will go away completely!!! He is able to sit in his Bumbo chair now for longer periods of time, and in the last couple of days has decided that his favorite activity (while playing) is to shriek/squeal as loud as he can! He thinks its hilarious, and well, so do we (for now!) You can't help but laugh when he sounds like he is trying to contact some dolphins or imitate a pterodactyl! We will have to try and catch this on video to give your eardrums the full effect...

Guess who was so jealous of my blog, he had to start his own? Joe. He decided that he wants to lose 30 lbs. before he turns 30 (in November 2010) and thought that having a blog would make him accountable for this weight loss. I think his blog is just an excuse to vent about gambling (bad beats, breaking even, etc.), sports (which fantasy football player "F"ed his team in the "A" this week and/or why the Clippers are or are not going to make the playoffs this year, etc. etc.), and a combination of the two. He has only one entry so far, but it is pretty entertaining, so check it out, and leave a comment. Tell him I sent you...I am such a dork that I constantly pimp out other people's blogs :)

http://10-8suited.blogspot.com/

Speaking of New Year's resolutions, I have a few that I need to be accountable for as well:

1) I resolve to not eat anything that has been deep* fried for all of 2010. Those that know me well know this will be really hard for 2 main reasons: a) I LOVE french fries! and b) I LOVE Mexican food. And what comes with Mexican food? The dreaded basket/bag of tortilla chips. I can eat several baskets of chips and salsa by myself (whether pregnant or not), so this is going to be a challenge. I usually swear off deep fried foods for lent which is 46 days long, and I can barely survive that, so 365 days is going to be torture. But...I need to lose more of this pregnancy weight, and this goal seems somewhat realistic to me. I know I cannot give up chocolate or carbs, but giving up deep fried foods just might work! Between that, lifting the heavy baby and more walks with the stroller, the pounds should just about melt away. Or so I'm hoping.

*Refried beans and fried rice do not count!

2) I resolve to spend more quality time with Jake. At this point, something's gotta give. During the week I am getting up an hour earlier than normal (6am) in order to get Jake ready and over to the baby-sitter's house before I have to be at work. Then I work all day until 5pm, and come home too exhausted to enjoy spending time with my baby. The weekends are much better, but I hate feeling like a part-time mommy. I need to try to figure out something different for my emotional well-being. If mommy ain't happy, ain't nobody happy, right?

3) I resolve to not sweat the small stuff. I have become much better about this in the last few years, but I am a worrier by nature (thanks mom!) There are things I should be worrying about of course, but the silly small things I need to just let go. I am a fan of the phrases "this too shall pass" and "let go and let God" and (my mom's fave) "it is what it is." These need to become my daily mantra when I catch myself starting to worry about the "what ifs". Jake has already helped teach me how to be more flexible! Babies are unpredictable and Jake is no exception (just look at how he decided to make his entrance into the world!)

I apologize in advance if this sounds too much like a Christmas card letter, but I think this year is worth a reflection...2009 has been an emotional rollercoaster for us! It started out with great news (that I was expecting a baby!) then quickly took a turn for the worse with crazy family drama that came out of left field (let's just say only 1 of Jake's grandpas chooses to be a part of our life - thank God for my dad or Jakey would be grandfather-less). The spring and summer were full of good things (friends having babies, baby showers, pregnancy news, etc.) and we welcomed our adorable little bundle in September which was at the same time traumatic (due to his "obstetric emergency" of a birth) and wonderful (that he arrived in perfect condition despite this emergency!) The last 3 months of the year flew by, and it was so fun to celebrate Jake's first Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas! With the last few weeks of the year came both good news (the births of two more friends' babies!) and bad news (several people we know passed away) and we end the year with Jakey getting over his first illness, Joe still sick, and me finally feeling better. I KNOW 2010 is going to be a much better, healthier, less stressful and happier year for all of us! We are looking forward to experiencing the rest of Jakey's first year, and all of the exciting "firsts" that come with it! We are also looking forward to more showers and babies (Jackie is due in February with Baby Kyra, Shaunna in April with Baby Natasha and Kelly in June with Baby #3 - we don't know the gender yet but I'm predicting a 3rd boy for her!!!)

I wish all of you and yours a very HAPPY NEW YEAR and a fun (but safe) New Year's Eve! On New Year's Eve last year I was surrounded by pregnant girls and drinking way too much champagne and Bud Light with lime (classy, I know!) because I was bummed that I was not one of the pregnant girls -- even though we had decided not to start "trying" until the summer, I was already getting impatient! We conceived 3 days later (sorry if TMI) and what a wonderful shock and surprise that was! What a difference a year makes...

our less merry (rather scary) Christmas

By the looks of these photos (almost all of them from Christmas Eve), Jakey had a pretty good first Christmas. Well up until around 8pm on Christmas Eve he did. Then he started SCREAMING just like he did when he first came down with his ear infection. He had stopped his 10 day stretch of antibiotics on Tuesday, and he seemed to be back to normal until then. We left my parents house and came home and gave him some Tylenol, which worked for a little while. We called the pediatrician and assuming it was still his ear infection, they prescribed him a stronger antibiotic which we were to start the next day (Christmas). It being Christmas Eve, the only place we could find to fill the prescription was a 24 hour CVS in Ventura, which Joe said was packed with last minute shoppers at 10pm on Christmas Eve! We tried to give Jake some more Tylenol at around midnight, but it came right back up along with his last bottle all over his Christmas PJs (we think he threw up because he choked on the Tylenol dropper, not because he was nauseous). We didn't want to give him more Tylenol without consulting a doctor though, and the after hours nurse service couldn't get back to us for 2 hours!!!

So...when he wouldn't stop screaming and his fever got worse, we decided to make a trip to the ER. It was weird because the last time we were there, I was in labor (they make you use the ER entrance after 11pm)...and now a little over 3 months later I was here again, this time for my sick baby. As any other parent can probably attest to, there is nothing worse than hearing your baby crying in pain, and not being able to do anything about it. The ER waiting room seemed relatively empty when we got there, but they had no beds available. So we waited, and waited. Finally, the doctor checked him out and said "his ears look red, but that could be from the excessive crying." He told us that the antibiotics should have knocked out the infection already, so he was going to contact Jake's pediatrician to see if she would recommend an X-ray or bloodwork to see if it was a bacterial infection. Then we finally got taken to a room (which didn't really matter anyway because there are no cribs in the ER so we had to either hold him or lay him on the bed and keep our hands on him so he wouldn't roll away) where they gave Jake a smaller dose of Tylenol (in case some of it was still in his system) and some Pedialyte (because he had thrown up his last bottle). The Tylenol seemed to help for a while...and then the screaming started again. We waited, and waited, and waited. I watched the clock tick by as it became 2:30am, then 3am. And what were we waiting for? For the ER doctor to tell us that he had spoken with the on call pediatrician and she recommended starting the stronger antibiotics, but no need for an X-ray because "the stronger antibiotic should knock out whatever he has." Good news. But news that we waited entirely too long to hear. We got home around 4:30am on Christmas and slept on the couch while Jake slept in his carseat on the floor next to us. He was so tired from screaming and being up all night that he actually slept until 6:45am or so, before he woke up crying and we had to give him more formula and Tylenol. After that we were able to get a few more hours of sleep, before we "did Christmas" and then I had to start cooking, so that our family had something to eat when they came over for Christmas dinner later that day! Luckily, Jake seemed to be feeling better as the day wore on, and he took several long naps (probably a combination of lack of sleep, Tylenol and stronger medicine), but Joe and I were exhausted, and I wasn't feeling well (I had started getting a cold on the 23rd and by Christmas Day it was worse). Not the "Baby's First Christmas" we had imagined, but we are glad it's over and that Jake won't remember it!

We ended up making the best of it, and had a good time with our family (my parents and Nana, and Joe's brother) in spite of everything. Jakey got some adorable clothes and fun toys for Christmas that he will appreciate more when he is feeling better, and we are thankful that he is doing much better now than that scary night in the ER. The ER is a sad place to be on Christmas! We are still glad that we made the decision to take him there even though we received very little medical care. It made us feel better knowing that a doctor had examined him (just in case it was something worse than we thought), and we could give him the stronger antibiotics with more confidence. Jake has an appointment with his regular pediatrician on Monday, so hopefully we will know more then. His fever and pain seem to be gone now, but he has been getting more congested and is coming down with a little cough, so hopefully we can get to the root of the problem. Could still be symptoms from his cold (that we thought he was rid of) or could be something else. Let's hope that whatever it is, he recovers quickly and fully without any more relapses!!! All I want for New Year's is for Jake to feel completely back to normal! Poor little guy...

Hope you all had a MUCH better Christmas than we did! I know our Christmas will be A LOT better next year. And we will have quite the story to tell Jakey about his first Christmas when he gets older!

Debbie Downer signing off...

3 months old, the Bumbo, and Charlie Brown

just chillin' in the Bumbo

Ole!

pay no attention to mommy's awesome pajamas :)

one more Bumbo shot

double fistin' after bath time!

Jakey turned 3 months old yesterday and we cannot believe how fast his first few months flew by!!! With each day comes new adventures - some good, some poopy, and mostly all adorable and/or hilarious! We introduced Jake to his Bumbo chair last week and he seems to already have the hang of the "just chillin'" pose! He has pretty good head control, although his head is not completely stable yet, so he can only sit in the Bumbo for a little while before he starts leaning :) Pretty soon though, he should be able to hang out in it for a long time! I have LOVED the Bumbo before Jakey was even born and I'm not quite sure why. I like the fact that it is a chair made for such young babies, and that they can sit up and play or eat in it...but I think the main part of why like it so much is that I just like saying the word Bumbo! It's amazing how quickly your vocabulary changes when you have a baby. Before Jake, I'm not sure I ever uttered the words Bumbo, Boppy or Binky (let alone used them all in one day or, better yet, all in one sentence!)

As you can see from the pictures, Jake is a) moving his arms and legs like crazy (check out the blurry arms!) and b) losing his hair. The former is very amusing, especially when he is on his play mat and it looks like he is practicing his mad swimming skills! The latter makes me sad, because even though everyone told me he would lose his newborn hair, I was convinced that he would not. I think babies with hair are just so much cuter because they look more like a little person and less like an old man (no offense to any baldies out there!) I knew that Jake would come out with a lot of hair, and boy, was I right! He came out with beautiful dark locks that were so long already (especially in the back - okay, so he kind of had a mullet, but it was the most adorable mullet I've ever seen!) Hell, he even had sideburns! I though there was no way he would lose his hair - thought his Italian genes would repel any and all hair loss (after all, I spend much of my time trying to get rid of my unwanted hair thanks to those same genes!) But alas, the newborn hair was not meant to stay. I know it is normal, and has to do with the hormone levels, blah, blah, blah, but I just want my cutie pie to get his hair back! Don't get me wrong, I still think he is adorable, but you can't really style a faux hawk when you only have three hairs to work with, people! I can't wait until it grows back, especially so that my dad will stop calling Jake Charlie Brown...

That's how Jake rolls!

Joe finally caught Jake rolling over on video last night, just as we were about to leave for a Christmas party! His first roll over was 2 weeks ago, and every time we put him on his tummy now, he tries to roll over (but he isn't always successful!)

Unfortunately, Jake has been sick since last weekend with his first cold and ear infection. We knew something was wrong when was SCREAMING on and off for 7 hours last Saturday night! The doctor confirmed that it was an ear infection. Poor little guy! Luckily, he is feeling A LOT better now, and is almost done with his 10 day stretch of antibiotics. The doc said because Jakey is so young, he might continue to get ear infections every time he has a cold. Ear infections can be hereditary, Joe had a ton when he was little, and I had my fair share too, so poor Jakey might be prone to them :( I have talked to several people who told me that their kids had so many ear infections, that they had to get tubes implanted in their ears! Hopefully that won't happen to Jake...

On a happier note, I have more baby news to report! CONGRATS to our friends Tom & Renee, who welcomed their first baby into the world on Friday, December 18th. Baby Leila Danielle arrived at 9:23am weighing 9 lbs., 9 oz. and 23" long! NO C-SECTION either! Needless to say, Renee is my hero! And I thought Jake was big...

Tom & Renee recently started a blog, and they just posted some adorable newborn photos of Leila, so check it out:

http://babyleilasblog.blogspot.com

Jake turns 3 months old tomorrow (we can't believe it has gone by so fast!) so we will be posting updated photos of him this week. We can't wait to celebrate Jake's first Christmas later this week! Even though he doesn't really know what's going on, it will still be a very special day for us. I am watching White Christmas (my favorite Christmas movie!!!) as I type this and one of the songs from the movie has an extra special meaning for me this year. So I leave you with the lyrics as we should all be counting our blessings this time of year (and always):

Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep) ~written by Irving Berlin and performed by Bing Crosby~

When I'm worried and I can't sleep

I count my blessings instead of sheep

And I fall asleep counting my blessings

When my bankroll is getting small

I think of when I had none at all

And I fall asleep counting my blessings

I think about a nursery and I picture curly heads

And one by one I count them as they slumber in their beds

If you're worried and you can't sleep

Just count your blessings instead of sheep

And you'll fall asleep counting your blessings

mommy's little chatterbox!

Jakey is a TALKER (takes after his daddy!) Jake has "conversations" with us every day, but each time we try to capture this cuteness on video, he stops talking...this time we caught a mini "conversation" but he can continue on like this for a very long time when he is not being camera shy! We're sure that he knows exactly what he is saying to us and is frustrated that we cannot understand him! He seems to be happy when we talk right back to him though as if we understand every word! One day in the not so distant future, his jibberish will become real words & phrases, and we'll probably be begging him to stop talking so much! But for now, we can't get enough of our daily "talks"....

On another happy note, Jakey rolled over from tummy to back for the first time on Sunday! We have been trying to capture this milestone on video too, but so far he hasn't cooperated! He has since rolled over a few more times, and he always seems just as impressed with himself as we are!

In other baby news...A BIG CONGRATS to my friend Jenny who gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Ethan Murphy last Friday, December 4th! He is just adorable, and we can't wait to meet him!!! You can check out his cuteness on her blog:

http://jenncomm.blogspot.com

We are looking forward to Jakey's first Christmas, and can't believe he will be 3 months old in just 10 days! Time flies!!! We decided he is too young to sit on Santa's lap this year, so we are saving that first for next December when he will be able to sit up on his own and hopefully the fear of contracting H1N1 will have subsided (or at least Jakey will be eligible for a vaccine by then!) For now, he is content with looking at the lights on our Christmas trees, wearing his Christmas pajamas, and listening to us read him a different Christmas book before bed each night!

We are absolutely in LOVE with our little boy, and can't believe what a good baby he is! Such a good sleeper and eater, and hardly ever fussy! We have a feeling that our next baby (and no, we are not having another one any time soon!) will not be so easy-going, and that we'll be in for it! :)

Thanksgiving weekend: the good, the slap, and the nanny-from-hell

our little turkey!

my Uncle and cousins meeting Jakey for the first time!

SLAPSGIVING...

the location (isn't the park near our house pretty?)

tip off

action shots

Ref #1

the commissioner/videographer

the spectators

Ref #2

Joey: the winner!

my turkey cupcakes that no one ate because they were too full :(

Joe's revenge!

Aunt Deb feeding her Great Nephew!

Jake's Thanksgiving attire

the fam just chillin'

the table before the feast

"Gruncle" Tony making Jakey laugh

Jake's first trip to the Christmas tree lot!

Jakey & Daddy

Joe's birthday dinner:

Dana & Brody trying to steal Baby Gavin?!

Bad Girls

Janice & Erik aka "the VHs" (don't ask!)

Jackie & Geoff (and Kyra too!)

Mike & Jenny

my 2 favorite guys!

Thanksgiving weekend started out great! My Aunt, Uncle & cousins drove down from NorCal and they got to meet Jake for the first time!! It was so cute to see my cousins holding Baby Jake :) Jakey looked so tiny next to them and "Gruncle" (Great Uncle) Tony!

Slapsgiving: For those of you that watch "How I Met Your Mother", this will make more sense. I don't watch it, but my cousins do. They got the idea from the show to have their own version of Slapsgiving. Joey & John decided to play basketball (half court, first to 21 wins) with Joe and my dad as refs, and their brother Tom as the commissioner...the winner would be able to slap the loser once before sundown. Didn't make sense to me either, but the b-ball game was very entertaining! Joey won, and got his slap in (kind of) right before Thanksgiving dinner was served. They were in the other room though, so there are different variations as to how the slap actually went down :) Makes for interesting Turkey Day conversation though...

Also, Joe had to seek revenge on Uncle T for buying Jake a Lakers Jersey (and me taking a picture of him in it). Joe forced Joey and John to dress up in Clippers gear and took pictures to show Uncle Tony. Uncle T threatened to take away their college fund for this betrayal! :)

Joe had to work all day Friday, and Friday night we went to the high school football playoff game while my parents watched Jake. Joe worked on Saturday, and then Saturday night we went out to dinner with friends for Joe's birthday (his birthday was actually this Monday). We had a great time and Jake even had a friend (Gavin) to hang out with at dinner!

We get home from dinner Saturday night and there is a "Dear John" letter on the kitchen counter from our LIVE-IN nanny. The bitch moved out WHILE WE WERE AT DINNER, giving us NO NOTICE whatsoever, and blaming it on unexpected medical bills!!! Can you believe her?!?!??! "The key is in the mailbox, the room is cleaned out, and the carseat is in the room" blah, blah, blah...(she didn't even mention the tampons or blue cheese dressing she left behind!) I cannot tell you how upset and frustrated we were. I had a big glass of wine, and Joe burned her leftover salad in the firepit. We deal with anger in different ways, I guess :) We were not thrilled with her to begin with (she seemed to spend more time texting than entertaining the baby), and we had figured out that she was planning to leave soon (she was stupid enough to leave a piece of paper with room for rent info on our coffee table), BUT STILL. We expected notice. What pisses me off even more (besides the fact that she lived at our house rent free for 6 weeks before she even started working!) is that she hadn't even worked a full week yet, and we had paid her for 2 full weeks even though she barely worked 6 days!!! And, she had every opportunity to tell us to our faces that she was leaving - including right before we left for dinner - but she chose the coward's way out. What could we expect from a spoiled 19-year-old girl though, right? Her experience and references made us think she was reliable and trustworthy, but I guess we should have known better than to trust a teenager with our baby...

So... we spent Sunday trying to figure out what to do with Jake on Monday. Joe ended up working from home. I called one of my clients on Monday who is a personal friend of one of my friends at work. She does child care out of her home and specializes in infants. She only watches 4 infants at a time, has 22 years experience, and the best part is, she lives right around the corner from my work. We met with her on Monday night, and started dropping Jake off on Tuesday. Tuesday was really hard on me - I cried from her house to my work and then some. But today was a little easier. I know he is in way better hands than he was with the nanny from hell! I just wish he was in MY hands. The day care thing is only temporary though until we figure out what to do. We still have a bad taste in our mouth from the nanny situation, so we're not sure if we want to go down that road again...wish us luck on the child care front! We need it!

Despite the nanny debacle, Jake is thriving! He had his 2 month check up (and shots) last Monday and he is a BIG boy! He grew 2 inches taller from his last appt. and is in the 95th percentile for height! He also gained 2 1/2 lbs. and is now 12 lbs., 9 oz. He continues to be a great sleeper and is now on the 10pm-7am sleep schedule. Gotta love that! He is such a good baby and we realize how lucky we are (and that we might not be so lucky with the next one!) We just love our little man to pieces and can't believe he is already 10 weeks old! Time flies! He changes practically every day and is such a talker - he babbles constantly! We are looking forward to his first Christmas and can't wait to see what he does next...