Jacob's First Halloween

Well, it didn't go exactly as planned, but Jacob's first Halloween is in the books! We got a head start yesterday with the photo session I had been planning, with the "Jacob-sized pumpkin" and our jack o' lantern. Good thing I did this in the morning, because the clothes were out of commission by the afternoon, thanks to Jacob's first blowout in a while...thankfully it was at daycare, and thankfully Mommy's stain removal worked well...so hopefully any future siblings can enjoy this shirt as well...

He wore his Halloween outfit yesterday because today was "Ira Sleeps Over" Day at day care. I don't know if it was an effort to get everyone off the hook of "keeping up with the Joneses' Halloween costumes" or what, but everyone was supposed to dress in their PJs today for a special day with the book "Ira Sleeps Over". I know it was around when I was a kid but I can't for the life of me remember it. Anyway, Jacob just wore a sleep 'n' play because I wasn't sure how he'd do in his sleep sack all day. Today was also his last day in the little infant room. Next week he moves up with the bigger kids. He may start learning all sorts of new things now that he'll be with babies that can sit up, crawl, eat solid food, and whatever else. He's been with some of these kids before, when he was the little guy in the room. They've all moved up and now he gets to join them. It was weird saying goodbye to his teacher this morning...like, "Thanks for everything!" What else do you say? He should still have the same caretaker in the late afternoons, so that's good...they seem to get along well and I like talking to her, too. She's due with her first baby in January, so she won't be around for that much longer, but I'll be happy if she's still with Jacob to help him transition in for now. Hard to believe we'll be going to a different room on Monday!

Tonight we went to the Amerks game. It was either stay home and hide in the dark, stay home and try to give out candy despite nursing every couple hours, or go to the game and let Jacob wear his costume for a bit. The game wasn't very well attended (duh, it's halloween) and Jacob didn't exactly love his costume. I think part of the problem was that it was so warm today...which was awesome...but not so awesome when your costume is thick and furry. We still managed to walk around for a bit and say hi to Daddy, but we didn't really get around to trick-or-treating in the suites or anything. We did get a picture, though:

We had to unzip it a bit to keep him cool. You can't see it in the picture, but the costume has a cute little stinger on the butt...so sweet. It was a long day for Jacob but he did pretty well. Now we're home and he's in bed...and I'm not far behind! Happy Halloween!

Serious stuff...but don't miss the Halloween treats at the end...

I've been blogging now for about 10 months...10 months yesterday, actually, now that I look at it. By the time I started blogging we were past the first trimester and were slowly but surely letting the cat out of the bag as we found appropriate. A year ago right now Jacob already existed but we wouldn't know it for a couple more weeks. Amazing how times have changed! It's been a great experience to document all of this for the past ten months, and it will be something fun to look back on when Jacob's older and we're seasoned parents...or when we do it all again in a couple years!

Unfortunately, over the life of this blog I've also managed to rub some people the wrong way with the things I've written. Both sides of the family have expressed concern at various times. Blogs are dangerous, I guess. You put yourself out there for all the world to see, knowing full well that the written word doesn't always capture the full picture. If there's anything I've learned in the digital age, it's that e-mails and instant messages (and now blog posts) don't have facial expressions or intonation to fully convey what you're saying...and hence things get taken the wrong way when someone reads too far into it or sees it from a different angle. Obviously it has never been my intention to anger people. That's the last thing I want to do...I hate conflict. No matter how many times I re-read the inflammatory content, I know the context in which I wrote it and know it wasn't meant in a hurtful way. Can I see how it would be taken the wrong way? Maybe, if you choose to believe I'd purposely be hurtful. Perhaps I could have chosen my words better at times, or left out certain things altogether to minimize the risk of something being taken the wrong way, but I don't feel anything I have written has been hurtful when taken at face value within the context meant for it. For the mere fact that I have written things that could be taken the wrong way, I apologize to anyone affected by it. However, I must admit I am hurt that people I care about would think that I had any malicious intent in writing the things I did. If I really thought they were going to be hurtful, why would I write them? This blog is supposed to be a happy thing, about the greatest thing ever to happen to me/us--Jacob.

Obviously something sparked this post, but I'm not going to get into details. It's been an upsetting last day or so as a result, because family is really important to both of us. Were it not, we probably wouldn't live where we do...we probably would have gone somewhere else where Craig's sports career could be more financially rewarding. We might also have been less likely to have kids. Just a few years ago we were both working in sports, with little time for anything else. Part of the motivation in me moving to a different job was so that one of us had a normal, more kid-friendly schedule. I think the fact that we both grew up in awesome, supportive families was a big factor in even wanting to have kids...both to bring someone else into that circle and also build our own life as a family and enjoy that stuff all over again. And that's why it's hard when something I write gets taken the wrong way. The last thing I want to do is upset the family members that have made our lives so rich.

I can apologize for writing something that could be taken the wrong way, but I still can't control what people think or how they react, so that leaves future blog posts just as vulnerable. Where does this leave the blog? Honestly, I can't bring myself to end it. I know that the people who still read it enjoy it, and it's an easy way to keep people updated. I have enjoyed this journey and will continue to enjoy looking back on it as time goes along. I just think it would be a shame to stop. Obviously the photos are the big draw, so I guess I'm going to focus more on that, along with more straightforward posts whenever Jacob hits a milestone. Not that I won't have random posting like I've done in the past if the mood strikes, but I think that's going to be toned down a bit to minimize any future issues.

Anyway, as I said earlier, this blog is ultimately about Jacob. And I think we can all agree he's a pretty amazing little dude. As proof, allow me to present a couple pictures to end this post on a happy note:
Jacob's runner-up Halloween costume...a little kitty costume that my grandma made years ago. It didn't quite fit him in the legs, so it was a no-go. He looked cute, though! (Pardon my feet making an appearance...)

Jacob in his halloween shirt (courtesy of my boss...so sweet of her!) with his "Jacob-sized pumpkin", as I was calling it when we were looking for one like that. I'm hoping to do a more formal version of this later in the week when I have him in this outfit again (I need to get the halloween gear as much use as I can while I can, right?), but I did this one as a backup for now!

He made my morning...

I think Jacob knew he had to make up for his little freakout on Saturday night, because he gave me a little treat this morning. As I was getting him dressed, I tickled his torso, from his belly up to his armpits, which I actually do quite often--his belly is just irresistable :) But this morning he let out the best laugh! A real, from the belly, extended laugh...and he did it twice! Until now I've only gotten a little laugh here and there...where you couldn't really tell if it was a laugh or a cute baby noise that sounded like a laugh. But this was definitely a laugh...and it was absolutely adorable! It's been making me smile all day long. Of course, now I'm totally going to want him to do it all the time, and he's probably going to get sick of getting tickled...but it's a risk I'm willing to take!

Rough night

For the first time ever, Jacob kept us up half the night. We're not sure what happened. Obviously we were in a different setting (he was in his pack-n-play at Craig's parents' house) and it's been a while since he's slept away from home, but this was unprecedented. He had been fussing a bit during his last feeding, but that wasn't surprising since Jacob's four cousins were chasing each other all over the house. Day care noise must be one thing...four active kids must be another! We went upstairs to finish up and get him ready for bed, and he went to bed happy with no issues. He made some noise over the monitor, but no crying. After an hour or so I could tell he still wasn't asleep, and he started fussing a bit more. I went up to check on him, he calmed down, and I laid down for a bit just in case. Craig came up around 11:00 or 11:30, and pretty much from that time on, until about 2 or 3, we couldn't put Jacob down without him freaking out. He slept on Craig a couple times (good for Jacob, good for Craig, but scary for me), but besides that, he just wouldn't sleep. And he just never seemed to get tired. Even after crying for a while, when Craig and I were sitting there trying to figure out what to try next, he didn't slow down. I think finally around 2 or 3 he chilled out and fell asleep, but it was still not the most settled night after that. We didn't officially get out of bed until about 11. He did ok after that, until he started to get sleepy again while we were out watching the Bills game at the VFW Post (he's not used to Buffalo sports fans yet...not a fan of sudden noises!), and now he's taking a bit of a nap in his car seat while we relax a bit. Let's hope this was just a blip on the radar and not the beginning of a trend. Still, he needs to know how to sleep in his pack-n-play, so this could be a little scary...

Baby pictures

Sorry, not Jacob...yet. I will have some soon, I promise. We got our Jacob-sized pumpkin today that I had been wanting to get to pose him with, so I should have some cute stuff to share soon.

But tonight I finally got to see Craig's baby pictures, so I could see how similar he and Jacob looked. I'll admit, there were some pretty striking similarities. However, it also proves that there's got to be some of me in there somewhere, even if I can't always see it. I guess Jacob has my nose (Craig's was different) and my head shape (Jacob's is rounder than Craig's was). But some of the pictures did look remarkably similar. Funny how genetics work. I do hope Jacob avoids the awkward phase we both went through, but I think every kid goes through that in one way or another, from bad hair to bad teeth to bad clothes. Much of that can probably be blamed on the styles at the time. I'm still convinced that all those little boys running around with long hair right now will wonder what they (or their parents) were thinking about 10-15 years down the road. At least Jacob is starting out incredibly cute, so there's a good canvas to work with!

Have a great weekend!

Doctor's appointment

Remember when the doctor's appointments were all mine? Seems like an eternity ago now...I would swear I was never pregnant if it wasn't for Jacob's presence (although, the stork theory is still out there...but no...I remember the pain) and my belly that doesn't look like it used to. Anyway, today was Jacob's doctor's appointment--his four month well visit. Everything went well. He's up to 14 lbs. 7 oz. and 25 inches long...right at the 50th percentile for both. His head circumference wasn't exactly high on the charts, but I'm going to chalk that up to genetics since he's reaching his developmental milestones ok. The doctor didn't seem concerned, anyway. I had a long list of questions for the doctor, and we came home with two prescriptions and one other recommendation. He's going to stay on the Zantac for a bit longer, he's going to go on a Vitamin D supplement (standard for breastfed babies), and we need to get some cream for a dry patch on his face...poor kid got fair skin from both sides! She didn't seem concerned about his rolling over in bed--that if he's strong enough to do it, you can't stop him and he should be ok to sleep that way. Still scares the crap out of me. No idea why he likes it so much all of a sudden, though. Too many naps on daddy's chest, maybe? He had to get more immunizations today as well, which he of course screamed through. Poor thing. Probably didn't help he was hungry at the time so he was already fussy. He slept through the night but woke up at 6:15 this morning, which put his every-three-hour feeding right smack in the middle of his appointment. I knew it would happen. He survived, though, and fell asleep on the way to day care. I'm sure he was voraciously hungry by the time he woke up, though. I haven't gotten the full report yet because the boys are sleeping in the living room. Speaking of daycare, he'll be moving up to the next room early next month! Hard to believe he's the big boy in the little infant room now and an influx of new babies is pushing him up! Just when he was getting in good with that little Chloe ;-) Back to the older women, I guess! I'm hoping he'll still get to see some of his current caregivers, because they seem nice...especially the one that's there with him in the evening...though she'll be off on maternity leave soon enough herself.

Anyway, time to go make dinner. Just wanted to pass along the update!

Rolling Over

Why is it that whenever I try to get Jacob to roll over when we're playing, he won't, and when I don't want him to--when he's in his crib--he does? The second we put him in his crib, particularly when he's upset, he flips himself over. He did it a number of times last night, and it's making us nuts. It took some good sucks on a pacifier last night to get him to settle down (my absolute last resort--I figured it was worth a try when he tried sucking my face, then my fingers when I was checking him for teeth!), and even then the best we could get was him sleeping on his side. By 5am he was over a little further, and by 6:30 he was all the way over on his belly. As if the fear of SIDS wasn't enough when we were doing everything right, now it's going to make me crazy because Jacob just won't stay put and inevitably ends up with his head right up against a side of the crib in some sort of contorted position. Even the other night, when he went down without a fight and slept through the night without much more than a peep, he was still in a weird position when I went in to get him.

I don't know if he's figured out he's more mobile than he thought and wants to keep exploring that, or if there is something physical that's bothering him and it's making him want to move. It's just so odd how sometimes he just won't go into his crib and fusses like crazy whenever we try to put him in it, no matter how long we've been holding him or how sleepy he is. But then again, some nights he's fine. I know being overtired can contribute to bad sleeptime behaviors, but unfortunately, we only have so much control over that since we're not with him all day. Maybe it's gas?

He's still not that controlled with his movements, obviously, and my fear is that he's going to work himself into a corner and be unable to get his head into a good position for breathing. I hope he's with it enough to know to cry if he's uncomfortable like that or is having trouble breathing. And I hope I'm with it enough at that time of night to remember that he's gotten into these bad habits and I need to go check on him. I have been placing him further down in the crib and further over to give him more room to move, in hopes he just won't get far enough to get stuck somewhere....to no avail.

I know that kids slept on their bellies for ages with minimal issues, but I just don't want Jacob to be the exception. I don't even want to take the chance. It's agony to even think about it. He's got a doctor's appointment tomorrow and I will be interested to see if they have any suggestions. I have a handful of other questions on the agenda so far, from his bedtime issues to whether or not he needs a Vitamin D supplement (per things I've been reading and a story in the paper recently). I'm also going to check in about his cough (better, I think, but he's still got it), and ask about flu shots. He can't get one until he's six months, but I'm guessing it would be a good idea for Craig and me to get them...as long as it's ok when breastfeeding. On the bright side, we'll get another weight check and length check, I assume, and will see where Jacob falls on those percentile charts. My guess is he'll be about on track for weight (if not a bit light--tiny waist on that kid, based on the fit of his pants) and a little longer than average. Should be interesting. I'm off for an evening alone with Jacob while Craig goes to a dinner in Canada for work. Let's hope he's on his best behavior or it could be a long night!