More Jamisen Photos

Jamisen Grows + Family Photos

Jamisen is starting to find his feet. It's quite cute - he gazes at them with wonder and fascination. I don't think he realizes they are his yet. The photos for this post, by the way, have nothing to do with this post. They are just pretty and I want an excuse to share them.

He is starting to be able to go longer than 3 hours between feedings and will now sleep around 3 hours, 30 minutes up to 3 hours, 40 minutes (last night). It was glorious.

Jamisen is also fully into his 3 month to 6 month old clothes and no longer fits into any newborn clothes. I never thought he would grow but he's over 11 pounds now. Our son grows! Yay!

He is still on baby antacids but they don't help with his amazing spit up. He just spits up ... all the time but at least now he's a happy spitter.

We were given two big helpings of hand-me-down clothes from my good friend, Jeff of 1-800-Got-Junk and Frogbox local fame and despite all the clothes Jamisen was given, I feel like he'd be naked if it weren't for their generosity. It doesn't help that he goes through 4 outfits per feeding sometimes.

I'll often come home and find him completely naked, except for his diaper, with the Nanny shrugging her shoulders and saying, "He was just spitting up SO much!"

Jamisen Loves Reading

“If daily reading begins in infancy, by the time the child is 5 years old, he or she has been fed roughly 900 hours of brain food! Reduce that experience to just 30 minutes a week, and the child’s hungry mind loses 770 hours of nursery rhymes, fairy tales and stories. A kindergarten student who has not been read to could enter school with less than 60 hours of literacy nutrition. No teacher, no matter how talented, can make up for those lost hours of mental nourishment.” (USDOE, 1999)

I have long loved books. I don't know when it started but I do remember that when I was younger my parents had to ban books at the dinner table because all I wanted to do was read, read, read. Forget talking; just let me immerse myself into fictional worlds and I am happy.

My Dad was so worried about my reading habits, which tended towards Sweet Valley High and Nancy Drew that, when I was 13, he made up a list of books that I had to choose from. No more Sweet Valley High (and their adorable blond twins and their antics) or Nancy Drew (will she survive yet another scrape!?). Instead he had books like "Little Women" and "Les Miserables". For some reason, I chose "Les Miserables" first and man oh man, I remember it to this day. I LOVE that book. Other noteable books from that summer were "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Animal Farm." "Animal Farm" especially made a big impression on me and continues to, to this day, as I view the political environment of my city, state and nation.

My reading obsession continued throughout highschool. My poor parents were forever taking me and my brother through awesome scenery and I refused to look up from my books. "Anne-Marie, do you see Yosemite!? Can you look up, please!?" I'm still that way on a car ride; Chris drives and I am head down in emails, magazines and books. I have a Nook now and that is addicting. I'm reading the new Ann Patchett book, "State of Wonder" right now (along with a couple adultish Nancy Drew type thrillers). You can always see what I'm reading now on the 'About' page here.

We are hoping to introduce Jamisen to books and the love of reading early. As you can see, he's totally into books and his favorite book readers are his Grandpa and his Daddy. Of course, I'm not taking it personally. He really seems to like the colorful books - anything by Dr. Suess books and anything that has a finger puppet associated with it.

Lovin' the book time

It is so fun to introduce him to books, words and imagination. When I'm feeding him, I have this entire made up story that I tell him (Captain Jamisen and his Brave Warriors and Maidens Sail the High Seas!) and every feeding, we do one more adventure. So far, we've fought sea crackens (giant squid), had a horrible storm where Captain Jamisen bravely lashed himself to the steering wheel, and have navigated a coral and seahorse laden barrier (by speaking 'seahorse'ese' natch). I have no idea what he's taking in but it sure is fun to come up with these tales for him. If you watch the video below (email viewers, click through here to see the video), he certainly seems to do a great job following the plot line along and talking back.

Interesting aside, this graph has a lot of interesting information about librarians around the world. Even today, public libraries have over 3 times the impact on literacy and reading than Amazon.com. We're looking forward to taking Jamisen to our local public library for Story Time when he is older to continue his love of books, imagination and reading.

Yay for neck strength!!

Jamisen is so fun right now as he follows along great with books. We all love reading to him, even Grandpa who brought one of his favorite books from when he was a little boy. We are so pleased to see Jamisen's neck strength continuing to strengthen as he gets older.

Grandma and Grandpa Faiola came up for a visit this weekend and he soooooo enjoyed their visit. Grandpa has a particularly low and resonant voice that really appealed to Jamisen during book reading time. Grandpa, in fact, spent much of his time on the floor with Jamisen - so much time that I propped pillows under his neck and head more than once to keep him comfy. I am already bored of all of Jamisen's books so I can see another trip to the second hand bookstore for us soon.

Jamisen is doing a lot of talking lately which we all find incredibly appealing and fun. He is just starting to find his louder sounds; up until this weekend, it was a lot of 'a gooo!' and 'goo!' and 'ahhhhh!' It was fantastic having my parents visit because they also did the bulk the cooking and cleaning. It was like taking a vacation in our own home.

And though Jamisen is the most adorable child in the ENTIRE world (no really, I am certain, it is the ENTIRE world), he spits up sooooooo much! We had 16 oufits for him for ONE day. We didn't have to use them all but he spits up at least 4ish times per feeding. It is insanity. But we love him, rotten milk smell and all.

Where Puppies and Babies are Friends

I hope you've had a great weekend. We spent the weekend with friends, enjoying the sun and luxuriating in the very mild temperatures Washington State is having right now (yes, we feel very lucky when we look at the heat wave elsewhere in the US).

Jamisen met his first puppy this weekend, Cookie, an adorable addition to Team Breakfast Cookie. He seemed to be interested by what was in Jamisen's diaper. =)  And while the babies played, Erin (the brains behind Baker's Breakfast Cookies) and I read and relaxed. I'm reading the new Ann Patchett book, State of Wonder, and can hardly put it down. Her writing is so nuanced and the storyline is unique, with widely drawn characters and a likeable protagonist. If you're reading anything fantastic, I would love to get your recommendations.

More Photos from Fourth of July Weekend

Keeping us both well protected from the sun!

Like Father, like Son with the adorable protective wide brimmed hats

Again, look at that neck strength! He'll be crawling in no time!

Getting a wee double chin as he grows; yay for healthy babies!

We're bringing the 80's styling back in a big way with this collar

As you can see, our 'Lil Man' isn't so little any more. We're calling him 'Just Right Sized Man!' He is 23" tall now and just over 10 pounds. He is in the 38% percentile for height, 15% percentile for head size and 12% percentile for weight. His vocabulary is growing every single day with new shrieks and sounds emanating for his glorious little mouth all time. =)

Time with Grandma Renoud

We were so happy that we finally got some photos of Grandma Renoud with baby Jamisen. Since my Dad is the photographer of the family, we tend to only get my parents up on the blog but Jamisen has two sets of Grandparents that dote on him.

Here he is with Grandma Kelly and his Aunt Anamarie (yes, same name as me, named well before I showed up on the scene). He definitely looks like he's comfortable in her arms.

They stayed for dinner, although Grandma Kelly didn't get to each too much since she had Mr. Jamisen in her lap (and played a pretty slick game of pattycakes with him). He talked and talked and talked to her. It was quite charming:

And check out his neck strength! He is really workin' it! Papa is clearly pretty proud and it's obvious where Jamisen gets his smokin' cute looks - from his Daddy. =)

Happy Fourth of July!

I hope you have been enjoying the weekend as much as I have. Obviously, Jamisen is feeling rather patriotic about Independence Day.

What a treat to have three days to spend with my much loved and adored family. Of course, they view it as spending time with Jamisen and me and Chris just happen to hanging around.

Jamisen took his very first boat road this weekend. He was all bundled in a lifejacket the entire time except for this one shot of him 'driving' the boat (I swear!). He was particularly excited by Grandpa's beard and the contrast it provides.

We also went on a hike and it was fantastic! Grandpa and Grandpa really enjoyed the nature on the hike, bird watching and baby watching. The weather was absolutely stunning and perfect for the weekend too. We were so thankful to have sun every single day. You would think that would be normal for summer but not so much in Washington state. It's been 'June-uary' far too long! =)

Happy Fourth of July from my family to yours!

Happy Fourth!

Baby Things I Can't Live Without

Jamisen continues to rock my world - his little smile absolutely makes me want to walk over hot coals, his cooing takes away all tiredness pain and his little hands and feet make my heart melt like hot butter. His Daddy is an equal great fan (as are his grandparents). These are some of the things that have made the transition to parenthood (and working Mommyhood!) easier.

1.  MAM Pacifiers - We tried what seems like a million pacifiers. The ones that Jamisen loved were definitely not orthodontist approved (big, round, chewy hard plastic) and the ones that were orthodontist approved did NOT stay in his mouth. And all Moms out there can attest that a pacifier that stays in your child's mouth at night? Worth it weight in GOLD! And the fact that this is orthodontist approved and stays in his mouth at night? Ditto the GOLD!

2. Dr. Browns Bottles - We have multiple brands and types of bottles. I was determined to fully stock our house with three months of diapers, wipes, bottles, etc...  and I purchased three different types of bottles for Jamisen. Alas, when we were giving them to him, they were like garden hoses on high! That kid was choking, coughing and finishing a bottle in 2 minutes flat. They were decidedly not like my breasts with a slow, gotta-work-for-it milk spigot. The Dr. Brown's Bottles are glass (no plastic chemicals here!) and have a slow, gotta-work-for-it milk drip. So when Lil Man comes back to me, he's not angry about having to work at it.

3. Disposable Changing Pads - I was positive I would only use these on the road. After all, I have not one, not two but THREE terry cloth changing table covers so I can always have one or two in the wash and not change the baby on a cold, hard floor. But um, I had NO IDEA how much this adorable little (perffffect!) child would pee on the table, poop on the changing table and always always always spit up on the changing table. Since he's on there at least 8 times per day, there is not enough terry cloth changing covers in my house to make it through even a day! Thank you disposable changing table covers. You are saving my life when I run out of terry cloth changing table covers (which is daily in this household).

4. Vitamin D Drops + Gas Drops - Our little man has not had an easy entry in this world. He was full term but a bit small and his digestive system doesn't seem to have caught up with the fact that he's out in the world now. So, these Gas Drops (which, BTW, some studies show are no more affective than a placebo) make our entire household feel better. Vitamin D (get them at any supplement store) drops are key for infants and with the drops, I can toss a drop on his pacifier and know that he's getting this one essential nutrient.

5. White Noise Maker - We're loving the Homedics White Noise Maker. It was affordable compared to some ($20) and has an optional light show that plays on the ceiling. Supposedly, when our son can see more than 2 feet from his face (soon! soon!), he'll be mezmerized by this light show and that will help him sleep too. If that's the case, I'll take 10 please.

Jamisen is really starting to develop quite the sense of humor and smiles and kicks and coos when I read books to him. Unfortunately, the books are only 5 or 6 pages long so I am getting tired of the plot lines already so the children's thrift store is seeing me weekly to get new books. Me and the library are soon to be besties as soon as I'm able to do more than make it outside for a workout with Jamisen and then work and home in a  single day (and consider that quite an achievement).

I'm spending the weekend with my family and can't wait to hang out in the sun, read and relax with family. I'll have some fun photos of Jamisen in his red, white and blue Fourth of July outfit to share too. I hope you're having fun with your family too; stay safe!