Family Memories

We received Sophie, the giraffe, from our good friends David Syre and Becci Camp and so far, she is Jamisen's favorite toy. She goes EVERYWHERE with him. There are so many hand holds for him to grab onto.

On our trip to the coast, Jamisen had a place of honor at the table (that's Grandma Faiola with us for our meal):

Whoah! First time in a high chair - and it's not even a new-fangled high chair - it's an old style one. He was so excited to have a tray that kept his toys! That is, until he realized he could throw them off the tray and watch Mommy get them for him (over and over and over again).

Look closely, you can see a lice on this amazing Norsk hat from our overseas relatives. This is apparently 'da bomb in Norway and many stores are sold out. All we know is that it kept Jamisen's head warm AND we thought he looked adorb in it:

The happiest, most lucky family in the entire world:

Go Cheriss!

In an inspiring show of athleticism, stoicism and sheer determination, Cheriss (sister in law and all around cool chick) finished her first marathon today! GOOOOOOOOO Cheriss! YAY! We were there for her momentous  cross over the finish line. As you can see, she finished strong!

And, the proud couple. Don't tell anyone, but I'm pretty sure both me and Erik teared up a bit when we saw Cheriss cross the finish line. What is wrong with the Faiola siblings? We have defective emotional genes apparently.

It turned out her medal was not pure gold when she gave it a good taste.

It turns out it didn't matter because the memories of her triumph are so sweet.Gooooooo Cheriss!

Jamisen Laughing (video)

Talking, Laughing and Loving Our Boy

Talking to Daddy (and really, he was talking - lots of oohs, gahs and uuuughs):

Jamisen LOVES his stroller time. I think it's because I was walking with him when he was just 1 week old and I lost almost all my baby weight walking and jogging him around in a stroller.

We can't believe how much Jamisen has grown. The Baby Bjorn is one way that we can clearly see his growth. Remember when his head didn't even come close to coming out of the top of the carrier?

He still is loving his baby tummy time gym:

Chris gets the biggest smiles from Jamisen (though he laughs the hardest at me - usually when I am doing Pilates in front of him. He thinks it's the funniest thing in the world. I guess I should be glad I don't have a mirror to see how funny I really look!)

As always, our Main Man is forever delighting us and amazing us with how adorable, funny and fun he is.

Almost Sitting

We are so delighted that Jamisen is hitting his growth milestones (though, I have to force myself not to read too much because I don't want to obsess!). And, right on target, he's just starting to show signs of sitting up. Oh how I long for the day I can pile toys around him and know he'll be occupied for a good ten minute spell.

Behold .... a partial, sort of, maybe, barely, a little bit, sit!

What? You don't see it? Clearly, he is thisclose to sitting up. Here, look at it from another angle:

 

See! Thisclose to sitting. Give it another week.... or two. He is obviously aware of the camera (duh! He's his mother's son) and waving 'Hi!'

The Inevitable

 

Notice the diaper off to the left of this photo?

Chris: I think Jamisen will like playing out in the living room naked.

Me: Sounds great as long as you're watching him
Chris: It won't be a problem. I'm putting his changing station underneath him just in case.

Three minutes later, as I'm taking this photo

Me: Wow, he just peed a lot!
Chris: Yeah, it's all over him! But, on the bright side, we saved a diaper.
Me: Yup.

One minute later, as I'm downloading the cute photo to the computer on the other side of the room

Chris:  Look at how happy he is!
Me: Honey, he's making those sounds he makes right before he poops.
Chris: (silence)

I look over. Disbelief is clouding Chris's features.

Chris: Oh my God! He's sh**ing!!!
Chris: (panic in his voice)A little help here!
Me: (doubled over in laughter)

Inappropriate Dairy Choices

My parents fed me ice cream at 3 weeks old for my first food so in keeping with the inappropriate dairy choices for children, we are keeping that magic alive with Jamisen's first food choice.

Behold ... whipped cream!

Raising a Good Husband

Isn't this video cute? Our just-right-sized-guy is sooooooo happy and chill. We had a fantastic day at Seabrook, spent working around Jamisen's nap schedule. Chris golfed today and I got a ton of quality time with Jamisen. He is such a little cuddlebug right now. It melts my heart. Though, he was quite happy when his Dad got home from golf! I believe Chris's quote about golf was "I did great. Except for a few holes where everything just fell apart." Alrighty then .... Jamisen and I read many, many books. Right now, we're reading a variety of Eric Carle fame (Hungry Caterpillar) books, including one very sweetly illustrated one about sea life that the Fathers carry the eggs/raise the children. It is never to early to start raising a fantastic husband who has a high emotional IQ (I believe that's called 'EQ' in some circles) and is going to be thrilled to help with housework and childcare while providing for the family in a meaningful and productive (to society) way. Too much to ask for? Not when you start your son out on such politically-correct books such as Mister Seahorse. We also took a couple walks. Jamisen was fairly non plussed about both walks. In fact, we ran into some friends who commented about how chill Jamisen seemed. We brought Jamisen's favorite play gym. He appears thankful in which he expresses in squeals and smiles.

Seabrook R & R

We took off for a little R&R to the Washington Coast - and we're already lovin' in! The weather just turned (notice the full ski jacket) but it's going to be bliss to have Jamisen all to ourselves for a whole entire week.

We brought a large library of books for our aspiring reader.

This was not intentional but how funny is it that Jamisen's sleepytime outfit blends perfectly with his Pack'n'Play crib.

Jamisen's favorite toy remains Sophie his giraffe. Check out this big grin as he sees his best friend.

I think this photo is hilarious - stripes on stripes on stripes:

I can't wait to share more photos from the week as Jamisen continues to do adorable things, amaze and delight us for our week with him.

Jamisen is soooooo Brilliant

So, our son is clearly the best, most brightest, most brilliant child in the entire world. He has started turning over! Brilliant, I tell you, brilliant! He started turning over last Friday but he only did it in secret. We would put him down, walk away and do one teensy little thing and poof! We'd hear him squeal, look over and he'd be turned over. I have tried to get this moment on camera all week. He finally performed. Voila! The video of our brilliant, amazing, adorable son turning over.




He has also started doing a very rudimentary crawl. It's rather endearing. See for yourself in the video below:

I think Jamisen weighs around 14.5 pounds based on me getting on my scale with and without him. He's growing! =)

Things I Am Forgetting

The photos have nothing to do with this blog post. They are just my favorite iPhone photos from the last month. After my normal post 3 a.m. wake-up, baby feeding time last night, I had insomnia, a frequent occurrence as of late, I realized I was forgetting things from Jamisen's first few months (already). Thus, I am setting my thoughts to paper for my future self - the future self that wants another baby and is going to forget all of this and be surprised by it all over again unless I warn her.

1. Jamisen cried. A lot. While it wasn't quite colic, it was definitely a lot of crying and he was inconsolable. This inconsolable crying stopped at about 3 months, 'ish.' Until then, it was like playing hot potato with a baby. Chris took one hour. I took another hour. He seemed to appreciate James Brown music and that would settle him. I am puzzled by his taste in music and trust he will outgrow it.

2. Breastfeeding has not been all hunky dory. Jamisen lost 12 ounces in his first four days in the hospital because my milk didn't come in. And then, when it came in, it was only enough for Jamisen's first 2 months of life. After that, he just screamed at my breast and we didn't understand why but it turns out, it's because I wasn't producing enough. Whoops. So for future babies, watch to make sure this doesn't happen.

3. I miss Jamisen dreadfully during the day. I am exceedingly thankful that I have a job, a calling, that I love and that I am successful at. And, still, at about 2 p.m. when all the urgent things have been done for the day, I find myself looking at photos of Jamisen, checking the NannyCam and texting the Nanny to get updates about what Jamisen is doing right this very second. That's our awesome nanny, McKenna, in the photo with Jamisen below.

4. Jamisen hates to sleep. Either he is always extremely hungry and needs to eat every 3 hours or he worries that he is missing out on something, but he is not a sleeper. For the last 4 months, Chris and I have been going to bed at 8 p.m. nightly so that we can get 6 to 8 hours interrupted sleep by morning. Lately, Chris has taken to bringing Jamisen with him to the guest room between 2 and 4 a.m. so I can sleep and Chris can just lean over and shove the pacifier in Jamisen's mouth when he wakes up, looking for it. This process is not fun. We are both tired. We hope and pray the next baby will love to sleep at night. It seems all of our friends have babies that sleep.

5. Jamisen is fascinated by fans and the movements and shadows that they make. I'll be reading to him and find him paying zero attention as he stares at the shadows the fan in our house make. This is both amusing and mildly disconcerting when I realize I might as well have reading Time magazine aloud for him.

6. Everything Jamisen does is infinitely fascinating, amazing and wonderful. Every little progress he makes fills us with pride, joy and such admiration. Every grunt, every little movement, every little smile is more genius than the last. He giggled this week and it was absolutely my best thing in the entire world.

Despite the schedule juggling, the lack of sleep and our only half functioning brains, Chris and I love being parents so so so very much. We crave time with Jamisen (well, not so much at 2 a.m. but most other times) and he is the best part of every day.