Fingerpaint Art

Jamisen hasn't quite mastered coloring but finger painting seems to be right up his alley. Yeah! We have bought him a variety of 'creative' art options and I am very excited about his plans for his Daddy's Valentine's Day card. He and I have been plotting for weeks now and I think we've got it down. I just need to create a non-toxic paint ... I'm sure that's easy to do, right?

Our little guy is quite the artist, isn't he? He doesn't like to have his hands messy so he uses the little water sponge to clean his hands off (a lot).

Jamisen's First Vomit

We've had an eventful week this week, culminating in a trip to Seattle for Grandpa's birthday! We're going to see 'Book of Mormon' while Jamisen stays home, under the watchful eye of Kristen (my assistant from work) and McKenna (normal nanny) in the afternoon.

Leaving Jamisen this morning wasn't the easiest thing. Though we gave a full 30 minutes for the transition, he knew we were leaving and got whiny and sad when Kristen walked in. We finally capitulated and bribed him with unlimited iPad time and binky time.

Jamisen came down with some sort of epic awesome bug this week. We put him to bed on Friday night and he was fine (happy, babbling, normal temperature). But, as Chris and I sat in the living room, reading, we could hear Jamisen talking, playing and generally not sleeping until 8:30 p.m. That's unusual. Around 9, Chris went up to check on him and found him extremely warm with a fever of 102 degrees.

We decided to pull him out of bed to give him some Motrin to get his fever down. And, I don't know if it was the thick, syrup or if it had been lurking there all along but he puked all over me, all over him, all over the chair ... everywhere. He was sobbing, couldn't breathe and generally a mess. His Mama wasn't much better. It's tough to watch your little guy go through something scary that he doesn't understand. Chris helped me strip him out of his clothes and then took him downstairs, leaving me to strip myself out of every article of clothing I was wearing. Also, for future reference, you should always wash puke clothes right away I waited until morning and almost threw-up myself putting them in the washing machine. They smelled SO bad. Time did not improve that smell.

After the epic vomit, we forced Motrin in him (for his fever) and brought his Pack 'n' Play into our bedroom so we could monitor him all night  And of course, we called Grandpa next. We're happy to report that after 24 hours with a fever above 100, he is back to normal temperature and energy levels today and did not puke again. It was our first real illness in the house and both Chris and I are so thankful that it's over.  

 I  don't want you to miss the latest Chris'ism. 

 Chris: "Wow, you sure gave Jamisen a lot of kale juice this morning." 

Me: "It just looks like it's more b/c the diameter of the glass is smaller than his normal one." 

Chris to Jamisen: "This is a prime example of why men are better at math and science." (pause) "And business. Men are better at business too."

 

Also random factoid that surprised me? The day that Jamisen vomited, I had made him a delicious kale, mushroom omelette for breakfast. All of that kale? Came up in whole pieces!? What the holy slow digestion system?!  I couldn't believe it when the pieces came up whole. It had been 15 hours and his body hadn't yet started to digest and absorb the kale goodness? Crazy!

The Beard Video

He he. How cute is this video of Jamisen and Brother Weston?

The little hand motions Jamisen is making? They mean "More More!"

Brother Ryan Visits

 

We just joined the Whatcom Museum because they have an imaginative Children's Museum. The hours aren't awesome but for the two hours that they are open that Jamisen isn't sleeping, they sure are fun!

  

 And look, we found Jamisen's doppelgänger! How sweet and funny was that? And his little twin was a happy little dude. They're learning about gravity in this photo.

  

We were SO happy that Brother Ryan (Chris's big brother) visited us for two whole days. How ridiculously cute is this photo? We are trying to convince him to come back in the summer and stay for longer. Jamisen really liked him (which just tells you that the kid has great taste).

Family Gender Reveal Party

Our Balloon Gender Reveal party was just a party for the three of us: Jamisen, Chris and myself. We were all delighted and surprised when we found out a little girl would be joining our family this year. Baby Number Two is a planned, very loved addition to our family and no matter what the gender, we knew our family would want to celebrate in a big way. I designed a special fizzy that takes over a minute to dissolve and show the color (and yes, of course there's a tutorial on how to make it. Check it out here) but before we did that, everyone had to vote "Team Blue" or "Team Pink." They were overwhelmingly Team Pink and I suspect one of the blue votes (from my Dad) was only done in solidarity so my brother didn't feel so alone. Grandpa Winston was in the Middle East so he missed the party. I wonder if he would have voted Team Blue too?

We didn't make people wait long. The bath fizzy bonanza was the perfect suspenseful reveal. It was just long enough.

I also made a Gender Reveal ombré cake in addition to cheerful Pink Shortbread and Blueberry Blue Shortbread cookies. And had blue and pink M & Ms, balloons, ribbons and soap to complete the tableau. 

Cutting the cake was easy but getting the five layers onto plates was a bit harrowing. We managed. Eating it was the easy part! Though, I am stymied today with what to do with the leftovers. I did have a small piece and might just get rid of the cake one piece at a time!

Jamisen had a ball with so many people over. He loves his fort and spent at least an hour playing in it with his cousin Anamarie and cousin Analena.

Jamisen is delighted that it's gotten too cold to keep his well-worn hand-me-down training trike outdoors so happily rode it all over the house to showcase his skills at competitive trike riding.

It was a wonderful day filled with laughter, tears and fueled by massive amounts of sugar. Chris, Jamisen and I feel fortunate and blessed to be surrounded on both sides of our family with such support. Jamisen is napping now and boy oh boy, there is a house to clean while he's sleeping. So, I'm signing off to clean but positively bursting with delight and happiness over our spring baby girl addition.

It's a Girl!

As you are reading this, I am throwing an elaborate Gender Reveal Party. At 11 p.m. last night, while I was baking the 5th layer of the Gender Reveal Cake (in the cool ombré trend, naturally), my husband said "Why do you do this?! You are crazy." I gently reminded him that I actually like this kind of stuff and would happily do it for fun any time. =) You are finding out about Bramble Bump Two at the exact same time as my family is. I'll post pictures of that party and the little Boy/Girl fun touches tomorrow.

Our Balloon Party Reveal went like this. Step one: Give envelope to someone you trust. In this case, it was the awesome Kristen who functions as my assistant at work but really, does so much more (SoapQueen.TV script drafts, photos, blog help, customer service and is always ready to help with everything). She opened the envelope on the way to get balloons. In reality, she waited for her own safety. If she had opened the envelope prior to that, much of the team at Bramble Berry would have attacked her for the news.

Step two: Buy a bunch of balloons in the traditional gender color.

Step three: Stuff them in a giant bag. Figure out how to get them into the house. Then, assemble the giant box once you are in the house.

Step four: Big box. Cut a hole for a ribbon for easy release.

Step five: The big reveal!

Of course, our big reveal was short-lived as we all watched the balloons float to the ceiling fan and get chopped up and hopelessly entangled but it did lend an air of hilarity looking back.

It's a GIRL!!!!!

3 Months of Colds and Counting

 

 Jamisen is almost 20 months old. He knows nothing about the upcoming addition to our family. We try to tell him. He touches my belly. He does hold his doll in a sweet manner but explaning that there is a new baby showing up seems like it might be beyond him.

Not to worry, I have a plan! I am making him a book of his short but eventful life up until now, with a focus on the 'small, baby, vaguely wrinkled rat child' portion of his life. That way, we'll be able to explain that little babies cry a lot because they can't explain what they want, that they need to be treated gently, and they need to eat a lot. I still haven't figured out how to explain breastfeeding.

 

 This plan did entail learning how to sew (buying a sewing machine, finding an instructor etc...). Thankfully, my assistant at work went to fashion design school so I didn't have far to look. I've progressed a bit and can't wait to give Jamisen is his fabric book. We're giving it to him at the 'Gender Reveal Party' for baby number two.

  

The weather has been a little cold lately (26 degrees yesterday!) so we've gotten creative about where we take Jamisen on adventures. The Macy's furniture store and Jamisen are BFFs. He loved the climbing and all the space to run!

  

Jamisen has had a perpetual cold since starting at Hillcrest Kids 3 months ago. Between him, Chris and I, one of us has been producing copious amounts of phlegm, snot and general grossness for the last quarter solid. Poor Jamisen has had a raspy cough since Thanksgiving and Chris and I are both sporting nasty sore throats. We've been loading Jamisen up on Kefir and Vitamin C and lots of fluids (including the amazing green juice most mornings).
 
Perhaps when the next baby comes along, Jamisen won't be perpetually sick. Thankfully, even when he's sick, he's awfully happy and adorable.