Birthday Sadness

I’ve been counting down the days until Jake’s 1st birthday. I am having a hard time figuring out where the past year has gone. It seems like just yesterday we brought him home and started praying he would sleep. Now he has 7 teeth, is trying to walk and talk and is going to be 1. It just isn’t fair.

I know I’m going to cry on his birthday. It’s really a bag of mixed feelings. I’m happy he’s survived (and us) his first year. I’m excited he’s learning new things. I’m sad our first year is over. I’m sad he’s not a baby anymore. I have a toddler on my hands. What’s up with that? I still haven’t completely lost all the weight. Well, I only lack a couple pounds, but still. Where did all that time go?

This morning when I dropped Jake of at day care, one of the ladies was talking to me about crying on her youngest son’s 1st birthday. Her son shares Jake’s birthday and will be 21 on Thursday. Yikes. You want them to grow up but then you’re sad when they do. One of the other moms said, “well, Jake is your first, right? And you’re going to have another one, right?” As if having another kid makes Jake’s 1st birthday not as sad for me. Yeah, I’ll have another one but Jake will never be a baby again. Am I crazy or is this normal? Should I look into some kind of drugs? Should I seek therapy? Or should I just go on with my daily life knowing this is what happens to most moms?

Sharing

We all want our kids to share, right? I caught Jake sharing last night. Jake and I were in the kitchen, I was cooking dinner and he was playing in the tupperware cabinet. He started complaining so I opened up the Cheese Puffs and would hand him one every time he got irritated. It was working nicely. Buddy and Badger, of course, love when Jake is on the floor with food. It usually means they will get food they otherwise wouldn't get.

I would hand Jake his puff and he would hold on to it for dear life. I kept hearing little giggles. Every time I turned around Badger was right up in Jake's face trying to get the puff. I, of course, kept telling Badger to stop. Usually the dogs mind pretty well, but Badger was not backing off. I then witnessed what was causing the giggles. Jake would take a small bite of puff and then let Badger take a lick. Jake would take a bite and Badger would take a lick. Jake thought it was the funniest thing. Yeah, it's gross. No telling where Badger's mouth has been. But, Jake was sharing and he was happy about it!

Lucky Ones

Up until recently we've had a hard time getting Jake to sleep. When we first brought him home he had his days and nights mixed up, but even during the day the kid hardly slept. When he was about three weeks old, one morning after a sleepless night, I was at my wits end. I was so exhausted and needed some rest. Jake would not go to sleep. I put him on my bed and laid next to him and we just kept staring at each other. I started singing Lucky Ones by Pat Green. I was singing and crying and singing and crying...and praying the kid would just close his eyes. Finally, he did and we both slept.

Pat Green is my favorite singer. I've been listening to his music for a long time and have been thinking I should write him a letter. I need to thank him for Lucky Ones because it's like magic. It really is. When Jake is upset in the car, we just pop in Lucky Ones and he immediately calms down. He doesn't even have to hear the words, just the music turns his switch off and he starts to smile. It's the weirdest thing. When the next song comes on, Jake gets upset again. So, we rewind to Lucky Ones and the magic happens again.

My mom started singing Lucky Ones to Jake when we would visit because she knew it worked for me. Jake would look up at her as if to say, "you know this song too?" I can't explain it and I don't know why it's just that one song, but Lucky Ones ROCKS!

Baby the lucky ones
Baby the lucky ones
Baby the lucky ones for a moment or two
Get to fall in love with somebody like you
Get to fall in love with somebody like you!

Plaid Shorts

It's become a habit of mine, in the evenings, to pick out Jake's clothes for the next day. Last night the three of us were in Jake's room playing. Bill happened to notice I had picked out a pair of plaid shorts for Jake to wear today. He said, "you're going to make him wear plaid shorts tomorrow?" Why of course! They're so cute! And why not? He has several pairs!

Bill gets Jake dressed in the mornings while I get ready for work. Between Bill leaving and me getting Jake to day care, Jake poops. It's become a regular thing. I always feel bad for getting Jake to day care with poop. Yesterday I changed him myself when we got there. Today, I was going to do the same as Miss Kathy was busy with someone else. I put Jake down and proceeded to put his bottles and food in the refrigerator. I kept smelling the poop. That's when I noticed it. I had poop all over the sleeve of my white shirt. I took off my shrit, as I was wearing a tank top underneath, and scrubbed the poop out with soap and water in the tiny sink. There was no dryer. I really didn't want to have to go back home (but I ended up doing so).

Miss Kathy got Jake all cleaned up, but the plaid shorts were covered in poop. His cute lime green onesie was also covered in poop. Guess Bill got his wish...Jake didn't end up wearing the plaid shorts today. There's always tomorrow though!

Love Me Some Broccoli

When we first started giving Jake solids, he loved peas and green beans. He kinda liked carrots, sweet potatoes, and squash. He kept getting sick and throwing up the green veggies and soon stopped liking them. He would refuse to eat them. One little taste and he would spit them out. Squash and sweet potatoes soon became his favorites and that's all the veggies he would eat. His little nose started turning orange. When he graduated to table food I tried green beans and carrots. He wanted no parts of either.

One night last week Bill and I had broccoli and cheese with whatever we were having for dinner. We thought we'd put some on Jake's tray to see if he would eat it. He gobbled it up. He would sort through all the stuff on his tray and only pick up the green stuff. So, I got some fresh broccoli and cheese and made him his own last night with his hamburger meat. He was enjoying the meat until I put the broccoli and cheese down. He would only pick up the green stuff again. He LOVES it!

We Got Our Lives Back!

Most of you know we've had issues with Jake sleeping. He's never been a sleeper. When we brought him home from the hospital everyone kept saying, "now, Angie, you have to sleep when the baby sleeps!" I was soon asking, "what do you do if your baby never sleeps?" We had such a hard time getting him to sleep. When he was about 4-5 months old, he slept through the night for the first time. That only lasted for a couple of nights. He would be doing so good and then he'd get sick and we'd be back at square one.

Two weeks ago, on a Saturday night, Jake woke up at around 1:30am and didn't go back to sleep until 3:30am. We thought it was a fluke thing. This continued for several nights. We were completely drained. Then last weekend Jake ended up with a sinus infection and was miserable. Of course he wasn't sleeping then. After 10 nights of no sleep, Bill and I decided to just let him cry when he woke in the night. It wasn't something we wanted to do, but we didn't know what else to try.

Tuesday night he woke around 1:40 and cried for 30 minutes. He would cry for a few minutes, stop, and listen to see if we were coming to get him. I stood at his door a couple of times to see what he was doing. He was just standing in his crib, looking around his room, crying. After that 30 minutes, he was out and slept until we woke him at 6:00am to get ready for "school." He was a little irritable...I think he was mad at us. Wednesday night he woke around 11:30pm, cried for 5 minutes and was out. We again had to wake him at 6:00am. He didn't want to get up, but he wasn't cranky at all. When I picked him up from day care yesterday they told me he had been waking up from his naps very happy. Last night he woke around midnight, cried for all of 10 seconds, and went back to sleep until we woke him at 6:00am. I guess it didn't take him long to figure out the drill, thankfully.

Listening to him cry the first night was torture. I just kept wondering what was going through his little mind. "Where are my parents? Why aren't they coming to get me? What's going on? This just isn't right!" I thought it was going to be a much longer process. Hopefully I haven't just jinxed us. It's been great getting sleep at night. I'm not tired when I get to work. I don't constantly think of taking a nap. We have regained control of our lives!

Bailey Ann Been

Welcome to the world! Bailey is an April Fools baby. She weighed 7 lbs, 8 oz and was 19.5 inches long. She has black hair, which is a shocker, cause neither of her parents have black hair. Ha!! I'm sure it will fall out and, as Sara said, she'll be a blondie. I'm praying that she sleeps well. It's so hard when you first get them home, but every minute is worth it!