Jax's Nutrition Appointment

We had Jax's appointment today. I was so surprised that they were able to get us in so quickly. We headed over to WAMC this afternoon and met with a super nice lady who just happens to have a 9-month-old daughter. It was so nice to bounce ideas off of her since her baby is doing the same things as Jax. She started off by weighing him and measuring him. Oddly enough, her measurements were completely different than those taken at his appointment on Monday. It seems to be Clark Clinic's error. He measured a whole inch longer than he did on Monday. Which is good because it shows that he isn't quite as small as his doctor thought he was. The nutritionist wasn't too worried about his size. It was more important to her that he was proportional with his own weight and his own height. And he is perfect!! She said he looks exactly like healthy babies should look... no ankles and chubby feet! We went over everything that he eats/drinks on a typical day. He seems to be getting just about everything that he needs. I need to make a few small adjustments, but overall everything looks good. She wants to make sure that his weight and height stay proportional and don't fall off the chart (because it's only about 25th% right now), so we go back in one month for a check up. In the mean time, she gave me a chart with servings of each type of food that he should be eating each day. My goal is to get him to each of those servings... or as close to it as I can.

On a different topic, he's so, so close to crawling. He's all over the place with scooting around backwards, and he is rocking on all fours a lot. He also started this new thing where he gets on his hands and his toes (like he's going to do a push-up!). Too funny!

Here is some playtime this morning

Drop and give me 10!

All fours

Hi mommy!

Goldfish

If you ever decide to give your child a "distraction snack" while you are preparing his/her real lunch, THINK TWICE. He/She may decide that he/she does not want said real lunch and instead would prefer to only eat his/her "distraction snack". Which of course is not a real meal. It's goldfish.

And when you're still learning how to chew finger foods, its M.E.S.S.Y.

And on that note, let me just make sure you're aware that we did not leave the house until a thorough wipe down took place.

I *strongly dislike* when mothers take their dirty, snotty, grimy kids out in public.

Gross.

Developmental Growthspurt

These last 3-4 weeks have been FULL of developmental milestones for Jax. How is it that it happens right when Ryan is gone?! Let me just take a minute to note all the new, fun things he is doing.

• 3 teeth (but you already knew that)(and I know this is physical... but it's still worth noting)
• Scooting..... backwards :)
• Pushing himself from his belly to sitting on his bottom
• Clapping
• Rocking on all 4's... just trying so hard to actually crawl
• ALMOST pulling himself up to standing

I mean, come on, talk about new developments!

We also had Jax's 9 month check up today. He's still very little and has continued to go down in the percentiles, so I have a referral to WAMC (the hospital where he was born) for him to see a pediatric nutritionist. His doctor isn't too worried because he hasn't dropped drastically. but he still wants him to be seen just to make sure everything is okay. He has only gained one pound since December 3rd. So I'll be scheduling that appointment tomorrow. Here's his stats...

• 18.15 lbs (20th percentile)
• 24.69 in (10th percentile)
• 18.11 head circumference (75th percentile!! HA!)

Please keep us in your prayers as I get this appointment set up and we see what happens!

Ta-da!

Hi everyone! It's a beautiful day so mommy took me outside for a little photo session with her cool new camera... but she had to test it inside first...

...then we went outside and I sat in the big chair all by myself...

... then I sat on the ground and played with Mojo...

... I also learned how to clap...

... and finally I played with daddy's blue bucket...

************

Mommy also took some pictures of my new teeth! Here's my top two...

And my bottom one!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!

It's here!!!

I got my camera today! And I am realizing that I have not posted any new pictures in a seriously long time. My apologies! I have to get a memory card for it tomorrow, but I promise that I will have some new, beautiful pictures up in the next few days!!

So Long, Insecurity...

...You've Been a Bad Friend To Us. Isn't that the truth?! It's also the title of the new book I'm reading by Beth Moore. I love her. I love her Bible studies. I love her writing style. I love the way she loves women. If you haven't read or participated in anything done by her... DO IT. She has such a heart for women and Jesus, it's so evident in everything she does. I keep tabs on her blog here. It's like reading something your best friend wrote. So fun!

Back to the book... I'm only on chapter 2, but so far it's right on. I don't consider myself a very insecure person. I don't worry (much) about what other people think. I usually like people and people usually like me. I'm outgoing and I don't tend to shy away from situations. I don't worry about my man leaving me. However, those things aren't true 100% of the time. All women are insecure in some facet of their lives. It's inevitable. It's how we are built. And that's okay, but there is so much room for learning and healing. And I, for one, am willing to learn and heal! I'll let ya'll know how things are going as I get further into the book. In the mean time, go buy yourself a copy!!

On a total side note... I won a little giveaway from one of the blogs that I read. Jenna over at Jenna's Journey Blog did a quickie Twitter giveaway and I won the new Meredith Andrews CD. I should get it in the mail soon. Woot!

Check back soon!

Ooooh, ya'll I am so excited because I just ordered a new camera! And not just any new camera but a super nice, Cannon Digital SLR camera. I have been wanting a new camera for a while now. I've also been wanting one of the bigger, nicer ones to have as the kid(s) grow up. It'll be great to have as we go on trips (to NYC in the Spring!) and make memories as a family. And because Ryan has our other camera with him, I've been stuck taking phone pictures. Again. So I can't wait for it to get here next week. Check back soon for some new, awesome pictures!!

Ryan, teeth & the Superbowl

I got to talk to Ryan on Sunday! And for 30 minutes!! Of course the first thing I had to tell him was that Jax's tooth came through. The funny thing is that he totally guessed it. I acted like I was talking to Jax and I told him to say "Daddy, guess what?" and Ryan said "he got his tooth?!"... I couldn't believe he guessed it. But he said that he figured since we had been waiting to stinkin' long for one of his teeth to pop through. He's been teething since he was 3 months old. Oi! So his bottom left tooth finally popped through and now both of his top front teeth are coming through. 3 teeth all at once! But let me just tell you, it's not fun for Jax or for mama. He's had a fever of 100+ for the last 2 days. He also hasn't been sleeping well. I'm just PRAYING that he sleeps better tonight. We both desperately need it!

On a completely separate topic, I hosted a girls only Superbowl party on Sunday. There were 8 ladies and 6 kiddos here. It was a lot of fun. I decided to make all the food myself. I love to cook and I really wanted to have some homemade, fresh food. I made meatballs, bacon-wrapped chicken bites, pesto cream cheese served with baguette, carrots and ranch, scratch-made brownies and caramel chocolate bars. I also made some pomegranate lemonade punch. Everything turned out really well. There were a few hiccups with the food, but overall I would say it was a success. It was great to hang out with girls, play with our kiddos and watch some great football. I look forward to doing it again next year!

Diapers!

I'll give ya'll my weekly total this Sunday, but for now I just wanted to let you know about my great deal on diapers this week. I was quickly running out of diapers last week but I knew CVS was running and great ECB deal on Huggies from 1/31 - 2/6 so I was seriously trying to conserve diapers until that Sunday. Let's not talk about how many outfit changes Jax needed because mommy let him go to long in an effort to not go through so many diapers :-/ Oopsie!

Anyway, I had $10ECB to start with (remember when I spent waaay to much for soda?? Well this was why I did it)... so I knew it would be a lot easier to get a great deal. The ECB deal for huggies was spend $20 get $5ECB, so I already knew I would only have to spend $10 because I had the $10ECB. So that, plus coupons meant that I only spend $6.60 for 2 mega packs of diapers!!! That's $3.30 each, or a savings of 78%. Woo hoo!

I'll update on Sunday (well, maybe Monday) with how the whole week went... enjoy your evening!

Ronel is home!!!

A few days ago I talked about how my heart was breaking for a family who was in the final stages of adopting a Haitian boy when the earthquake hit. After 2+ weeks of trying to get him home, he and his (adoptive) daddy landed in the states this morning!!! I am so happy for them, I can barely describe it. You can read more updates HERE. Don't you just love how the internet can keep us all connected and able to pray for loved ones and strangers alike?? Praise Jesus for happy endings!

Man oh man

Jax is growing up so fast. So many new developments in the past week or so. He hasn't totally figured these things out yet, but so far he is attempting to--

learn how to crawl

learn how to pull himself up to standing

learn how to stand without holding onto anything

DANG, right?! About a week or two ago he started trying to figure out how to crawl. He tucks one leg under and then lunges forward. He can't quite figure out how to get both legs under or both hands down at the same time. Usually he ends up face-planting. But once he figures out how to get that other leg under, WATCH OUT MOMMY!

The last 2 things on that list are happening in tandem, and JUST started happening. He was standing at his little play table (which he's been able to do for awhile now) and then he let go with one hand. Cool! Then he let go with the other hand. Freaked. Me. Out. I mean, I didn't see that one coming. But before you start thinking he's so advanced, let me just tell you that he grabbed right back on about 1 second later. Ha! But I couldn't believe he even tried to let go with both hands. He's also figured out how to bend as he's falling so that he lands on his butt and not on his back/head. So he fell onto his butt, then grabbed the table and tried to pull himself back up! Again with the legs being in the way. He had one bent and one straight, so that silly straight leg was in the way of him being successful. But he tried a few more times... until he gave up and just started playing with the table from a sitting down position.

I'm so excited to see this progress. I've been nervous about him being behind all the other kids his age (or younger). They all seem to be crawling and moving around and they have teeth and, and, and... it's just nice to see him doing things that match his age. He's so little to begin with, plus he doesn't seem to be grasping things as quickly so people are generally surprised to learn that he is 8 months old (tomorrow!!!) But I love this little man and I know God has perfect timing for everything in his life. Go baby go!!!

PS- Ryan took the camera with him so I've just been taking some phone pictures... head over to Facebook to check them out!