Half way to a year!

I have so much to post, but because it's been crazy in our life, I'll start with Tater turning 6 months old. It seems like a milestone, maybe a small one, but I felt it was worth celebrating. A friend of mine gave me the idea to celebrate 1/2 birthdays, so we did! Remember when you were young, you were always sure to add in that 1/2, like when someone asked you how old you were, didn't you always reply, "I'm 5 and a half?" It is momentous in a child's life to add in that 1/2, because it means you're halfway to being a year older!

I didn't really know how I wanted to celebrate and since Tater had been really under the weather, we just kept it very simple. Daddy brought home a little cake and we gave Tater 1/2 of a cake. NO, he did not eat it! What kind of mother do you think I am? But, we did let him smash his little hands all in it and then once they started heading to his mouth, got him all cleaned up. We really didn't think this through, because it was a much bigger mess that we anticipated, but Tater had fun and dove right in to make a huge mess.

Enjoy some pics of Tater's 1/2 birthday and I'll update you on Christmas later, it was great!

Sickness, sickness, go away!!

Wow, what a last five days it has been. David started his two week holiday vacation Friday and we had big hopes for the weekend and days ahead. But, as we are finding with this new parenting thing, those hopes can change quickly. Tater slept ALL night Thursday and woke up Friday with a 102 temp. and it's just gone down hill from there. Took a trip to the dr. on Sat. and nothing, we were told he was "teething," great. Well we've spent the last four nights tending to him about every hour during the night and trying to make an unhappy baby happy for most of the day.

He seemed o.k. this morning, so we took him to school with high hopes of spending the day together...alone. Getting last minute errands run, having lunch and going to see Tater's Christmas program at school. Then, we got a call from his school that he wasn't feeling well, cranky and two super yucky diapers, they were sending him home right after the program :( Poor thing. He participated in the program like a trooper, ringing his bells with all his friends and then we went to the doctor who finally confirmed what I thought, he has an ear infection. So, now we have him pumped full of stuff to make him feel better and so far, so good. He's been asleep for almost an hour. So hoping that he can at least get a couple of good stretches of sleep tonight. I know he wants to be better for Santa's visit!

So amidst all our craziness & sickness, I do have a couple of funny stories about the klutz's (I don't know how to spell this) the two of us are. David thinking that he was being helpful (which he was) by fixing dinner last night took the marinating chicken out of the ziploc full of italian dressing and managed to spill it ALL over my oven, fridge, floors, dishwasher, well just about everywhere. Nice one honey, that was real fun to clean up chicken guts and dressing! Then, as David was playing with Tater on the floor, he got a surprise. Tater who was sitting on his daddy's chest spit up ALL over his face and yep, in his mouth! So gross & funny! Next, Tater decides it's a good idea to spit up, again, ALL over mommy & daddy's comforter which is only cleaned by the dry cleaners, eeewww! And to top it all off, once we finally got the little guy to sleep, I needed chocolate! Cookies to be exact, my fav so I baked us up some yummy cookies, two each, warm and fresh from the oven along with two glasses of milk. Well as I was carrying them down the stairs, they fell, ALL of it! At this point the two of us were laughing and decided we just needed to call it a day!

So, tomorrow is a new day. And Christmas is almost here, can't wait!

Santa Claus is comin' to town

Tater met Santa for the first & second time today! His first meeting was at his "school" where we had breakfast with Santa. He didn't cry, wouldn't smile, was pretty much frozen. Then, we got one of the last openings at a photographer where he enjoyed Santa much more. He did smile, laugh and even pull Santa's beard. Can't wait to get the pictures back.

And just for sentimental purposes, we will be seeing Santa again tomorrow at Bass Pro. Were just tracking him all around town! The picture tomorrow is really for my mom who has a picture with Santa every year since my oldest nephew's first Christmas,15 yrs. ago. In that 15 yrs., more nephews have been added and well, now that it is Tater's 1st Christmas the tradition must go on. I have to say though, it will probably be the last since it's already not cool for a 15 yr. old to go see Santa, I'm sure it will be unheard of for a 16 yr. old to next year. So we'll take what we can get. It should be interesting to get all 5 boys to take a decent picture.

We've got almost all our Christmas shopping done, yippee! Now just need to finish wrapping and mailing out presents. Tater and I went to the mall yesterday, just to "walk around." Can you say, busy? Sheesh, was it black Friday or something? Oh well, despite the large crowds, we had a ball. He was such a good baby and we walked, and walked until we hit Kirklands, where we found our groove and lots of great deals! This is where Tater decided to charm everyone waiting in line with his super cuteness. Laughing, talking, clapping his hands (this is new and way cute),and blowing rasperries (also new and messy). This kid is way too stinking cute and I'm not being completely biased, he just is!

What a great day!

We've had a great day. Well, actually a great weekend full of memories, family and firsts. We started our weekend with a great date night to celebrate David's birthday. Then we enjoyed spending time with Tater's Grandma J & PaPa M, cousin Noah & Aunt Jessie. We braved the cold and the enormous crowd of people at Silver Dollar City. This is always one of my favorite ways of celebrating the season.

Today, Tater was bapitzed. It was a great moment and memory that we made with him. We had lots of family, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins as well as a few friends to celebrate the moment with us. Tater was adorable in his "special" baptism outfit.

Not only was it his baptism, he also rolled over, completly for the first time, he also had his first taste of rice cereal. Let's just say that is going to take a little bit of practice, he spit more out than I think he got in his belly, but we gotta start somewhere!

Busy, busy, busy

There. is. too. much. going. on! I thrive on having lots of things going on, but with the holidays, and parties and shopping, cooking and everything else, I'm tired! It doesn't help that Tater has developed a not so welcome new sleeping pattern :( Yes, I spoke too soon about those wonderful nights he slept through. Now were back to 4,5 sometimes 6x getting up with him. We've gone back to partially swaddling him and even feeding him sometimes in the middle of the night, so basically back to square one. No fun, we all need our sleep. When I say Tater's prayers at night, we pray that God helps him sleep peacefully because he needs his sleep to grow that little brain! I think God heard me last night, because he only got up once! Thank you!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoyed eating and decorating for the holidays. Our tree is up, lights are hung outside and all I have left is to decorate the second tree I decided we needed to display all our cute sentimental ornaments. Now we are busy getting ready for David's birthday (Friday), Tater's baptism and staying ahead of the craziness of the holidays. The shopping is almost done and tomorrow I'm going to get everything ready for the festivities that will take place Sunday. I'm so excited for all our family to share his baptism with us and to eat lots of yummy food, again.

We have someone coming to take pictures of Tater tomorrow, a date on Friday and Saturday will be full of cooking and one of my most favorite things, Silver Dollar City. Then Sunday is the baptism and a couple dozen people joining us for lunch. Shew! Before you know it we'll be ringing in the new year! Wish me luck that I can get everything accomplished without completly losing my mind!

Blessed

Tater is fast approaching 5 mths old. Still seems like yesterday, really that we found out he was on his way. He is really a happy baby and very easy going which makes me feel so blessed. As this wonderful season begins, I am finding myself more blessed everyday and thankful for so much. I can't wait to share this holiday season with my new family! It feels so much more complete to have him in our lives and I have this need to make everything simple and special for him. Even though Thanksgiving is a week away, I'm ready to put up the Christmas tree, hang the stockings and decorate! Maybe we'll get on that whole decorating thing this weekend since we have no big plans! Makes my heart sing, to have no major commitments!

We still desperatly need to switch out our closet, should be easy for me, since it will consist of putting away the maternity clothes and hanging up the few pieces of clothing I have. Oh well, I did say I was trying to keep things simple, right? Who needs a closet full of the latest fashion? Actually I have a closet like that, in the basement anyway, none of which fit at the moment. So really the switching is more for David, so he doesn't have to live out of two closets.

On another note, we traded in our super cute sporty little SUV (with only two cupholders) for a much larger rugged SUV that comes fully equipped with 12 cupholders! I can easily fit a stroller and a slew of groceries in the back, yippeee! So much happier with this decision.

I'm losing it!

I just realized I haven't posted in a while. I think I forgot I have a blog and a faithful audience hanging on my every word! Ha! ;) It's been that way a lot lately, forgetting I mean. I've left multiple things behind, forgot certain things - even when they are on my list and the big one, I've lost my keys, apparently for a couple weeks and just realized it! Ugh, so frustrating.

Good things that have happened though are the fact that David and I had our first official "date" since Tater arrived. Thank you to a very dear friend who was kind enough to keep him one Friday evening while we enjoyed a wonderful dinner that my tummy is still thankful for.

I'm officially back to work. Yup, listed a house last night that unfortunatly is WAY overpriced :(
So, I guess you can't have it all. Who knows, maybe someone will come in and decide to NEGOTIATE. That's what they are hoping for. I'm hoping for a reality check, for them that is.

Tater is good. He's been a little under the weather with his first cold. I doctor him up often with Vicks and anything else to help him feel better. He had his second visit with the Parents As Teachers lady and she says he's doing great. She observed that he seems to be pretty easy going and go-with-the-flow.

It's deer season and David is going hunting this weekend while us girls hang out. I'm so not excited about the possibility of him bringing bambi home to store in my freezer. So secretly I'm hoping he just has a really great time and has a bad aim :)

Well that about wraps it up, we are officially boring! We are however super excited about the upcoming holiday season and can't wait to kick off the festivities. I'm on the hunt for some cute stockings to hang on the fireplace. As a kid we had the coolest stockings. They were handmade by a lady at church and our names were knitted on them. The great thing about them was that when you put anything in them, they stretched waaay out, so I think you got more stuff because Santa had to fill it up! We bought the neatest Advent Calendar the other day too. It's made of Legos and I think it will be a great fun tradition for when Tater gets bigger. For now, mommy is going to have fun playing with it.

Bye for now!

Sack O' Taters

Tater's 1st Halloween was great! He was adorable and loved his costume. We started the day off with a walk in the park, carved & painted pumpkins and then greeted a few trick or treaters. We ended the day at some friends house. After a full day we were ready to call it a day!

HE DID IT! HE DID IT!

I'm still in shock! Tater slept ALL NIGHT LONG!!! Holy Moley!! I'm talking an entire 12 hours! 8:30 pm to 8:30 am. He awoke happy and goofy and of course ready to eat! Now for momma on the other hand, I was awake much of the night anticipating him waking up any minute.

See the night before we expermimented with the "Cry It Out" method. It was rough, real rough, he wasn't the only one who shed some tears. I can't say we failed, but I'm not sure we were successful either. He cried, well more like whined, for about and hour and a half. Of course we kept checking on him and eventually after he was quite for a little while fed him. David and I think he was on to us, because we were really prepared for last night, we had a plan to go in at 30 seconds, 1, 5, 10 & 20 minutes for as long as it took him to go back to sleep all on his own, but we didn't have to, he chose for himself to just sleep and unswaddled even. Crazy!

Today is Halloween and I can tell you he makes the cutest sack of Taters ever! Sleep well everyone!

4 Months Old

Tater had is 4 month check-up today. He's doing great! He was so brave getting his shots & so were mommy & daddy who got their H1N1 vaccine :-)

Here's his current stats:
16lbs. 11oz.
26.5 inches long
He's in the 75% on weight, height & head circumference.

Yes, he's a big boy, but well proportioned and slightly above average. What can I say, I grow a healthy boy! He's still nursing well and has discovered his voice and feet in the last week. Were still struggling with sleeping at night and still praying that he learns to sleep through the night.

We've been interviewing lots of new potential babysitters and thought we had decided on one until today. We got the call we have been waiting for. A church daycare whose wait list we have been on for quite a while has an opening! Woohoo!! We're going first thing tomorrow to check it out and if we approve he can start asap.

We're also in the process of planning Tater's baptism. We had settled on a date, but it's difficult to choose a date that works for us and all our family, so now we are trying to find a new date. Hoping to have the date nailed down in the next couple of days and hoping that he still fits in the cute little outfit I bought for him to wear on his special day.

Mommy is still taking the photography class, here are some "practice" shots I took the other day.

Back on the hunt

Well I guess all good things must come to an end, but in this case, it didn't last very long. Tater started going to his new babysitter, Miss Heather about 3 wks. ago and it has been great. She is wonderful and he comes home every day with a progress report and an arts and craft project. He's already painted, held a crayon and made a cute little handprint project all which are displayed on our refrigerator. Well, last week Miss Heather informed us she has decided to take a directors position at a local daycare and we are just bummed :( It was really hard to find her and we are just starting get into a new groove and now were back on the hunt for a new babysitter and a new routine. Yuck! We've interviewed a couple ladies and just aren't "sold" on either of them yet. No fun at all! Praying that the next perfect babysitter presents herself soon.

I've been busy with work, yes, work. And am hoping that a contract is in my near future to replenish our bank account. We are on the hunt also for a new car. Love the car we currently have, it's just too small to hold all this baby stuff and groceries at the same time. Not to mention the lack of cup holders!

Halloween is right around the corner and I've created a costume for Tater that is so fitting. Can you guess what it is? It's a sack of Taters! So far I've sewed up a sack and made some taters out of panty hose. Tomorrow we're going to stencil the sack so it will read "Jacobson #1 Taters." I'm impressed with my creativity and am hoping that it actually turns out to look like a sack of taters and that people aren't looking at him wondering what the heck he is. We also have a cute little lion costume for when we are passing out candy. I promise some really cute pics when it's all complete. Good night!

The latest style

Tater is just now fitting into his 3-6 month clothes. They are still a little big, but I'm sure he'll grow out of them soon enough! If you haven't been paying attention to the latest style for little boys, let me share with you what it is...Racoons, rascals and cute little booties! Our little Tater is up on the latest styles. We wouldn't want him to be "last season." Here are a few pics of our cute little rascal sporting the latest style.

Cuter every day

Tater gets cuter every day! Taking pictures of him has become somewhat of an addiction. I was the lucky recipient of his first laugh the other day. I don't know what I did to get it, and I wish I did, because we haven't had another since. David was bummed that he didn't get it out of him first, but what can I say? Tater thinks his mommy is really funny :)

He is a really good baby, so far he seems to be really laid back. We went to his cousins football game this evening and he just sits and watches the whole time. Obviously he will be like his dad and enjoy football. He will even sit and stare at the game on TV!

It was a success!

Tater's first day of "school" was a success! We didn't quite make it at 9am, but rather 9:30, pretty good if you ask me. I dropped him off, gave Miss Heather a quick rundown of Tater's schedule and then left him happy and smiling. Then I got in my car and drove away as the tears started rolling. I was sad to leave him and also happy at the same time to have a little me time. I was very unproductive. Since I was feeling a little down, I did the one thing that usually cheers me right up...shopping. Tater now has several new books and a couple of toys the Parents as Teachers lady recommended. As for me, well I tried to buy something for myself, but after trying on a bunch of clothes left empty handed. Had lunch with my mom and some friends and then went for my much anticipated massage.

Holy cow it was awful! How can a massage be awful you ask? The two words massage and awful don't even belong in the same sentence, but in this case it was true! The lady was nice, but smelled of a nasty covered up smoke smell, it was hot and there was NO privacy! Seriously, it was in a hallway with dividers between me and the next person and she left the curtain open while I was being massaged. There was no relaxing. I just couldn't wait for it to get over. I left feeling like I needed to go jump in the shower, yuck! I will not be recommending this place where students practice their techniques. Next time I will not go for the budget massage!

I ended my day with my first photography class. Yes, we got the camera! You know, the fancy camera I talked about in an earlier post. It is awesome and I can't quit taking pictures of my cute little model. But, I'm frustrated because this fancy camera has lots of buttons and things I have no clue what they are. So, I decided to learn something new and sign up for a class at the community college. I'll be professional in no time! I promise to post some new pics soon.

Tomorrow's the BIG day!

Bath. check. Diaper bag packed full. check. Bottles ready. check. Outfit laid out. check! I think everything is ready for Tater's first day with Miss Heather. I have good intentions of having him there by 9am. Sounds easy to an ordinary person, but we haven't both been dressed, fed and happily out of the house before 10am since Tater arrived. Not to mention daddy has to be out the door earlier than usual tomorrow. I've been really excited about this new found freedom of two days to work and take care of mommy stuff. But, now that the day is here, I'm nervous and thinking maybe he should just stay with me.

First of all, it makes me sad, because it means he's old enough to go, second, it means I've got to get my heiny in gear and get back to work! Three months off has been wonderful and necessary, but now I'm praying hard that I will seamlessly enter back into the world of real estate as if I never left.

I'm considering tomorrow to be a "trial day." That means Tater goes to Miss Heather's and mommy is going to take a day to herself :) Seriously, I can count on one hand the number of hours I have been A-L-O-N-E since he arrived. I just hope I can make good use of my time and pick him up refreshed. Lot's of things sound like fun, but if you remember me talking about the decision making skills I lack recently, I just can decide what to do. I don't think I know what to do with myself. I did come across a gift certificate that my hubby bought me...two christmases ago with no expiration date for a massage. So, I scheduled that and really can't wait. I'll probably run a couple errands and maybe come home and just take a nap. Who knows? We'll just see how it goes.

I do know one thing, I must refrain from shopping or anything that involves spending money! Being home these last couple of weeks has cost us a lot. At this point Tater takes a nice nap in his stroller and we walk around the mall or TJ Maxx and I find lots of great deals. I must stop! If anyone needs anything it's me. My wardrobe currently consists of three shirts and two pairs of capri pants, all maternity clothes. I just really can't get myself to try on anything, but I really need to since I'm starting to look like a dumpy new mom and I can't go selling too many houses looking like this. Sad thing is, my old clothes do not fit and probably won't until the next season is here. That's a whole other blog though, excercise and diet, ugh! Looks like that's where were headed. Weight Watchers is calling out my name :)

Brilliance must run in the family :)

Today we met our Parents as Teachers lady. Her name is Miss Francis and she was very nice and oohed and aahed over my little man. We already knew he was brilliant and she confirmed that he is hitting all his developmental milestones just as he should, might even be a little ahead on a few! Were happy to hear this and will continue to watch him closely :)

On another note, I took Tater for some impromptu pictures last Friday. They turned out soooo cute and now I have to choose. Uugh, I hate choosing. Lately me making a solid decision is like trying to get Tucker (our poodle) to not poop in the basement :) Let's just say were both struggling. There are several cute ones and it is on my to-do list for the next couple of days. As is ordering the pictures from his 3 wk. photo shoot. Yes, I said 3 wks. I'm terrible, I haven't ordered them yet either. Once again, because I couldn't decide and we have had a lot going on. It is however, probably the last time I decide to take Tater to get pictures all alone. It's a lot of work to get them to look so cute and position them and make them smile all by yourself. I was doing a pretty good job until the photographer thought it was a good idea to take a cute little naked picture of him. I too thought it was a great idea until I felt something warm and wet on my shirt. Yes, he peed all over me! Of course smiling the whole time.

So along with not being able to make decisions very well, taking him to get pictures alone wasn't my best idea, and either was sweeping the front porch after planting some mums with my little man sitting so nice on the porch. Needless to say, he needed a bath because mommy's sweeping blew dirt all over him. He was covered in dirt, happy of course, because he usually is. I'm chalking all these "bright mommy ideas" up to lack of sleep.

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin!

We've hit another milestone people! Tater rolled over for the first and second time last night. When he did it, David and I cheered as if it was the most wonderful thing we had ever saw, he was like, "what is all the excitement about?"

Tomorrow, he is officially 3 months old! So hard to believe! We are more in love with him everyday! He's showing us all the time that he is growing and learning. He has suddenly decided he would no longer like to be swaddled. Daddy and I are very hesitant of this, since we have swaddled him pretty much from day one. I guess we'll let you know how it goes, tonight is the first night we have put him to bed without it. He has also discovered Baby Einstein (thanks to mommy) and he is in absolute awe of these videos. We only have one right now and he loves it! This particular video talks in lots of different languages, interesting and annoying because we have no idea what language they are speaking in, nor what they are saying! But seriously, if you've never seen a Baby Einstein video prepare to be amazed. They are the most basic videos with the most simple things and yet it captures the attention span of a 3 month old for 30 min. If only I had thought of it!

Next week is a big week, Cole starts going to his new "school" on Tuesday's and Thursday's. We searched high and low for the perfect person and I think we've come close. I am praying that Miss Heather finds my little man charming and loveable and that she takes really good care of him. I am also praying for myself, because this means I will be starting back to work and at the moment I have nothing in my "real estate funnel." Hoping this transition is easier than I'm making it out to be.

Tater Lovin'

We've had some exciting visitors the last two weekends. It's always fun to have friends and family over and even more fun to show off Tater. First, my dear friends of 22 yrs. were here for a Saturday morning breakfast. Haleema and her boyfriend Brendan were driving through from Pheonix to D.C. and Holly and her husband Shawn and Jamey joined us too. We visited, laughed, reminisced and ended our day with a little Andy's frozen custard! They were so excited to meet Tater. He charmed them with his cuteness.

Next, David's dad, stepmom, sister and our new nephew Noah came to officially meet the new addition. David's parents met Tater the night he was born, but only for a brief minute in the NICU. He's sure changed since then. We took lots of pictures, David got to play golf in the rain with his dad and us girls made a trip to the outlet mall in Branson (in the rain of course!).

We had a great time with everyone, here are some pics of our visitors:

Tater TV

Like Father, Like Son

One of the first things I hear when people first see Tater is, "Wow, he sure looks like his daddy!" then we hear, "he is sooo cute!" Well, David takes this as a HUGE compliment, since one, his son looks like him and two, if they think Tater is good looking, then well, you get the point. I however am pleased that he takes after his father, but hopeful that some of his mommy will show in him soon. He does have my lips and according to David and my Dad, my "pouty face," whatever that means. Hey, you got to be cute when your getting ready to cry, right? I like to think he also has many personality traits of his mommy and that's a really great thing!

I have included a few pictures to compare the resemblance, can you guess who's who?

A Special Life

It's been a rather sad week for me and my family. Last Friday, my Grandma Ann passed away. She was diagnosed with cancer in March, but her passing was still very unexpected. What I mean is, we didn't expect when she went into the hospital Thursday night, that we needed to say good-bye forever before we left. This has been the hardest part. She had just finished her 7th round of chemotherapy. She had handled all the meds and chemo as good as expected, although which each round you could see a little piece of her dwindle away. They took all her energy and made her feel lousy for a few days and then she would bounce back. We don't feel it was the cancer that took her, but rather some blood clots she had been developing off and on.

Saying good-bye to her has been very hard. She was very special and one of the most influential women in my life. Growing up, I knew of no one else who had a grandma that was as involved as mine was. She was with us every weekend. We would shop till we dropped every Saturday, after we cleaned the house of course. My grandma was the strongest woman I know and endured a lot of heartache in her life, though you would never have known it. She was a friend to everyone, never would say anything bad about anyone and was always able to see the good in everything. She was so proud of her Italian heritage and so were we. I'm going to miss her cooking, the special way she did laundry and ironed (yes, there is a process!). Everything she did came out so much better because she actually took her time and it drove her crazy when I would rush through things. I'll miss the way she hummed while doing everything and most of all I'll miss all the time we spent together. My most favorite thing to do with her was to spend a Saturday afternoon shopping and having lunch. I have SO many wonderful memories of her.

My last memory of her is the most special though. The Tuesday before she passed, she spent the entire day at my house, holding Tater and helping me get caught up on laundry and housework, her specialty. She held Tater so much that day that she was sore she told my sister! I hope I can pass on the special things she did for me to him and tell him all about how special she was. I made a video for her funeral. Everyone loved it, but my true intention of the video was to show the legacy of my grandma's life so that Tater and my youngest nephew can see how much she meant to us. It turned out so awesome and will be a great message to them some day.

I am so comforted knowing that we all have another angel to watch over us. I can only imagine the stories her and my other grandmother are sharing right now. My other grandma passed away two years ago. Both grandmas were best friends. Not because their children were married, but because they truly enjoyed each other's company. This was awesome growing up, because they were both always there. So if your saying a prayer, please add my family today. Time is the best medicine for healing.

Tater's 2-month Stats

We went to the pediatrician yesterday for Tater's 2-month checkup. Mommy prepped Tater for the appointment, I'm sure he understood! You can't start too young! I thought he deserved to know that he would be getting his shots and that they were to help keep him healthy. I told him I knew he was brave and strong and would do great. He did do great and so did mommy & daddy. So here's the latest stats!

Let's review where Tater began:
June 23
7lbs. 3oz.
21 inches

Two months later:
August 27
12lbs. 7 oz.
23 1/2 inches
He is in the 75% in both height & weight

He had five shots, all super quick thanks to the nice nurse and only a brief period of being upset. He was quickly calmed by mom & dad :)

Oh yeah! And the dr. seems to think it looks like we'll have a blue-eyed handsome boy. She thinks they'll only get lighter. Interesting, since both mom & dad have GREEN eyes! I have been informed that my grandfather & great-grandfather both had beautiful blue eyes. It's so exciting to see him transform into a little person.

Here are some pics of his day:

Two months old!

Tater is officially two months old, as of Sunday anyway. It took me two extra days to realize it! So, we have a big week ahead of us. Two months means we get to go back to the dr. and find out how he's doing. I'm excited to get the latest stats and not so excited, because it also means he'll get his first round of vaccines. :( He's already proved to us how brave & strong he is while he was in the NICU. They did some not so fun things to him there, so I think he'll do just fine.

It's a good thing I guess that I was in such a fog while in the hospital, because looking back I realize I wasn't fully comprehending all that was going on with him (thank God for my mother, once again). Now when I think about our time in the hospital I have many more questions and think how yucky it was that he spent those first five days there. We for sure had a super rough start and mommy is still coping with some things that happened at the hospital. But! He's happy and most importantly healthy!

He has been doing so great. The last couple of weeks I can really see a difference in him and how he is adjusting to life outside his momma. He's starting to get a little personality (I think he's a charmer). He's getting all his kinks worked out and getting on somewhat of a schedule. He eats great and is growing like a weed. We're still breastfeeding despite all the challenges we've had and I think he's getting it figured out. We saw a speech language pathologist and she gave us some exercises to try to get his tongue/suck to work better. We're giving it two weeks.

He's really close to sleeping through the night, I can feel it! Right now he's waking once between 2-4 and is getting better at going back to sleep until sometime between 6 & 8. Although we broke out the swing the other night to buy us a few extra hours of sleep, that is becoming more rare. Poor thing, I feel bad letting him sleep in it for so long, but hey, it works!

That's another funny thing David and I talk about a lot. No one told us all the crazy things they did to get their kids to sleep. The most popular advice we got, was to catch up on our sleep. Well to my pregnant friends, guess what my advice is? Do whatever works in the first few weeks and you'll save yourself some heartache and get some extra sleep at the same time!

Wow !this is becoming a really long blog. I'm sure my three readers are bored to death. If there are more out there, please let me know. I like to know I'm appealing to more than a few people. You can post a comment below the blog and/or you can even become a follower of my blog. It's nice to know your out there anxiously awaiting my next post :)

Next blog to come: 2-month stats and who does Tater look most like? Mommy or daddy? Ha! Who am I kidding? But I'll have a fun comparison.

Poor Wiley :(

As many of you know, David & I are pretty nutso over our puppies. They have been our babies for a long time and are a little spoiled. They are both great dogs and bring us SO much joy. Wiley was my buddy while we lived in California, so far from our family and Tucker is my little snuggler. Before Tater arrived everyone kept saying, "just wait, they won't be your babies once the baby arrives." Well, I disagree, they are still our babies. I still love them and worry about them. They have however, taken a back seat to Tater and are coping with this enormous change rather well. I keep telling them, they are really going to love him once he gets older and can throw those toys! They'll figure it out soon enough.

Well we finally broke down today and decided to use our last resort to end Wiley's barking. We've tried everything, I mean everything and now it's time to get serious. Really it was more David's idea than mine, but we bought him a bark collar. Poor thing. He does not like it and neither does his momma. David on the other hand tried it on himself (such a dork) and thinks it's a little amusing. I admit, I can see why he finds it a little funny, because if you know Wiley, you know he's a great dog, but very stubborn. He isn't an obsessive barker, more like an 'annoying, I got let you know I'm here barker.' He barks when we get off the couch, close our computer, move our arm, say PaPa, door or hello. He also barks when we come home and now that we have a sleeping Tater occasionally, we aren't too happy with the barking. Now if only we can find something to keep Tucker from his obsessive licking...

Same ole' thing

Hello! Sorry for not posting anything sooner. Here I entice you to my new blog with the promise of pictures and lots of updates and then I leave you hanging. It's harder than I thought to "blog" and really there isn't a lot that has changed in one week.

However, we did finally get that uninterupted night of sleep thanks to my parents. (Do you think my mom read my last blog and took a hint?) Either way it was wonderful to sleep! Tater did great at his first sleep-over, there really was no worrying had by mom or dad. We prepped and prepared my parents, but as my dad has stated before, "this isn't our first rodeo" and he's right, tater is grandson #5 for them and they've had their fair share of sleep-overs with our nephews. It's really fun to see them with him and the love they have for him. It makes me appreciate my parents even more now that I have a different perspective as a mommy myself.

On another note...my husband and this new role he has as daddy, has to be the most amazing thing ever! I've just witnessed him confidently swaddle, rock and gently lay Tater in his bed (of course hoping he's really going to go to sleep). I am well aware of how lucky I am to have a husband that equally shares in the responsibility of being a parent. He is a wonderful dad & husband. He is my rock and as I explained to him tonight, I seriously might be in the crazy bin if I hadn't had him the last eight weeks. Not only did he treat me like a princess during pregnancy, he has continued this treatment post c-section and managed to learn all the ropes of being a dad. It's great to see what he comes up with to keep Tater entertained or how excited he is to teach him something new. After just being the two of us for 10 years it's so cool to see him transform instantly and to know that there is nothing he wouldn't do for us.

Sorry I don't have any recent pics this week. See we had borrowed this really awesome camera from our friends Mark & Marci and now when I pull out my little point & shoot camera to snap pics of Tater, it just isn't the same. The lighting looks funny, Tater's cuteness doesn't come alive and so I've been avoiding my camera, hoping that one of those fancy camera's I love will appear and then the pictures can return ;)

Last time I ended my post with a wish of sleep and it came true, so you never know, right? Good nite!

I knew time flew, but please, slow down!

Tater is officially 7 weeks old today. I can't believe it was only a short time ago that he was still growing in my belly. I loved being pregnant and miss the excitement of feeling him move and preparing for his arrival. We've come a long way in 7 weeks, all of us. While pregnancy was wonderful and flattering to me, post-pregnancy hasn't been so kind and I am thankful to see glimpses of my old self appearing. Honestly, the last 6 weeks have been a blur. Adjusting and learning about Tater has been so exciting yet exhausting, therefore creating a state of "survival mode" that we are just now climbing out of. For weeks we've listened to everyone say "It will get easier," I was beginning to lose hope, but, my friends never fail me and they are right, it has gotten a little easier, just a little, but enough to give me sanity! So, how and why does time have to go by so fast? Well in this case it's bittersweet, I want nothing more than for Tater to sleep through the night (in his bed), yet, I want to cherish every moment of his littleness, because I am all to aware that he will grow up too fast. So instead of pushing & praying for the next stage, I have decided to cherish the 3:00 a.m. feedings because they will quickly be gone and we will move on to another new stage with new challenges and all through his life this will repeat. It's exciting to see him grown and change every day. He's has started smiling and cooing, which melts our hearts and makes the last 6 weeks of sleepless nights totally worth it! I hope I'm not giving you the impression that I enjoy sleepless nights. Right now, I would give anything for one uninterupted night sleep. It's been a long time, 11 months to be exact that I have slept peacefully ALL night. And if you know me at all, you know that I love SLEEP! I should be sleeping now actually, so I will leave you with these:

Here I am!

Well I've stepped over to the other side and decided to create a blog! I've enjoyed following several of my friends blogs so much that I decided we needed one of our own. It seems even more necessary now that little man, (who we will refer to as "Tater") has arrived and there are a lot of people who can't be in his life every moment, yet want to know more about him. I hope this blog can reflect our life appropriately and offer you joy, faith & laughter. Check back often, I'll do my best to keep it up-to-date. Love to you all!