First Cereal!

Jack had his first taste of baby food tonight - rice cereal.

Before -

First taste -

The aftermath -

I'm not sure he liked it - and most of what he ate came back out of his mouth. He sort of looked at me like I was nuts for sticking the spoon in his mouth. Anna (the ever helpful big sister) kept telling me - "I don't think he likes that mommy."

Thanks kid - you didn't like it the first time we shoved a spoon in your mouth either....

Oh Jack - I can't wait to explore the wonderful world of food with you - there are so many exciting things to try - different tastes and textures - but one step at at time. For now, rice cereal - and in a week or so, we'll get crazy and venture into the world of Squash.

Four Months

* picture to come when I get a chance to download... *

Oh my sweet baby Jack...it is hard to believe you are four months old. I can honestly say it feels like just yesterday that we brought you home from the hospital. I know time flies, but it is going so fast. You are our last baby, and I'm trying to hard to savor every inch of your baby-ness. I think if you had it your way, you'd be up and running around with your siblings ...



So let's see, what are you up to at four months old.... You hate to sit in your bouncy seat while we eat our family meals. You want to be held in some one's arms while we're eating - and want to be part of the action. I don't blame you - who would want to sit on the floor and watch when there is so much fun to participate in!



You are still breastfed - but supplemented with formula. Ever since your weight-gain scare, we've supplemented. So now I nurse you for about 10-15 minutes, then "top you off" with about three ounces of formula. When I'm away from you (at work) I'm pumping - but not enough to keep up with you, so your bottles are about 2 ounces breast milk and 3-4 ounces formula. Dr. Ted has given us the go-ahead to start rice cereal - I can't wait to see how you like your first taste of 'food'.



You seem to love your new class - every day that I pick you up your teachers are all smiles and give you glowing reports. You are such an easy and happy baby, easy for them to feed, put to bed for naps, and play with. You love watching the bigger babies that are crawling around - and I'm told you giggle and laugh at one big boy in particular. It tears my heart to pieces to leave you each day - and walking out the door in the morning is the hardest thing I have to do - and alternatively the sweetest part of my day is hurrying through the halls to your room to sweep you up, see your big sweet smile, and hug and kiss you until you try to squirm away from all of the attention.



You have the biggest and easiest smiles - and give them away with ease. You love watching your brother and sister and I can only imagine what it will be like when you are running around with them. (Daddy and I are in no hurry to encourage your walking...) :)



You sleep so well - it is so odd for me - since your brother and sister were horrible sleepers from day one. I appreciate your love of rest and the fact that you like to put yourself to sleep. I will admit though, that I do miss rocking you to sleep like I did Anna and James. You don't seem to like that, though, will arch your back and fuss, and when I finally give up and put you in your crib, you breathe a sigh of relief, wiggle a bit, and then crash out. I suppose that is what is making you such a good sleeper - your ability to put yourself back to sleep when you wake in the middle of the night.



At your four month check up you are 25 inches (60th percentile) and 13 pounds 14 ounces (30th percentile). You are bursting out of the seams of your size 1-2 diapers, and thankfully we're almost finished with the remainder of the giant super-size box I bought at Sams. You are wearing size 3-6 months clothes, and are getting the cutest little rolls on your arms and legs.



My sweet baby boy, you are growing so fast. I am loving seeing the little person you are becoming, even though I miss the infant you were just a heartbeat ago.



I love you my sweet Jack.

4th of July Fireworks

More posts are a brewing with the fun part of the 4th, along with some old posts that haven't been published yet (Father's Day) - but suffice to say, this is how sweet Jack spent his first 4th of July - in the ER.

An odd rash began early that afternoon - that grew into angry red welts and progressed in size and number - a call to the on-call nurse from the ped's practice resulted in a trip to the ER.

Where the situation was exacerbated - and the ER doc who was great had to do his job of coming up with the worst case scenario and ruling it out.

So in the 9 hours Jack and I were there (alone for most of it) the situation progressed from yeast infection rash to systemic fungal infection (yeast that had spread) to being told we would be admitted for a minimum of three days for IV treatments while his blood is cultured to treat the problem, to a discussion of how he could have contracted said systemic infection (read - congenital immune deficiency syndrome) to finally being released by the on-call pediatrician from our practice (who thankfully stopped the nonsense.) We made it home around 3AM.

A follow up appointment the next morning with said on-call pediatrician revealed what Jack had was a virus that manifested itself in a rash - a second follow up with our own ped. yesterday confirmed.

So the diagnosis of a virus would explain why I had a fever of 101 on Sunday night, and why James woke up with a fever and vomiting last night.

Aren't viruses fun???