10 Months!

Jimi is 10 months old!

I need a faster camera because it was once again nearly impossible to get any pictures of him because he is constantly on the move.

Jimi still has no teeth! About a week ago we were sure one was about to pop up because he was chewing on everything and drooling more than normal.... but we're still waiting. The only real solid foods I can get him to eat are bananas, pickles, different Gerber snacks and crackers. ...We've tried different cheeses, pasta, diced steamed carrots, bread and anything else we're eating that we don't think he'll choke on. I'm not sure what the trick is to get him to eat our food... Hopefully he'll just decide to do it (and soon!). Re-sleep training (see previous post) seems to be going well, at least last night and today anyway he only fussed for a couple of minutes. It's definitely harder this time around because Jimi is A LOT louder and much more pitiful about it. His memory is getting pretty good, so I always feel guilty in the morning thinking that he's going to remember I made him cry the night before. Other than 'Mama' and 'Mom' Jimi isn't really saying any real words. He definitely already has his own language though, he uses the same sounds repeatedly for different objects. As for walking, I'm not so sure he will be doing it early like everyone has predicted. He seems pretty content knowing he can get around fast crawling. However, he has been standing for increasingly longer periods of time unassisted and can take a couple steps at you when he gets help getting balanced. I wouldn't call it real walking though.

We took Jimi to the Seattle Aquarium:

Exploring in the 'Tide Pool'

Touching a Star Fish

Blowing the fish kisses

Shark bait

Watching the Seals swim

Also, we have a new nephew! My little brother's wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy
Wade Robert Wessels on July 28th.

We can't wait to meet him next month!

Sleep (again)

I made a big uh-oh in terms of Jimi's sleep habits. Around 5 or 6 months old we got Jimi trained to put himself to sleep (previously he would fall asleep drinking a bottle or by being rocked). It took about a week of him crying for 5-15minutes but he finally got to a point where we could just lay him down and he would talk himself to sleep. At the same time this was going on Jimi would only take naps on either James or I. At about 8 months old I finally got tired of getting nothing done around the house during the day and being stuck to the couch during nap time, so I started laying him down in his crib. He seemed generally OK with it but refused to fall asleep unless I stood over his crib until he was fully asleep. That is, unless I wanted to listen to non-stop crying. So I caved, and have been standing over his crib during nap time until he falls asleep (anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes).

This is where the problem began. Now when it is time to go to sleep for the night Jimi refuses to fall asleep unless (you guessed it) we're standing over his crib. We don't even have to rub his back, or sshh him. We can just stand there. It doesn't seem like that big of a deal except at night (for some reason) it takes anywhere from 5-40 minutes to get him to fall asleep. And then once he wakes up in the middle of the night instead of putting himself back to sleep, like he had been doing, he now expects us to stand over him once again until he can fall asleep.

So here we are again at the painful process of retraining him to fall asleep on his own once again. I'm really hoping it only takes a couple of days this time around. Otherwise Jimi's sleep is still on a pretty usual pattern. He'll sleep from 8pm-6am, eat, fall back asleep in bed with us until 7 or 8 and then be up for the day. About every two weeks, however, he'll have very interrupted sleep and be up several times during the night.

'What are these things?'

In other news: Mark you calendars! Jimi's baptism will be October 2nd, most likely the 9am service at Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Everett and his 1st birthday party will be later that afternoon (not sure on the location yet though).

6 months old!

Can you believe that this handsome boy...

(His 6 month photo shoot was a difficult one because he was grumpy and just wanted to rolled over the whole time)

...is half a year old already?

At Jimi's 6 month check up we learned that he is now weighing 17lb 1oz (43.8 percentile) and is measuring 26.5 inches (55.4 percentile). The doctor said that Jimi looked great and was advanced for his age. We've been hearing from many people all along that they thought he would walk early but it was a little scarier hearing it from his doctor. After being a nanny for several families I know what comes with a walking busy baby. However, whether he walks early or late it'll be still exciting.

Jimi is now turning himself in circles while laying on the floor to get at different objects. He has also recently begun backwards crawling. I think it's pretty cute to watch him go backwards, however, you can tell he gets quickly frustrated as the toy he wants gets further and further away. Jimi loves eating! As soon as he sees the container of baby food he gets very excited. He definitely prefers veggies to fruit at this point. He has also figured out what a camera is (or at least that we react to him when he smiles for one) and gets a big gummy grin on whenever he sees one

Jimi's sleep habits have not improved any. Some nights it feels as though he's turned back into a newborn. We have briefly tried one method of getting him to sleep through the night (without letting him just cry it out) and it did not make any improvements. The doctor gave us some suggestions, so hopefully those will work.

We recently returned from a quick trip to Georgia for James' cousin's wedding. Jimi did not do quite as well on the planes rides as he did with our first trip (he got bored a lot easier) but he still did great! In fact on each plane ride there was another screaming child that woke him up. It was great to see family members, we wish our trip could have been longer.

Playing in the suitcases

Jimi's first time in a swimming pool

Four generations of James Orr (clockwise): James W. Orr, James D. Orr, James M. Orr, James T. Orr

Jimi liked watching the other planes out the window

Sleep

During our trip to Virginia over the holidays, Jimi started sleeping through the night (he had previously been sleeping until about 4am, eating and going back to sleep). It was an amazing two weeks of extra sleep. That all ended when we got back to Washington. Jimi started back on his schedule of waking up at about 4 or 5am and then started adding in waking up at around 1 or 2am as well. I know this is still better than when he was a newborn and he was waking up every two to three hours, but I still miss the full nights of sleep we got for two weeks (conveniently at a time when James didn't have to be up in the morning to work). 

Since his birth Jimi had been sleeping in a moses basket next to our bed, which was very helpful for the frequent nighttime feedings. However, now that he is not getting up as frequently I decided it was time to place him in his crib in his "nook". The "nook" had been set up in a way that wouldn't allow us to use the heater in that area, so James and I got to work as soon as we returned from Virginia and rearranged the area so that Jimi could have heat. After all that we discovered that the heater didn't work. So we decided to keep him in our room until we could get the heat working. However, last night when we went to lay Jimi down in his moses basket (he was already asleep), he woke up screaming. This happened two more times until I finally laid him down in his crib and he went right to sleep. I guess he decided he was ready to sleep away from us. Even though I said I was ready... it turns out I wasn't. I spent the night on the couch so that I could hear him better in case anything happened. Of course everything went fine.

In the last two weeks Jimi has entered the phase of putting everything into his mouth. He's never really seemed all that fascinated with his hands like some babies are, until he discovered that they are fun to chew on, now we can't get them out of his mouth. It is pretty adorable though, especially with his new found squealing laugh.

Eating his stuffed animal



Eating his hands



10pm

Nearly every night no matter what state Jimi is in (eating, sleeping, crying, etc) at 10pm he decides it is time to be alert, happy and ready to play. This can be pretty frustrating, as we're usually trying to go to sleep around then and it can take an hour or more to get him to sleep. His adorable smile and "talking" makes it pretty easy not to get too upset though.

This last week Jimi has really been starting to show his personality. So far he's a pretty goofy guy. He likes to talk and smile a lot. However, he's made it clear not to come in between him and his food or he'll let you (me) hear it.

Cuddle Time

Memory Foam and Leavenworth

During my entire pregnancy I complained about being able to feel every spring in our mattress. After Jimi was born, sleeping got easier but the middle of the night feedings were not so comfortable. So we finally broke down and got a memory foam mattress topper (under $50 on overstock.com).... Let me tell you, it is amazing! No more uncomfortable pokes for me (James never noticed the springs). I highly recommend it to everyone.

This weekend we took a day trip to Leavenworth with my dad to get Jimi a first Christmas ornament and to do some wine tasting. Jimi did great on the long trip, but spent most of his time sleeping instead of sight seeing. We had a great time and successfully completed all of our missions of the trip.

My Dad with Jimi

2 Weeks

We have survived our first two weeks and with only minor sleep deprivation. So far we've only had a few all nighters, we're keeping our fingers crossed that those will be few and far between. 

Jimi is growing at an amazing rate. The doctor said they look for a gain of an ounce a day... in 8 days Jimi gained 18 ounces. At his two week check up he was weighing 8lb 12 oz and was 21.5 inches long.

 A few days old... deep in thought

2 Weeks

24 Weeks

I can't believe how fast time is flying by. I'm already at 24 weeks. It seems like not long ago I was only 12 weeks and wishing that I looked pregnant to other people.... now I don't think there is any doubt about whether or not I'm pregnant or just packing on the pounds...

I was pushing forwarded a little bit.... but not much. James really needs to stop taking these at an upward angle. Not flattering.

Everything is still going well. Usually Jimi (we're still working on deciding on a nickname) waits until I'm awake to start kicking. However, last night I was jolted awake by a series of kicks to the ribs from 3am-4am. That combined with multiple trips to the bathroom has left me quite tired. I'm not sure why everyone says it's just getting me ready for when the baby is born..... shouldn't I be getting rest now for when the baby is born? Oh well, I know I will survive. Thank goodness for naps.

James and I went to Folklife for the first time over memorial day weekend. It seemed to be just like Bite of Seattle but with a lot more hippies. We had a good time and the rain managed to hold off the entire time we were there.

We found this awesome hat while we were there. I think James should have gotten it.