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Archive for the ‘0-3 Months’ Category

Growth Chart: Baby Jack Weighs In

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

You know some of those little “baby websites” you can create online?  I like how they have the neat feature of keeping track of a baby’s growth.  I thought I might create one here too. :) 

I’ll be keeping it updated as the year passes…

 

Date Age Weight Height
May 4, 2008 Newborn 6 lbs 11.5 oz 19.5 in.
May 6, 2008 2 Days 6 lbs 9 oz
May 7, 2008 3 Days 6 lbs 11 oz
May 8, 2008 4 Days 6 lbs 13.5 oz
May 12, 2008 1 Week, 1 Day 7 lbs 0.5 oz
May 20, 2008 2 Weeks, 2 Days 7 lbs 8.9 oz 20 1/4 in.
June 16, 2008 6 Weeks, 1 Day 9 lbs 15.7 oz
June 23, 2008 7 Weeks, 1 Day 10 lbs 7.8 oz
July 9, 2008 2 Months, 5 Days 11 lbs 8.7 oz 22 in.

You Can’t Make Him Happy

Monday, July 28th, 2008

Just like other new moms, I sometimes have those rough, rough days where it seems like I can do no right.  Jack’s crying seems to go on for hours, and frustration gets overwhelming.  On days like these, it takes all of my will power not to go screaming through the streets naked. (Ok, well, exaggeration for emphasis…I really don’t like streaking). 

Although in reality, my logic tells me that Jack rarely cries in the course of a 24 hour day, when you’re all alone, just 33 minutes of crying has it’s way of making one begin to feel like the worst mom in the world.

As I sit watching my crying son, after doing all of the “normal” stop-crying routines, I begin to wonder what I’ve done wrong.  In my deepest heart, all I want is for my son to be happy.  And as a mom who dotes on her baby, his tears have a way of piercing my heart. His bottom lip, turned upside down amidst a very poignant sounding “Waaaahhhnn…” :(  would soften even the hardest of hearts.

“What’s wrong?  What have I done?  What more can I do? What can I do to make him happy??” I question myself.   I don’t get angry, I get sad.  Deeply sad.   I wish he could talk to me.  I wish I could understand him better.  I wish I could comfort him more.

Today was such a day.  We were up by 9 am this morning, and by 2 pm I was beginning to feel a bit frazzled.  I’m so thankful that my parents live nearby!  I gave them a call, on the verge of tears, asking them to come on over for a visit to help me out a little bit.  I’m not sure how single moms do it.  Truly.  I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not superwoman.  It really does take a villiage to raise a child!

My mom and dad are such wise creatures.  As they were over, dad was holding Jack-Evan, and I was telling them how I felt.  How I was feeling like a bad mom.  How I was feeling like there must be something I’m doing wrong. 

“How can I make him happy?”  I asked dad.

Dad just looks at me and says…

“Lisa, YOU can’t make him happy.  You never will.”

They proceed to give me wonderful insight on the fact that no human can make another human happy.  Oh we can try.  We can provide material comforts, shelter, food, love, games, and activities.  But at the end of the day, personal happiness relies only on two things - ourselves and God. 

The happiness each of us feel comes from within us.  Babies are just learning to manage newfound bodies, explore the world, and create relationships.  The fight for survival dictates fears, needs, and wants.  And lack of verbal communication skills as infants creates the need to communicate in the only way they know how  - cry, cry, and cry some more.  Just as adults spend their days communicating mainly with talking, babies spend their days communicating with crying.  As time passes, babies learn better ways of communicating and crying is slowly replaced with more higher cognitive communication.

As parents, as long as our focus is on staying tuned to our children, and trying our best to discern their needs -and provide for their needs- we can ensure they are well taken care of….just as Kevin and I do for Little Jack.  But nothing we do will ever allow us to fully saturate our child’s every need.  Thus our inner worth as parents can not be tied to the outward signs of happiness in our children.

As Dad said… You can’t make him happy.

When You’re Hot, You’re Hot.

Sunday, July 27th, 2008

And I’m hot.

Not in a looks kinda way, of course, but in a it-feels-like-an-oven-here kinda way!

We had homecoming at church today, which is always fun.  The little pentecostal church I attend was founded by my Uncle (mom’s oldest brother) in 1988.  My father, mother, and I were a few of the charter members - I started when I was 5 years old!  Each year, we always do a special recognition of those who have been with the church since day 1, and as I was standing up front, I noticed all the kids out there - many of them my teenage cousins. 

Suddenly it hit me…. I had been attending this church longer than any of them have been alive!  And then over in the corner was my own newborn.  It’s mind-boggling how fast life passes, and how things change.  People grow, people age, people come, people go.  It’s enough to cause a mind-blowout if you’re not carefully minding your thinkin’ wheels. :)  20 years is a long time, especially when it takes up 4/5ths of my entire life.

After the service, we had a pot luck dinner.  It was, in a word, delicious.  I’m not sure if it’s because we have some of the best cooks in the world in our congregation, or if it’s simply because everyone brings those easy-to-make-comfort-food-cassaroles, but I got so full it wasn’t pretty. 

It especially wasn’t pretty on the way back to the car, preparing to go home.  I was barefoot, on concrete, mind you.  And the temperature was unbearable.  It took all I could do to keep from fainting right there with Jack-Evan in my arms!  Maybe that’ll teach me not to eat so much….

We’re back at home, and according to the official google temperature for our city, it is 90 degrees with a humidity of 66%.  But it feels about 110! 

We’re all in the living room right now watching Herbie the Love Bug on the Hallmark channel.  Both the ceiling fan, and our tall floor fan is going, and the air is cranked down to 72.  All 3 of our dogs are camping out in here with us (Gabby and Gurtrude seem oblivious to the sweltering heat and are happily wrestling on the floor below me).  Kevin is snoozing on the couch, and Jack-Evan is snoozing in his Winnie-the-Pooh swing.  I’m sitting here trying to picture a cold, tall glass of iced tea. (I’m picturing it because it’s too hot to go into the kitchen and get me some…maybe I’ll make the effort in a few minutes).

There’s no sense in dressing up…

Friday, July 25th, 2008

…because you never see anyone when you do!

It’s only when you DON’T dress up that you see people.  And tons of them.  You know…those days when you’re still in your (mismatched) lounge-around pajamas, barefoot, hair in pony-tail, no make up, and baby spit up is kareening down you in a cakey fashion statement kinda way?  And then all of those cute baby outfits your son has to wear?  Those are hanging out in the dirty clothes hamper while he, instead, is dressed in a borin’ ol’ plain white onesie, complete with red-rimmed eyes from being fussy.  Yep.  Those are the days when you’re social life kicks it into high gear.

And that’s the way I looked yesterday when all of a sudden, here comes the busiest day in centuries (ok, well, I’m not really centuries old, but you get my drift). 

Off the top of my head, we chance encountered 11 people…a great feat for a stay at home mom like myself, with only one newborn child!  One of those 11 was a dear old friend from high school whom I hadn’t seen in years.  It was her first time meeting Jack-Evan. 

I kept relaying in my mind, “Why, oh why didn’t I slip on a pair of jeans?  Silly me, I didn’t even brush his hair!  Gosh, his onsie is so dirty! Um, is that pizza in my teeth??”

All of it was quite humorous afterwards, especially after realizing (on top of it all) that I had a nice smashing of chocolatesomethinganother stuck on my tushy.  :)

Yep.  Those are the days that go down in the memory book, so the story can be related again and again years later.   :-D 

Humorous days like this only add to the depth of life, the richness and fullness we feel about our overall experience.  Days like this throw us a curveball and provide us with a needed silly’ness that breaks up the ordinary and dolldrums of basic routine.

:)  …and it makes for nice blogging material too.

(happy weekend, yall)

Doncha hate it when….

Monday, July 21st, 2008

…you have one of *those* days where you have no idea which day of the week it is?

This weekend was hectic.  I’ve taken a break from blogging the past week, and left my “Child of the 80s series” on automation (isn’t wordpress wonderful?!).  It was a much needed break too!  On Saturday, I had my kickoff show as an Usborne Books consultant (I made 40 bucks and earned Jack some free books!  Not bad for a few hours of fun with friends, huh?).  Then, Saturday night we went to our local city’s baseball game with some friends.   That was the fun day.

Then the bad part hit.

Sunday, we had church and went to eat, just like we do each weekend.  That evening, I get a call from mom saying we had to take my dad to the hospital.  They were on the way to evening church, and he had a dizzy / blackout spell while HE was driving.  After the spell, he was sweating profusely and tingling all over.  Now, if you know my dad’s history of heart attacks, you’ll understand how panicked I got….sheerly, mortifically, terribubally, horribly panICKed (with a capital ICK.).  He’s been on the brink of death numerous times, while surviving 7 heart attacks in 15 years. 

So…Kevin and I put our shoes on, grabbed Jack-Evan, and headed out the door to pick my parents up back at their house.  We were in the emergency room for hours that night, until they finally moved dad out of the main ER and to an observation room for the night.  By then, he was doing OK enough to where he didn’t want us to stay with the baby crying and all, but with his history of heart attacks we never know what is going to come to pass when Dad falls ill.  Kevin and I went to mom’s house with the baby and spent the night there with her so she wouldn’t be alone and worried, and then the baby and I stayed with her all day today until dad was released around 4 pm.

We still aren’t sure what had happened to him, but the doctors are leaning towards a mini-stroke.  Thank God he doesn’t have any residual signs of it!  And better yet, thank God it wasn’t another heart attack.  If there’s anything that can make me cry at the drop of a hat is thinking about something happening to my dad.    

So anyway, with all of the stuff that has been going on this weekend, I have lost track of what day of the week it is.  Shoot, it feels like it should be Friday already.

Donations Bring Good Fortunes

Thursday, July 17th, 2008

My husband Kevin brings me to tears sometimes.  He has such a good heart.  This week has been realllllyy hot here, and he works on a crew for a local utility company.  Meaning, he is outside in the heat all day long!  Monday and Tuesday really got him drained out, and yesterday was only a little better….yet last night when he arrived home, before he even asked about dinner he told me about a blood drive going on across town where he had been working.  He wanted to donate.

Now, I don’t know about you, but shoving a needle in MY arm and draining my precious blood would be the very last thing on MY mind after a hard day’s work in the heat.  In fact, giving blood is often the very last thing on my mind.  I hate needles!  And after giving birth a couple months ago, I have sworn off needles permanently.  (Well…I wish.)

So anyway, at 7:00 pm last night after supper, me, Kevin, and Jack-Evan packed ourselves up in the SUV and drove the 45 minutes across town to the blood drive.  There were many nice workers there who greeted us with smiles and exclamations of how glad they were that we came out.  It was a really happy atmosphere, actually.  Over in one corner, there were volunteers serving snacks, drinks, and pizza.  Over in the other corners, the blood drive was set up with red-cross workers in white coats doin’ their thing with the people giving blood. 

After assuring them that I was in no way about to stick a needle in my arm tonight, I was directed to a nice waiting area where people started exclaiming over Jack-Evan (that’s a huge bonus about going out with a newborn - everyone talks to you!).  Whilst I was fending off 100 people (ok, maybe only 4-5) who wanted to touch Jack’s face and toes, Kevin was signing in and doing his prep work.

From start to finish, the entire process took about 45 minutes.  During that time, Jack and I read Sinbad the Sailor (well, I read…he just coo’ed), talked to more people, drank water, played a few games, talked to even more people, and even had to take a trip outside once.  It was all I could do not to pass out as I walked past all the little baggies that were filling with blood on the way to take Jack to the car for a nursing session.  I do not do well with the sight of blood. 

Finally, it was all over.  We were one of the last of the donar people to leave since the blood drive technically ended at 8 pm (It was 8:40).  

Now here’s the blessing part…

As we were signing in, we were given 4 free tickets to our city league baseball game.  We go there all the time (Jack-Evan’s already been three times) so it was a nice surprise to score some free tickets!  What’s even better was on our way OUT, the nice volunteers (who wanted to get rid of excess tickets) gave us even more free baseball game tickets.

All in all, we ended up with 12 free adult tickets to the baseball game this Saturday night.  The lady giving them out tried to give us even more but we had to decline on the basis that we don’t even know more than 12 people.   Ok, well, yes we do, but I was starting to feel bad!

We made it back to my parent’s house at 9:22 pm…just in time to watch the Baby Borrowers, and then home at 10 pm. 

So all in all, in exchange for my husband’s good will towards humankind (and complete absence of fear towards needles), we ended up with $60.00 worth of tickets, and a good fuzzy feeling in the pits of our hearts. :)

What is Your Earliest Memory of Childhood?

Sunday, July 13th, 2008

Often, when my dad (Big Jack) is holding Little Jack, he’ll often remark how sad it is that he (the baby) will not remember the times they share during infancy. 

Many times, I myself will get an overwhelming sadness that if something should happen to me or my husband (God forbid!) that Jack-Evan will have no memory of either of us.  He won’t remember the games we shared, the smiles, the books, the joy in our eyes, nor the songs we make up especially for him.  He would grow up never comprehending how very, very much his parents loved him during his fragile, early days of life.

To a lesser degree, I feel saddened over the simple fact that no memory will likely remain of the entire first year of life.  All of his first discoveries, the mornings filled with smiles, the wide-eyed wonderment over a tree leaf, leisurely walks around the neighborhood with mom and dad, trips to the library strapped in the baby sling… none of it will remain in his memory banks. 

Memory is a weird thing.  At what point do we start to lose those memories of babyhood?  A baby must have some sort of memory ability, because crawling infants that fall learn not to get too close to edges.  Even 3 month olds smile in recognition of a familiar face.  A memory must be drawn up for a present action to occur in such a manner.  I, personally, have many very young memories that occured before and during 2 years of age (as does both of my parents), yet the majority of our population has trouble remembering earlier than the age of five.   I even had a psychology teacher argue a few students down in class, saying that it was scientifically impossible to remember back to a time before you were 3 years old.  (Unfortunately, I was part of the small group on the receiving end of the argument! ). 

I wonder if there has ever been a scientific study on childhood memory?  Or perhaps just a mass survey of people asking when their earliest memory occured?  I’m sure there has…hrm…maybe I should google it.  Also, I wonder if the age of memory retention differs from culture to culture?  Country to Country?  Century to century?  Psychology and human development has always fascinated me.  It would be interesting to study the effects of modern technology on memory retention.  We now have 2 generations of Americans who are well saturated with a visually-laden media culture.  Does this affect childhood memory retention??  All of the lamaze toys, the mommy and me classes, the cartoons, the baby channel, playschool, fisher price….bright colors and visual stimulation is introduced at such a young age.  Our forebearers didn’t have all of this intentional vibrancy in childhood!  How has it affected the childhood memory retentions in Gen X and Gen Y?   Has the ability to remember childhood increased or decreased??  Why or why not??  One would surmise that with all of the visual stimulization that is encouraged today, then children should develop visual memory retention sooner.  But does it?  To my knowledge, the assumption that we don’t remember before the age of 3 is still floating around.

So I ask….what is your earliest memory?  And when did it occur?   Now, don’t go talking about how “early memories are what your parents told you about”.  I don’t buy into that.  Not one bit.  While I do believe it is quite possible to have a “memory feeling” about something someone had once told you happened, I do not believe it is possible to have a full visual memory, with detail and event association, if it had been made up in your imagination.  The chances of a memory being real also holds more weight when it adds to  the memories of someone else.  Many of my childhood memories were not “remembered” by my parents until after I told them about MY specific memory - and they would later confirmed with a “yes! I think I do remember that!”.

My earliest memory, can be traced back to around 10 months of age.  I was one of those weird kids that never crawled…I rolled everywhere.  There is a distinct still image (many of my early memories are still photographic type images) in my head where I had just rolled over and was looking under a closed door that was raised about an inch or so off the floor.  The carpet is dark brown shag, and I can into the room from under the door.  It’s daylight, but the light is off in the room, and there is sun light streaming through a breezy curtain.  I distinctly remember the feeling that I was “looking for someone”.   This memory was confirmed in my teen years - I was looking for Uncle Danny (my Godfather).  He lived with us at the time, and apparantly I looked for him a LOT and was delighted whenever I “found him”. 

My next series of earliest memories - which are numerous and VERY vivid - range from age 1.5 to right after I turned 3 years old.   I know this time frame because it’s when we lived in a certain trailer…..we moved from there when I was 3.5 years old. 

I remember the “layout” of the trailer….but 98% of my memories from that time frame occured in the living room, in the kitchen, in the hallway, or outside.  It’s odd to me that I have only one memory of my bedroom and no memories of my parents room (even though I slept with my mom as a baby).

Before the age of 3 and a half years old….I remember….

  • The day I got a splinter in my hand from climbing in dad’s rented Uhaul truck
  • Playing on my swingset
  • Playing on my fisher price blue & yellow skates at the bottom of the porch steps
  • Having a crush on an “older boy” (in a blue shirt) who was playing on my swingset one day (I remember standing at my bedroom window watching him - my only memory of my bedroom at that trailer!)
  • Biting my mom’s leg when she wouldn’t let me talk on the phone (WHILE she was on the phone)
  • Watching my mom and Granny leave for a Bingo game one night and being sad
  • Hiding behind the couch when my uncle, aunt, and their two sons came to visit (I was a shy kid :))
  • Dad pulling me around the neighborhood in my red wagon (and falling out one day!)
  • Dad letting me sit on his lap to “drive” his big pickup truck around the block
  • The first time I rode a city bus (Dad took me one day as a treat…I had never ridden one).
  • Going to daycare..and crying when mom left
  • Going to Kmart and eating breakfast with mom
  • Eating with the Easter Bunny at Kmart…and feeling sad when I noticed human hair sticking out the back of his bunny head
  • Being forced to eat green peas at daycare, even though I hated them
  • Laying on a mat that mom would make me in the middle of the living room floor so I could watch TV
  • Watching the Space Shuttle Challenger crash live on TV in early 1986
  • Getting mad at my neighbor friend Lonnie when she colored on my Alvin & the Chipmonks book

Those are just some of my memories…the biggest ones.  They’re all very vivid, as if I just experienced them.  As I approach 3, my memories increase more and more.  For instance, I remember everything about our move from the trailer to the house I grew up in (where my parents are currently still living)…it was built new for us.  I remember the first time I went there, sitting with dad on the floor before the inside walls were even put in and him saying (proudly) “This is going to be our new house!” (he was drinking a pepsi).  The memories from ages 3-5 are so vivid and so many that it’s sort of like watching a tape play.  A few things have escaped my mind as I’ve gotten older, but I’m still able to recall the majority of the memories from that time period.

My mom and dad have this same ability to remember childhood well, so perhaps it’s an inherited trait??  My mom who was born in 1942, remembers using the edge of a crib to pull up - and then chewing on it - as a baby just learning to stand (around 1 year).  She also remembers her mom rocking her and singing “Bayou My Baby” and a dog that jumped up and bit her heel as her dad was carrying her (she has had a phobia of strange dogs ever since).   My dad holds many memories like these as well.  My mom says that her mother (who was born in 1912 and passed away in 2001) was able to remember her own early childhood like that as well.  My husband Kevin remembers many things from the age of 2-4, but he can not pinpoint which one might be the earliest. 

Most of the adults I talk to (even people my age) claim they can’t remember earlier than 4 or 5 years old.  I have some friend that I went to kindergarten with who can’t remember anything about that year at all.

So, that all leaves me wondering.  Is memory ability hereditary?  Or was there something -some pin pointable marker - in my childhood…my parents childhood…that triggered this ability to remember so vivadly the years of toddler-hood?? 

When will Jack-Evan’s memories kick in?   I sat here tonight, after we returned from a baseball game (which he watched in amazment, and smiled at many times), thinking that he will have no memory of the fun we had tonight.  At what age, I wonder, will he begin to retain…to store up…childhood memories for adulthood?  What small piece of his daily life over the next 2 years will he grow up to remember?  I often think about how everything I’m doing right now, and everything we do over the next 2 years, will affect him greatly in his adulthood. 

 What will I be doing? What will his father be doing?  What will HE himself be doing the day…the minute…the second…that his retention banks click in and permanently stores that one “earliest” memory, forever captured and labeled by an adult Jack-Evan as “When I was a child, I remember……”

Memories are good things to have, and the sooner we can capture them…retain them..bottle them up…the better.  Childhood passes so extremely fast, that, if you think about it, it ends up being no more than a collection of memories.  How truly sad it is that some people lose YEARS of their life by not being able to remember anything about them!

My Baby is Growing Up *Sniff*

Friday, July 11th, 2008

Ok, ok… I know you veteran moms out there with kids that are 3…7….10…25 even… may think I have no right to say this…but sheesh.  I can’t help it. :)   Just two short months ago, my tiny baby popped outta me, wailing his hellos to everyone in the delivery room.

We just had his 2 month well-visit checkup this past Wednesday.  And now he’s …

  • 11 lbs 8.7 oz (almost double his birth weight)
  • 22.5 inches
  • Graduated to a size 2 diaper
  • Saying “Hey” (I swear…honestly..lol)

Ok even if you don’t believe me on that last one, join in my growing pains (HA!  I have growing pains about my son growing!  teehee). 

I mean…just look…he looks more and more like a little boy (instead of a newborn) each and every day. It’s killin’ me, I tell ya…I’m feelin’ retirement comin’ already.

 

Baby’s First Laugh = Incredible Joy

Monday, July 7th, 2008

Ok.  I am the quintessential braggart mom.  Go ahead.  Say it.  No, really.  Go ahead.  Say it out loud.

Lisa, your life revolves around your child.

I can take it.  Really.

And while you’re rolling your eyes at me, I MUST must must ignore you and record the incredible “firsts of childhood” moment I just had.  Now, I must remind you that I am a brand new mom.  Never in my life have I shared home and hearth with a 22 inch immobile human that is still learning English.  So each and every experience…each and every day…is new and exciting not only to Jack, but to me as well! :)

So now…see…It’s 12:45 am, Monday night (or Tuesday morning…whatever you prefer).  We are sitting here in our living room recliner working on the laptop.  Jack-Evan is asleep on my lap - or well, he was.  A few minutes ago he started his little smiling thing he does sometimes when he’s asleep…

Except…

This time, he started laughing!  THEN, he woke himself up LAUGHING…looked at me…and started laughing even harder.  It was the most unbelievably cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.  Well, unless you count little fluffy brown and black puppies.  No, come to think of it, fluffy puppies didn’t even match up to the cuteness of that moment. 

I myself started laughing (I couldn’t help it) which kept him laughin even harder.  We were having a grand ol’ time!  It was his very first laugh and it took me by complete surprise.  What a wonderful moment.  Of course I had to call my mom (and wake her..haha) to let her know the grand news of Jack’s first laugh. :-D 

How in the world can a simple thing as a child’s first laugh, bring us to our knees in emotions?

Kick Back, Relax, and Get Away

Monday, July 7th, 2008

Ever wish you had the time to break away from life and stop to smell the mushrooms?

It’s easy.  Just pack yourself up and find a road less traveled.

You might just encounter spiritual enlightenment along the way.

Once you arrive in paradise…

Lay down your burdens..

Kick your shoes off…

And feel the sand between your toes.

Who knows - you might just fall in love all over again!

Hush!  No talking (or crying) is needed.  Just relax.

Catch some Zzzzzz’s under the shade.

Then leave your mark on the weary world after a day of peace.