Just want to be healthy

When we decided to put Jacob in daycare, we knew that he would get sick more often than if he stayed at home. What I don't think I was prepared for was that he would be CONSTANTLY sick. He has had one cold after another since January 20th. Yes, I remember that date because not only was I very worried because he was sick for the first time and I didn't know what to do for him, but I developed tremendous guilt for sending him to daycare where he would be exposed to lots of other kids with colds and other ailments(that first day I dropped him off I came really close to turning around to take him home, no joke). We have been told by his pediatrician that since he is in daycare, we can expect him to get 8-12 colds in the first year. Well, I think that we are up to about 6 or 7 now. Supposedly the fact that he is getting sick now means that he will be less sick later on when he begins school. We're crossing our fingers!!

Another thing I wasn't prepared for was how often Dan and I would get sick. Dan has fared better than me at least. I am on my fourth or fifth cold, we have both had the stomach flu, and I have had hives and pink eye. As if that isn't enough, I have had four dental fillings in the last two months and just found out that one of those needs a root canal. I know all of this sounds whiny, but I just long for the day when all three of us are illness-free again! One thing that I am grateful for though, is that all of this has been on the minor level. Although it is hard to believe from this post, I do try and look at the glass half-full and am extremely thankful that Jacob was born healthy without any major health concerns.

Here's to no more coughing, snotty noses, sore throats, eye infections, rashes, or fillings....

5-Month Pictures

It is hard to believe that Jacob is already five months old! He has changed so much and is really interacting with his environment more and more. His newest thing is to watch Rascal. It is so funny, because he almost goes into a zone when Rascal walks in the room. Rascal is really going to have to watch out once Jacob starts crawling, although my dad joked that Jacob will then become a moving target for Rascal so Jacob will have to watch out too!!

Here are some pictures of Jacob over the last couple of weeks.

Jacob's five-month picture

The damage to his face after eating cereal

Sitting on the floor and playing

Jacob with his uncle Dallas

Engel men pyramid (this really had me nervous!!)

Jacob with great-grandma and great-grandpa Mesnard

Shaky Night

Last night was pretty shaky.... in more than one way! Jacob just did not want to sleep for very long at all so we were up MANY times with him trying to get him to go back to sleep. Usually the pacifier is all he wants and he'll go back to sleep. However, last night he turned it into a toy and kept yanking it out of his mouth. We tried letting him cry for short amounts of time, but he just doesn't know how to pacifiy himself yet. I'm starting to wonder if he ever will.

As much as our sleep was interrupted last night, you would think that we would have noticed the 5.2 earthquake that occurred in Southern Illinois at 4:37 am. Nope. It sounds like it woke a lot of other people up though. Both my dad and sister (who lives near Chicago) heard it and my dad said he thought a tornado was coming through his house. Although I missed the real one, I did feel the aftershock we had around 10:15 this morning. It was pretty weird to feel the building shake. I know that this is commonplace in California, but for those of us here in the midwest, it is pretty alarming!

I guess another "shaky" story that I can share is that Jacob demonstrated that he is a boy earlier this week. He was in his bumbo seat playing with his toys while I was fixing myself breakfast when he started crying suddenly. He somehow popped himself out of the seat and landed on his head on the floor. He (thank goodness) did not get hurt, but now he will have to be watched closely while in it in case he decides to execute any other "houdini" manouvers!

Squealing Again

I have been a little worried lately because Jacob's vocalizations have been becoming less frequent. One of my friends told me that babies sometimes work hard on one thing and may lag on another. Well, he has been doing so well physically - sitting up, rolling over, standing with support - that I figured that he would just work on talking another time. Well, today was the day!! He was in a great mood and started talking and squealing along with Dan. I was able to catch the squealing on a short video and thought I would share it with everyone. He also played in his jumperoo and I got a video of that as well.

Slept through the night!!

Wow! Jacob slept through the night.... in his crib. Dan and I asked each other this morning if the other had gone in to soothe him at all during the night and neither of us had. I can't tell you how good it feels to have a full night's rest. My first thought this morning was that something must be wrong with him because he slept a lot even before putting him to bed last night and I had to wake him up this morning. He has been sleeping more the last couple of days, so either he is just extra tired or maybe in a growth spurt. Whatever the reason, I'll take it!!

I did a really stupid thing Monday morning and can laugh about it now. I was sucking the drainage out of Jacob's nose and accidentally squeezed the aspirator into my face. I felt wetness go into my right eye and knew that it wouldn't end well. Sure enough, I developed pink eye Monday night and it spread to my left eye Tuesday night. I have been looking like the devil all week, but they seem to be getting better. Since I knew what I had due to Jacob's eye infections, I just used his eye drops instead of going to the doctor. The nurse told us when he got his first infection to use the drops on ourselves if we got it, so I don't feel that I am doing anything wrong. Just another perk of having a baby. I have never had as much illness in my life as I have in the last few months while Jacob has been in daycare. Hopefully my immune system will get stronger here shortly!

Hope everyone has a nice weekend :) We are supposed to get rain and snow showers all weekend. Crazy. It was in the 60's last weekend! Summer is just around the corner and I can't wait!!!

Tasty Toes

This week has been a lot of fun. Jacob has made a lot of progress in learning how to sit up. He still can't sit for very long, but he is getting stronger and stronger. He is also rolling over like a pro too. Yesterday morning he surprised me by rolling over from his back to front, front to back, and then back to his front again. He started out on his playmat and ended on the carpet a few feet away. I was getting myself breakfast and turned around and was startled not to see him still on his mat! Maybe he will be one of those babies that rolls instead of crawls - it will be interesting to see.

Since he is sitting better, we put him in his booster seat while we eat in order to give him practice of sitting in it. As a trial yesterday, we gave him his first meal (really one tablespoon) of rice cereal. Not sure if it was a success or not because a lot ended up on his front. I haven't decided if we'll keep going with it. Although the doctor wants us to be more aggressive in starting food, I would rather wait until Jacob is a little older.

Jacob has also developed a fondness for putting his toes in his mouth this week. It is one of those things that you know is a positive thing in his development, but you have to wonder why!!

This weekend has been pretty good. The weather has been so nice and we spent a lot of time outside. I went last night with a friend to see Amy Roloff (mom from "Little People, Big World") to speak at ISU. The place was packed! She spoke for about an hour and then did a question-and-answer session for another hour. It was really neat to see someone I watch on TV each week in person and hear her talk about her life and behind-the-scene details of her show. She seemed just like she does on TV.

Here are some fun pictures from the last week.

Jacob playing with his toys

Jacob sitting in his booster seat for the first time

Jacob eating cereal for the first time

Jacob's ending place after rolling over a few times

Jacob getting pushed in his new swing



Jacob wearing Dad's sweatband and looking like a sumo wrestler!!