5 Things that make Jamey smile...

As I use this blog not only to communicate with all of you out there, but also for the purposes of my own memory, I wanted to jot down a list of things that I have noticed that especially amuse Jamey-- so that I may one day recount them to him.

1.  laying on his changing table in his diaper

2.  the ceiling fan in Mommy and Daddy's bedroom

3.  Mommy speaking French via a plastic giraffe

4.  finishing up doing his business in his diaper

5.  when someone imitates the sound that the Tivo makes when it fast forwards "Buh-doop, Buh-doop, Buh-doop"

6.  flirting with Mommy while he is nursing or Daddy when he is getting a bottle

"Comment tu t'appelle" said the plastic giraffe...

In reading Glenn's cousin Drew's blog, I saw him mention that there are a lot of firsts as you raise children.  Granted, I don't have 4 kids like Drew does, but with a baby, the firsts seem to come every day.  Since last Friday, we have had two big "firsts".  

For every little boy, there is no doubt that at some point sports will come into play, no pun intended.  People have asked what sport we want Jamey to play.  Well, really, it doesn't matter. Football, basketball, swimming, soccer... we are fans of it all.  But whether he plays it or not, football will probably be something he gets exposed to as a fan, seeing as Glenn and I are both avid UVA football fans (although not so much lately) and of course, there are always the Westfield/Centreville games to deal with.  

Last Friday was Jamey's big introduction to sports, as we packed up and headed to the Westfield vs. Chantilly football game.  As we knew it would be a later evening, we bundled him up in pajamas and his Grammy-made Westfield bib.  As we strutted him around in his carrier, he got oohs and awws left and right.  Usually followed by a second ooh and awww as the person saw the bib.  While Glenn scoped out the players and the records of the teams, Jamey was probably most fascinated by the enormous stadium lights.  I can just imagine what was going through his head, "Those are the biggest lights I've ever seen!!!"  He did his usual thing: stare, turn his head, stare some more, take it all in, stare at the lights, and after a while, fall asleep when it all seemed boring.  That's right-- our son fell asleep at a football game surrounded by insane Westfield fans.  Keep in mind that Westfield is the largest 4 year high school in Virginia, so this wasn't just a dozen groupies hanging around.  This was a CROWD!  In fact, the only time he freaked out was when Westfield made their second touchdown and everyone around us jumped to their feet and shrieked simultaneously.  Not what you want to wake you out of a dream!  So I took him down out of the stands and just after that, at half time, we took the little man home, knowing that Westfield would win anyway (which of course they did at 32-7).  Needless to say, this will not be Jamey's last football game, and next time, hopefully, he will start to notice those tiny little people running around down there.  

And what, might you ask, was his other first this week?  Well, it actually

 just happened this evening before dinner.  It all has to do with the plastic giraffe mentioned in the title of this entry.  As part of a package, Jamey received a small plastic squeaky giraffe from my Aunt Pat and Uncle Don in Canada.  It made me happy because I remember having such a giraffe named Jerry, when I too was little.  This giraffe, though, as stated on its packaging is named Voolee (I don't know how you spell it, but that is how you say it) and Voolee is French (I am guessing he hails from Quebec).  Jamey took quickly to Voolee and enjoyed grabbing him by the leg and swinging him around until he hit himself in the head with Voolee.  

(Note: The giraffe in the picture is "Voolee's mother", a stuffed giraffe that I have named Carter after the student of Glenn's that gave him to us.  Note also, that while Voolee speaks French, Carter is a German.  I have yet to meet the father, who I am sure is a Dutch speaker.  This allows me to use all the different languages I know, while I play with Jamey)

Lately, I have been trying to entertain Jamey with different toys and today, it was Voolee's turn to take on a whole personality to go along with his squeak.  So I laid Jamey down on his blanket on the floor and began to have Voolee speak to Jamey.  Now, of course, because Voolee is French, he speaks French with a thick Parisian accent.  (Okay, so I don't know for sure that it is a Parisian accent.)  But because my French isn't like my German, and doesn't always come 

flowingly, I stick to simple sentences that Voolee can say to Jamey. 

 Things like, "What is your name?", "What did you say", "What do you want to play"  "My name is Voolee.  I speak French.  Do you speak French" and of course, "You are a big boy, but you are also a good boy!"  Occasionally, I will say longer sentences, but Jamey doesn't seem to like these as much.  I soon found that Jamey was entirely amused by Voolee's French.  The intonations probably sound funny to a baby in a way that the German he so often hears does not.  Listening to me/Voolee talk, Jamey opens his mouth in his giant grin and his eyes light up.  

Tonight, as I was cooking dinner, Glenn was playing with Jamey and Voolee, but had yet to see Voolee come to life.  So in a moment of peace in the cooking, I ran over and let Glenn watch how amused Jamey was by Voolee.  And this time, when Voolee asked "What did you say?" in French several times in a row, Jamey let out an honest to goodness laugh!  First one ever!  I have yet to make it happen again, but it was there and we both heard it.  So maybe our son was French in a former life and is laughing at his mother's terrible accent, or maybe he is laughing at the idea of a giraffe who speaks French.  Who knows....

And speaking of things Jamey does now, this video shows how Jamey can snore, just like some other people that we know...  He doesn't do it all the time, but it is just another of those little noises he can make.

2 Month Check-up/ Update

Although Jamey is officially 9 weeks old, he was (per the calendar) 2 months old this past Thursday.  As such, he had his monthly wellcare checkup on Friday afternoon.  I was a little worried, as I knew that he would be getting 4 shots at the visit.  Before the visit, Glenn and I prepared ourselves for 1)the unveiling of his latest weight, and 2)a screaming baby on the way home.  We took guesses as to what the weight would be-- Glenn said 4 and a half pounds, I said closer to 4 lb. 1 oz, just to be contrary.  

The first thing they check of course is the weight and let's say, Glenn was closer, as Jamey proved to be 14 lb. 6 oz., keeping him right up there in the 95% for weight.  For height, he is now in the 80%, as opposed to 90%, at 23 3/4 inches.  In true Van Welzen fashion, his head continues to grow well, and is in the 75% percentile at 16.5 inches.  Needless to say, he still looks much older than his age.  

The end of the visit brought time for the shots.  Glenn held his arms down to give him a bit of a feeling of being held tight, as the nurse asked us to do.  And then she just put the needle into his leg.  A sudden scream filled the air and then it subsided a bit, until the next shot.  By the end of the last one, Jamey's entire head was red and he had lapsed into the furious/ hyperventilating cry.  I call it that because you see him about to cry before you hear it, with his wide open, building up to the scream.  But really, after a moment, he calmed down and just looked around.  The nurse stepped aside for Glenn to pick him up and in, what I must guess is his idea of retaliation, he let out a really loud fart, and settled back down.  That's our boy.  :)

He has become much more vocal in the last week, and yesterday, he seemed to discover that on those hand things he found recently, he also has fingers.  I caught him yesterday curling them as though he were waving goodbye.  Then, as Glenn gave him a bottle, he used his little fingers to feel Glenn's fingertips individually.  I also caught him "plattling" this morning, as he raised his leg and lowered his hand at the same time.  I guess watching at the show yesterday really taught him something.  

And of course, Jamey loved the recent visit from Grammy and Hoopop (Glenn's parents).  They came up yesterday and hung out with him at our show, so we didn't have to worry as much about finding someone to watch him if we were both dancing.  Hoopop showed him all the places in the area that he could get into trouble and he and Jamey also planned a fishing trip for some day a few years from now, and Grammy taught him how to splash in rain puddles on the tabletop.  And just to show them how much fun he had, he giggled and smiled at them quite a bit.  Both Glenn and I were so happy that we got to show off our grinning boy to them, and so happy that he smiled just for them and showed them how much he loves them too.  :)

I must admit that, as any Mom would say, it can be very frustrating when I don't know what Jamey wants and he just continues to cry.  Every now and again, he decides that he just doesn't want to nurse, and cries until his head is literally completely red.  But really, just when I think I am frustrated to no end, he lays in my arms, looks up and me and grins.  He has this look in his eyes like, "Aw, come on, Mommy, you can't be mad at me."  And indeed, I'm not mad at him, and I can already tell that when he is a little older, he is going to get away with way too much with me.

Oktoberfest Beginneth...

It is true that Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany doesn't start until the end of September and only lasts a week or so there. But for Glenn, myself, and the rest of our dance group, Oktoberfest started at the end of August, as we began our dancing season. In addition, it doesn't end right away. Rather, it goes on until the beginning of November, with at least one day of celebration each weekend.

Since he was in the womb, Jamey has been hearing Oompah music every Friday at practice. Not to mention, he was just a tiny little group of cells when I went through last Oktoberfest season. Because of that, he is already adjusting well to the shows we have done.

As I said, our first big show was the second-to-last weekend in August at Hagerstown Maryland's Augustoberfest. Our group (Alt Washingtonia) goes every year and entertains for two days and thank God, this year it wasn't that hot. As Jamey was still about 6 weeks old at that point, he was still sleeping through much of the day. And the soothing tones of the Bavarian music put him to sleep through the majority of our roughly 4 hours of shows.

In fact, at one point, we had a "Baby Parking" area for Jamey's and Christopher's strollers as the two took naps side by side. It is the kind of picture that I am sure they will look back on and laugh. And Monica and I will look back and say, See, even then you did stuff together. Being worried about a little too much noise, we brought ear plugs, but they didn't really fit. In the end it didn't really matter, as he didn't seem bothered by the music, as I said. But Monica has a brilliant way of blocking out the noise while Christopher sleeps. She puts on ear protectors that block out noise. They belong to her dad and we decided that we would try a pair on Jamey to see how they would work. From this came perhaps my favorite picture of Jamey. (Forget the fact that he actually only wore the noiseblockers for about one minute, as they proved too tight for his head and made him angry.)

Bumming around at the Beach

From the beginning, it has been our intention to let Jamey experience everything we have to offer him so that as he gets older, he won't be afraid of these things and so that they will seem natural.  For this reason, we took him out to restaurants early, took him to West Virginia to visit Grammy and Hoopop and took him to the fair.  The more he gets used to being out and about, the better for both he and us!

And so, that was the thought in mind, when we headed out on our most recent adventure to Emerald Isle, where my parents live.  As well, after 

having my mom stay with me for a week of transition time as Glenn got back to work, we decided taking her home would be a great opportunity for another quick getaway over Labor Day Weekend.  We were further excited when Jim and Lindsay decided to make the trip over for a day or two so that both Lindsay and the boys could meet their latest cousin.  Needless to say, they were enthralled, especially Max, who continually asked to hold the baby.  I was also excited to find out from Ben (7), I think it was, that Jamey couldn't talk yet 

because he didn't have teeth.  Well, if that is all it takes, he is going to be speaking sooner than I thought.

Jamey took quickly to being at Grandma and Granddad's house, especially as a large portion of the wall is made up of windows, letting in tons of light in and making everything very interesting for Jamey to see.  He was more awake than we had seen him before.  This, we soon discovered, was just another building block in his development, as in the following days, he stayed awake for much more of the day.  

Back when I was just barely pregnant, Glenn's mom and I had found a special outfit for Jamey, knowing full well that he wouldn't be able to get through the summer without someone taking him into the water.  And so he had his own swim shorts, surf shirt, and beach hat waiting patiently in his closet to be used.  On the Saturday after arriving at Emerald Isle, we suited him up and took him out to the beach.  No worries to anyone, he sat under a canopy the entire time, and I kept a cold washcloth on his belly so he didn't get overheated.  

But I needn't have worried, as Jamey took the beach like he takes to most things.  He just rolled with the punches, sat on our laps, and stared around him at the myriad of sites.  Between the glow of the sand, the feel of the small amount of sand that somehow got on his hand, the constant motion of people running around, and the sound of the crashing water, his senses definitely got a workout.  Although he didn't go in the ocean or spend more than about an hour or so on the Beach, it was definitely a good warm-up for future visits.  

The next day, Glenn and I decided that we did want to take Jamey into the pool.  I wanted him to get the feel of being in a lot of water at a young age, so as he gets older, he will feel that the pool is a safe and normal place to be.  (Safe to a point, that is)  Around 5 PM, once the shade was over the pool and the heat had subsided a bit, we suited him up again and took him on his first golf cart ride over to the pool.  Being held firmly by either Glenn or I, we waded into the kid's end of the pool, getting him wet about halfway up his body.  Just as with the Beach, there was not a cry to be heard.  Granted, there weren't really any big grins either.  But Jamey just sat in our arms looking all around, taking in everything that was around him.  Probably the thing he liked best, though, was being snuggled in his towel afterwards, judging by how quickly he fell asleep in my arms.

Also, on this trip, Granddad was reminded of the smell of a dirty diaper.  With Jamey propped up on his bent legs, my Dad said to me, "I definitely think he just pooped."  Well, as a rule, Jamey never just goes once-- as I have heard it is with all babies.  I told my Dad to wait just a few minutes to be sure Jamey was done.  After a few minutes, Dad seemed to be on the verge of suffocating, so I took Jamey and cleaned him up.  One thing of note, that Jamey seems to like-- he loves it when Granddad makes his funny noise that sounds much like a dog howling.  Without fail, it always brings a smile to Jamey's face.

A Man of the Same Name...

Over one weekend in August, Jamey had a special visit from his Uncle Jim, who happens to share his name.  Although he wasn't named after Jim, them sharing their names is an excellent coincidence.  After watching Jim's three boys grow to where they are now, it was wonderful to be able to show off my son to him.  Perhaps the coolest thing about Jim's visit was the special gift Jamey received from him.

While here, Jim said that he wanted to get us something that we needed.  What with all the 

hand-me-downs and gifts we got, we really didn't need anything.  The only thing we were still looking for was a toybox for Jamey's room.  Suddenly a lightbulb went on over Jim's head.  He decided that he would get Jamey a toybox and paint it for him.  Well, after fervently searching (for roughly an hour) the local Michael's and other craft stores, we returned to the place we 

started-- Babies R Us-and bought an already finished toybox to be painted with a 

design.  Due to the cowboy theme in Jamey's room, Jim went online and looked up different cowboys.  To make a long story short, here is the end result!