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!

All smiles...

Although I don't have time at this very moment to write a full blown blog entry, I wanted to post another video for all my far away relatives, which tends to be most of my relatives.

Jamey has become very smiley in the last week. He is definitely a morning person and seems happiest after he eats at around 6 AM. After he is done nursing, I put him up in front of my on my bent legs and look into his little face. He stares around the room at the paintings that we have hanging and then studies my face. And suddenly his whole mouth breaks into this huge smile. Plus he is cooing. It is very cute!!! And here is a video as testament to his smiliness. Not his best smile, but any smile is good.

On another note, at a doctor's visit yesterday, we found out that Jamey is now a whopping 12 lbs. 15 oz, or in short, one ounce away from 13 pounds!!! As well, he is already able to walk around in his carrier facing outward and BOY, does he love it. On our walk tonight, he just took in all the trees and especially the sky.

One month report

Although Jamey is officially 5 weeks old today, I am a bit delayed on the report of his 1 month check-up at the doctor this past Monday. In summary, Jamey is doing fantastically. But that is just in summary. I know that most of you out there are wanting more detail, so here we go.

For one thing, Jamey is growing at a rapid pace. Even we were a bit surprised when we put him down on the doctor's scale and he weighed 11 lb. 7 oz. As has apparently been said, "Melissa must have some good milk!" This put him in the 95 percentile. As for height, he is now 23 inches long, with a growth of 3/4 inches, putting him in the 90 percentile there. Although I don't remember the exact number of his head size, it put him in the 70 percentile. So needless to say, our boy is certainly growing.

Beyond his body size, he seems to be exceptionally strong. He is able to hold his head up pretty much already and if you balance it just right on his hands, he can even hold up his bottle on his own. Not that he knows what he is doing, but it looks like a cool trick! I am very proud of his strength, but it can cause a little trouble when I am trying to burp him when he doesn't want to be burped. I will sit him down over my leg, but when he is angry, he stretches his legs out and won't bend them. Making it impossible to burp him! The doctor says he will probably crawl early, based on how he acts in his appointments... Oh fun!

Little Tidbits from Jamey's Days

Here I sit at 10 PM, eager to type up the 101 stories I have from our three weeks with Jamey, but with so little time to accomplish that. Thank goodness I can type about 60 words per minute, so this won't take me as long. And yet, I find I still have to pause because Lord only knows where I should start. I will type up little snippets of our days here:

The Long Endless Nights:
I guess the hardest part is the part that comes to mind first-- and any parent can tell you that the hardest part in the beginning is the night time. It seems I can put up with any amount of crying, so long as the sun is up. But when the times comes when it is night, everything seems 1000 times harder. And every night seems to be a different treat. Some nights he is easy to get down. And then there are nights like last night. He decided that he would cry whenever we went to put him down. Sure, pick him up and hold him against you and he is content, but the second he is on his back, and it is like hot coals are in the crib. The easiest thing is just to lay him on my belly in bed and nap together, but we are trying desperately not to make this a habit. So instead I have learned to sleep in his glider-- thank you, Lindsay.

Wakey Time:
But that is the only bad part, really. Jamey is a happy little guy who loves to be held. He has his fussy time, as any baby does, but really, if you solve his problem, he is content. The best parts of our days, we refer to affectionaly as "Wakey Time". These are the times when his eyes are wide and he will just sit in his bouncer and stare out the back door. Or sit in his boppy and study the trees. I know he can't see far, but he must indeed be able to see a lot of contrasts around the house. We have found that he loves to sit in our laps and stare at paintings on the walls. The one above our bed, which is completely black and white, is especially a favorite. I can't wait for the moments when he can actually see the squirrels and birds that traipse around our yard. It will lead to endless hours of entertainment for him. Wakey Time seems to come at roughly the same time every day-- usually around 11 AM and 2/3 PM. It lasts about an hour and then he drifts off the sleep.

Little Superman:
Another thing that surprises everyone that sees him in person is how strong he is. He is doing things he shouldn't be able to. When you put him up to your shoulder to burp him, and he happens to be awake, he will lift his head off your shoulder and move it around. It used to just be that his head would bob around when he lifted it for a moment, but that was a week or so ago. Now, at three weeks, when he lifts his head, he can hold it up for a good amount of time. Every day, he also gets a little tummy time, where Glenn usually lays on his back and puts Jamey on his belly on top of Glenn. Jamey will lift up his little head and gaze around. One day he scooted himself along a little bit, and he has already proven that the sleep positioner is no match for him. One night I enterred to get him up and there he lay, perpendicular to the positioner. Another night, he was down below it. And he does all that when he is swaddled!

Nicknames:
It seems everyone picks a nickname for their child. "Pumpkin, Little Man, Buddy, Momo." I have wondered, what we will call our little Jamey. When we brought him home from the hospital, we called him Hippo. He was a little chunk, and he had a hippo on his outfit. And didn't it just fit that he couldn't seem to get enough food-- our Hungry Hungry Hippo. And yet, the noises he makes aren't any that come from a hippo. Rather, his noises lead to his nickname of "Birdy". When he sleeps or stretches, there are little peeps that escape, and occasionally a squawk even comes out. While Jacquie was here visiting, she called him Froggy. When he sleeps on your chest, he tucks his legs up under himself. And when he is hungry, his little tongue flicks out, much like a frog. Perhaps my favorite of all the little names we have for him helps to describe his habit of passing loud gas and loud poops. The other night, Jacquie and Nick were sitting on the couch, as I played with Jamey. Suddenly, a loud noise came from Jamey-- I won't describe the noise, but rest assured, I knew it had produced some poop. I looked at Jamey and said, "Good job, Vladimir." Nick looked at Jacquie and then at me. The next time, as I went to congratulate Jamey again on "doing his business", I caught a funny look from Nick when I called him Vladamir again. I looked at he and Jacquie and explained. When Jamey is pooping well and we can hear it, we like to refer to him as Vladimir-- as in Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia-- to congratulate him on the good "pooting" he is doing.

Gotta Love Background Noise:
We have discovered that Jamey is a big fan of noise. This is yet another trait that I think he has inherited a little from both Glenn and I. Come into our house and I like to have some kind of noise on at all times. The TV may be on, but I often only have it on just for the noise of it, not for the content. As well, in my classroom, I can't stand to have a completely silent room (most of the time). I like for my kids to work together, to interact with me, to actively take part in their learning. The ultra quiet drives me nuts.

In the same vein, Jamey seems to be most relaxed when there is a lot going on around him. This is best illustrated by how relaxed he has been any time we have taken him out of the house. He has already made "field trips" to Babies R Us, Target, Red Robin's, Virginia Kitchen, Euro Bistro, Leesburg, on a driving tour of DC, to Monica's, to a fair, and dance practice. And in every situation, he will fall asleep with everything happening in his midst. Whether it be German Plattl music or the clatter of kitchens around us, he sleeps through it all. Lucky me...

And now, as I feel my lids begin to get heavy, I am off to pump and then fall asleep until I get up for the 1 AM feeding. Gotta love that one!