"3 month" update

Although Jamey is now already 13 weeks, he went for his 3 month appointment today.  He continues to "overachieve".  His weight is now 15 lb. 14.5 oz (92%).  His height is 25.5 inches (90%).  And his head had a growth spurt up to 17 1/8 cm (95%).  

On the way in, the nurse who had helped us previously stopped to say hello in the hallway, causing our current nurse to say, "Hey, stop talking to my patient."  At which, every other nurse or doctor we passed on the way to the room stopped to wave at Jamey.  "He can't help it," I said, "he is a flirt."

Throughout the entire appointment, he kept up his happy behaviour and Dr. Eng Tow even had to stop her checkup and laugh when he flashed his wide grin at her.  "He is cracking me up.  Is he always this amenable?" she asked.  To which, I sat up a little straighter and proudly pronounced, "Yes, except when he is hungry, tired, or poopy."

And while I am updating, let me just say that Jamey had a BIG week last week.  Sunday night, after Christopher's birthday party, he was worn out from keeping up with Christopher, and slept through the night.  I thought it would be another fluke, as he did this the night after the Renaissance Fair too.  But lo and behold, he continued through the week.  And just when we thought he would sleep through the night forever, he didn't.   For the past two nights, he has woken up for his one feeding, which I think may have to do with the cold that he caught from me.

As if that weren't impressive enough, on Friday, I put him on his tummy for tummy time.  This 

usually ends in him face down and shrieking.  Today, I was watching General Hospital while we played.  Apparently, Jamey wanted to watch too, as judged from the way he propped himself up and gazed up at the screen. I was about to start encourage him to push up and over, when suddenly, he was teetering on the point of rolling over.  A second later, he had flopped over onto his back.  I jumped to my feet and screamed!  Thankfully, he repeated the trick for Glenn once he got home. 

Party Animal

To the naked eye, it may seem that Jamey is something of a party animal and active little man.  Well, I must say, it is because he is.  He always loves to be a part of what is going on, likes to watch his older friends and learn what is what.  And of course, what would a party animal be without parties?  What with Oktoberfests every weekend, I think he has it down.  But beyond that, he has also attended two birthday parties and he isn't even three months old yet!

Yesterday, we headed off to the Brown's (Monica and Marla's parents) to celebrate Christopher's 2nd birthday with a Curious George themed party.  Just as with her wedding, Monica did a lot of the preparation herself.  She put together a cupcake cake decorated as Curious George, burned CD's for all the goody bags (with Jack Johnson Curious George music), and even made a beanbag toss type board with 

Curious George on it and a hole in the mouth where you threw in bean bag bananas-- yup, those were homemade too, but by Monica's mom.  Not to be one to be left out, Jamey took part in all parts of the festivities, from staring at the bubbles coming out of the bubble machine to falling asleep in Mommy's arms while she pretended he was hitting the pinata.  And of course, he had some cake-- second hand, that is.  

Don't worry, we aren't getting anywhere near time for him to eat cake himself.  And what was Jamey's favorite part of the party, you ask?  Well, it was a tie between the fan in the Brown's living room and the balloons hanging up outside.  

Along the lines of our strong, active party boy, Jamey is getting quite strong.  He can now stare at a rattle for a few minutes and then grab for it and shake it.  

As well, he falls asleep in his car carrier now with his hand entangling in the rings hanging down.  And now and again, he grabs ahold of my finger and won't let go.  Perhaps the strangest feat of strength is what I found when I went to get him from bed this morning.  You see, when Jamey sleeps, we lay him down on a sleep positioner, which keeps him from rolling over onto his stomach.  There is a flat part in the middle and on either side of him a pyramid like tube thingie to hold him in.  Except it doesn't really hold him in anymore....  When I went to get him this morning, this is what I found....

In case you didn't know, the positioner SHOULD be under him and opened up more, not crumpled together in a pile below him.  This is one of those times when I really wish that we had a camera on him at all times.  

A weekend with Friends

I must admit, it is funny because I think that I am really starting to appreciate "Mommy" friends.  I have always had friends who have kids, but now, it seems, that the ones that I feel I can talk with the most are the ones who have kids themselves.  Lucky for me, we are in the middle of a baby boom and there are tons of people with little kids.  

This past weekend, Jamey and I both got to spend time with two of ou

r favorite people-- not to mention their children.  For me, I got to spend time with Jess and Monica, while Jamey got to hang out with his buddies Katie and Christopher.  On Saturday, he celebrated Katie's first birthday and on Sunday, we visited the Renai

ssance Fair with Monica, Chris, and Christopher.  

I must admit, he slept through the majority of Katie's party, but he got passed around a bit, nonetheless, and even got a hug from the birthday girl!  Kind of.  At least she didn't try to hit 

him in the head.  In signing his name on the card of her present, I realized that this is the first of many many many birthday parties we will be attending for Jamey's friends.  Granted, this one 

also happens to be the daughter of one of my best friends, but whatever.

And Christopher continues to try to guide not

 only Jamey, but us in how to take care of Jamey.  When it began to rain at the Ren Fair, he was very worried that Jamey not get wet.  He even let Jamey use his big boy stroller, if for no other reason than it allowed him to splash in the mud puddles.  But Jamey found much to look at when we were at the Ren Fair, from the waving flags to the horses in the joust, to the band that Glenn helped him to conduct.  

I am really grateful to have these friends, especially because they afford me an opportunity for Jamey to make lifelong relationships.  I hope that in years to come, I will be able to show Katie and Jamey their picture and have them blush in embarassment and say "Aww Mom!"

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.)