Kind've a poopy night

A special guest blog entry by Holly:

So tonight was my second night to come over and bond with Jacoby. I worked through the mental list that Amanda had instructed me with. After I fed him his mushy rice and soft pink-colored bananas (don't know what was up with that), we headed toward the tub for bathtime. I was a little nervous as I've never given a baby a bath by myself. Everything went pretty smooth until suddenly he began to make an unusual face and his body position became awkward. He looked as if he was in pain. I felt bad for the little guy and didn't know what to do. Perhaps he was uncomfortable in his little tub chair. I picked him up out of the tub and I looked down to find two floating brown pieces of feces. I immediately froze with fear! (I am a person who isn't good with burping, farting, and especially not poop!) The one thing I feared about little kids (and dogs) and it happened in the tub of all places! I took him to his room, dried him off, and put him in his pj's. Now it was time to face the music. I reluctantly walked back into the bathroom, drained the tub, and contemplated how to conquer this fear of mine. I decided I would just have to pick it up with some tissue and put it in the toilet. I figured if I picked up the chair and tried to angle the poop into the toilet I'd miss and have an even bigger problem on my hands.

Unfortunately, I never got that far. Just looking at it and imagining my plan in my head was enough to send me into a major gagging fit, complete with coughing, watery eyes, and a red face. Jacoby thought it was pretty funny. I decided it wasn't going to happen and texted Amanda:
"So Jacoby pooped in the tub and I really tried to clean it up but I kept gagging. So I guess it will be here when you get back. I'm sorry"

I really do feel very bad. I am a bad babysitter. After all that, I couldn't figure out which way his diaper went on and his usual bottle/rocking chair routine didn't put him to sleep like it was supposed to. In the end, though, I was able to get him to sleep with a simple sway and back pat with music playing in the background (that is very relaxing by the way!). It was a very sweet moment.

Amanda and Zach, please don't band me from babysitting!! I'm learning! And I look forward to Jacoby and my's adventure next week.

Long Overdue Update

So our little man is now 6 months old as of Wednesday. He has accomplished a lot just in the last month!

1. sleeping through the night consistently without waking up to fuss
2. Feet in his mouth to suck on toes
3. Blowing raspberries
4. Playing with his momma's hair and sucking on her chin. It can be fascinating for a 6 month old.
5. 2 teeth! Every time we make it through another day of nursing, I feel very proud (and relieved).
6. Staying at a sitter for the first time!
7. 1st official play date with little Reagan, who is three days his elder
8. Saying mmm-bah and other babbles in "conversation" with us
9. Sitting up without support! (but not for long before he is reaching for something/anything and knocks himself over)
10. Eating solids...on his list of foods he's tried:

• rice cereal
• oatmeal with banana flavor
• rice with mixed fruits flavor
• rice with apple flavor
• green beans (pretty neutral about gb's...like most people)
• peas (shuddered every couple of bites the first couple feedings, but kept coming back for more. he's a little pig.)
• carrots (being shelved for a while... he kept spitting it up later although he loved it while he was eating it!)
• bananas (savored this one the most...he gave me the hugest, sweetest smile after his first bite!)

Last week, Jacoby had a full day of nothing but screaming and grunting. (No babbles or anything!) He really mustered up the energy to get out a good one each time. He would squirm and kick and then take a deep breath before shrieking at the top of his lungs. Try getting through lunch at Pizza Shoppe with that kind of behavior! I found myself plugging his mouth with a paci to get through the outing!

Jacoby has made a lot of friends at Trish's as well. During the day, he hangs out with Abby (4 months), Joanna and Sam (around 2 years). Although we thought he would befriend Abby first, he seems to be in love with her older sister Jo. Every morning when we walk in, Jo starts clapping and then puts her hands on her knees to look at Jacoby and talk to him. I was told that the other day she was telling Sam not to play with Jacoby and saying, "Mine!" Jacoby gets so excited when he sees Jo and laughs at her all the time. Too cute!

After school, Sam's two older sisters are there for an hour or so and I have seen 2nd grader Carly singing and dancing for Jacoby several times. She also sprints off of the bus to beat the other kids inside and yells, "I get Jacoby!". Her little sister, Paige (who is in Kindergarten) stopped me as I walked in the door the other day and said, "Hey, Mrs. T, where's Mr. T?" I said he was at a tennis match and she said, "Oh, he's on the tennis team?" These are the kind of conversations I get to enjoy daily. We feel so thankful that the transition back to school has gone so smoothly and that Jacoby is so loved in Trish's home. All of my uneasiness about leaving Jacoby and missing the afternoon with him was relieved when I realized this. We are truly blessed to have a church family that loves our son like their own.

I'm excited to experience the holidays with a kid. It will be so wild! That is something we are looking forward to in the coming months.

As a side note, we had our beginning of the year kick-off for Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) tonight. We were amazed to find about 75 kids there for ultimate Frisbee and a blizzard eating competition. A high schooler from our church that I like to call Jr. Zach (for several reasons) can eat a large blizzard in just 37 seconds and there was another high schooler that actually thought he could beat that amazing record. Between the two showdowns, Zach shared his testimony with the high schoolers, which made me very proud. He was reflecting on the wasted years of being too timid to share the gospel with his friends and teammates, and that he finally realized that God calls us to be bold in our faith and to not have a spirit of fear or timidity. I can attest firsthand of the change of heart that I have seen in my husband even since we started dating. It has been wonderful to watch him really be a man about being a servant leader and to have a heart for sharing his faith. There is nothing better than that.

6 months

Can you BELIEVE my baby boy is 6 months old?????

Professional Pics

Angela has edited and uploaded just a few of our pics on her website as a preview. Check it out!
http://www.angelaphoto.blogspot.com/

Red Barn Farm

Last night and this morning, we went with Jacoby to get a photo shoot with Angela, a family friend. Jacoby had never seen chickens or goats before, so we had to take some pictures ourself. We will post some professional photos when we get them back!

This week was teacher's first week back for inservice, which means Jacoby's first couple of days at the sitter. This fall, Trish will have Jacoby and three other little ones, all of whom belong to teachers. He seemed to do really well at Trish's...he even took a 2 1/2 hour nap both afternoons! Unfortunately, he also woke up with his first cold this morning. A woman from our church told me that when she went back to work, she always reminded herself that she was a better mom when she missed her kids during the day and appreciated her time with them while she was home. I have reminded myself of that daily, as it is very true. I am definitely not taking being blessed with a child for granted. Jacoby and I's time together is made that much more special. Anyways...here are the pics!

Big Weekend

This weekend, Jacoby and I hosted a wedding shower for Kailey, who is marrying my little cousin Jakey. Here are just a few pics from the shower.

Two person texting...



Sitting up by leaning on his hands for a minute! (I actually took the picture because his little crack is showing, but sitting up is an accomplishment in itself!!) On August 16th, Jacoby had a couple of big accomplishments. First, he learned how to blow raspberries (as if he doesn't drool and blow spit bubbles enough). Second, he finally figured out how to put his toes in his mouth. Zach was "babysitting" while my mom and I went to a teacher store in Kansas and told me he took some pictures, but Jacoby was naked as a jailbird in the pictures, so I had to crop them to edit out certain boy parts. Zach likes to let Jacoby sit around with no clothes on and then calls it "naked man time". (Also, not sure he wants me sharing that.)



After we got home, Jacoby was getting fussy so I was going to feed him after I changed out the trash bags. As I shook the bag to open it up, he started laughing like crazy. Apparently trash bags are hilarious! So, we recruited Aunt Hollie to take a video of it for your viewing pleasure.