Adventures in Babysitting

Last week I had the opportunity to watch a good friend's daughter for a few hours in the afternoon/evening at our house. Naturally I jumped on the opportunity, partly in order to help my friend as she has helped me in the past, and partly because I knew that JJ would enjoy the company, but mostly just to see what it would be like to have two little ones in the house, and whether or not I could handle it. Ellia is 10 1/2 months old, so when we have another child it will be impossible for JJ and the baby will be that close in age, but it was good practice anyway. Ellia also has a harder time, in general, being away from her mom. But she's been to our house many times before and she's familiar with both JJ and myself, so I had a good feeling about how things would go.

When Mara dropped Ellia off, she stuck around for a bit, to get Ellia settled. That seemed to work wonders, because once Mara left, Ellia didn't cry one bit. I was very happy and impressed, and while I can't deny that I was sort of proud of myself for this, I know that I had very little to do with it. I was just very happy that Ellia was comfortable in my care. JJ was asleep for the first hour or so of Ellia's visit with us, so that was pretty easy on me. We played for a while and it was refreshing having a little girl around for once. Once JJ woke up, the real fun started.

I didn't want to leave Ellia alone downstairs, so I carried her upstairs with me to get JJ. When JJ saw me walk in the door to his bedroom with another baby in my arms he practically crawled out of the crib -- literally! In fact, if his legs were a little longer or if I hadn't just recently lowered the crib mattress, he WOULD have climbed out. He started whining and crying a little bit, jealous that another cute little baby had made her way into my arms. He wanted his mommy, and he wanted her all to himself. I decided that a diaper change in the midst of all this jealousy would be near impossible, especially since JJ has been really bad for diaper changes in general lately. And I considered putting Ellia in the crib for a few minutes so I could cuddle with JJ, but I knew that would probaby start her crying and I didn't want to ruin the positive trend we had going so far. So I reached into the crib with my free [right] arm and slid JJ onto my right hip, with Ellia still on my left. I carried the two of them down the stairs, into the living room, and then stood there, thinking, "now what?"

I considered putting them down, but with both arms occupied there was really no safe way to do that. So I very carefully lowered myself to the floor and sat with both kids still on my hips. At this point, I could safely put them on the floor, but every time I made any sort of move at all, JJ clung tighter to me, indicating that he did not want to be put down. Again I considered releasing Ellia, but I was nervous that she would cry at seeing me hold JJ, and regardless of what her reaction would have been, I needed a free hand to put either of them down. So we sat there, the three of us, JJ resting his chubby cheek on my right shoulder and Ellia cuddled in my left arm, for about ten minutes. Finally JJ lifted his head up and pulled away from me, ready to brave the living room on his own, and he started playing with some toys. I finally let Ellia go as well and the two of them had a blast playing together.

The rest of the evening went well, and Ellia only got a little bit fussy when Jeremy came home, because she was unfamiliar with him. But soon enough she got used to his presence and we all enjoyed eating together. So now I have renewed confidence that I can handle two. I know it was only one day, and only a few hours at that. And I know that there will be difficult days once we have two children in the house, but it was a good experience to have the two of them here, and honestly, it was easier than I thought. Plus it made me feel pretty good that JJ was so jealous of Ellia over me, despite the fact that it worries me how he will react with a little sibiling in the house someday.

Secret Passage - July 15th

This has been a really great week so far, and since we're already at Wednesday night I'm willing to wager that the positive trend is going to continue for the rest of the week. On Monday JJ and I went to Cool Waters, the public pool and mini water park here in Greenfield, just down the street a few miles. We met with my friend Erin and her 6-month old Riley. JJ had a blast walking into and out of the water over and over and over again. He was quite a handful, since he just wanted to walk everywhere and didn't want to hold my hand at all (dangerous when we're wading in water up to his waist). He was a little apprehensive of the big waterfalls in the pool because they were so loud, but otherwise he did really well. I think that next year will be even better.

On Tuesday I went to the gym and left JJ in the capable hands of the Kid's Clubhouse caregivers at the WAC. I finished my workout and returned to pick him up and saw him sitting at the table for snack time, eating some Goldfish snacks and looking quite content. Then he turned around and saw me and instantly started full-fledged crying: sobs, tears and all. One of the women brought him over to me and when I asked how he did the rest of the time he was there she informed me that he would have little two-minute crying fits and then they would distract him with a toy or a book and he'd be fine for a while. So he was on-and-off, which isn't terrible, since he was able to calm himself down without the need for the ladies to have me paged. But he's been really clingly lately and I think that's why he had such a hard time. I'm really hoping that he improves because I hate the fact that he has a hard time at all when I'm not with him.


In other news, JJ did something really cute yesterday. Our kitchen, dining room and living room are arranged all in a row, opening into each other. I have a gate sectioning off the kitchen from the other two rooms so that JJ is confined to a safe area where he can do whatever he wants with his toys and I can still keep an eye on him from the kitchen. Between the dining room and kitchen there is a row of cabinets with a countertop above and JJ loves to play with the cabinets, opening and closing the doors and pulling out some placemats and cloth napkins I have down there. Normally they're full of pots and pans that are too heavy for JJ to lift, but last night I was using the big pot that takes up most of the end cupboard and JJ decided to take advantage of that. While I was busy making dinner I heard the normal sounds he usually makes -- babbling to himself and opening and closing cabinet doors in the dining room. Then I heard something I don't usually hear when he's playing like that in the dining room: tiny footsteps just behind me. I turned around to see what was happening, and there was JJ, in the kitchen with me. He had taken all of the placemats and napkins out of the end cupboard, crawled through the cabinet, and opened the door to enter the kitchen since the big pot that usually blocks the way was gone. He created his own little secret passage. Pretty cute. I grabbed the camera and snapped a shot of the proud JJ just after he came through. then I convinced him to go back where he came from, through the cabinet, and I got a couple of shots of that, too.

Tomorrow it's back to the gym, so we'll see how that goes. And on Friday we'll be going to the Betty Brinn Children's Museum downtown with a couple of friends and their kids. I'm pretty excited because I've been waiting for JJ to be old enough to enjoy something like this, and I think he's right at that age where he can start to do that. I would love to bring my camera to take some pictures but I'm not sure if they allow photos to be taken, not to mention that the only camera I have access to right now is pretty big and cumbersome, and not something I want to have to lug while I'm chasing JJ around the museum. So when I get to writing about our trip, my words will have to suffice.

It's Been a While...

OK, so some people have been on me to update this blog (you know who you are) and while I've been very busy and feel like I never have time to do it I agree that it's about time. In fact I'm disappointed myself because now I don't have a nice blog from the last few months to look back on, and I feel sad that my little guy is getting so big too fast. In any case, I'm going to try to make up for it and keep updating this with more devotion than I have done previously, but we'll see how it goes.

So let's see -- what's new? Well, since the last post which was way back in November (!) quite a bit has happened. JJ traveled with Mom and Dad to Virginia to see Grandma and Grandpa Hohner for Christmas, and he got to meet Uncle Eric, Aunt Lucy, Uncle Fred, Aunt Andi, as well as his Hansen 2nd cousins. He was extremely well-behaved on the airplane as usual and impressed all of our fellow-passsengers who I'm sure were expecting him to cry the whole time.

It was the day we were traveling on the plane to Virginia that JJ went from hands and knees to sitting up for the first time. We were sitting in the airport, delayed, and JJ was playing on a blanket we brought along. He had been going on his hands and knees for quite some time, rocking back and forth and I couldn't figure out why he always went up into a downward-facing-dog kind of yoga position, but when he lowered himself to sitting from that position for the first time, I understood what he had been working on all that time. Then, after we got to Virginia, on the day before Christmas Eve JJ had another first -- he crawled for the first time! Grandma and Grandpa were very happy to get to witness this miletone. He was slow at first, but by the time we got home from our Christmas trip, he was becoming an expert.

Since then so much has happened. JJ is walking all the time now. He took his first steps at about 9 1/2 months but then didn't do too much more of it for a while. I was at work the evening he took his first steps, and when Jeremy told me on the phone that he had just done it, I begged him to take some video and post it on Facebook so I could log in and see it right away. Ahh, the beauty of modern technology. So even though I didn't get to witness it myself, at least I got to see it moments later.

JJ had his first birthday party on June 6th. Unfortunately it was cool and rainy so we had to have the party inside. Since our house isn't very big that made for a, shall we say "cozy" experience with the guests. But everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. JJ had fun making a mess with his birthday cake, but didn't really seem to enjoy eating it all that much. I guess he's just got healthier eating habits! JJ got lots of wonderful gifts from his friends. I'm still working on the thank-you cards; we'll see if they ever get done...

Now that he's 13 months he's been walking almost exclusively for the past two months or so, although he does enjoy crawling from time to time. He's also babbling non-stop, and I'm amazed at the complexity of his baby babble. He uses every diphthong and consonant combination known to man (except for those that constitute English), and if you didn't know better you'd swear he was speaking a real language -- just one you don't understand. He says "Momma" and "Dada," and he can almost say "cat" and "dog." I think he's really close to starting to talk for real, but so far it's mostly just babble.

His latest trick, which I think is pretty neat, is pointing to things. He will point at something in front of him or across the room if he wants it, but he also points to pictures of things he recognizes. If we're reading a book and there is a cat in a picture I'll say, "where's the cat, JJ?" And he'll point to the cat. The first time I did that I thought it was just a coincidence, so I tried with a couple of different pictures that included cats, and he always pointed to the correct animal. He can also point to a picture of a dog, an apple, a ball, and a duck. The ball really impressed me, too. We have a book called "I'll Teach My Dog a Lot of Words" and in it it has a picture of a dog catching a little red ball. I asked JJ to point to the ball, and he did! I was impressed, but then again, he's my son so just about everything he does impresses me.

Also, JJ did what I asked him for the first time yesterday. He was standing near a book that was on the floor, pointing to it and I said, "Do you want Momma to read the book to you? Bring the book to Momma and I'll read it to you." And he looked at me, and then looked at the book and then back at me, and he brought the book over to me. I was surprised, because I wasn't actually expecting him to do it. He's done similar things several times now. It's like he's becoming a REAL person!

In other news, I quit my job back in June so I could be home with JJ full-time. We're still adjusing but so far it's been nice to be able to play with him in the mornings instead of rushing around to get myself and JJ ready to go for the day. We're still working on getting into a nice, productive routine, but that's ok. We'll get there.

That's all for now... I will add pictures when I have time!

Sweet Potato and Cutie Pie! - November 20th

After a week of bananas, JJ was ready to move on to something else, and got his first taste of sweet potatoes! And he LOVED them! He gobbled them up like it was nobody's business, and looked adorable while he did it! I know it looks like he got more on his face and bib that in his tummy, but really he ate a lot. In fact, he finished the whole jar, which he never did with bananas. Every time I brought the spoon up from the bowl, he would lunge forward with his face and arms, ready for more, so I'm guessing he liked it.

Today was a little challenging since JJ didn't want to take any naps. He took one short nap for about 40 minutes this morning, and then refused to go down in the afternoon. I finally got him to fall asleep around 3:30pm which is kind of the last chance for a nap for him, or else we run the risk of him being down for the entire night. But he was up less than an hour later. So I spent some time today taking pictures of him. Oh, by the way, in case anyone is wondering, we're borrowing a camera right now, and it's the same model I'm thinking about buying, so that's why there are pictures to be seen at all right now.

So, here's an update on what JJ's been doing lately. A few weeks ago he rolled over for the first time. He started doing it non-stop, rolling from his front to his back and his back to his front, scooting all over the place. But for some reason he hasn't rolled over for almost two weeks now. I saw him do it once yesterday, but otherwise I've noticed that he hasn't been doing it. I'm not sure why. I don't think he realizes that if he's on his back and wants to be on his front, he can do that himself. I think the novelty of being able to roll over has gotten old and now he'll just whine if he's in a position he doesn't like. I've left him whining many times, thinking that he will eventually realize that he can fix his own problem, but it doesn't seem to be getting through. I even pushed him a little bit so that he would almost roll over, trying to remind him of his new skill, but he just doesn't seem interested in rolling over anymore. Oh well.

Aside from that, he is a master-pivoter, changing directions with ease while he's on his belly. He loves to hold and study things, and of course, he loves to chew. I really think he's going to cut a tooth soon, but there's still no visible sign of any teeth coming, aside from his constant teething. He loves to laugh and it's a lot of fun when Jeremy and I really get him going. He's sleeping 12 hours straight through the night, which is a very welcome development, and overall he's just the cutest thing (if I do say so myself).

November? Really?? - November 3rd

JJ and I awoke on Monday, November 3rd to find a beautiful, 70 degree day tempting us to take advantage of it. We started with JJ playing on the floor in the living room as he often does, but because it was so nice and warm out, I was able to keep the front door open, bringing in more of the sunshine JJ loves. After a while, I thought to my self, "wait a second -- this is NOVEMBER. In Wisconsin. There aren't going to be many more, if any, days like this in the near future." And with that thought I got JJ and me ready to go out for a nice walk.

There is a scenic trail not far from our house on which I used to take Tommy out for walks. I decided to take JJ there on this beautiful day, sans Tommy mainly because I had just cleaned out my car and wasn't ready to get dog hair all over it again! So JJ and got in the car and rode, windows wide open, to the trail, about a mile from our house.

Once there I immediately decided that this walk would be a good subject for a blog entry, since it was so pretty outside, with the sun shining and the leaves falling off the trees. I had brought the camera along to take pictures and so I decided to start shooting as we walked.

JJ was really enjoying it, as you can see. I took a few shots of him and we journeyed on, taking in the fresh air and gorgeous weather, knowing that it will be many months before we get to enjoy another day outside without having to bundle up. The trees and tall grass were just begging to be photographed, and I was determined to go for a long walk and write a nice, long blog entry about it, complete with pictures.


I really liked the way the sun was shining through the dry, brown grass and thought it would be nice to share here, so I snapped a shot. After that, JJ and I continued to walk, and there was a nice bend in the trail up ahead. Another great opportunity for a good picture, I thought, and pulled out the camera. I'm not sure what happened, but I turned the camera on and then, without any reason at all, I dropped the camera, right on the lens. I don't know how or why -- it just slipped out of my hands. In any case, the camera is busted to the point where I'm no longer able to take pictures with it. So this is probably going to be the last entry for a while, at least the last entry with photos to accompany it. That's not to say I can't post if something interesting should happen, but I really just write this stuff so there's something to read along with the pictures. I never really thought anyone REALLY read all this anyway. So you can continue to check back, but until we get a new camera, it's going to be a little boring. anyway, hope you enjoyed the last "illustrated" post for a while!

Anyway, we finished our walk, which took about an hour, and all the people walking and riding their bicycles on the trail smiled at JJ as they passed by. It was a great day, and a great way to spend it.

What a Month! - October 27th

For those of you who still actually attempt to read this blog, I apologize for not updating in so long. A lot has happened, so I'll get right to telling you all about it.

First of all, Jeremy lost his job a little over a month ago, which accounts for much of the reason I haven't posted in so long. He's been home with JJ and me, and we've been enjoying some quality family time together, and we've been working hard on the finishing touches for our remodeling project upstairs (I'll have a picture soon of the tiling work Jeremy has done in the bathroom -- not complete yet, but close!). Sure, we did some relaxing mixed in there, but all in all we've been so busy I just didn't get around to writing in a while.

If you're still holding your breath, you can exhale now; Jeremy got a new job and started today. So today is my first time in more than a month alone with the baby all day. I've done it before obviously, but he's changed so much it's a whole different ballgame now. He doesn't sleep nearly as much during the day, leaving me less and less time to do all the household things I need to do (groceries, laundry, cleaning, organizing, cooking, etc) and leaving me almost zero free time to do things like write this blog. Lucking he's napping now, so I decided to sit down and write for a while.

In any case, since the last time I wrote, JJ has learned many new things. He finally found his feet and of course, his favorite part of his feet -- his toes! He loves to grab them and look at them, pull on them, try to put them in his mouth (he hasn't figured that one out just yet, but he's getting there). On one of the days we were hanging out in our bedroom we gave him this blow-up, child-sized beach ball and let him hold it between his legs. He had a good time, and we even got some video of it. Of course, he's always more entertaining just seconds BEFORE I am able to grab the camera and start recording, but at least you can get an idea of what he was doing.




JJ is also getting a lot better at moving around.
He loves being on his tummy now, and he can scoot himself around to face different directions. He even started inching forward recently, and for an infant who can't quite crawl properly yet, he can really get around! He's much more interactive with his toys, which are usually the objects that convince him it's worth inching forward in order to get to them. He likes to hold things in his hands, move them around and study them, and of course, he loves putting just about everything in his mouth!

I guess the biggest recent development is that today, October 27, 2008, JJ successfully rolled over from his back onto his stomach, all by himself. He's been rolling over from his tummy onto his back for a while now, but going the other way is much harder, since it requires more momentum and his chubby little arms get in the way. But after a few failed attempts this morning, he finally figured it out, and rolled all the way onto his tummy, and even managed to pull his arm out and around so that both his arms were sitting in front of him. Grandma Hohner was on the phone with me when it happened, so I kind of have a witness to this, even though she couldn't see it happening. I'll try to get some video of him doing it in the future if I can catch it.

During this past month JJ also had his first plane ride when we took a trip to Virginia together. It was my gift to my mother for her birthday -- Grandma and Grandpa agreed to pay for our plane ticket so they could get another visit with JJ, and my gift to them was traveling (sans Jeremy Sr.) with him. It was a new experience for JJ and for me and it was a bit difficult at times, juggling a 4 month old and all his accoutrements while going through security, sitting on a plane for hours, and carting him around the airport. But we got through it, and JJ was simply amazing. On the way to Virginia he cried for a total of less than a minute -- that's in the airport AND on the planes (there was a connection). He slept through some of the plane ride, but even when he was awake he didn't fuss, despite the ear popping he was probably experiencing. I think it helped that I nursed him on the plane, which I was really nervous about doing because I know that some people are uncomfortable with seeing that in public, especially in the close quarters of an airplane. But nursing or not, he was just incredible!

In Virginia JJ got to spend lots of quality time with Grandma and got to ride with Grandpa on his tractor! He also got to meet Great Aunt Edna and Great Uncle Stanley, who gave him one of his favorite new toys -- his glow worm! Grandma and Grandpa spoiled him with presents and affection, and we all had a great time.

Well, I hear the little man starting to stir now, so I'll have to end this post. Hope you enjoyed it, and hope I made up for lost time with all the pictures and video! Hopefully I'll be posting again soon, so keep checking!

3 Months Old - September 5th

JJ is three months old already -- I can't believe it! He really is starting to do different things everyday. Now, if I hold a rattle in front of him, he'll reach out and grab it. Just a few weeks ago he didn't even care about the rattle. He's getting a lot closer to sitting up on his own, but it's still a ways off I think. And it looks like his eyes are finally changing color from the blue he was born with. Still not sure what color they're going to end up, but it looks like they're going to be brown or hazel. I was kind of hoping for green, since I love Jeremy's green eyes, and I think JJ needs some more of Jeremy's features. But we'll just have to wait and see...

In other news, we finally put the crib and dresser together and started moving JJ into his new room. He won't be sleeping up there at night until we also move upstairs, since I'd have to go up to feed him at night. It just makes more sense to stick with the current arrangement until we get ourselves moved in to the adjacent master bedroom. But JJ fell asleep in the crib today and I took a picture of his very first nap in the crib. Pretty cute, huh? Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Hohner for the crib, which was their baby gift (among others). It looks great, it's nice and sturdy, and JJ really loves it!