Happy Six-Month Birthday!

Jason turned 6 months old on June 9th!

He has been a joy and a challenge and a teacher to us! Even though it has only been six short months, I can't even imagine what life was like without him before. He has taught us what it means to be a kid again and has given us the warmth and incredible satisfaction of being our own family.

We are incredibly lucky to have such a happy and good-natured little boy who lights up like a Christmas tree and laughs hysterically while playing with us. He loves to play with colorful objects and anything that lights up or makes noises back at him. He is also learning to be sweet and loving to his softer toys, like his best friend Matteo the Monkey.

His newest thing is to alternate between cooing "oooh-oooh-oooh" nonstop, shrieking in delight at his friends and family and babbling all sorts of sounds. He is definitely making his voice heard!

This week Jason has started to put two similar sounds together (he has said "ga-ga", "goo-goo" and the aforementioned "ooh-ooh-ooh"). This morning, the second he woke up he was already off to the races and happily babbled "ga-ga, ga-ga, ga-ga" for 20 minutes in his crib while he let Mom and Dad take their time waking up.

We can't wait to see what the next six months bring!

Time to find a dentist!

I found a little something extra in Jason's mouth this morning - his first tooth is starting to come in! I was feeding him some mashed banana with my finger when my fingertip scraped up against the little tooth on the bottom of his mouth.

This was a surprise! Jason hasn't really shown many external signs of teething, though he has been a bit more fussy while nursing and when going to sleep. I hope all of his teeth come in as well!

We've had a really busy few weeks with Jason. After first introducing him to solids he rewarded us that night by doing his first roll from tummy to back. Then, the next day he upped the ante by rolling from back to tummy. Then he just showed off by doing it again and again for the next ten minutes. Within a day he'd learned to put the two together and now he is just a roly poly all over the place!

We went to the Aquarium over Memorial Day weekend and despite the crowds Jason did great. He really loved looking at and reaching for the little rays with his Daddy:

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Jason has now tasted Pears, Peaches and Peas. He loves the Pears, absolutely hates the Peaches and tolerates the Peas. That's progress!

First Food experience

We had a great time with Jason this past Sunday May 17, 2009 when we gave him his very first taste of food!

I mixed up some rice cereal for him and the fun commenced at breakfast time. He didn't know what to make of it and.....well, see for yourself!




As the days go on, I am thickening the cereal a little each day. By day 3, Jason was over his inital reticence and now he *loves* it! Wants more of it and actually fusses at me if I don't shovel it into his mouth fast enough! What a big boy!

Some photos of Jason in action

Over the last few months, I've relied on my trusty Blackberry to take spur of the moment photos of Jason when needed. Here are a few from the past few months:

Me 'n' Jason in the hospital - Day one of his life! (Dec 10 2008) Boy was I tired!

January 2009 - Jason all dressed up for his Passport photo! (the actual photo didn't turn out well at all - he kind of looks like a squished up raisin!)


Valentine's Day 2009 - Peace and love, man!

March 2009 - The very first time Jason slept without his swaddle blanket!

March 14, 2009 - Jason's very first time he sucked his thumb

St Patty's Day 2009 - Our Little O'Cutie Pie

March 2009 - Hanging with mom 'n' dad on a lazy Sunday

March 2009 - Jason and his favorite friend, Matteo the Monkey

April 2009 - Jason discovers Dudley!

I'll keep taking candids and posting them periodically so you can see the kid in action!

Four Months Old and pics from our trip to Mazatlan!

**EDITED April 22 to include photos from our trip!**

I can't believe how fast time flies!
In our last post, Jason had just turned 3 months old.
He is now 4 months old and is continuing to develop at an amazing rate!

He had his four month checkup on Tuesday this week, and we learned that he is now 26 inches long (putting him in the 90th percentile for height) and 16 lbs 3 ozs (putting him in the 75th percentile for weight)! Dr. Rossell kept remarking on how handsome he is and what a good natured baby he is turning out to be. He in turned kept charming her with his winning smile and crinkled up nose every time she talked to him. If it weren't for the shots, we would have thoroughly enjoyed the whole visit!

Speaking of shots, he has reacted more negatively to the shots this time around. Our sweet boy had his heart broken when he got those 4 needles in his legs and was difficult to console for several minutes after the vaccinations were administered. Now, two days later, each of his legs have big red welts on them and he favors his left leg very strongly. We've spent the majority of the last two days holding and consoling him. He also does not have an appetite at all - so we are now really out of whack with his eating routine. I just keep feeding him whenever he shows any interest, hoping that we'll get back to normal in the next few days. I know this will pass soon enough, it just makes me sad to see our happy little boy so uncomfortable.

On to other more upbeat news -

We have now taken our first family vacation! Alberto, Jason and I spent 6 days in beautiful Mazatlan last week introducing Jason to all of his Mexican relatives.

It was a whirlwind of activity from start to finish which was only made more intense by the fact that we had gone during Semana Santa. The craziness outside of our hotel for the holiday was almost nonstop from sundown to sunrise every night. Fortunately, we got a room higher up (on the 7th floor) and the a/c unit drowned out most of the chaos happening below.

Jason was wonderful the whole trip.

He handled the plane well, he handled the constant barrage of attention from adoring family members well, he even handled the nonstop on-the-go lifestyle we had! The family was also very helpful in respecting when he needed to be left alone for his naps. But when he was awake he was always basking in the attention of his grandmother, his aunts and uncles, and all of his little cousins.

He also was able to spend a lot of time with his sister, Jenny, and they took to each other very well. Jenny would play with him and tickle him and he would laugh hilariously and caress her face.

My favorite part of the trip was when I took Jason in the swimming pool at the hotel.


This pool was really cool - it was beautiful with its sparkling blue water and waterfall in the center. The steps into the pool were fashioned like rocks you'd use to walk into a stream. The water was crystal clear but cold!




Jason didn't know what to think at first, but clearly ended up enjoying it!

We got to take some video of our time there, as well as photos on our 35mm camera. I now have 4 rolls of film to develop, so once these are ready I will edit this post with photos from the trip!

In the meantime, we are still working on rolling over (he's very very close to rolling over from back to front!), sleeping through the night (average 50% success rate!) and motor skill coordination (he is now grabbing things with his hands and is very good at depth perception).

Jason is now able to track movement with both his eyes and his head and he is really quick to notice what is going on around him. Yesterday, he noticed Dudley for the very first time and even petted his doggie gently. Dudley was, as always, very patient with him.

And our biggest milestone so far this month -
Jason is now sleeping in his crib in his own room! We started this the night after we got back from Mazatlan, and so far we have had very little problem. Jason is a very happy boy and wakes up in a good mood even though he isn't next to us anymore. Such a big boy!

three month milestone!

I am writing this blog entry on my blackberry from under my blanket so that I don't wake Jason up with the light from the device :)
Jason is three months old today! I can't believe this much time has already passed. He has grown so much in so many ways. Not only is he rapidly on his way to weighing 14 pounds, but he is also developing in a variety of ways.
He talks to us with many different sounds now, including a few different coos, a whispered "ya", a lilting "ah-aa-ah", and screeches. He has become very adept at using the different noises to communicate different things to us including frustration, hunger, impatience and delight. And on March 5 we were graced with his very first laugh!
We have begun experimenting with leaving one or both of his arms out of his swaddle blanket while he naps since he is demonstrating increased control over his arms. He is very cute when he does this as he concentrates very hard on keeping both of his arms elevated over his body in what looks like a ready-to-fight pose. He'll stay like that for a very long time, all the while watching me to make sure I notice and give him encouragement.
And today for the first time he was fascinated with his own image in the mirror.
Jason is an incredibly happy baby as long as he gets enough sleep. This isn't always the case as he seems to have decided recently that he doesn't like to go to sleep and fights it at most naptimes.
Our digital camera has decided to break at this most inopportune time, so I am relying on an old 35mm camera for photos. In the meantime Alberto Jason and I took some family photos a couple of weeks ago that turned out lovely. If I can get them scanned into the computer I'll post some for you to see.
I return to work on March 16 (one week from today) and I am of course nervous about that. My mom will be taking care of Jason during the week while I work so I feel pretty good about the situation, its still just difficult to accept that in 6 more days my life won't center around raising such an awesome kid. Fortunately, I am very lucky to have the opportunity to work from home when I am not traveling so that will make it much more bearable.

We have also booked our family trip to mazatlan, where Jason will get to meet all of his Mexican relatives. We will be there the week leading up to Easter, called Semana Santa or Holy Week. I am really looking forward to seeing mazatlan again. We haven't been there since our wedding in 2006!

2009 so far...

So far 2009 has been pretty full. Jason keeps us on our toes pretty regularly, and Alberto is staying busy working side jobs and doing his regular work as well. I am busy with...well just Jason, but that is quite enough! It's been difficult to get things together, but with a little help from Liz and Mom we have finally got our house back in order, our bills paid (including our *mountain* of medical bills) and are looking forward instead of just catching up.

Mom just came and visited for two weeks, and it was a great help to us in every way. She and Jason really bonded, and today when she left Jason cried for almost an hour because he desperately wanted his Nana to hold him and didn't understand why she wasn't here. A little snack finally calmed him down and I managed to get him down for a nice long nap.

While Mom was here we took Jason (when he was 7 weeks) to get his first photo portraits done at JC Penney! Though we couldn't get him to smile on cue, they are still adorable. I learned to fully feed the baby immediately before the photo session, and things go a lot more smoothly! I'll be more prepared next time.

We also got some wonderful photos of Jason at home, and I have posted a few of them here. It's amazing to see how much he has changed - he doesn't look like a newborn at all anymore. In fact, sometimes he doesn't even look like a baby to me, but more like a child!

We have also learned something really important about him - after weeks of congestion and painful cries and restless sleep, a visit to Jason's pediatrician finally revealed the problem - He has GERD, otherwise known as acid reflux. She prescribed .6 mL of Zantac to him three times a day and within a few days there was a very noticeable improvement. Now, for the last four nights he has slept for 6 to 7 hours at a time, and he is much more happy and comfortable while he is awake. Thank goodness for Zantac!

Rub a dub dub in the kitchen sink!

Jason's Super Bowl photo!

Practicing his soap star pose!

Watching the Beisbol Serie de Caribe with Daddy

Jason and his Rainforest buddies

All dressed up and ready to see the other babies at Mommy's Baby Group

Hanging with Mommy