Happy Baby

Over the Thanksgiving week, we had our family photos shot for our holiday card and our very talented photographer, Jenny Lee (www.jennyleephotography.com) came back for her third visit at Jacob's 7 month birthday.

She's amazing and fabulous, and feel so lucky to have her capture these wonderful moments of our family.

Check out our slideshow: http://www.jennyleephotography.com/slideshow/2010/Jacob7mons/

Gobble Gobble

Well, this year I have a lot to be thankful for. Everyone is in good health - my parents are in their late 60s and continue to have a busier social life than me - and married life continues on the up and up, particularly after having our first baby. Jacob is a well adapted little man, he's laughing - at us and with us - and has sprouted two teeth and has just started learning the beginning steps of crawling and rocks on his hands and knees. He still prefers to roll from back to tummy to get where he wants to go but we'll take it because man! It's too darn cute!

Jacob just celebrated his 8 month birthday, weighing in at 18 1/2 pounds and is 29 inches tall. He loves to eat! Bananas, sweet potatoes, apples, pears...really, anything that is sweet! He's eating three meals a day and I swear, the other day, he said momma! Take that Roger!

While we had planned to go to my parents' house in Napa for Thanksgiving, Jacob came down with a virus and croup and I got so sick I couldn't talk. Needless to say, it was a quiet Thanksgiving with just the three of us. I made a turkey - first ever for me! - pecan and apple pies, green beans and warmed up ham and stuffing. Topped off with bubbly and a 12 year old cab...we were in heaven! Jacob tried turkey for the first time and gobbled it up (pun intended).

Here are some pics of our Thanksgiving meal and our very own little turkey.

How...Can...You...Resist....This...Face!

Melts my heart every time! Even if he's all gums!

Onto the Other Side of a Year

It's hard to believe but we've moved past counting Jacob's age in weeks and now, not only are we onto months, we are over the hill so to speak...we are officially closer to the year mark. It's been a busy past couple of months and we've been on our first road trip, had visitors from Ohio and I started working.

In August, we took our first vacation as a family and as the crazy parents we are, we drove. Granted, it wasn't a long road trip but we did drive to San Diego with a short overnight stop in Valencia, CA to go to Magic Mountain. We didn't ride any roller coasters and it was WAAAY too hot for us so we ended up crashing in the hotel and Roger and our friends went crazy in the heat. We then drove to San Diego and there we met up with my best friend Jen and her daughter Rachel. It was the first time the little ones met and neither one really could really care about the other and not because they wouldn't like each other but Jacob was tired and Rachel just wanted to play with everything of Jacob's...from diapers to his toys, Rachel gave them a full oral inspection.

On our way back we met up with cousin Debi and her family - it was fun to spend a few hours with them before we made the dark and boring drive home.

In September, Roger's parents and grandparents came for a visit. We were so excited about their visit and it was the first time we had four generations in one place - Roger's grandfather, Roger's dad, Roger and Jacob. We spent a lot of time together and Roger's mom spent an extra week with us to help out before I started a new job but I ended up not starting that job when expected and not at all.

However, I did start working about two weeks ago. I have never shed so many tears as I did that first week. Everyday it was crying on the way to work - my first day I cried when I got home and when I put him to bed that night. I also have crazy anxiety over whether he'll remember me when I come home, will he cry and only want the nanny? It's been hard but we have a great nanny that LOVES Jacob and Jacob LOVES her.

It has become a little easier, or less emotional rather, but I still miss my little guy every day and there is nothing more that I would rather do than stay home with him. But it does make the couple of hours I get with him at night that much more special and I spend every moment possible with him on the weekends.

Now Jacob is seven months old. No teeth and not crawling but we think he's getting close on both. His favorite mode of getting around is simply to roll himself front to back until he gets where he wants to go.

He's also a great eater and loves almost everything. He isn't super fond of zucchini but loves everything sweet.

My goal moving forward is a post a week. Jacob is getting so big and changing so often it's nice to be able to chronicle these changes and share them with our friends in family. Until next week (or the week after :) )

Bye bye!

We're off to our first vacation as a family....not only are we taking our first vacation we are DRIVING! First stop, Six Flags Magic Mountain then to sunny San Diego to visit with some friends!

Wish us luck!!!!!

Time Flies...Happy Five Months, Bug!

It's hard to believe that almost five months ago, I went to bed after having a glass of wine expecting to have four more weeks of pregnancy bliss to wake up the next day to my water breaking and welcoming our son later that afternoon. They told me time would fly but it really has! Jacob is doing all sorts of fun things...except rolling over which he did at four months then has been protesting the act since then!

Here are the highlights:

1. Laughing uncontrollably when he does something funny or your laugh at him when he does something funny.

2. Finally likes tummy time and is doing this cute swimming thing. Maybe he'll start crawling before he rolls over again....

3. Started teething. No teeth yet but he is a drooling machine!

4. Talks/babbles like crazy. Sometimes at night when we put him to bed and he isn't sleeping yet, we can hear him just talking away on the monitor. It's so cute...it's the sweetest sound!

5. Happy baby pose...just like the yoga pose, he has discovered his feet and toes. It's so cute when he grabs his pants to help pull his feet closer to his hands. Then he just stares at his feet as he curls and flexes his toes.

Here are a few pictures of Jacob including the monthly birthday picture...he is getting SO BIG! And he's got crazy hair!

August Fun Time

I've been kind of slacking on the posts this month so I'm posting a couple of things back to back....

This month, a person that is super special to me, my Aunt Shar (yes, she is white but she's as close to blood as they come), came to visit for just a night. She met Jacob when he was four days young at my baby shower and was surprised to see how big he's become in just a few short months. We had a nice time catching up...we haven't spend quality time like this in a long time. Thanks for visiting and come back soon!


We also started Gymboree classes. I'm part of a couple of mom's groups but Gymboree has been a nice addition to our weekly activities. It also turns out that a number of the moms that go to Gymboree are also in my mom's groups and we've formed our own playgroup which has morphed into a walking group.

YUMMMM! Prunes!!!

Well, our little guy is a great eater and has been eating almost 36 oz of milk a day so that's not been a problem for him. Instead, he has a little tummy problem and doesn't "go" regularly...as in, sometimes he doesn't go for NINE days!!!! (If you had asked me a year ago what the hot topic in my life would be I would never have answered "POOP!"). Lucky for us, that only happened once but he definitely doesn't go daily or every other day for that matter.

So, while most babies start eating baby food by eating rice cereal, Jacob has been a daily regime of prunes. He loves them, is a great eater and can't get enough! And that little magical fruit has put poop back on our radar everyday, sometimes multiple times :)

Jacob Pelphrey, Man of Leisure

Since I haven't been working I've been able to take advantage of the time to catch up with old friends and introduce them to Jacob. And while my friend Liz met Jacob when he was four days young, a couple of weeks ago we went brunching. Jacob has a thing for older women...just kidding Jady!!!

Poppin' Wheelies

Ladies and Gentleman!!!! At four months and three days....Jacob rolled over!!! Of course Daddy was home while Mommy was out with her best friend, Auntie Tania, and missed it but I'll give this one to Roger since I get to spend everyday and every hour with him. Roger shot this video, shows Jacob doing what we call popping wheelies but no rollover but he's just so darn cute we had to share.

Happy Four Months to Jacob

I'm a little late on this post but oh well. Our little man is growing up so fast!!! I say this now but I'm sure I'll look back when he's 16 and ask the question: "Where has time gone?!" On Friday, Jacob turned four months young and he is growing growing growing!! We had our four month check-up and he's at the 50th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height coming in at 14 lbs 12 oz and 25 1/2 inches long. Here are pics of him at his second, third and now fourth months. Lots of changes...

Tummy Time = Cry Time

Well as Jacob nears his four month mark...can you believe it?! He's almost FOUR months....there are a lot of new things we are trying to get him to experience and do. One of them is tummy time. We have found that if we put him in front of the mirror we can usually get almost five minutes before the crying begins...sometimes.

He prefers tummy time in front of the mirror because he can look at himself (yes, my son is very vain) and he loves to giggle and babble at himself. It's super cute. Here's a video of one of his recent tummy sessions. He just makes me giggle...

Boob Tube Bust!

Every night when I get ready to give Jacob a bath, I leave him on the couch in his Boppy (yes, I know a Boppy is not a babysitter but hey! a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do!) while I get his bathtub set-up and his pajamas laid out for post-bath.

I didn't think he could see too far and I never had a second thought about leaving the TV on until the other day when....I came downstairs to find him STARING at the TV!!! Little bugger loves TV and anytime it's on, he tries to sneak a peek. I'm sure it's the colors and sound that intrigue him but it's too funny that he will turn his entire body to get a glimpse of the boob tube! ;)

Happy First Father's Day!

A year ago, I don't think either of us would have thought we would be celebrating our first Father's or Mother's Days so we are so grateful for our little boy and all the joy he has brought us. It's been an amazing experience and while Roger and I have had our bumps in the road, we have made our relationship work and continue to share in Jacob's life as a family.

Roger has amazed me as a dad. While he works a lot, I don't know any other man, aside from maybe my own father, that works as hard for his family as much as Roger does. You can see that it pains him when he has to leave us to go to work but you can also see the love he has for our little boy every time he looks at and kisses Jacob. Jacob is a lucky boy to have a father like Roger to look up to.

Jacob is also lucky to have a grandfathers like my dad and Roger's dad. Influential, loving and involved parents, both of our dads are great examples of men that have and will do everything to take care of their families. For that, we are eternally grateful.

So on this beautiful day...we wish our dads (mine, Roger's, Jacob's and all the men in our lives that are parents) a wonderful and Happy Father's Day!!!

Where does the time go....

I'm so bad at this blogging thing...it doesn't come natural to me to continually share what's going on in our household. I'm going to do a better job because time with Jacob has flown by and he is growing and changing at such a fast pace. And I'll do a better job at putting up pictures!

Jacob is nearly three months and during the last few weeks he has learned a few new things like smiling (they call it social smiling because he actually responds to you) and laughing, cooing and responding to your voice where it's almost like having a conversation with him and he has discovered his hands. He is also now sleeping through the night...knock on wood I didn't just jinx myself...and is sleeping about 9-10 hours a night. No more midnight feedings or getting up at 3 or 4 a.m. to sleepily feed him! He's also getting strong enough to hold his head up, although sometimes he gets a little over ambitious and slams his head into my jaw or cheek. Not fun for me but I think it shocks him more than it actually hurts me.

My favorite time of the day is first thing in the morning when all of us are well rested. Why is this the best part? Because when the baby cries to let us know he's awake and you walk into his room and he sees you, you are greeted with the biggest smile. It's love at first sight every morning! I then bring him into our bed (it's the only time he's allowed in our bed) and we lay together as a family. It doesn't get any better than this!

My First Mother's Day

I'm a little late on my first Mother's Day post but I figured better late than never. It has been an incredible year and last year at this time, we so longed to be parents and now, we are! It's an incredible feeling to wake up every morning and know that this little person is relying on you for everything he needs - food, shelter, love, comfort. Jacob continues to grow at a phenomenal pace and I spend hours playing with him, talking to him and most of all, just sitting and watching him. He is truly amazing. He recognizes our voices, has started smiling when he sees us and is the sparkle behind our eyes.

As Jacob grows older and as we celebrate more Mother's Days and Father's Days to come, here are my two wishes for my little boy on my first Mother's Day:

• To be true to himself. Often times we are influenced by our environment, the people we surround ourselves - good and bad - and I just want him to be Jacob. To embrace all of his qualities and all of life's challenges. Sometimes after a feeding, I'll snuggle up to him, kissing his neck and just taking in his breath and his scent. Sometimes his scent is of spoiled milk but it's the sweetest smell to a mother. That's how I want him to view life.

• To love and be loved. No matter what the world puts in front of him I want Jacob to always know how much love his father and I have for him. Disappointment will never be in our vocabulary when it comes to him and we want him to always feel loved and be surrounded by love. And I want him to love, even when it hurts. I want him to be a loving young man that attracts people that want to love him as much as he will give love to them.

Happy (belated) Mother's Day to all of the moms out there, especially my mom and Roger's mom - the most amazing influences to our life as parents.

Happy One Month Birthday to Our Little Chunky Monkey!

Wow! It's hard to believe that it's already been a month since our little boy made his (quick) entry into this world. Neither one of us is well-rested and we're still trying to adjust this Jacbo's schedule. We're happy to report that while he was born four weeks early but at a healthy 6 lbs 3.4 oz, he's not officially a chunky monkey. A visit to the pediatrician's on Monday not only had him peeing all over the place but he weighed in at 7 lbs 13 oz and he just keeps growing. He's a voracious eater and eats every 2-3 hours like clockwork and takes about 3-3.5 oz of milk at each feeding. Ahhh, to be an infant! And like a true male, anytime he goes to the boob, he sips and falls asleep...

We've both enjoyed our new adventures in parenthood. It's interesting how gas and poop become such natural parts of our conversations as do the number of times we've been peed and pooped on since Jacob came home...I think Roger's been pooped on twice, peed on once and I've been peed on four times and had a near miss of being pooped on once.

Life the way it use to be has changed but for the good. Gone are the nights of sleeping through the night, I've temporarily retired my make-up bag and flat iron and they only get used a few times a week when Jacob takes a longer nap. We never thought we could spoil someone as much as we do but we do every day. Grandparents are in love with this little boy as much as we are and who can blame him - he is so darn cute. We'll take the sleepless nights, poop and pee on clothes and sometimes even on the wall, endless loads of laundry and so-long to spontaneous dinners out, trips to the mall or out with friends, and movies, because parenthood for us...a dream!

Happy one month birthday to our little Jacob!

Happy Three Week Birthday Jacob!

Well it's hard to believe that our little boy is already three weeks old and still has one week until his original birthday. He's doing well and while we still face a few challenges on the nursing front, he is thriving and is already at seven pounds. He eats like a champ but has his nights and days mixed up.

Here are a few highlights from the last three weeks:

• Tuesday, March 23: Obviously, this is the biggest one! His arrival was quite a surprise but wow! What an amazingly handsome boy we made and we are instantly in love with him.
• He's a nosy one: Even though he's considered a premie, he's lifting his head and looking around. He's been doing this since he was a week old and we continue to be amazed at how strong he is.
• Daily christening: Almost on a daily basis, just when I think I have the diaper thing figured out, he pees on me. He hasn't pooped on me yet...Roger had the pleasure of being peed and pooped on when we did his newborn photos last week.
• Hitting the bottle: Because he was born a premie, we've had our challenges on the nursing front. First he was "tongue-tied" and then there is the latching problem. We were using a supplemental nursing system which basically had us finger-feeding Jacob, and because of the latching problem this is how we fed him exclusively - a nightmare for my carpal tunnel. It was causing a lot of anxiety for both of us and with the help of a lactation specialist, we are making progress on the latching thanks to the introduction of a bottle. The bottle has also given us more flexibility.
• Diaper marathon: They weren't kidding when they told us we would be changing upwards of 90+ diapers a week at our baby prep class. I think we probably hit that number in the first week...you lose count when you're sleep deprived.
  

Everyday we look at this little guy and are so thankful for the opportunity to be parents to such a strong, healthy, happy baby! Happy Three Week Birthday Baby Boy!!!

Jacob Thomas Has Arrived

Well, it was ironic that my last post was about the things I learned about pregnancy because the day after that post, our son arrived. Our baby boy, Jacob Thomas Pelphrey, arrived on Tuesday, March 23 at 5:22 p.m. weighing in at 6 pounds and 3 ounces and measured 20 inches long. It was such a surprise that neither Roger or I were prepared for his arrival. In fact, I kept telling Roger and my girlfriends that have experienced childbirth "there's no way I'm having a baby today...he has four more weeks to bake. I must have just peed on myself..." Ha! Was I wrong!

So here's the short version of how our precious baby made his way into the world....

• 7:30 a.m. Water breaks. Convince myself that I lost all bladder control and peed on myself...twice in a row.
  
• 8:08 a.m. Contractions begin and come eight minutes apart. Send Roger to work convinced that it's just Braxton Hicks and if I do go to the hospital they'll just send me home after an embarrassing exchange about bladder incontinence.
• 9:30 a.m. Tell Roger he needs to come home, contractions are only four minutes apart.
• 10: 30 a.m. Driving to the hospital, praying Roger doesn't kill us diving 100+mph to the hospital.
• 11:00 a.m. Arrive at the hospital - nurses don't bother to ask if i'm in active labor, they can just tell and my contractions start coming full-force at 1-2 minutes apart and I'm already 5 cm dialated!
  
• 11:30 a.m. Fentanyl is my friend, my BEST FRIEND! I can relax just a little and catch my breath between these quick contractions.
• 12:30 p.m. Checked into our labor & delivery room and beg for an epidural which I get shortly. From here on out, it's just a lot of huffing and puffing until...
  
• 4:45 p.m. It's go time! Pushing begins and a little more than 30 minutes later...

our little man, our little peanut, made his way into this world! What an amazing day, an amazing experience and I don't think we ever thought two people could fall in love with another little person like we did the minute we heard his cries and met him face to face.

This new chapter in our life has begun and we are enjoying all of the new adventures it has and will bring. He's now two weeks old and although he is considered a premie he's eating like a champ and everyday, we fall more in love with our son. Here are some pictures from the first few weeks of his life.

What I've Learned About Pregnancy

As we count down to the arrival of our son in mid-April, there are a few things that I've learned about pregnancy that I either had not believed or contrary to all the advice from friends that have embarked on this journey before me, didn't want to believe.

Here's my top 5:

1. You are only lying to yourself if you think you can wear your pre-pregnancy clothes but with slight modifications. Whether you tried the Belly Band or the hair-tie trick, I thought these handy pregnancy tools would keep me from falling into the trap of buying the ugly maternity clothes that every future mother eventually purchases. I had strangely convinced myself that I could wear my Hudson jeans and all of those cute tops from Anthropologie or JCrew throughout my pregnancy with a tweak here and an adjustment there. Was I WRONG! Then I moved to the stage of just buying regular clothes but in bigger sizes...well, sizes only get so big when you're pregnant. In the end, I caved...and I bought a few things from Motherhood Maternity, Moms the Word and Sierra Lane Maternity. Just because I'm pregnant doesn't mean I don't want to still look (and feel!) good! And for all the non-believers, I'm still wearing my Hanky Pankys.
   
2. Your body is not yours. For a while, when I first found out I was pregnant I relished in the fact that you couldn't really tell I was pregnant until about Christmas time when my belly started to get round. But then all of sudden, I couldn't see my feet, or reach them for that matter, kissed bikini waxes good-bye and my boobs started changing shape. So-long to those round breasts that men use to stare at when I wore low cut shirts and hello to the new torpedo-like breast that appeared. Not only that, I now had a baby bump for those torpedoes to rest on.
   
3. Nope, my water didn't break - I just peed on myself. Everyone has heard stories about women who lose control of their bladder when pregnant, or when they laugh or sneeze a little pee sneaks out. Well I never expected to be one of those. The other day I had a sneezing fit and for a minute, I thought I was going into early labor. WRONG! I had just peed on myself. My friend Jen thought she went into labor once when she thought her water broke only to find out...she had peed on herself. I laughed so hard when she told me the story I thought I was going to pee in my pants...well now, I officially have!
4. Just because you're pregnant doesn't mean people are going to be nice to you. Many of the books I've read have said that pregnant women should not handle cat litter and because we do have a cat, this means Roger was going to have to take over as the kitty litter cleaner. However, when we run out of litter, I'm still the one that goes to the store to buy it. About three weeks ago, I went to the pet store to get more littler. We have one of those refillable buckets and so when I got there I asked for a little help. Being 8.5 months pregnant you're also not suppose to lift anything remotely heavy. Our bin filled is about 30 pounds. So I asked for help. And mind you, this is the pet store we've been going to for the eight years that we've owned our cat. Well I was told, "We are too busy to help you with that and if you want litter, you're going to have to get it yourself." FINE! So I did. Then I asked for help out to the car - which they usually ask but this time I was met with, "I told you earlier, we are too busy. If you can't lift the litter yourself then maybe you should buy a lighter quantity."
5. There is nothing sexy about pregnancy sex. So there are no warnings about having sex when pregnant, in fact, my doctor encourages it...but there should be!!! For the first two trimesters it was still reasonably easy to get things heated up in the bedroom but by the end of the second trimester, when your belly is starting to protrude, it aint so easy anymore. And by your third, there is nothing hot and heavy about the awkward basketball (or in my case, watermelon) that drives a wedge between romance and your significant other. Too much weight on his part makes you feel like your belly is going to squish out your eye balls. Alternative positions are difficult because you can't lay on your stomach. You're not as flexible so you have to get creative but creative isn't always sexy, it's creativity to "scratch the itch." Plain and simple, there is nothing sexy about bouncing torpedoes over a bouncing basketball...BUT, you find a way and everyone is happy.
   

Welcome to our family blog!

As most of you know, we are expecting our first child in about four weeks so I thought this would be the perfect time to start our very own family blog. Why Sippy Cups and Chardonnay you ask? well...we live near the Wine Country and Cab is our favorite wine and sippy cups just seemed fitting for the new adventure we are about to embark on. So, we hope you enjoy our blog and will come back often to see what our family is up to.