Glimpses Into The Future

Last night Jayden laughed in a way he never has before.

Full on little kid giggles.

I can't even fully describe what it felt like to hear it. Kind of like my heart was going to explode with love. I actually laughed and got teary at the same time. It was amazing. The best sound I have heard in my entire life.

I kept him doing it long enough for my Mom, my Dad, and my sister to all hear it over the phone.

Times like these feel like little glimpses into the future. I all of a sudden pictured him as a little kid laughing at something I said.

Adam and I talked about it and he also couldn't get over what a big kid Jayden sounded like.

It reminded us of when he was 4 months old and he started randomly saying "Hi." He obviously did it without having any meaning behind it, but it was so incredible to hear him saying a real word. One time he grabbed his play mirror and said "Hi" when he looked into. Adam and I died laughing.

These moments are so brief but they always have me imagining what Jayden will be like when he is older.

6 Months

BIRTH

1 MONTH

2 MONTHS

3 MONTHS

4 MONTHS

5 MONTHS

6 MONTHS

He randomly started making a fishy face during the photo shoot. He had never done it before. There are a bunch of silly fishy face pictures like this:

 

I can't believe Jayden is half a year old! How did that happen?!

He now weighs 14 lbs, 6 oz and is 26 3/4 inches long.

The biggest change in the past month is that he is very mobile!

It started with rolling over from back to front. He has been sleeping on his belly ever since. In fact, that is why we finally had to stop swaddling him. The first night he knew how to, he rolled over during the night...with his swaddle on! In the morning I found him sleeping on his belly fully swaddled. That was the last night he went to bed with a swaddle.

It wasn't long before the crawling began. Yes, CRAWLING. Crazy. It's been such a huge change.  He's on the move!

We've done some creative baby proofing. Yes, that's the coffee table in front of the fireplace.

He's been doing crazy stuff like this:

Which scares me! He is such a little dare devil baby. He tries to climb things, like his bouncy chair or bumbo seat, all the time.

Eating solids is going very well. We have done brown rice cereal, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, carrots, bananas, apples, avocados, mangoes, and yogurt! (I will probably do a separate post about making baby food.)

Some of Jayden's favorite toys this past month:

There is still a lot of drooling and chewing, but no teeth!

Looking at himself in the mirror is still a big hit.

He loves the cats. He gets a huge smile on his face when one of them comes in the room. Layla is the only one that will actually stick around when he gets close.

He is finally getting some baby chub on his legs....

And his hands....

I just can't believe what a big boy he is now!!

And how lucky we are that we get to spend everyday with him!

I'm Going To Be An Aunt (And The Whole Bag of Emotions That Comes With That)

My sister is pregnant.

It's funny how long I have prepared myself for this moment. I was once blindsided with my cousin's pregnancy when she was 18. I remember we were at the zoo by the otter exhibit when my mom told me. Maybe hoping I would not have a breakdown since we were in public. It felt like a punch in the stomach. Ever since then I promised myself I would be more mentally prepared for those pregnancy announcements. I knew my sister or brother (well, SIL) being pregnant would be the hardest ones. I tried to toughen up and prepare for those.

When my sister called to tell me, I knew exactly what it was from the first sentence. It was the conversation I had been preparing for for years. My brain was telling me to think rationally and say and do the things we had practiced. To hold in tears until after hanging up the phone. I was actually giving myself a pep talk in my own head before she even really gave her anouncement.

Now let me be clear here....I am not sad about her being pregnant. I am happy for her. I am excited I will be an Aunt for the first time.

So why was I fighting tears?

Because pregnancy announcements are (and always will be) HARD when you are an infertile.

I have gotten good at blocking out pregnancy details from other people. But, I genuinely care about my sister and the baby, so I won't be blocking out details. I will hear them all. Every ultrasound, when the baby starts kicking (I can't even type that without a heavy sigh), when she learns the gender, as she gets bigger, as she prepares for the birth. I will know about it all.

Maybe part of why it will be hard is that I am the older sister. I am 4 1/2 years older than my sister and 5 1/2 years older than my brother. I always went through things first. I am good at the big sister role. But, now my sister will be doing something I have never done. Something I never will do. Something I can't even imagine doing. It's like she has this magical power. Her body can do magic. While mine is broken. Permanently broken.

I already told my mom that the first person who says something like, "This will be your first biological grandchild." will get a punch from me. My mom made it clear the first (verbal) punch would be from her! I know she means it too. There has never been a question that my mom loves Jayden. He is only 6 months old and they already have a special bond with each other separate from me. They both light up when they see each other.

I think it's great Jayden will have a cousin close to his age to play with. (When I finally convince my sister to move back to this state!)

I've already sent her boxes of clothes Jayden has grown out of.

This is all good news.

But of course that infertility monster never goes away. He ruins everything, doesn't he?

Healthy

Jayden had his six month well visit with the pediatrician last night.

I found myself getting emotional while the doctor talked to us about how Jayden is doing. She was talking about how healthy and strong he is and how he's hitting all his milestones early.

I won't go into detail on why, but we went into this adoption fully prepared for possible health problems, delays, or special needs. I worried at every appointment. I worried when he was slow to put on weight. I worried that they were watching how his head was growing. I worried about everything.

To then go to our six month appointment and have our doctor go on and on about how well he is doing made me get tears in my eyes.

This little tiny person has overcome so much and is doing so well. It's amazing.

I am so thankful.

Jayden destroying the place as we wait for the nurse to come back in and give him shots.

Just One Of The Kids

Can I play cards too?

Please?

(My apologies for the crappy cell phone pictures!)

I Am A Craft Supply Hoarder

My worst ADD symptom is that I am awful at organizing things.

I remember when I was diagnosed, the psychologist who had done my testing had a meeting with me a week later to go over the results. One of the things she was able to do, based on my results, was perfectly describe what my bedroom looked like. She explained that I need to think outside the box when it came to organizing my things. Open shelves or even bins instead of dressers with drawers. I always think back to that conversation and try to give myself some slack and come up with solutions to my organization problems.

I also have a problem with craft supply hoarding. Between crafts and art supplies for the kids and my own crafting supplies....well, let's just say I have a lot.

The majority of our second floor is Jayden's nursery. The exception is a very small room with a desk, which was my craft room. I outgrew that room quickly:

Yes, these pictues are very embarrassing.

Although in my defense, it didn't get this messy until after Jayden as born. :)

After that room was full, I began to take over the hall outside the room as well:

Oh, and this is in the dining room:

This is in a closet:

This is in our bedroom:

(Although I would like credit for how well organized these supplies are! haha.)

So, you may be asking yourself why I am sharing my embarrassing photos. It's because I am determined to get all these things organized and in one place. I am turning our back porch into a craft room. A place where all supplies will be stored and easy to find. It's not ideal because although it is enclosed, it doesn't have heat or AC so it can't be used year round. But, I can easily go out there and get what I need, use it inside, and then put it back out there when I am done.  I am slightly concerned about how some items will hold up in heat or cold, but this is the best solution I could come up with.

One of the biggest reasons I am determined to do this is that I want to start on Jayden's scrapbook and there is no way I can do it while being this unorganized. I have been saving things for his scrapbook for about 10 years now. I think it will be great once I locate everything I need.

Also, once I get everything out of the upstairs, the entire second floor can be for Jayden. That will be my next big project. I would like to create a sleeping area, comfy reading area, play area, and then make my current craft room into a homework room he can use when he gets older. It's perfect because it's a very small room that pretty much only consists of a big built in desk and a chair.

So, here I am putting it out there. I will do this. Now that I have blogged it, I have to, right?

I'll keep you updated on how it's going and post pictures of the back porch as I go.

I don't Want My Toys. I Want The Big Kid Toys.

Jayden was playing with his toys on his playmat.

But it wasn't long before he decided he was done with the baby toys and wanted to play with the things the big kids were playing with.

He's pretty proud of himself.

Good thing the kids love him and are good sports. They came back from eating breakfast to find that the baby wrecking crew had visited the village they built.

A Baby Moves Out, A Cat Moves In

We finally bought a video monitor and moved Jayden into his nursery. *tears*

Before Jayden was born, the cats went in the pack-n-play whenever we had it set up. But, once Jayden slept one night in there, they somehow knew it wasn't for them anymore.

It was only a few days of Jayden sleeping in his own room before Brinkley decided the baby had officially moved out of the pack-n-play and he could move in.



Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!