Bedtime

I love night times with Jace. Once he's had a bath and has on his nighttime diaper and jammies, he and I cuddle on the couch and he drinks his bottle. Once he's done (sometimes he doesn't even want to finish it), I go lay him in his crib and he'll stick his thumb in his mouth, roll over, and close his eyes. He usually goes to sleep pretty quickly, but sometimes, like last night, he wanted to play! He doesn't cry or anything, he just sits or stands in his crib and plays and talks to himself.

I heard him in there so I went to check on him. He was standing in his crib and just grinned at me when he saw me. He had thrown everything out of his crib and was just standing there. It was so cute. I laid him back down and he eventually went to sleep.
I love how easy he's always been, he's no trouble at all!

My Birthday

I turned 27 on Friday...I can't believe I'm so close to 30! We had a few dinners with family to celebrate. Sunday, we had dinner with Grandma, Papa, and Ashlee.

Friday night we went to dinner with James' Mom, and last night, we went to dinner with my side of the family for mine and Mom's birthdays. We love spending time with family!

First ER Visit

My poor little guy is sick and I stayed home with him today. Early yesterday morning (around 2am), I took Jace to the emergency room. He's been running a low fever off and on since Sunday evening. Around 12:30am, I woke up to the sound of Jace breathing really loudly and a barking cough. I ran in his room to check on him and he was burning up. I stripped him down, his fever was 103.7, I gave him some Tylenol and put a cool washcloth on him. After almost an hour, he fever was only down to 103.3 and he sounded terrible so I decided to take him in. James stayed home with Avaree.

We got there and didn't have to wait long as soon as the RN in triage heard him. He could tell immediately he had croup. Once the doctor came in to see him, he quickly diagnosed him as having croup with stridor and an ear infection in his right ear. They gave us a dose of steroids (Decadron) to help with the inflammation in his throat and his first dose of an antibiotic (Amoxil) for his ears. He said there was nothing else they could do about the croup, just to keep the air he breathes cool and moist.
Other than the cough and breathing, he acted fine at the hospital. He smiled at the RN in triage and at the doctor when he walked in and he climbed all over the bed and wouldn't be still. We got home around 4am and Jace went right to bed.

He's feeling a little better, still running a low fever and his voice is hoarse. His coughing isn't that bad during the day, but it gets worse during the night. Hopefully he'll be back to normal soon!

Baby Likes to Eat

No more baby food for this big guy, he wants the good stuff! Jace is only eating table food now, he gave up baby food a few weeks ago. He's a really good eater and likes just about anything we give him. We usually give him whatever we are eating, except for the no-nos right now--peanut butter, eggs, and shellfish. He loves macaroni and cheese, cheese quesadillas, and grilled cheese sandwiches--pretty much anything with cheese!

Tooth #3!

Jace's top left tooth finally cut through!

Brotherly/Sisterly Love

Avaree went to give Jace a kiss and he opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue! He likes open mouth kisses.

Baby Signing Time

I ordered 2 Baby Signing Time DVDs last week and we tried them out tonight. I've heard great things about them and I think they will benefit all of us. They are really cute and Jace enjoys watching them.

Mama's Getting Crafty

I got a sewing machine for Christmas and I've been wanting to put it to good use. I found this really neat tutorial last week and I couldn't wait to turn one of James' old shirts into a cute dress for Avaree! I thought it turned out very well for my first try! Now I want to make more! I also made Jace a matching tie shirt with some leftover material.

Uncle Justin's Birthday

Justin's birthday was on Tuesday, so last night we all went to dinner to celebrate. We love Bonefish Grill!

9 Month Doctor Visit

James and I took Jace to the doctor this morning for his 9 month visit. He weighed 20 pounds 12 ounces (55th percentile) and was 30.4 inches long (95th percentile). His head was 45.5 centimeters (50th percentile). He wasn't due for any shots but they did have to prick his finger and he was such a big boy. He just watched her, he didn't whimper at all. Then he just kept playing with the bandaid and tried to pull it off. She said he looks great, but his iron level was on the low side of normal (10.7) so she wants us to start giving him a multivitamin with iron. I think he has allergies like Avaree (and me) and I mentioned it to her.

He's been congested and had a runny nose on and off since before Christmas so she gave us a sample of an allergy medicine. He doesn't go back until June for his one year visit!

Zoo Day

I took the kids to the zoo today while James was working. We had a great time and they were both well behaved! We took a picnic lunch and spent several hours having fun! We have been wanting to get a zoo membership for over a year now and we finally did it, so we plan on making many more trips to the zoo. The dinosaur exhibit just opened so that was fun to see!

Daycare Diapering

We started using cloth diapers at daycare back in October and it's going great. We have a set of Kawaii pocket diapers that are our "daycare diapers." I wanted a cheaper diaper than our normal ones just in case one got messed up or went missing. I got one as a free diaper with another order so I was able to try them before I bought them. They worked great so I bought 10 more for $61 including shipping and we now have 12 of them.

We use liners for daycare so if he poops, they can just pull the liner out with the solids and flush or trash it and poop is not sitting in the diaper all day. The night before, I stuff all the diapers with inserts and lay a liner in each one so they're ready to put on him when they need to.

When he goes to daycare, I send 6-7 diapers and a wetbag, and they typically use five a day. When they change him, they just put the whole diaper in the wetbag and I take the dirty ones home at the end of the day. I normally wash every 2-3 days so I usually just leave the wetbag on the washer until it's time to wash. Then I'll go through and pull all the inserts from the diapers and close the laundry tabs and then wash them with our other diapers.

I am so glad they are willing to use his cloth diapers. I was hesitant about it at first because I wasn't sure how they would do but they've been great! They are amazed at how easy (and cute!) they are!