Jacob's swim class

Since I am a stay at home Mommy, I want Jacob to have the ability to socialize with other children. He is already enrolled in Gymboree and is flourishing! It has given him self confidence in his climbing, walking, running, and interaction with other children his age and older. This being a really hot month and Jacob loving the pool, I thought it would be a great idea to enroll him in swim lessons. RCC offers a summer course for Child and Parent and other age groups as well. It was a two week course, four days a week for twenty five minutes per day. Ms. Camille was the swim instructor and Jacob quickly made eyes with Megan, an 11 month old girl in his class. Two classes in they were high-fiving each other. Ms. Camille taught them to kick on their back, kick on the tummy, float on their back, and float on their tummy, go under water, and jump off of the edge of the pool to their Mommy/Daddy. Jacob was a little apprehensive about floating or kicking on his back because he DOES NOT like the sun in his face and it being 11:00am the sun was bright and right upon us. He quickly warmed up to the floating and kicking on his tummy. Mommy made it like she was a tug boat and blew bubbles at him and pulled him along while he was kicking away. Jacob's favorite part of the class was the jumping off of the wall. I think if it were up to him, the entire class would have been built around jumping in to the pool. The part of the class I was unsure of was dunking him in the water. I was afraid he would choke. Surprisingly enough he was ok with it. The trick was to blow in his face before he gets dunked. He really was a champ and Mommy couldn't be more proud. I am going to Rancho Physical Therapy because they offer year round swim lessons and it's indoors so Jacob won't have the sun in his face. We will for sure be returning next year to the RCC swim class. It was a great experience for Jacob and I.

Jacob's 1st Birthday

It's hard to believe that mama's little baby buggy is 1 but he is. I cried the entire week prior whenever he gave me a snuggly hug, or cuddled me, or just let me hold him. Those occurrences are so rare now a days that when they happened, I just wanted to cherish them. I did all of the grocery shopping a few days prior and the cart as loaded down. I'm sure I over shopped but our families eat big and takes left overs. I was up early Saturday morning to make cakes. I wanted to make Jacob a cake with the monkey from his invitation on it. That cake turned out super cute! I also bought a Wilton's monkey cake pan and that cake turned out cute but I was soo tired by the time it came to icing it, the whole monkey got brown fur with no distinction where the hands and feet were. I made two other cakes as well. So between making the cakes, making the butter cream icing, and dying all of the icing to color coordinate to the party, Mama was tired. Sunday came and I couldn't wait for Jacob to wake up so I could wish him a Happy Birthday. His wife and mistress came over early to help set up and he was in heaven. He chased them all around! More friends and family came; it was everything I wanted for his 1st birthday.

When it was present time, Kila decided to lay on one of the presents and refused to get off. Jacob helped in peeling some of the paper off but he really needed some Mommy assistance. Let's just say Jacob received some really cool presents. This boy got hooked up in the present department. He couldn't wait to ride his quad. He's already trying to do some tricks on it. After presents came the cake. I was fully expecting him to dive in to his cake and ravage through it, but nooooo not my child. He wanted to poke at it and did no ravaging of any sorts. I tried to stick his hand in the cake to get him started but all he did was freak out because his hands were dirty. We gave up on the cake ordeal and Daddy gave him a bath and the party started to wind down.

I really couldn't have asked for a better birthday for Jacob. He had all of his friends and family around to share his big day with him. Happy Birthday Doodle!

As I look back......

Well as I approach Jacob's first birthday, I am filled with mixed emotions. He has come a long way in a year. Born 6 weeks early and expected to be born with problems, but has done the exact opposite. I am so proud of the little man he has become. I could not have asked God for a better son. He is everything a parent could ask for. He is calm and quiet and mischievous and crazy all wrapped in this tiny little body.

July 23, 2008 I was playing with Kila and sat up quickly and felt a gush. I thought I just peed my pants. At 3am I woke up and noticed a lot of water in the bed and blood. Of course, I freaked out and went to Kaiser. I saw the mid wife who checked me and sent me home. I emailed my regular doctor out of concern and she urged me to come in and get re checked. I did so. By that time they confirmed that my water had broken and I had lost quite a bit of amniotic fluid. I was admitted to the hospital and was ordered to bed rest until delivery. We had the head of the NICU department come in and explain the complications Jacob would have due to his prematurity. Of course all of us were beyond frightened. I was checked hourly and given antibiotics for my fever, and placed on oxygen due to Jacob's heart rate going down. On Saturday, July 26th 2008 I pushed for an hour and five minutes and Jacob Ryan entered the world screaming. So he blew their opinion that he would come out not breathing and blue. Next, they said it would take a week for him to be able to eat 4 ounces. He was able to have his feedings increased every 3 hours because he was doing so well. After 5 days in the NICU Jacob was sent home with a clean bill of health.

At a week old he was able to hold his head up. At three months he was able to walk with someone holding both hands, at six months he was able to sit up and stand up, at 9 months he was crawling and at ten months he was walking. My son amazes me. He was able to say "mama", "dada", "up" and "hi" all by the time he was 9 months. If you ask Jacob where something is, he points to it. He is soooo smart.

I miss the days of us cuddling on the couch or in bed but I still get my cuddles and drooly open mouth kisses. He kisses everyone, even Kila.

Jacob's first birthday is this Sunday and I am approaching it with smiles as I try and hold back the tears when I think of how far my Jacob has come and how he has overcome the odds.

Here's a peak at Jacob's birthday invitation. I think they are super cute.

Jacob's 1st day at Gymboree

A lady that works next to my Mom has a grand daughter that is in classes at Gymboree. She thrives in the class and loves it. After hearing that, my Mom thought it would be a great idea to enroll Jacob in a type of class like that. I went on to Gymboree.com and got information about the types of classes they have, etc. You can preview a class for free and if you sign up on the day you preview you get $20.00 off of the one time membership fee. Today was the day we previewed the class. I have to say I was a little nervous because Jacob was having an exceptionally bad day today. He was crying and whining all day. I think he might be teething so I wasn't quite sure if he was going to be in a social mood. I gave him some Tylenol before we left and as soon as we got in the gym area he was off. He took my finger and led me around everywhere. There were times when we were circling the same area. He couldn't get over the colors, sounds, babies, mommies, and obstacles. Ms. Karla (his teacher) was very sweet and had a great voice. She is very patient with the babies and helpful with the mommies and daddies. There were activities that involved the parents and babies, and Jacob wasn't sure of those so we somewhat participated but mostly sat back and watched. For a majority of the time the gym area was laid out with obstacle courses for the kids to climb, crawl, bounce, push, and run without the fear of getting really hurt or being told "no". Jacob was climbing and looking at me like "Is my Mommy going to say no or should I keep going"? It was the greatest thing as a Mommy to watch your child's eyes light up with joy and to watch him interact with children at or around his age. Out of the 10+ children there, Jacob bonded with a little boy name Rylan. He followed him around everywhere. There were a few obstacle courses where they needed to go through the tunnels so you will see in the pictures that Jacob would go in but not crawl through the other end. It will take some time for him to get comfortable in his surroundings there.

I would have to say I would pay all of the money in the world to watch Jacob's face light up like that again. He is going the be great in this class and make friends. I can't wait to see how this changes him for the better and what he can learn from the classes and from the babies in the class. It was a great afternoon and he literally passed out in the car ride home. He pooped in his car seat and then passed out. This was a great day, thanks Grandma Sherry!

Jacob ate a booger today

These are the moments that would usually make someone gag but as a Mommy you see much worse. Jacob had a giant boogey in his nose that I was trying to get this entire morning. Well Jacob was getting really sleepy and when he's sleepy he nuzzles Mommy and rubs his eyes and nose. He was in mid-nuzzle when he looked up at me and there was that pesky defiant boogey right on the corner of his mouth. Before I could get to it, he licked his lips and in went the boogey. I tried to "fish hook" it out but my little monkey gobbled it all up. He looked up at me with the biggest grin and smiled. My son is a booger eater. I hope this was a one time thing because even though I love him regardless, I would really like this to not become a habit.

Jacob likes to water the grass

Jacob was outside with Grandpa watching him water the grass. He loves when Grandpa splashes his feet with water. Grandpa put the hose down to get something out of the garage and Jacob picked up the hose and started to water the grass like a big boy. As you can see from the pictures he also watered himself. It was the cutest thing and it's amazing how he is starting to mimic what the people around him do. Check out the video and the pictures.

Sooo proud of baby boy!

On Saturday I received a call from Kaiser saying I forgot to schedule Jacob's 9 month well baby visit. I didn't know he had a 9 month appointment so I scheduled it for today at 1:45pm. When we arrived to the doctor Jacob walked in and stood on the scale like a bog boy and weighs a whopping 21.6lbs and is 29 inches long. He has grown 5 inches from his 6 month visit!!!!!!!!!!!! Everything checks out great and he is progressing right along on the 50th percentile line.....except for his head with is in the 60th percentile. We can thank Jay for that. His doctor then explained that since Jacob is breastfed he would need to get blood drawn today to make sure he has sufficient iron levels and has no lead in his system. I thought it would be a foot prick like they did when he was tested out of the NICU....I was wrong. She informed me that they would draw the blood out of this little arm like a big person. My Mom was freaking out but I knew I had to stay calm for my Doodle. Oh and Jacob needed to get his third HIB shot. So the nurse comes in and I get to hold him like the previous visit. He took that shot like a champ. We got him dressed and went the 2nd floor to the lab. I sat with Jacob in the chair and had to hold his arm across his chest and then stretch his arm out on the cushion to feel for the vein. It took two ladies to hold his arm and find the vein. The nurse puts the rubber band around on his arm and was able to find the vein. He was so calm and I really couldn't be prouder. He didn't cry once! When she went to put the bandage on, then he cried a very wee bit. She gave him a sucker (his very first one) and he was very happy. Mommy gave him Tylenol and some milkie milk and he passed right out. I was so proud of him. He amazes me with courage and strength.