I'm Sorry - the reintroduction

I wanted to shoot a quick not to say that I'm sorry for going so long without posting.
Man, I hardly remember how to do this... How do I keep you wildly entertained while giving you all of the boring details of a first time parent? I guess, I just have to go for it, and maybe one day my book deal and Pulitzer will come.

Here goes...

For those of you who don't know Jamie is an assistant basketball for the top-ranked Seton Catholic High School girls varsity team. It is one of the most rewarding jobs because not only does she get to give back to the school that helped her shape who she is, but she gets to teach young girls lessons that they'll remember forever.

Another benefit of Jamie coaching is that her overly competitive husband gets to watch sporting events twice each week, yell at the refs for being less intelligent than a box of rocks yet more self-important than the Kobe Bryant. (To be honest, I have toned down the smart-butt comments a touch since last year).

Anyway, its one of the coolest feelings holding Jarem in my lap, watching Jamie coach those girls. Jarem, the sweetest baby in the world, LOVES basketball and can't take his eyes off of that bouncy round thing. Mr. Mellow will sit through an entire varsity game without getting fussy at all! As I mentioned before, I don't stay as calm during the games. But it's cool to watch him react to clapping and cheering. In fact, if you hold his wrists and bring his hands together, his perma-fists immediately open wide to clapping position. Then his face lights up because he's doing it. (This is one of those little things that I hope live in my memory forever).

As Jamie has mentioned, our camera is "resting its shutter" for a while and we haven't been able to take ANY pictures for over 1 month. Its been hard, especially after taking so many pictures for the first 7 months of our increasingly adorable son's life. I do plan to get a new camera this month..... So watch out. OH also, be on the lookout for a REALLY cute video of our baby J performing his new trick. I don't know if his fascination is with making himself dizzy, or if he is just learning that his neck muscles can fire quickly like his arms... But it is REALLY funny. We'll upload it this week.

As for me, I am back in school at ASU! Hopefully finally completing my degree program. I've got about 2 more years left, but factoring in family obligations and support, it may take more or less time! Please pray for me.

One last thing. Check out this super cute picture that I snapped with my phone a few weeks ago. It almost looks like he's trying to get every last drop out of a root beer bottle. (Must be getting ready for the Cardinals to win the Super Bowl!)

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Jarem's Daycare Paradise

We can’t say enough how incredibly blessed we are to have my sister watching Jarem for us each day. She loves him so much and takes amazing care of him. She takes lots of videos for us on the Flip to share their day which is so nice. Here is a video from yesterday of when Jarem woke up from his nap. I can’t imagine getting to wake up from a nap each day to a happy, smiling face and so much love. Jen and the kids are always excited to see Jarem and play with him. We are so lucky…
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Game Time

Last night we had such a fun time!! Braden had his first soccer game and we got to go watch. WHAT A FUN TIME! Watching a bunch of four and five year olds chase a ball around the field is so much fun! They don’t officially keep score so the environment is super positive and encouraging. The kids all pretty much swarm around the ball and get easily confused as to which direction they are going but it makes for great entertainment and laughs. Braden played really well and got lots of energy out. He was pretty tired by the end of the game and so was Emma. She ran just as hard on the sidelines and played with Eric most of the 2nd half.

My favorite part of the game was when Braden turned to us on the sideline, noticed Jarem was awake, and yelled, “J Buddy, ohhwwwwwwwwwww!!” His team is the Coyotes and he loves to howl like a coyote. It was adorable. I can’t wait for Jarem to play sports and run around, too.
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Lets break bread

While visiting the doctor this week we asked all of our lingering questions. One of them was in regards to starting solids with Jarem. He’s eating 3rd foods right now and is doing pretty good with the new flavors and tastes so far. Dr. Sudha said we could start some soft solids and foods for him to try. That night we decided to give him a little bread to munch on. Most of it went on the floor and only a couple of bites actually made it into his mouth but it was a good try. We’ll keeping trying new foods and maybe get some more video this weekend.
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The week of doctor appointments

What a big boy! Jarem had doctor’s appointments on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week for his ear infections. The last time we weighed him he had a wet diaper so we knew it wasn’t completely accurate. So this past Monday we weighed him accurately and he was 20-9! We cannot get over how fast he is growing up and how big he is getting. It was kind of a long week but at least it ended well.
Jarem has been struggling with ear infections since August 11th when his ear drum burst for the first time. Ever since then he has consistently had ear infections. We have tried every type of antibiotic possible and haven’t had much luck getting rid of them. On Monday we had a two week follow-up on his last ear infection and found that both ears were now infected. Dr. Sudha decided to give him a shot antibiotic. The efficacy period for the shot is 24 hours so we went back to the office on Tuesday for a follow-up.

On Tuesday his left ear seemed to be a little better but the right was still bad. So again Jarem got an antibiotic shot in hopes of knocking out the ear infections completely. Poor little guy had to get a shot in each leg. He definitely didn’t enjoy it but we were still impressed with how he did. We can only imagine how hard it is on our poor little guy. Plus, the shot was really thick and took a while to administer. But he sat there and took it like a big boy.

Wednesday we went back for another follow-up and were shocked to hear that both of Jarem’s ear infections were gone. WOO HOO!!!! What great news! Although the infections were gone, we were still referred to an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor for an appointment to get Jarem’s ears checked. It is possible and in my opinion likely that Jarem will end up getting tubes put into his ears. We have an appointment with Dr. Bartel on January 26th. We’ll keep you posted on the results of his next appointment.

In the meantime, enjoy a couple videos from his appointments this week…


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Balder by the day...

Jarem recently started doing the funniest thing. When he’s in high chairs or his stroller he turns his head back and forth. I think he just likes the feeling of things rubbing against the back of his head. But it is the funniest and cutest thing when he does it! We just crack up at him. Poor Jarem doesn’t know that the back of his head is bald though. We try to tell him that he’s only making that bald spot worse but he doesn’t seem to care.  I wouldn’t care either I guess if I looked that cute turning my head back and forth.

We went to Arizona Mills after work one day this week and this video is of Jarem in his stroller being adorable. Enjoy…
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Dentist Bailey Jr.

Last night we were on the floor playing with Jarem before bed. He was being so funny inspecting out teeth. He loved looking inside our mouths and playing with our teeth. Maybe this is an early sign that he will take after his gramma and become a dentist. :)

I love the part where he stands up and is so excited about playing with his toy that he forgets to hold on to something and falls down. I think it's so cute! He is so courageous and falls all the time but at least he keeps getting up and trying to balance on his own. He is moving around like crazy and getting so fast at crawling!! We love our buggy! This afternoon we go to the doctor again to get his ears checked. We're really hoping for no more ear infections! Wish us luck... Check out the video from last night.
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Ring around the daddy

Jarem is getting so much better at walking each day! My dad got him this walker for Christmas. The first day Jarem kept falling over and didn't really know what to do with it. The cool thing about this toy is that You can move the top part around into other positions so he can use it while sitting or take the top part off completely and use it without the walking mechanism. But Jarem loved trying to pull up to standing on it so we kept it in the walker position and let him learn.
To start we would put the walker facing the couch so that it wouldn't move and he could just use it to stand up and balance with while he played. Then we would let him walk around with it under supervision since he would fall down every couple steps. By the following Sunday, Jarem could walk with the walker without any help across the entire living room. AMAZING! Babies learn things so quickly!

Our friend Uriel told us a story about teaching your baby to walk by holding one end of the stick to help them balance. Eventually, your baby will know how to walk and is simply comforted by holding the stick. He said that you can hand the baby the stick and let go of the other end. The baby will continue to walk with the stick in hand and not notice that you let go of the other end. We found that interesting.

So last night Eric took out the broom and tried it with Jarem. (A broom is the only stick we have to use for now. We're gonna try and get another one this weekend since we can't see Jarem holding that big old broom and walking on his own.) Well, Jarem loved walking with the broomstick in hand! He and daddy went in circles last night and Jarem cried every time Eric stopped or tried to put the broom away. This video is actually from early this morning when we tried it again. I was shocked at how well Jarem did, especially in his socks on the slippery tile. He is growing up so fast! We'll keep you posted with whether or not the stick trick really works in helping Jarem learn to walk.


In case anyone is wondering why we've made the switch to so many videos as opposed to pictures it has to do with two things. One, our camera is broken right now and we either need to fix it or buy a new one. Two, the Flip video camera is so small and handy, we love it! Plus, with how mobile Jarem is it seems more fun to let you see for yourself. ... Full Post...

Daycare with Auntie Jen

So this is a little glimpse into the amazing life our baby boy has. While mommy and daddy are at work Jarem gets to play with his cousins Braden and Emma all day. He also gets amazing love, hugs and cuddles from his Auntie Jen. We are so incredibly lucky to have Jarem out of Kindercare and at home with my sister. Hearing all the nicknames they've come up with for Jarem is fun for us to hear. We also love the J Buddy song. Not many people can say they have their own song. Listen to Braden sweetly singing to Jarem throughout the video. And you have to love Emma's response when Jen playfully says, he's gonna get you Em. Emma replies, he was gonna spit up on me. Poor Emma, she's traumatized from the spit up incident. hehe Not really... I can't get over how mobile Jarem is in this video, too. He just crawls back and forth and stands up when he wants to. It's pretty awesome to see! Well, I know this video is long but I just love getting glimpses of his day and knowing that he's in the best place possible while we're at work all day. Thank you so much Jen, Bradley, Braden and Emma for the love you share with our baby boy. We love having you "borrow" J.

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Tired Boy

Jarem has been teething for at least the past two months if not longer. He is getting in four teeth right now. On top of that he has been fighting ear infections since December 12th when his right drum last burst. He goes to get his ears checked again on Monday and we’re hoping to hear that the ear infections are gone. Well, with all that being said, Jarem has been a tad bit clingy to mommy lately and especially struggling at night. I’m a pushover and talked Eric into letting Jarem into our bed again about a month ago. Well, after the holidays and medications and many other excuses passed, we decided to get him back in his crib starting this past Saturday. The first few nights were pretty difficult but he’s starting to get the hang of it. My guess is that by this weekend he’ll be sleeping through the night again and stay in his crib the entire night.

One of the things we’ve had to do to help him stay in his crib is eliminate his evening nap. Jarem used to love to nap around 5-6pm each night. We are usually driving in the car around that time so we never minded before. But with that nap he goes to bed pretty late and we are pushing for a 9pm bedtime. Well enjoy the attached video of baby J after dinner. He only took a few bites before sucking his thumb and refusing to eat. He was simply exhausted without that evening nap! He ended up falling asleep right there in his high chair. This is definitely a first! Our chubba bubba boy has never turned down food. But I guess this night he was simply too tired to eat. I love the thumb sucking! So cute… Daddy helped him out by holding the thumb and slowly removing. Good job daddy! Don’t mind the laughing in the background. That’s just Grampa Gary, Gramma and me enjoying the show. My poor tired boy…

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Crouching Tiger, Hidden... BABY?

I love, Love, LOVE this video! Jarem is so amazing to me. Maybe this is something that all 8 month olds can do but I've never seen anyone try. My adorable hubby is such a cute daddy and loves playing with Jarem. He did this where he ran with Jarem and Jarem loved it! When Eric puts him down he crawls back to Eric and pulls himself up to standing to they can go around again. As Eric said, this was Jarem's first track practice. He loved doing laps around the house with daddy! Enjoy the video...I definitely do. This is my favorite video yet!


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