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.
... Full Post...

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…


... Full Post...

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…
... Full Post...

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.
... Full Post...

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.

... Full Post...

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…

... Full Post...

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!


... Full Post...

Biter Biscuit

Auntie Jen is so good to us! At Braden's birthday party she gave Jarem his party bag and inside were baby treats especially for Jarem. She included some biter biscuits for us to try with him. She warned us that it would be messy but WOW! Jarem took messy to a whole other level. We didn't mind though, that's what baths are for. He really enjoyed the biscuit and ate almost the entire thing. Good job baby boy!



... Full Post...

Merry Christmas!

Well for Christmas we didn't really buy that much for Jarem. He already has so many toys and is truly blessed with hand me downs from cousins and friends. One of the things we did buy him was a 100-pack of Mega Bloks (basically large Legos). We didn't think he'd use them yet but thought it was definitely something he could play with as he gets older. Well on Christmas Eve we went to my sister's house after mass and had the best time with family. Braden and Emma have large Legos and Jarem found them. He held that Lego in his hand for a half an hour and when Eric tried to take it away from him Jarem actually cried. That's the first time he has ever cried for a toy. It was almost funny. In any case, Christmas morning we opened up the pack of Mega Bloks for Jarem to play with. He really loves the bright colors and the bloks are perfect for soothing his poor teething gums.

Jarem's many Christmas presents he received for his first Christmas included two teeth and an ear infection. Needless to say he was quite uncomfortable and really didn't get why we had to keep going from house to house. He was exhausted most of the day from crying most of the night and was quite resistant to nap. But this is one small moment we captured of him on Christmas day that was soooo precious.

All in all Jarem did great with the holidays and madness they can bring. We enjoyed spending time with all of our family throughout the past two weeks. We are so very blessed. Here are a few pictures from Jarem's first Christmas, too.

Christmas morning in front of our little tree at home.
Christmas Eve at Jen's house.

Christmas day with Joanna's family.
Jarem playing with his godmother, Joanna.
Happy boy!


Poppa and Miss C got these PJ's for him. Thank you!

Can you tell Jarem had just woken up? Tired eyes...

... Full Post...

Happy Birthday Braden!

Today is Braden's 4th birthday. He is so big though that it seems like it should be his 6th at least. Not to mention how good his vocabulary is and how good he is with his letters. He is such a smart boy. He is also the best superhero! He loves to be Superman, Spiderman, Iron Man, Wolverine, you name it. He is great at getting into character and making you call him by his alias. He has a ton of nicknames for Jarem and I love hearing what he thinks of. One personal favorite is Spideybaby.

He is having a Batman birthday party this year and has been telling me what he wishes for for months. He tells me, "Auntie Jamie, I wish for a black Batman with a black bat mobile and a black motorcycle and a green joker." I was able to find everything but the green joker. I am really excited to see him open his present tonight. Jen has been doing so much work on planning his party. It's going to be amazing! There is even going to be guest appearances by Batman and Joker themselves. SO COOL!

Thanks for being such a great godson, nephew, cousin and love bug. We love you!!
Be sure to watch this video all the way until the end. After the cuddles comes my FAVORITE part. I love hearing what Braden and Emma have to say...

... Full Post...

THE BEST SOUND IN THE WORLD!!!

Oh my goodness!!! This is going to be my ring tone. I'm going to have Eric pull the audio from this and make this my ring tone on my cell. HOW ADORABLE!?! Great belly laughs...so contagious. I love it!

... Full Post...

CAUTION: Baby at play!

So I really don't want to do that whole my baby is so smart and amazing thing in every post. But I'm honestly just amazed at what he knows. I feel like I miss so much when I'm at work. His brain is constantly learning and growing. Auntie Jen has this toy which I'm sure we've all seen. You move or turn or flip something and the door pops open with something underneath. I had no clue that Jarem would know what to do with this toy. I was completely amazed at how focused and determined he was on making sure that every door stay closed. I LOVED IT! I love being able to play with him now and watch him figure things out. He's just started to push things over the edge or drop things on the floor and see what happens. It's a favorite game of his in the bathroom to push everything off the ledge of the tub onto the floor. Then he pulls up to standing and stares at everything lying on the floor. (His aftermath hehe) I'm so proud of you Jarem! Keep learning all these fun new workings of the world... I love you bug! ... Full Post...

Sleeping Angel

Well this is short but too sweet not to share. Auntie Jen took this video. She was admiring him in his sleep which I honestly thought I was the only one who found that interesting. I love watching him sleep! But apparently Auntie Jen really does love him as much as she says. Cause she didn't just watch him sleep, she taped him. We are so incredibly lucky to have her watch Jarem for us! Thanks Auntie Jen for this precious video!
... Full Post...

WOW! The changes a week makes...

Okay, check out these two videos. These were taken a week apart. The first video is about two days after we first noticed Jarem pulling up on furniture to standing. The second video was taken two nights ago. This is just crazy how fast he learns and perfects things. He went from struggling with something as sturdy as a bathtub to mastering a Fisher Price piano to prop up on. I am so amazed at my little man!

The other thing I have to mention, check out the size of his belly hanging over those ASU shorts! So handsome...

... Full Post...