Decorations

Josh got a lovely picture of the tree. Isn't Christmas magical?

I am more excited about Christmas this year than I have been in a long time - this is Sean's first Christmas!

We are in our own house this year, too! Josh has always enjoyed putting lights up at his parent's house with his dad and was excited to have the opportunity to put lights up outside at our house.

We decorated for Christmas inside. Out tree looks a lot better than it did last year (I had no motivation to help last year being in the last month of pregnancy). I wondered how hard it would be to keep Sean away from the Christmas tree. We got the tree up and most of the ornaments on when he was napping. When Josh brought him out from his nap he looked at the tree, put his hands in the air, and said "OOOOOHHHH!" He stood there and looked at it for a while, grinned at both of us, and walked across the room to find his toys. I was amazed!! Then I remembered - the babysitter has had a tree up for at least a week, now - he already knows he shouldn't touch it!

Since we have had the tree up a little while now, Sean has gotten interested in touching some ornaments, but especially the beads. He thinks it is cool that the bead swing when he touches them, so we are working on that. I don't think the baby sitter temps the children with decorations and beads that so obviously want to touched!

Hats

Sean likes hats.

He is rather funny when wearing them.

He will keep walking even if it falls over his head.

And then he thinks it is sooooo funny.

Just another cute picture. :)

What I see when I look down

Thanksgiving Trends

It seems like not a lot of new exciting things are happening... to us any way... which is just fine with me. I appreciate the periods without drama! Drama can really suck the life right out of me.

There are new and exciting things happening to other people, which is a lot of fun, because I can be excited for them! People are having babies!!! And I really enjoy seeing little newborn babies so much more than I used to before I had Sean. Josh and I both have cousins who recently and will soon be having babies. Yipee!

I noticed at Thanksgiving this year a shift from years past. I used to hear stories of the cousins' after-Thanksgiving-party activities (there are some videos floating around if you know where to find them) that lasted into the wee hours of the night and across the tri-county area. The first few years Josh and I were together I don't think we left the party until 11:30 and I think it was usually later than that.

Fast-forward to this year. Some of the single and married couples without children were not there. More of us older grandchildren are married and have children, so there wasn't as much drinking and card playing. There were quite a few little children running around along with parents running after them. And by 9:00 p.m. Josh and I were on our way home. And I thought we were out late.

What a shift! But it is ok - I was tired. And things will change again.

Dressed up with nowhere to go

What does a baby do for Halloween?

Not much, except look cute. No candy for Sean this year, but that's ok! Josh passed out candy to the grand total of 4 kids who came. Josh dressed up so Sean wouldn't feel left out.

Sean got pretty excited about being a pumpkin!

He wanted somewhere to go (even if he didn't get any candy) so we crashed a "girls only" party to show off the 'lil pumpkin.

Sean likes necklaces. He looked for a necklace on every pretty lady that he met.

Steps, Baby Steps

Sean is now a walkin' boy. He likes his independence.

He also like to play with his daddy. :)

Sigh, he's growing up so fast.

Bath Time!

Sean really enjoys his bath time. He loves his rubber ducky.

Josh gives him baths in the bathtub, but it is easier for me to manage Sean in the kitchen sink. BUt then anytime I'm washing dishes, Sean thinks he is getting a bath.

It is easier to just wash dishes after he is in bed. I can actually get the dishes washed if I do it that way.

These photos are about a month old, but still... he's quite the ham for the camera.

9 Months

Sean is 9 months old! He is standing and taking a few steps already! The last 9 months has flown by, but at the same time, how did life exist without him? I love being his mom and getting to be that special person to him. It is such a joy to watch him learn new things, to play with him and teach him. And he is so cute! I don't ever get tired of his chubby cheeks!

He generally wants me... that is... at night when he is tired he wants me. If he is not tired, he wants Josh. Yeah, funny story about our trip to the store this weekend.

Josh carried Sean when we went into the store. Sean's just taking everything in, being a good little baby. We got to the aisle we were looking for and Josh wanted his hands free to select and compare the merchandise, so he started handing Sean to me.

I hold out my hands to him and say "Hey, Sean, come to Mama!" Sean turns away from me, holding on to Josh. Rejected!

Josh gives him to me anyway, and Sean starts fussing and squirming to get back to Josh.

He calmed down and was fine sitting with me as long as we were moving. So my theory is that he prefers the higher perspective that was afforded him when Josh, standing, held him verses the lower perspective he is offered when he sits with me. And I don't blame him -- I would prefer a higher perspective, too!

I think it is less about how much he likes Josh or I and more about the perspective we offer him.

'Cause at night when he is tired, he almost always prefers to be with me.

It's a bird! It's a monkey, It's...SEAN?

I've realized that Sean really likes to climb up on things. Here are some photos of some of his monkey-boy climbing adventures.

Pants. Who needs pants?
I don't need no stinkin' pants!

And don't worry! Josh was right there the whole time! He's a good daddy! :)

The Sean Toy

We have a bench that opens that we use as Sean's toy box. We will open the lid, stand him at the side and let him pull out toys.

One day, after setting him by the toy box, I looked back and saw this.

Swimming

Again, I've gotten far behind in blogging. I'll back up and give you some photos of events since we moved into our new house.

This was back in August.

Sean really seemed to enjoy his baths, so we were excited to get him to a pool to see what he thought of that.

A friend was house-sitting for a family with a beautifully landscaped swimming pool and asked us to join her for an afternoon.

Sean liked it, but it is hard to tell from the photos because he kept squinting from the bright sun.

He was comfortable at this point, blowing bubbles and kicking in the water.

Sean really liked being out of the floaty and with Josh in the water. He splashed himself and had a great time.

More Teeth!

Sean's top front two teeth came through! Yeah!! The bad news is that the incisor that came in first has really grown down, so you can see that one on top and the two on bottom, but not the front two on top yet! Let's just hope it doesn't take too long for the other incisor to come in or he won't have symmetrical teeth. We'll just have to wait and see.

He has done very well teething. He's had a very slight fever. He had a few times of crankiness that I attributed to teething pains, but luckily it was hours not days and teething tablets did the trick.

I was worried about Sean biting as his top teeth came in. After he got his first two teeth (the bottom two) I had trouble with him biting me. He was 4 1/2 months and he had a hard time getting it when I told him 'no.' After about a week of struggling and a few tears, Sean got over the newness of his little pearly whites and stopped biting.

With all the new teeth popping out on his top gums, I was worried that Sean would want to try out his new teeth on everything, including me. But it wasn't a problem until the third upper tooth came through. He's older now and understands what 'no' means. This time, it only took one day to get him to quite biting. Yay!

Sean is really so much fun to be around. He plays on his own. When I go from one room to another he follows me.

He usually doesn't get tired of me. What I mean is that when you hold another person's baby, after a while they are ready to do something else or be with someone else and don't necessarily want you later. They want their parents.

It is fun to be the parent. Sean will usually come to me if I want him, and sometimes he seeks me out. That is just one of the joys of being a mom for the first time, I guess. I love it!

Bear Crawl

**I wrote this back around Labor Day, but I was having trouble getting the right video uploaded, and then forgot about the blog for a while. So here it is, finally.**

Sean has been crawling in the traditional fashion for a while now. Until this week.

This week he decided that he is too big for crawling - that he is just ready to walk. Problem is, he isn't strong enough or coodinated enough to walk. But for Sean, that is no problem, he improvises.

He does a "bear crawl" on his hands and feet, instead of his hands and knees.

Another Tooth

Sean has another tooth, his first one on the top. It popped through a week and a half ago without much trouble at all. The funny thing is, the tooth that popped through is not a front tooth! It is the one to the left, an incisor. I keep watching for a couple more to come through because I can see them so close to the surface. I'm hoping the front two teeth on top will come through soon so he doesn't start looking like an hillbilly! But it may be in his genes, too!

Sean - The Next Bach?

Late on Saturday night, after Sean had his second dinner, my dad got ahold of him and brought him over to the piano. It wasn't long before Dad had him banging away on the keys - one hand anyway. Sean really seemed to enjoy it! Who knows, he might just be the next piano prodigy (certainly didn't get those genes from me)

-J

Peek! Here I am!

We've been busy!

Sean has reached some important milestones:

By the 4th of July he learned to sit up on his own well. He was also starting to crawl. He had this way of doing "the worm" or belly flop style where he would scramble his feet forward and then flop down on his belly. He really didn't get that he could move his hands forward to keep himself up. It was quite funny. I thought it was going to be a few days of "the worm" before he figured out how to crawl normally, but he started doing it the end of June and by the middle of July would flop himself around the living room to the kitchen. It might have been the natural progression, but it also helped Sean had more space to explore after we moved into a house.

Yep, we moved into a sweet little house!

I digress.... I was talking about Sean's increased mobility.

So after we moved, the 15th of July, Sean would flop-crawl around, chewing on a shoe here and there.

Last week he would accidentally crawl in the traditional style when he wasn't trying to get anywhere. And then this week, he just crawls normally all the time. He was fast before, but he can really move quickly now!

It wasssn't me occifer! ~hic~

Again, how cute is this boy? No, really?

-J

I don't like you!

This week Sean's regular sitter is on vacation and we found other people to watch him - his godmother one day and my cousin the other days.

Today when I picked him up, my cousin's wife, Anna, brought Sean out to me right away.

"He's be so upset today. When he looks at Jesse he puckers his lip and starts to cry. So I'm bringing him out to you to get him happy."

Then she goes back in the house and brings the rest of his gear to my car. And sit with Sean and get him to smile. And he was hungry, so I fed him.

Anna and I chatted while I fed him. She said:

"I guess Jesse hasn't been home when Sean was here before. I didn't think about that. Jesse got home early today and took Sean for me. He got scared and started all-out crying. I took him outside to get him to calm down."

I laugh. Silly boy!

"When I took him back in Sean would look over at Jesse, pucker out that lip and wimper. I kept telling him, 'Quit looking at him!'"

I guess Sean is used to men with beards. Sorry Jesse!

Take What You Get

Here are some photos of Sean.

I was inspired by the PW's style of using lots of pictures and few words.

I was out with Sean at a restaurant last night. It was a beautiful day and we sat outside for a while until the sun went down.

Once inside, I glanced over the menu and had a friend put in my order. Clam chowder. It was not my usual, but quite delicious.

Some older women were in a booth nearby called out to me:

"You have such a cute baby."

"And he is such a good baby. He is so quiet."

"There was another baby in here earlier, and she was not quiet."

It was nice to receive a compliment.

Shortly after the two women left, Sean got tired. And fussy. And loud.

You take what you can get, right?

Roll Over!

This week Sean rolled over from back to belly. Now he can roll both directions.

What a cutie! I'm biased. I know.

Two Toofers!!

Holy Moly!! Sean is just over four months old, and he is growing so, so, so fast, it is just unbelievable. So far our little guy has rolled over, is starting to sit up, can stick his tongue out and make farty noises, and then last night POP! A tiny, little toofer (that's tooth for non-baby readers) poked through on the bottom. We were so excited, it was really neat to see his little toofer, and of course, I warned Mary to look out whenever she fed him. The little guy can't have just one, and sure enough by this afternoon he had another toofer poking out right next to the first. The little guy is just growing so fast! I can hardly believe it, but he is something special. Just wanted to let everyone know about his two toofers! Talk to you later. -J

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Josh!!!

I love you.  You are the most wonderful husband I could imagine.  You are such a good father and husband.  I cannot complain one bit.  

Everyone else is starting to realize how wonderful you are, too.  Not only are you the only one in your internship class who got an job interview, you have interviewed with 3 schools so far.   One school thought you were so great (I could have told them, but they didn't ask me), they offered you a job.  And another school really thinks you are something special, too - they asked you to come for a second interview.  They really like you.  I think they might even fight over you!!  Ha ha! 

Wow.  You are popular.  Congratulations, my dear! 

Happy Birthday, Josh!  I love you.

Blogging

I enjoy reading blog posts very much.  I really do.  It has become something of an addiction.  But I excuse it because how long does it really take to read a post?  Not that long.  And I'm keeping up with the lives of people I know.  Well, most of the blogs I read are written by people I know.  Some of them are pure strangers.  But they let me share in their lives by putting their stories out there in cyberspace and I feel like I've gotten to know them.  Who knows, maybe they feel the same way about me?   

Probably not.  But who's counting?

 Anyway.

 It is so much more difficult to keep my blog updated than to read a post.  I want to, and I often think of ideas to write about.  And then it just doesn't happen.  It doesn't get written.  The words just swim around in my head getting dizzy.  I'm rather busy at work these days, which makes for a week that seems to fly by.  And I struggle to get the essential chores done before it is time to go to bed.   And the words of the blog post go to dreamland with me.

 So what am I trying to say?  Well, that all of you who can find the time to write, I will read it!  And I'm sorry to you who want to read mine and are continually disappointed that my posts are so infrequent.  I'll try to do better.  But I'm not making promises. 

Mother's Day

I hope all the mom's out there had a very Happy Mother's Day.  We planned to.  It didn't work out quite like I'd hoped.  

Saturday night we had dinner with Josh's family.  It was a nice meal we bought from the Legion.  For dessert, Josh's mom made a scrumptious pineapple upside down cake that she is working on to enter in the fair.  Yum, yum.  It was awfully sweet of her to make it, since it was for Mother's Day and all - and she even made it from scratch!  

It was a very nice night.  

Then Sunday, my first official Mama's Day with Sean, the scratchy throat and sniffle in my nose I had Saturday decided it wanted to be a full-fledged cold.  And poor little Sean got it, too.  So our plans to visit mom's and grandmom's went out the door while we sat in the recliner and tried not to use every tissue in the house all at once.

The worst part was that Sean has never been sick before, and that he got sick is all my fault.  At least, I think if I hadn't gotten sick, he would not have either.  But he was still a happy baby, and for that I am thankful.

Josh told me I should stay home Monday to rest and get better.  Boy, I'm glad he convinced me!  Yesterday was full of the same misery as Sunday.  It's the watery eyes that is the worst.  Stuffy nose or nunny nose, sure, it's annoying.  But it's the watery eyes that make me utterly worthless for anything productive.  I can feel the teard coming on, I know it is coming, and I can't stop it.  And it's not that I'm temporarily blinded by the onset of tears.  It's that the tears also aggrevate the nose, as well.  So it is the tears and the nose.

But really.  It was just a cold the way I get them.  Not that bad, just annoying.  

So this morning I know I'm not as bad as yesterday, I'm hoping that the watery eyes are done or at least mostly done.  As I'm getting my clothes out,  my phone rings.  It's the sitter.  She is sick.

So do I still go to work, when I'm still sick?  I'm on the road to getting better, but still not feeling well...  na!

So I enjoyed a second day at home.  With Sean.  There are definite perks to having a sick day!

In the meantime

Well, I seem to have no time to blog.  I think it may have something to do with the fact that I have a full-time job, a 3-month old baby, and husband.  I wanted to have the birth story written out to share, but it is still very much a work in progress.  I'll keep working on it.  

But I don't want to wait until I have that story finished to share other stories and tidbits of my life.  So here is a quick one:

Babies sometimes remind me of other things...

such as an elf or a frog or a bird...or a French Pea!

My compliments to Jean Claude! 

What about a birth story?

A girl I know had a baby recently, and I noticed that I was much more interested in the nitty-gritty details of her labor and delivery than I have been before.  I’m all-ears when it comes to a pregnant woman’s plight or a new mom’s tales.  Since having my own experience to relate it to, stories that include phrases like “completely effaced,” “ready to push,” and “she was exhausted” take on a whole new meaning.  I almost tear up when I think about Sean’s birth.

I haven’t shared much about Sean’s birth on this blog; do you want to know how it went?  I don’t want to share details if that isn’t your thing, and don’t worry, I won’t be offended if you’d rather not know. 

If you are having trouble deciding if you want to know or not, I’ll give you some hints to help you make your decision:

•          I had Sean at a hospital,
  
•          I had him naturally (well, I had a little outside intervention, but no epidural),
  
•          I think of the experience fondly, and
  
•          I’m so proud of myself for having that sweet little boy!
  

So, let me know! :)

-McBorn

Busy Baby Sleeps Well

Sean is growing and growing, bigger and bigger. It is just amazing how quickly he has grown, and all that growing requires a lot of sleep. I must say that he is the absolutely most adorable sleeping baby ever. And if you don't believe me, just look at the pictures. (Yes, I am a little biased, but still, how cute is he?!?)

Not only is all of that growing tiring him out, but other milestones in a baby's life as well. That's right, just the other day, Sean rolled over!! It was so cool. I layed him down for belly-time and he just whoop!, flipped right over. He hasn't done it again yet, but it was still pretty cool.

As for bath time, well every baby needs to take a bath. Not much else to say there.

Tune in again soon for another update!!