Jacob says - "Hi there! Here are the latest pictures, hot off the press. Mom took these yesterday - I'n 6.5 months old! The first shows me sitting outside (with the help of my boppy pillow) enjoying the wildflowers and bunny rabbits. The second shows me reclined after mom taking so many pictures. The third, my favorite, shows me in my cool swing hanging off our Norway Maple tree. Hope you enjoy them!"
Jacob Update as of 7/10/98 - Well we can tell Jacob is getting older, since I have less time to spend on the computer (heehee). So where do we start?
Jacob is 6.5 months old! He must weigh close to 15 pounds. He is officially off the monitor as of 7/1/98! Yeaa! WooWhoo!
He is getting bigger by the day. He looks as handsome as ever. I equate the color and size of his eyes to big BLUEBERRIES. They still haven't turned yet. They still can be a little more gray in some lighting, but they are magnificent!
Significant Milestones are as follows:
FOOD (one of my favorite topics): Jacob started eating rice cereal and banana's about a month ago at 5.5 months (3.5 corrected). Now he eats many baby foods, but he has a particularly sweet tooth. I cannot get him to eat any veggies, just the sweet stuff. For example, rice cereal with bananas, peaches, plums/bananas/rice. No winter squash/sweet potatoes. Heaven forbid I should try to get a green veggie down him. Oh well, I'm sure it will change. By the way, a note to my pregnant friends --
Earths Best
ROLLING: Interestingly enough, Jacob almost never rolls. He rolled for a few days and then stopped, from tummy to back. He does not like to play on his little tummy, although he will sleep really well on his tummy (recommended only for babies with severe reflux or Dr's recommendation). We know he can, and we can 'que' him to by laying him on his tummy and propping him on his forearms -- then he will roll. He will do this several times as a game, if you put him in the position, otherwise, he wants very little to do with being on his tummy! Still have only seen rolling to the side from his back, again, I think it's because he knows what the tummy thing is, and would rather be in other positions!
SITTING: This has been great. My last post talked about propping. This time we have seen significant improvement. At his 6 months birthday (4 months corrected) Jacob could sit (unattended) for about 1-3 seconds. The next day for about 5 seconds. The next week for about 20 seconds. Last week for about 1 minute. Now for about 3 minutes! We got him another gadget, a boppy pillow, which as an aside, is really good for nursing moms! The boppy pillow props him snugly in a sitting position. He seems to like it for a good 5-10 minutes. He will also rest in a semi-upright position for as much as 5-10 minutes beyond the sitting!! We've started riding him in the backpack and he seems to love it, for short jaunts. Yeaa!
MISC ACTIVITIES: So, once you make your way through our rooms, past the stroller, playpen, backpacks, cribs, exersaucer, the swing, the jumper, the boppy pillow, you are bound to see my son somewhere! The gadgets are life savers, but nothing works as great as Mom's arms to hold, prop, nurture, and love them!! So, if someone offers you the gadgets you should take them... just in case (especially if you plan to have more than 1 kiddie) !
Teething update - well, well, well. Seems that we have no more than b'milk curd that we thought were teeth. We have all the signs of teething, but looks like even the Dr's were fooled on this one! Just milk curd periodically stuck in the gums will do it! Oh well. C'est la vie. At least nursing remains more comfortable for a little while longer!!
Last but not least, the Dr's debate. We spoke with our PED's coworker, who has a more liberal approach to medicine and children. He is the one who gave us the 'A ok' Note. He said that daycare would be ok, but we need to be prepared for more illness. That's when I reminded him that Jacob is already getting everything Savannah brings home already. They are both sick every other week -- hence mom and dad are too! He concurred that it would be ok now that he was about 6 months and in good health. Looks like we are targetting to put him in a daycare environment around the week of July 20th. He'll be about 7 months (5 corrected). We hope it works for the best, whatever that may be. We have been saying our prayers! Til next time
Jacob Update as of 6/4/98 - Savannah and I took Jacob to his 5 month appointment at the Pediatrician. He now weighs 13lbs 2 oz! What a MOOSE! Assessing the statistics based on his actual 5 month age, Jacob is now in the following categories: 25th percentile for weight/head circumference (75th percentile, correcting for prematurity using the full-term charts) and 5th percentile for length (25th percentile, correcting for prematurity usng the full-term charts).
Jacob is doing all the typical 3 month activities they like to see, i.e. rolling over (not in a few weeks though), smiling, laughing, reaching for objects, babbling, and blowing raspberries, etc. We think sitting up on his own will be the next 'biggie'. He likes sitting (ok, so he's propped) in his exersaucer where he can sit up and look at tons of 'cool' things.
The downside to this PED visit, was the lack of support for any daycare environment at all. This is nice in one sense, because mom wants to keep him home as long as possible, but not good because as Jacob's 'awake' periods continue to lengthen it becomes increasingly difficult to work. Not to mention -- "How long can we possibly take advantage of how 'generous' our office has been to support the work from home scenario"! We hope to find a compromise and find someone local to care fo Jacob for about another year, to get him through the summer and winter (RSV) season. The biggest issue is that although Jacob has been in our world 5 months, his lungs are still only 3 months old. Studies show that lungs develop into the 3rd year of life (according to our PED). This PED likes kids to stay home the first 3 years, which is not an option for us. The other big issue is the RSV (Respiratory S. Virus), which can cause children to have a upper respiratory illness for sometime and a lifetime lasting 'wheeze'. Children (especially preemies) are susceptible to until about the age of 2. However, the first 12 months are the biggest concern. RSV season runs October to May!! My other concern is the risk of 'Asthma' to Jacob, as it is show that children of 1 asthmatic parent (that's me -- mom) have a 40% -- YES -- 40% chance of being asthmatics themselves. Additionally, just the fact that Jacob was a preemie and on the vent a few days also increases his risks. Uggh.
Not sure what we will do now, except to review all our options and hopefully come up with something that is 'safe' for Jacob, economical for us, and stable/secure/fun for BOTH kids (not necessarily in that order).
baby food is really good -- and cheaper than the Gerber organics. $ .59 versus $ .63. If you go visit their website, you can sign-up for their newsletter and learn more about their products! I love it!
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