5 Crazy Years!!!

I can't even believe that Jake and I are celebrating 5 wonderful years together!  If you would have told me on my wedding day that five years later I would only have one child, I would be surprised.  If you would have told me I would be a military wife, I would have thought you were crazy.  And if you would have told me that I would be a cancer survivor, I would be shocked!!!  It's crazy what life throws at you, but I wouldn't have it any other way!  Thanks Husby for being through my side through thick and thin!  I will make a better effort to not almost die so much in our next five years!

P.S. We are still waiting on Jake's orders, so no word on when we are moving.
P.P.S. Jaden is crawling!!!!!!

Feliz Navidad!

See Our Beautfil and TALENTED Family Here

What's More Fun Than Toys For Christmas?

A Box!!!

And mom's happy because it's a make-shift playpen for the baby that now gets into everything!

Slow and Not So Steady

Because of Jaden's extremely low birth weight (600 grams) he meets the requirements for the Synagis shot.  It is a once-a-month shot that is extremely expensive (good thing our insurance covers it 100%) and helps to protect him against RSV.  In normal immunizations, you are given a strain of a virus which is usually dead so your body can produce the immunity cells for them.  There isn't an immunization for RSV, so when children get it, it can be extremely dangerous, especially for those like Jaden who have chronic lung disease.  So what the amazingly smart people figured out is that they can take the blood of someone who had already battled RSV and created their own immunity cells for it, extract those immunity cells, and give them to the kids who are most at risk.  It is an extremely difficult process, hence the high price tag, and since the body didn't create the immunity cells itself, it sort of discards them after awhile, which is why he gets it monthly. 
Once you qualify for it, it is given in doses based on your current weight, so we get a weight check for Jaden once a month.  I was so sure that this month he would finally be over 15 pounds, so I was SHOCKED when the scale said 14 pounds 12 ounces.  What!?!?!  He's been eating solids like crazy, and he drinks fortified breast milk, and he sleeps all the time!!!  And yet he only gained 200 grams in a month? 
And then I remembered - he's a mover now.  He can roll over, get up on hands and knees (but not crawl), and move to sitting.  In fact, try to stop him from doing that every time you put him down!  So he is burning a lot more calories.  After I thought about that, I guess it made more sense.  But still - I know 3 month old babies who weigh more than my kid who is almost 11 months (almost 8 months adjusted). 
It's a good thing he is so darn cute!

On a different note - here is a slightly funny story of our crazy kid:

Jaden doesn't really like pacifiers anymore.  The only thing he likes them for is to chew on them (no sign of teeth yet) and especially on the little nub that sticks out from the green ones you get at the hospital.  So yesterday he was so gung-ho on chewing it that he somehow got his thumb stuck inside of the pacifier, but he didn't mind because it meant that he couldn't drop it.  In fact, he got a little mad when I finally took it off because it looked like it was hurting him.  What a funny boy!

*that's his thumb stuck inside of the pacifier.  I'm sure you'll agree it looks painful*

Military Life: Expect the Unexpected!

Well, We Are Moving!!!!

That's right!  To PENSACOLA, FLORIDA!!!!!

Well, here is the long story, in case you were wondering.

On Tuesday, Jake called me on his way home from base early in the morning saying that they had made an announcement that all FC's waiting for orders who wanted to cross-rate were to go to this certain meeting.  That is military mumbo jumbo meaning that there were too many FC's (fire controllman - Jake's job in the Navy he kind of got placed in that he didn't really want) waiting for orders (waiting to get those papers that tell you where and when you are going next and what your speciality will be) so they were willing to let some of them cross-rate (change their jobs).  Well, Jake went to just see what was available.  He texted me all of the jobs available, and after I had looked up the details online, I told him it didn't sound like he wanted any of them.  Most of them were seabee stuff, and they are gone a lot and there is a ton of manual labor involved. 
But then Jake happened to ask if a CTT (cryptologist technician) was available.  They didn't know so they told him they would email to find out.  That is the job Jake wanted in the beginning.  It deals with intelligence, which is what he has always had an interest in, and computers, which he is really good at. 
Turns out, they did have a CTT spot!  So on Wednesday, Jake and I went in, asked all of our last minute questions, filled out the security questions (he will have top-secret clearance which is something he was really excited about), and signed the contract!
He is now officially a CTT.  Their schooling (I know he just did almost a year of schooling but that was for FC and he will have to start his schooling all over for CTT but I guess that's just that much longer that he won't be deployed) is in Pensacola, Florida.  We don't know for sure, but it looks like his school will start around the middle of January (possibly on my birthday, which will be 2 years in a row he will have missed it) but it is only 8 weeks long.  We think.  No one seems for sure able to tell us just how long it is.  Oh well.  For now, the plan is for Jaden and I to go down there as soon as we can after Jake leaves and find a temporary apartment and enjoy the good weather! 

And by the way, have you noticed how many parenthesis I have used (kind of annoying, huh!)?

The Magic of Prunes

A LOT of Catching Up To Do

So, many of you have pointed out that I have been very absent from blogging lately.  Some of you pointed it out nicely.  Some of you - not so nicely, and you know who you are!  Either way, get ready because I have posted a TON of catch up posts.  If you don't have the time to read through them all, here are the highlights:

Jaden now sits up and rolls over
He is almost 15 pounds
He is eating solids once a day
I am now officially a grown up
I have the cutest baby in the entire world!!!!!

As a warning - some of the videos are really long (I usually say that I'm going to end the video halfway through and then I'm just so sure he is about to do something super cute so I keep filming and end up with a really long movie) so I won't feel bad if you just skip them entirely.  They are mostly for the family who can't see my adorable miracle every day like I do.

Enjoy!

Tickle Me Jaden

Jaden has recently become VERY ticklish!  His therapists say it is good because it shows he is getting good body awareness.  I think it's just plain fun!

Jelly Belly Here We Come!

We live not far from a Jelly Belly warehouse so we made the trek up there last Friday.  It was so fun!  They take you on a train tour of the warehouse where videos tell you how they were founded and made and packaged and all of that.  Then when you were done you got to go to the store where you can taste every single candy they make!  It was super fun and really yummy!  And Jaden really liked the hats they had us wear.

They have artwork all over the warehouse that was made entirely from Jelly Bellys.  This one of the queen was one of my favorites.  Or maybe it was one of the only ones they let us take a picture of....

Baby It's Cold Outside

I am finally all grown up!

Jake and I went out on Gray Saturday (the day after Black Friday of course) and bought ourselves a brand new couch!  Besides our TV (which we bought using our economic stimulus money) and Jaden's crib (which was on sale at Walmart), this is our first piece of real furniture!  It's not second hand or a hand-me-down.  It is brand new and fabulous!  So I told my dad that I now feel like I have advanced to the status of a grown up.  He thought it was funny that it wasn't graduating from college, getting married, moving across the country, or having a child that made me feel grown up, but buying a couch!  I'm sure some of you out there can understand!

Lite Weight

My mom got Jaden a jumper. 

I was excited for him to use it so Jake put it together and we put him in it.  It uses the baby's weight to pull down the springs so the baby can jump around in it.  That is how it works in theory.  But when your baby doesn't weigh enough to put his feet anywhere near the floor, it just leaves him hanging and frustrated:

Maybe someday he will weigh enough....

My Stubborn Little Mover

For the longest time Jaden refused to roll over.  He knew how to.  He just refused to.  His physical therapist and occupational therapist both tried for months, but we never found something motivating enough to get him to roll over.

He  has been sitting up on his own forever (meaning a couple of weeks).

But it wasn't until this weekend that he really started to roll on his own.  I am glad he finally figured out how to roll, but it also means I can't just expect him to stay put anymore.  Also, he rolls onto his stomach and then he gets so tired and frustrated that he can't remember how to roll back.  So he just puts his head on his arms and cries until someone comes and flips him back over.  Super cute until it happens at 2 in the morning!

Family Pictures

That last one is everyone's flat out favorite!  Thanks again Holly for the perfect pictures!

Utah Part 2

So the reason I mostly split this vacation into 2 posts was so I could post a ton of pictures of my son.  No surprise there!  But I think you will really enjoy them.  Let me set them up for you:

One of our last days in Utah we took Jaden to the cemetary to Jake's mom's grave.  We wanted to spend some time there and take some family pictures.  Or, at least, we would have taken some family pictures if there had been someone else around to take them.  Anyway, I wanted some pictures of Jaden by himself so I had Jake sit him up on his blanket and then I told him to get out of the picture while I quickly took some pictures.  This was the first time that we realized that Jaden could sit up on his own for short periods of time!  And when I say for short periods of time, it was really a short period of time.  Here is what happened:

Don't you love how I just sat by clicking picture after picture as my son is tumbling down?  Yup - I'm a good mom!  In my defense, Jake was right there ready to scoop him up, and it looks a LOT steeper than it actually was.  And in case you didn't appreciate it enough earlier, here is my favorite out of all of those pictures:

Opposite Day

Jaden likes to do things his own way.  I think it definitely comes from me!  He doesn't want to conform to the carseat:

or to sit on the couch the right way. 

And for those of you wondering about his size, at the time of the couch picture we would say that:

He is 9 months old

He is developmentally a 6 month old

He wears 3 month clothes

But we can't say that anymore since now he is 10 months old and developmentally a 7 month old.  But he still wears 0-3 month clothes. :)