Fun Weekend!

We had a great weekend (2/12-2/14/11)! On Saturday, Jonah had his first playdate and his first visit to the library. The library was hosting a play group/reading morning for kids aged birth-5, so I decided to take him out and maybe meet some other local moms. I invited Aunt Sara's best friend's sister-in-law (who also happens to be there neighbor) and her 6 month-old, Eli, to join us because we had been talking online, but hadn't met yet! There was suposed to  be 4 other kids, but it turns out that they were all from the same family and they all got the stomach flu! I was very happy that they didn't show up to play. So, it turned out to just be Jonah and Eli, but they had a GREAT time. The library lady took out all kinds of cool new toys and books for the boys to play with and drool on. They both decided that it would be a good idea to put everything in their mouths...good thing the library washed the toys! It was nice to be able to do floor play because it is hard to do at home. Everytime I want to lay Jonah on the floor, Cosmo has to see what's going on and is all up in his face...so we don't do it very often. The library lady invited us to come and play whenever we wanted, even if there isn't an organized play group. I think we will definitely go back!

After the library, the four of us went out to lunch and Jonah sat in a highchair for the first time. He did great!

Eli and Jonah

Jonah with Sophie (the giraffe) and his thumb in his mouth!

We had a lot of fun that day and we are looking forward to playing with Eli and Sarah (his mom) again soon.

On Sunday, we took Jonah swimming for the first time! My friend Daisha had given us a bathing suit that he won't be able to wear for very much longer, so I thought it would be fun to see how he liked the water. It was sooo fun! He kicked and splashed and sucked the water off his hands (I know...yucky chlorine...). Here is a video, please excuse how terrible I look. The water is not flattering to me!

Finally, yesterday was Jonah's very first Valentine's Day! I had the day off (furloughs...booo), so I decided to take Jonah up to York to see some of my old co-workers at the JCC. Also, I thought it would be a good opportunity to show him off! We had a nice time and he was a big hit. As always, he flashed his adorable smile and melted everyone's heart! Jeremy and I usually don't do Valentine's Day, but Nona and Grandpa offered to watch the baby, so we went out for Thai food. Yummy! However, before we left, I took some pictures with my favorite Valentine, the love of my life....

My favorite Valentine!



"Lover Boy"



Giggles and Rolling

Oh my goodness! I haven't written anything in awhile. Bad mommy. Lots of fun things have happened in the last month. Jonah took his first trip to California! We went to our friend's Crystal and Kevin's wedding in San Diego and Jonah was a hit!

Jonah met his cousins Harry and Jensen. Zach and Sarah and Jon and Elise must have both prepped the kids for our arrival, because as soon as we saw either of them, they yelled out "Baby Jonah! Baby Jonah is here!" We heard ALOT of "Baby Jonah!" But, it was really nice to be able to see that side of the family, considering we usually only see them on special occasions.

Jonah has also had some milestones recently...

He turned 3 months old! I can't believe that I am so far behind that I haven't even shared his 3 month picture (and he's almost 4 months now!!). He is just growing so fast and I don't want to miss a second of it. Jeremy thinks I'm being silly because I get upset when Jonah falls asleep for the night before I get home (like he did last night). But he doesn't understand, if he's asleep, that menas I don't get my snuggle time. I just keep thinking that he's not going to be this little forever. I want to spend every cuddle moment that I can with him...before he doesn't want me to cuddle him anymore.  :o(

On Sunday, February 6, Jonah and I were playing on the floor, doing tummy-time, and all of a sudden he rolled over! It was SOOOOOOOOOO exciting...for me anyway. He didn't look that impressed with himself. Since Jeremy wasn't there, I called him right away to tell him. He was bummed that he didn't get to see it, so I decided I would try to record it after I got a snack. So, I put Jonah back on his tummy and he proceeded to roll over again! Finally, I got out the video camera, put Jonah on his tummy, and waited......and waited....and waited. I tried to get him to roll over for 10 minutes! Apparently, he likes people to think that mommy is lying because he will never show off for me. Eventually, I gave up on recording him because he started crying. We STILL don't have him rolling over on camera. What a booger!

On the morning of February 9, when Jeremy went in to wake up Jonah to go to school, Jonah did the funniest thing! As Jeremy was undoing the velcro on his swaddle (the blanket), Jonah opened his eyes and started laughing hysterically! We have never heard him laugh like this....it was like he had played a joke on daddy, "fooled you!" "You thought I was sleeping, but I'm awake! Hahahaha!" It was seriously one of the funniest things that he has ever done. Jeremy and I looked at each other and were like "what was that all about?!" Silly boy!

Finally, Jonah is apparently trying very hard to sit up on his own. His teacher, Miss Bonnie told me this morning that they were practicing sitting up at school. Also, whenever he is in his carseat (which reclines), I can see Jonah lifting his little head, trying to sit up. I fully expect that he will be sitting on hiw own within the next week or so.

Sleeping and Praying

Last night we went over to Nona and Grandpa's house for dinner. Their neighbors (and great friends), Lynn and Kevin, made us dinner because Ricki will be sitting Shiva for Great Papa until Thursday. It was very nice and Jonah was the center of attention! Everywhere he goes he brings smiles to the faces of people who see him. They always say "look how much hair he has!" and "he's so big and cute!" and I feel proud because we made him. We left around 7:15 because Jonah was obviously tired (that's his bedtime) and I just crossed my fingers that would sleep well.

You see, for the past week or so (since he's been home sick), the longest he would sleep was 4 hours. Yes, I know that sounds wonderful for an 11 week old, but he was doing 6-9 hour stretches! Mommy wasn't used to waking up so much...but yesterday was his first day back at school and I had high hopes for a great sleep. Well, guess what? He slept for 8 hours!! Yup, you heard me, Jonah slept from 8 pm to 4 am, ate, then went back to sleep til Daddy woke him up at 5:20 to get ready for school. he still doesn't like being woken up, though. As Jeremy was changing his diaper (usually his favorite time), he must have been still half asleep because he started screaming! It was almost like he woke up and couldn't figure out where we was, so he got scared. My poor baby. When he did figure it out, though, he went right back to smiling and giggling. Silly boy!

Well, that was the sleeping part of this post. I am so proud of my little (big) boy! Apparently, I am just not as stimulating as school is because when he was just with me all day he wouldn't sleep. I love school.

Here goes the praying part. For most of my adult life (since I went off to college), I have occasionally questioned faith and prayer. While I have complete faith that there is something (someone?) out there watching over us (call it G-d, if you will), I've never really felt comfortable praying. I just don't know how to do it, I guess. I mean, do you speak out loud? Do you have a conversation in your head? I do that all the time...but mostly I'm talking to myself. How do you get your prayers to G-d? I've been thinking about that a lot lately. You see, today is Baby Scarlett's surgery. They are doing a crainiotomy to try to take out the massive tumor growing on her brain. I need to tell G-d to make sure she comes through this OK, to make sure that the doctor's hands are steady, and to keep Brandi and Chris strong for their little girl. She needs them more than ever. And, if G-d can't keep her safe here on Earth, I need to pray that he keeps her safe in heaven til she is reconnected with her mommy and daddy. It is a scary day.

One of the greatest lessons I hope to teach Jonah is compassion. I hope that when he hears of stories like Scarlett's that it hurts his heart and he has a deep desire to do what he can to help...even if all he can do is pray. But how do I teach him this if I don't know how to do it? I guess all I can do is my best. I hope that Jonah and I will talk about these stories. That we will be able to talk about how it hurts our hearts when babies are sick or we hear about ignorant people abusing animals. Hopefully, those talks, those lessons, will be enough for G-d to hear us.

By the way, it was never my intention for all of these blog posts to be so emotional (dramatic, etc), it just so happens that I started this blog during a pretty emotional time. Also, thinking about being a mommy and trying to do my best everyday brings these feelings out of me. If you know me at all, you know I'm a bit of a crier. Mommyhood makes it worse, I think. At least the first few months of mommyhood, anyway. I fully intend on future posts being much more light-hearted, funny, and entertaining. For now, though, if you have the inclination, please pray for Baby Scarlett's recovery.

What a week!

So, after just being thrown up on for the 6th time this week, I decided that now would be an appropriate time for a blog post. Yup...6 times. Apparently, this is something I should have expected when I became a mom (sickness , that is), but I was hoping that we would get past 11 weeks old before I had to experience it.

Jonah and I stayed home together all week. On Monday, he sounded awful, coughing, congested, etc., so I decided to stay home with him hoping it was just a little cold. Well, Monday night, he started coughing so hard that he threw up...4 times! Off to the doctor we went! Apparently he has something called RSV, which is basically a virus that has many of the symptoms of a cold, but lasts a lot longer. It also means that he wasn't allowed to go to "school" (it's really daycare, but I call it school because he learns so much!). Luckily this is a really slow week at work, so I was happy to spend some time with him. Have I told you yet how incredible this little boy is? Besides the times that he was puking, he was just always happy...all week! I did feel bad for him being congested and yucky feeling, but it didn't seem to bother him at all. Though he did just puke on me, I think he is getting better. He hasn't been real congested at all today and after he puked, he went straight back to sleep! Maybe it was just a little indigestion...or maybe I forgot to burp him? Either way, it seemed to make him feel better and now he is sleeping soundly again.

This has been a wonderful developmental week for Jonah, though. Though he has been smiling for a long time (like by 2 weeks), we just recently noticed that he is deliberately smiling. It is the BEST feeling when Jeremy or I lock eyes with him and he gives us the biggest grin! He definitely knows who mommy and daddy are and he has the most beautiful smile! It's so funny...if he is being fussy, all we have to do is lay him on the changing table (on the pack and play) and he instantly lights up! I don't know what it is, but he loves to have his diaper changed. Weirdo.

The other cool thing he's been doing lately is "talking". We often catch him talking to the fish as they spin over his head in the swing or he'll lay on the boppy and have a conversation with us. It's amazing. He is definitely responding to us when we make noises and we are always sure to talk back to him when he is trying to communicate.

Finally, Jonah has found his hands! In the past two days, Jonah has had his hands in and around his mouth about 90% of the time. He chews on them, talks to them, wrings them together like he is plotting his domination...it's hilarious!

It's just so cool to see him discovering things about himself and his little world. I can tell that he is just fascinated by everything he sees and hears and I am fascinated by his fascination. When he stares at the fan on the ceiling and then starts giggling hysterically, I can't help but laugh. Seeing regular things amaze him has helped me to remember the amazing things that I take for granted.

Today is January 1, 2011 and while 2010 ended with a very low point (Jeremy just landed in FL for Pap's funeral a little while ago), I just know that this year is going to be great! This is the year that I will learn to look at the world through the eyes of an infant. The year that I remember that even "regular" things are amazing and I need to notice them more often. It is also the year that I count my blessings. On the rough days when Jonah is fussy or work sucks or Jeremy and I have a disagreement, it's hard to remember that I am so lucky to have a beautiful, healthy son, a paying job for an organization that does exceptional work for our community, and a loving husband that would do anything for me...but this year, I will work everyday to remember these things.

Catch Up

So, I probably don't say this often enough, but I should have listened to my mother. When Jonah was born she told me to start writing things down so I don't forget all of the amazing things he does and how he changes everyday. Now that he's 10 weeks old, I feel like he is growing SO fast...I don't want to miss anything! Plus, we recently learned about a little girl who was born just 3 days before Jonah whose family just found out that she has a massive brain tumor (http://brandiandchris.blogspot.com/). All of the praying that we have been doing for her has made me so thankful for my healthy baby boy and made me realize that no matter how rough it seems sometimes, we are just so lucky to be happy and healthy!

In this post I am going to just review some of the highlights of Jonah's first 10 weeks. It will be a long post, but from now on I hope to write at least a little bit every week. I'll also be including pictures and videos for your viewing pleasure! Here it goes:

The Birth Story
By the time Jonah arrived I was MORE than ready for him to get here. I had a relatively easy pregnancy, but he was 4 days past his due date and I wanted him out! I tried everything from Thai food and Chinese food to homemade "Labor" cookies...but he was just too comfortable. Then, on Oct. 18, I woke up around 1 AM to go to the bathroom. I was half asleep, but I happened to look down at the toilet paper and there was blood! Jeremy and I were sleeping in seperate beds at that point (he said I snored!) and I didn't want to wake him if there was nothing to worry about, so I googled it! Google said that it could still be many days before baby comes, so I tried to go back to sleep. Obviously, that wasn't going to happen, so I called my doctor. After apologizing for calling in the middle of the night (duh...that's their job), I told her what happened and she told me to head to the hospital.

I wasn't having any contractions or anything, so Jeremy and I took our time, made sure Cosmo was taken care of, that we had everything we needed and headed out the the hospital. By the time we got to the hospital, it was around 2:30 and I was 2-3 cm dilated (contractions started in the car). Anyway, to make a long, boring day short, after 12 hours of labor (with an epidural), 2 and a half hours of pushing (yeah, you read that right! he was humongous!), and a lot of bitching ("can''t you just pull him out?! please, just get him out of me!"), our beautiful baby boy was here. Jonah Harrison was born at 4:31 pm on Oct. 18, 2010. He was 9 lbs, 11 oz and 21.25 inches long. Everyone in the maternity ward was impressed with my ability to push out this monster! And so began my love affair with the most amazing boy. To this day, I am eternally grateful that he was born happy and healthy...I can't imagine my life without him. I never knew a love like this.

 

The Bris (or "How Jonah came to look EXACTLY like his father)
I have to tell you, this was a pretty stressful day for me, though I think I handled it well. The combination of the fact that we had only come home from the hospital 5 days earlier, there was a TON of people in our house, my little boy's pee-pee was being cut, and my emotions were all over the map really made for a crazy day. On October 25, 2010 at 5 pm, Rabbi Michael Henesch performed Jonah's bris. Even though I was really nervous, it was a beautiful ceremony and the Rabbi was very entertaining and put us all at ease. There were about 40 people at the house to celebrate, including Jonah's great-grandparents Arnold and Shirley Cohn and Robert Greenberg.

Along with the circumcision, one of the most important parts of the bris is the naming of the baby. We decided to give Jonah the Hebrew name Ezra Herschel. Ezra was chosen to remember Jeremy's Nona, Estelle Singer. Herschel was chosen to remember my Poppy, Harry Tavss, and my grandma, Harriet Greenberg. I gave a tear filled speech that explained some of the traits of each of the important individuals that we hope Jonah has.

During the actual circumcision, Jonah only cried for a second or two. He was all hopped up on sugar water and Manischevitz! He loved it! After words the Rabbi said, "you thought he looked like his Daddy before, now they are identical!" He also said that the circumcision was perfect! All in all, it was a great evening and a beautiful rite of passage for our little boy.

Meeting Great Papa
Last night we got the call that we have been dreading, yet anticipating. Jeremy's Papa, Jonah's Great Papa, has passed. He has been ill for many months now and while we are so sad that Jonah will not get the opportunity to really know him, we are grateful that he had a long and fulfilling life and he now has no more pain. We will celebrate his life and Jonah will know everything about him.

On December 1, 2010 we celebrated the first night of Jonah's first Chanukah!

That was also the night that we received the call that Papa was back in the hospital and things didn't look good. Knowing that this might be the only opportunity for Papa to meet his great grandson, Jeremy decided that we needed to make the trip to Florida. So, we booked the tickets and prepared for Jonah's first plane ride! Though there were some stressful moments (i.e. noticing thje looks on the other passengers faces as Jonah cried during take-off...they said "crap! a crying infant!"), he actually did very well and slept most of the way there.

We arrived on December 2 and surprised Grandma by walking into the house while she was making her phone calls for work (Dad didn't tell her we were coming!). The next morning, we headed straight to the hospital to visit Papa. On the way there, Jeremy and I discussed what Jonah would call him. I kept referring to him as Big Papa (because my Poppy was "Big Poppy" to Brandon), but Jeremy said he wasn't really comfortable with me calling his grandfather Big Papa! I think it reminded him too much of Biggie Smalls, aka Notorious B.I.G. Haha! So, we settled on Great Papa...which suited him perfectly.

When we got to the hospital, Papa was sleeping so we waited in the waiting room. Turns out, babies really aren't supposed to be in the ICU (too many germs), so the nurses would only let us stay for 2 minutes. When Papa finally woke up, we brought JOnah in to see him. I had to hold him in the Bjorn and kept him covered with the blanket while we walked the halls, but the smile on Papa's face when we uncovered him made the whole trip worth it. He just kept saying how beautiful he was and how happy he was that we were there. I couldn't help but cry. We are really going to miss him.

After a few minutes, I took Jonah out of the hospital while Jeremy stayed behind to say his peace. I know it was really hard for him, but I know he was so proud to show his grandfather his son. It's the circle of life. One life ends, but one is just beginning. We will teach Jonah all about Papa and Jonah will become a strong, dedicated man, full of life...just like his Great Papa.

Some Other Highlights...in Pictures

Sleeping through his first Ravens Game

Cosmo and Jonah = Best Buddies

Jonah's First Halloween

November 18 - One Month!

First photoshoot with Richard Veytsman

Meeting his cousin Brandon at Thanksgiving

December 18 - 2 Months!

Now that Jonah is almost 11 weeks old, I feel like there is so much I should have written down. Hopefully from here on out, I will be a diligent mommy and keep track of these things. Watching this amazing little boy grow is just incredible. He literally changes every day and I don't want to miss anything! Being a mommy is the only thing I've always known that I've always wanted to do. Now that it is happening, I can't believe how lucky I am to have to most beautiful, incredible child. I hope that I can do him justice and that I will make him as proud as he makes me everyday.