Deja Vu, All Over Again

Another plane trip, another ear infection, another tooth. A month since our last post -- unacceptable! We've been a little busy and out of sorts lately, as you're about to hear....

At the end of November we geared up for our Thanksgiving trip to Denver. Jadyn had a little cold, but was an angel on the plane, just as she was back in May for her very first plane trip. She had her eyes wide open for all the new sights and sounds: the shuttle bus ride from the parking lot to the airport, airport security lines (she even took a shoe off for the x-tay machine), the train between terminals, and the airplane cabin. She played peek-a-boo with the passengers in the row behind us, and she flirted with the woman in the window seat in our row. She went back and forth between Mommy and Daddy's lap for the first 1+ hour, and then slept the rest of the way to Denver. Once we arrived at Joe and Deva's house, she fought sleep for another couple of hours until she finally succumbed to exhaustion.

Unfortunately, Thanksgiving Day brought a 24-hour flu bug to quite a few of us. Jeff and Jenny got hit, but Jadyn thankfully avoided the GI troubles. Her cold did get worse, though, and a fever kicked in, and then she started waking a lot at night. Even though she was sick, she was still active, social, and engaged much of the waking day. She loved climbing up the stairs in Joe and Deva's home. We were surprised she took to the stairs so quickly, because she doesn't have access to any in our house. It took only a couple of tries before she learned to back down them as well -- Daddy coached her well. Because we were all under the weather, we didn't take as many photos as we would have liked to. All we can post here is a shot of Jadyn riding Maxine and Enzo's rocking horse. Thanks to Joe, Deva, Maxine, and Enzo for a wonderful visit in spite of it all!

The return flight was almost as smooth; Jadyn was not feeling well, but she wasn't very fussy. We were looking forward to getting her settled into her regular routine at home and hoped she'd return to her usual sleeping pattern (soundly, through the night), but we were not so lucky. Her fever continued long enough that we made another visit to the pediatrician to find she had ear infections in both ears. At the same visit, we discovered that her 7th tooth had emerged. !!! How she was so well-behaved on the plane while teething with ear infections is an eternal mystery. We continue to be amazed by her resilience! Unfortunately, we also continue to be amazed at her nights with multiple wakings -- they are still happening. Through all of these disruptions, Jenny got her cold, and everyone in the house is tired and has shorter tempers than usual. We know this is a phase, but it's a rough one to ride out.

The photos below have been taken around the house and neighborhood over the past month. She is a very busy girl and very interested in pretty much everything. She LOVES the trackball on Mom's cell phone. She's not officially walking yet, but she cruises using furniture and walks pushing a stool around on the wood floors. She's been drinking water from a sippy cup and eating o's like a champ. We've tried a few other new foods with Jadyn -- salmon, chicken, bananas, bits of Mommy's scone while hanging at the coffee shop. She even chose to taste Cosmo's food the other day (that didn't go over very well with anyone). And she has discovered Mommy and Daddy's Sonicare toothbrushes. She's good at mimicking what she sees us do with them!









Our next posting is likely to include Christmas photos from our trip back East. Stay tuned!

Jadyn at 9 months

Jadyn turned 9 months old yesterday! We went in for her check-up today and found she is now 15 pounds, 15 ounces and 26.5 inches long. These numbers place her between the 10th and 25th percentile for weight and length. Her head is at 50th percentile, measuring 44 cm in circumference, which explains why she grows out of some of her shirts with smaller head and neck openings more quickly. She now has 4 teeth across the top, the last of these 4 dropping into place just last week. She took the opportunity to use all these teeth to bite Mommy's nose while in the doctor's office today. Ouch! We are now allowed to try her interest in grated cheese, ground meat, and small chunks of soft fruits and vegetables. Here you see her chewing a slice of apple tucked inside a mesh bag.

What does a 9-month-old do all day? Well, this one is very busy trying to experience everything and figure stuff out. When she is at school while Mom and Dad are at work, she crawls all over the place, pulls herself to standing at every opportunity, pushes on rocking chairs to feel the swinging motion, plays with balls and musical toys, and interacts with her teachers and the other children in the infant room. She rarely finds time or interest for a significant nap, so she often sleeps the entire half hour ride home. At home, she pulls herself to stand at the TV and flicks at the buttons (she did manage to turn it on once, but we're not sure she understood that she caused it), stands at the coffee table and reaches for anything she can get her hands on (newspaper, Mommy's cell phone, a remote control, Daddy's bottle of beer), tries to open the kitchen cupboards and drawers, wants to pet the cats but they are usually quicker than she is, and pretty much crawls all over the place. She is often fascinated with details: the rivets on Mommy's and Daddy's jeans, a spot of unexpected color, beady eyes on a toy or stuffed animal, a loose thread or string. She is also quite a help around the house, as you can see in the pictures below.

Petting Cosmo with Daddy (Check out the teeth! She often winces like this in anticipation of the camera's flash -- we call it her pirate face. Arrr!)

Climbing onto Cosmo and Daddy

Playing in the kitchen with a plastic cup

This is the microwave!

Learning how to use the toaster oven

Emptying the laundry basket

Eyeing the goods in the refrigerator

Halloween Weekend

(We're a little behind with our postings.) On Halloween weekend, we took a lot of pictures! On Halloween morning, Jenny and Jadyn went for a nature hike with some of Jenny's colleagues. It started with a hearty breakfast. Here is Jadyn at the breakfast table.



It had rained a lot overnight and the creeks were really rushing. It didn't rain on us until the very end of our walk, but we were ready just in case. Here are the ladies with the backpack outfitted for a potential downpour and some other photos from the walk.


Touching a big rock

One of her cat naps that day


Then later that evening, we zipped little J into a peapod and walked around a couple blocks of our neighborhood for her first trick or treat experience. Thanks to Jeannie and Alexa for the costume!




The next morning it was bright and sunny, and we all went for a walk that landed us at Ed and Marcela's for a short visit. Jadyn used the opportunity to practice her skills at standing and petting a dog. (Lula wasn't too comfortable with Jadyn reaching for her!)





Another update from this weekend: she has 3 top teeth poking through to go along with her 2 bottom teeth. Is a 4th one on the top far behind?

A Busy Weekend

Jadyn worked hard this weekend pulling herself to standing, then letting herself back down on her knees, and then standing again, and then resting on her knees, and.... She also began crawling -- really crawling, not scooting -- for a few paces at a time. We have noticed she crawls on surfaces where scooting is more difficult, such as on a rug where there is more friction on her belly. Then, once she gets on the wood or tile floor, it's back down onto her belly, scooting as she has been for the past 2+ months.

Here are some photos from our weekly coffee shop visit, hanging out at home, and a short video of Jadyn being her usual BUSY self. Enjoy!

Tooth Factory

Since our last post, Jadyn's cold got worse before it got better. After tugging on her ears one night and again the next morning, we took her to the doctor, and she was diagnosed with a mild ear infection. She's about half-way through her antibiotics, and she's not tugging on her ears anymore. Yay! Plus her cold is almost gone now, having run its course. (Notably, her new playmates at daycare have lost their runny noses as well.) In the peak of her cold, she was waking some at night, and we thought she was just having trouble breathing. But NO! It turns out Jadyn is a little tooth factory. !!! She's getting three top teeth right now; one broke through last Friday, one broke through today, and a third is close behind. As if a cold, an ear infection, and new teeth aren't enough.... She is now pulling herself to standing with all sorts of objects -- tables, chairs, stereo equipment, the legs of a parent -- and then spending quite a bit of time in that standing position, bouncing a little and exclaiming with glee. She can also climb up on to the couch on her own. She's a complete joy, and her parents are barely one step ahead of her these days....



The bonus to having an unexpected doctor visit is that we got a weight update a little early. She was over 15 pounds! They weighed her fully clothed, though, so we aren't exactly sure how much she gained since her 6-mo check up. It's somewhere between 1.5 and 2 pounds over the last two months. We think her healthy appetite for solid food is really helping her grow, even though she is insanely active.

Jadyn is still attending yoga classes with Jenny once a week. Now that she is mobile, she can keep herself busy while the yogis are practicing, as you can see below.



When we get a chance to capture the new teeth in a photo, we'll post it here!

8 month posting....

So Jadyn turns 8 months in about 48 hours, and she amazes us every week with more changes and developments. At the end of her second full day at BC's daycare, Jenny entered the infant room to see Jadyn standing on her own two feet, having pulled herself upright by using the bars of a crib. Now she does that at home as well.... She also got her first real cold this week, and then promptly gave it to Daddy. Isn't that sweet? Jadyn weathered the bug in stride, sleeping pretty well at night and not being too crabby. She is now eating solids about 3 times a day, hasn't rejected a single food we've introduced her to, and seems to be growing like a weed. Our next appointment with the pediatrician is for her 9-month check-up, so we have another month to keep guessing about her weight.

Below you'll see Jadyn snoozing in her backpack on the way back from this morning's trek to our favorite coffeeshop, as well as hanging with some of her relatives at the Burgermaster. Uncle Harvey, Jenny's great uncle, will turn 103 tomorrow, and so Jenny and Jadyn spent some time with him this afternoon to say 'happy birthday' and enjoy the company of family.

Busy Busy Jadyn

Jadyn is a busy little girl who keeps her parents very busy these days -- her scooting (army-crawl, with belly in full contact with the floor) has become more of an inchworm-crawl (butt high in the air while belly comes off the floor briefly) and she can get pretty much wherever she's interested in going much faster than her parents would like. She has up-ended the cats' water dish all over herself twice already, and she naively tries to roll off the bed and changing table most times she's on them. Her sitting muscles have matured so that we feel we can safely strap her into the stroller for walks (rather than strapping her into her car seat and then to the stroller). In the past week she has regularly pulled herself up on to her knees using a stationary object (see photos below) and we've transitioned her from her first daycare set up to the child care center on Jenny's campus. She is taking all these changes in stride. We can't believe we've been blessed with such an angelic child! Also below you'll find photos of Jadyn at her second Mariners game ever, the last one of this season. It was bright and sunny but the wind was chilly, and we got to enjoy a nice win against the Rangers. Go M's!