My Son the Grunge Rock Fan

In the early days of Jack's life we were so fortunate to have our amazing Daddy home with us for a couple of weeks. Once those weeks were over I'll admit the fussy evenings weren't much fun. Usually the swing was my savior when nursing didn't prove to comfort him quite long enough. I vividly remember one night being at my wits end. He was fed. He was dry. He had napped. I tried everything. Even the damn Five S's weren't doing crap to help this kid. Sorry Dr. Karp. He just wanted to cry and/or torment his poor sleep deprived mother.

That night I discovered the one tried and true thing to calm Jack's cries. Nirvana. That's right, my son, the grunge rock fan. Here is video we shot one especially fussy night back when Jack was 6 and a half months.

To this day he still calms down a couple cords into this song. Who knew Kurt Cobain would be my savior?

Perfect Gifts

Let me start by saying I have some pretty amazing friends. They surprised me with perfect gifts for my birthday a couple weeks ago. Two gifts I hadn't even known existed but were absolutely perfect.

The first one was a camera strap slip cover for my Nikon DSLR. What a cute idea! I'd never heard of etsy seller, HappySnapz by Jen, but I'm so glad Charlene had because I love my cover. It looks and fits great on my camera. Thank you Charlene!


I also finally got to play around with my second gift tonight. A Professor Kobre's Light scoop. What an awesome addition to my camera! Thank you so much Christina!

How it works: The light scoop is a mirror that sits on the top of the camera reflecting the light from the pop up flash onto the wall or ceiling creating lighting that is far more appealing for portrait picture taking.

Camera with Lightscoop

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Reflection on ceiling

The Results: Please ignore the hair Jack managed to steal from my head and stuff in his mouth without my noticing.
Without Lightscoop	With Lightscoop

I still have some playing around to do with the camera settings but so far I'm loving the results.

.	We love our Feet	.

Our New Favorite Toy

Jack has been practicing sitting up more in the past week or two. Yesterday we had a fun playing in the laundry basket. He had a ball and it was perfect for grasping the sides so he could practice sitting up "all by himself".

And just like that we had our fill and play time was over.

5 Month Update

Jack is 5 months old this past week. Time is just flying by! Jack had an eventful month and has been learning a lot of new things.

Nothing brightens my day like Jack's laugh.

At the beginning of the month we bundled up and enjoyed all the snow . . even if it was just for a brief photo op.

Jack started enjoying more time playing with lots of new toys.

Playing in the bouncer.

He really loves the exersaucer.

Jack continued to bond with his new buddy Sophie. He also started handling objects with both hands at one time.

And we also continued to hone our bubble blowing skills.

Bubbles.

Lots and lots of bubbles.

Sometime over the last month Jack became really ticklish and loves to giggle when tickled.

I love this picture.

We celebrated my 29th Birthday together on February 26th.

Snuggling in bed with Mommy the morning of my birthday.

At the end of the month we took our first trip out to Western PA to visit family with Jack.

Snoozing on our way to Monessen, PA.

We started Rice cereal this past week. He seems to be really enjoying it. We're slowing figuring out where to add this into his daily routine and look forward to adding some fruit and veggies soon.

Jack kept wanting to get his hands involved.

Til Next time . .

Our First 4 Months

Our first months have been filled with lots of first and will always be some of my most favorite memories. Here is just a very small recap of our first 4 months as parents.

October 2009

During the first month Jack spent a lot of time in his swing. His swing became the only place we'd get a good long 4 hour stretch of sleep from him. It was an absolute god send (and continues to be at times even now).
At his 2 week appt Jack had gained a 1/2 pound from his birth weight and was up to 8 lbs even.
We dealt with lots of hiccups in the first couple weeks.
Jack lost his cord stump after a long 17 days, followed by his first bath at 4 weeks.
On October 27th (a nice long 3 and a half weeks) Daddy headed back to work.
On October 31st Jack dressed up for his first Halloween as a Jack-O-Lantern and made a trip to the doctor's office with Mommy and Daddy for their flu shots.

November 2009

During the beginning of his second month Jack started cooing much more frequently.
He enjoyed his first visit to his Grandparents house.
We celebrated our first holiday together, Thanksgiving.
Jack and I had our first solo lunch date at the Cracker Barrel with a friend.
We started to become just a little more confident in our role as parents. :)

December 2009

With family and friends, we celebrated Jack's welcoming into the Catholic faith at his Baptism, December 6th.
At 8 weeks old Jack began sleeping in his crib. This came with a much more peaceful nights sleep for all of us.
At only 9 weeks old, and at the surprise to both Joe and I, Jack rolled from both back to belly and belly to back.
At his 2 month doctor appointment Jack weighed in at 10 pounds and 23 inches.
We celebrated Jack's first Christmas.
Jack started showing us just how much he was growing by sitting in his high chair at 11 weeks.
We celebrated our first New Years with Jack and friends.

January 2010

Jack began daycare 3 hours a day, 5 days a week on January 4th.
We all began settling into a better daily schedule throughout the week, along with more regular naps.
Jack began sitting in the bumbo.
Jack began giggling a lot during play time with Mommy and Daddy.
Jack attended two of his first children's birthday parties.

My how times flies . . .

Change

Admittedly I stole this from babycenter.com but it couldn't be more true today as I sit here missing my little Jack.

Things that Change when you have a Baby

1. You finally stop to smell the roses, because your baby is in your arms.
2. Where you once believed you were fearless, you now find yourself afraid.
3. The sacrifices you thought you made to have a child no longer seem like sacrifices.
4. You respect your body ... finally.
5. You respect your parents and love them in a new way.
6. You find that your baby's pain feels much worse than your own.
7. You believe once again in the things you believed in as a child.
8. You lose touch with the people in your life whom you should have banished years ago.
9. Your heart breaks much more easily.
10. You think of someone else 234,836,178,976 times a day.
11. Every day is a surprise.
12. Bodily functions are no longer repulsive. In fact, they please you. (Hooray for poop!)
13. You look at your baby in the mirror instead of yourself.
14. You become a morning person.
15. Your love becomes limitless, a superhuman power.

And my addition at 16 . . Keeping up with my blog becomes even more of a challenge.

Stay tuned for a big 3 month update in the next couple days.

Meet Jack

Introducing our precious baby boy, Jack Joseph, born Saturday October 3rd, 2009 at 3:16am.

Jack Joseph
Born October 3rd, 2009 3:16am
7 pounds 8.7 ounces
21 inches

We've spent the past 19 days getting to know our precious baby boy and could not be more over joyed with his arrival. The past nearly three weeks have been the best days of my life and I could now not imagine Joe and I's life without him. I look at him and can't even begin to put into words the love I feel for him.

I realize this post is very long over due but finally below is our birth story.

I had planned to work up to my due date, September 24th, but decided to cut it short and started my maternity leave September 23. I'm extremely glad I worked as long as I did as Jack decided to make quite the fashionably late appearance 8 days after his due date. I was fully prepared to go past my due date but never did I imagine he'd end up being an October baby.

Those 8 over due days were the longest most anxious days of my entire life. I would torture myself with afternoons filled with never ending episodes of A Baby Story, Birth Day, Bringing Home Baby and Deliver Me.

40 Weeks

At my 40 week and 1 day appt an induction was scheduled for October 3rd 6 AM. Thankfully we never made it to that scheduled induction. Friday October 2nd, around midnight, I began having regular mild contractions that were about ten minutes apart. Around 2 am I decided to try getting some sleep and was able to sleep off and on throughout the night. My sweet husband spent the night watching over me just waiting for something to happen . . he later admitted routinely checking the couch I was sleeping on to check for some sort of sign that my water had broke.

Friday afternoon at 1:30PM we had our last doctor appointment. At this point contractions were still mild but timeable at about 7 minutes apart. Thankfully they had been doing their job as the doctor proclaimed I was now 3 centimeters dilated. After checking availability at the hospital she sent us over to labor and delivery. We hadn't eaten lunch yet so we decided to grab a quick bite to eat first and then made our way to the hospital.

Waiting to be admitted

I was checked and admitted at 3:25 PM Friday Afternoon, 4cm. I met the doctors that were on call, was hooked up to the monitors and set up in my delivery room. I was still able to get up, walk around and use the bathroom at this point with a good amount of ease. At 5:30PM they broke my water. At this point contractions began getting much stronger. They were still bearable but stronger. It was interesting watching the monitors as each contraction came and went. By 7 PM my nurse offered me an epidural as the contractions were much stronger at this point and the anesthesiologist was in the room next door administering another epidural. 7:30 PM my epidural was started. I was checked again at 8PM and was still 4 cm dilated. Joe and I tried getting some sleep at this point and dozed off and on for the next couple hours.

At 2:30 AM my amazing nurse, Mindy, checked in on us and determined I was finally 10 cm dilated and could feel the head very low. She asked if I was ready to do a few practice pushes. This was the point where everything hit me like a ton of bricks. The reality of having a baby, being a mother, the outcome of the last nine months . . it finally hit me I'm going to be someones Mom. And with that my answer to "Do you want to do some practice pushes?" became "No, that's ok." My anxious, sleep deprived husband looked at me in disbelief. After 8 days of anxious over due waiting I was now apparently in no hurry. Mindy agreed to give me a little more time and said she'd be back in half an hour at which point we'd need to start pushing. I agreed. While I wasn't in any pain I could feel the pressure of each increasingly intense contraction and though I felt like I could push I didn't feel like I had to push . . yet.

As Mindy left the room Joe gave me a lecture about how it was time to finally meet our son. I remember some guilting was involved, as well as mention of my ten years deceased Great Grandmother. He really knows which buttons to push when he needs to. And with that Mindy was back in our room at 2:45AM and I was actually pushing. Joe with one leg, Mindy with the other. At 3AM they called the doctors in and we continued pushing. Joe was amazing through the entire thing. Very supportive and encouraging through each push. I was blessed to have him by my side.

7 Pounds 8.7 Ounces

At 3:16 AM Jack Joseph entered the world grabbing and tugging at the umbilical cord wrapped around his tiny shoulders. Having him placed on my chest the second after he was born was the single most amazing experience of my life. My exact words were "He's beautiful. I know everyone says that but seriously he really is beautiful!" He weighed in at 7 pounds 8.7 ounces and 21 inches long (a far cry from the 9 pound baby we were continually warned about). Perfect.

Meeting Jack

Following delivery there were a few complications. While I managed to fair pretty good without any external tearing thanks to the wonderful doctors perennial massaging, I unfortunately had some extensive internal tearing that needed to be addressed. They tried repairing everything in the deliver room but weren't making much headway and needed better lighting and equipment. So just as Joe was arriving back from giving family in the nearby waiting room the news of Jack's arrival I was being wheeled out to the operating room. Admittedly at the time I didn't think much of it. My doctors were very convincing to me that my tearing was not a big deal and I'd be fixed up in no time. Looking back it was actually pretty scary for Joe but I'm thankful my doctors were able to keep me as calm and relaxed as they did since I obviously had no idea how bad it was.

I was back in my room by 5:30am and we finally were able to call family back to introduce Jack.


I had a wonderful experience delivering at Penn State Hershey Medical. I had amazing nurses and doctors (with the exception of one first year resident who simply lacked confidence in herself) who contributed to a really positive birth experience for me and my husband.

I hope to update more about our first days home with Jack soon.