Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.--funny at all ages

This is James writing today's blog.

I sing to Ian frequently, and one day as I was trying to come up with new melodies I started picking TV theme songs. He liked them all in general, but for some reason, he started cracking up when I sang the theme song to "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C."--and he still cracks up over it. I've tried capturing his laughter on video in the past, but he would always stop laughing right when I got the camera. But today, I finally managed to get a good video.

Here it is...

Our Rolly Polly

Today was a big day for our little man. We went to the Pumpkin Patch this morning and then came home so Daddy could go to bed. I fed Ian lunch and put him down for a nap. He didn't sleep too terribly long, but was still in a pretty good mood when he woke up. It was starting to warm up and I needed to change him into something with short sleeves. So, I decided it might be a good time to get a few pictures of him in the outfit Grammy Jen's parents had given him. After he was dressed in his cute little striped whale outfit, we went into the living room so I could take pictures of him on the sofa.



While we were out there, I decided it might be good for him to have some tummy time on the couch. The couch is much softer (and a little bouncier) than the floor, so he can move around a bit better with the extra bounciness. I put him on his tummy on a cushion that was a bit sloped because it was slightly tucked under another cushion. Ian moved himself around and managed to roll over! I thought it might be a fluke since he was kind of on his side to begin with, so I put him back on his tummy and watched to see what would happen. He rolled over again!






He has rolled side to side when we slant the cushions before, but he never did it more than once or twice in a row before he got tired of it. Then I decided to put him on a different cushion to see if he could roll over without the slope. He did! I couldn't believe it...he was on a rolling spree!



So, I took him into his room and put him on his rug to see if he would roll over on a harder surface (something he has never done on his own before). Much to my surprise, he rocked back and forth, talking himself through it all the while, and managed to roll himself over again! We're very proud of our little boy!

I know this is a lot of videos, but I wanted to remember all of it! Let the baby-proofing commence!

Pumpkin Patch Fun

Today was Ian's first trip to a pumpkin patch! Since James had to sleep this afternoon before work tonight, we got up early this morning and headed out to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch. We had driven past this pumpkin patch several times last year when we lived in Lewisville and thought it looked like a fun place to go. On the way, we stopped for breakfast at Shipley's Donuts. Certainly not the most healthy breakfast, but it was yummy!

Since we got to the pumpkin patch fairly early, we were surprised to see how many people were already there! We were fortunate that the "middle meadow" (as they called it) was still open, so our hike in to the pumpkins wasn't too terribly far. Cars were pouring in steadily behind us though, so we were glad we didn't come any later! We put Ian in his stroller and headed off to check out the pumpkins and activities!

Entering the pumpkin patch.

Posing with the scarecrow at the little pumpkin house. One of my fav pictures from the day!

Of course, we had to take a pix of Daddy and Ian with Charlie Brown! (James has read and collected Peanuts stuff since he was a little boy.)

Family pix in front of the pumpkin house!

More Peanuts characters to pose with.

Caught half of a laugh on camera!

Hanging with the pumpkins.

Welcome to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch! This sign is in the middle of a field of pumpkins by the road.

Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere!

Seriously, they had tons of pumpkins there!

Our little pumpkin!

Hmmm....what are these?

Another family pix!

Playing on the hay bales.

We got back to the car and realized that James didn't have his keys like we thought. (I had locked my purse in the trunk.) Oops!!!!! I tried calling roadside assistance, but had to go through our cell phone carrier's main line and got a hold message that said the wait time was about 12 minutes. I certainly didn't want to wait that long, so while James called family to see if they could look up a direct number online, I went back to the patch in search of a staff member who might be able to help. The first guy I asked didn't speak English well, the second guy told me to go ask the cashiers, the third lady was actually a cop directing parking traffic and said she couldn't help, but the fourth lady at the cashier's table was great!! She had the Flower Mound Police Department on her contact list on her iPhone and called them right up and asked for them to come unlock our car. Apparently the farm and the PD have a good working relationship when it comes to customers locking keys in their cars. Within five minutes of the call, three EMTs showed up in an ambulance with the necessary equipment. We got a lot of stares, but we also got our keys out of the trunk! We were both so grateful not to have had to wait an hour or two for the phone company to send the roadside assistance help, especially since James really needed to go back home and go to bed. We had prayed that morning on the way there for God's protection, and we believe He really was watching out for us.

Here's a pix of Ian posing with the EMT's. (His overalls had gotten wet from all the posing with pumpkins that were still damp with dew, so we had already taken them off.)

We had a great time, but definitely learned a few things for next year! First lesson is to avoid going on the Saturday before Halloween. There will be tons of people there and it will be harder to take pictures without other people getting in them. (This year, this was really the only day that fit our schedule where it wasn't super muddy or rainy, so I'm not sure we could have helped that this time.) Secondly, plan to go in late afternoon/early evening if possible. The sun will be less harsh on little baby eyes - and better for pictures too! Third, double and triple check that we have the keys on our person before locking the car!

Big Boy At Nap Time!

Well, for the first time since we started this whole sleep training business, Ian actually put himself to bed for nap time. At least, as much as possible without being able to get in the crib by himself. He was starting to get sleepy - rubbing his eyes, the whole bit, so I took him in his room. As I did, he started crying and arching his back (a sign he is really upset). I just went ahead, laid him down, and put his paci in his mouth. Apparently that is exactly what he wanted because he calmed down as soon as I put him in the crib (even before he had the paci in). He turned his head to the side and closed his eyes. 15 minutes later I hadn't heard a peep and figured he must be asleep. So, I went in to check and was surprised to see him wide awake looking at his aquarium on the side of his crib. He has figured out how to turn it on by himself (he just hits it until he manages to hit the on button - it is kind of cute to watch!) and was just calmly laying there looking at the lights, bubbles, and fish. So, I quietly backed out of the room. I figured he'd get bored (or really tired), realize he had lost his paci, and start to fuss. But when I still hadn't heard anything from him 10 minutes later, I went in to check on him again. I found him fast asleep with his aquarium still going. I can't believe he put himself to bed like that! He's growing up.

Ian sleeping with the soft blue aquarium light still on.

Same picture, but with the camera flash on this time. The blue light doesn't show up at all, but you can see his paci is above his head, so it's a total surprise he didn't fuss for it!

He put himself down for his second nap today too much the same way: fussing until I put him in his crib and then totally relaxing. That time took him less than ten minutes to fall asleep though! What a good little sleeper he's turning into!

High School Memories

Wow! I can't believe that I will be going to my 10 year HS reunion tmw. For those that don't know, the "high school" I attended was actually the Texas Academy of Math and Science (TAMS) located on the UNT campus in Denton. The best way I can describe TAMS is as a boarding school for high school juniors and seniors. For those last two years of high school, we lived in a dorm on the UNT campus and took college classes that heavily emphasized math and science. After those two years, we graduated "high school" with our diplomas and two years of college credit.

I cannot even begin to describe how TAMS changed my life. I've always had a problem with getting bored really easily and, unfortunately, I don't handle boredom well. I've tried - I just can't do it. In school, I ended up skipping 6th and 8th grades, which was great for me academically. But, as you might imagine, it made it really hard to make friends. I got along fine with my classmates (including my older brother who is two years older and was incredibly sweet about his younger sister being in class with him!), but I just didn't click with anyone. Most of the girls were just into who they were dating next, and I really didn't care to spend that much time thinking about that. Having skipped two years was a factor that never really went away and I had a very hard time making friends.

My parents were looking into the local university classes for me at the beginning of my sophmore year since they knew I was bored again. Some wonderful lady at the university told them about the TAMS program. So, we checked into it, and Mike, my older brother, and I applied. My dad drove us down for the interview and several weeks later, we got large envelopes in the mail. We had heard large envelopes meant you were accepted, so I was thrilled! I ripped into mine, and then because I was so excited, I opened Mike's too! I ran outside and showed him our letters. I'm sure I was jumping up and down the whole time and must have had a huge goofy grin on my face! I could NOT wait to get out of Midland, TX, out of the high school there, and on to bigger and better things.

Mike and I went over the summer for an orientation. That night, my TAMS-student-to-be roommate Margaret and I played "Little Bunny Foo-foo" on the ceiling with our flashlights (don't ask!). That experience bonded us and we ended up being roomies for the next two years. I really couldn't have asked for a better or more patient roommate! (Her mom made incredible food too, which was certainly an added benefit...haha).

Back in Midland, I had always been a bit more reserved and shy. Talking to people usually meant them finding out how old I was and I was tired of traveling down that road. Going to TAMS was a fresh start for me. No one knew me or my background (plus I wasn't the only young'un there!). The first night they had all the juniors in Mac, a type of rec room at the dorm, and Mike and I made the rounds, introducing ourselves to many new people (something I never would have done in Midland). Needless to say, we both found ourselves clicking with people right away! All of the sudden, it was okay to be interested in learning and not to have to know the latest pop stars/movies/music. It was okay (even encouraged) to think Calculus was cool and to try your hand at Organic Chemistry.

TAMS and the friends I made there changed my life. It was a much needed confidence booster for me and I finally felt like I had friends who I related to. After years of feeling like the ugly duckling, I finally felt like I had friends who accepted and loved me for me. I cherish those two years with all of my heart and have so many fond memories! I still keep in touch with the friends I made there more than I do the friends I made in "regular" college. I have been trying to describe the bond that TAMSters have with each other to my husband, and I just can't find words to do it justice.

Now, what's funny, is that even though I love these people so much and know I am accepted for me, I am still really nervous about tomorrow. I have absolutely no reason to be, but I still am. It might be because it has been so long since I have seen a lot of people. I consider them such good friends, but I haven't seen many of them in several years, so we have a lot of catching up to do. Or maybe it's because with just a bachelor's degree, I will probably be the least educated person there...haha! Most of my friends have gone on to be medical doctors or have or are pursuing PhD's. I know exactly what I want to do for a master's and even a PhD (ASL Linguistics - I plan to rewrite Deaf Ed curriculum using English as a second language techniques), but the opportunity hasn't presented itself yet. I'm rather picky about which degree program I would be a part of and due to distance, I haven't been able to enroll in either of the ones I would want to.

Oh well. Nerves or not, tomorrow promises to be a fantastic day with some great friends!

Here's a picture of me from way back when - I was in a friend's room getting ready for a hoedown! (I didn't normally wear pigtails...didn't want to look any younger than I had to.) And Mike, I tried to find a pix of you too, but will have to add that later!

Five Months Old

I can't believe my baby is five months old today! That makes him sound like he is such a big boy (and he is!). I have so many memories I want to share, but not enough time to write them all out now, so check back in a week or so.

In the meantime, here's a picture Daddy took of him on their stroller walk this evening.

*** Updated December 15, 2009 ***

Well, now that Ian is SEVEN months old, I'm finally getting back to this post. I have to say the thing that sticks out most in my mind for this time is how much Ian loved to hold hands while nursing. He would cross his tiny legs and grab for my hand and just hold it while we rocked and he eat. If he wasn't holding my hand, he was holding his own hand. It was the cutest thing ever! At five months, he also loves to laugh and loves to take his stroller rides! This past month, we introduced solid foods and that has been quite an experience! Ian has taken to them rather well and it is amazing to see how much he loves to help us hold on to the spoon so he can "help" feed himself.

Ian's 90 Minute Nap

I just had to put this down for the record! Ian usually on sleeps for about thirty minutes for his first nap of the day by himself. After his nap, he eats and he will often fall asleep and "cuddle nap" with me for an hour or so. The last few days, I have been feeding him and then putting him back down. The sleep training is paying off - he goes right to sleep instead of screaming when I lay him down. Today though, he slept a full 90 minutes by himself!!!!! I was shocked, but I sure enjoyed a longer nap myself.

Here's a picture of my sweet baby napping (with his froggie over his face, of course!).

After I peeled back his froggie.

After I totally picked up froggie and moved him so Ian couldn't fling him back over his face while sleeping.

First Family Breakfast and Freckles

Now that Ian is eating solid foods, we are actually able to sit down as a family and have meals together (when our schedules allow, that is!). This morning after James got home from work, we all sat down to have a bowl of cereal. Certainly not a fancy breakfast, but so precious in the fact that we got to all sit down together for breakfast for the first time since Ian was born. (James and I are actually eating cereal out of Ian's toddler bowls because all the rest of the bowls were in the dishwasher.)

Daddy and Ian.

Great family time!

Daddy feeding Ian rice cereal.


Ian has a little frog blankie that Dacia, a friend of mine from TAMS, gave us last year when I was pregnant. It has become one of his favorite soothers to go to sleep with. He loves to hold on to the froggie's head and cuddle it to his face. Today though, he found a new way to use Freckles (that's what Daddy named the froggie) to comfort himself. Ian doesn't particularly like the way heavy eyelids feel and is constantly rubbing his eyes when he is getting tired. As of this morning though, he has started pulling Freckles' blankie over his face to soothe that heavy eye feel. (No worries - the blankie isn't big enough or heavy enough to obstruct his breathing and I check on him every couple of minutes or so.) This afternoon, I laid him down for a nap and came back a few minutes later to see how he was doing falling asleep on his own and found him happily sleeping like this:

I pulled the corner of Freckle's blanket off of Ian's face, laid it down, and this is how I found Ian sleeping underneath:



So precious!!! We certainly love this little boy to pieces!

Hannah Baby-Sits

Ian is four days shy of being five months old and up to this point had only been watched by me, James, and my mom. So, we decided it was high time to get a baby-sitter and get out on a Saturday night. Sounds like fun, huh? Unfortunately, us getting out was because both James and I had to work tonight. My mom was out-of-town at my sister's spending time with her other two grandkids, so we needed a sitter. Fortunately, James' 19 year old cousin, Hannah, was available. She is great with kids and we felt extremely comfortable leaving Ian with her.

Hannah arrived a little after 8pm - bath time for Ian. I had already left for work, so James showed her around. She helped with Ian's bath and then got him dressed. It was too bad we didn't get a picture of bath time, because Ian wrapped his tiny little toes around her finger and held on. That must have been so cute! Normally, Ian can be kind of fussy after bath time. He doesn't like being cold and lets us know the whole time he is getting dressed. However, with Hannah, he was just as relaxed as could be. He didn't even try to put up a fight when she put his jammies on.



Then Daddy was off to work and it was just Ian and Hannah until I got home around 12:30am. Hannah said Ian did well. They played a lot - she was great at coming up with funny faces and stuff to amuse him. There was one time where he just cried for twenty minutes and she tried EVERYTHING to see what he wanted: checked his diaper, took off his jammies to see if he was too hot, tried the bottle, played games, walked...everything! Our poor little baby - he still doesn't understand that if it is dark and rainy, he doesn't get to go on his evening walk. Finally, the stopped in front of the TV where Veggie Tales was on and he was happy as a clam after that. Here's a picture Hannah took of them sitting together watching Veggie Tales. They had their arms around each other's backs (Ian blinked in the picture though). Too precious!


We are so glad to have such a good, responsible baby-sitter! Thanks for taking such good care of our little man, Hannah!

Peas, Please!

Ian had a big day today, but it was too much to explain in one post, so here's the second part of his big day!

Our little baby has been eating rice cereal for almost a month now and is doing really well with it. It's kind of funny - you often hear about giving a baby rice cereal to keep him full longer, but it has had almost the opposite effect on Ian. He has seemed hungrier since starting the cereal. He has actually started waking up for a full (milk) feeding in the middle of the night every night now. (He was sleeping through the night, so Mommy isn't too excited about these late night feedings, but is of course more than happy to feed her hungry baby.) The best explanation we have heard is that his body thinks it is growth spurt time. It is getting more calories and thinks it should be getting even more.

So, since he has done well learning to eat the cereal, we decided it was time for him to move on to bigger and better things. After calling both my sister and James' sister, we decided to start him with peas. Apparently too much orange food (squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, etc.) can cause the baby to turn orange, so it's better to start with greens. Until my sister reminded me, I had totally forgotten that my niece had turned a very nice shade of orange for a while!

It's funny - Ian already makes a face at the first bite of rice cereal. After that first bite, he is just fine with it, but he has to make a face every time. So, we weren't sure how Ian would take the peas. They didn't smell as nice as the rice cereal to us. Surprise, surprise! He actually seems to like them better than rice cereal. He happily slurped down half a container and probably would have eaten more if I had given it to him.

After he was all done eating, he wanted to lick the bowl!

He finally got it turned the right way and went to town trying to clean it out!

Here's a little video clip of his first time with peas! Or as Daddy says, listen to the pleas of the peas, please!

Sitting and Crawling

Well, almost! But it is still exciting to see the progress Ian is making. He can already kinda sorta sit up on his own - for about a tenth of a second! He is very wobbly from side to side and likes to lean back, which of course causes him to fall over. As far as crawling goes, when we have tummy time, he has no idea what to do with his feet. He doesn't hardly push them or move them when he is on his tummy. At this rate, I didn't really expect him to crawl until 7 or 8 months, but I talked to my sister yesterday and she said her son crawled at 5 months (granted, Aiden had an older sister to keep up with!). But, that made me think that maybe Ian could be crawling soon too. He just needs some tutoring. I really can't wait until he can crawl. Yes, I know it will be harder in so many ways. But it will be so much easier too! He can move from toy to toy and follow me from room to room when I am doing things. He will be able to explore more on his own, which he will absolutely love! He loves being mobile and unfortunately, Mommy and Daddy can't walk him 12 hours a day.

I have to explain something really quickly in order for rest of this to make sense. We get updates every week from babycenter.com and they always include a couple of age appropriate games to play with your kiddo. A couple of weeks ago, one of the games was pushing against baby's feet while he was on his tummy. I had kept that in mind, but it hadn't really done anything for Ian knowing his feet existed when he was on his tummy.

So, yesterday, I decided to take that a step further and alternately move his feet and push him along while he was on his tummy. I put a burp rag under his head so he wouldn't get carpet burn. Surprisingly, he loved it! I showed James later, but Ian was getting kind of tired so he wasn't enjoying it as much as he had earlier in the day.

Tonight, I put him on his tummy to push him again and lo and behold, he started moving his arms along himself!! It's a very, very premature version of the army crawl, but I was soooo excited!

After he started getting tired of that, I sat him up and he actually sat up on his own for a full second! Hard to believe our little baby is growing up like this!

Sleep Training

Well, we decided it was high time our baby boy learned how to go to sleep at nap time on his own. He does pretty good at bed time, but he still has to be rocked/jiggled to sleep for naps. He is getting heavier, so that process is getting more difficult for us. The reading I have been doing says that between 4-5 months is a great time for sleep training and we decided to go ahead and take the plunge. We feel Ian is old enough to understand what is going on and to figure out that we aren't leaving him and/or traumatizing him.


Ian usually takes three naps a day. The first is about an hour and a half after he wakes up in the morning. The second is anywhere between 1-3pm and the third is usually around 5 or 6pm. Most of his naps are just 30 minutes. However, if we are in the car or he is cuddling with me, he will take a two hour nap in the afternoons.

So yesterday we (well, me - James was sleeping) started sleep training with his second nap. (I was too tired to start on his first nap.) I gave him his pacifier and little frog blankie, swaddled him, and laid him in his crib. I sang him a song too and then left the room. It wasn't long before my little one was wailing up a storm. I went in several times and talked to him, patted his arm, gave him his paci (it kept falling out), etc. Twice he really worked himself up into a fit, so I picked him up to calm him down. The first time was after twenty-five minutes and of course he started crying as soon as I put him down. The second time was after forty-five minutes and he fell asleep almost as soon as I picked him up. I tried to put him back down quickly so he would be semi-awake as he drifted off to sleep. The third nap of the day he fell asleep in the car on the way back from errands, so we didn't get to practice then.

So, today was a new day and I knew I wanted to try a bit different of a method. I remembered that my friend Tash had told me about the book, The Baby Whisperer. I hadn't gotten the book yet, but I knew it said something about staying in the room with the child. This time, when he started crying, I went ahead and picked him up to call him down. This seemed to work well and within 25 minutes he was asleep!

Totally a God thing - Tash actually called later that morning and read The Baby Whisperer method to me over the phone. It was kind of cool to hear it say what I had done that morning - pick up the child when he cries and then put him back down. (You don't want him to fall asleep in your arms.) Ian is such a touchy-feely baby that this works wonders for him. If we just pat his back without picking him up, he doesn't calm down. The rest of the day went well - his second nap took him just twenty minutes to fall asleep. For his third nap, it took longer (35 minutes), BUT he stayed calm the WHOLE time! It was amazing! We are totally thrilled with the results!

Mommy's Haircut

I have desperately been needing a haircut for quite a while now. I've gotten tired of this look (never loved it in the first place) and have been thinking about what style to get. Last week, one of the interpreters I work with told me about this great stylist and even suggested a style I should try. So, I went to Jannette and here is the result:




I'm super excited about it! I love the style and I love Jannette. She is the type of stylist who will tell you if something will look good on you and knows how to make a cut work for you. Love that! Been looking for someone like that for a long time, so that's definitely an answer to prayer!