Sigh.

Someone apparently recently arrived at my blog by using the search terms "froglet stomach wrinkly."

Yeah.

Let's dance.

aka, the Jasper Dodge three-month dance performance:



(I love his look of concentration.)

Jasper celebrated his three month birthday by sleeping in - crucial for his mom since he has refused to let me lay him down for more than a few minutes at a time at night for the last four or five nights. I think he might have outgrown his little sleep nest, so we're going to try setting up the co-sleeper in the next day or two.

After a lazy morning, we took Pace on a hike at Lake Chabot. Pace is going a little stir-crazy, I think. The last two mornings, he has woken me up at four am (mind you, I'm not very deeply asleep, sitting up in bed with Jasper in my arms) by barking and whining in the living room. Not typical Pace behavior. When I take him outside, he wants to play. Sigh. So today's hike, which I guess needs to be a daily thing, was intended to exhaust him. Here's hoping it works. Jasper happily slept through most of the walk in his Ergo, which we have been successfully using for a few weeks now. During our walk, we ran into another Catahoula Leopard dog. This is what we've always suspected Pace of being, but after seeing him next to a confirmed one, I'm now sure.

We topped off the day by hanging out with Sage and Emily and Eli at Lake Temescal. This is the third straight week Emily has invited me to join her and her other mommy friends, but the first time I've actually be able to do so. Eli is about a month older than Jasper, and we were joined by another friend with a five month old, so it was fun seeing the developmental differences. Eli demonstrated rolling over for us, and James showed off his sitting up skills. Jasper just sat and gazed at the other babies with a look of amazement. A good time all around.

Happy birthday, baby boy. You're doing a great job being you.

Its funny because its true.

DNA is a funny thing.



We've been told that Jasper is a little Morgan doppelganger. I agree that Jasper definitely has Morgan's mouth and hands and will probably have his nose.

We've also been told that Jasper looks more like me. He has my coloring certainly, and the shape of his eyes seems similar to mine, right down to the mismatched eyelids. Its looking like his eyes will be blue, but right now they're closer to the dark blue that both his grandmas have, instead of my light blue/gray.

Up until recently, I've just been saying that Jasper looks like Jasper. But the other night I realized... He looks like this guy from The Frighteners:

Motor Skills

Not only is Jasper holding onto that rattle the size of his arm, he managed to navigate it into his mouth. I think 1) he's developing some fine motor skills and 2) we are approaching teething. Yay for 1); cringe for 2). Today when I was out, I picked up some teething toys and some of these link thingies.

In other exciting news, head control:


(Note the elusive Morrissey and Chloe in the background.)

And, a visit from Grandpa and Paige:


And Aunt Jill:


Lordy, look at those baby jowls.

Random things

that make Jasper happy:

My electric toothbrush.

If I wander into the bedroom while I'm brushing my teeth, he gets the biggest grin on his face and starts cooing excitedly at it. I'm thinking about getting a disposable one to let him hold.

Jill and Christian's Big Day

My little sister got married yesterday.

It was a very sweet (and short!) ceremony. My aunt Harriett and uncle Walla officiated. Both Christian's parents walked him down the aisle, and both our parents walked Jill down the aisle. Kensi the chihuahua was their ring bearer. Christian's two sisters read a passage from Tolkien, and I did a reading as well.

Because they planned everything themselves, Jill and Christian managed to throw a party that was very them. The tables were named after family pets (we were at the Pace table, of course). After dinner, they showed a video (inspired by the "Where the Hell is Matt?" video) encapsulating their 13 year relationship into four minutes. Their first dance was to "It's Only Time" (plus lots more Magnetic Fields during dinner). There was a photo booth with props. Instead of the traditional bridal bouquet toss to singles, they did a couples dance, where over the course of the song, the DJ asked couples to leave the dance floor based on the length of their relationship. (Morgan and I got booted in the same round as the bridal couple, when they went from 10 years or more to 15 years or more.) The last couple dancing, who have been together for 41 years, got Jill's bouquet.

And of course, Jasper was a huge hit. He danced more than I did, first with Harriett and then the bridesmaids and my dad and... Well, he was very popular. We weren't sure we'd get him back at the end of night.

Some pictures:

Jill looked gorgeous, of course, and Christian handled being the center of attention very graciously.



Jasper got all dressed up for the occasion.



As did all the grownups.





Making time with Latika, Jill's Maid of Honor:



Another over grandma's shoulder shot:



Exhausted baby, after the celebrations were done:

Road Trip Baby

First of all, I have to preface this entry by saying that anyone who is cosleeping needs to consider a king sized bed. No, we don't have one; no, we don't have room for one. But we just spent two nights in a hotel with one, and my god. The first night? Jasper slept for nine hours. Seriously.

Anyway, this weekend we took Jasper down to Southern California for some family time. Our first night out, we stayed with the always gracious Andersons. Aunt Susie got some good cuddle time with the boy, and he got to meet his great uncle Dane and cousins Nick and Becky. And another canine cousin, Stella the Puglet.

The next two nights we stayed in Thousand Oaks so we could visit with Morgan's mom, who was over the moon to get to spend more time with her grandbaby.



She was amazed at how much he has grown and how interactive he is now. And he was very generous with his smiles for her.

We also visited with Morgan's grandparents, so Jasper got to meet his great grandparents and his great aunt Maurine. Grandpa lives in a nursing home, and we arrived a little bit before Grandma and Maurine. Grandpa didn't realize we were coming that day, so the look on his face when we walked into his room was priceless. Somehow we managed to accidentally visit on Grandpa and Grandma's 62nd wedding anniversary. Everyone seemed to think getting to meet this guy was an acceptable anniversary gift. 60th anniversary: diamonds. 62nd anniversary: great grandbaby.





I also dragged Morgan and his mom to the outlet mall in Camarillo so that I could shop for an outfit to wear to Jill's wedding on Saturday. While I cruised Ann Taylor, Morgan and Mary hit Gymboree, and Morgan bought Jasper his first winter coat.



Yes, our son literally has a monkey suit. Much cuteness, yes?

Making Morgan Happy

Twenty.

That's how many pairs of shoes I'm getting rid of after a huge closet purge today. There's a range of styles, from pumps to sandals to boots. The oldest is a pair of tall lace up boots from my senior year of college. Apparently I have sentimental attachment to shoes, because I'm still eying those boots, tempted to pull them out of the to donate pile, even though I'm a full shoe size bigger than I was at 21 (thanks, running and pregnancy). Humorously, I had five pairs of red shoes (six if you count the oxblood Danscos). I'm keeping two.

I also filled up two big black garbage bags with clothes to give away. When I switched over to maternity clothes, I packed up all my non-maternity stuff into three suitcases. I think I filled a donation bag then too. I am now down to just one suitcase of non-maternity clothes that still don't fit me. I managed to be fairly brutal, clearing out the stuff that I hadn't worn in awhile, the stuff I had forgotten I owned. I also tried not to take it too much to heart when practically nothing fit me. Because I've lost and gained some weight over the last few years, I have a range of three sizes in my closet; out of those sizes, exactly one pair of pants fit me. Tops were somewhat more forgiving, but my collection of full skirts let me down. Apparently my waist is now several inches higher than it used to be. My dresses might have fit, but I can't wear them and breastfeed so I didn't even try them on. All around, the closet shopping experience was disappointing.

But. I have to go shopping this weekend for something to wear to Jill's wedding, so hopefully I'll be able to pick up a few things then. Jeans that don't have a belly panel. T-shirts that don't look like tents on me.

Sigh.

Well Baby

Jasper had his two month check up today. He's perfect.

Weight: 12 lbs 10.5 oz (61% growth percentile)
Height: 23.5 inches (59% growth percentile)
Head Size: 16.26 inches (72% growth percentile)

He takes after his father.

The pediatrician, who we continue to adore, confirmed that Jasper has a touch of cradle cap, but it isn't severe enough to do anything about it. She also told us we were doing the right thing by giving him saline spray for his occasional congestion, and suggested we use a humidifier at night for it. We have one of those, somewhere... She was also humorously impressed with our fancy cloth diapers.

Jasper also got his first round of vaccinations today. It honestly wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. He screamed up a storm as he was getting the shots, but the tech administering them was super zippy. And then Jasper got to nurse some and everyone knows that makes everything better. He's still sleeping now, but we have to monitor him for a couple days to make sure he doesn't have any reactions.

All together, he's a remarkably adaptable and sweet boy.

Sadly remiss

I have been neglecting my blog duties, and I apologize. I have no real excuse except that I have a two month old.

Hey, I have a two month old! That happened during my little blogging break. We celebrated Jasper's two month birthday by heading to the mall to escape the heat. Jasper was unimpressed. (Really, with his parents, would you expect anything different?)

At two months we seem to be right in line with where we should be in terms of milestones. We have consistent smiles. We have the cooing that is Jasper's first go at language. (We sit and talk to him, and he'll coo/gurgle/grunt back at us. Its awesome.) We have some pretty impressive head control. (The other day I was sitting on the sofa with Jasper resting against my chest. He repeatedly pushed himself up and held up his head so that he could stare at Morgan over the back of the sofa. He loves his dad.) We have a pediatrician appointment tomorrow, so I can report then where he is in terms of weight and growth, but I can tell you his skinny arms and legs are starting to chubby up. Its nothing compared to the 20 pound three month old I saw the other day, but Jasper is definitely losing his skinny baby look.

And, as an apology for the delay in posts, a few pictures. A couple of these are fun because they are essentially repeats of poses in previous pictures.

Compare Jasper at ten weeks to Jasper at four weeks:


And ten weeks compared to one week:


And no comparison photo, but its a cute one:


(Thanks to Tim for these photos.)