Christmas 2005

AJ had a great Christmas. The whole family got to spend time in Kansas with some of the grandparents. AJ enjoyed some time with all his cousins. With Ellie and Josh, he wanted to be a big kid and do everything they were doing, and with Dean, AJ wanted Dean to be bigger and be able to get up and play with him. A few times he would grab Dean by the hand and pull on him like he wanted him to come along. Though AJ doesn't look thrilled in his picture with Dean, it was only because AJ is not a fan of having to sit still for pics these days. He is a busy boy and always wanting to be on the go. Speaking of wanting to be on the go...AJ found the suckers on this trip to be his grandpa Cook and his friends Al and Steven. These were the guys willing to walk (and run) with him all over, take him outside, and play chase. All of AJ's favorite activities. AJ bonded so much with grandpa that when saying goodbye at the airport, AJ did not want grandpa to leave. When mom tried to take him from grandpa, he pulled his hands back and shook his head at me. He fussed when I took him away from grandpa, reaching his hands out for him and whining when he saw grandpa go out the doors. AJ is such a traitor! Thank goodness we are back at home and suddenly, mommy's existence is once again important to the little boy.

Though initially acting shy, AJ quickly warmed up to his grandpa Lentz who came to our house in Ohio today for a Christmas visit. He learned quickly that this grandpa was fun to play with as well. What a terrific holiday time we have had this year!

Home in Ohio

Though it doesn't seem that we've had lots of time at home because of all our travels, AJ certainly seems to know it is home. He has the layout of the house down and seems very happy in this house. He has developed a routine and seems to be learning more and more all the time. AJ's vocabulary at 14 months old only includes "dadda, dog, duck, down, and up." Notice that most of these words start with a "d" and none of these words include "mamma." Though AJ's verbal vocabulary is limited, he still communicates with us in his way. He has learned some sign language. He knows 19 different signs now. He has certain signs that he uses more than others such as "more" and "all done," but he does also know "dog, cat, fish, bird, ball, airplane, car, book, music, bath (another nighly favorite), food, drink, milk, up, hat, light, and fan. In addition, he knows how to grab us by the hand and pull him toward whatever he wants such as the door going outside.

Traveling Babe

It feels as though Amber and AJ have been on the go for the past year. By 14 months old, AJ had been on 6 different plane trips (25 individual plane rides in all). Within weeks of Thanksgiving, we were back in AR again for a wedding. Once again, AJ found that Mammaw was such a push-over. He found that she would take him outside just about any time he would walk her to the door and point to it. She would say, "Okay, let's get your coat on." So, now anytime I say to him that he needs to get his coat on, he gets excited thinking he is going to get to go play outside. This kid would live outdoors if we let him. He loved playing in the leaves and making leaf angels.

Thanksgiving 2005

AJ and Amber went to Arkansas for Thanksgiving. We had a great visit with Mammaw. AJ quickly figured out that Mammaw was a sucker and would do just about anything he wanted her to do. He loved holding onto her finger and walking her all over the house. Any time mom walked by him, he would immediately hold out his hand so she would "walk" him about the house. During this visit, AJ finally got over his fear of walking on his own. It was lots of fun to share this developmental milestone with Mammaw. She got to see him becoming braver and braver each day. He started by walking back and forth between Amber and Mammaw a few steps at a time. Then we kept moving further and further apart. By the end of the week, he was all over the house on his own.

11-05-05

First Word - 11/5/2005

Notes: At ten months, AJ began saying his first real word: DOG. He loves dogs and is very enthusiastic when he sees one. He is really enthusiastic when he sees most any animal and he thinks they are all dogs. For the past month and a half we have been living in a hotel room in Ohio waiting to get a house of our own. I brought with us only a few of his toys because we knew we wouldn't have a lot of room. The rest went to storage. I did bring one stuffed dog and one stuffed bear. AJ does know the difference between them. If asked where the dog is, he will either point to one of the real dogs or to his stuffed dog. If asked where his bear is, he will go get his bear, but he can't yet say the word bear. This picture was taken the last day in our house in Kansas. AJ was fussing a little bit and I got the camera thinking I would take a fussy faced picture and say he was sad we were leaving our home in Kansas, but as soon as I started to take the picture, he started to laugh.

One year old - 11/5/2005

Notes: On October 20th, AJ turned one year old. I can't believe how fast this year has gone. I walked past a mirror holding AJ today and stood looking at him in my arms. His legs dangled down so far. He suddenly looked so big to me, like he was a little boy and not a baby. How can that be? What really gets me is that it feels like no time at all ago he was tiny and I could hold him in one arm yet at the same time it seems difficult to remember ever not having him. He has been the greatest gift God ever gave us. He is such a sweetie. Lately, he has been giving kisses upon request and he will give kisses to his stuffed dog then put the dog to my mouth for the dog to give me a kiss too. AJ took his first steps the week before his first birthday. Unfortunately I missed them. He was staying with Grandpma and Grandpa Cook while I was at a conference and he took four steps by himself while with them. I thought after that he would be off and running in no time. I was wrong. He would only occassionally take steps by himself up until this past week. He learned how to push himself up to a standing position from the floor. He was so proud of himself, then he started walking. Unfortunately, he could only get so far in the hotel room before running into something. So, we started spending a lot of time in the hallway so he'd have further to go with no obstructions. He was doing better and better taking 8 to 10 steps at a time before falling on his bottom. I became afraid that I was encouraging him to fall because when he fell the first few times, I wanted him to be encouraged to keep trying and not get upset so I clapped and cheered him. After that, AJ would start to fall with great effect on his bottom and then clap as though he were saying "yeah, I fell again!" So, I started clapping and cheering while he was walking. So then AJ started to clap while he was in mid stride, lost his balance and went down very hard on his face. That was two days ago and he has refused to try to walk on his own since then. Dave tried to take him in the hall and pull out his finger AJ was holding onto while AJ was walking and AJ through the biggest fit. He screamed, threw himself down on the carpet and wailed. AJ is very sweet most of the time, but at the ripe old age of one, he has already learned to throw his body around and burst into angry tears when he is mad. It is hard not to laugh now because these tantrums are so cute at this age, but I fear we will be in grave trouble in the future.

hotel sweet home - 11/5/2005

Notes: So, as I've mentioned before, we have been living in a hotel for quite a while. AJ has been in his playpen. I miss the crib. I also miss sleeping through the night. I finally figured out why AJ keeps waking up during the night here. I was up late one night in the "living room" of the hotel room close to where AJ's crib is set up and I heard the outside door to the hotel slam shut loudly. AJ jumped and cried. I realized another time I was going to the bathroom that the same thing happened in the middle of the night. There are sometimes people here at the hotel who come in and out at all hours and since our room door is right by the outside door, it keeps waking up AJ when it slams shut. I fear that AJ is getting used to getting up at night and having mommy cuddle him badck to sleep. This may become a habit that will require breaking once we get into our own house. I can't let him cry here during the night because I don't want to wake up other people in the hotel.

Well since we have moved to Ohio, I have not returned to the working world. I have stayed "home" with AJ. I never thought I could be off work this long without missing it, but I really haven't. I really loved the job I left in Kansas, but have been having a ball with AJ. We have spent a lot of time figuring out things to do during the day to get out of the hotel. We frequent the Gahanna library a lot. They have story time for infants and toddlers every Monday, plus they just have a really cool library with lots of great books and videos for all ages. AJ likes to go play with the stuffed animals they have there and help me pick out books that are on his level in the little one's section. On Wednesdays we go to a music class for toddlers. AJ loves it. There is a lot of movement and singing and playing of instruments plus he loves watching other kids. There is another play group we participate in most weeks. We also frequent a mall about 15 minutes from the hotel that has a Zoo play area for kids. AJ really likes it there. Lots of kids and things for him to climb on and crawl under and through. We've learned that the mall that is just minutes from the house we are buying is building a new play area for kids that will be opening just after we move into our house, so we'll have another place to hang out. ....Okay, one last thing to add before we say goodbye to this site. Grandpa Cook says that AJ speaks Chinese and I must admit it does sort of sound like that at times. Dave and I had to smile this evening when we went out to dinner at a Chinese restaraunt. The hostess had a little boy with her. She told us he was 20 months hold. It wasn't very busy so she was letting him play around the tables. He brought out a big ball and was playing with it near us, causing AJ to start cracking up in laughter. This encouraged the boy to play closer to us and to try to interact with AJ. The boy started to speak to AJ (in what I truly believe was actual Chinese) and AJ appeared to completely understand him because he just babbled right on back to him and then the boy laughed as though the kids had shared this private joke. I thought Grandpa Cook would just laugh if he saw this happening and would be quite sure that AJ was indeed speaking fluent Chinese. My little genius. (Well, okay, maybe not so much a genius since he still doesn't say "mamma" unless that is, he is saying it in Chinese and I don't understand him.)

07-15-05

New Accomplishments - 7/15/2005

Notes: So the past two weeks have been busy for AJ. His Mammaw from Arkansas came and stayed for two weeks and so he had to show off for her. When Mammaw got here AJ was starting to get around the house by dragging himself with his arms. He would reach out with both hands, grab the floor and pull his body along the floor with his arms only. Each day during the past two weeks we saw some development in his mobility. He started figuring out how to alternate his arms to pull himself faster, then he figured out how to get the legs/knees going too. What he is doing now is an Army style crawl. He is capable of getting up and crawling on his hands and knees...he has done this some, but has figured out that he can get along much faster his "boot camp" way. In addition to this, he has also figured out how to get from his tummy to his knees and then to his bottom. This was a big deal to him because now he can crawl to different toys in the house and then sit up and play with them once he gets there. Now we really have to put everything out of reach! AJ can pull up on just about everything. His favorite thing to do is to crawl around and chase the dogs until they jump on the couch to escape him. The dogs used to think they were safe up there, but now the baby is standing and can reach them on the couch unless they get on the back of the couch. Mammaw got to see AJ's daily development but she left today before she got to see his newest trick. Today AJ learned how to side step holding onto the furniture. So he'll pull up at one end of the couch and hold on and walk to the other end to try to get a dog. Disney is too quick for him, but Mister has had his ears and tail pulled a time or two because he fell asleep and didn't see AJ coming. AJ has also figured out how to pull up on the couch and then reach out and switch to the coffee table. As much fun as this baby's new found mobility is, we definitely have to watch him like a hawk all the time.

AJ at 6 months

04-18-04

Busy Baby - 4/18/2005

Notes: All and all AJ has been a very busy baby lately. Last week we started a water babies class. Dave and I both get in the water with him. It is twice a week for three weeks. It has been so much fun. AJ just loves the water and is always so relaxed. One time he actually tried to go to sleep while we were having him do the back float. The water really wore him out though. The first night of class, we barely kept him awake until 7:30 PM, and he stayed asleep until 7:30 AM.

04-18-05

Notes: Okay, so I'm a little behind in adding this to the book. AJ has actually been eating solids for the past 3 or 4 weeks. He loves them! So far he has been eating cereal and we added a different veggie every few days. Today, he'll finally get a taste of the sweet stuff...FRUIT! This kid has loved every veggie I've given him, so I imagine he'll be crazy about fruit. The only complaint he seems to have is that he never thinks we give him enough food. I've been trying to limit his intake to some degree...not to be cruel, but because of his reflux disorder, the food we give never seems to stay down so we have squash and green beans oozing back up 45 minutes later. We have now been instructed to go ahead and feed him more, but we have to put him on a medicine that will help his stomach digest food better. We were trying to avoid more medicine for our little guy, but the doctor is pretty concerned that solid foods won't stay down either. So, we'll give the medicine a try for a month or so, and see how things are going then. We're told that if he is a year old and still not able to keep solids down without medicine, we may have to consider surgery. Let's pray that won't be necessary!

01/29/05

First Time I Slept Through the Night - 1/29/2005

Notes: AJ's actual first night of sleeping through the night was a couple of days before he turned 3 months old. He slept a 10 hour stretch. I got up at least twice to check to make sure he was still breathing. Then he went back to a pattern of sleeping 5 or 6 hours and then eating, gowing right back to sleep and sleeping another 4 or 5 hours (10 total at night). Three nights in a row now, he has slept 8 or more hours straight so we are keeping our fingers crossed that this new pattern will continue. He's actually sleeping longer this way. We put him to bed between 9 PM and 9:30 PM most nights, and the past three nights he would sleep 8 or 8 1/2 hours, then would still go right back to sleep and sleap until 9 AM when left to wake on his own. One morning I had to wake him to take him to daycare. This was a wonderful weekend for us because it was really the first that we got to sleep in with the exception of when we were in Arkansas and Mammaw took him for us. We don't expect all nights from here on out to be this good, but we can wish, can't we?

Anthony's Baptism - 1/2/2005

Notes: AJ was baptized right after the new year at our church in Newton, Our Lady of Guadelupe by Father Floyd McKinney. Those whow were able to join us for the celebration were Dave's mom, Kay; Dave's brother and sister in law, Jeramie and Becky; Dave's sister, Tande; Amber's parents, Bill and Carolyn (Amber's mom Pam really was sad she couldn't make it); Amber's aunt Pippy; and our friends Michelle and Dennis "Tiger" Albertin (The God Parents) and Penny, Abby, and BJ.

10/29/2004

First week at home - 10/29/2004

Notes: Amber and Dave think AJ is the most beautiful baby. He has just the sweetest little expressions. The first few days, it seemed like all AJ wanted to do was eat and sleep. He has started being more alert and stays up long enough for us to read books to him or just talk to him. He now looks at our faces and just stares.

Our biggest struggle has been feeding. Amber has become very emotional at times over the fact that AJ won't latch on for breast feeding. We visit with a nurse from the hospital about three times a week for breast feeding consultation. Some days are better than others, then he will go back to refusing to even try to latch on. It would probably be easier if we just gave up and started formula, but Amber had her heart set on breast feeding, so for now, we keep trying. So far, Amber has been able to at least pump enough breast milk that we supplement very little formula, but as AJ eats more, the fear is that pumping won't keep up the supply needed.

All of Amber's friends have asked if she is getting any sleep. She figured out today that she gets 6 hours a night. Sleep two hours, up for one, sleep another two, up again for one hour, and then sleep two more before we are up for the day. This seemed sufficient for a while, but she is starting to feel the effects of too little sleep. Dave loses sleep too, but he has mastered something that Amber has yet to: how to take a nap.

One of Amber's mother's friends called motherhood "joyful exhaustion." I think that expression sums it up perfectly. This little precious guy has been so worth everything!

AJ's birth

AJ surprised us all with his arrival as he was not due until November 13, 2004. Six weeks before his bith, Amber went into the hospital due to a small tear in the placenta. Then early contractions started. Amber was given medicine to stop these as it would have been way too early for AJ to enter the world. Though AJ was still early, three and a half weeks was much preferable to 10 weeks early. Amber 's water broke at 9:40 PM on 10-19-04. We were up all night anxiously waiting for AJ to arrive. The process was moving so slowly that by 8:30 AM on 10-20-04, Amber was still only 3 cm dilated. So the doc prescribed something to increase the contractions. Then we were off and running. The doctor didn't expect that even with the medicine that AJ would arrive any earlier than the afternoon, but two hours later, Amber was fully dilated and AJ's head was ready to pop out. The nurse called the doctor and then Amber was set up to start pushing. 20 minutes of pushing, and our little boy was here. Amber and Dave both started crying the minute AJ was born. Our little miracle had arrived at last.