smarty pants

First, a follow-up on Jamie's illness. He is still congested but no more coughing or wheezing, and best of all if he did get worse again, we'd know what to do! It is such a relief.

Today, the unimaginable happened: Jamie did cute things while the camera was ON. Usually he'll be doing something cute right up until I grab the camera but not for one second after it's on, so this was amazing. Here are some videos of him showing off his knowledge. In the ABC one, he normally does know xyz but he got distracted when he noticed the camera. And sorry you have to listen to him eat through his counting, but he had gotten sick of holding still for me. :)

reactive airway disease

Jamie has been sick about half of the time since October. He's had 5 colds, all lasting about 2 weeks, one ending in an ear infection, plus an unrelated week's worth of diarrhea and the worst diaper rash I have ever seen. It has been rough. He got a cold earlier in February, and after a couple days it turned into a terrible wheezing cough. His doctor put him on an antibiotic and a steroid and it seemed to have cleared up. That was about 2 weeks ago. Then on Monday Jamie's nose started running, and yesterday he again developed that horrible wheezing. He couldn't sleep from the coughing and wheezing and slept for less than an hour at naptime (typically he sleeps closer to 2 1/2 hours), and it only got worse as the day went on. Last night was TERRIBLE. He had such difficulty breathing that he woke up about every hour and a half crying at the top of his lungs. It was a looooong night.

He woke up just after 6 this morning, laboring so hard to breathe, and he couldn't stop crying. We threw on clothes and took him to the ER at Children's Hospital. After some desperately needed industrial snot-sucking and a breathing treatment (all of which he hated and kept him screaming his head off), he was diagnosed with reactive airway disease, which basically means he has symptoms of asthma but they don't want to call it asthma because babies his age most often grow out of it. The doctor said these two wheezing episodes were likely triggered by colds. If only I could keep him from getting any more! It also doesn't help that Knoxville has atrocious air quality. Hopefully Jamie will outgrow it and we'll eventually move somewhere with cleaner air.

We were sent home with a nebulizer so we can continue to give him breathing treatments and a prescription for a steroid to help with the wheezing as well. I already gave him one breathing treatment since we got home and it went considerably better than at the hospital. I set him up with some youtube videos of Elmo, and he didn't fuss at all - a miracle after how he reacted the first time. He's still breathing faster than normal and is still congested, but he's no longer coughing or wheezing, and he's peacefully asleep now, getting some much needed rest. Poor little monkey! It has been breaking my heart to see him so sick.

oatmeal caramelitas

We had these at a friend's house last year, and they were so good that I had to get the recipe. I made them last week and they are as delicious as I remembered! While they are pretty good right out of the oven while they're still hot, they taste waaaay better after they've completely cooled and you can taste all the flavors.

Ingredients:

• 1 c. flour
• 1 c. quick oats
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3/4 c. melted butter
• chocolate chips to taste
• chopped pecans to taste
• 3/4 c. caramel topping
• 3 T. flour

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 9x13 pan.
• Combine flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Stir in melted butter until well combined.
• Press half of the mixture into the pan and bake for 10 min.
• Remove from oven and sprinkle on chocolate chips and pecans.
• Mix caramel topping and 3 T. flour and drizzle on top (you can pop it in the microwave for a few seconds to make it softer).
• Top with remaining oatmeal mixture.
• Bake an additional 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Jamie-isms

As Jamie has been talking more and more, he keeps saying things that surprise me or that I just find hilarious.

One day soon after we got home from our Christmas travels, I told him we were going to play at his friend Teague's house. All day (and many days after) he kept saying "Teague house Teague house." Then he would start panting, which is how he says dog, because there is a dog at Teague's house. And then he said "water," because he apparently remembered that he once spent an entire afternoon putting Cheerios in the dog's water bowl. I believe that happened in October - I was so surprised that he remembered!

One day at dinner, Jamie randomly said "book." I didn't know why, there were no books around that I could see and Thomas and I weren't talking about them, but I just went with it. I told him, "Book? Sure, I like books." He replied, "Me too." I about fell out of my chair.

Last time we went to the zoo, he said "hi" to all the animals and waved to them. It was stinking cute. When we saw the gorillas, he called them "Daddy."

He plays with our phones a lot and holds them up to his ear as though he is talking to someone. Invariably when I ask who he is calling, he says "Matt." He likes to say his other uncle's names a lot too, and "pa" which is how he now says Grandpa. It seems everyone made a big impression on him at Christmas!

Jamie now says "ABC" a lot and sometimes even "ABCD." He'll repeat the entire alphabet after us, letter by letter. W is definitely the hardest to say. He has counted to 5 entirely on his own a couple times, and he knows 8, 9, 10 very well. His favorite numbers to say are "2, 3," which he repeats constantly. He really doesn't like to say 7. Often if I have him repeat numbers after me, he'll repeat 1 through 6, and then when I say 7, he'll skip to 8. Then I'll say 9 and he'll say 10.

Jamie had some diarrhea last week and I had to get up to change him in the night a few times. One of those times, as I was putting him back to sleep, he suddenly pulled out his paci and said "red ah-ah" and repeated it several times (that is how he says panda, thanks to Thomas). There are red pandas at the zoo and apparently he was thinking about them in the middle of the night. He likes to say "zoo" a lot and then list animals: "red ah-ah" and "rhino" and then he makes elephant and monkey noises.

One morning when I was holding him right after I got him out of his crib, he said "love Mommy." Possibly the best moment of my entire life.

Recently, while I was giving him a bath, he decided he was done. He clambered over the side of the tub into my arms and demanded "hug baby!" So I did. :)

Once when I had the fridge open, Jamie kept pointing to the pickle jar. I asked if he wanted to try one at lunch. All morning he went around saying "try pick." Then at lunch when I gave him one, he tasted it and almost immediately made a face and said "all done." Can't say I blame him, I'm not too fond of pickles myself.

When I ask what state we live in, he says "Tennessee" (pronounced Ten-see) and he can point out both Tennessee and Missouri on a map. He has a board book of the presidents and he can point out George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln - when he's cooperating, that is. A lot of the time he likes to point to different presidents and have me tell him about them. I love it so much.

He says his name a lot now, though it's pronounced "Bamie" and he also refers to himself as "baby." When he really wants something, he points at it and says "have!" over and over. Or alternatively he'll point to himself and say "baby" or "Jamie." When he wants to be held, he says very insistently, "Up! Up! Up! Up!" When I tell him it's time for lunch, he runs to the fridge and demands "Open! Open!" When he's carrying something heavy, he'll exclaim "Heavy!" in a very strained voice.

Jamie loves croutons. We had salad for dinner last night so they were on the table and he really wanted some. I told him he could have just one. He ate it happily and then looked at me and said "Two?"

He asks for specific songs by name. His favorites are "Baa Baa Black Sheep" ("baa baa") and "Row Row Your Boat" ("row boat").

Sometimes when I say, "Jamie, you're so cute," he'll say, "I cute! I cute!"

I love getting these little insights into his mind. He keeps me laughing, which is good because he can also drive me crazy sometimes. That is probably too many stories all at once for most
people . . .  but at least the grandparents will appreciate them :)

recent projects

I have always wanted to learn to sew. I took home ec in junior high and made some pillows and an apron, but I haven't done much since then at all. A couple years ago, Thomas and Emily got me a sewing machine for my birthday and I intended to start using it right away. But then less than a week later I found out I was pregnant, and that combined with school kind of pushed the whole learning-to-sew project to the side. Then Jamie came along and spent most of his first year napping horribly, meaning I had little time to myself. Finally, though, when Jamie went down to one nap this past summer, he started consistently napping well, and I have found myself with some me-time each day. Hooray! Obviously I use that time to clean and prep food for dinner and read (and update the blog, like I am right now), and I have also found time to start teaching myself to sew.

I already posted pictures of a couple projects I've worked on in the last few months:

Jamie's Jedi Halloween costume

Jamie's Christmas stocking

I also made Jamie a fleece sleepsack. His room is the coldest in the apartment, and it is very tricky to keep blankets on him. He already had a Halo sleepsack, but it is very thin and and wasn't going to do much to keep him warm. I found a fleece one online, but it cost about $25, not including shipping. I made this one for about $8. I had no pattern, I just traced around the sleepsack he already had. It was my first time sewing in a zipper and it was particularly tricky, as I was putting in an upside-down separating zipper in a garment that wasn't going to separate the whole way. It is far from perfect, but it works!

I made several Christmas gifts as well. Using this tutorial, I made quilted rag letters for Jamie, his cousins, and some friends. 

Pinterest gave me lots of good ideas (probably too many) for gifts I could make myself. That's where I stumbled upon these monogrammed ornaments. I made sets of them for several families. These particular ones were for my brother Hyrum's family.

 

For most of Thomas's professors and friends, I made treats (almond poppyseed bread, pretzel turtles, homemade marshmallows . . . YUM), but one lady was pregnant and had gestational diabetes, so instead I made her a few burp cloths. Again I found the tutorial on Pinterest. The only hard thing about these was trying to find general neutral fabric. I made them out of flannel. So easy and so soft and snuggly! Too bad they'll soon smell of sour milk :)

 

I made several gifts for Thomas's sister Emily, but for some reason I only took a picture of this ear warmer (yes I think I may be addicted to Pinterest).

I also made her a going away present as she heads off to Korea (in just a couple weeks!!). This is a travel organizer with pockets for passport, boarding pass, etc. The zippers were a little tricky. I really love how it turned out, especially the contrasting fabric as the pocket lining.

 

And finally (for those of you who made it all the way to the end), I just recently designed and made these file pocket holder things to hold art supplies next to Jamie's little table. I used some interfacing to make them a bit sturdier. I'm very pleased with how they turned out!