Hey Sweet Potato!

Amery had his first "real" food last night.


He wasn't so sure about the first bite.


By the second bite he thought maybe there was something he liked about this "food" thing.


By the third bite he figured he would just do it himself.


He was clearly a pro by the time papa showd him how to do it.

Say Ya to Da UP, Eh?

If you're confused, you haven't been there.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Kiss me - I'm approximately 1/8 or less Irish.

Correction: We have TEETH breakthrough

Our little overachiever decided to cut two teeth at once. He doesn't mess around. It took a couple of tries to get a good picture of the new incisors:


Attempt #1 = FAIL


Attempt #2 = FAIL


Attempt #3 = SUCCESS.
In other words, he finally got mad enough to open his mouth and complain. If you click on the picture it will get huge and then you can really see them. You will also get an excellent view of some stuck-on cereal, baby drool, and a crusty booger. Next time I'll clean the poor kid up before his close-up.

We Have Tooth Breakthrough!

Time for a happy post! With all the sickness this past week I never had a chance to post the big news. Amery has his first tooth! It's partway through his gums and it's sharp. I don't think we'll be letting him chew on our fingers much longer. I'll try and get a picture of it tomorrow if he cooperates so check back.

Finally Home

We thought we were on our way out last night, but when the resident doctor took a look at him around 6:00 last night, she still didn't like the way his chest was retracting. Retracting means that he had to work so hard to breathe that his little chest and tummy muscles were visibly moving in and out. She said she didn't think it would be overkill to keep him one more night and make sure he didn't need oxygen while he slept. He slept almost the whole night straight through and didn't need any oxygen! The nurses came in 6 or 8 times to check his vitals and suction his nose (he's not a fan) and I only had to rock him back to sleep twice. Otherwise he just crashed right out. He woke up once with a fever of 100.6, but that's a lot lower than it had been the day before.


We're home now and he's taking the longest nap I think he's ever taken at home. He's been through a lot the past few days. I think we will keep him home from daycare one more day to ease back into everyday life. Thank you for all the well wishes and prayers.


A picture from this early this morning (it's from my camera phone so it's not the best):

Sick Little Man

I have a couple of minutes while Amery and papa are napping...

We've been at Children's Hospital since yesterday afternoon, and before that we were at the pediatrician's office since 9:00 on Friday morning. On Tuesday we took Amery into see the pedi for a bad cough he's had for a week or so. She gave him a decongestant to try and clear it out. Wednesday he didn't do so good at daycare so I stayed home with him again on Thursday. We went back to the pedi Thursday morning with a fever and fast hard breathing, and he was diagnosed with RSV. His doctor sent us home with some breathing treatments. Thursday night he hardly slept at all. Friday morning his temperature was up to 102.6 so we went back to the doctor. She did more breathing treatments, took a chest x-ray, and monitored his breathing. By mid-day she said she was "on the fence" but suggested we get him admitted to the hospital just in case. I'm so glad we did.

When we got to his hospital room, I don't know what was up. We think he was giddy with how well the Infant Motrin made him feel. He was a giggle-fest with all the nurses! Jon and I were beside ourselves thinking, did we just bring our kid to the hospital to have him laugh is way out? If only that were the case. His fever came back up and with it the fast breathing returned. He actually slept the whole night, only waking when they came to take his temp, give him Motrin, and take his vitals. At the beginning of the night when he finally fell asleep, the nurses told us that if his oxygen level fell below 88 an alarm would go off and he may need extra oxygen to breathe. Sure enough, after he'd been asleep for 20 minutes it went down to 81. So the poor little guy has been on oxygen every time he is asleep. Until this nap! He's been down for a while and no drop in his level yet! Yay! That may mean we can all go home later today.

Light my Fire

Sometimes he just wants to rock out. Is that so wrong?

5 Months Old and a New High Chair

Amery is 5 months old today! He's been eating cereal for a couple of weeks and we're about to start fruits and veggies in a couple more, so I figured it was time to get him a high chair. We don't have a lot of room in the kitchen area, so I picked up a space-saving booster seat that you just strap to the chair. So far I think it's a hit.


Today - a caterpillar. Tomorrow - strained peas.


Don't bug him, he's busy.

I'm trying out a new video thingy that will hopefully be more clear than the blogger version:

He gets it

We've had this jumperoo for a while now, and it's taken some time for him to grow into it. At first he hated it, then he decided he liked it but he couldn't really jump. He would just sort of stand there and do the hula. The other day he figured out how to jump straight up and down. I'm pretty sure he's going to launch right out of the thing one of these days. I caught a couple seconds of it on video for your viewing pleasure:



Oh, and I had a fun surprise in my email this morning. I have been in love with this website called Cool Mom Picks for a while now. It's a blog that is updated daily with all sorts of cute and unique stuff for kids (and parents). Budget contstraints don't allow for much shopping these days, but I do try to enter their contests whenever I get a chance. This morning I found out that I won a prize! They even posted my name on the site as the winner. I feel like a minor celebrity. (Yeah, I'm a dork, but whatev).

The Downfall of Playing "Superman"

He might barf on your head.

First Cereal

We tried cereal for the first time last night:

I think he actually liked it:

Because he tried to get the last bits off the bib:

We got some video of it too:

Happy (early) Valentine's Day!

This picture was taken at daycare around 7:30 this morning (i.e., pre-coffee), so if you could not focus on my screwed up hair and lame expression, and instead focus on the cute kid and the Valentine's Day color theme, that would be great.


And for those of you who didn't get this in the mail (sorry, I only had a few to send out), here's the e-version of Amery's valentine:



*~*Post Update*~*

I would just like to show everyone what Amery dropped off at my desk today:


Picture stolen from someone else.

Chocolate covered strawberries from Amy's Ice Creams. Didn't know he could drive already, did you?

The Last Hat

I think he has now worn every winter hat that Grandma has bought for him. We don't get a lot of winter in Texas, so fitting them all in was a challenge.

Yeah, I work out.

I even have the shoe socks to prove it.


You mess with me, I crush your head.

Game Day

Even though they didn't play in the Superbowl this year, Jon wanted to make it clear on Sunday who Amery cheers for. Socks courtesy of "Uncle" Keith.

A couple more from this weekend:

Don't tase me bro.

He loves this playmat.

New Hat

You may have heard on the news that much of the South woke up covered in ice this morning. We didn't get it too bad here in Austin, but it was enough to make it necessary for us (and when I say us I mean Jon) to chip away at a thin layer in order to get our car doors open:


Ice on the hood.


Looking out the back window.

The cold morning was a perfect opportunity to try out Amery's new hat, courtesy of Grandma G:

Can I just brag a little?

I recently visited the website of my awesome photographer friend - Lyndsay Stradtner of Life in Motion Photography - because I heard she'd made some changes to it. Lyndsay shot my maternity photos and Amery's newborn photos, and she was recently named 2008 Best Kids Photographer by the Austin Chronicle. Lo and behold our little man is featured not once, not twice, but three times. If you want to see them, go to Lyndsay's website (link above, then click on Website), and in the portfolio section at the bottom of the screen, click on "brand new." Amery appears in pictures 1, 4, and 5. While you're there, take a minute to check out the rest of her amazing work.

My Boys

I took this shot of my two favorite boys (three with Kona) before work on Friday...

...and because I couldn't decide which of these is cuter I'm posting both...

Howdy!