When Cousins Attack!

This series of photos makes me laugh every time I see them. Notice how innocent Timothy looks. But we all know that looks can be deceiving. Here they are posing for a picture with grandpa - Sitting there all nice and then BAM! Just look at how my nephew attacks my son! :) Poor Joshua is defenseless (and apparently surprised) by Timothy's attempt to remove his shirt!HAHAHAHA! Ok, so maybe I rearranged the photos a little to frame poor Timmy. In reality, Timothy is so , so gentle with Josh. Every time they get together, Timothy strokes Josh's arm or his face. He's such a sweet little boy. Sorry I framed you, Timmy! Auntie Jamie loves you. :)

After grandpa was done with the boys, Josh got in some snuggle time with his great-grandpa while Timothy cruised around the house. That little boy can really move!

Joshua's therapy continues to go well. I am so impressed with how fast he's learning and changing. He's recently started reaching with both hands and putting things in his mouth. He tries really hard to get the pacifier in his mouth and I have no doubt that in a few weeks he'll have it down. He still loves to stand & jump and will even take a few steps if you lead him!

A typical therapy session with Joshua's OT, Rochelle, usually starts off with some stretching and moves into play. We work on sitting and his core strength, work on reaching and grasping, work on laying on his tummy and even crawling! Last week, Joshua "crawled" across the living room. It wasn't a true crawl, but he was doing reciprocating leg movements which was awesome! He sort of pushed himself across the carpet with his legs, but his arms were still down & his cheek was on the carpet. :) Funny image, huh?

The introduction of food continues to go well with one little hitch. In the past week, Joshua has only had two dirty diapers (and they've both made me gag/nearly throw up!). I'm calling this little hitch Poopwatch '08. :) I've tried giving him straight apples, straight pears, pear juice, apple juice...all the things that are supposed to make babies go. So we decided to try sitting in a warm bath. While it didn't make Joshua poop, he did enjoy the experience.

Rebecca, I know how you love the rolls, so this picture is just for you:

Even with the lack of poop in his life, Joshua continues to be a very happy boy. He loves being outside in this crisp fall weather and continues to be the light of our lives. :)

Does anyone else think that my son resembles Mater, from "Cars"? It's the first thing I thought when I took this picture! Even if he does look like a rusty old tow truck from time to time, he's still my little stud muffin and the cutest baby on the planet!!

Never Say Never!

God has a funny sense of humor. He always gives us what we need. And what He gives us is always, always, always better than what we could have imagined. Let me give you a few examples...

When I was 16, I wanted a car. But I had requirements for my car. It couldn't be white, couldn't be a 2-door, couldn't be standard. I would never drive a standard white 2-door! I mean, there are so many cars for sale out there, I was sure I could find something to meet my needs...as long as it wasn't white, wasn't a 2-door, wasn't standard. Fast forward a few months and what was I driving down the road in? A 1988 Nissan Sentra. To be more specific, it was a standard, white, 2-door Nissan Sentra. And I loved it.

When I thought about the children that I would have someday, I pictured them with dark hair, big eyes & bright smiles. But I also had requirements for my children. I didn't want a child who was either mentally or physically disabled. I mean, I just couldn't handle that! I worked in a special ed. classroom right out of college and that was so very frustrating for me. And I was afraid that I would pity my child if they were somehow handicapped. So I'd just take a healthy, perfectly normal child, thank you very much. Fast forward a few years and who is the light of my life? A little boy with dark hair, big eyes & a smile that is brighter than the sun. To be more specific, he is a little boy with dark hair, big eyes, a smile brighter than the sun with a great possibility of a permanent physical or mental disability. And I wouldn't change a thing about him.

When Ben and I discussed the type of home we wanted to buy someday, we pictured homes that we could raise a family in. But we had requirements for our home. Sometimes some requirements conflicted with other requirements! Ben didn't want to be in the center of town, but I didn't want to be too far away from things. Ben wanted a large plot of land but neither of us wanted to do lots of yard work. We wanted an older home with character that we could fix up and make ours, but we didn't want to have to fix it up before we moved in and then spend all our time & money fixing things. I couldn't even consider a house without a dishwasher, garbage disposal and lots of counter space. We didn't want a little tiny house. We both said we never wanted a ranch style home. We wanted a two car (or more!) garage. We didn't want less than three bedrooms. We were starting to think we'd never own a home (but if you take a quick look at the title of this post, you'll see that we're learning never to say never!!). Fast forward to Saturday, October 4, and what did we do? We put an offer in on a 1,025 square foot, two bedroom, one bath ranch with a 1 car garage and an outdated kitchen with no dishwasher, no garbage disposal and very little counter space. Two hours after putting the offer in, it was accepted!! And we're thrilled. I'll give you more details when we get further into the closing process and have more to tell. :)

The Other "Baby"

Ben went back to Casa Vin'Arte on Friday for his second session to tend his 'baby'. This was the session that he had to de-gas, or burp, the baby. (Are you sick of the second baby reference yet?) So we went back and Ben went to work.

First he siphoned the wine out of the plastic bucket (I'm sure there's a technical name for it) and into the big glass thingie (again...the technical name escapes me) where it will stay until it's time to bottle it.

The sediment (oak chips, clay, other grape leftovers...) left in the bottom of the bucket was interesting...

Second, we tasted it! While it wasn't anywhere close to being completed, both Ben & mom agreed that it's not bad! I thought it tasted like wine and was disappointed. :)

Then, Ben got to combine two of his favorite things: power tools & wine. Ben had to get all the carbon dioxide bubbles out of the wine so they gave him a power drill with a special attachment on it and he spun and he spun and he spun for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, Joshua watched happily for a few minutes and then decided it was time to entertain everyone in the building with his range of facial expressions and his contagious laughter.

Josh at Casa Vin'Arte from Jamie Nodine on Vimeo.

After Ben was done spinning, he added the rinsed off oak chips back in (to simulate aging in oak barrels) and put his baby to bed to rest for another three weeks until it's time for the next step.
Night night, little one. Daddy loves you. :)

Six Months Old...Part II

I'm sure you are getting sick of my ramblings, so I asked Ben to take this one. :)

Wow! Six months and how our lives have changed... Gone are the leisurely mornings spent drinking coffee and lazing around the house. Gone are the impromptu weekend trips to wherever we got the urge to go. And yet life has never been sweeter! This is by far the best experience of my life! I'm so happy to be a parent. I'm excited everyday to be Josh's Daddy. I know it's only been six months, but I look back from where we started and I'm amazed at how much has changed. I don't want to take any day for granted. I don't want to look back and realize too late that I missed my boy's life. We have been blessed! Need I say anything else?

Six Months Old!

Joshua is six months old today! I'll do a more in depth post later, but I just wanted to show you how Joshua started his half birthday:

His first meal of bananas! :)

Mark Spitz, Michael Phelps, Joshua Nodine

My baby will be old enough to participate in the 2024 Summer Olympics. Hey, maybe he will bring home a gold medal in swimming! He's already started working on his front crawl. See?

Joshua "swimming" from Jamie Nodine on Vimeo.

While Joshua does enjoy "swimming" in the living room, there are lots of other things he loves as well. When he's not practicing swimming, young Mr. Nodine enjoys getting zerberts from daddy

Daddy & Joshua from Jamie Nodine on Vimeo.

and playing in the grass.

We bought a hand held massager because Joshua's therapist suggested it. He seems to have a little bit of an aversion to things going in his mouth & she thought we needed to remedy this before we started to give him food. So we got the massager and began giving it to Josh to hold (it stops his hands from clenching all the time) and put in his mouth if he wants. He loves it! Notice how open BOTH his hands are! He loves to hold it (sometimes he even holds it on his own) and suck on it.

Mmmm...gum massage! from Jamie Nodine on Vimeo.

So we decided that since the massager went in the mouth, we should try food. Nana bought Josh some special spoons that are soft & flexible so they won't freak Joshua out, we made some rice cereal flavored milk, & daddy got to feed him for the first time. Turns out it was a first for both! Joshua's first "solid" food & Ben's first time feeding a baby. They both did exceptionally well. :)

Joshua's first food from Jamie Nodine on Vimeo.

5 1/2 Month Old Stats...

Joshua had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday to get his 4 month check up and immunizations. Yes, I know that we are a month and a half late. :) He took the shots like a champ and didn't seem to have any after effects from them. He weighs 15 lbs, 9 oz (much lighter than I thought he was going to be!) and is 25 1/2 inches long. Those measurements put him in the 25th percentile for both height & weight! His head is still measuring small (below 5th percentile), but it's growing consistently.

That's all to report for now. :)

A New Baby!

As we speak, we have a new baby in process and Ben couldn't be more excited. In six months, Ben will be the proud papa of his very own wine! Oh, you thought I meant Joshua was going to be a big brother?! HAHAHA...sorry, no. I can barely handle all the curveballs Josh is throwing us. There's no way we're ready for another one yet. Ok, so back to our new "baby". :) For Ben's birthday, Joshua and nana and I got together and pooled our resources (Joshua paid for most of it) and bought Ben an experience. A make your own wine experience. He started out by measuring & heating the water, soaking some clay & stuff into the water and putting it all in a bucket: Then he added the grape juice. He chose to make an Australian Shiraz. The juice was super concentrated and very sweet, but still yummy. Joshua watched the whole process from his car seat and seemed to approve! The next step for Ben was to measure the specific gravity and then add some oak chips to simulate aging in an oak barrel. Finally, he added the magic ingredient to bring the wine to life - yeast. As soon as he sprinkled it on, the wine started to bubble & you could see it react. It was really neat! Finally, Ben put the lid on the bucket, labeled it and trusted it to the care of Casa Vin'Arte. We go back in a few weeks to do the next step. All in all, Ben will go back four times to complete all the steps necessary and then he'll bottle it. He'll end up with between 24-27 bottles of wine and it will age in the bottle for between 6 -24 months. It's really exciting to watch the whole process and be able to taste the wine as it ages. How fun! :)

Joshua is still trying to adjust his sleeping schedule, which is miserable for everyone. Today, his schedule looked like this:

8pm last night: fall asleep

12:30am: eat, play, cry, fall asleep

4am: wake up, fuss, cry, eat, laugh, try to play, refuse to burp

5am: fuss, cry, refuse to sleep

5am - 6:30am: cry. cry a little more. fake mom & dad out by falling asleep but waking up as soon as laid down. mom & dad finally give up and just get up.

7am: fuss, cry, fall asleep while eating

7:30am-10:30am: sleep.

10:30am-6pm: eat, play, cry, fuss, refuse to sleep, repeat

6pm-6:45pm: cat nap on daddy

I don't have a whole lot of hope that tonight will be much better, but a girl can dream, can't she? I'm not sure if not sleeping is due to starting to teethe, or if it's because he's trying to cut out a nap, or if he just wants to mess with us, but if anyone has any advice on what to do to help my son figure out his sleeping schedule, we're open to ideas! Even without sleeping that much though, he's a happy boy. All this not sleeping is leading to an abundance of cuddles, which makes mommy, daddy & nana very happy. We're so blessed to have such an easy going little one. And when we're at the end of our rope and can't take one more minute of crying, he smiles or giggles or gives kisses or brings his little hand up to stroke my cheek and it's all better. Amazing how something so little can hold so much sway over your heart, huh? :)

All the way to Afghanistan...

Today is Tio Jay's birthday, so we want to wish him a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even though we can't be together to celebrate, we will be thinking of you today. Joshua is very proud of you, Jay! We all miss you & can't wait to see you when you come home. :) We love you!!!!!

5 Months Old & Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Joshua decided that this was the week to experiment with not sleeping at night. Turns out it's not such a hot idea. I could have told him that if he had asked, but you know how these kids are...have to find out for themselves. :) Since Joshua wasn't sleeping more than 3 hours at a time, I wasn't sleeping either. By Friday, I was a walking disaster! So Joshua and I had a talk Saturday night and I told him that since daddy's birthday was tomorrow, he had to sleep through the night. And he did! And the angels sang and Ben and Jamie rejoiced! Last night, Joshua was up every 3 hours again. DRAT! Oh well. When it's 3am and I've been up for hours with a baby who refuses to sleep, I remind myself that these days won't last forever. Before we know it, Josh will be far from getting up all hours of the night and instead will be dragging his feet to get out of bed! So Joshua is now 5 months old. He is such a loving little boy. He loves giving kisses (mostly to mommy!) & loves to snuggle. He has a really pleasant personality as well. He smiles and talks to almost anyone and rarely cries. If he's crying, its because he's hungry or wet or wants to cuddle. We are enjoying every minute with him. These are such precious days!

We are still waiting to begin Joshua's therapy. I'm hoping it starts to happen soon. He seems to know that he is "severely delayed" (that's the term they used on the report that they sent us after his evaluation), and is working hard to correct it. He has started to try to roll over, and works hard on it every chance he gets. He's so strong! He hates being on his back and tries to sit up whenever we put him on his back. He is also working hard to use his hands to grab, push & hold toys. It's frustrating as his mother to watch him struggle. I can see what he wants to do and then I have to watch helplessly as he tries again and again and again to work it out. I want to make it easy for him and help him, but I know that he has to figure it out on his own and learn his own way of making things work. When he finally gets it though, I'm the proudest mama ever. :) We have a book called "That's Not My Bear..." that has different bears with different textured body parts. "That's not my bear...it's nose is too rough.", "That's not my bear...his tounge is too scratchy." You get the picture. We read this book often with Joshua and he loves all the textures. The other day as I was reading the book to him, I noticed that I didn't really even have to put his hands on the textures. He knew what to touch! The last page says, "That's my bear! His ears are so fluffy!" and Joshua went right for the ears. The second time we read it, I took a video of him doing it. You can see how he struggles to get his right hand to where he wants it...that's what we're working to correct.

"That's my bear! His ears are so fluffy!" from Jamie Nodine on Vimeo.

In other news, Ben celebrated his 30th birthday yesterday! Happy Birthday, Ben!!!! (This is Ben at 6 months old. Does that smile look familiar? :) If you can't quite place it, head down to the end of the post...you'll see what I'm talking about.)

Joshua started the day by signing Ben's birthday card -

and then we went to the Highland Park Diner for breakfast. It was really, really, really good. I had the most delicious strawberry covered waffle, & Ben had Nantucket Benedict (crab cakes, english muffin, poached eggs & hollandaise sauce!). It was definitely worth getting up and out before 9am. We finished the day by taking a walk along the canal in Fairport, followed closely by enjoying some gelato & cake at a cafe. It was a great birthday.

Finally, I want to show you what a difference 3 months makes (as if you didn't already know)! Here is Joshua on Father's Day in June: and here he is yesterday:My, my, my how fast he's growing up!