I can't believe how fast time is flying now that we are past Christmas! It feels like just yesterday that Jordie was born and now I'm already writing up his 8 month post (which of course is late again!).
This past month had a lot of firsts in our big guy's world. First Christmas and New Years, first time at the park and on the swings (we've been waiting for Daddy to be here with us), and first time swimming (photos of those firsts coming in a separate post soon).
He is quite a good little eater these days and absolutely loves the mesh feeder we have. We put yummy fruits and veggies into it and he loves to eat together with us as a family. We've tried foods like banana, blueberries, strawberries, carrots. He is also eating foods that we eat such as potatoes, pasta, chicken, pork, etc.
He is still my phenomenal sleeper, with 3-4 hours of naps per day and a solid 11-12 hours of sleep at night. I am of course absolutely thrilled by this and on the off night he is awake at night you know it's for a good reason like teething.
Speaking of teeth...we've still got absolutely NONE! I can't believe he still has none with how much teething has been going on this month. He is still a really happy baby but certainly a little clingier some days when he is clearly uncomfortable.
Since Jim was home at Christmas I've noticed a definite decrease in the regular everyday clingyness that he was experiencing before that. I guess having Daddy home to spend time with made him need and want me less. He is getting better about going to other people now and with a demi-pair student here helping 5 days a week he is bound to get even better with it before my return to work in May.
This month also saw a major increase in moveability! He is finally army crawling and is pretty determined when he wants to get at something, specifically the things in my living room he isn't allowed to touch of course. The blinds, stereo speakers, and the laptop cord are his definite favorite things these days. I spend most of his awake time saying No, and Jordan, Don't Touch. The first time I spanked his hand he looked at me and put his arms down and grunted at me. He is definitely his father's boy! James when I did that would cry, or smile at me and go right back to it!
He is attempting to stand at things now, but I think with the weight he's carrying around it's tough for him. The other day I saw him standing at his music table and against a rocking baby seat we have. I don't think it will be long before he is full on crawling but I also suspect he may just skip that step altogether. We are attempting to teach him now how to climb up and down the stairs safely and properly. I know some people think I'm crazy but it worked really well with James. We taught him early and by 10-11 months he was safely crawling up and down them (with support and supervision of course) before he was walking. This time I'm doing it for two reason, one so I again don't have to put gates up on the stairs (3 floor townhouse = too many gates) and also because he's so heavy it will be nice to have him help me get him up and down all of those stairs!
As for his speech and/or babbling, we still have very little of anything that sounds like any kind of word but he is definitely becoming more vocal with his ramblings. He will occasionally say Mamamamama but he certainly isn't doing it when he's looking at me or anything. I think it's just his go to word cause it's the easiest to say right now. I know before long he'll be yelling and screaming for me so I'm not too worried about. I know all too well how fast they turn into cheeky, cursing little toddlers (oops, our fault on that one!)
To my sweet brown eyed little boy...Mommy loves you so very much and thinks you are the best thing that has ever happened to our family. I couldn't imagine life without you.
For some reason watching my baby grow into what we lovingly refer to as a King Kong baby beside his little baby friends, has made these past few months seem to just fly by! As I keep emptying out his closet of all shreds of baby clothes and pulling out toddler clothes that James wore when he was walking around I felt a tinge of sadness but also just shock and disbelief at how fast one baby can grow. He is now in all 12-18 or 18 month clothes as the 12-18 are mostly too short over his big belly!
Fast forward to yesterday when we finally got to the last item on the Daddy's Home To-Do List and it was full on sadness that set in with the lowering of the crib mattress. Now he just seems so big, yet is really still just a baby. The crib lowering is sad because I can no longer just stand on my tippy toes and reach over and kiss his little head while he peacefully sleeps. I can still lift him up I suppose, however, with his weight topping the scales at 25 lbs my arms are so tired from holding and carrying him by the end of the day that I doubt there will be much late night pick-up snuggles happening around here!
I can't believe how fast time is going now that we are past Christmas and have so many exciting things coming up in the spring and summer to plan for and look forward to.
I guess that's just the way things happen sometimes, but I'm sad that we are already here. Before you know it he'll be standing up in the crib and we'll have to move it down even lower. Lord help me on that day!
And this is his newest adventure...starting to climb the stairs (which I will wholeheartedly teach him to do so to relieve my poor back!)
Jordie wearing PJ's that James could still wear when was 18 months old
James insisted on having me take a picture of Jordie with his kitty on the day he took it to
Show & Tell.
The two pictures below of James are very similar but I love them both for different reasons. I love how the first one shows off his gorgeous blue eyes and the other one shows off his serious side and his rare resting face when he isn't giggling or talking (which he does from morning till night!)
Jim's awesome Auntie and Uncle gave us some matching PJ's for the boys for Christmas and because Jordie is such a big baby they can wear them all through the winter and I just love them! I'm sure many more matching PJ pictures will be taken!
I love these kinds of ones of the two of them together. Shows how they love each other.
This last one is just hilarious of Jordie!
2014 Double J Photo Project
"Watching my boys grow up right in front of my eyes"
This weeks' show and tell item was James's awesome chainsaw that he got from the Kimballs for Christmas last year. This is a super fun toy actually that I think Jim has loved just as much as James has. I have to admit for the first 6 months James was afraid of the noise this thing makes (it's very loud when it's turned up high and revving) but since last spring he's loved it and has spent many many times sawing people's arms, legs and heads.
James put up a huge stink about having his photo taken today for some reason so the best thing to do was to put the chainsaw near his brother for its photos, and then don't you know someone agreed to have his photo taken!
I've wondered when Kitty would be the victim of Show & Tell and this week was finally her week to shine as James's favorite toy. This odd looking white stuffed kitty was given to James when he was around 18 months old from our sitter Donna. He loved it immediately and sleeps with it most nights, although isn't so attached to it that it has to be with him wherever he is. I've sent him to my mom's and we've gone up the lake without her and he's totally fine which is nice to not have to worry about forgetting her someplace and him freaking out! He's never been overly attached to anything thankfully resulting in easy sleepovers. About 6 months ago he politely told me it was okay for me to put away his baby blanket because he didn't want it anymore. He's such a big boy now! :o)
Ashleigh is the first friend I've ever had that shared the same birthday with me. In the past 2 years we've become great friends that always have a total blast together, whether we are sitting in the same room having tea together watching our kids play, or talking on the phone during one of our regular hourly chats while our kids are wrecking our houses and we are doing housework while we chat. I always laugh that I often get most of my daily chores done all while talking to her. I can fold laundry, put it away, load and unload the dishwasher, wash bottles and my least favorite task of all, sweeping the floor. We joke that I need to call her when I'm feeling unmotivated to get work done because that random boring work just seems like so much more fun when I have someone great to chat with when I'm doing it!
This year we told our husbands they better do something to celebrate our birthdays, so they actually did plan a dinner out for the four of us. They arranged for sitters for the kids and off we went to the Tree Frog Bistro for a great adult only dinner last night. We chatted, had a few drinks and randomly planned another trip for sometime down the road to somewhere warm...and without the kids. When we travelled to Seattle with them in August we had an absolute blast and would love to do another trip with them in the future! In just one meal we talked/dreamed about Vegas, Mexico, Hawaii, the Bahamas or Disneyland (which of course we'd have to take the kids with us on that one!)
Here are some pictures from our night last night. Happy Birthday Ashleigh...just one more year until you're the big 3-0! Next year we'll make sure we do it up really big...maybe Mexico?!?!
Who doesn't love a cute Santa photo? Jim and I have had our photo taken with the big guy every year that we've been together. One day I'll endeavour to get them all together and post them but for now here's this years picture, as well as one of the family and two of the boys with him. Jordie was so enamored with him that we couldn't get any of him actually looking at the camera.
Yesterday marked a month since I put Coal to sleep and I feel like now I can write the post that I've wanted to write since the day he died.
I'll just put it right out there, I'm so not a cat person. The only cat I've ever really loved was mine and he came to me by fluke. Coal was my brother's cat and when Ben went away to work many years ago he needed someone to watch the cat for a few months while he was away. Fast forward a few weeks and Jim and I were headed over to the Mainland from Nanaimo to pick up a cat we had never really talked about getting. Like I said before, I've never been much of a cat person, but for that big brother of mine I would do anything.
Coal had quite the journey to get to us. My cousin drove to my uncles house and then drove him (which he hated the crate and the car) to the airport in Penticton, then he flew to Vancouver where Chris picked him up and drove him to Horseshoe Bay where we walked onto and then off the ferry to collect him and got right back on and went home again. The first night we got him home he came out of the crate and sniffed around both Jim and I. The next day we fell in total love with each other. He snuggled up to me on the couch and didn't stop doing it for the next 9 years, right up until the very end.
These were taken in his first days with us
When we had had Coal for almost a year I ended up going home to PR for Christmas and it had been exactly a year since Ben asked us to watch Coal. He knew how much I had fallen in love with him and how much he loved me and he just knew he was never getting his cat back. He went so far as to draw up very official adoption papers that he wrapped up and put under the tree for me to open on Christmas morning.
His favorite place (and human) to sleep with
He loved these oil heaters in every place we had them.
Loved to snuggle with me and my warm computer on my lap
In his skinnier days he liked to sit in some sinks...until Jimmy turned the water on him one day, that ended that fascination for my poor Coalio
BUSTED! I had no idea he ever did this until the day I caught him.
He loved to sit and sleep in strange places
Moving day and trying to get away from everyone and this where he chose to sit
Always loved my linen closets
He acted tough and like he didn't like him but I know he loved him too
His favorite way to sleep, all curled up in a big ball with his paw over his face
Favorite close up pictures of him
Sneaky kitty
Chilling with his first human Dad
And yes I was that pet owner that dressed my cat up for Christmas
Now some of my favorite photos of him ever taken...and the last ones before kids happened to our life and I found I took less pictures of just my fur baby!
Before I had my kids I loved this little guy seriously like he was my first kid. I remember when he got sick once when I was pregnant I was almost hysterical thinking about having to put him to sleep and I had no idea how I would do it. It turned out he was just really overweight so he went on a kitty diet which never really worked!
Up until about a month or two before he died he was a very solid 18 pound cat. He was a great cat that didn't love a lot of people except for me which I was totally fine with. He loved to snuggle with me, especially under the covers and often right snuggled up to my tummy or sprawled across my arm.
He was a spoiled kitty that for the longest time would only drink out of a cup on the counter in my bathroom. He rarely drank from a toilet but would if he had to. He would not drink from a container on the floor until about a year before he died and he just couldn't handle the jumping down from the counter anymore. He was such a big kitty that you could literally hear his thud from 2 floors away when he jumped down from there!
When I was pregnant with James especially (I think he started to decline a bit in the past year when I was pregnant with Jordie) he would love to climb onto my chest/belly and sleep up high up there. He loved to be near me, and would just look at me when the baby would kick at him. He loved to purr and to petted, but only on his terms. He didn't particularly like to be picked up or held but would sometimes tolerate it for a select few people. He loved my sister, but really didn't like my parents. My dad is the only person I ever know he bit!
Some pics from my first pregnancy with James
He was so good with James when he was a baby...and once he started moving around and wanting to be wherever he was!
Aaawwww....a favorite photo for sure. James reading his The Very Hungry Caterpillar book to Coal on the stairs before bed.
These two had a very special relationship. We made sure James was raised to respect Coal and his space and his stuff and to not bug him. He did love to hug and kiss him but was usually really good about leaving him alone. Only once did he ever swat at him and it was totally provoked as James had been bugging the hell out of him and I warned him that Coal was going to attack him if he didn't back off. Just a second later I heard the cry, and I went running to see tears streaming down James's face but not a single mark on James's face. He had swatted him with just his paw as a warning to back off. He never again caused him to meow at him or swat him. Coal learned that if he was pissed off he should just get up and walk away and hide somewhere.
Now pregnant with Jordan
Some random photos from the past 7 months
He was actually being quite gentle and Coal was loving it!
The first time I think I got a picture of them together
Probably my favorite photo ever taken of my two little ones.
"Helping" me with my class project
The next pictures were taken on our last night together. By this point the poor guy couldn't really move so I made him a little bed on the floor where the boys couldn't/wouldn't easily get at him.
These were the first and only pictures I think I ever got of Jordan sitting up with Coal. He only started sitting shortly before we found out Coal was dying and I didn't think to take many photos as I really didn't want Coal to feel attacked by Jordie.
He was already learning to be gentle with Coal. I'm sad that he won't be able to grow up with him, but he'd been such a good kitty for so long, it was his time to go.
After the boys went to bed he slowly walked down the stairs and struggled to climb up to snuggle with me on the couch one last time. I picked him up and made him a comfy spot beside me on both the couch and the bed that night. My heart was breaking as I was taking these photos knowing that they would be the last ones I had of him. It was one of the hardest and saddest nights of my life, knowing where I was taking him the next morning. I kept waking up all night and checking on him and all night he just sat awake. He was clearly sick and ready to go. Sadly too, Jim had just left for work a few days before I realized it was time to do it. Up until the day before I realized, he had still been eating and drinking so thankfully it did happen very quickly and I know he didn't suffer, which was what I promised him and myself when I knew he was coming home to live out the last days of his life.
When the time came for me to say goodbye to him I knew in my heart that he had lived a really good life with Ben before me and with Jim and I for the past 9 years. He was 14 years old and was a great companion and friend to me for the years I had him. Because Jim was out of town my sister kindly offered to come with me and I have to say that it was a very humane and loving experience. I know some people can't be there at the end but I just couldn't have him be alone. When the vet gave him the sedative I just picked him up and held him until he came back into the room. Then I just stood and cried and petted him until he was gone. It was definitely one of the hardest experiences of my life but I was proud of how I handled it. I couldn't have done it without my sister by my side.
I really have no desire to ever have a cat again, but we all know we make those sacrifices for our kids and I don't doubt that maybe down the road we may have another one, but certainly not anytime soon. We got off lucky that James is so young still that it hasn't really phased him that Coal is gone. As kids get older that pet passing thing must get much harder. My 9 year old niece was sobbing when I talked to her the next day, as she loved Coal very much too (note the Christmas cat picture with her when she's really little!).
Since his passing I've been going to bed with a hot water bottle that I tuck near my tummy just to feel the warmth there like I used to. It's not nearly as soft or comforting as Coal was but it's all I've got now. The thing I will remember and miss most of all is when he would climb up on the bed and come right up to my face buried in the covers and would swat at it until I lifted the covers and let him in to snuggle. That, and taking up more of the bed than my poor Jimmy! :o)
I'll miss you, my first baby, Coalio.
And lastly a short video of him in a really happy moment. He was an indoor cat but when allowed outside for brief times this is what he would do!
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