First Fever :o(

I totally jinxed myself and poor Lil Love. All weekend I carried on saying that Adam has gone through his first year of life without a fever (besides a 99 degree one after an immunization -- doesn't really count). Even when his eight teeth came in, he stayed, thankfully, fever free. Well, that all changed tonight. He got tired much earlier than usual (see photo below with Steven). We were all excited to have the evening to ourselves to watch our "Grey's Anatomy: Season 1, Disc 2" DVD (we decided to start watching the show - from the beginning, of course. It's pretty good). Anyway, just as I was finishing writing some thank-you notes (for the wonderful b-day gifts), LL woke up crying (unusual these days). I let him cry a bit but then he started to wimper (it was so sad). When I picked him up he was HOT. We took his temp and it was 102!!! My poor baby. His face was all flushed and he sat on my lap in and out of sleep (babbling when he was awake) while I spoke to the Dr (well, nurse practitioner) on call. After we took her advice and gave him tylenol, he woke up a bit. And started smiling, babbling and walking! I'm telling you, nothing slows down this kid (thank goodness). We put him back to bed with ducky and doggy, of course, and he fell right back asleep. I just now felt his head and it went warm-ish, but not hot, Thank G-d. The nurse said to check on him/give him Tylenol every 4 hours if he's still hot. She said it's either an ear infection (since he had a runny nose today) or his molars are coming in (since he was heavily drooling today). Lets hope for the latter.

In happier news, LL is continuing to walk about 20% of the time. Crawling and cruising are still his main modes of transportation but walking is coming in at a close 3rd. See photos of him walking... he was starting to fall in the last shot (where he looks like a gymnast). He falls "well", always on his tush, and it doesn't seem to faze him. Oh, please ignore the papers on the floor... you might recall that paper shredding is one of Adam's favorite activities. We give him our Sunday paper to have fun with every Monday. He loves it.

Anyway, hopefully Adam will be all smiles tomorrow with no fever. If he does have a fever in the AM, off to the Doc we go (I HATE going to the Dr and our fave Doc, Dr. F, is off tomorrow), to make sure it's not an ear infection. I'll keep everyone posted -- pun intended. :)

SO Thankful

Adam's Barnyard Bash

Today was Adam's Barnyard Bash, aka 1st Birthday Party. I took 184 photos and deleted probably half. Of course I forgot to take photos of the food (looked beautiful) and decorations.

Anyway... it was a WONDERFUL day. We are so thankful and blessed to have so many friends and amazing family in our lives. Adam especially LOVES spending time with Jake, Evan and Zach (in no particular order). They are the coolest kids EVER... at least that's what Adam "tells" me. :)

More info and photos tomorrow... too exhausted now to write more...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LITTLE LOVE! ADAM IS ONE!

Happy Birthday, Little Love! Today Mr. Adam is ONE YEAR OLD!!!

We had a great day hanging out with family (Bobbe, Zayde, Aunt Samantha, Uncle Jeff, Evan, Zach, Jake and Grandma -- who bought a beautiful cake)and celebrating. It was a beautiful day and we all had fun hanging out a Grandma's house. LL walked a lot today and pointed... at everything (finally). He was exhausted, though, by cake time so there are no photos of him smiling. Hopefully tomorrow we'll get some good shots at his "Barnyard Bash".

We are SO BLESSED to have had this gorgeous and incredible little love in our lives this past year and to have such amazing family to celebrate him with.

Halfway across the room!!!

Adam has been taking steps for a few weeks now... more and more each day. Tonight, he walked halfway across the room!!! It was while we were watching the DVD of his first year... how ironic. He's so proud of himself.

We had such a fun day. Aunt Samantha/Uncle Jeff, Jake, Evan and Zach arrived around 2 and Adam had a ball playing with them. Bobbe and Zayde came soon after. It is so wonderful having the whole crew together. We celebrated Zayde's birthday (late) tonight with an ice-cream cake and special present (a photo of five generations of the Helman men).

Tomorrow is THE BIG DAY!!! Our Little Love will be ONE!!! Unbelievable. I'm still working on "The Story of Adam (birth -- 10 months) and hope to have it up in the next week or so.

We're celebrating Adam's birthday at Grandma's tomorrow night and his "Barnyard Bash" party is on Saturday. Good times ahead... we are so thankful and blessed. Not only to have each other and LL, of course, but to have such amazing families to celebrate with. :)

P.S. Photo one is of Zach and Evan feeding Adam his yogurt. They did an AWESOME job!
P.S.S. Second photo is of Zayde with all of his grandsons. Adam wasn't feeling too photogenic, you may notice.

Wordless Wednesday -- 2 more days of being "O" year(s) old!

In 3 days...

Little Love will be turning ONE in 3 days!!!

I'm IN SHOCK... and in a little bit of denial. I'm also incredibly happy and thankful that my little guy is growing up... it's just a little bittersweet. I got very emotional when LL turned 7 months. Since he was no longer in the 0-6 month range, it felt huge. And it was. After he turned 7 months, he became "Mr. Independent". He knows what he wants and goes for it.

I've been working on "The Story of Adam" for the blog... to chronicle the pregnancy and the first 10.5 months (pre-blog; highlights only) of Adam's life. Hopefully it will be complete by the big day (Friday). Meanwhile, I've been swamped getting Adam's party organized. It is going to be much bigger than I thought... about 30 adults (including some wonderful family members: Adam's Bobbe, Zayde, Aunt Samantha/Uncle Jeff, Cousins Jake, Evan & Zach and Great Uncle Mike/Aunt Maureen, Great Uncle Morty/Aunt Elaine and Cousins Paul, Jenn, & Claire and, of course, Grandma). There will also be 11 babies! We are really excited... and a little nervous. It's the first "big party" we've thrown. Should be fun...

Adam's first party

Adam attended his first birthday party for his friend, L, today. It was such a delightful little party... beautiful decorations, wonderful food, and the most adorable birthday boy, L. L's mom, K, has become a dear friend to me. We met when K was about 2 weeks with L... it was the night before I took a pregnancy test that showed I was pregnant with Adam. Along with our friend, A, we had fun celebrating our pregnancies. We met about once a month for dinner, maternity clothes shopping, etc. L was born exactly one week before Adam in the same hospital with the same Dr.! A's daughter, L, was born six weeks after Adam. We have such a great time getting together for play dates about once a month. We're also going to plan a "Mom's Night Out" soon to celebrate US! I'm so thankful to have met K and A. They are both very special to me.
p.s. Adam took about 4 steps today!!!

Visit with Cousin Eva

We were delighted to see Cousin Eva (my dad's cousin) when she came for a visit this week. It was Eva's first time meeting Adam and he loved her. He especially loved the presents she bought him... an authentic New York City taxi cab with a T-shirt to match. Of course, his favorite part of the present was the ribbon! :) Thanks so much for your visit and wonderful gifts, Eva. We hope to see you again VERY soon!

"Mommy's wake up call"

As Adam's onesie describes, he is truly Mommy's wake-up call! Every morning I wake up to his adorable babbling on the monitor... usually talking to doggy and ducky. He sleeps beautifully through the night now (knock on wood) and usually wakes up happy (to a very groggy Mama). :) As you can see in this photo, he looks incredibly happy to be Mommy's wake-up call. This picture was actually taken right before his nighttime routine. LL gets an AMAZING burst of energy before bed each and every night. He is definitely a night owl,like his parents. You might also notice the laundry basket and all the clothes lying around the room. Another one of Adam's specialties... going through his clean laundry. He LOVES to take out each item from the laundry basket. FYI... I nicely folded everything when he went to sleep.

On a side note... Adam has always loved to take the rings off the ring toy (or whatever it's called). Now he can put the rings back on. Yay, Adam! He also ran around the corral tonight (while holding on with one hand) and said "dada" (when prompted) several times. He is definitely becoming a little boy (more on that in a future post. I can't believe he'll be ONE in ten days!!!).

*SNEAK PEEK* -- Barnyard Bash Birthday Overalls!!!

Here is a "sneak peek" of Adam's Barnyard Bash Birthday Overalls!

I was so thrilled that they came today. I special ordered them last week (Thanks, Christy, for the idea) and I found a wonderful lady who custom made them for Adam's big first birthday bash. Aren't they precious?!? The photos aren't the greatest... I took almost 50 pics and this is the best I could come up with. LL is just so active, it's hard (make that impossible) to get him to sit still for a photo. Of course, he was happy to play with the remote. Seriously, what IS it about babies and remote controls and keys?!? File that under the "Who Needs Toys?" category. :)
BTW... Adam will be wearing a red top under the overalls on "the big day" which is in less than 2 weeks...

Our weekend

We had a fairly eventful weekend. Yesterday we took Adam shopping at the Leesburg Outlets, which was great. Since it is an "outside mall" we were waiting for a sunny day to go shopping and the weather was perfect. We bought Adam lots of spring clothing at HIS favorite shops... Baby Gap, Polo and Gymboree (great sales). We are leaving all the tags on since he'll probably be getting some new outfits for his birthday (Bobbe buys him the best clothes... all those cute jeans and tops are from her). Aunt Samantha also brings him a suitcase full (literally) of wonderful outfits during each visit. "Aunt" Christy also has tons of adorable clothes for him, too, from her almost 3 (OMG) year old twins. Cute clothes galore!!! He is so fun to dress... like a real-life baby doll. :)

Today Steven and I went to an excellent seminar on marriage and parenting with Rabbi Baars of BLISS Marriages. It was an excellent -- and funny -- seminar. I actually got teary b/c I know my dad would've loved the Rabbi. Especially some of the jokes he told, like this one: "Albert Einstein met a model. The model said we should have some kids together. They would be perfect with your brains and my looks. Einstein said 'Yeah, but what if they have MY looks and YOUR brains'". I can just hear my dad laughing at that joke... it is his style. He would be banging the table, laughing, and ranking that joke "2 points". Oh, do I miss him. So much sometimes that it literally hurts...

Anyway, we left Adam with one of my Mamistad friends, Michelle, and her baby Tomas (see picture above. It was taken last month at the play area at Fair Oaks Mall). Tomas is exactly 3 days older than Adam and they've been buddies since about 7 months of age. :) Adam was asleep when we dropped him off at Michelle's. After getting over the confusion of waking up in someone's else home, the boys had a good time playing. Apparently, Adam tossed all of Tomas's toys out of his toy chest... typical Adam. :) However, when Adam saw us when we picked him up, he burst into tears. It was so sad. After I held him for a few minutes, he was a happy camper again. It was the first time a non-relative had watched him so all in all, he did well. Muchos gracias to Michelle & fam for watching Adam today.

One more thing... the photo above shows another one of LL's favorite hobby... going through all of his drawers. We will be buying drawer safety latches this week. Good idea, huh?!? The other photo is of him riding his walker from the other day. He likes to walk with his walker and has recently learned to sit on it, too.

Like the outfits? They are from from Jake, Evan, Zach, Charlie and Graham!!! Are these the coolest hand-me-downs or what?!?

Hillary, Barack, Adam??? Guess who has MY vote...

Enough with all the debates! We have the perfect candidate right here (see onesie in photo 1). And he'll be a year (OMG!!!) in 2 weeks... perfect age for a President. He'll be starting with a clean slate with no skeletons in his closet. AND, he loves his mom (see photo 2 -- thanks Jake, Evan, and Zach for the PJs)! What more could you ask for?!?
VOTE FOR ADAM!!!

"Where's Adam?"

Adam's new favorite game is playing "Where's Adam?" -- a sort of peek-a-boo with the new drapes. He seriously loves it. He'll "hide" in the drapes all day long. Whenever he hears "Where's Adam?" he'll let out the cutest giggle.

His second favorite thing to do these days is to rip up pieces of paper. We save the newspaper ads for him to tear up. He loves to tear up an ad into little pieces and carry them around. Look closely at the first photo and you can see some of his "findings".

Wordless Wednesday (Adorable Adam)

These pictures will have to do for tonight. Little Love did not nap too much today so I'm exhausted. More "words" tomorrow.

The beauty of self-feeding

Adam is not a good eater (shocking, if you know his parents!!!). He had HORRIBLE acid reflux until he was six months old. He had the kind of reflux where he refused to eat b/c it hurt so much. It was very sad and very stressful at times. Fortunately, once he started solids and/or grew taller, the reflux miraculously disappeared. Now he usually takes 24-28 oz. of formula a day without much fuss. He has eaten solids since six months but he never has eaten too much of it. We're lucky if he eats oatmeal (with fruit), yogurt and a bit of chicken and veggies each day (and I mean a bit). However, he LOVES to feed himself. He'll pretty much eat anything that he can pick up (including carpet fuzzies and anything else the vacuum missed). He will ALWAYS eat his Gerber's puffs and teething biscuits. Too bad they don't have much nutritional value! Recently, he's been pretty good about eating pieces of banana and Grandma's chicken. When we spoon feed him, though, it's a different story. He'll consistently "open up" for oatmeal and yogurt but that's about it. He "demanded" to feed himself his carrots yesterday. See how that turned out?!? :)

Happy Birthday, Zayde!

Dear Zayde,

Happy Birthday! I know I was born in a good month since you were also born in March! :) Thank you for being such a wonderful Zayde to me. I can't wait to see you in a few weeks... we can celebrate our birthdays together! I love you, Zayde!

xoxoxo,

ADAM (and his mama and daddy, too!)

"You do the JITTERBUG"

After years of resisting the "American Idol" hype, Steven and I started watching it last season when I was on bed rest. Of course we got addicted... even though I think the auditions are pretty annoying. Anyway, we were watching it the other night and one of the guys (I think he got booted, actually) was singing Wham's "Wake Me Up before you Go Go" (it was 80's night). Steven started singing the song to Adam and we realized that Adam LOVES the Jitterbug. As in "You do the Jitterbug". Everytime Steven would sing it, Adam would get hysterical. We're talking true giggle fits. So of course that's all I've heard in the house this week... "You do the Jitterbug". Here's a picture of Steven saying it to Adam... cute, huh? BTW, Steven finally shaved this morning!!!

On a side note, Adam got sick again last night. :( The nurse on call thinks it's a 72 hour stomach bug. He seems to be okay today... let's hope last night was the end of it.

sick :(

Little Love is sick. He threw up twice today -- at 9 am and 9 pm. He took his bottle fine during the day though. It's so upsetting b/c he's already on the small side and needs every calorie he can take in. Ironically enough, he was his happy and very active little self throughout the day. What a trooper. Hopefully he'll be feeling better in the morning. I get so sad seeing him sick. :(

On a happier note, LL is a clapping machine now! After 3 months of "teaching" him to clap, now that's all he wants to do. It's so sweet to watch.

Some firsts? Maybe?!?

Adam (might have) had some new "firsts" today:

1. Little Love (LL for short) may (or may not have) taken his first steps today. I THINK he took 2 steps from the corral gate to me this afternoon. Steven THINKS he saw him take 2 steps (once again) from the corral gate to his this evening. It happened so fast, though, that we're not sure. HMM... how do we describe first steps in the baby book now?!?

2. LL may (or may not have) pointed outwards to the camera for the first time today. He's been pointing/touching to things for a while now but this is the first time he actually used his pointer finger. Steven and I THINK that we saw him do it.

3. Now, a definite first... LL actually clapped (for real) this afternoon (finally)! He was done eating his carrots and was playing in his highchair. He first starting hitting (playfully) his highchair tray. Then, out of the blue, he clapped his hands together... two or three times. YAY!!! As many of you know, I've been waiting for him to clap for a loooong time. Of course the big clapping moment didn't come during "Patty Cake" or during an "appropriate" time for applause. But, hey, a clap's a clap, right?!? :)

4. LL said "dada" tonight... and we think he did so intentionally. Steven was playing with him and LL sighed and then said "da da da". It was very cute. However, over a month ago, LL looked up at Steven when he got home from work and said "da da". He is a HUGE babbler (is that the right word?) so who knows if he was babbling or really saying "da da". We like to think it's the latter. :)

All in all, it may have been an exciting day of Firsts. But it may not have been. In any case, Adam and Daddy certainly had fun laughing together this evening (see photo). Steven is such an amazing dad. He always knows what to do to bring a smile on LL's face (and mine). :)

Just Hanging Out

I had a little video of Adam hanging out to post but it doesn't seem to be working. Hmm. I'll keep working on that so you can see the little guy in action. Adam's favorite things to do these days are:

-- Cruising. He loves to cruise from one toy to another. He hasn't taken any steps on his own but has started to stand, unsupported, for a few moments at a time. He's *very careful* not to fall and balances himself perfectly. He'll reach his hand out to a "new" object while slowly releasing his hand on the "old" object. It's very cute to watch.

-- Playing in his corral. Some of his favorite toys are in his corral including his animal truck, stacking cups & blocks and musical cube, a gift from his cousins (see photo).

-- Getting into mischief. If he becomes too quiet when playing, you know something is up. :) His favorite things to get into are: open wastebaskets, laundry baskets, etc. He also loves to pull on and hide under the curtains in the living room. We had to take one of the halogen lamps out of the room yesterday since he was attempting to use it as a climbing post.

-- Books. Adam's new favorites are "I Love You Through and Through" and Sesame Street's "Bubble, Bubbles". These books have lots of great pictures and just a few words. The pages are also easy for Adam to turn which he loves to do.

-- Doggy. More than ever, Adam is attached to Doggy. You can always get a smile from him when you "put Doggy on display" (e.g. on your head, on the shelf for Adam to grab, etc.). He loves going to bed so he and Doggy can "talk". He shows his love to Doggy by kissing him (well, biting him) on his nose.

-- Puffs & teething biscuits. Adam gets so excited when he sees the familiar yellow tube of his Gerber puffs. He has tried peach and banana flavors... we think banana is his favorite. He also loves to eat "real" bananas as well as banana baby food. It makes sense that our little monkey would love bananas!!! :)

Caught red-handed

Steven has a pretty bad cold so he took a "sick day" yesterday. It was really nice to spend the day together. Since he didn't feel "that sick" he still could spend time with Adam and I. The weather was beautiful so we decided to go to Reston Town Center last night to walk around. We had an early dinner at Julio's Rio Grande Cafe (yum). As I was feeding Little Love his veggies, he decided to take the spoon from me and feed himself... but instead of feeding his mouth, he fed his clothes (see photos)! Also, when the waiter put down my entree, Adam's hands immediately went into my salad. I think his bib wording (see photo) was quite appropriate! :)

Bowl Hats...and other good times with Great Aunt Linda

Great Aunt Linda (Grandma's sister) came to visit Adam (and the rest of us!) this weekend. Adam had so much fun playing with her. Most importantly, she taught Adam how to wear a "bowl hat". He actually was able to put it on himself... very cute. We really enjoyed Aunt Linda's visit and hope she comes to visit again VERY SOON!!! We love you, Aunt Linda!

Who me? Worry? (UPDATED)

Those of you know who know me, know that I'm a HUGE worrier. Those of you who don't know me... well, you'll see that I am a "bona fide worrier" after reading this entry. If you're one of those people who get annoyed hearing worries, here is your warning to NOT keep reading. :)

So... last night we were at a Shabbat Club (neighborhood) dinner party with Adam. I was talking to this really nice guy who revealed that he was a pediatrician. My first reaction, which I shared with him (yes, I really did) was "Does he look okay to you? He's on the thin side, 5th - 10th percentile, in weight." Nice Doc jokingly looked him over and said he looked fine. He also mentioned that he sometimes orders lab work for thin babies but usually not b/c it's usually nothing. But, since this is ME he is talking to, I got mildly freaked out (at the thought of "something" being wrong). Adam's own Doc says he looks great and is thin b/c he's so active. I think I'll go with that opinion instead (so I can sleep at night).

To add insult to injury (not the exact expression I'm looking for, but close enough), I half-jokingly mention that Adam is waving but he's not clapping yet. His reply: "The books state that kids should wave, clap and point by 9 months but usually I don't see babies doing these things to closer to a year". POINT?!? Who said anything about pointing?!? I thought that babies don't point until 11 - 12 mo. which is why I haven't started freaking about it yet (he's not pointing). He explained to me again (quite patiently, to his credit) that MOST babies do not point until they're about a year. STILL. The fact that "the books" say that Adam should've been clapping and pointing for the last month or two (and he isn't) sent me into a minor (actually major) panic. He does reach for things (wall hangings, me, etc.) and my husband (NOT a Doctor) assured me that this is the same concept and that "he's fine". I also think of all of Adam's little play buddies and I can't recall any of them pointing before 12 months. In regards to clapping, he did clap (well, put his hands together two times in a row) once (with Christy, I didn't see it) and bangs his toys together. I guess that counts?!? I guess the nice Doc felt bad b/c he told me, as we were leaving, that "Adam is perfect". Why couldn't he just start the conversation with that sentiment?!?

Side note 1: I know I shouldn't be badgering the nice Doc when he's not at work. I'm sure it's the last thing he wanted to talk about at Shabbat dinner (when you're not even supposed to think about work!). Sorry Doc.

Side note 2: Yes, I realize that I'm ridiculous worrying about these things. Unfortunately, I do get quite anxious even though I REALLY wish I didn't. Fortunately, Steven is the yin to my yang, a complete anti-worrier. Thank G-d.

Side note 3: I completely understand that I'm VERY lucky to have such a beautiful and healthy (knock-on-wood) baby who does all types of wonderful things like babbling, waving, pulling up, crawling, cruising, etc. I do feel so blessed and fortunate for this, believe me. Just the worrier in me gets upset if he isn't doing "everything" by the time "the books" say he should. Which is why I don't read the books. I learned that a LONG time ago.

Moms out there.... when did your kid(s) start pointing? Should I be worried?

QUICK UPDATE: Adam pointed at/touched the little flowers on the couch pillow tonight. Steven says that definitely counts as pointing. It's a start, right?!? :)