How they've grown....

So, I did this experiment with Jackson when he was in the first year of his life. I took a picture of him each month in his "Jackson" chair in the same position so you could see just how much he had grown. Here are Jackson's pics from one month and three months. We decided to do the same thing with Isaiah....so here are Isaiah's pics from one month and three months. Why is there no two month picture you ask? Well, the poor kid was crying so much from the colic during month two of this life, and we were such basket cases then that we just didn't get around to the two month picture. Sorry buddy! :)

Labor Day Weekend

What a fabulous time we had this past Labor Day weekend! We headed up to our house at Grand Lake on Friday and enjoyed some much needed family time. We swam, took the boat out, fished (errr, I didn't, but Jackson and Renzi did!), cooked out, played with friends and attempted to sleep.

Isaiah slept the second night we were there from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. straight. Too bad he hasn't done that since, and in fact, has been sleeping worse since! EEK!

What really made this trip special was the fact that this was the first time we have been at the lake where Isaiah did not scream the entire time we were there. In fact, he was downright pleasant to be around. :) Yiippeee! He loves being on the boat and really seems to enjoy it.

Here are some pics of the lake....the pic of Jackson taking his swim suit off? Well, that's just what he does these days when he is ready to go. Starts taking his clothes off.

P.S. Isaiah had his 2 month doc appt. yesterday (even though he is 3 months old!) and he weighs 15 pounds and is 25 inches long...both in the 97% in each respective category. WOW! That's a big boy folks. (see the pic of Isaiah sleeping in the stroller-he is wearing Jackson's swimsuit! and it fits!) The Pediatrician also said we could slowly start a new formula (Em Sue-it's Alimentum!) and see how he does. Here's hoping that it works, it's WAY cheaper than the Neocate he is on now!

Much love,

Lee

Happy 2nd Birthday Jackson!

My baby boy is 2!!! How did this happen??? Today is Jackson's actual birthday, but we celebrated on Saturday at Gymboree with some fun friends. Jackson had a ball (and so did all of the parents and friends!). Here are a couple of pics from the big partay. :)

P.S. Isaiah has a girlfriend! Her name is Sidney Kate and she is my friend Addie's little girl. Sidney is four days older than Isaiah. There are a few pics of them rolling around on the mat at the party. At one point Sidney tried to take her shirt off for Isaiah! :)

Renzi and I tried to think about something special to get Jackson for his birthday this year and I finally came up with a perfect present this past Saturday. Jackson is obsessed with fish, but when he says fish it sounds so funny. He curls his lip to the side (similar to Elvis) and says, "FFFiiisssshhhh." So, Saturday morning we loaded up and went to Petsmart and let him pick out his very own ffissshhhh. He chose a Blue Beta fish ($3.99 SCORE for mom and dad!) and we bought a fish bowl and some food and off we went. On the car ride home Renzi asked me what the over under would be that the fish was alive and I said, "24 hours." He chose the over on that one. Well, as soon as we got home Jackson wanted to hold his fish so I gave him the plastic bowl that the fish came in. He decided right then and there to throw a temper tantrum and threw the bowl on the ground. The bowl busted and the poor fish was wriggling around our laundry room floor without any water. Luckily, dad came to the rescue and saved the fish and he is now alive and well in our kitchen. Jackson has decided to name his fish "Natt Dee Dee," after his two girlfriends Natalie Heskett and my friend Addie (the one who's daughter is Sidney Kate that I mentioned earlier.)

Happy Birthday Jackson James! We love you to the moon and back.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Little Brother beats up Big Brother....

I like to call this one....Blake Griffin beating up on his BIG brother Taylor....or....Isaiah is freaking huge and may just beat up his big brother Jackson. :)

We have had a good 4 days with Isaiah...knock on wood, no screaming since Thursday afternoon. I took him to see a Chiropractor who has been doing pressure points on him and baby massage, and the kid has made a miracuolous turn around. Let's hope it lasts! We have so enjoyed his smiles and contentness this weekend.

On another note, Jackson is turning 2 this next Monday! We are having a birthday party for him this Saturday at Gymboree and we can't wait. I have been busy preparing him for what a birthday means and he enjoys singing "Happy Birthday" to himself and telling everyone he is "Two." I will post lots of pics of his birthday party!

Girls Weekend

After 5 months of planning in advance, I headed off to our house at Grand Lake this weekend for a much needed Girls Weekend. Emily Sue, Jackie, Amanda, Angela and Sara were all in attendance and we had a fabulous time. We took the boat out (all by ourselves!), ate, played, slept, laughed and talked. We have already begun the plans for next year's reunion.....And thank you to my wonderful husband who stayed home with both boys AND I came home to a clean house! How'd a girl get so lucky???? :) Here are some pics from the weekend....

And in other news...Isaiah is a chunky 14 pounds...I looked at Jackson's baby book and he weighed 14 pounds at 7 months. He is now fully outgrown the 3 month clothing and he is only 9 weeks old! EEK! He has been having a lot of good days in a row, which is encouraging, and just fusses instead of the taradactyl scream, which is also encouraging. Our GI doctor thinks that we may be on the dowhill slope of the colic...:) He is sleeping better at night, and we have discovered that if we wake him up around 10:30-11:00 to eat, he will sleep until 3:00 or 3:30, eat again, then go back to sleep until 6:00 or 7:00 a.m. This is much improvement from the waking every 1.5 hours. Yay for moving forward!

Where we've been....

Hello all...it's been awhile. Where have we been you ask? Not sleeping, that's for sure. :)

As most of you know, we have been dealing with an extremely fussy baby lately and after severaly trips the Pediatrician, the Pediatric GI doctor and 6 days in Childrens Hospital it was determined that there is absolutley nothing major wrong with our sweet baby Isaiah, except that he has an "inmature" stomach and he will grow out of it anytime between 6 weeks and 4 months. What does this mean? Well, we have to buy him a ridiculously expensive formula called "Neocate," and we have to deal with the taradacytle sounding scream for 20 hours a day.

After reading endless message boards on colic and dismotility, they all say the same thing...push through, this too shall pass, don't worry, it will get better...and lo and behold, last night I took this picture of my baby boy above.

We are not out of the woods just yet, but we are having more and more moments like these with a smiling and content baby for an hour at a time. Thankfully, we are blessed with a healthy baby boy and if takes a couple of months of screaming for a lifetime of a healthy boy then I will take the screaming any day.

Jackson is doing fabulous with his new baby brother and he is oh so very helpful as you can see from the other picture. He loves to hold Isaiah and help feed him his bottle. He even gets the pacifier on his own when Isaiah starts crying. Jackson will be 2 years old in a couple of weeks and I can't believe how fast the time has gone.

Thank you all for your prayers and concern during this crazy time....I know the end of the crying is near, and I am so thankful for all of you! I also am so blessed to have such a supportive husband who has missed many a day of work and canceled many a meeting to help out at home.

So, that's where we have been.....and why I haven't blogged in a while....Thank you Lord for the gift of my two baby boys and my handsome husband!

Lee Anne

Overheard at the Stone Home - 3:00 a.m.

This is our first co-blog. I was brought in as a result of co-workers asking for more details about my tired appearance at work.

So, we have a grumpy baby that does not sleep. Ideally, we would be writing this in the middle of the night while he is crying, but we just thought up this idea and it is still the afternoon. We should be banking sleep, but we can't fall asleep and it is the weekend which makes us want to enjoy the awake time. Below is the top ten things overheard between midnight and 5 a.m. at our place:

10. "What is wrong with this kid? That's it, we're hiring the night nurse deal. I don't care what anyone says or how expensive it is. Get me the phone book...Shut up, I'm on the phone."

9. "Is it possible to OD on kids tylonol? Errr, not that we've given him too much. If we had, maybe he'd be quiet." If anyone is aware of the MJ toxic levels, please pass along.

8. "How come Mr. Grumpy (Isaiah's alter ego) is so damn quiet during the day?" I'm looking for answers here. No laughing. Stop. No, really. Do you know why?

7. "Meet you at the diaper genie in five."

6. It is never a good thing when you are competing against your spouse for who got the least amount of sleep.

LAS: "I got three hours".

CRS: "No, I got two hours and forty five minutes."

LAS: "No! You are a stinky-faced liar. I looked over at you and your eyes were closed."

CRS: "I was faking it so I didn't have to get up...again!"

Also, the person who goes to make money isn't necessarily the one who is working the hardest (last minute request from LAS)

5. "What the crap?!? Is it weird that he hasn't pooped in five days and he Chuck Liddell abs of steel?"

4. "Has he burped? Has he burped? Don't put him down if he hasn't burped!!!"

3. (said to a friend during the day) - We are currently experiencing three kind of nights. 1) OK nights, which are really pretty crappy with three feedings. 2) Bad nights, which actually suck because there is this crazy, high pitched alien-like crying between meals and 3) Terrible, which means god-awful-don't-wish-this-upon-your-worst-enemy crying. Insert your own ideas and re-read #6.

2. "Shhhh....don't wake Jackson. If Jackson wakes up I'm going to cry. Seriously, shut up. Stop. No...don't change the diaper in here. Where are the wipes? Give me the passey, quick. Did you burp him? Did you burp him?? Please tell me you didn't put him down before he burped?!? Where the eff is the swadle blanket. He spit up on it? He spit up on it? Tell me you didn't let him spit up on it."

1. Let us pray...

OK, so its really not that bad. We are very blessed and are just tired (physically, of each other in the middle of the night, and of hearing the alien-like crying from Mr. Grumpy, aka Isaiah Lee Stone). If you cannot laugh about it, then you cannot enjoy the good times.