Do you hear what I hear?

As of the past few days, Jason has started making a new sound. And he's pretty excited about it. We think he may have finally realized that he was the one making the sound, because he will just lie in his bed calling out. It might sound to some like he's crying, but he's not. His cries are different. These sounds are more of exclamations. Besides, he's completely content if we don't come in, so these sounds seem to be more for his entertainment. Anyway, we think it's pretty funny, so last night and this morning I recorded some of his sounds so you get a feel for what we go to bed and wake up to (The crib is about 4 feet from my side of the bed). The room was dark, so there's no visual, but we're just trying to capture the sounds anyway. The first clip is of his "I'm winding down and falling asleep" noises. Pretty cute. The second is of his new sounds. Could this be an early indicator that he will be vocal and outspoken like his mom, or a singer like his dad? Only time will tell.

Follow up

Okay, so I just wanted to do a quick follow up and let you know that while Jason doesn't giggle every time we tickle his neck, he has done it once or twice more, so Dustin did get to experience it first hand.

Also, I wanted to compare Jason's two and three month pictures side by side to see how much of a difference you really notice. I couldn't believe how much longer he has gotten. I went ahead and made a mini collage so everyone else could see, too. What a difference one month makes in someone so young!

Jason Karl turns the big 3-MO

Today Jason officially became a 3 month old baby. Amongst the day's activities were taking pictures, going to our autism screening research project appointment (not that we suspect he has autism, but they need normal babies in the research as a comparison), buying a new outfit for family pictures next week, and trying to get in some naps. I even got to feed some mallards that wandered over to our apartment pool during one of Jason's naps. (The pool is literally right out our front door). Here are some of the pictures from today.

Still loves to gnaw on his hand. Don't know when that phase will pass.

When Jason wants to smile really big, he just opens his mouth as wide as he can. We love it.

He's about to fly up on my legs and be "Super Baby". I love how he looks in his hoodie!


These next two are similar poses to his 2 month pictures, so they'll be easier to compare. Does he look like he's getting bigger to you?

And here's one last treat for everyone. When I was getting him dressed, I noticed he had TONS of lint stuck in the creases of his neck. All the drool and then the hoodies and bibs and other fabrics up in there; it only made sense. I never could clean it well during bath time, because he doesn't really like bath time much and while he doesn't normally cry, he did fuss when I spent too much time cleaning around his head and face last time. So I decided to try just lifting him up with my hand behind his neck so he would arch backwards and then using a baby wipe to clean up as much as I could. I did that, and he startled me by the sound he made. At first I thought he was about to cry but then I realized he wasn't crying; he was laughing uncontrollably. Jason was incredibly ticklish underneath his neck! It was awesome. I did it once more to make sure it wasn't a fluke, and same reaction. I quickly grabbed my camera to record the moment. I didn't take the time to find the tripod and set it up, so the camera was propped up on a box on the bed, and the shot isn't too well framed, but you see and hear what I mean. I was so excited to show Dustin when he came home, but after having done it 4 times in a row that afternoon, Jason apparently had learned to control his tickle urges because he didn't do it at all for Dustin. Oh well, at least I got in on video when it did happen, right?

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen...

So this has nothing to do with Jason or parenting, but I wanted to post it anyway, because I couldn't believe it happened.

We have a nice gas stove top with five burners. There's three burners across the back and two in front, and the the knobs to control the burners are all located in the front row, center section of the stove. Normally, we use the front right burner, but for some reason, it's not lighting. The pilot light must be out or the igniter isn't working. At any rate, I was cooking the other night and realized I couldn't use that burner. The skillet I was using was quite large, and I assessed that the back center burner would be the best one to use, since putting it anywhere else meant the handle was running off the stove into the spice rack, the utensil jar, etc.

So I lit the burner, cooked my meal, no problems at all. When everything was done, I went to turn the burner off. I noticed that the edge of the skillet was pretty close to control knob, and knowing my luck, I would burn myself on the pan, so I moved the skillet toward the back of the burner to give myself enough room and then grabbed the knob to turn it to off.

The instant sensation of melting flesh made me release the knob and thrust my hand under the sink's cold water instead. The knob itself had become super hot by being so close to the skillet. My food was still on the burner, and I didn't want it to burn, so I grabbed an oven mitt and wearing that, turned the knob to off. But as I tried to let go of the knob, the mitt was sticking to it. I tore the mitt away, and then I got a good look at what had been the back side of the knob that I couldn't see until now. Take a look for yourself.

It had completely melted! The skillet never touched the knob, but just by being too close to a cooking pan, the knob melted. I guess I had assumed that the plastic knob was meant to withstand heat, otherwise they wouldn't have positioned it so close to the burner in the first place! Well, I hope they don't charge me when we move out of this apartment. If they do, do you think the words liability and law suit will help me talk my way out of the fee?

I'd like to poll the audience please

Upon examining Jason's belly button, I can't decide if it's an innie or an outie. It seems half and half to me, if that's even possible. Anyway, I took some pictures and would like some other opinions. Do you think it's more of an innie or an outie?

If you're happy and you know it

Wow. Three posts in a day. I'm on a roll! See what happens when you don't upload your pictures to your computer for a couple weeks? :-) Today has actually been a pretty productive day. While it looked like it might be another nap nightmare day, where Jason only takes 15-45 minues naps at most, he surprised me this afternoon. He woke up at the 45 minute mark of his 2nd nap, just like his first, but I went ahead and let him cry while I went to put some loads of laundry in (our baby monitor gets great reception in the laundry room!) By the time I got back, he had fallen back asleep. There was a little 10 second cry about 15 minutes later, and then he was out again. And he stayed out. I managed to finish the laundry, the dishes, cleaned the kitchen counters (no more ants! Yeah!) swept the kitchen floor, made frosting for a cupcake party/luncheon my friends were having, thawed out a bottle for Jason, packed his diaper bag, and I even wrote two blogs. At that point, it had been 3 hours since I had put him down, and he was still slumbering away. So I woke him up and he smiled at me, we had a diaper change and went to the luncheon where he didn't even cry to be fed. He let me eat, make my cupcakes and then I fed him, all without a single cry. Then we came home and vaccuumed and were about to go to the grocery store when he fell asleep in his carseat, so he's sleeping in the living room right now. It has been a productive day in deed, which makes Mommy happy.


But every day is a happy day when you have Jason to smile at you. He especially loves singing "If you're happy and you know it", bouncing on the bed, being lifted in the air like Super Baby, drooling on everything, and having his diaper changed. Heck, all you really need to do is smile at him and he'll smile back. He's so fun. Here's some videos and pictures of reasons why Jason makes us smile.

Singing "If you're happy and you know it" with Jason.

Jason smiles during some tummy time on his floor mat.

Jason looking adorable in his crib.

Jason just sitting up on the couch and chillin' in his hoodie.

Go S.W.A.T. team, Go!

Some good friends of ours loaned us their child's floor mat for Jason to play with. Since the first day we brought it home, Jason has been intrigued by the toys dangling over head and has been working on swatting them with his hand. His coordination is a far cry from perfect, but one look in his determined eyes and you can see he's trying hard. It's just amazing to me to see him think like this; I can almost see the wheels of his mind turning. And even over the course of a few days, he's already drastically improved.

Here's Jason within a day or so of getting the floor mat. Note the spastic "snow angel" movements:

Now here he is only two days later, already learning to move his arms across his body in more of a clapping direction. How quickly babies learn!