ALMOST THERE....

Won't be long now...

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...Wait, Whose That Baby?!

Didn't I tell you it's always a new experience with Jayden in the mirror?! She must've had a conversation with the "baby" in the mirror for at least 10 minutes! Cooing and smiling and laughing...entertainment to last. She actually gets excited when she sees this "other baby" looking back at her...of course she doesn't realize it's her yet...but it's fun to watch.

There's lots of cruising around grandma's kitchen in the walker...mostly backwards though...we're still working on the crawling. Jayden's toys are suctioned to the top of the walker so that she doesn't send them flying! Jayden's "skooching" is getting quicker and the rocking on the knees is becoming more pronounced...hmmm...guess I need to get a picture of that.

A Day of New

There's a new George in town...Curious George that is! Finally found a website that carried the Classic Curious George...can't beleive they are discontinued...in any event, Jayden has a new George. Funny though, she doesn't play with this one with that same enthusiasm as she did with the first one. Guess somehow she knows...

It's always a new experience watching Jayden look at her self in the mirror. I often wonder what she's thinking and what she really see's...does she know it's her or does she think it's another baby (kinda like when puppies bark at the 'other' puppie in the mirror)...we will never know.

Jayden is really coming along with her "skooching" on the floor. She can now get up on both knees but hasn't figured out what to do with her hands. My guess is by October 1st she'll be crawling. Mommy went to Babies R Us this weekend for gates just in case!

Another New Trick...Another Doctor Check-up...

Did I tell you Jayden's new trick?! Tuesday afternoon she started to "skooch" forward partially on her one knee...especially if we hold an object in front of her that she wants. Samson (the 20lb cat) came over to her and she reached out to pat him...he just sat there staring at her and started to purr...Memnon (the 9lb. cat) stays away now but will still come in her room while I feed her and sit at my feet "guarding" away Samson. It's quite comical...

Last night was Jayden's 4 month doctor visit. It was so funny...you know that white paper thing that you sit on in the doctor office...well she had that completely crinkled by the time the doctor actually came in to see her. She kept rolling around, grabbing it, crinkling it up, trying to stick it in her mouth. Jayden now weighs 14lbs. 12oz and is 25 1/2 inches long. We just had to increase her formula intake to 6 oz the beginning of September. Doctor said she is doing great and can't believe she's rolling over both ways and grabbing her toys. He said that we could start with solids anytime between now and 6 months depending on what Jayden's demands are. So far she seems content on just the formula...maybe we will start next month with some cereal.

Jayden also received her 2nd round of immunizations. I wasn't thrilled about the whole thing but the doctor has assured me that Mercury is no long used as a stabilizer in immunization. I also realize that the diseases that these immunization help fight against are far deadlier than the shots effects. Besides the normal crying from the initial shot, she did just fine and doesn't seem to be affected by them.

A Sleep Over at Grandma's & Grandpa's!

Saturday night Jayden stayed at grandma's and grandpa's house for her first sleep over. Grandma and grandpa were so excited to have their first grandchild stay with them for the night. Mommy and daddy are going away in October and want to get Jayden used to sleeping over someone else's house. From what grandma says, "Jayden was so good!". They all played with Jayden's toys and grandma even bought some news one's. She slept thru the night and did really well in the play-yard...even slept right thru grandpa's snoring!!
Sunday Jayden helped celebrate Grandpa's 60th Birthday by helping him blow out the candles on the cake.

Having a "Faire" of a Time

One of our favorite past-times is participating in renaissance and medieval faires. Actually, mommy used to work at the NY Renaissance Faire in Tuxedo, NY
selling children's wooden swords and Shields hand made
by Roy Petersen. Mommy (Jewel) has on the purple and black cape while daddy (Trakker) is standing behind in earthy colors. The far right is a picture of the
clan of rennies that we associate our selves with. Next we have Jayden dressed in her ren garb and a cute one of Jayden wearing Lady Catherine's purple hat. Every "beauty" isn't complete without her very own "Fairy Godmothers"...including Fauna (Lady Catherine), Meriwether (Lady Pam) and of course Flora (phoenix). Jayden loved Faire!

Some New Tricks!!

Jayden keeps learning more and more everyday! I'm so proud of her! My little girl can now hold her own bottle but still prefers to hold mommy's finger and touch mommy's face while she eats just before bed-time. Bed-time is has been easy...First we change her diaper and then put her jammies on then we snuggle in the rocker for a bottle. Usually Jayden begins to nod off just as the last oz is being finished. So angelic she looks in the glow of the night light. With the final help of Baby Motzart...Jayden is off to 'dream land'!

Toys are another big factor into her development. We make sure she has toys that both stimulate her mind and are fun at the same time. Here Jayden is playing with one of her 'baby bugs' that Tante Tara (that's Aunt Tara, Erik's sister) gave her. It has a rattle inside the body, teething ring for legs and the wings are made of a crinkly material that she finds fascinating. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Jayden's best friend is Curious George...however, on Sunday we went to the NY renaissance Faire in Tuxedo, NY and somehow George was lost. Mommy searched all over in the 5 minute time period that we last say him and when we discovered he was gone...George was no where to be found. My guess is that someone found him and picked him up...we have to looking all over for another one, only to find that the original Curious George plush toy has been discontinued!! How awful this is for Jayden!!

Recent Events--Hurricane Katrina

I can't begin to imagine the pain, suffering and hardship that the victims of Hurricane Katrina have endured. My heart goes out to each and everyone of them...but I cry for the infants and babies and the mothers delivering prematurely because of the stress and trauma. My thoughts are "how are they feeding those babies without formula?" Not every mother is able to breast feed, how are they going to survive?! May God hear their prayers--we must all help each other!

A Special Visit With Great-Grandma

It's always nice to go visiting people and even better when it's family! Not just any old family...Jayden visited with her Great Grandmother on Saturday afternoon! This is Great-Gram Erminia and she is 86 years old -- Erik's grandmother. There was singing and playing and of course lots of pictures taken by grandma--almost 87 of them!! Good thing it's a digital! This was an especially good visit because great-gram doesn't usually show teeth when she smiles! LOL...I'm not kidding, not ever...except today! I don't even think she realized it.

Grandma Prestholdt is the Photographer!!

Grandma Prestholdt just loves her new digital camera and guess who her favorite subject is?! From now on I will just refer to Erik's mom as either Grandma or Elaine since my mother passed away on Christmas Day, 2004 (she battled metastatic breast cancer for 7 years).

Here we have Jayden sittin' pretty and of course sporting her new computer...just like daddy!

An Update of Progress

To update Jayden's progress from birth to present...at age 2 weeks, we spent the weekend in ICU at St.Peter's University Hospital, New Brunswick, NJ for severe diarrhea. Jayden, some how contracted a rota-virus. She was admitted when a heart murmur was detected and hooked up to an IV. Pure devastation flew thru me as I heard my little angle screaming as the nurses put the catheter into her tiny hand. Up in the ICU she was further hooked up to a heart monitor and blood pressure cuff...the next three days were torturous (for mommy) as much if not more than Jayden. By Sunday afternoon all was well and discharged...

Over the next weeks she began to become animated! Jayden was soon recognizing sounds and faces, trying to imitate mommy and daddy's expressions, and growing. The next battle was with formula...Jayden developed reflux and terrible gas. It took a few trys but we found that Isomil Soy formula made all the problems virtually disappear!! She was back to being a happy little baby!

Mommy went back to work just after Independence Day and somehow Jayden began sleeping thru the night! How awesome was that!!

Since then, Jayden has learned how to roll over both ways, laughs outloud, grabs and plays with her toys, pretend coughs to get your attention, plays in the exersaucer--and her best friend is Curious George...we don't go anywhere without George!!

Jayden is now 4 months old and growing like crazy!