Here we go!

I just finally got JJ down for the night. Yes it's 11:30, and yes he's only 2, but tonight was a special night. This was the last night that our family will consist of 3 people. The next time I walk through the door of my house, I will be the mother of 2 children. It's a very surreal feeling knowing that in about 12 hours everything is going to change. It's an amazing thing, and I can't express my gratitude to be able to bring another little person into this world.

I know JJ will be a fantastic brother. He is extremely excited - at least he thinks he is - to meet his baby sister. We've been talking a lot about the baby and it's possible he actually understands some of what's about to happen. But even I can't comprehend the level of change that the Kleinstein family is about to undertake.

Paul and I just finished setting everything up in the baby's room. Her furniture is scheduled to arrive in the next couple weeks, so we've got the temporary stuff in place and it looks pretty good for what it is.

The bag is packed, the carseat is installed, and we are ready to roll first thing in the morning. Stay tuned for an update sometime tomorrow. Hopefully the whole process goes smoothly and we'll be holding our little girl by lunch time. A girl can hope, right?

25 Down, 15 to Go

At 25 weeks of my pregnancy, I am feeling all kinds of things - both physically and emotionally.  Physically, I am tired, occasionally nauseous and I seem to have heartburn 24 hours a day.  That being said, its such a privileged and blessing to be pregnant with this little peanut.  For someone who has wanted to be a mom as long as I can remember, and not being sure that would ever happen, I cannot put into words the feeling I have preparing for motherhood for a second time. At our 18 week ultrasound, we found out the baby is a girl!  Both Paul and I were shocked, and thrilled for this news.  Perhaps the person who was most shocked of all was my nephew Aaron.  At 5 and a half, his initial response to finding out I was pregnant was "again? why?"  Then he proclaimed that I should have 99 more babies, and they should all be boys.
He doesn't seem to heartbroken about the fact that we're having a girl.  He's not all that interested in the baby at all. I think this is because JJ is finally at an age where they can play together.  While JJ is still much smaller than Aaron (and likely always will be) he is old enough to understand most things, and can play and rough house enough to make it fun.


In other news, JJ is officially off the bottle.  This change has revealed a child with a voracious appetite.  He suddenly eat all kinds of things, and it hungry all the time!  In a matter of days, he's become the pickiest eater to what seems like a boy with a teenagers appetite.  He still didn't make the charts at his 2 year checkup, but he is perfect in every way, despite being less that 3% of every other child :)


Things at the JCC are going great.  JJ loves his teachers and has good buddies in class.  He is there 3 mornings a week, and really enjoys himself.  He rarely cries when I drop him off, and often doesn't want to leave when its time to come home.  His vocabulary is blossoming every day, and his words are beginning to form into small sentences.


It's a really fun time for us and we all feel super blessed to be able to share it with our friends and family.


I will make my attempt to update more often, but life seems to be moving at such a break-neck speed, that it doesn't seem too likely.  Nonetheless, I'll do my best to keep everyone

Some photos from the last few months

Kleinstein Update

Things have been pretty much status quo for the Kleinsteins.  Paul's business has really taken off, JJ has adjusted to preschool really well and happily attends 3 mornings a week.  Work has been busy, but with summer around the corner, things should slow down.   Our little corgi, Ellie, has been struggling lately with her back legs not cooperating.  Her doggie wheelchair should be arriving today, which should help things tremendously.  All in all, things are going well for the Kleinsteins... so good that we decided to add one to the family equation.  Come October, we'll been the a party of 4.

We are really excited about our upcoming addition.  As expected, I'm nervous and anxious, but so far everything looks good.  We have an ultrasound scheduled for the 18th to make sure everything looks good and to, hopefully, find out the sex of the baby.

I would promise to blog more often, but clearly that's just not going to happen.  So I vow to write when big, important things happen.

Snow Day(s)!

I keep meaning to update my blog, but life happens, and then I get side tracked. Well, in case you haven't heard, Seattle got hit with a pretty good amount of snow the last few days. I figured I'd take this opportunity to shared some fun pictures of the last couple days.

The snow started on Saturday night, and hasn't really let up since. I've been home with the Jman since Friday afternoon. We canceled Sunday school, and then Tuesday, and then TBT closed today, and tomorrow. So we've had lots of time to hang out, play in the snow and catch up on Yo Gabba Gabba and Curious George. We did make it to the store last night before the big "storm" hit, so we we able to get some basics - milk, pasta, bread, etc.

JJ loves to be out in the snow. He loves watching Ellie run around in it. He loves to run in it. The crunching sound it makes under his boots makes him giggle. He loves the way the trees look. He does NOT love to fall in the snow. Though he made a speedy recovery, he was pretty unhappy when he took a face plant trying to chase Ellie. After that, he pretty much enjoyed watching her from a distance.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I love that there are no presents or religious aspects to it. Its just families and friends getting together to eat and appreciate what they have. This year I am thankful for many things - but first and foremost I am thankful for my family. I'm going to leave it there, without getting into the mushy stuff.

We had a fun dinner at Grammy's last night. JJ refused to sit and eat, but nonetheless, we had a nice time. I'm proud to say, that JJ outweighed the Turkey by 2 pounds this year!

Look Who's Talking!

It seems like all of a sudden, JJ has all kinds of words. This morning I asked him to put something back and he looked at me and said "back." Then I was eating oatmeal and he wanted a bite. I told him it was too hot and he said "hot" and then started blowing on it to cool it down. A few minutes later, I asked him what he wanted to do and he said "book." So we read some books. He grabbed a hat and said "hat" then found his sneaker and said "shoe."

He knows the sounds elephants, ducks and recently cows make. He knows the word dog, cat and duck. He says mama and occasionally says Pa, but it may not be in context to Paul.

We're seem to really be on a roll with the words. If we can only get him to say "up" instead of "down" we'd be in a really great place. I still find myself looking at him with astonishment. I can't believe this perfect little person is my child. He is an amazing boy with all kinds of personality. He cracks me up and keeps me on my toes. He really makes parenthood a fun and meaningful experience.

Update

Recently, we became members of the greatest place on earth. No, not Disneyland. However, there have been times where it made me darn close to as happy. It's the KidsQuest Museum in Factoria Mall! JJ runs around like a crazy man and I barely EVER have to say no to him about anything! Their "Backyard" area is designed just for people his age, and its totally fantastic! Here are the highlights from a recent trip.

Last weekend, we went to Ainsley's 4th birthday party. JJ had a great time playing with toys, eating snacks and ... RIDING A PONY! He actually took two trips around the house on Biscuit, who was quite sweet and gentle with him.

JJ loves his bath time. He went through a stage of being terrified of them (which coincided with our trip to NJ this Summer) where he'd scream from the minute I put him in until the minute he was out. It passed pretty quickly, and now the boy loves being in the tub. It's not even like he spends tons of time with his toys - of which there are plenty. He'll flip through his bath books, and play with the stacking cups, but mostly he entertains himself. Last night in the tub, he decided that the bubbles looked interesting. He's taken an interest in them before - playing with them, clapping his hands while holding them, etc. Last night, he decided to taste them. We use natural bubble bath, so I wasn't too worried, and wouldn't you know it, the little bugger liked it! He looked up at me with the his bubble beard quite proud of himself.

We also started mommy and me classes at TBT last Monday. Its a lot of fun, and JJ gets to play in the playhouse at TBT which has quickly become one of his favorite pass times.

Finally, Mr. JJ has graduated from his Graco Snugride infant seat to a big boy convertible seat! He's still rear facing, but he's quite comfy in his chair, as you can see.

First Starbucks

JJ has been to Starbucks many times in his life. When he was really little, we came to work with me. I have many meetings at Starbucks, and he tagged along. Today was one of those days. Since I no longer work on Thursdays, I didn't have childcare lines up for the little man. I had a meeting in the University Village Starbucks, and the JMan came along. He was a very good boy and sat in his high chair enjoying his fruit cup for quite some time.

When the novelty of that wore off, I decided to attempt to entice him with a "big boy drink" - steamed milk! He was really excited, but ended up getting more on his shirt than in his mouth. It was a fun experience for him and he was pretty proud of himself.

Thanks Aunt Dorothy for taking pictures of this monumental event! :)

Regression Sucks

For those of you who look at the time of this post, you will understand it's title. Thanks to the cutting if his molars, JJ has been awake since 1:45 AM. He screamed for 25 minutes and wasn't going back to sleep. I went in and tried to nurse him, but he was too worked up at that point. Tried to rock him, but it was to no avail. So, against my better judgement and knowing full well I was potentially screwing myself for all future nights, we got up. He played for an hour and a half. I watched Nick at Nite. Then he fell asleep nursing. I put him in his crib, he screamed for another 25 minutes. I gave him some Tylenol. He nursed and fell asleep, but when I put him down, he woke up and screamed again.

So here we sit, reading books in his room at 4:20 AM. Not a great way to start a weekend, but I suppose we'll manage. After all, dude can't stay awake forever, right????

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

A Mind of His Own

As previously mentioned, JJ has very strong opinions about what he want. He has taken to freaking out when he doesn't get his way. Yesterdhay he found a way to Houdini his was out of the strap in the shopping cart. I asked him to "please sit down." Then again, in a more assertive tone "Jeremy Jonah, sit down right this minute or you'll get hurt." Wouldn't you know it. The little bugger looked me right in the eye and said "ummm, NO." Swell. The tim of no seems to have arrived. Then, in the checkout line, he tried to push the buttons on the credit card machine. When I wouldn't let him, he push my hand and said "mad. mad. MAD." Terrific. I suppose its good that he's starting to express himself instead of just screaming... which still happens frequently.

Even more terrific than any of that, as Auntie Jenny pointed out last night, is that JJ is a MAJOR tester. He know when he shouldn't do something, but he looks as you with a coy little smile as if to say "no way you are going to stop me or yell at me with this adorable face." Guess what, buster. We are. Even if it results in this face.

Re-Inspired to Blog

Ok, so I've decided that JJ is growing up way to fast to not try to keep some form of record of his awesomeness. I'm pretty sure I can't be as on top of things as most of my blogging friends, but my goal is to post at least once a week.

Needless to say, a lot has happened since I last blogged... Seeing how my last post was about JJ rolling over from his stomach to his back. Now he runs all over the place like a maniac and has very strong opinions about what he wants. Here are a few of the highlights between rolling from front to back and running:

1. Around 4 months, he figured out how to roll from back to front. This allowed him to roll all over the place.
2. We went to New Jersey in December to play with all the Kleinsteins and meet JJ's cousin Norah, who was only 3 weeks old at the time.
3. About a month after that he stopped rolling, and started scooting. It started one Sunday when I got home from Religious School. Jenny was over watching a Seahawks game with Paul. I was holding JJ and I put him on the floor. He really loves his Auntie Jenny, so much that he willed himself across the living room to her.
4. He moved to the army crawl at about 6 months and was pretty satisfied with that mode of transportation until around 9 months. He also started pulling up on everything.
5. In March we went on vacation to Mexico with Paul's mom. JJ had a blast swimming in the pool and playing in the sun
6. At 9 months he started crawling "normally" and at the same time, he began "cruising" around.
7. At 11 months he became an official walker. Fun fact: JJ walked at the same age as Aaron... to the day! Those Rosenthal walking genes must run deep :)
8. JJ got his first pair of shoes from Nordstroms.
9. Shortly after walking, he started sleeping through the night! It was amazing!
10. JJ turned 1 on July 21st. We had a small celebration with just our family. JJ had a huge cupcake, which ended up all over. He got some awesome presents including a jungle gym from Mom-mom Jackie, Aunt Laura, Uncle Andrew and cousin Norah, a table a chairs from grammy and a play kitchen from Auntie Jenny and Aaron.
11. He finally made the growth charts at his 12 month visit to see Dr. P. He was in the 3rd percentile for height! Still not on the charts for weight. Shortly after his birthday, he started wearing 9 month size clothes.
12. We heading back to New Jersey after his birthday to spend 2 weeks at the Jersey Shore with the East Coast Kleinsteins and had a fantastic time!
13. He's now 13 months and is a one man wrecking crew. He climbs on everything and knows exactly what he wants. He's a determined little bugger and is a firm believer in "where there's a will, there's a way". He "uses" a spoon to feed himself, loves his sippy cup and will now take a bottle of regular milk.

Below is a little compilation of the activities above. It's not complete, but will give you a little taste of everything.

Long Time, No Blog

I admit, tt's been far to long since my last blog. However, while my life has been completely crazy and wonderful, there hasn't been that much blogworthy stuff happening. JJ is 15 weeks old now, and has been growing like a maniac. He isn't the wotld's best sleeper. He had been sleeping for 3 to 4 hours at night, but he has regressed and now is only sleeping for 2 hours at a time. its tons of fun.

He is finally out of newborn diapers, and just recently grew out of his newborn jammies. Most if his newborn clothes still fit him, and even have a little room to grow, some of the pants are getting a bit snug in the waist. On his 3 month birthday, JJ discovered he could roll over. It was pretty fantastic, and I managed to catch it on video (though the camera was the wrong direction).



I'll try and come up with some more stuff to add to this later, but for now, just know we are still here, and trying to enjoy life :)

Back to Work...

After 6 weeks home on maternity leave, I'm heading back to work tomorrow a bit earlier than anticipated. In an effort to both ease back into work, and also to compensate for all the work I did while on leave, JJ and I will be heading into the office one day a week for the next 3 weeks. From there, I'll be working 4 days a week through November. I'll be in the office with JJ 1 day a week, working 1 day from home. He'll go hang out with Grammy 1 day, and with Daddy when I work on Sundays.


I've got the all the gear ready to go... space saver swing, diapers, wipes warmer, and Baby Bjorn (though I think JJ is still too small for it). Rabbi Kinberg is loaning us her co-sleeper bassinet (which apparently has a 4th side) and her baby monitor. As you can see, my office will quickly be doubling at the Temple B'nai Torah nursery. Check out all the gear:

Swing n' Seat Space Saver

Co-Sleeper Bassinet

Baby Bjorn

Wipes Warmer

I'm actually looking forward to ging back to work for the day. I'm certain I'll be exhausted by the end of the day, but hopefully, I'll still be glad to be getting back to "normal."

4 Weeks

So after 4 weeks of motherhood, I am in heaven. I could never have imagined that I would be so functional on so little sleep. I really haven't slept well in the last 3 years, which definitely helped prepare me for the all night marathon of having a newborn. Thankfully (or maybe not?) Paul sleeps like a rock. We usually start the night with JJ in his crib and me attempting to sleep in bed. He sleeps for 2-3 hours and I get up to feed him. We usually move out to the living room for some Nick at Night and quality snuggling time together. JJ will either sleep in his Pack n' Play or with me on the couch.

I am not one to toot my own horn, but I will say that I am a very compassionate and loving person. Even with that, I will say, I never knew I was capable of so much love. I have killed 4 spiders because they were in JJ's room and I was afraid they would get near him. Anyone who knows me at all, knows that I don't go near spiders. I am usually dancing on the bed waiting for Paul to remove it. Although JJ is still in preemie clothes, I do laundry every day. They are often the tiniest loads known to man, but they still get done every day. Again, I hate laundry, but somehow I stopped minding doing it.

So, with 4 weeks under his belt, little JJ is now up to 6 pounds, 6 ounces. He has officially surpassed my birth weight by an entire ounce! He is an awesome little guy and brings us so much happiness. I'll be heading back to work with JJ one day a week pretty soon, and haven't decided if I'm looking forward to it or not. Thankfully, it's only one day a week. Then I go back 4 days a week, with one day from home through November. I am looking forward to my new schedule and my new job upon my return.

Below are some pictures of the little man's first month.

 

And Then There Were Three...

On July 21st at 5:10 in the evening, our little miracle, Jeremy Jonah Kleinstein made his arrival. After 48 hours of contractions two trips to triage, 1 epidural, 12 hours of active labor and one hour of pushing – all 5 pounds 7.5 ounces of the little man can into our lives. He is absolutely perfect in every way and Paul and I are loving parenthood.

JJ is the most incredible baby. He is super calm, sleeps great, and has finally figured out the whole nursing thing. We had some initial challenges, and he wasn’t gaining weight, but in the last 3 days he gained 4 ounces! We’re confident he’ll be back up to birth weight at his two week check up tomorrow.

It’s hard to believe that for 38 weeks and 6 days this perfect little being was inside of me, and now he’s here brightening our lives. Every time look at him, I am overcome with joy. There are truly no words to describe the amount of love I have for him. Everyone tells you that the love you have for your children is inexplicable. I never doubted that to be true, I just never could have anticipated how powerful it would be.

It’s been a fabulous 2 weeks for us. Yes, we’re tired. Yes, there are things that we are learning. Yes, I’m sure we are doing lots of things wrong. But the truth is, neither one of us cares. Our son is happy, healthy and amazing.

We spent a fabulous week with Paul’s mom. She flew out from New Jersey on the 26th and stayed for a week. She and JJ spent lots of time together bonding and enjoying each other’s company. Of course he is special regardless, but JJ is the first grandson on Paul’s side and the “last hope” to carry on the Kleinstein family name. Combined with the fact that he is named after my dad and Paul's dad, the boy truly is a blessing to our family.

Yesterday we spent time over at my mom’s house with Grammy, Auntie Jenny and big cousin Aaron. Aaron is adorable with JJ. He is so sweet and loving , and extremely interested in everything involved in his care. From the diapers, to the breastfeeding, Aaron needs to be sure his baby cousin is in good hands. Its adorable to see him in a protective role, and for the most part, he is handling the transition well. For 3 ½ years Aaron has been the one and only, and the center of all our universes. I love him as if he were my own, and would do anything for him. It’s fantastic to see him with JJ and everyone is ensuring Aaron knows that he is still the best and just as loved as ever before.

I’m sure there is a whole ton of details I left off, but I think I covered the important stuff. Hopefully I’ll be able to find a few minutes to update the few people who actually read this. The little guy seems to change every day, and we want to be sure to have some sort of record. There are lots more pictures floating around in cyberspace, but below are a few of my favorites. I think if you click on it, the collage gets bigger...

Baby Shower

My sister and my cousin hosted an amazing baby shower for me today. It was possibly one of the most enjoyable days of my life, and I feel SO fortunate to have such amazing people in my life. We had 25 people at my mom's house, and thankfully, the weather cooperated. It was warm, but we were able to stay cool, and had plenty of room for activities, eating and gift opening.

I am finally feeling like I can actually go have this baby now... he has a place to sleep, a car seat, bath products, lots of receiving blankets, tons of clothes, and plenty of activities (including a swing and jumperoo!). Aside from bringing him home, we can also go out and about thanks to the diaper bag and several offers to babysit :)

Jenny took lots of fabulous pictures, and even managed to get a couple of relatively cute ones of me. Below are a few of my favorites. Make sure to click on it to see the larger version...

Nursery Furniture

The furniture for the nursery was delivered today. It's more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. When the guys were done building the crib and getting everything in place, I went in to look. The combination of pregnancy hormones, the reality that my son could arrive anytime in the next 4-5 weeks, and just the fact that we have been given this amazing gift (both the furniture and the opportunity to be parents) was too much for me to handle. I started sobbing. The poor delivery guys thought they screwed something up, but then they realized they were (mostly) tears of joy. They were the nicest guys and were super impressed with my scale visio diagram of where everything was to be placed in the nursery. They weren't here more than an hour, and everything was ready to go.

All we need now is the mattress to go in the crib and some clothes to fill up the drawers... I'm pretty sure most of that stuff will magically appear in the next few weeks after the shower my sister and cousin are hosting. Reality is definitely setting in that we are indeed having a baby, and I am getting anxious and ridiculously excited!

Follow Up

I had my follow up ultrasound this morning. It confirmed that the little man is indeed very small. He's about 5 pounds, which is a full pound lighter than expected at his gestational age. While my fluid levels are also low, they are congruous with his small size. I'm waiting to hear back from my doctor, but it likely means that I'll have weekly ultrasounds to check for continued growth and be monitored closely for the next few weeks. It could potentially mean an early delivery, but we'll cross that bridge when and if we get there.

A cute foot during a kick to the ribs, and his adorable little face

Everything looked good, so I'm trying to stay positive and stay calm about the fact that I'm 4 weeks away from having a baby!!!!

Head Down and Tightly Packed

The little man finally got himself into the right position. He's head down which is great news... kind of. His current size and position are causing me a decent amount of discomfort, and I definitely have developed a nice waddle to combat the pain. I'm more than willing to endure it, and I'm not really complaining about it as much as simply acknowledging its presence. During my appointment today, my doctor commented that "he seems really crammed in there." Which can be attributed to many things, but perhaps is to to my shape and size and the potential for the little man to take after his Papa Jerry and be a tall boy. My amniotic fluid level was "bordeline" so I have to go for a fluid and growth check on Friday. My doctor promised me he wasn't worried, he was just trying to be safe. I must say, I'm pretty glad to know that I'm not the only one who feels like he's quite well packed in. Everything else looked good... heart rate was strong and I measured pretty right one.

38 days to go!

Still Kicking... Literally

We had our regular check up today and while it wasn't quite the in-and-out that it normally is, everything was perfect. Even though I have been paranoid about gaining too much weight, the doctor assured me I was right on track. She also put my fears of delivering a giant baby to rest by confirming that he is measured exactly where he should be for his gestational age. His heart rate was strong, and minus being short of breath these days, everything is peachy keen!

We've got 66 days to go and I'm fighting the urge to panic and freak out. I know everything will be fine, and one way or another, this place will be ready for the little man's arrival.