One Month Down!

This week JJ turned one month old and he seems to be getting bigger and stronger by the day. We have been working on head control during tummy time and while he is not the biggest fan of lying face down, he is definitely making progress.

Sara and JJ seem to be developing a routine and despite the occasional hiccup it has worked. He consistently eats around 1030-11PM and then will sleep till 230-4AM. Sara will feed him again and most days he'll sleep till at least 7AM. Not too bad, but easy for me to say because I'm not the one having to get up everynight. The rest of the day is basically feed him when he wants it, change him when he needs it, and work on pitching mechanics and teach him basic algebra in the off time. I've been on vacation this past week, so his sessions have been pretty intense but so far he is up to the task.

My cousin Matt came over two weeks ago and took JJ's first set of pictures. They came out great and Sara is working on getting some of them printed. Dad brought Great-grandma Cline to meet JJ during our photo shoot, so we got some good pictures of them with JJ as well.

The week after Sara and I took JJ over to meet Great-grandma Braun for the first time. This was only after my grandma left an email wondering why a month had gone by without a visit (OOPS!). JJ behaved himself pretty well and both grandma and Jane took turns holding him.

We also got a special visit from JJ's namesake (not really) Jeff Nally. That was difficult to type that because he's always been JJ and I refuse to call him Jeff. He stopped by Thursday and entertained us with stories about his family and so on. Always good to have him around.

JJ's one month check-up was Wednesday and he is growing quickly! He is now 22inches tall and 9#8oz. Next visit should be interesting as he gets 3 vaccine injections. Luckily I'm on vacation that week too. Something tells me I'll be holding a not-too-happy infant while handing tissues to a not-too-happy mother.

PS: I'm on call right now and am monitoring the Riley ER for possible consults that I will have to drive downtown to see. Just to add evidence to my theory regarding the correlation between a child's name and childhood disease here is sampling of some names on the board right now...

Rickia, Darcey, Tanner, and (my personal favorite so far for today) Kal-el. That's right, named after Superman himself. Those are some big shoes to fill kid, good luck!

1st Mother's Day

Been awhile since my last post and it certainly has not been because I've had tons of time on my hands to do other things. JJ is getting more active every day. Last week I came home from work and he was wide awake for two hours straight. I didn't know what to do! Normally I come home and he is either asleep, feeding, or crying -- or some combination there of. Now he has added awake and alert but no crying; wasn't ready for that. I figured that was as good a time as any to work on his pitching motion. We worked on range of motion drills and getting a good follow through (and of course all with the left hand). He seemed more interested in putting his hand in his mouth, but at least it was his left hand. Can you teach lefthandedness? We will soon see.

Mother's Day was Sunday and as of Tuesday of last week I did not know this. Sara mentions Tuesday that she offered to host a cookout at our house for Mother's Day and we need to go get groceries. I, of course, asked why so soon because Mother's Day isn't till next Sunday. I was promptly told I was incorrect.


Sara slept in after a long night with JJ so I snuck out to get a quick present. She got some flowers, a new picture frame for our first family picture, and most importantly Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. It wasn't subtle which part she liked the best. Figured it wasn't bad on short notice, especially considering that without the cookout I would have been a week late!

Sunday was a day full of visitors. All of the Fon clan came over for lunch except Sheryl who stayed home sick. Later Larry and Kathy brought Grandma Fon over to visit. It was a long day but good to see everyone.

Monday night the Buck's came by to meet JJ. The girls were very interested in JJ; probably because they had no clue what an infant male looks like. There was a heated discussion, but I think the dowry was finally set for Mary and JJ.

That's pretty much a play by play of our time around the house. I will also make mention of a great Pearl Jam concert on Friday night. They played a cover of The Elms' "Going Back to Indiana" that really made me feel like he wanted to be here. I've been to concerts where it seemed like they were just going through the motions and mailing it in. But Eddie's shout outs to Johnny Cougar's son winning Golden Gloves, Larry Bird and Salt Lick (he corrected himself to French Lick), and their 3 encores made it obvious they wanted to be here. Also wanted to mention Holmes' 30th bday party at Jillian's on Saturday. Wish I could have stayed longer, but still had a good time catching up with everyone. Gotta mention that I probably posted the high game bowling. Unfortunately the same is not true for Pop-A-Shot, apparently that's just a Canada thing. Till next time...

First Peds Appointment

Things are starting to make more sense as Sara and I develop a routine around here. Of course, this will only hold for 8 more hours as I start back to work on 5/2 with an overnight call at Wishard. Now that I'll be back at work full time (plus a second part-time job) more of the burden with JJ and the house will fall on Sara. Luckily, we have multiple family members close by who love to come by and see JJ. Hopefully, we can coerce their visits as a chance for Sara to take a break, run errands, etc.

So Wednesday was the big day for meeting our new pediatrician. Her name is Dr. Fesenmeier and she recently opened a practice in the STV network off 700N in Bburg. She knows the Fons from St. Malachy and Ritter and I have met her husband several times as he is a neurologist at Clarian West. Nice people overall and figured we'd keep it in the St. Malachy, Ritter, IU family - so to speak.

We arrived 10 minutes before our appointment, which of course was 20 minutes later than we were told to be there to fill out paperwork. It only took one trip to the MD to realize how much time it takes to pack up an infant. Everyone marveled at JJ's full head of hair and before long he was tipping the scales at 8# 4oz. He was born at 8#11oz, so this was pretty good for 4 days later. He'll regain that weight in no time, if he hasn't already. Dr. Fesenmeier checked him out and said he was perfectly healthy. JJ made sure she heard his lungs nice and clear (and loud). He charted at 90% for height, 75% for weight, and 70% for head circumference. She said at 21.5 inches she expects him to be at least 6ft tall, so I'm pretty happy with that. Plus no shots for 2 months, so Sara was very happy with that.

Today JJ got a visit from Vickie and Montana. Neither of them got to see JJ in the hospital since Montana was too young and Vickie stayed home because of illness. Both were very excited and timed it well because JJ was awake the entire visit. Each held him and even after a couple spit ups when Vickie asked "Montana what do you think" she replied, "I like him." Later on Saturday we had dinner with Sara's parents. There JJ got his first run in with Bob and Mary Francis Mohr. He was passed out by that time, but he got a very nice outfit from them that we'll have to try out when he gets bigger.

Overall, I gotta think week one was a success:

1. Sara and I have managed to at least get enough sleep to be functional

2. Lots of family came by to meet JJ. Plus, Dave and Mo stopped by (with dinner, thanks again) as did Andy without any problems

3. Cubbie is very active around the house with JJ and his face licking comes in handy when trying to wake him

4. Got new front room furniture that is hopefully a little more kid friendly

5. JJ and I watched our first Cubs game together... and they actually won.

Keep the W flag hanging high because this will be a year to remember.