Best Laid Plans

The Omen: A smirk. We were making a pit stop in Natchitoches (pronounced Nak-a-dish...I know, those Cajuns are crazy!) on our way home to LA , and I had a conversation with a woman in the rest room (yes, I talked through the stall door with a woman who was peeing). She informed me that the gas stations in DeRidder were running out of gas. Huh? For a category 1 hurricane? When I walked out of the bathroom, the lady I had talked with whispered to her friend that we were headed to DeRidder, and her friend smirked. A subtle smirk, but a smirk that said, "Those poor schmucks!" Jim and I discussed whether it was wise for us to continue, but we were SO CLOSE to home, and we'd been looking forward to this trip for such a long time!

The Plan for the weekend:

• Let Nana spoil Jim-Jim as only a grandma can do


• Take Jim-Jim swimming for the first time in Gran's pool


• Play with our nieces and nephew


• Visit old friends


• Eat Gran's pecan pie


• Eat shrimp etouffee


• Eat shrimp etouffee left-overs


• Pack up shrimp etouffee and take it back to Dallas with us (it's really THAT good:)
  

What actually happened:

• Arrived Friday night at 8:30pm and visited briefly before turning in for the night


• Spent some time with family on Saturday morning


• Prepared the house for a hurricane


• Helped load sandbags for members of the community


• Left 22 hours after getting there due to impending evacuations
  

Who knew that category 1 hurricane Gustav would gain intensity and speed becoming a category 5 hurricane? I feel like we got to LA, blinked, and we were gone again. It was just what we needed, though, and some good things came of our trip. We were able to retrieve the top of our wedding cake so we can celebrate our one-year wedding anniversary on Tuesday, we now know that we are capable of taking a long trip with Jim-Jim, and we were able to visit family even if it was brief. We really needed that time with family! Jim and I feel like an island here in Dallas because the closest immediate family we have is 6 hours away. We feel isolated and alone, and technology only goes so far in bridging that distance. We pray every day that God will take us closer to family. I want my son to grow up knowing his Gran, Nana, GrannySan, PawPaw, CoCo, aunts, uncles, and cousins. For now, we will enjoy the precious few moments we do get to spend with them and look for opportunites to make it happen, even if it means driving 300 miles only to leave less than a day later.

Kara

Wanted: Personal Trainer

After visiting Jim-Jim, my mom said, "The way he moves around now, I have a feeling he's going to put that energy and his curiosity together for some fun exploring times!" Our baby is a mover and a shaker! My mom has raised 4 children, and SHE was shocked by how animated he is. From the time he was 4 weeks old, we had a little treasure hunt every morning to search the crib for him because he was NEVER in the same place we laid him when we went to bed.
I can see his little infant mind working when I put him to bed:
Mission #1: Kick off my sheets
Mission #2: Make it to the stereo
Mission #3: Take over the world
The first picture is where we place him in his bed every night, and the second picture is how we find him every morning, with his head pressed against the stereo that plays white noise and his arms and legs flailing.

He doesn't cry...he just MOVES, and I have no doubt he would end up in Austin before stopping if the crib railing wasn't there to prevent it! I'm thankful he's such a happy, smiley baby or that energy would be spent making our lives miserable! We're going to have to hire a personal trainer just to keep up with our little monster once he becomes mobile!
Kara

Happy Monday

People don't like Mondays. I've only been on this Earth two months, but I know enough to realize Mondays are hard. Mom and dad groggily move about the house in the morning (I get fed 15 mintues later because mommy sleeps in and daddy threatens to call in sick), and my girls at the daycare usually show up late. I take care of my girls, though! They get a plate full of deliciousness and a note that says, "Happy Monday! Love, Jim-Jim". Tasty treats make Mondays more tolerable!
Jim-Jim

A day in the life...

by Kara Mann

Act I
Scene: 7:45pm at the Mann's apartment, Jim-Jim sleeping, Jim out getting dinner for the family, Kara typing an email

[sound of phone]
Kara: [picks up phone] "Hey, baby"
Jim: "I'm here at Jack in the Box. What would you like to drink? Fanta orange or a chocolate shake?"
Kara: "Ooooh, Fanta orange!" Begins salivating in anticipation of her tasty beverage.

Time passes.

Jim: Enters with dinner. "Hi, honey." Sets dinner on the coffee table and attempts to place the drinks in their repective spots.

[Crash!]

Fanta orange flies everywhere, soaking Jim-Jim's bouncy, soaking Kara, and soaking the carpet!

Exit Jim in a huff

Act II
Scene: 8:20pm at the Mann's apartment, Jim-Jim sleeping, Jim out getting a drink for Kara, Kara cleaning up Fanta orange while Bailey licks Fanta off the carpet

Enter Jim triumphantly carrying a 2-liter bottle of Sunkist orange.
Jim: "I'm sorry, baby, but I fixed it." Jim pours Kara the largest glass of Sunkist orange imaginable, smiling.
Kara: "That's okay. Oh, crud! I can't drink Sunkist! It has caffeine in it."
Jim, panic-stricken, examines Sunkist bottle closely.

Exit Jim in a huff

Act III
Scene: 8:45pm at the Mann's apartment, Jim-Jim sleeping, Jim out getting a drink for Kara - again, Kara typing this blog, laughing at her simple husband.

Enter Jim with grocery bags full of 2-liters of Fanta orange and other accoutrement. No words are exchanged, just a glance at each other that says "Are we going to get to eat now?"

Jim unloads the groceries and pours Kara a big glass of Fanta orange. Jim and Kara finally sit down and eat cold French fries and hamburgers.

Husband Law 1: Sunkist orange has caffeine!
Husband Law 2: Next time, just get the chocolate shake. She'll drink it, and like it.

There's Gold in Them There Hills!

The hills that I'm talking about aren't the hills where 300,000 people flooded in 1849 in the search for gold or the ones that are alive with the sound of music. The hills I'm referring to are the hills on my chest that have more recently resembled mountains since the birth of my son. Jim-Jim is a big eater, but he can't keep up with his mommy! I make much more milk than the boy can eat, and I've been stock-piling my breast milk in the freezer since the day we came home from the hospital.

It wasn't always easy, though. I had to work really hard to build my milk supply by pumping every hour that Jim-Jim wasn't eating so my production would increase. The motivating factor was the fear that once he went to daycare he wouldn't have enough milk to sustain him, but I believe I over-shot the mark. The simple solution would be to pour the excess down the drain, right? True, that is an option, but I can't bring myself to do it! Breast milk takes a lot of work to maintain, and, in essence, is the only thing keeping my son alive. For these reasons, I've grown somewhat attached to my breast milk, and the mere thought of pouring this liquid gold down the drain after hours spent pumping makes me queasy. With so little room left in the freezer for frozen pizzas, I figured out another option. Breast milk donation!(http://www.nationalmilkbank.org/) They send me a pump, collection supplies, and postage, and I send them my frozen breast milk to help premature and critically ill babies. We're both winners! They have breast milk to help sick babies, and I have more room in my freezer for frozen pizzas! I asked Jim-Jim, and he said he doesn't mind sharing.

Breast milk fact #1: Donor milk is dispensed only by prescription to babies with medical and nutritional needs.

Breast milk fact #2: To buy an ounce of breast milk can cost $5/ounce and it's not always covered by insurance.

Breast milk fact #3: 2-4 ounces of breast milk can support a preemie baby for a few days.

Breast milk fact #4: The complexity of human milk is that it contains over 100,000 unique biological components that provide nourishment and disease resistance in babies.
Thanks for sharing, Jim-Jim!

Kara

Let Me Digress

I am aware that most people visit this site to follow the development of the newest addition to our family but this is a family blog, and we had 2 children before Jim-Jim miraculously joined us. Bailey has aired her thoughts on the blog, but Chloe remains to be mentioned. Chloe is a big-boned girl. Once Jim and I moved in together after getting married and our family became blended, I invoked a rule that Chloe needs to once again attain her feminine figure. She was feminine but "blob" is not the figure I had in mind. Moreover, cats have a propensity to develop diabetes and buying insulin for a cat was not on my list of things to do. Chloe went from being free-fed to being fed 1/4 cup of food twice daily. Was she happy about this? Absolutely not! She has voiced her concerns to the point that she has driven Jim and me to our breaking points! There's nothing worse than a cat's meow grating on your nerves first thing in the morning, reminding you that she has been deprived of food ALL night. Luckily, we reached our breaking points at different times so the one who still had willpower to resist the demands of the cat bolstered the will of the one who was prepared to cave. Look at the fruits of our labor!

Extended Family

I am lucky enough to work with a bunch of women who get along amazingly well considering the amount of estrogen permeating the halls. We enjoy each other and share our lives with one another. They have supported me and been a source of encouragement, advice, and gifts at showers (thanks everyone!) throughout my marriage and the birth of my son that have happened within the last 10 months. My mom came from New Mexico to visit (I'm not fooling myself...we were NOT the main attraction), and she brought Jim-Jim up to my office for lunch on Friday. The first woman took hold of him, and I didn't see him again for 30 minutes. He was brought to my office after all of the women had gotten their baby fill, examining him, cuddling him, sniffing him (you read me right, I can't tell you how many women I've witnessed sniffing my child!)... One thing about family is that they can be brutally honest, and "extended" family is no different. Before Jim-Jim was returned to me, I heard chattering in the office halls and one comment stuck out to me. "Kara needs to have another baby so she can have one that looks like her." I couldn't help but laugh! Yes, folks, my child is a carbon copy of his father, and I wouldn't know he was mine if I hadn't carried him for 9 months! I think he's a lucky boy, and he's going to be a heart-breaker when he's older!

Kara

He Speaks!

Throughout the pregnancy and the first month of his life, Jim-Jim wasn't really real to me. Is that a horrible thing to say? It may be, but it's the truth - I knew I was a father, but it never really hit me, you know?

This past weekend, Jim-Jim started really connecting with us, seeming to react to us, to notice us for the first time. It finally clicked for me: I'm a father. My love for my wife has borne with it a lifelong commitment, both to her and to a wrinkled, toothless little man (Mann?) that did nothing but cry, eat, and poop for two entire months. Then, all of a sudden, we blink and you're a person.

They always talk about how quickly your children morph from infancy to adulthood, and I'm sure someday, sooner than I'd like, I'll turn around and he'll be gone - I'm hearing strains of Jim Croce already. Of course, there's always that chance that he'll be one of those kids that never leave, which at this point sounds kinda nice.

While putting together this video, Kara and I noticed how much I sounded like my dad. I know that he would've loved to meet you, Body, and I know he's proud of all of us! I pray every day that I become a tenth of the father my dad, your namesake, was for us. I love you, Jimby, and I can't wait to see you mature into the man that God wants you to be!

Love,
Dad

What's her name?!

Lip stick on his collar, the scent of perfume on his clothes... If I didn't know better, I would think my son was cheating on me! Every time we come home from an outing, he smells like another woman. Last Sunday after picking him up from the church nursery, it was Poison. After Bible study Friday night, he came home smelling like a mixture of Freesia and Pleasures. It was Sunflowers this morning after having breakfast with a couple who were a second family to me when I was growing up. Saturday and Wednesday nights are bath night and by the time we get to that point, he smells of a fragrance shop. I feel so blessed that God has put so many people in my son's life who enjoy loving on him!

Kara

The picture is of Jim-Jim getting dropped off in the church nursery for the first time. A few more current pictures have been added to the "Growing so fast" album to the right.

8 Weeks

One day I'm going to wake up and go to Jim-Jim's crib to find him hanging his college diploma and introducing me to his fiance! The boy is growing tremendously fast! Once you have a baby, everyone feels the need to warn you about how quickly they grow and change, and I am now a believer. The first 2 pictures below have been previously posted, and I've posted them again as a reference. The 1st is of Jim-Jim at 2 weeks and the 2nd is at 5 weeks. The 3rd picture is new- it was taken last night at 8 weeks. Jim-Jim asked me to tell you to please excuse the pot-belly. Mama fed him 5 ounces right before this picture was taken so he was feeling a little bloated.

For those who want an update, Jim-Jim is doing amazingly well. We have been blessed with such an easy-going baby! He has taken to day care well and seems to be thriving there. Jim and I have noticed that once we get him home from day care, we typically never hear him cry the whole night, even if he gets a bath. We put him in the crib around 7:30pm, and he puts himself to sleep. He's been sleeping anywhere from 6 1/2 to 8 1/2 hours each night since he was 6 weeks old. I've been pushing him towards the 8 1/2 hour mark this week. A wise woman once told me that once he proves he can go a certain amount of time without eating at night, hold him to it (Thanks Lydia:). Twice this week he woke up at 1:30am. I rocked him for a few minutes and put him back in his crib without feeding him, and he slept until 4am- 8 1/2 hours. Now we just need to stop waking up:) He's starting to interact a lot more lately. He loves to smile and release what sounds like a laugh when his daddy makes funny faces. It's beautiful to see them together...but scary to think another Big Jim is going to be running around (they are going to be exactly alike!!!) I can't wait to see what the future holds for him!

Divine Intervention

My maternity leave ended and I started back to work this week, so Jim and I were finally able to carpool and get some much needed quality time. When riding home one day, I was expressing to Jim how much I dislike pumping my breast milk at work. Not only is it difficult to find time to do it and awkward having my boob exposed on the job (albeit while I'm alone in my office behind closed doors), but the one time I decided to wash my pump supplies in the kitchen (I typically use disposable pump wipes) a doctor walks in and says, "Ah, you've been pumping." to which I responded, "Yes, I have." [awkward silence ensues] Jim's response was to tell me that I just have to find time to do it and make it happen. His lecture ended when I shot him a look that said "Okay, Captain Obvious, you grow some boobs and attach suction cups to them every 2 hours and then we'll talk". We haven't even been married a year, and he's getting pretty good at recognizing that look:)

One perk of once again carpooling is that we are able to pray together before he drops me off and we start our days. This was Friday's prayer:

Me: "Lord, help us have wonderfully easy days that go by quickly, and help me find the time to pump this morning even though I have a hectic schedule."

Jim interjects: "And Lord, help Kara realize how important it is that she pumps and provides milk for our son, and that she makes it a priority in her day." (stifling laughter because he knows he's instigating!)

Me: And dear Lord, help Jim realize that he's given this to You, and he shouldn't take it back. He needs to know that You have his best interest at heart, and You're going to take care of this so he NEVER has to mention it again!"

Does the prayer still count if you're using God as a mediator???

Kara

Picture by Jim...thanks a lot babe >:(