Wesley Michael Jolly

So much to learn...

2011-11-02T17:33:00.001-04:00

"One, two, three, four. There are _four_ flowers. How many flowers are there?"

"Mine is blue..."

Sigh....

First day in the booster seat

2011-06-20T14:53:00.000-04:00

We found a booster seat that was rated down to 30lbs (not that WMJ would
need that low -- he's at least 39lbs currently). Today was the first
day he got to use it1

One Sick Two Year Old

2010-12-27T12:01:00.002-05:00

Well, WMJ turned two a few weeks ago. At Dec 15th's two-year doctor's appointment, he weighed in at 33.5lbs, 36.5" tall, and had a 50.8 (cm?) head circumference.

Of course, that's the good of the beginnings of his third year in life. Well, maybe not all the good. He got some really cool toys for his birthday ;)

The bad revolves around some sort of multi-infection-plus-virus thing he had going on the weekend before. That Friday morning, we woke up to hear Wesley saying "color.... colors..... color" in the monitor. Normally, when he says "color", it's because he's gotten his crayons out (which are downstairs in the kitchen -- not in his room, by the way) or wants to color. Jen's first thought was that he must've gotten hold of a marker or something and was marking up the walls and/or carpet. No such luck. The "colors" he was referring to were the red and green bell pepper chunks from his previous evening's meal of tuna and peppers that was now in a pile in the middle of the floor. Mmmm.... (Nathan/Clete -- does this sound familiar? ;) )

And actually, not all of it was in the pile -- some was on his leg, which carried it to various other parts of the room when he woke up...

Oh... I... I guess I didn't mention how well he's taken to the whole "remove the side of the crib" scenario. He's doing GREAT with that ;) That first morning when we went to get him, we couldn't find him. He was completely under the bed. When we tried to pull him out, I think we startled him awake, which sort of freaked him out. So, there was a little crying and what not that first morning, but most all other nights he's stayed in his bed really well. Every once in a while you've gotta go upstairs and remind him that it's nap/bed time, but... The whole bed time routing is so much easier now -- he climbs up into bed on his own, you pull his blanket over him, and walk away.

Back to the gruesome story... I hear Jen saying something along the lines of "oh crap" via the monitor, so I get out of bed (yes -- I'm a lazy bum -- I try to stay in bed as long as I can). I go help clean up the mess and him and we start our normal routine. Of course, the normal morning routine involves drinking milk and watching Curious George while sitting in our bed. He starts to drink the milk at our bedside waiting to be picked up, but before we get over to pick him up we hear the burp gone wrong. A milky white smells-like-7th-grader-vomit-on-the-school-bus geyser erupts from Wesley all over the carpet and the side of our bed. He had this sort of "what in the world is happening here" look on his face as he looked side-to-side, geyser still gushing. Luckily he's a little guy, so his stomach's not that big, so it only lasts a second or so, but man, it felt like about ten seconds...

Something's definitely wrong with 'im...

I volunteer to clean up the mess and Jen cleans up WMJ. I figure I should take the dirtier job since she's more prone to preggo-puking. Ungh... I don't know what it was about that particular hurl, but that stuff stunk _BAD_.

We baby him through the day -- uh.. well... Jen babies him through the day, doing basically just water and crackers - none of which he's able to keep down. Jen went to the store and got some clear Pedialyte to try and give him, but he didn't seem to like the taste of it, nor could he really keep that down either. Jen laid him down a little early for his nap. During his nap, she called the pediatrician to see about bringing him in for a sick visit. She talked with "the bad nurse" (this is the nurse that, upon inspection, said it was just allergies when Wesley had two ear infections -- I don't have a clue why Jen doesn't just ask for somebody else when this lady answers...). She was basically told that they were booked up through the rest of the day, it was probably just post nasal drip causing nausea and thus vomiting, and he'd probably be fine. Towards the end of the conversation, Jen at one point said, "So what you're telling me is that you're not going to be able to see him today if I bring him up there."

He started seeming better after his nap (slept for a pretty long time), so, feeling better about his condition, we went ahead with our movie night that we had planned (went to see the new Narnia movie in 3D with some folks from the youth group -- pretty good time ;) ). Jay stuck around after a conference call the two of us were on and watched him while we were gone. We'd started Wesley on a banana, some crackers, water, and Pedialyte before we left. When we got home, Jay gave us the report. Wesley finished up dinner, got down and played for a while, and all seemed fine. Then came the burp gone wrong again. Banana chunks and funky stuff went around a couple places in the family room.

Ungh...

He went to sleep good and slept through the night. At this point I guess I should let you know that just before the "remove the side of the crib" setup, I turned the door knob around so we can make sure he can't get out and thus into the bathroom, etc. Yes, we're horrible parents -- we lock our kid in his room ;). Now, normally, he's up around 6:30 or so, playing with a toy or five, trying the door knob saying "door.... stuck...." and things of that nature. 8:30 rolls around with no playing noises (yes, there were breathing noises ;) ) and Jen's worrying... She goes to check on him and he's just laying in his bed in his normal balled-up-on-his-stomach sleeping position but with his eyes open. That's a pretty sure sign that he doesn't feel good...

We get him up and baby him, and find out he's reverted back to the "can't hold anything down" state. Jen calls the pediatrician. Of course, since it's Saturday, the normal office that we'd go to is closed. So, she's calling the office up in Kannapolis. They say there's a really long wait, but they'll see him at 11:30. We get ready and head up I-85. When we got there, they told us they were running about an hour behind. I left Jen and WMJ there, ran an errand, and not too long after I got back, we were called back.

Jen had apparently given him some water in the waiting room which he'd held down the whole time. So, the nurse practitioner that saw us was hopeful. She did a strep test and something else. She diagnosed him with "a little bit of an ear infection" and dehydration. She went to check with the doctor (who we still hadn't seen) about something while the strep test was out. At that point, what little bit of water Wesley had drank in the waiting room came back up. When the NP heard about that, she checked with the doctor again. The doctor said we'd need to just go to the hospital to do a round of IV fluids and see what to do based on that.

So, off to the hospital we went.

Wesley hadn't been back to CMC Northeast (or any hospital for that matter) since he'd been born. Well -- maybe he'd gone to a hospital (a couple cousins have been born since him), but he hadn't been admitted to a hospital ;) Of course, Wesley had never had a real vomit 'till the day before either... It was a weekend of firsts for him ;)

We totally couldn't figure out where to go in, the place that I think I was supposed to drop 'em off (a circle) was blocked by a couple bad parking jobs) and the parking lot closest to that circle was blocked off for construction. So, I dropped Jen and Wesley off at the emergency room entrance (which was also the children's emergency entrance -- which appeared to be the nearest entrance to the "Jeff Gordon Children's Hospital" where we were supposed to be going). The parking lot there said "emergency room parking only", so I drove around the hospital again. I must admit -- I now have a map of that place and am a _lot_ more familiar with it after this whole ordeal. I parked in the 'surgery center' parking lot and worked my way through the building to where I thought Jen was supposed to be.

Turned out, somebody in the emergency room area was able to check Wesley in. That person's desk just happened to be right outside the elevator that I was going to take up to the 2nd floor -- so, when I turned around after hitting the call button for the elevator, I saw 'em. Weird ;)

Anyway, after we got checked in, we were handed off to someone else and escorted up to the children's hospital, where we were handed off again and led to a room.

The worst part of the next hour was getting the IV started. The nurse got it in his right hand after having 'blown veins' in both of his elbows. Based on the pediatrician's visit, they ran fluids, some anti-nausea medication, and an antibiotic. They planned on keeping that up until he had pee'd, some tests had come back, and he'd been checked by the doctor.

Of course, the tests didn't really get started 'till late, and the doctor didn't see him 'till late, because we somehow were checked into something else other than the hospital -- some doctor's office or something. We were physically there, but not in the system ;)

By 5:30 or 6, Wesley started to perk up. Not long after, the nurses brought him apple juice and orange Jell-O which he promptly went to town on and was quick to ask for "moh" of once finished. By that point though, we'd already been told to expect to stay overnight, and possibly 'till Monday. With his change in behavior though, we figured it'd just be overnight. I had gone home for most of the down time and brought Jen dinner and overnight supplies for the two of 'em (hey -- I had to play in the morning -- I wasn't gonna try and figure out how to sleep in the same room with Jen, Wesley, and her mom again... The night before his birth was the last time I dared subject myself to that ;) ).

When all was said and done, Wesley was diagnosed with two ear infections, a sinus infection, and a stomach bug. No flu, no RSV. Chest x-ray was clear.

As soon as I got done playing in the second service at church, I was instructed to head back up to CMC to pick Jen and Wesley up, as they were being discharged.

Of course, we got home and WMJ developed a fun case of diarrhea. That pretty much kept going 'till we were done with the week of antibiotics. Joy.... At least he's back to his fun and playful self now ;)

New Sleeping Arrangements

2010-10-27T22:55:00.002-04:00

We're trying out some new sleeping arrangements for WMJ tonight. I took the front off the crib. My thoughts are that it's the first step to moving him out of the crib in preparation for baby number 2. Oh yeah - forgot to mention that -- we're due late April....

Anyway -- only three walls, then move to a "big boy bed". That'll free up the crib...

So, we're trying it out tonight. Jen was worried, so she put a couple pillows down and a folded-over blanket over those. Lots of padding in case he rolled out. Of course, her worries didn't stop there. She wanted to peek in on 'im to see how he was doing.

Minutes later, she came to get me and had me see for myself. He's lying on his stomach on the blanket on the floor with his head under the crib....

Weirdo....

Uh Oh!

2010-06-06T08:25:00.001-04:00

He's added "Uh Oh" to his repertoire of words that he says for
everything. So now, anything he sees is either "Boom", "Baaah" (Ball),
or "Uh Oh". It's startin' to get fun ;)

Puzzles!

2010-05-04T08:49:00.001-04:00

Wesley can put together a couple of his sorter puzzles now. I just
watched him spin around one of the pieces in his fingers before putting
it right in place. Sometimes he has trouble with the rotations, but
he's doing pretty derned good!

Sorting!

2010-04-26T18:57:00.001-04:00

It's like something clicked in the last week 'er so... He started being
able to sort his little eight-shape sorting ball without help. He still
gets a little hung up on the heart shape (doesn't quite realize the need
to rotate it), but overall...

And he's definitely saying "Ball". It's kinda more of a "Bahhh..." And
he says it for a lot of stuff... throwing the ball, random round-ish
things, "hey, stop poking me." He says things that we're interpreting
as "hey", "bye bye", "mama", and "dada" -- but he uses those words for
everything and its brother. So, I don't think those really count... I
dunno -- I'm too literal I guess ;)

This boy's gonna get mono...

2010-03-16T09:17:00.003-04:00

Wesley ran up to the door this morning, laid both hands on it, leaned
in, and gave it a quick kiss.

How weird... Jen and I both saw it and didn't know if he really did
what we thought he did. Then, probably since he got a reaction, he did
it again.

And it continued....

Next was a couple boxes by the door, then the rug, then the piano bench.
He made a couple rounds giving a quick, leaned in "smooch" to each of
those inanimate objects...

Jen and I were crackin' up...

What made it even better was his attire... He woke up wet from a night
of apparently drinking too much. Rather than get his clothes dirty with
breakfast, I put one of my t-shirts on 'im (clothes-pinned the neck in
the back so it'd stay on). It was like a cross between a Jedi & a
painter's smock ;)

So Proper...

2010-03-02T13:08:00.001-05:00

I'm just sitting here laughing at WMJ over lunch... He's stabbing mini
ravioli with his fork and putting 'em in his mouth one at a time ;)

So prim, so proper ;)

What a screw-up....

2010-01-26T20:05:00.001-05:00

WMJ got his first haircut on Friday... He looks a lot different now...

Of course, that's not the screw-up.

I was hanging out with WMJ in the living room after feeding him dinner
tonight. I've been kinda tired lately, so I was zoning while watching
TV. Then I noticed him between me and the TV...

Hm... What's he playing with? Is that a water bottle? Note - we have
a few Dasani water bottles that we refill and drink out of. This one
was empty. Hm... Where's _my_ bottle... That I just filled up with
cherry Kool-Aid... <looks around>. Uhh... <stands up> OH CRAP!

There, right in front of the couch, were two fairly good size puddles of
red.

Ungh... I put him in his pack-and-play and grabbed the carpet deep
cleaner.

I really felt like I was talking to a dog. "Bad Wesley... No..."

Oh well... Here's to hoping I don't find another puddle somewhere later
that I missed.

Few more milestones

2010-01-16T20:41:00.001-05:00

We were at dinner tonight at Jen's favorite -- the Macaroni Grill.
Since they leave crayons at the table for everybody to play with, Wesley
got to draw all over with 'em. He acted like he knew exactly what to do
-- how to hold 'em, how to draw random lines, etc.

We forgot his sippy cup, so we had to roll with the kiddy cup of milk
and straw that they provided. It took a few tries, but for the first
purposeful time, he drank out of a straw. It was more a game for him
than anything -- suck up just enough to get something in his mouth, then
turn to accept the praise from the table ;)

Those milestones made me remember that I hadn't blogged in a while...
So, I figured I should note some of his other things:

- He ate the cookie part of an oreo
- He uses blocks (or anything he can get his hands on) like a cell
phone... He has random conversations with _someone_ on those things ;)
- He pulls his helicopter around by it's string. I've seen him turn it
back upright a few times too.
- Speaking of turning things back upright -- I've seen him turn his
wooden scooter (which a wonderful southern gentleman hand crafted for
him) back over after it fell over.
- He's taking baths in the big tub, and loving every minute of it
- He started his music class this past Wednesday. He played the drums,
shaker, triangle, tambourine, etc.
- He's had mint chocolate chip ice cream... He made a funny face on a
couple bites -- either because of the cold or the taste... I don't
think it was the taste, 'cause he kept coming back for more ;)

That's all I can think of for now... 'till next time!

Sickness....

2009-12-18T11:05:00.001-05:00

Jen just took little dude to the doctor's... He developed a nasty
sounding cough overnight (had a little cough before, but didn't seem
that bad). When Jen went to hang with him in the wee hours after he
cried out, but unlike his normal self, he just laid there all
pitifully... So, we took his temperature this AM. 102. Side note -- I
think thermometers are a little weird sometimes, 'cause we took it twice
and the second time was a little less than that, but....

Gave 'im some tylenol and scheduled a sick visit.

Temperature came down by the time we were done feeding him some
breakfast. He seemed much more himself (but still obviously not 100%)
during breakfast.

Anyway -- the doctor said he's got two ear infections and _possibly_ the
flu.

Jen just headed out to fill his prescription.

Ungh.....

Whoops -- Slacking on Tooth Posts

2009-12-08T18:20:00.002-05:00

So back on the 17th, I noted that it looked like his first upper tooth was poking through. I didn't even say which one it was ;)

It was the left lateral incisor -- or as we affectionally called it, his "snaggle tooth" ;)

Here's where I show off my slackness though... I... don't know when the next tooth came in. It was sometime around the middle of November. Of course, the funny part of it is that it was the other "snaggle tooth", making him look like a dragon (in Olivia's words).

Then he got a birthday present -- his left central incisor poked through. And today his other central incisor peeked through.

Here's to hoping we remember to note the next one! ;)

He Walks!

2009-11-11T17:28:00.002-05:00

From Jen:

Hey Folks!

Check out Wesley walking!!! He took his first steps (that we saw) on October 15th.

http://www.gogod.org/~jolly/wmj/WMJ-Walking.wmv

The other big accomplishment of today…. He also ate his first ladybug. I’m so proud. J (yuck!!)

jen

First Blood

2009-10-17T14:55:00.005-04:00

Our little Rambo was climbin' up on a chair today (not _into_ the chair -- just using the chair to stand). He fell and somehow cut his lip just outside the right corner. It looked like he hit his forehead, but the carnage was apparently a little lower on the face....

A wet paper towel to clean off the little red (now smeared) stream helped reveal the source of the wound. I heated up my crocodile dundee knife and cauterized it... and a little of his mouth. Just kidding ;) I don't have a crocodile dundee knife ;)

Okay -- that was a joke too... It was a _really_ small cut - maybe a milimeter in length. We just wiped it off a couple times and gave him his frozen teether. He was fine in a minute....

So -- what else has been happening... We think there's a new tooth in his upper gums. When you hold him just right upside-down, you can see a little shiny spot -- his first upper tooth starting to poke through!

He's been having quite the time emptying the cabinets and our plastic drawer recently. As I type this, the kitchen floor is basically impassible. Which stinks, 'cause I'm thirsty ;) Jen took this picture in the middle of September. What you can't see is the kitchen floor -- littered with the former cabinet contents. It was his first time in the cabinet. He... couldn't figure out how to get out ;)

9 Month Appointment

2009-09-05T08:19:00.002-04:00

From Jen:

Wesley had his 9-month appointment today!! (No shots this time – yeah!!!!) Most everything is looking good. He’s hitting the milestones that he should. The doctor could feel 4 upper teeth about to poke through. We thought so since he’s been cranky, has red cheeks, and is drooling like crazy. He weighed 19 lbs & measured 28½ inches. The doctor was a little concerned that he has not been gaining weight like she would have expected (like he did in the first 5 months). But I’m just going to feed him more and we’ll see how it goes. He’s eating some little pieces of sliced American cheese as we speak. :) One thing Mike and I are pro’s at is putting on some weight……

On the other hand, he’s learned the fun of knocking down a stack of blocks and opening the cabinet doors. He’s also pulling up and letting go. He’ll stand for a few seconds. It’s hilarious to see his face when he does it! I can’t tell if he’s excited or scared. :)

Quite the Developmental Day!

2009-08-17T08:39:00.003-04:00

He's finally starting to crawl. He moved a little before, but nothing that could actually be counted as crawling... Yesterday, Jen said he did an actual crawl across the room. W00t!

We played around with 'im with his new skill through the afternoon.

Jon Grubbs came over right after I'd laid 'im down last night. And of course, since everybody wants to hang out with Jon, he never really went to sleep. I got 'im back up and we played for a bit. Take two for trying to lay him down didn't happen either. WMJ just cried. I gave him the wife-mandated twenty minutes and went in to get 'im (I had made a bottle, so it was a retrieval mission - not just a "try to get 'im to fall asleep" mission). When I opened his door, I saw WMJ standing at the side of his crib holding onto the edge! He'd pulled up...

Dang, now I have to move the mattress down. I didn't do it last time, but now it's a requirement ;)

Sittin' Up

2009-08-05T14:37:00.001-04:00

He's been doin' a good job of sittin' up on his own. Time to lower the mattress again....

Toofy Number Two!

2009-07-31T13:34:00.002-04:00

WMJ was cryin' away last night. It started at around 11:30PM, and he just kept going. Eventually, I got up and took 'im out to the couch. He took a good bit-o-time to calm down, but we eventually fell asleep.

This morning we saw and felt a little bit of a second tooth on the bottom, so we're pretty sure that was the cause of his late night issues ;)

Maybe a Tooth!

2009-07-13T15:39:00.003-04:00

Feels like there's a little bit of a tooth popping out of his bottom gums.... Oh, I can hear the sleepless nights now....

On a side note, we found a little cyst-like bump on his right palm. Jen took 'im to the doctor, who referred him to an orthopedic specialist. We've got an appointment there now, but we're in a "keep an eye on it" holding pattern 'till after VBS.

What a big boy!

2009-07-03T11:04:00.001-04:00

We did the yee-old weigh yourself+baby minus just yourself.... WMJ came in at 19.8lbs. Wow.

Just Wave Ya Hands In The Air!

2009-06-30T20:28:00.002-04:00

We think we've got WMJ waving on command now.... It's the same motion he makes with his right hand when he's making funny noises with the back of his hand and his mouth, but.... it at least looks like a wave ;)

To continue out the last post a little, he's gone through peas, green beans, squash, carrots, and a couple lemon wedges ;)

Oh -- and prunes. A couple days after the peas, we noticed he hadn't poo'd since the day after the introduction of the peas... He ended up going 4 days sans poo-age in one stretch. So, really prunes were the second food we introduced, and have continued to feed 'im ;)

Oh the joys of moving into the realm of hard poo's. It's not your traditional two-poo platter by any stretch of the imagination! They kinda form into little wedges between his cheeks and the diaper... And to add to the weirdness, the desitin sometimes give some white color to the outsides... Sometimes even looks like a white fuzzy mold 'er something.... ...

Well, enough of that -- time for dinner! ;)

Pass the Peas!

2009-06-05T20:03:00.001-04:00

2nd night in a row we've given WMJ some pea puree lookin' gerber food.... So far -- so good! ;)

Ahh-daa-daa-daa

2009-06-02T14:16:00.001-04:00

As of a day 'er so ago he's started covering his upper gums with his tongue while making noises. This leads to an ahh-daa-daa-daa-daa type sound. Jen calls 'em syllables. I'm not that fancy ;)

Hopefully He's Faster Than Me ;)

2009-04-09T13:25:00.002-04:00

We're a little slow at updating the blog (Jen and I, that is)... Hopefully WMJ's a little quicker than us ;)

Let's see.... What's the latest stuff....

3/21 - WMJ rolled over onto his stomach by himself... He didn't really like it, and subsequently cried ;) This process repeated many times after... He's gotten a little better about the crying about it though ;)

3/23 - While at the doctor's for a shot, the pediatritian told us we could fix some of WMJ's sleeping habits (he'd gone back to waking up about every 3 hours after the sickness) by putting him in his crib at night... I had a feeling my snoring was waking him up ;) The first could nights were a little fun. He slept great and long, but he'd wake up every so often when he'd roll over onto his stomach..... and cry. What bad timing we have - to have started this right after he's able to roll over onto his stomach ;) We'd go in, flip him over, and put his pacifier in his mouth and he'd go right back to sleep. As noted earlier, he's gotten better about this and'll sleep on through being on his stomach. Phew! ;)

3/27 - WMJ weighed in at 16lbs 1oz. 26" (Jen thinks ;) ).

4/9 - WMJ rolled over onto his back from his stomach. At least, we're pretty sure he did... He was in his crib on his stomach at the end of a nap, we turned around, and he was back on his back..... And he didn't cry through the process! Sweet! ;)

Well, I think that's all for now... I'll let you know if it's not ;)