A few new firsts for Jasper

Well, HELLO! It's been a while! Happy Halloween, Happy Thanksgiving, and Merry Christmas! Hope everyone is having a great December, and "HOW BOUT DEM TIGAHS!?!"

Jasper celebrated his first Halloween by dressing up as a Sweet Potato flavored Hubig's Pie. In fact, the entire family dressed up, even Callie! Our neighborhood had a big block party on Halloween night and Jasper won his first costume contest. Only three months old and already a winner! As Jeremy would say, "That's my boy!" Grandpa, CeCe, Grammie, and even my good friend George (from work) all came over for Jasper's first Halloween, and it was a lot of fun.



Let's see, what else has been going on?... Since the Christening, LSU has defeated Auburn, Alabama, Western Kentucky, Ole Miss, Arkansas and Georgia. Jeremy and I were fortunate enough to get Carol and Debbie's tickets for the Western Kentucky game and the Munstereifels' tickets for the Arkansas game. Man, it is so much fun watching LSU win! Thanks to our families again for the tickets!


Granny, Carol and Debbie just got back from three (very long) weeks in Italy. Jasper missed them so much! We took pictures of him just about every day and sent them by text so that Granny could get her "Jasper fix." From what I understand, she basically confiscated Aunt Debbie's phone, showing off her grandson to everyone on the bus, along with complete strangers just walking by. Needless to say, she missed us a lot. I think that's the longest I've ever gone not talking to Mom. It was torture!


I started one of those exercise boot camps the first week of November. It's called Camp Sweat and it's owned by a girl that I went to high school with. I've lost about 7 lbs. so far, and about two inches in my waist. Once I can really see a difference, I'll have to put up some before and after pictures. Only 40 more lbs. to go! Ugh, just shoot me.

Jasper went to his first Poboy Festival. I have a new understanding of strollers. All those years, I'd get so mad at people with their stinking baby strollers as they'd come up behind me and hit me in the back of the ankles. I am now one of those people. I made Jeremy walk in front of the stroller as we forced our way thru the crowd, so that I didn't hit too many people. Instead, I managed to hit the back of Jeremy's ankles, only about 37 times. I'm sure he appreciated that. Have I mentioned that he's an AWESOME dad?!? Anyway, we have a friend that works on Oak St., so we spent about four hours just sitting on the front porch people watching. Jasper loved it. No poboys for Jasper this year, but next year, it's on!


We spent Turkey Day visiting with Grandpa and CeCe first, then Nanny and family in Mandeville, and finally Grammie and PawPaw, Justin, Ruth and Granny that night, at Morning Call. Jasper had some powdered sugar for the first time and he loved it. EVERYONE took turns holding Jasper throughout the day. Thank goodness he likes people, because we basically played "Pass the Baby" all day. On Sunday, we had a second Thanksgiving, with the Starr family at our house. I cooked and cooked and cooked, and fortunately, everything turned out pretty well! Well, I had to make two batches of pralines and I burned my finger, but at least a few pralines in the second batch came out good. It's all sugar anyway! I just licked up the whole first batch when they wouldn't harden. Yes, all of it. Don't judge! Anyway, it was a very nice day. Thanks to PawPaw for bringing the turkey and Granny for bringing the ham. Even Nanan and Uncle Timmy came in from Baton Rouge to be with us. We were so happy to visit with them!







Last weekend, Jeremy, Jasper and I met up with Nanny-Kira, Cindy, Peyton and Makenzie at Chapelle's Breakfast with Santa. Jasper took his first pictures with Santa. He didn't smile, but at least he didn't cry, which is more than I can say for Makenzie. I won't go into detail, but as you can see below, Santa is not Makenzie's favorite person. Either way, we love being with the Gervais/Mares group. They're always a good time!




And here we are, already into the second week of December. Jasper is going to be four months old on the 12th. I'll send updates of height and weight once we visit the doctor on the 14th. He is still sleeping really well, allowing Mom and Dad to get plenty rest. And he's such a happy baby. It's so easy to make him smile and laugh. We're really looking forward to celebrating his first Christmas with as many of you as possible. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year to all of you. We love you.

Jasper's Christening

**Jeremy informed me that I was wrong about the percentile stuff in my last post, so if you want to check out his edits, feel free! Now back to the christening...

What a wonderful day! Despite the accident on I-10 that slowed down all of our Kenner, Luling and Destrehan friends, Jasper's christening was a beautiful and fun experience. Deacon Capaci was a hit with the family too! Unfortunately, Jasper cried 90% of the time. I think he was upset about having to wear a dress, especially on gameday. We thought about putting on his LSU sneakers under the dress, but ultimately decided against it. The ceremony was very sweet and the deacon made it both special and memorable. He had us all laughing on several occasions. Thanks to all who came out and to those that couldn't make it, we missed you but we know you're thinking of us! Here are some pictures from the day...

Two Months and Too Cute!

Hello all! We’ve made it to month two and Jasper is doing great! He’s a whopping 12 lbs., 9 oz and he’s grown 1 ¾ inches since last month, which makes him 24 inches long. Jeremy took the time to chart his growth to see what percentiles he’s in. I think I’m starting to understand it, so here goes with our findings… First, for those of you that don’t know, percentile tells how your child measures up against other children (based on the World Health Organization data) in height, weight, and head size. As I mentioned, Jasper is 12 lbs, 9 oz, which means that he weighs more than 50-75% of babies. At 24 inches long, he’s taller than 85-95% of babies. Finally, his head’s circumference is 16 in., which means that his head is larger than 90% of babies his age. I hope this makes sense. This took me a while to grasp for some reason… So for those of us that would like to just know the basics: he’s a little bigger and a good bit taller than most babies his age. And his head is larger than those of most babies his age. Another interesting (and kind of disturbing) fact about the circumference… Jasper’s head was 14 ¼ in. in circumference when he was born, meaning his head was larger than 90% of newborn babies. And if you know what happened with the epidural the day he was born, you’ll know what that means. OUCH!!

We’ve been adjusting very well to parenthood, mostly because Jasper is a super easy baby. He only cries when something’s wrong. He sleeps 6 ½ to 8 hours per night. He smiles and laughs a lot in the mornings, and even in the evenings too. We are SO LUCKY AND GRATEFUL! Oh, and he's even starting to talk, well, "baby" talk. But just the other day, he told me how wonderful, smart and good-looking I am! I swear that's what he said! Well, maybe not in those exact words...

His grandparents love spending time with him. Mrs. Joy won’t put him down and Mom pushes me out the way to get to him! His eyes are definitely going to be brown, like his daddy. In fact, he looks EXACTLY like his daddy. The nose, the lips, the smile… totally Jeremy. He has my big forehead and my pointy chin, but that’s about it. Oh and he has my dad’s skinny legs!

So far, Jasper has only peed on us a few times. It happens to Jeremy more than me, which is nice. In fact, just the other day, Jeremy went to work with a new scent… let’s call it, “Eau do PeePee.” Hopefully, no one noticed.

He’s getting better and better at holding up his head and just yesterday, we found him on his tummy in his crib… he rolled over all by himself! Wow, reread the last sentence I just typed. Can you believe this is what I talk about these days!? It’s amazing what babies do to new parents. It’s amazing how excited we are about him. I never knew someone could have such an effect on me so instantaneously.

We’ll be christening Jasper this weekend at St. Dominic Church in Lakeview and we’re really excited about it. Kira and Neil are Jasper’s godparents; he’s so lucky! He’ll be christened in the same gown that Jeremy was christened in. While looking for the gown, Mrs. Joy came across Jeremy’s baby outfits and toys. (Sorry Mrs. Joy, but) I went through the bag, got rid of the 80’s “short” shorts and ugly sweaters, and saved all the LSU clothes for Jasper. He’ll be going for that “vintage” look with the “old school” Mike the Tiger!


As always, thanks for reading and being involved in our lives. Our new family is doing very well and we appreciate all you do for us.

We survived the first month!

Hello all! Jasper is one month old and cute as ever. Our check-up went great today. He now weighs 10 lbs., 3 oz. and he's 22 and 1/4 inches long. His head is 15 and 1/2 inches in circumference. Yes, that's big, but it just means he has A LOT of brains!

We can't believe how much sleep we've been getting. He's a great baby, usually only crying when he's hungry, wet, sleepy or gassy. However, lately, he's been VERY gassy. Like father, like son, HAHA!!! (Jeremy is gonna love this post.) All jokes aside, we have a wonderful, and perfect little baby and we couldn't be more happy. And Daddy couldn't be more proud. Jeremy loves entertaining Jasper, talking to him, singing to him... The only song we know all the words to is "Hey Fightin' Tigers," so Jasper will know that one before he even starts crawling I'm sure. When he's fussy, we literally sing it OVER and OVER and OVER...

We kept very busy this past month during my maternity leave, visiting plenty of family and friends. Jasper went on his first road trip to Dallas to visit our good friends, the Eggert's. Because the LSU game was in Dallas that weekend, we also visited some Tigerband friends, which is always a good time. Anyway, we stayed with Martin, Kathryn, Audrey, Hammond and Oliver (the dogs) for the long Labor Day weekend, and Jasper made fast friends with their daughter, Audrey. If Audrey ever moves down to NOLA, it will be to marry Jasper. Yup, Kathryn and I are ALREADY planning the wedding.

Mom and I took Jasper to work the other day to visit my coworkers. Patti-Rae bought him A TON of LSU stuff: onesies, books, a frame, even little LSU sneakers. SO CUTE!! Jeremy already read one of the books to Jasper. He can't wait to take Jasper to his first LSU game! And aren't those the cutest freaking shoes you've ever seen!?!

This past weekend, we took a cruise ride on the Natchez. I'm sure that if Jasper would have opened his eyes even once, he would have loved the ride. Good thing babies ride for free.

Thanks to everyone for all of the adorable baby clothes. I'm pretty sure we won't need to buy him any more outfits until he's 21. Just kidding, more like 2. Oh, and we took newborn pictures a couple of weeks ago. We're just waiting for the photographer to send them to us. As soon as we have them, we'll be sure to share our favorites. Until then, here's the one "teaser" she sent me. Hope you're all having a great week! OMG, I can't believe we're parents...

It's a BOY!!

We have a beautiful baby boy! Jasper John Starr was born Friday, August 12th at 11:56 a.m. He weighed 8 lbs and was 21 inches long at birth. He's already one week old! And I don't mean to brag, but he is perfect. And after that delivery, he had better be! Let's just say that it wasn't easy and it didn't exactly go as planned. Ever heard of "hot spots?" That's when the epidural doesn't work in one specific area. Mine just so happened to be in my bottom. I felt things I never felt before and NEVER hope to feel again! But all the pain was worth it. And it didn't take too long. The major labor pains were only for about five hours. And Jeremy was there, helping me through it the entire time. Speaking of Jeremy, let me give my rendition of what happened during the birth. As Jasper was born, and we saw that he was a "he," Jeremy jumped in the air and yelled, "YES!!" (I'd hate to see what would have happened if we had a girl!) My immediate response was, "No ball in the house." And he replied, "Oh yeah, ball in the house!" He had a great time teasing the family and finally telling them the news.

There are some other fun stories, but they're probably not appropriate for the internet, so we'll share those with you in person. I still get baby updates from my babycenter.com site. It mentioned that newborns can see, but that vision is a little fuzzy. They're basically nearsighted and can see best between 8 and 15 inches away.

So far, we've lucked out and had only one rough night with Jasper. He's been very kind, letting us sleep for 4-5 hours at a time! Today, he woke us up at 7:45! We have him sleeping in his crib already, and it seems to be working very well. We're hoping to get him on a good schedule as soon as possible. As for me, I'm feeling pretty good. I'm recovering from the usual delivery woes, but I've been up and moving since we came home on Sunday. Jeremy is already a great dad. He changes plenty of diapers and gives plenty of kisses. His first diaper change was a bit of "an experience," but since then, he's become a pro. In the hospital, I remember hearing, "EWW POOP!! Don't put your foot in it Jasper!!" He said some other things, again, not necessarily for the internet... Thanks again to Kira for her help during that "ordeal."

Jeremy goes back to work Monday, and I'm on maternity leave til late September. I'm sure I'll have plenty help from Granny, Grandpa, and Grammie and PawPaw while Jeremy is at work, which is nice and much appreciated. Even Callie has been helping out, giving Jasper big, wet kisses when he's in his swing.

OK, time to share some of our favorite pictures with you all. Thanks for all of the visits, balloons, boy clothes, phone calls, e-mails and texts. We're a very happy family, with a lot more hours of sleep than we ever anticipated.

You know you've been pregnant for too long when...

Well, here we are! August 4th and still no bambino! I'm officially 40 weeks pregnant today and I have a feeling Baby Starr is perfectly content staying in there, and continuing to kick the heck out of me. We've scheduled the induction for Friday, August 12th. I'll go in Thursday night (8/11) to get started on fluids and they'll induce the following morning.

In the meantime, since all the baby updates I've been getting only say "Congratulations!" and that the baby is the size of a pumpkin, I thought it would be entertaining to poke a little fun at all of those crazy situations that happen at the end of pregnancy. I recently posted a thread on babycenter.com titled, "You know you've been pregnant for too long when..." and since Tuesday, it's gotten over 200 comments. Here are some of my absolute favorites:

You know you've been pregnant for too long when...

-Even your biggest maternity shirts are too tight, but you wear them anyway because you just don't care anymore.
-At least ten people at work say to you "You're STILL here?"
-Someone asks you if you are having twins.
-You can't get out of bed without grunting (Ask Jeremy about this one!).
-You fall asleep on the toilet during your nightly potty breaks.
-You notice you haven't been able to see certain body parts in months.
-You have mastered putting on bottoms by dangling them (OMG, this one is so true!).
-You left the light on in the bathroom but don't bother going back to turn it off because you know you'll be back in a half hour.
-You welcome contractions.
-You sit and watch the dog sleep and all you can think is "lucky bitch!" (No offense Callie.)
-You TRY to hit potholes on purpose hoping the bumps will induce labor.
-Your ankles look like Princess Fiona's from Shrek (Hilarious!).
-You have to stand on the scale at the doctor's office backwards because your belly is just too big to face forward.
-Your due date comes and goes.
-You're sleeping naked with no blanket and your husband is bundled up like it is the second ice age.
-Shaving your legs becomes another form of yoga.
-Your wedding ring hasn't fit in months.
-You stand at the bottom of the stairs and just stare up at them. (This has been going on for a few weeks at work.)
-You stop asking your husband if you look OK when you get dressed in the morning because you know at this point he would just be lying if he said yes.
-You lay in bed and contemplate what would take more effort, getting up to go to the bathroom or cleaning up when you pee your pants.
-You have worse gas than your husband and don't even care anymore.
-You wear a shirt two days in a row and it's a small miracle because you didn't get any food stains on it the day before!
-You feel like you need some sort of construction equipment to roll you over in bed at night because it's so much effort to do it yourself! (OMG, so, so true!! I call Jeremy my crane.)
-You go for a walk to try to induce labor and have to turn around after 5 minutes because you have to pee again (This happened to me last night people!)
-You spit like a llama while brushing your teeth because you can't reach the sink bowl.
-You have developed a 'system' for turning over in bed.
-You honestly consider sleeping naked with air mattresses for pillows in your bathtub just so you can pee 20 times a night without having to get up. (Loved this one!)
-Moving a load of laundry from the washer to the dryer is a chore that requires sitting down for a rest afterward.
-You can balance a plate of food on your belly.
-Baby's squirming hurts so much it feels like he's going to break right out, like an alien.
-You no longer fit in a standard booth at a restuarant.
-You lean forward to eat your dinner and find it doesn't help...there is no way you are going to avoid spilling food from your mouth! And it lands on your big belly again.
-Your legs and feet look like big sausages and your toes look like cocktail weenies. (This one's from me. This issue began two days ago and has not stopped.)



I hope you enjoyed these as much as I did. Baby Starr said to tell you all, "See ya in a week!"

Thanks for the many phone calls, texts and facebook comments. We love y'all.

The waiting game

Well folks, I'm 1.5 centimeters dilated! Keep in mind that this could mean absolutely nothing. I could still go another 3 weeks. But at least I have a fun update for our blog, right?! Also, not to get too graphic, but the doctor did a procedure to try and start moving things along "down there." We'll see if it helped. So, at 38 weeks, Baby Starr weighs a little over 6.5 lbs, and is still approximately 20 inches long.

He/she now has a firm hand grasp and his/her organs have matured. My e-mail updates are getting pretty boring. This week, there's just not much to say, other than it's a waiting game from here on out!

Mom came over and took a few pictures of our "current" family before little Bambino arrives. Here are some favorites...







I got another "Is it twins?" last weekend... Hopefully, the rude and goofy comments will all come to an end soon. Just wait, I'm sure I'll get a "How far along are you?" AFTER the baby is born, which will really tick me off. I forget how big I am sometimes. Baby is still kicking plenty even though there's hardly any room left! As for being ready, I think we're as prepared as we can be at this point, but it still hasn't kicked in that we're going to be parents. And poor Callie... still clueless.

Thanks for reading as always. We can't wait to put up ACTUAL pictures of our little pumpkin! Love y'all!

37 weeks down, 3 weeks to go!

I'm officially full term!

According to "thebump.com," Bambino is the size of a watermelon! He/she is approximately 6.5 lbs and gaining about a half ounce a day. Baby can blink, suck, inhale, exhale and grip, pretty much everything that a newborn can, minus breathing and pooping. He/she is about 20 inches in length.

We visited the doctor yesterday and everything is still normal; no dilation or effacement yet. And if Baby is anything like the Starr's, you can bet that I'll go a week past my due date, haha! Baby's heart rate is usually in the 140's. Good news... I lost a whole pound this week! We've packed "the bag" for the hospital and the car seat is installed. Callie still has no clue about what's happening. But she'll know soon enough!

Aside from the regular back pain, constant pee pee visits and lack of sleep these symptoms are causing, I've been feeling OK. Waddling is now unavoidable and bending down is virtually impossible. I have an almost non-existent wardrobe and it's getting harder and harder to paint my toe nails. But as they say, "It will all be worth it!"

Thanks for reading and I hope you all have a nice, cool weekend! Oh, and keep sending those "girl vibes" our way!!

36 weeks and as ready as we can be!

Baby's room is complete! (Special thanks to Dad) ... Well, except for Baby. We've got about four weeks left til my due date and boy, are we ready! Baby Starr is weighing in at around 6 lbs. and is about 19 inches long, according to the baby websites I follow. His/her job is to basically plump up til delivery from here on out. If he/she is anything like Mom or Dad, that should come very naturally.

Little bambino is constantly kicking; in fact, my belly is sore. I've been feeling at least one Braxton Hicks contraction every day or so, and I think he/she has "dropped" into position. (BH contractions are kind of like fake contractions and I hear they feel a little bit different than regular contractions.) It's hard to believe he/she will be full term next week! Where has the time gone? I feel like we were just telling you all only a few months ago! Poor Callie... she still has no idea what she's in for. She already thinks that Bambino's toys are hers, especially the squeaky ones!

My company gave me a very nice baby shower yesterday. There's actually two of us pregnant, so it was a twofer! The other girl is due two weeks before me and wouldn't you know she went into labor early this morning?! Good thing they had the shower for both of us yesterday! We received plenty of diapers and wipes, along with some fun toys, which was really great. But, man, I'm seriously ready for it to be my turn. Oh! And Christina had her baby last week! Garret Nicholas Grandt was born June 28th, weighing 8 lbs. and 1 oz., and he measured 22 inches in length. He's beautiful!

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow. From this point on, we'll be going every week, and she'll check to see if I'm dilated. Pretty exciting stuff! I'm definitely ready for it to be my turn. And I know Jeremy is ready too. Last night, I dropped the remote control on the floor just as he was falling asleep. I cursed out loud knowing there was no way I'd be able to pick it up. Can you believe, he got right up, walked over to my side of the bed, picked it up and handed it to me without me even asking? And trust me, I have plenty more stories like that... In fact, I never realized how often I drop things until now...

Y'all have a great weekend! Not too much longer!

Favorite photos from Baby Starr's shower and a quick update

Well, the shower was a HUGE success! Bambino received soooo many nice gifts! We're very appreciative of our family and friends, and it's great knowing how much Baby Starr is ALREADY loved. Here are some favorite photos from the shower. I hope you enjoy them!

No, we're not having twins! Since we don't know the sex of little bambino, "Grammy & PawPaw Starr" were nice enough to buy us TWO LSU outfits. Our kid is definitely coming home in purple and gold! Can I get a GEAUX TIGERS!?! Bambino will arrive just in time for the 2011 season. I think Jeremy planned it that way...

Speaking of LSU, I just love how Makenzie is sporting this "LSU" bib. FYI, Makenzie is my best friend, Kira's daughter, and my godchild. AND Kira and Dusty hate LSU. Yes, hate is a strong word, but that's pretty much how they feel. But look how excited Makenzie looks in this adorable "purple & gold" bib. No worries, I have another 16 years to convince her to go to LSU. I got this!

I just love these pictures of the Munstereifel girls. This is Dad's side of the family and I had to post this great picture of Mary. Yvette, Adelina and Chrissie are on the left. So glad to see them. It's been too long.

Don't worry, Christina and I didn't actually wear the same dress to my shower, but we were about to. We were talking a few days before the shower and I mentioned how I finally got a new dress from the maternity store. Thank God I started describing it! It was the same dress she planned to wear. So instead of wearing it to the shower, she brought it along with her and put it on after so we could take a picture together. Christina is expecting to deliver any day now. It's amazing how fast time flies. I feel like Jeremy and I just told family we were expecting a few months ago! And here I am at 34 weeks today!

So right after the shower, it was like, "Everyone get in line to touch the belly!" It's a good thing that I got over that whole "I'm not letting anybody touch my belly" attitude. I'm still not over people telling me how big I am though... As if I don't know. I mean, I literally ROLL out of bed three times a night to use the bathroom and Jeremy has to be my "crane" and pull me out of bed every morning. It's a good thing I don't have self esteem issues. LOL.

Here's another picture of Jeremy and I at the shower opening up more gifts. How appropriate was Brittany and Kevin's gift, "Star of Mommy's blog." Too cute. I couldn't help but put this one in. I also love Kira's face in the background.

Mr. Mike, this picture is for you! Here's my father-in-law and I comparing bellies. I FINALLY have him beat! LOL! He keeps telling me that it's not fair, I'm going to lose mine a lot faster then he'll lose his. Thanks for being a good sport Mr. Mike.

And finally, a picture of Jeremy and I with our hostesses (minus Carol and Debbie). Special thanks to all of you, especially Tristi, Kira and Jessica. We really appreciate your efforts to make our shower so nice and we're so thankful to have you in our lives. You're very important to us and we can't wait for Baby Starr to meet Aunt Tristi, "Nanny" Kira and Aunt Jessica. We love you. And Jess, the cake was AMAZING, in case I haven't already told you!!

Now, for a quick baby update. According to my e-mails from random baby websites, here's what I know... Bambino is about 5 lbs, measuring 18 inches long (It makes sense that I sometimes feel like I have feet moving in my chest!). He/she is roughly the size of a honeydew or bag of sugar. His/her central nervous system and lungs continue to mature. Bambino can recognize and react to songs. Some not-so-pleasant information, he/she urinates about a pint a day. Hey, I thought it was interesting. Brain development is nowhere near complete at birth, however, in the first year, bambino's brain will triple in size and become three-quarters of its adult size. Something else I didn't know!

As you can see, I'm bigger than ever and I still have six more weeks to go! Other than some back pain in the mornings, I'm feeling great. Dad came over on Sunday and spent his Father's Day morning putting together the stroller and pack-n-play. And he loved every minute of it, right Dad?? I washed bambino's clothes last night and put them away. Next is installing the car seat. Once we get the 10 lbs. of Callie hair out the back of the truck, we should be ready to move forward with that!

I hope you're enjoying our blog and the photos from the shower, and thanks for reading!

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