Friday Phone Dump

visit to the firehouse

cutie

love him

pulled his hat over his face and fell asleep...holding onto his toys

this is new...

helping pick out a new health care plan

JJ's first snowfall!

bloomin' onion strips

can't resist the cuteness!

my new obsession

lunch with Mommy & Daddy at Recovery

Seven Months

Eating

JJ still loves to eat.  Surprise, surprise.  He's now eating 4 times a day, nursing in the morning and at night, with 2 bottles in between.  He eats fruit in the morning, and veggies and fruit in the evening.  His new favorite in his mesh feeder bag is grapes.  Yum!  He has puffs pretty much every day.  He's also had pumpkin bread, regular bread, crackers...I think that's pretty much it.  He'll try anything I give him.

Sleeping

JJ still sleeps 11 or 12 hours a night, with 2 naps during the day (averaging 2 hours each).  His new thing now is sleeping on his belly!  For most of his naps, he flips himself over and sleeps that way.  He has yet to do it at night though.  The past couple nights he's been coughing a lot, so that's made sleeping rough...but he's still doing really well.

Playing

He loves to play.  He'll play for long stretches on his own, just sitting or laying on his playmat.  Makes it nice for me, I can actually fold laundry, do dishes or clean the toilet!  He just loves to sit next to his toy bin and empty the whole thing out!  His favorite things lately are books that make noise when you push the buttons.  He loves when I sing, "If You're Happy & You Know It."  Watching him figure out cause and effect is just so cool.  He's a little smarty-pants.  :)

Developing

Where do I begin?  He's sitting up like a pro.  He knows how to wave!  Loves to roll.  Loves to pet Zoe.  When he's on his belly he scoots backwards...can't go forward yet!  John just recently taught him to give five, and it's the cutest thing ever.  He gives kisses with a wide open mouth.  He's almost mastered his pincer grasp.  He can get a puff from his highchair tray to his mouth about 50% of the time.  I'm still trying to teach him the sign for 'more.'  He smiles when I do it, and make him do it, but he doesn't do it on his own.  When I get him dressed he knows to push his arm through the arm hole.  When I get him undressed, he knows to pull his arm down to get it out of the sleeve.  JJ will often go from sitting to his belly when he wants to reach something.  He loves to stand next to things, always being held onto, of course!  Still loves to put almost everything he touches into his mouth.  Still only has 2 teeth!

Stats

No doctors appointment until 9 months, so all I know is he's a chunker who's eating and growing!!  He's been sick the past couple days which is no fun.  We had him up one night at midnight because of his cough.  Almost called the doctor, but didn't.  Oh, the joys and worries of parenthood.

Happy 7 Months little man...the best 7 months of our lives!

Friday Phone Dump

ripping apart the kitchen

happy morning boy

could somebody give me a hand here?

cakepops!

sleeping on his belly

front of the cart!

pumpkin bread

first time in the new seat

tubby time

love this boy

eating pumpkin bread

Don't Forget

JJ loves to blow raspberries.  He also sticks his tongue out and does this weird sucking thing with it against his upper lip...I think because he's teething.

He is enamored with my hair.  If I'm leaning towards him and my hair is hanging down, he stares at it with this look of awe, then gently lets it run through his hand.  Today, he started pulling.  It was sweet.  :)

The scream.  Oh, the scream.  Some days are worse than others.  It's this ear-piercing scream that is close to shattering glass.  No joke.  I try ignoring.  I try a firm 'no'.  Someday he'll stop.  Right?

He loves his mesh feeder.  Current favorite filling?  Grapes.  I halve them, then stuff as many in as I can.  Great way to occupy my little screamer for a few minutes!

JJ is so close to the pincer grasp!  Once he masters it, he'll be able to feed himself puffs, little bits of banana and pretty much anything else I put on his tray.  Not wishing time away...but can't wait for this!

After he finishes nursing or a bottle he lays there and goes "ba ba ba ba..."  He has the cutest little voice.

Being on our bed is his favorite thing!  Especially if we're both there with him.  It's like it's a special treat or something, he gets this huge grin on his face and his legs start going!

Nothing makes his smile quite so big as the sound of his Daddy's voice.

inspiration

About 15 minutes before JJ was due to wake up from his afternoon nap, inspiration struck.  I was reading one of my current favorite blogs, and I suddenly had the desire to redo our kitchen.  Not a massive redo, mind you.  We do NOT have the funds for that right now!  But we had wallpaper on one wall that just had to go.  Why now, when our kitchen has been the same (literally, untouched) for 5 years?  I don't know.  I also don't know why we haven't done anything sooner.  But it's time.

It didn't take long for this

To become this

I tried not to have an anxiety attack when I realized how bad the wall is behind that wallpaper.  And speaking of wallpaper, it came off pretty easy!

I just soaked it with a sponge and pulled slowly.  And speaking of wallpaper again, these people were meticulous.

Do people really do this?  This piece over-lapped another one...and that flower just laid on top of a duplicate.  But someone had fun cutting it out.

The fun has just begun.  I made myself a list ala Young House Love so here it is, mainly for my own reference.

• peel wallpaper
• remove nails, etc.
• vacuum ceiling
• wash walls, molding, door frames, baseboards
• spackle and sand walls
• re-home toaster and pot holders from top of fridge
• paint ceiling
• light fixture (new?)
• paint molding, door frames, baseboards
• figure out paint color for bricks; paint them
• figure out back splash and exhaust fan
• pick wall color(s)
• prime walls
• paint walls
• paint kitchen and stairs doors
• paint glass cabinet
• paint microwave cabinet
• new hardware for microwave cabinet
• paint radiator cover
• find/buy/make curtains
• figure out decorating (pictures/art/etc)
• new hook for dog leash

Just looking at this list makes me tired.  But I'm excited to see some progress, and I'm really excited when I envision the finished product.  I'll update as I go along, and hopefully it won't take me forever to accomplish!

Friday Phone Dump

love me some bruschetta

mr & mrs

sky in the morning

tiger it is

overkill

i see the moon, the moon sees me 

new septic.  yippee.

one hour

I worked late tonight.

Okay, late for me means that I get home at 6:00.  But John was working and couldn't pick JJ up at his normal 4:00 pickup time, so my poor parents had JJ allll day.  (They're the best.)

Six o'clock means I get one hour with JJ before our bedtime routine starts.  One hour is not a lot.

When I got to my parents, JJ and Grampy were waiting outside for me.  I grabbed that little boy and didn't let go.  I hung out while my parents ate a quick dinner, just because I didn't want to let go of JJ to put him in his car seat.  It was a long day of missing him.

After about 20 minutes of hugging and snuggling I figured I'd better get going.  I talked and sang to JJ all the way home and he babbled back to me.  I love his babbles.  We got into the house with all our stuff (it takes a lot of stuff for Bubba and me to be gone for the day!) and I pulled him right out of that car seat. We let Zoe out and spent a few minutes outside.

For the next 25 minutes or so, JJ and I played on the floor.  He played with toys.  I tickled him.  He giggled.  He played with my hair.  He pushed things out of his way to get what he wanted.  I talked to him and asked him questions.  He babbled on and on.  (Did I mention that I love his babbles??)

All too soon, 7:00 was upon us.  Tubby water was started.  Baby boy was scooped up off the floor and de-robed for tubby time.  Splashing, squirting and sudsing ensued.  (I think I just made up the word sudsing.)  He got dried off, lotioned up and pj'd.  I combed his hair and then he fell asleep while I fed him.

He woke up and made funny little sounds while staring at me.  I just enjoyed holding him for awhile.  Once I realized a burp was not in the cards, we headed for his room.  I got him zipped into his sleep sack, wound up his mobile and told him I loved him.  Goodnight Sweetheart.

And now I sit here, knowing we made the most of our time, but wishing that there had been more of it.  Tomorrow.  Tomorrow there will be more time.  More time for kisses, more time for playing, more time for laughing, tickling and babbling.  Until then.

Friday Phone Dump

Trying on his suit!

Why yes, I'd love some soda

Caramel apples

Zoe's waiting for a treat.  Not sure about JJ.

Leakage!

He twisted himself all around!

Eating a banana

Loves his hat!

Big boy playing with toys

Pre-Dedication Thoughts

October 16th is the day JJ will be dedicated.  Our church does baby dedications, or I guess more accurately called parent & child dedications, as opposed to baptisms.  It's basically just a time to acknowledge that God has given us this child to raise.  It's a time for us to publicly commit that we will pray for and with JJ, and raise him to know and love God.

Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. ~Psalm 127:3

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn

from it. ~Proverbs 22:6

Have you ever had days in your life that you never thought would come?  This is one of those days for me.

The day JJ was born was one of those days too.  On top of JJ's dedication coming up, I've also been doing some scrapbooking.  This combination has made for lots of reminiscing, especially of that special day 6 and a half months ago when we welcomed JJ into the world.

When they first laid him on my chest I couldn't help but wonder why I wasn't crying.  It's the moment I'd envisioned and cried over many times in the previous 9 months.  And if I'm being honest, much longer than that.  Yet here I was, most likely too exhausted to even cry.

We enjoyed the first moments together, then John went out to make the official announcement to our family.  I was still holding it together well with no hint of overflowing emotion, besides just being happy. 

And then it happened.

The moment that I had skimmed over.  The moment I knew would come, but didn't spend much time dwelling on.  The moment I didn't expect to lose it.

But as soon as my parents came in the door, I lost it.  I didn't anticipate how emotional it would be introducing my son to my parents.  My parents who had seen me through all the pain of losing 2 babies.  My parents who probably wished they could make it all better for me, so many times.  My parents, who went through this exact moment 30 years ago when they had me.  So the first time I cried after having JJ was when my parents walked in the door.

And this picture pretty much sums up...I don't know what it sums up.  But it sums up something, and it does in pretty well.

and some more...

 

(random pictures stolen from my family members facebook pages)

Wonderful Wednesday

I've found that Wednesdays are the day I make the most of.

Wednesdays are smack dab in between my 2 working days.  Everything that didn't get done Tuesday (because I basically do nothing house-wise on the days I work!) and everything that I know won't get done Thursday gets done on Wednesday.  By 10am today I had nursed JJ, changed him and got him dressed, done the dishes, fed JJ his fruit, sorted through junk mail, played with JJ, done 2 loads of laundry, cleaned the toilet and sink, drank 2 cups of coffee, given JJ a bottle, laid him down for a nap, gotten dressed and fixed my hair and makeup.

Phew!  I think I should take the rest of the day off.  :)  Just kidding!  I still have to vacuum, figure out something for dinner and continue the feeding/diaper changing cycle.  And find my stupid shutterfly envelope full of pictures.  Really wish I could find that.

And I just have one question.  Where did this baby go????

4 Things

4 things that annoy me.  In no particular order.

• Slow drivers.  No one is going to pull you over for doing (at least!) 5 miles over the speed limit.  Driving right at or under the limit is just infuriating to most of us other drivers.
• Dirty dishes.  There are always more dishes to do, no matter how many dishes I've done.  Someday, I will have a dishwasher.  Or at least my kids will be old enough for chores.
• My hair.  It's curly, but not curly enough.  It has too much frizz to it.  I can never just wash and go, it's a huge process.  Ugh.
• Walking texters.  I'm sure I've been guilty of this.  Actually, I know I have been.  But people have almost run in to me in the mall because they're staring down at their phone.  And someone almost got him by my car because they just strolled into the street without looking, again, fingers flying over the keyboard on their phone.

Snapshots

Here's a nice look at JJ's bald spot!  This setup right here is what allows me to cook dinner most nights.  Him in the exersaucer with Baby Bach on.  Sometimes he ignores the TV, sometimes he watches it, but he's almost always quiet for about a half hour.  Score!

Notice how I lined his toys up so nicely.  I laid him on his belly facing his toys.  He, however, preferred to make his way over the the cable and internet boxes and kick them.

These next 2 pictures are so funny...I put his basket of toys next to him while he was sitting up and playing.  He would pull things out, one at a time, look them over a bit, then toss them and go digging for something else.  He made a mess!  It was so cute!

And just because he's adorable, here are a couple more!