First Big Boo Boo

Apparently every parent has one time (or more I am guessing) when they think to themselves, "That was stupid of me"! This weekend Andrew and I had one of those moments in a big way. Because of us, Jonah got his first major boo boo. I hate even writing about it because in order to do so I relive it but this is our real life, so here it goes.

On Saturday Andrew and I took a walk with Jonah in his new snowsuit. It was a sunny day and we wanted to take advantage of the weather and get some pictures of him in the snow. We took Jonah out in his old bigger stroller instead of his new smaller one. In his smaller one I rarely buckle him in because he has to be wedged into it and doesn't slip around at all. (Do you see where I am going with this?) Well, we decided that he would be fine in his bigger stroller unbuckled too. Wrong!! As we were walking along Jonah slipped out of the leg opening in the stroller and fell face first onto the ground. It makes me sick to think about it. Andrew swooped down and grabbed him and I just started calling out the name of Jesus. Jonah's mouth was bleeding everywhere and the amount of blood was exaggerated by the drool from his crying. We were not even a block from the house so we quickly carried Jonah home and got him into the bath to clean up and relax. Tylenol was administered and there was a lot of cuddling, crying, and apologizing to our little man.


His teeth ended up being fine, thank the Lord, but his lip swelled up til it surpassed his nose. He has a little scabbed over mustache now and a scratch on his nose but he is healing well. Andrew and I are trying to be kind to ourselves about the situation, knowing that we are not the first parents to make such a mistake. I am, not surprisingly, having a harder time with cutting myself any slack. Jonah counts on us to be his protectors and I feel like we let him down. He experienced trauma on my watch and I hate it. I know that there is nothing that we can do about it now, except learn from it, but it still breaks my heart.

Teeth, Food, and Faces

Jonah's bottom two teeth came in a while ago, and now he is working on his top teeth. Interestingly, they are coming in one at a time. So far, only one top tooth has shown up while the other is still hiding. As Vanessa likes to say, he has an okie tooth.


It is strange (and amazing) to think about all the things Jonah has to learn how to do. Eating, of course, is one of those things. He has gotten much better and now eats like a pro. Often, I can't get the food to him fast enough. He will sit there with his mouth open, patiently (sometimes not so patiently) waiting for me to spoon some peas or carrots or whatever he is eating into his mouth.


Although he has gotten much better at eating, he can get distracted pretty easily. Here he is attacking Vanessa's hand and giggling like...a little baby (go figure). This game went on for quite a while; it was great.



And now for the good stuff. So, as most of you know, I take a lot of pictures of Jonah. Something you also probably know is that Jonah takes after his mom and has a very expressive face. When you put these things together (lots of pictures + expressive kid), you can get an awesome sequence of photos. See below for the latest example. His face on the bottom right is priceless!

New Tricks and Favorites

So unfortunately I have no new pictures for this entry, but this little bugger makes it hard to capture him in photo sometimes. Anyway...I thought I would post an update of his newest likes and interests as he matures.

#1- Jonah has three teeth now. Well, 2 and a half. (The top one is only halfway in. He looks very oakie.) He seems very aware of this new addition and loves to grind his top and bottom teeth together. It makes my skin crawl, but he seems to enjoy it.

#2- Jonah has learned that he can make noise and tries to do so ALL the time. He favors the noisier toys and if they are not noisy enough then he simply bangs them on other toys and makes them noisy! Problem solved! I attached one of his hard, jingling toys to his jumper and he loves that it clangs and clangs when he jumps. He actually jumps higher and harder when I have it attached.

#3- He loves to chew on tags. Apparently this is pretty common with kids, hence the invention of Taggies products, but it is new for him. In fact, he actually owns an official Taggies book, but prefers the manufacturers tag over the pretty ribbon ones that the book is known for. I actually feel bad that I cut the tags off some of his toys already. He probably would have enjoyed the variety.

#4- Jonah has taken to growling/roaring. He usually does it when he is trying to sound tough. For example, he will grab a handful of my hair, tug, and then roar. It is not very intimidating, but don't tell him that. He also does it when I reprimand him for some offense or another as a form of protest.

#5- His dining repertoire has continued to expand. After his unfortunate run in with peaches, he has taken all other new foods in stride. So far we have conquered rice, oatmeal, carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, bananas, and apples. Next up pears, squash, blueberries and beyond!

Snowsuit

When you live where the weather gets as cold and snowy as it does here, sometimes a regular old jacket just won't do. Jonah has a rather constricting snowsuit for just such weather. It's not very comfortable and is a bear to get him in and out of the car with it on. Still, he looks a little like a very snuggly caterpillar when he does wear it.

Jumping Bean

As Jonah gets older he is finding his sea legs. Or should I say his jumping legs. He is beyond fond of his jumper and has a blast every time we put him in it. He jumps so hard that he spins around. Sometimes he squeaks and squeals. Sometimes he bangs into the door way. My favorite is when he really gets his legs going and looks like a tiny re-enactment of The Lord of the Dance. It's just plain fun to watch.

7 months

On the 14th Jonah was 7 months old. We don't have any up to date stats, but he weighed in at 20lbs 6oz when he went in for his ear infection a couple weeks ago. Here he is again next to Green Monkey. Notice Chloe on the top of the couch...this is about the closest she has come to Jonah so far.



One milestone that has been reached since Jonah's 6 month birthday is the addition of his two bottom teeth. They were breaking through over our Christmas vacation, but weren't visible enough to capture in a photo until recently. They are still pretty small, so you might need to click on the photo to enlarge it in order to see his teeth. No more gummy smiles.

Mmm...Peaches

Well, if there was any doubt let it be put to rest. Jonah is indeed my child! He is overly dramatic and makes his opinion known loud and clear. This has become all too apparent once again as he is trying out new foods. (We took a hiatus from when we first started feeding him solids til he was a little older and more up to the task.) So far we started with sweet potatoes and then headed back to rice, avocado, carrots, and peas. He has certainly had preferences within those new tastes, but had a definite opinion about peaches a few days ago. Lets just say he wasn't making any yummy noises!

Grimacing...

Puckering...

Gagging...

Iowa, My Iowa

More reasons to like Iowa. Iowans are not shy when it comes to showing their love for their great state. Below is an actual commercial running on one of our local stations (this is too great to make up). Enjoy.

If you can't get enough of the song, the full 2 minute version is available for download. [Click Here]

[Note: If the video isn't displayed above, you can see it on the KCRG web site HERE.]

Half Birthday

Before Jonah turns 7 months old (in a week or so) I thought I would put pictures up from when we celebrated his half-birthday in California.

Because Jonah turned 6 months old just a few days before we went back home we got to celebrate his half birthday with family when we got there. We weren't planning to do anything at all, but Jonah's Nana had orchestrated a little birthday-esque occasion for him. With family all around she brought out a mini cupcake cut in half with a candle on it for him to blow out. (Ok, I had to help a bit.) She had also painted a truck shaped piggy bank for him, in which everyone around the room each deposited a half dollar. It was a really sweet tradition to do and we really appreciated it!


Hanging out with cuz Noah, cuddling a weird little monster doll, and generally just being adorable.

More Christmas 2009 Photos

As promised, here are more photos from Christmas time. Since we took almost 700 in just two weeks, we have a lot to choose from! Hope you smile.

Jonah and his new o-ball.

Jonah doing his best Godzilla impression.

Hanging out with "Uncle" Ranger.

Jonah shows us a new face.

Loving face time with Gramma.

Reading the newspaper with Papa.

Our drooly little man.

Hanging out in the Excersaucer.

Impersonating a seal.

Cousin Hunter swinging from the rafters.

Noah wondering where Jonah's hair went.

Jonah and Lizzy looking sweet together.

Laughing with Mary.