Weigh In

We went back to the doctor's office today for another "Well Baby" check-up. As usual we got to have the fun of finding out Jonah's new height and weight, but also the the not so fun task of getting his newest round of shots. As far as the height and weight go, our doctor still says that the coach for Iowa's football team will one day be knocking on our door. (Good luck finding us, cause we won't be in Iowa!) Jonah is currently weighing in at almost 17 pounds and stretches out to a long 26 inches. The doc says that he is strong, developing right on schedule and has great head movement. Jonah does have a little dry skin issue (dermatitis something or other) but it is mild and common. Just need to slather on a certain type of lotion and we're good! Jonah did a great job at the doctor's office and behaved super well. He was actually smiling a lot and talking up a storm to Dr. Phillips. (It probably helps that we have the sweetest doctor who himself has a four month old. He is also a sweet southern man originally from South Carolina and invited us to visit his church sometime.) After all the usual office visit stuff it was time for the shots. Jonah certainly did not enjoy that portion of the visit, but did ok and got a camouflage bandage for his efforts. He slept the rest of the day away, doped up on infant Tylenol.

Jonah is getting checked out by Dr. Phillips, but is looking to Daddy for reassurance.
Better hold on to Daddy's finger for good measure.
Looking cute and making Mama feel better about the impending shots.

The deed is done and he has the Band Aid to prove it.

We love pictures

Vanessa and I have always like to take pictures. Having one of the cutest babies that the Lord ever created has only fueled our passion. Though we try to post a photo with each blog, we haven't even scraped the tip of the iceberg of pictures that we actually have. Here then is a collection of photos, just for the heck of it.

Jonah was not a big fan of his old swing. He hides his emotions well, doesn't he?


He has never been a big fan of tummy time either, but he sure is cute while doing it.


When we were in California in August, Jonah got to meet a lot of his family and friends. Here he is being held by Uncle Casey.


Omi also got a chance to carry around our little man.


Jonah usually takes naps in his crib now, but he used to sleep on us all the time.


Jonah's friend, Mr. Grumpy. (A gift from Aunt Mary and Uncle David...and Lizzy)


Like many babies, Jonah loves bath time. And who doesn't love a picture of a fat naked baby!


Now that Jonah can hold his head up, he gets to look at the world around him. Sometimes, he gives the world a funny little smile.


I hope you enjoyed the photos. I'm sure we'll post many, many more.

Jonah's First Hundred Days

Inspired by the practice of reviewing our President after his first hundred days in office, we thought we would look back at Jonah's first hundred days on the planet!! Basically it's just an excuse to post pictures of the guy that we haven't used before but think are really cute!

Since his first day, Jonah has been a bit challenging to say the least. He has kept us on our toes and challenged everything that we thought we knew about kids before we entered into this venture. He has cried louder and longer than than we knew a baby could cry. And in the very next moment he blesses us with a gummy smile. (Jonah having a meltdown his first month of life. For gummy smiles, see previous blog.)


He has gone from being a tiny (well as tiny as 8 or 9 pounds can be) floppy newborn to a rapidly growing infant who is on his way to supporting himself (physically at least). (Jonah in his Boppy corralled by Grama's hands and on his own in his Bumbo.)


He is unlike a lot of babies, since he doesn't really like being in his car seat, but has found that facing out in his Baby Bjorn allows him to see the world, which he seems to really enjoy. Plus, taking our walks now lets me put goofy hats on him that are so cute!! (Getting ready to take a walk just last week.)

All in all, we think it's been a pretty good hundred days! Looking back at all the changes I can't even imagine how different he will be in the next hundred.

Not so Serious

As everyone knows, our favorite little man tends to be a little more serious than most babies. His "go to" face is not as much cheery as it is contemplative and sometimes downright grumpy. Every once in a while though, usually after a decent nap and a good meal, he lets those little gums of his show. Please to enjoy Jonah and his smiley face!

A Good Man

I am sure that this will not be the last blog that I write bragging about my fantastically supportive husband. Truthfully I could write about him a lot, certainly more often than I do. I am reminded of his greatness after a trying day yesterday and night last night. As mentioned before, we are trying to do a nap routine with Jonah. It is not going great. He has been sleeping decently at night and has gotten easier to put down initially but we are still having trouble keeping him down. He sleeps for 30 minutes and then wakes. Letting him cry isn't doing any good because he has slept just enough to feel refreshed and WILL NOT go back to sleep. Yesterday he had 5 catnaps and was basically grumpy the rest of the time. We hoped that he would sleep better during the night but instead he woke every 3 1/2 hours instead of his now regular 5 1/2. Needless to say I was burnt out and nearly ran out the door when Andrew got home from work!

Here's where I brag on Andrew. Not only does he let me have "me" time, he forces me to take some and protects that time. He is tender and confident with Jonah and I can relax when he has him alone. At night he gets up with me at every feeding and changes Jonah when I'm done. He is often the one who puts him back in his bed as well. I thought that this was the norm, but book after book that I read seems to say other wise. They suggest that the husband try to help at night sometimes so the mom can get occasional rest. They also say that sometimes the dad won't get to see the kid at all at night because it goes to bed earlier. I can't see Andrew ever letting that be a regular occurrence!

In the night we talk about how Jonah is doing with this or that. At the end of the day I can become really down trodden with what seems like the lack of any real progress. In minutes Andrew can spin the situation to make me feel like we are improving in leaps and bounds. He always brings me back to reality when I have immersed myself in all of the hypothetical situations in the books I read. He reminds me that Jonah is healthy and so much happier than he was just a few weeks ago. And he reminds me that we are doing ok, and that's what matters most. All else will fall into place. I am such a better mom and a more stable person because of my husband. He is such a good man.

Three Months Old

Today Jonah is officially 3 months old. That means that all fussiness is officially over too!! Just Kidding! In all seriousness, our little man is doing much better. We haven't had a meltdown (level 3) or even a fussy budget (level 2) in quite a while. The only crying now comes when we are trying to get him to stay asleep. The napping (or lack there of) is a daily challenge, but we expected nothing else. As far as Jonah's size goes we unfortunately have no new stats. He will have a doctors check up in a couple of weeks and we will have his current height and weight then. I know people are waiting with baited breath for that info! Until then this new shot of him and Green Monkey should give a little bit of an idea of how much bigger he has gotten.

Naptime

Now that Jonah's fussy times seem to be fading away, we decided to take on the unpleasant task of trying to put him down for naps at routine times (fairly routine at least) and without assistance from us to fall asleep. What we have going for us is that since I am home all day I can basically focus on this one task. One of our hurdles is that we have one very stubborn child to contend with. The worst part of it all though, as anyone who has tried this knows, is the crying that must take place to get to your end goal. Oh the crying! It is gut wrenching to not pick up your child when they want you! You know you can make the crying stop, but are choosing not to! You basically feel like the scum of the earth.

So far it has been difficult, but overall not as bad as I had been anticipating. (Of course it has only been a couple of days and I am still in a very optimistic place!) He is crying for 10 minutes or less when we initially put him down, which is pretty good. The real crying is coming in when he wakes up after his infamous 30 minute catnaps. At that point he is just rested enough to really let loose. Yesterday his post catnap screaming lasted longer than his nap did. At that point he was more exhausted than when he went down! Needless to say it was a long day. He is faring a bit better today with 15 minute crying bouts after the catnap portion. The next step will be establishing a regular time each day that he will go down, but we're just gonna take this one step at a time.

Finding his thumb

As you might expect, Jonah is starting to suck on his thumb. His realization did not occur all at once. First, he would try to suck on his entire fist.


After a while, it seemed to occur to him that he has fingers attached to his hand.


After working on his fingers for a while, he now seems to know that his thumb is easiest to suck on. Jonah certainly hasn't mastered sucking on his thumb yet, but he is getting better and better. To help him out, Vanessa and I will sometimes "encourage" his thumb to get into his mouth.


Vanessa and I both know that Jonah's habit might be hard to break in the future, but that's something we are willing to deal with. Jonah still hasn't taken to sucking on a pacifier, so we are all for encouraging anything that will help calm him down. Also, he is super cute when he's sucking on this thumb.

Mourning Yertle Turtle

Since he has been born, Jonah has made a face that we have come to call "Yertle Turtle". After he is done eating, or when he is waking up, he arches his back farther than what seems possible and curls himself into the letter "C". While he is doing this he makes this famous face. With his head tilted back and his eyes closed he purses his lips and raises his eyebrows. (It looks like he is trying to look through his closed eyelids.) Then he puts both of his fists up to the sides of his face, stretches his neck out (like a turtle coming out of his shell...) and wiggles back and forth like a wiggly letter "C". From day one this has been far and away one of my very favorite things that he does. Unfortunately we haven't been able to get any good pictures of it since, as I stated before, it often happens after feeding and any pictures that would be taken might very well be indecent.

All this being said, this is where my mourning begins...Yertle Turtle is quickly fading. A few days ago I told Andrew that we needed to get a picture of it somehow, and soon, because Jonah is doing it less and less. Since then I have hardly seen him do it at all and never to the dramatic level of contortion that he has in the past. Last night as I laid in bed after an early morning feed I realized that it might be gone. I began to tear up as I realized that this is the first thing that I have gotten attached to that Jonah is now outgrowing and I hate it. Andrew and I have been very diligent about trying to enjoy things as they are and soaking up every moment as we are in it. We try to remain lighthearted about Jonah's grumpy temperament and love that we have a little chunky monkey. I cherish the moments that he sleeps on my chest and Andrew eats up Jonah's vocal time with him in the morning. Still, time goes on and as we gain new things that we will love about our boy, we will certainly lose things as well. He will outgrow things. He will do things better and less clumsily. He will one day be too cool for things that he once did. I just thought that all of that was a bit farther away.

As much as I want my boy to grow and be more capable of doing things, I hate that it comes at a cost. Andrew and I have decided that what we really want is a "puppy" boy forever. We want him to somehow stay little, while learning to behave a bit better. I know that there are a lot more things that he will grow out of, and a lot of them will hurt my heart. This one just has an extra sting cause it's the first.