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.

Christmas 2009 Wrap Up

Since I have been sick, along with the rest of the house, I have yet to get to blog about our great time in California. Truth be told, I am still feeling lousy and have trouble focusing long enough to form cohesive thoughts. So, since what people REALLY care about are the pictures anyway, I'll just post a bunch of those with a few detail snip-its. Sound good? Great! For any of you who follow Noah's blog as well, you will see that Noah's mommy scooped me on the cousin pictures, but oh well!

We had a truly lovely time while in Fresno and got to spend ample time with both of our families. Christmas Eve Day was really Christmas for the Reed's and the 25th remained Christmas for the Smith's. Jonah got to get some good cuddle time with his 79 year old GG on my side and his 94 year old Great Grandma Bartlett on Andrews. He was totally comfortable with both which was great since this was his first time meeting Great Gran Bartlett and only his second time meeting his GG. Such a blessing. GG got him his first Christmas hat to mark the occasion. He was a little bigger than she intended so it didn't fit quite right.

Here is a picture of 4 generations out for a walk.

Jonah was teething while we were in California so each day was a crapshoot as to how he would be feeling. At Reed Christmas he was feeling ok and seemed to enjoy tearing off the paper, eating bows and seeing what was inside. At Smith Christmas, present opening didn't go as well.

He waffled back and forth both days, but seemed to be in better spirits at really convenient times. He was in a surprisingly jovial mood when we sat him and his 2 cousins Noah (11 mo) and Hunter (20 mo) down to take pictures in their matching jammies. It was too cute watching them watching us, trying to get them to look cute!!

We also got to spend some much needed time with our dear friends the Akinas and their daughter Lizzy. Lizzy is soon to be a big sister which is awesome because she LOVES babies. She will randomly try to tickle Jonah, ask for him to be put in front of different toys, and play peek-a-boo with him. The fact that she looks like a walking doll makes for some cute pictures too!

I will post some more pictures soon of random cute moments from the trip, but that should give a good gist for now!

Sicky Household

So sorry for the delay in blogging. I have had the best of intentions since we got back from California to write a big holiday update detailing our awesome first Christmas with little man. Unfortunately my efforts have been thwarted left and right by illness. While in California Jonah began teething and was uncomfortable a lot of the time. We had brief flashbacks of our colic days as he sometimes cried well into the night. With the help of an always-willing-to-cradle-Nana we made it through though. (We will certainly post pictures of teeth when they are a little more visible.) When we returned to Iowa, Jonah's teething turned into a cold complete with runny nose and cough. Then Andrew got it. Then I did. Then, I got worse. After being up sick all night 2 nights ago (I will spare the not so pleasant details), and having a sharp pain when I breathed, and running a fever over 103, Andrew took me to the emergency room while a friend watched Jonah. Turns out I have pneumonia!! What fun. After 3 and a half hours, 2 bags of IV fluid and 2 antibiotic prescriptions I got to go home.

We were back to the business of recouping today until I called the pediatrics office to tell them about my pneumonia and see if we needed to do anything for Jonah. When I told them about his persistent cough they suggested we bring him in. Good news: clear lungs. Bad news: ear infection. We were surprised because his behavior has been amazing, all things considered, so maybe it was caught early. That being said I hope to have a good blog, with darling pictures (of which there are many) up very soon.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

The above picture isn't actually from New Year's Eve. We didn't get any pictures last night because Jonah is teething, sick, and has not been sleeping well. Consequently, Vanessa and I haven't been sleeping well either. So, on New Year's Eve, we were in bed by 9 pm. Oh, the life of a parent.

(A recap of our holiday experiences is still to come.)