September Updates

Things have been VERY busy around our place lately. September marks the beginning of my busy time at work so it's just eat, sleep, work all the time it feels like. Looking forward to the down time in late October. I've also been helping plan and coordinate for my 10-year high school reunion which is today. So the stress level has been high around our house this week.

On a better note, Jonah is doing great! He is all over the place now and a busy little man as long as he is awake. A couple of weekends ago we went to his 2nd cousin's 2nd birthday party. Below are a few pictures from that. Also, one morning this past week it was pretty chilly when I was getting him ready to go to Mom's so I put him in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. He looked so big and like such a little boy that I had to take some pictures of him. Enjoy!

 Jonah loved playing with their dog, Abby

12 Month check-up & Jonah's health

Earlier this month we went for Jonah's 12 month well-checkup appointment. He was healthy as could be and Dr. Roads said he was doing great! Here are the stats from that appointment.

Weight: 21 lbs and 2 oz. (21st percentile)
Height: 28 1/2 inches (9th percentile)
Head Circ.: 46% (34th percentile)

Basically he is as wide as he is tall LOL! They still say he is on the lower side for his height but this does not surprise us much because Michael was never the tallest in his class. The main thing is that he is healthy and growing.

He had to get 3 different vaccines that day so 3 different sticks. I cannot remember what all he got but I know he got the Chicken Pox vaccine and the Measles, Mumps and Rubella one too. He was pretty upset with it all this time but the nurse was super duper quick with the shots and she told us they stung pretty good. He managed to calm down fairly quick after it was over. I sure hate when he has to get those nasty shots!!

I also want to make note of how Jonah has faired health-wise over his first year. We are so thankful to God that he has been healthy the majority of his first year. I know it was God watching over him but I also think it has been attributed to some other factors as well.

The first one being that he has not been around other children much his first year. It's just him at Mom's everyday and he hadn't been staying at the nursery at Church until the last few months. No one else in our immediate family has any little ones that he is around very often. I think that has made a big differences. Also, I think that the colostrum and breastmilk that he did get (while I was breastfeeding) also helped build up his immune system. I wish I would have been able to produce enough milk for him to keep doing that. The last thing I attribute his health to is having him adjusted regularly by our chiropractor. He adjusted him the night he was born at the hospital and Jonah never did spit up on a regular basis.

He also NEVER had an ear infection his whole first year of life!! From what I hear from other mom's and book....that is just unheard of these days. Even when we thought he had one for sure, one time when he got a pretty high fever, they checked his ears and said they were nice and clear. We were so surprised! But everytime he gets adjusted they always do an adjustment to his ears so that they can drain properly. I think it has meant all the difference for us. I recommend it to all new parents....but sometimes they just think we're crazy to have an infant adjusted.

I just wanted to jot these things down before I forget to. We are so thankful to have our happy and healthy boy! We pray he remains that way!

First Steps and Funnies

On Monday, August 1, 2011 Jonah took his first steps unassisted!!! Below is a video we did of him shuffling around. He had been walking or cruising around on the furniture and holding our hands but we started letting go and he would stand by himself. It wasn't long before he took those first steps. The funny thing is that he has never got the hang of crawling. He just puts his head on the floor and pushes with his legs. He is definately one of those that went straight to walking. I think he will be tottering around all by himself by the end of the month. He is getting so big on us!!!

Here are a few funny things he has been doing lately that I want to remember.

Whenever he is in the living room he points to the lamp until we say "lamp" and then the basket, the picture on the wall and the clock. He just keeps fussing until you say the word of what he is pointing to and he knows the difference between them all.

Whenever someone around  him laughs or a large crowd (like at church) laughs he has to cackle too...usually a few minutes after the laughter is over. It is too cute and funny!

Jonah's First Birthday!

I am late with posting this but I have so many pictures that I had to figure out a way to show them all in a good way. We celebrated Jonah's first birthday on Saturday, July 23rd at our house. We had the party outside under the carport and the pool was open as well. It was a very hot and humid day (as most days are in July) and everyone was inside and outside during the party. Jonah did so good for not having had an afternoon nap before the party. He dove right into the cake and made a big mess! Here are some glances into the day.

Here is the birthday boy and us on the big day!

Here are some shots of the decorations. It was a Vintage Truck theme with red and blue as the main colors.

 We had lots of friends and family join us for hamburgers and hotdogs!

Jonah got lots of great gifts!

He did a great job of messing up his cake and he even got some of it in his mouth!

 All in all it was a blessed day and we cannot believe our little man is already one! We look forward to many more wonderful birthdays with him!

Jonah book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Jonah is 12 months old!!

12 months have never gone by so fast in my life!! It is crazy to me to think that this time last year I was terrified and overwhelmed at the same time by how much I was falling in love with this tiny little being that was mine to care for. Jonah needed so much more from us then than he does now and it makes me sad already just thinking about it. While he still cannot do very many things for himself physically he can do so many more things than he could back then like hold his head up, sit up and put his pacifier back in his mouth. I am loving teaching him and seeing him learn new things every day though!

Here is what he has been up to since last month:

Personality:

Jonah's personality has exploded so much over the past month. He is still a busy little guy as long as he is awake. He is very observant and always looking above himself at lights and pictures and pointing to them. He will make a little noise like "uuhh, uhhh" like he wants you to let him touch it. He is definately figuring out what works to get our attention and tell us what he wants. He does fuss sometimes (fake) when he wants us to help him with something he hasn't figured out how to do yet, like pull up to stand. We usually just ignore him and he satisifies himself with something else or figures it out. He is a happy boy most of the day and loves playing with his toys and watching Mickey Mouse or the Sprout channel. He has gotten into mocking us when he hears us laughing or a crowd laughing. This past weekend whenever we laughed (not always at him) and he heard us he would do a little cackle himself like he knew what was so funny. It's too cute! He is also learning what some of the words we say to him mean. He understands the words, "drink, outside, bath, eat, bite, no, clock, picture, lamp, close it." He is a smart cookie and learning new things everyday.

Play:

Jonah's world of play has widened a lot over the past month now that we can get outside more and get in the pool. He loves the pool!! Whenever he sees it he fusses to get in. He just splashes and splashes and doesn't care if it gets in his face. He doesn't seem scared of it at all....which is good right now. He loves to play in the floor still with his floor toys and since his birthday he has gotten a lot more. We got him a buzz lightyear ride on toy we keep in the living room and it has handle on the back. He loves to push it across the room but hasn't figured out how to back up or turn it around yet. So that is our job for now LOL! He loves to cruise along the furniture and can even cruise along the walls with his hands!! Definately time to baby-proof better! We think he will be walking in another month! He still does not crawl but will get on his hands and usually one knee and then go onto his belly. He pushes with his legs but doesn't push up with his hands so his head just goes across the carpet....but he gets where he wants to go at least. I am not sure he is ever going to really crawl....I think he will go straight to walking. He loves to ride in the stroller and now wagon. Nana and Papaw got him a Radio Flyer wagon for his b-day and he would let us pull him in that thing all day I think! I also should mention that he still loves books! We are so glad he does like them and when you pull out a book his full attention goes to it and he wants you to read it to him. He also loves to turn the pages on those thicker board books.

Eating:

Jonah is still a good little eater and we still do the baby food at every meal. We have started doing regular adult oatmeal at breakfast which he enjoys and doesn't seem to miss the other. But we still do the baby cereal at night. We stopped for a few days and tried just doing table food mashed up. But he was waking in the middle of night and we were thinking it was because he was hungry. We added the oatmeal back in at night and the wakings stopped....so my intuition was right. We are still offering him table foods as often as we can but have not fully replaced the baby food yet. He always wants to try whatever is on our plates even if he has already eaten so we let him usually and he likes most everything.

Sleeping:

Jonah is still sleeping about 10 hours a night and we are grateful for that. He usually is asleep by 8:30 at night and up around 6:30 every morning. He is still an early riser but I figure he probably always will be. Michael has always been an early riser so he must get it from him. He still takes 2 naps a day of at least an hour and usually one is an hour and a half which is great to give us and Nana a break or two during the day. He has gone some days when we are off our schedule of not having an afternoon nap and done very well. But at his age he still needs those 2 naps a day so we try to not schedule anything that will interfere with his naps.

We are just so thankful that this year has been one of happiness and healthiness for Jonah. We are so blessed that God has watched over him this first year. He has not been sick hardly at all (knock-on-wood) besides the occasional cold or teething-induced fevers/pain. He has grown just as he should and gained weight steadily. He is precious little boy and we love him more each day!

Here are some pics from this month.

At 11 months (below)

Playing with his truck

After his first "official" haircut

Jonah's First 4th!

We had a nice long weekend full of friends, family and lots of food! Saturday we went to Josh and Stacy's house (Michael's brother) and ate and swam in the pool. It was Jonah's first official time to swim in his new float. He loved it! As you can see from the pics below, Mommy was being over protective and had him covered up to keep the sun from burning him.

We also had a celebration at Nana and Papaw's house on Sunday night. On the actual 4th of July we began our big kitchen painting project. I have wanted to paint over the "dirty" beige color that is on the cabinets and put up a crisp white paint color. I will post once it's all finally done!! :)