6 Months!!!

Jonah has been a part of our little family for half a year...so crazy!!! He is such a joy and becomes more and more so each day. I cannot believe how much he has changed in the past month. He became so much more alert and aware of things between 4 and 5 months, but it has been even more so between 5 and 6 months. He looks around at everything and wants to touch and grab everything within reach. I think he likes to feel the different textures of things because he always rubs his hands along blankets, the couch, the walls, etc. He now laughs even more and his personality is shining through more every day (which I didn't think was possible because of how much personality he was already showing). He is overall such a happy baby!

He has his two bottom teeth fully in now and I'm sure it won't be long before the top middle two start coming in. Also, he is rolling over much more, he is starting to do it at least once a day. He has still only gone from back to belly and only over his left arm, but he is getting better and better at doing it! It's so exciting and fun to watch! I feel like he knows we like to see him do it because he tends to look up at whoever is in the room after he does it. Another one of his favorite things to do this past month has been grabbing his feet, mostly when his feet are bare. Today for the first time he actually got his foot all the way up to his mouth while laying on his changing table. It was hilarious!!!:) He is also "talking" so much...he is such a babbler. The best is when I'm feeding him on my right side in our living room...he stops and looks over my shoulder and talks to his imaginary friend Oliver (yes, we believe he has an imaginary friend and my mom and I named him Oliver). He just makes us laugh ALL THE TIME!!:)

So he went for his 6 month doctor's appointment tonight and he is a growing boy and doing very well. He is now 18 lbs 5 ounces (only 60th percentile now so he's slimming...even though he's still a big boy!). He is still long/tall...he is 27 3/4 inches putting him n the 90th percentile for length. He sure is beginning his life taking after his daddy in that respect! The doctor was very happy with how he's growing and developing. Thank the Lord for a happy and healthy 6 month old baby boy!!!

Jonah's first Easter

Easter...what a WONDERFUL day!!! "Let the resurrection joy lift us from loneliness and weakness and despair to strength and beauty and happiness."

Today was Jonah's first Easter. We just hung out this morning as we would any normal day and then we got ready and drove an hour and a half to Barrington to Micah's sister and brother-in-law's house. It was me, Micah, Jonah, Micah's sister Katey, her husband Tony, their daughter Mia, Micah's parents, and Micah's other sister Abby and her husband Phil (we were missing Micah's brother Gabe and Micah's other brother Seth, his wife Amber and their two sons Nick and John). We got to Katey and Tony's house a little after one and had some appetizers and chatted and then we sat down close to 2 for lunch. Katey made salad, ham, asparagus, potatoes, carrots, and rolls. It was all so fancy and delicious!! We had a wonderful time eating and catching up on life with everyone. Jonah was awake the whole time while we were sitting at the table and he was so well behaved so that was nice! Mia, our niece, was napping for awhile after we got there, but she finally got up and her and Jonah got to "play". She is 4 months older than Jonah so she is mobile and can do a lot more than he can, so she just wanted to grab him...it was so cute! I can't wait until they can really play!! Then after awhile we had some delicious strawberry cream cake and chocolate tart for dessert (Katey made both of them) and I made peanut crisp cookies and brown butter toffee blondies. Everyone enjoyed the dessert very much:) I feel very blessed to have such a wonderful family on Micah's side. What a wonderful Lord we have for blessing us with such great people!!

Sick :(

Jonah is getting over his very first cold (sad, I know). Luckily it wasn't too horrible, no fever or anything, just a cough and a very stuffy/runny nose. I think that it has been affecting his sleeping habits a little and making him a little more fussy during the day, but nothing too horrible I guess. I just felt so bad for him when he was coughing and when his nose was all stuffed up because he can't express how he's feeling and he can't blow his nose or anything like that (like we do when we're sick). He still smiles a lot and is most of the time his normal self so thank goodness for that! I am not looking forward to the time when he's REALLY sick and isn't his happy, smiley self.

So Jonah gave me his cold and I've been sick the past few days and it's no fun. I think I am worse than he was because it's definitely been affecting me more than it did him. I am so stuffed up and am constantly blowing my nose and can barely breath at times. The first two nights sleeping was horrible, but the past two nights have been a little better. Now today I have developed a cough so that is no fun, but hopefully I'm on the upswing! I am very lucky because this happened over the weekend so Micah was here to play with Jonah and do everything since I didn't feel up to it. Yesterday he was even able to take a sick day from work because he didn't have any meetings going on or anything he had to do at work. Today he went to work though and I feel even worse than I did yesterday:( It's so hard playing with Jonah and taking care of his needs when I feel so blah and just want to lay around the house doing nothing. I am really hoping this goes away very soon!!

5 Months!!!

Jonah was 5 months old yesterday and what a day...HE ROLLED OVER FOR THE FIRST TIME!!! We have been practicing doing it and he lots of times seems like he wants to do it, but just can't quite make it. Yesterday we were at Micah's parents house playing on the floor with him and Jane was rolling him back and forth, back to belly and belly to back. After a few times of doing this, he did it on his own, back to belly! I almost missed it, but I didn't. We all got so excited and made lots of noise and it scared him and he cried a little, but it was still so cute!! I was so excited! He probably won't do it again for awhile, that's what I hear happens often, but I was so glad he finally did it today:)

The past month has brought lots of changes for Jonah. He has developed even more of a personality in the past month; he laughs A LOT and smiles even more than before (if that's even possible). He has more fussy times than before too (which isn't always fun), but the happy and smiling times far outweigh those crabby times:) He has discovered new sounds he can make with his mouth and he has also discovered his toes and loves to pull his legs up and grab his toes. He is also starting to be able to sit a little bit on his own (he tips over a lot), but he's on his way! And then just today we discovered he has a tooth starting to poke through! We thought he has been teething but were unable to see a tooth or feel one, but now we can feel it and see it a little as well. He is growing up so fast!! He is just such an adorable and happy guy and I can't wait to see what the next month brings!!

4 months!!

How in the world can Jonah already be 4 months old?! It's SO crazy how fast time goes with a little one! He was actually 4 months old on Saturday and had his 4 month checkup today at the doctor. He is a big, strong, healthy little baby...slowing turning into a little boy:) He gained three pounds in the past 2 months so he now weighs in at 16 lbs and 9 ounces which puts him in the 85th percentile (he is getting skinner though because last time he was in the 95th percentile). He also grew almost 3 inches in length so is now 26 1/4 inches long, which puts him in the 90th percentile. Based on these facts, he is going towards the direction of being more like his daddy, not his mommy, which is fine by me! The doctor said he is doing great...growing at a great rate, lungs sound good, and everything looks great developmentally up to this point. We just need to keep working with him on his tummy time so he can start rolling over! He also got his second round of shots today and he didn't do too terrible with it considering they were sticking a needle in his poor chubby leg. He cried, but it didn't last as long as when he got shots at 2 months so I was happy for that! So yeah, he's great and we are so happy and we feel very blessed with how good he's doing so far:)

First night away

So I had my first night away from Jonah on Friday of this past weekend. I had plans to go to Champaign to the Rascal Flatts concert with my sister Kaislie. Kaislie had asked me awhile back if I would want to go and I told her no because I couldn't spend the money on it at that time, and she really wanted to go so she was very kind and said she would buy me ticket. I couldn't pass that up so I said yes and we made our plans. Because it was on a Friday night I knew Micah couldn't keep Jonah because he would have to work that day, so my mom said her and my dad could keep him overnight. I decided that I would like a night away so I said ok to my mom's offer. I knew I would have to bring milk for Jonah because he doesn't take formula so we practiced giving him bottles a few nights in a row before the time came to be away from him. On Thursday Kaislie wasn't feeling well so we didn't know if we'd go, but the next day she was fine so we went. We left Morris around noon on Friday. I wasn't worried about Jonah's safety or anything like that since he was with my parents, but of course I was just nervous for him to take 3 bottles in a row on Friday and then another one Saturday morning. Also, he sleeps through the night, but I didn't want him not to for my parents and then have to be up in the night with him. I sent my mom multiple text messages throughout the day and night and talked to her a few times as well, just to check up on things and see how it was going. Every time I talked to her, she said things were going just fine, except he did fuss when they put him down to bed so they picked him up, he fell asleep in my mom's arms, and then she put him down and he was fine. He slept straight thru the night just as he always does so that was great! My mom actually went into his room at 7:30 on Saturday morning because she hadn't heard him yet and he normally makes a few sounds before then. We got back to Morris around 10:30 on Saturday morning and I was soooooo happy to see Jonah. I missed him so much but I do have to say that I am glad I took that opportunity to get away and know he was safe with my parents:)

Amazing!

It really amazes me everyday how much stronger and more "advanced" Jonah is getting. It seems like just yesterday we had to really support his head and all he could do was lay down on his back, and he hated being put down on his tummy no matter when or where or how we did it. Now he can hold his head up on his own, he is liking tummy time a little more each day, and he can sit up (while supported some of course). The end of this week has been great for his tummy time. He use to only stay on his tummy for 5 minutes at the most and he has given me a few times of 15 to 30 minutes lately which is such a huge step! When he's on his tummy, he really can hold his head up so much more and it's so fun to watch these advancements in his growth and development. He is changing day by day and it's so crazy! Here are a few pictures that really show his strength:)