Where's Waldo?

Sorry to blog early this week, but we're headed to a wedding in Cincinnati tomorrow and I didn't want to disappoint all four of our blog followers by being late. This week was pleasantly uneventful, which gave us plenty of opportunity to spend some quality family time together. As you can tell by the totally adorable picture, John Thomas helped me do some chores around the house. The only major update this week is that we purchased a sound machine to help us get some restful sleep. It turns out that every parent in the world should have one of these. John Thomas will go to sleep without so much as a whimper if the "white noise" is going. Sarah, please tell Becky, whoever she is, that I said "thank you" too.

Hopefully JT's interest in books will continue as he gets older. We're up to four or five books per day. They will even pacify him as well as any of his toys.

If anyone has some children's books that you're looking to pawn off, let us know. I think we've read "Panda Bear, Panda Bear," "Guess How Much I Love You" and a few others about 200 times. I'm pretty sure I can recite them all without even having to look at the page.

Meanwhile, Chester is loving having us home more. It means he gets to be outside gnawing on sticks and being a dog. You'd never know from this picture that this "rugged" dog spends every night on our cozy couch.

The Great Escape

Our baby boy turned five months old this week. The adage, "they grow up so fast," couldn't be more accurate. He is now 25 inches long, 15 lbs, and itching to crawl. I had a bit of an emotional week this week. I'm not sure if it's how fast he's growing up, how close going back to work is, or just hormonal adjustments --but thanks to an intervention by Sarah, I survived unscathed. Thanks again Sarah.
I guess as a tribute to his five month birthday, I should share with you a few of John Thomas' personality attributes and a few things I love about him.
1. He is a very determined little baby. I think this trait will eventually serve him well when he gets older. For instance, he still loves his baby gym, but he decided his exersaucer was more interesting. He can't crawl, but he certainly can roll to where he wants to go. I know when he figures out how to crawl, he will be all over the place. His "great escape" took about 45 seconds. Maybe we should have named him Houdini?
2. He loves talking to people, especially girls. As you can tell, he inherited great taste in women and maybe even a little of that Kirkpatrick charm. He's already made his first move, trying to hold baby Charlotte's hand. He didn't even try the old "yawn maneuver," he just went for it. I think he must have realized Mckenna was too old for him.
3. He loves to sleep all bunched up on his stomach, especially in mom and dad's big comfy bed.

4. He absolutely lights up whenever he sees his dad. I'm a little jealous of this, but the few times I've left the house without him, he lights up when he sees me again too.

5. Of course, he thinks Chester is the coolest thing ever. We spend countless hours every week playing with Chester. He just laughs, coos and squeals with delight.

It would be impossible to list all the things I love about our little guy, so I'll narrow it down to four in honor of his birthday this week.

1. I love that he smiles with his eyes. Sometimes he's sort of coy and covers his mouth, but his eyes never lie.

2. I love his laugh and his voice. If I could bottle it up and listen to it over and over again, I would.

3. I love that he loves to dance and sing with me. The other day I was doing the electric slide (I can't make this stuff up) and he just thought it was the funniest thing in the world.

4. I love that he actually finds comfort when I sing. I have wished all my life for a beautiful voice, which never happened. But, God did give me a son that thought I had a great voice. I dread the day he actually realizes it ain't too purdy after all.

Even on the tough days, I count my blessing for our beautiful baby boy.

Baby's Best Friend

Labor Day has to be one of the best holidays ever! Beyond the fact that you don't have to work, there is no pressure to travel, cook or really do much of anything besides veg with the family. And, veg we did! My two cuties and I spent an indulgent amount of time lounging in bed on Monday morning, setting the tone for the rest of the day.
The rest of the week was fairly routine. However I do have a few updates. 1.) John Thomas got a haircut because the hair on the back of his head was turning into a serious baby mullet. I'm not sure which side of the family the mullet comes from, but it's gone now. 2.) JT has moved up in diaper size (appropriately labeled #2) and pj size (9 months). 3.) "Chester" is the only word I am certain John Thomas knows. He loves his puppy doggy. I think this week Chester is starting to reciprocate the love.

For all the germ-o-phobes out there, I realize it is unsanitary to let the dog lick our baby. But, I simply cannot de-dog our house, so he's going to get his fair share of dog kisses, dog hair and maybe even a kibble or two of dog food before it's all said and done.

Although John Thomas is not crawling (yet!), he is trying to get his knees under him and reach for toys in front of him. I can tell a difference in his strength and ability almost everyday. One of the best parts of our daily routine is floor time. As you can tell, everyone gets in on the action.

These two lovebirds are going to be quite the duo when JT starts eating real food and crawling around. I'm envisioning lots of dropped Cheerios and a very happy dog.

This week, John Thomas will turn five months old. Holy smokes time flies when you're having fun!

Bjorn Ultimatum

This has to be one of my more cleverly titled blogs, if I do say so myself. Remember a few weeks ago when I discovered that John Thomas would go anywhere in the Baby Bjorn? Well, now I can also add, he virtually refuses to go anywhere unless it's in his Baby Bjorn. That's right, as of two days ago I am officially doing our morning walk with him in the Baby Bjorn. I'm holding out hope that once he gets big enough to sit up in the jogger sans his car seat, he'll enjoy his stroller once again. Maybe he just wants to help me lose the last few pesky pregnancy pounds I just can't seem to shake.

John Thomas discovered his toes a few weeks ago, but this week he realized that they are perfectly chewy and delicious as well. His new habit makes bath time and "fresh tushy" time slightly more challenging. I guess I can't really blame him for the toe sucking, since I've been kissing on his feet from day one.

We also got to watch our first UT game this weekend. Go Vols! Watching (or rather, trying to watch) the UT game made me realize that there are some things I never used to pay much attention to until I had a baby. 1. Angle of the sun 2. Volume on the television 3. Searching for onions in my food 4. The shear volume of dog hair in our lives. Just to name a few. Even though we're still adjusting our routines and noise levels, we couldn't be happier!