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!

John Thomas the Baptized

We've had marginally cooler weather this week, which has allowed us to start enjoying the new deck. I can't imagine getting anymore laid back than this. I also think having Gramma and Papa around this week helped everyone relax.
Like any doting grandparents, Mom and Dad were so eager to help entertain and cuddle with JT. The added bonus was the fact that my extremely handy dad did all sorts of work around our house. Thanks to my dad we have a new ceiling fan, new shower curtain rod, new screens in bedroom windows, organized garage, cleaned porch railing, repaired closet light, chopped wood...and so on. Thank you so much dad!

I think Jason even picked up a few pointers in the process.

Mom and I also took a trip to see Mamaw. Mamaw was so excited to see us! She just couldn't get enough of her new little great grandson.

The best part of the whole week was that John Thomas was baptized this morning. He was such a trooper for the whole thing. As you can tell, all the hoopla must have taken its toll. Thank you to all the family and friends who were able to support us and him today. It truly is his first step in his walk with Christ, and I only hope and pray that we can help guide and support him in his relationship with Jesus as he grows up.

John Thomas is officially big enough to use his Johnny-Jump-Up. Although, it could be more accurately named, "Johnny-Play-With-The-Dog." This week we're back to the three amigos: Me, JT and Chester. It sure is going to be a quiet house around here with all the company gone.

Roaring Thirties

Okay, so I think our little boy is undeniably adorable. I actually couldn't sleep last night for thinking about how cute and lovable and precious John Thomas is. Bath time is one of my favorite things in the whole world, and with a face like this you could understand why.
In his fourth month, I've finally discovered that I can go anywhere with JT as long as he's in the Baby Bjorn. This week we did our big grocery trip and ventured to Babies R Us to pick out a few new toys. As you can tell, he's upgraded from his baby gym.

Papa and Gramma have already relished spending time with John Thomas. Every time John Thomas sees my dad, he smiles and giggles. It truly is the sweetest thing in the world to watch these two light up.

Gramma, on the other hand, is eager to volunteer for any holding, burping, changing... that needs to be done. I think JT has learned who is going to cater to him the most (besides me).

I just had to have a picture of John Thomas in his froggy pajamas. Although he's not smiling in this shot, it definitely brings a smile to may face.

Ready For Take Off

We decided to go visit Gramma and Papa in Wisconsin for a long and fun-filled weekend. We boarded the plane out of Knoxville at 7:00 a.m. Thursday morning. John Thomas did fairly well on the plane rides, considering we had mechanical trouble and three hours worth of delays while sitting on the tarmac after boarding.
After an exhausting day, we were able to unwind and relax in my parents beautiful home. Mom, of course, cooked a great meal while we unpacked. The best part of the whole evening was the clear night sky complete with dozens of shooting stars. I've truly never seen anything like it. It was like God was putting on a fireworks show for us!

The area where my parents live is quite rural. Every lot is five acres and full of all sorts of wild life. Molly, you would love the bird watching. This little tree frog obviously caught a whiff of my mom's cooking and had to check it out.

Friday morning, Dad and Jason got up bright and early to go see the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. I think they had a great day doing guy stuff while mom and I were relaxing at home. Saturday, the boys got up before dawn (3:00 a.m. to be exact) to catch their chartered fishing boat. We were surprised to see them home by 7:00 a.m., having already caught their quota. Don't be surprised if we serve grilled salmon at our next dinner party. Dad earned the "Biggest Catch" award with this whopper. We indulged with in fresh grilled salmon for dinner on Saturday night and it was outstanding!

There also happened to be a local festival called the Shantyday Festival in the town where my dad works, Algoma. It's a little quaint town right on the shore of Lake Michigan. I have no idea what they're celebrating, but it gave us all an excuse to partake in festival food while John Thomas watched the parade.

As we boarded the plane headed home, the flight attendant suggested we let John Thomas take a picture in the cockpit. I think Jason was worried we were going to get arrested by U.S. Marshals. As you can see, JT was very interested in the pilot, the lights and all those gadgets.

We've been home for a few hours and everyone is trying to recuperate from such an exciting weekend. We also have some other exciting news to share. John Thomas turned four months old yesterday and celebrated by rolling over from back to front. You may remember that he rolled over from front to back at five and a half weeks. I have a video, but couldn't get it to work on the blog. You can check my Facebook page if you'd like to see how big our little guy is.