My New Toy

Check out my new toy!! Funny how life changes, huh?! This is my new obsession....a baby food maker. It is absolutely Ahhh....maaazzzing!!  At first I was sad that Baby Johnny was moving on to "real food" but now it's fun to experiment together and watch him try new things.

I have made Baby Johnny carrots, sweet potatoes, pears and peas. He'll try the peas next week and is not a big fan of the carrots or sweet potatoes but LOVES, LOVES, LOVES pears!!! This may not look good to you, but the foods are fun to make and as long as baby loves them, I will continue to be the Barefoot Contessa of baby food making!

Laughing Is Contagious

Baby J's laugh is absolutely contagious! I love to capture him laughing, although he laughs way more than I could catch on video. If this doesn't make you smile, you're made of stone.

February 22nd

On the Move

It seems like so long ago that Baby J started rolling over. It's so funny the things we get excited about once we become parents, huh?!  So exciting!! This was on January 17th.

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

Every time I look at precious Baby Johnny I am in awe of his beautiful features.  Occasionally this served as a great reminder as to why I could go days on little or no sleep.  The first couple months were trying as Wee and I adjusted to the two-hour-nap sleep pattern. I'm not gonna lie. There were days that I broke down and cried over spilled milk, no literally... I spilled milk and then I cried, from being so tired. There were a few times that Johnny had to wake me up to feed, because I was so dead asleep that I could not hear the baby crying next to me! 

There were nights that the baby would only sleep in his swing, other nights he would only sleep in our bed and some nights he would only sleep if I held him. On the other hand, I could have slept in line at the grocery store, in my car at a stoplight, during a cavity filling, at a packed restaurant or after a quadruple espresso which I'm sure I did. There were days that I thought he would never start sleeping more than 4 hours at a time. Some of my friends kids were sleeping 10 to 14 hours and I thought maybe Baby J just didn't like to sleep. Truth be told, I realized that part of the problem was that we had him sleeping in our bed. ;0(
I don't know who fought it more, me or Johnny.


At our 5 month appointment the Dr said to get him in his crib asap and start him on food (more on that another day). We worked inconsistently on putting him in his crib, I'm not gonna lie. When Mother Mary came last week she watched him one night while we were at a class and got him to sleep in his crib. That set the momentum for crib training. He's now slept in his crib for the last 3 nights. He wakes up once and I feed him in his room and put him back down. He's sleeping an average of 10-12 hours. What a big boy!! If you ever find me cuddling in his crib, be sure to drag me out by my hair!!

Best Christmas Present EVER

Christmas is always a fun time of year, although Johnny and I have spent every Christmas apart since we've been dating, 8 years!! Time for new traditions. Not only was this Baby J's first Christmas, but ours as a couple and a family. We had a fantastic Christmas in Salinas with the Shebls!! We got great gifts and Baby Johnny got lots of quality time with Uncle Marcus and Grammy and Grandpa Shebl. The most fun was fawning all over Baby J!

Why are baby sweater vests so cute?? Maybe it's just the baby in it! Ok...I'll stop.

And to think Mary, you thought about getting a fake tree. How beautiful is this?? And it smelled so amazing!! Hope you don't regret it. We LOVED it!!

Check out those lips!!

Please don't ask Marcus which he thinks is cuter: grandbaby or granddog. I already know his answer. Parents are always biased.

 

I feel like he's giving the eye here. "Back off. This is my stocking."

 

Johnny did bring one uninvited gift....a BAD cold from work. Baby Johnny, Mary and I all got the cold, but more on that later.

What We're Thankful For

I realized as I got ready for Thanksgiving at my aunt's house that I am thankful for such a helpful, supportive, organized husband that enjoys changing diapers and picking out Baby Johnny's clothes. I know it sounds unrealistic, but Baby Johnny LOVES to be changed so we practically fight over who gets to change him.

So happy after a changing!! Who wouldn't want to change him?!

Thanksgiving was a great time and everyone wanted to hold him. Something that we talked about before we went to the holiday dinner, was when do you let people hold him?? He was less than 2 months old. Since he was born in October there's always the concern that he could catch a winter cold from someone. How do you say, "We're actually not letting anyone hold him, except his grandma, but feel free to look at him from 5+ feet."?

It's too hard and unrealistic to expect people not to hold him. We chose to just ask people to wash their hands first.  When you have a new baby, not as many people as you may think will want to hold him. Babies that small are intimidating to some. Thinking EVERY human being passing him must hold him because he's the most beautiful baby they've ever seen is actually a little over exaggerated. A handful of people held him and were very respectful to keep a safe distance if they had a cold, cough, etc.  Ironically his first cold came from his dad. Ha!

Here's Baby J's cousin, Jase, with Johnny. I can't believe our boy will be this big someday!!

Baby Johnny's First Halloween

It's been SO long since I've posted to the blog. I guess that's because a four month old takes up a little bit of my time. Lots of stuff to post about...

Let's start with his first Halloween. I was such a first time mom, answering the door with the baby in my arm every time to pass out candy so people could see how cute he is! "Oh your baby is so cute!"

Me: "Oh, (innocent chuckle) thanks." When what I really want to say is, "Yeah, he is!! We DO make pretty babies, don't we?!" Don't worry....I didn't.