Twenty-Nine Weeks…

Jonas is just so cute in his sun hat (on loan from the Paccassis) that I had to share two pictures.  🙂  

Twenty-nine weeks finds him trying out a new vegetable (peas…he doesn’t seem to be a huge fan and makes the shiver face but he still eats them), LOVING walks outside in his stroller, showing off his sense of humor (he belly laughed tonight after he raspberried out a mouthful of rice cereal and watched it shoot across the high chair tray at me), adding new and interesting moves to his crawling skills set, getting ready to head to the beach for the very first time, and welcoming Mommy home not only for the summer but full-time.

Jonas’ First Birthday Party…

Here is a picture of Jonas and Nate.  Nate is the son of Jeff Chandler, who is Tom’s business partner.  Jeff and his precious wife, Michelle, threw the coolest birthday party EVER for Nate’s 3rd birthday at the Genesis Auto Brokers warehouse, complete with a homemade race track for the little ones to ride around on, amazing car-shaped cakes for the kids to decorate, and a full-screen showing of the movie “Cars” projected onto a giant wall for young and old to enjoy.  It was a great way to kick off the summer.  🙂  

Twenty-Eight Weeks

Recent developments for our little man include:  rolling over from front to back; sitting up (not leaning back) in his bouncy seat, stroller, and car seat; working on his crawling skills; bouncing around like a pinball in a pinball machine in his pack-n-play; making his second sign with prompting for “eat”; moving up from 2 tablespoons to 3 tablespoons of rice cereal and vegetables at his morning and evening meals; adding squash and carrots to his repertoire of vegetables; being really serious about his big boy meals by letting us know with an intense grunt when he’s ready to eat and when it’s been too long in between bites; pounding his chest with both fists like Tarzan; exploring different textures with his hands; continuing to perfect the art of the raspberry; debuting what seems to be his first consonant/vowel combination, “nay-nay-nay-nay”; and becoming more and more alert to and aware/observant of his environment (to my delight, he just noticed the monkeys on the feet of his “go bananas” sleep-n-play). 

Twenty-Seven Weeks…

It has been a very eventful week for Jonas, full of transition and big boy things seeming to happen all at once…he: rolled over for the first time (back to front); officially graduated from a swaddle to a sleep sack; greeted his first Mother’s Day with an out-of-character, not-so-easily-consolable bout of fussing that ended up being the culmination of his biggest and longest growth spurt yet and tipping his Mom and Dad off to the fact that he was just plain old hungry, hungry, hungry; started solids with his first bowl of whole-grain rice cereal; said goodbye to his dear friend Dreemer; exhausted his Mommy’s store of extra breastmilk in the freezer; weighed in at a whopping 16 pounds and 13 ounces at his 6 month checkup; experienced his first taste of vegetables (sweet potatoes, homemade by his Aunt Heather) as part of his second solid food meal of the day recommended by his pediatrician; began discovering a new favorite sleep position (an extreme form of side sleeping that looks like it wants to be tummy sleeping soon); made his first sign, without prompting, for “milk”; gave many squnched-up-nose smiles with the most endearing pattern of open-mouthed breathing when he felt full of love for something or someone; launched headlong into teething; and uttered, more than once, what we’re wondering might prove to be his first word…”hi”.

Goodbye Dreemer. You will be always remembered….

Tonight we laid to rest my dog Dreemer. I got Dreemer almost 14 years ago when she was just 8 weeks old.

Dreemer was a loyal and faithful friend everyday of her life. She was a friend to everybody she met. Those that know Dreemer and know me will understand that words can not express how special she was, and how much she meant to me. Letting her go was the hardest decision I have ever had to make, but I know the time was right. Dreemer’s love was probably the closest thing to God’s love a person could experience. In her eyes I could do no wrong, even when I did. She was always joyous to see me, whether I had been gone a week or an hour. She gave me everything she had to give, right to the very end.

Dreemer,
You will forever be in my heart, and a part of who I am. I hope to honor you by loving unconditionally, the way that you always loved me. I pray that your spirit never leaves me, and that when I come home, at the end of this journey, you will be there waiting for me. I know that your body no longer hurts. I know that you have the energy and vitality that you had when you where young. I know you are happy to see your best friend Siva. I know she is happy to see you. Watch out for me, watch out for Jodi, and please watch out for Jonas. Thank you for holding on to see me enter this new stage of my life. I am glad you were able to meet my son. I am even more glad he was able to meet you. There will never be another like you. Your work here is complete, go run, go swim, chase Siva around the yard. Thank you, God Bless you.

PLEASE CLICK THIS PICTURE FOR MORE PICS OF DREEMER

Twenty-Six Weeks…

Jonas hit a major growth spurt this week, and he’s been tanking back the milk and putting away some serious daytime and nighttime z’s. When he’s not eating or sleeping, he’s all about pinching and grabbing (pretty much everything), and he’s discovered his first favorite toy…bunny.

Twenty-Five Weeks…

Twenty-five weeks finds Jonas sitting…on his own.  If he gets tickled, though, it’s all over with…but he’s smiling and laughing all the way, as he’s tipping over backwards or falling over sideways.  He’s so cute with his the-world-seems-different-from-here look on his face, leaning forward and grabbing his toes.  He cracked us up tonight on our early evening walk around the neighborhood by sitting in his stroller just like that…leaning headlong into the world.  Â