Ava Grace was born today!

I have a new little buddy named Ava Grace. I haven't met her yet, but Mommy went to visit her today and says she is just beautiful. Maybe she can play with Emma Claire and me when she comes home. Mommy also tells me that Grace would have been my name if I had been a girl. I'm glad to let Ava use it instead so that I can be a boy and not a girl. Welcome to the world, Ava!

Keeping Mommy busy

Mommy hasn't posted pictures of me lately...but we've been having a lot of fun together. I've developed a new style of crawling that helps me get around. I push with my left leg, but I keep my right foot sticking up in the air. I'm sure I'll get that right foot under control soon. Even without its help, I manage to go places that Mommy doesn't want me to go. She's pretty quick to tell me "no" and point me in another direction!

I've also woken up at around 5 a.m. for the last two days. Normally I sleep from around 8 at night until 7 the next morning, but these mornings I woke up crying like my heart was broken! It's tough, because there are things I want to tell Mommy and Daddy, but they don't speak Baby. So, Daddy has come in to comfort me and put me back in bed both times. I can handle that.

We're waiting for my friend Ava to be born, too. Her mommy and daddy went to the hospital to have her, and I'm so excited to invite her over and share my toys with her. Maybe I can introduce her to Emma Claire. I have several other friends who are going to be born in September and October, and I'm sure they will make my life much more interesting. Mommy and Daddy are fun and all, but they're not little.

I tried to escape from my crib instead of taking my nap, but my leg was the only part that made it. The rest of me fell asleep. 

Ah, that's better. I can reach from Daddy's lap. Hit it with the right hand and knock it with the left hand. I think I'm getting the hang of it. 

Gotta get this keyboard closer so I can reach it. 

Today, I got to go see Daddy at his work. All his work friends told me how cute I am, and some of them held me and let me play with their toys. Daddy also gave me a typing lesson-my second one ever. Here he is, explaining the basics to me before we get started. 

My first tooth

It's a big deal to Mommy and Daddy, so I thought I'd tell about it. My first tooth broke through today. You can hardly see it, and I haven't really figured out what to do with it, except to bite my spoon at mealtimes. I did a really good job of keeping it a secret from Mommy and Daddy until today. Mommy says that shows that I'm a pretty good sport. I guess some babies make a big fuss over teeth, but I was too busy trying to crawl to worry about it.

I think that if I could just grab this thing, I could put it in my mouth. 

This is my newest expression. I like to wrinkle up my nose and then breathe as loudly as I can 'cause it makes a funny noise. 

I got to visit my Great Grandma this weekend. We like to make each other smile. 

After you take a bath, it's a good idea to chew on your hairbrush. If you get it slobbery enough, then your mommy won't use it to brush your hair. 

This is what I do with most of my waking moments, at least when I'm not eating: Dump out my toys and inspect each one. 

Yup, I was right, it's the best toy ever. 

This must be the best toy ever. 

Just hanging out, waiting for Mom to come and feed me... Did I mention that I'm hungry? 

Here I am in my jumpy thing that Mommy's friend let me play with. It makes loud noises when I jump. I love my jumpy thing! 

I am not a girl!

Just because I'm cute doesn't mean I'm a girl. People still get confused about that sometimes. Mommy does a really good job of making sure I wear blue to the store, not pink. But sometimes the people there get confused and think that my cuteness means I'm a girl, even though I wear boy clothes. Mommy doesn't take it personally, but I do! I've got to learn to talk soon so that I can tell them I'm a BOY.

This is my new friend, Carolyn. This was my very first time meeting her. 

This is my friend, Jimmy. Jimmy's mom said to him, "Be calm and gentle with Jonathan." And Jimmy said, "What he likes about me is that I'm NOT calm and gentle." He's right! Jimmy has me figured out. 

This is my friend, Christin. She is going to teach me how to play basketball. 

Aha! THIS is what Mommy has been hiding under my bed. 

Trying to crawl

This is how I'm spending my time lately: trying to crawl. It's really fun to sit up and also to roll, but I want to crawl, too! So far, I can scoot forward once on each knee, but then I don't know what to do next. I think it has something to do with pushing with my hands instead of my elbows, but it's complicated.

Also, last night somebody else put me to bed. Mommy and Daddy told me "goodbye" and there was somebody else there to play with me. They said that since it was their anniversary, they needed to go out on a date. I think it's pretty fun to be at home with me. Don't you think they could have stayed home? Anyway, I had fun without them, and when I woke up today, they were back. It's a good thing, because I don't know how else I could have gotten my breakfast.

Here I am with my Daddy and Mommy at the middle of our hike. (Mommy and Daddy said it was the end, but really it was the middle because we had to keep going to get to the end.) We are standing behind a big, loud waterfall. It made me blink a lot because of all the drips in my face. 

All that hiking wore me out. Daddy's shoulder was a great place for a nap. 

When we went hiking, Mommy and Daddy took me on my first picnic. I like eating outside! 

We spent a whole lot of time in the car on our trip, which meant a whole lot of time in the car seat for me. Here's what I think about that. 

Gimme that camera! 

Here I am with my mommy after my very first time in a swimming pool. I wasn't so sure about all that splashing. 

Here I am in my napping spot, except it's outside. I decided to listen to the birds instead of taking a nap. 

Grandpa tried to teach me to crawl. He kept telling me to do a push-up. What's a push-up? I wish I could figure it out!