Jonathan's Journey

Grace Evelyn

2009-03-17T21:59:00.002-07:00

Grace was born yesterday at 12:59PM and she was bigger than me when I was born. I'm a very excited big brother!

You can see details here:
http://scrapbookofsorts.blogspot.com

If You Haven't Stopped By...

2009-03-11T14:41:00.003-07:00

In case you haven't stopped by here in awhile, I just wanted to leave a short reminder that we're posting in a new location, A Scrapbook of Sorts. I hope you'll join us there. Feel free to subscribe or become a follower. We hope to have an exciting announcement posted there soon, but we're trying to be patient!

Quote

2009-02-25T11:22:00.001-08:00

"You know, at gymnastics, there's a big girl with a really pretty name: North Dakota. That's really pretty, isn't it!"

Just One More Thing

2009-02-25T10:56:00.002-08:00

My mom's photo collage in the playroom was mentioned here on Ikeahacker today! Thanks, Jules!

Happy Four Years...Tomorrow

2009-02-25T10:37:00.002-08:00

Tomorrow will be our fourth anniversary of blogging. Daddy introduced our family to the idea before we really knew anything about blogs, and we've really enjoyed blogging and sharing my life with family and friends. Since I was born far away from almost everyone I was related to, it was a great way to help them get to know me while I grew.

We've done so much sharing that we've almost filled this whole blog. That's probably because my mom takes so many pictures, don't you think? We thought that our fourth anniversary would be a good time to start a new blog, so that's what we're going to do. I'm going to hand over the blogging responsibilities to my mom, so this new blog will not only be about me. It will be about our whole family. I decided I needed a little more privacy since I'm getting so big, and I thought you'd also like to know all about my new brother or sister. We all hope you like our new blog!

My mom and dad lost a lot of sleep last night due to lots of contractions, but the baby is still not here. We're getting a little anxious. The baby has decided to take the day off from contractions, so it may be awhile.

Anyway, this is where you can find us first thing in the morning: A Scrapbook of Sorts, and the address is http://scrapbookofsorts.blogspot.com/. We hope you'll visit us there. Please feel free to become a "follower" and leave us a comment anytime. Thanks for being a part of our bloggy world!

All Quilty :)

2009-02-24T06:26:00.001-08:00

Lego Snail

2009-02-23T13:37:00.006-08:00

My Mom and Dad

2009-02-23T13:27:00.002-08:00

Here I am with my mom.

Her watermelon just keeps getting bigger.

Here I am with my dad.

He comes home for lunch sometimes, and that makes us so happy. When I was a newborn baby, I liked to be held with my knees up like this.

One More Thing

2009-02-23T11:33:00.001-08:00

I took our poll out of the sidebar this morning. Our unscientific survey found that our dear readers are split almost 50/50 as to whether this baby will be a girl or a boy. Thank you for voting! We can't wait to find out!

Another One from Mommy: 38 Weeks

2009-02-23T11:06:00.002-08:00

I made it to the midwife yet again! At my last appointment, she made a comment to the effect of, "if you even make it to next week..." The midwife I saw this week said, "I think you'll have the baby this week." So, I am officially one of those people who may be given false hope of the baby coming a bit early, and then feel late and impatient by the due date. But, with how nervous I was about preterm labor for awhile, I'm just thankful for how far we've made it and excited to meet this baby whenever he/she comes.

The midwife I saw last week always has some comment about the large/long size of the baby. The midwife I saw this week thinks we'll have an average-sized, average-length baby. (That sounds nice, yes?) She says I am now 3 cm dilated, still 80% effaced, and the baby is at a -1 station. Everything looks fine, though-good blood pressure, etc., for me, and good heart rate for the baby. We're excited about our little miracle.

Jonathan was with my mom this morning, and when I came to get him, she had this gift for me:

Two dozen infant-size chinese prefold diapers! Yay! We didn't start cloth with Jonathan until almost 6 mos., so I only had standard size diapers for him (which took him from 6 mos. to potty training. Amazing.) I had hoped to start cloth sooner with this baby (although not from day one!) and now I can.

Here's a dozen before they're washed. They get quilty (is that a word?) and soft after you wash them a few times. I'll post the "after" picture when I have it.

Thank you so much for following our story and praying for our baby's safe arrival. It means more than you know! Now I'm off to play Legos with Jonathan...

The Cradle (from Mommy)

2009-02-21T16:19:00.002-08:00

Today, my uncle Dave came over with a special delivery: this beautiful cradle that he and my aunt Christine are lending to us and our baby. Uncle Dave made the cradle for their family more than 25 years ago, and Aunt Christine made the bedding. We're honored to use this special heirloom while our baby is small! Here's Uncle Dave with the cradle.

Here's where we have it in the living room. Dave thought that, since we have two stories now, it might be nice to have someplace for the baby to sleep downstairs. Great idea! And we never did have a bassinet or anything like that before, so the cradle will be perfect. Here's the sweet, snuggly spot for the baby.

Thanks for sharing, Uncle Dave and Aunt Christine!

Skills

2009-02-20T15:07:00.004-08:00

My mom made just one New Year's resolution for 2009. She resolved to have a pen (or some writing instrument) or scissors in my hands every single day. For some kids, this happens without trying, but since I'd rather build with teensy-tinsy Legos or play with vehicles, it takes some effort with me. And even though I know my letters and the sounds they make, and I like to talk about them all the time, I don't care much about writing them.

Well, it's February, and my mom has not had scissors or a pen in my hand every day. Or even close. Thank goodness I won't be old enough for kindergarten until fall of 2010! So, there's still time for her to work on it. I had a resolution of my own this year, and I have kept it: to play with Legos every day.

Despite the Lego fun, my mom has decided to give her resolution another try. So, here I am with scissors. She got some special "lefty" scissors for me, and I think they're great fun. So far she has just let me have my own experiences with them instead of making me cut specific shapes or lines.

You'll notice that I cut the paper into little pieces, and also that I'm holding the scissors upside-down. My mom also liked to hold her scissors that way at first, and she remembers arguing with her kindergarten teacher and her own mom about how to hold scissors. So, she's being a softy and hasn't made me change my ways yet.

And here I am tracing over the letters on a placemat we got at Target in the dollar section. We love the dollar section! I'm doing pretty well for someone who doesn't care about writing.

And here are the upper-case letters.

Much to Mommy's surprise, all that work with teensy-tinsy Legos has helped me with all my fine-motor skills, not just building. I'm doing much better at getting the pen to go where I want it to. I still don't care about drawing and writing, but I'm getting better at it, despite myself. Yay for Legos! Now if I can learn to snap and zip my own jeans, I can really make Mommy happy...but I'd rather go build something.

More Observations

2009-02-20T12:36:00.004-08:00

I should let you know what the other colors of M&Ms taste like:

Red-apple

Orange-orange (of course)

Yellow-lemon

Green-lime

Brown-chocolate

"You know how the Lightning McQueen cars don't have any lips, do they! Kinda like Larry."

The Blue Ones

2009-02-19T14:51:00.000-08:00

"You know, the blue M&Ms are acorn flavored."

Duplo Airplane

2009-02-18T14:38:00.004-08:00

Here is a Duplo airplane I built myself by copying the picture of the airplane on the Duplo tub. And here's what it sounds like.

Catching Up on Pictures

2009-02-18T14:29:00.002-08:00

We had a lot of fun having my faraway grandparents nearby for the past couple of weeks. We took them to the airport on Monday, and now things are very quiet around here. We miss having them here. We got a little behind on our pictures, so now we'll work on catching up, and maybe that will help them not to miss me so much. Here we go...

I still like to "mail" things in my kitchen. Ms. Grace, my good friend from Quiznos, gives me her leftover gift cards so I can mail them in this slot.

I am still obsessed with Legos. Here are some things I've built recently.

And here is my favorite guy. He's good for a snuggle anytime.

37 Weeks

2009-02-18T14:24:00.001-08:00

Update from Mommy

2009-02-17T20:18:00.003-08:00

I had my 37-week appointment today, since yesterday was a holiday. Jeff came with me and Jonathan didn't, because it's time to check my "progress." I saw the midwife who is the one who usually comments on the baby's size, so it was no surprise that she did again today. She thinks the baby will be long like Jonathan-either that he/she already is or that he/she will be if I make it to my due date. (This baby has settled into a very uncomfortable place against my ribs, just like he did-but on the left instead of the right.) He/she sounds healthy, and I'm progressing. I'm 2 cm dilated and 80% effaced. (With Jonathan at 37 weeks, nothing was happening yet.) I could walk around like this for a few more weeks...or not! We'll see! We're thankful that all seems to be well and baby will be here soon. My bag is packed, and I've washed the new 0-3 mos. things that we received at our recent shower.

I should also mention that Jeff spoiled me today! His Valentine's Day gift to me was an appointment for a prenatal massage after my checkup this morning. Yes, I'm spoiled...and grateful. As I was waiting my turn, a woman in the waiting room gave me another gem of a quote to share. As you know, people seem to think that it's appropriate to say anything to pregnant women. She said, "Wow, you look ready to pop!" Um...okay? On to more pleasant things, the massage was wonderful! What a great gift!

Valentine's Day, Part 3

2009-02-14T14:54:00.004-08:00

(Mommy and Daddy celebrated Valentine's Day last night, which I'll tell about later.)
This morning, Mommy surprised me with my own celebration! After I got out of bed to play with my treehouse and share some roars with the dinosaurs, I got to go on a treasure hunt! Ms. Alicia from Moms Time Out had set up clues and treats for all the mommies to use with their kids, and boy, was I glad. I kept telling Mommy, "This is a fun, fun, treasure hunt!" Here are some of the places I found treasures when I followed the clues:

The freezer. (Yes, it's still a little empty. Mommy's working on that.)

The bathtub.

The playroom.

The TV.

The phone.

After our fun treasure hunt, Mommy showed me this placemat she made for me that tells me how special I am. I sure loved having Mommy read it to me.

Mommy was most excited about the AIMS math activities that Ms. Alicia shared with us to use with my heart candies. (Mommy used to use AIMS activities when she taught school.) We also have a special heart-shaped pancake maker to use soon. As I mentioned, though, Mommy is pacing herself these days, so maybe we'll have heart pancakes and do candy math tomorrow. Thanks to Ms. Alicia for helping my mom!

Valentine's Day, Part 2

2009-02-14T14:44:00.002-08:00

We celebrated part of Valentine's Day-the part for Daddy-early this year. Mommy says she needs to pace herself these days! So, Mommy and I got up early, and here's what we did.

We put on my special shirt that we picked out to show love to Daddy, and we made heart muffins.

Here I am showing you my shirt.

And here are the mufffins. Special thanks to Aunt Amanda, who found this muffin mold at Target for us. Aunt Amanda is really good at finding treasures at Target.

While the muffins were baking, I gave Daddy his book and his Valentine.

And here are the yummy muffins. I got to sprinkle red sugar on them. Happy Valentine's Day, Daddy!

Valentine's Day, Part 1

2009-02-14T14:28:00.002-08:00

The last time Mommy and I went to Moms Time Out, Mommy learned all about things to do for Valentine's Day. So, we've been getting ready to show some love to Daddy. Here's the Valentine that I made for him. It's a whale splashing.

And here's a book we chose for him. Special thanks to Mommy's friend, Ms. Alicia, for telling us about it.

Notice that I wrote Daddy's name on there all by myself. And, notice that I didn't like the top of the "A" the first time, so I gave it a second top. A is a very hard letter to make.

A Shower

2009-02-12T15:34:00.002-08:00

I went to my first baby shower today. (I am usually not invited, but today I was!) Mommy, Daddy, and I knew that we were invited to eat some cake to welcome our baby into the world, even though he/she is not here yet. But we didn't know it would be a for-real baby shower! Here's the yummy cake. I think I had the biggest piece of cake I have ever seen, and it had strawberries in the middle!

We were all surprised to see that Daddy's coworkers had gotten together and brought lots of gifts for our baby, in addition to having the cake. Mommy and Daddy are really thankful. I didn't spend a lot of time being thankful. I crawled under the table and made friends with Daddy's coworkers and played with my trains. Here's the best gift we got:

A shirt for me to wear after the baby comes, just in case anyone forgets who the big brother is around here. Thanks, everyone, for my shirt. Oh, and Mommy and Daddy say "thanks" for all the generous gifts for our baby, too!

Treehouse

2009-02-12T12:22:00.002-08:00

I thought you might want to know how my treehouse has been doing. You can see that lots of other animals live there now, including all my dinosaurs. I had to play with my treehouse as soon as I got out of bed yesterday. All the animals love having their own little places to live!

In Oklahoma

2009-02-12T12:14:00.002-08:00

"You know how in Oklahoma there's an animal called a jaggerfy. And if there is a lion, it has spines on its body and can roll itself up in a ball to protect itself from the dangers of somethin'."

How Crayons Are Made

2009-02-10T16:14:00.002-08:00

Some mommies and daddies will remember this from the Sesame Street of a long time ago.

Dude

2009-02-10T07:51:00.001-08:00

This morning, I asked Daddy how to spell "dude," and he told me, "d-u-d-e." I told him that, actually, it was spelled "dood," since "oo" makes the "ooooo" sound. Sometimes I know better than my silly parents.

More About This Morning

2009-02-09T22:06:00.004-08:00

We've been a little short on pictures lately, so thank goodness for Ms. Jen who took a picture this morning! Here, Ella and I are playing our sleepover game, but Ella is telling her mom not to take any more pictures so that we can sleep.

I should also tell you that, after being a gecko since November, I've decided that I am Lily the dog. (Lily is Ella and Delia's dog.) I have been barking all day. Mommy informed me that I must not bark in the store and I needed to be named Jonathan in the store. But other than that short break, I've been Lily, the good dog who protects our house. It's really fun being a dog!

Mommy's 36-Week Appointment

2009-02-09T11:59:00.002-08:00

Today was a great day for an appointment because I got to go play with Ella and Delia while Mommy saw the midwife. I had a great time with Ella. We played trains and pretend sleepover and play-dough. Ella likes to do different things than I do sometimes, and I am learning that it can be really fun! Mommy thinks it's great when Ella helps me do things I don't normally choose to do (like play-dough.) I could have spent my whole day playing at Ella's house and I would have been perfectly happy, but Mommy did come back before too long. Thanks so much, Ms. Jen, for hosting me!

Mommy's appointment went really well. According to the midwife, the baby is very happy, so that made Mommy even happier. The heartbeat sounds good, and Mommy is healthy. And all the kicks and flips Mommy is feeling are really good signs, too. We are thankful that God is answering our prayers and keeping our baby safe. Oh, and there don't seem to be any indications of the baby coming very soon, so we hope everyone can be patient while our baby takes its time to grow bigger and get ready to come see us. Thank you for being excited with us!

Saturday

2009-02-07T16:11:00.002-08:00

We don't have any pictures, but I thought I could tell you about our day. I've been playing Legos as much as possible, of course. This morning, Mommy and Daddy and I met a new friend, Ms. Amber. Ms. Amber took some family pictures of us downtown in a town near us. She's going to give them all to us on a CD so that we can frame some and maybe blog some, too. Mommy and Daddy took family pictures about a month before I was born, so they thought they'd do the same thing with this baby. Of course, the pictures will be more fun this time since you can actually see me! I had fun making friends with Ms. Amber and being goofy when I forgot to be reserved.

This afternoon, Mommy and I are resting. Mommy is pretty tired lately. Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa are outside doing spring cleaning in the yard. They mowed the lawn and trimmed back the begonias so that you can see the new leaves growing, and they made room for new blossoms. (Yes, begonias live for years and years around here...) They're also planting some violas especially for Mommy as well as some other pretty flowers. It's still cool, but spring is in the air here. Our flowering pear tree in the front yard is full of buds, and some of the almond farmers already have bee hives in their orchards. The bees must be getting excited to do their big job as soon as the almonds start blooming!

We love almond blossom time. It's a beautiful time of year. It has some sadness in it, because that's when Great Grandpa went to be with Jesus. But we are hoping to have some new happiness in it, too, because it is the season for our new baby to be born.

Whatever We Get

2009-02-05T14:08:00.001-08:00

I got my hair cut today. We're going to have family pictures on Saturday, and my hair was getting very shaggy, so it was time to see Ms. Olivia. Like everyone else, she asked whether our baby is a girl or boy, and which one I want. Of course we don't know, and I want a boy. Silly Ms. Olivia asked what would happen if our baby is a girl. She asked if I would send a girl baby back! I told her, "I'll love whatever baby we get." Silly Ms. Olivia. But I do like her...and she gives me good haircuts.

Time with Great Grandma

2009-02-05T08:34:00.002-08:00

On Tuesday morning, we went to Great Grandma's house. It had been too long since our last visit, and we wanted to squeeze in at least one more visit before our baby comes. We had a great visit with Great Grandma. She had some toys for me to play with that I hadn't seen before, and she always has interesting things for me to look at. She and Mommy spent a lot of time looking at old pictures. Pictures are some of Mommy's favorite things.

Great Grandma always has treasures to share with me, especially books. Here we are reading one of them. I really love reading with her. Her orange tree is bursting with oranges right now, so we took some of them home, too.

After our fun time at her house, we went to lunch with Great Grandma. Uncle Todd met us there, too. (We didn't go to Denny's to order Grand Slams, though. I think we would have done that if Great Grandma had known about it before we left.) It was fun to spend that time all together.

Yesterday, we went to the airport and picked up my faraway grandma and grandpa. They are here visiting and looking at places to live. Right now we're playing Legos, of course. We hope you are enjoying your day, too!

Congratulations to Nathan and Micah!

2009-02-03T14:19:00.001-08:00

Nathan and Micah welcomed their new baby brother, Matthew Taylor, into the world this morning. We are so excited for them! You can see Matthew here. Congratulations, little buddies!

More That You Should Know

2009-02-03T06:33:00.003-08:00

This is all happening outside the mouse house. On the left, you can see the white thing. That's their food. They can crawl up and out of their house to take a bite of the white mouse food. Over on the right, the green thing is the roof to their house. The oxygen tank is hooked to the top of their roof. It's there in case a mouse has trouble breathing. The mouse can breathe some oxygen that will go through a clear tube into its nose, just like grandpa. If they run out of oxygen in the first tank, they can use the second tank. The mice are living in their house under the green roof.

35 Weeks

2009-02-03T06:31:00.001-08:00

Snuggle

2009-02-03T06:26:00.002-08:00

Just So You Know...

2009-02-02T18:31:00.001-08:00

I told Mommy, and I thought you'd want to know, too:

Fire fighters in Africa ride bikes, and they ride very fast to go fight the fires.

Uncle Jake & Aunt Laura's Movie

2009-02-02T13:13:00.003-08:00

We are so excited about Uncle Jake and Aunt Laura's movie! If you're in Southern CA, you can buy tickets here, and if you're not, you can see the movie trailer here:

Daddy got to see their movie the last time he was with Uncle Jake and Aunt Laura, and he said it was excellent!

One More Grownup Thing

2009-02-02T12:54:00.001-08:00

If you've been following the big story about new toy safety regulations and the effects on handmade toys and other baby items, click below to read good news!

35 Week Update (from Mommy)

2009-02-02T11:43:00.002-08:00

Jonathan and I went to see the midwife today, and Jeff "just happened" to be able to come, too. We enjoyed having him along! All of the usual was fine-blood pressure, weight, etc. She also said I'm measuring a bit large and hopes that I go into labor a bit early and that the baby doesn't grow too big. (Which is funny because she also wondered whether I'm eating enough. No worries there, I'm eating a lot!) When she listened to the baby's heartbeat, she was not happy with how it sounded because it was a bit slow. So, I went to a different room to be put on the monitor-a new experience for me-while Jeff and Jonathan went to the waiting room. They couldn't go to the monitoring room because there was another pregnant mommy in there already.

Having to be monitored made Jeff and I a bit nervous. (A local friend tells me that this was the "non-stress test.") It took longer than we expected, and Jeff was in the waiting room with Jonathan and without any updates, so it may have been harder for him than it was for me. The monitoring room had two cushy recliners with a big monitoring machine in between. The other gal who was being monitored was friendly and nice to chat with while I waited. The medical assistant and midwife had quite a bit of trouble getting a good reading on the baby's heart rate. Once they finally did, I was supposed to sit and relax while the machine did its thing. I was also supposed to push a button each time I felt the baby move. When it was all said and done, the midwife thought the baby's heart rate looked OK after all, and she was happy with its movement and the amount of amniotic fluid. Now I'm supposed to spend time each day checking the baby's movement. Everything seems to be OK, though, and we are very thankful. I'm especially thankful that Jeff was there-both for the emotional support and because he kept Jonathan occupied while I was on the monitor.

After this, I go in every week! Can you believe it? We're so thankful we have another baby on the way!

So Tiny (from Mommy)

2009-02-01T20:06:00.002-08:00

Before Jonathan was born, my friend Michele gave me some advice. She told me that normally, you'd want to stay off of companies' mailing lists, but that it was a good idea to get on the baby companies' mailing lists so they'd send you free goodies. I took her advice, and it paid off! I got all kinds of free stuff for Jonathan.

I've tried to do the same thing for this baby, but the companies are being much less generous with their freebies right now. Yesterday, though, I received my first free diaper for this baby. I received this newborn-sized diaper in the mail (along with some great coupons.) Can you believe how small it is?

So, here's a question in my mind. When this baby comes into the world, will it be small enough for newborn diapers? Will it go directly into size 1 at the hospital like Jonathan did? Will it lose weight and shrink into smaller diapers like he did? (Hopefully not.) We're praying that the baby will just make it into the world safely, no matter what size it is!

What to Do During the SuperBowl

2009-02-01T20:02:00.001-08:00

Great Day for a Ride, and Other Adventures

2009-01-31T16:52:00.002-08:00

When I woke up this morning, I asked if we could stay home all day today. That's my favorite thing to do lately! We did stay home, mostly, and we got a lot done. Well, Daddy got a lot done-and I mostly played-and Mommy did what she could, but let's focus on Daddy. He worked on The List that Mommy gave him to work on before the baby comes, which included changing the smoke detector batteries, changing the filter for the heat/air conditioning, anchoring my shelf and the baby's shelf to our walls, pruning trees, etc. Mommy was very happy.

We also decided to ride down to the park before my nap. It was a beautiful day. We heard the bees buzzing in the trees! They must have found some blossoms that we didn't know about. Mommy also wanted me to mention that we killed our first mosquito of the year today...in our house. Not very exciting news if you ask me. We hope you enjoyed your day as much as we enjoyed ours!

Not a Snow Day

2009-01-30T17:47:00.002-08:00

It wasn't a snow day yesterday, but we did manage to stay home in our pajamas. Along with sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, dishes, and laundry, I managed to have a great time with my Legos. Probably because Mommy was cleaning and I was playing. I did take a couple of breaks to help her.

In the evening, we had a special dinner out with Daddy and then went to Barnes and Noble to play with their train table. Soon our family will change, and it won't be quite as easy to do things like that together. We're trying to enjoy our family the way it is now even though we're excited about the new way it will be soon!

The Softest Place in the Whole World

2009-01-30T08:15:00.001-08:00

That's what I told Mommy about this spot when I got it set up.

Lego Time

2009-01-29T21:11:00.003-08:00

Here are some of the fun Lego times I've had lately.

Here my Lego guys are having a parade in front of the house that I built.

After taking this serious picture, I asked Mommy to show me what face I made.

Here's my real face, but I forgot my glasses. In this picture, you can see the house with a back yard and a shed in the side yard. Daddy helped with the shed.

Family Time on the Couch

2009-01-29T06:55:00.002-08:00

Mommy has been showing me a lot of pictures of our friends' houses and yards while they're covered with ice. It's so strange for me to think about what that's like! I told Mommy last night that having all that ice would mean a snow day and time to play with teeny-tiny Legos, read books, have family time on the couch, and bond. She was surprised that I figured all that out for myself, but I did!

I think I'd like all those things, especially having Daddy home from work. We probably wouldn't like losing power and trees, though. So we are still thinking of our friends and praying for them, and despite losing a lot of trees and having some damage to their homes, it seems that they are safe. We're very thankful.

We're not having a snow day here, but I bet I can persuade Mommy to do some of those snow-day things. The trick will be getting Daddy to skip work and join us.

Ice

2009-01-27T13:59:00.002-08:00

A lot of our friends who live far away are dealing with ice today. We are missing them and hoping that the ice doesn't cause too many power outages and other troubles. We miss winter weather, but maybe not this part. Here is a great picture of the ice that Jamey and Jack's mom took. We hope that everyone is OK! Stay home if you can!

Hiccups

2009-01-26T14:50:00.002-08:00

Our baby gets the hiccups inside Mommy all the time, just like I did. Daddy came home for a quick lunchtime visit before naptime today, and while we were all talking about the baby's hiccups, he asked me if I had them, too. Of course, I didn't. I rarely get the hiccups. But, just by asking...Daddy gave them to me! We all got a good case of the giggles. Then, while Mommy read my naptime story, I leaned against her belly to feel the baby's hiccups while I had my own. Funny things happen in our family!

They Have Her!

2009-01-26T07:34:00.001-08:00

Her parents are in Ethiopia and have her...you can continue following the story at Rocks in My Dryer.

"She Has a Story That He Has Replaced" (from Mommy)

2009-01-23T06:53:00.002-08:00

If you haven't read Rocks in My Dryer yet today and have just one minute, click here. The story is short, but I was so touched by God's hand on this little girl who will soon come home from Ethiopia that I had to share the link with you. Maybe you'll say a prayer for her also.

Homework

2009-01-22T14:17:00.002-08:00

I brought home some homework from Sunday school this week. On one side of the paper, I was supposed to put some things that I used to do, and on the other side, I was supposed to put other things that I do now that I'm big. I think my teacher wanted magazine pictures glued on, but I wanted to "use letters and numbers" with Mommy, so we did. You can look at each thing on the left and then what I do now instead on the right. I told Mommy what to write on each one except for the last one, which was Daddy's idea. I decorated the paper with green pen after Mommy was done writing. I thought you'd enjoy seeing what I do as a big boy!

Crib Time

2009-01-21T08:01:00.001-08:00

Last January, when we were working on adopting a baby, Mommy washed the crib sheets. She decided that it was probably time to do it again this week.

It's funny that you have to take the mattress out of the crib to put sheets on it, but since you do, I got to try out the mattress. I'm too big to get in the crib, you see!

Soon Mommy will be rocking our baby here. She and I have been doing some reading in the glider, but it takes some creative sitting on my part since her belly takes up so much space.

And soon the baby will be sleeping here. At least, Mommy and Daddy hope it will be sleeping and not crying! But they tell me the baby will cry a lot.

Here's that crib when it was mine, soon after I was born in our old house. You can tell it was after I was born because my name was up on the wall. Before I was born, nobody knew whether I'd be a Jonathan or a Grace. Mommy nailed those letters up on the wall while I slept in my crib. Can you believe it? I got to have those cute animals painted on my wall, too, but Mommy didn't paint cute animals in our new house.

And here I am sleeping in the crib when I was two months old. A lot of my hair had already fallen out. Was I really that small?

Great Day for a Ride

2009-01-20T14:11:00.001-08:00

A Post for Aunt Shari

2009-01-20T08:41:00.002-08:00

Hello, Aunt Shari! Mommy and I just wanted you to know that we made the Sand Art Brownies you sent to me! They're in the oven right now, and they sure look good. I got really excited about all the kissies in there, which is what I call chocolate chips. We got to lick the spoon, and the batter was yummy. Thank you!

Now we're going to take off our aprons and learn about some more teen numbers...

33-week update (one more from Mommy)

2009-01-19T16:00:00.004-08:00

Nothing new to report this week, which is great news as far as I'm concerned! I had my appointment today and everything was fine. I go back in two weeks. Jonathan has been coming with me since he has wanted to hear the heartbeat. We have just seven weeks left until the due date, and I'm thankful for every week the baby stays safe inside and keeps growing. And, as you know, he/she could be ready earlier or later than the actual date. We'll see.

I'm trying to get the little details taken care of while I'm feeling decent. The crib sheets, neutral size 0-3 mos. clothes, and covers for the car seat, swing, and bouncy seat are all washed. My bag for the hospital is mostly packed, and the car seat base is installed in the car. (I've had my first experience with LATCH now, and I learned that our car owner's manual recommends not putting a child in the middle of the back seat. I had no idea!) There are several other things that I want to do, but I'm pretty tired right now, so I'm not making as much progress as I'd like. I'm just praying for safety for the baby and peace for myself.

We Heart Canon (from Mommy)

2009-01-19T08:49:00.002-08:00

You might recall that our camera started doing this before Thanksgiving. We figured it was inevitable based on the age of our camera and the number of pictures it had taken. (And the two times that I had dropped it.) Jeff and I decided that we'd give each other a new family camera for Christmas. Jeff found a fabulous deal on a new Canon for us and put it under the Christmas tree. Our five-year-old, beloved Canon Powershot A80 quit completely during Jonathan's birthday party. (Todd and Corinne shared their camera services with us! Thanks!!!) We love our new camera. It's lighter, faster, has more megapixels, and has a bigger display.

For some reason, though, I googled the problem with our old camera and found that some other people were having similar problems. AND, they had called Canon and gotten free help! I decided to call Canon, too, and that's why I'm writing this post.

The people at Canon were super helpful. I talked to two real people without delay who were both knowledgeable and actually addressed my problem. The second one emailed me a free shipping label so that I could send our camera to Canon and let them take a look at it. There was a possibility that our problems were due to recalled parts (yes, on a five-year-old camera.)

After I sent our camera to Canon, I got an email asking about my experience with their customer service people and how happy I was. I was very happy although I didn't know how the camera repair would turn out.

Just a couple of days ago, our camera arrived at our house, fixed completely, and free of charge!!! All the inner workings are fixed, and the outside is fixed, too. They replaced the front cover...doesn't it look nice? And there's something missing. Do you see what it is? It's the rubber band that had been holding the top cover on for years. They replaced the top cover, too. (The rubber band held on the top that popped off when I dropped the camera.) I can hardly believe it.

I can't believe the wonderful service we received from Canon at no charge. I thought that the least I could do in return was let my readers know what a positive experience we've had. We've been so happy with the quality of pictures our first camera has taken, which is why we chose a Canon for our second camera. But we had no idea that Canon would bend over backwards to take care of us. Thank you, Canon!

And, despite the speed and lighter weight of the new camera, there are some things I really love about the old one that I'm thrilled to have back: It runs on AA batteries instead of a specialty battery. The controls are manual dials on the outside of the camera. And, it has this flip-out screen, which is my favorite part. It makes taking pictures at funny angles or taking self-portraits of the two or three of us.

Yay for great customer service, and thanks again, Canon!

What a Morning

2009-01-16T13:13:00.003-08:00

Our playdate plans didn't work out this morning, so we made our own fun at home...in our pajamas. (This keeps happening more often, doesn't it? I think a playdate in our pajamas would be just perfect...)

Anyway, along with housework like laundry and vacuuming, Mommy and I did a couple of pages in my activity book about 14 and 15. I have no problem counting, but sometimes I have a hard time naming the symbols that stand for the numbers, especially the teens. I also don't care about writing them, but we practiced that anyway! Here I am playing a computer game about 11-20...a special treat that only happens now and then.

Then, the deal was that I could play Legos with Mommy if I put away some other toys. When the baby comes, we'll only be able to do Legos while the baby sleeps.

Here's a house I built all by myself. The forklifts that Daddy built like to park on top. Mommy was pretty impressed by my little house.

Mommy got a little carried away and decided to build a pyramid. She used almost all the Duplos and Legos that we had left. I got to help. Mommies still like to play, although they'll never admit it.

Last but not least, I got to watch three little Sesame Street movies on the computer. Here's the best one. Bud Luckey, who also did work for Pixar, is responsible for it. Pretty neat. Enjoy, little buddies!

Parrot Parrot

2009-01-14T21:11:00.003-08:00

Since Mommy and Daddy got back from Hawaii, I have been a gecko 99% of the time. Tonight, though, I became a parrot. Actually, everyone in the family was a parrot tonight.

Here I am with the smallest parrot, the one Aunt Amanda gave me. I named it Parrot Parrot.

We spent a lot of time snuggling with Parrot Parrot tonight and looking at all his parts to make sure he's healthy. (And he is very healthy.) Then we all went back to being geckos again.

A Little Correction

2009-01-13T10:32:00.002-08:00

Well, "the book" says I'm 8 mos. pregnant, but that may be confusing if you haven't been reading pregnancy books lately. So, to clarify/correct, I'm in my 8 month. Still due March 9. :)

A Quote from Mommy

2009-01-12T20:04:00.003-08:00

I'm taking over Jonathan's blog for just a moment because this was too quotable to keep to myself! Keep in mind that I am officially eight months pregnant today.

We were in the cafe at Ikea and I was standing in line with Jonathan to pay for my Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes. There was a good-natured, grandpa-type behind me who jokingly asked if I needed some extra meatballs for the baby. Then he said, in his European accent (French?) "You are carrying very high!"

"I still have a couple of months left," I replied.

"OH!!!" he said, obviously surprised. "I once knew a man who could look at a woman's derriere and tell whether she was having a boy or a girl!"

How, exactly, does one reply to something like that?

I laughed, paid for our meals, and made a quick escape to our table.

What We've Been Up To

2009-01-12T19:51:00.002-08:00

Last night, Mommy and Daddy had something grown-up to do, so I got to go to Uncle Todd and Aunt Corinne's house. I had a great time playing with them and with Uncle Todd's Hot Wheels. We also played a card game together. Aunts and Uncles give me a lot more attention than parents do! I visited with Copper and Kitty, their dogs. I gave some of my celery to Copper at dinnertime, and I learned that I shouldn't do it again. I also learned that I can't bonk Kitty very hard. Maybe if my parents would get me a dog, I could learn important lessons like that sooner.

Today, Mommy and I went to Ikea with Aunt Amanda. After all the walking around and looking at everything, we were surprised to find that the big shelf we wanted was not in stock. Mommy was not amused and is not in the mood for another trip to Ikea when the shelf comes in. Thank goodness we got to spend time with Aunt Amanda and get treats at Starbucks, so the day wasn't a complete loss.

After we got home, we decided to relax by putting on our swimsuits and taking a swim in the tub. All the time with family and all the swimming made me really tired and ready for bed. Who knows what adventures tomorrow holds!

Helping Un-Decorate

2009-01-11T14:24:00.002-08:00

We finally took down our Christmas decorations. Apparently, we can think about Jesus and talk about him all year, but we can only celebrate his birthday once a year. Who knew!

This is where the candy canes go after I take them off of the tree.

And here is how I help dust. I can dust anything I want if it's wood, and boy, do these chairs get dusty!

I Did it Myself

2009-01-11T14:20:00.002-08:00

I refuse to sing the song, but I do know my alphabet and put my train alphabet puzzle together myself. Maybe someday I will sing songs by other people, but for now, I just sing things that I make up. Who cares what the child development books say, right?

Another Reason to Love Legos

2009-01-09T07:52:00.002-08:00

Lou and Lionel gave me a gift card for my birthday and Christmas, and we used it to buy baseplates for my new, big-boy, teeny-tiny Legos. The great thing is that the baseplates (and new Legos) work with my Duplos from last year, which I still love. I was very excited to make a "house restaurant" on my new "floor" last night. I can build just about anything now! (If you want to know where we found a great deal on the baseplates, just let my mom know.)

It Has Come to Our Attention...

2009-01-07T14:24:00.002-08:00

that our poll about whether the baby is a boy or girl has not worked right. The votes don't "stick" all the time. So, we're starting over with a new poll, and we hope you'll jump in and vote over to the left. Of course, the votes won't change the baby, because I'm already sure that I have a little brother. But, it's still fun to see what everyone thinks. Great Grandma and Aunt Amanda think it's a girl. I think they're wrong. Mommy and Daddy are just thankful for a baby. What do you think?

Just Playing

2009-01-07T08:16:00.000-08:00

Mommy broke the news to me today that, after the baby comes, we won't go to BSF anymore. Apparently you have to be a big kid to go. That's hard for me to understand. I said, "What would happen if the baby came to BSF?"

The good news is that staying home will give us more time to just play. I find lots of fun things to do at home when I have the chance.

Here I am parking all my Hot Wheels which are now the "farm cars."

And here I am playing inside the castle.

I decided that my dinosaurs needed to live in the treehouse, too.

I found a special place for each one. It's a good thing all my animals know how to get along!

Works for Me: Managing Baby Stuff

2009-01-06T20:30:00.000-08:00

Jonathan's mom here! If you know me, you know that organizing is not my forte, but I do give it my best shot! So, I have three tips that have "worked for me" that I'd like to share with you. I hope they are helpful to you and your family!

1. Use a clear, over-the-door shoe organizer to store and sort tiny baby things. I made one of these for Jonathan's nursery before he was born using Butterick 6869, and you can also purchase one by Googling "clear over door shoe organizer." I like the clear pockets so I can see exactly what I have. From tiny socks to diaper ointment to Snappis to tiny shoes, it's so nice to get what you need easily without having to search the top of the changing table or the inside of a drawer or basket. Here are two: the one I made for Jonathan, and one I made for a dear friend using a crib sheet from Target's Dwell Studio Circles to match her nursery. (There was lots of fabric left over to do other crafty things!) If you have a sliding door for your baby's closet instead of a regular one, you can use Command Adhesive hooks to hang your organizer on the front of the door.

2. Use document boxes to sort your baby's outgrown clothes. (Used copy paper boxes from your school or workplace are great, too, and are the same size!) They are small enough to carry easily, they stack well, and they are easy to open up and see what you have. With our firstborn, I sorted his outgrown clothes into "boy" and "neutral" boxes by size. And when I've found a deal on something I couldn't pass up for a "someday" baby, it's been simple to put my special find in the appropriate box. Now that we are (finally) getting ready to welcome a second baby, it has been super easy to get out the clothing I need, even though we don't know the baby's gender.

3. Wash baby's socks in a zippered lingerie bag. Just keep the bag in baby's hamper, put the socks in the bag when they're dirty, wash with the rest of the laundry, and you'll never waste time searching for tiny socks that the dryer ate again!

For more great tips, visit WFMW!

You Can Never Have Too Many

2009-01-05T14:02:00.001-08:00

Today's Quote

2009-01-05T12:17:00.002-08:00

"You know, when the baby wasn't here, you and Daddy would be the bread, and I would be the sauce for a family burrito. All stacked up."

The Latest from Mommy

2009-01-05T10:17:00.003-08:00

I had my 31-week appointment today, and all is well. I'm very thankful! My blood pressure is staying low, and the baby is head-down, which I suspected. We have just two months before it's time for the baby to come! We are excited and nervous and thankful for every week that he/she stays inside to "percolate." I've been trying not to worry about pre-eclampsia with this one, although it is definitely on my mind. That's what I had with Jonathan, but it didn't show up until two days before his due date, and he and I were fine.

My apologies to you if I owe you an email. Our internet access has been sporadic at best for the past two weeks, but I'll work on catching up.

And, as for the refrigerator...we (finally) had a repairman out today. I'll spare my kind readers the details, but it looks like it can be repaired, either here at our house or at the shop. On Wednesday, we'll have a working refrigerator: either ours or a loaner from the shop. We are very anxious to have cold food and to be able to plan meals again!

Changes on the Way... (from Mommy)

2009-01-02T15:48:00.002-08:00

Hello everyone!

Just a quick note to let you know that our blog address will be changing in a couple of months or so. In our almost four years of blogging, we've used up 94% of our space here to post pictures and videos. So, we'll need to move to a new spot soon! Feb. 26 will be our fourth anniversary of blogging here, and sometime around that date, or around the date of our baby's arrival, we'll announce our new address. We hope you'll follow us to our new spot!

Christmas on Our Camera, Part 2

2009-01-02T15:44:00.002-08:00

An elk in someone's front yard. It climbed up on their porch right after this.

Check out Daddy's post-run icicles!

Christmas on Our Camera, Part 1

2009-01-02T15:36:00.002-08:00

Christmas on Grandma's Camera, Part 2

2009-01-02T14:51:00.002-08:00

(Don't worry, the temperature was turned down low enough to be safe for the baby!)

Christmas on Grandma's Camera, Part 1

2009-01-02T14:42:00.001-08:00

Go Huskers!

2009-01-01T18:30:00.002-08:00

Big, big thanks to Uncle Bill and Aunt Connie who brought me this Husker gear all the way from Nebraska. They gave me a Husker sweatshirt, too! Go, Big Red!

The Best New Year's Memories

2009-01-01T13:00:00.000-08:00

Mommy and Daddy agree that New Year's of 2002/2003 was their favorite so far. They spent it at a cabin with Mr. Perry and Ms. Katie, Timmo and JoJo, and Uncle Brian and Aunt Anna. You may notice that there are no kids in the pictures. That's because there were no kids born to those grownups yet, although Sam was on the way. I think it must not have been very fun, but Mommy and Daddy insist that it was and that they want to do something like that weekend again. All those grownups now have six kids between them with more on the way, which I'm sure would make for a more fun New Year's celebration.

This year, Mommy and Daddy and I celebrated by spending the morning in our pajamas and going to Starbucks. Yes, in our pajamas. We also watched the Rose Parade and football, which I'll post about later. Happy New Year!

Back! And, Happy New Year! (from Mommy)

2009-01-01T00:01:00.004-08:00

We spent Christmas with Jeff's parents this year and returned home late Tuesday night. We had a great visit, but of course, it's good to be home, too. We had good news and bad news when we got back. The good news: 22 Christmas cards that arrived while we were away. In addition to the ones we had already received. Seriously! We're thankful for so many loved ones near and far! The bad news! Our fridge/freezer stopped working. We tossed most of the contents today and are hoping for a cancellation so that a repairman will visit us Friday, but otherwise, we won't see him until Monday. It could have been worse: Since we had been gone, our fridge wasn't completely full of groceries. Also, we think the problem was only 24 hours old or so, so nothing had rotted-just thawed. It could have been a lot more expensive and gross. (I had also been planning to clean out the freezer to make room for meals that I'd freeze ahead now and bake after the baby's arrival. That task is done! I'm sooo glad I hadn't started making meals to put into the freezer.) For now, we're hoping to just repair but not replace the fridge.

Anyway, we celebrated Christmas locally before we left and had nice times with family and friends. We had a good visit with Jeff's parents and also got to spend time with Jamie and Michelle, Lou and Lionel, Uncle Bill and Aunt Connie, and cousin Jill. It was a super-busy and fun time, and we'll try to share pictures of our adventures.

We hope you and yours have a Happy New Year!

Alphabet Matching

2008-12-31T15:16:00.000-08:00

I love matching the letters to their words and then putting the puzzle pieces together!

Tinkertoys

2008-12-31T06:14:00.000-08:00

Today's Project

2008-12-30T15:11:00.000-08:00

Great Grandma

2008-12-29T15:10:00.000-08:00

Lego Time

2008-12-28T15:08:00.000-08:00

Who Knew?

2008-12-27T18:02:00.000-08:00

Mommy, Daddy, and I went to a Christmas dinner together a couple of weeks ago. The kids got a little bag of goodies to help us stay busy. I decided that I wanted to write some names with Mommy. We started with my name, and Mommy made a J. She figured I'd copy her J, but I kept going and wrote an O. She didn't know it...but I knew how to help her write my name.

All the letters that are in black are letters (and shapes) that I wrote. Some of the letters in Grandpa made me nervous, so Mommy did those for me.

Mommy was so excited that I had learned how to do some letters on my own. She wasn't going to work on writing with me until after the New Year, so I had to show her that I'm ready now.

The Marble Game

2008-12-26T18:01:00.000-08:00

Like Chutes and Ladders, but with real chutes!

Siblings

2008-12-26T15:11:00.000-08:00

Aunt Corinne, Uncle Todd, Daddy, Mommy, and Aunt Amanda

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T06:59:00.000-08:00

The Bear Pillow

2008-12-24T18:52:00.000-08:00

I have actually decided that he is a puppy named Carl. I sleep with him at every naptime and bedtime.

They Know All About Little Boys

2008-12-23T18:46:00.000-08:00

Arranging...

2008-12-23T06:59:00.000-08:00

Here I am "arranging the 'Antivity sets' in a choir." Thanks, Aunt Shari and Uncle Denny, for my new Antivity set. I made sure to put it with another one that Mommy and Daddy had. It was very important that the shepherds were near the sheep. I added cars later.

The Kaleidoscope

2008-12-22T13:05:00.001-08:00

29 Weeks, and All is Well!

2008-12-22T12:55:00.001-08:00

We are so thankful for this precious gift and this exciting time. My appointments are now every two weeks. Yikes!

Birthday Playgroup, Part 2

2008-12-22T06:32:00.001-08:00

Birthday Playgroup, Part 1

2008-12-21T18:24:00.000-08:00

Yes, there were nine of us...aged 5, 4 (me,) 3, 3, 3, 1, 1, 1, and 0. It was a very exciting morning.

Vacuuming

2008-12-21T06:18:00.000-08:00

Now that I have a vacuum cleaner of my own, I can vacuum and Mommy doesn't have to. At least, that's what I told her. She thought we might want to vacuum together. I told her that we could each hold our vacuums with one hand and hold hands with the other.

A Little Break

2008-12-20T14:08:00.003-08:00

We've decided to take a little blogging break from now until the end of the year. Well, not a complete break...we're scheduling some pictures to appear each day, so we'll be able to enjoy pictures of my birthday and pre-Christmas adventures, and so will you. Our posts will be mostly pictures with a lot of words. We're having a lot of fun playing with all the new toys that I've been opening. Thanks, everybody, and Merry Christmas! We'll get back into our normal routine after the new year.

Our Yard in December

2008-12-18T08:35:00.003-08:00

Here's what our backyard looks like right now. We just had our first obvious frost last night, so it might not look this way for long.

We're sorry for the little blogging break. We're trying to keep December as calm as we can, but among other things, we're hosting two different groups of friends at our house today. Mommy is staying busy. We have plans to catch up and share pictures of our latest adventures, including my birthday festivities, soon!

Pictures!

2008-12-16T12:45:00.001-08:00

You can see pictures of Malachi here!

Congratulations to Sam and Katherine!

2008-12-15T19:49:00.002-08:00

My two good buddies, Sam and Katherine, welcomed a new baby boy into their family today! Malachi Lewis was born this morning at 8:25 and was 9 lbs., 8 oz., 20.5" long. He's the smallest baby in the family and is the first one with hair. We haven't seen his picture yet, but we hear he is super cute and can't wait to see him. Congratulations to Aunt Anna and Uncle Brian, too!

Today's First Words

2008-12-15T08:00:00.001-08:00

"I heared that it's snowing outside!"

(Um, sorry, buddy, that's not likely...)