Making Daddy and Papa J Proud!

When my sister was here for Easter, she went shopping for the day and came back with John Thomas' first Build A Bear!  Much to Kris' delight, she chose the perfect outfit!  She even recorded a special message to him in it!  I am sure this will be a favorite toy in the years to come :)

Sweet KK

A few weeks ago I received a sweet surprise from our good friend's youngest daughter who knows how much I love flowers! She brought me these roses she cut herself from her mom's flowers.  Thank you, KK!  You are so sweet and we love you!

When brother is in charge...

Kris and I were busy Saturday morning getting ready to interview a potential Nanny for John Thomas, and asked Koen to keep an eye on his little brother for a few minutes.  Kris walked out and this is what he saw!  Looks like little brother moved up into the big boy chair and Koen settled for the floor!  They sure do love each other!  We couldn't be more proud of how helpful Koen is.  Hands down, he is the best big brother ever!  He gets the biggest smiles out of John Thomas and we get a daily count of just how many smiles he gets ;)

2 Months Old!

We have a TWO month old! Here are some things he has been up to this month:

• Still rolling over (tummy to back)
• Smiling ALL the time
• "Talking" sometimes his voice surprises him!
• Eating every 3 hours during the day and sometimes going 6 hours at night
• Wearing 0-3 month clothes
• Moved up to Size 2 diapers
• Still loves to focus on lights and fans
• Loves to watch brother play basketball
• Fussy time at night is mostly over! YAY!
• Still loves bathtime
• Had his first airplane trip to NC
• Met LOTS of family and friends on our trip
• Stayed in the nursery at church for the first time

A typical day:
 
 Wake up between 6 and 7:30
7:30 eat
8:00-9:30 play while mommy gets ready and eats breakfast
9:30-10:30 nap
10:30 eat
11:00-12:30 play, read books, swing
12:30-1:30 nap
1:30 eat
2:00-3:30 ish playtime, errands
4:30 eat
5:00-6:30 or 7:00 play with Daddy when he gets home (as soon as Kris walks in the door John Thomas MUST be held by him or else!  He cries anytime he knows Kris is around and not paying him attention.  Can you say spoiled??)
6:30 or 7:00 eat
7:00-8:00 playtime
8:00 bath, lotion, pjs, and bedtime story
8:45-9:00 eat and bedtime

I am still almost exclusively nursing, although we did try to start doing a bottle of breastmilk his last feeding of the night, thinking he may take more and sleep longer.  There has been no evidence that he actually sleeps longer so as of this post we are going back to nursing at that feeding!

At his two month appointment the doctor said he was right on track for everything he is supposed to be accomplishing!  He did okay with his 2 month shots,  he was fussy most of the day afterwards and didn't nurse very well.  Part of it could have been the terrible tornadoes Dallas Fort Worth had that day and the amount of time we both spent in the floor of our pantry!  Thank you to everyone who prayed for our safety!  We thankfully had no damage, but areas around us were not so fortunate!

Two Month Stats from the Doctor:

Height - 22 inches

Weight - 12 lbs 1.5 oz

John Thomas, 

Each day you continue to bring us such happiness! There is no feeling in the world like walking over to you and seeing you smile all over, with all 3 dimples!  We love you more than you could ever know! 

Love, 

Mommy and Daddy

Dimples, anyone?

In the past couple of weeks I have gotten more and more comments on how much John Thomas is favoring Kris!  Last week, my mother in law sent me a few pictures of Kris as a baby.  He definitely looks like his Daddy!

Nursery Pics

I had so much fun designing John Thomas' nursery! It was so nice to design something start to finish for myself, since for years I have designed so many spaces for others!  Many hours and many hands went into creating what I had in my head for months!  I wanted something that we could use for a boy or a girl, and I didn't really want a "theme" so he could grow into it and we could change it easily over time.  I started the day after we found out we were having a boy.  My best friend, Heather, and I went shopping for fabrics and pulled together about 5 or 6 to start with.  We had so much fun shopping around and the next week I came home and pulled images together for an inspiration board to work from.

Inspiration Board for Nursery

I looked online and in many stores for hours for a crib that I liked and could not find ANYTHING that I was really crazy about.  In talking with my dad, he offered to build it for us!  I was so excited!  I took an image of a crib I found that I liked and we worked to design it and tweak the dimensions where we were happy with it.

The original crib we started with

After the fabrics and crib were selected, most of the furniture pieces in the room were ones Kris and I have collected since we got married in hopes of using them in the nursery one day.  I went to work space planning everything and the only two pieces I didn't have that we needed were a glider rocker, and I also wanted a day bed in the room for reading books and snuggling once he is older.

Original Layout of the Room

We were able to order the perfect glider rocker from the company I work for and I love sitting in it rocking or reading to John Thomas.  The daybed we found at a warehouse sale that is more like Black Friday for designers!  Kris was very brave and went with me to the sale, I saw it immediately and he went and stayed with it so no one else would buy it, of course there was only one!  He was a real trooper :)

John Thomas is so blessed to have such a talented Papa J who built him the most beautiful cribbed I could ever imagine AND a great grandmother, Gran Gran, who made the perfect bedding, pillows, and window treatments!  THANK YOU is is not enough for the time and love that went into both! 

We've had so many handmade items given as gifts and we treasure all of them! Enjoy the pictures of our sweet boy's room!

My grandfather, John Thomas' great grandfather , "Pa Hall" makes every new baby a "Pig Chair" I even have one from when I was born!  I am sure we will get lots of use out of this when he gets older.  Aunt Allie sent this sock monkey :)

Our close friend, Paula "Aunt P", made him his crib blanket with fabrics that match his room!

Hope everyone has a great week!  We are busy getting ready for Easter and my sister, her boyfriend and my cousin, Alek are coming in this weekend to visit!