Friday, July 20, 2012

Brothers = Buddies

We are so incredibly blessed at the love Koen and John Thomas have for each other.  I am amazed at the connection they have even with the 9 years of age separating them!  Everyday I walk in on Koen taking care of him, nurturing, playing and simply loving on him! 

A couple of examples:

Yesterday, as I was doing laundry and preparing dinner, I put John Thomas in his jumparoo to entertain him for a bit.  As I walk in the living room, I see Koen has taken him out and put him in his lap to watch TV.  Both were smiling and they were holding hands - my heart melted!

This morning, I was getting things ready for work while John Thomas played and went back a short time later to put him down for his nap to find that Koen had already placed him in his swing with his lovie and paci and he was sound asleep.  Sometimes I wonder why we have a nanny!


Monday, July 16, 2012

John Thomas is 5 Months Old!

Our sweet, bubbly, baby boy turned 5 months old on July 2!  We were in NC at the time - better late than never for the update :)


We are blessed with one of the happiest babies I have ever been around.  Every where we go we get tons of compliments on how happy and smiley he is.  It makes my heart full to know others notice his pure joy!  My sister in law put it best when she said, "His smile is contagious!"

John Thomas, 
We live each day to see the new things you learn to do!  You constantly fill our hearts with joy and we treasure your sweet spirit! 

Chunky baby thighs!

Here are some of the things you have been doing this month:
  • You have started to notice animals and will follow their movement around the room, actually any movement around a room!
  • You love your feet and hands and spend lots of time holding them!
  • Recently, you have decided you need a blanket over your face to sleep!  We don't know why, but you seem to be comforted by the feel of it!
  • Your little fingers are quite the pinchers!  You have an incredibly strong grip and have left small bruises more than once on our arms! 
  • Strong - another word people use to describe you :) you kick and move your hands with force and can be a handful to hold!
  • You giggle out loud and it warms my heart!  Mainly at Daddy and Brother, but Aunt Allie got some great laughs out of you when we were in NC!
  • You are finally interested in toys and bring them all to your mouth for a taste!  
  • You ate cereal for the first time this month and did very well after the first few times! You are a champ when it comes to eating off a spoon! (6/19/12)
  • Took your second trip by plane to visit Nana and Papa J!



You are still in size 3 diapers and have moved out of 3-6 month clothes!  Even some of your 6-9 month clothes are getting snug! You may be our little linebacker!

He has started to make some of the funniest facial expressions!
 
We think you weigh around 16.5 lbs!

You still love to be read to and enjoy watching the bright lights the TV puts off!  We have also started introducing some signing videos (more for Mommy to learn than for you to actually watch!)
Sleep is still a distant memory for us!  We began letting  you cry it out for a couple of minutes at a time and placing your paci back in towards the end of June and you did great for almost a week!  You even slept through the night, two nights in a row!  Since then, you have eaten at least once during the night.  I am hoping now that our travels are over, you will go back to sleeping most nights!


Most of the time when we let him stand begins to make "walking" steps!  Kris and I were both early walkers, but I am in NO hurry for him to start any type of movement! 

This is proof of how much he ADORES Koen, he lights up anytime Koen looks his way!  We are blessed he has such a great big brother!

You still love your paci and lovie blankets!  You find the tags on anything and LOVE your taggie blanket our friend Megan Medlin made you!

This is a "real life" photo! He sleeps in between two "arms" I made out of towels and hair ties when he was just days old!  Clutching his blanket and with his wub a nub! Most of the time I can put him down for a nap awake and he goes right to sleep!

Your schedule is still almost the same: 
Wake up between 6 and 7:30, you usually eat as soon as you get up!
7:30 rice cereal
  8:00-9:00 play while mommy gets ready for work and eats breakfast
9:00-10:30 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
4:00-30 ish eat
4:30-6:00 wait for Daddy to get home to play
6:00 - eat
6:30 rice cereal and sit with us while we eat dinner
8:00 - bathtime
9:00 - nurse and bed

Those big eyes sparkle all day long!

We can't believe he is almost a half a year old!!

Love you more than words, sweet baby boy! - Mommy and Daddy