The newest member of the Jones Family

Daddy got John his first pet! His name is "fish", and John could not love him more! We've got him in his nursery so he can see him from his crib. He sees it and immediatly smiles and tries to say "fish" (which, at this point sounds like "sh", "sh", "sh"). Pretty cute for his first pet. Thanks Daddy!

Pictorial Update

Here are some favorite pictures as of late:


First trip to the Zoo! He LOVED it! We think he liked the elephants and the monkeys the best. We will be going back regularly.


Ryann Phillips 1st birthday party. I love this series of pictures - what a storyline!


If John is walking around the house, he has a ball in his hands. This is how I see him every day.

This books gets A LOT of use, we learn all sorts of things from it. One of very few things that keeps his attention for more than 30 seconds.

He got these mats for Christmas, but I forgot about them until now, he really likes to take them apart.

Big Fluffy Series: He loves to dive head first and then roll all over him, Big Fluffy makes everything better, especially when Mom or Dad roll all over him too!

Bath Series: No matter how bad of a mood he is in, put the kid in the bath and the tears disappear. Notice him trying to turn 'off' the light - he loves this game. Oh - and the best towel EVER (thanks Renae) - but he hates when it is on his head.

Everyday Struggles

Although John is as close to perfect as they come and I cherish every day I get to spend with him - we are going through a bit of a rough patch at the moment. No one ever told me that it was not all peaches and cream!?!?!?

As discussed in the last post, we have toying with one nap. I half hearted say that it is going okay. The napping (or lack there of) has caused a ripple effect on other things. He seems to be very moody, he is not eating well and he has become extra clingy. I assume all of this is due to his change in schedule, but I am not sure. I suppose it could be teething as well.

For the last week or so we have been down to 1 nap, but only about an hour and a half, which is not near enough. We struggle in the evenings, but as long as one or both of us are giving him our undivided attention (I mean it, don't even think about looking somewhere other than his direction) he is okay.

I suppose I could also attribute the disinterest in eating to mother nature. I read that around 1 year there is a significant drop in appetite; otherwise if they continued on the same eating habits, they would resemble a small blimp. I would love to fatten John up a bit, I think he is a little skinny.

The clingy thing - well that is just the most pitiful sight you have ever seen and I truly can not resist picking him up. He waddles up to my leg with his thumb in his mouth, pouty face and all, and then throws his hands in the air for me to pick him up. Dishes? who needs clean dishes? There is a pitiful baby that needs my attention.

This all leaves me to wonder if I started the 1 nap thing too early, but at the same time I am hesitant to go back at this point because we have already pushed through 1 week and we could turn a corner any day now (at least that is what I keep telling myself). I supposed this is not going to be the last time I question my parenting decisions?!?!

Rearranging our schedule

I am guessing that the phase of nap/sleep that we are in right now will be a passing one, so I thought I would document it now.

We are in a phase of rearranging our nap a bit, which on the surface sounds like an easy enough task, but no, no my friend - this effects everything else in the day - amounts and times of meals, sleep at night, moods, times for leaving the house, and so on.

After some advice from my big brother to easy my imposed schedule a bit and let John tell me what he wants to change to (yes, the imposed schedule is due to my need for control, BUT the schedule works for John and he was doing great up until a couple of weeks ago).

So - I stopped waking up him up around 7:45 (I only did this in order to fit two naps in during the day and still be tired at night)..... WOW, I had no idea the kid was such a sleeper! The past several days I am lucky to hear his voice on the monitor before 8:30! Sometimes closer to 9:00!!!

He has not really been tired until 11:00 or 11:30 in the morning, so I keep him up a bit longer and we eat lunch before nap. He has not extended his nap past 1.5 hours, but I hear that will get better. So, he is not getting a 2nd nap, or it is only about 30 minutes if he does decide to go down. This is making for some very cranky evenings. But each day it seems to get a bit easier and he throws less and less tantrums (sucks for Daddy when he gets home from work; I believe Daddy refers to him as a "peach" during these times :)).

Nonetheless, I really just wanted to document the days that the baby slept until 9:00am! Who does that?!?!

Smarter than we think

I believe babies are smarter than what we give them credit for sometimes. After reading Lisa's post of the "where is your..." game, I tried it with John and I was surprised.

We started with 'dog', 'cup', 'ball', 'hat' and 'pete' (his blow up penguin); he knew all of these without much help at all. He would go right over to that thing and pick it up. Then I started pointing to pictures in the "First 100 words" book and then finding it in the room and he loves that game. This morning we worked on "pants" and now he will shake his pant leg when you ask him where his pants are.

As his attention span is pretty short, this game only lasts a few minutes, but we have a lot of fun with it.

11 months

This month was a big one! Here are some memorable milestones:

- clapping (this was particularly exciting for me, not sure why)
- gives kisses - instant cure for ANY bad day
- mastered the sippy cup
- figured out to open the kitchen cabinets (not one of my favorite developments)
- learned to climb the stairs (he learned this after watching some older kids do it at Ryann Phillips first birthday party)
- had a rash that I was 100% convinced it was the chicken pox, but ended up being a symptom of his viral infection
- went through (okay, is still going through) a "mama's boy" stage, sometimes I love it, sometimes it is a little difficult, but mainly, I know I will miss it, so I have patience.
- went from walking only with encouragement to walking all the time on his own. Just in the last few days did he get good at picking stuff up from a standing position and returning to a standing position without falling.
- started the older class at 'the little gym', he is now a "bird" instead of a "bug"
- has 4 bottles a day (6-8oz), 3 meals (type and volume vary depending on his mood), several snacks and 1 sippy cup of juice a day

And he is off...

After several weeks of practicing walking and really only letting go of the furniture/wall/etc. with encouragment; John decided it was time for some independence!

He walks every where now, it is about the cutest thing EVER! Sure, it is more like a penguin waddling, but it is all his own.

I never realized that the concept of one foot in front of the other was difficult, until we tried to do the "skill of the week" at Little Gym, which was walking (assisted of course) on a balance beam. He was having none of it. We took more than our share of turns on the beam becuase I kept getting back in line to practice. But it paid off - the last time down the beam, he was putting pressure on his legs and putting one foot in front of the other!!!

Happy Birthday Cousin Brendan!!

Happy 2nd birthday Brendan! We had so much fun at the party this weekend with all of your friends and family. Here are a few pictures.
(By the way - sorry we got you clothes. I know it is boring, but I just knew that you would get more toys then you knew what to do with. And, I figure this is the last birthday (until you are an adult) that I can get away with NOT buying a toy. :))

Members Only

A few of our friends have become pregnant or had their first child recently. So between pregnancy gifts and shower gifts, I have written a few cards as of late and discovered that it is impossible to tell someone about parenthood.

Parenthood (no matter if you birthed them or were blessed with them in another way) is a club like no other. One with countless benefits, and countless struggles - both of which will hopefully make us better people.

Some early membership includes (note, this only takes you through the first 10.5 months of membership)

- Discussing breastfeeding in public
- Crying uncontrollably because the emotions for the baby you just brought into this world are overwhelming
- Singing or making silly faces/voices in public to stop the crying (the baby's crying)
- Thinking you have the right to force your opinion on unsuspecting parents (example - this blog:))
- Forced to hear strangers opinions on why or why not your baby may or may not be sleeping, eating, crawling, napping, etc.
- Discussing bowel movements ALL THE TIME
- Taking up permanent residency in an arm chair when the baby is sick
- Finding patience when you are at the edge, because you know the baby does not understand
- Minimal sleep, but maximum play
- An instant bond with other parents
- instantly turns even the toughest of people into mush
- A need to make sure every child around you is safe
- A completely cluttered house (this is our most popular feature)

Again, this is just the tip of the iceberg, there is not enough space on the Internet to write all there is about parenthood.

To the members who do not have your own children - if you can, consider it. If you can't, love the ones around you and you too will have all the benefits of membership.

To the members that have just had your babies or are pregnant with your first child - You are/will be in survival mode and you WILL get through the first few weeks.

To the breastfeeding members - your boobs WILL stop hurting (hey - read the membership rules - I am allowed to talk about it)

To the members with more than one child, or pregnant with your 2nd child - As the rules state - please feel free to force your opinion on me as John grows up, I am sure I will need it.

To the members with a grown child - THANK YOU for your service!

Victoria

I have not posted about our nanny saga over the last couple of months, but in short.....

We hired someone after Thanksgiving, but for some reason or another (2 weeks for previous employer, holidays, finals, etc. etc. etc.) she was not able to start. Finally, 1 hour before she was supposed to be here to start I got another email with another excuse; I had to tell her that I needed to get someone else.

I went on the hunt again and this time found Victoria right away. She came by the house to meet us and hang out for awhile, it went really well. She will be starting next week!!!! YEAH!

So....my so-called renewed commitment to blogging will start next week when I will have more time for work at work and more time for home at home. Be sure to check back though, I have some good ones on my brain.