swimming lessons

Everette and I would like to take Swimming lessons with Jonathan, but so far the only place I can find that offers them for kids so young is the YMCA and I have not heard great things about them. Anybody have any ideas?

Black Mold

Ok Melissa, I accept your challenge. What's grosser than gross?
What's gross?
Your baby spitting up the entire contents of his bottle onto his outfit.
What's grosser than that?
Putting it in the laundry hamper and forgetting about it... a perfect place for black mold to grow.
What's grosser than that?
Innocently reaching your hand into the laundry hamper as you drop things into the washer, and getting black mold all over your hand. Black mold... not green mold, or even mildew.... black, nasty, coat-your-lungs mold.
grosser than gross

This is one of those things that you post and as you are posting you ask yourself, why you are even putting it out there for people to see? It definitely doesn't reflect well on yourself. It might even cause concern for the cleanliness of your house. But still I post. I cannot pretend to be something I am not. I am not one of those adorable wives whose house is always immaculate and everything is always in order (much to my husband's dismay). I think my problem is I don't think linearly. I think randomly ( I bet you never would have guessed)--that and my other problem is I am lazy. I start a million things at once and quickly forget about half of them. Knowing this and more importantly accepting this about myself, leaves me with the challlenge of figuring out how to get things done using this to my advantage instead of fighting against it.
Here's hoping that someday there will be no more black mold at the bottom of the laundry hamper (at least until Jonathan is in high school and he puts nasty things in there without telling me--yikes-he's going to be in high school someday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).

So Cute

I have been browsing through some older pictures, and here are some adorable ones of Jonathan and Max. They were taking a snooze together, on our bed.. before Max was permanently banned from our bed (see post about expensive chew toys).



yes... Max's head is on a pillow... it isn't anything we have ever shown him, but for some reason, he likes to rest his head on a pillow.

Two Posts in One Day-Making up for lost time

So My sister-in-law, oh-so-kindly watches Jonathan on Thursday Mornings while I am at Bible Study. She as a daughter, Emily, just two months younger than Jonathan. So frequently when I come to get him this is what I see....

For some reason I just found this hilarious!

Where's My Baby!?!?!?!

So I knew this would happen someday, but it still surprised me when it did. The other day I put Jonathan on his tummy while I was getting ready in my room. THen I looked over and he was holding himself way up and he was wearing jeans and a big boy shirt and he just looked so big!! I'm not saying that he looks like a big boy, but he doesn't look like a little baby anymore!
I had to take a picture. It was so sad!

So I know this one is off center, but his smile is so cute!!!

Woo!!!

I changed my template... Just to spice things up!!!

Baby Beluga

I haven't sung or even thought about a kid's song in I-don't-know-how-many years, but I am alarmed at the speed in which they have come back to me. I suddenly find myself singing Raffi songs among others, that I didn't even know I knew. I open my mouth and out they come, before I even know what is happening. The most hilarious part is that I can only remember a couple of lines of a lot of them, so I am going around the house singing them at the top of my lungs in an extra sing-songy voice, those two lines over and over--I am sure Everette's co-workers think I am off my rocker! It does however make me want to get them in a more modern version (i.e. I don't have a tape player anymore).

Miracle Diapers and Expensive Chew Toys

I love Pampers! I love them! I love them! I love them!
Let me tell you why... Sunday, Everette and I got back from Indy around 5 PM. Jonathan was pretty wiped (although not really too grouchy), he woke up at 7 AM and had only slept maybe two hours total for the rest of the day. I changed Jonathan's diaper at the Cheesecake Factory around 2:30. When we got home, Jonathan was hungry so I gave him a bottle and he fell asleep. I laid him in his crib thinking he would only sleep for an hour. I was wrong. He slept the whole night.... I mean until 7:30 this morning (poor guy had quite a weekend). He was even in his clothes (a collared shirt and cordorouy pants no less). He didn't even make a peep. And miraculously when he did wake up he wasn't even fussy. He was just cooing away happily in his crib. So I went in expecting to find a soaking wet baby, and wet sheets. While I did find an intensely stinky and incredibly saturated diaper, my babies clothes were dry. AMAZING! I was quite happy! And here is the icing on this delicious cake... After a bottle Jonathan went back to sleep in our bed until 10:30. What a glorious day!

On a not so glorious note, if any of you know some one who know some one who "wacks" dogs. Please contact me. I am looking to have my dog "wacked". It is either that or start selling drugs or black market goods-I can't keep up with Max's expensive chew toy taste. He has a flavor for down comforters. He chewed through one. Which left us with the Queen-size comforter from our guest room--I don't know if any of you have seen Everette and me but, we don't exactly fit under a queen-size comforter. We are exclusively patriarchal when it comes to our bedding. Which left us pretty grumpy in the mornings after several nights of Blanket Wars. It was not a marriage building activity. So I found an incredible deal. I found a King size REAL down Ralph Lauren Comforter for $69.00 at TJMaxx. I was quite pleased with myself. Until last evening. While Everette was taking a nap, Max ate a hole through the Duvet cover and the down comforter right on top of Everette's legs (this should give you an idea of what kind of sleeper Everette is). I have never been so angry. It is actually amazing. I have smacked Max in the head before, and I really wanted to last night. But I didn't. I didn't because I knew if i started I wouldn't stop until he was seriously hurt. I was that mad. So Now Everette and I are back to the tiny cover, and now I have two down comforters with holes in them and feathers all over my bedroom (one can hope they might miraculously sweep up the dust)! Arrg!

Rolling Over!!

Jonathan rolled over for the first time all by himself. It was so fun. He was laying on the floor in our bedroom while I was doing some laundry and I came in and he had his shoulders turned and I thought this might be it. So I grabbed the camera and waited patiently and.. he did it!! Yay!! He is also starting to laugh a little.
Uncle Brad came into town this week. He was doing some recruiting for the Waldorf at Purdue. It is always great to see him and he always loves to see Jonathan. Jonathan had to show him all his tricks. Here are some pictures.. we had a big day (as evident in the three different outfits you will see on Jonathan!


I got my shoulders over....
Now if I can just get my leg!!
And.. there we go!! Tada!!
I am so pleased with myself!


Jonathan's first reaction to seeing Uncle Brad. (he also just woke up) Jonathan is wearing a shirt that Brad and Meghan bought him when he was first born.
After bathtime Uncle brad rocked Jonathan to sleep.
oh yeah... and here is the best/most recent picture of all of us. It is black and white so you can't see the roots of my hair that haven't been done since Jonathan was born (really--the day before I went to the hospital). Four and a half months, yikes!

Who knew?

So recently I took Jonathan for his 4 month appt. One of the things the doctor recommended was putting Rice cereal in his bottle to help with what she thinks is acid reflux. So we did, and it seems to be helping. However, I quickly realized that the tiny holes in the nipples would not be big enough for rice cereal so off I went to the store to get some new ones.. Little did I knew that there were actually four phases and we were on phase 1 and we should have been on phase three. (Rice cereal was phase four). No wonder it took 30 minutes to suck down a bottle. Now we are down to 5 mins. it is amazing. He has the whole thing down before I even think to burp him. Who knew!?

Say What?!?!?

I am almost 26 years old (where the heck did this year go?!) and for 25 1/2 years I could not care less about the Superbowl. I am serious. I could not care less. So what happened!? My husband happened. Everette LOVES football, any kind. High School, college, pro, arena, flag, little grid-iron. If it is on TV in any fashion he will watch. So I have been married for four years, what else happened... we only have one TV channel. Sometimes you are so desperate you will watch anything (plus side... Everette has to watch Hallmark movies with me :) ). So I have now become a football fan, don't get me wrong I have always liked going to football games... but I am pretty sure it was for candy bars and the skittles. Now I know about football- I am not even close to Everette's level, but I know it. I know who plays for what team, who coaches who. Frightening. Oh it gets worse... I even listen (rarely-but still on my own accord) to football commentary. I am not talking about listening to a game on the radio, I am talking post game analysis. Yikes!!!! Here is the difference I have no real football team loyalties (excepting the Colts-but that is mostly because I think Tony Dungy is the awesomest). I am all for who plays the most exciting game. For instance. I know everybody hates the patriots, but everybody hates them because they are good-and they know it. Well, that and Bill Belichick is a jerk. Come on everybody knows it. So I sat with Everette and his family on their incredibly awesome couch and watched the Superbowl. The atmosphere was heavily weighted toward the Giants. And for the most part I agreed. I mean the Giants are definitely a more likable team--those manning boys-not the coolest looking but definitely have that all-American appeal. But even I couldn't help hoping that the patriots could go all the way. My personal feelings about the character of their coach aside, there is a whole team full of guys that worked their butts off and they can't all be jerks right?
So here is the secret real reason I like watching football.... usually we get to go to Everette's parents where his mom or dad makes dinner, someone dotes on Jonathan and I get to take a nap on their totally awesome couch (did I mention the couch?). I better stop. Enough football. I am really starting to concern myself. I think I better go get my hair done.. my roots are growing in, that must be the problem.

More recently

This Monday Jonathan had his four month check-up. It was great because Daddy got to come. He weighed in at 13.13 which puts him in the 25 percentile. Which isn't bad if you consider that last month he wasn't even on the charts. Dr. Miller was pleased with his progress and said that he was developing right on par. Which brings us to our other big news... We are ready to start solids!!! We have been eating rice cereal with a big-boy spoon, in our big-boy chair all week. I am not saying he is a pro but he really isn't doing too bad. A fair amount of the cereal ends up being swallowed. One trick I learned is to turn the spoon upside down, this allows him to suck the cereal off better. The hardest part is finding the right time. He has to be hungry (so he will actually put things in his mouth) but not too hungry (or he screams bloody murder because he wants his bottle! Next stop... cheerios!!!

New Things

So it happened a couple of weeks ago, I apologize for my delay in posting, but while we were visiting my aunt out in Cleveland Jonathan started reaching. Everette and I were so proud. Many of the things that happen during a baby's development are so gradual. For instance, Jonathan has been smiling to some extent since the day he was born. But those first few weeks they were spastic muscle movements, not in a response to anything in particular, especially not us. Then they seem more purposeful but even still you aren't sure for even a few more weeks still.
Jonathan has a toy strung across his car seat, for a while he has been interested in watching the toys spin, but has made no definate attempt at touching it. Until one night we were all out at dinner, I pulled the toy down to eye level and went back to my conversation. I looked over a few minutes later and he was spinning it on his own. He was having a grand time. It was so cool to see him do something that he couldn't do the day before, and do it so well. It is the first time I really felt that Parent-pride. It was very cool. I took pictures!