Jonas: 10 Months

Before we get started, let's mention real quick that this is almost three weeks late.  Yowza.

Favorite Things: food, standing up. Even when I'm holding him he likes to stand on my hip.  It's very uncomfortable.

Most Impressive: saying 'mama,' 'Daph,' 'all done,' 'night night,' 'boo;' mimicking sounds and pitches.

Weirdest: if I lay him on the floor, he will barely move.  If I lay him on a bed, he will roll and crawl all over it.  If only the whole world was a bed. 

I noticed his top teeth coming in recently.  And just like with Daphne, it's not the typical top middle two, it's the two on either side.  Like little fangs.  So weird and funny that both of them did that.

hanging out on the counter top gnawing on garlic, because we are anti-vampire

He had been waking up so often at night, and I think part of it had been his nighttime use of a pacifier.  It would fall out, then he would wake up and need someone to put it back in for him.  Like the gentle mother that I am, one day I just stopped giving him the pacifier at bed time.  He was very alarmed at the loss and we had a few very rough days and nights of sleep, but now he seems to *mostly* be sleeping through the night. This makes him my youngest baby to sleep through the night, and so he wins a prize of...nothing.  Except my joy and gratitude, of course. 

smart lola

look at his face!

One reason I've been blogging so scarcely lately is because Jonas wants to be held constantly.  As much as I love holding my babies, I think being in the stage where they want to be held almost all of their waking hours is one of the toughest things for me in the baby year.  I wish I could at least get super muscle-y arms out of the deal.

But the nice thing about being on baby-number-three as opposed to baby-number-one is that I know each season passes, and I know that one day it won't be as hard.  Soon enough I'll be able to do whatever I want with my arms.  Wave them around, or....just whatever. 

And one last thing; he lives with perpetual bed-head.  

A Trick Question Included

Since Jonas was content in his Bumbo with a snack, and since I had just found another place to hang a boxwood wreath, it seemed imperative to use my free arms to photograph the newly-organized wall.  Nothing like wall photos as fodder for the blog.

Then I spotted Jonas through the camera lens...

And now we've graduated from Bumbo use.

I found this book at an antique store recently, and immediately memories came to mind of looking at it over and over again as a kid.  A grandma had it; maybe Grandma B?  Daphne and I are reading it so that she can learn all about Amish people.

We had a pretty successful visit to that particular antique store because we found vintage picnic baskets, too. (Stars, fyi.)  The baskets store kitchen linens and sit around looking pretty, and they are very successful at both of their jobs. 

Soon our house will be fully decorated and then what will there be left to do in life?  

(Trick question: how many pictures of Amish children are in this blog post?)

(This is a trick question on so many different levels.)

We Have a New Firepit

I went into the backyard Monday and found the big kids stomping around in the muddy garden.  I was so very close to telling them to get out, like literally had the words coming out of my mouth, when I realized this was a time to be quiet and let them be.  The only reason to make them stop was because I didn't feel like having to clean up the mess, but that's probably not always the best reason to say no.

Daph smeared mud up her legs and said to me, "Mud is really good for your skin, right?"

Sure.

lunch break at the mud spa

Another time to be quiet is when all three kids are down for rest at the same time, and you can lay in the hammock while your husband slaves away laying bricks for the new fire pit.  Did you know hammocks are amazing?  As long as you can figure out how to get in without falling back out. 

Speaking of fire pits, ours at the old house was a re-purposed wheel barrow, and we loved it.  We loved it so much we were afraid we wouldn't be able to top it. 

Oh, but top it we did.  Check it out:

We found an old woodstove at a salvage place, managed to haul the thing home (I think it weighs 9 million pounds), and now this back corner feels like a living room.  This week I got a bunch of planters put together for the area, and soon we're going to get some electricity out there so we can hang cafe lights.  David has plans for a play structure nearby.  Isn't it the cutest?

 And speaking of cute, here's Jonas rolling around on a bed.  This has nothing to do with fire pits or mud. 

The Family Room

Nine months later and our upstairs family room is finally painted.  Small victories!

This room is technically a part of the 'master suite,' but as much as I would love an extra room to set up as a sewing room, or a sitting room, or a leave-mom-alone-she's-eating-her-hair room, a family room seemed the most useable idea for the largest number of people. 

The room isn't completed yet because I still need to purchase bamboo shades for the windows and finish the curtain for the kid's closet kitchen.  (They have a closet kitchen and it's just as cool as it sounds.)  (Which may not be very cool?)

Oh! And I have this super great idea for David to build me a faux-mantle to set the TV on.  Something like this:

i have no idea the original source...i've seen this many places

Right now the TV is on a bookshelf, but I think a mantle would add some fun visual interest and help make the room feel even cozier.  And it would give us a great place to hang Christmas stockings since stocking-wise we're not quite sure yet how to utilize our funky wood stove alcove downstairs. 

jonas's opinion on mom painting

Lighting in this room is a little hard because I hatehatehate using ceiling lighting and there's not a lot of space for lamps.  Lights on the old window saved the day!  I added a boxwood wreath because my current hobby involves making more of those than I have room for.  So many wreaths, so few spaces to hang them.

In the absence of 'after' photos of the family room, here are photos of the room being used for what we consider valuable family time. 

fighting

staring blank faced at the television

lots of messes

Working Hard and Hardly Working

This is a lovely picture of us about to embark on a Spring walk.  How perfect and sweet we are!  Except both big kids were throwing fits and complaining about every little thing, until I finally told them NO TALKING unless they had something nice to say.  Daph was suspiciously quiet for the entire walk.

Otherwise, this is my most favorite Spring of all time.  This might be a strange thing to take note of, but the soil at our house is really nice.  I weeded, dug up some dead azaleas, and took out a bunch of Shasta daisies and primroses (because there were millions), and truly enjoyed the entire process.  Good soil is good stuff.  Plus it helps that David got me a cute shovel. 

jonas the tiny koala bear

a camera!  i should put my face in front of it.

The flower beds are ready for some new perennials and all our planters are artfully arranged and ready for some annuals.  We have never been so prepared for Spring.

plant me! plant me!

Speaking of prepared, I have a very detailed plant wish-list.  (I can show it to anyone who needs birthday gift ideas.)  Burning bush, snapdragons, zinnias, Lily-of-the-Valley, daphne, rosemary, more tulips, lavendar, etc., etc., etc.  Yesterday I went into the side yard and what did I find...so much Lily-of-the-Valley! (Or is it 'so many Lily-of-the-Valleys?') A big treat, for sure, especially since I get to cross that plant off my list by spending zero dollars.

 



We also hung a hammock, which has basically been a life-long dream.  Daph said, "We can make lemonade and relax here when it's summertime!"  Yes. 

We hung one of my old windows on the front porch.  Daph said, "It's not a good idea to hang things with glass because it might fall and break." 

we need a new porch light, pronto

And that's it for today's episode of Random Photos from Melissa's Yard.  Stay tuned for next time!

Jonas: 9 Months

Here's what we can say about 9 month old Jonas (or 9.5 months, as the case may be):  he is super lazy.  He's nowhere near crawling, and he only rolls over if he absolutely needs to.  Like during diaper changes. 

He may not like to move, but he does love to eat!  He's very brave to try all the foods and seems to love most of them. He eats a lot.

Now that I think about it, I see for him a bright future as a couch potato.

Other things he likes besides food:
-He adores Lola.  I'll say, "where's Lola?" and he'll look and look until he spots her. (As much looking as he can do from a stationary position, of course.)
-He likes to yell, especially in quiet places.  He's usually pretty quiet when it's loud.
-He's our first kid to not be afraid of grass!  He likes to dig his fingers in it and also eat it.  Salad!
-He's also the first of our kids to really like David.  He will go to David just as well as he'll go to me.  It's nice to be able to share the baby-holding with someone.
-Clapping is a new favorite trick.  Sometimes when we're driving I'll hear the slap slap slap of his little hands as he claps to himself in his carseat. 
-He still likes to store food in his mouth.  This pictures was taken an hour or so after breakfast when I realized he still had a piece of apple stashed in his cheek.

"i'm afraid that when i leave the kitchen i'll never get to eat again"

He's in a bit of a clingy stage where he would rather I hold him for most of the day, especially during the fussy evening hours. The Ergo is our friend, because otherwise supper would not get made. 

Being outside always brightens his day, and the rocket ship swing is a favorite.  (Here's Christian at almost the same age riding in it as well.)

He needs a haircut, but I don't know if you're allowed to give haircuts to babies?  Like their little baby hair is so sweet you need to keep it for as long as possible? I don't have a great picture, but his hair is super short in the back from sleeping on his back, and then long and shaggy on the top and sides and likes to stick straight out from his head like he electrocuted himself.  It's the opposite of a mullet and that is not good. David likes to slick it back and act like J is a used car salesman, then part it down the center so he can be a nerdy mathematician, and then give him a nice side part so he can be a southern gospel revival preacher.  It's a pretty good show that the two of them put on. 

Aside from the hair, we have no complaints about this little guy. 

(Sleeping through the night would be welcomed, though.)

(And a slow-down on the growing.)

"would someone please blow my nose?"

Slices of Life, Vol XVII

Christian and I were walking around the yard looking at flowers.
Me:  "This one is a daffodil!"
Christian:  "Are there any Christian-dills?"

Peeking out the window one night Christian asked, "Did someone cut the moon in half?"

David wanted to fix Christian's hair.
David: "C'mon, buddy, let's do your hair."
Christian: "No, because I am not a girl."

I found Christian looking through a book.  

He said, "This is the Bible.  It tells us...what does it tell us? Does it tell us what time it is?"

After some obviously much-needed explaining, he continued on,

"God made allll the arks.  And God put all the animals on it.  And there were snakes and chocolate monkeys!  Right mom?  They make chocolate."


He and I were sitting together one day and I said, "Tell me something nice."  (Too low to fish for compliments I am not.)
He said, "You're pwetty like a pwincess.  I'm going to call you pwincess."
And quite often now he does. 

I was helping Christian take his vest off after we got home from Awana.
Me: "Don't pull it off, it will rip.  Do you want it to rip?"
Christian: "Yeah."
Me: "Why?  Don't you want to go to Awana anymore?"
Christian: "No, I just want to sneak into class and get the treats."

Daphne was asking questions about the Star of Bethlehem while driving home one evening.  Suddenly Christian pipes up with a shocked voice:  "Bethlehem is REAL??!  I DIDN'T KNOW THAT!!!"
We told him yes, and everything he was learning in Bible Study was real, because the Bible is real. 
"Moses was REAL??  The Israelites are REAL?  I DIDN'T KNOW THAT! Moses as a baby was REAL?  I DIDN'T KNOW THAT!!"
He was getting louder and louder and so emphatic; there's no way to accurately write the way he was talking.
It was a real come-to-Jesus moment, that's for sure.

At the taking of this photo, he was saying, "I really like this rocking chair. I'm going to die in this chair."

After a rushed trip to Costco at 5:00 on a Saturday evening...best time for a Costco run, for sure.
Me: "We were really fast, weren't we?"
Daphne: "Yeah, but not as fast as the wind."

Daphne asked: "How long would it take to get to the moon?  Five Wickeds?"
(As in the soundtrack to the musical; we often listen to it and other Broadway soundtracks on long drives because the kids love them so much.)
Me: "No, more like 1000 Wickeds."
Daphne: "Oh, then I don't want to go."

Daph and Christian were arguing one morning when I heard her tell him, "Buddy, you are making this day worse than it's ever been."

David and the big kids got to go to a Winterhawks game with our neighbors.  Daphne is now the Winterhawks' number one fan.  The morning after the game David asked who wanted to go to the store with him.  She said, "I will, if you buy me a hockey stick."