Play Day at the Park

We kept cousin Claire a couple of weeks ago, and took advantage of the beautiful weather for a play day in the park with Momo & Papa. Let me tell ya, I got my FAIR SHARE of funny looks, chasing after these two toddlers while CLEARLY quite pregnant again :)

MUST HAVE A BATH AFTER A DAY IN THE PARK!

CAN YOU GUESS WHO'S THE NURTURING ONE OF THE PAIR??

Language Lesson 101

Jonah: Nana!
Mama: Ba-nana!
Jonah: Nana!
Mama: Ba, ba, ba
Jonah: Ba!
Mama: nana
Jonah: nana!!!
Mama: Ba
Jonah: Ba!
Mama: nana!
Jonah: nana!!
Mama: Banana!!
Jonah: Nanaba! Nanaba! Nanaba!!

Jonah updates and Lexi progress

I'm so horrible about blogging. I don't know why I find it impossible to keep up, but I guess now is as good a time as any to give the lovely Holmes family updates :)

Jonah is 18-months-old, and he is truly just too stinkin' smart for his own good!! I can't even keep up with his vocabulary anymore. It's enormous. He also consistently identifies the colors "yeyyo, wed, reen, and purple" and he knows fruits, like "apple, peh, rrrapes, and memmon (melon)." I'm going to start using flash cards with him because he learns SO quickly with puzzle pieces. He differentiates such vehicles as "Trrrruck, A cah, scooter, plane, train, chopper, bus and boat." He LOVES to sing and can sing the alphabet song and has been singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star from start to finish for a few months now. (And, you can even tell them apart, despite the fact they're the same tune!! Lol!) We get lots of looks in the grocery store, because he loves to sing or jabber using his "outside voice" (haha!) the whole time we shop!! He knows all of the body parts that we can think to teach him, including the BOOTY (I should post a video of the booty dance -- which we did NOT teach him, by the way!). He also knows the eyes, ears, nose, hair, mouth, teeth, face, chin, elbow, hands, "peet," knee, shoes, and his newest.....the "weewee."

He's also becoming a pro at using his manners. We try not to endulge whining, by giving in when he fusses, but rather make him use his words to tell us what he wants, and he really responds well to this. Yesterday, he wanted a toy that was in a no-no zone. When I moved him out of the no-no zone, rather than throwing a fit, he simply pointed at the toy and said, "Peas?! Peas?!!" So, of COURSE I gave him the toy!! He loves Nnno! (snow) and wain! (rain), and he regularly asks to go "bye-bye?" or "outside?" My favorite Jonahism, though, is the rare and coveted, "I wuh yooooh." And, one night I told him, "I love you more," so now he says, "I wuh yooooooh," and I say, "I love YOU," and he says, "More!" (with the accompanying sign for more, of course).

He habitually blows my mind, and his teachers at daycare even remark regularly about how smart he is.....that is when they're not remarking about him biting his friends that day :( That's been our biggest struggle lately. He's a biter. But, oh, I am THAT mom -- the one who actually wrote a Behavior Intervention Plan (aka: a BIP) for my own child at daycare! That's right!! It's what I DO, so why not do it for my own kiddo?? We have now had 3 bite-free days in a row, and I'm praying we stay that way. Jonah has also started having night terrors, which just down-right SUCK! (Sorry, no sweeter way to say it). We took him to the dr. and he's in good health, so it's just a nasty phase we'll have to get through. I'm hoping he moves past it before his sister (that's RIGHT! It's a girl - confirmed by 2 different ultrasounds now!) makes her debut in May. It'll be quite a struggle to have both of them awake and unhappy in the middle of the night when Daddy's at work.

We've been trying to get back into a good routine of going to church on Sundays, and we will celebrate a baby dedication for Jonah on Sunday, April 11, so that's exciting!!

Other than that, we've got our little bundle of girly goodness getting ready for her debut in late May. We had a 3-D ultrasound this past weekend, and those pictures were very fascinating! I really wanted to name our baby girl after my grandmother, Charlotte, as I'm convinced my Grandma is a saint sent straight from heaven. Well, we toyed and toyed with names, and finally we decided on the name Alexia, which is a feminine version of Grandma's maiden name, Alexander. We also gave her my middle name. So, Jonah has his dad's middle name (Wayne), and Alexia will have my middle name (Marie). We have agreed to call her by the nickname Lexi, although some may decide to call her Alex, which is the nickname my Grandma was called until she married my Papa.

(a collage of 4 of the ultrasound pics from 3/13/10)

(comparison of Lexi in-utero & Jonah 1-day-old. WOW! The technology!!!)

Of course, we are gluttons for punishment, as we have started yet another big home-improvement project just a couple of months before Lexi's scheduled arrival. We are building a garage, which is a necessary addition for storage of the "junk" currently housed in our spare bedroom -- which will become Lexi's nursery. They poured the slab a couple of weeks ago, and there's nothing like a major project on a time crunch to make the pregnancy seem to go EVEN faster!! I pre-registered at the hospital this morning, and I'm already having bi-weekly prenatal visits, so the big event will be here before we know it!! What an exciting time for the Holmes' Sweet Home.

Wow am I behind, or WHAT?!?!

Well, I've officially been the world's worst about updating our blog! It's impossible to go back and make up for the lost time and moments. Suffice it to say, in a nutshell.....Jonah started walking on July 25, at 10-1/2 months old, and he is now 15 months old and into EVERYTHING! He's also talking up a STORM, and I will post another entry with some of his "words," which are forever entertaining us! The most recent conversation we had went something like this:

Mommy: Jonah, do you see our TREE??

Jonah: TEEEEEEE

Mommy: Is it pret-TY????

Jonah: TITTEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

We celebrated his 1st birthday in September, and had a big time at his party at Aunt Mary and Uncle Gary's house. He went as a skunk for Halloween and was STINKIN' ADORABLE!!!

We found out in September that we are expecting again in May, which completely caught us by surprise, but we are blessed and excited. I am now 15-weeks pregnant, and, honestly, a little nervous mainly about the possibility of gaining as much weight as I did last time!! With Jonah I gained over 50 lbs, and was able to shed about 70 lbs before we found out I was pregnant again. I just hate the thought of starting over at square one, but the blessing in the end will be well worth it. We haven't decided for certain, but are pretty sure that our family will be complete after one more child. A family of 4 seems just right to both of us.

People keep asking, "Are you hoping for a girl?" And, I know it's hard for people to believe me, but no, I'm not. I'm just hoping for a healthy baby. There was once a time in which I would have said, "Oh, I definitely want a little girl, even if we have to make 5 babies to get one," but after living with this little delightful Jonah-bug for the past 15 months, I'd be perfectly content to have 2 little boys. That's not to say there isn't still a little inkling of hope for a little girl, but I can honestly say I'll be overjoyed either way!! We go back to the doctor on Dec 30, and I'd imagine they'll set up an ultrasound to find out the baby's sex after that appointment.

I guess that about does it for now!!

Jonah's Big Weekend

We had a play date on Sunday. Gary & Mary asked me to watch their kids for about an hour, and in the meantime, I also needed to keep Amelia (since they were also babysitting Amelia). Claire and Amelia are a year old, and toddling everywhere. Jonah-bug was SO excited to see them toddle around, he would squeal like a girl, and hustle around the coffee table as fast as he could possibly cruise! Then, without stopping to think he would let go and try to walk, usually falling directly on his face. But, in the meantime, he did have two incidents where he was able to take one successful step before falling on step #2! I think we are well on our way to having an "official" toddler!!!

Jonah-bug also went for his first swim on the 4th of July! He LOVED it! It was no surprise, really, as he just has the BIGGEST time in his baths! And, he's fascinated by water, in general. Anytime I wash my hands, he wants to put his hands under the running water, too! We weren't able to watch fireworks, due to the weather, but it was already past his bedtime, so I'd imagine he wouldn't have been up for the big show, anyways.

Jonah's 9-Months-Old, and on the GO!...and OTHER updates as well

I have officially been HORRIBLE about updating my blog. But, I think such is the life of a full-time working mother of a 9-month-old.

So much has happened in the past two months. Just as I predicted, Jonah began crawling AND pulling-up at almost the exact same time -- about a month ago! He is officially on the go. In fact, he recently got his first black eye at daycare, when he crawled over a little padded corral-thingy and landed smack on top of a toy shovel. OUCH!! He's a brave little soul, and he already tries to stand independently. Usually, he balances for about a half a second before toppling over. Our house has become a padded playground.

Life is very routine for us. Jonah is a super star at putting himself to bed, and I'm cracking up to find that he's suddenly taken an interest in a pacifier. Jeremy says he sometimes doesn't even know when Jonah wakes up in the morning because Jonah will just stuff a paci in his mouth in the morning and start entertaining himself in his crib. I still put him to bed withOUT the paci on occasion, just to be sure that he's not dependent on the thing.

He seems to take after his narcoleptic mama in the sleeping arena, as he has been sleeping 13-14 hours per night, recently!! Unbelievable!! But, I'm NOT complaining.

We've also made the difficult decision to go ahead and wean to formula. I really wanted to nurse until Jonah was a year old, but he's just not interested, unless he's dead-tired......which is only 1st thing in the morning usually. So, while we're still holding on to that first nursing of the morning, we've gone to formula or mixtures of formula and breastmilk that I have stock-piled in the freezer. At the rate we're going, I should have enough stored to continue to give him at least a few ounces of breastmilk per day until he's about 10-months old.

In OTHER news, the past month has brought a lot of crazy happenings in the Holmes' Sweet Home. A few weeks ago, on a Friday night, I was feeding J-Bug his dinner, and he decided to choke on his baby food. I mean -- like -- the REAL thing....no breathing.....the scary thing where I had to dig into the recesses of my brain and pull out the "baby Heimlich" tool from my Mommy Mental Toolkit. You know, I have to admit, when I did that whole "turn the baby over and beat on his back" thing in CPR class, I always wondered, "Will this REALLY work?" Well, folks, I'm here to tell ya, it DOES work! After a few seconds of pounding, J-Man choked it right up and proceeded to projectile vomit all over himself, me, our brand new leather recliners (that's right...plural....somehow he hit BOTH recliners, which are positioned a few feet away from each other!), and our living room carpet. I never thought I would be so happy to see my little man vomit all over me.

As if THAT wasn't enough drama for one night, I received a phone call from Jeremy at about 11pm the same night......while Jonah simultaneously awoke from his slumber and was crying in the other room. I couldn't decide whether to tend to Jonah or answer the phone. My sister-in-law was over at the house, so she went to check on Jonah while I got the phone (this seemingly useless detail will come up again momentarily....). Well, I was glad I answered the phone because Jeremy was calling to let me know he had been rear-ended by a intoxicated, inTEXTicated driver. That's right. A driver who was not only under the influence of alcohol, but who was ALSO texting while driving, plowed into the back of Jeremy's patrol car at about 45 mph, while Jeremy was stopped at a red light. I was just thankful that Jeremy was the one who called me -- because that meant he was okay. I have to admit, as a police officer's wife, my biggest fear is to have a couple of Jeremy's closest police friends show up on my doorstep in the middle of the night. Two years ago, one of Jeremy's colleagues was struck by a drunk driver and killed while on duty. This incident certainly brought back a flood of emotions. But, I'm happy to report that Jeremy has been blessed in the sense that he has sustained no injuries that we can see so far. His back does fatigue a little more quickly than it used to, and he's keeping his eye on that, but in general, he was very blessed. God was looking after Jonah AND Jeremy that night.

A couple of nights after the accident, I had a dream (or nightmare) that Jeremy was home, off duty, and a couple of guys were trying to break into one of our next door neighbor's cars. Well, Jonah was in the floor playing in the living room, and when Jeremy stepped outside to confront the "bad guys," one of the guys shot Jeremy. I knew he was hurt, but suddenly, I couldn't find Jonah. I was so torn between the decision of whether I should find Jonah and go hide, or whether I should go help Jeremy. It was HORRIBLE!!! Obviously, the dream was reflective of the feelings I had when I had received Jeremy's phone call that Friday night, and I was torn between whether to answer his call or go tend to Jonah. Our brains play the CRAZIEST tricks on us!!!!

I just feel so blessed that our sweet family is intact. Jeremy and I celebrated 2 years of marriage on May 26, our major remodeling project is essentially finished, and I have been focusing on getting back into good physical shape (for more details on that, see my other blog: http://hannah-holmes.blogspot.com/ ). Overall, life is good. Marriage is great. Family is amazing. We are blessed, indeed.

Jonah's 7-months old

I've been terrible about updating lately. I guess no news is good news, though, right?

Jonah is 7-months old, and we seem to be in a "holding pattern" with the developmental milestones. The major change lately can be summed up in one word - MOBILITY!! Jonah's now able to roll both directions. And, he can move all around on his tummy. If I leave him on the floor and walk out of the room, he'll most certainly be in a different spot when I return to the room. He's still creeping backwards, although he is SO CLOSE to crawling, we expect it any day now. Incidentally, I wouldn't be surprised if he started pulling up pretty soon, too. He loves to stand up.....just doesn't know how to GET to the standing position very gracefully yet.

We started daycare last week, and it was an interesting week. Mama is definitely having to learn to let go of some of the "Mama control issues." He's doing well and adjusting to the new routine. I have to say, I APPRECIATE the daycare routine because prior to last week, Jonah was a half-hour napper, like clockwork. But, this past weekend, I lay him down at 11:00 (daycare nap-time), and he put himself to sleep and slept for a solid hour-and-a-half or more! Woohoooo!

He has a double ear infection, now, so the daycare illnesses have started full-force. We went to the dr. on Saturday morning, and he has gained LESS than a POUND in the past month! Hallelujah, the weight gain has FINALLY slowed down a bit :) Up until he was 6-months old, he'd gained an average of 2-1/2 lbs per month, so I was relieved to see that he's ONLY 20 lbs and 3 oz at his 7-month appointment.

Easter pics coming soon :)