Ok back to the task at hand...so Jonah crossed a lot of milestones this month! First and foremost he his much more mobile and on the move! He is cruising around the furniture and just about to walk. He's taken a few steps without holding onto anything (of course it happened while I was at work and I missed it).
Jonah is very much still very much in discovery mode. He's constantly on little missions and I am always amazed as to what he finds. Whether its little speckles of paper on the carpet, a magazine from under the couch, a toy that went missing months ago or even the dog toys from the dog bin. He especially loves the laundry basket as you can see from his picture. Frankly, he doesn't care if there is clothes in it because he will pull out every piece of folded clothing so that he can hop in.
Jonah has also mastered going up the stairs. We have a gate at the top of the stairs but the way our staircase is built it's impossible to put a gate at the bottom of the stairs so we are forced to always try to distract him from going up.
Jonah is teething like crazy. He's been fussy, feverish and booger-ish for the past few weeks and what do you know, there are 2 new little adorable shinny white teeth in his mouth for a total of 6 now. Thus Advil, Tylenol and Ora-gel have been a staple at our house as of late.
My little man is growing up so fast! It's hard to believe that last year at this time I was on bed rest with just one month to go until Jonah would make his entrance into the world. I remember it like it was yesterday, that's why its so hard to believe that he is nearly 1 years old! My last day at work was August 16th, 2010. I was at maximum capacity, my back hurt, my sciatica was out of control and I was sweating like a pig. I wasn't sure I could even get any bigger and whats worse was I was so swollen and it was so so HOT out so it felt unbearable. Was it worth it? Absolutely! Look at my little miracle...
I am constantly amazed by how fast Jonah is growing. Not only is he growing in size (by the way, he's 25+ pounds now) but how fast he's learning and how much he actually comprehends. Of course he's into everything, but I've noticed that if I say "Jonah, no no no" he will mimic it back to me and it sounds like "na, na, na!" When I get him out of bed in the morning he waves at his crib as if to say "bye-bye crib, I'm outta here!" When Stella is not in the room or he can't see her, he yells "tella, tella." It's also amazing to see how similar he is to Stella too when she was a baby. For example now that he's cruising around the furniture, when he has to poop, he hides behind the couch or our brown leather chair (I can't say I blame him because who doesn't want or need a little privacy while going #2). It's truly amazing to see a child's cognitive skills and motor skills develop.
Jonah made his first trip to Kings Island this past month. He made several trips in my belly last summer while I was pregnant. He did great! We kept him hydrated and he enjoyed riding in his stroller and took it all in. Todd and I took turns staying with him while one of us rode on the rides with Stella. It was a great family outing and we look forward to many more trips the remainder of this season. Kings Island is only 20 minutes from the house and has so much to do for all ages. Their kiddies section is called Planet Snoopy and Stella and Jonah love it.
While we were at Kings Island we noticed that all of the KI staff and characters were in pink. It's all part of the Susan G. Komen search for the cure. Since Todd's grandmother, Mamoose, recently won her battle with breast cancer, we thought it would be great for the kids to get their picture taken with this very special Snoopy! We love you Mamoose!
Jonah loves to be outside. Whether it's on the swing or just hanging outside on the deck with us. Although the past few weeks have been so so HOT and unbearable with the heat index well into the 100's, the past week has been just perfect. We've been enjoying our evenings outside and the kids love it. On this night Jonah insisted on helping mommy with a little gardening so he held onto his little rake.
Jonah has officially stopped taking his night tine rice cereal bottle. Believe me it wasn't my choice! One day he just stopped taking it. I tried for several days and he would just push it away. I suppose his taste buds are finally developing and he's decided he doesn't like the taste of it (I can't say that I am surprised because it smells awful). He is still eating stage 2 baby food (four jars a day; 2 for lunch and 2 for dinner) and only takes 3 formula bottles a day. This past month he's tried a lot more table food. He loves his baby yogurt, ice cream, mac & cheese, Oreo cookies, Ritz crackers, orzo, hamburger, cheese and chicken. He loves to try new foods and I love to watch his expressions and his excitement. I will be so very excited once we finish this last can of formula to go out and buy him a gallon of milk!
This past month we used our very first babysitter EVER! When I say babysitter, I mean someone that is not immediate family. We are very blessed to have our families love so close to us and they have always watched the kids for us when we've needed help. But this past month, my cousin Linda got married and well all of our family was attending the wedding so Leah (who might as well me my sister's adopted Asian sister) volunteered to watch Jo-Jo for us. She and Jonah did great and as you can see from the photo below, they had a great time together!
This past month, we got our first ever visit from our new niece and nephew, Lucy and Gabriel (they were born on June 25th and are almost 4 weeks old in this pic). Stella is a great big cousin and loves to hold them. This is our first pic of all 4 grand babies in 1 picture together. What you don't see is that I am actually sitting on the floor right under Jonah spotting him and making sure that he doesn't reach over and poke one of the babies- Tyler did a fantastic job in making sure I didn't appear in the pic.
Jonah does great when we are at church. Typically one of us will sit in church with Stella and the other sits in the baby room (sound proof room that looks into the church) with Jonah. In this picture Jonah (aka mini Shenouda) is with his friend Father Angelous.
Just this past weekend Jonah had a play date with his new BFF and buddy, Ryker. Ryker is 8 weeks younger than Jonah and they got along great. It's so fun to watch kids at this age interact with each other. They shared everything from pacifiers, sippy cups and Cheerios with each other. Now I just need to convince Lauren (Ryker's momma) to move to Springboro so that the boys will be in school together. I can only begin to imagine the mischief and trouble that these two would get into, I mean look at those "innocent" faces!
How could you possibly resist these little heart-breakers?
We had a very busy month and the official count down has begun and we get ready for Jonah's first birthday! It's so hard to believe that it's nearly been 1 year and that my little baby boy is becoming a little man and growing so up so fast. We love him so much and he's blessed our family!
