New Videos Being Posted

So, it's been almost a year (literally) since I posted any new videos over on my video blog.  So, I don't blame you at all if you've completely forgotten it existed!  :P  If you don't still have it in your Google Reader or something, you may have missed the last few videos I posted the other day.  I'm trying to backfill the blog so that I can be more current - having a new baby to show off to the grandparents is great motivation to get caught up!  So, head on over and enjoy!

Sitting Practice

I was looking back at an old video of Luke and realized that I had him propped up on the couch a lot - practicing his sitting!  So, I thought I should be doing that with Jonathan, too.  :)  He's usually quite content like this - even smiling big when you interact with him - he seems to like being upright and "part of the group".  Unfortunately the pictures I took of his smiles were pretty fuzzy - he gets rather animated when he's smiling!  :)

Stocking Baby

This Saturday was mighty productive for me.  I finished all the Christmas wrapping and baking, but most exciting of all was finishing Jonathan's stocking!  Here it is next to the rest of the family's stockings.  (And, in case you were wondering why mine is different, when my sister-in-law and I were picking out the fabrics for mine and Nathan's stockings our first Christmas, we decided to make the boys stockings with a darker holly print and cream trim and girls stockings with a lighter print and dark red trim.  So, hopefully we'll have a girl at some point to help balance out the theme.  ;)

And, I realized that Jonathan was probably small enough to fit inside his stocking, so I thought it would be cute to take a few pictures of that.  :)  Sure enough, he fits!  He's a lot smaller than Luke was at this age, and Luke was also 2-1/2 months older at his first Christmas - much too big for this sort of foolishness.  :)

More Advent Calendar

We're moving right along with our advent calendar - fun to see it filling up!  Here's Luke with it and a "do I really have to do this?" smile on his face.  :)

Christmas Lights

Here's a better picture of our outside Christmas lights!  I went out to take one at dusk instead of after it got really dark, so the picture is a lot better than the last one.  And, now you can see the tree in the window and the wreath on the front door.  So festive - makes me happy every time I see them!  :)

Boppy

I unearthed this hand-me-down boppy the other day to have a new way of giving Jonathan tummy time.  He actually quite enjoys his tummy time, but often spits up then rubs his face in it - cutting the time short.  :(  So, I thought it might work to do "tummy time" on this so that he's at an incline - worked pretty well!

It's also a nice place for him to hang out right side up, too.  :)

Baby Dedication

Last Sunday was Jonathan's baby dedication!  He's such a precious blessing from the Lord.  I feel so inadequate to be a parent, but that's what the Lord's wisdom is for.  :)

Fun Saturday

Last Saturday (not the one we just had), there were quite a few things going on!  First, was the final reality of Fall.  The weekend before, we took our Christmas picture in our backyard with this pretty red-leafed tree in the background.  One week later, gone.  All the leaves are gone.  That Friday was particularly windy and lots of trees decided that day was the day their leaves would come off.  I couldn't resist taking a comparison shot since I had taken a picture the week before of all the pretty colors.  :)

Speaking of our Christmas card picture - here is the final (Photoshopped) result, since most of you will have received your cards by now.  :)

Last Saturday was also the day Luke got to ride in DADDY'S CAR!!!  This was the big prize on his potty training chart that he finally filled up.  Nathan took him out Christmas shopping for me and they got a little fast food treat, also.  Luke didn't care where they went, just that it was in Daddy's car.  He even suggested they go to the grocery store and post office when we asked him where we should take him (can you tell where he's used to going?).  :P

A cute picture of Jonathan, just because.  :)

Nathan and Luke raked the leaves that afternoon - it was getting too dark for a super great photo shoot, but I managed to get a few pictures of the occasion with a flash.  :)

And finally, we wrapped up the day with Christmas decorating!  Luke got to help decorate the Christmas tree, we hung up our stockings (except for Jonathan's, which I just finished this past Saturday), and put out the rest of our limited decorations - all to the tune of some Christmas music in the background.  :)

Circle of Smiles

Since some of the older kids thought it would be fun to get down on Jonathan's blanket with him, Joanna had the idea to get a shot like this of all of them.  After about 5 tries, we finally got one where they're all looking at the camera!  Success!  :)

Christmas Tree

Here's what our tree looked like for about 4 days before we had a chance to put the ornaments on.  We wanted to have it be a family event - with Luke able to help put some on - so we had to wait until there was some free time when BOTH Luke and Nathan were home and awake.  :)

Happy Faces

Couldn't pick just one...

Super Baby

Unlike Luke, who refused to put weight on his legs till he was good and ready to start pulling up and cruising, Jonathan is performing like most babies I've known - "standing" while we support his upper body.  He looks so cute standing since he's so little!  This picture isn't from the best angle, but you get the idea.  :)

In "flight" position on the mat - Super Jonathan!

Modeling a bib my mom made for him.  Check out that pleased little grin.  :)

Christmas Outtakes

Luke with a few more ornaments on our advent calendar!  It's fun to see it fill up - I'm probably enjoying this more than Luke is.  :)

Some cropped outtakes of Luke from our family Christmas card photo shoot.  :P  (I'll share the final take after most people have had a chance to get their Christmas cards.)

Helping put lights up around the inside of our front window.

Nathan put lights up on the outside of our house!!!  It looks even better now, since we have a tree twinkling from inside the window and a wreath on the front door.  I haven't taken a new picture yet, though, so I'll have to remember to do that soon.

Perfect Park Day

Joanna and I met at the park again a couple of weeks ago.  I managed to get a picture of every kid, so that makes for a fun blog post.  :)  The youngest children got more focused attention in front of the lens.  :)

I was on Tirzah duty for a little while since I was sitting with Jonathan - I had to make sure she didn't eat any grass.  :)

And, a trip to this park wouldn't be complete without the chance to throw rocks into the wash.  The older kids LOVE this!

Hello, December!

Even though we didn't have any other Christmas decorations up at the time, I unearthed this advent calendar to start using on December 1st!  I didn't get it done in time to start using last year, so I wanted to make sure we used it this year.  :)  I put it up in place of our wedding sampler for the season, so it's a bit high on the wall, but Luke will push up a chair every morning to help put on the new ornament.  We usually read a Christmas scripture and sometimes do some Christmas coloring papers or something, too.  It's been fun!

And, I thought Jonathan looked especially cute when I went to get him up before his last feeding of the day - he was still technically swaddled, but his hands were starting to peek out.  :)

Bye, November!

Just a cute smile to finish out the month of November.  Do we really need a reason to take cute baby pictures?  :)

2 Month Check-Up

The Monday after Thanksgiving, Jonathan had his 2 month doctor's check-up.  The most surprising thing during the visit was actually the nurse's comments about how much Jonathan looks like Luke!  She said it several times.  Kind of fun to hear, since we mostly hear comments about how different they look.  :)  On a similar vein, I received a comment on Friday from someone meeting Jonathan for the first time who said how much he looked like ME (something I heard all the time with Luke, but not once yet for Jonathan - most often the comments are how much he looks like his Grandpa Hughes or cousin BJ).  I love how kids can often be such a blend of everyone - you see different people in different expressions.  :)

Jonathan weighed only 11lbs, 1oz (35th percentile), which is almost 3 pounds lighter than what Luke weighed at his 2 month appt, but actually a little bit heavier than Nathan was at 2 months (even though Luke and Nathan weighed the same at birth).  So, I guess Luke just chunked up fast and Jonathan is just trucking along.  :)

He is 23" long now (40th percentile), and his head was 40 cm (50th percentile).  I was looking back at Luke's early doctor's appointments and he went from 85th percentile in head at 2 months, to 90th at 4 months, to over 97th (basically off the charts) at 6 months, and has been off the charts ever since.  So, maybe since Jonathan's head seems to be more reasonably sized right now, he won't have as hard of a time learning some of the physical skills that took Luke quite awhile.  On the downside of that - it was awfully nice to have an immobile baby for a LONG time with Luke - that might not happen this time around.  :)

And - here's Luke's 2 month check-up picture, just for kicks.  :)

Happy Birthday, Sophia!

I don't always share about the MANY birthday parties we celebrate for Nathan's family, but this picture turned out very precious.  Happy 4th Birthday, Sophia!

Day in the Leaves

We joined some of the cousins the day after Thanksgiving to play.  Luke had fun playing in the leaves.  Doesn't he look like such a big boy?

And Jonathan had fun giving out smiles, especially to Madeline, who was very smitten with him!

Baby's First Thanksgiving

Jonathan was once again a highlight of our family gathering while he was awake.  He actually did REALLY well even though he got off his schedule quite a bit.  He was happy and I don't think he cried at all - even when he woke up from his nap dirty.  Couldn't have asked for a more well-mannered baby to help us enjoy the celebration.  Definitely thankful for him!  And for Nathan, Luke and the rest of our families!  And for God's amazing love and free gift of salvation!

2 Months Old!

Luke was hanging around my photo shoot area, so I asked him to give Jonathan a kiss - looks more like a pout, huh?  :)

Here's a picture of Luke getting some love while on the ground for his 2 month photo shoot, too!

Jonathan turned 2 months old the day before Thanksgiving!  I wasn't able to coerce a smile out of him, but he's still cute!

And here's a picture of Luke in a similar pose.  :)