Christmas Toys...Baby Gyro

Mama Bear, Papa Bear, Baby Bear

What a GREAT gift this was! Thank you SO much Grandma Pennock (Jan)! We LOVE our new PJ's! We have the cutest Baby Bear. (we may be biased). : )

The Night Before Christmas...

Ohhh, such JOY in a young kids eyes from wonderous Christmas Lights! The innocence of children is one of the best things in life. I love our cutie pie on this Christmas night!

David's Lab Party

This is Nate's old lab boss, David Wagner. He puts on a great little Christmas party at his house every year. We had so much fun and Johnathan was a hit. He was in such a good mood that night...even though it was past his bedtime. He was playing with his toys and cooeing and squeeling like crazy. Making everyone laugh. He lasted about 1 hour, and then we had brought our big stroller that can lay completely flat. We put that in David's bedroom and put him to bed there and he went right asleep...despite the loud talking in the living room! We stayed as long as we wanted, which was about 8:30pm (it started at 5:30). What a good little boy!!!

Ted & Aniva (our Neighbors)

This is Ted & Aniva Verdonkschot, our very friendly neighbors across the cul de sac from us. They are the best neighbors you could ask for. Neat couple! He is from Holland and she is from Samoa. They have quite a life story! They invited us over last Wednesday for snacks and a glass of wine. We had so much fun visiting with them. They love holding Johnathan.

Swimming in Christmas time : )

We went to a baby store last week with Eiko & Chris. I bought 3 really cute things: a jacket, a fancier sweater, and this little swimsuit. It will be a perfect first swimsuit for him. I plan on taking him to the pool a couple times starting in January or February (around 6 months old). Gotta start him in the water early. I think Jen started Laura even earlier, or about the same time.

Formal Santa Photo : )

They had REAL caribou (reindeer) in the fenced off area by the house. Taxidermy'd of course. Don't tell Johnathan that. : )

Johnathan's photo with SANTA!

I had SO much fun going to get this photo of Johnathan...

1st time on Santa's lap! We got it at Great Outdoor World (Bass Pro Shops). They were giving out free 4x6 photo's of santa. So of course, the line was FOREVER long. We waited for about an hour and 15 minutes. Thank goodness I brought my friendly neighbor Aniva. She came just for fun and it turned out to be nice that she could hold our spot in line when Johnathan needed to go eat for a minute. When he got up there, he was fairly happy. He did okay on Santa's lap, but right when I started walking up to get him again, he started crying and I got one last photo of him...classic! : ) I love the close up one with santa. Johnathan was in his little elf outfit...so cute.

Sunday School Christmas Party

We had a Christmas Party for our Sunday School class last sunday, Dec. 13th. Everyone is good friends and we had a great time. It was at our house. We had a "soup party" with lots of good food. We had a $5 white elephant gift exchange which was real fun. We had about 10 kids there so it was a hoppin' party. : )

4 Month Old Dr's Appointment

Today at 1:45 pm was Johnathan's next doctor's appointment at Advanced Pediatrics. It was supposed to be on December 1st, but the clinic had to reschedule to today because our doctor wasn't on that original day. Anyway, the appointment went very well! Johnathan now weighs 15 lbs, 3 oz. He's actually lowered a bit in that percentile. Last time he was 75th% and now he is 50th%...which is fine of course. His height was 26 inches (75th %). And his head was 41 1/4 inches (25th %). His developmental assessment was fine. Dr. Kurtz said he looked great in every way. He also said we can actually start feeding him real foods any time we want. He said we don't have to wait until he's 6 months old, but that there's no rush either. When he put the tongue depressor in his mouth, he said he was doing tongue movements that showed he was definitely ready for real food (starting with rice cereal, then going to fruits, veggies, and meats). I talked with Nate about it and we decided we would wait at least until after Christmas (5 months old), if not a little closer to 6 months old. The Dr said meats are good to help them get iron and protein in their diet.

Then of course he got his 2 shots. It was quite a bit better this time. I didn't cry, but I almost cried earlier when we were waiting for the doc...I heard the baby in the room next to us...and that one screamed very sadly when he got his shots. So it worried me a ton. I actually had butterfly's in my stomach for my son. But when the lady came in with the shots, I was wanting to make it the best situation for Johnathan. So I told her I was a nurse in L & D and the newborn nursery at UCH. I said, "So, would it be better for me to be a comfort for him while you do it? Or do you think it is better for him if he got both shots at the same time?" And she was great! She goes, "Yeah, you can totally do it if you want." Last time (2 mo.), Johnathan was screaming with the first shot, then she had to stab him again and he reacted even worse. So I thought this might be easier on him. So she let me do it! I gave him one of the shots in his thigh, and she gave the other in the other thigh. It was a little wierd to give a shot to my own son...but I just thought of it professionally. So we went, "one, two, three" then did it at the same moment. He did cry, but it wasn't near as bad and it wasn't as prolonged. Maybe giving the shot was a good distraction for me too. : ) Then we quickly put bandaids on it and then I picked him up and comforted him. He was a really good boy and took it well.

What a Cutie!

Here's our little doll. : ) He is so good at tummy time now, lifting his head so high. Not scooting forward yet. But he is more tolerant of it cause when he's tired, he now rests his head down and sucks his thumb. He loves to watch the kitties now too. : ) I love this new moose sleeper we got him. Today, the 10th is his 4 month old doctors appointment. Sadly he's getting more shots. (I don't want to see him scream again)! I'll tell you about it afterwards.

Great Grandma Pennock visited!

We had a Wonderful visit from Great Grandma Pennock (to Johnathan) from Fri, Nov 27th to Mon, Nov 30th. It was great for Nate to be able to see her again, Johnathan to meet her for the first time, and I had only met her briefly during our wedding in Washington. She is such a lovely woman and so nice. She loves babies and had so much fun with Johnathan. We got an adorable video while she was here of her reading a book to him. Look at the third picture...that is how Johnathan woke up on Monday morning! With his foot up out of the crotch buttons. Very funny! He's such a little wiggler. Thanks for visiting us Grandma!

The next day...

Here's some cute pictures of the boys dressed as "twins". : ) and then some family pics.

Thanksgiving Pictures

We had a lovely Thanksgiving with the Brownings! We went on a nice walk together while the Turkey was in the oven. Nate & Doug got in a snowball fight and I got it all on video camera. : ) Doug cooked a great turkey! We had a delicious feast and great company.