Jonah Visits the Zoo!

8 Months!

Today Jonah is 8 months old.

 He has a bright, fun personality.

 When he's comfortable, he is a goofball.

His favorite foods are vegetable pasta and apple apricot.  His favorite books are Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Pat the Bunny.  He loves playing peek-a-boo, petting Cotton (our cat - she'd be appalled to know you might not be familiar with her and that this blog is not actually all about her), and playing with straps, ropes, and tags. 

 Jonah whips his head to look at whoever speaks his name.

 He rolls and scoots backwards (we call it moon crawling), but he's now starting to rock on all fours.  Yesterday I even saw him move one of his knees forward.  Though sometimes he just reaches back and grabs his leg to manually move it.  It makes me laugh. 

 He knows when his picture is being taken.

 He's about to be everywhere.

 He's already difficult for Papa to keep in the baby tub.

 Jonah loves  nothing more than a great story.  He likes real adult conversation too, not the baby stuff.  His attention is held captive by anyone telling an intense tale. 

 Have I mentioned he's a goofball?

 In addition to being social (when he feels secure), Jonah is very musical.  We're beginning to see him dance (you're welcome, son) and he is showing us he can really feel the beat!  He also showed the left side of church his dance moves during worship on Sunday...

 And our photo session is coming to an end...

 ...there it is.  Jonah out.

Jonah, you are so much fun.  You are such a great sleeper (11 hours straight at night), and your giggle melts us.  You are getting so tall (I didn't measure today) and so heavy (I didn't weigh you today but a couple of days ago you were 22 lbs).  You are sensitive to the people and the moods around you.  You are physically so strong.  What a great combination for a man.  You're our little man and we adore you.


P.S.  The lion may not be returning for future photo sessions.  His back was broken and innards pulled out and almost swallowed by a gigantic 8 month old.

This little piggy

This week I joined something called a gym and started something called working out.

Now times have changed because back in my day, 'working out' meant this horrible chore you have to do that is laborious and no fun at all.

But today, 'working out' means something closer to the word 'SPA.'  And no, I don't mean the acronym for remembering the chronological order of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.  Bu-dum-ching!

Anyone?  No?  

Ok.

So these days it means 45 minutes of glorious, uninterrupted TIME.  BY MYSELF.  I just don't care that I'm sweating like a warthog (do they sweat?  I should KNOW this - I just went to the zoo!  C'mon HILLARY!  Get in the game!!). 

The intense inner monologue is left over from my group class this morning.  I didn't have time to research what I was getting into, I just got it together enough to figure out what time we had to be there and got there.  

Lemme tell you sumthin.

This class was not yo mama's Jazzercise.

No offense Mama.

(BTW I still have your Jazzercise sweatshirt from 19whoknowswhat.  I guess I thought the world would always have '80s days but I'm beginning to realize that that is probably the equivalent now of me having had an 1880s day when I was a kid.  But I'm not sure.  I don't do the math in this household.)

This class was not dance based.  It was not a place to look cute.  It was a place to be STRONG.  And kick and box a lot.  Which both made more sense when I passed a friend on the way out and she asked if I'd just been to kickboxing class.  Ohhhhhh.  So that's what I was doing.

Because when I was exhausted and thought I can do this, I'm not in over my head, keep up HILLARY,  and the instructor said, "Good warm up guys" I thought maybe I had found the workout for ex-cons or lady wrestlers or something.

At one point we were instructed to punch down toward the right, and apparently we weren't doing it right because the teacher said, "No PUNCH!  Like THIS!  Not like this.  This is cutting ham.  We ain't cutting ham.  We are beating someone up!  Show me how you beat someone up!!"  

It was ALL I could do to not call a big ol' TIME OUT and explain that no no no, you see I am here to build endurance so that I have enough energy at the end of each day to CUT THE HAM.  Give me the HAM CUTTING workout please.  Also, I don't have a way to "show you how I fight."  All I have in way of street fighting ability is threatening to NOT FIX THE HAM.

Speaking of ham...

Breakfast with combed new hair 'do:

Workout clothes and getting ready for the gym with mommy:

Got scared when he somehow got 'stuck' under my gym bag:

Easter 2014

Ohhh what a special Easter we had!!  Before I share our adventurous weekend, I have to tell you this post will require your imagination.  For you see, I have no pics to upload from my phone because it is full.  I cannot transfer the photos from my camera to my laptop because my laptop is full.  I can't spend time working on figuring out if Carbonite will back up an external hardrive because my daily schedule is full.

They really should replace the 'how to bathe your newborn baby' classes with training on how to manage your PHOTO OVERLOAD.  I'm serious.  It should include teaching Dad how to use the zoom lens, topics like 'Preparing your Computer for Baby' and 'Post Partum Photo Editing,' and practices in how to breathe when you think you've lost all your photos:  "heeeee heeeee hooooo heeee heeee hoooo."

I will say though, among all the full disk space in this house, my heart is full as well.  We had such a special weekend.

Nonni and Grandpa drove in on Friday.  Jonah tried to stay awake for them but after a fun day of the Easter bunny, Easter games and baby friends at church he didn't quite make it, so they peeked in on him sleeping.  He looked soooo cute.

This made for an exciting Saturday morning when Nonni and Grandpa came over to play and it took us 4 hours to get ready to go to the zoo (and I didn't even shower.  I don't really know how this happens.  And it seems we get worse at getting out the door, not better.). But it was worth it because Jonah looked soooo cute in his new little crib size 3 tennis shoes and athletic shorts and tee shirt.  

Great Gape arrived in time to go to the zoo with us and Uncle Greg arrived in time to meet us there and oh what an adventure we had!  

Jonah thought all the fuss was for going on the front sidewalk to see our kitty, Cotton, and play with flowers.  He thought that was what zoo meant.  Then he thought the parking garage was what zoo meant.  Oh he loved the parking garage!

Then we all thought the zoo was people camped out as you walk up to it.  Oma later explained this is a San Antonio Easter weekend tradition.  She said some families have had the same picnic table for 50 years.  I'm not sure I really get the point (or the enjoyment...) but hey.  They all seemed like happy campers.

But then.

Then we got to show Jonah what we've been talking about for weeks.  What the word zoo actually means.

You guys.  The zoo has the coolest stuff.  The aquarium has these awesome ceiling fans.  They're white and they spin really fast.  And at the monkey exhibit you can see yourself in the reflection of the plexiglass.  Oh!! And at the lion's den the wooden fence is really fun to touch!!  AND the hippopotamus cave has this air duct system that's this big black metal piping.  It's really neat.

Eh hem.

After the zoo Great Gape treated us to Scenic Loop Cafe and it was so nice to sit outside and enjoy the company and the atmosphere!  I actually somehow have a picture of that to share!

 Jonah enjoyed talking on his new cell phone in the car on the way over there.  I'm trying to authenticate it by having very real conversations on it so that he's interested in chewing it more than my real phone.  However, this has resulted in me using the LeapFrog phone more than my own.  I now know numbers 1-9 very well.  (For the record, I knew them well before I used Jonah's phone too.) 

Saturday night I continued prepping for Easter dinner with all the grace and calm of a woman who just makes delicious meals and beautiful homes pop out of thin air.  (Or some far off version of that which had my husband ironing table cloths at 9:00 pm without being asked because 1) he's awesome and 2) he was scared.)

After the priceless and precious opening of Jonah's swim-themed Easter basket Sunday morning, we dressed him for church - which was not his favorite part of the weekend, especially when his shoes were too tight but I spent 15 minutes wrestling him and shoving them on his fat feet because gosh darn it that's what I bought them for and they were denim and so precious. 

It was worth it because he looked sooooo cute in his bright green pants and three layers of tops...and denim shoes. : )

We saw great friends at church and came home to a family-filled Easter table with our beloved family from both sides and a meal that convinced me we need to cater next year.  Or camp out by the zoo. 

Goodbyes were hard.  Jonah had a hard morning realizing it was quiet and calm again.  He kept looking for people and crying when he couldn't find anyone.  : (  It was the saddest sight.  Some snuggles with mommy and a nap on the couch helped.  So did seeing a good friend who came over to enjoy leftover desserts.  

It's back to real life tomorrow, Jo.  But the zoo will be there waiting, as will all the family who loves you...

...and maybe even the family who camped out IN the zoo on their own little grassy area and looked like an exhibit.

Tripping Over Dump Trucks

I wanted to start this post with, "Well, it's 8:07 and I'm already in bed."  But, yet again, it's almost 10:00.  

No matter how hard I try I cannot get to bed earlier than that!  And my kitchen is even a mess and I have company coming for Easter and completely skipped my first to-do of going to the store tonight after Jonah was in bed and then skipped my second to-do of getting my baking done after that.  Five o'clock in the morning has way more vision than its 9pm ugly step sister.

Well.

This should bode well for the rest of my hostessing weekend.

Instead of rushing home to clean and cook I took Jonah to his first baseball game.  Because we've been saying 'Baseball' for our B sound word and because that sounded way more fun than anything involving a 'toilet wand.'

(Lemme tell you somethin'.  If you've gotta get on your knees and use muscle to scrub, that ain't no wand.)

He LOVED it.

He loved the middle school boys sitting in front of us, he loved the attention from other spectators in the stands, and he loved watching the game.  And I love that he loves things I think will be fun.  I'm always half expecting for something to go the complete opposite of what I intended, but Jonah gets so interested in what I want him to be interested in!  It's SO fun!!

I was so proud that I could explain to him everything that was going on, and he listened intently.  But when Papa joined us a little later and asked what the score was and how many outs there were, I was stumped.

I have a feeling Jonah may soon fire me from being his activities manager.  Until that day comes, I will savor the joy each new experience brings him, the fatigue it brings me, and the dump trucks I trip over trying to drag myself to bed at the unholy late hour of nine something.

We are looking forward to a very special weekend with family and my favorite holiday of the year.  Happy Easter!

Lately

Jonah is teething and we've been getting up at night, which we haven't done since he was much, much smaller.  Poor little guy!

(Also poor little guy because he bonked his head this morning.  #momfail)

The good news is I'm finally fully recovered from having this child and am feeling fantastic.  My final problem was affecting my energy immensely and now that it's back...well I just feel so much better.

Part of my triumphant recovery was deciding that someone in this place should cook something since grieving and morning sickness have kept fresh new recipes at bay for way too long.

Jonah and Howard both said 'not it' first so I guess I'm the someone.

I picked up the book "The Stocked Kitchen" and have thoroughly enjoyed becoming OCD over it.  The idea is simple - you use one grocery list and make sure you always have those ingredients in stock, and then you know you can make any recipe from the book.

  

I LOVE it.  I can't really explain why.  I've always meal-planned but it becomes time consuming to figure out the meals and shop for different ingredients each week.  I also love that you actually use up all of what you buy.  I cleaned and purged to get ready to have (mostly) only the ingredients for the Stocked Kitchen system and it is making me way happier than it probably should.

I could go on and on about my new cooking system (to which Howard has already instructed Jonah to just smile and nod and say "that's awesome") but let me share about JoJo.  

We've been having so much fun with him lately.  He's laughing a lot and his slurpy little giggle is too much to bear.  He loves playing hide and seek and even has some baby jokes.  If I say in any kind of tone or voice "I gotta get your foot" he just cracks UP.  I mean the kid loses it!  I apparently have a very specialized comedic talent.

He waved hello to someone this morning.  I did not intentionally teach him that, which terrified me.  What else am I doing that he's learning?  Will he be an OCD grocery shopper / meal planner too?!  Or check his phone too often?  Or worry too much?  

It's scary to think about all of my faults and know Jonah's being exposed to them.  But then I'm reminded of his name.  Jonah.  A man God chose to use in a mighty way in spite of himself.  

It's not up to me.  I'm a significant, but small part of the equation of who Jonah becomes and how God works in his life.

Jonah's wave was a poignant reminder that what I do and how I live my life have far more influence with my son than what I try to show or teach him through explanation.

I was additonally reminded of this last night when I was rocking Jonah to sleep and shared my heart with him about several deep things and he just kept belching.  And then other sounds ensued.  

And then I was kinda done with that moment.