What a Month! - October 27th

For those of you who still actually attempt to read this blog, I apologize for not updating in so long. A lot has happened, so I'll get right to telling you all about it.

First of all, Jeremy lost his job a little over a month ago, which accounts for much of the reason I haven't posted in so long. He's been home with JJ and me, and we've been enjoying some quality family time together, and we've been working hard on the finishing touches for our remodeling project upstairs (I'll have a picture soon of the tiling work Jeremy has done in the bathroom -- not complete yet, but close!). Sure, we did some relaxing mixed in there, but all in all we've been so busy I just didn't get around to writing in a while.

If you're still holding your breath, you can exhale now; Jeremy got a new job and started today. So today is my first time in more than a month alone with the baby all day. I've done it before obviously, but he's changed so much it's a whole different ballgame now. He doesn't sleep nearly as much during the day, leaving me less and less time to do all the household things I need to do (groceries, laundry, cleaning, organizing, cooking, etc) and leaving me almost zero free time to do things like write this blog. Lucking he's napping now, so I decided to sit down and write for a while.

In any case, since the last time I wrote, JJ has learned many new things. He finally found his feet and of course, his favorite part of his feet -- his toes! He loves to grab them and look at them, pull on them, try to put them in his mouth (he hasn't figured that one out just yet, but he's getting there). On one of the days we were hanging out in our bedroom we gave him this blow-up, child-sized beach ball and let him hold it between his legs. He had a good time, and we even got some video of it. Of course, he's always more entertaining just seconds BEFORE I am able to grab the camera and start recording, but at least you can get an idea of what he was doing.




JJ is also getting a lot better at moving around.
He loves being on his tummy now, and he can scoot himself around to face different directions. He even started inching forward recently, and for an infant who can't quite crawl properly yet, he can really get around! He's much more interactive with his toys, which are usually the objects that convince him it's worth inching forward in order to get to them. He likes to hold things in his hands, move them around and study them, and of course, he loves putting just about everything in his mouth!

I guess the biggest recent development is that today, October 27, 2008, JJ successfully rolled over from his back onto his stomach, all by himself. He's been rolling over from his tummy onto his back for a while now, but going the other way is much harder, since it requires more momentum and his chubby little arms get in the way. But after a few failed attempts this morning, he finally figured it out, and rolled all the way onto his tummy, and even managed to pull his arm out and around so that both his arms were sitting in front of him. Grandma Hohner was on the phone with me when it happened, so I kind of have a witness to this, even though she couldn't see it happening. I'll try to get some video of him doing it in the future if I can catch it.

During this past month JJ also had his first plane ride when we took a trip to Virginia together. It was my gift to my mother for her birthday -- Grandma and Grandpa agreed to pay for our plane ticket so they could get another visit with JJ, and my gift to them was traveling (sans Jeremy Sr.) with him. It was a new experience for JJ and for me and it was a bit difficult at times, juggling a 4 month old and all his accoutrements while going through security, sitting on a plane for hours, and carting him around the airport. But we got through it, and JJ was simply amazing. On the way to Virginia he cried for a total of less than a minute -- that's in the airport AND on the planes (there was a connection). He slept through some of the plane ride, but even when he was awake he didn't fuss, despite the ear popping he was probably experiencing. I think it helped that I nursed him on the plane, which I was really nervous about doing because I know that some people are uncomfortable with seeing that in public, especially in the close quarters of an airplane. But nursing or not, he was just incredible!

In Virginia JJ got to spend lots of quality time with Grandma and got to ride with Grandpa on his tractor! He also got to meet Great Aunt Edna and Great Uncle Stanley, who gave him one of his favorite new toys -- his glow worm! Grandma and Grandpa spoiled him with presents and affection, and we all had a great time.

Well, I hear the little man starting to stir now, so I'll have to end this post. Hope you enjoyed it, and hope I made up for lost time with all the pictures and video! Hopefully I'll be posting again soon, so keep checking!