Family Fun

We are so thankful for family and want to instill that in our children as best as we can. It is important to know that our family stretches beyond the 5 immediate members in our own home. Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins....all are SO important in the lives of children. Our kiddos are so lucky to have this with the Grandpa Lamont's side of the family. Over the years this part of our family has grown to be quite large and when we get together, which thankfully still happens quite a bit, we always have so much fun. We were lucky enough to get together for a pool party at Uncle Jim and Aunt Lynnda's over the weekend. The kids had fun hanging out in the pool and we all enjoyed the quality time together. I'm sure it is wonderful for Grandma Jane (whom we celebrated for her 91 years of life) to see what she and Grandpa Bob started so many years ago grow into what it is today. Family is, by far, one of the greatest of God's gifts.

 .....and this is what all that family fun will do to ya:

6 Months

We've made it to the 6 month mark! This is definitely when we start to really love the baby stage! Joel is such a wonderful baby and we've definitely been blessed to have him in our lives for half a year. He is such a mellow baby and just goes with the flow. He is content anywhere and many times he's so easy going that we forget he's even around. He rarely fusses and just keeps himself entertained no matter where he is.

EATING: Joel is just about completely weaned from breastfeeding and takes formula at 3 out of his 4 feedings. He's at the point where his 4 feedings are about 4 hours apart, but with quite a bit of flexibility. We can pretty much go about our day and get out a bit more without worrying about working around his feeding schedule. He's eating oatmeal mixed with yogurt in the morning, fruit at lunch, and veggies at dinner. About halfway through the month, he seemed to get much more interested in baby food and now he really loves to eat. He's also enjoying eating puffs. He can pick them up by himself, but can't quite figure out how to get them into his mouth, so we usually feed them to him.

SLEEPING: We are finally at a point where we like Joel's sleeping schedule!!! He sleeps a solid 12+ hours at night and takes two naps a little after 9 and 1. Both naps are about 2 hours each and it's been nice to have them much more consistent over the past couple of weeks. He's wonderful at soothing himself to sleep because he's become a huge thumb sucker. We enjoy not having to worry about his paci falling out, but worry about how we'll break the thumb sucking habit in the future. 

MILESTONES: Joel is still a huge mover. He can't quite crawl, but gets all over the place by rolling. He's lived up to his nickname of "Roly Poly Joely" and amazes us with how quickly he's gets where he wants to go just by rolling. He's also gotten very good at sitting up and he seems to enjoy the new perspective. Other than that, not much is new. The doctor is very pleased with his developmental skills and even said he thinks he's advanced with how much he moves...maybe we have a future athlete on our hands! He might, however, have to pack on some extra pounds if he chooses football like Daddy wants.....Joel is quite the peanut and is only in the 30th percentile for weight (he weighs 15 pounds 14 ounces). He is, however, quite tall and falls somewhere over the 80th percentile for height (at 27 inches tall).

5 Months

Another month has come and gone and not much has changed. Joel is still the easy, happy baby he's always been. We are so blessed to have such a delightful baby....especially since his siblings seem to be more of a handful each day!

EATING: Joel has gotten much better about taking a bottle and the scare last month where he wouldn't take a one is a distant memory. We cured the problem by making his last feeding of the day a bottle of pumped milk, so he started to get pretty used to taking a bottle. About halfway through the month, he started waking up again in the middle of the night, so we tried adding oatmeal to his bottle, but that didn't make a difference. We've been trying to give him more solids, but he really isn't very interested in baby food yet. He'll sometimes eat about half of a stage one serving of baby food, but that's it. Unfortunately, we came to the realization that he was definitely not getting enough during the day from just liquid feedings (because he began waking up again once or TWICE at night), so we've started to supplement with formula. We're beginning the process of weaning to just formula, and he seems very happy and much more content that way.

SLEEPING: Joel is still a pretty good sleeper. He's the best one we've had so far when it comes to putting himself to sleep. You can usually rock for just a few minutes, lay him down wide awake, and he'll drift off as long as he has his pacifier in. He takes about 3 fairly predictable naps each day. The first two are around 9 and 1 (they last for about 1.5 to 2 hours) and the last one starts around 5 and doesn't last quite as long. He sometimes wakes about an hour into his nap, but usually will go back to sleep if you put his pacifier in. He is usually asleep for the night around 8 or 8:30 and wakes up for the day around 7:30. Once we started to fill him up more during the day, he stopped waking in the middle of the night. He does still wake around 5 or 6 and usually I'll nurse him back to sleep. He would probably go back to sleep if we let him fuss or rocked with him for awhile, but 5 minutes of nursing him is just as easy and it allows me the chance to get up and go for a jog before the other kids get up. Overall, he's a pretty good sleeper and we're glad to have gotten his middle-of-the-night waking under control!

MILESTONES: Joel is becoming stronger each day and has tons of control over his body. He rolls both ways really quickly and with ease. He is close to sitting by himself, but still topples over if there's nothing supporting him. Lately, he seems REALLY determined to get up on all fours. He can lift his arms off the ground, but can't quite get his belly up. He'll usually get up on his arms and start pushing his knees and feet into the floor in an attempt to move. He gets pretty frustrated, though, when he realizes that he's not getting anywhere. We, on the other hand, are happy to see him not mastering this skill just yet. Having a third kid to chase after is more than we are ready for right now!

4 Months

Where is the time going? Despite the fact that I detest the newborn phase, I'm somewhat sad to see it ending. Every moment with (what I hope is) the last baby is bittersweet. It's exciting to see him grow and change, but kind of sad to know that this is my last time seeing all these "firsts". Needless to say, I'm trying to soak it all up!

Joel is still our "Jolly Joel". He's an incredibly happy and easygoing little guy. He seems to be taking after his big brother (and Daddy) in the personality department. Joel loves to be around anyone and smiles, coos, and giggles with whoever is paying attention to him. He's also following Caleb's patterns for growth and appears to be a long, skinny baby just like his big brother was. At his 4-month check-up, he weighed 14 pounds 6 ounces (44th percentile) and was 25.5 inches (76th percentile). He has dropped in his percentile for weight, but the doctor thinks that is due to how active he is. 

EATING: Joel is still nursing and doing great with it. He is much faster and more efficient, which is a good change from those first couple of months! We've switched back and forth between 4 feedings during the day and 5. It seems like no matter what, he still wakes up once at night to eat. It's hard to have such an unpredictable baby at this point considering the fact that the other two were on very solid eating schedules by this point. We've gotten a bit more lazy about giving him bottles, which ended up backfiring. He got a little picky with Grandma one day and refused to take the bottle. Needless to say, we're back to making sure he gets bottles more regularly so that Mommy can have a bit of freedom! We're also ready to start solids with him. I really despise baby food and would be happy waiting, but we're hoping solids might help him sleep a bit more at night.


SLEEPING: Joel is so-so in this department. Just when it seems like he's sleeping longer stretches, he's back to waking up randomly throughout the night. There have been days when he has slept 11 hours at night without eating, and days when he wakes up 4 hours into his sleep to eat....there's no telling what each night holds and it's testing every bit of my type-A, needs-a-schedule, personality! During the day, he's pretty much taking 3 naps. The morning and afternoon naps are about 1.5 to 2 hours each and the evening nap is usually less than an hour. He's a pretty good napper, so we're happy about that! He's also grown in his ability to put himself to sleep. There are times when he even fights being rocked and just wants to be put in his crib!


MILESTONES: Joel is definitely a mover! He rolls both ways all the time now and manages to get himself all over the place by rolling. There have been a few times when I've put him down in one spot and then came back to find him quite far from where he started. He is getting pretty good at gorilla sitting where he leans forward and supports himself for a bit before tumbling to the side. Joel loves spending time in his exersaucer and any other place that allows him to be upright with a view of what's going on. He's also become more aware of his hands and feet this month. He is growing into quite the thumb-sucker and seems to prefer that to a pacifier, which is quite the opposite of his siblings.

The pictures say it all...

When I watch the interactions between Caleb and Leah on a daily basis, I can't help but wonder what the days will be like when Leah and Joel are best buds. If these pictures are any indication of what their relationship will be like, we might be in for some trouble...

Ummmm....is someone going to do something about this?!?

 Seriously people, she's not going to let me go!

 Alright, fine, I'll just take matters into my own hands...a little biting never hurt anyone, right?

 Okay, Mommy, you're right, she's not so bad and she sure loves me a whole lot. I guess I'll be civil!

Overheard....

I can think of about a hundred things I said I'd never do once I had kids. One of which was let them eat snacks in our family room on the (brand new) couch. Funny how three kids later, my mind has changed a bit and there are certain things I do just to keep peace and sanity. If the kids just happen to have a snack and watch a show, I might just happen to get 30 minutes of no whining, fighting, hitting, biting.....

On this particular day, they met me in the kitchen where I filled up their bowls and happily sent them on their way downstairs. Caleb flew down there and Leah toddled behind. Taking those steps downstairs with her precious snack in hand takes a lot of concentration! Once Leah managed to make her way to the couch, I expected to hear shouts of "Hey, I was sitting there" or "Leah spilled my snack".

But no, not this time. This time, I heard the sweetest little voice say "Caleb, I wuv you". And in return, I heard "I love you too, let's snuggle". Yep, I dropped whatever I was doing to grab my camera and document this moment. Though there are days when these two seem like they can't stand another minute of being together, they are, indeed, best buds! 

And so, I've learned, that letting go of some of those things you said you'd never do as a parent not only leads to added peace within the home, but also moments of complete joy. Who cares if there are crumbs between my cushions...because with those crumbs come moments of sweetness where my babies snuggle up together and make wonderful memories!

Sick and tired of being sick!

Yep, that's right. We are sick and tired of being sick! The past two months have been filled with one sickness after the next in our house. We managed to stay nice and healthy before Joel got here this winter, but since his arrival, the story has been much different. And unfortunately, with 3 kids, sickness just drags out even longer. And chances are that by the time the first kid gets better, he/she is sick again because they've caught what the third kid has. It feels like a neverending battle of sleepless nights, runny noses, coughing attacks, and a whole lot of whining! We started in the beginning of March with colds/runny noses that spread to all 3 and lasted a total of about 3 weeks, had a few days off, then had a 24 hour stomach bug that only hit Caleb, had a few more days off, then Caleb started with pink eye, followed by Leah a few days later, followed by a cold and horrible cough for Caleb, and then Leah was lucky enough to get that one, and now Joel is battling the same cold/cough. Will.it.ever.end?!?!

I'm pretty sure the doctor and his nurse think by now that I am either nuts or just a horrible mom that can't keep my kids healthy. I think I call just about every week with some new concern, but in my defense, I've never dealt with a newborn being sick this much (it's kinda scary at times). Whatever happened to breastfeeding being the best for immunity? I'll admit, I've never been a germ-o-phobe, and I don't think these past two months will even change that about me. I keep my house clean and orderly, but I don't go overboard with disinfecting. My kids sit in shopping carts that haven't been wiped down with lysol wipes, an occasional kid fork drops to the floor and gets picked right back up for use, and every so often I just have to turn my back on one of my dirty monsters picking their nose. I just can't spend my life trying to avoid sickness, and hopefully the amount of sickness we're going through now will build up enough immunity so that they will be healthier later in life!

So, although I'd love to have posted more in the past few months about how much Joel is growing and changing, the trip we took to the aquarium, all the fun things Leah is doing now that she's two, the beautiful weather we've had, our enjoyable Easter, Caleb's life as a four year old, etc., etc., I'm sticking to this. It's been time consuming, I've done lots of laundry, we're still not sleeping all through the night, and I'm more ready for warm, summer days (with less chances of illness) than I've ever been before (even during my teaching days when summer vacation felt like all I was living for)! Until then, we hope those that are reading this have managed to stay healthy and we are thankful that the germs in our "petri dish" (as my sister called it) of a home can't find their way into your home via the world wide web! And for your enjoyment, here are some pictures that would've made for great blog posts, but surely you can understand why they didn't...