Romp in The Swamp

Last weekend, I made a last minute day trip to Gainesville with 2 of our 3 boys to give a hug to a sweet and dear friend battling terminal cancer. After saying goodbye, the boys and I went and made some memories in The Swamp. 

I can't tell you how many times I climbed up and down these stadium steps....for games and for workouts.

It was a special day. For several reasons.

Month 7 in Pictures

Time isn't stopping and it sure as heck isn't slowing down any. Jonah passed the 7 month mark this past weekend. He is still super sweet and loves to check out all the new things in his world. 

He is eating a variety of foods and likes most of them....but not plain old oatmeal. Blech!  "Why did you feed me this stuff, Mama?" He is desperate to eat like a big boy, so we use the mesh food holder, let him gnaw on his cup, and eat some baby finger foods like Mum Mums.

Overall, he is still on the smaller side. Though Jonah still has plenty of chunk in his delicious thighs, he continues to wear most of his 3-6 month clothes and a size 2 diaper.

This month Jonah preferred sitting to laying down. If you lay him on his back, he almost immediately rolls over to his tummy and gets up on all fours. He will rock on all fours for a long time before getting frustrated and tired. Though he isn't crawling, he is truly on the verge. Any day! He has inch wormed around a bit and can get somewhere if he wants to get there.

Photo sessions are getting a little trickier as he will flip over to try to crawl away or go from his sit into a crawl stance. I gotta be quick and work for my pictures now!

Despite rarely showing them off yet, he did manage to sprout two teeth this month. Those teeth, as cute as they are, wrecked the boy's ability to sleep through the night. Oh well, it was a nice week of remembering what sleep feels like. Just enough to make me want it back really really badly. 

He was pretty clueless as to what was going on, but Jonah did experience cheering on the Gators this month. Sadly, he has already learned what it is like to lose....more like how Mommy and Daddy act when the Gators lose. 

looking at the camera often makes Jonah go cross-eyed

My precious little man became incredibly clingy this month. He rarely lets me put him down at all these days. Unfortunately, he learned to open his mouth to scream and cry. He used to just whimper and hum. I could handle that, but his cry is just heartbreaking now. I much prefer his sweet smily face, so that means I am holding him in my arms, the Boba carrier, or the sling most of the day. 

Along with learning to cry louder, he is also babbling more and more. In addition to his squeals, giggles (he is so ticklish!), and raspberries, he now growls and will babble "dadada" and "muhmuhmuh." He loves to hear his own voice...almost as much as he enjoys seeing his reflection in a mirror. I know, Baby. I can't stop staring at your cute face either. 

....And just like his brothers, he has a scrunchie smile face. Too much cuteness! 

Happy 7 months to you, my sweet Jonah! I think we are in for a lot of fun this coming month. 

(for the fun of it: Jude at 7 months ---- they don't look as much alike as I keep thinking they do)

Purple At Last

After a lot of hard work, practice, sweat, and even some tears, Eli is now a purple belt in karate. He has come so far, not only in his skills (check out his high kicks!) but also in his leadership, self-control, and focus.

He continues to be passionate about the sport and is thrilled to finally be a purple belt. So proud of our Karate Kid.

(photo documenting while wrangling a squirmy almost-7-month-old not recommended!)

Beach is the Word

We had back to back beach weekends again. The first weekend, I took the two littlest boys with me to meet up with Aunt Kristi and Uncle Steve for a 36 hour trip to get some fun in the sun time while Daddy took Eli tubing. It was incredibly windy and a tad overcast, but that was not a problem. Just enough sunshine for a great time. The cool evening breeze made for a perfect dinner by the bay.

And then we were all back again with some fun friends for Labor Day. I had the cutest little early morning wake up call each morning. I saw each sunrise, and was happy to pour the busy kids into bed around sunset each night. 

The children truly enjoyed each other's company. Jude and Linnea were sweet playmates both on and off the beach. And despite a little rain here and there, we had mostly sunshine. 

We all had our toes in the sand....even baby Jonah. There was a lot of fishing (caught a keeper mackerel that we ate one night) and even some corn hole. 

Can't you just imagine the conversation here....?

Looking forward to some more beach trips this fall. If the summer temperatures are going to hang around, than we will make the most of them.

Thursday Thoughts

Taking a page from my friend Elisabeth's playbook and do my first ever, Thursday Thoughts. Little snippets--some funny, some not-so-funny, and even some mundane--moments from our week. Here goes nothing....

• Wednesday, Jonah woke up for a 4:30 a.m. feeding (thank you, teeth....for wrecking my boy's ability to sleep through the night!) and when I heard him on the monitor, I reached over and tried to hit the snooze button on my alarm clock. Wish that worked! Wouldn't that be great?

• I was that mom at the playground this week. The one trying to drag 3 crying kids away. Jude had already made a dash and was being carried, Jonah was whimpering in his stroller, and Eli was swatting at me hoping I would shoo like a fly. As I looked at the faces of the moms nearby, I was hoping to see some commiserating looks....you know, the ones that say, "I've been there." Yeah. No. I got some judging eyes instead. Oh well. This mom is gonna do what this momma's gotta do.  

• Birthday parties are great. Birthday parties with face paining are even better. Eli wasn't into the idea until he saw Jude's "scary tickle monster" face. Then he was all about it. But insisted that his be scarier. 

• Jonah has become a super duper clingy baby. It is new, and I am not a fan. He has also learned to cry...really really loudly. I call it his pterodactyl cry. Now when I need to put him down to do anything with both of my hands...you know, like chop up food for dinner or pull things out of the 400 degree oven....he screams his little baby head off.  The sound breaks my heart. But I still think he is cute. Is that wrong?

• I have become the world's sweatiest woman this summer. I'm blaming it on hormones and nursing. Not sure if there is a smidgen of truth to that, but I'm going with it. 

• Eli is all into the army right now. He is checking out all kinds of books about army vehicles and helicopters from the library. And instead of repeating any of the cool facts he is learning from the books, he insists on inventing his own vehicles....with 7 bazillion weapons on each one. Should I be worried?

• We sing Taps at bedtime around here. I got it from my many years as a camper and counselor at Camp Merrie-Woode. We would sing it at the end of each camp day and then it would play to signal lights out. I love it. Jude was singing it last night and ended with, "All is well, safely rest. God is nice." Yes, He is, buddy. Yes, He is. 

• What? You haven't heard of drinking your ice cream cone through a straw? My toddler is going to start a new trend, I tell ya. It was all fine and dandy...until he stabbed the straw through the bottom of the cone. Sigh.

• I've been feeling the itch to get a little crafty lately, so I was excited to venture out (on my own...thanks, Daddy!) to pick up the supplies for a fall wreath I "pinned" last year. I rolled a buncha bunch felt flowers one night and then finished it up the next morning. So pleased with the touch of fall that is on our door now.....even if the temps haven't come out of the 90's yet. 

• Speaking of weather, it has been beautiful the past few weeks. This picture could have been taken any day this week. We'll just forget how stinkin hot it is. And forget what I look like, red-faced, sweating-like-a-pig (remember the sweaty Mama comment from above....), pushing the double stroller as fast as I can to keep up with my speedy bicycle rider. 

• Eli has become a little bookworm and is reading anything he can get his hands on....that interests him. Right now, besides army books, he is very into the Chronicles of Narnia. I read most of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe to him, but when he got the chance, he would often read a couple pages to himself to move us along faster. He was super motivated to finish because I had promised to show him the movie when we were through. 

• And just as expected, he loved the movie. We have since started reading Prince Caspian and spotted a lightpost just like the one in Narnia. (ignore the electrical box and chain link fence in the background....it totally ruins the effect.)
  
  
  

• I got a new toy! Been wanting one of these babies for a while, and I was shocked to find out how reasonably priced they were. What took me so long??? I won't tell you how many things I laminated that first day. 

• I had my first PSL of the season (that stands for Pumpkin Spice Latte...for all you non-adicts). But I couldn't muster up getting a hot one when it was 98 degrees outside. No joke. So a frappecino it was....and it was sooooo yummy. (Does anyone else think they have gotten sweeter over the years? To truly enjoy one these days, I have to opt for less pumps of the crack er, I mean, syrup.)

• Jude told me that last night's dinner was "tee-licious" and the "best the whole world." He won the award for awesome-est kid of the night. 

• Trying not to bring up how badly my Gators played last weekend. It's ok. It is still great to be a Florida Gator....even if we are headed into a super tough schedule without a strong quarterback to lead us. Oh well. Still wearing my colors with pride! Go Gators! (Thank goodness we can't lose this weekend.)