8 and 1/2 months......we have been BUSY!

As you can tell I have let this blog go a little longer than I had anticipated.  I thought I would take the opportunity to do some major catch up while Joe is at his overnight with Grandma and Grandpa.  We had a wonderful White Elephant Party to attend last night courtesy of our good friends the Clarks, and we needed to have Joe stay the night at Grandma's. 
Ok, so what has happened the last 3 months?  Well, Joe has mastered the art of sitting up, pulling himself into his sitting position when he is lying down, crawling and also he has started to try to pull himself up.  We have met Santa, been to Nordstroms too many times to count, had play dates, gotten through 2 vicious colds (why are they always worse in babies?), welcomed new friends Baby Abram and Baby Jordan, and also a new cousin Marco.  We also have moved to the regular tub for baths and he loves it!  We did buy an Elmo faucet cover and it drives him nuts that he can't grab Elmo.  I have to say I wasn't prepared for how SLIPPERY he is in the regular tub!  It is quite hilarious....any suggestions out there moms??? It has been an exciting couple of months and I wouldn't change a thing. 
So far we haven't hit the separation anxiety piece, but all of the books that I am reading say it is on its way.......we shall see. Enjoy the pics below!

6 months

Halloween

Santa!

Holding Baby Marco's hand

7 months-GO CARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8 months!

5 months is Rockin'!

Hand over the milk and no one gets hurt!! (Daddy's badge and hat)

These past few weeks have been great with Baby Joe.  He has made some major developmental milestones, and also we are getting in to the swing of solid foods.  I decided after much thought to go ahead and make my own baby food.  A good friend of mine is a working mom and she does it and convinced me it won't take too much time.  Well, after I bought the Beaba Babycook, I realized she was right.  Beaba Babycook

All I do is spend about an hour (if it's meats, because you have to precook) or less (if its veggies because it will steam and cook them for you) on Sunday and I have my food.  I also bought some GREAT trays to store the foods in and they just freeze overnight and pop out.

Mumi and Bubi Solid Starter Freezer Trays

I then put them in a freezer bag and date and I have his food for a month (meats) and 3months (veggies).  So far I have made turkey, chicken, sweet potatoes, and peas.  My next item will be butternut squash and maybe green beans.  He REALLY likes his foods.  The only thing I am struggling with is a schedule.  I do have his 6 month visit coming up so I am going to make sure what I am doing is ok.  As my doctor said at our 4 months, "Gen, you can't screw this up."  I figure I am doing ok and will ask at the next visit.

Developmental Milestones- My big guys is having a blast rolling over.  I think his favorite game is "Let's Roll Over".  For directions, just look at the title of the game and BINGO, you can play!  I am also so excited to report that yesterday I had Joe on the floor sitting up between my legs and he sat up and reached for toys unassisted!!!!!  I literally started scooting back and he was SITTING UP!!!!!  WOOOHOOO!!!  I have to admit I was terrified I was going to miss that one by being at work.....now if we can get through him walking at home and not while I am at work, I will be set!  Looking forward to 6 months!!!  We are also getting our first professional family portraits done in October.  I am really excited.  Meanwhile, enjoy these pics taken by Grandpa Mike.  Not bad!!!



The Yays and Nays of........................

The Yays and Nays of Returning to Work:

Yay- I have a something that is ALL mine.
Nay- I spend time away from my family.
Yay- I work with some of my very close friends.
Nay- I have to leave my baby boy for 8 hours a day.
Yay- I am leaving him with his grandparents.
Nay- I may miss a developmental milestone that Baby Joe makes.
Yay- I still get the "I adore you and love you so much" looks every day from my Baby.
Nay- I also get the sad eyes when I leave.
Yay- I appreciate all of the time I spend with Joe more than I did before. 
Nay- I miss my son.
Yay- If all of the fabulous teachers out there who had kids quit their jobs, there would be a lot less fabulous teachers educating all of our children!

Yum Yum 4 Months!

Picture A

Picture B

This week Joe turned 4 months old.  The above 2 pictures are the ones I took for his "4 month" slot on the monthly picture frame I bought.  I can't decide between the two.  Let me know which one YOU think I should put in his 4 month slot.  I would greatly appreciate the votes!

At his 4 month doctor visit this week he once again was doing great!  He is in the 50% for weight at 15lb 80z, 50% for head circumference, and 50% for height at 25 3/4inches (side note-Mike and I were worried at his 2 month because he had only grown less than an inch and was in the 30%, so we have been measuring him with a tape measure this past month because we both admitted we were scared he wasn't growing-needless to say, we were wrong and the tape measure can go back down to the tool bench!).  He is progressing perfectly on his developmental chart as well.  The only thing he hasn't done yet is roll over front to back.  He has rolled over back to front several times, and the other is something he will start doing, or could not come until 6 months.  Either way, he is doing fabulous!  Also happy to report that another Baby (yet to be born) will also be going to the same doctor as Joe and that is so exciting!  Can't wait to see Baby Rund in the office! 

Guess who had his first feeding????  Yep...that is what the bowl looked like at the end of the feeding.  I can't even tell you how cute this was and Joe absolutely loved every bite...well maybe not the first two bites.  However, he got on a roll and really started digging in.  I will let the pictures tell the story.

Getting in the Bumbo ready to start!

Here we go!!!

Uh...what the heck is this?

This could be good

Yummmmm

More please!

Yummy Yummy

Oh yeah, this ROCKS!

Are we done?

And, I am DONE!!!!

Chuckle Chuckle

This past week has been sort of a jumble of events.  I think each of these events are important, but as a friend of mine would say, "Eg or Eh" and think maybe not so important...you be the judge;)

     The first event was the Bumbo....how did I not know about this as I spent hours upon hours registering?  Wait, I know, because you never know what to register for, and a baby registry is the hardest type of registry there is...I mean what does a baby need???  However, as I navigated my way through Babies R Us and Pottery Bran Kids, I never even heard the word "Bumbo" muttered.  Oh well, i heard a lot about it after Joe came and I think it's pretty (as the same friend would say) "topnotch"! The Bumbo for those who don't know, helps your baby sit up.  Now, you can only use the Bumbo if your baby can hold his head up.  (You may laugh at this next part if you are a mother who knows more than me)  I wasn't quite sure if Joe could hold his head up or not.  Ok, let em explain that statement.  In my defense, my child HATES tummy time, and I thought holding head up meant in relation to tummy time etc....so I was a little nervous about putting him in the Bumbo.  Needless to say, all the times he is looking around in my arms etc....he is holding his head up, so we were safe!  Here's my cutie pie in his Bumbo.  Ha Ha Ha!!!  Chuckle Chuckle

 

Also, just a small shout out to Rick and Val for giving me the thumbs up on the Bumbo and Kangaroo Kids ( a resale shop in Glendale) for selling gently used Bumbos and saving me about 15dollars!!

 

     Since I am on the topic of introductions the next event was the introduction of the Musical two in 1 jumper thingy.....here is a link.

Jumper

 

     Again, not so sure if he should be in the Jumper yet, but I took some more advice (from Val) and put a pillow under him so he could stand.  The first time I put him in it he hated it.  Then today, he realized how fun it was and has been in it twice.  I think the pictures say it all.   Heee Heee!!  Chuckle Chuckle!!



     Chuckle, Chuckle, how does this title fit in???  Well, my BIG guys started full on LAUGHING this week.  The past two weeks or so he gave us small snippets and minor previews of what was to come, but this week, full on CHUCKLES!!!!  I mean belly laughs!!!  His favorite two things that get him to laugh are the ever popular Raspberries.  If you ever need a lesson or two in giving a good raspberry, just give me a holler.  Also, Mike leans in really quick and gives him kisses on his neck (let's be serious though, you can't find my kid's neck even if you had a magnifying glass), or neck area and he thinks it is hysterical.  So chuckle, chuckle and next time you laugh, remember there is a new baby boy in this world who has now joined you!  And with parents such as myself and Mike, this kid will be laughing his whole life!!! 

 

Lots of MMMMMMMssss!

A momentous occasion, a new month, a Mohawk and a mountain...these are the topics of this week's blog.  I have some MAJOR (hey another "M" word) catching up to on this blog, so settle back with a snack or a cup of your favorite liquid and get ready to read.
First-The Momentous Occasion!!!  Joseph was baptised on June 26th at our new church we joined, St. James the Greater.  It was a lovely day and a beautiful ceremony.  The Deacon is also the funeral director at Bopp Chapel, and he handled both of my grandparents' funerals, so he had a special place for the Donnelly family in his heart.  Joe wore a christening gown that has been on the Betz side of the family for 103 years!  He looked adorable.....just like his Daddy did when he was baptised!

After the Baptism, we continued celebrating at a party at Mike's parents house.  The day was lovely and filled with caring family.  Joe did his best to be the life of the party, but finally succumbed to an hour nap.

Tyler and Amelia, the Godparents

A new month!  Yep, Joe is officially in his 3rd month and is 15 weeks old!  I really can't believe how much time has flown by.  He is so social now.  He smiles all the time, coos and is the nosiest baby I have ever seen.  I love to watch him grow and learn new things every day.  He has really started to enjoy his Lovey and self soothing in his crib by sucking his thumb.  We opted to skip the stickers that you place on the onesies at every month and instead put this Silver Frame from Pottery Barn Kids on our registry to capture each month.  Here is a link, and here is a picture of the frame so far.

Silver Leaf First Year Frame from Pottery Barn Kids

Another thing Joe has is an unofficial Mohawk.  Yep, he has two balding spots on both sides of his head because he loves to roll on his side to sleep.  This has inadvertently caused his hair to have a sort of Mohawk.  I am HOPING with all my might this will change....nothing against Mohawks, I just don't want my son to have one.

The last "M" word is Mountain.  We just got back from a family vacation at our condo in the mountains of Colorado at Granby Ranch.

Granby Ranch

We vacation there a lot in the summers, and were so excited to have Joe come with us and take our first real family vacation.  We were also VERY lucky to have my mom and step dad, and 2 sisters there to join us.  This gave us a chance to do some things without the baby such as white water raft, horseback ride and spend a night alone in Steamboat Springs.  We had a great time and it was so neat to see how much Aunt Amelia and Aunt Beth truly adore their nephew.  I don't think that baby wanted for anything or cried more than a minute without someone there to love on him.  I really am so impressed with my sisters and brothers and how much they love and adore him.  We took Joe to Winter Park, shopping at Grand Lake, and on many hikes in his BOB Jogger.  That jogger was awesome on hikes and through rough terrain.  He even went up the mountain of Sol Vista on the ski lift (safely secured in his Baby Bjorn and with a safety strap) and then down the mountain on a hike.  For 4th of July we watched the kid friendly parade in the Town of Granby.  He loved most of it, but had a bit too much fun and had to take a nap. 

The only downside of the trip was that we had "that" baby on the plane ride back.  You know the one-screaming, crying and everyone is giving the baby and the parents the evil eye.  Yes, unfortunately that was us for about 40 minutes of the flight off an on.  We did have the perfect baby on the way there, so 1 out of 2 isn't so bad...at least he wasn't bad on both rides.  Stay tuned for next week when I am sure it won't be so long...........

Our Condo Building and parking lot

Grandma and Joe on the deck

Grandpa and Joe on the front deck

The top of Solvista Mountain

Aunt Beth and Joe

In the BOB

At Winter Park

Hike in Winter Park

Grand Lake-Joe caught a bear

Plane ride home.....AHH