5 Months Old

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We’ve made it to 5 months old! The next month seems like a big milestone itself to me: dramatic reduction in the likelihood of SIDS, sitting up, playing and personalities. I just love 6 months and forward. Don’t get me wrong: I will undoubtedly miss the months of wee little baby, squishy and flexible and pliable. But this is when things will start to get fun.

And speaking of fun: some of it is beginning now! Coraline is actually doing some playing rather than simply observing. She is an expert at tummy time, far more than Jameson ever was, because she loves to be on her belly. She even sleeps that way now! She learned how to roll back to belly this month, and that’s all she does.

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This also means that we have ended swaddling officially, pretty much shortly after she turned 4 months. I will probably miss that, and her little ear hairs on the side, going away the most. Speaking of sleep… this girl is trouble.

She will unexpectedly sleep through the night one night and turn around to be up most of the night the following… it’s been difficult, to say the least. I put up the mesh pads so she can’t get her arms and legs stuck through the slats just yesterday and she slept through, thankfully. This never bothered Jameson, but does seem to bother her. That, and getting frustrated when she does want to return to her back and doesn’t know how to roll that way yet. In addition, if she gets too frustrated, it’s near impossible to get her to sleep so we are always watching for that fine line of trying to get her to go back to sleep on her own without feeding her and getting too frustrated. I’m looking forward to the end of this stage.

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Such is her strength that even while lying down on her back (which isn’t very often anymore!), she can lift her whole chest up like she is trying to sit up! She has terrible balance, but she loves when I grab her fingers and pull her upright into the sitting (or even standing) position. She gives the biggest gummy smiles when I do that, and when I kiss her cheeks loudly by her ear.

Coraline also found her feet this month, to the entertainment of all! She even occasionally chews on her toes, which I think is awesome.

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She is okay in the excersaucer, which we started putting her in this month after her first time at daycare. She likes it okay, but I think will like it more when she can stand easily. Right now it’s harder on her with a pillow propping her feet up to the appropriate height.

Coraline is also practicing holding things with two hands and will give a funny face when she first puts her toy in her mouth as if she’s say, “eww what is that!?” and then… “mmm that feels good on my toothless little gums!”

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Coraline is officially taking bottles consistently at daycare, but still refuses at home or anywhere else but nursing from me. However, we’ve all enjoyed being able to feed Coraline her first foods, which is fun. She got the hang of it quickly and while she doesn’t eat too much yet, she enjoys what she gets. And on those thankfully rare occasions now that she has trouble with the bottle at daycare, they are able to supplement with cereal.

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We’ve enjoyed a lot of outdoor play this month, from her first time in the pool to tea parties with Jameson and Lily. The weather has continued to stay on the cooler side for August, but we do hope to get one more time or two on the water bouncer.

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Coraline is a delight to be around when she’s awake and not tired. She rarely if ever cries for hunger, and only calls out when she wants to hang with her family or gets tired. She’s so very smilely, and we love that she has finally found that thumb (at least, most of the time). I’m looking forward to teaching her the sippy (hopefully — if she continues to refuse the bottle at home!), and beginning to explore more food, as well as rolling the other way, and… of course… maybe a bit better sleep. Pretty please?

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Jungle Garden

I am past due to show you an update to our garden! This has been one of our most successful garden, which I credit to the raised beds we made. We have had snap peas from our garden about 4 times, and loads of cherry, olive and yellow pear shaped tomatoes. I just started getting some Roma and Early Girl tomatoes which are larger. We’ve had batches of green beans, plenty of basil and cleaned up our lettuce. Radishes we finished a couple months ago; they were quick to mature and quick to eat!

Still to mature are our carrots and green onions which I planted from seed. We’ve had just a few small peppers but looking forward to more. The peppers may be the only veggies that aren’t growing as well as hoped.

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Since we fenced off the garden to keep deer out, the grass grows much taller there. This guy found a home in our garden then for a few weeks. However, since Brian put him over the privacy fence, we haven’t seen him back, so he must not have been able to find his way home.

The first time we saw him I screamed (like a girl, obviously). Jameson was with us and I flung him over the fence and tiptoed out myself; It was nearly ready to rain though so Becky, Coraline, Jameson and I all ran for the garage. I think I scared Jameson a bit between the screaming, fence swinging and running!

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Jameson didn’t want to hold him but he did touch him a couple times. I even did as well. I was okay with the snake… as long as I knew exactly where he was at all times! He is a harmless type snake local to our area but I’m just as happy to see him gone now.

On top of this, we’ve been enjoying our weekly crop share program and getting loads of veggies from the Farmers Market as well!

We had a 3 week hiatus, but it’s back again the past couple weeks and we’ve enjoyed everything in our boxes. We’ve had turnips, kale, potatoes and radishes, lettuce, beans, 3 different kinds of peas and we’re just starting to get zucchini, cucumber, garlic and tomatoes from it.

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It’s been such a good, healthy summer and I love to tell Jameson where our food is coming from every night when we sit down for dinner. We introduced prayers before eating in the past 3 weeks and Jameson has learned to wait until everyone sits down before eating and loves to say prayers with us. He loves to end it with an extra “Amen! We eat!”

Yum!

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Summer Cool Down

We have recently experienced a cool down to our summer which had thus far been pretty scorching. It’s a little out of sync then but I wanted to share what we did on a couple summer days to cool down!

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We broke out our waterpark! We’ve had the waterpark for a long time, a couple jobs ago for each of us since we worked at the toy company. It stayed in a box until just a couple weeks ago. The ages on this is 5 and up, but Jameson took right to it.

Neighbors joined us for the fun in the morning through the afternoon and it turned into an all-day impromptu outdoor cookout since we had burgers for lunch and pizza on the grill in the evening!

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Coraline hung out outside in the bumbo chair for a good 20 minutes before she got tired and was due a nap anyway.

For about 20 times, I had to slide down with Jameson in order for him to want to go down. Confession: I didn’t mind at all. The waterpark was a blast for adults, too!

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The daddies were a little big for going down that slide, but that didn’t stop them from going down a couple times each. Don’t worry, everyone was well under the supposed weight limit, though the top seemed to sink dangerously when they were up there, haha!

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The next task was teaching him to go up the ladder part so that I could go up before him (much easier than going up behind him and climbing over him to get him in my lap). He got the hang of it in a few tries, and shortly we were just calling out to him to make sure he used the handles!

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It was a very short step from there to get him going by himself! Which went quickly from standard to sliding down on his stomach. “I go down on my belly” he yelled when he did it (no warning of course, I nearly had a heart attack). “I bounced!” he also yelled, excitedly. Yep, he did get some air going down that slide.

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Coraline was up from her nap and quite enjoyed hanging out in the umbrella stroller watching everyone from the shade. We shortly moved her up to proper shade under the porch umbrella where she could also sit eye to eye with Peyton.

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Our friends from Florida came up to visit family and work a bit, so Bobby came to play in the afternoon too. He loved letting the water out of the pool (An occasional necessity due to the slight slope in our yard, we had to eliminate some of the water when it reached the height limit. He loved to help, of course)

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Bobby had no fear and went down the slide himself from the get-go!

We all were hungry from the day’s activity and nearly all of our three pizza’s were consumed. Poor Peyton was exhausted and passed out in the high chair! It was quite a day.

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The second time we put the waterpark up, it was a little cloudy so Coraline even got to experience the water with her very first time in a pool!

It was a little chillier that day and the water was cold though so I was impressed that she didn’t give us the stink eye until she was in it for a bit. (Unlike Jameson who screamed the moment we put him in cool water his first time)

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We quickly dried her off, and after her nap she got to come back out and enjoy the warmth in the stroller. We didn’t make her suffer too much in the cold water!

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I brought out some squirt guns purchased at Target for $1 and we added those to the mix which Jameson loved. He ran around yelling “squirt squirt!” which was adorable since he only got it squirt about half the time. It takes some strength in those little fingers!

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We had a pretty exhausted dude that day, coming down with a cold. He actually relaxed next to daddy for a while in the pool. We sure do love this waterpark! It’s been so much fun and made weekends at home feel like vacation.

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Somersaulting

Jameson has a new skill, somersaulting.



He just keeps getting bigger by the day.

P.S. I’m back at work today; I can’t believe how quickly 12 weeks went by. Coraline is doing…. okay…. so-so…. with the bottle. I want to make a nice update of her bottle feeding adventures when this is all through but for now we’re still in the midst. As for myself, I am doing okay. I came in and immediately had a problem that I knew how to solve and a task that I knew how to do and that felt very good.

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Visit to Great-Grandma’s

Our last family Christmas outing was to great-grandma’s on the Friday after Christmas.

Jameson was a totally nightmare in the car, but thankfully Aunt Melissa rode with us, and we are also thankful for the ipad.

Great-Grandma's

Great-Grandma

Great-Grandma and Grandma

Jameson insisted on trying a good four of five cookies, but didn’t really like any of them. He ate the most of the pistachio one which was funny!

We had lasagna and salad, which Jameson squirmed his way through. Since he didn’t really nap that day, he was extra wired!

Cookies

Cookies

Yucky Cookie

I don’t do so great with the cats in the house (I’m allergic), but Jameson loved them! He tried to catch a couple but he was not quick enough.

Petting Kitties

Here he is, sitting next to me relaxing for a moment. I look really pregnant.

Jameson and Mom

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He also loved playing with his cousins and their toys (probably mostly their toys — filled with small things and sophisticated levers and big-boy-awesome.

Toys

He wouldn’t let great-grandma hold him this time, but he was happy to blow kisses and give her a high five!

Blowing Kisses

High Five

We left after dinner and opening a few gifts. Jameson got a puzzle and baby got some clothes from Uncle Chuck and Aunt Sue! It is always nice to see great-grandma happy and surrounded by family. What a nice holiday!

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Home for the Holidays

After returning from my parents, we had a second Christmas at home the following morning. These were the gifts from us to Jameson and to each other.

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First up was Sasha, since her gifts are partially unwrapped so that she can see them, she got very excited!

Sasha's Gifts

Sasha

Sasha

She tore right into her first “buddy”, and opened 3 of her 4 new toys.

Jameson’s second gift was a hit: as soon as he opened it, he didn’t want to open any more gifts!

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Broom

Jameson ran around with his broom and wouldn’t put it down! The only way he would open more gifts is if he could hold onto his broom. This little cleaning set was my idea, so I was tickled that he loved it so much!

Opening Gifts

Train

We got Jameson a new RC controlled Thomas the Tank Engine. He has a car, but it only used one button. The new toy has two buttons, so it’s an upgrade! Also, it makes real steam. I was surprised that it actually works really well on carpet as well.

Jameson also received a build-your-own firetruck, which has nuts and bolts and will be one to grow into; and an Elmo play-doh shape maker, which occupied him for about 15 minutes one day (that’s a record for a sit down toy)

Gifts

Last but not least was a set of classic wooden blocks; Jameson used the gift as a launch pad for jumping!

Later that afternoon, we dropped Jameson off at Brian’s parents and I had a doctor’s appointment, for which we drove very carefully through the snow for for all of a 5 minute appointment. But we are thankful things continue to go well, and I’m now measuring on schedule.

After returning to Brian’s parents, while grandpa finished cooking, we opened a few gifts at a time with Jameson to keep him occupied.

Bilibo

Rides

Gifts

Magnadoodle

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There was a lot of hiding and peek-a-boo.

Hiding

Swinging and going upside-down.

Upside Down

And playing of the harmonica. That harmonica got more action than the whistle party favors from his birthday. It sounds just as gross though when he sucks his spit back in. I haven’t been nauseous for this pregnancy for a few weeks now, but that always makes me gag a little.

Harmonica

Jameson’s big gift was a table and chairs set! We haven’t decided where to put it yet but are looking forward to lots of arts and crafts there.

Big Gift

We are also excited that Jameson got a bike seat for the summer; Brian will love taking him out for rides. (I might be a little jealous, since I plan on being left behind with the newborn). What a blessed Christmas we had! And it wasn’t over yet. We still had a few more days off to enjoy family.

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Christmas

Christmas Eve we relaxed at my parents house. Jameson really started enjoying the dogs and wanted to pet them all the time. They are quite a bit more tolerant than Sasha is at home!

Dogs

Dog

Dog

Jameson skipped a nap; he may have fallen asleep for about 20 minutes or so but all the activity downstairs had his attention. A couple of my dad’s friends came over, one bringing a huge locally smoked ham for our dinner that night.

Ham

You would never know that Jameson had skipped a nap though. He was cheerful and running around until the end of the day! He did so well sleeping at my parents house in the big boy bed.

Running

(Here he is wearing my brother’s socks which he actually put on all by himself!)

Christmas Tree

For a few moments he sat still, playing with my brother and dad’s old cars. I was excited to take a few photos without flash for it.

We all attended church post Jameson being in bed, rotating with my parents. It was a little too much for me to imagine taking him to the service. Maybe next year he will be better at sitting still!

And then Santa came!

Christmas Day

Santa brings Jameson 3 gifts (plus a stocking). This year, Santa brought him new eyeball shirts for spring, new Dr. Suess books, and his very own laptop. He’s pretty funny with the laptop. It’s a little outside his age still but he will sometimes sit with it on his lap like mom and dad do.

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He wanted to put on one of the eyeball shirts, but when he noticed there was a sticker on there, he wanted the sticker instead!

Sticker

Jameson got a lot of great gifts, and he just loved opening everything. He continued to be a very neat unwrapper.

He wanted to help Uncle Tyler put batteries in his brand new music player! And Aunt Holly played with his new pegboard.

Gifts

Pegboard

My sister, brother and I each got a beautiful handmade quilt from my mom, made from our t-shirts. I thought the big sister shirt, saved from when I was 4 years old, was adorable.

T-Shirt Quilt

Quilt

Then it was time to open stockings, and as soon as Jameson saw his first prize, he wanted nothing to do with anything else!

Snack

Goldfish are always a hit.

He has also been pretty entertained by his very first slinky! (Once we rounded him back up from hiding with his snack, anyway)

Opening Stockings

We watched Jameson’s new movie, The Lorax, which only captured his attention for about 15 minutes. We were all entertained by it though!

By early that evening, we were packing up to leave. There was a blizzard warning to start overnight; not wanting to get caught in that, we headed out.

Not without a few family photos first!

Meemaw and Jameson

For being such a good sport with photos, he got a slice of bologna!

Bologna

Family

(Yes, those are batman pants! We call them his lounge wear, and he gets to wear them most weekends.)

(Yes, he is trying to put a sock on his hand. What a funny kid!)

It was such a nice visit, and great to spend it with my side of the family for the holidays this year.

He didn’t sleep at all going home though, which made the ride tough! He has begun asking for “itsy bitsy ipad” (an app I have), which makes me laugh. I am not sure what parents did before the ipad!

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Celebrating December Birthdays

Last Saturday, we headed down after swimming lessons and lunch to my parents house. (After being dunked for the first time! Thrice!) It was my mom’s birthday, and we were due to celebrate not just hers but three December birthdays at once. Holly is first on 12/4, followed by Jameson and then my mom on 12/22.

Jameson was okay during the trip. He no longer sleeps in the car, as we discovered several times throughout longer car rides this holiday season, but with plenty of snacks, books and the ipad, he was okay. He was excited to open gifts when we arrived. I am pretty sure he thinks December means an endless supply of unwrapping gifts.

Holly

No one had a problem with allowing him to assist in opening all the gifts, not just his own.

Disney Gifts

Jameson got a few Disney gifts including a plate and new hat from Meemaw and Grandpa.

Hat

I was surprised that he took right to his meemaw, grandpa, uncle and aunt, since it had been awhile. I guess we talk about them enough that he felt he already knew them! Although it should be no surprise he took right to Aunt Holly since he is around a lot of young ladies working at his school!

Unwrapping

My delicate unwrapper neatly tossed all the wrapping paper to the nearest adult to put in the trash.

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Firetruck

Jameson opened a new eyeball shirt from Meemaw and promptly did a monkey imitation, complete with eee eeee ooo ooo and hands in armpits. We tried to get him to do an instant replay for the entire rest of the holiday. No dice!

Monkey

No birthday celebration is complete without dessert!

Meemaw enjoyed a red ice cream cupcake and painted her lips bright red with it. (I was smart and chose white for Jameson and I, haha!)

Dessert

Dessert

The following day was spent in relaxation and enjoyment of the entire family together for the first time in a long while for Christmas. Jameson loved playing with his relatives, and created new games.

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Blocks

He played “pokey carrots” with grandpa, which had us all in stitches, at least until the 6th or 7th round when we wondered how long the game might last.

Carrots

Carrots

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He also played with Uncle Tyler and Grandpa’s old matchbox car set.

Cars

That night we went out to see Christmas lights at the nearby recreation center, but that’s to come!

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Winning the Weekend

This was a great weekend! I felt like I won (if winning is possible for a weekend?). I got caught up on laundry, made beds everyday, did dishes promptly, decorated Jameson’s bathroom and even got family photos done!

We had swimming lessons on Saturday for the second time (but I haven’t posted about it because Brian hasn’t sent photos to me yet. Brian!?) and that always results in a great nap.

Brian even got to ride his bike during naptime. While at lessons, Brian went to the local market (not as great as a farmers market but it sure comes close). He got a lot of fresh vegetables we have been enjoying.

He also came home with flowers, for no reason. He claimed Jameson requested that he get some for me. I love these boys!

Roses

On Saturday afternoon we watched the Lion King, which is Jameson’s favorite movie. He hasn’t seen a whole lot of movies yet, but this one he enjoys watching the beginning and really managed to watch a lot of it while playing. He loves naming all the animals and does so without prompting. I love hearing him say “zebah”

Brian enjoyed him laying next to him for awhile. It’s a rarity to have him sit still!

Watching TV

Watching TV

There was even time for some flashcard practice! Note the “lela” for umbrella, the “ball” for yarn, “bike” for unicycle and a few other ones repeated after Brian. When he walks away, he tells us he is going to go walk, which made me laugh.

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After getting his advent ornament Saturday evening, he walked back to the stockings and proceeded to recite numbers one through seven without prompting or skipping any. We were shocked!

Sunday, we dropped Jameson off at grandma and grandpa’s for the day (who Jameson is now calling “lamb-aw” and “papa”). While he had fun with them, we went winter coat shopping for my belly (success!), lunch and furniture shopping (also reasonable success but no purchases yet).

This was on top of the family photo I captured that morning, which I am not sharing since there was only one perfect one that will be on our Christmas cards. Suffice it to say that everyone is smiling, looking natural and at the camera! Jameson may or may not have been bribed with dice. I am not sure where he got this thing for dice…

Later, Brian managed to find time to make a roast and Jameson had face time with his other grandparents, “meemaw” and grandpa. We opened another stocking, hung it on the tree and had our advent chocolate. Jameson turned on and off light switches, refused most of the meal and was clearly exhausted from his play time that day.

We practiced swimming in the bathtub, I finished Christmas cards (would you believe that I ordered from WalMart? Yes. We’ll see how they come out), and we even relaxed in front of the TV. If only every weekend could be the same!

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Trim the Tree

Saturday it was beautiful out, and we got our Christmas tree. We like to get real trees (I in particular, since I grew up with fake trees, still think it’s a novelty. I think Brian would be happy with either).

Picking out a Tree

This year Jameson helped pick out the tree (or really, just touched them all). He loved watching the worker cut our tree and kept saying “cut” over and over. However, when it came to trimming the tree on Sunday, he was a little less helpful.

I had a whole box of ornaments put away just for Jameson to be able to hang, but you know he didn’t want to hang those ornaments. He wanted to help with all the breakable, shiny and glittery ornaments. He was pretty good with them though for the most part, and handed them over nicely after getting threatened with a timeout once.

Also, he was a big fan of the small bell garland and tried it on, running around with it.

Bell Garland

Brian entertained Jameson for a good while with a collapsible ornament. Jameson kept trying to blow it over, and while Brian tried to get him to kiss it to help it back up, mostly it was just slobber everywhere!

Ornament

Ornament

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Now that Sasha is only on one floor, she took over the Christmas tree corner, so we had to find a new corner! I rather like the tree near the window now, and it seems a little more spacious. So here it is, in all it’s glory!

Christmas Tree

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