John John at 18 Months!

Hard to believe that my little guy is just a few months away from two!  He is absolute sunshine.  John smiles all day long.  We love that little dude so very much!  

Here's a little of what he's up to:

He says:
- Mow Mil (more milk)
- 'NACK!!!! (snack) always at the top of his lungs.
- mama, dada, mammma (grandma), bampa (grandpa), maremare (for Marin), lele (for emilie)
- "that dog!" when he sees a god.
- "tinky eet!" (stinky feet).  When you change his diaper or get him dressed/undressed, John sticks his feet in your face and smiles and says, "tinky eeet!"

He likes:
- cars and says "ooooooom, ooooom" (zoom zoom) when he pushes them around
- LOVES socks and shoes.  He likes to have socks and shoes on always.  He really likes to put his sisters boots on and walks around in them all the time.  He says, "socks" when we wakes up and then points to the closet where his shoes are, after his socks are on, to tell you that he wants to put those on next.
- loves his paci, and doggie and blanket.  He calls his paci a "nigh, nigh" (night night)
- He loves music class, clapping along and running all over the place.  He specifically loves playing with the instruments during the free play portion.


He knows his nose, head, eyes and mouth.  And he loves to point them out- even on you!

John follows his sisters EVERY move!  Literally every single thing they do, he tries to do, too.  He LOVES them so so much.

His first sentence the other day was, "Dank do, Mama." (thank you, mama) after I put his socks on.

John is ONE!!!!

How did it happen?  Seriously.  Wasn't my baby boy just born?  I can't stand it.  

My little John boy is one.  We are so proud of him and so filled with love for him.  It's been a thrilling year watching him grow and change.  I loved every minute.  I can't believe he's one.  We have so much to be grateful for.  

12 Month Old Stats: 

18 lbs 15 oz.

30 inches long

John loves music, "dancing" (swaying side to side), smiling, "walking" while holding onto your two pointer fingers, cruising, play with toys, pretending to stir (plays with an empty cup and spoon), crawls FAST on his hands and knees, pulls to stand and cruises everywhere, almost walking.  

 

John John- 11 Months Old!

John- John is 11 Months Old! He's happy as can be, loves his sisters, crawls all over the place (on his hands and knees now!), pulls to stand, "cruises" around furniture and smilies all. the. time!  We love this little bundle of joy SO MUCH!!

John John 10 Months!

John was 10 months on Saturday.  Time needs to stop.  Seriously.  I saw a tiny little 5 week old baby last week and I swear my ovaries cried.  I don't want another baby, I just don't want mine to keep growing up. :)  I keep joking that since everyone sleeps through the night in my house, no one is allowed to grow any older.  I'd like to just have a 5 year old, 3 year old and a 10 month old forever, please.

And of course this isn't exactly true.  We want our children to thrive and grow and experience new things.  But for sure I'd like for each year to last at least two.  It just goes too quickly.  And they are precious as all get out.

Alas, John is 10 months old.  He's still not crawling on his hands and knees and I doubt that he ever will.  He is so so so fast with the army crawl and he has the whole left knee/right arm, right knee/left arm thing down, so from a physical gross motor stand point, I'm not concerned at all.  He is pulling himself up and he stands for brief periods of time.  Very brief- like 3 seconds tops.

John says Mama and Dada.  He still is crazy about his sisters and he still smiles constantly!  He loves books and music and patty cake and the goofy songs that we make up and sing to him.  Such as, "Mama loves John John, John John, John John.  Mama loves John John, my John John boy!" And then Marin and Emilie sing it to him but put their name in instead of Mama.  He loves his little rattle and wooden blocks.

He's started eating pretty much whatever we eat.  No more baby food for that little dude.  He can put the food away!  But he tends to store the food a little too, in his cheeks.  He is learning the signs for more, all done and please, thank you and milk.  He uses a few with a variation of his own understanding.

He is an absolute joy.  He rolls with the flow and smiles and coos and loves life.  We love him from the tips of his toes to the top of his curly head.

John- 9 Months Old!

9 Month Stats

*17 lbs. 8 oz. 

* 27.5 inches long

I can't believe that our John John is 9 months old already!!  How did that happen?! The next few months need to go much more slowly! All of the sudden he seems more like a little boy and less like a baby.  He is scooting all over the place on his tummy.  I don't know if he will ever crawl on his knees.  He moves very quickly on his tummy and can get exactly wherever he wants to go.  He doesn't quite pull himself up yet, but he does like to stand while holding onto furniture.  He says Dada, and eating all sorts of foods now with his fingers, although he still has not teeth.  

John- 8 Months Old!

*17 lbs.

John is a happy and sweet baby boy at 8 months.  He smiles constantly and loves everyone and everything, specifically his sisters.  He's starting to seem more grown up.  We love every second with him!

John- 7 Months Old!

7 Month Stats: 

17 lbs. 1 oz.

Hard to believe our baby boy is 7 months old already!  Where is the time going?!  

John John scoots around on his tummy well and has perfected the army crawl.  He likes to do this planking thing which is what I think he thinks is going to really get him moving.  He gets on his hands and knees to crawl traditionally, but he doesn't crawls too much yet that way.  

He remains the happiest baby ever.  He cries when he's hungry and tired, and sleeps easy peasy for about 16 hours a day.  We absolutely love his dimpled smile and happy nature! 

John John- 6 Months Old!

6 Month Stats: 

15 lbs. 15 ounces (25th percentile)

26.5 inches long (50th percentile)

We can hardly believe that HALF A YEAR has passed since we welcomed our sweet little John John to the world!  He is the BEST baby.  He never cries.  He sleeps like a dream for 12 hours a night, and two naps a day.  He happily plays with this noggin stick rattle (a clear favorite- from Auntie Molly) on his play mat.  He babbles, says dadadadaddadada, sits up really well, army crawls, scoots backwards, and gets on all fours and rocks back and forth.  

We are all absolutely smitten with our John John!  He sticks his tongue out constantly.  It's so cute, but kind of a picture steeler.  :)  Life with this little guy is certainly fun!  We love watching him grow.  He watches everything his big sisters do!  The poor kid probably has the entire frozen soundtrack committed to his conscience.  Do you see therapy in his future?  Me too.  :)

John William- Two Months!

Two Month Stats

11 lbs. 13 oz.

22.5 inches long

 

My little angel boy is two months old!  When did that happen?!  I held a brand new newborn the other day and I swear compared to her, it felt like John should have tennis shoes and a backpack and be headed off to school.  He's growing too quickly!

I think since I know that this is may last baby, everything is going triple speed.  Or, it could just be since I have three kids that things are going triple speed.  Whatever the reason, I am acutely aware that the days of a tiny little baby perfectly snuggled in the crook of my neck, are numbered.  And although I know that it's how life goes, it is horribly sad so slowly be leaving this chapter of life behind.  Suffice it to say, I am trying to enjoy every single millisecond with my baby John.   All the while, dreaming of a time machine to slow down time.  (Although truth be told, there are a few days we could just fast forward right through- due in part to the two dramatic toddlers going on teenagers in our house.)

These days John is smiling up a storm and melts all of our hearts when he does.   He's a happy little guy.  He tracks us with his eyes well when we come into a room, and definitely hears his sisters voices.  He grasps our fingers and my hair or the collar of my shirt while I am nursing him.  He is strong, holds his head up well, and turns it from side to side. He is starting to be awake more and more now and when he is awake he is very alert.  He also loves to snuggle, and I love that he loves to snuggle.  He really prefers to be held all the time if he could, but he tolerates his swing for small periods of time when we can't hold him.  His sisters lived for that thing, John more just tolerates it.  He naps swaddled in his swing, however.  And he'll sleep like for a few hours. 

John loves to be swaddled- it's pretty much the only way that he'll sleep.  So we swaddle him for naps and at bedtime.  The longest he has slept at a time was 8 hours and 15 minutes, which was an amazing night and would have been even more amazing had I gone to bed when he did.  Up until this week, he would go to bed around 8:30 and sleep until 3 or 3:30.  But all of the sudden this week he's up again at 1:30.  Still, he's regularly up only one time at night, so I can't complain about that.  And he eats, and then goes back to sleep.  He is able to put himself to sleep awake, but drowsy, as long as he has a full belly and has burped.

Jason and I think he's a perfect angel, and his sisters definitely agree.  The newness of him hasn't worn off to them yet, and I hope it won't until he's totally assimilated himself as "one of them".  I can't wait to hear them all talking to each other, and watch them all running through the house together.  John really is a good baby.  And he's our sunshine. 

oh no... i'm about to cry!

John William- One Month Old (Almost One Month Ago)

One Month Stats: 

10 lbs. 5oz.

22 inches

 John was one month old on September 21st, which was almost another whole month ago now, but alas, such is the life of the third child.  I did take these pictures on the 21st of September, so I consider that to mean that I am still on top of it.  Winning. 

John is a good little guy.  He sleeps like a champ, which is amazing.  At one month, he gets up about twice a night, at about 1am and 4am.  He eats and goes right back to sleep right away.  He poops constantly, like crazy.  In his first few weeks of life, he went about 12 times a day.  And that is not an exaggeration.  Yeah.  Everything works.  But he's still gaining weight, he regained his birth weight before his one week check and continued to gain well from there.  He's a good eater.  Marin told someone the other day, "John's a good sleeper like me, and a good eater like Emilie!"  Guess she's heard us say that a few times. When we first brought Marin home from the hospital she slept like a champ, but we had a really hard time eating.  Emilie was just he opposite.  She latched right away, but was a bit more finicky in the sleep department.  So far, John seems to be the best of both worlds! 
With good eater comes good spitter-upper, it seems.  I'm once again covered in it, as is he.  The smell absolutely repulses Jason.  I guess I'm used to it.  

John is very alert.  He's been this way since he was only days old.  He loves to look around and I think he recognizes our faces; especially the girls and I who spend most of the day in his face.  The girls love to say, "Look at me, John John! I'm your big sister!"  Marin especially loves to say this.  And then Emilie says it because Marin just did. ;)  He likes music and to be sung to.  We sing "You are my John John" to the tune of "You are my Sunshine".  He loves to snuggle, especially facing your chest, all nuzzled up under your chin.  He still curls his little legs into a ball, and I love this because it reminds me that even at 10 pounds, he's still a tiny little bundle. 

In the wee hours of the morning I whisper to him that he's my sweet baby boy and I tell him I love him 4,000 times while kissing the top of his head.  Sometimes during various points in the day I kiss his cheeks until it's almost weird.  And I just literally want to eat him whole.  He's such a sweet little yummy munchkin and I love every inch of his baby skin. 

We all make John predictions.  Will his hair be light like the girls?  Will it be curly? What will he love?  What will he make of all the pink tutus in our basement?  Will he happily play princesses?  How will he change this estrogen palace?  What will be the dynamic between he and his sisters? Will he cure cancer? I can't wait to discover.  I can't wait to see his dreams come true.  I can't wait to watch him grow.

We love you, John John.  You have stolen our hearts.