Happy Sixth MONTHday!!!

As you can see, Lily wanted to get in on the action.  I call this photo montage, "The Many Faces of Lily".

What he can do:
He can sit up on his own now nearly 100% of the time.

He has 2 and 7/8 teeth.
He weighs: 20lbs 9 oz
Height: 27 inches.

He hasn't tried food just yet.  His sisters were so interested in food by 6 months that we felt guilty eating in front of them.  He couldn't care less except for the desire to snatch your spoon to play with. We plan to wait a few weeks for food to let his first food be Uncle Josh's gourmet food.

He still doesn't put stuff in his mouth (for which I am extremely grateful)!

He wakes up happy in the morning and from naps.  He still doesn't have a consistent nap or bed time but seems to be working on it.  (Big sister Anna needed until 7 months for this and he seems to take after her.  Lily mastered it at closer to 4 months thanks to her magical thumb!)

He is becoming quite the talker and his favorite things to do are to blow rasperries and shriek.  He will open his mouth halfway and let out a soft, high shriek like a baby dinosaur.  He'll do that for minutes at time.  He loves that sound.

He still loves to be tickled, especially on his neck, big belly and big ole thighs!

Happy FIFTH Monthday

What he can do:

JJ can poop more powerfully than a volcano.  It's the very rare poop that stays in his diaper.  I feel like all I do sometimes is scrub poop out of clothes.  And unlike most nursed babies, his poop stinks!!! (TMI, I know)

He has two bottom teeth.  He was in his cradle in the kitchen talking to daddy and I looked down and exclaimed, "He's got two teeth!" Daddy said, "No he doesn't!"  Sure enough, we looked and saw two little white toofers.  They came in with nary a fuss from him and only in hindsight did we remember the extra drool!

He is able to grab things if you hold them out to him.  He is interested in anything you want to give him.

He is able to sit up (with considerable assistance) and seems to like the view that way.  He can't do it on his own and will plop backwards pretty quickly if you tried!

He will SLEEP WHILE TRAVELING (a minor Stokes child miracle).  His favorite place to sleep is in his rocking cradle and he will sleep there fairly well no matter where we go!

Thanks to Mimi's help and decorative eye, his room is all ready.  Unfortunately, he isn't! Pretty much the only place he likes to sleep is in the aforementioned rocking cradle.  So he still sleeps in mommy and daddy's room and he hasn't figured out his naps yet.  Occasionally he'll sleep for an hour or two but he's still stuck on mostly shorter naps throughout the day. 

His favorite things: Anna, Lily, crinkly things, and water bottles.  He is fascinated by moving water and loves to grab and smash anything crinkly, like plastic bags. 

Did you notice those thighs in the pictures above?  Delicious!

Happy 6th Birthday, Anna!

So Anna wanted a slumber party for her 6th birthday.  It was a great idea... in theory.  In reality, I had a 4 month old (which I must have forgotten) and a two year old who had no interest in settling down when it was time to!  I finally had to be "mean mommy" at ten o'clock and stand in the door way glaring.  Luckily, it worked!

Luckily. she ended up with the most amazingly amazing cake ever thanks to her wonderful Mimi!

Her guests:

Molly, Ben. Sophie, Mya, Amanda.