The Next Picasso??

This week John brought home his first "art project." They have been finger painting in day care this week, and here he is, so proud of his work :)


The ladies at the daycare told me he was the only one to keep the colors separate on the paper. Hmmm, just like his Daddy. We always tease Brad because he gets really worked up over bottle parts. The bottles we use have different colored tops and bottoms, so he lines them all up on the counter according to color. He will not sleep at night if we use a blue top with a green bottom on the bottle. Hehe.

This week has been going good at daycare so far! John turns 6 months this weekend, so I will post more than. Until then, enjoy the artwork from my talented son :)

Are You Ready for Some Football???

Unfortunately, John was not ready for his first football game. We went on Saturday to the Army/EMU game with Brad's parents. We all looked ready, all decked out in our Army gear. John looked SOOO cute, in his Army tee and hat. But, it was SO cold and windy, and we got there, sat behind the band, and I think it was all a bit much for him. Every time Army scored and people cheered, he would cry. So I think we stayed about 30 minutes. Oh well! We will try again next year!

We did have a great weekend though. Brad's parents were here and we celebrated his dad's birthday, and then they drove John and me to the outlet shops in Indiana where John and I spend the night at my parents cottage (Brad had a fantasy football draft back here). So we spent the second half of the weekend with my parents, Jenny and Libs, and my grandma.

We came back early today b/c I have students for the first day tomorrow. So, this blog is going to be short because I have a ton of stuff to get ready and I have to get in my quality play time with John before the week begins! So enjoy the pictures, and thanks to both of our parents for a great Labor Day weekend!

Bittersweet

Before I update you on our first week at daycare, check out our big boy sitting!!! He is sitting all the time now, and doing it so well! We are so proud of him :)

So we survived our first week (well, 3 days really) back at work and daycare. It is so bittersweet. I really do love teaching and it was good to be back with my friends at work and actually have conversations with adults about things other than babies, but I missed John so much! He did great though, and I couldn't be happier with how the week went. The mornings were smooth (I was actually earlier to work that I was before I had him), and he did pretty good all week. He slept and took naps, which I was the most nervous about, he ate, and played a ton. The three women than run the infant room are all great, and his primary caregiver, Miss Shelly, is awesome. I know she will take excellent care of him and love him. It is just such a hard notion that it won't be ME with him every day. I did okay the first day, I was so happy it went so well. But that night was hard. We had to let him cry it out for about 10 minutes and I was a wreck. All I kept thinking was, "he really is going to think we don't love him...we leave him at a new place all day, then we don't even come into his room when he is crying." But of course he fell asleep and when we woke him up in the morning smiled at us like usual. I am just feeling this tremendous guilt about leaving him at daycare. Everyone at my work has been great, at least they have all been through it too. I know it will get easier and I really could not be happier about the facility he is at.

He has been SO tired though. We have been waking him up at 6:15 each morning and even though he is napping there, they haven't been as long as they usually are at home. They told me he was really tired on Thursday (he had a pretty fussy morning) and when I got him home, he literally fell asleep on the changing table when I was changing his diaper. I mean, he was OUT. He has never done that before. I put him in his crib and he slept for almost 3 hours. He has been sleeping SO much better at home, thank goodness! I am so proud of him! He has been sleeping about 10 hours each night. We have to let him cry some nights, but usually only for a couple of minutes and then he is out. He has been turning and sleeping on his side and stomach, so that seems to be working. Whoo! I was so worried about going back to work and being so tired from him being up all night.

This weekend we are going to take John to his first football game. Brad's parents are coming tomorrow and we are going to the Army/EMU game. Brad is so excited to take John. He turned on the TV last night for the opening college football games, and John was GLUED to the TV. It was so funny. I don't think he blinked at all. He just sat there with his mouth hanging open, so we had to turn it off :)

Speaking of Brad, I am so proud of him. He got a new job at Booz Allan Hamilton, which we are both really excited about. He starts in a few weeks, so hopefully it is an easy transition.

Well, here are some pictures of John from yesterday glued to the TV...funny. Hope everyone has a good Labor Day!





This is his other favorite pose...he rolls and positions himself under the coffee table where he hangs like a monkey :)

Sickies

This picture cracks me up. I caught him mid yawn, but it looks so funny!

Yuck! John has been battling a cold all week. I thought earlier this summer was bad, but this is the real deal. His nose is so stuffy and runny, but he seems to be getting better and better each day. Since my last post, he has been sleeping much better (yay!) and then on Sunday night, he woke up around midnight and was just miserable. I felt so bad for him. You could genuinely see that he didn't feel well and was sick. So, after a rough night, we went to the doctor early Monday. She gave us the okay to give him some Benadryl at night, which seems to help and he was actually much better today.

The reason she said okay to the Benadryl (they usually have to be at least 6 months) was that he weighs so much! At the doctor, he weighed a whopping 18 pounds, 2 ounces! Holy cow! My 13 month old niece only weighs 19 pounds! And he was 27 1/4 inches long! That's 2 inches longer than his 4 month appointment. My little boy isn't so little anymore! She also said he has four (!) teeth coming in on the top. That would make it 7 teeth so far! Crazy!

Even though he has a cold, he has been acting like his happy self and we have been enjoying this last week before I have to go back to work. We had an open house for his daycare last week and it went so well! John played with his primary caregiver while we had the meeting, and when we went to get him, he was playing away, having a good old time. I know it will be harder on me that it will be for him. I am just so grateful that my district has a daycare for us and that he will be close and in good hands. We will get through it! I just can't believe that the summer is coming to an end, and even more so, how fast these last 5 1/2 months have gone by. It seems like it was just March and I was leaving work, anxious for him to arrive. Ah, how time flies. Everyone tells you it will, but you don't really believe it until you experience it.

We took John to the park right down the street last week and he went on the swing for the first time. He just wanted to eat the chain!

I went shopping yesterday and bought John his Halloween costume. He is going to be a monkey. It is so cute! This picture isn't the greatest because it is from my cell phone, but here he is with the head on. I love it!

Well, I hope everyone has a good week. Wish us luck as we head into our first week at daycare next week!

5 Month Updates

***Sleep Update***
Okay, so hopefully some progress last night. We put him to bed as normal, but he woke up at 11:30 (!). Brad and I were like, you have got to be kidding. Soon the kid won't be going to bed at all! So, we got out his bumper, put him in his sleep sack and let him cry it out. He only cried for about 1o minutes, then flipped over on to his stomach. He scooted all the way to the corner of the crib and then fell asleep. So then we were worried that he couldn't breathe. We wanted to check, but didn't want to wake him up. Knowing if he could breathe won :) So, I tiptoed in, made sure he was breathing, and of course he was. And then he slept until 6:30 this morning! Woohoo!!! He also cut another tooth today, so I am hoping these are the reasons and his sleep will progress back to where it was. I know it will not be a magical process, but hopefully after a week or so he will figure it out and find his comfort in there. So even though Brad and I didn't sleep great last night because we were glued to the monitor, John did, and that is what matters! Praying this repeats!

Don't let this sweet face fool you! He isn't that innocent :)

Our little guy is going through some major changes right now. I really can't believe he is 5 months old! It makes me sad though, because I will be going back to work in two weeks. I really can't believe that I have had almost 6 months off. I feel so lucky to have had this time off, but it really doesn't make it any easier. I am so anxious about him starting in day care, and how he will handle it. And how I will handle it. I am really worried about finding a good balance to all of it. I think I am a pretty good teacher, not to sound conceited, but I have always put in a lot of extra time to my classroom and students, and while I want to continue that, I know my life has changed since having John and I also want to spend as much time as possible with him. So I am praying that I find that balance to be a good mom, wife, and teacher. I know a lot of people do it, so hopefully we will figure it out.

One reason I am so anxious about day care is that John is going through a "phase" right now. He is still having major sleep regression, and Brad and I just don't know what to do other than ride it out. At about 3 months, John started sleeping through the night like a champ. We always swaddled him and this was the secret to him sleeping in his crib for long periods of time. Well, lately (for the past month now), he was/is acting like he was uncomfortable in his swaddle, and would start kicking out of it at night and wake up. So we put him in a sleep sack. The first night, he did great, slept through the whole night. Brad and I thought, "Great, that must have been it." Wrong. Since then, he started waking up multiple times a night and then refuses to sleep back in his crib. We started taking him on the couch and laying down with him because that is the only way we were getting any sleep. Once we lay him on the couch, he is out usually. So it's not that he is hungry or anything, just uncomfortable. Well, this went on about 2-3 weeks. One night at 3 am, we decided to swaddle him again, and he slept until the morning then. So then the next night we swaddled him, slept through the night. This repeated for about 3 days. We thought we were in the clear again, this time with a new swaddle. Wrong again. He is now back to waking up around 1:45 at night. We don't know if he is just too hot or what. It is almost like he wants to roll over and sleep on his side or stomach, but he can only roll from his back to tummy and so he still hasn't mastered back and forth yet. I am hoping that once he can roll easily back and forth, he can maneuver in his crib and get comfortable. Oh, and we tried to let him cry it out too. Horrible, didn't last. Sooo, if anyone has any suggestions, I would love to hear them. We need sleep! I am so worried he will never sleep through the night again and I don't know how I will survive at work at this rate. He is also going through a nap strike at the moment too. Ugh! I really hope this all ends soon, because he used to be such a good sleeper!!!!

But on a good note, he is so cute and lovable. Even at 3 in the morning, cozied up to him on the couch, I just love looking at him and can't believe he is ours! He has such a strong little personality and is always on the go. He is 100% BOY! He is loving his jumperoo at the moment and is also starting to show more interest in his food. He isn't crazy about the oatmeal, but seems to like sweet potatoes. We tried sweet peas today too :) He has been laughing more and more, which is the best sound ever. Still loves to stand and is putting EVERYTHING in his mouth.

This past weekend my sister and brother in law raced in Windsor, so we went to watch their triathlon. They did awesome, as always! Lisa came in 4th overall in the elite division, and Greg got 5th in the men's elite division. Way to go guys, we are so proud of you! Here are some pictures of John recently. I am going to try to upload a video, but it is showing sideways for some reason and I can't figure out how to flip it. Sorry! Bear with me here :)

So proud of my Aunt Lisa and Uncle Greg!

I made a onesie for John with their team logo on it...not bad!

Grabbing for Libby

5 Months Old!

I will write more about his 5 month milestones later (our computer has a virus, so we are making do with the laptop) but I wanted to post his picture. He has slept much better this week, thank goodness! I can't believe he is 5 months old already!!!! It makes me sad because it is time for me to go back to work. I know I have been so lucky to have had so much time off, but I am really going to miss him and our time together. Another post on that coming too...for now we can just enjoy his cuteness :)

Catching Up

I have been slacking in my blog postings. It has been two weeks since I have last posted, and two weeks since our precious little guy has slept through the night. We have some major sleep regression going on right now. He has been waking up 3,4 times a night. Not to eat, but he will not stay back asleep unless we lay with him on the couch. I know, I know, time to let him cry it out. So much harder to actually do...

So, with the lack of sleep over the past two weeks, Brad and I have been pretty tired. We went to Indiana last weekend for the Monhaut family reunion, which was a lot of fun (more on that in a bit). We came back on Monday and Brad's dad came with us because I was supposed to go into work on Tuesday and Wednesday for some meetings, so he was going to baby sit. Well, Tuesday was not a good day. Brad and I both ended up in bed all day long with the flu. It.was.horrible. I always forget how horrible it is to be sick. Thank God Don was here to watch John, and my mom ended up coming over on Wednesday to stay with him while we rested. Poor Don though, we felt so bad. John was not the "easiest" to watch during the day and he was up all night long too. THANK YOU so much Don and my mom for helping! We really appreciate it!

However, the reunion weekend was so much fun. We had a great time with Brad's parents, grandmas, and Lisa. Oh, and Kita and Allie had fun too :) Every year the Monhaut family has a golf scramble in the morning and then a picnic afterwards. John got his first spin on the golf course.

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Grandma Kepfer made golf visors for everyone for the reunion, Here is John sporting his. :)

"Hey, let me steer!"

Here are some pictures from back home. Now that John is rolling, he is getting harder and harder to change, bathe, etc. I had to grab my camera after a bath the other day...too cute!

"I am so happy my Daddy is feeling better!"

"Hey, why am I up here?"

Okay, I should go to sleep now while the little man is sleeping. Let's pray for a better night tonight!