Eighteen Month Checkup

Jonathan had his 18 month check-up today with Dr. Lu. Jonathan had a great time trying to destroy the office while we were waiting on Dr. Lu. For the first time, I didn't bring the stroller in. That might have been a mistake. He is so inquisitive and in to everything! Jonathan just loves Dr. Lu though. He has such a gentle calm manner and always makes Jonathan feel at ease.

As usual for Jonathan, he is at the 50th percentile for weight and above the 95th percentile for height!! He weighs 27 pounds 12.5 ounces and is 35 1/2 inches tall. My baby is almost THREE FEET TALL!! I cannot believe that. And I wonder why my knee hurts with him sitting on my hip. The check-up went really well. Dr. Lu said all looked good. Jonathan did have to get one immunization. He was not impressed and definitely not happy with the nurse. He immediately pulled the band-aid off his leg, and then walked out of the office telling everyone he had a "boo-boo."

Dr. Lu also said we could go ahead and turn Jonathan's car seat around. He is in a convertible seat that is rated to 30 pounds in rear-facing. The car seat experts at Children's Hospital had recommended that we keep him rear-facing as long as possible for safety. The problem now is that he is so long that his little legs are all bent up in the seat. Dr. Lu said it was ok to go ahead and turn him around. So I am finally ready to concede the point. We are going to turn the seat around tomorrow. I wonder what Jonathan will think about seeing where he is going for the very first time?

Where Did It Go?

I haven't posted in a while. We have just been so busy lately. Mark is traveling so much lately, that it is hard to keep up at home. New Orleans this week, St. Louis next.

Anyway, we had a potato bug in the house the other day. Jonathan was chasing it around the living room. It flew under some toys in the corner. He looks for it for a second and then turns to me. He puts his hands up, shrugs his shoulders, and asks, "Where did it go?" It was one of the funniest, cutest, sweetest things he has done. I say that phrase a lot about different things, but he just used it so appropriately and meaningfully. Every day is more and more phrases.

Mark's Dad came to visit last week. I thought Jonathan was going to take me out trying to get to his Paw Paw when he got here. It was so sweet. They played and played. Each night, Paw Paw went to bed about the same time Jonathan did. They just wore each other out. They read books, went on walks, played with toys, etc. He went home Monday morning. When we got home from work Monday, Jonathan walked around the house looking for his Paw Paw. The he asked, "Where's Paw Paw?" Poor baby just doesn't understand why people have to leave.

Saturday was Jonathan's Half-Birthday. Yes, we feel for the baby that his birthday is so close to Christmas, so he got a mini-party for his Half-Birthday. I made cupcakes, and he and Mark decorated them with sprinkles. They did a really nice job (and made a really nice mess). His Paw Paw got him a remote control car. It has two buttons, forward and turn/reverse. He loves it. We got him a couple of toys, so he is in hog heaven with new stuff to play with. My parents sent him a Thomas the Train DVD and some new books that he has to read every day. Our little baby is 18 months old. My how fast time flies. I wish so much that I could make time slow, if just for a moment.


Jonathan absolutely loves books. He wants to read them over and over. Then he gets tired of us reading them to him, so he goes and reads them by himself. Right now his favorites are his two Thomas the train books, Elmo animal book, The Big Red Barn, two Christmas books, and about four picture/word identification books. And yes, we read them all, all the time. Which is fine with us. Mark and I can about read some of them with our eyes closed!

They had a petting zoo at preschool last week. They brought in cages and animals and let the kids run around. I didn't get to see all of it, but what I did see was fun. Jonathan was running around to all the animals. They would get a few out at a time to let them pet the animals. Jonathan was a big fan of the bunny. He has a bunny book that he likes to read in the car. And they had goats, which he was a big fan of at the zoo in New Orleans.

Jonathan's still working on potty training at home and at preschool. Today he stayed dry during nap. When he woke up, he ran to Ms. Lauren and started signing potty. So she got him to the potty real fast and he went! Woo hoo! Progress! We went to Sonic after work for a special treat for staying dry. Jonathan is quite a big fan of tater tots and milk jugs. God is good.

Tonight we went to J.C. Penney's. You would have thought we were at Disney World. Jonathan loves to go there. He laughed and giggled and ran around the store like a wild, little heathen child. We had a hard time shopping, but we did have a good time chasing him around the store. We went to Cracker Barrel for dinner after. We used to give him about half a serving of veggies and a biscuit and he would be full. Not anymore! He ate two full servings of veggies (green beans and okra) and about half a biscuit. He is a growing boy, that's for sure. I have visions/nightmares of what my grocery bill will be when he is older. Oh my.... :)

Well there you have it. Our lives for the past week or so. And my ramblings on all the wonderful, funny, loving things that Jonathan has been up to. He is just a wonderful little boy. We love him so very much and are so very proud to call him our son. He just lights up my day and I cannot wait til the next one to see what it will bring. Thank you Lord for giving us this most precious of blessings and such a wonderful opportunity to raise Jonathan in Your word.

Old Video of Jonathan

I was working on the previous post and found another video of Jonathan that we had loaded on Google Video. Jonathan was two months old when this video was taken. He was quite into the "Grease" show that was on TV then. As his Aunt Kim loves to say, "he's a dancer." I watched it about five times today. I absolutely cannot believe how big he is now compared to then and how extremely fast this year has gone. Seems unfair sometimes that the clock keeps on turning. I just want to pause each day and remember each beautiful moment, each kiss, each smile. So enjoy Dancing Jonathan!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1997509458287812773&hl=en

Jonathan and Mark Video Conference

Mark is in Seattle this week for business. Jonathan has been missing his Daddy and calls for him all the time. When we got my new laptop, we got a built in camera. Mark got one to go with his laptop as well. So now we can video conference while he is out of town. Jonathan absolutely loves being able to see and talk to his Daddy. Mark is quite the fan as well. He likes to travel, but he does not like being away from his Little Man. Tonight, I decided to video Jonathan talking to his Daddy on the laptop. Jonathan was right in the middle of dinner when his Daddy called, so we just set the computer up on the table. It was quite funny as you will see. (After several days of trying, I couldn't get the actual video to load on the blog site, so we did it on Google).

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4973191856140963879&hl=en

I started physical therapy on Tuesday for my knee. Yes, the physical therapist is going to physical therapy. Ironic, I know. I tore the meniscus in my knee when I was six but it has been bothering me a lot lately. So, I'm going to therapy to hopefully postpone surgery. It was an interesting experience being the patient again. Plus my knee is so sore today! I think I like being the PT better than being the patient. Oh well, back again tomorrow for more Pain and Torture as Mark likes to call it.

Jonathan is starting to go pee-pee in the potty both at home and at school. He is so proud of himself and we are so very proud of him. He is such the big boy. I should really get video of the 'pee-pee in the potty' dance that we do for him when he does go. It would be hilarious. Jonathan is quite entertained by us acting silly for him. Which, of course, we are more than glad to do at any and all times. Two of the girls in his class are also starting to work on pottying. We are all hoping that they will encourage each other to learn this pottying thing. And I just have to praise God for all our blessings. His doctor said that Jonathan would probably be late potty training, but here he is already starting to work on it. We still have a ways to go, but it is just so calming to see something actually going in the right direction. Thank you Lord.

Those are my ramblings for today. Thanks to each of you for being a part of our lives. We would not be the people we are or the people we hope to be without you. And many praises and thanks to the Lord for all of our blessings. I am so thankful for each day with Jonathan. He is such a blessing to us. He makes us so very, very happy.

Visit From Friends and Mowing the Grass

We had some good friends come to visit us this weekend. One of my roommates and best friends from college, Melissa, and her Mom, Ms. Jenny, came up for the weekend. Melissa lives in Orlando now and Ms. Jenny is still in Monroe. We had a great time seeing them and they were glad to spend some time with Jonathan. He was sick Friday with a fever virus, but was back in shape by Saturday. They babysat Saturday night for a few hours while we went to a baby shower. Jonathan just had a great time showing off all his toys and having new people read ALL of his favorite books. The current favorite books are the Thomas book - he makes all the sounds, "toot-toot," "pssst," "swoosh," and "night-night" - and the Elmo select a page book. He also loves his Big Red Barn, First Words, and Things that Move books.


We got Jonathan a new toy last week. It is a lawn mower that also blows bubbles. He absolutely loves it and has mowed every bit of carpet in the house. Tonight, Mark went outside to mow the grass. You should have seen how excited Jonathan got when he realized his lawn mower was just like Daddy's. He goes taking off across the grass, which was quite high, as fast as he could go, so he could mow the grass with Daddy. He followed Mark around the entire backyard until it was done. I think Mark had as much fun as Jonathan did. They are just so happy to be with each other. I just had a great time sitting on the back porch watching them.

Jonathan is learning new words every day and is putting two words together. Tonight it was "elbow." He loves to do body parts, and teeth are his favorite. Tonight in the tub, I was trying to get him to wash the different body parts himself. (He loves to wash himself). When I asked him to get his elbows, he pokes them both at me and says elbow as clear as could be. He gets so proud of himself when he gets a new word out too. It is very sweet. Other favorite words are puppy, Paw Paw (for both of them), mo' mik (more milk), peez (please), hep me (help me), bye-bye Daddy, and he's just starting to say i-uv-u (approximation of I love you).

We have had a great weekend. We were worried about our little man being sick on Friday, but he bounced right back Saturday. It was really nice to catch up with our friends as well.

Mark is going to Seattle tomorrow for the week. Please keep him in your prayers as he travels and us as we go it alone. And thanks to everyone who has prayed for my cousin. He is home and doing a little better. He got engaged this week. He had already planned to ask her and didn't want to wait any longer! God is so good. We are so very blessed. Here's hoping that each of you have a truly blessed and happy week.

Travelers' Baseball Game

We decided to go to the Arkansas Travelers Baseball Game Friday night. This first picture is our pre-game shot. We finally got Jonathan to wear his baseball hat. I guess he thought if we were wearing ours, he would wear his. The funny thing is Jonathan was the only one with a Traveler's hat. I, of course, had on a Braves hat. Mark had a 2007 World Series Boston/Colorado hat that his friend Floyd got for him from the games. We didn't think to buy tickets ahead of time, so of course when we got there, all they had left was sitting on the grass. We, of course, hadn't brought any chairs or blankets, but it turned out just fine. Jonathan had a great time running around and watching all the other kids and the baseball players. We sat right behind the bullpen, so Jonathan got to watch all the pitcher's warm up. He was so excited by all the balls.

Mark and I got fresh-squeezed lemonade at the game. Jonathan wanted the lemons, so we gave them to him. He was hilarious with the faces and he ate most of the silly thing! They had fireworks after the game which was fun. Jonathan did not quite know what to think about the fireworks. He was a little scared, but he was very brave and did not cry. He wanted to be held, but he wanted to watch the fireworks too! He loved all the music at the game. He danced and danced.

We had such a good time being together. Each day is such a blessing and a joy with our little man. He is just so very, very happy and so excited to see what each day has to offer. God has blessed us beyond our comprehension.

Prayer Request: We had a bit of a scare today. We found out that my cousin, Scott, had a very bad car accident last night. He swerved to avoid a deer and rolled his truck. They had to cut him out of the truck. He has fractured his C2 vertebrae. This is the second vertebrae in his neck and is extremely serious. The doctors have told him that he is extremely lucky to be alive and to have survived the removal from the truck. He also has a broken collar bone, a torn rotator cuff, and possibly a broken wrist and elbow on the other arm. Please lift him up in prayer for healing of his body and also praise God that He was with him and protected him through this horrible ordeal. The doctors believe that he will not have any paralysis, however, he will have to be extremely careful of his neck for the rest of his life. God truly had his hand on Scott to keep him here with us. Thank you Lord for watching over Scott, and thank each of you for praying for him. This picture is from last September of Scott and Jonathan. Scott is just so good with kids. Jonathan loves him to pieces!