From a couple of days ago. Yes, that is avocado on his forehead and I don't know how it got there. And yes, I did find him licking the bib. Matt is on call today which means we won't see him until tomorrow afternoon. He was a nice guy and switched call from yesterday to today for someone else and found out that if he hadn't he would have a half day today and tomorrow completely off. He seemed a little nervous about his first night and hoped that he would be able to deal with the phone calls he got. Jonah and I went to the store today (Matt was too tired to babysit last night). I lost count of the number of women who talked to him and told him he was so cute. There were at least 10. He played the part of the charmer and would usually give them a little smile but wouldn't say anything. He did look awfully cute today in his little polo, boat shoes and bucket hat. Unfortunately my camera battery died so no pictures from today. Maybe for Christmas Matt will get me a new camera that can be charged because the batteries are a small fortune and with over 8,000 pictures since Jonah was born, we go through them quickly. Nothing much else to report here. The dogs were uncharacteristically good yesterday. It was a steroid day for Caleb which usually means frequent trips to the bathroom but he went almost all afternoon and no accidents. I'm thinking of making angel food cupcakes with vanilla icing and a strawberry on top for the bbq Saturday. If I really wanted to make it red, white & blue I could put some blue food coloring in the cupcakes. Maybe I'll do half blue and half white. Here is a really short video of Jonah "walking." My camera died while recording and then he started cruising.

What I've been up to

Oops! Don't have any new pictures of Jonah but here is an unposted one from Father's Day.


Another one from Father's Day. Jonah is ready to start the day but Matt is not.

Since Jonah's new crib arrived I've been fearful that he will start chewing on it, especially now that he is always standing when we go in his room. I didn't really want to put one of those gummy rail things on just in case it would leave a residue. I started looking for an alternative and found some cloth covers. The ones in the store and not very cute and the custom ones range from $35 to $75. So...I decided to tackle my first sewing project. I'm pretty pleased with the results. I used elastic loops to go around the rail and attach to the buttons. I really like the end product but it was a PAIN! I'll consider using ribbon or something to tie the next one I do (because surely we'll have a girl next and I'll need a new one). Jonah likes it too. The green fabric (which I love!) is really soft and he likes to feel it. I was looking forward to using the buttonhole attachment on my sewing machine but the fabric and button were to thick so I had to do it by hand. I should make covers for the sides too but I haven't seen him near the sides so I'm in no hurry. I'm pretty proud of myself for a)finishing in less than 24 hours and only working while Jonah was sleeping and b)not calling anyone who knows how to sew to ask questions (although google came in handy). I mean I'm not opening my own Etsy shop or joining the Bag Ladies anytime soon but this could be the start of something. I'm also working something for Taylor's birthday. I thought I was finished by decided to add more.


Not in love with the buttons but I was disappointed with my options and someone was being a cranky shopping partner.



Enough about that and on to what you really tuned in for, Jonah. He is all over the place lately. I've caught him standing and letting go of things to see if he can stand by himself. He doesn't last long. It is so funny to see him standing there looking around for closest thing for him to use to support himself. If there isn't anything near he plops down and crawls over to something. His 3rd and 4th top teeth are taking their time coming in. They've poked through the gums but are still giving him grief. Today I put him in the bathtub at 1 pm because he was really fussy and I didn't want to lay him down for a nap yet. A bath is like hitting the reset button for him. He's re-energized afterward. He loves splashing around but unfortunately always forget that he cannot crawl in the tub and that he shouldn't stand either. Today he just kept standing and letting go. That's not a skill I want him to practice in the tub. I've been looking for one of those ring things that I remember we had but I can't find one anywhere. They probably don't make them because they think it means people think they can leave their children unattended.
Jonah is napping now and Matt is on his way home. I'm headed to the grocery store this evening (while Matt babysits) before everyone goes to get their supplies for the 4th. We're invited to a bbq on the 4th at one of the doctors houses. It is in our town so we're planning on going. We didn't want to have to drive into the city.

Playing by himself in his room today. Look how he's sitting. He's growing up so fast!


This is right outside the entrance to our apartment complex.


On the way to the mall.

We went to an outlet mall about 30 minutes north of here and bought Jonah some clothes for this winter and next summer (they have a Carters and OshKosh outlet too!). He also got a new pair of shoes because his feet have grown so fast! We bought a size bigger than what we thought he needed now so that they'll last a while. It is a huge place with tons of stores and now I know never to go on a weekend. It was so packed that I didn't get my deliciously bad for me pretzel I had been looking forward to all week because the line was out the door of the store! I did get a few things for myself at the Gap. And Matt got a new pair of pants. (He was thrilled).
Matt did his first admission on his own as a doctor today. He is doing an orthopedic surgery rotation right now. The other day he hammered the pins in for a hip replacement. I'm getting used to the idea (although still not liking it) that his schedule isn't always going to be predictable and convenient for our family. He has called home a couple of times to let me know that he'll be late so I go ahead and feed Jonah and get him ready for bed. Tonight he made it home before Jonah went to bed though. I think seeing Matt walk through the door is the best part of Jonah's day. He gets so excited and squeals and wants to go to him. Matt coming home is one of the best parts of my day too. (And for the dogs too!)

BBQ

The view from the bbq.


A couple of cruise ships in the harbor.


Just because I thought it looked cute.

We had a great time at the radiology bbq. Matt was the only PGY1 there but it was nice to meet other residents and people who have lived in the city for a while. We met some people from Illinois. One of the residents went to med school in Peoria so Matt had met him before but I got to meet him and his super nice wife (and their adorable weihmeraner). And another resident's grandparents live in Mansfield, the Wrights. How is that for a small world? I also talked quite a bit with one of the wives of a resident about where to live and being new to the city. They have 3 kids under 4 so she knows a lot about kids in Seattle. They've been living east of Seattle across Lake Washington and highly recommend it. I kind of looked at that area because it is supposed to be good for families but I always worried about Matt's commute. Apparently the commute isn't too bad and we could get much more for our money. So we've decided that as we get closer to our lease being up here we will look more in that area. A bonus would also be that there is a hospital there with a NICU comparable to the one I came from and that would mean I wouldn't have to drive into the city to work. Sorry we don't have any new pictures of Jonah to post. He was a doll and sat on a blanket eating cheerios, apples, and mango the entire time.

Jonah discovered if you put it up to your ear it makes the music louder.


I was in the other room when I heard some noise and came in to find this

He's shaking the coatrack to make the things hanging on it make noise. Can you tell he's becoming a handful? He grows and changes everyday.

Like the new blog look? I'm not in love with the header but it will have to do until I get more time to work on it. I stayed up too late last night working on it and Jonah was up 3 times last night so I'll be in bed early tonight. Speaking of Jonah, he's calling.

Hair by Matt

Nothing new to report here. Jonah has two more top teeth coming in that have been in the works for the last week hence his low grade fever and fussiness. Today they broke through but he was a complete angel all day. We spent a lot of time reading books and playing games. It was a difficult day with the dogs. Lets just say that I mopped the floor twice, scrubbed the area rug once, and will be shampooing the carpet in Jonah's room in the morning. Caleb has an excuse for one of the times because it was a steroid day for him and I wasn't fast enough getting him out. However, he opened the door to Jonah's room and ran around peeing right before bedtime when he had just been out 30 minutes before. I think he did it to spite me. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. Matt had more orientation today and again tomorrow. He is also on call tomorrow evening so it will just be Jonah and I all day tomorrow. Oh, and the dogs.