{{Somewhat}} Wordless Monday!

We have had a crazy busy end of March/beginning of April and it couldn't have been more fun! Brad, Amiee and Capri came to visit during their Spring Break and then later that week my mom was able to join us. They joined us while we went to gymnastics, played outside, preschool drop off and pick up, took a driving tour of Purdue, enjoyed local pizza and we were even able to celebrate my mom's birthday all together. We had such a blast and really hated seeing everyone go. Now that it is just the four of us, things are (too) quiet and we are doing our normal day to day things of playing outside, going for walks, going to the gym and preschool, gymnastics, playing with friends, etc. etc. Hopefully we will have visitors again very soon, because we miss everyone so much! 

A little play time in Johnny's toy box. Mellany climbed in and then told us she wanted brother in it with her too....he was so happy to sit in the box with her. 

Mellany really enjoyed having Uncle Brad, Aunt Mae Mae and Capri playing in her room and sharing bath time together

Uncle Brad handled the babies like a champ while Amiee and I got our toes painted

My mama turned the big "50" on April 14 so we took full advantage of all of us being together out here and celebrated! The first part of the celebration included an ice cream cake (a Jones family favorite!)

While the mamas went shopping, the dads and kiddos played at our house. 

That night Gammy led an indoor Easter egg hunt for the kiddos. Mellany and Capri were VERY into the hunt....Johnny....he was asleep :) 

Mellany and I took Gammy to a pottery shop to do some painting. It was the perfect day for it and Mellany really enjoyed picking out pieces to paint and choosing the colors she wanted to paint with. 

After painting, we walked to Coldstone for some ice cream

One of Mellany's favorite things recently is helping cook (specifically stirring, pouring and eating any pieces of chocolate). While Gammy was here with us she wanted to bake some chocolate chip cookies.

One thing we decided to do for my mom's birthday was give her a photo session with the family. She was totally surprised and we had so much fun taking the photos and can't wait to get all of the images back. 

Our friends Whit and Quinn came to play while Gammy was here. Part of the fun included watching Finding Nemo and snacking on some popcorn. 

Mellany reading Gammy's book with Sicily on her lap. This girl just makes herself right at home (her own pillow, blanket, Truman and water on the table)

Johnny was introduced to the wagon and absolutely LOVED riding in it with big sister. 

After all the family left, Mellany went to play at our neighbor Lauren's house for a few hours one afternoon. She came home and while I thought she was playing on the couch while I started dinner, I found her like this. I think they must have played hard at Lauren's house. 

The weather is warming up and we are taking complete advantage. Mellany loves the swing as much as she always has and Johnny loves it just as much as her. 

This past Sunday, another cold/respiratory/ear bug hit the family so 3 out of the 4 of us made a visit to urgent care for some meds. (We didn't leave Mellany out though, as she made the trip today.)

After our family trip to the urgent care, we took a trip to Target to pick up a few things. This was Johnny's first ride in the "big seat" of the shopping cart and he liked it much better than the seat in the cart. 

This past week Johnny was introduced to the trampoline. Mellany really wanted to "jump" with him so after a conversation about being careful and watching out for brother, she started jumping and Johnny started laughing. The harder she jumped, the harder he laughed. While I didn't catch the laughing on camera, I was able to capture a little bit of his shouting which is equal to excitement in Johnny terms. :) 

Johnny: 10 Months

This month has been the month of the biggest changes. Johnny is doing so many new things that we can hardly keep up! It is so exciting as his parents to sit back and watch things just "click" for him! It is definitely one of the most rewarding things about parenting. Even though so many things are changing, Johnny remains one of the happiest baby's who smiles at you and laughs at you at the drop of a hat. 

Here's a little bit about our baby boy this month: 

• He likes to open and close toys/objects, but mostly close them...doors, drawers, lids...you name it, he will sit and play the "open-close-open-close" game
• Loves to dance--as soon as music comes on, the little guy is moving
• He absolutely loves Mellany's little people princess castle. I think what he likes most about it are the doors that open (he loves this about her Barbie Dreamhouse too) but he really likes the music that plays and the actual princesses themselves.
• Sitting still for long periods of time just doesn't happen anymore. He is always on the go, wanting to do something else. Really, the only reason he sits still for long is to eat. 
• Johnny cannot stand his crib bumper and smashes it down so he can see what's on the outside of his crib. When you walk into his room to get him out of bed, 9 times out of 10 he is looking at you through the crib slats, smashing his bumper down. 
• One of his favorite toys are pull-back toys....he can't pull them back by himself but he sure does like to see them roll across the floor
• He loves to clap and has even picked up on cues of when to clap. Now he is working on waving and blowing kisses. 
• Johnny is wearing size 3 diapers
• Clothes sizes are mostly 12 months and some 12-18 months with a few clothes still being 9 months
• He has a fake laugh that he thinks is hilarious
• Diaper changes are getting pretty difficult because he wants to roll and crawl whenever you lay him down.
• One of daddy's proudest moments was teaching Johnny how to growl. So now, he will shout and growl majority of the time
• He still loves to bang on tables and floors, etc with his hands. He really enjoys when daddy plays "table drums" too!

Sleeping:

His morning is still starting around 7:30/8 with a nap around 10-11. He will nap again in the afternoon from 1:30-3:30 and will be in bed by 7:30 and sleep all night. Really, we couldn't ask for a better sleeper. Some days, his afternoon nap is even longer (usually when he doesn't nap in the morning).

Eating Habits/New Foods:

New foods: Oatmeal, chicken and noodle, peanut butter and jelly, grilled cheese, beef with gravy, waffles, cheerios, pizza....he is basically eating anything and everything! 

Little man LOVES to eat. By the way he eats, you would seriously wonder how he ever had weight gain issues as a newborn. We will sit and feed him the entire meal we had planned for him and he will still want more. We envision that he will be packing on several pounds by the time he sees the doctor at 12 months.

Formula is still in the diet and he will drink 6-8 ounces at 8:00, 4-6 ounces at 11:00, 4-6 ounces at 3/4:00 and 6 ounces at 7:00. (I'm pretty sure that he would be totally fine cutting formula out at this point though.)

Johnny still says "more" when he wants more and we are continuing to work on "all done"(at least in sign). He is doing a great job at feeding himself and actually prefers that to us feeding him.

He really doesn't spit up his formula/food unless he has moved around too much for his tummy to handle or he has eaten something that's given him a little reflux. We are so thankful spitting up is a thing of the past! (I was thinking about his spitting up the other day and how there are actually very few days in the week-if any-that he will have to have an outfit change....versus after every other feeding!)

New Discoveries:

His two bottom teeth!!!! Although they have just barely broke through the surface, he is really enjoying biting on things and chewing food with his teeth. The process has been long for them to come through but not really that painful for him until recently as they were breaking through the gums. A few teething tablets later and he was good to go!

With the warmer weather we have had lately, Johnny also got to take his first ride in the outside swing. John said that while he wasn't real sure about it at first, he loved it and didn't hardly want to get out when it was time to go back inside. 

Accomplishments:

Army crawling!! He has done this here and there in the past, but he is consistently army crawling now....we have our very own human mop!! He is pretty quick too! I really think he is enjoying the freedom of being able to get things on his own when he wants them.

Places:

Kids Club at the gym, Mellany's preschool, Church, gymnastics, the bank, the grocery store, the tax office, Buick dealership, tire store, the salon! 

Special Memories:

Johnny got his first hair cut. It wasn't a real big one, but it was a cut. He has so much hair and it was getting pretty long on the sides and in the front that something needed to be done and I just don't trust myself to do it. He sat so well and played with the arm of chair the whole time. I was one proud mama! (Mellany was really excited for him too!)

First Haircut!!

10 Month Photo Shoot

10 Month Videos

Just a swingin'

Just a little dinner conversation...pardon the food in the mouth, we haven't covered that manner yet.