How Long Oh Lord?

I know I know, two posts in one day. Crazy! 

My friend Erica asked me if I'd be interested in sharing my story for a series on her blog called "How long oh Lord?" I just wanted to let you know that you can read part one of my story on her blog now. And I believe she will be posting part two on Thursday. 

It was difficult for me to write but oh so therapeutic and healing. Thank you again Erica for asking me to be a part of this series.  

9 Months

My sweet little wiggly, ever-moving, no-longer-want-to-be-held nine month baby boy. 

Last Monday was your nine month birthday and Tuesday at your nine month check-up (with a new pediatrician that we really like - praise the Lord) you decided you did not want to be held. You were trying to do everything you could to not be held and the people in the waiting area at the doctor's office were staring at me as I was trying to wrangle you in my lap. I told them you had never done this before, and looked at me like "ummm, duh, he's a baby and babies do that." But when I told them you had never done that before they looked at me like I was crazy. I feel like it was seriously overnight that so much has changed, and definitely wasn't ready for it. 

Before I get into the new challenges, here are some Jonah stats:

weight: 18 pounds (15th percentile)

height: 28 inches (44th percentile)

head circumference: 17.75 inches (15th percentile) - your Aunt Britt and Papa-doc still do not believe this because your head looks so normal. I can't imagine what your head would look like if it was in the 50th percentile. =)

- Eating solids has been good, sort of. I feel like you do really well every two meals and then on the third it seems you're not that interested or you don't like what you are getting. Starting new textures has not been your favorite, which has made getting you to eat protein a little difficult. I usually shred chicken into your veggies and you LOVE cheese. I think you could eat orzo pasta with melted cheddar cheese all day long (our version of mac n' cheese). You do not like yogurt, which is strange to me. Basically, as long as you are able to feed yourself you are one happy little eater. 

 - You are starting to nurse a little bit better, which is makes me happy because I am not ready for you to be done nursing. 

- You have been getting faster at your army crawl. You are able to get your knees under you but you haven't pushed up yet on your hands. As much as I want you to master this skill I'm okay that you haven't yet. Once you are for real crawling you are going to be hard to keep up with. 

- You're starting to get interested in pulling yourself up but still not too sure about standing up. 

- And I know I shouldn't post about this but I want to remember how sleeping was for you at nine months. Our nights are getting better, praise the Lord. We are having some pretty early mornings but I'll take those if we're able to get through the night. And napping has been good too. You've been taking a longer nap in the morning (almost two hours) and about an hour and a half nap in the afternoon. You still wake up after about 40 minutes but you've been doing great with putting yourself back to sleep. 

 I love your half moon eyes, definitely like your fathers. 

Over these past couple of weeks we have been seeing a lot of your personality develop, and I love it! But I guess I wasn't quite ready to see you become so strong willed (clearly you are my son, just ask your Kika about my strong will as a child...and still). 

At nine months you have already mastered the throw your head back and arch your back at the same time. This usually occurs when you aren't getting what you want because I've had to pull you away from something dangerous. 

At nine months you are shaking your head no while you're eating if I'm offering you something that you don't want. Not exactly sure if it is indeed a no, but your lips are sealed and there is no way food getting in there if you don't want it. You also want to hold the spoon while you're eating which is great so you can learn how to feed yourself, but your interest in your spoon is purely for playing with and you've gagged yourself a few times. I even got you a big fat spoon to hold while you eat, but that didn't work out so well either. Your world and meal time is over the moment I take your spoon away from you and I hate that. I want you to have everything you want but not everything is good for you, and that is a tough lesson to learn at nine months....and even still at 27 years old. 

Even with the new challenges of being a parent, your father and I are so glad we are your parents. Thank you for keeping things exciting and for keeping me on my toes. 

I know there is so much more in store during this next month. 

picture by Brooke

Can you believe this was just nine months ago? 

I love love love love love!

Starting to get a lot emotional over here so I better end this post. 

Thank you for continuing to bless me and love me even though 

I take your spoon away from you.

Love you Jonah-bear!

picture by Brooke

Monday Things

I'm currently watching Jonah on the video monitor looking around in his crib. He's only been down for a nap for about an hour and I know he needs to sleep longer. Poor little guy is trying hard to get comfy to go back to sleep. 


I know I still need to get Jonah's 9 month post out (preferably before September), but that little nugget just won't lay still for the picture. And the ones I do have are of him crying. I will attempt another photo shoot when Josh gets home but if it doesn't work out then I'll just have to make what I have work. 


Right now Jonah is putting his blanket over his head and playing peek-a-boo. So cute. 


Not sure when but I am guest writing for one of my friend's blogs soon. I'm sharing my story of loosing Leyton and the Lord's grace through it all. It's going to be in two parts because there was so much I wanted to share. 


Josh is finishing up his ICU rotation on Wednesday and starting ER for the month of September. I'm not sure what to think of him working in the ER, I guess it will depend on what shifts he has. But he has a total of 22 (10 hour shifts) this month when I think the norm is around 15ish. Josh is working so hard and we are so proud of him. 


I know summer is coming to an end quickly but if you love s'mores you are going to love this super easy s'more cookie recipe. I made them this summer when the Ruiters came for a visit. 


Chocolate Marshmallow Meltaways (from Parents magazine - but I just call them s'more cookies)
1 1/4 cups graham-cracker crumbs
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
7 oz. marshmallow cream
nonstick cooking spray
chocolate syrup (I used chocolate chips)


1. In a large bowl, mix the crumbs, peanut butter, maple syrup, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Shape into 24 1 1/4-inch balls and place them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet or tray as you shape. Use a fork to flatten and make a crisscross design on each ball.


*I could probably stop here and just eat these cookies as is, they are so good!* 


2. Before serving, spoon 1/2 tsp. of marshmallow cream onto each cookie (wait to spoon the marshmallow cream on the cookies until you are ready to eat them). Coat the spon with nonstick spray to make it easier. Then drizzle the cookies with chocolate syrup (I just put a couple of chocolate chips on top). 


Enjoy! 


And my little munchkin is back to sleep, hopefully for another hour or two. 


Happy Monday!

DIY projects

I love love love having a garage. It is such a great space for painting furniture. I'm sure this winter I will love it even more for its intended purpose but right now I'm loving it as my prime painting space (get it? prime? bad painters humor, I am my father's daughter). 

Here are the before pictures of our bedroom furniture (Josh's furniture he had when he was younger).

And here are the after pictures...

The color is Martha Stewart's Bedford gray, it might be my new favorite color. 

I need to put something on top of this wardrobe, any suggestions?

One of our other DIY projects this summer was to make a chalkboard. It took us a while to get it all together but I'm really pleased with how it turned out. The whole idea was to make a large chalkboard for very little but we had a hard time finding a frame. We almost gave up our search and almost purchased one but one day at a flea market we found a $2 frame that was exactly what we were looking for.

Hey Amy, see that green bottle on the bottom right? That's my Ace juice bottle I have saved since '03 trip to Italy to visit you. Wish we could have some Ace juice together in your lovely hammocks. =)

This was the sign Jonah and I came home to when we returned from my reunion trip with my girlfriends.

Basically, we got a $6 board cut to fit the frame, some chalkboard paint $13, and I had left over paint from painting our bedroom furniture. Easy-peasy! 

I also painted this make-shift cabinet I made after we lost Leyton. 

Sorry no before pics, it was painted black.

Color: Whetstone Gray by Martha Stewart

A little leftover chalkboard and a small stool I picked up for $5 that I also painted (basket from World Market). The art is from one of my nieces when they were driving through Canton on their way up to Michigan, and I can't seem to erase it. I love have little reminders that they were here.

Lastly, I painted this mirror and bookshelf that sit in our bedroom. Sorry no before pics but they were both dark brown. Color is also Whetstone Gray by MS. And I have two gray candles to go with those candle sticks that are supe cute but I can't seem to find them. They're most likely in one of my unpacked boxes. Can you tell I'm loving the color gray right now? 

I have a few more things I'd like to paint like an end table in our family room but that is going to require sanding. We also need to find a tv console table and if I find something that is gently used I can paint both tables at the same time. And I have a few more projects underway that I'll post those 

pictures once they are completed. 

And a big thanks to my friends Sarah and Brooke for inspiring me to spruce up my things! I'll be coming up to Erie to visit soon to get some more inspiration. Love you girls!

8 Months

I tried to get this post out before August since your background was chosen to reflect Independence day and that was in July but alas it is August 1st....and you don't really care. 

~ This picture was chosen in honor of his father and his Uncle Marcky ~

Oh my oh my, my precious boy you are 8 months old. I am still trying to figure out how that can be possible. It seriously feels like just yesterday we were bringing you home from the hospital. And now you are hitting your milestones left and right. 

You are sitting up really well now. You still have a full tumbles so we make sure we arm your play area with pillows or your bobby but even in the past few days I have seen your confidence grow and you're learning to right yourself if you begin to topple a bit. 

Just this past weekend you have started to army crawl. I knew you had it in you, you just needed the right motivation to propel you forward. And the tv controller is just that. I feel bad for teasing you with the controller so this morning I stuck almost every single toy in front of you and you wouldn't budge. So I grabbed the remote and off you went. Not quite sure how I feel about you lunging for the remote this early. 

Your diet has been expanding and you continue to be a great eater for us. You love bananas and you could probably eat puffs or cheerios all day long. I think you just love being able to feed yourself. We're already seeing your autonomy as you were grabbing the spoon this morning and attempted to feed your self. Even though by the end of breakfast we were both a mess I love seeing you develop new skills, it makes me so proud of my boy. 

Along with all of your new developments this has also been a challenging month for us. Ever since we came back from my trip with my girlfriends and you stayed with your Kika and Papa-doc, you have yet to sleep through the night. I know this isn't incredibly out of the ordinary for babies but ever since you were about 10 weeks old you were making it through the night like a champ. So this is just a little foreign to me. You would often wake up during the night but you always knew to go back to sleep. When you wake up now you start crying and can't seem to get yourself back to sleep. I know there can be lots of reasons for this like you recently had a little bug last week and weren't feeling well, it could be teething, you could be going through a little growth spurt, but my main worry is that you actually aren't getting enough milk from me during the day. I've never had a milk supply issue but lately you haven't been nursing well. I really hoping you aren't done breastfeeding because I certainly am not ready for you to be done. We're praying this is just a phase and that we can figure out why you aren't able to get back to sleep. 

check out those two teeth on the bottom! Very cute and very sharp. =)

Thank you little buddy for being such a joy to me each day as we are still getting settled in to our new home and new town. You make each day so much fun. Yes, we do need more friends but I kind of love it right now just being you and me, you have been excellent company to me. I am cherishing these days we get to spend with one another. Love you Jobu!