Sweet Baby Jonah

Jonah has had a very active month.  He is now 7 (almost 8) months. In the past 30 days or so, he has had many "firsts".  So many, in fact, that I think I'll use bullets to list them.

• Jonah now crawls very well
• He claps often 
• He pats your shoulder sometimes when you hold him
• He can go from sitting to crawling and from crawling to sitting
• Yesterday his first tooth came in (Finally!)
• He pulled himself up to standing yesterday on a kid-sized chair.  He stayed upright for about 2 whole seconds before he and the chair tipped over.  
• He says "Mama" so often that I have decided to declare it his first word.  In his mind it either means, "Mama" or "pay attention to me" because he uses it consistently when I'm around. 
• He eats Cheerios and small bits of crackers, bread, and pancakes.  This is a big step for me because once my kids can "snack", I feel like I have more flexibility when I'm running errands, etc.
• Pobrecito has also had his first illness.  He woke up yesterday with a fever and cough, but seems to be better today.

 

Jonah is such a happy, precious baby!  He is so good and sweet and patient with us all.  It's almost like he's trying to make up for the those very difficult first 3 months by being awesome.  I think that he is as glad as we are that he no longer has colic!

Bonus photos:  I took a couple pictures of my favorite people at the aquarium Friday.

 

An Interview with a 3 Year Old

Kevin has his first day of preschool back in September.  We're part of a co-op again. This time with two other 3 year olds, once a week.  It is Kevin's first year of preschool and he loves it.  He's a smart kid in my totally biased opinion. :) Check out his car organization below.

I love the way Kevin talks.  His mouth is so beautiful!  But that's not the only reason I love to watch him speak; he is funny and imaginative.  I'm often surprised by what comes out of his mouth.  I wanted to post a short video, so that you can all enjoy some "Kevin logic".  Here he explains how and why he cries.  It's all very scientific apparently.

New House (updated)

I worked really hard this week to get the house clean for a couple of hours (having 3 kids has made this nearly impossible for me lately), and I took pictures for y'all. Now you can see the inside of our lovely little rental. We didn't have to paint a thing which was nice.

Front yard:  Dan and the kids are mowing the lawn.  Elena is using the popcorn popper toy and Kevin is pushing the dolly/hand truck.

Front room:  This is what you see to your right when you walk in the door.

That's the front door and what it looks like to your left.  The hallway leads to the bedrooms and the dining room is straight ahead.

Dining room:  The kitchen is to the right.

Kitchen:  I must have taken this picture right before we got the new dishwasher.  It is wonderful and I love it. I never want to be without a dishwasher again!

It is great to look out the kitchen window and watch the kids playing in the back patio/deck.  To the right is the laundry area (there's no door, so I think it is more a laundry hallway than a laundry room).  The area with light yellow walls on the right is also where you will find the pantry, back door, and playroom.

Playroom:  This will always be a work in progress.  I can already tell that I will continually be trying different ways to organize things in here.  Behind me in this picture is a stack of boxes that are waiting to go in the attic.  To my right, is the craft table which Elena is constantly using.  To the left is the play kitchen and easel.  I love having a playroom! 

Kids' bathroom:

Elena's room:  Jonah naps in the pack'n play by the window while Elena is at school because Kevin still naps 2 hours everyday.  Besides the decals that we added and the wall color, this is pretty much the same as her room in our last house.

Kevin and Jonah's room:  We added the train stickers and the valance.  Kevin will soon be sleeping in the bottom bunk of his new bunk bed, so that will be a definite improvement. :) Dan will put it together his next day off...

I love my funny kids!  I am all unpacked now, so the bookcase is no longer half empty. :)  The kids' rooms were finished first, so these pictures are actually from late July/early August.

We bought the boys a bunk bed, but we haven't put it together yet. Maybe this weekend?  Kevin said that he won't mid having a bed, as long as his tent can still go on top. :)
When we bought the bunk bed from an actual store a couple weeks ago, I started to think about which other furniture items in our house we bought NEW.  It's a short list:

The baby crib and changing table. 2 small bookcases and a sofa table.

That's it!  We have been so blessed by the generosity of our friends and family and so happy to have found some good deals on craigslist and whatever we used to use before craigslist (mass emails and the big bulletin board at BYU?).
There are no pictures of the master bedroom or bathroom because they're boring.  I haven't even hung a single picture on our bedroom wall.  Below there's a picture of the kids taken in the doorway, so you can catch a little glimpse.  Hope you liked your little tour of our casa!

Bonus pictures:   2 out of 3 looking at the camera ain't bad. ;)

Dan took this picture for a lecture he's giving to the med students tomorrow about the prevention of spreading germs or something.

My boys!

This was Jonah in late August.  On all fours but not yet crawling.  He likes to do push ups a lot too - which is hilarious.  He is now a professional crawler. :)