The Semester in Cookies

Now that the semester is over and I'm not teaching next semester, I'm hoping to have a bit more time to blog more than once a month!

I decided this semester to bring cookies for my class every Friday. It was a good way to make it through quite a few of my pinned recipes without eating tons of cookies myself, and it seemed to be a big morale booster for the class. One week I brought some leftover Halloween candy on a Wednesday, and one student said, "Wait, you're still bringing cookies on Friday, right?" I assured her that the candy was not a substitute for the cookies.

Here were some of my favorites:

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
These are my new favorite pumpkin cookie. They are chewy, not cake-y, like most pumpkin cookies are. And, most importantly, they didn't get soggy after a day.

Brookies
Several students said this combination of brownies and cookies were their favorites. They're a bit tedious to make, but the wow factor is worth it.

Peanut Butter Nutella Cookies
These are simple but really good. They have a nice texture and are a little bit fancier than a standard peanut butter cookies.

Cornstarch Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
The cornstarch in these is supposed to make them very fluffy. Mine actually didn't turn out fluffy, but they were very soft and delicious. It's my new go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe.

11 Months

At the end of this month, Jonas made some big leaps in his development. He's now a lot more mobile and is seeming much more "toddlerish." I can't believe he'll be 1 soon. I get a little sad thinking of him leaving the baby days behind, but it's a lot of fun seeing him grow up. 

Firsts

• First time to go from laying down to sitting up on his own. He learned how to do this in his crib. It was so funny the first time I went to get him up from his nap and he was just sitting there looking at the door. He looked quite proud of himself. I thought maybe he had used the bars to pull himself up, but later I saw him do it in the middle of the living room floor with no assistance. 
• Soon after that, he pulled up to stand on his own. He also did that for the first time in his crib (and spent many days avoiding napping by pulling himself up and screaming until I came in and laid him down). But the first time I got it on camera is the picture above (Blogger won't let me put it in the right place). He now loves to pull up all the time and can cruise around furniture. 
• First Halloween. He was a lion and looked adorable. I don't think he knew what to make of his costume. Every time I put him in it, he got kind of quiet and timid. 





I took him to our neighborhood church's Fall Festival with my friend Laura and her son, Gabriel. The look of scared confusion on his face is pretty much how he seemed anytime we put his costume on. 



Our playgroup went to a pumpkin patch. Jonas just wanted to eat the pumpkins. 






I hosted a small Halloween party for our playgroup. We had Halloween-themed snacks, read a Halloween book, and played with spaghetti "brains." From left to right: Silas the lumberjack, Myla the giraffe, Jonas the lion, and Avery the ballerina. 



• First cow's milk. The pediatrician said we could start him on cow's milk at 11 months. We cheated and started about a week before. He seems to like it pretty well, so I've started the weaning process. I'm looking forward to having some more freedom. 

Things I Want to Remember

• Jonas is going through a phase where he constantly says "mmm-hmm" or "uh-huh" with varying inflections. Because of this, it often seems like he can understand a lot of what we say, although I think it's just a coincidence. He does seem to understand that when we ask him a question, he should have a response, so he always says "mm-hmm." Or, when Darby and I are talking to each other, we'll say something like, "Jonas is so cute," and he'll say, "uh-huh." It's hilarious. 
• He has now really gotten the hang of clapping and claps when he hears or sees other people clapping or if we say "Yay!" 
• He likes to wave bye-bye, but he only does it when he is the one leaving. He also associates it with walking through doors, so sometimes he'll wave bye when I carry him out of his bedroom into the hallway. 
• Ever since daylight savings time ended, he's been waking up at 6 or 6;30 instead of 8 like he used to. So we've started putting him to bed at 7:30 instead of 8:30, which gives us more time to get stuff done at night. In the mornings, we'll often put him in bed with us and he'll usually sleep at least 30 more minutes. However, he only likes to be close to me in the mornings. Specifically, he has to be holding on to my hair. So Darby gets to sleep peacefully while I have a little person pulling my hair, slapping me in the face, etc. To his credit, Darby has tried to take Jonas to his side of the bed, but Jonas protests so much that I have to take him. Good thing he's such a cute snuggler! 

10 Months

I feel like Jonas is beginning to realize that he has power to make things happen. He can definitely throw a fit when he doesn't get something he wants. And he's starting to get picky when it comes to food. Even though I sometimes miss my completely easygoing baby, I like knowing that he's developing into his own person and that he's attempting to communicate with us. And he's still relatively easygoing. His army crawl has gotten a lot more efficient, but he's still generally content to sit in one place. We still haven't had to do much babyproofing and are getting a bit spoiled.

"Firsts"

• First tooth. He got his two bottom teeth at about the same time. They're just barely in. He doesn't like to let us near his mouth, so no pictures. Teething has been pretty rough on the little guy - many fussy days, congestion, tummy problems, etc.
• First overnight stay alone with G-ma and Papa. We went to Waco for a reunion with some high school friends, and Jonas spent one night with my parents. He did great. While we were in Waco, he got to meet his buddy Samuel, who was born a week after him.



Krista and Samuel with me and Jonas. We tried to force friendship on them, but they were a bit wary. Maybe in a year or so. :)

• First ACU football game. The first game we went to, it rained so we had to leave at halftime. We went to another one with Darby's parents, and Jonas loved it. He even got on the big screen!



Curly hair after being out in the rain.



• First time to clap. One time we got him to clap while mimicking Darby. Now, he won't do it when we ask him to. He'll just do it at random times. One day while he was nursing, he stopped, looked up at me, and started clapping. It was so cute.

Things I Want to Remember

• He likes to hold on to toys with his feet while he plays with them. He's like a little monkey. 
• He's gone to childcare for various events this month, and the first thing the workers say when I go to pick him up is, "Wow. He reeallly likes Cheerios." And it's true. I think he would eat the whole box if we kept giving them to him. 
• He is ticklish on the inside of his arm. If I rub him there, he just giggles and giggles.

9 Months

It's hard for me to believe that Jonas is 3/4 of the way through his first year. Time is really flying - obviously, since I'm posting this update two weeks late. :)

I transferred pictures off my phone to our desktop computer, so I don't have all of the relevant pictures for this update. I just included some random cute ones at the end.

"Firsts"
Not many this month. He's done so much that we're running out of firsts!

• First crawl. He does a strange little army crawl that looks a bit like very ungraceful swimming. It isn't pretty, and prefers rolling to get anywhere, but it works for now. He still doesn't seem too interested in going up on his hands and knees. 

Things I Want to Remember

• Any time we pick him up, he pats us on the back. We pretend he's saying, "Good Mommy/Good Daddy."
• He chuckles all the time now. It's so funny. It's like a little nervous laugh. He definitely has a real laugh that he uses sometimes, but when he's just sitting and playing, he chuckles constantly. 
• He loves dogs. When we go to someone's house that has a dog, he bounces up and down and giggles any time the dog is around. He doesn't mind at all if dogs jump on him or lick him.
• He is scared of balls. Darby's mom had a medium-sized red bouncy ball that she brought out when we were at their house. Jonas started shaking and clinging to us. He hated that thing! It's so strange. 
• He has always been a very good self-soother and has enjoyed sucking on his hands. He's finally settled on sucking on his middle three fingers of one hand. He uses his other hand to play with his hair above his ear. 

I know he's sleepy when he starts doing this.

Eating spaghetti at Mamaw's house. He was so funny slurping it up.

More mealtime messiness. He's a great eater and eats pretty much anything we give him. Sometimes he'll reject a food the first time it's offered, but if we try again, he usually goes for it. Greek yogurt and meat of all kinds are his favorites.

This is how he always sleeps - on his side with his arm out. He's still a great sleeper. We're very lucky.

8 Months

I'd say this was my favorite month yet. Jonas is happy most of the time and interacts with us a lot more. He went through a clingy phase for a little while where he didn't want to let me cook or work on anything while he was in the room. Now, though, he's able to play pretty independently with his toys, with some occasional squawks for me to come over and mess with him. He's such a good-natured baby and will still go to anyone happily. I know people always exclaim over all babies' cuteness and sweetness, but I can't help but feel that the comments are a little more sincere when they're about Jonas. :) I'm proud to be his mom.

"Firsts"

• First time to really roll. It was as if one day a switch was flipped and he realized he could actually get something he wanted by rolling to it. Now he rolls all the time and is sort of starting to creep. He's still not huge on lifting his head off the ground (unless he's sitting) or being on his tummy, so no crawling yet.
• First big road trip with just mom and dad/first time to meet Grandpa and Alma, Todd and Rachel, Aunt Susan, Uncle Glenn, and Julia. We drove up to Wynne, AR, to spend a few days with Darby's extended family. It was wonderful. We were able to get the three baby second cousins together and introduce Jonas to his great-grandparents. From there, we drove over to Knoxville to visit Darby's cousins and then to a little cabin in the Smokies. I really enjoyed the time to relax together as a family. And Jonas was a dream baby while traveling. We are seriously so spoiled. 

  

  Great-Grandpa Jack

  

  Great-Grandma Alma

  

  Getting three babies to look at the camera proved quite challenging. Carter's older brother Cam tried to help as much as he could. Jonas is dwarfed by his cousins Carter (born in November) and Noah (born in January). He's the petite one in the family.

  

  Cousins Todd and Rachel in their cool apartment in downtown Knoxville. They took us out on the main square downtown for a fantastic dinner.

  

  Jonas really enjoyed riding the free trolley.

  

  Outside our cabin in the Smokies. It was raining that day so you can't see the mountains very well, but the view was really pretty.

  
  
• First time to say "dada." He doesn't understand what he's saying and says it anytime to anyone. But still, it's fun to hear. No "mama" yet.  
• First move. We bought a house! It was a crazy whirlwind. My parents and sister came up to help us paint, pack, and clean. Then, Darby's mom came and helped us unpack. I was so grateful because we left for our vacation a week after closing. Jonas transitioned without any trouble. He now has a whole room to himself instead of having to share it with the office. I actually haven't taken any pictures of the new house yet. I'm waiting til everything's in order. So, maybe in three years?

  

  Jonas helping Mamaw and Daddy hang pictures.

Things I Want to Remember

• He has started growling as his preferred method of communication. He seriously sounds like a little demon. Everyone loves it. 
• He has learned that he can get himself from sitting to laying down without just toppling over if he leans back very slowly. So, he does a reverse sit-up basically. It's pretty funny. And obviously a great core workout. 
• He has tons of toys, but his favorite thing is an empty water bottle Darby's mom gave him. Give him one of his bright, textured, squishy, rattly, toys, and he'll be entertained for maybe 2 minutes. Give him that water bottle and he's good for 15 minutes or more.

7 Months

Jonas is definitely beginning to make his desires known. He's still a fairly laid-back baby overall, but he has serious grumpy moments. Still, I'd say this is the parenting sweet spot. I know what I'm doing somewhat, we're in a good routine, and Jonas is learning new skills every day. I told Darby that if I could be given children when they were 6 months old, I'd have 10! :)

"Firsts" from This Month

• First time to swim. I signed Jonas and myself up for swim classes. What I thought would be just a little mommy and me play time turned out to be a water survival skills class. I had to put him under water! It stressed me out so much. He didn't seem to mind too much though. And while he was too young to master floating on his back or crawling out of the pool, he did get very comfortable in the water, so that's something, I guess.

        

    

• First 4th of July. We went over to our friends' house for a little party. They live out in the country, so we could shoot off fireworks. Jonas slept through that, but he did come with us to the fireworks store to pick them out.

Aunt Leila and Uncle Matt. Jonas loves spending time with them.

• First time to roll back to front. He still can't get his arm out from under his body, so no rolling back and forth. But, he does twist his whole torso around, so I'm calling it.

• First time to sit in a high chair/grocery cart.

• First night away from mom and dad. While we were in Waco for Darby's high school reunion, we took advantage of the free baby-sitting to spend the night in a hotel to celebrate our anniversary. We stayed downtown and played tourists, walking across the suspension bridge and having fancy cocktails on a rooftop bar. It was so nice not to have to worry about getting home in time for bedtime and being able to sleep in. And Jonas was in great hands with his Mamaw and Grandpa.

Things I Want to Remember

• He is really experimenting with his voice and goes through phases where he makes a certain noise all the time. For a couple of weeks, he would make a gasping noise. Now, he does a little click.
• He's obsessed with his "puffs" - little baby cereal snacks. The doctor recommended we give them to him so he could practice with finger foods. But now we've created a monster. For a while he couldn't feed them to himself and would just squawk loudly until we fed him one. He would demand a puff in between each bite of vegetables. Ridiculous. Now he rakes them up and stuffs his whole fist in his mouth to make sure they don't fall out. We have to hide the container or he would eat them all day.
• He loves straps, buttons, necklaces, and embroidered logos on shirts. If he sees one, he will not rest until he's touched it, or preferably, eaten it.

6 Months

It's very hard to believe half a year has passed. I still feel like I should have a newborn (but I'm very glad I don't!). I have loved getting to know our little boy, and I'm looking forward to seeing his personality emerge more and more. 

It was a lot harder to get a decent picture this month because he kept wanting to eat the chalkboard and blanket.

"Firsts" from This Month

• First time to sit up on his own. He's still not able to sit for long periods of time and definitely needs a spotter, but he's getting there.



• First solid food. We started with sweet potatoes and he's also had avocado, oatmeal, banana, prunes, carrots, and pears. So far, he likes everything, and he's really starting to get into it now.

• First Father's Day for Darby. We celebrated in Waco. Jonas and I bought Darby a computer program he wanted, and Jonas picked out a card. Darby is such a great dad. I've really been impressed with how natural he is. I couldn't ask for a better co-parent.



Jonas, Me, and Hannah with my dad.



Darby, Jonas, and Darby's dad

• First trip to Auntie Hannie's apartment/First time to meet Carolyn. My friend Carolyn was visiting Dallas for a week from Kansas City. I couldn't let her be within 3 hours of me and not see her, so Jonas and I made a quick trip to Dallas. We got to hang out in Hannah's "bachelorette pad" and have a nice lunch with Carolyn. Another successful mother/son road trip!



Jonas loves his Auntie Hannie!






Jonas and Carolyn at The Twisted Root - yummy burgers!

• First time to be held by Aunt Leila. My brother got married at the end of May. Leila's been around since Jonas was born, and, since she lives in Abilene, has spent a lot of time with Jonas. But it was still a big deal when she became his aunt officially. She is so sweet with Jonas and is a great addition to our family. 



Jonas was exhausted from all the excitement. :)

Things I Want to Remember

• The big event of this month for me was nap training. I finally decided it was time for Jonas to learn to sleep in his crib at naptime. And it was rough. But after a few days, he really started to get the hang of it. He's still not a great napper, but he can fall asleep in his crib and stay asleep for an hour or so. It's much easier for me to get stuff done. Unfortunately, he now really resists being rocked to sleep, so when we want some snuggles before bedtime, we're out of luck. 
• When we say "hi" to him, he makes a little happy sigh noise that sounds so much like he's saying "hi" back. I know he's not, but it's fun to pretend. 
• Jonas has added to his shaking his head trick from previous months and now does a "crazy dance" where he shakes his head, kicks his legs, and flails his arms. It's hilarious and adorable. 
• After weeks of trying, Jonas is finally able to get his feet into his mouth. He now chews on them all the time. 

Spring Books

I can't seem to keep up with posting the books I've read on a monthly basis, so perhaps I'll just do it quarterly or so and only include the ones I really liked.

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
This was a book club pick. On the surface it sounded kind of boring to me: a young working-class woman befriends a rich guy and ends up enmeshed in the high society of 1930s New York. And, really, not too much happened in the book. But the writing was so good that it was absolutely mesmerizing. This is the author's first book, and I can't believe it's so good.  

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
Another book club book. This novel alternates between modern times and the 1930s. A young girl who is about to age out of foster care befriends an elderly woman and learns the story of the woman's journey on the orphan train and her subsequent foster families. The story was surprisingly compelling - I kept wanting to read more even though it wasn't particularly suspenseful. The historical storyline was much better written than the modern one, but both main characters were very relatable. 

Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen by Mary Sharratt
This must have been a free or cheap Kindle book at some point. It's another one that sounds very strange at first glance. It's historical fiction based on the life of a famous mystic nun, who was forced as a child to become a handmaiden to an Anchorite - a nun who is bricked in a tiny room underneath the church for her entire life. Because of her visions, she becomes famous and tries to creatively use her power to free herself. It was a very powerful story. I didn't even know it was based on the life of a real person until I got to the end - that makes it even more impressive.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain
I had heard so many people praise this book. It is a very interesting look at how extroversion became idealized in our society and why introversion has its benefits, too. Every time I take a Myers-Briggs test, I am right on the line between E and I. So, I identified with some of the stuff in the book but not all of it. I love pop psychology books, so this one's right up my alley. 

Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl
Ruth Reichl was the food critic for the New York Times for many years. I had read her book about that job, Garlic and Sapphires, and really enjoyed it. This one was about her childhood and young adult life (in the 60s and 70s). And, wow, she lived a fascinating life. She's done so much traveling; it made me jealous. The scenes with her manic-depressive mother are darkly humorous. She does share some recipes with each little vignette, but I found the focus to be much less on the food and more on the people in her life.

5 Months

"Firsts" from This Month

He didn't really hit any big milestones this month. Of course, we can see him getting more interactive and better able to manipulate things each day, but he didn't do anything "big" this month.

• First Easter. We spent a lot of time in Waco around Easter because Darby's dad had a (successful - yay!) kidney transplant then. Jonas enjoyed wearing his bunny hat from Auntie Hannie and playing with his Easter toys from grandparents.




• First Mother's Day. We were able to go to Waco again, so Jonas spent the day with his mom, his Mamaw, and his G-ma. He got me a waffle iron and helped Darby make me waffles. 



Love being this boy's mom.

• First out-of-state trip. We drove to Illinois for Darby's graduation. Jonas did great in the car, and we had so much fun introducing him to our Illinois friends. 



We stayed with our friends Dick and Billie. We had so much fun catching up and playing cards. We spent so many evenings at their house over the 5 years we were in Illinois. They were our surrogate parents. Miss them so much!

• 
  

  

  Jonas did remarkably well at the looooong graduation ceremony. It was at the stadium and we got there too late to have a very good view, but we were able to see Darby walk across on the Jumbotron.

  

  My parents made the drive with us. It was great to have their help keeping Jonas entertained.

  

  Casey, Katy, and I all did a Bible study together, and we all had babies within 9 months of each other. It was fun (and crazy) getting all the babies together. After this, we loaded all of the babies in their carriers and went to Custard Cup. Yummy!

• First time to meet great-uncle John and great-aunt Susan. On the way, we stopped at my aunt and uncle's house in Rogers. It had been several years since I had seen them, so I was happy it worked out. 

Things I Want to Remember

• He started doing this thing where he shakes his head back and forth like he's saying "no." We can't tell if he does it to rub his head or if he does it to move his hand back and forth in his mouth. Either way, it's really cute. 
• He is becoming a lot more cuddly. When he was a newborn, he really liked to be cuddled, but he soon outgrew that and was really squirmy when you tried to hold him against you. Now, he'll wrap his hands around our necks when we pick him up from his crib and lay his head on our shoulders. It's so sweet. 
• Everyone, and I mean everyone, who sees him comments on one of three things: his big eyes, the fact that his hands are always in his mouth, and how calm he is.

My motherhood experience

I feel like there are a lot of aspects of motherhood that have surprised me. I had a lot of expectations based on what I had heard and read about motherhood, and my experience hasn't always aligned with those expectations (in good ways and bad ways). I'd like to share some of my thoughts to show that there's not just one way to experience motherhood. And just to be clear, I love Jonas and I love being his mom. But I want to be honest about the hard parts as well as the good parts.

• I did not immediately feel the "surge" of love. Most women talk about an overwhelming feeling of love immediately after their baby is delivered. I did not feel this. I don't know if that's due to my long, difficult labor or just to my personality. I felt happy, but I was not overwhelmed. I had heard women say they didn't know how much they could love until they had a child. I felt like I loved Jonas as much as I had expected to, which was a lot. I did not feel like I had entered some other realm of love. I do feel like my love for him has grown stronger over time. Now that he interacts more, I feel like I really know him. Around the 3-month mark, (which, probably not coincidentally, is when he started to sleep through the night consistently - I do not deal well with sleep deprivation), I started to experience some of those heart-swelling moments.
• I am still basically the same person I was before (the positive). I had always feared losing myself in motherhood and thought I would have to actively fight against that. So, I was relieved to find that I still have other interests and enjoy pursuing my hobbies and career opportunities. This is one reason I didn't end up doing cloth diapers. When I envisioned myself as a stay-at-home mom, I figured I'd want to throw all my energy into mothering, so why not go all the way. But when I have some down time, I don't want to be washing diapers. I want to be reading or lesson planning or making cards or baking, just like before. (Not that moms who cloth diaper don't do those things - it's just there was really nothing else motivating me to do it beyond the belief that it was a stay-at-home mom type of thing to do.) And, despite the lack of any talk beyond mothering and Jonas on this blog, I feel like I've still done an ok job of having conversations with people about other parts of life.
• I am still basically the same person I was before (the negative). Like any other major life change, motherhood has revealed more of who I truly am. And, while there are a lot of things I love about myself, I feel like motherhood throws my shortcomings into sharp relief. I am not a patient person. Sometimes this leads to frustration when Jonas doesn't nap like he should or requires multiple rockings to go to sleep. I never want to be frustrated at him - he's a baby. I also have a hard time going with the flow, and this is a major challenge with a baby. I do feel like I'm making some progress in this area. A few weeks ago, Jonas slept late, and I told Darby, "Well, I guess we'll just have to be late to church." He was like, "What?!? I can't believe you just said that." I'm slowly learning to adapt, but I still find myself mourning the loss of control over my schedule. I don't think parents are better people than non-parents. And I think most people try to be better people, whether they have kids or not. But parenting forces you to confront the negative things about yourself on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis, and it can be pretty painful.
• Even with an easy baby, I can't seem to get things done. I always heard about not getting a shower, having to do everything one-handed, etc. And I haven't experienced that. I lucked out with an easy baby who is pretty content laying on a blanket or sitting in his bouncy seat. But, I've still found it very hard to get things done. I won't go into all the specifics, but all my plans for projects I would do as a stay-at-home mom have gone out the window. I'm having to redefine my idea of what a productive day is. I know this sounds silly, but I didn't really consider that taking care of a baby actually takes a lot of time. I feel like Pinterest/Facebook/blogs are a bit to blame for this. It seems like every other stay-at-home mom is cooking amazing meals, creating beautiful decorations for their house, making "sensory boards" for their babies, etc. So when I spend the day just keeping Jonas and myself fed, clothed, and happy, it seems like I've done nothing.
• I don't feel incomplete without Jonas. I know a lot of moms don't ever want to leave their babies, and I think that's a very real feeling for them. But I just haven't felt that way. I started leaving Jonas with Darby almost immediately, and when Darby's mom was here shortly after the birth, we both left him with her. I'm always thrilled to come home to him, but I wouldn't say I miss him when I'm gone for a few hours. I still very much enjoy my alone time, time with friends, and time with Darby. I don't really worry about him when I'm away either. I definitely don't worry when he's with Darby. I feel like we're total equals in parenting skills.

So, there's some of the things that have taken me off guard in the first 5 months of parenting. In the midst of the cute Jonas pictures and anecdotes, I want to make sure I'm keeping it real as well. I'd love to hear from other parents about ways your experience differed from your expectations.

4 Months

This stage with Jonas is really fun. He's responding to us with smiles and giggles a lot more. He's started noticing other babies at church and play group. He's still pretty serious, but he doesn't look quite so skeptical all the time. 

Just for fun, here's a comparison of all 4 months. He hasn't gotten a whole lot bigger than he was at 2 months (his growth is leveling off, so he's in a more average percentile - NO IDEA why/how he was so big at birth). But, he's definitely able to sit up and hold his head up much better than he used to. 

"Firsts" from this Month

• First mother/son road trip.  While Darby was busy with a work conference, I took Jonas to Waco by myself. Then my mom and I took him to Dallas to see my grandma and aunt. I was a little nervous about traveling solo, but he did great.






• First time to roll over front to back



• First time to meet his Aunt Tere and cousin Corrie. They were in Abilene for a school event, so he and I got to run up to ACU to see them one afternoon. 




• First bath in the big tub. I'm refraining from putting bath time pictures on here in case he objects when he's older. (Aside: It's so difficult to know how much you should share about your kids online. I know people have a lot of different philosophies. Right now, I'm trying to refrain from sharing medical information or naked pictures, but as he gets older, I'm sure I'll add even more restrictions.)

Things I Want to Remember

• When he's tired, he scratches the top of his head absentmindedly. It's so cute. The only bad thing is that, since his nails grow freakishly fast, he often leaves little scratch marks on his scalp.
• I go to a playgroup once a week with some women from church. My friend's daughter was laying beside Jonas, and she reached out and held his hand. It was adorable! He was enjoying it until she decided to grab his face. Then he was done.



• He's really started to fight sleep, especially during the day. So, when I'm rocking him to sleep for his naps, he makes this really nasal "beeping" sound until he falls asleep. I guess he thinks he's keeping himself awake. It's like "mah, mah, mah, mah." Cracks me up. 
• Speaking of naps, he doesn't like to nap in his crib, even though he sleeps great in it at night. So, I end up holding him for a lot of his nap times. Sometimes I nap, too, or sometimes I just read. I know it's a bad habit to get him into, but I love those times together. There is nothing sweeter than holding a sleeping baby. And I figure I might as well enjoy one of the benefits of being a stay-at-home mom while I can.