This week...

Well, Jakub accurately expresses how I've been feeling this week:) (don't worry, we comforted him quickly:) I also had to post this one because I know you Grandmothers especially were wanting to see ALL parts of Jakub's life so, I had to add this to the list! It was taken about one month ago.

We're sick again this week, except for Jakub, with strep throat. I got it first, but Josh quickly joined me- he's quite the supportive husband. It seems this winter and these illnesses are never-ending. I'm highly anticipating spring and good health to return permanently. I look forward to walks in the park with Jakub and to feeding the ducks in the river nearby- once it thaws completely. It's been tough being stuck inside, but at least I get to hang out with this precious little guy all the time. He's so sweet and even napping a slight bit better at random times, so that's made for a couple of much needed peaceful moments. We've needed them, because it's been rough being ill and trying to do all that Jakub needs- and with a smile on our faces:) It doesn't take much for him to get one out of us, though:)

A couple of new things this week- he's started sticking his tongue out more, he's moving around a lot more in the bed while he sleeps, and he's been grasping his hands together and playing with them. I'm hoping to take some 3mo pictures of him this weekend so, look for those soon!

The Bumbo Chair

Since Jakub has been holding his head up well and enjoying tummy-time so well I decided to see if he's strong enough for the Bumbo chair. Well, he is! He holds his head very steady and looks around well at his toys or books, but he still leans forward some and won't sit with his back straight. I have to admit that it's a little hard for him to do so with his big belly:) He's so cute in it and loves to sit and look at us and jabber away. He also likes to sit in front of the mirror in our bedroom and stare at himself.

In one of the floor-time pictures below you can see that he has his mouth open. He was talking to me and wouldn't stop long enough to smile for the picture:) Last night, during his usual coo-fest at bedtime he discovered he can make a high-pitched semi-scream noise and he thought that was really funny. He's pretty loud and it's so enjoyable to "talk" with him now. Josh told me that the other night he was sitting beside Jakub's bed, while he was laying in it, and he was singing to him. Well, Jakub decided to join in and cooed along with Josh for a while:) I'm sorry I missed it! We'll have to try and get some video of something like that soon.

Two short, but exciting, announcements on the sleep front- Friday night Jakub slept from 8pm until 6am. I did feed him in his sleep at 10pm, but other than that he was asleep in his bed. It was WONDERFUL. Last night something similar happened. He slept from 730 until 4am (except for the 1030pm feeding in his sleep) when he needed a pacifier and his arms re-swaddled, and then he slept until 5 before needing to eat. That was a pretty great night, also. The other announcement is that he had some pretty good naps today. His first was one hour, the second was two hours with a short time of being held and comforted around the one hour mark, and the third was 40 minutes. I'll take it! These things may not happen every day, or even every week, but they are so great when they do! We've also had sunshine on two of the last 4 days. So much to be thankful for. I don't think we've seen the sun two times in over a month recently. The snow is even beginning to melt! Spring is on the way soon... I hope:) I also hope you all have a good week.

Playtime with Daddy...a few weeks ago

Here's another video we wanted to put on here for family, but it's a couple/few weeks old. He looks the same, but he's much more coordinated with those hands now:) He never misses his mouth now when he wants to suck on them and he doesn't poke himself in the eyes anymore:) He's also really good at grabbing the orange octopus with his right hand now. Anyway, just wanted to let you know it's a little older of a video, but still fun to watch him. Enjoy!

Check-up and 3 Months Old!!

Well, our baby is 3 months old now. Wow, it really does fly. We had Jakub's check-up yesterday at the doctor and everything is looking pretty good. He weighs 15lbs 9oz, he's holding his head up about 90* and occasionally lifting up on his arms for a couple of seconds. He's healthy and growing well and we are so very thankful. He also had his first round of immunizations and so far he has handled them very well. He barely cried and only for a couple of seconds, then he smiled at a toy near his head:). He wanted to sleep more than usual when we got home, but otherwise seemed to respond well to them. He'll have another round next month. Things are still going well here and we're enjoying our time with him- especially now that he's talking a lot more and interacting more with us:) I hope to have some more pictures up soon, but we loaned our camera to some friends so I haven't been able to take any in over a week. Maybe we'll get up a new video soon!

What did you do today?

Sorry the quality of this video is not very good, but the lights were low because Jakub was supposed to be going to sleep (you might also need to turn your volume way up). He's decided lately he would like to entertain us, and postpone bedtime for as long as possible, with his sweet talking at bedtime. We really love this time and very much prefer it to the crying that sometimes comes before bed instead. Lately, after plenty of talking and cooing together, I've had to close my eyes and turn my head away to get him to stop talking and to try to go to sleep. Sometimes he keeps cooing over and over until I open my eyes again and look at him. How can you not? It's one of the sweetest moments in our lives so far! :)

A week in photos...

There aren't a lot of new things to write about, but I wanted to share some more of the pictures we have taken over the last week. In the first one Jakub is all bundled up and ready to go outside for a walk. I wish I had taken one with just his cute little blue cap on because it's the kind that has little ears on top and I love it! I'll have to take one the next time he wears it to go outside. I just love how snuggly he is in his winter clothing, but I will be extremely glad when it doesn't take 10 minutes to get him dressed to go outside. It requires so much clothing and layers, half of which have to be shed over time as he warms up a little- especially if we go by car. It's a mess! He handles it well though and doesn't cry about it, even when he's sweaty by the time I get him undressed again:)

Other pictures below are of Jakub during his nightly bath routine. He enjoys the bath and we love this time with him each evening. He talks to us and is starting to kick a lot in the water. Josh is teaching him to splash his arms...something I'm sure might not be as fun for us when he's older and gets everything and everyone soaked:) Oh well, we love it now!

Another picture is of Jakub with his friend Mikulas (meek-oo-losh:) They had a play-date recently as Mikulas's Mother, Stana, and I enjoyed some time visiting together. Jakub is only 3 weeks younger. Stana and I shared going through our times of pregnancy together and have now truly enjoyed watching our boys grow!

Speaking of growing, I had to put away most of Jakub's 3mo clothing this weekend and get out his 6mo and 6-9mo clothing. Some of his tops and night clothing that are 3-6mo fit, but some don't and none of his 3mo or 3-6mo pants fit anymore. The tops won't button over the diaper and the pants are too small around his BIG tummy:) The new clothing is a little long and a little big, but really not too much... At least there is room to grow into them, and hopefully not too quickly. The new 6mo tops are perfect in length of torso. I can't believe he'll be 3mo next weekend and has already grown so much. It's going by so quickly! He's beautiful, though, and we love him so much.

Oh, one more new thing. For the first time last night he went from 8pm until 4am without waking or feeding. That's one good thing about how much he has grown, he can last longer at night without needing to eat. He didn't even wake up and need his passy. I'm really thankful for how well the nights go, usually, because the days are still pretty hard. He goes to sleep pretty well now, without much fighting, but he rarely ever naps longer than 30-45 minutes and it's pretty exhausting for everyone. He's so tired afterwards, but won't go back down until he's been up for a while and eaten and played some more. By late afternoon he's so tired looking and doesn't play for as long. I'm hoping this phase will end soon, because I can see that he's tired and needs more sleep, I just can't get him to sleep beyond that first 45 minute cycle. Any tips you all have are much appreciated! Enjoy the pictures!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Aren't those lips oh-so-sweet and kissable? Jakub sends his kisses and love to all of you!

We've had a nice day spent here in our home. I had a good friend over for some tea, we all played with Jakub, one of his naps today was 1 1/2 hours (the rest were 20-30, though), we watched the snow come down, we had a lovely worship time and my friend stayed to join us, we had snacks afterward and all visited for a while, I gave Jakub his bath and we have fun cooing at each other, and now I'm relaxing some with Josh before we go to bed. Jakub is all tucked in and, hopefully, out for the night. He usually goes down around 7-730 now, but we had some gas issues tonight so he cried from around 730-8 while we worked those issues out and then he was asleep again by 830 (after another round of eating, of course!).

He rolled over today on his own again, from tummy to back. This time onto his left side- he usually favors his right side. This makes about 5 times total now. I'm so excited for him- it's so much fun to watch. He's also really using his arms during tummy-time as if he's trying to pull forward. One more thing I want to remember, which he did again tonight before going to bed, is that Jakub makes this sweet, contented, sighing sound/coo as his last noise before snuggling further into my neck or arm before going to sleep completely- at which time I put him in his bed. It's so sweet and I like to imagine it's his way of saying "I love you," in coo language before dropping off completely:) I just love it! So, it was a great day. I hope each of you are enjoying some special moments today. We love you!

Tummy time...

Jakub was having a good time playing on the floor so I decided to try and capture some of it with video. You'll have to read the next post below to learn more about the new videos. Hopefully the quality will be good enough. Enjoy!

Jakub playing in bouncy seat

So, we'll try this again. I took some video of Jakub playing in his bouncy seat today. I took it with the webcam because that will be easier for me to upload alone instead of Josh always having to help me. We'll see if it works well. It's not the most interesting video, and I hate the way I sound in it, but I was really trying to get him to talk to you the way he talks to us. Oh well, there will be better ones hopefully. Have to go... he's bored with his toys now:)

Thompson Eliáš Keen is here!!

Corey and Sarah's little boy is here! He was born Tuesday night, February 9th, at 905pm here in Olomouc. His name is Thompson Eliáš (el-ee-osh)Keen. He weighed 5lbs 4oz and was 17 1/2 inches. He and Sarah are both doing well. Sarah did really well with her labor and from start to finish was done in just over 2 hours total:)!! Unfortunately I haven't been able to be with them yet due to me and Josh being pretty sick for the past 5 days. We're getting better now, though, and hope to see them on Saturday. Please pray for all of them as Sarah recovers, Thompson grows, and they all adjust to having 2 children at home. From what I've heard so far Evan was totally in love with his little brother before he was even here:) Yesterday when I called Sarah he was yelling at his brother to wake up so he could hold him and kiss him:) He's such a sweet boy and I have no doubt Thompson will be, too!

Finally... Videos!

So, I finally got some help from Josh to post videos. I have to warn you that they are not very exciting, but at least I'm finally getting some posted:) These are from January 16th, around the time Jakub was 8 weeks old. I have better ones to come, but I wanted to get these up for all of you blog-stalkers to see:) I think in the second one he's mostly fussy... oh well. Enjoy! And please let me know if they won't play for you.

So strong...

Jakub is so strong already and really has been since he was born. He's been holding his head up pretty well since he was about 2 weeks old and gets better and better at it. He also has been standing on his own legs since about 4 weeks. He's rolled over twice, though that was a couple of weeks ago and maybe a fluke:) He has always enjoyed tummy time and raises up well now on his arms. He kicks like crazy and always has. I remember when he used to kick against my incision so hard it would bring tears to my eyes. I soon learned not to put him on my lap with his legs towards me, until I healed of course! I love his strong grip when he holds my hand or finger or shirt while he's eating. With all of these wonderful strengths comes also his strong voice and cry. When he's frustrated while playing or eating he has recently started letting out one loud grunt. He looks right at me and does this and it almost sounds like a bark. It's so funny, but it gets the point across without crying about it and I appreciate that. He also has started talking a little louder and more often and it's music to my ears. Of course, his biggest vocal strength right now is his crying before sleep. He cried so hard tonight, despite my best efforts at helping him, that I was sure the neighbors were going to check on us and make sure I wasn't pinching him:) It's 8:24 now and other than about 30 minutes he's been awake since 4. Most of the time he was pleasant, playing, or talking. After his usual night routine, though, he just couldn't settle into sleep and so he's been crying off and on since 6pm. Josh is with him now. He's such a great father and so good with Jakub. I'm very blessed to have such a partner in this. We had such a wonderful day today with Jakub, other than this bit of crying, and I'm so thankful. He really is the sweetest child and so content most of the time. I took some pictures of his tummy time today. We had fun playing together. I also took a special picture for Grandma Babi and Papa:) Enjoy! (and thanks for letting me ramble on about the sleep and crying again- it helps to let it out:)

Hair today...gone tomorrow...

Yes, that's right, Jakub and I are losing hair together. It's a special bond, really, and I'm glad we can share in this time together. Not! That's ok, though, because I know his will grow back and what is coming in already is very soft and very blond. I think he'll have hair like his Daddy did. And mine, well, you can't really tell it's going, anyway. It's strange, though, when suddenly everywhere you look you see your hair- on the floor, the pillow, the baby. Jakub likes to stand on my lap, lean against me, grab my hair and hold on while I'm burping him and now his little hands have hair in them when he sits back down. It's sad... Oh well. That's how the hormones work.

These pictures are from his diaper change last night before bed. You can see that he started off talking to us a lot and by the end of the photo session and bedtime routine he was ready for us to leave him alone:) I love his diaper changing time, though, because lately it's where he talks to us the most. The minute we lay him there he starts cooing and kicking and smiling. It's so sweet. I'm so thankful he likes this time and doesn't cry about it or about having a dirty diaper. Other than sleep, nothing seems to bother this kid;) By the way,thanks for all of your tips that you've sent me by posting or by email. Last week we had about 5 rough days in a row where he just wouldn't sleep longer than 45 minutes, no matter what I tried. I finally tried making his room a whole lot darker in the day and for 2 days I thought the spell had been broken because he went back to 2 hour naps in his bed. Well, today, with the same routine and darkness as usual, he woke up after 45 minutes and pretty much cried with his eyes closed for over an hour. He's asleep again at the moment, but that's because this time I finally gave up and put him in his car seat, which I knew would work, and put a blanket over it. It's like a magic pill for him. He's been asleep ever since. Oh well, there's always the next nap to start over with the routine and try again, right? Enjoy the pictures!







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