Ok, one more time...

Read next post below first, then return to this one.

So, I decided to return for one more post. I'm still not feeling inspired with many words, but here is a cute video. He was supposed to be napping, but since we put him down for naps awake now (though very sleepy) we sometimes have to go back and check on him to see how he's doing. Well, this is how I found him a couple of weeks ago...



(Don't worry, it sounds like fussiness, but it's not. This is one of his versions of playful jibber-jabber when he's in his crib:)

Mostly wordless post...

It's because I can't think of any new, fun, or clever things to say right now. Here's Kuba playing on the floor. He's getting stronger and starting to push up and rock a lot right now. He can turn himself sideways and reach out to grab toys and bring them to himself. They always go in the mouth, of course:) That's it. Better posts coming soon... Enjoy!

He Did It!

Well, he did it! He made it through the night without eating! It began last Thursday night- of course after I had asked the doctor about starting rice cereal and after being concerned he wasn't getting enough to eat:) The first reassurance was his weight at the check-up. The second reassurance came that evening when he woke himself at 930pm to eat and then didn't wake a single time after that until 530 am to eat! I woke up at 430 and was a little frightened that I hadn't heard from him all night. I immediately went to check on him and his breathing:) He was sound asleep. Every night since he's made it from around 930 or 10pm until 5, 6, or even 645 am without eating! It's wonderful for my sleep, usually. Last night he woke every 2 hours with a little gas or wanting his pacifier. He went back to sleep quickly, but it was still tough to wake up that often. I am thankful he can make it through the night, but now I need to work on teaching him to go back to sleep alone or put his own pacifier back in:) What age can I expect him to learn that trick???

And here's a fun video, just because...

4 Months Old!

Already 4 months...Wow. I read that these next few months are called the "golden months" and I already see evidence why. Here are all the wonderful things we're getting to experience right now:

- He's waking up many mornings on his own and playing in his bed before we come to see him.
- He's talking to toys and grasping them well with both hands.
- He plays on his tummy for 15 minutes or more (if not too tired:)
- He loves to watch himself in the mirror and smile shyly at the baby inside
- He hears us and immediately finds wherever we are in the room and smiles or laughs
- His laugh is one of the best sounds in our home
- He rolled over again this week. It wasn't an accident, but he still has no desire to repeat the action often:)
- He likes to stand on his feet on your lap and bounce a little
- He loves to lay on his boppy and snuggle with his stuffed elephant
- He will go to sleep on his own in his crib and rarely cries before sleep anymore
- Bath time is still one of his most playful times
- He's discovered his feet when he's sitting up and he tries to bend over to get them:)
- He plays well with strangers and likes to watch other children playing nearby
- He's starting to watch us eat and I'm sure it won't be long before he wants to be a part of it:)
- He's definitely wearing well anything for 6 month olds and sometimes he can wear a 9 month old shirt and often wears 6-9 month old pants (they are long, but fit pretty well in the belly:)
- He's started rubbing his feet together while eating
- He likes to pull on my hair when snuggling against me and he gives big, open-mouthed, slobbery kisses on our cheeks now:)
- He wears a size 3 diaper. It's a little big and we have a few more leaks because of it, but the size 2 is too tight around those plump thighs:)
- Other than possible growth-spurt times he sleeps from 7 to 7 with feedings at 10pm and 4 or 5am.
- He still likes to be swaddled, but quickly breaks out of it during his sleep
- He sucks on his fingers constantly and sometimes prefers them over toys:)
- He's just started getting ticklish around his thighs, but doesn't like to be tickled under his arms yet (can you blame him? it can be torturous!) :)


He weighs 17 lbs 4 oz and is 27 inches (I think). His eyes are definitely blue and he has a lot of blond hair coming in.

Jakub, you are such a joy to be with and to play with! One of the best comments came from your Daddy recently and he said: "When I think about him (when Jakub is asleep for the night already) I just want to go wake him up and hold him and be with him." I feel the same way.

Here is a video of him- it isn't too exciting, but you can see how well he plays on his tummy now. Enjoy!:)

Lots of Good News!

We had a good visit to the doctor today. His check-up showed all normal signs and progressions. He held his head up like a champ, lifted up on his arms, looked around, and spotted me and Daddy when he heard our voices. The doctor was pleased. He's still not turning himself over regularly, but that's ok. When she heard that he's starting to wake up (not every night) around 2am again for a feeding she gave the go-ahead to try a little rice cereal one time in the evenings to see if that helps him sleep longer through the night. I'm going to wait a little longer to see how he does over the next week. I do look forward to trying the cereal with him sometime in the near future and I have a feeling he'll like it.

He got 2 immunizations today- one in each leg. He really did well again. He cried with each shot for just a few seconds and then a little hand sucking did the trick and he was smiling and content once again. We were so proud:) He's already had one nap and is now playing well on his tummy with no signs of pain or fever. Thank God for that!

He weighs...drum roll... 17 lbs 4 oz. Is anyone really surprised anymore? I'm not:) I don't know his length right now, but I'll measure it again soon.

One more note of good news(written by Josh when it was shared with our teammates this week):

"Late last week Sarah and I took Jakub for his regular hip check at the doctor. While there, we went over to a bench to lay our things down and have a seat to wait. Beside us was a woman who, after just a few seconds, smiled at us and said hello. She was there with her son for the same check-up. Though having never spoken to her before, I remembered having seen her in the newborn ward of the hospital when we were there in November, and apparently she remembered us, as well. We only had a few minutes to chat, and we spoke about the typical "new child" stuff. Then we both went in for the appointment and were seen at different times by the doctor. We had hoped to speak with her again afterward, but by then she was gone. We were kicking ourselves for not having told her our names, nor gotten her name, nor shared some contact information beforehand so that we could write her and even invite her to the mothers' class our ladies host. So imagine our joy yesterday when- after Sarah emailed a woman who had found our website information early last week and phoned Mitch to ask about the mothers' class- the same woman responds to Sarah's email to identify herself as the woman we met at the doctor! And she's excited to get to meet us again and to come to the mothers' class! Out of our despair at having not really "met" the woman during the seemingly one chance we had, God let us know that, in a moment before we saw her, he had already touched her life and inspired her to call "us" days before we met!

Isn't that great news! It got us excited. I've already been writing with this woman and she is so sweet and has a boy 2 days younger than Jakub. I look forward to hopefully a growing relationship with her.

More to come this weekend for Jakub's 4 month "celebration." Thanks for your prayers about the shots!!

How to get your kid back to sleep...

http://www.maniacworld.com/how-to-get-your-baby-back-to-sleep.html

I thought the video at the above link was pretty sweet to watch:) That's what love will do to you, huh?

Right now Jakub is enjoying some morning play-time in front of the mirror so, I thought I would post another video of him. It's a little long and maybe slightly boring (not for Mommy:), but it's a month old and I'm just getting it uploaded so I might as well post it, right? He's talking even more now and it's so good to hear. Speaking of talking, we had friends over on Saturday who have a 15 month old boy and we witnessed him calling his Mom "mommy" for the first time. What a special moment to be a part of. It made me look forward even more to the time Jakub says it.

One more note- please pray for Jakub's check-up this Thursday. He'll be getting 2 vaccine injections and prayerfully he'll be fine and handle them well. Thank you! I'll be sure to post about it, as well as add more pictures and thoughts for his 4 month old "birthday" this coming weekend:)

Naptime!

Here's a video of Jakub getting ready for a nap. He's usually so easy to get ready for a nap these days. He loves to lay on the boppy and hug this elephant until he's ready to be put into his bed. I love to lay beside him and snuggle and just look around the room with him as he gets sleepy. If only he would stay asleep as easily as he goes to sleep:)

Interesting times...

It's been a long, tiring week with work and Jakub, but there are so many wonderful, blessed moments that I'll try to mostly focus on those. These pictures cannot begin to show how loving and fun Jakub is and how much we are enjoying almost all of the moments we get with him. We're even enjoying the difficult ones because it's all a part of the amazing package that he is and he's growing and changing so quickly that we don't want to forget or take any moment for granted. We're being taught so much through these ordinary and extraordinary moments. Sometimes I wish we could slow them down and every-once-in-a-while I wish we could speed them up:) In the picture above you can see Jakub playing on the floor. He's really starting to lift himself up, push around with his arms, and kick his legs. He hasn't turned over recently, but I have no doubt it's coming soon and on a regular basis. He's beginning to become frustrated when he can't turn somewhere he wants to look, so that should be great motivation for him:) He's lasting longer on his tummy and will usually play for a full 15 minutes, maybe more, before wanting to play on his back again. When he does play on his back he's becoming much more coordinated at grasping with both hands the toys that hang above him or lay beside him. He's talking more to his toys as well, which is such a sweet noise. I have that on video, but that will have to wait until we have time to upload and edit them. (He also, obviously, still drools like crazy and the ever-present string of spit is hanging from his mouth in this photo!)


This is how I've been finding this adorable creature more and more in the mornings. He still occasionally cries himself awake- especially when he's waking with extreme hunger- but he's also discovered he can wake up and play for a bit in his crib. I love it! Two times this week I woke up around 7am (by habit now) and could hear cooing coming from his bedroom. What a joy to see this face and this reaction when I walk in to greet him for the day. I also recently got this on video. It makes you want this kind of moment to last for hours.


Here's a fun little picture of Jakub waiting patiently (with toys of course!) for his nightly bath:) On Thursday nights Josh works until 630-ish so he usually doesn't get home until close to or after 7pm. We usually do Jakub's night routine around 6pm so, on these nights, I get to do it alone- which makes for some special Mommy-and-Jakub time that I truly enjoy. However, this week, it was all I could do to keep going in the ways that Jakub needed me. I have to admit, the moments on Thursday could have passed a little faster in my book. The day started off great with Jakub waking up playfully (at 6am instead of 7am), eating and napping well, and being the usual, content baby that he is. I cleaned and cooked all morning because a friend was coming around lunch time with her baby to spend some time with us. Josh came home on his lunch break and gave me time to shower, which was perfect. I felt rushed all morning, but it was all going pretty well and I was looking forward to the afternoon visit. Well, after Jakub woke up at 145pm he didn't sleep again until after 5pm. He never makes it awake that long- and for good reasons because he can't handle it on the 30 minute naps he takes during the day. He was supposed to eat at 230pm-ish, but he refused. He was playing well and content, so I let it go. When he got hungry later I tried again. He refused. I tried and tried and finally had to pump and the moment I gave him the bottle he ate it all. It was 5 hours for him without food and my friend had to help care for both our babies while I pumped. He did the same thing again for the next feeding, which was at 7pm when Josh came home. He took the bottle then, also, so willingly. It was all quite strange and not like him. Have any of you other Moms had this experience and figured out a reason why? He didn't have fever, gas, or any other problems I could find. I checked for soon-to-sprout teeth- none there:) He went to bed well after that feeding and at 1am he finally was back on track with me again. He's been fine ever since. All I know is that I was exhausted physically and emotionally from the day and couldn't wait to go to bed and rest.


Here's one of Jakub after his bath. Before naps and bedtime he now likes to lay on his boppy and hold his stuffed elephant. It plays a soft song and he holds it like a big boy while I read to him or we look around the room. When he's ready to sleep he fusses just a little and I then wrap him up and hold him for a moment and kiss on him:) He's usually closing his eyes as I walk from the guest bed to his bed across the room. I can usually place him in his crib, whether he's asleep or not, and he'll go to sleep on his own now. He sometimes still fusses a little or needs the passy, but we usually don't have to pick him back up or rock him. It's great, but also a little sad for him to be growing up like this already. Mostly, though, it's great:)


Here's a picture of Thompson Keen. He's 5 weeks now and growing so quickly. He likely weighs about 7lbs now. He looks so tiny next to Jakub. I can't believe how much can change in 3-4 months. I look forward to our boys growing up together!


Picture evidence of how big Jakub looks next to Thompson. It's so neat to see them together! Sarah is recovering well and Thompson, other than some gas issues, is a pretty content baby and is sleeping pretty well.


We had a Christian program for the teenagers this afternoon and a fun-photo contest from which we made a slide show for the end of the program. Jakub and I entered for cutest photo. Every time he smiled he would move and snuggle in to me like he was being shy, so we couldn't capture a clear picture of him. Oh well, he's still cute. I don't think we won, but it's because having a baby with me was an unfair advantage for cutest:)


Josh decided to enter the contest with Jakub and aim for strangest photo. Again, an unfair advantage, but I think he should have won. Talk about alien... :) We had a lot of fun with the students. We're beginning a new discussion group on the basics of belief, the Bible, and what it all means to us. We had about 15 students tonight and we're praying they'll return, with friends even, for the next group session. Please be praying about this and all of our other work going on here. God is blessing it in many ways. He's blessing our personal lives as well and Jakub is such a huge part of that. This week was long, but there were so many very bright moments.

3 Month Old Photo Session!

Well, we enjoyed our time with Jakub this weekend, even amidst the coughing, sneezing, and runny noses. I'm thankful to report Jakub still seems healthy and to not have caught our illness. We had another sunny day (whoohoo!) on Saturday so, we decided to take advantage of it and finally take some more pictures of Jakub. I'll admit that Josh took almost every one of the photos. He's really very talented and with the good lighting he caught some great expressions and shots of little Kuba. I have posted them below in no particular order. These are my favorites from the session:) He did well and seemed to enjoy the up-close-and-personal attention we gave him:) He is such a social butterfly. Enjoy! Oh, and one funny story from this weekend- Jakub pooped for the first time during his bathtime. Actually, it was more on the blue, bunny sponge we use to lay him on in the tub. He thought it was funny, Daddy thought it was disgusting, and Mommy couldn't stop laughing as she took a picture (which she's not aloud to post due to grossness) to remember the moment by. I guess we'll be getting a new bunny soon. Every day holds something new...