It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I love how cozy our living room feels with the Christmas decorations up. Pictures don't do it justice. We got our tree Friday night and Mike decorated it Saturday (Yes, Mike did it.  I did the rest of the decorations around the house...but honestly I don't have the patience for decorating the tree... so many lights & ornaments... but Mike loves to do it so it works out well!)  This is my favorite tree yet... we actually picked it out super-fast... ran to Lowes and looked at two trees, grabbed this one and headed home, and it's looks great!  :)  

I also got this basket today to put Josiah's toys in for the living room....(trying to organize the chaos) and tonight I decided to sit HIM in the basket and he loved it!  He was sitting up so well all by himself. I can't wait till he can do it really well... he's a heavy boy to carry around! 

First Thanksgiving

Josiah may only be 4 months old, but he totally understood what to do on Thanksgiving:  Eat lots, sleep lots and have fun with family! We had a great day with Mike's side of the family. Mike got to fry a turkey, and it was a beautiful day outside!  Just a few of the things I'm thankful for are: a great husband, my adorable little boy, and lots of loving family!  Now we're just busy decorating for Christmas!  It's busy, but I love this time of year.  Here are a few pictures from this week:

Happy 4 Months Josiah!

Well, I'm almost hesitant to share Josiah's stats from his 4-month appointment today... just because I get tired of hearing everyone say how big he is.  Yep, he's a big boy... but he's healthy and strong and doing well and his doctor isn't at all concerned with his size. Anyway... I love his little chunky legs and chubby cheeks.  :)
At 4 Months Old, our little man is:

Height:  26 1/2 inches (95th percentile)
Head:  18 inches (off the charts) - He definitely inherited that one from the Curling & Wheatley sides!
Weight: 20 lbs 10 oz!!!  (off the charts again)

Funny thing is, we just got a new cover for his carseat (original fabric didn't breathe and made him sweat like crazy... Graco replaced it free) and we used it for the first and probably last time today.  Dr. said it's definitely time to switch to the convertible seat!  I need to check the weight limits on all his other stuff... I think most things are 25 pounds... hopefully not 20!  :) 

Here's a picture of him asleep in the "new" carseat after getting his shots :( :( which was soooo sad today!!  They were much worse than at 2 months:

The Latest....

I can't believe Josiah will be 4 months old this Friday!  He's so much fun.  He's learning and doing new things everyday like:

• Reaching his arms up to me when he wants me to pick him up.
• Grabbing his bottle (when it's held in front of him) and putting it in his mouth if I'm not fast enough. 
• Almost rolling over from his back to his belly.  He is so close!
• Grabbing toys with his feet.. this is really funny!
• Sitting up by himself (leaning forward onto his arms for support) for just a few seconds.
• Pushing off his elbows to sit himself up when he's leaning too far back.
• Squealing in delight.
• Turning toward any noise (he's been turning toward my voice for a while, but he'll do it with everything now)
• Trying so hard to talk.
• Standing up (while held) to play with the activity mat toys rather than laying under it.... "geez mom, laying down is sooo 3 months."
• Laughing & smiling all the time (well, whenever we're funny enough).
• He's happy playing independently for a long time (mostly when he first wakes up in the morning).
• Grabbing for our plate or cup when we're eating.  He really wants some!

We Love Long Weekends

We're enjoying another long weekend with Daddy home. The Nor'easter that flooded Hampton Roads this week meant Mike couldn't make it into work Thursday, and he's off on Fridays, so we're loving it!  I managed to get out twice...  Thursday night for a super-short girls' night with Ali & Jess (we got kicked out of the restaurant at 7pm because they wanted to close due to the rain), and then Moms Morning Out today at church which was such a huge encouragement!  We spent the afternoon with Grandma & Grandpa Wellington & Uncle Brett today and it was lots of fun.  Then when we got home, Josiah decided he was ready to roll over from back-to-tummy.  He's ALMOST got it!  Just has to figure out how to get over that last elbow.  :)  I think he'll have it down pat this week.... which means we've got to wean him from being swaddled VERY soon! 

He is fascinated with watching us eat & acts like he really wants some... so we pretend to give him a sip, and he thinks that's great!

And we got out the Johnny-Jumper this weekend too... so far he just loves spinning around and looking at everything, but I'm sure he'll be bouncing in no time.

Our Schedule (or lack thereof)

I've been asked many times: "When does Josiah nap?"  And the only answer I can give at this point is: "2 hours after he last woke up."  That part is predictable, but it's never the same time everyday... it largely depends on whether he last took one of his typical 40 minute cat-naps, or one of the glorious 2+ hour ones.  Today has been a 40 minute day.  Sigh.  I do hope to get him on a bit more of a schedule one of these days, once I can determine some consistency in his timing... but so far the only things that are the same are bedtime (around 8:00) and his morning wake-time (around 7:00).... and he typically eats every 3 hours during the day.  So for now... we just go with the flow...  Here's a sample of our day from last night until now:

Last night:
7:45 - Bath
8:15 - Bottle
8:45 PM - 4:45 AM:  Sleep  (8 hrs)  Good boy! :)
4:45 - Bottle, then right back to sleep
5:05 AM - 6:45 AM:  Sleep (1 hr, 40 min)
Play
7:45 - Bottle
Play
8:45 - 9:25: Sleep (40 min)
Play
10:45 - Bottle
Walk to Grocery Store
11:35 - 12:15 Sleep (40 min... you've gotta be kidding me, I'm trying to cook a meal for Senneca!! Well, thank goodness for the exersaucer)
Play, go visit Senneca & meet Lenox
2:00 - Eat
2:55- 3:25: Sleep (30 min... no sir, I don't care what it takes, you're going back to sleep... finally drank 1/2 oz. & eventually fell back asleep)
3:45 - current:  Still sleeping... :)

Hopefully he'll sleep till about 5:00, so we can do bathtime at 7, bottle at 7:30 and bed by 8:00. 

So anyway... just thought I'd share a day in the life of Josiah at 3 1/2 months old.  So as far as making plans... I can do 2 hours advance notice.  :)

Enjoying the Beautiful Fall Days

There's no denying it:  Josiah is a mini-Mike.  They were both laying there like this, hands folded on their bellies, before I even grabbed the camera.

 

I love these big blue eyes!

Our Weekend

From one thing to another.  Josiah was just starting to improve a little with the reflux that had been so bad for a couple weeks... and then on Saturday, he got a little stomach bug.  He couldn't keep anything down.  We had to change his clothes about 5 times... and Mike's 3 times!  It seemed whenever Mike would pick him up, he threw up all over him.  I only got it once.  Thanks for sparing me, baby!  Anyway, Josiah was quite pitiful for a little while and we ended up having to just give him very very small amounts of pedialyte for the rest of the day.  Finally by late last night, his tummy seemed okay and we have slowly been reintroducing formula.  He's gone about 30 hours without getting sick now, so I'm sure we're in the clear... he doesn't have his full appetite back yet though.  Ironically with his refux, Josiah hardly ever spits up, and never like this... so this was all new.  Unfortunately we didn't get to meet our friends (Elizabeth, Luke & Audrey) who were travelling through town like we had planned. 

Even so, I somehow did manage to make it to the early service at church with Josiah this morning by myself (Mike was meeting with someone for breakfast and met us there later), and we spent the beautiful afternoon out at the park. Now we're just wondering how long he'll sleep since he's had about 10 oz less of formula than he usually does in a day.  So on that note, I need to get off here and go to bed! 

5 days without a post!

We love our happy boy!  And we're loving the cool weather so he can bundle up in cozy outfits!

Josiah is loving his exersaucer!  He gets so excited when we put him in it!

 Holding his head/chest up... he's such a cutie!

And Josiah's Mommy & Daddy are doing well too :)  Here are the beautiful roses Mike brought me for starting my new job last week (you know, as a stay-at-home-mom).

And today we celebrated our birthdays together by getting a babysitter (thanks Grandma!) and going up to Williamsburg for the day.  We went to the Williamsburg Winery for a tour & tasting, had lunch at the Tavern there, and then did a little shopping at the outlets.  We even got to take my dad's convertible and it was such a gorgeous day, we had the top down enjoying the great fall weather & beautiful leaves!