Inaugural Jump



After months and months... dare I say years?... of hiding away in a bedroom closet, the Jumparoo made its reappearance today. What is a "Jumparoo"? you may ask. Well, it's a treat for the senses, mostly the senses of infants who can wiggle a little but not a lot. If they could wiggle too much, they might try to get away from the repetitive music it can play when turned on. Michaela loved jumping around in it when she was little, but she didn't start using it until she was 4 and a half months old, and she still couldn't quite touch the ground with her little feet so we had to put a phone book underneath her.

But Josiah has really seemed to enjoy sitting upright and looking around, and his head control is good, so I thought we would assemble the Jumparoo and give it a try. Turns out... why yes indeed!... his little toes already touch the ground!  He really seemed to enjoy sitting up and exploring the colorful items within his sphere of influence. It bought me 30 minutes to make lunches for the rest of the family and then to eat my own. I'd call that a raging success. Thank you great-grandpa Puckett for the Jumparoo - the gift that keeps on giving!



Proof of his toes touching the carpet



Three Thriving Months!

It is thanks to trying to get Josiah on a napping schedule (you know, where one naps more than a few minutes in their own crib) that I am able to go on this blogging extravaganza. Now that Josiah is 3 months, I am trying to monitor his sleeping and waking time so that I can figure out when to best put him down for naps on a schedule. It really kind of confused things this morning when he slept in until about 9:40. I REALLY want him to get into the habit of napping at the same time Michaela does. However, I refuse to complain too much since he is doing such a great job at sleeping at night. He goes down about 8:00 or 8:15 and then sleeps until 8:30 or 9:00 in the morning with only one, or two, nighttime awakenings. It's almost like he's not the same baby that gave us those nightmarish first couple of weeks, sleep-wise, that is. And possibly he's not. Folks at church tell us that he looks different every time they see him.

He continues to grow, though I haven't weighed him lately, he seems to have the cutest little baby chunk, which our skinny-minnie daughter never did. His hair also keeps growing at a rapid rate, though it's rubbing off in the back and on the sides. He tolerates "tummy time" a lot better than Michaela ever did. He seems to want to propel himself forward, using his feet and legs (booty up in the air), but he doesn't move his hands or arms, so he ends up doing a face plant. We think it's pretty amusing, but he does not seem to agree. He's getting quite enjoyable to be around, with a laugh when his tummy is tickled, and big grins for almost anyone who will give him the time of day. He's also discovered his tongue, sticking the tip out and gumming it for entertainment. He is also able to maneuver blankets into his mouth to be sucked on/chewed on. His world is growing bigger by the day!

Here are Michaela and Josiah, both at 3 months:

Breaking in a New Year

In what we have happily been able to declare tradition - we rang out 2011 and toasted 2012 with our good friends the Morgans and the Sargents. This year it was our year to host the festivities, so we munched on appetizer-like goodies and tried to keep the kids from causing anyone else bodily harm until it was time for them to go to bed. We had the brilliant idea of putting Lily down in Michaela's room on the extra bed, but when Sarah went in to soothe Lily, Michaela was pretty sure that Sarah was there to chat with her about the day, so no one was getting any sleep. They went forward with the pack'n'play in the separate room plan. Maybe next year, girls, you'll get your slumber party. Isaiah slept like a champ on our guest bed, undisturbed by the games going on below.

Last year we had a picture of Travis and Kalina with all the kids -- ditto for this year.
I'm guessing they don't really want 4 kids?

Like I always suspected of adults when I was a kid, we waited until the kids were asleep to have the real fun - playing games and eating brownie sundaes. Thanks to a pot of caffeinated coffee (for most of them, who weren't pregnant or nursing) our group stayed up until midnight and beyond (barely beyond.) We shared the ups and downs we've experienced in this past year, and remembered again that always God is good. It is with hope and excitement that we look forward to the experiences of 2012.

A sneaky 30th birthday

I would be remiss in my chronicling of family events if I didn't draw attention to the fact that my wonderful husband recently celebrated a birthday. I think he was probably just trying to sneak it in before the end of the year without any fanfare. But it is with pleasure I announce that Adam has left his roaring 20's behind and joined the 30-year-old club. We celebrated with his family coming down to visit and going out to dinner at ClaimJumper's, with the classic German Chocolate birthday cake, and a marathon game of Cities and Knights (Settlers of Catan). Happy Birthday!!!

You know you're getting old when the candles have to stand for decades, not years!

Celebrating Jesus' Birthday

We had a wonderful week of family time, food, and Christmas traditions. There was lots of cousin mischief to be had (but serious meltdowns we avoided by trying our best to adhere to napping and bedtime schedules. Abbey and I gave ourselves pats on the back for managing that to the best of our abilities.) It really is a fun time of year to celebrate but also everything takes on new meaning as we teach our children about Jesus' birth and how special it truly is. I've uploaded lots of photos (I have a husband and father-in-law who do a great job of capturing cute moments). You've been forewarned!

Michaela checking out a reindeer - that's right, a reindeer. The things they have in Washington!

Above-mentioned reindeer.

Michaela and I posing with Moses, the camel. Yep, a camel and reindeer.

This should have been our Christmas card photo.

Reclining on his new beanbag chair

Michaela is cuddling Josiah's new stuffed animal - enjoy it while you can, Michaela!

Four generations of Puckett men

Cousin Sally loving on Josiah

My mom helping Josiah show off his new hat

New outfits

New outfit!

A new generation of pictures on the stairs - Greyson and Michaela

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Two Tiny Months

Our littlest family member turned two months old yesterday. We had our well child visit today. Judging from the info we received there, Josiah may not be our tiniest family member for much longer. Any guesses on how much our little man weighs? He measured in at 23 inches long (53rd percentile) and at 12 pounds, 14 ounces (78th percentile)! I knew there was a reason he felt as if he was growing out of his 3-month-size clothes. I'm strangely proud of my chubby boy - good eaters are always welcome in this family!

 I can't believe how time is flying! From the first couple weeks when Josiah didn't seem to think it necessary to open his little eyes, he now likes to take in everything - but especially lights and people's faces. He is also intrigued by the mirror on his play mat. He is becoming a smiley little guy - I tried to capture it in action and it doesn't quite accurately portray his grin, but is pretty stinking cute anyway. He also not only smiles but has been known to coo a bit, as well. Unfortunately for his parents, he doesn't seem to care whether he is "talking" to them or to toys hanging in his vicinity.

 But sometimes he is shocked by what he sees... (and this was before he heard about all the shots he was going to have to get today...)

 At this point he seemed to be mesmerized b y Michaela's foot.

 After all that looking around, a boy's got to sleep!

 Modeling for Daddy during lunchtime. Or else looking at the monkeys in the pack'n'play - it's hard to tell.

Josiah nurses about every 3 hours during the day, and has been going longer and longer during the night. Some nights he is a terror to get down and finally asleep, but he does have more of the good nights. Last night he had a 6-hour stretch followed by a 5-hour stretch. It was lovely, and we're hoping for more of the same in the coming month.

I did it!

For the skeptics out there... mostly myself... I just wanted to say that it is indeed possible to push a two-year-old in a stroller while wearing your baby in a front-pack and taking your feisty 4-year-old black lab on a walk all at the same time. I wish I had a picture of me doing this as proof (looking harried and wide-eyed, no doubt) but alas, there were no extra hands. It was a sunny day and I really wanted everyone to get some exercise, so we made it work. However, I'm not sure that it will make it on the daily calendar of events. I'll keep you updated.

thanks for thanksgiving

So as always I'm a little belated, so here's bit of info about our Thanksgiving. We spent it with some of my cousins, parents, and sister (and an assortment of other relations and non-relations) at family's in Mulino. We were pleased that it was only about a 40-minute drive from our house! So here is our day as documented in pictures.

First, Michaela waiting with her blankie in the carseat while I run into Starbucks on a morning coffee run for Adam and I. 

 Josiah also waiting (as viewed through the mirror on the backseat). Amazingly, he appears to be both awake and not crying - a rare combo.  Properly fueled with our hot holiday beverages, we take off to Mulino.

After warming up a little bit, Michaela appears to be playing cards with my Aunt Karen (back turned) and Debbie - someone I'm pretty sure we're not related to, but who is very nice all the same.

Cuddle time with Nana!

Convincing my sister Bria to get in on the cuddling/picture action.

 Adam and Josiah hanging out. We actually didn't hold our son all that much during the course of the day - many people wanted to get their little hands on him!



It's kind of hard to see, but this is Michaela eating her Thanksgiving pie and dropping her fork in the process. I had promised her she could eat as much pie as she wanted after she ate her dinner (knowing full well that she would eat as much as she did... about a half-piece of apple pie with whipped cream. And she ate mostly the whipped cream.) We enjoyed much delicious food - and there were 4 kinds of pie! A true celebration of plenty.

On the Friday following Thanksgiving, Adam (under Michaela's supervision) put up the Christmas lights out on the front of our house, and Josiah and I hit up the Fred Meyer sock sale - one of my newer traditions. While fixing dinner that evening and discussing what we would like to do and/or see during the Christmas season, we stumbled across the fact that Bridgeport Village was having their Christmas Tree Lighting that same evening. It was cold but clear so we decided to bundle up the kids and take in the sights.

 I'm pretty sure Josiah didn't open his eyes the entire evening. But why bother when you're essentially wrapped in a sleeping bag and being carried around by your mama?

Michaela had a hard time waiting for the Christmas tree lights to come on and the concept of Santa arriving was fairly vague to her. But we did enjoy free cupcakes passed out by Sweetest Thing Cupcakes, so she was on something of a sugar high.

It was a fun adventure and we may make it a family tradition as long as we're in town on Thanksgiving weekend.

1 month, 16 months, 27 months

Josiah & Grammy - one month

Josiah enjoys the motion of the swing

And so it goes... our children and their cousin Greyson all share the same birth day - the 8th - so they all have "monthaversaries" on the same day. I wouldn't normally celebrate a "monthaversary" after the age of 2, but it's really not fair to Michaela that Josiah and Greyson get to celebrate, and she doesn't.

Josiah turned one month old. Time seems to be flying by... and as far as developmental milestones go, he continues to eat, sleep, make dirty diapers, grunt, and cry. He also engages in some eye-opening exercises, and a few neck raises. We sometimes call him "wiggles" because when he is awake, he can be very squirmy and difficult to hold, threatening to jump out of your arms. He's completely grown out of newborn size clothes and is well into the 3-month size. I'm speculating that at the rate he is going, he will be out of the 0-3 month clothes a bit before his 3-month birthday.

Getting cuddle time with Great-Grandpa

We spent a few days this week up at Adam's parents, enjoying Grammy's back-up support while Adam was out of town, and playing with cousin Greyson. Michaela's missed 2 consecutive days of napping, which really wasn't good for anyone involved, but we did get to do some fun things. Michaela also had the milestone this week of sleeping on a big girl bed with no rails! I sat downstairs after I'd put her to bed, listening for a sickening thump on the floor and hoping I hadn't made some terrible mistake, but it turns out she slept like a rock and didn't once get out of bed involuntarily (several times voluntarily, however.)

Our fun activities included:

playing in the leaves while Grammy had a doctor's appointment

Letting Grammy do Michaela's hair (oh, so that's how I do it!)

Modeling a new jacket from G-Grandpa

Going out for frozen yogurt and wearing it on our faces

and hoping there's still more frozen yogurt in there!

And sleeping in the car seat at the frozen yogurt shop.

Playing at the playground

And crying in the car seat while others play at the playground.