5 Months

Little John is 5 months!  Johnny.  Johnny 5.  J5.  5.  He has many names.  As do all of our children!  On his chosen tree portrait day the mosquitoes were fiercely attacking us, so we weren't able to stay out there very long to get especially good shots, but we captured the moment.

The boy has undergone some changes this month.  Major ones.  It all began with me being completely exhausted and fed up with his and therefore my lack of sleep.  Enter baby sleep boot camp.  I remember reaching this same exact point with Matthew at 5 months.  It was time.  Steven asked me one day if one of the signs of readiness was that his sleep was getting even worse.  Yes, I think so.  He had about 30-40 min. of crying around midnight the first night and then slept until 6:30.  The next night I just heard him talking at one point but not crying.  Success!!  But then a week later he learned how to roll over from his back to his tummy.  He pulled that trick during the middle of the night and mightily angered himself.  You see, he can't get back over.  After several days of going in and rolling him back over and enduring his mad screams he finally made peace with sleeping on his tummy.  And we're still working on rolling in the other direction.  The point is, he's sleeping for at least 10 uninterrupted hours and it is glorious.  He wakes, I feed him, and he'll sleep another couple hours.  Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah!

He hasn't found his thumb really...he'll chew on it or suck on the thumb and finger at the same time.  He's sitting up pretty well, and in a couple weeks I think he'll have it down.  The boy is active, and his face lights up when there are toys around.  Which is all the time.  His brothers love to hand him toys.  Most often several toys at once...or the whole toy box full of baby toys.  And Johnny loves to watch them play.  He is especially watchful when they are playing cars and Will makes all his screeching and crashing sound effects.  

He still loves to be carried around so he can be part of the action up close.  And be close to me.  Because he loves me.  :)  He loves to be outside, and it usually fixes any fussiness, so we're out there as much as we can be before the mosquitoes feast on our flesh.  He is really getting interested in what we are eating.  He licks his lips and works that tongue like he's getting ready for a big mouthful, and when the spoon doesn't head his way he looks disappointed.  No longer can I sit at the dinner table with him in my lap and eat peacefully.  He is lunging for my plate.  So, I am gearing myself up for my least favorite stage: spoon feeding.  He's ready.  Let's hope he enjoys the solids more than Will did.  I'm pretty sure he's going to be a fan. 

I found this photo of Matthew in the same shirt for his 5 month picture by the tree.  Kinda funny that I unknowingly dressed them the same.  Chubby Matt! 

Pumpkins

Part of our very fun weekend in Dallas included a visit to the Dallas arboretum to frolic about in the beautiful grounds and pose the kids among the pumpkins.  That place is gorgeous and so impressive.  And the day we went it was crazy crowded.  Everyone had the same idea.

Johnny and Emily were troopers once again.  And strollermates all bundled up.  So cute.

Getting a good one of our three boys wasn't easy.  Impossible I'd say.

That's ok.  We had fun watching them run all over the place and delight in all the hundreds of pumpkins and pumpkin houses.

Josh & Matt did some awesome poses, too.

That next week we hit another local patch with Henry and John Heisterman.  Handsome fellas!

Will's lap isn't quite big enough to cradle his baby brother in.  Johnny is also super wiggly.  I like that Henry is totally lounging on that pumpkin.

Little brother is getting big!  Will was thrilled to be able to hold him and pose for a picture.  Sweetness. I wonder how much longer they'll let me pose them with the pumpkins?

State Fair

We took a quick, whirlwind trip to Dallas the first weekend of October and stayed with our good friends the Browns.  They were sweet enough to open up their home to all 5 (!!!) of us for the weekend.  The noise level reached all new heights.  But we had fun, fun, fun!  We headed to the fair on Sunday afternoon after Chris had completed his triathlon.  I know.  He rocked it at a triathlon and then hoofed it all around the fair that evening.  He crazy.

Brown kids and Jones kids.  Emily and Johnny made their first appearance at the fair.  First of many, we're sure.

After picture posing we immediately got ourselves a corny dog.  So, so good.  Never mind cross-eyed Matt.  *giggle*

The extra special treat was that Steven was able to join us this year.  Don't think he'd made the trip since he was a UT student.  And that was a loooooooooong time ago.  :)

The kids were super excited about the rides as they are every year.  Mr. Will did do some growing over the last year, but alas, it was still not enough for him to ride solo.  He measured 33", so he's got 3 more inches to grow over the next year to ride by himself on most of the kiddie rides.  Can he do it??

Good thing Will has a big brother to ride along with.

It worked well until one fair employee blew the whistle on us and said that Will had to ride with someone 12 or older.  So, I rode the airplanes and got all dizzy.  Really though, why is dizziness so miserable as an adult?  Made me feel all icky.  But my little boy was all smiles.

Johnny was a champ.  We had him all bundled up in his stroller, and he did great for the most part.  He decided to get hungry while I was in the very long line waiting for fried cookie dough and a caramel apple.

These three.  They played and played all weekend long.  They all slept in the same room, and yes they actually slept.  Until the Brown's dog, Jackson, walked into their room one morning and Will screamed like I had never heard him scream before.  We've got to get that kid used to dogs.  Maybe dogs that aren't bigger than him would help.  Poor guy.

We were just about to leave the fair that evening when the parade headed our way.  We watched it and were then able to pose our kids with these crazy clowns at the end.  Hilarious.  And the day was complete!  Another awesome year at the State Fair.

Go Steelers!

Matt has suited up again for another season of flag football.  He's moved up to the 1st/2nd grade age bracket, and this time around he's a Steeler.  He is ecstatic to be playing again.  He tells me everyday he absolutely cannot wait until it is practice day or game day.  He's not the only one who is enthusiastic--his teammates are equally jazzed about playing and so now we have practices twice a week.  Weeeeee. If they weren't at 6 o-clock and if Steven could be around for all of them, then it wouldn't be so bad, but that's not the case.  We make it work for our very serious & passionate football player.

He's played a few games now, and it appears that this time around he is a key part of the defense.  That boy can pull flags.  He can pursue.  He will chase a kid down.  This past Saturday's game he made a big play--pulled a flag and stopped the team from scoring.  They won their first game that day too!

I may have been one of those obnoxious parents on the sideline at this past game.  Steven & I are both frustrated with the coach's choice to throw the ball so frequently.  These are 6 and 7 year olds who are inexperienced with catching a pass or running a pass route or looking for a ball that is being thrown their way.  Seriously, run the ball.  It works.  So there I was.  Screaming from the sidelines.  Run.  The.  Ball!!!!!!!!!!  Ugh.  And guess how they won the game on the very last play?  They ran the ball.  All the way down the field for a TD.

Will is as supportive as a little brother can be.  He's a little upset he can't run around on the field with Matt.

But, he's been doing a good job entertaining himself on the sideline.  He was taking flying leaps off this huge rock that caused my heart to race a tad.

The kids and I enjoyed dinner outside one night when the weather was nice and cool.  Will did his best to convince me that we couldn't eat outside that we had to sit inside at the table...but, I won.  He didn't complain once I shooed the bugs away and he was able to zip around on his bike.

Matt took this picture of Johnny in the bumbo.  I love how happy he is when his brothers interact with him.  Precious.

And this one, I don't remember where we were coming home from.  But they both fell asleep.  Will has been falling asleep more and more frequently in the car, it's fascinating.

And then here are my kitchen helpers.  For real, I need more counter space.  What you don't see is Matt on the opposite counter going through my spice cabinet and lining them all up.  Yes, he's still lining up food items after all these years.  Mr. HEB is going to hit the jackpot with that one.