Keepin' Busy

We are headed into the final stretch of our summer. It has really flown by fast!

Erik has been working on painting our house for a few weeks now. It is mostly completed, but it seems to be harder and harder lately to find the time to finish it. The amazing clear and warm weather we have been having lately doesn't really encourage one to work... that and two little kids! When Erik does get a chance to work on the house, though, he has his handy little side-kick, Cairo, anxiously awaiting to help him out. Before she paints, though, she insists on wearing a painting hat, just like daddy. Though Cairo would prefer to use the same paint Daddy uses, she settles for water.

Meanwhile, Jonah is working hard at talking and grabbing his toys. The number of sounds he makes increases on almost a daily basis now. He can purr, screech, coo, goo, and he has a little laugh. He loves to smile at me with a big huge smile that makes laugh. Even funnier, though, is the boo-boo lip he pops out when he's upset. Erik and I are afraid we are going to give his some kind of complex because whenever he does it we start to crack up. It's okay, Jonah, we love you and you will understand why we are laughing at you some day.

As I said, he is starting to grab at toys. This is a development as of this last week. He bats at his toys and works really hard at grabbing them. His look of concentration and the little grunts he lets out while he working at this is highly entertaining. When he does grab a hold of something, he holds on with a death grip. I don't mind when he gets his toys, but when it is my hair or my skin... ouch!

All this hard work is really draining on him. Recently, he has decided that he prefers to take naps on his tummy. Though doctors these days say that babies should sleep on their backs, Erik and I both seemed to have survived childhood sleeping on our tummies; so, I am not too worried about bending current day rules. Plus, his tummy naps last between three and fours hours!

Jonah is a really good baby. He does get fussy and clingy at times, but he is also a champ at sleeping, smiling, and hanging out on his blanket. He is starting to establish a pretty nice routine- up 6-6:30 am, morning nap, 3-4 hour afternoon nap, in bed by 9 pm. We are working on moving his bedtime routine to an earlier hour. He has been falling asleep before he gets his bath and I hate having to wake him up when he's ready to be done for the day.

What fun would a baby brother be if Cairo couldn't share her clippies with him! Heather and I LOVED turning Danny into "Christina Leslie"- his name is he had been a girl. Here is the first of many times...