Jonah turns 6

Dear Jonah,

You're 6 years old now! We measured you on the wall and then did your birthday interview. You crack me up sometimes. 

Jonah's Birthday Interview:


What is your favorite color? Red

What is your favorite toy? Legos

What is your favorite game? Enchanted Forest

What is your favorite song? Star Wars song! Of course! (Yes, I know. I hear him humming it all the time!)

What is your favorite animal? Gorilla

What is your favorite book? Clone Wars

What do you like to snuggle with at night? Nothing, that's a baby question. Too old for that. 

What is your favorite movie? Star Wars!

What is your favorite thing to eat? Pizza

Where is your favorite place to go? Library - to get Star Wars books. 

What is your favorite outfit? I have no star wars outfits. But I do have a favorite, my batman outfits. My other ones outgrew me. 

What do you like to learn about? Star wars...ha, ha, ha. What about in school? Okay, then. Math.

What have you learned in the last year? Math, math, math. 


What is hard for you? Falling asleep. 

What is your favorite thing to do as a family? Go places, park, nature centers. 

What do you like about Mommy? That you had a baby.  And I like to go on dates with you. 

What do you like about Daddy? That he tells funny jokes. 

What do you like about Lucy?  Lucy's teaches me how to do stuff. 

What do you like about Norah? That she's so funny. 

What do you like about Jude? That he's a tiny baby and that he is someone I can babysit. I'm a good babysitter for him. (Note: He's talking about when I say, "Hey, watch here Jude swing while I go down and switch the laundry" or "I'm going to take a shower while Jude is asleep, tell me if he wakes up and starts to cry". I promise I'm not leaving them unattended for lengthy periods of time :-)

 

What do you like about yourself? That I'm as so crazy. 

What do you want to be when you grow up? A robot maker and inventor - of robots. 

We recently let you watch the original Star Wars series for the first time and well, it was a hit. Now, it's all Star Wars all the time around here! You wanted a Star Wars cake and initially that had me perplexed because all the ones I could find were quite involved and involved lots of black fondant. But you and I figured out a good solution and you loved your cake. The candles as light sabers was your own "invention" and it worked perfectly! 

When one kid really wants to eat Luke and the other really wants Darth Vader and dad is a pretty nice guy :-)

Present time: Star Wars Legos, Star Wars dress up, star wars tees. Plus a really cool robot you got to stay up late coding with-  and some more legos and you've still got a  few more presents in the mail. And Lucy de andsigned made you a cardboard computer and coding "toy." Your family does love to spoil you!

You're worth spoiling a bit. Some stuff comes easy to you, especially math and you've recently taken off with reading. You have some amazing ideas and are always coming up with plans - some feasible, some not as much. But you've also faced some big challenges. You are one of the most determined and persistent kids I know though so you're moving past them and it makes me so proud of you. Your determination does not always make you easy to parent but I can't wait to see how God is going to use those qualities in you as you grow up (well, actually, I can wait, don't get there too fast!). You've always been my "Jojo" but this summer have said you would like to be "Jonah" now. Oh, well, okay then. 

You've always been on the shy side which only makes me sad because not everyone gets to see and hear how funny and clever you can be but I can see your personality start to emerge around others more and more. You seem to be a favorite at church and have made friends young and old.

You're small in size but not in strength. You're super athletic and always climbing up things and doing amazing feats that make my heart skip a beat while I try and be laid back about it. So far no broken bones! Just a lot of baths and a lot of laundry.

Earlier this year when you decided to dig a big pit. Ruined several pairs of shorts but you and your puppy pal burned off a lot of energy. 

You have a great heart. I've seen that grow so much this year as you've had the chance to really ponder some big ideas and your love for God and his Word is such a joy to behold. You're a great brother and can be so loving and kind it melts my heart. I just love your combination of energy and spirit and crazy boy wildness that I can't seem to tame that can switch in an instant to this calm sweet boy who helps his siblings as gently as can be. I can't wait to see what the next year brings to you - and you to it!

Jude's @ 1 month

Dear Jude,

You've made it through your first month....and another 8 days. Okay, I'm a bit late but in my defense, it's been a pretty busy 5 weeks around here! 

Sure, I'll gaze poetically into the distance so you can document my cuteness. 

If I had to describe your personality this first month it would be, well, cranky! It's not that you have colic or really cry that much or that intensely. You just have had a generally grumpy disposition and it takes a bit of work to keep you somewhat happy.

He loves his sling. 

And his wrap. 

And that work pretty much had to be done by me. I don't even have that many pictures of your dad holding you yet because if he was, you were normally crying. You want mom. Not dad, not grandma, not your siblings...mom.

You are not mom therefore I am cranky.

But you do like to snuggle and I've been taking it easy so you and mean have had some good times cozy in bed with netflix and podcasts. And you sleep well and eat well and are certainly growing well.

At least I sleep well

At 1 week you were only down 5 oz to 10 lbs 1 oz and at 3 weeks were all the way up to 12 lbs. I haven't weighed you lately but your still my little tank baby. You are firmly in 3-6 month clothes. I used (and hated) size 2 disposables on the trip but now that we're home we're squeezing you into the biggest setting on your size 1 thirsties covers because it's what I have for now. (And for you cloth diaper mama's, I've always been a snappi not a trifold mom but I've converted bc a size lasts a lot longer trifolded. I now love trifolding!)

And I'm clearly getting plenty to eat. 

It's so much fun comparing you to your siblings. All four of you have had a similar BRC Baby look but you and Jonah are probably closest although I times I see the girls too. I think the hair makes you look even more like Jonah. Although his always looked like I combed it (I never did) and yours always looks like it hasn't been (even if I try to). It's also darker and maybe a tinge red. Jonah's had that strawberry tint to but it went away pretty quickly. We'll see if yours is similar. And you and Lucy would probably be closet in personality so far - as in, not my mellowest ones :-)

But you are also proving that even with being the caboose, you can be your own little man. You love baths and your swing (you love your swing!), sitting up one my legs so you can see all around and having all your fan club ( aka Lucy, Jonah and Norah) come and talk to you. They all adore you and will just randomly come up and look at you and say how cute you are and how much they love you and you just watch them so intently. Norah calls you her "bug-a-boo" and if she here's you cry, she'll run to you and stroke your head and say "It's okay, it's okay, you're okay" and then call me "Mom, he's mad. He needs mi-mi (our word for nurse, courtesy of Lucy mispronouncing milk way back in the day) right now! Jonah was so happy you were a boy he had to add to dad's prayer the first day of "Thank you for a healthy baby" with "...and thanks for making him a brother." Lucy loves to hold you but doesn't like to make you cry so it doesn't happen a lot. But when you do cooperate, her face just lights up. 

Norah doesn't really care if you cry, she just likes to hold you.

Are you sure this girl is qualified to hold me?

You did a lot of traveling, having been in 5 different states before you turned one month old. Your were a pretty good traveler but now that I'm the one doing the driving, you seems to hate the car. So all the kids now hate it because they don't like to hear you cry. Lucy even asked me why your cry was so different and sad. It's because it's a real distress cry and not a whimpery cry for attention or food. So I don't think we'll be going as many places this next month as the last. But at least you did good on the trip!

I got my paci and my mom's hands so let's get going. North Dakota or bust!

Loving a pacifier is probably the biggest difference in traveling. Lucy would scream and start gagging if we tried to get her to take one, I didn't even try with Jonah. Norah liked it well enough for the 10 seconds she could keep it in her mouth but she never seemed to latch on to it (pun intended) but you love it. It meaning one specific pacifier and not even the same brand that I tried to get as a back-up. No, the dark blue one is different. You like the light blue one. But you like that one a lot!

And with all your fussing, you have miraculous (knock on wood) not had too many troubles with evenings...aka "the witching hours." And your my first to really love to be swaddled but your very hot natured (or maybe it's just that you were born in August) so even a swaddle over a onesie is too much most of the time. But you're big enough for a zippadee-zip and looks so cute all ready for bed and looking like a little grey flying squirrel. 

His cheeks just keep

getting smooshier!

Maybe that will be another nickname. You have a lot. Besides Bug-a-boo you might be be called smooshy, smooshems, tank baby and Jude the dude. And you love when we sing your songs - Hey, Jude (because, duh!) and a little ditty that goes...Jude, Jude, he's kinda rude. He gets real cranky when he wants food...so far you don't seem to be offended by that. Perhaps because you know its true.