No longer a little baby, not a toddler, but somewhere in between

I don't even know how to describe him anymore. My beautiful 6 pound 15 ounce baby boy is a fast crawler, busy body cruiser who loves music, dances, he touches his head when I ask him where his head is. He points, he waves. He knows exactly what he wants and doesn't want. I can ask him who every family member is and he will look directly at that person, except for ME! That's right, he is still not saying Mama and won't even look my way when asked where Mama is. He laughs. He "sings". He is simply amazing in every way possible. He can give high-fives and smack his bottle/sippy cup away when he's done with it. He knows which books are his favorites and will make it very clear when he is finished looking at them. He loves to play his piano and dance along his laugh and learn table. His favorite fruit to eat is fresh bananas and he loves green beans, zucchini and broccoli. I ask him "where is grandmom and pop-pop" and he will look at my computer (we skype with them A LOT). In the past month or so, it seems like every day he does something new. He is very animated with his facial expressions (just like me) and you can tell what he is thinking just by looking at his face. I decided today, a little over 11 months old that I should start transitioning him from a bottle to a sippy cup. Well, being the laid-back baby that he has been for 11 months now, he gladly accepted the sippy cup and has had all of his milk from it today. Seems like I don't need to worry about weaning him off of the bottle. My one concern at this point is the B I N K Y! That's right, the binky. This boy LOVES his bink. He has even been nicknamed the binky bandit. If your baby is around JJ and they have a binky, you better hide it because he WILL take it from your child.

I'm typing this blog from Germantown, MD, where JJ"s grandfather, Bob Fitch is currently living. Bob is at in-home hospice and JJ has had the opportunity to spend over a week now with his grandfather. Although he won't remember, Jonathan and I will make sure that JJ knows as much about Bob as possible.

Dad/Bob-- I dedicate this blog to you. Because although you don't really know how much this little guy is doing, he is doing it all over the house and even around your hospital bed. And shortly, you will be in heaven looking down on him, guiding him and protecting him through his on journeys. We love you so much and we will always remember the great times that we've had together. I'm so lucky to have a father-in-law that is so caring and loving, and SUPER intelligent. There is so much of you in JJ and that alone will always keep the memory of you alive. I love you, Dad.

Ending 2010

What a roller coaster of a year! Pregnancy, birthing a child, quitting my awesome job to stay-at-home, play dates, Holidays, and Florida! Let me first start off by saying that JJ had the best first Christmas EVER! We spent Christmas Eve with our Fitch Family at Aunt Jen and Uncle Andy's house, and then spent Christmas Eve night and all day Christmas and Christmas night in Philadelphia with my side of the family. JJ was completely spoiled with toys, love, hugs, kisses and probably some body chewing as well. We finished off 2010 with a trip for a week to Orlando, FL to visit Aunt Jennie and Uncle Phil. The most important part of our trip was that we were smart enough as first time parents to know to fly business class! I couldn't imagine not having the extra leg room and seat room as we passed JJ back and forth between the both of us. During our trip to Orlando we went out and did something every day. Seaworld, Universal Islands of Adventure where we went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and sipped Delicious BUTTERBEER!! We went to a petting farm which was AMAZING. Leu Gardens, downtown Disney, Silver Springs Adventure Park. Pretty much, you name it, we did it. What we did stay away from was all things Disney (except for Downtown Disney) because we really want to wait until the little guy is old enough to truly enjoy it and remember it. They say a picture speaks a thousand words so below is a highlight of how our family closed out 2010 and entered into 2011.

Crawling and Standing-- all in the same day!

Oh, boy! My baby. My little baby boy has finally started to crawl and stand up on his own. All on the same day! I don't know how I feel about this. Of course I am happy for him and super proud. But....what is happening to my little baby? He is growing up so fast. Even though lots of babies start crawling around the 6 month mark and my little lazy boy didn't start until 8 1/2 months old, I still kinda wish he wasn't. Yes, it's exciting. Yes, it's fun to watch, but this Mommy is in no hurry for her boy to grow up so fast. Below is a video of Jonathan crawling for the second time ever. He would not crawl for me, or for any of his toys, but he did crawl for a chocolate covered cherry wrapper. He is so my child :)

What's the boy up to now?0

Well, our little guy is 8 1/2 months old now and he is better than ever! He is such a joy and so much fun that each day holds new adventures. Although JJ isn't quite crawling all over the place, he can get from one side of the room to the next in a hot minute. This includes a half-second crawl, scooting, rolling and all other kinds of twists and turns with his little meatball body. This past week he is also starting to pull himself up pretty well. We expect that in the next week, he'll be in full crawling mode and pulling himself up with a lot more strength. His pediatrician told us due to his physique (short legs, big head), he'll be likely to start crawling later, if he crawls at all. He also was a back sleeper until 5 months old, so that also slows down the crawling process. Either way, I'm in no rush. I'll keep my little baby who I can carry around with me as long as I can!

He is saying "Dada" like crazy (ugh). No Mama yet, but trust me, I say "Mama" to him about 1,000 times a day. He laughs like crazy. Smiles a lot. He is wanting to be held a lot more now than ever before. He wants us involved in his floor play time and wants to be near us at all times!

He is on a pretty predictable schedule which is good for the both of us. Wakes up, bottle, cereal, play, nap, lunch, play time, story time, bottle, nap, snack, playtime, story time, dinner, bath, bottle, bed. He is sleeping an average of 11 hours at night and then naps anywhere from 3-5 hours a day, usually a 2 hour morning nap and a 3 hour afternoon nap.

JJ spent his first Thanksgiving at Andy and Jen's house. His Thanksgiving dinner consisted of Earths Best Organic Turkey, Cranberry, Apple jarred food (ack). I know some Mom's that have babies JJ's age gave their kids pumpkin pie, green bean casserole, etc, but Jonathan and I are just not rolling that way right now. There are two reasons for this. First: No need to rush the fatty, not-so-great food to him, after all, he is only 8 months old. Second: We're kind of freaked out giving him anything thicker than pureed baby food. I mean, I only give him about 6 puffs a day cause I have this crazy fear he'll choke! Yes, JJ, when you read this some day, it won't be a surprise to you that Mommy is a bit crazy and super protective.

Oh, Oh, OH!! I almost forgot. As of Saturday, December 4, 2010, at 8 1/2 months old, Jonathan is now sleeping in his own room. This was a really hard decision for us. Jonathan and I are very much "Attachment Parenting" type parents and were going to let him sleep in our room until a year old, but there were two reasons that made us decide to cut the umbilical cord and move our little guy out. First: We had our first fire of the winter season going on Saturday and our room had a pretty strong smoke smell. We have the carbon monoxide and smoke detectors and all was fine, but we just didn't feel comfortable letting him sleep in our room. The second reason: his pack n play looks SO uncomfortable compared to his crib. I mean, the pack n play "mattress" is pretty much a wood board with a padding. But the crib. Oh, that sweet crib is heavenly. So yeah, he is now in his own room. I must say, we are handling it so much better than we thought we would. Sure we miss looking down at him and seeing him. But we have a flat screen monitor next to our TV so we can still look at him and watch him.

Well, I think I've rambled on a bit more than I wanted to. I just want to conclude this entry by saying that every single day, I look at that adorable face and am totally amazed that we created him. We are so lucky and blessed to have him. He is our everything.

JJ's first Fall

Jonathan really enjoyed sitting outside on top of the leaves. At first he thought it was fun to rip the leaves apart untillllllllllllllllll he realized "Hey, I can put this in my mouth".

8 months old

JJ has been with us for 8 months now and I can't imagine my life without him. He has been the greatest gift and blessing that we will ever receive. He is so sweet and easy going. Raising him so far has been very easy for us. He is easy to transition into different situations and tolerates change well. I am 99.9% positive that our next child will not be as easy as JJ, and that's OK, but did he really set the standards high :)

It's so crazy that 8 months ago, we just welcomed our little man into our world and now I don't even remember what life was like before him. To celebrate his 8 month birthday, here is a picture of me holding him for the very first time....

JJ meets Santa

We are fastly approaching Jonathan's FIRST Christmas and I am SUPER excited about it. Last weekend Daddy and Mommy took Jonathan to meet Santa and get his picture taken.