Little John

"Oh mom, you quack me up!"  :)  Yes, we have reached the beginning of the fun part with John.  To be perfectly honest, I do not like the newborn stage.  (And I have several friends who stand with me in this.)  Eat, sleep, poop......repeat.  Sleepless nights where there is no pay off except a child who, hopefully and blessedly, survives.  And then.....2 months rolls around and they start smiling.  And they start cooing.  And there are times where you even detect a bit of laughter.  And all of this becomes your drive and motivation and makes the newborn stage totally worth it!!!!  :)  And these little people start becoming fun and start to interact with you.  It's not the best stage (that would be 9 months, in my opinion) but it is up there, to be sure!!!!

Speaking of interacting......John adores his brothers and the feeling is quite mutual.  Jakob LOVES to take care of his little brother.  He is the first to tell me if John is crying.  Jakob is the first to tuck John's blanket under him while John is in the swing.  John loves Jakob.  But boy.....does John watch what Jeffery is up to!!!!  He watches Jeffery like a hawk.  And Jeffery can get him to smile HUGE smiles.  It makes a person get all mushy and gooey to see.  Hahahaha.  And you should have seen the pride in Jeffery when he got to introduce his new brother to his soccer teammates!!!!!  They are already the 3 Amigos!!!!

John is taking a bottle!  YAY!!!!!!!!!!  With JRS starting up here in a few weeks, this was an important thing for him to accomplish so that the babysitter isn't left hanging.  There was no fight, no struggle, no tears on my part.  I just put the bottle in his mouth and he knew what to do.  He is such a chill baby!!!!  With Jeffery, we fought to get him to take a bottle for over 3 weeks.  I fought with him, Dave fought with him, my mom and dad and sister all fought with him.  It was finally an act of tough love on my dad's part that ensured final success but it was a battle!!!!  Jakob wasn't as bad but it still took about a week for him to get on board.  But John......well, don't tell the other boys but John is fast becoming our favorite.  ;)  (Totally kidding.....well, a little!)  On a related note, I have been reminded of the love/hate relationship that I have with pumping but......oh well!

John is a chunk!!!  :)  He is now over 12 lbs and is 24 inches long.  He has grown 3.5 inches since he was born!  He is in the 50th percentile for weight which is amazing!  Jeffery was never above the 10th percentile and Jakob always hovered around the 25 percentile!  So....wooohooo!!!!!!!  He is such a good feeder and I am far less stressed about it than I have been in the past so breastfeeding this time around is going really really well.  

Another thing he is really good at is sleeping.  This child is unreal in that department!  (Knock on wood!)  He was giving me such good stretches of sleep, and really has done so since he was born, that at 2 months old, we kicked him out of the pack n play......kicked him out of our room.....and put him in the crib in the nursery.  3 out of the past 4 nights, he has slept from 10:30 until about 7am.  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  (And the heavens cleared and the angels rejoiced!)  When have I EVER had a child at 2 months of age that would do that?!  NEVER!!!!!!!!!  He got kicked out of our room 3 months before Jeffery and 5/almost 6 months before Jakob did!  He is also going down for afternoon naps at the same time as the older boys so I get a blissful afternoon to myself.  He has made the transition from 2 children to 3 children so much easier on us than we anticipated.  Even if down the road we have a bad week or month.....this early time is such a key to my recovery and his development!

One issue that we are having is that we have yet to give him a nickname!  We call him John, Little John, John-John, and Jan (pronounced Yawn...the Scandinavian pronuciation).  The boys have taken to calling him Johnny.....which I'm not really thrilled about.  But Jeffery is my monkey.  Jakob is my bear.  I have no idea what John is!  Were Jakob not already the Bear, I would give that name to John after Little John in Disney's "Robin Hood".  He's one of my favorite characters!  As it is, we're floating about "Owl" (since he watches the boys very closely and I have a special connection with Owls) or "Badger" (since Friar Tuck in "Robin Hood" was a badger).  But nothing has really presented itself yet as the one.  

John is one special little boy because on the day he turned 2 months old.....Papa came to visit.  That means Papa has seen him twice since he was born.  Given that Papa lives in Arizona......I'd say John (and the other boys and Dave and me) are VERY lucky!!!  And Oma is coming back in November....so YAY!!!!!!  Dad took a red-eye flight from Phoenix, flying through the middle of the night, so that he could be here first thing that Friday morning.  If you've read the other post, you'll understand the other reasons he came for a visit so soon after already being here for John's birth!  

Great minds think alike!  I was already planning on picking up 2 month celebratory birthday cupcakes on our way home from the airport......and Dad had the exact same plan!  

We can't believe this nugget is already 2 months old!!!!!!!  Where is the time going?!?!?!?!

Not to be crass but I think John has a very good instinct on who can possibly lactate and who can't.  He is very content in the arms of any female......but is a fuss bucket for males (including, sadly, Dave).  But Papa got some good holding time in and it won't be long before John is chanting Daddy's name and Papa's name like his older brothers do.  :)

And just to make sure Oma wasn't left out......they all face timed with her at one point!  Hahahahaha!!!!

One of the best things about babies is the silly outfits and hats you get to put them in.  A package arrived with an amazing gift inside but no sender information was included.  I was at a loss!  But.....we later found out that this beyond adorable Viking outfit....complete with a sword, shield, and club.....came from our dear friends, the Winfields!  The outfit is hand crocheted and fits him (both size wise and personality) perfectly!!!!!!!!!  He is now, truly, a member of our Viking Clan!  :)

And then there are the outfits that are treasured!  Take, for instance, this shirt.  I was given this shirt when I was a baby.....38 years ago!  My dad's first Honor Choir at Westwood High School presented him with the shirt.......and now, my three boys have all worn it!!!!!  John is on the left, Jeffery is top right and Jakob is lower right.  And for being 38 years old......the shirt is as good as new!!!!

Time is flying by far too quickly!  He is almost 11 weeks old now.  How is that even possible?!!!!!!  But this little boy.....our little John.....is so dearly loved by his family.  We are so proud of his weight gain, his good sleeping, his smiles and cooing.  We love his bright eyes and round head.  How our family existed without him is beyond us but we're so happy he is here now!!!!!!!