big boy

Jonah loves to drink water from a cup. I'm not sure what the thrill is all about, but it sure excites him.

packing on the pounds

Jonah has gained maybe a little too much weight, don't you think?

russell family vacation: part deux

Since Jonah decided to interrupt our family vacation last August by being born, we decided to take another one in January. We started at Kerri's basketball game, went to dinner, and then headed up to the cabin. The next day we went to breakfast, went tubing at Soldier Hollow, and had an adventure with Sterling's flat tire. We had made reservations for Sterling and Lorie at Chez Betty and when we went to the car after tubing, we noticed Sterling's car had a flat tire. So, Sterling, Lorie, Jonah, and I drove back to the cabin so they could make their dinner and Scott and the girls could fix the tire. They ended up not being able to fix it because his car did not come with a spare tire, just an air pump and some jelly stuff to hold it in until you can get a new tire. Needless to say, they showed up to the cabin in a cab about three hours later with a huge platter of fried Mexican goodies from Don Pedro's.

We all had a good time hanging out, playing Phase 10, Hearts, and our new Wii. Kerri, Scott, and I also made a sweet sledding hill down the neighbor's driveway, across the street, and down another hill. We're looking forward to the next Russell Family Vacation, whenever that may be.

Scott forgot to bring snow boots, so he had to borrow Grandpa's sweet boots with no traction and warmth. Doesn't he look a little like Santa Claus with the red shirts, suspenders, and black shiny boots?

Jonah and Dad on the kiddie hill.

christmas 2008

So it's February, but here is what our Christmas looked like:

Christmas trees.

Mom, Jonah, and Christmas cracker crowns.

Grandma and Jonah.

Jonah as Baby Jesus (3 times).

Christmas jammies.

Drooling over his new girlfriend (Kit Kittredge).

Goofy Dad and tired Jonah.

Opening presents.

A baby with lots of crap.

We went a little overboard on his presents, but it was a good Christmas with family, too much food, and a lot of love.

eight crazy years

I don't get political on my blog and this will probably be the last time I will mention anything like this, but in honor of our great former President, George W. Bush, please read this post by my dear, sweet, sister-in-law. I promise you will laugh. It sure has been eight CRAZY years.

four months

Okay, once again I am behind, but I have the dumb camera excuse.

Jonah turned four months before Christmas. All of his pictures are on my camera, so here he is at 4 1/2 months, but you get the point.

And here he is at one month. I can't believe how much he has grown.

At his four month appointment, he weighed a whopping 17 pounds 3 ounces and measured 25 inches. That means he is short and fat. Actually, his height is in the 50th percentile, which is average and his weight is in the 90th percentile, which is above average. So he is just obese.

At four months, Jonah:

• is no longer nursing. He quit a few days after I wrote that he was still nursing in the morning. I think I jinxed myself. He just plain hated it and I wasn't going to force him into something he didn't want to do.
• likes to hold his own bottle. It's pretty funny.
• is very stingy with his laughs. He is not very easily amused.
• is sort of shy. He buries his head into my shoulder when someone new comes and says hi to him.
• is very cuddly and I love it.
• basically sleeps from 9-6:30. Anyone know how to make a baby sleep in? It would be nice for me not to have to wake up that early seeing as how I usually don't have anywhere to go. I have tried keeping him up later but he gets so ornery if he is up past 9:30, so I figure I would rather be up early with a very happy baby than up late with a fussy one.
• takes very good naps.
• is now a very happy baby. Long gone are those fussy first two months and boy, am I glad.
• loves to grab things, hold things, and put things in his mouth. He also LOVES to suck on his hand.

Jonah has been a really fun baby this month. He smiles a lot and we think he kind of likes us. I thought I really loved the newborn stage, but this is so much better because he can actually interact with us and I usually know what he wants. In the words of my mom, the more I get to know him, the more I love him!

more wedding

Here are some more pictures from the wedding I took on Scott's camera. Mine still won't let me get pictures off of it.

The lovebirds:

Lauren's dress was gorgeous. When we were dress shopping I told her that when she tried on THE dress, she would know it was THE dress. I was sort of kidding, but she knew when she tried this one on that it was the one. And she found it at the first dress shop. Talk about low maintenance! I went to like ten places.

Jonah zonked out and looked pretty comfortable....

The Russells were very supportive and came to the reception. Maybe it was just to see their favorite grandson...

And no, Lorie is very angelic, but that is not a halo around her head.

Jonah and his beautiful Aunt Kelli:

Jonah in his cute outfit. It kind of looks like leather, but don't worry, it's velvet...or probably velour:

Jonah was surprisingly well-behaved and we all had a great time. I can't wait to see their wedding video because Scott, Emma, and I were dancing towards the end and Emma was doing some Elaine-style dance moves but she didn't know the videographer was filming her. When she found out she was so embarrassed. I hope he puts it on the video.

Anyway, I love going to weddings no matter what anyone else says. They are always special and make me remember my wedding day and why I chose to marry Scott. This one was no exception.

the wedding

My camera is being stupid and won't let me get my pictures off of it, so these are pictures from Emma's camera. I would really like to post about our Christmas festivities, but that will have to wait until I can figure it out.

Lauren and Brandon were married on December 30th and it was a beautiful day and a beautiful wedding. We are so excited for them and excited to have Brandon in our family. Weird how those kind of things happen. I never expected him to be my brother-in-law when I took him to that Harvest Dance back in high school!

Here's a picture of the Russells. I think it's cute except for Jonah is turning his head. Oh well. You can't expect much from a four-month-old in the way of posing for photos.

And here's a picture of the whole Daines fam-damily. We are continuing to grow at an unbelievable rate.

cool dude

My mom bought these glasses when we went to California in May. I just found them the other day and thought I would try them out.

My son thinks he is so cool.

my birthday present

So my birthday present was six months late, but definitely worth the wait. Scott gave me tickets to see Coldplay, and let me tell you, it was the best concert I have ever been to. Coldplay is my favorite band, so it was exciting anyway, but seriously. Can it get any better? Even Scott was impressed, and I have learned that he is very picky/critical about things like movies, music, food, etc. Even though it was at Energy Solutions, the sound was pretty good and Chris Martin was crazy. My favorite part was when they left the stage half-way through and went into the audience in the lower bowl and played "The Scientist" from the seats. Chris Martin played the harmonica and they used a mandoline and an acoustic guitar. It was so dang cool. I'm pretty sure I got chills. I know, I'm weird. They are so good live.

So here is another poor quality phone picture of us two at the concert. Thanks for the coolest present ever Scott!

jonah's first college football game

My favorite picture of my guys.

My favorite picture of Jonah.

Not my favorite picture of us.

So we had tickets in the MUSS for the Utah-BYU game. If you know us, you know that we are a family divided among college football teams. I am a Utah fan. Scott is a BYU fan. Jonah is neutral for now, but I'm working on him. Now that Scott goes to the U, he is slowly making his way over to the dark side. The game was the same night as the Coldplay concert and I didn't want to leave Jonah with a babysitter all day, so we decided to take him. It was cold, but Jonah was probably the warmest one in the stadium. He was a little freaked out at first by the loudness, but quickly got over it and had himself a great time (he slept). I was very proud of Scott for cheering for Utah even if it was only to keep us safe. If he had even clapped when BYU did something good, we probably would have been attacked by the crazy students. The MUSS is WILD! We had fun and it was a sweet game because the Utes won and now they're headed to the Sugar Bowl. GO UTES.

Sorry about the poor picture quality. Of course my favorite pictures were taken with my phone.

smiles

We finally got some smiles on camera last night. I love his big dimple.

happy birthday again

Scott turned the big 2-5 yesterday. Now he is really getting old. 25 just seems old. Sorry, Scott.

He wanted spaghetti and meatballs again, which I happily made. I also made my first from-scratch cake and I think I chose the hardest cake you can ever choose to make. It took me all day. It was chocolate with milk chocolate frosting. The cake was a little dry, but the frosting was divine. Overall, it was just good.

He said that it was the best birthday he has ever had, so that's a success in my book.

Anyway, Scott has added yet another talent to his lengthy list: excellent father. He is a really good dad. He loves Jonah WAY too much and Jonah loves him right back. He thinks Scott is really funny. Scott is very patient with him and does everything he can to provide for his needs.

So happy birthday Scott! We sure love you.

three months

Look how chubby he is! And I even caught a smile on camera. I don't really feel like getting the two month picture off the CD I burned it onto, so you can refer to it in the two month post.

Jonah turned three months old on November 23. I know that was a while ago. He is almost four months old. I can't really believe it. The first two months went by so slowly but it seems like everyday he gets bigger and learns new things. It is making me a little sad to see how fast he is growing up, but he is in a really fun stage so it is okay I guess.

After a long time of being a really tiny baby, he finally hit a huge growth spurt right before he turned three months. You should see him now. He is a chub! I love it though. I guess the first two months went by slowly because he was so small for so long. But I'm not complaining. I'm glad I had all that time to take in a tiny, just-like-new baby.

At three months, Jonah:

-loves his overhead gym. There is a mirror attached to it and he loves to look into it because I think he thinks someone is there playing with him, which is really nice. I'm not going to lie.
-smiles a lot, but I can't ever get one on camera. He has become a really happy baby ever since I figured out that he requires about four or five good naps during the day. I feel bad that I was depriving him of sleep those first two months. Oh well, live and learn.
-started sleeping through the night more consistently. If he does wake up, it is only once and I just give him his binky and he goes back to sleep. It is amazing what a full night of sleep can do for a mother. He is also officially moved out of his cradle in our room. I think having him sleep in another room helps me sleep better.
-naps! We have a set schedule now and he is obviously more happy.
-started laughing. His laugh is hilarious. It is a like an old man gut laugh. The first time he did it, I laughed so hard I cried.
-pretty much hates going to church. I don't get much out of church unless he is asleep, which is very rarely. Since we have started taking him, I have sat through maybe two full Relief Society lessons. And zero full Sunday School lessons because that is when he wakes up to eat. I know Scott would love to help but he doesn't have a milk supply and he has to be in Young Men the third hour.
-pretty much hates breastfeeding now. He was doing really well his second month and then all of the sudden one day decided that he would have no more of it. He will nurse first thing in the morning after he wakes up (which is really nice for me after a long night of no nursing) and maybe after his morning nap or maybe in the evening. I never know what to expect. My milk supply is dwindling so he's on formula. And don't judge me, please. I know what you're thinking. My mom told me what she thought of mothers who said their babies didn't like to nurse until she got one of her own. Don't judge us. If you do, you will be cursed with a baby who hates to nurse and you will know my pain. I swear it.
-loves to chew on things. Like his burp cloth, his hand, and my hand. He doesn't like to suck. He likes to chew. Which is why I'm pretty excited to start feeding him solids.
-got his first hair cut. He started losing hair on the sides as all babies do and the top was about five inches long, so I gave him a little trim. It looks much better now.

Anyway, Jonah is a fun baby. When we found out we were having a boy, I was completely surprised because I wasn't sure how to raise boys. But I honestly think I would love to have mostly boys (at least one daughter would be nice though). Boys are too much fun. I love my little baby boy. Everytime I look at him, I feel so blessed that he is my baby boy. He has brought a lot of joy into our home and lives. I know it is cliche, but we can't even comprehend what our lives would be like without him and I can't think of a better way to express it. It would be like daytime without sunshine (I'm being sarcastic, but you get the point). I just love the kid so much.

mean mom

Think this is a milk mustache?

Nope. That's spit up.

I know, I'm a mean mom for grabbing the camera instead of wiping his face. But I get it from my mom. She loved to tease us. She had a huge cabbage patch doll that freaked me out when I was little and she would terrorize me with it.

I'm not worried about him. It will only make him stronger.