Enjoying John

Some wierd and wonderful warm weather last week and John enjoyed his first peeled orange compliments of Grandma Pat and Grandpa John's orange tree.

He is a music man and loves this play station that he got for Christmas from Grandma Joan.

The dogs and cats are warming up to him and letting him get closer and even pet and pull a bit!

Everyone around is enjoying watching John grow and learn...family, friends and neighbors. He does love music and will play and dance and clap to his own beat or to bands we play on the radio. He is a quick crawler and gets into everything we haven't locked up yet. John has a great smile and brings one to the face of everyone he encounters. There's not much to say besides that we are having tons of fun!

I apologize for turning the camera on this one but it was too cute to delete!

The big orange eater...Grandma Pat gave him an orange to play with (like a ball) and he put it right into his mouth and bit into the peel. So I peeled it and took off his shirt and he totally dug in! It was so cute and funny. I am glad he likes his fruits :)

9 months already!

Kershaw training: squirting down and winding up your hose! Great Grandpa John is so proud :)
Great Grandpa John's idea of a great way to keep Baby John in one place while playing.

9 months old, standing up everywhere.

Such a big boy!

John turned 9 months old this weekend. Not sure how heavy or long he is because we don't see the doctor again until 12 months but we know he is BIG. He is growing so fast and learning new things every week. He is getting another tooth (one for every month of life!) and pulls up to stand on any surface he can find...even straight up on a wall. He just started walking sideways on furniture last week and tries so hard to move from couch to couch and standing toy to standing toy but is not quite there yet. I have seen him stand alone for a second or two 3 times this month so I know standing is coming soon. And then walking!!! He is so fast and curious...I am in big trouble once he's on two feet. I am of course still loving being home and not having to leave for work each day. We get to run errands together in the mornings and always have at least one visitor a day. John is extremely social and will play and interact with anyone still which is a relief for me because I can take time to do chores or just relax when someone comes over to play with John. His favorite toy is an old set of bongo drums that he bangs the heck out of and dances to his beat. It is so cute and I can't wait to catch it on video to show everyone.

John's First Christmas and New Year

John in Big Bear with Dad, Grandpa Doug, and Great-Grandpa Don...4 generations
Kershaw Christmas Celebration! John with Mom, Grandma Joan, and Great-Grandma Pat...4 generations on many sides of the family

John tearing into his very first Christmas present at Great Grandma and Grandpa Plourde's

in Chino on Christmas Eve day.

Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa Bremer's. Dinner, presents, Thoroughbread lights, and dessert...a great tradition in it's first year.

We had a very happy and very busy first Christmas. John of course got lots of wonderful presents from family and friends and spent time in a lot of different places in a short period of time. We visited Chino Christmas Eve day to see GG Plourdes (Steve's mom's parents) then Christmas Eve at Steve's parents here in Alta Loma. Christmas morning we had our own small gift exchange then headed to my Dad's house here in Alta Loma later that morning then to my Mom's house in Alta Loma as well in the afternoon for the rest of the day. The next morning was the Kershaw Christmas brunch at my Mom's sister's house in Upland then we headed straight up to Big Bear for the Bremer Christmas celebration (Steve's dad's family). John enjoyed all the attention and playtime with aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins. There were lots of presents to open but he preferred to grab the bows off the boxes and chew on them! It was tiring for the 3 of us. John was sick by the time we got to Big Bear so we couldn't stay long. I think he had a touch of the flu but no fever which is a relief for Steve and I. He is still getting over the end of the sniffles. We will have to condense next year because 6 gatherings in 3 days is just too much.

I wouldn't say we celebrated John's first New Year because he was in bed at 8 and we rang in the New Year with New York and went to bed but it was his first transition to a new year :) Last month we also celebrated my last day of teaching as I begin my job as full-time mom. Today is the second day back to work for the teachers in our area and it hasn't quite hit me that I am not part of that group anymore but I am sure it will soon. I am really enjoying my time with John. He is growing so fast and learning so much everyday. He is a speedy crawler but so eager to walk. He pulls himself to standing on everything he can (even if it's not stable). He will take a few steps if I hold his hands and can balance standing himself for a couple seconds on occasion. His falls are usually not hard but a few have been :( He cries for about a minute then gets right back to pulling himself up on whatever he just toppled off of. John is such a happy baby and I am so lucky that he likes being around other people. He has yet to cry when I hand him off and he plays great with any visitor even if I am not in the room.

John is still nursing and eating solids throughout the day and is starting to slim out a bit from all of his activity. He is mostly sleeping through the nights again but his first morning feeding is now at 5:30 in stead of 7 after which he falls back to sleep (and so do I) for over an hour. Every time I think his schedule is set it changes! Naptime is a tad difficult these days as I am trying to get him back to self-soothing. He is just too big for me to hold and bounce-rock for 15 minutes or more each time he goes down for a nap. It takes some time but he eventually stops crying and falls asleep. It is really hard to not go to him and pick him up but I know he has to learn to do this himself for both our benefit. Such a long post! Thank you to those who follow and read up on our baby John and for all the Christmas cards and gifts. I of course have tons and tons of Christmas pictures and am working on setting up a Picasa album. I will provide the link once I get it figured out. All the pictures are on my facebook account though.

This is a favorite video but there are just too many to share!

Action Verbs

Playing with an especially loud favorite toy

With his basketball because he wouldn't hold still next to the monkey

On Thanksgiving at Grandma Joans

Still a great eater...though he likes it best when he can feed himself and grabs spoonfuls of food. A messy but funny ordeal!

John is encompassing so many different abilities these days...the ings just keep piling up! He is constantly on the move crawling, scooting, turning, reaching, hitting, biting, throwing, eating, pulling, pushing, banging, chewing, clapping, screaming, bouncing. I know there are some I forgot too! Teething of course - how could I forget that? - continues to be a major challenge and joy at the same time. He just added 2 more teeth on the bottom for a total of 8 and each breakthrough seems to bother him just as much as the one before...poor guy.

John is 8 months old today and just moved into his 18month clothes :) He is so fun to play with as he explores EVERYTHING around him. Steve and I have baby-proofed most of the house but John still manages to find the few things we haven't removed that we don't want him to get. Clever kid. He crawls all around and screams as he goes. He bobs and bounces to music and recently became thoroughly enthralled with balls of all sizes.

A big, happy announcement is that tomorrow is my last day of work for who knows how long!!!! I have resigned my teaching position to stay home and be a mom. Going back to work was not at all what I thought it would be and I missed being with John every minute I was gone so we made some cuts and won't be doing a whole lot for a while but it is going to be totally worth it. We are so grateful and thankful for Debbie and Ellie who shower John with love and attention while I have worked these last 4 months. He is a lucky little boy and so spoiled by us all.

It's official...John's a mover!

A brief moment of stillness so mom can snap a picture to show how big John's getting.

John has made amazing progress in his development in such a short time. He has been sitting on his own for a couple weeks now and this last week has been working so hard to move towards a destination. He went from rocking on hands and knees to scooting on his belly to crawling in a week! John is 7 months old now and getting him to lay still next to his size monkey for pictures is becoming near impossible. He is on the verge of growing out of his 12 month clothes! I can't find a way to keep socks on this kid's feet either! He is exploring every part of his body, our faces, his room and toys, and the dogs when they let him get close enough. He is eating and breastfeeding well and mostly sleeping through the night. He can no longer go 10-12 hours without eating at night so we are up for his first feeding around 4:30 or 5 am. It's tough getting used to but he goes back to sleep right away so I can rest a little longer too. John is showing new interest in his toys that make noise when he hits and plays with them. He is really catching on to the 'cause and effect' play. His colorful blocks are still the favorite but he looses interest in everything faster than before and looks around for something new to grab and mouth. Last night Steve and I got him to move across his bedroom floor by stacking the blocks and moving them a few feet in front of him. Once he reached them and knocked them over we stacked and moved again. He made it all the way across in less than 10 minutes! I am preparing for a nonstop kid :) Videos to follow soon...the blog is not loading them right now

Fall fun

It's not the official day for costumes yet but John and I went to a party for the mom's group I am in this last weekend. John was a bear and could barely move in his 12 month costume from my Aunt Chandra so he only kept it on for pictures. He was a good sport and all the babies looked so cute in their outfits!
We visited the pumpkin patch as well and picked out John's first pumpkin.
He was so interested in the decorations and pumpkins we couldn't get him to look at the camera the whole time :)
We thought maybe he could be a cowboy but then we would have to take the horse everywhere with us! Thanks for the cool toy Jena! John is wearing a shirt that Steve wore as a 1 year old!
Bath time continues to be a highlight for John, he loves to splash around and get us all wet.

We are battling through John's first cold this week. It is so rough on us to not be able to help him more. It has been very mild so far with a runny and congested nose and a couple throw-ups but no cough and no cranky-achy baby. He is getting extra sleep and fluids. When he is awake he is his same happy and playful self which is a relief because it means he isn't terribly miserable or in pain. We had a busy weekend with lots of new faces and people holding him so he probably picked something up then...I have a slight runny nose too...lets hope we both get past it without it getting any worse. John still has the energy to work on scooting around the room and rocking back and forth on hands and knees as he gets ready to crawl. He is so fun to watch and play with and laughs a lot. He loves his solids but is still breastfeeding or taking a bottle of pumped milk regularly. He grows so fast and has such a good time interacting with everyone he meets.

6 months old!

6 months old today! No more laying nicely next to his monkey...he wants to play and move.

Celebrating his Dad's b-day in Big Bear.

Snoozin' in the afternoon

Laughing and making faces with Great Grandma Pat

A cool dude...of course.

John is half way through his first year of life and is doing great. His Dr appointment yesterday went so smoothly. He only cried for 30 seconds after his shots, though he cries a LOT louder now that he's bigger. John is 21 pounds 10 ounces and 27 1/2 inches long. He is eating great and expanding his menu every few days. The only thing he has turned down are green beans and I don't blame him because without butter, salt and pepper they smell gross! I am making all the food myself which is extra work but it feels great to know exactly what he is getting and nothing more. His bottom two teeth are pushing out and getting bigger and he chews on everything he gets his hands on. He can sit up and play on his own and he has even started to scoot around on his belly. Crawling is just around the corner but I'm not ready yet! His favorite toys these days are ones that make noise...especially paper but he sticks everything in his mouth so we have to be extra careful what he has access to. We are having so much fun interacting with John and he continues to be an easy to please baby.