A Week's Worth of Updates :)

So, I've been a little distracted by this little guy...

He's awful cute, don't you think? Anyway, I haven't been posting as often as I used to. I'm trying to do better at that, but I make no promises. There are, after all, more important things to think about right now ;)

Speaking of which, do you see that grin? He's been doing a lot of half-smiling and making funny faces. My daughter so lovingly pointed out that I make a lot of strange faces too - especially when I'm reading or on the computer. I didn't know that, but now I've been really self-conscious about it. Oh well. I am who I am, I guess. Anyway, it's cute on the baby.

He got this adorable giraffe as a gift, and has been really attached to it. It's his only toy. He's still a little young to care about toys - even though the two year old is constantly bringing him toys - mostly tractors :)

This is his latest thing. He loves the swing, and will sleep in it a long time. This is one of those swings that can rock the baby side to side, or back and forth (got it at the thrift store for a couple bucks!). Anyway, he always smooshes his little face into the corner. I think he likes the warmth from his own breath. It's pretty cute though. As soon as he falls asleep I move his nose so I'm sure he's getting enough air, but he usually isn't crammed that tightly into the fabric.

He's growing up fast. Already he pays close attention, looks me in the eyes, tries to smile, turns to me when he hears my voice, watches me move around the room, and he even rolls over from his tummy to his back. I thought it was a fluke when he did it at the hospital right before we brought him home. He was fighting the nurse who was trying to do his handprints, and I thought it was just because he was fighting and stiff. Then he did it twice that night at home when we tried to give him some "tummy time" on a blanket on the floor. Since then, every time we put him on his belly, he rolls over within two minutes. He hates being on his belly. I'm trying to make him lay that way a couple times a day because it's supposed to be really important for development reasons, but he just refuses :) Oh well!

He had a doctor's appointment today to check his weight again. He gained 10 ounces in 6 days! That's a lot. So no more concerns over him not eating enough - ha! He now weighs 9 pounds, 13 ounces - 2 ounces over birth weight! He had lost nearly a pound before we left the hospital, and wasn't up as high as they hoped at our appointment a week ago, so this is really good progress. He wasn't doing very well at nursing at first, but seems to have the hang of it now. Part of the problem was that he was just so sleepy all the time. Now he spends more time awake.

In other family news, our seven year old is studying entymology this summer. (That's bugs, you know). So, Sunday, his dad and I went to a local park with him and hunted for bugs. We brought home 10 of them, and four or five spiders... including a really, really icky looking spider. Afterward, we stopped for ice cream. I still feel like I have bugs crawling on me. Ugh. It's going to be a long summer.

There is a cricket in this jar. We used baby food jars I have been saving since the seven year old was a baby. (HA - I KNEW they would come in handy someday!) I haven't bought baby food since then. We make our own when we have little ones who need it. He's planning on making a display of bugs (if I can figure out how to kill them so that they won't curl up in a ball, and pin them so that they don't fall apart in the process). Hmm. This is going to require too much "hands on" work, I'm afraid...

In the process of the search, we came across this huge mushroom. It was almost as wide as my foot is long.

We brought it home so he could sketch it, but after it sat in the box overnight, it had to be thrown out. It "melted" or something. It was a pile of wet mush with maggots crawling around in it. How did that happen in just one day? ICK. So, it didn't get drawn. Maybe next time we'll take the nature journal along and have him draw it in it's natural habitat, rather than bringing all the "nature" home to draw.

Speaking of nature, we had the most AMAZING full double rainbow just outside our door Sunday night. The colors were so much more vibrant than the pictures appear. The light was really odd too - everything was sort of purple and just glowed. It was gorgeous! Very breathtaking.

It was so close to us that I couldn't get the whole rainbow in one picture, so here's the rest of it.

And another picture...

A night or two before that, the moon was full and bright, and the clouds moving around it were amazing to watch. We played with the camera and got a few decent shots of it. The rainbow and moon remind me of Psalm 19:1 "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork." Amen. Hard to look at these things and NOT believe there is a God...