Waving and Clapping!

As promised, above is a video of JJ waving. Also, JJ started something new this morning. . . clapping! It's so fun when he does something new. I almost forgot clapping was a new trick he would be doing soon!

Brian left yesterday morning and we still don't know if he'll be back in 3 weeks or 8 months. Since none of you seem to have any helpful connections, I guess we'll just have to wait and see : ( It's really stressful, but I know we'll get through it.

Enjoy the video!

Baptism weekend. . .

He was very serious after being baptized

JJ plotting his take over of Tristan and his toys

We had a very busy weekend last weekend. Brian's dad came in to town on Friday and we ran errands all day Saturday, including Brian and his dad going to the ship to take the 500 pound bell down! Saturday evening, my mom and dad and Michael, Krista, and Tristan all came down too. Then Sunday was JJ's baptism. It was on Brian's ship and JJ was baptized using water put into the bell of the ship. It's a really old tradition and we thought it would be appropriate for us. JJ's name will be engraved in the bell for him to come back and look at when he's older. I'm sure it will be a fun thing for us as parents to torture him with when he doesn't want to go look at the bell anymore! It was a great day with lots of friends and family there to support us and JJ.

Tristan seemed to do better with JJ and I think JJ is now just silently plotting how to dominate Tristan and his toys! Tristan ended up getting a sprained ankle on Sunday evening while jumping from the couch into Michael's arms. As you can see from the last photo, JJ was very concerned for him. I think that someday they will be great little buddies.

July has been a pretty eventful month. Since the beginning of July, JJ has gotten 3 upper teeth and the fourth looks like it will come through soon. He has become a horrible sleeper again, but I'm guessing the teeth are the culprit, once again. I think the most fun development happened last weekend. . . he started waving! When I picked him up last Friday from the woman who watches him during the day, he just reached his arm up and waved goodbye! I'm not a crier, but I couldn't help it! He's just becoming such a little human! It's so cute when he just takes his little hand and waves to you. I'll try and post a video soon so everyone can enjoy it : )

My parents were in LA this week with Michael, Krista, and Tristan and they head back down here today. It will be nice to have them back for the weekend. I have today and tomorrow off so it will be nice to spend time with them. Brian is leaving tomorrow for either 3 weeks or 8 months. As of yesterday, we still don't know how long he'll be gone. The Navy is being very inconsiderate and not telling them yet if they'll be coming back and if they do, we don't know for how long. Hopefully we'll know before they leave tomorrow.

If any of you have a connection to the Secretary of Defense, can you please send him an email asking about Brian's schedule!??! We would appreciate it : )

No rest for the wicked. . .

JJ has been sleeping a little better at night. He doesn't come to bed with us until about 3 AM every morning and this is normally the first time he wakes up. If we were "stronger" we could probably let him cry and maybe he wouldn't need to come to bed with us at all, but we're too tired to deal with that right now. Last night was a pretty typical night, he had 2 decent naps during the day, and didn't come to bed with us too early. Around 3:30 AM though, he decided it would be a good time to start "talking" and playing in bed with us. I gave him a bottle at about 4:15 AM thinking this might trick him into going back to sleep, however, he only fell for it for about 5 minutes before he woke up crying. Finally, at 5 AM, he fell back to sleep. Then, at 6:30 AM, he woke up happy as if he'd slept the whole night! He had a good day as if nothing ever happened last night! All the pictures above are from today and look how happy he is! Brian's on duty tonight, so he'll get a full night's sleep. Not fair! Hopefully JJ will sleep well for me tonight.

Nikki (our cat) scratched JJ's face tonight. JJ got her cornered beneath the dining room table and before I could get to them, she hissed and then scratched him. Brian immediately said we should get rid of her, but I did some research and found some "claw caps." Hopefully they work because JJ really loves her and I hope that one day they'll live happily together : )

FGA - CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. I'm guess this was all Grandpa ever knew : )

Another fun weekend. . .

We got to enjoy a nice weekend. Yesterday we went to lunch and then JJ refused to take an afternoon nap and screamed and cried in his crib for about 45 minutes. We finally decided it just wasn't a day for napping, so we ran some errands and JJ of course fell asleep after being in the car for about three minutes. We then met up with our friends, Chris and Renee and their 3-year-old daughter Ashley, at the park. They came back to our house when it starting getting a little cold and JJ had a great time harassing another 3-year-old other than Tristan! He really likes other kids, but they don't seem to like him as much : (

Today was nice and calm also, with some more errands completed and a short afternoon nap for JJ after only 20 minutes of screaming before falling asleep. At least it was some progress! Something exciting did happen this evening. . . we were talking to my parents on Skype, JJ had pulled himself onto a toy, then he lifted both hands up and was completely standing on his own, he took a step and then leaned on to the couch! It was probably an unintentional step, but it was really exciting for all of us! The countdown is now on since Brian is leaving in a few weeks and will be gone for three weeks. I really just don't want JJ to start walking while he's gone.

Eating Healthy. . .

Our first CSA box and flowers JJ got me!

Brian's on duty tonight, so I let JJ pick out what he wanted to do after I got off work. To my surprise, he wanted to go to the Farmers Market! He said that since he's always eating fresh fruits and vegetables, he wants us to start eating more also. We had a nice time walking around and of course everyone loved him. I signed up for our local CSA program and will be picking up fresh, organic fruits and vegetables every week now. It won't be enough to feed him, but definitely enough for the adults : )

While we were there, a woman let her Beagle size dog jump all over him in the stroller. I was trying to get the dog down, but it's hard to protect your baby and wrangle someone else's dog. After what seemed like forever, the dog finally decided JJ wasn't going to share his snacks and he got down. The woman just laughed and said, "oh, you should have seen earlier when he went up some woman's dress." Now, I know I'm not a dog person, but come on! Don't let your dog up someone's dress and attack an unknown baby on the same night!

In case you're keeping track, yes, we had another earthquake this week. I think we'll be living on an island soon!

Happy July 5th!

Our week with my mom ended with a nice visit with Michael, Krista, and Tristan. They came down Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday. It is always fun to watch JJ and Tristan interact. As you can see from the video above, JJ definitely wants to spend more time with Tristan than vice versa. JJ loves to follow Tristan around and play with whatever Tristan has. Tristan, however, doesn't enjoy this game! They had a fun time playing with the new jack-in-the-box that my mom got JJ. When Tristan yells "look out" at JJ though during the video, it's kind of sweet because I think Tristan is really trying to protect JJ from getting "attacked" by the sock monkey! They also shared a pancake at the new restaurant we tried on Sunday morning.

Back to "normal" this week with hopefully lots of sleeping at night, well, that wouldn't be so normal then : ) One of JJ's front top teeth has come through and it looks like there are about 3 more threatening to cause some sleepless nights. Hopefully they come through before Brian leaves in a few weeks so he will be here to help me at night. JJ never seems to follow the "schedule" that I hope for though!

10 months!

Yummy pasta and cheese

My mom's in town this week to watch JJ since the woman that watches him is gone on vacation (I know, we're so nice to let her leave for the week). JJ has been his typical wonderful self for her : ) Monday, he napped for about 50 minutes total all day, then cried and screamed at her a lot of the day. The rest of the days since then have been a lot better. He's been napping well for her during the day, but been a horrible sleeper at night (which my mom has been sleeping through, apparently nighttime wasn't in the agreement for the week). Today, what I'm hoping is the culprit of the problems, made an appearance. . . a top front tooth! He now has 3 little teeth, it's so cute! I know it's incredibly wishful thinking, but I'm hoping that was the problem and maybe he'll sleep better tonight. One never knows though with him. I think he just really hates sleeping.

We went out to a nice dinner tonight at Chipotle and JJ got to order for the first time off the menu! He chose a cheese quesadilla, very San Diego of him : ) He ate the whole thing, except for about 1/32 of it that ended up on the ground. He really liked it. I'm guessing it's going to be a new staple in his vegetarian diet, although we plan on trying chicken again next week.

He also started opening cabinet doors and drawers this week. We had a "lock" on the cabinet that has the trash, but not on the other ones. It's been a challenge to get him to stay away from everything and he pinched his little fingers today in the drawer. Brian is currently putting more "locks" on all the doors so the kitchen should be much more enjoyable for all of us.