4 months, almost

I had intended to write a 3-month update, but we are now closer to his 4 month "birthday" than his 3 month, so we'll call it this instead.

Here's a 3 month picture. He kept rubbing his hand on the chalkboard so he erased part of it. Also, wearing socks and a diaper is kind of baby business casual, right?

Joseph seems to be changing by the day. He is growing quickly, and is wearing both 0-3 and 3-6 month clothes, but just this morning I put him in a 3-6 month outfit and thought "gosh...this really isn't big on him at all!"  So it will be a matter of a week or less, I'd bet, before it's time for me to pack away the whole 0-3 month lot.  (Whether or not I actually have time to do that in a week or less is another thing entirely...)

He loves to lay under his playmat and bat at his toys, and recently discovered that his feet are pretty cool, too.  I'd imagine that one day soon he'll figure out that he can chew on his feet; this will blow his mind!  He spends the rest of his waking hours watching his sister, "talking" to us with all sorts of ooohs and ahhhs, jumping on our laps.  With a little luck getting his arm out of the way, he can roll over, though he doesn't do it too often because he's so happily entertained on his back.

Nora is the world's most adoring big sister. Sometimes when she hugs him, she shakes because she just wants to squeeze him so badly but knows she has to be gentle.  She's figured out that he'll "kiss" her if she gets close enough, so she's constantly trying this, and I'm constantly saying, "no! just talk to him! Don't put your face in his face!" Because, preschool germs.  Ew.

Sleep. Well, I like sleep. I really do. I miss it tremendously.  But with one kid awake all day, and another waking at night, sleep is not something I get to do very often.  That said, Joseph seems to be doing better the last week or so, and as long as I make myself go to bed at a decent hour instead of doing things like, say, writing blog posts, then I usually get enough sleep to not feel like a zombie the next day. (Key word: usually. If there's anything I've learned about my little guy outside of his general awesomeness, it's that he's unpredictable. Someday I hope his spontaneity and joyful disposition will make a lucky girl very happy, but right now, we're exhausted trying to figure him out.)

In other fun news, we had a very busy and fun time last weekend when Joseph was baptized. (I didn't take any pictures and haven't gotten any from the family members who did just yet, so they are forthcoming.)  It was a bit of a whirlwind preparing for it because once we looked at the dates that our parents and Joseph's godparents-to-be (my sister and Ryan's brother) had free, it left either last weekend or... not kidding ... Christmas.   We seem to be constantly on the road during the holidays even when we try to keep things simple, so that gave us exactly 13 days to get ready for a house full of people all weekend.  Cue ordering an air mattress, planning for 2 days of breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 10, completing the necessary paperwork for the church, cleaning, and buying supplies for the 2-room painting project we decided to throw in on top of it all since we knew we'd have help with the kids and with the work on Saturday... phew.

But "the baptize party," as Nora called it, went swimmingly and it was a fun weekend with family.  When church ended and it was time for the baptism ceremony, Nora pumped her arm in the air and announced "let's go get baptized!"  Joseph celebrated the weekend by napping for no longer than 30 minutes at a time except when one of his grandmas was snuggling with him, while Joseph's parents simultaneously hoped that the baptism would provide some divine intervention in the sleep department.  (After a 2.5 hour nap on Monday afternoon, I'm hopeful that maybe it worked?!)

Last but not least... it's really an amazing thing that I can save an update on Joseph's health for the 7th paragraph of the blog post. We've been through so much, and are amazed daily at the strength of our littlest guy.  He's doing perfectly, and even the doctors tell us that if he didn't have a scar on his chest and a (very long) note in his file, they would never know he needed surgery.  We've reached a point where we're resuming normal life, albeit a new normal with one very sweet addition and a new appreciation for God's grace and happy, healthy babies.  A result of being out and about in everyday society is that sometimes I now have to tell people about Joseph's first few weeks, starting from the beginning. This usually ends in the listener saying "whoa. That's scary." with wide eyes and me reassuring them that we are, in fact, okay.  He's our little miracle baby and for that, I'm grateful every day, every hour, every minute, every second of my life.

What shall I do today? Poop? Eat this toy? Poke my mom in the eye while she's trying to get me down for a nap?

Happy little guy

Telling Aunt Michelle a story

Hanging out with Mimi

Pumpkin! J is going to be a pumpkin, too, but I didn't have his costume yet when I took this.

So cute.  He always gets so confused for about 3 seconds after I put hat on him, trying to figure out what is happening.

When I took this picture, an old, memorized prayer came to mind: "Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen."