6 Months

At 6 months little Johnny:

• can sit up all by himself
• eats sweet potatoes, carrots, peas and applesauce (he doesn't like pears or peaches)
• wears size 18-month clothes
• grins from ear to ear when he wakes up
• makes us work really hard for a laugh
• loves to jump in his Johnny Jump Up and MegaSaucer
• is still toothless but drools a whole lot
• loves bath time more than any other time of the day
• got his first bruise (on his chin from trying to go from his bum to his tummy)
• is the love of his momma's life

Here are a few pictures:

First Christmas and a new sweater

Who needs presents when you can have the wrapping paper?

Big boy pajamas
Silly sweet potato mug

Four generations. Great Grandma Capener, Grandma Merrell, Dad and Junior.

We love cousins. Sweet Kate.

Almost 4 yr old Cutter

Gramps' WWII Letters

I just finished compiling Gramps' letters from his time in the Navy during WWII. It has been a work in progress this year and surely there will be more updates, but I thought you'd like to see it so far. There is a map in the back as well and a list of the movies he saw while on board the USS Mindanao.You can view it by clicking on the picture of Gramps above or send me your email address and I will send it to you as an attachment (merrell3@gmail.com). It is about 4.5MB so I can email it to most email providers.

Johnny Jump Up

Uh oh! Hello, that's 5 months!

My little Junior boy is 5 months old today. This clip captures my feelings well. (Watch it up until about the 2:40 minute mark)

Helloooooooooo! 5 months! It's strange that on one hand, I feel like he's been here with us forever. And on the other hand it seems just like yesterday that we brought him home from the hospital. Oh man, he's a sweet little guy. He's growing and changing so fast now.

This week he discovered his toes! Mmmm. They taste delicious.

He can also sit up on his own now by leaning on his chubby little arms.

I had a feeling that at 23 lbs and 31 inches, he was going to love "big boy food." And he does. He smacks his lips and says, "Mmmm." And before I can load up the spoon again, he's got his mouth wide open, ready for the next bite.

We went to the San Diego Zoo today. He wasn't too keen on los animales silvestres... but he totally digs sleeping on his momma's chest for hours. He's in there somewhere.

I'm sure loving my boys.

The end.

China Town

There's lots of stuff to do in this big city of ours and we don't get out nearly as much as we should. Now that I'm feeling a little more confident about taking the baby out and about without a serious meltdown (I'm talking about Brian, of course), we stopped off in China Town on our way to Grandma's house. We found out that there isn't really that much to do, except take pictures to prove that we do actually get out and eat sesame balls filled with lotus flour paste. Next time I think I'll pass on the balls. Ewwwh. I do however, love the pictures, especially the last one. Poor Johnny! He has no idea what's going on.

And because we love her so much, here's a picture of Grandma Shirls with her Johnny boy.

Dad's big ears are good for something...

new toy

I've been trying not to clutter up the house (aka one bedroom apartment) with tons of baby gear cause it sure ain't getting any bigger. And there are so many baby things out there - bouncers, play mats, excersaucers, walkers, jungle gyms, climbing walls, etc., etc. I've been weary of buying any of these things... before you know it, you're moving the regular furniture out to make room for the toys. And what if he doesn't even like it? Well, I found this little jumper thing for $10 online... and it had the baby's name all over it. Literally. So, I thought we'd give it a shot.

And the verdict... he LOVES it! $10 well spent. And even better, it folds up real small like when it's time to put it away! Can't believe my baby is jumpin' around!!!!!!!!!!! Oh no, he's growing up;)

J & M

That stands for Junior and Mom. We're pretty much best friends these days. I can kiss his chubby cheeks thousands of times a day, and never get tired of it. I figure that I've got to get as many in as possible before he becomes an adult and won't let me do it anymore. He is such a happy baby. He's a lot like his dad. Just happy to be here. My favorite time of day is when he wakes up in the morning. His eyes are always puffy and squinty but he gives me the biggest smiles when I peek over the edge of his crib. He makes me soooo happy.

Johnny goes to Idaho!

Earlier this month, I took Johnny up to Idaho to meet his country cousins. That's not the same as kissin' cousins. Country cousins are cool and tough and wear cowboy boots. Poor Johnny is the only city slicker in the group. But what he doesn't know, won't hurt him. Yet. Anyway, we had such a fun trip. The week flew by so fast! Johnny LOVED all the extra attention and I had so much fun hanging out with my family everyday.

I especially wanted to spend time with this one... He is expecting his mission call any day now. We'll be missing our uncle Dougie.

I cannot believe how my little brothers have grown up. They are such fun kids. I'm really proud of them.
I didn't get any pictures of all the cousins together... but my sister-in-law, Eden did! Can't wait to see them. In the mean time, here is Johnny meeting 2 of his cousins, Katelyn and Briggs! I love Katelyn's pose here. She's too cool for school.

These two are 3 days apart. They're going to be great friends.

Sundays around my folks' house is busy with everyone going to their different meetings all over the place. But we found a spare second to take some pictures before church.

Oh man, I love my family.

baby shower

Last week I threw a vintage themed baby shower for this sweet lady (with a lot of help from this amazing lady). We've become close friends over the last year and a half since she became my upstairs neighbor. It was really fun to pull out lots and lots of frilly, pink things and celebrate the not so distant arrival of a baby girl! Johnny & I can't wait!

Jack & Junior

Here's Junior with the Jack o'Lantern we carved last night. I took way too many pictures. But don't I always?

I pulled out the guts and toasted the seeds. I have to give the rest of the credit to Brian. He's pretty good at carving. I think next year he's going to try his hand at this:

Jack o'Bama. Then we'll sell it on ebay for millions of dollars. Or just have some fun throwing it off our balcony:)