funny boy

This boy cracks me up. He makes so many funny little faces. And I love them all. I love that open-mouthed, I'm-watchin'-you-like-a-hawk face in photo number 1 and the I'm-a-big-fat-ham, cheesy grin in photo number 2.

At 7 months old Johnny...

• weighs nearly 25 lbs (24 lbs 13 oz)
• is 31 1/2 inches long
• has a 19 inch noggin'
• got his first ear infection and was such a sweetheart through the whole thing
• can pick up a rice puff and put it in his own mouth!
• loves blueberries & applesauce
• can pull himself up and peer over the edge of the crib looking for mom or dad
• really wants to go! go! go! but hasn't quite figured out the crawl
• has HUGE feet! size 5
• is still toothless!

saying goodbye to dougie

Johnny and I went to Salt Lake this week to send Doug off with a big hug and a kiss. This boy has grown up so fast, it got me thinking about some day in the not so distant future when I'll be the momma sending her boy far far away to serve the Lord. I'm so proud of my brother. And I'm proud of my parents for raising such a good boy.

Get It!

Johnny is a really happy baby and smiles all the time. But he makes us work really hard for a laugh. So it's always surprising and adorable when he finds something you didn't intend to be funny, to be the most hilarious thing ever. Like when he sat on Grandma Shirley's lap and belly-laughed every time she said something. Here I was trying to teach him to pick up a little rice puff and put it in his mouth. The video camera happened to be close by and Brian grabbed it just in time to catch this...

lesson learned

i thought i'd be really clever and make dinner early today. see, johnny has a bit of a cranky time from 4ish until bath time at 6. and of course that coincides with my cooking time and makes for a disaster in the kitchen. so here i go today, thinking i'm so smart and organized. i started dinner around one o'clock after johnny started his nap. being me, i was of course trying a new recipe. something with too many things to chop and stir and blend and all the rest. 30 minutes later he was up. i'm not going to get started on how i have no idea how to cure my son's short nap syndrome. another day.

so i gave him some food, changed his diaper, made sure he was good and happy, and put him in his little jungle gym thingy as close to the kitchen without being in the kitchen as he could possibly be (and that's not hard in my little apt) so that i could get on with things. i mean we were practically holding hands.

we're good, right J? nooooooo way. nope. he was soooooooo fussy. he just jumped and fussed and fussed and jumped until i decided he was ready for another nap. these pictures were actually taken on another day when he wasn't totally ticked-off. but just so you get the idea.

and now i'm going to cut this long story short. we went back and forth like this until the end of the evening when there was nothing left to do but strip him down to his baggy underwear and take pictures... hoping to delay bath time until dad got home from work so that he could take over.

we may or may not have had a fight over the remote control which J clearly won.

so what did we learn today? johnny's fussy time is whenever i'm in the kitchen cooking dinner AND from 4ish til bathtime... so, better to overlap the two as to avoid TWO fussy times and a 6-hour dinner prep! but lucky for me, i love the little guy so dang much that i could go without dinner and trying new recipes altogether and still be happy.

And finally, i have to report on the brussel sprouts from my previous post. sadly, i ignored the advice i was given on how to cook them because i couldn't bare to stand in front of the oven and saute them with a fussy baby on my hip. so i followed this recipe and tossed them in the oven, which was easier but reeeeeaaaaallly not that good. darn.

I don't know what to say

I needed a few things from the store, so I sent B. I told him to pick up something extra that he'd like to eat this week. Most men might grab a large piece of meat. Right? Mine, well... this:

Honey, sweetheart, dear. Why are you so weird?

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.