5 Months

Isaiah turned 5 months old on May 25. As always, I truly can't believe this precious child has been in my life that long! What did we do before he was here?? He has certainly captured our hearts, and we're so thankful to God for this wonderful gift.

I'll give you the updates and then you can enjoy this assortment of photos from recent weeks (including the green bean goatee at the top).

-Isaiah has been consistently sleeping through the night for a couple of weeks now (thankfully!). Prior to that, he was going all night without any feedings for a few weeks, but some nights he would wake up wanting his pacifier 5-6 times.
-Isaiah's diet is slowly expanding. He has rice cereal for breakfast every morning. Right now he's getting green beans for lunch, and then either sweet potatoes or carrots for dinner. The first few times he got green beans, he made terrible faces. He definitely likes the sweet potatoes and carrots better, but he eats all of it pretty well.
-Around 4.5 months, Isaiah started noticing his feet. It was tough at time to change his diaper because he wanted to hold on to his feet, occasionally checking to see how they taste. He already seems to have moved on to bigger and better things, but it was awfully cute while he did it.
-He has become very easily distracted while I nurse him. I used to catch up on phone calls and things during that time, but I can't do that anymore because he seems to think I'm talking to him, so he pulls away to make eye contact with me. Sometimes when the initial hunger pang is gone, he'll take a break from eating to sweetly smile and talk to me. It's so precious, though we've definitely had some very lengthy feeding sessions as of late.
-He really loves his jumperoo. He'll play in it for a good fifteen minutes now. He seems to prefer playing with the ball on the toybar, which excites his daddy.
-Isaiah is doing well at daycare. The ladies really seem to love him, and they've told me on a couple of occasions he's one of their easiest babies (I have to brag, right?). I'm reassured when I arrive and he's sweetly smiling at one of them as they hold or change him. Ms. Amy said something that made me laugh last week--one of the other ladies misunderstood and thought she said Isaiah hadn't finished his bottle, and Amy replied that the day Isaiah doesn't finish his bottle, she'll know he's sick. The kid already has a reputation for eating!! Boy, he's definitely Chris' son.
-For the past week or two, Isaiah has really been noticing Frankie more than ever. Not only noticing, but loving Frankie! He'll try turning all the way around in our laps just to watch Frankie walk around, and he's always smiling as he does it. What's even sweeter is that Frankie has noticed the increased attention too, and he often responds to Isaiah's smiles by gently licking him on the nose. It's like they have a language all their own through their eyes.
-Isaiah's motor skills and coordination are definitely improving. He reaches for and holds his toys much more easily now, and he's able to control where they go (which is always to his mouth). He sometimes gets the pacifier back in on his own, though he has trouble getting it turned the right way.
-He's really been showing signs of teething recently, and he had a difficult night Monday with more crying (and even screaming) than usual. I still haven't seen any teeth break through yet, but I keep thinking they'll be there any day now. I'm told this can be a slow process, but I hope for his sake it won't be too slow.

Pawpaw

My grandfather (Pawpaw), Joseph Lynn Littrell, passed away last Saturday, May 15 at the age of 85. While his health had been deteriorating for some time, his death occurred suddenly while decorating my grandmother's grave with flowers. Though ironic in many ways, I find the circumstances beautifully poetic.

He will be sorely missed by all who knew him. He was one of the wittiest people I've ever known, and he had a way of drawing everyone in with his stories. Eldest of four children, abandoned as a child by his father during the Great Depression and left as the "man of the house" at a young age, sailor in the Navy during WWII, car and insurance salesman, father of two, widower at age 52 after losing his wife to metastatic breast cancer, remarried with the addition of a stepson, grandfather of nine, great-grandfather of five, Methodist, and democrat. My grandfather was all of those things and many more. I'm so very thankful that he was a believer and that we'll share eternity someday.

More than anything else, I'm saddened because Isaiah won't have the opportunity to know him as I did. I am so grateful, though, that Pawpaw got to meet Isaiah just three weeks before he passed. We took pictures of our four generations that weekend that I will post when I get them from my dad.

Chris and I drove down to Lawrenceburg on Sunday to join my family at my grandparents' house. Visitation was on Monday and the funeral was Tuesday afternoon. While the circumstances were difficult, we all really enjoyed being together and having so much quality time. The Army even flew Jared home from Iraq in time for him to attend the funeral Tuesday. The picture above is after the funeral on Tuesday. It's the first time all of my siblings have been together since the babies were born. It's sad that it took a death in the family to make that happen, but we're learning to take it when we can get it. It's amazing how much we've grown (are growing) in just the past year...Joe Littrell's heritage going strong!

Mother's Day

I've been meaning to update for weeks, so I'll post several separate entries to catch up on things...

I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend. My mom came in town on Saturday to keep Isaiah for us that night so we could go to the Norah Jones concert at the Orpheum Theatre. This was actually our Valentine's gift to each other. It was an amazing show, though we both struggled to stay awake during some of the slower songs because Isaiah hadn't slept well in several nights. Mom enjoyed some one-on-one time with the little man, and I know he loved seeing Mawmaw too.

On Sunday, Isaiah actually stayed with us during the church service because he had a cold (his first, after only one week of daycare) and we didn't want to spread it to the other babies. He made me proud--didn't make a peep during the entire service. After church, Chris took us out to eat at Carrabba's...yum! He also bought me cupcakes from Muddy's Bakery in town--I had everything from red velvet to chocolate with mint icing, and they're probably the moistest cupcakes you'll ever taste. It was really a terrific first Mother's Day. Being a mother has made me appreciate other moms (especially my own) so much more. What an amazing and sometimes terrifying calling it is! I pray every day that God will give me the strength, wisdom, and patience to continue with the task he has granted me.

Cutie Pie

Below is a funny video of Isaiah and Chris taking turns sticking their tongues out. Isaiah has been so cute and interactive lately, and it's very clear that he intentionally plays along with this game.

I'm trying to post another video of some bathtime fun, but I can't seem to get it to upload. I'll work on it some more, so watch for that one...

4 Months

My baby is 4 months old! Actually, he turned 4 months old last Sunday, but it's taken me a while to find time to blog. At his 4 month well-child visit, he weighed 14 lbs 2 oz and measured 25 inches long--both still in the 50th percentile. A few days before turning 4 months, he slept through the night (~9 hours) without a feeding. He has continued to go 9-10 hours overnight without feedings since then, though he still wakes up some nights and needs some help getting back to sleep. Chris has been really great with him during most of these awakenings since it doesn't require me to get up.

Aunt Lindsay visiting on April 25 when she came in town for a friend's baby shower. Isaiah is blocking her baby bump, but we look forward to welcoming his Lecklider cousin into the world in July.

We started Isaiah on rice cereal on Apri 25. He seems to be doing really well with it...He opens his mouth up nice and wide when he sees the spoon, and he makes sounds between bites like he wants more. With his cereal supplements, I'm trying to lengthen out his feeding frequency to 3.5 hours with the eventual goal of 4 hours.

Isaiah has been spending more time in his Bumbo lately. His trunk muscles are getting really strong, and he really prefers to be upright most of the time. If you try to hold him horizontally, he'll fight to sit upright.

We realized in the past couple of weeks that we've been so focused on meeting feeding/sleeping/clothing needs, that we've not put much thought into toys to help in Isaiah's development. So, we bought this jumperoo for him to play in for his four month milestone. He plays and bounces really well in it for a few minutes, and then he'll get kind of fussy and want out. The time he enjoys playing in it is lenghtening some each day, so I think this will provide amusement for several months. We got a few other simple toys (soft, colorful blocks and a Baby Einstein musical toy) that he's been enjoying a lot too. He likes knocking the blocks over when they're stacked up.

Isaiah still rolls over from tummy to back from time to time, but he hasn't gotten it down consistently. He rolls from back to side a lot in his crib, but he hasn't yet rolled all the way from back to tummy.

Isaiah will be starting daycare on Monday of this week as I go back to a more normal daily schedule. I can't believe my four months at home with him are already up, and I'm really thankful I was able to take that much time off. I'll be sad to miss out on so much of his day, though I know he'll enjoy being around other kiddos. My schedule during May should still be pretty easy with a lot of half days, so we will be able to ease in to the more rigorous schedule that awaits me starting in July with the beginning of my internship.

Other updates

Updates with Isaiah:

- I was dead wrong about my baby smiling less frequently when I posted at 3 months. Maybe he was having a moody few days, but he's back to smiling as sweetly and frequently as ever.

- Isaiah purposely rolled over two times in a row a few days after turning 3 months old. I tried to pull out the video camera and get him to do it a third time, but I had no luck. In fact, I've gotten the camera out numerous times since then during his tummy time to try and catch it, but he didn't roll over again until today. Again, he did it twice in a row, and when I pulled out the camera for a third try, nothing happened. Haha... Clearly our child doesn't like to perform on demand.

- Isaiah loves his bath time! He can be crying and upset, and we plop him in that water, and he's instantly happy. He's splashing so much in his bath now that we have to be careful not to put too much water in or we end up with a big mess.

- He's "talking" up a storm these days. He's so expressive and sweet with his coos. Lately he does a sort of gurgly thing and sometimes blows raspberries. Too cute!

- Isaiah likes his pacifier, but lately he's found his fingers (usually his thumb or index finger) to be much more convenient. I walked in one morning to feed him, and he was rolled on his side with his thumb all the way in his mouth and his other fingers spread out over his face.

Other updates: We've decided to try and sale our house. It's a 2 bedroom/1 bathroom house built in 1950, and while we love it and will be sad to leave, we're definitely feeling more confined in it these days. We've listed it for sale by owner, so we'll see what happens. It very well may not sale, so we're trying to be okay with that too. We're just thankful that we're staying in Memphis and aren't pressured to sale it so we can move to a different city. I'll post pictures soon for a "house tour" (and more particularly, nursery tour).

Happy Belated Easter

We stayed in Memphis for Easter this year, and we had quite a full weekend. On Saturday, we went to our church's egg hunt and cook-out. My cousins Lori and Doug sent Isaiah a sweet bunny outfit that was perfect for the day's festivities. While Isaiah obviously didn't participate in the egg hunt, he did seem to enjoy all of the activity and excitement.

On Sunday, we enjoyed worshipping with our local church family. With all of life's busyness, I really needed the day's reminder of the sacrificial love of our Lord and Savior. Without both Christ's death AND resurrection, we would be utterly without hope. Glory to God for his grace and provision!!

After church, we had a potluck brunch with many of our church friends who have become like family over the past few years. It was a fun time with lots of activity from our growing number of children. Isaiah is showing off his beautiful Easter outfit from Mawmaw below. He wore a sweet Easter egg bib from her as well to protect the outfit, though within 10 seconds of me dressing him, he spit up all over himself and me. I've learned to just wipe as much off as possible and go on with it.

Another sweet gift from Mawmaw modeled below:

Our gift to Isaiah for his first Easter was a personal reference Bible with his name inscribed on the cover. It's quite large and serious looking, but we hope one day he will look back and understand our desire from the very beginning for him to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We accept that we cannot form this relationship for him, yet we are committed to teaching him God's word and to striving daily to be godly examples for him so that one day he may also come to a saving knowledge of Christ.