4 month old stats

We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog to bring you an update on Calvin's progress.  He had his 4 month old pediatrician this morning and we are pleased to be able to announce that he is happy and "handsome" (their words, not ours, although we are inclined to agree).  He has actually lost a little weight (less than a pound) over the last couple of weeks, probably owing to the fact that he is so much more active now, what with the rolling and the scooting and the sitting up and launching himself at toys.  Today he weight 15.75lbs and measured 26 inches with a head circumference of 42cm.  These numbers place him in the 50th, 75th,and 30th precentiles.  While at the doctor we did discuss increasing his Zantac dosage so we start trying that tonight, hoping it will make a difference in how comfortable he is after eating.  And even though he is gnawing and drooling on everything in site, the peidatrician said that teeth do not appear to be eminent.  We don't  mind.  What Calvin really seems to mind, however, are the four injections he had to get today!  Man, love sure is tough...

By the way - we realize that we got way behind on our journaling here, so this is the most recent of four new backlogged entries we have added.  Just scroll down to see the rest, and we will try to do better this next week.

To Calvin, who is four months old today

Oh, Calvin, you just never cease to amaze us.  You are growing and changing at lightning speed, and it is hard to keep up with you!  The days roll into weeks, weeks into months, and here you are, already a quarter of a year old!  We have spent the past month introducing you to Michigan football on the weekends, and you can tailgate with the best of them!  You also enjoy fall walks, and meeting the neighbors.  On September 17th you were baptized in our church.  It was a beautiful day, and a meaningful one that we hope to teach you to understand and appreciate as you grow up in that community.  Right now you go to church every Sunday and your favorite part, of course, is the organ.  There are many people there who love you very much, as do so many others aside from your parents.  You are a very beautiful and very loveable baby.
In our quieter moments at home you continue to baffle us with your strength; last week you (re)started rolling over, something you did a lot your first month but this was the first time since, then two weeks ago you sat up from a reclining position all by yourself, and since then you refuse to lay back to play.  Even when you are riding in your swing you insist on leaning forward to sit up, which ultimately balances out the weight of the swing so that it is no longer swinging.  You think its funny when we then rush over to restart the motion and make you sit back.  This is just one example of how much more involved you have become with the world around you, as you begin to understand cause and effect, and sequences of events.  As you work to gain control over your arms and hands you are beginning to purposefully bash your hands down on buttons, or pull on hanging toys, in order to make them play sounds or flash lights, then you squeal in response.  And you can tell that nap time has come around again as soon as your mother shuts the nursery door and turns off the light, and that is when you begin to cry.  You have begun to develop individual tastes:  you love African rhythm music, massages, and being sung to, and will now sit through three books at a time, as opposed to just one a month ago.  And now that you are learning to control you hands you have begun to put everything in your mouth, even things that don't fit, which makes your parents laugh.  We could not ask for more.  You continue to spoil us with restful nights and days full of smiles, gurgles, and coos, and this month you added the beauty of your own individual laugh.  It's a funny and joyous sound, more like a grunt than a chuckle, and it makes us laugh aloud with happiness.

Beautiful weekend for celebrations

On Saturday we received two "prank" phone messages, one on Cortney's cell phone and one on our answering machine.  We're not talking heavy breathing here.  Worse, they were, quite simply, the Michigan State Fight Song.  We overcame the horror of said messages quickly, or at least by 5:00pm.  We won't dwell too long on the victory, just long enough to rub it in for the State fans that LOST on Saturday.  Now, if the State players had even a touch of the athletic talent that Calvin displays here, it might have been a different story...

Sunday was an all together different kind of celebration.  For months our church has been planning an "all church supper" to celebrate the beginning of a new season and a new stewardship kickoff.  We have to admit that when we heard they were planning said supper to be held in the great out of doors in the middle of a Michigan October we were skeptical.  We were, however, pleasantly surprised by the Indian Summer weather, with sun and 70 degree weather.  This was a celebration not only for the church as a whole, but for Cortney and her committee, which was in charge of planning and putting on the event, and her fellow deacons, who were challenged to bring in and host at least 300 of the church's almost 2,000 members.  Well, the event, complete with meals served at the tables and a live band, went off without a hitch, and over 500 members attended!  Cortney hosted 14 people at her table alone, and Jon found himself acting as part of the entertainment - not with a piano, with Calvin.  Most people cannot resist cooing at a cuddly baby!  As our pastor noted to us over supper, many people have begun to refer to Calvin as the church's baby.

And what is celebration without cake?  Since Jon's birthday is October 10th we also took advantage of the beautiful weekend to sneak in double birthday celebrations.  On Saturday night we celebrated with Jon's parents, and enjoyed a wonderful post-game tailgate style dinner (mmm...) and a fantastic homemade carrot cake (Jon's favorite).  On Sunday night we celebrated with Cortney's family, where Jon shared the candles on a yummy chocolate ice cream cake with Curtis, who shares the same birthday.  So we have a wonderful football team (shh...don't burst our bubble just yet), a wonderful church, and wonderful families - that was a lot to celebrate.

Happy October!!!

We're ready...where's the candy???  Although summer is also fun, with the sun and warm weather, we also find ourselves loving the fall.  There's football and tailgating, plus the colorful leaves are really starting to come out now around here and that makes all three of us smile.  Well, actually, it seems to make Calvin drool, but that's because everything makes Calvin drool these days.  His doctor says it's not teething (thank you), baby salivary glands just kick into overdrive right now as they explore everything with their mouths.  Well, you've all seen how much Calvin enjoys this new activity.  We are entering this new season with two other new things for Calvin.  The separation anxiety you already know about, and the other is his ability to sit up.  This was a real surprise for Cortney, who had him propped up on his pillow watching the Aquarium "TV" when he sat himself up to better reach the buttons.  Equally surprising was the fact that he stayed in that position and played for several minutes.  These days he can sit completely unaided for about 30 seconds (not much, we know), but he can sit in his circle pillow and play for about 5-10 minutes, probably because the pillow helps keep him from tipping to either side and allows him to expend his energy on things other than balancing (like, for instance, grabbing the dog's tail and trying to eat it).  There are some pictures of him doing this in last week's album, his sixteenth week.  Happy October everyone!

"Warning: Never Leave..."

We attempted our second date night A.C. (after Calvin) tonight in honor of Jon's upcoming birthday, but Calvin had other plans. It seems he believes he is at the 7-month-old's separation anxiety mark well ahead of his time. We met at Macaroni Grill and managed to just receive our appetizer when we got the phone call that Calvin had been a screaming mess ever since Cortney left, and was inconsolable. Fortunately, Macaroni Grill is set up for to-go orders just as well, so Cortney raced back to her babysitting parents while Jon waited for the dinners. Sure enough, Calvin calmed down right away for Cortney, and remained calm the rest of the evening. And we can't help but note the irony that, as we sat eating our date-night dinners, Jon glanced over to where Calvin was cooing away in his umbrella stroller watching us, and all Jon could see of the stroller's warning label was: "Warning: Never leave..."