Jewish Songs

Pa Visits

Pa took the train up last night to spend the weekend with us. When Seth woke up this morning and he remembered that Pa came when he was sleeping he jumped right in bed with him smiling from ear to ear. It was too cute! We had a fun day - running some errands, going to a park and playing ball in the backyard. Thanks for another fantastic visit Grandma and Pa - we had so much fun and we love you!!!

Grandma Visits

We were so happy to get a nice long visit from Grandma at the end of this week. Grandma left her house at 5:15 in the morning to get here nice and early for us! We had so much fun spending quality time with Grandma. Justin and Grandma got to bond by spending a lot of time together, laughing, smiling, and Justin spitting up on every piece of clothing Grandma brought to Boston! Jerald spent a two nights on the Cape for draft day for his fantasy baseball. It was great that Jerald could go off and not worry about us because Grandma was here to help. Thanks so much!!! It was so great having you here - we all had a great time!!!

Thumb Sucker?

Now that Justin's hands are free when he is sleeping - he is experimenting with different fingers to soothe himself with. We are waiting to see if he will follow in Seth's footsteps or be his own man with the thumb. Only time will tell...

4 Month Stats

Justin had his 4 month pediatrician appointment today. He was so great letting the doctor check him out. He was such a trooper getting 3 shots! What a brave little guy...

At 4 months - Justin is....

16 lbs 1 oz = 75th percentile
26 1/4 inches = 90th percentile

Coordinating Outfits

How cute are the boys in their coordinating outfits? Seth finally was interested in getting in a picture with Justin. Unfortunately, we couldn't convince Justin to smile with Seth - still pretty cute?

4 Months Old!!!

Justin is 4 months old today!!! In the last month Justin started sitting in the Bumbo chair so he could join the family during meals. He is awake so much more during the day that Justin can enjoy music class, and playing with Seth. He really now plays with his toys. Especially the toys hanging from the playmat. He can entertain himself for quite a while hitting his various toys. Justin also was "sleep trained" this month. All of a sudden he was 4 months old and it was time to get on a schedule. In the last week, he now regularly is asleep by 7:30ish and sleeps peacefully until it is time to eat at 3am and then back to sleep until 6:30!!! We won't know what his growth stats are until his doctor's appointment on Wednesday - but we can safely assume they will be big!

Dress-Up

Farewell indoor playspace

It looks like we are almost coming out of winter here in Boston (hopefully). We survived the long cold winter in parts by frequenting this indoor playspace with our playgroup. We have been regulars once a week. You pay $2 and let the kids run. It was great to get some of their energy out. On our last visit it seems that Justin even started enjoying himself!

Seth, Dylan and Sophia

Hanging In

Justin is really getting into playing with his toys. Today he spent a bunch of time on his playmat swatting away at his favorite things.

More sleeping

Saturday night we bit the bullet. I never thought we would have to "Ferberize" Justin as we did Seth because he was such a better sleeper. But I was wrong. Saturday night we worked on sleep training. Justin was a champ. It took him about 20 minutes to settle down - but he did it! He woke up a couple of times during the night - but nothing too bad and managed to put himself back to sleep. Sunday night was even better. Only waking up 2 times. Monday night - Jerald and Seth put Justin to sleep (I was at a board meeting) and then Justin only woke up at 3:15 to eat and happily went back to sleep after that. Hopefully we have turned a corner! Once Justin is consistently waking up only once a night we will move him down to his room.

Justin Sleeping

The joyful mystery of a 3+ month year olds sleep. For a while there, Justin had become a champion sleeper. We had him in this great swaddle. We could put him down awake, he would put himself to sleep and would only wake up sometime after 2am or later for a feeding. He would happily drift back to sleep waking up around 7. Sometimes he didn't even wake up until 6ish to eat! Just when you have something figured out with these kids they go and change on your! Justin then got too big for his swaddle and too active while sleeping. The swaddle wouldn't hold him any longer so he started waking up every couple of hours fussing. We ditched the swaddle but felt he was still waking himself up with his hands. So we invented this strange method above. He is in a sleep-sack and underneath that we are swaddling his arms with a receiving blanket (thanks for the idea Debbie!). We have had some success with it. Lately, we all have gotten into the bad habit of having him fall asleep with the pacifier. He has become so reliant on it in such a short time. Now we are stuck, a couple of times a night, having to wake up and put the pacifier back in. This works ok for now - because Justin is still in our room and we can put it in without much effort. Sooner or later, Justin will have to move to his own room and this pacifier thing won't fly any longer. For now, we are sticking with our method. Sleep is always an issue - isn't it?

Justin & Me

Playgroup at Mae's

Mae's mommy was very brave today and hosted the playgroup at her house. Now that the older kids are turning 3 years old! And there are a ton of babies - some of who are crawling and walking! - hosting playgroup is sometimes quite a procedure. Recently, we have taken to meeting up at a local community center. It is nice - because no one is in charge of setting up or cleaning up and the kids can run. But it was so nice to be at a friends house. Where the kids were all close and the Mom's could actually attempt a conversation! Thanks for hosting Carrie-Ann! Carrie-Ann also took some cute pictures of all of us being very silly!

Purim at School!

Today, Curious George went to school to celebrate Purim with all his friends. It ended up being quite a jungle at school with Seth as a Monkey, a tiger, and two lions!

I couldn't get enough of how cute Curious George looked at school doing his normal activities!

Purim

Happy Purim! Seth was very excited to dress up like Curious George (again) for Purim (a Jewish holiday celebrating the Jews overcoming a plot to kill them by the bad guy of the holiday, Haman). Seth was also glad to have his friend, the Man with the Yellow Hat, show up - and to add a banana to the mix for good measure. I think Justin was very confused by the whole thing though.

Mom rounded things out as Professor Wiseman (a character from the Curious George TV show) and I think we all looked pretty great. They gave out awards for the best kid and adult costumes, but unfortunately there was no award for best family-themed costumes or we clearly would have won.

We were also glad Nana joined us. It was a big help having an extra set of hands, and just fun to have her there.

Seth had a blast with the carnival games, especially the big moon bounce/castle. Connected to the moon bounce was this really tall slide, which we (Jerald) encouraged Seth to go down. Unfortunately, we didn't realize that to go down he slide you first had to climb a tall (maybe 15 foot high) rope ladder. By the time Seth got to the top there were a bunch of bigger kids lined-up down the ladder behind him, but he made it to the top and was so proud and happy when he came down!

Intentional Play

Justin is really starting to play with some of our many toys. Laying on his playmat - he now can reach out and intentionally swat at his toys. It is so amazing to watch him change from a newborn who can do almost nothing on purpose - to a baby who can swat at toys to entertain himself for a bit. In other Justin news, it seems that we have a very ticklish baby on our hands. When changing his clothes he usually breaks out laughing - he is so ticklish in his armpits. My goal is to get this on video very soon. Stay tuned!

Chopsticks

So proud of himself and the laughs Jerald and I gave him during his "performance"

Bumbo Seat

Last night, we put Justin in the Bumbo Seat for the first time. He sat in it on the island in our kitchen so he could watch us eat dinner. He loved it. What a new experience for him to be able to look at us and interact with us while we eat a meal. Hopefully, this will continue to be a useful meal tool - always a very interesting time of the day!