Back Among the Living!

When I was on bedrest, one of the things I missed most was going to the park. Earlier in my pregnancy I went to the park every day during my lunch break, especially during the fall when the leaves were changing. Today, on the cusp of Memorial Day weekend with the sun in the sky (because of course it's supposed to start raining tonight!), I went back to the park. My favorite one has a huge, beautiful pond and a short hiking trail. I didn't risk doing the trail back when I was pregnant, but I've been wanting to, so today was the day.

When I got to the top overlooking the pond, I saw one of these.

I stood and watched him as he climbed over the rocks. Then these started emerging.
The big lizard with the orange head started chasing the small lizards with the blue tails. Then the big lizard disappeared under a rock. I watched the small lizards for a minute and was about to leave when the big lizard reappeared with one of the small lizards in his mouth! I tried to scare him to "save" the small lizard, but he just kept dragging it back under the rock. When I got back to the office, I googled and found that Missouri lizards only eat insects, so maybe this was some kind of mating ritual? As disgusting as that is, I'd rather it be that than lizard cannibalism!

After the trail I walked along the pond, looking for turtles. I counted five of them floating and swimming around. Then as I reached the end of the pond, I spotted a snake that looked something like this.
The snake was much smaller and slightly different from this one in color. He was swimming along the edge of the pond, and he was really cool. I kneeled down beside him and watched as he slithered through the water. After a while he disappeared, so I got up and watched the fish swimming for a few minutes.

There were tons of families at the park, many of them feeding bread to the geese. The geese have gotten so friendly that they'll actually catch the bread in their beaks. I can't wait until Jonah is big enough to go to the park and understand what he sees. Those will be really fun days.

Happy Memorial Day!

Daycare = Sick Baby :(

As I mentioned in the last post, Jonah started going to a babysitter this past week. There are only two other babies, twin boys, at the babysitter's house, but Jonah still managed to get sick after his first week. He officially has his first baby cold, and the doctor this morning said it's just something that happens when babies are away from home. Unfortunately, my baby is no normal little boy. While he's growing, his weight is still an issue, and that makes the common cold a bigger deal for us.

Jonah is sneezing, coughing, and congested, and since babies only breathe out of their noses, it makes it really difficult for him to eat. He hasn't been doing well with it this week, and he went from 9 lbs. to 8 lbs. 6 oz. :( The doctor gave us instructions for doing nasal washes before feedings and bedtime, and Jonah has to sleep in his car seat until he's feeling better. That should be interesting.

He goes back to the doctor for his two-month wellness checkup next Thursday, so they'll check his weight again and see if we need to take additional measures. The doctor is hoping he'll have gained some weight by then.

In the meantime, Jonah doesn't have a fever, so he's still at the babysitter's house today. Here is a picture she sent me last week. I can't believe how big our little man is getting!

Emily NOT From the Couch

My good friend and coworker, Nicole, has convinced me to revive my blog. Before I barely had time to check my email, but I started back to work this week, so that makes it easier. This week hasn't been to bad. I was super sick over the weekend, so I missed Monday. Tuesday was my first day back, and it was nice to see my friends again. It's definitely hard to leave Jonah though. Luckily John drops him off at the babysitter in the morning. My boss is letting me work 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and take four hours of PTO each week to make up the time, so it's nice to be able to leave and get Jonah early. His babysitter is in Battlefield, about half an hour from our house, so it's a bit of a commute. We're usually home around 4:00 though.

Jonah is doing great and gaining weight. He's nine pounds now, and is starting to get some meat on his bones. He's also starting to smile! John was lucky enough to catch a shot of one of his first ones. Isn't he cute?!


He's been "talking" a lot lately too. I can't believe he's already two months old!

So, we're all settling into our new routines. I'm happy for the weekend and lots of Jonah time. We should be able to bring him to church this week too, so I'm really looking forward to that!

Have a great weekend!