Goodbye, June

Three month comparison

Elise (three months old)
John Harrison at 3 months

John Harrison with cute nap hair





It seems like Elise and John Harrison look quite a bit different at three months---they both have big eyes and cute cheeks, though. Of course, David and I think that both of our children are adorable:). This week has been fairly uneventful. I have had a pretty severe stomach bug since Saturday night and still am not quite over it. Both kids seem to have caught a mild version of whatever I have. Thankfully, we are all doing pretty well and hopefully will all be completely well by the end of the weekend. Onto more exciting things...
One thing that is new for our family recently is family worship. Our church has really been directing and encouraging families to engage in family worship at home; we had prayed with John Harrison at meals, naptime, and bedtime for a long time as well as sang worship songs together before naptime and bedtime. But, we had not had an official time of worship together before the past few weeks. We now take time before breakfast to read from The Jesus Storybook Bible, sing, and pray together. Once John Harrison gets a little older, we will incorporate reading from the actual Bible. He gets really excited about reading his Bible and singing and closes his eyes for prayer (at least at the beginning). We pray that the Lord will use this time to greatly impact our children and help foster in their hearts a desire to know the Lord! I hope to soon begin helping introduce the shortened catechisms to John Harrison as well as basic scripture memory. Parents are given a strong mandate in scripture to teach their children the things of God---such as who He is, the wonders He has done, and what is means to know and love Him---what a humbling, weighty, and rewarding task!

$10 pricetag...unlimited fun

We bought a $10 kiddie swimming pool for John Harrison recently.....he loves his pool! John Harrison makes sure that I thoroughly spray him down with sunscreen before he starts playing in the pool and will point out his hands, feet, etc. if he feels that those areas have not been properly sprayed (our son is very detail oriented and notices and points out when any thing is new, different, or not up to his standards or expectations). One of John Harrison's favorite things to do in the pool is taking cups, dumping the ice in the pool, picking the ice up, putting it back in a cup, and repeating the process until the ice melts....he then comes over to me and says "more ice."

"Wrap!"

John Harrison loves to be wrapped up like baby sister. In addition to liking to be wrapped up, he loves to wrap up his trucks in blankets. The trucks don't seem to mind.

Bouncy seats aren't just for babies...

When I was pregnant with John Harrison, I bought a few baby gear items......a bouncy seat, a Bumbo, and a jumperoo. The night we brought John Harrison home from the hospital, David ran out to Target to buy a swing (we were desperate for anything to try and make our new baby stop crying!). John Harrison loved the swing, but didn't really like any of the other items. Often, the only way we could get John Harrison to sleep was in the swing. I was afraid of getting my baby too addicted to sleeping with motion, but I was so desperate and willing to do anything to get him to sleep. There were many nights when David or I laid on the floor beside the swing and popped John Harrison's pacifier in his mouth every 10-15 minutes trying desperately to get him to sleep---Elise is quite different from John Harrison in almost every way. She sleeps much better lying in bed than in the swing....for importantly, she actually sleeps for extended periods of time at night and during the day. While John Harrison couldn't stand the bouncy seat, Elise can stay happy for long periods of time (such as while I am making a meal) in the bouncy seat as long as she is not overly tired or hungry. It is so fun to watch Elise smile and kick at the toy bar's lights and songs. John Harrison also loves getting in the bouncy seat or trying to bounce Elise when she is in the bouncy seat....we are still working on being gentle with baby sister.

Elise turned 3 months old last week! She is doing well and we love her so much! She goes to bed around 10:30 at night, then will usually sleep until about 2:30 when she gets up to eat. After eating, she normally sleeps till around 5 when she wakes up and wants to be held until she wakes around 7 wanting to eat again. More nights than not are like the one I described, although there are definitely "off" nights when she wakes up more frequently. I get much more sleep with Elise at 3 months than I did with John Harrison at 9-10 months.

John Harrison is speaking in more and more 2 (and occasionally 3) word sentences. He says things like "more milk," "hi dada," etc. It is so fun to see his speech develop. He also continues to do well playing by himself and loves his baby sister so much.

Enjoying June

Giving sister a kiss
Big hug for sister....whether she wants it or not

no, this is not the same picture above and below....I just had to post both because our sweet girl is so precious:)

John Harrison loves playing in the yard...and doesn't seem to mind the sun....Elise and I try to stay in the shade