November Update in Pictures

 Hello friends, it's been 2 months since Jonathan graced our house with his presence and he is such a SWEET little fellow!  Luke is now sailing much more smoothly in his role as big brother. Here are some pictures to keep you up to date:

Baltimore Aquarium - Luke's favorites were the ramps that he ran down, crank to smash pennies (below) and lunch! Ha ha.  Okay, it wasn't all above his head. He did like the dolphin show and kept calling out, "That's a BIG FISH! HAA HAA!"  It was Matthew's first time there, and while we enjoyed it, we agreed we won't go back every year.

Trick or Treat night with costumes from Mimi.  It's not much of an event on our street, but it was a nice way to connect with our neighbors. 

Luke refused to put his costume on until the last second, but he liked seeing Jonathan dressed up.  I tried getting a picture of Luke 'eating' the hotdog, but he didnt' want to, and now that I think about it, we are trying to teach Luke NOT to bite. :)

Luke 'helping' give Baby J  his bath.  I underestimated how chaotic it would be to have him splashing water all over the place while keeping a hand on Jonathan and was grateful to call to Matthew and have him come and help.

Happy baby!  Jonathan is cooing, vocalizing and very responsive.  I'm scrubbing his head in this one - trying to keep Cradle Cap to a minimum. It seems to be working.

Luke with two of his favorites: 1) an apple, 2) other people's shoes.  Here he's sporting Daddy's work shoes. 

Tea time with the animals. Luke plays a lot with this set I had as a child.  

First time painting with watercolors painting 'caterpillars' and 'kangaroos'.  It wasn't nearly as messy as I expected!  

This is the butcher shop where we got our 1/4 of a cow from our friends who raise grass-fed beef.  Luke dragged the coolers around the parking lot and, in his words, was "working REALLY hard."  We got to see two deer being brought in for butchering, and he got to visit with another customer's nice Amish horse.

Matthew's holding the beef.  The man beside Matthew is Doug Landis. He and his wife are co-workers of Matthew's and also run a farm here in Lancaster.  We enjoyed some of the steaks on  Sunday and they were fabulous!!

Hiking in Landis Woods on Sunday - a glorious afternoon.  By the way, Jonathan is a big boy now - 13 lbs, 10 oz. at two months!  He's getting to be a load to carry around.  A very cute little load, that is. :)

Touching the water was fun, dropping sticks in the water was fun, but leaving the stream led to screaming and tears......it's tough to be two years old.

Trying to get a picture for a calendar for Matthew's Pop Pop.  They were supposed to be wearing the hats, but Luke was adamant that he would not, and Baby J couldn't either.  He's also traumatized that Matthew put up Christmas lights outside and was still teary about it several days after the fact.  

In all, though, Luke is a great big brother. He loves to hold Jonathan and gives him lots of hugs and kisses. He's gentle most of the time and seems to genuinely be concerned when Jonathan is fussing.
We are grateful for our two little boys.

God bless you each this upcoming Thanksgiving and Christmas season!
Love,
The Weitzel's

Welcome Baby Jonathan

We are thrilled to have a new baby in our house.  After much preparation, and 13 long days of waiting while overdue, our BABY BOY arrived!

Happy birthday to Jonathan Clyde Weitzel, 8lbs, 9oz., 22 inches long.
He entered into the world peacefully and the nurse had to take him to get him to cry a little.
We were both certain he was a girl and felt a little surprised, but so grateful for a healthy SON!  

With Mom and Dad on his birthday!
We were tired after a night with little sleep due to the 21 hours of labor.
Once again I was reminded that it's not called 'labor' for nothing!
I was so grateful to have a completely natural birth this time, though the pain of it shocked me.
It was worth it though, to feel my baby in the birth canal and have a very alert little one afterwards. He nursed right away and very well and the pain of birth is forgotten (mostly!).  Thanks to all who prayed for no induction!

Meeting his brother.  It went well. Luke is gentle most of the time and wanted to hold Jonathan frequently at first.  Now, it's mostly kisses and caresses, bringing him toys and feeding him goldfish. ;)

Five days old

Hello world

Jonathan cries very little and has been quite peaceful so far.  I feel so much more relaxed this time around as a mom and am truly, truly enjoying this tiny baby stage. He is just so precious!
(Of course, we've had our share of being peed and pooed on and spit-up upon, but even that stuff is making us laugh, most of the time)

Brothers getting acquainted. 

Luke tries to share his goldfish.
We've spent a lot of time talking about all the things 'big boys' can do that babies can't:  Eat ice cream and goldfish because they have teeth, walk, play with cars, sit at the table, jump, etc.
Luke likes repeating these fascinating new facts of life.

Overall, Luke's adjusted really well. He's a little more sensitive than normal, but we expected that might happen.  He's really loving his Big Brother toys: a tractor, school bus and fire rescue car.  

Fatherly advice: 'Sleep at night, Jonathan....all night, okay?'
Matthew has been soothing Jonathan at night when he doesn't want to go back to sleep after a nursing.
I've got a fabulous husband!

 I'll try to keep this blog updated a little more frequently than every 6 months now that little Jonathan is here. Then again, you only have one 'babymoon' with each baby and I've been told that if I blink I'll miss it!  Thanks for all your love and prayers!
The Weitzels

Spring Comes - February and March

Luke barefoot by the forsythia bush.  We're loving spring! 

Our little 'helper' with Daddy in Feb. installing child safety locks.
It took much longer than we thought it would, but I'm so glad they're in place since Luke is really good at dragging chairs around the kitchen to get to places that aren't so safe.  

Most days Luke asks to "Go ow-sigh!" shortly after he's out of bed.   He love, love, loves the outdoors!
We've borrowed several push toys from friends which keep him busy. 

Gimme the camera Mom!!

Haircut at home - not going so well....
Six months ago he did great sitting in his booster seat with a lollypop and cookies. This time he wasn't having it!  
This picture was taken at break-time when I felt I couldn't go on because he was way too squirmy and upset for me to get a scissors near him.
Miraculously it was at this point that he calmed down and sat between my legs.   For some reason this position was comfortable enough for him to relax and let me finish the haircut.  It was a hallelujah moment for me!

New haircut!

Dinnertime with Daddy.  He's still underweight and being that one of his fav foods is buttered rice, I'm usually sweeping up a good deal of the sticky kernels after each meal. I don't care that much though - he eats it!  

Before church on Sunday in the new outfit from Mimi.
He was pretty excited about the tractor on the front.
He's become quite the verbal little guy and is able to name various vehicles, among which "red car"s are his favorite.  His other vehicle words are: "wheel", "loader", "trash truck", "school bus", "Xin's bike", "Daddy's bike", "cycle" (motorcycle), "tractor", "truck", and "bulance" (ambulance).  

Fun with Grandpa yesterday singing "My Hands On Myself" again and again! :)
Luke has a special bond with both his Grandpa and his Pop Pop.

January and February Updates

January

The Farm Show - One of our favorite winter events in Pennsylvania is the annual Farm Show.  Since Luke loves anything with wheels we thought he might like it - and, boy, did he ever! :) 

"Paw" (Luke's version of Grandpa) took him to test out a tractor. 

Ice cream at the Farm Show

This nice sheepie let us touch her.

Luke's FAVORITE spot was the corn box - like a sandbox, but with corn.  While other kids were loading corn into funnels, buckets and trucks, he was moving it around and laying in it.  Guess he's at a very sensory stage!
  

First Snowman - Guess who was more excited to build it, Mommy or Luke?

Well, he did like the carrot. 

I rolled the snow into balls enthusiastically, but his interest level was still zilch.

 This was my attempt to get a picture of him and 'his' snowman together. 

This is where Luke spent the majority of the time I was building the snowman: inching toward the road and watching my face intently for a reaction, giggling all the while.

It must be very entertaining for him to see just how far he could  go before Mommy started her sing-song "Luuuuuke....where are you going??  No, no buddy.... Champ, listen to Mommy...." and finally rushed to get him.

He got a few behind swats with this snowman building - maybe next time it will be a backyard snowman!

 Fun with Jade

Jade is Matthew's goddaughter.

Her family was over for  a visit and this cuteness popped out of a box!

 February
Attempt to Get More Done in the Kitchen

Read this idea online and though it sounded brilliant!  Luke loves water, loves bath toys and could stay in the regular bathtub for up to 40 minutes.  Surely this would be a huge time saver for me!

  It worked out like this:  He played in here for 20 minutes, totally self entertained while I got 'stuff done' nearby.   Then he realized he could almost climb up over the edge of the tub.  Hmmmm.  Wet little naked boy trying to escape the tub. I could see the fall waiting to happen, so we packed up the fun.  It was  a nice try though, and who knows, we may do it again.

 "On!"

Light switches are very intriguing to Luke right now. He realized he can climb up on his little chairs by himself and reach the kitchen switch.   Not safe, I know.  I did try to teach him not to do this, but he thought it was funny to do the opposite of what I asked.   I can't spend all day keeping him away from the chairs and I don't want to remove them since we do use them. He hasn't fallen and I like to think that climbing is good for kids.  Plus...

It makes him SO VERY HAPPY! 

Outside

It's been too cold to walk the 30 minutes to the park, so on Monday we went into the backyard to get some fresh air.  It's not much of a play area yet -  no swings or toddler toys,  but there are some trees, a flagstone pathway, patio and grassy areas to run around on.  I took hot chocolate for me and Luke went exploring.

He mainly walks in circles, watching his feet.  Very cute.  He also likes to go up and down small ledges or uneven surfaces.  He goes one way, then turns around and goes the other.  He loves being chased.  So much to learn!  I was entertained just watching him!

And of course he found the grill and wanted it "On!"

 Helper in the Kitchen

Licking whipped cream off the beater while 'helping' me in the kitchen.

Lately my little buddy has wanted to "help" whenever I'm doing anything at the kitchen counter.   He says, "Hep, hep!" and starts dragging one of his little chairs over to the sink.

Cooking and clean-up is slower this way, but more fun (usually for me, but always for him).  It's been a good lesson for me in slowing down to enjoy the little joys in life, giving up hurry and impatience to savor each gift we're given.

I hope this finds you all well and savoring each gift you're given this winter!  

Love,

Laurie