We're not dead

We just got our reliable internet back (and I use 'reliable' loosely - thank you Mediacom) after a week of not having it. We will post soon! promises and kisses . . .

Adventures in Cattle Leading

Step 1: Kiss Steer - Let him know that you will always be friends. 

Step 2: Have heart-to-heart. Let Steer know that you are boss. 

Step 3: Grab Steer by the halter.

Step 4: Eat the Halter??  Nomnomnomnomnomnomnom

Okay, so he still has a thing or two to learn about handling cattle. For now, we'll stick with the stuffed ones! 

Our Little Football Fan

Our son loves to watch football - but even we were surprised at the team he has rooted for the most.

Daddy will do his best to sway him to the Chiefs fanbase next year.

Pardon the background humming. Our SpotBot was running.

Bears!?!

5 Months

Handsome - I can't believe you are already 5 months old. I know I will say that for the rest of your life. My dad warned me how fast you would grow, and he was not exaggerating. This past month has been the most fun so far. Here's a little recap for everyone.

*He is still our little 'Tank' - weighing right around 18 pounds. Even this babies' wrists have little rolls. 

* Justin still has not rolled over. He just does not seem to care. He will roll to his side often, but never over, nor does he seem to try. He still LOVES to just lie on his back and kick his legs. Tummy time is not fun - he is either a) content to lay on his stomach and suck his fingers, or b) pissed off that he is on his stomach and tries to rectify the situation by sticking his butt in the air and trying to push with his legs. He is really good at holding his head up when sitting or 'standing' so we are not concerned. 

* He loves to blow razzies, especially when imitating us. 

* We call Justin JFrog, JBaby, J, Tank, and, of course, Little Dude. He does turn his head towards 'Justin', so we haven't confused him too much. Only Momma calls him 'Handsome' :)

* Justin has been sleeping great. Most nights, he goes down after a bottle and some rocking around 9:30 and sleeps until 6:00. Once in the past week he awoke at 4:00, otherwise he has slept straight through. He takes a few short naps each day, but his schedule varies quite a bit due to daycare. 

* We officially packed away his 3-6 months clothes last week. He now wears size 9 month clothing and a size 3 diaper. It's unfortunate that you only got to wear some of your cute outfits once, but Momma loves shopping for you, so it's not that sad :)

* Justin still does not just sit. It's pretty rare that he just sits, whether it be in a Bumbo, chair, or someone's lap. He gets a little fussy if not being carried, and is kind of an attention whore. We haven't taken him to a restaurant for this very reason. He also loves to put weight on his legs (and that's a lot of baby weight), and will stand with assistance. 

Yes, that onesie does say "This is what Handsome Looks Like"

* I sing (well, try to sing) 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' a few times a day and he always smiles during the 'Eyes and ears and mouth and nose' part when I put his little hands on his mouth and nose. He also enjoys our version of the ABCs and Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.  

* Justin is a finger-sucker, or sometimes a fist sucker if he's really hungry. He doesn't like his pacis much, and will usually use his fingers to pop out the pacifier, and then suck on them. 

* So much for that immune system I was bragging about in his 4-month post. A little before Christmas he got his first ear infection and round of bronchiolitis. The ear infection hung around and we had to retreat that (and visit the doctor again - oh how I miss having a met deductible). We have a nebulizer to use as needed, but he's been doing great since (knock on wood). 

* You still love football and pay more attention to the tv when a game is on. This past month you watched the Hawks win, and got to see your Daddy's team, the Chiefs, lose in their first playoff game. Perhaps Daddy can convince you to care about baseball as much as football. 

* We are wondering if Justin is starting to teethe. He has gotten more slobbery, and everything goes to his mouth. He also noms on teething toys. In the past, he hasn't liked any teething toy, but now he really 'bites' on them. He won't let us look in his little mouth to see, so this is all speculation. 

* He squeals in delight sometimes and it melts Momma's heart. He has started screeching and making lots of noises, almost like he is talking with us. 

* Justin's favorite toys are his flowers (nom nom), his Sophie (the giraffe) and his elephant. He also likes his exersaucer, and his swing has become his 'Lazyboy' as it no longer keeps up with our little Tank. 

Check out the spinning action!

Handsome - You make your Daddy and I so happy. We absolutely adore you and can't wait to see what you do in the next month!

I know, I know - you just want to smother him with kisses. It's hard not to :) 

Bad Habit Say What?

The day Justin was born, the nurse pointed out that he was sucking on his lower lip. As you can see, it hasn't stopped. 

A New Year, Some New Resolutions

While our little JBaby is nomming on a fleece blanket, I'm back to share our New Year's Resolutions. I am a compulsive list maker - I looooove lists, especially handwritten ones, which annoys my google document,  blackberry checking, must.do.everything.on.computer loving husband.

So here they are, the New Years Resolutions - Baby Edition

1. Watch our language - We don't want JFrog to become 'That Baby' - the one who drops the Fbomb at daycare. I would much rather hear 'Momma' before any other expletive (or dad for that matter ;) )

2. Watch less television - We've been addicted to a few shows lately - one being Breaking Bad which focuses around a high school chemistry teacher who cooks meth. JFrog's medicine comes in bottles with syringes to measure out the appropriate dosage. Again, we hope he doesn't see one lying around and try to put it in his elbow

3. Instill Appropriate Values in JFrog - the basics - that he should respect his elders, not trust strangers, not be prejudiced, and avoid scientologists, the french, and republicans like the plague

4. That we act appropriately financially so JFrog doesn't starve - We're hoping (jinx) to make a major purchase this year so we've been good at monitoring our budget. Plus, our little tank is already over 17.5 pounds (that's an average 'rate of gain' of more than 0.5 pounds a week - his grandpas will appreciate that terminology)

5. Play nicely with Izzers - Izzers is not a fan of being grabbed by small children, as we learned with Annabanana (she only got a small handful), so we need to teach Justin early to 'pet nicely'. Annabanana is very curious and tries to catch Izzers - it's pretty cute.

6. Teach Justin while playing with him - Much of the first three months was spent trying to calm Justin when his 'colic flared' so we spent lots of time rocking. carrying, swinging, or trying to distract/stimulate him with lights and sounds. We now can actually play with him and it's been great! Hopefully we can help him develop many skills along the way.

7. Foster Justin's Sense of Humor - We need to teach him what is funny and what is not - for example - Making farting noises = Funny, Pulling Momma's Hair = Not Funny; Daddy's Dance Moves = Funny, Turning on the Waterworks while getting his diaper changed = Not Funny

8. Raise a Gentleman - I refuse to believe that 'Boys will be Boys', and will do my best to raise Justin to be kind, courteous, and an all-around little Gentleman

I think that's good for now. I will leave you with my favorite picture of the day.

The Holidays

Long time, no post. We've been enjoying our happy, growing, (not so little) little boy in these days after the holidays and nearly forgot to post about the season. Our first Christmas with Justin was lovely, besides the sickness. He got SO MANY TOYS - we seriously need a bigger place, and we used part of our Christmas money to buy another storage ottoman to put his toys in. And there are still toys that don't fit . . .  We filled our car and there are still two large toys waiting to come.

It's Super Dude!

Here's a basic rundown of our holidays. If you need to stretch while reading this, or get a small meal or take a break, feel free. It'll be a long one.

Christmas Eve - 'The Wulfekuhle/Hunts Attempt Christmas Eve Mass - or Fustin Justin Strikes Again'

Christmas Eve rolls around and we, being the good Catholics we are ;), decide to go to Christmas Eve Mass. Knowing the churches get very busy on Christmas Eve, we choose the 5:00 mass (one of 3 masses at our church this evening), get dressed, get JFrog ready, and arrive at church at 4:30. And . . . there were no parking spots left. None. People were actually parking other people in. I refused to walk very long in boots with an infant in the snowy weather (it had only snowed about 3" that afternoon), so we tried another church in the area. Low and behold, they had a 5:30 mass with parking! We set up camp in the very back of church, on the end just in case our little sleeping angel woke up during mass. Wouldn't you know it, at 5:27 he stirred, and stirred, and didn't want his paci, and wanted to be OUT OF THE CARSEAT NOW. (insert screaming baby here). Baby Daddy took Fustin Justin to the back of the church where other parents were (with their babies sitting quietly in their laps, btw). A few minutes later I realized that he wasn't going to come back into church, so I took our stuff and joined him.  Justin required position changes and walking constantly to not scream, then wanted food, then didn't want food, then didn't want anything but to fuss. So, downstairs we went and as soon as we laid him down he was happy and kicking and giggling. We figured that we had technically made it to the homily and that we should call that good and leave. So, we did what all normal families do on Christmas Eve - we went home, ordered pizza, forgot to shovel said snow off of our doorsteps, made the Delivery Man walk through 6" of snow, ate pizza, opened our presents and went to bed.

We assumed Justin would be spoiled by our families, so we kept it simple and got him only a 9 month sleeper (which, btw fits him now) and two touch-and-feel books. 

Izzers, of course, got treats - what else?

Christmas - 'The Day our Floor Space Died'

We woke up Christmas Morning, got ready, and left to make the family rounds. First stop was Grandma and Grandpa H's, and oh my, they did not hold back! Justin had enough toys to last the entire year after only this stop. Here Justin models with one of the favorites - his three (yes, three) stuffed cattle. And yes, they are anatomically correct.

After a quick nap, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa W's, and lost even more of our floor space to toys. He did get a few larger articles of clothing, which were much needed.

Here Justin models some of his current favorite toys. His current favorite toys are either things he can 'nom' on (aka shove in his mouth and try to chew) like Sophie, the elephant, the flowers, or the rattle, or things with lights, like the little music box and the flowers. Unfortunately, Izzers also loves Sophie and comes running whenever she squeaks.

It was a great day and were happy to spend so much time with our families. Christmas evening, Justin and I took another nap - a common occurrence over the Holiday Season.

Pardon the double chin - I've completely fallen off the postpartum bandwagon (more on that later). 

Dec. 28 - 'The Day the Hawkeyes Didn't Disappoint in Fall 2010'

Nearly convinced that the Hawks were going to lose to Mizzou, I claimed we weren't going to watch the whole game and were going to get a decent nights' sleep. Well, they won and we got little sleep. Go Hawks!

Hawkeye's #1 Fan

Dec 31 - 'They Day I Sucked at Being a Wife'

None of us were feeling that great on New Years' Eve, so we stayed in. It may have been a special day for Baby Daddy. I may have done nothing to celebrate that. BUT - we did stay up past midnight, which was a great improvement over last year when my exhausted, pregnant booty was in bed by 10:30. There is nothing exciting to report here. 

In the Meantime - 

Baby Daddy had the entire week after Christmas off, and I worked my last 3 days at TA (more on that later). We spent LOTS of time playing with JFrog, who is learning more and more each day. He has been so happy lately (thank you no colic or sickness (knock on wood)) and so playful that I wonder if this is what babies without colic are like from the beginning. Fussing or not, I adore him! Who wouldn't?

Look at those Cheeks!

It is crazy that 2011 is already here. I spent so much time looking forward to the last half of 2010 that 2011 wasn't even on my radar. It seems strange that my baby is nearly five months old (!!) and has yet to meet some of the most important people - I'm looking at you San Diego :) We'll make it happen in 2011. 

 We'll be back soon with our New Years Resolutions (Baby Edition)!