5 months!

Apparently I never did a four-month update for Johnny.  So, we'll do a five-month one!  At four months he was 25.5 inches and 16 lbs, 14 oz!  Now, at five months, he is 26.5 inches and 18 pounds!  He consistently grows one inch a month and at least a pound in weight.  Because he is rather large, he wears almost all nine-month clothing, especially if it's a one-piece outfit. 

He still really only gets breastmilk.  He does get formula quite often when we are out and he needs to eat NOW!  I've tried to feed him solids many times (the doctor told me to...), but he keeps sticking his tongue out so I can't get the spoon in.  I'm guessing that means he isn't ready.

As far as skills, he can roll over when he wants to, but most of the times he is on his stomach he cries until someone flips him over.  He is starting to roll to the side quite often to find a toy.  He can sit up by himself (for very short periods of time) if I prop him up with his hands on the floor or in his lap.

Sleep: He is a bad nighttime sleeper.  Well, that's not true.  He sleeps fine; he just wakes up ALL THE TIME!  Lately it's three or four times a night.  My new policy (as of two days ago) is that if it's been less than three hours since I last fed him, I'll try to make him cry it out.  He has been going to bed around 8 and gets up around 6:30 ish.  I like these times the best because then his naps work out around 9:00, 12:00, and 3:30. He doesn't nap very long--maybe 40 minutes at the most. 

Well, here are some pictures of my handsome little boy.  I'm told his ptosis is getting better (droopy left eyelid), but you can judge that for yourselves.  Pictures are where it is most evident. 



sitting up by himself



5-month photo shoot at JC Penneys

Bath time!



Baby's First Christmas shirt from Beppe (Larry's mom)



After his bath... to go on a weekend trip to Sacramento

Trick or Treat!

This year we decided to take Jacob trick or treating for the first time.  A couple of weeks ago, I got a bag of boy clothes from my sister, and there was a cow costume inside...

John wore a giraffe sleeper that someone gave me when Jacob was born.

Jacob mostly enjoyed going to the houses.  He especially liked ringing the doorbells.  There were a couple of houses that he was really scared to go near.

Halfway through, we came back to pass out some candy.  I noticed John was really sweaty, so I changed him into a cow outfit.  For some reason, he always falls asleep when Larry carries him around...

Once we got sick of walking around, we came back to pass out candy.  Jacob LOVED it! 

He stood waiting at the door for the rest of the night passing out the candy.  He even passed out the candy he got from other houses! 

One time, he got bored waiting so he laid on the ground.  But most of the time, he stood in the doorway yelling "C'mon guys!", encouraging kids to come to our door!  It was a great night!  Well, except that Jacob cried when we decided to shut our door and turn out our porch light!

A Day at the Beach

Over a week ago, it was a nice Saturday morning.  We were just relaxing at home in our pajamas...

Larry and I started discussing what we could do that day.  After much consideration, we decided to go to...

the beach!  We packed up the kids and the car and headed to Capitola, one of my favorite beaches.  Because we live in Santa Nella, the beach is about 85 minutes away! 

John seemed pretty happy with our decision! 

And Jacob loved playing in the water.  He and his daddy walked all the way to the pier.  This picture reminds me of my single days in San Diego when we'd see "hot dads" playing with their little kids at the beach!  We can't wait to go back, but next time I'm bringing a little baby tent so John doesn't have to stay in his carseat the majority of the time! 

Daily Life

I just thought I'd put up some pictures and a video of this week.  We pretty much stayed at home this whole week, had some company from Holland, and recuperated from the wedding last weekend. 

Jacob talking to mommy

Like father, like son part II

For all of you who say John looks like Larry, here is a comparison. 

I see it mostly in the forehead and eyes.  John's nose is definitely wider than Larry's, though.  And, the area under the nose looks very similar as well. 

Three Months Old!

Today baby John is three months old!  Time is definitely going faster the second time around.  He goes to the doctor in a week, and I think he has grown a lot.  I'm pretty sure he weighs over 16 pounds already, and he's in all 3-6 month clothing (and has been for a while).  He's even outgrowing some 3-6 clothes. 

Overall he's a pretty good baby.  He still wakes up twice every night, though.  I'd love to start making him cry it out a little, but I don't want to lose my milk supply.  For a while he was easy to predict as he'd do the eat-play-sleep pattern every three hours.  Now, he's starting to stay awake longer and sometimes doesn't sleep between feedings.  Just when I got him figured out he threw a wrench in my schedule...

I thought I'd include a few recent pictures of my little guy.  Enjoy! 

Read my shirt!

Already trying to copy his brother...

Look at his foot!  He did this himself!  Later it was off...then back on again!

Pumpkin Patch (Fantozzi Farm)

This past Saturday we went to Fantozzi Farms in Patterson (where we own a house that we don't live in).  I saw an ad in the paper that it was their opening day, and it looked like they had a lot of things for little boys.  They also have a corn maze for bigger boys, but we decided not to do it this year mostly because it would have cost an extra 8 dollars, but also because Jacob wouldn't care anyway.  Here are some pictures of our fun day!   

The cow train--the cars barely fit a grown man



Poor John had to stay behind with his mom

Instead of a sand box, they had a corn kernel box--very fun and VERY dusty!

Pumpkins!  Although we didn't even buy one...

Corn Cannon--you shoot corn and try to hit a target.  Jacob and Larry did not win...

Hay bale pyramid

10 Weeks Old!

Instead of a two-month check-up, John had a 10-week check up--not a bad thing, really, but it's hard to see where he fits in the growth charts.  Today he went to the doctor; today he is 10 weeks and one day old (two months and 9 days). 

He weighed 14 lbs, 3 oz.  From what I can tell, if he were two months, he'd be in the 90th percentile for weight (very close to what Jacob was despite being born three weeks earlier..).  For height, he was 23 1/2 inches long--probably 75th percentile (in contrast to Jacob being 25 inches and completely off the chart!).  I guess I just have big babies. 

Besides that, he has ptosis (a droopy left eyelid).  He went to a pediatric opthamalogist last week, but everything seems to be fine with his vision.  We have to go back every two months for a while to make sure he is using his left eye as much as his right.  He also has a tendancy to turn his head to the right side (not connected to ptosis, I don't think), so now I have to purposefully turn his head 10 times to the left after every diaper change.  I hope I remember.

Life with two kids is going very well; at least I can say that most days.  John has almost settled into the eat, play, sleep pattern where he eats every three hours.  He doesn't do this in the evenings, but the morning and afternoon are usually on this schedule.  He also has been sleeping a good 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 hours stretch at night; sometimes I make it with only having to get up once during the night (if he wakes up twice, I'm up feeding him at 5 or 5:30). 

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of my little chubby guy...

In Jacob's big boy bed!

One billion dollars (think Dr. Evil)

It's hard not to be thankful when you get smiles like this!

Mommy's Little Helper

Jacob has figured out that he can reach almost anything as long as he can pull a kitchen chair nearby.
He can talk to his brother in his crib...















or he can climb in the crib himself...

sometimes I worry about Johnny's safety!

 

Occasionally I find him in the cutest places!  I think he was washing his hands....

then he picked up a sponge....

so I gave him a pot to clean! 

Lately he's been obsessed with putting on his swim diapers.  This day I guess he decided one was not enough!  He put on every single one he could find...

 And sometimes one really wouldn't be enough!

 

One thing is sure, this kid makes me laugh just as much as he frustrates me with his constant mess-making. 

Three weeks comparison!

When I realized that John was wearing the same shirt Jacob wore around three weeks, I decided to stage a picture to show their similarities and differences.  Jacob appears much older because he was born three weeks later (at 42 weeks instead of 39).  He was already smiling and everything.  John has yet to give us a good smile while awake...he does make pretty cute ones when he sleeps, though...

Here's.....Johnny!

 John Michael Zylstra was born July 7, 2011 at 8:08 am.  This experience was nothing like the first.  We arrived at the hospital at 6:00 am and had a baby two hours later.  I was given staples instead of glue, and my arms didn't shake at all like they did with Jacob.  I also knew what to expect in terms of recovery, and because last time so much went wrong, this time has seemed like a piece of cake.  Imagine calling major abdominal surgery a piece of cake!  The only thing better about last time was I got to hold Jacob in the OR recovery room while this time I didn't get to hold my son until two hours after his delivery.  Thankfully, they asked Larry to hold him skin-to-skin on his chest which he did for about twenty minutes before coming to check on me in the recovery room.  Here is a picture Larry took of Johnny in the nursery. 

 On Saturday, two days later, my mother-in-law brought Jacob to meet his new brother.  Here is our first family picture.  Please ignore my hospital look.  We also went home that day!  (Jacob stayed with Larry's mom for almost two more days...thankfully!)

Now we are getting used to being a family, and Jacob is slowly getting used to his little brother.  So far he has only made him cry once...

Here are some pictures we took of Johnny when he was one week old!

We've also started our own version of tummy time...well, we've done it once!  This was my sister-in-law Karena's idea for getting him used to being on his tummy.  (She's a physical therapist!) 

So far Johnny is an excellent baby and really just sleeps, eats, and poops!  Right now he's been sleeping way too long, so I better go wake him up and feed him.  Usually he wakes up every two to three hours to eat, but he LOVES his mid-morning nap. 

I'm sure I'll have more to come very soon!