Joseph Stephen - Two Months Old

Dear Joseph,

Happy two month birthday! It is difficult to believe that you are already two months old. You have changed so much during the past month! You are becoming much more active each day and are awake for longer periods of time. While awake, you are very aware of your surroundings. In addition, you will excitedly move your arms and kick your legs. This routine has allowed you to transition to sleeping for longer periods of time. You will typically sleep for about six hours straight at night!

One of your favorite activities is to sit in the swing and watch all of the action taking place. Our house is very busy, and you will turn your head to follow us when we are speaking to you and seem to recognize familiar voices. You do not enjoy laying on the floor as much as sitting in your swing. That might be because you can't see everything as easily. Most likely though is due to the fact that laying on the floor can be hazardous to your health with three older brothers. As a result, we do not lay you on the floor very often! At this point in your life, your favorite place to be is in Mommy's arms, and I am enjoying all of the cuddling while it lasts!

In the last month, you have started to really fill out. You are beginning to look more and more like your brothers with each pound you gain! Those chubby cheeks and chunky thighs are absolutely adorable, and you have grown to weigh 13 pounds, 12 ounces and 22 inches tall. This rapid growth is probably because you have increased to eating five to eight ounces of formula at each feeding. At two months of age, you are fitting comfortably into three month clothes.

Although you reveal a number of facial expressions to us, the most common is a very serious look. Your eyes are so quizzical, and it seems as if you are analyzing everything you see. At seven weeks of age you smiled for the first time! We all try to make you smile, and it is so exciting when you actually do. I am sure that we will be seeing more of your beautiful smile and fewer serious looks each day!

You continue to be such a happy baby. You have started cooing and making other baby noises. When one of us talks to you, it seems as if you are trying to respond through your adorable cooing. Occasionally, you will experience a bellyache in the evening that will make you cry. When this happens, you have perfected the art of sticking out your bottom lip while crying. It is truly pitiful! However, you should be happy to know that you never cry long. When you make a sound (even if it is a cooing sound) William immediately says "Baby crying!" and rushes to your side.

We love you Joseph and can't imagine our family without you in it!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

You look like you are ready for a fight in this picture!

 

Smile!

A Visitor

Last week when Toby's mom was gathering eggs from the chickens, she found this golden eagle sitting inside the building!

Apparently, our visitor had found a nice place where it could feast on an unlimited supply of legs, breasts, and drumsticks! You can read about golden eagles at this interesting website. According to the site, "The golden eagle is one of the largest, fastest, nimblest raptors in North America." You can see from the photo that I took that the raptor's beak and talons could prove to be very dangerous.

Our visitor camped out in the building for a day or two and did not seem to be bothered by us peeking in. Then, he disappeared, and we thought he had moved on. We were wrong though, as we continue to see him around our place almost daily. He will sit on the rimrocks above the house, on telephone poles, and on wheel lines. 

Based on what I have read, an adult golden eagle is typically 33-36 inches tall. We believe that our visitor is a young eagle because he is only about 20-24 inches tall. Another interesting fact is that golden eagles live for an average of 30 years!

If you are ever in our area, keep your eyes open for this amazing raptor!

William and His Squirt Bottle

William found a squirt bottle this morning and has been very busy. Joseph was laying peacefully in the bassinet sleeping when William walked to up to him and said "Hands up Bebe." When Joseph did not put his hands up, William proceeded to squirt him and wake him up! After being scolded by his mother, he has moved on to washing windows.

Peter's Famous Raspberry Freezer Jam

With record-breaking temperatures over 100 degrees this week, we have been spending most afternoons trying to stay cool in the house. I mentioned to the boys that we should make freezer jam, and Peter was all over it. Ever since my mom introduced Peter to freezer jam, he has been in love! It is difficult to keep a supply of freezer jam in the house with Peter, and the rest of us love it too. We acquired some wonderful raspberries from a local grower, and yesterday Peter and William made freezer jam by themselves. I know - it is a scary thought - but making freezer jam is extremely easy and I supervised. If you have never made freezer jam, you really should whip some up while the berries are in season. You won't be disappointed!


The cast of characters - A large bowl of washed raspberries, sugar, and instant pectin.
(The recipe with specific measurements is on the pectin container.)



Step 1 - Mash the berries with a potato masher.

Step 2 - Mix sugar and pectin together.

Step 3 - Add sugar/pectin mixture to mashed raspberries.

Step 4 - Stir until all ingredients are combined.

Step 5 - Use a ladle to fill plastic freezer jars with the prepared jam.

Step 6 - Keep a jar for yourself and drink it! Not required, but recommended by Peter.

Step 7 - Wipe down jars, let sit for 30 minutes, then freeze or refrigerate.



Step 8 - Enjoy!

Crocheting

When I was on bed rest with Joseph, I quickly became very bored. As a result, I was anxious to find ways to pass the time, and one can only watch so much television! So, I decided to start crocheting again. I learned how to crochet from Grandma Barbara when I was young and always enjoyed the end product. In the past, I have made stocking hats, scarves, and other projects. When I was teaching sixth grade, I also taught my entire class how to crochet. As a class, we created hot pads for Christmas gifts and scarves for the Special Olympics.

Since babies were on my mind, I found some fun crocheting patterns for baby hats and headbands online. In addition, I found a pattern for a cute baby blanket which is crocheted on one side and cotton fabric on the other side. While on bed rest, I created the crocheted side for two baby blankets, and in the past few days I layered the cotton fabric on top, added a satin binding, and tied the two layers together. Today, I shipped the two blankets to their new homes! I think they turned out nicely! The crocheted side is very soft because I used soft baby yarn. The blankets are versatile because they are not only warm but the crocheted side creates a nice cushion to lay a baby on. 

I also crocheted a headband and attached a crocheted flower.
I tried it on Joseph to make sure it was the correct size before sending it.
Isn't he cute!