At Least He's Not Eating Dog Food.

"At least he is not eating dog food!" I can't leave Jonah alone for more than a minute if he is awake! I always return to find him into something. If Harry hasn't eaten for the day, then it's usually dog food. We are teaching him not to eat the dog food, but it is slow going! So, now, when I find Jonah into other mischief I'm thankful he's given the dog food a rest!

I can't keep books on the shelf these days! He just takes them right back off.
But, at least he's not eating dog food!

Put a sock in it!! Jonah got a box of socks in the mail. They were sent by his aunt Riss! Yesterday he unpacked the box all by himself! He may be eating socks, but at least he's not eating dog food!!

And finally, another video! Watch as Jonah closes the program....then he will launch the internet! He did it all on his own...Jonathan was there, but just watching. (we know it was just a coincidence! don't call this in as a baby prodigy or anything) Happy Last Day of August!

All About Jonathan

Well, friends, I had a thought a few days ago. This blog is about the ATKINS' adventures...not just Jonah's adventures! I believe we all understand that Jonah's adventures are the most captivating and encompassing adventures in the family, but, I just thought I'd change things up and write a little post about the MAN of the house! (notice his dog, too)

When Jonathan and I first met he was working out at Kamp in the summer. He worked with them for 7 summers and they honored him by naming the kitchen for him!!

Jonathan is working for K-Life ministries, which he has done for 7 years!! Can I get a shout out for his dedication/loyalty! (just one of the many wonderful qualities Jonathan displays!) He does stuff like hang out with/mentor teens....and work with great people:
Katie is wearing the shirt Jonathan designed for the annual 5k.
(this year's shirt is pretty cool, if I do say so myself)

He helps plan events like this:

5k walk/run @ the Landing, held every labor day....yep, this year's event is coming up this weekend! You are welcome to join us on Sat.! Look up the info on the K-Life website!!!

And recently Jonathan has gotten to work with some cool peeps @ our church as well! They had a great time @ summer camp!
Most recently Jonathan has indulged his athletic side with THESE:

Jonathan is such a great husband and daddy! I'm so glad we've got him.

Last, but not least...or maybe...nah. The Dog! There was a man who had a dog & Harry was his name-o! :)

this is an old picture of a not-so-old dog! he and I get along fine, but he sure loves Jonathan!

Such Sweetness!

Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE this baby?! He is just so so sweet! We've been having a snuggly day. (is snuggly a word? my spell check doesn't think so) I have friends coming over tomorrow night. I should be cleaning my house...really, it's getting kinda gross. I could make a list of chores that is as long as my arm. But, I have this sweet baby to hold. How can I pass up such an opportunity? In years to come nobody will remember the status of my house (well, let's hope) and even if they do, they will not hold it against me! In years to come I WILL remember holding my sweet boy. So, if you ever come over to my house and think it is gross, please remember my children are loved.

Of course, I will clean it soon...cause that's another way my family can feel loved! So, while I'm sweeping and mopping just sit back and look at pictures of my sweetie that were taken today.

He says, "Hi There! I'm a happy boy!"

Well here you might notice he's starting to fade. He was laying on my shoulder until the camera startled him. This sweet guy loves the camera.

And then he faded! We sat in the rolling desk chair (checking Facebook, if you must know) until he was out enough for a picture. It's all about the picture...ok, and his sweet nature! Love him.

Mama

My little guy isn't feeling so well today. :( poor guy. I wish I could wave a magic wand and make him all better. Growing teeth...well, shoot, growing in general, is tough stuff. I captured the video I promised! It is not as great, because, well, he isn't feeling great. He says "mama" or his version of it all the time. He's been saying it non-stop for days. I LOVE it. He is so cute and sweet. Jonathan has been working on getting a "dada" out of him (he even bribed him, can you believe that)! No luck...he's stuck on "mama" and that is ok by me! :)

Sorry this is a short post...but I have a puny baby to care for, ya know!

Splish Splash! (I was taking a bath)

Bath time is a ton of fun around here! Jonah is darling in the water....just splashing around! We still put him in the little toddler tub. I am sure he could handle sitting in the tub since he sits up so well, but I'm afraid he might slip and slide as he reaches for his toys! The tub is the one place he can't grab something harmful. In the tub he is content to play with what is offered. Out of the tub...well, that's another story!


I try to be modest when taking pictures. We all know he is a boy, we don't need the proof, right?! However, I just had to snap the naked bottom! Too cute! He moves around a ton...and tries to grab the camera. But then he cracks that huge grin of his and we get these great pictures! All but one of these were taken earlier today. The one in the top right corner was taken when he was probably 6 months old.

He loves to go check on the tub each day. If he gets tired of the toys (or even the non-toys he shouldn't play with) he will take a little trip to the tub and try to reach those toys! He ends up standing at the edge banging his hands and sometimes "singing."

We gave him a bath in a hotel sink one time. He didn't have any tub toys to chew, so he tried to chew the water faucet. That's my boy! Gotta love him!

Oh, I'm throwing out a little teaser...he's been mumbling "mama" quite a bit today. Sometime over the weekend I might capture it on video to post on here! Sometimes it sounds like "mama," but most times it sounds like "a-mom" or "ah-mam." He is so cute!

The End of an Era/ A New Chapter!

Wow! Well, here it is...the day I've thought about so many times in hopes to "prepare" myself! Don't mind me as my eyes fill with tears yet again! They are not sad tears, not really. They are a mixture of happiness, pride and my silly sentimental heart running over. If you don't know me that well....you might not know about my "other" kids.

I've worked as a nanny for the same family for a full 7 years now. I don't remember the exact date I started, but the anniversary of that was/is sometime within this week. The oldest girl, Madeline, had just turned 4. Now she's 11 and in the 6th grade. Molly is now 8 1/2 starting the 3rd grade...and my little buddy, Ben just started kindergarten today! He was so cute walking down the sidewalk wearing the backpack that was almost the same size as he is!


Growing up I always new I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom...just like my own mom. When I went to college I was one of those "here for my mrs. degree" gals! I did not meet Jonathan in college...which means I had no kids with which to stay at home. So, I got a job...THE BEST JOB EVER (at least for me) that allowed me to do just that! And now that I have a child of my own I get to work AND keep him with me. Best of both worlds! Such a blessing!




So, back to today! Today I transition into staying at my own home more than my "other" home. Now that Ben is in school I will work only part time...after school. It is an exciting new era on one end....very bittersweet on the other! I love my job! I love working with the kids & I love being needed/useful.

I sure hope Jenn doesn't mind me posting this picture taken the day after Ben was born! Love that sweet sweet boy!
And this picture was taken today...before we walked him in...before my eyes started to "leak!"







Alternate titles for this blog:

Happy Back-to-School! Happy New Beginnings! Love what you do/Do what you LOVE! the beginning of the end...

Who needs sleep?

Sing with me, guys....

Are you sleeping
are you sleeping,
Baby Jonah, Baby Jonah?

The answer (for now) is YES. We have had a breakthrough. He seems to be sleeping through the night. He's done it 3 nights in a row! Whoo Hoo! I hope I'm not counting my chickens too soon. He did great 3 nights...then one night of awful, then another good night. We shall see where tonight leaves us.



Before the breakthrough I thought I might have a breakdown! I was miserable beyond explanation. I am not a person who requires much sleep, but by golly, this kid was running me ragged. He still does that in the day, but at least I can keep up with myself a tiny bit in my new fully-rested state of being. I feel like a whole new woman! Thank you, Jesus!

I had tried everything in the book to get this baby to sleep. I was tired of suggestions and even more tired of hearing about other stories of success. I couldn't help, at times, feeling like I was doing something wrong. But, ultimately, I knew it was just going to have to happen in Jonah's own time. Hopefully it has.

What did it for us?? Well, I really don't know. We had an awful, awful night earlier in the week. That was the night I had decided I was NOT getting up, no matter what. He'd have to comfort himself, he'd have to struggle through and go back to sleep. Well, I had another thing coming. Somewhere in the vicinity of 2:30 am he started to cry. I ignored it (as much as possible) for the better part of an hour, I think. Finally, he escalated too much...I had to quiet him. When I got in his room I was greeted with an unpleasant smell. He had a dirty diaper. Then, when I picked him up I was met with another unpleasant smell. He'd made himself sick from all that crying. Oh heavenly days, would it ever end? This moment made me feel pretty hopeless.

The next day he took a short am nap and a 5 hour afternoon nap. Then he slept all night. The next day he slept the day away, skipping a meal or two, which is way out of character for him. By George, he slept through that night too. These regal naps led to great sleeping. VICTORY! A well earned victory is very sweet, indeed! Let's just pray it keeps going.

Let's Read a Book!

Jonah loves his books! And we love that he loves his books! I decided to take the easy way out in posting this today! I love how easy the collage is to post! I'll give a detailed account of what you see here!

First of all, Jonathan spends a lot of daddy-jonah time reading to him! It's great!

Their favorite book is ...


But in the pictures they are reading....
(except you can't really look inside, sorry)


Ok, so back to the collage....can you still see it?? I can't. Sorry if you have to do a little work to enjoy this post.

So, after the pictures of Jonathan and Jonah reading there is the picture of Jonah trying to decide what to read...he has so many good ones, it's hard to choose. His selection here is all Dr. Seuss, which is Mommy's favorite! His room is Dr. Seuss themed! Someday he might even have a birthday party in the same theme...but not this year, but that is another blog for another day! Back to the topic at hand!

Next, we have a picture of Jonah reading his very first piece of mail. He got a card in the mail from Grandma Atkins, thanking him for the letter he sent her. We don't see Grandma Atkins in person that much, so we choose to correspond through the mail sometimes.

And, finally, there's Jonah saying: "Hey ya'll, thanks for reading the blog today! You can come read with me too!"

Hey....watch what I do!

Well, the little man is all over the place! I can't keep up with him anymore. I've captured some of his finer moments here. I know they are short little snippets, but video takes a while to load, so I have to keep them short and sweet. They really have nothing to do with him being mobile...I don't know why I said that!




He likes to blow "raspberries" all the time. This is speech development, at its finest. It is so so cute. I have heard him say "mama" a couple of times (and I have witnesses, it's not just my own wishful thinking), but he doesn't say any other words yet. He jabbers and blubbers, but nothing decipherable.

Then we got one of him laughing. I love his little giggle!! Please focus on the baby rather than the cluttered home or the poor camera work!

I can not believe it is almost time to start planning a birthday party! I don't want him bigger...but I really really don't want his development stunted, so growing wins!

What does Jonah do all day?

Happy Friday everyone! I hope all is well in your household today. I thought I'd just give you a sampling of what might go on at my house today. Let's look at what Jonah does! In no particular order, mind you.

* Lots of smiling!!
* Lots of getting into things (caught him eating dirt from the houseplant already today)
* BATH. Jonah loves to take a bath...and since he was into the houseplant, I think he's gonna get one.
* Laundry. Jonah does not do the laundry. He doesn't even help, but when Mommy does the laundry, he gets to ride in the basket...mostly to keep him safe from his own mischief.
* Play with DADDY. Jonah loves to play with Jonathan...they are so great together. It does my heart and soul good to watch them together. (not to mention, it gives me a break!)
* Silly faces. Jonah likes to keep us going with his silly faces. I really don't think he realizes what he is doing, but he likes the reaction he gets.
* Sleep. This sweet boy does fall asleep sometimes. He gets tuckered out after all that cuteness!

**this just in....I forgot to add *SCREAMING* to the list. oops. I had no idea that's what he'd actually be doing today!

Grandpa's 90th Birthday CELEBRATION!

Well, we had a party! What a party we had! We're still re-living the memorable moments! Somehow (and I remember the moment) I walked away with only half of the pictures. I'm gonna do my best to do it justice without them...maybe make this a two part series! I could wait for someone to email the other pictures to me, but I am too eager to get this post up. It's been over a week now...so down to business. (I guess Jonah is taking me seriously cause he is sitting near me in his exersaucer doing his "business" right now!)

I'll begin with the invitation! Isn't it great. My sister uses a friend of hers in Springfield who always does cute stuff. The theme of the party was Mack-of-all-trades. We did a tribute to all that my grandpa has done and who he has been through life.

And now for the Birthday Boy! He's even cuter than the invitation!

It just so happens that his actual birthday fell on Saturday! We didn't tell him to wear red...but it seems he matched all the decorations. I wish I had better pictures of all the table decor and the whole room. I think we did a pretty good job. I guess I really will have to compose a part 2.

My very sweet and very talented cousin, Courtney, made a book for my grandpa. We all contributed memories and stories of him. She use pictures and graphics to make it very special. The book tells the story (albeit embellished at times) of his life. The cover is a slightly younger, but ever-so-handsome picture of my grandpa! Here is a close up!



I wish you could see it in person and turn the pages. It really is quite impressive. There is a two-page spread of all his (7) siblings. Two-pages each for each of his four children. We grand kids even got a full page each! Courtney did a great job! She used ancestry.com to fill in some family history. She also found a copy of my grandparents marriage license for the page about the two of them! So sweet.

Clearly this is scanned in. I'm not sure why the gray-scale license came out rainbow colored. I am no computer-techno whiz. You will just have to see the book in person to fully appreciate it.

CAKE! Oh there was cake! My aunt is a professional cake decorator, so when we need a cake we get a CAKE!


The pictures on the front of the cake are of all his great-grandchildren. He has 6 now (one of which was born the day after his birthday). She wrote all his "names" around the sides.





And here he is blowing out the candles! Isn't he cute!

















Now how about the entertainment....


We had a "surprise" visitor. It was a surprise to him. "Maybell" came in and said she was from a retirement home and was there to take applications. The requirements? You must bring your own teeth and underwear! She danced with him and things were almost PG-13 there for a minute. We laughed and laughed!

Oh yeah, Jonah was there too!

Someone let him play with a balloon. I do not condone this! But, since he was under careful supervision, I guess I'll forgive her. (and I can't be angry with my sweet momma)

Can you tell he is getting sleepy....very sleepy. Jonah was so well behaved for the party. He got tired, but did he throw a fit?? I submit that he did not! He just settled down and...

...fell asleep!
That baby makes me so proud! He is just the sweetest thing!

It was a great party. No one could find fault with it. (and if you did, I don't want to hear it!) We could not have pulled it off without lots of labor! Labors of love! Thanks to everyone who helped.