Four Months

JJ has been growing like crazy and experiencing lots of new firsts (including napping somewhere other than on me, allowing me to FINALLY make a post here!)!

Just in the last few days, JJ has learned that he has a LOUD voice in addition to his normal jabbering. He has been experimenting with different sounds and even accidentally said a very clear "da da da" the other day. He particularly likes to talk, yell, and tell stories while he's getting his diaper changed.

This month has been especially fun on the giggle and laugh front. JJ will belly laugh when Daddy makes funny noises or dances to the Baby Einstein flashing star with him. He is proving to take after Mommy in the ticklish-neck-department and has just started to show that he's ticklish on his feet too! Recently, the "ride the bicycle" game (me moving his legs in a pedaling motion) is a sure-fire way to make him laugh and smile.

Just before Thanksgiving, I went back to work full-time and JJ has been splitting his days between hanging with Grandma and Grandpa at their house and hanging with Daddy here when he doesn't have a sub job. JJ loves playing with Grandma and Grandpa and gets to see Uncle Scott most days at lunch time. Uncle Scott has been having a great time playing with his "day-time-baby" and claims that JJ has great taste in comedians (him!) and enjoys watching Sports Center. Apparently JJ is into Nascar. We need to fix that.

He has been doing a good job taking a bottle during the day from whoever is watching him and I have been happy that my milk supply has stayed strong. I pump three times a day at work, and while I miss having any free time during the day to get stuff done around my classroom, I am more than happy to get JJ the nutrition he needs (and it's free!).























JJ's three month grow spurt was pretty brutal -- and correlated directly with me returning to work. He quickly went from a sleeping-through-the-night-for-10-hours kind of kid to waking up every two to eat. Luckily that only lasted about two weeks, and while he's back to regularly waking up around 3 am for another fill-up, I am more than happy to sneak in a little bit of extra snuggle time since being back to work.

JJ continues to LOVE bath time, which we do every other night. He is getting a little too big for his baby tub, so we're hoping to find a more convenient solution for fun bath time over Christmas.
















Turbo and JJ are good buddies and they like to play with toys together and practice tummy time each evening.

Books are one of JJ's favorite things -- definitely melting his Kindegarten teacher mommy's heart! He loves Sandra Boynton books (especially "Barnyard Dance") and he likes this Bob the Builder book that his cousin Trevor passed down to him.
















He also loves taking walks with the family! We have seen some amazing sunrises and sunsets with this little man!
















The drooling is out of control!























Just the last week, JJ has been getting really good at grabbing objects and putting them in his mouth.
















Someone is working REALLY hard on learning to roll over, and he's *this* close to being able to do it!
















The bumbo is a semi-hit so far... we're working on learning to like it.
















JJ went with us to get our Christmas tree. While we knew the complication of having one seat down for the carseat would throw us a bit of a challenge, I couldn't stand the thought of not having us with him to do one of my favorite activities. Somehow Daddy got us all safely shoved in the E with the big tree. Gotta love this car!























He also helped us decorate the tree with his awesome new "baby's first Christmas" ornaments (although the chalkboard pictured is from my first Christmas). I love decorating the tree with so many memorable ornaments.
















JJ also loves the colorful lights!
















Today is Christmas Eve and we are really excited to have JJ with us this Christmas. At this time last year, I was debating whether or not to take a pregnancy test on Christmas morning, fearing the inevitable negative would make for a bad day. Luckily that wasn't the case, and Christmas morning was one of the best mornings of my life. I look forward to waking up in the morning to my little giggle-monster this year.

Busy Bee...

Momma is lame and seriously needs to make-over and update my blog... I am almost 4 months old after all!

Here I am!

JJ's first book

I got this on the way home from the Iditarod this year and I can't wait to read it to him. We'll see if the doctors have a better idea when he might show up today!

Here's looking at you, kid!

We had our final ultrasound of this pregnancy (hopefully -- assuming all continues to go well) this week. Chris and I were nearly giddy with excitement waiting for this appointment as we couldn't wait to see what JJ is looking like these days.

Well, as usual, he did not disappoint!

Our appointment was scheduled to make sure my low-lying placenta had moved into the right position for a normal birth, and as an added bonus we could get a sneak peek at our little turtle. Luckily for us, the placenta had moved and JJ was measuring right on schedule (weighting in at about five pounds) and looking great! He was sleeping for most of the ultrasound, giving us a great view of his little scrunched up body and adorable little face. The most amazing part of the ultrasound was seeing his little spine! What an awesome miracle it is that babies grow like they do! As of the appointment, JJ is head down, with his back curved around to my left, feet sticking up into the top-middle of my belly, and arms/hands down near his face.

Our favorite picture from the ultrasound -- the face shot. I think he looks a bit like a sleeping-Chris here. I can't wait to kiss those sweet little cheeks!

The profile picture with his hand.

There's that foot that sticks up the top of my belly most days. He's either practicing a pedaling motion or knee-dropping for climbing!

JJ looked great and continues to be an active little guy! He still loves daddy's voice more than anything and gets the hiccups daily. We can't wait to meet him!

A few firsts

The past few weeks have been pretty busy in the Plesko household!

First up was JJ's first trip to St. Louis, even if it was in Mommy's belly! The normal 12 hour drive took closer to 13 with bathroom and snack breaks and while it wasn't the most comfortable road trip I've ever taken (there was A LOT of fidgeting), it was not nearly as bad as I thought it might be. St. Louis was HOT HOT HOT and very humid which was a little difficult to deal with, but we made it through! While we were there, we went to a St. Louis Cardinals vs. Oakland A's baseball game. The Cards won!

We got back just in time to do one day of laundry and pack back up to go camping in Vedauwoo, Wyoming for the weekend with our friends Aaron and Heather. Again, not the most comfortable camping trip of my life, but we had a great time. The highlight of the trip was watching Aaron, Heather, and Chris climb up different routes. While watching one route, JJ must've been sleeping because I wasn't feeling him wiggle around much, but once Chris rappelled back down the route towards us and he started to talk, JJ started going crazy. He very clearly recognizes and loves Daddy's voice!

At 30 weeks, my down coat still zips up! Yay!

While there, I managed to get out on a nice bike ride which JJ always seems to like!

We've had a lot of fun so far this summer and it has only just begun!

The making of a pretty cute room

Just like names, Chris and I have had the nursery painting scheme picked out for years. We always knew that if we had a girl, we wanted to paint our chocolate brown room with a pink stripe, and if we had a boy it would have a blue stripe.

Over time, the idea evolved with input from everyone involved. Chris and I picked out the blue together, he used his analytical engineering skills to map out the stripes, and my parents came up with the idea of a contrasting/opposite colored wall and the space between the blue and white stripes.

Here's the progression of the nursery so far. JJ has one stylin' room that required lots of hard work by Daddy, Grandma, and Grandpa. Mommy just supervised for the most part!

Patience and precision were needed to get the stripes taped off properly.

The stripes took two tries to get totally right and without flaws, but eventually they turned out perfect!

Redoing the stripes on Day 2!

Beautiful!

The JJ letters were a wonderful gift from Grandma and Grandpa. They match the room and bedding absolutely perfectly!

The room has begun to be outfitted with wonderful furniture as gifts from the grandparents! I love just going in the room and sitting. I think JJ is going to love it!

Next up is some impressive drapery plans by my mom and aunt. Can't wait to see how it turns out!

Welcome to the new blog!

After years of high hopes and deep disappointments, several doctors, and blood tests, our sweet baby boy is finally a'cookin'!

For now, this blog will be devoted to baby JJ's milestones, development, and fantastic in-utero personality. When we finally get to meet him in person, this will be the place that I put some of the millions of pictures that will inevitably be taken and share some of the millions of stories that will be created.

When we found out we were having a little boy, Chris smiled and said "well, babe, you get a little me!" -- hence the title "Little Pivvay". JJ will certainly have his own unique personality, but I foresee a future full of adventures for this little guy!

Join us on this great adventure!