Happy Half Birthday, Jonas!

Jonas will be 6 months tomorrow, December 5. Hard to believe. Jason is at the KU game tonight. So Jonas and I have had a quiet night at home. He has been sleeping since 6 PM with an 8:30 eating break. During that 8:30 eating break, I just stared at the little guy.

He has been quite the mover lately. He does not stay still. He is rolling all over the place and sitting up. He manuevers around the floor by doing some combination moves that include rolling, sitting up, rolling again and he is pretty speedy at it. I have seen some backwards crawling, but not a lot. If he sits up in front of you, he puts his hands out, because he wants you to help him stand. He loves standing and moving his feet around. I will ask Jason to post a sitting up video soon.

Jason and I have noticed that he often looks very serious. He definitely is studying things carefully.
He has eaten rice cereal, avocado, banana and sweet potato. He is not too excited about eating solids yet. He does like chewing on the spoon.

We think a tooth will be appearing anyday now. We can see it under the surface of the gum.

Jason is taking Jonas to the doctor tomorrow, so we will post the weight and height data soon.


Here is Jonas with Loki. When the two get together they grab and "bite" each other and have lots of fun.

Happy Half Birthday, Jonas!

A Fun Visit with Shannon

Shannon visited us last weekend. It was great to see him. We visited some spots in KC, including the Nelson-Atkins art museum. Jonas enjoyed the art as it was his first trip to an art museum. Jonas loved meeting Shannon and can't wait to see him again.


Holden enjoyed reading to Shannon. He is quite the reader these days.

Finally. After 6 years.

Halloween and Politics

















I will explain these pictures of a creative and informative Halloween costume in just a moment, but first I have to congratulate all the non-republicans out there that voted yesterday. We finally see some change. Six years ago I went to sleep thinking that Gore was our new president only to wake up the next morning with Bush as the president. Last night I went to sleep thinking that Talent (republican) won the state senate race. While I slept, Kansas City and St. Louis voting results were tabulated and McCaskill(democrat) won the senate race. This was a nice surprise. In fact, there were quite a few nice surprises that came out of the Kansas City, MO election day.



The pleasant surprises included an iniative to bring light rail to Kansas City. This iniative had been on the ballot 7 times in previous elections. I am not sure if this will lead directly to light rail in KC, but at least we know the voting public wants something like this in Kansas City. This issue reminded me of Shannon and Matt's Halloween costume (in the pics above). From Shannon:

Matt and I decided to be a public service announcement for halloween--global warming. Matt made an accurate, 10 foot long reconstruction of the last 1,000 years of the global mean temperature. He also threw in a projection for the next few decades, which goes straight up his face. I stayed close at hand as a melting glacier and the rising sea level. At the gay bar we were met with stares that read: "that costume makes you look fat" and "I don't understand at all," but at some house parties we were looked at admiringly.

Creative. And thought-provoking. I still haven't seen the Al Gore movie, but I plan to as soon as it is out on DVD. Having a child does make me think about those future generations more. I need to make some changes to be more environmentally friendly. I just looked up from the computer screen and noticed that there are lights on in empty rooms.

Back to election news--the iniative to raise the minimum wage and the stem cell iniative passed in MO. The stem cell was close...like the senate raise.

In college I was active in lots of political stuff--campaigning for state races and stuff like that. I miss that involvement. Even though voting was a small act yesterday, I felt like my vote made a difference since MO can go either way and often goes republican. Here is to positive change. I hope November 2008 brings more positive change.

Boo -- Hoo

Halloween got off to a scary start for Jonas (get it, scary. Halloween. hilarious). His fingernails, which grow fast and are impossible to trim, drew their first blood Halloween night, which would have been no big deal and quite timely, as he was dressed as a vampire, but unfortunately, he spilled his own blood.





Once we got that mess cleaned up, we ran into another tiny problem. His costume was too small (get it, tiny problem. i'm on a roll). He apparently outgrew the costume in just a few weeks, so I had to take the scissors and hack off the bottom of the outfit to give his growing legs some room to kick.
Next Halloween, we're stealing Whitey's longstanding costume idea: Jonas is going as the two-headed baby.




Lights out for this toothless vampire (lights out -- you're killing me! wait, you're killing me -- enough!).

Jonas is 5 months old today!

It is hard to believe, but Jonas is 5 months old now. Here are some pictures of Jonas eating leaves in our front yard yesterday. As you can see we have lots of leaves for Jonas to eat. Jason spends a big part of fall trying to figure out how to keep with all of these leaves. This is just the beginning. If you look up at the tree, it looks as though no leaves have fallen yet. It has been a beautiful fall in Kansas City.

A Beautiful Day and an Ugly Incident

Sunday may have been the best day of the year in Kansas City -- temps in the 70s, sunny and Fall leaves in full color. We decided to hang out for part of the afternoon in Loose Park, about a mile from our house, and one of better parks around with its wide-open spaces, duck pond, turtles and many, many trees. It's so picturesque, we guessed half the people there were amateur/professional photographers with fancy, Abe Iverson-type cameras. Speaking of amateur ...
the only downer of the afternoon happened when Tricia spotted an ideal place for our photo shoot (noted below) when some chump who had been hired to snap family shots barged into our space. His assistant stepped on and kicked our blanket, and the whole kit-and-caboodle hogged the area for about 20 minutes while we patiently waited to regain the spot. So angry was I that I stalked the offending photog, and clicked the shots below of him tearing limbs off a live tree for his next shot. The pics are on their way to the park service as we speak, and if there is justice, he's headed to jail, or at least some serious, back-breaking community service.





Here is the scenic scene that Tricia picked out. No wonder that fool and the richy-rich family who hired him wanted the spot.



Tricia often loses her glasses at home. Things were no different at the park. And like at home, I somehow found them, lying amongst the acorns and leaves.



Holden leading the way back home.

My mom gave Jonas these overalls. This picture was taken about a month ago as well.

Black and White

I took this picture about a month ago one Sunday afternoon while Jason was out mowing the grass. I dressed Jonas in this white outfit from Sarah, Jeff and Hannah. They brought this ensemble back from their trip to various countries in Asia. This particular outfit was purchased in Vietnam, I believe. Isn't it cute? I took a whole series and will share a few more. I took these right around the time of the Black and White challenge on Project Runway and was inspired by their black and white designs. At that time I was rooting for Michael to win, but I have to say I am happy with the Jeffrey win. Anyway, let's continue with the Jonas Black White series.



This picture was taken at the end of our Black White photo shoot and I believe Jonas was done with the picture snapping. I had to include this picture, because I love how expressive Jonas is. As I have mentioned before that backdrop is a Liv original.

Afterwards he slept. Here he is smiling in his sleep. Sorry about the picture being crooked. Photos are rotating in the uploading process and I am giving up on getting it right for now. But, I can't leave this photo out of the series.

In the best interest of kids!?

I am wondering when our country is done with our 8 long years of Bush, what will happen to NCLB? This massive piece of legislation is problematic for many different reasons, check this out for one specific problem with it:
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/webwatch/2006/10/badge_of_shame.html

Happy Birthday, Jason and Michael!

Today is my brothers' birthday. So...I just want to post some Happy Birthday wishes and let them know that we are thinking about them on their 27th birthday. The picture is from Sunday morning breakfast. Holden made them both birthday cards. Even though I was not yet 5 years old when they were born, I still remember it well. My father called from the hospital to tell my sister and I that we had TWO brothers, not just one. We did not believe this until we saw both brothers. Anyway...I almost wrote 26th birthday until Jason reminded me that I am 31 not 30...

Double Down

Jonas has doubled his birth weight, which apparently is a good thing, and is pretty tall for his age, according to his four-month checkup. Mom took the day off to take Jonas to the doctor, and was there to hold him for his latest round of shots (although there was no one there to hold her). Reports are that Jonas took his shots like a real tough guy, and actually laughed as the needles sunk into his chubby legs.


In other news ...

-- Jonas ate lunch at the Mongolian BBQ in Lawrence on Tuesday with Loki, Kevin and Andy (Jonas had a major blowout there, and he didn't even eat any of the food). The three dads, who normally would talk nothing but baseball, talked mainly about babies this time, which means either the regular season is over or priorities have shifted. I'm going with no more baseball.

-- Jonas has started sleeping on his tummy (as seen below), which alarmed Linda, who watches him on Friday mornings and was the first to witness this new sleep position. Now he rolls all over the crib; I once went into his room during a nap to find one of his legs poking out between the slats of the crib.



-- Some other random photos from the last week or so can be found below.

Sit Up and Take Notice

With a little help from mom's nursing pillow, Jonas sat up all on his own today -- just a week after an unnamed family member mocked him for his inability to sit without the aid of a chair (I believe the comment was, "I'd be envious of his chair, too, but I can sit upright"). So take heed, all those who doubt Jonas.
He has abs of steel and an iron will.

(If you look close, you'll notice some projectile spit up just before he makes his move; you can't swim on a full stomach, and if you're a baby, you can't sit up on one either).

Weekend Update

Enjoyed another fun weekend in Lawrence visiting with family. Saturday afternoon, Jonas saw great grandma, and grandma and grandpa Strait. But the real highlight was playing with his pal Loki, as you can see below in the photos. At one point (also in
the photos) we thought Loki might pull a Mike Tyson on Jonas' ear; he has the teeth to do the job.Fortunately, it was just some playful wrestling.





Saturday night, it was over to uncle Michael and aunt Lisa's house, where cousins Mathew and Monica were in town from Denver. Jonas thought they were swell, but he really loved Michael and Lisa's cat Slim, which is too bad for Jonas, because Mom and Dad are quite allergic. A stuffed animal will have to do at our house.



(the final pic is of Michael's ridiculously huge head light, which weighs so much it might as well be a head desk lamp).

Sweet Seat

We purchased a new ergonomic chair for Jonas this week called the Bumbo Seat. It's a big (well, big for Jonas) foam chair that sort of molds to his bottom and allows him to flail about for books and toys. The seat is so nice, I have chair envy.
Below: another action-packed video of Jonas.

The three cuties

Sometimes leaving for work is difficult. Look at these three cuties. This picture was taken on one of those mornings when I linger around the house to see more of Jonas, even though I am about to be late for work. By the way, that black and white blanket is featured in many pictures, because we use it all of the time. It was made by Liv. The other side of the blanket is a print that features every state in the country, which I think is neat-o. And look at this. Jonas loves to look at himself in the mirror. In this pic he is actually looking at me and the camera. Aunt Lisa is also in the picture.

Another picture from the Louisburg fall apple fest. See below for more...

Baseball, Cider, Art and Tricia Winning at Poker

Jonas enjoyed a full weekend of good times as Aunt Lisa and Uncle Michael drove up from Lawrence.

Friday started with Jason's industrial strength toe shattering a pair of clippers (see below) and Jonas's first baseball game, courtesy of Michael via the generous and ticket-rich Greg Welch. The Royals lost and Michael failed to catch a foul ball, which he whined about after every inning. But we did see some pretty decent fireworks, and minor league player of the year Alex Gordon waived at Lisa (she
knows Gordon's girlfriend).

Saturday, we drove out to Louisburg, KS, drank some cider, at doughnuts and all got stomach aches (except Jonas), and then later that night, went to the Plaza Art Fair, where Jonas met up with his pal Loki. Even later that night, Tricia won at poker for the first time in my memory (although not hers). She said she was too tired to continue playing, so she decided to bet all her chips every hand. Three hands later, she had all the chips and $15.

And finally, Sunday morning, Jason nearly burned the house down. He left a rag too close to a burner on the stove, then left the kitchen to attend to other business. Michael may not have caught a foul ball, but he did catch the fire in time. See his blog (linked over to the right) for a more detailed and heroic account.