Tooth #1 Has Made His Appearance!

I could not believe my eyes (and my finger) when I saw and felt John Thomas' FIRST TOOTH today!!! His bottom right tooth is coming in, and it's the CUTEST little tooth I've ever seen in my whole life. :-) No wonder he's been gnawing on everything...including my face and chin (and I thought he was "showing love" to Mommy that way). He even figured out how to get his toes in his mouth to chew on them to ease the teething pain...

Look at that bicep! ;-)

I hear horror stories about babies teething...I'm going to start praying very hard for our/JT's teething experience now!

Baby Dedication...What a Special Night

We were able to be a part of something very special at our church tonight...Baby Dedication. What a memorable night for all of us!

Each couple got up and read their letter to their precious baby, and that was so very special. I'd like to share our letter with you! (Thanks for the idea, Tara!)

Dear John Thomas,

We are so overwhelmed with joy being your mommy and daddy. You are truly a gift from God, and you bless our lives more and more each day.

There are so many things we hope and pray for in your life, and we want to be examples for you you to live by.

We pray that we can teach you to be humble and generous...never prideful and always willing to give. We pray that we can show you how to be a servant of God...always willing to serve others for His glory. We pray for you to grow up to be a man of integrity...honest with your thoughts, words and actions. And most importantly, we pray that you learn to fear God and love Jesus...always being salt and light to the world. 

We realize that as your parents, it is our job and responsibility to instill these values in you, and we promise to do our very best to live by example.

As a family we will pray and read the Bible together daily. We also promise to show love, as Jesus loved, to you and to others. 

John Thomas, you are truly a blessing, and you are loved by so many already. We are excited about watching you not only grow up but also grow in the Lord. We look forward to our future with you and pray that you are constantly surrounded by amazing friends, family and church family...just like we are.

We love you, John Thomas...we always will.

Love,  

Mommy and Daddy 

Grandpa, Obachan, Mommy, Daddy, JT, Nana and Papa.
Thanks for making the trip, Grandpa and Obachan!
We love y'all bunches! 

JT's "Fan Club"! Thank y'all so much for being there to
support the Stone Family! We love y'all!

JT and Ruby are going to be best buds!

Nana's boys! Can you see the JOY in her face?!?! 

Obachan loves John Thomas...look at her eyes!

John Thomas loves hanging out with Papa!

JT thinks Grandpa is pretty cool...he let him have chocolate!
(it was a joke...he just put some on his face and told me he ate it)!

As you can see, it was a night FULL of Kodak moments! We love you, John Thomas!

Baby Dedication

Mt. Vernon Church

Sunday, April 3, 2011

John Thomas Got the "Boot"

Well...we finally broke down and put JT in his own room in his own crib tonight at bedtime. We made a deal that we would kick him out of our room and start putting him to sleep in his crib when he turned 5 months old. Believe it or not, he turned 5 months old yesterday! But we totally forgot about the deal. Oh well! One day late is not too bad. He is right across the hall from us, so I am sure he'll be fine. It'll just be weird (and sad) not to be able to sit up in bed every morning and look over at him while he's jabbering and playing with his feet in his hands smiling at me.

He takes naps in his crib during the day, so maybe this transition won't be too tough on him. He's a big boy now...he can handle it! 

Ok, so solid foods have been interesting. So far, pears have been his fave, I think. He did not care for mommy's homemade banana baby food, and sweet potatoes he couldn't care less about, too. But prunes, pears and now carrots, he seems to like! If he's anything like his Mommy, he'll eat just about anything.

He got more sweet potatoes on his face than
in his mouth. He fought me with these...no likey

Mmmmmmm...PRUNES!!!

It's so hard to believe he's 5 months old now. Time really does fly, and they REALLY DO grow so fast. If only they could stay little a little longer. The more he grows, though, the more he looks like his Daddy...I think. Maybe it's his style? He's very cool like his Daddy when it comes to "fashion." ;-)

Look at that STUD MUFFIN! Hahaha!

And he LOVES to wear maroon...there's just something about that color...it looks so good on him! ;-)

The Family Stone Photo Shoot!

We had a family photo shoot Sunday afternoon at Lake Lowndes with our wonderful photographer, Tracy Doyle (http://www.tdoylephotography.com/), so I thought we would share our photos with our Blogger friends! Enjoy!


(Click on the picture to go to our photo album on walmart.com)

Our baby has WHAT?!?!

Well, we had our first bout with a sick child, and my oh my, has it been challenging! The lack of sleep is catching up to me, and I'm so tired of seeing our baby sick!


It started last Tuesday when JT woke up with congestion...didn't think much about it and went about our day. Then he woke us up in the middle of the night crying. When I got him, he was burning up. His temperature was 103.1, and we went into "panic mode." We called the ER to see if we needed to bring him in, but they couldn't give me any information over the phone. So they gave me a nurse's toll-free info-line number to call...should've known they wouldn't be working at 1:00 in the morning! So, we called Nana, and she called the ER and spoke with a nurse (she has the hook-up). We took her advice and gave him Tylenol, put a cold rag on his head, and I fed him. His fever was gone in an hour! He went back to sleep, but woke up every hour. He was a sick little fella'.

Our pitiful baby boy...bless his heart!

I took John Thomas to the doctor first thing the next morning, and I just knew they were going to say, "It's nothing...stop overreacting." I mean, he was like a totally different baby by the time we got there. He was even smiling!

You'd never know he was sick by this picture!

They did a throat swab and a nose swab...RSV and flu tests were negative...strep was positive. Our poor baby has strep?!?!?! What?!?!?! So he got Amoxicillin, and that's been a lot of fun administering to him. Yuck! He HATES it! We have to put it in a little bottle of milk so he'll take it. The syringes and spoons did not work! But he did get better...no fever since that night, and he seems to feel MUCH better, but he still sounds bad. He was still very congested Monday morning, so I took him back to the doc. Another nose swab to double check RSV (it was negative again) and a chest X-ray...lungs looked icky. Terrible congestion and the start of tissue build-up were visible in his lungs, so he got a breathing treatment, and a breathing machine came home with me.

Daddy giving him a breathing treatment...poor guy :-(

JT is on the road to recovery...we are so glad it wasn't anything more serious like the flu or RSV. But since he was sick, he did not get to meet his precious new baby cousin, Keira, who was born on Friday...

Keira Elizabeth Williams

and he did not get to meet his new best bud, Harper, who was born on Sunday. 

Harper Laine Minton

Congratulations to my sister, Bianca, and her husband, Brad, on their new bundle of joy, Keira!!! And congrats to Brooke and Brad Minton (and a HUGE praise to God) for their sweet Harper. Love these baby girls already!

Going Bananas!

After talking with Mrs. Donna, (she is our nurse friend who is VERY resourceful and helpful...she was also our childbirth class instructor), we decided to start introducing REAL food to John Thomas tonight. We started with bananas because Mommy and Daddy both love bananas, so we thought he would love them too. Not so much...he didn't like it so much at first, but after a few tastes, he liked it ok. 

Daddy fighting off JT's hands to get the
spoon in his mouth.

"Uhhhh...I don't think so!"

"Ptoo!" Out goes the bananas...

"Num num...these aren't so bad!"

When we started feeding him tonight, I said to Shawn, "I cannot believe we are feeding our baby boy with a spoon now...it just doesn't seem real." And of course I got a little emotional. Haha! We will try other fruits this week...probably need to try prunes so he'll poop! ;-) We might try apples, too...we shall see. Next week we will try veggies starting out with sweet potatoes. I figured that would be a good transitional veggie. Mrs. Donna suggested we only try one thing at a time for 5-7 days, so fruit first, then veggies. He's been getting rice cereal since about 8 weeks, so we're on to the next step! I can't believe how fast he's growing!

Wednesday afternoon, John Thomas played for a long time in his Jumperoo while I was working at my desk. I had my back to him, but I turned around often to check on him and talk to him. When things got really quiet for more than a few seconds, I got a little worried. 

Before...

After...

Hahaha!!! He totally "crashed"! I guess he had too much fun for one day!

Our 4-month-old 20-pounder!

John Thomas is 4 months old today!!! I cannot believe how fast he's growing, and I'm enjoying every single minute of it. He had his 4-month check up and shots today. He's such a big boy now...he is 20.2 pounds and 25 1/2 inches long! He is grabbing and using his hands a lot nowadays, and he sure loves to "talk" a BUNCH...I don't know where he gets that from!?!?! ;-)

All smiles at the doctors' office...BEFORE shots!

JT was not a big fan of the shots...in fact, he expressed his true feelings for them quite clearly (and loudly)! Bless his heart...but he only screamed and cried for about 5 or so minutes. He's a trooper! We went to the grocery store right after that...cut right into nap time and feeding time, but he toughed it out. Love this boy!

JT is already trying to be like his Daddy. This past Sunday, he decided he wanted to dress like his Daddy for church...I couldn't tell him no!

My two handsome boys wearing the BEST color!

Later Sunday afternoon, while JT was at Nana and Papa's house, he wanted to dress like Daddy dressed when he was a little boy...Nana couldn't tell him no either! So she let him put on Daddy's circa 1979 blue jean overalls :-)

JT wearing his Daddy's old overalls that he
wore when he was 2-years-old! 

I pray that JT grows up to be just like his Daddy...a God-fearing man who loves the Lord! And a wonderful husband and father, too! He's going to make one special lady a wonderful life-long mate someday...