Where in the World are the Weys?

Oh my gosh! It's been 6 months already!

When little J was born, I could never see this point in time along the horizon. Through those long nights, deciphering our little guy's signs and cries, and adjusting to parenthood, who would have thought we'd get to this joyous time of giggles, rollovers, silly play, and maturity! Yes! Maturity! J is such a jolly little boy these days, smiling at most everything and just so happy to be with us!

"you made all those cupcakes for ME, mommy?"

I know I say this every month, but Justin has grown up so much! He's now:

- Rolling over both ways. He rests his head on his arms when he's tired of tummy time, and then just tilts his head to one side and the momentum of his (big?) head brings the rest of his body over. It's so funny!

- Grasping grasping everything, and eating eating everything! Whenever we sit him somewhere, his hands grabs on and does this scratchy-scratchy motion as he explores the world around him. When he sees a toy he recognizes, it instantly goes in his mouth! Nom nom!

- Eating solids! So far, he looooooves sweet potatoes the best. He's also had fuji apples, butternut squash, and rice cereal. (Mommy has been making all of these in large batches, hehe) He makes a funny face when he eats apples because the texture is a bit sinewy. He stares at everything we put in our mouths and was totally staring at his cupcakes today every time we walked past it. Mommy feels bad you can't have everything we eat yet, baby, but soon enough! Future foodie, we hope!

- Bouncing. His legs are strong now and he can go boing boing boing in your lap!

- Facetiming with Grandma and Grandpa Lie. His face lights up when he sees them on the screen. He especially loves it when GM Lie whistles and when GP Lie makes funny faces. It just cracks him up!

- Going for walks where there are trees. Recently, we've noticed that every time trees are blowing in the wind, he'll purr and his eyes will just light up. So funny?

- Seeing new faces and socializing. Every time we bring him out and he sees a new face, J gets giddy with excitement! His legs tense up and he starts bouncing, laughing, and flailing his arms! We hope this keeps up. He's just such a happy, happy fella!

- Aware of what we put on his face. Just like most babies we know, he hates it when we put lotion on his face, wipe his mouth, or pull a shirt over his head. Since Justin has eczema, Mommy has to frequently (re)apply lotion on his face, and she's had to come up with some creative ways to put it on without him wailing!

- Screaming like a baby pterodactyl! haha. He's developed a new sound - this is definitely his sound for distress. When he's hungry. When he's tired. When he's bored. haha.

- Loving his mommy and daddy? When we're by his crib, he'll grab our hands as if to say... "don't leave my side just yet!" Awe shucks.

It's an amazing time right now, and I am so so sad to have to countdown to my first day back at work. Won't he wonder where I am? Will I be able to declare his likes/dislikes next month in such detail? :( I'm overwhelmed with this emotion of just wanting to make him happy, and how can I do that when I'm in the office? I know everyone does it, but will I be able to? I guess we shall seeeeeeeeee.

Mommy and Daddy love you so much, Justin! We're so excited that you are half a year old! muahmuahmuahmuahmuah!!! squishes! eeeeeeeee!

Where has the time gone? Our little Justin is becoming less little as each day passes - and it's happening so fast! The good days are slowly outnumbering the bad days now, and our little man is starting to show some of his personality. He loooooves to play now (instead of just eat and sleep), and has been letting us hear some of his giggles and LOLs. When he's not talking, he is getting to know his left and right fist! They're his favorite suck toys these days! One thing we've noticed is that little J has pretty good eye sight, much to the relief of Papa (and his poor eye sight) - he peers at Facetime all the time and can see me across the room! This might just be all babies, but he is also very impatient - when he wants a change of scenery, or when it's mahm mahm time, it's gotta be NOW, lest we hear his loud whines!

Little J is also getting so strong, kicking, peering over our shoulder, and doing lots of leg lifts. He's aaaaaaalmost rolling over. In due time, we'll see him on his belly all the time. But for now, Mama and little J have lots of fun belly side up!

As Papa put it, it's crazy to see him develop right before our eyes.

Now if only he would just hit that sleep milestone... ;)

Otherwise, is it terrible that I find it really hard to leave the house without him? I just want to play play play with him! I know that some solitary Mama time is good for me too (and with Papa too of course), but it's starting to get to that point where so many new things are happening, I really don't want to miss any of it. 

This week, hubby traveled to NYC for work and is currently in Las Vegas for a bachelor party. I've been dreading this week for a month, wondering if I'd be able to handle Justin all on my own. To make things a little more interesting, little J must have gotten a bit winded and is fighting a bit of a stuffy nose.

Well -- I've done it! And am doing it! To me, this week has been my rite of passage into mommyhood. Hooray!

I used to feel like just a milk machine, but now I'm J's source of nourishment and comfort.

I used to feel impatient, but now I try to cherish all of the kicking, smiling, cooing, crying, wriggling, and pooping. I'll never have this time back!

I used to feel unproductive, but I'm slowly getting comfortable with doing nothing but caring for J 24 hours a day. (I try to do at least one thing a day for myself - today, it's the guilty pleasure of Keeping Up with Kardashians. kekekeke)

And all of those negatives made me, and still sometimes do make me feel, like I'm such a bad mommy. My other momma friends tell me that all of this is normal, but when you're *in* it, it's hard to feel that way. Again, I'm so thankful for all of their advice and support.

Now, that tummy pooch is a different story...

But just like Justin, I will take baby steps :) Hope my baby feels better soon!

You know what, no one tells you how rough the first two months of parenthood are. One of the mommies I spoke to thinks it's because by the time you catch up with the mommy, she has passed that haze and is already enjoying their little one. Or most mommies maybe just don't want to scare the new mommies! But no joke!~ these past two months have been a mix of up's and down's, smiles and tears, and trial and error. But we've made it through! As we get to know our little Justin, there is one thing that always rings true and that is just how amazing he is. We love him so much and he doesn't even know it yet!

There was definitely something that happened right at the 2 month mark - Justin somehow grew up! He started showing the ability to sleep longer, with sparkles of 7 hr nights, but mostly 4-5 hour nights these days. He is actively smiling and recognizing Mommy and Daddy now, and his new favorite trick is sucking his fist! He has some strong legs and has been kicking himself in circles in his crib and on his play mat, and boy, is he a TALKER! it's too cute! He loves facetiming with Grandma and Grandpa Lie, and shows big smiles whenever he hears and sees their faces on my little dIphone screen. And as always, he's still proving to be a big, big eater. Just last week, he downed 7 oz. I was scared he would burst! We are now trying to figure out just what he wants at night when he cries, because he's displayed some ability to last really long between feedings...

Regardless, B and I are setting into parenthood now, thanks to time elapsing and the love, support, and advice of our family and friends. I really can't thank our dear friends and family enough for their support - it has been so helpful to just have other mommies to talk to, and to share questions or bounce ideas off of them. Even just hearing other experiences helps to feel that everyone goes through this, and it's not just us trying to figure out our little baby. a silent and resonating THANK YOU to all of you :) you know who you are.

So here is July! ! Justin has been keeping (us) busy, huh? 

In preparation for Justin the jetsetter, we took a passport photo today! I thought it was hilarious that they made J lay down on a paper towel on the counter in Walgreens in order to get his shot. But it worked!

Here is his passport photo - international travel, here we come!

Who is little J talking to? ;)

In other news - little J slept 7 hours last night! Definitely a milestone night for us!! Yay!

Justin loves to "talk"! When he is in his happy chair, in his crib, or on the changing table, he will respond to you when you talk to him! (you can ignore my ridiculously pitched voice, haha)

(Photo candids of J from our cellphones - can you guess which one is the most recent?)

Justin grew rapidly this month, and is smiling a ton now when we talk to him. It's so cute! He likes having conversations during his happy time between eating and sleeping, and cooes regularly. For some reason, his favorite place is the changing table! Maybe it's because it's by a sunny window, but we have our most intense discussions there :)  He also recently discovered that he has hands! From stretching, scratching himself, and sucking on his fists vigorously, it's so cute watching this realization.

As for us, we have been getting the hang of this parent thing! It's so true, that each week just gets a little bit easier as baby Justin settles into his own little routine. We're up to 4 hours at a stretch of sleep at night, and more frequent day time naps! Now that he is up a bit more during the day, we are having so much fun getting to know our little J...

It's a bit less scary getting out of the house these days, so we hope to see more of you in July!!

Here is our photo summary of June!