To celebrate father’s day with his Grandpa and Pop, Jimmy went to the ballparks.  For both evenings Jimmy was decked out in Phillies gear and was very observant with all the surrounding action.

We celebrated Father’s day with Grandpa Brewka at the Minor League Homerun Derby.  It was hosted this year by the Reading Phillies with plenty of entertainment.  Jimmy was even able to see a vegetable race, starting one of Uncle Matt’s friends – Josh Miller.

With Pop, Jimmy’s Aunts and Uncles went to the Citizen’s Bank Ballpark.  He even received a “First Phillies Game Certificate” signed by Charlie.

Our little man can not stay still 🙂 Crawling and climbing have been his favorite things to do these days. Over the last month, he has worked diligently trying to stand up against the ottoman — boy has that paid off now that he can successfully pull himself up and he surprises himself everytime. He is even walking completely around the ottoman, slowly but surely! With all of this exercise, Jimmy now weighs 20 pounds and you can even see the muscle on his legs!

Jimmy is amused most of the day by Dunder. When Dunder ‘stands tall’ looking out the window, Jimmy thinks this is the most hysterical sight. He laughs so hard that he has tears running down his cheeks! He also likes climbing on Dunder; however, we think that Dunder only tolerates it because he knows that he will get a treat when he plays nicely with Jimmy.

Aunt Meg has been hanging out with Jimmy this summer, while Angie goes into the office. On Mommy’s days off, Little Jimmy goes on field trips! This month, he has gone to the library, our local parks, a museum, and a local indoor playground.

Jimmy celebrated the Fourth of July weekend at the shore. Although he didn’t make it to water’s edge, he did get the chance to put his feet in the sand. While exploring town at the shore, we learned he is even big enough to use one of the restaurant’s high chairs. You can see the excitement in his face being able to sit at the table with everyone else.

Jimmy also coordinated a birthday party for his best buddy, Dunder! Dunder turned three years old on July 15th. Jimmy went shopping with Mommy and Aunt Abbie to pick out Dunder’s birthday collar which is navy blue with lobsters on it. How appropriate 🙂

Jimmy now smiles with two bottom teeth 😀 Teething was rough, but thank goodness for his giraffe teether, Sophie. We only have 18 more teeth to go! Currently, Jimmy’s favorite foods are the chicken and rice combo dinner and bananas. When it comes to breakfast, we don’t know where it goes but he eats more oatmeal than we do in the morning. He hasn’t figured out the sippy cup concept yet, but he just started learning to drink from a big boy glass (Reflo glass). We think he wore more of the water than he drank, but he loved it!

Our little man is 8 months old and has surpassed the 17lb mark!  April has come and gone, and the flu and RSV season is finally finished.  The last few weeks Jimmy has began his exploration of the world around him!  With the kickoff of April, Jimmy went to his first restaurant – our local pizza spot.  He wasn’t too amused with the outing, as he slept through it.  Over the past two months, he gradually started meeting new faces and checking out new places!

Jimmy has some new talents that he practices every morning.  We wake up to him singing, blowing bubbles, and literally putting his foot in his mouth.  Additionally, he does 180s in his crib.  He does get frustrated at times when he reaches the top of the crib and can’t figure out how to switch directions.  When he is outside his crib, there is no stopping this little man — he rolls and shimmies right off the tummy time mat.  He is growing stronger every day with his push ups and with a little help, he can sit-up too!  He’s just starting to position himself for crawling and we’re anticipating he’ll be on the move in the next couple of weeks.

Jimmy is also diversifying his taste buds, by exploring vegetables.  Squash and bananas have been a hit.  He sure can make a mess, but Dunder anxiously awaits his turn for clean-up and leftovers.

Last week, Jimmy went to his first story time at the local library.  Although he wasn’t interested in story time, he did find a new hang out — the train platform with Thomas the Tank Engine.  With some help, he stood and played with the wooden trains for close to an hour.  It was so much fun that he took daddy to play later that week.

With the start of the new year, Jimmy has ventured into 2012 as happy as could be!  Since the new year, he has been sleeping through the night in the comforts of his own room with his bunk mate Dunder!  He seems to be quite content with his big boy crib.  Each morning, he wakes up testing his vocal cords, laughing, and all around happy.

It is amazing how he is on the move these days!  Jimmy turns his body around in circles in his crib and has even been attempting his new move of “roll over”.  We are thinking that he will have this figured out sometime this week, as he is getting super close!

Day by day, Dunder is recognizing that Jimmy is more a friend and is very hopeful that Jimmy may even play fetch.  As Jimmy hangs out in his bouncer, Dunder is eager to bring all of his toys to Jimmy.  Dunder is always watching out for Jimmy and is really fascinated with his new found buddy.  Either that, or Dunder is hopeful that Jimmy will let him play with his squeaky toys 🙂

Starting this past week, Jimmy starts his day with a couple of teaspoons of rice cereal.  Currently, he prefers his bottle of milk, but he is acquiring the taste of rice cereal.  Until he masters how to eat with a spoon, most of his cereal winds up on his chin.

During playtime, Jimmy is in awe with his books!  He spends hours starring at the pictures.  As we turn the pages, he shows excitement by kicking his legs, throwing his arms in the air, and giggling out loud.  It is precious to watch him be in such a playful mood.  He is also beginning to reach for his toys and even surprises himself when he actually grasps one of his rattles.  This morning, he tested out his Jumper-Roo and was completely engaged with all of the gadgets.

Oh, and Jimmy is almost 5 months, weighing around 13 pounds!

For starters, from our family to yours, we wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

The photo above is one of a million reasons why we are blessed and illustrates our happiness this holiday season.  It is amazing how much faith has guided our family through the ups and downs over the years, and during Christmas Eve Mass, a key message hit home.  During Father Gallagher’s Homily he focused on a simple statement his father voiced a couple of months ago — “It will be nice to have a newborn at home for Christmas.”  How true these word’s are, and what a blessing our Jimmy has been to our family.

Last week, Angie received a phone call from our Church office asking if our baby Jimmy would like to be baby Jesus during the Children’s Mass.  This offer was a tremendous honor, however, we had to politely decline due to Jimmy’s immune system and limiting his exposure to crowds.

It’s remarkable how fast Jimmy is growing, and this became even more evident with us having to adjust his car seat harness.  We estimate that he is around 11 pounds!  Watching Jimmy develop over the last month has been nothing less than magical.  He is studying the world around him more and more each day, and he is mesmerized by those who are around him.  Jimmy has shown a lot of enjoyment, by displaying a smile grinning ear to ear, through reading books, singing nursery rhymes, and of course watching TV (he takes after his Mommy and has grown quite fond of Ellen).  Thanks to advances in technology, Jimmy has even been introduced to family and friends far and near through FaceTime 🙂

The other area that is amazing to us is how much control he has over his head and body in general, this is especially true during his nightly tummy time with mommy and daddy cheering for him.

As you probably would recall, per doctor’s orders, Jimmy is to stay clear from daycare until the Spring time, at the earliest.  The last few weeks have been a transition time for Angie, as she has been fortunate to be able to work part time from home and has successfully worked around Jimmy’s nap time.  Angie has juggled this act superbly — way to go Mommy!

The photo above was taken during Jimmy’s first of many photo shoots to come.   His Grandma and Grandpa gave him an early gift when they found the reindeer outfit, and Angie and Jim knew from that moment it would be the perfect photo to spread holiday cheer!  Dunder and his best buddy Jimmy had a lot of fun during the photo shoot, and we even caught Jimmy trying to ride Dunder :-0.  Out of the 200+ photo’s we were able to find the perfect photo above, and even snuck in a few candid photo’s in the gallery below.  Enjoy!

Love,
Angie, Jim, Jimmy & Dunder