Life As We Know It: Fun in the Jumparoo

We broke Austin's jumparoo out last weekend and boy did we have fun with it!! His face lit up as soon as he got in there. If you turn it on, with every bounce he makes the music plays, things light up and the animals make noises. His feet don't actually touch the ground yet, but we improvised! Unfortunately, all of my really good pictures are not uploading form my camera for some reason.

My daily parenting newsletter said that jumparoo's, Bumbo seats and Johnny Jump's would help strengthen their core, which would enable them to sit up easier. So I figured, why not try it out? We also have a Johnny Jump that was given to us as a gift, and unfortunately the box was missing a part so we're going to have to take it back and exchange it. I can't wait to see him get going in that thing!! If he likes it half as much as the jumparoo then we're in for a treat!

Austin has been such a great night time guy lately. His routine is pretty much never off which I think helps a lot. We come home around 5:30 and play with him for a few minutes or let him sleep in the carseat if he falls asleep on the way home. Then he eats his rice cereal and plays until he is sleepy. He then takes a nap in his swing until we wake him up for his bedtime bottle at 8. After he eats, he gets his bath and then goes right to bed. He never puts up a fight and as soon as his head hits the crib, he has a hard time keeping his eyes open. It's so sweet to see him fall asleep and to walk in and hear his little snores. He has gotten to be very attached to his blankets. When he sleeps in the swing, we always put a blanket over him. Rather than just letting it lay across him, he grabs it with his hands and pulls it over his face. If you try to move it, he either fusses or just pulls it back. So we have started letting him do this and just keeping an eye on him to make sure it isn't covering his nose to where he can't breath. He's pretty good about making sure his nose is exposed, as you can see in the picture below. I don't know what it is about having the blanket up at his face but his teachers at daycare have been telling me that he does the same thing at school. We swaddle him at night so we don't have to worry about anything then. It's so funny to watch him bury his face into the blanket. I don't know if the softness of it comforts him or what, but it's definitely cute to watch him do it.

We are very much looking forward to tonight and tomorrow night - we are huge LOST fans and the show is ending tomorrow night. They are showing the pilot episode tonight, then we get 5 1/2 hours of LOST tomorrow!! We are so excited but it is also bittersweet, as we really hate to send this show end.

Justin's job requires him to travel during the summer months, and his traveling begins Monday. I'm not looking forward to this, as it means I will become a single parent for a few days every week until August. That means getting up earlier, which will probably be the hardest thing for me since I am NOT a morning person. I will cherish the bonding that Austin and I will do this summer and I do look forward to having so much one on one time with him, but we will both miss Justin a lot.

Hope you are all enjoying this beautiful weekend. I'm definitely looking forward to an afternoon walk with Austin later! Here are a few pics to share. Thanks for reading!