rollin' rollin' rollin'....

yes, that's right! Weston is now semi-mobile!! watch out world! in the last couple weeks, whenever I put him on his tummy, he's been able to roll himself over to his back (usually freaking himself out). But this past weekend when we were visiting the Ohio Conrads for Thanksgiving, he rolled from his back to his tummy!

and once he did it....he would not stop rolling! :o) and so intentionally, too. We will be working on crawling in the next month!

we had such a great time seeing the whole Conrad clan this past weekend.

 
Josiah and I were a little worried about how Weston would travel...he hasn't been loving car rides recently, so we were anticipating hours of screaming and stopping the car every hour. BUT, our little boy surprised us! He was such a great traveler. We left Lancaster at about 4am (after getting a few hours of sleep), and arrived in Marysville, OH around noon....where the cousins were waiting, and so excited, to see little Weston (and Josiah and I too a little). He loved watching and playing with his cousins!! especially Noah...you know, boys gotta stick together....

thanks to Grams for the collage!

We had such a great Thanksgiving. Truly so many things to be thankful for...not just in November, but all throughout the year.

Doc's Appt!

Yes, Weston had his 4-month Doctor's appointment yesterday.....4 MONTHS!! I can hardly believe it. My baby boy is growing so fast, and we are loving every moment and every new thing he discovers and learns.

Here are his stats:
height - 25 inches (50%)
weight - 16 pounds! (75%)

He also had 3 shots, which he did not appreciate at all. He was entertaining both the doctor and the nurse with cooing and laughing...until the needle sticks, there were lots of tears after that :o( The doctor was also very impressed with his upper body strength! (he had been lifting his head since just a couple weeks old!)

Gramma recently got an excersaucer for Weston, and this week was his first playtime in his new toy. he wasn't too sure at first....

 

but after a couple minutes of watching Mommy play, he seemed to enjoy all the new things to look at and make noise with...

 Next up....rolling over! It's gonna happen any day now...  :o)

Dedication

Today was a special day for the Conrad family!

We participated in Family Dedication at our church. So we, along with 6 other families, trotted our little man onto the stage and pledged that we would raise Weston to know, love, and follow Jesus. It is our deepest desire that Weston would one day choose to acknowledge Jesus as his Savior and live a life that points others towards an eternity in heaven.
Grandma & Grandpa Schleinkofer came to visit for the weekend to be at family dedication, and after church, we all (along with Aunt Pearl & Uncle Matt) went to lunch. Weston has so much fun entertaining the Grandparents!

This past Thursday, Weston & I went for a nice long walk and stopped by the playground for Weston's first ride on the swings!! While he was still a bit small for the seat, he was smiling and seemed to enjoy most of the swing ride, I promise...except of course when Mommy tried to snap a picture....

In other news, Weston has recently found his feet! :o) He found his hands a couple weeks ago and has been intentionally reaching for everything around him that looks interesting. But just within the past day or two, his eye caught sight of those funny things at the end of his legs....feet and TOES! He hasn't quite connected his toes to his mouth yet, but I don't think that will be far off.

He has also been enjoying eating his rice cereal...and sitting up in his Bumbo while we are feeding him.

 
I can't seem to get the food to his mouth fast enough!...as soon as the spoon leaves his lips, he makes a noise that clearly says, "I need MORE!!" After only a few days of experience with "real" food, he recognizes that when the spoon is in front of his face, he needs to OPEN, and food will be inserted. My mom says that he is early in recognizing this important skill...not sure...maybe I'll have to look at one of my baby books for that. But he IS pretty smart :o)

Can't believe how fast he's growing and learning new things. We take him for his 4 month doctor's appointment this Thursday, and we're very excited to get all his stats! We're guessing at least 16 pounds & 25 inches long!!

Our little stinker!

Weston's first Halloween!! And we got him the cutest Skunk costume!

It was sort of a tradition for me growing up to visit friends' houses on Halloween. Yes, I also went around our neighborhood trick-or-treating, but it was always so fun to visit friends (and get some pretty good loot) to show off whatever costume I happened to be sporting that year.
So, I thought it would be cool to start a tradition with Weston to drive him around to several of our friends' houses and show off this stinkin' (get it??) cute costume. We visited the Harnishes first (Becky, Dan who was still at work, and Logan who was dressed as a scarecrow!), then we visited the Hoslers (Loren, Jacqui, and Grayson, West's best buddy, who was dressed as a fisherman), and finally we visited Aunt Pearl & Uncle Matt (Parks), where Uncle Matt snapped a few photos. We're very excited for next year, when Baby Parks will be here and when we can dress him/her up in a ridiculous costume :o)

Not only did Weston experience his first Halloween, but this weekend he also experienced his first SNOW!! Yes, we had snow in October! We went to Baltimore for a quick little getaway, and drove home to Lancaster and into a snow storm. Weston was not impressed, and slept through the whole thing. And this week, temps are back up in the 50s, so the 3-4 inches we got have pretty much all melted away.

Weston will be 16 weeks on Wednesday, and we bought some rice cereal for him! We are going to give it to him this week, and we're very excited to see how he enjoys his first bites of "real food". (I'll definitely be posting some pics of this adventure later this week.)

In the last week and a half, Weston has been so alert and engaged with the world around him. He is now intentional reaching for toys, he has noticed his hands and I've caught him just staring at them occasionally, and he has been super smiley for anyone who happens to be talking to him. Josiah and I have been having so much fun watching him learn and experience new things. We are amazed at how he is changing and growing every day! What a fun adventure our sweet little Weston continues to be...

New Chapter: Day One

So, today is the first day of a very new season in the Conrad family. This new season really started about 3 months ago, when God blessed us with our handsome little Weston Gary Conrad. He came into the world on July 13, 2011, and Josiah and I felt immensely blessed by what God had entrusted us with. More on that in a later post.

This new season that I am writing about is the adventure of being a stay at home mommy and raising my son to be a Godly little man. How will I do this? Well...you might just have to stayed tuned for that one, because like I said, this is a brand new season that I will no doubt need to perfect along the way with God's grace and strength.

I am beyond excited to spend all my days watching Weston grow into a man and teaching him to love Jesus and love others. I have always had the desire to be a stay at home mom. And while the circumstances were not what I had imagined they would be (leaving a job I adored after only a short season, more on that in a later post also), I am confident that God has designed this plan to perfection, and we are trusting that He will accomplish great things in our family.

So, here goes.....let the adventure begin!!