4 months old!

today jonah is 4 months old. what a big boy! i started him on cereal this week, because he stopped sleeping through the night. he would wake up just hungry! i was going to wait until we went to the doctor next week, but it was making the days very very long and i just decided to follow my motherly instincts. God gave them to us for a reason! oh, and it worked. he has been back to sleeping through the night ever since i started. win!

jonah has been laughing more and more. sometimes i just start talking and he cracks up! it's the sweetest sound ever. he's also starting to have some stranger anxiety. we took him to little village (where the kids go) at church last weekend, and almost immediately he started crying. we had taken him once before he got rsv, and he didn't stay the whole time because he was crying so much. but this time he did well and stayed the whole time. also, we have home group on thursday nights, and it was getting very stressful to take him. it starts at 7:30, which is late if you're a family with a baby, so he would get fussy because it was past his bed time, and i would be frustrated because i knew he was just tired, and i was starting to hate it and dread it. solution! matt's parents are now babysitting him on thursday nights so that we can go and pay attention, and jonah can get to bed, and they can spend time with their grandson! it works out for everyone. i only wish we'd thought of asking them sooner. oh, the whole point of this story is to say that he has been crying with them, too, which is why i'm thinking it's stranger anxiety. because then i hold him and he's fine! i mean it makes sense: it can start around four months; i stay home with him and he knows me... anyway, that's just another way he's growing up! awww...

our first valentine's day as parents was quite lovely. our engagement anniversary is February 10th, so from then until valentine's day, i made matt a special dinner every night. i had read an article that mentioned the top searched for recipes on allrecipes.com in various countries, so that's where i got the idea. we had garlic pastry chicken and creme brulee (australia), brie cheese fondu and truffles (brazil), filet mignon with red wine and balsamic sauce and frosted heart cookies (germany), paella and chocolate mousse (mexico, which i just made last night because i didn't feel well the night i was going to make that), and short ribs and chocolate-covered strawberries (america). it was all SO GOOD! even though we didn't go out or get a babysitter, it was still really romantic.. of course it helped that matt gave me diamond earrings that i've been wanting for a while. what a sweetheart. i love them! i feel fancy, huh. (song reference, fyi)

so the weather has been warming up. last weekend we went to the park with allison and reese and had a picnic! it was a lot of fun, and i'm so happy that allison's new job let's her have the weekends off so we can get our families together and do stuff like this often.