Gorgeous Boy

A friend of mine has recently started up her own photography business, and John Geoffrey and I went and had a photo session with her at the beach earlier this week.

It was a beautiful day and Meredith took some gorgeous photo's. You can check some of them out here.

I really enjoyed the whole thing. Meredith made me feel very relaxed and that made it easy to just enjoy the time with my baby boy without worrying about the camera. The best bit was that John had his first dip in the ocean (well, it was just his tippy toes, but I'm still counting it!)

So, anyone looking for someone to take some photo's for them, at reasonable prices, I would highly recommend Meredith's services. Check her out at meredithwattphotography.blogspot.com and like her on facebook!

More of what we have been up to

We went to Aunty Elissa's babyshower

My sister-in-law is due to have a baby in the next few weeks, and we went to her baby shower the other weekend. As much as it was fun playing the games and eating delicious (and I mean really delicious) food, what I really loved was being able to catch up with some of my relatives that I hadn't seen in a while, especially my Aunties Kaye and Gill, neither of whom had gotten to meet John Geoffrey yet. It was also funny to me to notice the definite "Fittonisms" that I share with those Aunts as the shower progressed - especially our certain "brand" of Fitton humor. I love that our family is getting bigger and as it does I just feel so connected to the women around me, my mums, my sisters, my aunts, my sister-in-laws, my nieces - I just love my family.

John Geoffrey seemed to enjoy the shower as well - he certainly got plenty of attention. There were quite a few babies there, and not that I am biased or anything, but John was the cutest one there :) He eventually fell asleep towards the end, and here is a photo of him with my niece, Sarah and two of the other younger girls that were there - they were hovering around him mezmorised by his cuteness (who can blame them really)"

One of the games we played at the shower was one where baby photo's of ALL the attendees went around and we had to guess who they were. This was the photo I submitted of me, and I decided to post it here as well, as it really does remind me a bit of John Geoffrey. It might just be because mum had me in a blue suit (she said she was anti-pink when I was born).

The other funny thing that happened at the baby shower was that I managed to spray milk all over my clothes towards the beginning of the day. John wanted a feed, but decided to pull off before I could get myself properly settled. So I went the rest of the day with a huge milk stain on the front of my top. Lucky I was with a bunch of mum's, no-one even blinked an eye.

We went to the Hairdressers to get Mum's Hair Chopped

I have pretty much always had short hair. I like it, and it's much easier for me to do. But when I got engaged to John I decided that I wanted to grow out my hair so that I could have one of those really cool up-do's for the wedding. We have now been married for over a year and I've kept the long hair - mainly because people have told me I shouldn't cut it, or make drastic changes when I was pregnant (as I might regret it) but more importantly because I was too lazy to do anything about it.

Since John Geoffrey was born, my hair has been perpetually up. If it's down John Geoffrey always manages to get his hands on it and hair pulling is not my most favourite thing. I've spent next to no time looking after it, styling it or doing anything with it. Eventually my head started getting sore from having my hair up all the time, and my hair was so knotty. On the days I decided I would try to do something with it, I would spend 10-15 minutes just brushing knots out and by that time I was over it and too sick of my hair to bother styling it. So, it had to come off.

Here is the new hair. Still a bit longer than I would normally have it, but short enough that John can't get his hands on it when we're feeding. I really like it. I like that it takes less time to wash it in the shower, that it takes 10-15 seconds to brush the knots out and 10 minutes max to blow dry and style it. I can't begin to tell you how much better it makes me feel knowing that my hair is easy to fix each day - maybe I won't look so grotty all the time now!

John Geoffrey came with me to the hairdressers and enjoyed himself. Once again he was a hit with the ladies. I was happy that he was so well behaved.

The only problem with the day was that it was raining on and off. I had planned on walking to the hairdressers (as we are so close) but when it came time to go it was pouring - so I had to put the pram and baby in the car (in the rain) and drive up to the hairdressers. By the time we got there it had stopped, so we managed to get into the hairdressers without getting any more wet. But, of course, when it was time to leave it was pouring again. I went to the supermarket in hopes that it might ease up, but to no avail. With my freshly cut and styled hair I then had to stand in the rain to get John Geoffrey into his car seat and pack up the pram. By the time I got into the car I looked like a drowned rat. I have to admit it put me in a pretty bad mood - especially because it stopped raining while I was driving home. One of the perks of going to the hairdresser is that you are supposed to look good when you come out - the rain saw to it that I wouldn't get to enjoy that perk. To add to my mood John Geoffrey decided to cry, and then pooped through his clothes as I was carrying him inside. Daddy took care of John while I went and fixed my hair (which didn't take long) and then I was ready to be in a happy mood again :)

We had Sarah and Jaiden come over

John's cousins, Sarah and Jaiden came over to visit during the week, as Aunty Carla had to go to mutual for a mother's appreciation activity. They brought tim-tams (yum) and High School Musical to watch. Actually I asked them to bring HSM as Addy (John's niece) had posted a song list for this movie on instagram, and ever since I had had a burning desire to watch it again. Ridiculous I know, but I love musicals and I love cheesy family movies. I think my husband wanted to gouge his eyes out the whole time we were watching it. Let's just say, he didn't stay in the room long and when we decided to get pizza for dinner he offered to walk up and get it, and dismissed my idea to ring up first to pre-order.

Anyway, John's cousins are totally in love with him, Jaiden is especially smitten and just wanted to hold and play with him the whole time he was here. It was so cute.

Jaiden also decided that he really liked my feet seat and was playing with it all night long. He worked out in made a pretty good hat. I think it made him look like a mushroom.

Aunty Carla also brought over some things for John Geoffrey, as she had been cleaning out and found some books, toys and clothes that Jaiden wasn't using anymore. I was most excited about this puzzle she gave to us:

The reason I was excited about it was because I actually remember playing with it as a child. This was a puzzle that my mum bought for Carla when she was a baby and of course myself and all my brothers and sisters have played with it as children. Mum kept it, and when Carla had her first baby, she passed it on. And now it's coming to me. I know it's really sentimental, but I'm excited to have it and that John Geoffrey will get to play with it to. I'm surprised it has lasted so long and is in such a good condition. I guess it really is true, they really don't make them like they used to.

We continued to be cute

John is just the most handsome baby ever (in my opinion). He gets cuter every day. When my mum came over for a visit this week, I decided to get her help to go through all the clothes we had been given. Because John was just a little bub when he was born, a lot of the clothes we had been given were too big and so I had put them away to use later. It was great to go through them again and get them into size order and find a few new outfits that he was big enough to now fit into. We have so many clothes for him, I don't think we will have to buy much more for him until he is at least one:

Oh my gosh. He is too cute!!!!!!

That boy has skills

I have finally managed to catch on camera some of John's developing skills:

Self-Soothing / Fingers in Mouth

Happy sucking (two or more fingers at once)

Sucking on the move

Thumb sucking = put myself to sleep

The "who me?" suck

Practicing Sitting

Trying to Roll Over

He is so close to rolling over front his back to his front - won't be long now

Playing with his Toys

Look mum, I can play with two toys at once!

Wonder Week - Our Clever Little Boy

Ever heard of wonder weeks? I hadn't until we had John Geoffrey and he spent a whole Sunday morning crying non-stop from about 3am til about 12 noon. Exhausting.

Anyway, on Wednesday this week we had another full awake day. John woke for feeding about 7am, and went back to sleep (as per normal). However he then woke at 10.30am and decided he did not want to go to sleep again until 11.30pm. I hate days like this, and I especially hate it when there are a couple of them in a row. I bank on him having at least one nap during the day so that I have time to rest, eat, do dishes, laundry, work on my calling or just veg out if I feel like it. According to the wonder week schedule he was due for one so I figured I better just be prepared for a couple of days of this.

One of the things about wonder weeks is that you are supposed to see some huge developmental change in your baby once you have gone through them, and I'm pleased to announce that we have one clever boy on our hands.

This week he has learned to suck his thumb and self soothe. I have also caught him playing with the toy we have hanging from his crip (clip-clop). Nothing major just him reaching out to grab it and play with it's rattle legs. But then this morning, he was absolutely amazing. We have a playmat for him that has a little hanging monkey holding a ring with it's tail. When you pull on the ring it plays music. For a while now we have been showing John how it works - pulling the tail to play the music (I also dance along to the music when it plays coz I'm fun like that). Anyway, this morning, John Geoffrey pulled the ring. All. By. Himself. And not once, but three times people. Three times! He is just so clever!!!!!

Happy Anniversary

This weekend marked John and my first year wedding anniversary. It has flown by so quickly, and has been an amazing time in our lives. Sometimes I have to pinch myself, because no matter what is going on, I'm so happy to be married to John. I love him so much.

To celebrate, John and I went to the Marino Rocks Restaurant for dinner (my mum and dad watched John Geoffrey for us) and then to Royal Copenhagen at Brighton for dessert.

The Marino Rocks Restaurant is a special place for us. John took me there the night he proposed to me, and we also had our wedding reception there. The views from the restaurant are really beautiful, and because it's tucked away in a residential area, it's not noisy or busy on the surrounding streets, making it nice and peaceful.

The owner of the restaurant, Gulten, is so lovely. When she found out we were coming in for our anniversary, she went out and bought some non-alcoholic sparkling wine for us, as she remembered that we don't drink alcohol. She also gave us an awesome table with a beautiful view of the sun setting over the ocean.

When we were married I wore some beautiful handmade silk flowers in my hair that I bought from Twigs and Honey. My hope is that if we ever have a daughter, I can pass them down to her to wear on her wedding day (if she wants to of course). But in the meantime, I decided it would be appropriate to wear them on our anniversary, you know, as a physical reminder of the day (I also wore my wedding shoes). Yes, I'm sentimental like that, and luckily for me John likes it :) It actually made me feel really special wearing them again.

What you can't tell from this picture is that I spent an hour trying to curl my hair as I wanted to look really special for John (I'm sure he's sick of seeing me in my trackies, with my hair in a pony tail, baby slobber down my front and smelling of sour breastmilk). Let's just say, having a three month old baby is not really helpful when trying to do something special with your hair - but at least I tried. I'm sure many other women could have achieved it, I'm just not very dexterous when it comes to anything beauty related. I think it's probably because I just don't have the desire or patience to practice.

We had a wonderful night out, and I enjoyed being able to spend time just with John. John Geoffrey takes up so much of my time, that I feel hubby sometimes gets the raw end of the deal. Over dinner we talked about our wedding and reminisced about the year that had been. We've had some amazing highs - being sealed together in the Adelaide Australia Temple for time and all eternity, the birth of our son, travelling up to the sunshine coast for a wonderful honeymoon, John's parents visiting, and then just the beauty every day of waking up knowing that we are together and there for each other.

Three Months Old

John Geoffrey turned three months old on Sunday. I can't believe another month has flown by! First a few cute pics of our beautiful boy:

Growing so fast - we love his chubby cheeks!

Cuddles with Daddy

"You are getting very sleepy"

Grumpy face - not impressed that we are trying to take pictures of him halfway through feeding.

Already addicted to TV

Scared of the camera flash - but boy does it make one hilarious photo!

And then here's what has happened over the last month to get you up to speed:

John has really discovered his hands now. Sometimes I catch him just staring at them. He puts them up in front of his face, turns them over, touches them together, turns them over again, as if they were the most interesting and curious things in the world. I think he is starting to learn that they are his and that he can do things with them, although his hand eye co-ordination still has a little way to go!

His desire to suck on things has also increased. Last month it was mostly just his index finger, or his little balled fist. Now at times he tries all fingers at once (which often makes him choke for just a second), and last night John caught him sucking on both hands at the same time!

He’s a wiggly little worm too. He can now spin himself around about 90 degrees on his playmat while he’s on his back. It’s amazing to me how they can do that.

He’s still a very happy baby, and smiles a ton, but now he is also starting to giggle which is just completely adorable. Last week I had him giggling for about 10 minutes whilst I danced in front of him. I’m not sure if I should take that as a compliment or be worried that he finds my dancing so funny!

Propped up using the pillows on the lounge - such a happy baby!

He talks now. A lot. I have no idea what he is saying, but it is fun to talk back to him and mimick his sounds.

He’s enjoying tummy time a lot more, and will stay there for a good 5 minutes before getting upset over it. The other day he even turned himself onto his back 3 times in a row. It was only after those three times that I thought to get the camera out to capture it, but of course, he was a little worn out by then and so I didn't manage to get it on camera. Here's his last effort anyway. I’m sure it’s just a fluke that he has managed to roll himself onto his back so many times already, but he does seem to have quite strong neck and back muscles for his age.

John managed to get into a good sleeping routine in the last few weeks, sleeping an average of 7 hours a night, but even though I’m typing this now, I’m sad to report that the last 2 nights that has not been the case L he must be due for another growth spurt!

We’ve been outside a lot the last month as the weather has been beautiful, and also because I finally got my baby carrier (which is a lot quicker and easier than the hassle of getting the pram in and out of the car). We go for walks in the streets around our house (mostly to the shops for that odd grocery or run a small errand), around the mall with Daddy and even been down to Glenelg in it. 

At the mall with Mum and Dad. Couldn't believe the stores were already ready for Christmas in September!

Our first trip in the baby carrier, getting ready to go to the shops for some eggs so we could make brownies.

Close up of our cutey.

We took John down to Brighton beach one afternoon. It had been beautiful weather all day and so we had intended to go for a walk, but was quite a bit cooler by the water so we ended up getting a quick bite to eat instead. We still went down by the water for a few minutes though, realising that it was our baby's first trip to the beach. He looked at the ocean for a few seconds, but then became fascinated by the sky. He does the same when we are changing him, just stares up at the ceiling. I wonder sometimes what he is seeing.

Staring at the sky

John's passport arrived early in the month, and then Mummy's new one (making her an official Keaton on her travel documents) arrived a few weeks later. So, apart from actually buying our tickets, we are all set to come to the USA for Christmas to visit Grandpa and Grandma Keaton as well as Uncles, Aunts and cousins on Daddy's side. 

John also had his immunisations in the last month. Grandma was on hand to give Mummy some emotional support but all in all it went pretty well. John cried pretty hard with the first needle, and so the second one was pretty awful. He was a good boy though and settled down fairly quickly and went to sleep. Thank goodness we don’t have to go through that again until the beginning of October.

Lastly, John has been a little sickly the last week. It started with Mummy getting a sore throat and cold last weekend, which luckily only lasted a few days for her, but it seemed to pass onto John Geoffrey and give him a very stuffy nose, and then onto Daddy who managed to get full blown bronchitis :( We've had to administer the saline drops to John Geoffrey (which most of the time he HATES us giving to him) and then try the aspirator to remove the mucus from his nose. He HATES that too, and it is awful to try and do. I can't wait for him to be over this cold! I'm guessing it's one of the firsts in a long line of doing something you know will be good for your child in the long run, even if it is causing them discomfort now. Welcome to parenting :)