Toby: God is Good

14 lbs and 8 oz of snuggle-able baby: my "Tobylicious" is 6 months now!  (You will hate that this was your nickname one day).  I love love love this age.  He is becoming his own little self but is not yet mobile, remains baby-sized, and is on a more predictable routine.  Phew.  Got through the first 6 month craziness of life with a newborn.  What is Toby up to these days?  First of all, we dedicated him at Church on Sunday and here are a few pictures and the words we shared with our congregation:

The verse we chose for Toby is Romans 15:13:

“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him.  Then you will overflow with confident hope, through the power of the Holy Spirit.”

The name Tobin means “God is good,” and Emmanuel means “God is with us.”  We chose these names with the hope that Toby will come to know these aspects of God in a significant way: His goodness towards us, and His presence with us. As Toby gets to know God, we pray that He will learn to confidently trust Him, and as a result that he will be filled with a deep joy and peace that the world can’t offer and can’t take away. Our hope is that in this way, Toby will show the greatness of knowing God, and will attract others to Him as well.

May Toby never be satisfied in anything other than Christ.  

 

 Snuggles with Nana!  

 So far it seems that Toby is his Mama's boy.  He loves mommy snuggles and is a much more sensitive little soul than his brother.  He loves being held and definitely gets anxious when we are apart.  If someone else holds him he squirms to see me and cries pretty quickly without me.  I don't mind the extra snuggles though!

He is a touchy baby which is awesome and overwhelming at times.  If you miss his naptime window he cries and cries and cries and gets super worked up.  He's easily overstimulated, jumps at loud noises, and if he's overtired he will not want to be held or seen by anyone other than mommy.  That being said, he is also much more generally content than Silas was.  He loves to sit in his stroller (while it's moving) just looking around, loves being carried in the carrier- will go for a hike without a peep, and loves to just sit in his 'happy spot' (on the floor with cushions and toys).  

Brothers playing together =)

 Likes the jolly jumper okay, but not like Silas did

 Loves throwing toys off of his exercauser 

He is ultra grabby and of course, puts everything is in his mouth.  Very drooly but no teeth yet. He is much more intent on toys than I remember Silas being.  He looks it over, passes it back and forth, and notices if it gets out of reach or someone takes it.  He loves grabbing at my hair and is fascinated when it's curly.  He is really quick too.  Before we know it cups are on the floor and plates of food on our lap.  Oops!

He can almost sit on his own and can roll from front to back but has yet to really roll from back to front.  He loves watching Silas and Silas is soooo good with him.  Silas will bring toys back to Toby when he drops them and loves to play peek-a-boo with him.

Toby sleeps 3 times a day (one nap being 20 minutes or so, the others each being 1.5 hours or so) and is a pretty good night sleeper.  He is in bed by 8 and sleeps usually until 6 or 6:15.  One thing that's a bit frustrating is that if Toby falls asleep he cannot really be transferred.  I used to scratch my head at moms who would wake up their sleeping baby or keep them awake but that's us!  If Toby falls asleep for 15 minutes in the car he won't go back to sleep at home so it's really best if we're home for two of the three naps (and if we can stick close to the same time every day he is a happy guy).

He's not a great solids eater yet.  I keep trying different things without much success.  He is more intent on chewing on the spoon than eating!  He just clenches his lips tight.  Hmmm. Still has never taken a soother or bottle.  He refuses.  Oh well.  He sucks on his 'blankie' to go to sleep.

He still sleeps in a playpen.  We cannot figure out how to get him to sleep in the crib at night with Silas.  Silas is just too noisy at bedtime and if Toby wakes up in the night he wakes up Silas.  Any suggestions?

His giggle and dimpled smiles are worth the work and he laughs with tickles to his neck or arm pits.  He doesn't laugh or smile as easily with strangers but when he does it's rather contagious!

My favourite:  even though Toby seems a bit shyer and more sensitive, sometimes he'll just be grunting and making noise SO loudly that we can't even have a conversation over top of him!  He gets like this especially if music is on (and during Bible study!)

We love you dear Toby.  Such a sweetheart.  We are so excited to see you and Silas become best buddies.  

p.s. he looks soooo much like Jason!

May the joy of the Lord always be your strength little man.  We are blessed blessed blessed to have you in our lives.