Fall

Fall at the Kurcz Residence
The color has been just amazing!!

*Perfect for pictures of our little man....

We didn't plant pumpkins this year...

But we sure got plenty of pumpkins! Yes, our garden produced over Ninety (90!) pumpkins!! This is just a sampling of the variety of pumpkins and gourds that came up this year. All volunteer! All for baby Jonah's very first Halloween!

And let me tell you...Jonah LIKES the pumpkins. He liked them so much that we cooked one up for him for lunch! Yum! More homemade, and home grown, baby food! And speaking of homemade, homegrown baby food, Jonah also got 2 tiny watermelons from the garden. The tomatoes might have fallen victim to a cool summer, but we have bushels of apples, carrots, beets, cilantro, beans, and squash.

An speaking of punkins, here's some more pics of our lil' country boy:

My parents, true country folk, have kept baby J covered in country gear...

Yet still so full of class :-)





OH, and I almost forgot! He is SO close to crawling! I just know it will be any day now!

Busy little guy!

Our little guy is growing so fast!

He likes water in a sippy cup...

Walking (backwards) in his walker....

Swinging on the playground....

Riding in cars with his cuz....

And even making steps towards figuring out how to crawl!!
What will this week bring?? :-)

A certain little baby boy has his first tooth!

Happy 7 months baby boy!
Jonah decided to surprise us all with tooth to celebrate his 7 month birthday! Can you believe it? His very first tooth! I would post a picture, but it is just impossible to get a camera close enough yet, but don't think I didn't try. Instead, you'll have to settle for a picture of the family in a GIANT tire tractor at the Boone County Fair in August. More pictures to come once I figure out how to upload them.

August was a super busy month for us out in Belvidere...we had a blast at the Fair. We went one day with Mike's parents, the next with a few of my co-workers and their adorable kids. More pics to come of that trip as well. Besides that, it was a BAD month for the garden...the tomatoes were a big failure this year and our expert garden consultant (my Grandpa Juel) says it was the crazy cold weather that doomed us. We have like 30 tomatoes plants and got very few tomatoes that tasted any good. We did manage to get green beans, peas, beets, squash, and radishes. We're still waiting on some promising watermelons (which Mike is VERY excited about ), more squash, and maybe a cantalope. Of course, we do have volunteer pumpkins and gourds for Jonah's first Halloween, as well!
Jonah was able to get some baby food out of the garden, which is exciting. We're trying to feed him as much organic/ homemade food as possible, which goes great with gardening. This past month our little guy has become quite the eater and really enjoys most of the solid foods we have served up. He likes his grains- rice, oatmeal, millets, and barley. He has also had sweet potatoes, peas, avocado, and just today he started bananas, which he LOVED!

Jonah took his first rides in our BOB jogging stroller this month. It felt great to get out and get some fresh air and exercise, though let me tell you it is TOUGH to push a stroller up these hills AND walk a dog or two at the same time (Wrigs gained sympathy baby weight with me that he needs to work off still :-) ) Hopefully we have many more walks/jogs to come this fall!

Jonah has also gotten his share of exercise. He still wants to be standing ALL the time and is showing some interest in crawling as well. As you can see by the next picture, he does pretty good standing and playing on the Leap Frog music toy that his cousin Will (and Aunt Andrea) got for him (so long as someone stands behind him to catch him when he falls!). Its crazy to see him standing up like a big boy! Which reminds me, we need to baby proof the house!

Coming soon: We're awaiting 2 new babies from our sisters this coming fall! My twin sister, Andrea, is due to have her baby in early October. Even sooner, Mike's sister Barb is headed to the hospital THIS THURSDAY NIGHT be induced..we should have a new NIECE by this weekend! We couldn't be happier for Jonah to get 2 new cousins in 1 year and we can't wait to meet these babies!
Well its bed time here in Belvidere, but again, more pictures coming soon!

-gina

6 months

HAPPY 1/2 YEAR BIRTHDAY JONAH!

I can hardly believe its been 6 months since we first got to meet our darling baby boy!! Jonah is 6 months old and loving life! He had his 6 month checkup at the Doctor just yesterday, and is solidly in the 75th percentile. What are his stats, you ask? Weight: 18 lb 14 oz, Height: 27 inches, and full of smiles! He has come a long way from the 8 lbs 6 oz, and 21 1/2 inches he came into this world at!

These days, Jonah is very much an explorer. As his daycare teachers have pointed out, he is no longer the kind of baby who lays around watching the world go by. He wants to sit or stand (with assistance) all the time and is very vocal. He laughs all the time and has the most beautiful smile I've ever seen (though I may be a little biased).



Jonah likes to do little Indian powwow noises (on his own or with assistance) and has learned how to turn the aquarium toy in his crib on, using his hand OR foot to hit the button! I tell you, this boy has talent! Jonah also has taken quite an interest in the animals. He loves to watch the cats and dogs and wants to reach out and touch them as they walk by. In our house, this can keep him VERY busy.

To celebrate his big 1/2 year old birthday, Jonah got to taste his first bites of solid food this weekend! We started him off on some rice cereal and milk. He ate some, spit out some, then just decided he would close his mouth and stop eating. We'll try again tomorrow, I'm sure he'll get the hang of it soon. Maybe he prefers sweets like his mom! (can 6 months old babies eat pureed chocolate cake??) Or, maybe he is just holding out for a steak. That's his Dad's favorite, for sure.
*Note: These steaks were deep fried- we had a crazy New Years Eve party with the Bechtel's last year!

Besides our little guy, we have a few other things keeping us busy. We did plant a garden this year and are looking forward to lots of fresh, and healthy, veggies. Overall though, we have more weeds than anything else. Besides that, we've harvested raspberries, blueberries, banana peppers, a few cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, beans, peas, and squash. We're still waiting on a s*#t ton more tomatoes, beets, carrots, watermelon, cantelope, various peppers, zucchini and cilantro. We also had some volunteer pumpkin plants that have popped up and are attempting to seriously take over the garden. But, as the girl who is hoping to grow the world's largest pumplin one day, I just can't cut them back. This will be the year we get the big one, I just know it. Already there are some green ones who look to be as big as baby Jonah, so who knows! Of course, we couldn't manage this garden without some serious assistance from family. Mike's mom has helped us significantly with the manual labor and they brought a lot of the plants. We could not have a garden without her, thats for sure! We also get expert advice on all things "garden" from my Grandpa, who told us he planted his first garden back in 1939!! He was 7 years old. We know so very little in comparison to him, but he is very willing to share his knowledge whenever we ask.

What's the Kurcz Family up to in August, you ask? The Boone County Fair, a Kurcz Family tradition since we moved to this fine town 2 years ago, is already next weekend! This will be Jonah's first fair, though our 3rd. Mike and I look forward to a (overpriced) funnel cake and fried cheese, as usual. I also like the draft horse barns and the petting zoo, though Jonah may have to wait until next year to partake in that exhibit. Mike really likes the antique tractors.

And because he's just so handsome, here is one last picture of our handsome little man, at 4 months old
Until next time....

Gina