Hey, it’s time to beard the dragon and get a big catch-up post done. The big six-month mark has already come and gone! We do have an excuse for not posting, but you have to get past our backlog of cute pictures before you can read what it is.
Valor loves solid food! When he sees it coming, he sticks his arms straight out at the sides and starts opening and closing his fingers and twisting his wrists. He refuses to take a bottle , so we moved him up to a sippy cup that he mostly plays with and sometimes swallows water from. I’ve started making my own and freezing it in mini muffin tins. He has solids 2-3 times a day, and continues to nurse 5 times a day as well.
Valor has rolled over once that I’ve seen, from his front to his back. I don’t think he even realized how he did it, it was just a fluid movement a couple nights ago when he wanted to look at something.
It took me a while to connect the dots and realize that when Valor stomps (lifts up his legs and smacks them down together), he was really trying to sit up. Since about 5.5 months or so, he’s been sitting up like a pro! (But he still can’t get there from a lying down position, so the stomping continues.)
Now that he is sitting up well, those little hands are into everything, and of course most of what they get goes into his mouth for further sensory exploration.
Valor is checking out our new game, Bananagrams. Actually the first time he checked it out, he spit up on the banana bag, so this must be the second or third time.
Valor is full of laughs. There are a few things that you can always get a laugh from: tickling his tummy, tickling his feet, playing the look away/look back game, swinging him upside down by the ankles, “walking” your fingers up his legs to his tummy, and “stomping” around slowly with Daddy (a variation on “sneaking around the house” from when he was younger— also much more feasible for heavier babies).
On his big 1/2 birthday, Valor wore a new cupcake hat to celebrate!
Ready for the Chess Club!
Bathtime with the GPs!
Playtime with his buddy Isaiah, who is 3.5 months younger and has about 3.5 more inches of hair on his head…
Valor has been meaning to ask Isaiah, what is this thing for?
One day Valor reached out and patted Isaiah’s hair and laughed and laughed.
Playdate with Isaiah and Valor’s agemate, Mackenzie (5 days younger). Good times!
Yesterday was Pi Day (3/14). It wasn’t as big a deal this time as it will be in 2015, at 9:26:54 in the morning. But still reason enough to celebrate:
(feel free to guess when Abby stopped authoring this post and John took over.)
With that backlog complete, here’s the excuse for why we’ve not updated the blog for so long:
The Gjertsens are moving.
Some of you puzzle solvers picked up on this, the not-so-hidden answer to clue H. Since last month, I’ve been talking with David Blain, from David Blain & Co. in New Bern, NC (pop. 30,000)—a dialogue that progressed rapidly from interview to offer to fact-finding trip to decision to move. The new company is the same line of work (financial planning/investment management) and in some ways a lateral move, but has hopefully more opportunity for growth and career development. Additionally, we felt the strongest confirmation that God’s hand was in this when we discovered that my dad and stepmom were independently in process of relocating to New Bern themselves. The prospect of Valor growing up so close to grandparents was a compelling opportunity.
I could go on and on about the factors we considered in favor of New Bern and the factors we considered in favor of staying in Orlando. It is heartbreaking to leave a church family we have knit into the fabric of our lives. It is daunting to think about meeting brand new people who never knew James and the journey we’ve come through. It is intensely sad to move from 4 hours away from Abby’s parents to 11 hours away. It is going to be very strange to move to a place where there is no Costco, no Kohl’s, no Publix, no Home Depot (there is a Lowe’s). But in spite of all this, it is thrilling to return to my home state, close to my family, and with a terrific job opportunity. It is happy and depressing and exhilarating and draining all at the same time.
And that is our version of March Madness. If there were ever a year it didn’t matter if UNC made it to the Big Dance it is this one.
I’m sure we’ll write more on the subject in the coming weeks. But right now there is a house to sell.
And boxes to pack.
Oh, I love these Valor smiles! How I will miss them!!
OGC has the cutest babies, hands down. Those three look positively adorable together. 🙂
Congrats on the move! I lived in New Bern for a very short time ( 3 months) a long time ago and I loved it! It is a great area! You will enjoy living there. Take Valor to feed the ducks by the drawbridge!
Valor is such a cutie and he is getting so big!
“If there were ever a year it didn’t matter if UNC made it to the Big Dance it is this one.”
The key word there is the first “If”. There is never a year when it doesn’t matter that UNC misses the dance.
I grew up in Richlands NC which is roughly 45 minutes from New Bern(home of Pepsi Cola I might add). I used to go there all the time when our oldest was a baby(13 years ago). The closest Target was there. I think you will like Eastern NC. It has a lot to offer. I miss the beach so much. Good luck. And thanks for finally posting a bunch of pics of your little(HUGE) cutie pie!!
Thanks for the adorable pictures! I can’t believe Valor is over 6 months already!
Re: moving= My 1st is due next week, and it looks like we might be moving in the next month or so as well! BUT, within the same county and still halfway between both sets of grandparents. So, not nearly as daunting as your move, but we will most likely not be living within a mile of Costco anymore (very sad about that!!) 🙂
I will be praying for you during this big transition!!!
Blessings,
Karla
P.S. It will be difficult moving to a place where people don’t know your history – however, look how many of us have come to reading your blog from cakewrecks! (like me, in PA!)
OGC will be different without you. This is sad news, from a selfish standpoint…
hope you get to come back to visit!! We will miss you all muchly!
There’s no Kohls in NC??? Blasphemy!! (I get the majority of my work clothes from there, lol.)
Still, blessings and best wishes to y’all for the move! I love the latest pics of Valor, too 😀 Such a wonderful boy!
NC has Kohl’s but the closest to New Bern is in Greenville, about 40 miles away.
Jacksonville has a Goody’s. It’s not Kohl’s but it’s a close(relative) second.
Love the new pictures! Valor is just too stinkin’ adorable! 🙂
Good luck with the move. I’ve been through quite a few myself (most of them international), so I know how that is. Praying you’ll manage to find a good church family quickly.
I posted this comment on the OGC blog:
I remember when John first started attending OGC as a young single man, engaged to Abby. We were in the same Sunday School class for a time and I was so impressed by your desire to know God and serve Him well. We were so excited to meet Abby when you brought her here after the wedding. I remember how sad I was when you both left for a short time but thankfully, returned to us. I was glad to see you befriend Evan and Daniel –playing chess, enjoying Lord of the Rings and games together. Although you have been through many changes, sorrows and trials, you have blossomed so much over the last 13+ years and our family has been blessed to know and love both you and Abby as well as James and Valor. We will miss you, not just for what you do for OGC but for who you have become in the Lord.
Loooooooove these pictures! I think my fave is Valor playing Bananagrams. He looks so into it!!!
BTW, Harris-Teeter rocks the house!!!!