Our baby Wes is generally pretty good-natured. He doesn’t cry a lot, but he’ll get fussy if if 1) he’s tired, 2) he’s hungry, or 3) he’s bored. And he’ll full-on wail if he’s hurt, but it (thankfully) doesn’t last long.

Recently my two nephews were visiting, and we put Wes next to his five-week-old cousin Ethan.

Wes is a little bigger at six months old, but not by much.

Ethan quickly grew tired of lying next to his cousin Wesley and started to cry.

It didn’t seem to faze Wes in the least.

Then we put Ethan’s big brother Logan on the other side of Wes, and all chaos ensued.

I don’t think Wesley noticed a thing.

Here’s my mom holding Wes.

And John holding him.

John and I were married in the Nauvoo Temple on the first day it opened in 2002. I got caught up in some memories of it today while I was writing a letter to the Hancock County Clerk’s office in Carthage, IL, to request copies of our marriage certificate.

When we were preparing to get married, the letter we received from temple officials told us we needed to acquire a marriage license from the county courthouse in Carthage. We got an idea of how small Carthage is when the letter gave no address for the courthouse but directed us to “look for the largest building in the center of town.”

We were a little nervous we wouldn’t find it, but the letter’s directions were exactly on. Carthage is pretty compact (it’s so small that on Google Maps you can’t zoom in close enough to see residential street names–not even when the distance legend is in increments of 2000 feet). The courthouse would have been hard to miss unless we were blind.

Today when I was making calls and filling out paperwork to get copies of our marriage certificate the city’s smallness was reiterated when I saw that the P0 box for the county clerk’s office is PO Box 39 (have you ever seen such a low box number?), and again when I called the courthouse to ask a question. There was no automated menu; I got to talk to a real person right away!

Sometimes smaller is better, don’t you think?

This week I took Wesley swimming for his first time ever at my parent’s hotel when they were in town. We got him spruced up in Finding Nemo swim diapers that were much too large for his little hips but managed to stay on anyway.

The water was a little tepid at first, so I think Wesley’s first impression of the pool was, “What’s with the cold bathwater, mom?!” He seemed to be shivering slightly when only his legs were in the water, so I dunked him all the way to his shoulders and he appeared to warm up.

First I had him in sitting position so his head was upright. He seemed fine in the water. Here he is with me, and my nephew with my dad.

Wes didn’t seem to much care what was going on, as long as he could still suck on his fingers.

Then I put his back down like he was doing a back float. I expected him to try to pull up to sitting position again, but he didn’t resist. He actually waved his arms around in the water beside his head and kicked his legs. I’m guessing those movements were instinctive forms of self-defense, but it looked like he was swimming!

Afterward we headed back to my parent’s hotel room and my dad (bless him) propped up my two-year-old nephew and Wes against pillows to watch TV while we changed clothes. Television junkies already!

Wes turns six months tomorrow but had his six-month appointment yesterday, wherein he was weighed, measured, and found wanting.

Oh, wait, no–that’s A Knight’s Tale. Wes, of course, was weighed, measured, and found to be growing!

At four months, he was:

9 lbs 7.5 oz (7th percentile on DS chart)
22 inches long (13th percentile)
14.6 inch head circumference (20th percentile)

This month he is:

11 lbs 13 oz (11th percentile on DS chart)
24 inches long (16th percentile)
15.4 inch head circumference (26th percentile)

Movin’ on up, he is.

And here are photos from some of his bumbo chair work time today:

Wesley’s newest favorite thing is sitting in the Bumbo chair. It’s a teeny tiny chair that supports his back, but not his neck, so he has to hold that up himself. He likes to sit in it and play with any toy we stick in front of him. He lasts about five minutes per sitting session right now. His head control, though, is so much better than even a couple weeks ago. He’s getting stronger all the time.

When we see him sitting in the Bumbo, he looks simultaneously so big and so little. So big because, wow, he’s sitting up like a big boy! And so little because he is still so very little. This picture doesn’t show him to scale with the rest of the room, but the chair really is teeny tiny, and so is he in it!

Since Wes was born I’ve been having two recurring dreams. It’s strange, but I don’t remember having any recurring dreams before he came. (Technically, I’m not sure I can call these dreams “recurring,” since the scenes aren’t always identical, but the themes are always similar.)

1. I’m back in high school and everything is going wrong.

This is my most frequent dream, and I HATE it. Which amazes me, because I LOVED high school! The premise is usually that I’ve already graduated from high school, but for some reason I have to go back because I didn’t finish something. I always have trouble finding the classroom, I’m usually running late, I NEVER have my homework done, and I’m always stressing about passing my history class because I realize that the whole semester has gone and I haven’t gotten past reading chapter one. I’m just worrying, worrying, worrying and feeling like I’m so behind and failing. A common feeling is panic.

Does this mean that I’m anxious and insecure about something in real life? I wish I could figure that out so I can stamp out these dreams. I dislike waking up and feeling so unsettled.

(The funny thing is, even though I’m back in school, in my dream I’m always aware that I’m a mom. Sometimes the baby is there with me, and other kids are holding him for me in class. The baby shows up in a lot of my dreams now.)

2. I’m trying to get to London but it never works out.

This one doesn’t come up as often, but it’s just as annoying. The premise is that I’m on my way to London but, for various reasons, I never get there. Something usually goes wrong and I always wake up before I arrive. In real life, it’s been six years since I’ve been to England and I desperately want to go back. Is that why I keep dreaming about it? Do I just need to up and cross the pond to feel better?

Any dream doctors out there who can help me out? Or have you had recurring dreams yourself?