Lunch with Nana

Jack shows off his new trick for his Nana ~ he can turn a perfectly good cookie (teething biscuit) into a mushy mess in no time flat.

Thank you to Kathleen for coming up to B'ham to hang out with the little bug & taking us all out to lunch.

Little Pumpkin

Jack was (what else?) a "Jack-o-lantern" for Halloween. We dressed him up in his little furry pumpkin suit (which he wasn't very excited about) and walked up the street to the neighborhood pre-trick-or-treat party. He fell asleep in his Daddy's arms after less than 5 minutes, and slept through trick-or-treating (which consisted of knocking on the doors of four of our neighbors, two of whom weren't home). Happy 1st Halloween, Jack!

(Doesn't he remind you of the boy from "The Christmas Story" in his horrible little bunny suit?)

Horses

Jack met Beth & Cassidy's horses the other day. He seemed to think they were pretty interesting. Plus, the babies look really cute all snugged in under our shirts. Just wait until he gets to go for his first ride...I bet he'll think that's pretty exciting!

Pumpkin Patch

Jack went to the pumpkin patch with his Great-Gramma Vera, Gramma, Grandpa, and Auntie Lee last weekend. He liked feeling the pumpkins & of course wanted to get his mouth on all of them (we didn't let him). It was a beautiful day and everyone had lots of fun.





Jack got a Halloween card from Gramma Vera, and he liked it so much he tried to eat the envelope...

Naptime with Daddy

No time to write...I'm going to go join the family nap!

Guess who found his feet?

Jack can't believe that such wonderful toys have been hiding for so long just out of reach. Ever since he discovered them the other day he plays with them at every opportunity. He even managed to get his toes into his mouth a couple of times.

Aunt Alicia came over to visit today, but Jack thought she was boring so he fell sound asleep.

Rice cereal is yummy!

Jack ate his first solid food on Thursday. He is still trying to figure out the mechanics of getting the cereal into his mouth and swallowing without his tongue getting in the way. I think it was a good first attempt though.

Jack's first solid food.

Choo Choo, Woo Woo!

Jack fits in his conductor overalls now. That last photo is his excited face - in this case elicited because his daddy was shaking the crib mattress to make "earthquakes".

Tummy Time

Jack HATES tummy time. He hates it slightly less now that he has his new tummy time activity mat. He finds the baby in the mirror to be alternately fascinating, hilarious, and terrifying. Hey, come to think of it, that's a little how I feel about him too...

Big boys sit in Bumbos

The Bumbo Baby Sitter is this clever little baby seat made out of a squooshy foam material. It has a soft rounded seat, cut-outs for little legs & a tray that attaches to the front for feeding (once he graduates to solids). Our friends Chad & Beth recommended the Bumbo, as their daughter Cassidy loves hers. Today was the first day that Jack seemed interested in sitting in his chair (for more than 30 seconds) - and with his new improved head control, I didn't have to help him to stay upright (although I still used a pillow behind his head for my peace of mind). He seemed to think that the new view of the world was quite interesting, and was content to sit there and play with his toys for quite a while.

Reading Hurts!

It's hard (impossible) to see in this photo, but there are cuts on his fingers.
A few days ago, Jack started reaching for the pages as I was reading his books to him. I teased that he was trying to turn the pages...but the more I watched him, the more it seemed like he actually was. So, I let him try, and sure enough he turned the page. I have to hold it out a little at the corner so that he can get a good grip, but he takes hold of it and turns it (about 80% of the time anyway). I thought it was so neat that he was enjoying his books so much, that I read to him tons that day... The next morning when I looked at his little fingers I discovered six little paper cuts. Ouch! I felt really bad that I hadn't noticed he was cutting himself while we were reading. So, at least until the cuts have healed, I'm turning the pages of the paper books, and letting him turn the pages of the board books. His favorites so far are "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and "Are You My Mother?" Anything with big, colorful pictures - especially red. He LOVES the butterfly picture at the end of the caterpillar book, and the Snort (bulldozer) in "Are You My Mother?".

Incidentally, I'm wearing a band-aid in this picture because I have a paper cut also... I was trying to read one of my cooking magazines while holding Jack. He managed to kick his feet in just such a way as to grate the edge of the page against my finger. He certainly has busy little feet.

Bathing Beauty

Jack has graduated to sink baths. He seems okay with the whole thing...but just okay. He doesn't fuss, but doesn't seem overjoyed by the process either. I try to make it fun, but he seems less than amused by my antics, and is always eager to get out. It takes a while afterwards to get him dry and warm and happy again, so I am fairly lazy about his bathing schedule. He gets a full bath only once a week (or more if he really needs it - I will leave a detailed description of what that means to your imaginations).

Cutie in Booties

A huge thank you to the lovely & talented Emily (recent graduate of WWU's Woodring College of Education, soon to be elementary school teacher, good friend, and knitter of badass booties...who knew?) for Jack's newest footwear (see above)! Thank goodness, because he had just grown out of his previous pair of booties that our friend Kerri (another amazing person - marine biologist, loving mother to Bella, and one of the nicest people I know) had made for him while he was still swimming around in my tummy. How do these ladies find the time to knit? Amazing I tell you.

Kerri with Jack at 3 days old - sporting her handmade booties (the only thing that fit his tiny little feet for the first month and a half).

Emily with Jack - 2 months old.

Long Day

Jack is a busy little baby, and by the end of the day he is usually ready for a good long nap.

iBaby

Jack's Feet

Jack's feet smell like...well, like feet. Stinky feet to be more precise. The rest of him smells like a sweet little baby (with the occasional exception of his back end) but those cute little tootsies smell like ten-day old gym socks.
They are also ticklish. He didn't used to react in the slightest to our tickling attempts, but today he started to twitch his feet away as Josh would tickle them. It was pretty funny.

It's been a rough day.

That's right, my baby is sleeping on his head. What's it to ya?
Jack was screaming at us mercilessly this afternoon. We were at a bit of a loss as to what to do. He had been fed, burped, changed, rocked, held, given Gripe Water - all to no avail. Hip-hop music worked for a while, but only when combined with Josh dancing with him, and sadly Josh had to get back to work. So, I strapped him into his carseat to take him for a drive. He could imagine nothing worse, and let his opinion be known...loudly. So, while I was trying frantically to collect my purse and keys and get out the door, I left him with Josh. When I came back mere moments later, Jack was sound asleep...in the position you see him here. I'm not sure how his car seat ended up in this position, or why Josh saw fit to tip him on his head, and to be honest I don't really care. It made him not only stop crying, but fall asleep (for a few minutes anyway).

Jack is sporting this season's hottest design in diaper covers...

Now that Jack weighs in at a whopping 11 pounds, he is finally big enough to wear cloth diapers. I know, I know...back in the days before disposables, babies wore cloth diapers from the time they were newborns...but back then there was no other choice. When Jack came home from the hospital, I tried to put a cloth diaper on him and it was just ridiculously huge. I could have diapered him from head to toe with room to spare. So, I decided to wait a while for him to grow into them. For his part, Jack seemed unfazed by the change. He promptly peed in his new diaper (with no leaks, I was pleased to discover). The diaper cover is a bit stiff, and it seems to make it harder for him to move his legs, so perhaps we'll try another brand. Overall though, I would say that it was a successful first foray into the world of cloth diapering.

2 Months (and still going strong...)

I have been pumping more successfully lately, so Josh is now able to give Jack a bottle every day. It's so sweet to watch him feed the little man. Look how he stares up at his daddy while he eats. I love it.

He had his 2 month checkup yesterday with Dr. McGuinness. He weighed in at exactly 11 pounds, and is now 22 1/2 inches long (his birth weight was 7 lbs. 7 oz. and his length was 19 1/9), so he has been busy growing. Based on oodles of statistical data, the doc was able to predict Jack's adult height with 90% certainty to within +/- 2". Any guesses? It was taller than I expected based on his parents' rather puny statures (but still not exactly what you would think of as tall).

Apparently, he has positional plagiocephaly of the right occipital (which is an unnecessarily frightening term for flattened head). Luckily, it hasn't caused any migration of the right ear, which frankly sounds a little scary to me, but he does have a big flat spot. We're supposed to try to convince him to sleep with his head turned to the left (yeah right).

He did great at the doctor's office, bestowing his big goofy grin on passersby in the hallway, the receptionist, the nurse, and his doctor. He laid on the table looking around the room and cooing for most of the visit. He was in such a rare good mood that I was really wishing we didn't have to ruin it by giving him his shots...but such is life. He got four immunizations - one orally and three as shots. The oral vaccine was for Rotavirus. The first shot was a combined Diptheria, Tetanus, Pertussis (Whooping Cough) vaccine (DPT) as well as Hepatitis B. The second was for Pneumococcus, and the third was for Hemophilus Influenza (HIB). He didn't care much for the shots. That's all I'm going to say about that.

The doctor warned me that he might run a slight fever and feel achy for the next 24 hours or so after getting his vaccines. He suggested that I give him infant Tylenol as soon as we got home, and every 4 hours if he continued to act like he didn't feel well. He slept most of yesterday, and is still pretty sleepy this morning. I gave him another dose of Tylenol already today because when he woke up he laid in his bed quietly fussing and crying big crocodile tears. So sad. He also feels a little warm, but nothing too serious. He bled when he got his shots, and got little tiny Snoopy band-aids to cover up his battle scars. He still has little lumps where the needles went in (two on one thigh and one on the other). Poor little bug. I wish I could have just gotten the shots for him.

*Update* I was just reading through the handout that the doctor gave me to take home. It includes a section on nutrition, behavior, and safety - what you can expect at this age. In the safety section, it says, "Do not leave your baby unattended on a bed or changing table or with your siblings or pets." So, I guess my sister won't be babysitting anymore. Good thing they warned me - I had no idea that it was so dangerous.

Happy Birthday to Me

Jack put on his spiffiest outfit for my birthday dinner.
Last Thursday was my 30th birthday! My sister came up for the day to help take care of Jack so that I could get a few things done. I cleaned up the house, made a dinner plan (my parents were coming up for dinner to celebrate with us), and was feeling so on top of things by noon that I decided to go to the gym and incapacitate myself for the next three days. I guess I like to make things hard on myself.

I started exercising again in earnest after my 6 week postpartum checkup, which is when the doctor makes sure everything is all healed up and gives you the go-ahead to resume all normal activity. I am anxious to get back into shape, and it's nice to get out of the house and do something for myself every day. So, on my birthday I decided to try a new class. It sounded a little intimidating - it was one of those group weight training classes - but I was feeling brave. By the end of the hour, my muscles felt like jello, and I could barely walk up the stairs. I knew I was in trouble. The next morning I could barely walk. Oh well. Nothing a few days and some rest won't cure. Unfortunately, I don't have time for much rest these days... At any rate, I'm going back to the class this Thursday, I'm just going to try to take it a little easier. If I'm going to run around after a mini-Josh all day, I'm going to have to be strong!