A Merry Christmas to All!

Jack's Xmas Music Toy from Brothersroot on Vimeo.

Put a Cork In It!

Jack's very first tooth poked its way through his gums this afternoon! Josh and I thought the occasion called for some champagne ~ Jack celebrated by chewing on the cork...

Sick babies are no fun!

Jack's cold took a real turn for the worse last night. His fever was up to 102.7 and he was wheezing a lot. So, this morning we took him in to see Dr. McGuinness. His blood oxygen level was pretty low, so the doctor gave him a bronchial dilator medication through a nebulizer right then (see last photo with gas mask). It seemed to help some, so we have to repeat the treatment at home every 4 hours until the coughing and wheezing stops. Ugh.

I have to say...it's been a lousy week so far!

You know someone's a good friend when...

...they offer to help you with your sick baby. A huge thank you Mandy, Chris, & Gwen for the offer of help and the 'get well' card & balloon.

Sick and Tired...

...as in, Jack's sick and I'm tired.

Care for a dip in the pool?

Caspian & Jack tore it up at the aquatic center today! The kiddie pool was a big hit, and as far as baby outings go it was a rousing success. So much so that Clarity & I are planning to make it a weekly event.

6 Months Old!

Oops, there's poop on your camera...

If anyone was thinking, "hmmmmm, I wonder what Josh and Stacey are up to today?" here's a little series of photos to keep you in the know.



It took us 45 minutes to get this one cleaned up. Afterwards, Jack got to take his first bath with his Daddy. And yes, I really did get poop on Josh's camera. Good times.

This isn't funny guys...

Jack Can Sit!

Look who can sit up all by himself! He topples over after about 15 seconds, but it's still pretty exciting.

Vegetables = Yucky

Spoiled at Gramma & Grandpa's House

Toys, toys, and more toys...
Grif loves to go to his grandparent's house too (here he's waiting for a piece of toast...with butter).

Jack LOVES his grandpa!

No More Bumbo

The Bumbo can no longer safely contain my "extraordinarily active" baby. Notice what he's reaching for. Can you guess why we have ear plugs? I'll give you a hint - it's *not* because Griffen has started barking all night. Josh's snoring would be a good guess - but it would be wrong. That's right - we're implementing the cruel and unusual "cry it out" strategy to help Jack learn to fall back to sleep when he wakes up at night. (Incidentally, these particular ear plugs have a noise reduction rating of 29 decibels, and they only succeed at dulling the noise of Jack's crying.) I'm not going to lie, it's horrible and heart-wrenching to listen to your baby scream and not run to comfort him. He's doing great though. Last night was the fourth night and he only woke up once, cried for exactly 4 minutes, and fell back to sleep. Hopefully he won't have any lasting emotional damage, but the truth is I NEED a full night's sleep in order to have the energy to be a good mommy all day long. So, hopefully Josh and I can stay strong, and Jack can stay asleep!

Places To Go, Things To Do...

Jack is doing a little early Christmas shopping from the Pottery Barn catalog. The photos came out a little blurry because HE NEVER STOPS MOVING. EVER.

He had a physical therapy appointment this morning.* His therapist was very impressed with his progress. The last time we were there he would start screaming the minute you put him on his belly, and now he lays there happily playing with toys for 15 minutes or more. He is also trying VERY hard to move. He actually pulls himself on his belly across the floor to get to a toy he wants (sometimes even giving himself "floor burns" on his belly from dragging it). Apparently, this is an unusual tactic. Most babies first master pushing up to their hands (he only pushes up to his forearms) and hang out in that position while looking around. Jack, however, doesn't "hang out." In fact, he hasn't remained in a stationary position during any waking moment since the day he was born (and actually well before that, as his exhausted mama can attest to). The therapist was enjoying his antics, and turned to me and said, "Wow, he is an extraordinarily active baby for his age." She was gracious enough to leave out the implied, "you're in deep s**t lady, you're going to have your hands so full, and you don't even realize it yet," but I heard it loud and clear.


*For those of you who I haven't talked to in a while, he was diagnosed with plagiocephaly (flat head) and torticollis (twisted neck - in his case, he only wants to look to the left). He has been doing physical therapy for the past month, and has made tremendous progress.

Sigrún Pétursdóttir

Sigrún came for a visit last weekend, and Jack was excited to see her (so were Josh and I, but we didn't giggle and bounce about it like he did). She is on a mission to teach him some Icelandic, or at the very least to make sure he can pronounce her name correctly. If she is successful, he will be the only one of her friends here in the states to do so.

Extra, Extra ~ Read All About It

Apparently Jack doesn't like his newsboy hat as much as I do. (Josh wants me to say that he is now a delivery boy for the 'Daily Crier').