9 months old!

On Monday Jack was officially 9 months old! So... that means bullet points!

• weight: 19 pounds
• length/height: 29 inches
• Jack is working on perfecting different words. It's cool to see him watch your mouth as you say words & try to imitate the movement/sound. Mama & Dada are still his favorites. He has also started saying 'hi' & we're trying to figure out if he means 'hi' when he says it because we recently taught him 'high five', which has confused the waving thing. So, for the past couple days he has been saying hi & raising his hand up like a wave - or high five. Who knows? He also repeated "Nana" today when I told him we were calling Nana on the phone. It was pretty cute. :)
• Jack is quite the mover. However, he does so by rolling, turning, and scooting - no crawling yet! I was cleaning his room the other day & he made his way all around the floor chasing different toys around. I was impressed (& reminded to vacuum). Today he made it across the middle of the living room until he was under the coffee table.
• We took Jack for his first swim! He loved it & enjoyed kicking & splashing the whole time.
• We are starting to add "real" food to his diet & he's not sure what to do with it. He likes playing with puffs until he loses them (usually they are stuck to one of his hands somewhere). We tried some tiny pieces of squash last night & after he rejected that, I decided to just give him a big piece of broccoli to play with. He immediately tried to feed it to Lucy. After that, anything we handed him, he would just hold out to Lucy. She was really good & didn't take any food out of his hand. Once it hit the floor, however...oh well, baby steps, right?
• We're having so much fun this summer!!! I love our little family!

One Hour

Disclaimer: These events transpired about a week ago, but I had to wait for it to become "funny" enough to me to post this...read with caution.

One hour.

One errand.

That's all. 11:00 I drop John at church to work. 11:02 Stuck on the street I despise most due to a combination of construction & a fender bender. 11:15 Arrive at my destination. Park the car. Run through the plan in my head: run in, get what I need, & get out. 11:16 - Take a deep breath. Jump out of the car, load baby in stroller & take off. 11:18 - Enter mall & realize I've parked at the wrong end, but it's ok because I'm on the lower level, which is where I want to be. 11:22 - Arrive at store. 11:23 - Baby begins whining. 11:24 - After a quick lap, can't find what I'm looking for. Baby begins to wail. 11:25 - Pick up baby. Push stroller with one hand. 11:26 - Silently cursing stroller & wondering how fix the alignment on such a contraption. 11:28 - The Smell. Dear Precious Lord in Heaven, the SMELL. (Yes, that was literally my prayer at that moment.) 11:28 - Time to find a bathroom to clean up my snotty, poopy, crying baby. 11:29 - Exit store. Realize bathrooms are upstairs. I must walk to the far end of the mall to get to the elevator (the very situation I attempted to avoid by parking where I did). 11:30- Off I go, poopy baby on my hip, pushing rickety stroller with the other hand. Deep breaths- but not too deep, because that will only cause me to gag on the poop smell coming from my precious angel. 11:32 - I reach the elevator. Baby stops crying to enjoy the ride up. Whew! (cough, gag) 11:33 - Exit elevator, sending a silent apology to whoever walks in next to that horrific smell... 11:34 - I freeze in my speed-walking tracks realizing the diaper bag is in the car. Downstairs. At the other end of the mall. 11:35 - Back to elevator. 11:38 - Last ditch effort to save this trip. I dash back into the store & try to grab the item I need. It's no use. Baby screams & begins wiping his snot all over my shirt to let me know he means business. 11:39 - I give up. Begin sprint to the car. 11:40 - Put baby back in stroller so I can move faster. Baby screams. 11:44 - I make it to the car avoiding eye contact with each & every gaping person on the way. 11:45 - Throw the purse in the passenger seat, stroller in the back, & realize my car is still full of assorted items from cleaning out my classroom. Decide I'll have to change baby in the driver's seat. 11:46 - Baby is still screaming as I put him in the seat to change him. He smacks his head on the seatbelt & screams louder. I try to comfort him. 11:47 - Many things happen at once: I tear info he poopy diaper and holy crap. So. Much. Poop. I begin attacking the poop with a fist full of wipes as baby screams, and thrashes like some sort of big game fish. I hear a little girl a few cars down start crying. She tells her mom, "I can hear that baby crying and it's making me sad."

Wait.

What's that sound?

11:49- A fountain of pee has sprung up to face level gushing all over me, my baby, the front seat....I grab a wipe in an attempt to control the flow. 11:50- I am chanting, "I will not cry. I will not cry. I will not cry." as I stuff half dressed, soaking wet, screaming baby into his carseat. 11:51 - Drive back to church trying not to scream at someone's precious grandmother who is driving...well, like a precious grandmother in front of me on the highway. Instead I try to comfort my tired, hungry, nasty baby. 11:52. Exit & bite my lip to keep from cursing as I sit and wait for a tractor?!?! to move out of the road. 11:55 - Pull into the church parking lot, park in the fire lane, and yank open the back door to find...

sleeping baby.

I laugh a small maniacal laugh at the irony before carefully picking up sleeping baby & carrying him into church. 11:56- I oooooh soooooo geeeeentllllllly place him on the changing table, but to no avail. I have awoken the beast. 11:58 - I attempt to remove pee soaked clothing from angry baby & turn to see half the church staff standing in the doorway, most likely there to see if I am pulling my baby's toes off one by one (if the crying is any indication). I freeze in mortification. 11:59 - Our sweet children's director asks The Question: "Are you ok?" 12:00 - Commence meltdown. Nate runs away. I manage to choke out through the sobs, " It's ok, later this will be funny."

Celebrating 9 Years!

On June1st we celebrated 9 years of marriage. It crazy how it feels like our wedding day was just yesterday, yet it also seems like we've been married forever - in a good way of course. ;o) To celebrate we decided to stay a night downtown while my mom kept Jack at our house. It was a whopping 24 hours away from babykins! As we walked out the door, my mom asked what our plan was. Our reply: We don't know!

We ended up doing some shopping, eating lunch, & seeing a movie. Then we found our hotel, walked around downtown, ate dinner, went on a carriage ride (like we did on our wedding day:), ate dessert while watching an outdoor movie, & headed back to the hotel. I think part of the greatness of the day was not having a plan - just making it up as we went, with no schedule. I was reminded how much I love my husband is & how much fun we have together just hanging out talking.

I love you, John & I thank God for you every day!

The Latest

Jack is so much fun! I know I say that a lot, but it's true. Everyday it seems there is a new development, & he is learning new things so quickly. As always...time for bullet points.

• He's working on getting mobile - lots of rolling, scooting, turning, pulling, pushing, kicking, bouncing - anything he can do to move around. I think he's going to figure out this crawling thing pretty soon, so it's a good thing I'm about to be out of school for the summer. We've got a lot of baby-proofing to do!
• He loves his voice. Jack's current favorites are dadadadadadada, mamamamama, and babababababa. There are also assorted screams & whining sounds that he is more than happy to produce at any time.
• He seems to know dada (or daya) is John. I can ask, "Where's Daddy?" and he will look around until he sees John & give him a huge smile.
• I think he knows I'm mama too. :)
• We're working on signs with him too & he seems to know 'all done'. It's still hard to tell, but he seems to be doing it pretty consistently when he gets tired of playing, or is ready for a new activity.
• He loves bouncing & rocking. I sat him on the rocking ottoman in front of me one day & he immediately started rocking back & forth & laughing. He was very proud of himself & got tired of mommy holding on to him so he wouldn't fly off the thing...sorry kid!
• He is 'learning' to drop & throw toys. He will throw a ball back & forth with you for as long as you will play.
• He loves tags. Who cares about the toy!
• He loves to hug & kiss me, or maul me/try to eat my hair depending on how excited he is.
• Like I said, it seems like there's something new everyday, I've gotta write stuff down more often!

Last night he tried to share his pacifier with me. It was pretty funny because I couldn't figure out what he was doing at first. He kept putting it in his mouth, then trying to put it in my mouth. Then he would laugh hysterically. I'm loving his little sense of humor which is showing more and more.

That's it for now! 8 more days 'til summer! Woo hoo!!

Jack Attack!

Spring is Here!

8 months old!

In 5 days Jack will be 8 months old! Time is flying by & he is changing so fast. Sooooo, here are some more bullets for your reading pleasure:

• Jack is still a super happy boy & he loves to laugh & smile at people.
• Jack has added peas, bananas, & prunes to the list of foods he eats. Green beans are up next!
• Jack can also use a sippy cup & seemed to know exactly what to do the first time I handed him the thing. We've put mostly water with a little bit of pear or apple juice in there for him.
• If you've talked to us lately, you've probably been involved in some sort of poop related conversation. Hence the newest food additions and fruit juice...gotta love parenthood.
• Jacks favorite sound: mmmmmmm ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma
• spit bubbles & splaty sounds are still a favorite.
• Big development in the last month is that Jack sits up on his own now for extended periods of time. He is so cute! He is also gaining control so he can reach for toys & stuff without falling over every time. This also means he can use a high chair if we're at a restaurant & sit in the basket while we're shopping - such a big boy!
• Tummy time is getting more & more productive. Jack does lots of baby push-ups, attempts to pull himself forward with his arms to reach toys, and now he's managing to pull his knees up under him on occasion. You can tell he's making progress toward becoming mobile, but he's not quite there yet...
• He has a hilarious new laugh he uses when he's being silly. It's kind of sheep-like or something...I'll have to get a video of it.
• Jack is so fun to play with! He likes throwing/rolling a ball back & forth.
• He enjoys being up-side-down. I guess it's a new perspective for him...
• He LOVES playing peek-a-boo. I don't know if he got this one from my mom, but if not, he just started doing it. Any time he has a blanket, clothing article, or anything he can cover his face with, he will play peek-a-boo.
• He is a LOT more interactive when you play & I think he is starting to show a sense of humor (as mentioned with the silly laugh).
• I'm still trying to figure out if he has been 'kissing' me lately. Today I realized when I kiss his cheek, he puts his slobbery wide-open mouth on my face in return. It's become a game and we both laugh hysterically...like, in the middle of Red Robin. (sorry to the rest of the people at our table!) Well, we had fun.

That's it for now! I'll try to post some pics soon...