My parents left today for a week in Jamaica. I am completely on my own with the little guy until the weekend. I don’t really think about how much my parents entertain us until they decide to leave – I’ve got to come up with some activities on my own. Today will be the library. Hopefully Jack will like it (and cooperate) so I can get some research about Strategic Planning done. I don’t really know the difference between a Strategic Plan and a Business Plan, and I have to write both for the same company so I need to do some homework first.

Here are two pictures from last week. The first is Jack in his big boy clothes at Rula Bula with my mom:



And this one is Joe and Jack hanging out:



Parley asked why I had to mention the annoying guys were gay (actually he kind-of got in a tizzy about it really). If they were black, he inquired, would I have felt it necessary to point that out to everyone? Of course not. I think the fact that they were gay and on a date made the story more interesting, and gave the audience a more accurate picture of what they were doing. If I just said it was two guys, you would not have fully understood the dynamic between them and why they were sitting sitting sitting.

The Iraqi elections are complete. I think it’s sad that people are so uninterested. There was a good article in the NY Times Magazine yesterday about how some people are hoping they fail because that will mean Bush failed. I know Bush is a moron and has not led this country well, but to try and harm others because you want him to be a failure is just juvenile and wrong.

Ok, we’re off to nap in the crib and hopefully have a shower. (Jack is doing the first, I am doing the second.)

Dear Old Gay Men Sitting in the Window at La Grande Orange Pizzeria and Refusing to Leave:

You may think it’s cute to sit for one hour after your check has arrived. You may enjoy watching people in the waiting area continue to wait. You may like looking at your reflection in the mirror and admiring your outdated cream colored turtleneck and blazer. But I have this to say to you. Get the heck out of your chair and give me your table.

Love, Brooke

Joe and I had the rare opportunity to go on a date last night. We were supposed to be at some weird art show in Scottsdale, but it was not our thing so we left. Our babysitters were happily at home with the little guy, so we decided to go out to dinner. We arrived at La Grande Orange around 8:30 and they said the wait would be about 20 minutes. We saw the gays in question sitting in the window, plates cleared, check presented so we thought that was a good guess. We sat. We waited. The NEVER got up.

Finally a table of four got up and left, but it was almost an hour later.

The hostess felt so bad she gave us a free dessert.

So for all you guys out there who read this (and I know there are a lot of you sneaking over from Parley’s blog), ask around and see if any of your friends were on a date last night and refusing to give up their table, please tell them how rude they are, and how they almost ruined our night.

Here is the little guy with his grandparents last night:

Tom hangs out on the couch with Jack and Lucca

Jack looking cute in his car seat.

Jack sitting in the swing, looking a little confused.

and then he noticed the bears!

When we got home the little guy was fighting off sleep, but we finally got him down and resting. I tried the dream feeding thing again at midnight and it worked like a charm. He slept until 4:45 – that means I got 4 ½ hours of uninterrupted sleep. I’m liking the trend, I hope he keeps it up.

Two nights ago was a disaster with our attempt to sleep feed the baby. He woke up completely and stared at the two of us like we were insane, then we had to wait for him to go back to sleep.

But last night was a different story. I got up at midnight, lifted him gently from the crib, he ate without waking, and I set him back down. Then he proceeded to sleep for four more hours. Absolute bliss. Let's see if we can increase that a little and I'll be like a real girl again.

We had a bath yesterday, and his "hair" is getting long enough to have some suds:

Then he looked right at the camera and at me:

Afterwards he spent some time kicking his bee toy and wearing his cool new outfit:

Last night Jack hung out with my parents while we attended a wine tasting. Tonight he's with Joe's parents so we can go to some art opening. It's nice to get out and do some adult things after spending all week hanging out with the little guy. Not that watching him kick the bee isn't exciting or anything, but I do like to get out of the house!

When Jack is 25 and in therapy because I screwed him up so badly as an individual he cannot function in normal life, this picture will be further evidence of my failure.

Yes, it just looks like a baby sleeping, but it’s oh so much more than that. After two failed nap attempts yesterday afternoon, and a few hours of walking around the house with a crying baby and trying to figure out what in the name of all that is holy was wrong with the kid, I broke down and put him in his favorite napping place, the car seat. (The worst thing, as my mother can verify, is that the child only likes to be held upright, with his little mouth right next to my fragile ear.)

I still do not know what was wrong with him. But I was so distraught yesterday afternoon the only thing that mattered to me was that the child go to sleep. I even locked the dogs out of the house for a while because I couldn’t handle all three of them. Oh, and I gave him more Tylenol just in case that bruise on his leg from the shots was still hurting.

To compound matters, Guido has been drooling. He is not a drooling type of dog, so this new development was rather alarming. When you do a quick search around online about newly-drooling dogs, you realize the animal will have to go to the vet. Of course I can’t take him to the vet, so Joe has to come home at 6:30 to do so. I can think of about 12.5 million things I would rather Joe do if he is going to come home at 6:30 from work.

Turns out Guido has an ear infection, or maybe something wrong with his teeth, or maybe an upset stomach. So we have a drawer full of medication to give him for all possible ailments and hopefully the drooling will cease.

Jack continued to be a little fussy yesterday – just in the sense that he needed to be held a lot and was acting like his legs were hurting him. His grandma came over and held him for a while, which seemed to help him immensely. (She also did some laundry and dishes, helping his mother immensely.)

By the evening he was doing great so I took him to knitting with me. He is here holding his toy rabbit from my friend Meghan – he loves this little rabbit. He was awake most of the time but when I got the camera out he was fake sleeping (or playing possum as my friend Julie says.)

His sleeping schedule is going fine – he doesn't really protest taking naps at all and he's getting up every three hours at night. Although last night he woke up in between because he had wedged himself into the corner of the crib so I had to get up to calm him down. I think he was confused as to how he had arrived in such a strange position. All I need now is for him to decide to sleep through the night! I tried the sleep feeding him – he had eaten a little after 8 and when I went to bed at 11 I went in and fed him. He woke up of course, but it did keep him down for 3 more hours.

Before we left for the doctor yesterday, I dressed Jack up in his Notre Dame clothes that Joe bought him. I think, judging from the first picture, that Jack would prefer to go to Harvard.

Here he is sporting the more traditional Notre Dame look:

According to our doctor, only 4% of babies have a reaction to the shots at the two month checkup when they are administered separately (They can mix some of them together into one needle apparently.) I believed him, so I agreed to have four shots instead of two (there were supposed to be five, but one of them was not available, so we have to get it next visit.) Of course Jack, being the overachiever that he is, had to be in that 4% group.

He seemed fine at first – he came home, took his afternoon nap. I even got to lie down for a few minutes. Then he woke up screaming. He doesn't like to wake up, so this wasn't that abnormal. I fed him, he calmed down a bit and fell asleep on the couch next to me. Normally I wouldn't let him sleep too much but I know the shots can make babies tired.

Then he woke up and the screaming really began in earnest. He didn't have a fever, but he was clearly uncomfortable in some way. When our eyes would meet he was looking at me like he couldn't believe I wasn't doing anything to help him. I finally managed to get some Tylenol down him and that seemed to help a little. He would scream a while and then collapse in exhaustion, only to wake up and start it all over again.

During one lull in the storm, he fell asleep on the couch and the beagle snuggled up next to him through the blanket. Both dogs were quite alarmed by the noises coming out of small Jack - they both looked worried about him.

Fortunately he's much better today. He had a pretty good night and woke up happy. But has a little bruise on his leg and a small bump, and he's a little bit clingy. Luckily his grandmother is coming over today to comfort him. She's leaving this weekend and will be gone for a very long time (okay, only a week), so she's trying to get as much seeing Jack time as possible.

One more thing the doctor told us. Jack weighs 13 pounds 5 ounces! He's in the 75th percentile for weight. He's 23 ½ inches long, which is the 51st percentile for height. So he's definitely getting enough to eat from me.

My brother made a good point about yesterday's post – I forgot to mention the one really crucial thing Joe does, and that is financing the family. I do feel monumentally lucky that I can stay home with the little guy.

His other big job will come into play this afternoon when we visit the doctor for Jack's 2 month checkup. He will be getting 3 shots, and Joe will be holding him because I don't think I can stand it. Jack is not nervous about the appointment, here he is this morning in our bed – he's not supposed to be napping but the milk coma overcame him and he fell asleep.

Yesterday we went to visit my parents. My dad was surprised by how much he "talks". I hadn't really thought about it because I'm with him all the time, but he is making a lot of noise these days. If you sit him on your lap and talk back he gets very happy. So far he hasn't laughed again, but I can tell he's getting very close. I think the first time was a fluke.

The sleeping experiment is going well. Last night we tried to keep him awake until 8 so he would adjust when he got up in the morning, and it worked. Last night was the first time he didn't wake up in between eating. I'm starting to feel a little more normal now that I'm getting more sleep.

In our house it helps to have a sane and rational individual to consult when raising this baby. I know a lot of people trade off the night feeding and changing, but to me that would just make us both sleep deprived and crazy. So Joe sleeps and I rely on him for other more important tasks. Some of them are as follows:

1. Go in the baby's room and tell me if it's too hot.
2. Get up at six when I have been up every hour with the little guy and can't figure out what is wrong. (this was yesterday, not today. I collapsed in a heap while he took over the baby.)
3. Wash the pacifiers that fall on the ground constantly.
4. Feed the dogs
5. Keep the dogs from being sent to the pound, where I would have sent them two days ago when they woke Jack up and he screamed for 30 minutes.
6. Hold the baby while he gets shots. (This will be tomorrow, and I'm not looking forward to it.)

These are just some of the things he does to make my life easier. There are millions more. But the key is keeping him rested and well so we aren't both a complete mess. I didn't realize this huge importance until he got sick last week – it's taken us a week to get things back to normal!

Jack spent the day at Grandma and Grandpa Adams house yesterday.



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He's usually not this smiley at home when I put him in the crib!

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And even in his sleep, he's still smiling!

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Jack's newest feature is sticking his entire fist in his mouth.

All in all he had a great day with his grandparents, and I think they had fun with him too. When they dropped him off, Tom said "He's a little high maintenance!" I have to agree - he does take up a lot of time and energy, which is why it's so great I have places to drop him off for a bit of a rest!

Today we're going up to visit my mom, and maybe I'll sneak in a nap there too!

At lunch the other day I asked Julie how she is bathing Mac. I've been using the sink (as you've probably seen) and it's awkward and somewhat difficult. She recommended this little tub that only cost $16 and has a hammock for the baby to lie in while he's getting washed. I ran right out to Babies R Us and got the tub. It was the best $16 I've ever spent. Not only was he more comfortable, it was much easier to get in between all the little folds of fat around his neck and legs. Today he is a very clean baby.






As you can see, I've figured out how to do more than one picture in a post. I'm still working on how to get things placed where I want them, but so far it's working well. I'm off to the movies this afternoon! I'm so excited I can't stand it. We're seeing The Life Aquatic - I don't know much about it but it's playing at the Esplanade and the timing worked out.

People will ask me all the time "Is he a good baby?" I always say yes, and I know I'm lucky to have such a well-behaved infant. I can almost always take him places and he just hangs out and looks around.

But what if I said no? Does that imply he is bad? Or are other words better? Like challenging, discerning, insomnia-prone? Because although Jack is very well-behaved, he also doesn't sleep a whole heck of a lot.

The other funny thing as us all the time – "Is this your first?" Today at breakfast someone asked us that and Joe said (later, not to their faces) No, the others are at home, locked in the closet.

If anyone knows about using Flickr and Blogger together please help me – how do I put more than one picture in a post?

Tomorrow Jack is going to spend some time with his grandparents and I'm going to see a movie. It's a great situation – they really want to see the guy and I really want a little bit of time off. Gotta love local grandparents.

Last night I started worrying about the little guy. His eyes looked kind-of bleary and he was acting weird. Turns out he was just really really tired. I guess all the monkeying around with his sleeping schedule finally got the best of him and he crashed. He slept pretty well, although something is still waking him up in the night. He doesn't cry or want to eat, he just kind-of fusses around a little and goes back to sleep.

So I have a new theory about motherhood. You spend nine months (sometimes longer for those of you who plan this better) completely wrapping your life around this little person. They arrive and you continue the process. Every bit of energy is devoted to your baby and his well being. Then comes the day when he should sleep in his own room. This should be a day for celebration, you have a small bit of your own life back. But it doesn't feel that way. You feel separated from your little being. You feel abandoned. You feel a little less needed.

And so my theory is that a child will begin his life attached to his mother, and progressively try to step farther and farther away from her. This process is never going to end, is it? I mean, someday he'll go to preschool, and then kindergarten, and then he'll be talking on the phone and sending email and becoming (gasp!) his OWN person.

This process of sending the child to his own room (where, frankly, we all sleep better) has been far more difficult on me than it has on him. And I fear that pattern will continue for the rest of my life.

I really had no idea what I was signing on for.

So here he is, happily sleeping in his crib for his afternoon nap:



And a few shots from our lunch out with Julie and Mac. (Just so you know, the baby in green is Mac.) I was relieved to learn that Julie hasn't been putting Mac down for naps either, it's not just me. This is something that isn't in the books anywhere, I checked.







And for those of you who are really in this for the pictures, allow me to direct to you Flickr. http://flickr.com/photos/howisjack/ I'm in the process of loading his pictures since birth. He's only 8 weeks old, but already the pictures are out of control – so many I can't keep track. The great thing about Flickr is the tag feature – if you click on "Her Tags" on the right hand side you can see how I'm organizing these. So if you want to see all the bath pictures, just click on bath and there they are. Pretty cool.

So apparently you are supposed to create a napping schedule and put the kid in the crib to nap, not in the living room in his bouncy seat. Who knew? So here is Jack attempting his first nap in the crib:



Do you see how unconvinced he is? He did manage to fall asleep a little, but it was the pseudo-sleep where his pacifier is still moving every minute or two. We're going to try it again today and see what he thinks.

We also tried out a new way to sit in the sling, which seems to make him happier – I don't think he liked being all covered up. This way he can see what is going on around him. Not that it's very exciting to watch me do laundry and knit, but still.



The sleeping saga continues. Both Anne and my mom suggested it might be time for Jack to sleep in his own room. Of course I thought you didn't do that until 3 months, but what the heck do I know? So off to his room he went. I had the baby monitor for the first half of the night (I know you told me not to Anne, but it was too hard for me to not be able to hear him.) But after he ate the first time the batteries died. Since the smart people who invented the monitor made it necessary to get a screwdriver out to change the batteries, I decided to go the rest of the night without it.

And the boy slept. Not great, not five hours at a time, but he slept. I got up at 12:30, 2:30 and 5:30 – not too bad comparatively. Tonight we're hoping for a little longer since hopefully he'll be used to the bed a little more. So now I'm just normal sleep deprived, not the zombie-type sleep deprived I was yesterday and the day before. We're going to try a nap after he eats between 8 and 8:30.

Our friend Nick is coming back next week! He's never met Jack, but Lucca sure misses him. He's one of the only people who really likes Lucca – picks her up and everything. (It's so sad how unpopular she is. I really feel sorry for her sometimes because she can be quite a sweet dog.) We have a sneaking suspicion that he's been reading this blog and not leaving his footprints, but we could be wrong.

Today shouldn't be too stressful – lunch with my mom and maybe Julie. Nothing planned for tonight other than trying out the crib again. Wish us luck!

This is a sticker on my stroller, apparently designed to inform the wayward parent as to which way the baby is supposed to face. But is it really a warning? I'm wondering if it's some type of language confusion (the stroller is Dutch) or if they are really worried the parents will put the head in the wrong place.

But then again, I wish this entire parenting thing came with a good set of instructions. Right now I'm working on the bedtime ritual – they say if you set it up early enough the child won't have as much trouble going to sleep. Of course it has to be complicated – getting the child to relax and understand it's time for bed, and making sure they are sleepy but NOT asleep when you put them in the bassinet.

As it stands, Jack's bedtime ritual is going to invoke memories of his parents endlessly debating his sleeping costume along with his father making helpful suggestions like "I know, let's just cut off the feet." (The outfit's feet, not the baby's.) and saying things to Jack like "You don't look relaxed. Don't you hear the Enya?" (Part of our new ritual involves playing music in his room before bed.) Of course he's not relaxed, because his mother is too busy laughing hysterically at his father pawing through the dresser trying to find something suitable for him to wear. I even had to set down my wine. (Yes, I'm drinking wine and breastfeeding. The La Leche women said it was okay and I believe them.)

The other day I was talking to my Sister in Law Anne (who is the Supreme Goddess of Mothers at this point – she has three kids, the youngest is six, and she's lived to tell about it.) She reads my blog (Hi Anne!) and said I didn't need to worry about the baby acne, that it would go away and it wasn't food allergies. But she didn't want to comment because it would sound like she was telling me what to do.

Let's clarify here for a minute. I DON'T HAVE A CLUE WHAT I'M DOING. There, I said it. If anyone out there has suggestions or input, I would love to hear it. I have parachuted into enemy territory without a map and I don't speak the language.

So here is Jack in the outfit that spawned Joe to wonder aloud about hacking off the feet and making baby pajama cutoffs.



Needless to say I did not take his suggestion and Jack slept in a different outfit.

So the question of the day is, What Makes Jack Wake up Every Hour on the Hour? He's not hot or cold or hungry or wet. What else could it be? Last night he was up at one, two, three, four, five, six and now seven. I'm going back to bed.

In other news, Julie's baby finally has a blog. It can be found by clicking here. You just have to check it out – the picture of Mack lying on a Hippo is priceless.

Jack's slow weekend ended with a huge day out with Grandma Adams and her family. Here he is at lunch at Mondo's:



And sitting with Gloria in a rocking chair:



and making a cute face over her shoulder:



Please notice the normal boy clothes. He now fits into some regular outfits so he doesn't have to wear pajamas all the time. Of course he came home in pajamas, because one outfit for the entire day just doesn't work for my little fashion king.

By the time he got home he was pretty tired. He was away for 8 hours! That was a long stretch of time to be away from him, but I think it's good for him to spend time with the family.

I got to knit yesterday with my friends and I had a massage at Red Door. It was the kind with the hot stones and it was amazing. I felt like all the tension just melted out of me and I don't feel sore today like I sometimes do after a massage.

My nap didn't materialize thanks to the teenagers at the MLK day parade. Apparently they decided to get cute and start a bunch of street fights with one another, prompting the news helicopters to park themselves over the corner of Central and McDowell. It sounded like a war zone down here for about an hour and a half. Thus, no nap.

But all in all it was a great day. I missed the little guy a ton but I got to hang out by myself (something I haven't done in over 2 months) and I relaxed quite a bit. I should have cleaned up the house and done some laundry, but I didn't.

Jack’s weekend was extremely low key due to some unexpected household incidents. First, Joe got monumentally sick from some treats our maids brought over Friday. He was up the entire night and verging on death by Saturday morning. An interesting piece of information – if you ever get food poisoning, one thing that helps is Dramamine. I never would have thought that, but Joe found it on the internet right after I threatened to take him to the ER.

Then I started either getting a cold or having my allergies act up. My nose has been running all weekend and I’m sneezing a lot.

Yesterday things were getting back to normal a tiny bit. We went grocery shopping and out for lunch, and decided Jack needed to look like a real boy:



He quite enjoyed his trip out and our discussion with the crazy herb lady at Sprouts regarding infant colic. Later in the day it was time for his weekly bath. Usually I take pictures because he’s always making funny faces. Not so much this time, he seems bored with it all in this picture:



Today is a mini vacation for me. Gloria is coming to get the little man and take care of him for the day. I am going to knit with my friends in Chandler and then have a massage at Elizabeth Arden. Gloria got me a gift certificate for Christmas for a Desert Hot Stone Massage and I’m really looking forward to it. I hope it doesn’t make me a bad mother, but I’m totally excited to spend the day alone. I can run in to the grocery store, get my car washed, take a nap! And I know he will be having fun visiting with his grandparents, great grandparents and great aunts.

Joe has done 3 depositions in the past week or so, and he’s pretty exhausted when they are over. Last night he was hanging out with the little man who was fighting sleep like a trooper (he hates to fall asleep, I don’t know why), and both of them finally succumbed.



Today I go back to the doctor – Jack is going with me which will be quite an ordeal. He’s getting very heavy these days. Hopefully the appointment will go quickly and we can get back home to rest. I am not feeling so great – almost like I’m getting a cold or something, so I’m going to take it easy today.

We don’t really have many plans for the weekend. I have a baby shower tomorrow but other than that we’re not really doing anything.

This morning the plan was to get up and drive to North Scottsdale to drop off the kid and go to yoga. There is a studio near my mom’s house, and she was going to watch him while I went. But when I arrived I was so tired she suggested maybe I should lie down first and go to later yoga. Good plan. Thank goodness I brought her some milk to give him, because I passed out cold for 2 hours. I woke up at 11:30 and felt better than any yoga class could have done. So we went out to lunch and came home – so much for exercise today. Sleep is the new yoga.

My mom enjoyed hanging out with the little man. She set up a place for him on her sewing room floor (where she spends 98% of her day)



He seemed to like it – he slept, he played, he “exercised”. Fun was had by all, especially me.

I have to clean the house now and then spend the rest of the day knitting – I have a deadline I’m trying to meet and it’s looking less and less likely.

Tomorrow I go back to the doctor and then I’m done for an entire year! I won’t know what to do with myself, I’m so used to going all the time. Of course now Jack has to go, which is significantly worse. His next visit he gets 3 shots. I’m making Joe go with me because I don’t think I can handle it.

I think Jack had too many outings yesterday. First lunch with my dad at Zoe’s Kitchen. Then Fiber Factory (where the women marveled at how good he is and how cute he is.) Then home for a bit and off to a Jr. League committee meeting, where again he behaved beautifully. On the way home, however, he let me know his displeasure with the whole thing by screaming. I had to stop for gas as well, and he did not approve. Of course when we got home he was all coos and smiles for his dad.

As I was getting him ready for our trips, he was looking right at me so I snapped a picture:



It is very powerful to have an infant look right at you like he knows you.

Today we’re going to take it easy and head up to my mom’s house. She is having a quilting meltdown so maybe holding the baby will calm her nerves.

Jack is having some type of sleeping binge these days, and here he is yesterday afternoon, completely asleep, not moving at all, with his hands stuck up in the air.



I trimmed his nails during this nap. I can’t believe how hard it is to cut a baby’s nails. It reminds me of that game Operation from when I was little. You had to remove parts of the body with metal tweezers and if they touched the sides the patient squawked at you and his nose lit up. Only now if you miss the child will bleed and scream for hours. Not fun.

Joe came home and took over the baby after dinner, leaving me alone to research my secret knitting project. Jack promptly fell back asleep:



Today he is spending lunchtime with one set of grandparents and visiting a local yarn store. Tonight we have a committee meeting for the Jr. League. Busy busy day. Luckily he slept well last night so we should be in good shape.

One of Joseph’s defining characteristics is his ability to raise one eyebrow, usually looking at me with not a small amount of skepticism. Jack has had this same quirk since birth – I swear sometimes he looks at me and I feel like I live with two Joes. Finally I caught it on the camera yesterday during his bath:



As you can see, he’s not convinced of the necessity of the bath. Beforehand I think he was sticking out his tongue at me.



We had a good night last night for sleeping but today wasn’t quite so great. He was screaming bloody murder at about 7 a.m., and even though it had only been an hour since he ate I fed him anyway. That seemed to calm him down a bit, but he ate again at 9! They say babies go through a growth spurt at around 6 weeks so that might be what is happening.

So I realized this weekend that if I had a job I would be going back to work today because Jack is now six weeks old. I honestly don’t know how I would do it – I look at how small and helpless he is, and the thought of dropping him off with strangers just turns my stomach. I can see the draw though. I’m feeling good and almost normal again, and we have our routine down to some degree, and it would be nice to have an office to go to and spend time with other adults. Thank goodness I have my knitting friends!

We have had a busy weekend here in Jack Land. Friday afternoon we met Julie and Mac for lunch at Eddie Matney’s where Julie and I had some food and wine and Mac and Jack stared at the ceiling and made noises. Here they are outside waiting for the valet to pull around our mom cars:



Friday night was my first night out of the house without the little man. We went to see Pirates of Penzance at the Herberger Theater downtown. The Arizona Theater Company always does a great job, and this was no exception. If you have the time I highly recommend heading down to see it.

I couldn’t believe how hard it was for me to leave home. We met some of Joe’s work friends beforehand at Cheuvront’s Wine Bar at about six. I got there and I almost started crying – I had to sit with my back to the group for a minute to collect myself. Then again in the bathroom I started crying again. Tom and Gloria were here watching him so he was in great hands, and there was plenty of freshly pumped milk for him so he wasn’t going to starve. I don’t know what my problem was. Of course he was fine and ate his meals like normal and the grandparents loved hanging out with him, but I was a wreck by the time we got home.

Here we are yesterday trying to recover:



Just to keep things interesting, we had a wedding last night. A partner at Joe’s firm got married at the Wrigley Mansion . It was a beautiful ceremony and the reception was lovely except for the DJ, who in true DJ fashion was simply AWFUL. I only took one picture because for some reason there were four photographers there and it seemed like the paparazzi had arrived so I didn’t want to add to the flashbulbs.



I will say the second night out was significantly easier than the first. My parents came over to hang out with the little guy and feed him. My mom did all of our laundry (thanks mom) and did some type of “exercises” with Jack in his crib. Whatever she did wore him out because he slept like a rock star last night.

We are all pretty beat from the extravaganza this weekend, even Joe and Lucca are trying to rest for the week ahead:



You can’t really tell from the picture, but he is sleeping on the floor of our living room, which is ceramic tile. The only cushion is that quilt.

I have to thank the grandparents for making our weekend possible. I actually feel a little more like a real person now and I’m much more comfortable leaving him alone. It’s such a relief to have family here and know he is safe and happy when we’re gone.

Every time I go to get dressed in something other than sweatpants I get a little teary eyed. Yes, I am wearing regular clothes again, but they are a size 14. I was a six before I got pregnant, and I'm only 20 pounds heavier. Can 20 pounds really equal three sizes? (for those men out there, women's sizes are only even numbers. So it's three sizes, not six. Don't ask my why.)

And then I started thinking about this whole body image thing we women have going on. Why am I so obsessed with being a 14? I should be thankful that I'm healthy and so is my baby. Plus, it's not my fault, it's the fault of my pregnancy (ok, and the fact that I ate a brownie a day during that pregnancy, but I digress.)

I would like to say I got over it and became rational. But I would be lying.

Today Julie and Mac are coming over and we're going to lunch. Since I always dress Jack as if he's about to go to bed, I decided to put him in something that is far less practical but much more like an outfit. Here he is:



And just to give you a comparison of how much he's grown, here's a picture of his birthday and then one I took yesterday:





We weighed him last night and he's over ten pounds! I'm curious to see what the doctor has to say about how much he's grown, but we don't go for two more weeks.

Yesterday was a very long day for me. I was too tired to do anything that required too much thought, but the sun finally came out and I was sick of sitting around the house. So Jack and I went for a walk:



It was nice out, but this is one time I wished we lived in a safer neighborhood. I kept looking behind me to see if anyone was around and I felt nervous most of the time. We walked over to the Willow Grocery – really just a little market on McDowell. It’s not a place made for strollers and it was tough to maneuver. But all in all it was good to get out of the house.

Jack apparently had quite a time of it. We got home and he fell asleep instantly:



Must have been all that walking.

Today is another exciting day. House cleaning and laundry are all on the agenda, as well as a nap (I hope). Tonight Jack and I are going up to my mom’s house. Joe has a firm function at the Princess which is about a mile from their house, so I’m going to drive him. Hopefully my mom is feeling better so she can hold the little guy. I’m just glad to have an event to get us out of the house.