Yesterday Jack and I took off for South Mountain. There is a wonderful little place called The Farm that serves sandwiches in the middle of a pecan grove. There are picnic tables set up under the trees and you could easily sit there all afternoon. We met the Mahjong ladies for lunch and they played while we relaxed. Here is Jack resting under a tree:

and this is a close-up of him showing off his belly:

He loved the tree – the leaves moving in the breeze were mesmerizing and he just hung out for a while like that. Of course he flipped over after a bit – Jack never stays on his back for too long. Right before I took this picture he was pulling up the grass.

Once he saw the camera he made a face – I don't know if he knows what the camera is, but he certainly recognizes it.

He was all tuckered out from the activity, and he promptly fell fast asleep once we got to the car:

As I was pulling away, this car pulled up next to me, I think just to taunt me in my big suv:

Isn't it pretty? Brand new too.

Cereal eating is not really progressing much. I'm guessing maybe he's not ready because most of the cereal gets spit back out – I really don't think any of it actually makes it to the stomach.

On Sunday morning we dropped little Jack off at his Grandma Gloria's house and they went to the park. Jack sat on a horse and had his pictures taken:





He doesn't look entirely convinced about the process, but I know he had fun. Afterwards he went shopping at Nordstom. He seemed to be a little happier about that trip:



He's been keeping me really busy this week. We're having cereal every morning and he's been playing with toys while sitting up a lot. Yesterday we went to visit Grandma Sandee for a while to keep her company before he doctor's appointment. Today we're going to a place called The Farm for lunch - I will be sure to get more pictures!

This morning as we were sitting and enjoying our breakfast, Jack looked particularly interested in Joe's BLT. We decided to break out the rice cereal and see what Jack thought. His first impression was "gimme some a that"



so I did.



He especially liked doing it on his own:



There are more pictures of the event here. It was quite amusing. I'm certain that approximately 1/8th of a teaspoon actually made it into his stomach, but he enjoyed it nonetheless. Tomorrow we will try again. I also bought some avocados and once they ripen really well I'm going to give him those. The feeding adventure has begun!

Today Jack is down at Grandma Gloria's visiting the ducks. We should have some good pictures because he loves birds and the outdoors. Hopefully the weather is nice down there and not too windy. We've had some weird storms come through here – hail last night even.

Not much is happening this week. Jack has been sleeping a lot in the day – I think his teeth will be arriving soon and he's plum tuckered out from all the drooling and biting. I'm giving him teething tablets that work great, but at night he's getting plain old fashioned Tylenol. Poor little guy – I hope they break through soon.

Yesterday afternoon as I was sitting around my house moping a bit after eating a frozen pizza for lunch, Kim called to invite me to dinner. Nevermind she was regifting her dinner initially intended for her neighbor, Jack and I were in the car faster than you can say boo. (Ok, that's an outright lie. We don't do anything fast around here.)

I was particularly looking forward to spending some time with Gemma. She's my new political rival and I enjoy our repartee. At dinner last week she looked at me and said "John Kerry didn't win." As a joke, and really to rile up her mother a little bit, I responded with "Yes, I know, and it's very fortunate, because he would have come to your house to take all your money if he had won." In true form for the miniature liberal democrat that she is, she didn't bother with the issue any longer. She simply smiled and said "You're bad." This about sums up every conversation I've had with a democrat in the past 20 years.

Here is Gemma trying to convert Jack to the dark side:



He scared her away though:



Dinner was fantastic – fancy salad (you can see the balsamic dressing on Gemma's face above. Mmmmm), grilled London Broil and vegetables, and grilled pineapple for dessert. It was so nice of Kim to feed me, I am not good at feeding myself without Joe. I wonder what I ate before I met him?

The rest of yesterday was very calm – we didn't get out of our pajamas except to go to the post office. Jack is starting to like the swing a little more, although only in small doses. I took the plastic noise making toys off the tray – they only frustrated him and made him cry, which I think is the opposite of what a toy should do, and he seems happier.



Today we had lunch with PJS, Jeff, and my mom. Jack is starting to get teeth – you can feel the little bump on his bottom gum. Unfortunately this makes him a difficult dining companion. There was a bit of screaming in the restaurant. But in the end I was able to buy my mother lunch, something I rarely get to do.

Joe gets home tonight thank goodness. It's tough managing the little guy by myself.

First of all, Jack’s friend Mac has teeth. Two of them. Here they are:



We are still waiting on Jack’s teeth, but they must be coming soon. He’s drooling like a leaky roof and biting anything he can get his hands on. He would bite the dog if she would hold still enough.

On Tuesday we went shopping for material for a Christening gown for Jack and Mac. They don’t like fabric as much as yarn, and you can tell from this picture they are both getting a little bored



Then we went to have lunch with our friend who remains nameless. In this shot, Julie is trying to make him take Mac. He is having none of it. I get the sense Parley is not much of a baby person.



Grandma, on the other hand? Now she’s a baby person:



Back on the home front, Jack has a new chair. We decided against a high chair because we don’t have a lot of space and we thought a chair that hooks on the table would be useful. It’s small enough we can take it over to either Grandma’s house and he can sit with the family wherever he is.

I especially like it because I can sit at the table with him and eat or be on the computer and he’s not in my lap. Two handed eating is quite a luxury for me these days.





As you can see in the second picture, we’ve introduced him to the spoon. He’s not using it yet, but at least he’s playing with it.

Yesterday we went to Elissa’s baby shower. She’s due in July and of course looks fantastic. Here’s a shot of her showing off her belly:



And then last night we ate with my parents and Kim and Angus and Chuy’s. Joe is out of town and I think my mom is worried I won’t eat without him here. Jack and Grandpa hung out for a bit



Jack has suddenly developed stranger anxiety. Every time he sees a new person his little lip starts to quiver and he screams at them. I’m glad he’s spent a lot of time without our families so this won’t happen to any of them!

Today is a much needed pj day. We were gone all day yesterday and both of us are pretty beat. With Joe gone I will probably eat dinner and go straight to bed.

It's getting warm here in the desert, and footed sleepers just aren't cutting it for the little guy any longer. The other evening I went in to feed him around ten and he was sweating. But sleepwear for babies is a tough thing – it has to be soft, it simply cannot go over the head, and there must be easy diaper access. Luckily the people at Carters think of everything. They have an item called a creeper. It looks exactly like the footed sleepers but without the feet or arms. You can't really see too well in this picture, but this is what they look like from the back with a sleeping baby inside:



He's napping, and we all know I won't wake a sleeping baby, so that picture will have to suffice.

We had an interesting weekend.

Saturday Grandma Gloria came over to pick up Jack and spend the day with him. Before he left I snapped a picture of the two boys in their semi-matching outfits:



It was very relaxing. We did grocery shopping and had a fancy lunch at Christopher's, and then I headed over to Elizabeth Arden for a small amount of pampering. All in all, a wonderful day.

Yesterday was not so nice. Joe had a stomach ache in the morning and Jack's stomach was upset all day. He was fussy and unhappy and couldn't get settled. He finally fell asleep around 8:30 or so much to my relief.

Sleeping has overall been better for me this weekend. I went to the doctor on Friday for my allergies and she gave me a nasal antihistamine that will hopefully not harm my milk production. It's also helping me sleep better so even if I'm getting up at night I'm able to go right back to sleep instead of tossing and turning for an extra half hour. It's amazing the difference. I got up twice with Jack last night but I feel great this morning.

We did not yet start cereal. We are still reading and doing research, and we just bought a chair that hooks onto the table. We don't have a high chair yet – we looked at them yesterday but were unimpressed. The way Jack is with sitting I don't know if he will stay in one. We'll see how he does with this little hook-on seat and go from there.

Not much on the agenda today. After Jack's nap (going on two hours now!), I'll get us both ready and maybe we'll have lunch with the grandparents. I have to ship off the birthday gifts to Colorado this week, and I need to get some knitting done. Oh, and we'll be spending some quality time with our friend who is moving to New York soon. That will be a sad day.

He woke up just as I was about to publish this, so here's a better picture of his new sleepwear

Yesterday I took Jack out to my office to try and get some work done. I’m building a web page for one of my dad’s companies and I needed a few more hours to get everything put together. Jack was somewhat cooperative, he played with Sneezy the Activity Dragon:



and he hung out in his Baby Einstein Activity Gym:



and he even took a very short nap (I woke him up opening a can of diet coke):



You can see my office is also storage for my unridden road bike as well as the washer and dryer. All in all it worked well – I was able to get a little bit done and I think Jack enjoyed the change of scenery.

Today we went to meet our friend Elissa for lunch. Darn it, I forgot to take pictures. She’s six months pregnant and looking wonderful. Then we had to run by the office to show off our new web pages – they do look pretty nice, now I just need to clean up the text and make it wonderful.

When we got home I sat Jack up and he stayed there long enough for me to get the camera and take this picture:



He’s getting really good at balancing. Here’s a shot from the back so you can see how cute his new outfit is:



Tomorrow my mom is coming over so I can go to the doctor. I’ve had an earache for over three weeks so I think it’s time to have someone look in there and see what is going on. Then I’ll probably ship off gifts to my nieces and nephew – their birthdays have all passed (Vincent’s was in January!) but I never got my act together to send anything. Better late than never, huh?

On Sunday my friend Carla and I took food over to our friend's house whose daughter has been in the hospital for five weeks. We figured they hadn't been eating well, so we wanted to do something to make things easier. On the way, Jack got a little fussy (he doesn't like the car for too long), so I started in my repertoire of songs to make him happy. We sang Puff the Magic Dragon, of course, but when we got to the chorus Carla belts out with:

In a land called Gal-li-leeeeee

Um, right. Carla? This isn't Jesus meets the potheads. It's Hon-a-lee. I had to correct her. Apparently she has been singing the song incorrectly for years.

Although she was not impressed by my squeaky little singing voice, she was impressed that I knew all the words. Tools of the trade I suppose.

Today Jack and I set out for Grandma's house so I could do some work. Of course, Jack fell dead asleep for over two hours, so I got a lot done, but my mom didn't get a ton of Jack time. Here he is in the Pack-n-Play, sleeping like a baby:



Then tonight we stopped by knitting to say hi to everyone. I'm trying to get Jack's sleep schedule down so we didn't stay too late. Here's a picture of him hanging out in the sling:



We were home by 7:30, he had his bath and zonked out. Now it's almost 11 and he's still sleeping.

Joe was at a Suns game tonight so I chatted with Julie on the phone for a bit. It's nice to talk to someone who doesn't think I've gone completely crazy. (Her husband had a great idea to send us both to a spa in Sedona – I like how that man thinks.) There is nothing more valuable than having gone through this pregnancy and infant stage with someone who has known me my entire life. I still can't believe we have babies who are 3 weeks apart in age – we are truly lucky.

Unfortunately the rest of the world thinks I've lost my mind. I was looking at an expiration date in the fridge just now and couldn't decide if the food was too old (normally the answer would be- "of course it's too old, it is OUR fridge."). I asked Joe the date. He said "The 12th." I said "Of April?" And I was serious. This is not good.

I am two steps away from being committed by my own husband.

Jack had a busy weekend. He spent some time at rugby on Saturday and was so tired he fell asleep at six p.m. Unfortunately the string of six hours a night seems to be over – he’s been up the past two nights just like before. Last night I actually fell asleep in the rocking chair from 12:30 to almost two – this was not on purpose and certainly wasn’t the best for my back, but Jack seemed happy all nestled up next to me.

Yesterday we got a surprise visit from my brother Greg. He was in LA with Joe and trying to get home, but Denver had a huge snowstorm and the airport was closed. It was really cool to spend some unexpected time with him. He finally got to hold Jack – here they are at my parents house:



My dad came home just in time to see Jack trying to crawl:



and here’s a close-up



Jack has a new noise. He's very proud of this noise, and you will be too. See a video clip here.
Guido and Lucca are NOT fans of this sound, and will immediately leave the room when it emits from his small mouth.

Joe is going to read about baby food tonight. Anne’s kids started cereal at four months and she had some good tips for me on the phone today. So we’ll probably do the cereal thing this weekend.

Tomorrow I have work to do so my mom is going to watch Jack for a bit, and then we’re off to knitting at Changing Hands. I won’t stay long though because I’ve been trying to get Jack to bed by seven. We’ll see how that works.

Last night Joe and I had a wine tasting to go to at the Phoenician. Here is what Jack did while I got ready:



I’m going to be in trouble when he starts crawling. At least now he stays in the same spot!

Grandma Gloria and Grandpa Tom came over to watch the little guy and he did pretty well. I think we’ve got the bedtime routine down so he goes to sleep relatively easily. But he woke up about an hour after going down and was angry we weren’t back yet. By the time we returned at 9:30 he was not a happy boy. Gloria handed him to me and he nuzzled his face in my neck and made a little whimper noise.

Now I’m not the most sentimental person in the world, but to come home and have a small guy so happy to see you he whimpers kinda makes you weak in the knees.

So I fed him and he was up for a bit longer. He went to sleep around ten and woke up at 3:30. He’s definately on a longer sleep pattern these day, which is fine by me.

This morning he made a frittata with his dad before he had to go down for a nap. You can see in this picture he’s already getting a little grumpy. (Joe had just picked him up because one of his toys was making him angry – a good sign it’s time for some rest.)



Joe is abandoning us today and flying off to LA. I’ve never been completely alone with the baby overnight, so hopefully I’ll do okay. I will be happy when he gets home tomorrow afternoon!

a note to Pam and Jen:

There is no way my son is a liberal. He will never pander to the labor unions and old people. He prefers to pander to the religious crazies and the rich.

It is after ten p.m. as I type this. Jack went to bed at 6:30 and has not woken up since. Oh, except when Lucca started barking hysterically at the pizza man. I went in, picked him up, put his pacifier in, he went right back to sleep. It has now been over four hours since he ate and he is not making any signs as if he will wake up soon. (And yes, he is still breathing, I just checked.)

Not only that, he went to bed without a single fuss. Not even a whimper.

The only explanation is aliens. Or baby-switching of some type.

Yesterday was a very hard day for all of us here in the Adams household. Jack was having trouble napping, he was extremely tired, and I felt like I’d been beaten with a jackhammer. I know tv is bad, but some days it does save me. At least he’s watching important news shows – this was him deeply involved in the Daily Show with Jon Stewart:



Today was much better, and one of Jack’s favorite activities is hanging out with his dad in the morning before work. (It’s one of my favorites as well, because I usually get a nap!) Here he is this morning with Joe, telling me to go away and stop intruding on dad time



They also chatted with the pinscher:



We were off to the mall again today where we met Julie and Mac and my mom for lunch. I’m going to start calling my mom Grandma Magic, because she was able to get Jack to sleep like this:



and then set him in his stroller:



This gave her some time to play with Mac, who didn’t think it was naptime just yet:



Last night Jack was up again for almost two hours. Kim thinks it might be due to teeth coming in, which is quite possible. I didn’t give him any formula last night so it can’t be that. And I’ve just decided to stop monkeying around with his eating – I don’t think it has anything to do with his sleep habits so I’m just going to leave it alone for the time being. He’s not due to start cereal until he’s six months old anyway, and the formula is just confusing him.

So I don’t know if I should go to bed or wait for him to wake up. I know if I wait he won’t wake up for hours, but the minute I put my head to the pillow I will hear his pretty little cry from the next room. That’s the way it goes around here.

UPDATE: I couldn’t get blogger to work last night. As I was waiting around, the little man woke up to eat. It was 10:40. I fed him and went straight to bed. He didn’t wake up again until 4:45. Never in the entire time we’ve had him has he slept this long.

I am amazed. I know not what to say.

(Bonus points if you know where that last quote came from.)

So two nights ago I gave Jack some formula (2 ounces) and nursed him before bed. He slept 4.5 hours. Last night I did the same thing and he was up from 1 to 3, wide awake, as if I fed him a latte instead of formula. He was thrashing around like he had a tummy ache and was generally fussy.

I am beat. No more formula for the little guy. He’s sleeping in the day okay, not the required five hours, but it will do.



In the background you can see the new bumper pads we installed, so at least I don’t find him with limbs protruding from the crib any longer.

We went to Lux Coffeebar yesterday to meet Becky, who had an unexpected vomiting emergency involving her nephew. So it was just me and Jack hanging out with some uber-hip Phoenicians who didn’t appear to have a care in the world. For some reason this place has a hypnotic effect on the little man. Ever since he was born I can take him to Lux and almost guarantee he will be calm and cooperative. I was alone and still got to knit, imagine that. Here is what he did:



One thing Jack really wants to do is crawl. He cannot bear the fact that things are across the room and he is prohibited from getting at them. Mostly this involves poor Lucca.

In this shot, Lucca is the small brown blur in the lower left corner.


He spots her on the corner of the bed:



and he so badly wants to get there:

(that’s my pink knee. Today is turning into pajama day, given that it’s almost noon and I’m still in pink plaid.)

I felt sorry for him, so I moved him closer. Lucca is not thrilled



And here you can see the knee action. This is new, as of today. Once he puts it all together he’ll be moving like a champ.



Look out Lucca…