So much going on with little Jack. We’ll start with the Baptism Saturday. He was just a little angel for the whole thing. I think he was under the impression that this strange man was washing his hair:



I am relieved to finally have the ceremony over. It was such an ordeal trying to get the date worked out, find a church and a deacon who would perform the ceremony, and put together a small gathering. Our church wouldn’t accommodate us on Memorial Weekend, so we ended up going to a different church. I think we will be switching our membership – they were so helpful at St Thomas and I really liked the deacon who performed the service. It was lovely.

Here are a few more shots:


Joe and Jack hanging out


Carla, Jack’s Godmother


Our friend Travis


Jack is close to a meltdown here. That’s Michael on the left – he’s the Godfather.

Last week Jack also started singling out his favorite toys. In the top ten are a shoe:



and an old keyboard:



Here you can get an idea of how much he likes to bang the keyboard:



We also had lunch at Zoe’s last week. My mom tried to entertain Jack by showing him pictures on the wall. As you can see, he doesn’t really have an eye for art:



But he does like to hang out with Grandpa



He’s got a new trick this week. He can go from lying on his stomach to sitting up all by himself. I’ll try to get a picture of it today. We had to lower the crib down again just to be sure he doesn’t pitch over the side.

Joe is in depositions all day today way out in Chicago, so I took these pictures to show him what Jack was up to last night. Hopefully he can see the pictures on his blackberry okay.

First, we had dinner. It is tough to get Jack to sit still and eat sometimes so I was trying to find the words to Delta Dawn online so I could sing to him. When I turned the computer where he could see it he was suddenly enthralled.





We also sang The Gambler and Lucille by Kenny Rogers in honor of my dad. He liked it.

Before his bath Jack spent some time getting acquainted with the animals on the side of his crib:



and after his bath he hung out in his dragon towel



It was not a good night sleep wise. He was up from 2:45 to 4:15, wide awake, kicking his legs and flailing his arms. I’m guessing his teeth are bothering him but what do I know? He could just be practicing for his future as a salsa dancer.

If you’re sick, even if you have a slight cold or something that seems harmless and mild, DO NOT, under any circumstances, PICK UP A BABY.

I don’t know what it is about babies, but they will take the smallest cold and turn it into a virus fit for a tv movie. And then they spread it to their family members.

The cold Jack has can be traced directly to a man who went to a party knowing he was sick. He even had to leave this party because he was sick, unbeknownst to the hapless mother of Jack’s friend. Not only did this man come too near the baby, he held him, played with him, carried him around all night.

The fun thing about colds is they hide out for a while, so the little guy was contagious without a single symptom. So presumably he passed this lovely cold on without even knowing it. And now we’re both miserable.

I know kids get sick, I know it’s good for them in the long run, blah blah blah. But WHY do people spread their germs so stupidly?

Ok, enough about that. Jack misses his dad. Usually they hang out together in the morning before work, cleaning up the kitchen and reading the paper. Today at 5:45 Jack was raring to go, but dad is off in Chicago. Lucky me.

I set him in his seat and got to work on the kitchen, getting our breakfasts ready. At least he’s in a good mood in the morning.



(Kim, is this what you call a buzzy chair?)



Today was a new food – yellow squash. He ate most of it but his mood took a turn and we didn’t get to finish it all. No worries, most of it goes on his face anyhow.



He is feeling better today and I’m hoping he gets a good night sleep tonight. I think his second tooth is about to pop through so I’m sure that will not help. I just had to give him orajel to get him to take a nap, he keeps worrying his gums with his tongue so I know they are bothering him.

Jack has his first cold. There is nothing more pathetic than a sick baby. You can't explain to him why he suddenly feels so yucky and why I keep coming after him with a bulb syringe. (If you don't know what one is, count yourself lucky.)

On top of that, he got his first tooth this weekend. It has been slow in coming – I think for two weeks he's had a white bump on his bottom gum, but today a definite tooth is showing.

On Friday we went to lunch with PJS, Potusol and my mom. He was miserable – crying, fussing, generally yelling. The only thing that made him happy was sucking on a glass of ice water.

On Friday night the entire family headed over to the Arizona Biltmore for Joe's firm retreat. We decided to keep Jack with us Friday night and farm him out to Grandma Sandee Saturday night. Fortunately Grandma Gloria was able to come up and watch him in the hotel room so we could go to the party on Friday.

He seemed to like the hotel, here he is playing on the bed:

He's blurry because he refused to hold still.

It was a rough weekend – he didn't feel well and wouldn't even play with cellophane. He loves paper and anything that crinkles, so this is when we knew he was having a tough time. He seems better today, although I think he went on a small hunger strike at my mom's house. He just doesn't like a bottle, there's no arguing with him.

We don't have a lot on the agenda for the week. I'm hoping his cold goes away and he starts feeling better. We go to the doctor on Thursday for his six month check up. I can't believe it's already been six months!

After a pretty busy week, and a weekend that is going to be jam packed with newness and activity for the little guy, we decided to have a pajama day yesterday. Here is the adorable babe napping – usually by midmorning he is in something more dressy, but I left his creeper on for comfort.

Are we tired of crawling pictures yet? Not me. I’ve set up my yoga mat as a crawling track for him to practice. Of course it’s not overly soft, so when he hits his head he screams. But I think he’s probably okay. Here he is getting ready to zoom:

He doesn’t really have forward motion down just yet, but he can spin like there’s no tomorrow. Here he is halfway through turning around:

And the finale, the apex, the high point of the day:

His head is blurry because he’s rocking back and forth.

Any day people, any day. This man is ready to move. Heaven help me.

We’ve had a slow few days picture wise. On Tuesday Jack and I cleared out of the house and spent the night at my mom’s. She is going to take him over night on Saturday and we thought it would be a good idea to have a dry run so he wouldn’t feel like he was sleeping in a strange place. It went pretty well, other than the fact he is trying to get a tooth and will often scream bloody murder for no apparent reason.

We’re still working our way through different solid foods. Grandma got to feed him out of her fancy china Noah’s Ark bowl.

I don’t know if squash tastes better when you eat off of china, but he sure seemed to like it.

Yesterday was my birthday and Jack got to spend some time with people other than me to celebrate. He stayed with my mom in the afternoon while I did a little shopping, and then Grandma Gloria came over at night so we could go out for a real dinner with no baby. It was lovely for us, but Jack was a little difficult at home. He fussed a lot and cried some, but Gloria found a new trick. For some reason running his feet under water calms him down. Who would have thought?

Mac called yesterday to wish me Happy Birthday. That Julie, always showing off with her baby. Unfortunately he’s a bit under the weather with double ear infections, so “Happy Birthday” sounded a little more like “Mah na mah na”.

On Saturday Jack banged his head twice. Once he fell off the bed, another time he tried to crawl from sitting and hit his head on the floor. Fortunately I don’t think there was any permanent damage, but boy was he angry.

To appease His Highness, I opened up the Leap Start Learning Table we got as a shower gift. I don’t know why, but the label on this box made me laugh:

Then yesterday at Julie’s house, he was playing with the exersaucer and showing off how well he can “stand”.

See the stone fireplace next to him? His head hit that on his way down. Ouch.

We were at Julie’s because Mac’s baptism was yesterday. I’m glad I’m not the only one who waited until the guy can practically walk. Here is Jack in church behaving like a little angel.

Mac was peeking at us over Julie’s shoulder

Here is the actual event:

Yes, it’s a horrible picture. Everyone was surrounding the baby so it was impossible to get a good shot. But here’s Mac and Julie afterwards:

My mom made the Christening Gown and his party outfit – he looked adorable in both.

We’re off to the gym this morning – I’m so relieved they will finally let him go to the childwatch center. There’s just no way I’m going to lose the rest of this weight if I don’t exercise.

I sat Jack up in the crib before his bath the other night and I came back to find him doing this:

We have already lowered the mattress once, but it looks like we need to lower it even further. He can now bite the edge of the crib:

and it’s only a matter of time before he can pull himself up to stand.

He loves his bath – every night when I start to run the water he gets excited. I found him some small bath toys for him at the Carters Outlet.

This gives you an idea of how fat he’s getting. We’re just about to go up another diaper size and some of his nine month clothes are getting tight.

Yesterday we went to visit Kim and the three boys demonstrated their sitting abilities.

Unfortunately Mac fell over while I was trying to get the perfect shot, and Jack was none too pleased. Here is his signature “I’m not happy with you” face.

It’s still easier to lie down, so they all took a little rest:

Kim has a fun little chair that keeps babies from toppling over.

Jack didn’t like it so much – I think he felt too confined.

We’re going on six nights of not sleeping – if possible I think he’s having a growth spurt and getting a tooth all at the same time. Poor little guy – I can tell in the middle of the night that he wants nothing more than to go back to sleep but I think the teeth are really bugging him. We can feel them just below the gums, so I’m hoping the pop through here pretty soon.

Once again, Jack proves to be a genius super baby. Today we met for lunch at North , a great place in Kierland. We ordered Jack a high chair for the first time, and he loved it. You can see him banging on the table here, notice his blurred little hand:

and my mom talks on the phone and laughs at him in his new seat.

He can barely see over the top of the table but that didn’t seem to bother him. He likes this much better than being in the stroller or the car carrier – I think he feels like he’s part of the action.

Jack and I haven’t slept in three days. We’re both pretty beat. He’s either about to get a tooth or he’s growing, because he’s been up every night fussing and upset. I feel bad for the poor guy – I can tell he wants to sleep and he can’t. I know how he feels. Right now he’s napping and hopefully it will be for longer than 30 minutes – he doesn’t seem to sleep any longer than that lately.

Yesterday at lunch, Julie accused me of coaching Jack to crawl, like some kind of crazed stage mom. She’s upset because Jack can sit up and is starting to crawl a little, as well as using a sippy cup. I think she should just count her blessings. Mac has two teeth, hair, AND he can read. See?

He ordered the field greens with goat cheese. I told him babies aren’t supposed to eat lettuce but he didn’t listen.

We ate at Arcadia Farms. I will not link to it because I cannot recommend you go there. First of all, it took 2 hours to eat. If you’ve never had lunch with a pair of six month old babies, I will tell you right now that 2 hours is entirely too long. The waitress was a bit snipey and slow, and I was not pleased at all. Plus my salmon was over cooked and too fishy. AND, lunch for 4 people cost $68. Doesn’t that seem a little excessive since we all ordered salad?

So just for Julie, here is a picture of Jack trying to crawl again. Granted a yoga mat and my old pregnancy pillow help him immensely:

but still, he is very proud:

Today we had lunch with my parents and Jack rode on my mom’s foot while she sang Yankee Doodle:

He’s a very happy baby, and likes his grandma a lot:

Jack wants to crawl so badly and he’s just figuring out that his back legs might have something to do with it. It’s tough to photograph, but here he is on all fours, albeit briefly.

And here he is lifting up on his toes.

As you can tell, this process it a bit frustrating for the poor guy.

There are more pictures on my flickr page if you’re so inclined.

As Jack gets more mobile and wants to sit up all the time, I’ve had to devise new ways to entertain him. Here’s the latest version of his play area in the house:

It seems to work for the most part, although he has hit his head a few times. He’s also fallen off the couch and the bed. He’s a wiggly little guy.

I’ve also figured out a new way to wear the sling. He really likes this because it doesn’t make him fall asleep! I like it because my hands are free and I can get some things done.

We had a wonderful Mother’s Day. We went to the zoo and out to lunch at Z Tejas. Here is Jack in the new Spider Monkey exhibit.

Joe got to spend a lot of time with Jack over the weekend. Here they are playing on the floor while our friend Travis was over for a visit:

And later in the tv room with the beagle looking on:

We went to the gym this morning – I don’t know what they do to him in the little childwatch area but he always comes home very tired. He fell asleep about an hour ago and I haven’t heard a peep out of him since. We’re all signed up for swimming lessons on June 6^th – they call it Water Babies and of course I will be in the water with him. I think that will be lots of fun and will probably tire him out just as much.