How is Jack Today?

New Blog Address

2007-01-15T19:17:00.000-07:00

I have moved the blog here:

http://jackandnickadams.blogspot.com

Please join us for some adventures of our two boys!

Happy New Year

2006-12-26T21:14:00.000-07:00

I don’t have much time to blog these days, and we’ve taken about two million pictures over the past week and a half. So getting everything edited, organized and uploaded is going to take some doing. I thought I’d better hop online and give an update so those who read the blog would not have to worry unnecessarily. Here is one picture of many we have taken. It shows Jack and Nick in their llama hats together:

Things are going well out here. Nick is a pretty calm baby as far as newborns go, and it is certainly easier the second time around. I remember the chief emotion when we had Jack was terror – we were living in constant fear of him and what could happen. With this baby we are certainly not scared, we know what we’re doing, and we already have a kid routine in the house.

The main reason I am not able to blog, or get anything done really, is that I never want to put the baby down. I just sit and stare at him all day long, carry him around like a doll, and generally enjoy his company. I know I will forget how it was to hold him as an infant as I did with Jack, so I’m just trying to enjoy him as much as I can until he gets bigger. I suppose this time around I know what comes next so I am not anxious about it, and I just want to take in every bit of this experience as I can.

In many ways having a second baby has made me appreciate Jack even more as well. I realize how much he has developed in two short years, how amazing he is as a person, and how fun it is to talk with him. He even sings now – I taught him Santa Claus is coming to Town, and even though he only sings about every 8th word, it’s still fun to sing with him.

So that’s what we’re up to at the Adams household. We are trying to recover from the craziness of the holidays, Joe is getting back to work where he belongs, and thanks to my mom the house is returning to some semblance of order. Tomorrow Jack is going to visit Grandma Gloria and Grandpa Tom and everyone is very excited about that – we have kept him here since the baby was born and I think he’s starting to wonder why he’s stuck at home!

We wish you all a happy new year, and I hope to get more pictures up soon!

Introducing......

2006-12-18T18:55:00.000-07:00

Nicholas Duncan Adams
Born December 15th, 2006
12:36 in the afternoon
6 pounds, 1 ounce, 18 1/2 inches long

Nick and I spent a few days in the hospital together and are now home learning what it's like to be a four person family. Jack welcomed the new baby home and has shared some toys and books with him, and commented on the fact that he has eyes and hands and feet. So far, so good. Here are the boys together, just minutes after their first meeting:

In the second one Jack is saying "baby" and pointing at Nick. He seems to get the picture.

We are all healthy and doing well. I am tired and sore - as I have said in the past, there is no good way to get a baby out once he is in and this was no exception. But everything went smoothly and our little addition could not be more wonderful.

We still don't have a new name for the blog, but I will keep you posted.

One last post

2006-12-14T18:35:00.000-07:00

Today was Jack’s last day as an only child. For two years he has enjoyed the undivided attention of family, friends, and blog. He is happy, well adjusted, and comfortable. All that will change tomorrow afternoon when he finally meets his new little brother. Here are a few photos of his week.

The saddle at Sierra Bonita Grill:

Playing with Brooke at playgroup:

And hugging Brooke at playgroup:

Here he is playing with Elissa’s baby Jake, (who is already 16 months old!) The toy they were in was just unpacked for the new baby. They are surrounded by a room full of toddler toys, and all they wanted to do was crawl around the baby toy:

And just for the sake of posterity, here is the magnificent belly, one day before delivering:

It’s a little like graduation night. I am sad for Jack and the magnificent life he is leaving behind. But I’m excited all the same for what life will bring him with his little brother. He claims to be looking forward to a baby in the house, he even went as far to shout “Baby! Yay!” in the car this afternoon. Of course he doesn’t have a clue what that means, but I do hope someday he is glad he has a brother.

Wish us luck, and we will be back to blogging soon.

Ho Ho Ho

2006-12-11T09:11:00.000-07:00

Despite talking about Santa for over a week now, and claiming he would sit on his lap and ask for toys, please, Jack wasn’t too sure about seeing a real live Santa. The photo above is from the end of the Santa party, and it is the first time Jack allowed Santa to touch him without a buffer.

Here he is with Grandma:

And here he is with me (yes, I know I’m not supposed to pick him up. Tell him that.):

He was, however, willing to accept a gift:

All in all it was a successful Santa visit, and Julie threw a great party once again.

Earlier in the weekend Jack went back to the zoo. I would swear he would be sick to death of the place by now, but he talks about it constantly. Just now, in fact, he said “Animals. Again.” Nothing prompted this outburst – he’s sitting across from me eating sausage.

So here he is with the tiger:

And the tortoise:

The poor capybara:

And of course, the goats:

And now we have some random photos that were in the camera. Starting with his new sunglasses:

His new train:

And a sleeping shot I just couldn’t resist:

Now I am completely caught up on all of our activities. This week promises to be busy getting ready for the baby, but of course we have a million activities thrown in for good measure.

I haven’t thought of a name for the new blog yet, so if anyone has ideas please let me know. The new baby will most likely be named Nicholas. Hopefully I’ll come up with something brilliant.

Catching Up

2006-12-08T13:42:00.000-07:00

We have a lot of catching up to do around here. It has been quite busy at our house getting ready for the new baby. With exactly one week left I am starting to get nervous. I have a bunch of pictures to share, starting with a trip to the zoo the day after Thanksgiving. Joe and Jack went alone and had a wonderful time.

Here is Jack admiring the giraffes:

And here he is posing with a Big Horned Sheep. If you look at the picture closely on the upper left part of the mountain you will see the sheep:

Of course he visited the lion who was making a rare appearance:

And the Baboon:

One thing he got to do that is not on our normal zoo schedule was comb the goats. He loves this activity – I just haven’t had the stamina to take him for a while. We have a million goat pictures, but here are just a few:

His final adventure that day was a ride on the carousel. Again, not a normal part of our zoo experience. This one he didn’t love as much. Here he is getting ready:

Apparently he cried a good portion of the ride, and seemed scared for the rest of it. Other than that, though, the boys had a great outing and are ready to go again tomorrow.

Now on to the birthday shots.

A hippo flashlight – what a combination!

His own baby grand piano:

Blowing out his candles:

And eating a piece of birthday cake:

And I have one more video to share of Jack showing off his knowledge of the alphabet. I can't get the normal link to work right now though, so I'm going to try this one.

I have a few more pictures in the camera, and will likely take some over the next few days as well. I will get at least one post up before the baby is here, and then I will have Joe post an announcement sometime next Friday with all the details of the birth. That is if I don’t go into labor before then. (Considering I never went into labor on my own with Jack and he was two weeks late, I doubt we will be having any surprises over the next week!)

How old is Jack?

2006-11-27T18:18:00.000-07:00

It is impossible for me to believe that exactly two years ago right now I was lying in recovery at St. Joseph’s hospital while Joe paraded a brand new Jack around to our families.

And one year ago Jack was shoving cake into his mouth.

And here he is yesterday at his party:

My how he has grown.

I have many more pictures to share from the last few days, but I wanted to get a special Happy Birthday post up for our guy.

Off to the Races

2006-11-21T21:26:00.000-07:00

It is impossible to describe to anyone how tired I am right now. I am 35 weeks pregnant and Jack will be two on Monday. I think this is the equivalent to competing in the Ironman Triathlon every day for weeks and weeks on end. Motherhood is an endurance sport, and my endurance is waning.

That being said, Jack is more fun and interesting every single day. He knows all the letters of the alphabet and can sort-of count to ten. He marches around saying new words each day (today’s words include lap and scotch), and he is a wonderful boy to be around.

Weekend before last he went to spend the night with Joe’s parents and they took some pictures of his latest adventures. Here he is checking out the Christmas tree:

Apparently he went around the entire bottom of the tree accepting or rejecting ornaments on a whim. He is a very particular toddler.

The funniest thing he has done lately is attempt to differentiate his grandparents. Both of our families call grandparents the same thing – Grandma and Grandpa. Instead of making one family change, we have just always called both sides the same and let him figure it out. Well, he finally did last week. We now have Grandma Car and Grandpa Snocone (my parents) and Grandma Christmas Tree and Grandpa Guitar. It is now easy for him to know who we are talking about at any given time. Isn’t he clever?

As you are aware, his great love at the time is zoo animals. He can’t get enough. So Gloria bought him a set of small animals and made him a little box terrarium to arrange them and play. As you can see, he adored it.

Back at home, Jack tested out his new tub crayons.

And he also spent some time in the baby’s tub “washing” his cow:

And what would a blog post be without photos of the zoo? Last week Joe was traveling for work but was lucky enough to get home a day early. So Friday morning we all loaded up and went to the zoo. It was fun to see Jack showing his dad all the animals. We started at the new stingray exhibit. Here are the boys waiting for the rays to swim by:

I’m not sure how clear this picture will show it, but the rays are in the water swooping past:

Of course we had to visit the rhino:

And the orangutan:

It was a fun family outing and the weather was perfect. Since we went on a weekday morning it wasn’t nearly as crowded. I fear it will be my last trip to the zoo for a while, however, because lugging this belly up those hills proved to be quite taxing.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I will certainly post pictures of our celebration this week.

No animals this week!

2006-11-10T07:59:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Jack went to visit my parents. He’s actually been trading off going to my parents and Joe’s parents for a while now on the weekends just to give us a break. It is wonderful to sleep in, especially knowing that soon I will not be sleeping much at all.

As you can see, he’s a budding artist who prefers to work shirtless:

He also spent some time planting in the desert with my dad:

When we went to pick him up he was happy to see us. As you can tell it is not so easy for me to hold him with my big belly sticking out:

My dad wanted a picture of the two of us and he specifically didn’t tell me so I couldn’t dress for the occasion.

Check out that belly. Hard to believe we still have five weeks until the baby gets here.

Here are the only two pictures I’ve taken this week. Jack is now eating at the big table:

It’s been a tough week around here. Joe has been traveling for work and I am getting more and more tired as each day passes. We didn’t even make it to the zoo this week. Jack went through a spell where he wouldn’t go to sleep before 10 and he was up at 5:15 – that’s not even enough sleep for me much less a growing boy. He seems to be back to normal now so hopefully next week will be a little easier!

Animals? Animals? Animals?

2006-11-03T10:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took yet another trip to the zoo. This time I was wise enough to drag my parents along so I did not have push Mr. Friendly up those long hills. Jack really enjoyed showing his grandparents all of his favorite animals and telling them how scary the baboons can be.

We started at the most important exhibit – Starbucks. Caffeine may be the only reason I have survived this pregnancy.

Next we met up with the giraffe. I can’t believe how close you can get to these animals. Jack likes to point out that they are tall.

I think this is a great picture – it pays to have a fancier camera along.

Of course we had to stop at the friendly Rhinos. Once again, Jack mentioned that these animals are heavy.

The animals were the highlight of the trip, but there was also some fun to be had by having three adults around constantly catering to Jack’s every whim. Like jumping in the air:

He hasn’t quite mastered the two-footed jump on his own, and the charts say he is supposed to have this skill by the age of two. He practices every day so he can show off for the doctor at his two year check up. The word he says for “jump” sounds more like “punch”, but I know what he means because he crouches way down, pops up, and then takes little steps with his feet. Obviously it is easier if two people grab your arms.

We saw more animals – the orangutan of course:

The elephant:

And the tortoise:

There was lots of walking

And more walking:

And more happy-boy animal viewing:

The day ended just as it was starting to warm up and get a little crowded. Everyone was tired and ready for a nap.

I have a few more cute pictures from Halloween. Here Jack is telling you that his pumpkin is hot:

And here he is gazing off into the distance:

It appears everyone here is on the mend, at least I hope so. We have to get the house healthy for our new arrival in a mere six weeks.

Happy Halloween!

2006-11-01T21:39:00.000-07:00

Jack has kept us all very busy lately, and he doesn’t slow down for anything. Joe and I have both been sick, but Mr. Friendly is still up bright and early every day, raring to go. One morning he got up around five and I asked him why he was getting up so early. “Not sleepy” was his answer. So there you have it.

I’ll start with the Halloween shots and work backwards, since I know his fans are dying to see the little lion. Unfortunately he wasn’t a huge fan of the costume and tried to get me to take it off several times. I was lucky enough to get a few pictures before changing to pjs.

This pretty much sums up how he felt about the headdress:

I was able to get one photo of him wearing the hat:

But mostly he just did this:

We went outside to admire the pumpkins and see what the neighbors were up to, and here you can see where the hat ended up:

Now I’ll back up to pumpkin carving the previous evening. Joe gave Jack a crayon and some direction as to where to put the eyes, nose and mouth, and this is the drawing Jack created:

Joe helped a little by connecting some of the dots, but for the most part it was Jack’s. He was quite proud:

Then he went to work coloring his little brother’s pumpkin. Since he is still camping out inside and we can’t yet see his face, his pumpkin will remain uncarved:

After the drawing was complete, Joe performed the necessary surgery:

Jack was impressed with the results:

I think he was trying to mimic the expression of his newly carved Jack O’lantern:

After his bath, we set up the Jack O’lanterns outside. He was particularly interested in the candle placement:

And he wanted to open the lids and pronounce each one “HOT” before replacing the lid:

And of course, the now-traditional, Halloween Eve, pose on the front porch in your pjs shot:

Prior to the festivities, Jack and I had a battle regarding crayon on the door frame. I say “Crayon is only for the paper”, he repeats “Paper”, yet the minute my back is turned, there he goes coloring the door. Thank you Crayola for developing washable crayons. I gave him a wash cloth to clean up the mess, but I’m afraid it was more fun than I expected. I think he’s now motivated to color on the wall so he can then clean it up.

Certainly doesn’t look like punishment, does it?

My mom and I spent the day getting the nursery ready, and Jack found the perfect place to have a snack:

Nevermind that I can’t get him to sit still in a high chair for all the tea in China. I suppose if I put the high chair in a closet I would have better luck.

And just to sign off, here is a video of our little gem and his ability to change moods in an instant.

I hope you all had a happy and safe Halloween!

One more time....

2006-10-27T14:57:00.000-07:00

Guess where we went yesterday? Yep, back to the zoo. It had been 9 days since our last visit, and you would have thought it was 8 years. Jack was so excited on the way there he never stopped talking. And when Nick came for a visit yesterday afternoon, Jack walked right up to him and said “Zoo, animals, rhino, baboon.” While this isn’t exactly a sentence, it conveyed the message and for once I didn’t have to translate.

I took a few pictures just for fun. These next two are of the tortoises. Jack refuses to recognize them as anything other than turtles. I stood there explaining to him that turtles live in the water and these – the tortoises – live on land. He listened patiently, pointed back at the exhibit and shouted “turtles!” Some of the other moms were looking at me like I was crazy. I don’t care really. My child can differentiate an orangutan from a baboon from a monkey. I am proud of him.

On to the photos. Even though he called it a turtle, he still was able to point out that it was heavy.

And in this picture he had just finished counting all five tortoises and then saying “Ah ah ah” like the Count on Sesame Street:

Mostly he liked climbing on the fence though:

We moved on to the capybara, one of my favorite animals. It is the world’s largest rodent, and has been relegated to the old alligator swamp. Their used to be an entire heard of capybara, but we only saw this one. Jack pointed out that he was sleepy:

I tried very hard to get a good picture of the baby orangutan, but this was the best shot I got:

He loves these animals and spends quite a bit of time pointing at them and saying “tay-tang” at the top of his little voice.

By the time we got to the zebra, Jack had figured out an inventive new way to view animals:

This is fortunate for me, because holding him up has gotten more difficult.

Thank you all for your kind comments about my enormous belly. I’m starting to feel like a beached whale and I still have seven weeks to go!

What Ails You?

2006-10-25T13:02:00.000-07:00

Jack came down with pink eye this past weekend, and he and Joe have been passing it back and forth between them. Now Joe has the flu and I’m afraid he’s going to pass that around the house as well. Guido (the dog) hurt his leg. My only ailment is being 30 weeks pregnant, not getting enough sleep, and the general malaise involved with my condition. Hopefully everyone else will improve soon so I can get some rest.

Until then, here is the only good picture I’ve taken lately.

We are storing a piano as a favor for my mom, and Jack loves it. Sometimes he wants someone to sit with him and play, and sometimes he wants to be alone. I think he may be the next Beethoven.

And just because Mia asked, and her dad was brave enough to be shown on her blog with a shiny pink satin snuggly, here is the latest picture of my belly:

That’s with our friend Nick on his birthday, so the belly is actually a few weeks bigger by now. Hopefully I can get a better shot soon.

And please note the new header, brought to you by my brother. Isn't it cool?

Too much of a good thing?

2006-10-19T21:09:00.000-07:00

For an almost-two-year old boy who is obsessed with zoo animals, you just can’t get enough time at your favorite place. Yes, we went back to the zoo this week, and yes, he loved it just as much as the first time. I swear I have heard the word “Baboon” at least 5000 times, as Jack relates to me how much he adores this weird and sometimes scary animal.

Here you can see the large male Baboon approaching the glass.

A few seconds later he put his face right next to Jack and scared the sound right out of him. I didn’t get a photo because I was laughing too hard. He came back for another look, and of course for an opportunity to smile for the camera:

On that particular day I learned why so few of Jack’s clothes are white. He was filthy. I took him to the store and was embarrassed at the way he looked – almost as if I told him to use his shirt to wipe off his face all day long.

Another day this week we visited a local park. It is on the way home from his school, and since the weather is cooling off we spend as much time outside as we can. Here he was watching a bunch of older children play tag.

He tried to go join in:

But a little girl ended up knocking him over. He decided from then on to watch the fun from afar. He found a safe place out of their way to hang out:

Today was quite a day for both of us. I took Jack to school this morning a little later than normal, and by noon I got a call that his allergies were bothering him again. His eyes were itchy and he was crying. By the time I got there, however, he was asleep. Looking back I should have just left him asleep and gotten him after his nap, but I thought I could get him to the car without waking him up.

Unfortunately, if he falls asleep even a tiny bit it completely ruins his napping. And his schedule is pretty much set now – he falls asleep at noon and gets up at two, and there’s no arguing with him. So he woke up when we got to the car, and wasn’t in any mood to go back to sleep. But he was so tired he didn’t know what to do with himself at home. So I dragged him off to the library, where at least he could run around and be distracted.

He started with the phone bank. I think the idea is that the kid sits here and listens to someone read a book, but usually Jack just picks up the phone and pretends like he’s having a conversation with the lady on the other end.

Then he went to play outside, and spent some time going in and out of this door:

There are many rules at the kid’s library, fortunately opening and closing the door repeatedly is not forbidden.

Next he found a chair that was just his height and surveyed the scene. I think he looks so grown up here:

Just like his mom, he’s learning to multi-task. He’s got a book in one hand and a pen in the other.

It was a long day for both of us. Without a nap he was quite edgy – the smallest inconvenience would set him off. Luckily my parents stopped by and entertained us both for a while, or we may not have made it through the day.

The good news is he went to bed at seven. This is the earliest he has been to bed in weeks – typically we haven’t been able to get him to sleep before nine or so, which is far later than Dr. Weissbluth suggests.

Tomorrow he goes to visit Grandma Gloria and Grandpa Tom and of course Blondi. Joe and I will be resting in our quiet house. Too bad we can’t send the dogs away too!

Who needs toys?

2006-10-15T16:45:00.000-07:00

We brought this box home from Costco last week and it has been a source of great entertainment for Jack. He especially likes to stand in it when he’s eating dinner. Here he is just out of the bath, taking a few minutes to play before he gets into bed:

It’s always funny to me when kids are surrounded by fancy toys that light up and sing, and yet it seems the favorite things are quite simple. Currently he is playing with a rock and an empty toothpaste box.

Today we went shopping for pumpkins at the Ranch Market, a local Latino grocery store that had a great selection last year. This year the selection was smaller but we had fun shopping anyway. If you recall, last year we took this photo of an almost-one-year-old Jack with his first Halloween pumpkin:

This year we took a few extra shots of him posing with the pumpkin:

Here I told him to smile:

And finally, he tries to pick up the pumpkin, remarking that it is heavy:

We don't have many plans this week - the bigger I get the less we can do by ourselves. We are getting ready for the new baby, who will be here exactly 2 months from today. Hopefully we can figure out how to reassemble the crib!

Parks and Zoos

2006-10-10T21:27:00.000-07:00

As promised, here are pictures of two days Jack recently spent at the park:

And our day today at the zoo was quite a success. The entire way there Jack was describing the animals he would see. When we pulled up in the parking lot he started to clap. I guess the zoo is a hit with him.

Here he is posing with his favorite animal:

I couldn’t pick just one – they were both too cute. From there we visited the baboon exhibit. Jack and Ms. Baboon regarded one another for quite some time:

But Jack kept looking back at me to be certain I was watching what he was doing:

It’s hard to see in this picture, but there is a baby orangutan at the top of the screen. She is about nine months old, and this is the first time we’ve seen her playing by herself. Jack was enthralled. Here he is turning around to say “bay-beeee” to me, just so he can be sure I see the baby:

We visited the play area where Jack donned a swimsuit and then refused to go in the water. He also refused to go down the slide, although he insisted on climbing to the top repeatedly:

He finally started to get tired, signaling the end of our visit:

Ok ok ok

2006-10-09T12:19:00.000-07:00

More than one person has mentioned a level of disappointment in the infrequency of the Jack blog. I will admit it has gotten significantly more difficult to keep up-to-date. Joe suggested that I just post pictures without text, because that would be quicker. But honestly the writing part doesn’t take all that much time, and for me it is the way I can go back and look at what was going on at a particular time. Although I keep this blog updated so people can see what the little guy is up to, I also keep it as my own personal record of what is happening. So for now, there will still be words along with my photos.

As promised, here are some pictures of a recent visit to the zoo:

These were taken on the 23rd of September and we have been back to the zoo twice since then. We will be going again tomorrow. Jack has become obsessed with the zoo and the animals that live there. The giraffe and the rhino seem to be on top of the list of names he likes to say repeatedly. He still doesn’t speak in sentences, but when he says “Nine-oh” to a stranger I think he really means “Hey dude, I saw a cool rhino at the zoo the other day. You should check it out.”

We have also spent quite a bit of time outdoors playing in various water features around the valley. This one in Tempe is unfortunately now closed for the “winter”. Someone forgot to tell them that it is still pushing the 90s here.

Of course, Jack had to take a break for a small snack. Running around in the sun can be tiring:

Recently Jack has spent quite a bit of time visiting my parents. My dad’s camera is much fancier than mine, and I feel like his pictures always come out better. Here is Jack hanging out on the back patio:

They are teaching him how to blow out candles so he will be ready for his birthday party.

On another visit he was indulged with blackberries.

And, of course, required a good cleaning afterwards:

This is a favorite of mine. Jack is obsessed with hammering, and my dad owns 14 hammers. Here he gave one to Jack along with a piece of wood.

Is he angry? Is he yelling? Nope. He’s just about to sneeze.

The next batch of pictures is already uploaded, so my next post should be forthcoming more quickly.

On the new baby front, I am in my final trimester. Only 67 days left until Mr. Yet-to-be-named arrives in the outside world. (In case you don’t want to do the math, that’s December 15th.) The crib is still in pieces, the dresser has not been organized, and our new house still looks like we moved in yesterday. Hopefully we will get our act together in the next month or so!

Jack update

2006-09-25T10:52:00.000-07:00

We have been a busy little family lately. Jack’s ear infection did not go away after the first round of antibiotics so we had to go back and get another prescription. Now I am happy to report he is back to his normal self. Oh, except for the fact that he is cutting his LAST TOOTH. Can you believe it? Once this one is through he will have 20 teeth. Just in time for us to get another baby and go through it all again.

Of course I have a ton of pictures to share. Jack is becoming quite a little boy. He put on his dad’s fancy headphones to listen to a little Kelly Clarkson the other day:

He watched some Notre Dame football with Joe, Travis and Guido:

He played in the rain:

The last shot is with our friend Nick, the only adult brave enough to run around in the rain with a toddler.

Joe went on a trip recently and Jack and I met him at the airport. Jack had fun trying to breach security:

He also recently learned to use the dog door:

And he practiced using chopsticks. Apparently someone doesn’t believe that he can use them, so here are two shots to prove it:

And finally, he attended Nick’s graduation from the US Airways Flight Attendant Academy. I was a little worried about this trip – the program started at 5:30 p.m. Not the best time of day for a squirmy toddler. But he was mostly well behaved. For the first 15 minutes or so he sat quietly on my lap:

Luckily it wasn’t too long of a ceremony. Here he is at the end with Nick the graduate:

Less than three months until the new baby arrives. Jack is starting to figure out that we are getting a baby, although I’m not sure if it will truly sink in until later. He can say “baby” and if you ask him if he wants to bring home a baby he always says “yeah”. I have a feeling he will change his mind about that come December.

His vocabulary is growing quite a bit, although he’s still not really speaking in sentences. Here are some of the words he says on a regular basis:

cracker
Lucca
Guido
yam (which sounds like mom and can be confusing)
bread (which sounds like dad, also confusing)
school
grape
water
up
down
car
outside
sausage
ketchup
chicken

He also knows a lot of the letters of the alphabet, and can tell you what sound a P and a W make. It’s fun to watch him learn things and try to say new words. Things got much easier when he started being able to communicate instead of just scream!

More pictures later of our trip to the zoo

We've Moved!

2006-09-01T22:18:00.000-07:00

We have finally moved into our new house and are settling in. On our big moving day it rained. Of course everything we owned was packed away, including all of the clothes. Jack thought that was the perfect opportunity to sneak out and play in some puddles:

As you can probably guess, he was drenched. Happy, but drenched. The only clothes I could find that weren’t already in the moving van were dirty. So he spent the rest of the day looking a bit smudged.

One of the biggest transitions of the new house is Jack’s new big boy bed. I realize he is a little young for a bed, but with a new baby coming this was the best time to transition him to a bed. Of course he sometimes falls asleep in front of his door instead of in bed, but for the most part it’s working out okay. Here he is taking a nap the other day:

He is in his pajamas because he was really sick that day. He had an ear infection and was pretty miserable. It is the only time I’ve seen him willingly lie still. He even whimpered a few times. It was quite sad.

About three hours into his nap I heard him make a noise. I went to check on him and this is what I found:

Apparently he started to get out of bed, but was too tired to make it the entire way. I successfully lifted him back into bed, and he slept for another 20 minutes.

One of Jack’s newest favorite pastimes is playing in the car. In the old house this was less than fun because the car sat in the sun all day. Here we have a garage, and it makes his entertainment a little easier. The dogs even got involved – I think they are still confused about why we are staying in this strange house and they want to go home. So here they all are, pretending to drive away.

We’ve had a few other adventures in the past few weeks. We took a trip to Rustler’s Rooste, where Jack and Joe took an unauthorized trip down the slide:

And we had breakfast at SOMA, where Jack displayed his climbing abilities:

So that’s the latest. This weekend we are visiting a potential preschool, visiting with Grandma Gloria and Grandpa Tom, and tonight Joe and I are getting some rest while Jack visits my parents. With his ear infection this week he was up a lot in the middle of the night and I feel like I haven’t slept in a year.

Happy Happy

2006-08-18T21:02:00.000-07:00

Happy Jack

One of the big verbal milestones for babies is the ability to say two syllable words. Up until now, Jack has been shortening most words to whatever syllable makes the most sense to him. Cookie is "key", sausage is "saus", water is "wa", Sesame Street is merely "steet".

Tonight when we were getting out of the car after dinner, Joe asked Jack if he was happy. Jack started saying "Happy, happy, happy". We captured the above clip to show his incredible new talent. If you listen carefully at the beginning, you can also hear Elmo in the background.

We are moving into the new house next week and Jack is getting a bed. No more crib for this grown-up boy. I'll take pictures of him sleeping in it as soon as it happens. I'm going to put my money on him falling asleep on the floor next to the gate that will trap him in his room, but we'll see.

Jack about town

2006-08-10T22:29:00.000-07:00

We finally closed on the new house, and we all went over to check it out. Jack enjoys running around the big empty rooms and coloring on the walls. He is also helping me with some decorating tips – here he is recommending a new fabric for this lampshade:

And testing the carpet with Joe:

Here he is commenting on the landscaping, and making his suggestions for some new foliage:

One of the great things about the new house is the neighborhood. Most importantly, there is a Pei Wei right down the street. Not normally a fan of chain restaurants, I make an exception for Pei Wei for a few reasons. The food is good. They offer a gluten-free menu. And it is loud and people don't generally care about a screaming kid.

Jack particularly likes the gluten free sweet and sour chicken. I think he'll be using chopsticks before we know it.

Last weekend we visited the new Cabella's – a hunting and fishing store that opened last recently. It is quite an amazing place. In the fishing section they have an aquarium with all types of fish. Jack is quite a fan of fish, and even says a word that resembles "ish".

Here he is showing Joe what's what:

And here he's trying to make sure I'm paying attention:

Jack spent some time with my parents this week while Joe and I escaped the heat to go fishing in the mountains. He kept them busy by demanding to play in the hose:

and wondering where the water went:

He also learned how to blow out a candle:

And he ate a few snow cones:

We've been very busy trying to get ready for the big move, as well as get ready for the new baby. Only 18 weeks to go!

Belly Shots

2006-07-30T20:06:00.000-07:00

Since Mia is battling the chicken pox, and her poor mother is stuck in the house with a sick baby AND a sick husband, I have decided to indulge her and show a few shots of my enormous belly. I am 18 weeks pregnant – I have roughly five months to go and I already look like I'm ready to tip over. Here is a front view:

and the ever popular side view:

In my defense this is my second baby. And I'm very short. And I'm thinner overall than I was with Jack. So of course I would show more this time around, right? That's what I keep telling myself anyhow. The pounds are packing on – I've gained 11 so far and the gaining is going nowhere but up from here on out. I've become addicted to Mint Cookie Drumsticks and Mexican Food in almost any form. I'm constantly hungry and tired, and the combination makes me a bit cranky. Throw in a screeching toddler and you make for a really happy home some days.

I did find a recipe for playdough using rice flour. Unfortunately Jack wasn't all that interested. I'm sure he will be in the future, and it's good to know there is a substitute out there!

The new banner up top is courtesy of my brother Greg. He's learning a lot with Photoshop as you can see. I need to figure out how to make it less pixaly overall, but I still think it's cute.

Pictureless Update

2006-07-28T22:08:00.000-07:00

The results from our genetic testing are in, and everything is fine. The new baby is healthy and happily flipping himself around inside me. He has all the necessary chromosomes, they are all lined up as required, and there is one X and one Y, guaranteeing we are having another boy.

In more important news, Jack has finally started calling me mom. He has said dad for about 2 million years, but today he ran after me shouting Mom! Mom! Mom! What a good day for me.

Our non-starving artist

2006-07-27T08:26:00.000-07:00

One day this week Jack took a long, late nap. I knew going to bed was going to be a struggle, so I tried to find tiring activities that didn't involve going out in the searing heat of the afternoon. Since he can't play with traditional playdough (it contains wheat), I opted for something slightly more messy, but just as fun. Painting!

Here is our little artist at work:

Here I think he was asking me to leave him in peace so he could create:

He shortly figured out there was more than one way to get paint on the paper, and started using the back of the brush:

And demanding more paper:

and in case that's not enough for you, here is a video:

Another of Jack's great loves is French fries. One day last week we were both having a craving for In and Out Burger. Here you can see Jack indulging:

And looking somewhat surly, but still cute:

Tomorrow Jack and I are going to visit Grandma Gloria and Grandpa Tom. Gloria broke her foot last week in a horrible sippy-cup accident, and we are going over to wish her well and entertain her during her recovery. We tried to visit her in the hospital, but Jack was not a fan. This time he'll be more comfortable I'm sure.

Do you want a baby brother?

2006-07-21T08:07:00.000-07:00

The big news of the day – we're having another boy! I am so excited about being the mom to two boys two years apart. It's funny how the baby doesn't seem very real to me until I know the sex – I was the same way with Jack. Now I feel like we really are having another baby, and he will be here in five short months. (Funny how the time goes more quickly the second time around.)

And now on to reporting about our current boy, Mr. Jack. Out here in Arizona we have fountains for kids to play in at the outdoor malls. I think it's the only way to get people to actually go outside when it's 110 degrees. Jack is suddenly a huge fan of water in all forms, and here you can see him cavorting in a fountain at Desert Ridge:

There are more pictures of the day at the fountain, and you can always go to our photo album to see them. Click here.

Jack is also learning a lot of new words. Lately he has been saying "HAT" a lot, and pointing to his head. I found this hat (size 2-4 years, barely fits him), and he marched around the housing saying hat hat hat hat hat:

He also wore a hat the other day at Artville:

Although it didn't march as well, so he had to take it off:

He's also spent some time looking out the front window lately. We've kept the curtains up since our house is on the market, and he keeps running over, begging to be picked up to look out.

I took him to the office the other day, where he was busily doing something with a set of desk keys:

Whatever it was, he was clearly successful. And pleased.

And lastly, my parents got Jack a new tricycle. He tried to make it work:

But he had a little trouble steering and ran into the wall.

It's hard to believe how big he's getting. I just had to get rid of all of his 12 month shirts because his belly was hanging out, and we had to buy some new shoes because the size fives were pinching his feet. He's going to be two before we know it!

Where is Jack These Days?

2006-07-04T15:21:00.000-07:00

I think we should change the name of the blog, since I haven't updated it in a month!

We have been very busy. Here are some videos to entertain you though

One

Two

Three

Four

A quick recap:

We all got terrible colds that lasted about 3 weeks.

I got a stomach virus and wound up going to the ER.

We found a house we love and bought it.

Now we have to sell the house we're living in, which means packing up a lot of junk and making it look big and pretty.

We had a test at the doctor that came back a bit worrisome. Nothing too alarming, but we're going for some follow-up tests in two weeks.

We still don't know the sex of the new baby, although I think it is a girl. (Not for any particular reason.)

So that about sums it up. I'll leave you with a few pictures from the last month:

Jack playing in the rain

Jack sitting in a normal chair eating.

Jack and Joe visiting the Farmer's Market

Jack and Joe at an undisclosed location

Jack and my parents on Father's Day

That's all I've got for now. Our main computer is packed up, so photos are going to be fewer with less Photoshopping.

And if you know anyone who wants to buy a house in Willo, please drop me a line!

Do you know the way to San Jose?

2006-06-05T21:33:00.000-07:00

What a weekend we had. On Friday afternoon we all piled onto an airplane and headed out to Palo Alto. Jack was a trooper – he actually slept almost the entire flight. Our trip was completely uneventful, which is the best thing you can ever say about traveling with children.

That evening we hired a babysitter and went out to dinner with our friend Joy. This seems like a normal thing to do – you know, hire a sitter? But we have never really left Jack with someone he didn’t know. Even when we hired sitters here I made them come over beforehand and hang out with him for an hour or so while he got to know them. Or I put him to bed before they get here. He doesn't really go with strangers. Ever.

As many of you know, our little Jack can be quite opinionated. His opinion about being left with Ludmilla was not positive. Even though he can't talk, he communicated his feelings nonetheless. His reaction involved screaming, waving his hand back and forth (this means no in Jackspeak) and large tears coursing down his fat cheeks. It wasn't pretty. Surprisingly we all survived.

On Saturday we had breakfast with our friends Kristin and Danny, their two kids Xander and Bella, and Kristin's sister Andrea. There are not pictures commemorating the occasion, mostly because it was a complete zoo. Three kids, five adults, one big round booth. And no one would sit in the high chair. It felt like having breakfast in the middle of a pile of monkeys.

After breakfast we took Jack over to Stanford to show him where we were married. Unfortunately the church was closed, but we got a lot of good shots of the little guy parading around.

Here he is riding on Joe's shoulders. Despite the look on his face, this is one of his favorite ways to travel:

They wandered over to check out the Rodin statues "The Burghers of Calais". Jack was impressed.

Jack does like to walk every now and again, and he enjoyed checking out the big open spaces in front of the church.

Doesn't he look small? When you live with a toddler, nothing about him seems small. He is such a powerful force in my life that I can't think of him as this tiny little guy. But pictures like that sure put his size into perspective.

Jack was tired from all his marching, so he and I took a little rest on the steps of the church:

I was sorry we didn't get to go inside. It is an impressive building and I think Jack would have liked it. Instead he had to settle for the bookstore, where we insisted upon trying hats on his oversized noggin.

You can see how he felt about that. He also read a few signs to us:

Sesame Street is really paying off.

We headed home for a nap, which unfortunately was too short. At home Jack has been napping for over 2 hours. 45 minutes after we put him down he popped right back up, raring to go. We hadn't planned for this development, so we ended up visiting a park near our old apartment. Jack likes parks, and the weather was beautiful.

Here he is contemplating a tube slide:

And going down a different slide with me:

And with Joe:

Here he rode a motorcycle, hopefully the closest he will ever come to the real thing:

Before we left he needed to take one last look up the tube slide. He was never convinced about it, but he did go down twice.

The whole reason for our visit was a party that afternoon. Unfortunately I didn't get a single picture. It's really too bad because there were several new kids and babies amongst our old friends. The day was perfect and Jack had a wonderful time chasing around two four year old boys who had enough energy to power an entire city. Needless to say we were all exhausted by the end of the evening.

The next morning we went to one of our favorite restaurants in town called Hobee's. Once again Jack didn't approve of the high chair set-up. He did enjoy sitting in a normal chair and playing with a straw:

We had just enough time to stop by the farmer's market in our old neighborhood and head out to the airport. It was quite an ordeal getting us all checked in and getting the car returned. Joe did that on his own while Jack and I waited in the play area and had a snack.

And then we were off. Once again, Jack cooperated quite nicely:

All in all it was a successful trip. We had a good time, we relaxed a little, and we got to see a bunch of old friends. Now we are back home and back to our normal routine. Today Jack spent some time coloring. I'm trying to teach him that crayons are only for paper, not for walls, doors, speakers, dogs, etc. Luckily Crayola makes washable markers that really are washable. But here he was behaving:

Now it is late, we are all still recovering from the trip, and Jack is getting ready to head down to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a visit tomorrow. Hopefully we'll be back soon with some pictures showing off his new swimming skills!

We're Back!

2006-05-30T12:22:00.000-07:00

My only excuse for the long absence is the fact that I got a new camera. It’s taken me a while to figure out how to get the pictures from it onto the computer and how to format them so they aren’t 42 inches wide. Now we should be back on track. In the meantime I have taken a few shots of Jack here and there.

This was at the play area at Scottsdale Fashion Square:

Although he doesn’t look happy in that picture, he really does like it there. See?

Next I have a shot of him playing at his friend Pat’s house. Pat is moving away next week and we are very sad to see him go. I didn’t put up pictures of him because I don’t have permission from the parents, but here is Jack playing with liquid nails:

Last night Jack went to a Memorial Day cookout with my parents and their neighbors. We have been worried up to this point that Jack would turn out to be a vegan because he really never eats meat. That all changed when he was offered some ribs:

Apparently he liked them.

Here he is surveying the carnage:

I haven’t seen him since Sunday – he’s had a Grandparent Fest this weekend while Joe and I tried to get the house ready to put on the market. We need a little more space before the second kid makes an appearance in December, so hopefully we’ll find a good place to live!

This weekend we’re taking Jack to Palo Alto to meet all of our old friends and their new babies. It should be an interesting journey and I’ll take lots of pictures with my fancy new camera!

It's hot out here!

2006-05-14T19:49:00.000-07:00

It's already broken 100 in Phoenix, so Jack and I are trying to find ways to stay cool. Our front yard is completely shaded in the afternoon, so the other day I got out the hose and let him run around with it. Here he is regarding the water:

He quickly became more comfortable:

and got completely soaked:

He got his face a little wet:

as did the rest of him:

His favorite thing to do in between hosing himself off was to run towards me and give me a big hug:

I finally took off his sopping clothes and let him run around for a while more:

This can only be described as marching:

And here he is inspecting some yard dust bunnies:

Today we had a wonderful Mother's Day celebration. This morning we had brunch with Grandma Gloria, Grandpa Tom, Great Grandma Connie, Great Grandpa Joe, and Great Grandma Elaine. Next we had dinner with Grandma Sandee and Grandpa Vince. It was great to be surrounded by so much family – it makes me happy that Jack and the new baby will grow up with so many people around who love them. It was quite a treat.

A Weekend Away

2006-05-10T07:52:00.000-07:00

Jack went to visit both sets of Grandparents last weekend. My dad has a fancy new camera so he took a few cool pictures of Jack just being Jack.

Isn’t he cute?

Here he’s telling you he’s all done:

Eating a cracker:

Sitting on a step stool:

And posing with my dad and his new car:

Today we have playgroup at our house again, and I bought a new sprinkler toy with a spinning Nemo. Hopefully it won’t be too we to get photos.

It Can't Get Much Worse.

2006-05-08T13:09:00.000-07:00

Can it?

Today Julie, Mac, Caden, Jack and I braved the outside world and went to visit Chandler Mall. We decided this was the best place for an outing because A. The two older boys could play in the kids area (scary that they are the “older” boys at the ripe age of 1 and a half) B. It’s air conditioned C. We could get something to eat.

So with three kids in tow, we settled on the bench at the kids play area. Jack kept trying to leave, Mac didn’t like the screaming, and Caden needed to eat. I wish we had an extra hand for the camera, because it was quite amusing to see us try to manage these three. At one point Julie was carrying Mac, who was crying and holding Jack’s hand, who was weak in the knees and wouldn’t walk with her. I was feeding Caden so I couldn’t reach the camera.

Once they had enough, we headed over to the food court where the above photo was taken. Every time Jack would scream (which was often), Mac would cry. This went on long enough that Caden started up. Julie and I just sat there wondering what in tarnation we were going to do with four of them!

If you look closely in the picture you will see there were people at the table behind us. They chose to sit there in a food court full of empty tables. Here’s a note to all you mall-goers. If you see a table with three kids, you might want to sit somewhere else. They kept looking at us like “Can’t you keep your kids quiet?” The answer is a resounding NOPE.

Both Joe and Dave are out of town right now, so Julie and I are on full-time, round-the-clock mommying. While it wasn’t very relaxing for us, it was nice to get out and finally see one another again!

I took a few pictures this morning to show Joe since he is away. They aren’t very exciting, but this is what Jack does in the mornings:

Standing by the door holding a shoe

Walking with purpose

Telling me he’s hungry.

Getting mad at the keys.

I think we’re going to check out the Science Center this afternoon. Apparently there is a great Robot exhibit going on there and I think Jack will like that.

Don't Drink the Water

2006-05-02T08:06:00.000-07:00

Last night and one other night this week, Jack couldn’t fall asleep because his stomach hurt. I’m only guessing this is the case, because he can’t talk and the only sign language he does is “eat”. He uses this sign for everything from “turn on the tv” to “open that door” to “I have a stomach ache”. Needless to say I am constantly trying to guess what he needs.

I think I figured out that the stomach ache is coming from drinking soapy bath water. Yuck, I know. I was discussing this dilemma with Joe last night and trying to figure out what I should do. Stop putting bubbles in his bath? Give him a sippy cup to drink while in the tub. Ever the smarty pants of the family, Joe suggested that I take out all the toys he can drink from – bowls, cups and Tupperware.

Duh.

Yes, I am responsible for the health and safety of an almost-one-and-a-half-year-old. One would hope I could figure out how to keep him from drinking the bath water.

I do have an excuse, however. I have it on good authority that there just might be another baby on the way for Jack to terrorize. If my last pregnancy is any indication I will not be able to string complex thoughts together for quite some time. Unfortunately this condition doesn’t dissipate with the birth of a new baby – a significant lack of sleep is just around the corner.

And with that big news out of the way, I have some photos to share.

Jack running around the children’s garden at the library:

And Jack’s visit to Grandma and Grandpa’s house this past weekend:

This last one is by far my favorite. My little couch potato:

Eventually the blog will have to move, but we’ll get to that after we know what kind of baby it is. I’m pretty confident it’s a girl but that remains to be seen.

Easter Pictures

2006-04-22T14:36:00.000-07:00

My editor finally returned and was able to upload the pictures from Easter. Before the festivities began, Jack was happily watching Sesame Street in his fancy chair:

But the fun really began when he got to open his Easter basket from Grandma:

And, of course, eat some cookies:

He also enjoyed dinner, and he even ate a little lamb:

He got a new pair of sunglasses, which seem to fit him much better than mine did:

And then, more cookies:

As you can see we all had a wonderful Easter holiday. This weekend we are relaxing and taking it easy. Hopefully we’ll have some family pictures to share later.

Catching up

2006-04-18T14:57:00.000-07:00

We’ll start with last week, when I set up the water table on the ground, thinking Jack would sit next to it and play in the water. What was I thinking? The first thing he did was crawl right in it, fully clothed. After stripping him down and putting on a swim diaper, he went back out and played:

After that episode, I started to realize that his poor feet were sweaty every time I took off his shoes. The poor boy needed some sandals. Here he is trying them out in the store:

Very stylish.

Later that day we attended our first egg hunt with our Wednesday playgroup. Here is Jack inspecting an egg with his friend Molly:

He realized the eggs were supposed to go in the basket, but only sort-of:

Mostly he preferred to walk around with them:

And really what he most liked was sitting in the shade and spinning:

Saturday was a fun-filled family day. We all went to Duck and Decanter for lunch, where Jack wandered around making friends:

Joe and I got to sit, eat, and have a glass of wine in relative peace. Then we headed down to Mesa so Jack could visit with his Godfather Michael. For some reason the only picture I have is of him playing with his new gardening tools:

I know the other family members took lots of photos, so hopefully I can get a few of those to post later. I also have some pictures from Easter Sunday at our house, but I’ll have to put them up after my editor goes through them.

Shopping, Protesting, and More Protesting

2006-04-12T11:39:00.000-07:00

Sunday we had a family day, which really means we ran around and did a lot of shopping. Jack likes to shop, and he especially likes to ride on Joe’s shoulders. Here he is on the way to Old Navy:

And then checking some things out at Home Depot:

He doesn’t really look convinced:

It was such a wonderful and relaxing weekend. It’s a good thing too, because we had to get ready for the protest going on in our neighborhood. Over 100,000 people peacefully descended upon central Phoenix Monday starting at noon. Here is what our normally quiet street looked like:

We walked down a ways to see if we could see anything, and Jack enjoyed all the people:

Afterwards we walked through the park, but Jack got mad at me when I walked away from him. He staged his own protest right there in the sand.

Here you can see up close how unhappy he was, poor guy.

Today we have our first Easter Egg hunt at playgroup. Most of the kids are right around Jack’s age, so it will be interesting to see if they can figure out egg hunting. I will be sure to get lots of pictures!

Future Picasso

2006-04-09T10:16:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned, Jack learned to paint last weekend when he visited his grandparents. Here is a shot of him in action:

Of course he got paint absolutely everywhere, and he tried to eat it once, but apparently he had a wonderful time.

This weekend he spent some time at the pet store looking at birds:

Here I imagine he was saying “ohhhhh”:

And in this shot I think he looks a lot older, especially because he’s finally getting some hair:

Later he went to help his Great Grandpa Joe in the garden:

See the little raccoon in the corner of the wheel barrow? Jack put him there to watch:

Here he had his own little tool to play with:

Jack had a wonderful time of course. He came home happy and tired, a good way to go through life if you ask me.

Thursday at the park

2006-04-07T10:35:00.000-07:00

Normally I have Jenna on Thursdays and she takes Jack to the park. But her brother is getting married this weekend, so she had the day off. I haven’t been to the park with Jack since he started walking, and boy did we have a good time.

He started out on the slide. He climbed all the way to the top by himself, but he wasn’t sure about going down.

He finally scooted over and went down holding my hands.

After the slide, he decided to chase some pigeons:

But then he realized there were better birds for chasing. Big geese!

He couldn’t understand why the geese kept walking away from him instead of stopping and holding still so he could “pet” their pretty feathers.

He also found a small hill that he walked up and down and up and down about 2 million times.

After running around, we decided to take a break and ride the train. Jack was thirsty from the activity, so I couldn’t get him to put down the sippy cup for these pictures.

This last one is just to show you that I was actually there, since all the pictures are usually of Jack wandering around by himself!

Today we are going back to the park to play with Jack’s friends. Then Jack is going to spend over at Grandma Gloria and Grandpa Tom’s house. Last week when he was there he learned to paint. Who knows what adventures are in store for him this week!

Just an average Jack day

2006-04-06T09:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a typical Wednesday for Jack. We started at the library for baby time at 10:15. This is the best activity – it’s free, there are lots of kids, and Jack really likes it. To give you an idea of what goes on at baby time I took a few pictures. These are all at the end of class when the kids get up and run around.

Jack is not in that picture because he was over by the window, his favorite place to play:

He did get back in the action, although I could never get him to look at me!

After the library we went to visit Joe at work. We just can’t seem to get a handle on naptime, because here is how he spent the meal:

The worst part was that was his only nap for the entire day, from 11:30 to noon. Yikes. Luckily we had playgroup in the afternoon to distract him from the fact that he was exhausted!

Getting my "Mom Legs"

2006-04-05T14:24:00.000-07:00

When I was young, my grandfather would take us out on his boat into the ocean outside of Los Angeles. I remember learning quickly about sea legs, and how it took special balance to get around the boat.

For those non-nautical readers, here is the definition from the Dictionary of Cultural Literacy:

To “have one’s sea legs” is to be able to walk calmly and steadily on a tossing ship.

I have a new definition for you all. “Mom Legs”

Some people are born with Mom Legs. They are able to adapt to a screaming infant, a toddler with markers in his hand and a mind of his own, a preschooler who only knows the word NO, and much more, all on 2 hours sleep per night and leftover macaroni and cheese as sustenance.

Unfortunately I was not born with my Mom Legs. I am equivalent to the person sitting on the side of the boat looking green and wishing the waves would die down a little. It has taken me this long to feel like I have a handle on things, and even then only barely. But I’m getting there – today I took a shower, did the dishes AND started the laundry, all while Jack was awake and standing right next to me. Will wonders never cease?

The picture above was taken at Desert Ridge, where Jack wandered about playing with other kids. Or I guess really next to other kids:

As with any good day of running, every boy needs a milk break:

We had to make a stop at Joann’s to look at crochet cotton. Jack was helping me shop:

And then he fell asleep on the way home. Here’s what he looked like when he woke up:

Yesterday I went down to visit Julie, Mac and Caden. Luckily I didn’t have Jack with me because Julie and I had our hands full with those two boys! I can’t believe how much I’ve already forgotten about dealing with an infant. No one was seriously injured, however, so I chalk the day up as a success.

Aloha!

2006-03-30T11:00:00.000-07:00

We made it safely to Oahu and back, and I have a billion pictures from the trip. To see the entire trip, click here. Otherwise I'll just share a few of Jack having fun in Hawaii.

Here is how he slept on the plane:

Of course it was only for one hour on a 7 hour flight, but that's beside the point. He was comfy and quiet for that small bit of time. The rest of the time he kept himself busy by reading:

and generally flailing about:

He also tried on my sunglasses:

It was a long flight, and we were tired when we arrived. I was also sick with some strange 24 hour bug (or food poisoning, I'm not sure which), so my mom had Jack duty for the first day. They had fun playing on the beach:

and digging in the sand:

But Jack was never sure about the waves – he didn't want anything to do with going toward the water:

He never got used to the water the entire trip. I guess he truly is an Arizona baby! One of his favorite pastimes from the week was sitting on the patio looking out at the sand and sea:

As well as climbing up on this couch that was the perfect height for him:

The boy next to him was visiting from Portland and they had a great time eating pancakes and commiserating about the general unfairness of napping.

Speaking of napping, Jack had a great new experience sleeping in a twin bed.

The only problem was that he could get up whenever he wanted – like at 5:15 every single day. Normally if he wakes up that early he plays in his crib for a while until we get him, but not in Hawaii! We had lots of fun playing quietly until the rest of the house got up around 8.

The next day I was feeling much better and we took Jack to the park. He sat in a canoe:

and on a big log:

Then we took him to Matsumoto's Shave Ice where he had the chance to sample some frozen sugar water:

It was pouring rain:

So we did some shopping. Jack actually preferred to climb up and down the stairs at the Patagonia store:

The next day we went in to Waikiki for some shopping and sight seeing. We started out at lunch, where Jack perused the Margarita menu:

Then we visited a koi pond

Jack was very interested in the fish and climbing the rocks:

He also did some shopping of his own:

And more climbing:

We visited the Aquarium where Jack's favorite activity was trying to hit the fish:

Unfortunately the fish keepers didn't agree with this behavior, so we had to move on to the seals, and get him out of reach.

Later on, Jack showed off his new Hawaiian outfit:

Those shoes didn't last long on his feet.

That takes us through Thursday I think. I'll post more later! We are very happy to be home and getting settled. Jack is going to visit Grandma and Grandpa this weekend so I'm sure we'll have some pictures from that as well.

Snowed Out

2006-03-18T20:43:00.000-07:00

Jack spent last weekend with the grandparents while Joe and I escaped to the White Mountains. Little did we know, there would be a humongous storm and we would be trapped for an extra day. If you want to see pictures of our expedition, click here.

The only recent picture I have of Jack to share is this one:

Yes, that is a yarn store. And yes, he is asleep on the couch. I took him down there Tuesday afternoon and he fell asleep in the car. So I carried him in and set him there on the couch. He slept for an hour. My friend Sherry met me and we knit and talked and had a grand old time.

I have one more photo, but not of Jack. This one is of Caden Redfield Clark, born Thursday to Julie and Dave Clark:

He is my Godson. I have never been a Godmother, and I will tell you it is an amazing experience. I got to see his first bath, I was the first to hold him other than his parents, and my best friend had a baby that I get to spoil like mad. (I love her first baby too, of course, but he was born 3 weeks before Jack and I was less-than-available for the beginning of his little life.)

He is wonderful and perfect, and he and mom are doing great. They go home tomorrow and Julie gets to spend the next few months without any sleep.

Jack and I are off to Hawaii on Monday. I promise to take a million pictures, although I may not be able to post until we return on the 28th. I am nervous about the five hour flight with my little busy body, but I know we will have a wonderful time.

Catching up!

2006-03-10T12:20:00.000-07:00

I am running so far behind on posting pictures! It has been a busy week, and here are some shots from Jack’s trip to Grandma and Grandpa’s house last weekend. First, you can see him drinking from a sippy cup:

And eating a peanut butter sandwich:

and generally being blurry:

He loves his Great Grandma, who treats him like a king:

and he loves being the center of attention at family gatherings:

Joe and I are off to the White Mountains this weekend, and Jack is staying with my parents tonight and Joe’s parents tomorrow night. What a treat for everyone! My dad has a new camera, so expect a lot of great pictures when we return. I’ll try to take a few of me and Joe as well, so you can see what we look like super-relaxed.

Playgroup at our house

2006-03-06T09:18:00.000-07:00

“What is a sand and water table?” one of our readers asks. Well, it’s like a sandbox, but with legs, and one side has water. Except in our house where we couldn’t find the drill to assemble the sand and water table. So it became something different. Like a sand and water platform. Here it is:

It’s the blue and red thing on the right. Our yard was ready for the invasion of toddlers when playgroup met at our house this past week:

and from the other side:

Jack also ventured over into the neighbor’s yard to check out the Adirondack chairs:

All in all it was a successful day and Jack had fun playing with all his little friends.

I have more pictures to post from his weekend at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, but they haven’t been uploaded yet. We have a pretty busy week ahead so hopefully I’ll get a chance to put them up!

Brought to you by the letter T

2006-03-01T09:10:00.000-07:00

T is for Tantrum
or Terrifically loud
Throwing yourself on the floor
in a crowd.

Jack has learned the letter T. And boy did he learn it well.

His first tantrum was on Sunday at home (thankfully). It was nothing like I’ve ever seen before – he screamed, he threw himself on the floor, he kicked his feet, flipped over, wailed. His face was bright red and he could barely breathe.

Then yesterday in Toys R Us, he wasn’t ready to stop playing in this house:

(Please notice the new Converse Hightops. I couldn’t resist buying them.)

He was happily going in and out the door:

Having a grand time practicing his walking:

And just generally having fun:

When I told him it was time to go, this is what he did:

And then he scooted away from me. I had to retrieve him from inside the house. He was not pleased.

Of course, the item I was buying (a sand and water table, not the house in the picture), had to be brought up from the back. So Jack and I stood at the front waiting, and he proceeded to have his second temper tantrum right there in front of everyone.

There are various theories about what you are supposed to do with a tantruming child. I haven’t had time to brush up on my parenting books lately, so I just guessed. Basically I let him lie there and scream. And every time he got near my I told him he was going to be okay. That’s about the extent of it.

When he finally calmed down and we were getting ready to leave, a nice old man said to me “Wow, he really has some healthy lungs.”

Indeed he does.

Playdate with Baby Jake

2006-02-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

On Friday Jack and I went over to visit Elissa and Jake. Elissa and I went out to lunch while Jake and Jack played with the exersaucer. (Jenna was there with them, in case you were thinking we just left them home with the dogs. She is a brave woman watching a 7 month and a 15 month old baby at the same time.)

I can't believe how big Jake has gotten – here he is smiling:

and looking at Jack stand up:

The funny thing about these boys is that they will be in the same kindergarten class in 2010. Right now they look so different, but I suppose when they are five things will be different.

Later that day Jack practiced some more walking (You can see how skeptical Guido is of the entire endeavor:)

Yesterday we headed downtown to the Matsuri festival. I knew nothing about this event but figured we should enjoy the weather while we can still stand to go outside. Jack likes to walk around and look at people, so it was a perfect day for him. He even wore a hat:

Here you can see how crowded it was:

It was also a bit warm, so Jack drank lots of water:

and even offered me some:

Then we went to look at the fountains at the Arizona Center:

Joe came and met us there while Jack tried to explain to him the calming effects of running water:

We have a typical week this week. Not too much excitement over here, other than more walking.

Big Day!

2006-02-23T18:07:00.000-07:00

The hunger strike is officially over. For dinner tonight, Jack ate 1.5 zucchini, .5 pears, 1 pancake with peanut butter, and – shock of the century – nearly an entire chicken breast. He was shoving food in his mouth as if he had been denied sustenance for weeks. Oh, and he was using his fork. See?

And here is the chicken, along with him stuffing it in his mouth:

I don’t know if he’s entirely convinced about the fork, because sometimes he would just hold it in one hand and eat with the other.

Overall, it was a successful meal

And in even more exciting news, I can officially say Jack is walking. I found him more than once today walking across a room on his own. It’s tough to photograph, but here are two shots:

This last one is my favorite because you can really see how excited he gets when he figures out to walk instead of crawl. He is quite cautious, and still crawls a good part of the time, but he is getting up on his own and walking which I was beginning to think would never happen.

The Ceramic Menagerie

2006-02-22T09:42:00.000-07:00

Jack went to visit his grandparents on Sunday, and as always he had a wonderful time. He spent some time in the yard at his great-grandparent’s house where he admired some flowers:

carried around ceramic yard animals:

and opened and closed the screen door:

Opening and closing things is his new favorite pasttime.

Monday was a holiday, so we went to visit our friend Sherry who is a teacher and had the day off. Jack had a great time exploring a new house and finding all the breakable items within baby reach. I forgot to take pictures, probably because I was constantly scampering after him.

Jack has eight teeth left to come in, and I have a feeling they are all about to make an appearance. I can’t imagine the pain of four eye teeth and four molars breaking through at the same time, but it must be difficult. He isn’t eating much and he’s getting up early in the morning, so hopefully they will all break through in the next couple of weeks.

Jack is also walking a tiny bit more – just a few steps here and there. But yesterday he was walking along holding my hand when he saw my dad sitting around the corner. He let go of me, walked about five steps and said “Gran-pa”.

Today it’s off to the library for baby time, then playgroup this afternoon!

He does have some hair

2006-02-15T19:28:00.000-07:00

Jack is just about to be 15 months old. He doesn't walk, talk, dress himself, speak Spanish, or grow hair.

We started going to a playgroup once a week with various kids in the neighborhood. Sophia, who is 1.5 months older than Jack, can run, dance, sing, and talk. Her favorite word is caballo. Oh, yeah, and she knows sign language.

He does, however, have just about all his teeth. And he's getting hair. See?

He was so funny in the bath tonight, despite that fact that he got up at five a.m. and only napped for 30 minutes all day long.

I don't care what those other kids can do. When I asked him where the letter T was, he picked up the T out of the tub and said "T" in his loud little Jack voice. It brought tears to my eyes.

I can see how parents get wrapped up in the one-upmanship that comes with having a kid. I watch the other children and try very hard not to compare Jack to them, but it is difficult. The worst thing is that this entire group is made up of girls, and apparently girls mature more quickly than boys. Go figure.

So I guess what I'm saying is this. I can spend a day worrying that Jack isn't social enough, refuses to walk, and sometimes hits other kids. But he looks at me and it all goes away:

He is the smartest most wonderful baby in the
world.

I may not have said that about him yesterday. I took him to get his pictures taken for Valentine's Day. I had a cute outfit including hat and shoes. He had a great nap. It should have been the perfect photo session. Instead, he clung to me as if I were about to dip him into a vat of boiling oil. He threw the hat across the room, and kicked the shoes off his feet. These pictures actually don't look too bad. But by the end of the photo shoot I was bruised and beaten.

As we were waiting for the pictures to print, I took him out to the play area. I expected him to just grab a hold of my leg and demand to be lifted. Nope. Wrong again. He took off, crawled around, played with other kids, acted like I wasn't even there. Given his behavior in the photo studio this was completely baffling to me.

Just look how far away he is:

and again:

At least the pictures came out ok.

Today we went up to my dad's office for a short visit. There Jack came across a new toy. Traffic signal bolts.

Not every young man can say he owns a bolt that is larger and heavier than some small mammals. He is a lucky guy.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

2006-02-12T21:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon, Jack was whisked away by my mother in the middle of the afternoon. She took him overnight just for the fun of it and I think everyone benefited. Jack was treated like a little king, Joe and I got a small break from the constant energy required to raise a toddfant, and my parents got to see how much fun a 14 month old can be as long as he is leaving 24 hours later.

Jack was as busy as ever. My dad was trying to send me the following pictures and he remarked "I just sat down and he was already down the hall!" Yes. I am familiar with this small challenge. I can only imagine what it will be like when he actually can walk.

One of his favorite activities at their house is turning the water on in the bathtub.

and he will even stand up on his little toes to try and reach the stream of water.

He also likes to sit on the bathroom counter.

He had a wonderful time and when I arrived back to pick him up, he looked at me like "oh, you?" He wasn't even really that interested in seeing me, and I think he would have been just as happy to stay.

One thing that struck me this week is how much Jack will mimic what we are doing. Waving is the main example, but he also will start rubbing his hands together when I am putting Purell on my hands after changing his diaper, and the most recent copycat behavior is to act like he's carrying a purse. He's started picking up anything with a handle, putting it over his arm, and waving at me as if he were going to run errands. See for yourself:

He even went over by the door, ready to leave:

We don't have many plans this week, but we may start a new Mommy and Me Yoga class on Friday. Other than that it's just a typical week – Baby Time at the library, playgroup, and a little Sesame Street thrown in for good measure. I've started practicing the letter of the day with him and I swear he's starting to figure them out. Oh, and Friday we're going to visit Elissa and her baby Jake, who just turned 6 months if you can believe it!

Duck, duck, goose

2006-02-07T16:51:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Jack went to hang out with his grandparents and they took him to visit the ducks. He is fascinated by birds – all kinds of birds. He will even wave to the pigeons in our front yard.

Here he is pointing out the ducks:

and waving to them:

He also loves waterfalls, so this park was heaven to him:

You can see how happy he is, just in general:

He loves to visit his grandparents, and he loves their dog Blondi. He even climbed in her cage:

and closed the door:

I could really use a small Jack cage around here sometimes – he is just into everything possible right now. We ordered a gate to keep him out of the kitchen since his favorite thing to do is look in the cupboards.

On Sunday we went to a Superbowl party at Travis's house. There was not much football watching, but Jack had fun playing outside. First he tested the beer:

he really liked the Guiness:

but Anchor Steam wasn’t bad either:

once he checked the label he was ready for a taste:

(no, he didn't drink any beer.) He settled on some ice, which I'm sure was very clean:

He also spent some quality time with Uncle Travis by the fire pit:

It was a fun weekend – he was very tired both nights which is always good for us. Bedtime is easier when he crashes in the car on the way home!

Travelin' Jack

2006-02-03T16:25:00.000-07:00

Jack finally has a new wagon. We’ve had it in the box since Christmas, and I finally got around to putting it together for him. On Wednesday he decided to take it for a spin on the way to our new playgroup.

Yes, that is a cupholder, and yes, he put the sippy cup in there all on his own.

As we went further in the ride he began to sneeze:

but otherwise seemed pleasant enough.

I thought it was just allergies, but it turned out to be a small cold. His third this year. Now Joe has it and I’m afraid I’m going to get it.

Yesterday we took a trip to Cost Plus to buy me a new teapot. For some reason I am constantly breaking the lids to my teapots. Jack would not sit in the normal baby seat – he wasn’t in the best of moods in the first place and he doesn’t like to be buckled in. So I put him in the main cart and he was much happier.

After that we met up with my parents. Jack sat on Grandpa’s lap and drove his car:

He also changed the radio station:

and posed a little in case some cute young girl toddlers happened to be checking him out:

Today was music class at the zoo. Here you can see the class going on with Julie and Mac in the background:

And here’s Jack off by himself having a small snack:

Jack is not the most social of butterflies, and one full hour of music and camaraderie with other tots can be a little much. He’s also still adjusting to no morning nap, and some days it’s more difficult than others!

Jack is going to visit Grandma Gloria and Grandpa Tom tomorrow! I’m sure he’ll have lots of stories to share when he gets back.

New shoes...

2006-01-30T13:44:00.000-07:00

Jack went to visit Grandma Gloria and Grandpa Tom this weekend and had a wonderful time. He also got to visit with his great grandparents, and here he is with Great Grandpa Joe walking outside on the patio:

Those were new shoes Gloria bought him, but they were too small so she went back. You can see the other new shoes in these pictures where he was playing on the back patio:

He gets very excited when it’s time to take a step:

and he has to concentrate a lot:

He is still cruising around like nobody’s business:

and he always takes time to stop and smell the flowers:

Doesn’t he look like a little boy here?

On Sunday we went up to have lunch with my parents at Desert Ridge. They have a little kids play area that Jack just loved.

There was a tunnel for him to crawl through:

An abacus, so he could practice his math:

and, most importantly, rocks and dirt:

Today we went back to baby time at the library and Jack had a lot of fun playing with the other kids. There is a girl there who is 4 days older than Jack and her name is Brooke. It’s funny to see someone so small with my same name!

Jack got a new wagon for Christmas and I finally got it put together today. I promise some pictures of that soon!

My Growing Boy

2006-01-28T14:46:00.000-07:00

I just can’t believe how fast Jack is growing up. He is really turning into a little boy instead of a baby. At lunch the other day I put him in a booster seat, and he just sat there coloring away:

I know it looks a little bit like he’s about to topple over. But he didn’t. He was very happy with the entire set-up.

He only got two crayons, but I don’t think he minded. I had to take them away once he started eating them, so it was good there were only two!

We’ve also spent quite a bit of time at the playground. He is enjoying the sand and the slides. I think here he was trying to climb up the slide:

And of course he’s still crawling everywhere:

and pointing at everything:

On a different day he thought it would be fun to roll in the sand:

There was so much sand in the tub that night after his bath I had to clean the entire tub out. He was filthy.

He likes to pick the sand up and watch it fall through his hands:

and climb up on the steps:

Jack is with Grandma Gloria and Grandpa Tom today. I don’t think he’s figured out what I mean when I say “We’re going to see Grandma and Grandpa today.” But he really understands when I say “We’re going to see Blondi.” He gets very happy and claps his hands. Blondi is their German Shepard and Jack LOVES her. He thinks she is very fun and big and slobbery.

This coming week isn’t too busy, although we start our music class at the zoo on Friday. Mac will be there too and they are really starting to recognize one another. It’s funny to see them play together.

I’m off to enjoy my last few hours of quiet before Jack comes home. I can’t believe how silent our house is with him gone!

Big Boy Tub

2006-01-25T18:05:00.000-07:00

As promised, here are some shots of Jack, who has finally decided to take a bath in a regular tub:

I think he realized there was more splash capabilities were far superior in the big tub:

and there is the bubble factor as well:

Also as promised, a picture of Jack with favorite football-watching companion, Uncle Travis:

They had a fun trip to the grocery store together, and now Jack is trying to talk Joe into growing a beard.

This week we drove down to meet Julie and Mac for lunch. We are in a very transitional time when it comes to naps these days, and Jack fell asleep on the way. I successfully transferred him from the car to his stroller:

and then he slept for an entire hour! I actually got to eat some food. It was quite unprecedented.

Mac had a good time eating his lunch and pointing over to the stroller and saying "Jack". It's funny that they recognize one another now.

Here is Mac posing for the camera in his cute outfit:

We have been pretty busy this week. Today we went to baby time at the library, then lunch with Jeff, then off to a new playgroup in Encanto where he met two kids his age. They had a little fort with a slide and Jack slid down all by himself! He was quite proud.

He's still not walking more than a few steps at a time. Although I was holding one hand and he was walking along kicking a soccer ball, so I know he has the balance to do it. He's just choosing not to. Go figure.

Jack the Barbarian

2006-01-22T09:21:00.000-07:00

It’s been a while since we’ve posted a video of Jack, but I couldn’t resist this one. Jack was a little manic on Friday night when Joe got home from work (this is how we know he’s tired, oddly.) So Joe was playing with him on the floor and Jack was basically beating him up. Click Here to watch.

Yesterday we decided to head over to the zoo. Jack and I go quite a bit, but Joe doesn’t get to go that often and there is so much to see. First, the tiger was trying to get in the door of his night house. I think he was hungry.

(Can you see the tiger? He’s very hard to find.)

Then we looked at some Meerkats. Even though we couldn’t see any of the animals, Jack was impressed with their home.

Please notice he’s being carried. He didn’t want to sit in the stroller. When we put him back in, this was his attitude:

So Joe thought up a handy solution – shoulder rides! You can see how happy this made Jack:

Here, he his making his trademark “ohhhhh” sound:

We headed off to the children’s zoo, the boys rushing ahead and me pushing an empty stroller.

We finally got some pictures of this goat combing that goes on in the petting zoo:

And although this looks a little like crying, he’s actually about to sneeze:

He also enjoyed combing the dirt:

and crawling under the benches:

(please notice the new shoes. We finally found some shoes he can’t take off and don’t pinch his feet.)

It was a great day – the weather was perfect and Jack was having fun with his dad.

Today Uncle Travis is coming for a visit before the football games. Jack is looking forward to seeing him and is even dressed up in his Snoopy outfit Travis gave him for his birthday. I’ll be sure to get a few pictures!

Oh, What a Week

2006-01-20T22:15:00.000-07:00

The week started off just fine and dandy. Grandpa Tom was running in the Rock and Roll Half Marathon, so Grandma Gloria came to collect Jack Sunday morning to go and cheer him on. Joe and I had the day to relax and hang out, and since our nanny has been getting married and honeymooning for the past 3 weeks (congratulations Jenna!), it was a welcome break.

Monday dawned a new day, and I had the makings of a migraine. By Tuesday it was in full swing, sapping every ounce of energy I had. Jack is mostly down to one nap now, and it was all I could do to keep my eyes open until he went down at one o’clock each day.

Then with Wednesday, Jack started to cough. All night long I could hear him hacking away in the next room. I hardly slept a wink, and he didn’t look so rested in the morning either. I made a doctor’s appointment and we headed off for a marathon trip to germ central. I need to invest in a stethoscope and that little ear thing so I can just check him out myself. I swear I could see the flu virus floating in the air with all those kids snuffling around the office.

The doctor, with a raised eyebrow to me, pronounced “I think he has a chest cold.” He recommended a 12 hour cough syrup, gave Jack his second flu shot, and sent us on our merry way. In the lobby I met a woman with nine children, three of whom were sick, crying and in their pajamas. It made me weak just to think about her.

Today was a better day all around. My head is better, Jack’s cough has slowed slightly, and the weekend is here. Jenna is back on Tuesday so there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Now that I’m done whining, here are some pictures I’ve managed to squeeze in between all our time lying about and feeling sorry for ourselves.

Jack loves books. I keep a few in his crib so he has something to read in the morning before I drag myself out of bed to get him. We keep one in the car for him to read while I cart him around from place to place. Here he is, reciting the ever-so-popular “Good Night Gorilla”:

It makes me laugh because he will sit back there, open the book up and start babbling away as if he is reading.

Another fun pastime is emptying the spice rack:

and visiting non-kid-friendly restaurants. This one is called Camus, they don’t have highchairs, and the tables are made of glass.

He got a new booster seat at Grandma Sandee’s house, and he absolutely loved it. (He absolutely loves anything new. He is a true American Consumer.)

And then, of course, his bath. These may be the last photos of our little blue tub though. Tonight Jack crawled out into the big tub and I filled it up with water. After he slipped around a bit he got the hang of it, and I think he’ll be bathing in the big boy tub from now on.

And of course he loves the shark towel:

Sorry it’s been so long since my last post. As you can see it’s been a tough week out here, but I think we’re all back to normal now!

The best laid plans....

2006-01-11T15:07:00.000-07:00

I had the perfect plan for our trip to the zoo today, and as with all perfect plans it somehow went a little awry. Jack has been taking a very short morning nap around 9 or so and it usually lasts 30 minutes. We were supposed to be at the zoo at 10. So I put him in the car at 9:10 with the idea that we would drive, he would fall asleep, and we would finish his nap sitting in the parking lot.

Well, he didn’t fall asleep right away, but since we were so early I kept driving around and waiting. I knew he was tired. He finally dozed off at 9:40. Darn it. That would make us late for the zoo. And to make matters worse, Julie and Mac were already there and Mac missed his morning nap all together.

So much for planning. He had a great nap though, as you can see:

We finally made it inside and joined up with Julie, Mac and Jeff. Thank goodness for Jeff – it was so nice to have an extra adult around to help out. He’s a trooper to mosey around the zoo with two little boys. I hope he got some good pictures because my camera was dying. I did mange to capture how the boys felt right around snack/lunch/nap time:

Jeez, you’d think we were throwing rocks at
them or something. (We weren’t. Just in case you were wondering.)

At lunch they really enjoyed hanging out together and comparing the taste of French Fries to peanut butter. There was a small amount of toddler roughhousing going on as well.

All in all I think they had fun.

One thing Julie and I have noticed over the past year is how often we have to just let them be boys, and try not to think too much. In this instance, I had given them some little snacks. They promptly scattered the snacks all over the stroller, and then proceeded to eat them off the dirty floor.

Yuck. I guarantee you a year ago we would have freaked out at this behavior. Now we both shrug our shoulders and move on to the next thing.

It was so great to get out and to see Julie and Mac. Mac’s baby brother is going to be here soon, and then we will really have our hands full.

In sleeping news (isn’t there always sleeping news in this house?), Jack is transitioning from a Type B baby to a Type A baby. What does that mean? Well, ask Dr. Weissbluth, the smartest man on the face of the earth.

Basically it means that he goes to bed when it’s bedtime, whether he’s asleep or not. It was working fine at night – I would put him in the crib, he would cry for a total of 10 seconds, lie down, and be done with it. Naps were a different story. Maybe he realized they were shorter, maybe he knew I was supposed to get him after an hour so as long as he could stay awake that long he could go without a nap, who knows. But I was determined to turn him into a Type A baby, and this was the best week to do it.

Unfortunately that ended with a lot of one nap days. One nap is not enough for the little man, and by the late afternoon he was miserable. Finally today, however, the work paid off. I put him in the crib and explained he needed to go to sleep. I left the room and for one solid hour I listened to him talk, and play and read and throw things. Finally, when I was just about to go in and get him it sounded like he was settling down. I waited. I crept around on tiptoe. Then I went to peek:

Will wonders never cease. He is sleeping. What a relief.

Not much going on......

2006-01-09T10:39:00.000-07:00

This is the only picture I have of Jack from the past few days. We met our friend Kim out for lunch on Saturday, but I forgot my camera! She took a picture of us, but I was sorry not to get a picture with the whole group. She was in town from China and we miss her very much.

Yesterday Jack went to see his grandparents in Scottsdale while Joe and I had brunch with Al, Eileen and Sean. They were visiting from Chicago and Sean is 2 and a half. It was fun to see a kid walking around and talking – we are very much looking forward to that stage here in the Adams household.

We may go to the zoo this week with Julie and Mac so I will certainly have pictures then!

Happy New Year!

2006-01-03T21:42:00.000-07:00

We've returned safely from Pinetop, but I still have a few pictures to share from our trip. We went on another hike so we could all commune with Mother Nature a bit more. Here is picture showing more of the woods:

We kept walking and came upon a bridge. Or, really, a partial bridge.

Sadly, we were forced to go back. But Joe and I were really proud of ourselves – two hikes in one weekend.

Back at the cabin, Jack continued to tear apart the house. This time it was the kitchen:

He really loved exploring a new place – he got into everything and made a huge mess. But he sure had fun while doing it.

Yesterday he went to spend the night with Grandma Gloria and Grandpa Tom so Joe and I could go to the Fiesta Bowl. He had a wonderful time and is finally able to sleep the entire night when he is away! He still gets up at 5:30 in the morning, but that's certainly better than waking at 2 a.m.

I was finally able to bring his chair home and tonight he spent some time hanging out in it:

He loves his little personal jack-sized chair. He sat there and banged his arms and climbed all over it.

Now, children this age are allegedly supposed to start using a spoon. While I will continue to assert that Jack is a genius superbaby, he is not the neatest of people. But just because someone is messy, does that mean they should be denied the right to a spoon? I think not.

He did try to use the spoon:

but he quickly realized there were faster and more effective methods of yogurt delivery:

He very much enjoyed the experiment as you can see.

We are getting back into our normal schedule this week. We'll be here and there, doing fun and exciting things, just like we always do!

Busy as a Bee

2005-12-30T19:19:00.000-07:00

So far no relatives have coughed up more Christmas photos, so we will continue with Jack's social life this past week. We met our friend Jeff out for breakfast on Wednesday morning and Jack proceeded to color, with the crayons facing the right direction, and he didn't put them in his mouth. See for yourself:

Then later he had lunch with me and my parents, where I gave him Jello for the first time. It was quite funny and he liked it a lot. First he smashed the squares up, then he put all the Jello on the table, then back in the bowl, then he ate it. Here he is trying to figure out where the rest of the Jello might be.

Thursday we skipped town and headed to the mountains. We've been planning this trip for months and were very excited to show Jack snow for the first time. Unfortunately it seems there has not been a flake of snow in the area so far this winter.

Our first order of business was to take a small walk through a resort called "The Lake of the Woods". Joe used to come here every summer when he was a young lad, and he wanted to show us around. Here we are on the pier – you can see one brave soul trying to fish in this cold weather:

Here we are posing near cabin 23 where Joe remembers staying:

And these are the waterfalls Joe explored with his brother:

(my arms are crossed because I was starting to get a little chilly. Jack refused to wear a hat or mittens, and when we got done he was freezing.)

We took a little hike back by the stream:

It was a great little walk and Jack liked all the new things he got to see. Back at the cabin, he relaxed by selecting a book to read:

Or, really, just pulling the books out of the shelf:

Then he had a bath:

He went to bed and slept for 12 and a half hours. It was heaven.

Today we celebrated Joe's birthday at a local diner. Jack was pleased to sit in the booth like a normal boy:

For those of you who know him well, you probably recognize the look on his face. He's saying "ohhhh. Ohhh. Oh. Ohhhhh." He is very expressive with his Ohs.

Unfortunately today was a one-nap day and Jack is not ready to be a one-nap baby. He was unbelievably tired and went to bed at six p.m. Tomorrow is another exciting day of driving around and searching for snow, and ringing in the new year here in our cozy little cabin.

Jack's New Chair

2005-12-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

I don't have a huge number of Christmas pictures right now - they are all in other people's cameras. So if you are a family member of mine with pictures worthy of the blog, please send them my way. I don't know what I was doing the entire holiday, but apparently I was NOT taking pictures.

Here are a few cute ones from Christmas Day at Gloria and Tom's house. Jack in his new fancy chair:

These were taken shortly before he stood up and toppled over backwards. Luckily it was on carpet and he didn't really hurt himself.

He spent some time outside with his Great Grandmother and his Godfather Michael. He loved telling everyone about the dog. He was talking talking talking. Unfortunately it appears he's learned a language other than English, because he jabbers on, pointing around him, looking like people are supposed to respond and no one has a clue what he is saying.

Later we opened some crackers (you know, those English thingies that pop when you pull them apart?) Everyone was lucky enough to score a super-cool paper hat. Here the cousins are showing theirs off:

And Joe even wore his for a bit:

It was a wonderful holiday. We are very blessed to have so many family members in town, and so many coming from far away to visit.

We are leaving for Pinetop on Thursday to celebrate Joe's birthday and New Years up in the cold. I will try to get photos of Jack playing in the snow, although I'm not sure how much snow there will actually be!

Happy New Year everyone!

Jack and the Melon

2005-12-23T22:00:00.000-07:00

Jack is sick. And so am I. Neither one of us is sick enough to warrant lying in bed all day while someone brings us tea and places cold cloths on our heads (although I seriously can’t imagine Jack lying in bed all day), but we are sick enough to be grouchy and feel yucky most of the time.

To appease him (and, to be honest, me), I will let him get away with almost anything right now as long as he’s not whining. So yesterday while we were waiting for Joe to come home, he located a cantaloupe amongst the groceries. He was so excited about this melon I can’t even begin to tell you. He carried it around the house, he picked it up and stood there, he tried to put it places, he tried to make it bounce. Of course I took a million pictures, so you’ll have to bear with me here.

Jack, posing with the melon:

Jack, struggling to remove the melon from the colander, and crying in the process:

Jack, rolling the melon on the stereo shelf, after having successfully lifted it:

Jack, in a Sisyphean struggle to place the melon on the couch:

And, finally, success.

I believe he is exhibiting remorse for having lost his cantaloupe. Poor guy.

This afternoon Jack visited his first gun shop. He was fascinated. He couldn’t stop staring at the guns on the walls, and was enthralled when the bullets were displayed for us to view. I did not take pictures inside, but here he is with Joe waiting to go in:

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. For me, this was the most magical day of the year – more than Christmas Day, I have always loved Christmas Eve. Jack is still too small to get it, but I know one day this holiday will bring him that same sense of magic and joy, and I can’t wait to experience it all over again. I can promise lots of pictures!

Put One Foot in Front of the Other

2005-12-21T14:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon Jack took two steps completely unassisted. He was holding on to the chair I was sitting in, he let go, took two steps and grabbed on to the couch. Then this morning he was standing next to me in the bathroom while I was putting on my makeup, so I leaned down and held out my hand. He took one step toward me and then held my hand. It’s progress of a sort, and I’m sure he’ll be running around in no time.

Today we did some more Christmas shopping, which is always tiring. I tried to get a picture of Jack before he fell asleep with his eyes at half-mast, but I wasn’t fast enough. By the time I got the camera out his little eyes were completely shut:

But notice how he’s sitting up in his forward-facing car seat, just like a real boy. We flipped him around on his birthday but apparently forgot to adjust the recline bar, so he was still lying back. Now he sits up completely in the seat and can look out the window. He prefers this situation and can’t understand why we took so long to position him correctly.

Out to Lunch

2005-12-20T08:01:00.000-07:00

Today is a banner day here in the Howisjack household. Around 6:30 Joe and I both woke up without our usual little alarm clock yelling from the next room. We whispered “Where is Jack?” “Do you think he’s okay?” A full half hour passed before we heard his little voice from the next room. Seven a.m. I think that’s a record.

Jack has had such a busy time this holiday season. Yesterday he had lunch with lots of friends. Mac was there with Julie and my mom:

Jeff and Parley were there:

And we were there:

Now, he wasn’t this angry the entire meal. But for some reason when I set the camera off to take our picture automatically, he started to scream and wiggle. It was amusing. He was back to his happy little self once I stopped making him pose with me.

I have two random pictures from Saturday as well. Parley and Jeff came over that day too, and Parley took these. The first is with one of Jack’s favorite toys, the remote control:

And the second is with me. There are very few pictures of me with Jack, because I’m usually the one with the camera.

Today Jenna is coming over so I can get a little bit of work done and do some laundry. It’s getting more and more difficult to get things finished with little Jack around – he is a very curious little guy. Last night I was trying to wrap some gifts and he kept coming over and tearing the paper off.

Again with the Santa

2005-12-19T07:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday’s plan included two parties, but we ended up going to three! Jack was a trooper, but he was sure tired when we got home. We started out at Grandma Gloria’s house where Great Grandma Connie was celebrating her birthday. Here is the guest of honor with our little Jack and his Grandma:

Check out his new fancy chair he got as an early gift:

He wouldn’t really sit in it, but I know once we get it home and he has a chance to figure it out he will be pleased with his little Jack-sized chair.

He was nice enough to help open gifts:

And blow out candles:

It was a great party. Jack was the center of attention as always – he just sat and basked in the glow of everyone’s good will.

We left there and headed over to Julie, Dave, and Mac’s house for a final visit with Santa. He’s still not a fan.

That was the best face Santa got. It was all downhill from there. Even when Santa was nice enough to give Jack a little gift, he was curious but still angry:

And then he just wanted down.

We rescued him just in time, and he was happy to have the Santa torture over for another year. He did get to spend some time with his old friend Harrison:

Harrison is only a few weeks older than Jack but he’s already walking and talking up a storm. It’s so funny to see someone so small moving around like that. He’s 3 inches shorter than Jack but much more mobile.

Today is more excitement. We have a lunch date with Julie, Mac, Parley, Jeff and my Mom – what a party that will be. We also have to get our Christmas shopping finished up so I can start wrapping.

Party Animal

2005-12-18T10:25:00.000-07:00

Jack had quite a busy day yesterday. He spent some time alone with Joe for some father/son bonding that mostly consisted of eating lunch and playing with trucks. Then his Uncle Travis came over for a visit and they watched Sesame Street together. Jack loves Elmo, and here you can see him peering at the TV set:

Then he went to a Holiday Party where there we tons of kids and lots of food. He was up way past his bedtime, but he had fun anyway. At this same party last year he was just a blob in a car seat, so it was fun to see him actually moving around.

He really does seem like he could walk any day now. Check him out as he’s heading toward the fireplace:

Today we’re heading down to Chandler for more parties and fun. I’m sure we’ll have lots of pictures of him screaming at Santa again, so I’ll try and get those posted tomorrow.

Another Day at the Zoo

2005-12-17T07:52:00.000-07:00

Jack made some new friends this week. Jenna took him to the zoo with her sisters and two other children. He had a wonderful time. He took a 2 hour nap when he came home (completely unheard of in Jack land), so I know they did a good job of tiring him out.

Here he is in a double-wide stroller with his new little friend. Even though they were 3 years apart in age, they got along quite well.

He rode the carousel with Jenna:

Although once it started he did try to climb off:

He sat on a tractor:

and also with his little new friend:

I find this amusing because when I took him to the zoo a while back, he absolutely REFUSED to sit on the tractor. Or stand in the hay. Or even smile at me. I suppose this time he was in a better mood.

It is very funny to see him interact with other children. Here his friend is playing tour guide:

And teaching him how to relax:

(You can see Jack trying to pull off his socks. He refuses to wear anything on his feet, even if it's freezing cold outside.)

We have a busy weekend ahead of us. Uncle Travis is coming for a visit, we have a holiday party tonight, a birthday party tomorrow afternoon for Great Grandma, and a Santa Claus party tomorrow evening at Julie and Mac's house. I don't anticipate he will like Santa any better this time!

Santa, baby? No way!

2005-12-11T09:47:00.000-07:00

Jack has now had two Santa visits. Suffice it to say he is unimpressed. The first Santa merely disturbed him a little.

Even though we approached slowly:

he was not convinced:

This was the best we could get out of him:

He was quite glad when Grandma rescued him.

The second Santa was far worse. Every time the man would talk, Jack would screech in abject terror. He was not amused. Unfortunately the only picture we have is a Polaroid, so I guess I’ll have to scan it somehow.

As you can tell from my lack of posting, we have been quite busy these days. Jack spent some time last weekend with his Grandparents, and he was there again this weekend! Here are some cute pictures of him from his last visit.

Here he was inspecting a wreath with Great Grandma:

And looking at pictures with Great Grandpa:

And here you can see how happy he is about his Little People Santa set:

That is the face of true happiness. He also loves his new tricycle that he got as a birthday gift from his Grandparents:

He is very talented – he can get on and off the trike, push himself around, and he can almost ring the bell. It’s quite exciting.

Last night Jack had a sleepover at his Grandparents house. Everyone loves a sleepover. Joe and I actually went out in public dressed like normal people and had a wonderful time. See how happy we look?

I think I’ve finally caught up on my sleep from the first 9 months.

This week will be another busy one for us. Jack is going going going all the time. Joe has a theory that the energy level in the house is exactly the same as before the baby, but now all the energy has been transferred to Jack. So the two of us just look on slack-jawed and wonder how one human being can possibly move so much.

Baby It's Cold Outside

2005-12-02T20:47:00.000-07:00

It finally cooled off here in the desert. Up until last Saturday it was hitting at least 80 degrees during the day, and even staying pretty warm at night as well. But Sunday morning hit and the chill is finally in the air. Which is good for us, because we are all in the holiday spirit here at howisjack. We went shopping for poinsettias:

You can see Jack’s favorite riding position in that picture. For some reason he doesn’t like to sit in the cart like a normal boy.

He is completely fascinated with the tree, and all breakable ornaments have been relocated to the top. This results in a lopsided looking tree, but will save us in the long run. Here he is inspecting the lights:

And looking a little blurry:

This is his favorite ornament so far, and he can sit and stare at it for, oh, 30 seconds or so.

Tomorrow we are going to visit Santa, so he will have plenty of new pictures to share.

Jack also went to the doctor for his one year check-up this week. He is 30 inches tall, 22 pounds, and has a 19 inch head. The doctor declared him to be in fine health, gave him two shots, and sent us on our merry way. We don’t go back for three more months, so let’s hope we can all keep it together between now and then.

On the home front we had some very good news last night. Jack’s dad made partner at his law firm and we are all incredibly proud of him. It is such a relief and is the culmination of 8 years of very hard work (actually 11 if you count law school!).

More later as Jack prepares for his first real Christmas!

Jack is One Today!

2005-11-27T10:39:00.000-07:00

It is almost impossible for me to believe. Jack is one year old today. A year ago right now I was lying in the hospital about to be cut half in two. (That’s not really true, the scar isn’t even 6 inches long, but it sounds more dramatic that way.)

There are more pictures up in the gallery from the party. Gloria got a lot of great shots of all the guests and a few more of Jack with cake and presents.

Here is how he looked upon arrival at his celebration. He was 30 minutes late because of a late nap!

And with all the generations of women:

And all the generations of men:

And with his very proud grandparents:

Here he is with Uncle Mark. When we visited San Diego Jack would not go near Mark, but now they are the best of friends:

And with his Godfather Michael:

Here is a little car he got from his great grandparents:

In the back you can see the Radio Flyer tricycle he got from Tom and Gloria as well! What a lucky kid.

Here he is with Great Grandpa Joe. It’s amazing that Jack has so many relatives!

This year has been quite an experience in the Adams household. I don’t think Joe and I ever realized how much one little tiny person could impact us. He is such a wonderful little boy and we are having fun watching him grow and learn.

Just to give you an idea of how much he has changed, here is Jack, one year ago today:

Jack's Birthday Party

2005-11-26T18:42:00.000-07:00

To see all the pictures from Jack's party, click here. There are so many it is impossible for me to add them all to the blog. I have selected a few choice shots, however.

We had the party at a local restaurant called Duck and Decanter. It's an old Phoenix establishment and one of my favorite places to eat. We reserved the patio and ordered up some sandwiches and we were set. Apparently I didn't get the memo that I was supposed to have a theme, so his party was just "Jack is One". My mom did buy Elmo tablecloths, napkins, hats, plates, noisemakers, and cake decorations. So maybe the theme was Elmo. Which is fitting, because he loves that annoying little red monster.

The cake was quite a hit with my little angel. He doesn't eat much sugar, so I think he was surprised to have an entire Jack-sized cake plopped down in front of him.

But his eyes are closed, so maybe he's just savoring the sweetness? I gave him a little encouragement:

And he was off:

Needless to say, he loved the cake and made a fine mess of himself. We got him cleaned up enough to open gifts and he was overwhelmed by the generosity of his friends and family.

Here you can see how dirty he still is from cake-eating:

And how much he liked playing with his new toys:

It was a great day, and Jack was wound tight as a spring when we got home. He could not settle down for one second – it was like he was on drugs or something. He never took an afternoon nap and finally crashed at 6:15. No more sugar for him for another year!

So much to blog about, so little time

2005-11-26T17:52:00.000-07:00

I'm starting with yesterday, because I still have all kinds of pictures from our trip to the park. We had a picnic with Great Grandpa Avery. Jack was intrigued by him once again:

My mom made lunch for us – leftover turkey sandwiches of course!

It was such a perfect day. I think it was 75 degrees and sunny. Jack enjoyed just sitting on the table and playing.

After lunch we went for Jack's first train ride.

I think he was a little apprehensive at first, but he sat on Grandma's lap and waited for the fun to begin.

Afterwards our conductor took a picture of us posing next to the locomotive:

Next we were off to the carousel. Jack had never been on one before and he loved sitting on the horse:

Even Great Grandpa hopped on:

Jack made it twice around and then leapt off into my arms. This was a bit tricky because I was already trying not to fall off! We made it off the ride in one piece, fortunately.

We really had a wonderful day and it was nice to spend some time with my grandfather. Jack has been in such a good mood since his molars all finally popped through, and he seemed to enjoy the park.

Next post, birthday party!

Happy Turkey Day!

2005-11-24T20:58:00.000-07:00

I'm going to start with the fun and good stuff. Later in the post you can read about the projectile vomit and the visit to St. Joe's. Everyone is fine today, but Joe and I are wiped out!

Today was a wonderful Thanksgiving. I even had time at the end of it all to sit by myself by the fire and reflect upon how lucky I am. I have so much to be thankful for this year and I am grateful that I am among the more fortunate in the world.

But this is about Jack, right? And trust me, he is feeling very thankful today. This is his first Thanksgiving since he decided to come a little later than planned. But we forgive him because he's just so gosh darned cute.

Before dinner he got to spend some time throwing tomahawks with the men. This is a pastime I don't necessarily understand, but they seemed to enjoy themselves.

Then we sat down for dinner, where Jack proceeded to captivate the table with his winning personality. Seriously, this is better than tv. He's his own one-man show.

After dinner it was out to the patio for cigars and whisky, again with the men. Jack seemed content to wave the cigar holder and stare at the fire.

He also enjoyed playing in the bird bath with my mom

Just in case you can't tell how skinny she has gotten, here is a shot of us drinking wine and eating fancy cheeses:

My grandfather even had some wine, if you can believe it:

Not only that, he was brave enough to try and hold Jack for a bit:

What a great holiday. My mother is a wonderful chef, and even tried to tame the meal down to fit into our diet.

So now for the fun part. Last night about 6 p.m. Jack started acting funny. Sneezing a lot, itching his eyes, and fussing around. He spit up a little, which is odd for him, and went back to having his bottle. Well, that was a mistake. I was holding him when the first bout of real projectile vomit unleashed from his midsection. I swear I could feel the pressure all the way from his poor little gut.

We got him changed, me changed, everything mopped up and went back to sitting quietly. This time Joe got to hold him while I researched on the internet and decided he either had Meningitis, Bird Flu, or possibly just a head cold. More vomiting ensued, more changing of clothes occurred. He was not a happy baby.

Joe went to the store to get some Pedilyte and a thermometer (both of ours seem to have disappeared, of course.) And when he returned I asked him to look at Jack's eyes. They seemed kind-of red. Literally, as we sat there watching him, his eyes began to swell like a bad botox-job.

Unlike the last time (if you remember, this happened to Jack in Denver), we immediately went to the hospital. It was obviously an allergic reaction and obviously required medical intervention. Boy howdy.

Luckily the vomiting had stopped, but he looked horrible. His eyes were red and puffy, he had hives all over, and he couldn't breathe through his nose. The ER staff at St. Joe's was phenomenal. I have nothing but high praise for them, given how busy their office gets after hours.

The culprit this time? Spelt bread. This was something I bought a while back as an alternative to wheat bread. It contains no wheat, but apparently spelt has some wheat-like qualities that can make you allergic to both. So now we know, Jack is allergic to spelt. Jeez. It would be nice if these little guys came with instructions.

So after a few hours in the hospital and some heavy medication, Jack came home and slept just perfectly. Only he still got up at 6:30. So he was a little edgy and tired most of the day, but after two naps he seemed to have recovered. Thus the enjoyable Thanksgiving dinner with my family, and a pleasant evening at home.

Back to Normal

2005-11-16T14:36:00.000-07:00

We made it home Sunday afternoon and everyone was exhausted. Jack didn't sleep so well on our trip so I was up every night with him, and driving six hours in a car will tire anyone out. It's taken the past few days just to get back to our routine.

Today we went to the park again. Jack still loves to play in the sand:

And he started climbing on the slide, so I thought it was time to introduce him to this exciting playground activity.

It's not so easy to get a shot of yourself sliding down a slide, but I managed a little:

This one came out better:

I have more pictures of the trip, but it's going to take a while to get organized. Hopefully I can get them up this week!

Hiking Day

2005-11-10T21:00:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful hike yesterday in the Torrey Pines Preserve. That little backpack we got is just perfect for Jack and he couldn't have been happier. Of course, he's most happy that he doesn't have to do the walking.

He really liked the pine trees:

and the view of the ocean:

Here we are at the edge of Razor Point:

And, of course, the inevitable:

Today we stayed near home and walked around Encinitas. Tomorrow we're taking Jack to meet his Great Grandfather and Great Aunt Cathy. And then tomorrow night Joe arrives! We're all very excited to see him - we all miss him terribly and are looking forward to hanging out together again.

Magic Backpack

2005-11-09T10:12:00.000-07:00

We took Jack to the beach this morning for a quick walk before his nap. He loved the waves and the birds, and he really likes his new backpack:

But the best part about it was this:

That's my little non-sleeping baby, fast asleep. It was heaven

We're Here!

2005-11-08T22:08:00.000-07:00

Jack has had a busy few days. Yesterday we met Julie and Mac at the Phoenix Zoo for Parent Tot Music Class. Imagine a bunch of under two-year-olds, some instruments, and lots of singing. It was mayhem. But fun mayhem. The boys liked it quite a bit, even though it was right in the middle of nap time.

After he got a nap, we piled up in the car and drove out to Solana Beach. It was a long drive and he did very well, all things considered. I think he likes having a back seat companion to pick up his toys when they fall.

Today we went to REI and bought a baby backpack. Here are a few pictures of us trying out our new method of Jack-transport:

When we got home, there were some tree cutters working in the area. Jack thought the Caution tape was really fun:

Luckily he was able to nap through the noise. He even did a little (and I mean little) yarn shopping:

Tomorrow we are taking a hike in the Torrey Pines Recreation area. We have to try out the new backpack and finally show Jack the ocean.

On the Road Again...

2005-11-07T10:52:00.000-07:00

Jack and I are going to pile up the car this morning and head out to Solana Beach California. We have rented a house with my parents and will be playing in the sand all week long. Okay, I hear it’s a little chilly, so we might not be on the beach that much! I have my computer with me so I’ll try to post from there.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of Jack coloring at dinner the other night:

He spent some time with Grandma Gloria and Grandpa Tom on Friday night and had a wonderful time going out to dinner, as you can see. He’s been a very busy boy, and I expect we will have 3 more molars soon.

Off to finish packing!

Pumpkin Carving 101

2005-11-02T07:28:00.000-07:00

Sunday night we had some father/son bonding around here. Joe and Jack carved pumpkins and I hovered around making sure Jack didn't accidentally cut himself.

Jack got ready by sitting amongst the pumpkins and trying to convince us that he should have the bigger one:

Here he's giving Joe some pointers:

And peeking in to make sure Joe got out all the seeds:

(By the way, that is not a knife in his hand. It's the sheath to Joe's fishing knife. He was obsessed with it.)

Then they really got down to business, and I swear Jack was trying to learn how to carve a pumpkin:

And if you look very closely at this picture, you can see Joe's name on his knife.

Here is the first shot of Jack's pumpkin. We decided his should have a grumpy face since his current nickname is Grumpus T. McGrumpy, due to a large amount of molars trying to poke through is poor little mouth:

And, of course, the finished grumpy pumpkin and the little grumpy owner:

Once his was done, he was more interested in the seeds and guck from the middle:

In this picture you can see his method of pointing. For some reason he's started making his fingers into a little pincer and pointing things out. Like the fact that those seeds are slimy:

I like this picture because you can see the motion. I didn't use a flash so it's a bit blurry:

Later that evening we lit them up and put our little munchkin on the porch. (See Joe on the far right trying to get Jack to smile?)

And here is a closer shot:

Jack seemed amazed by the transformation from normal pumpkin to scary jack-o-lantern:

And then he was off to bed!

Jack the Magic Dragon

2005-10-31T09:24:00.000-07:00

We had a Halloween gathering on Saturday – basically it was an excuse to dress up babies and laugh at how cute they are. Here is Jack in his dragon outfit:

My mom made it for him and it was wonderful. She also made a tiger for Mac:

Baby Jake showed up as a devil with wings – too cute:

And here you can see that the adults did not dress up, except for my mom who is wearing my dad’s navy uniform from Vietnam:

And here are Jack and Mac together, shortly before Jack started choking Mac and then knocked him to the ground:

I think I will have more pictures from my dad’s camera, so I’ll post more later. I also have a few shots of Jack and Joe carving pumpkins.

Happy 11 months, Jack

2005-10-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

Jack loves to go out to eat. He likes banging spoons on new tables, staring at other people until they become uncomfortable, throwing stuff on the floor that has to be picked up by the waitstaff instead of eaten by a dog. You get the idea. Luckily Grandma Gloria and Grandpa Tom are happy to oblige him. They take him to Nello's when he spends over at their house. It's a good place to go because it's loud and most people don't mind the squalling that comes from our little munchkin.

Here he is in all his out-to-eat glory:

Another of his favorite activities is going shopping. He doesn't care where, as long as there is a cart and stuff to look at, preferably hanging from the ceiling. Once again, the grandparents score big with Jack and take him to Target.

As you can see, Jack is developing quite a little personality. Is he snapping in that lost shot? I'm not sure, but it really wouldn't surprise me.

On Saturday, Jack donned his most patriotic outfit and did some more shopping, this time at the bookstore:

He loves books right now. I read to him every night but it's only recently that I feel like he's completely following the story. Right now our favorite book is called "Is Your Mama a Lama?" The only bad part is that the story gets stuck in my head, and I find myself repeating it when Jack isn't even around. ("Is your mama a llama? I asked my friend Fred. No she is not, is what Freddy said.")

And of course, he loves to crawl around and explore. Here he is with his new guitar:

and hanging out in the entryway:

That's enough for now. I have to prepare myself for the Halloween extravaganza this weekend. Get ready to see the cutest little dragon in all of babydom.