8 Super Quick Months

Everyone said to me over and over and over:
"Enjoy every moment because it goes by so fast."

I heard everyone's words, but they didn't sink in until recently. Little things keep happening that totally make this statement sink in. For example buying 12 month old clothes because he's so tall, looking over at the "infant section" of the store and saying to myself "gosh, those are so small," knowing full well that Jack was in those outfits not so long ago. He no longer sits in a single place. He wants to be on the go all the time. Whether its his army crawl (which he much prefers to standard crawling), or standing (yes, standing) while holding onto his new toy table (thanks Jenn, Andy & Hannah), or pulling himself up in his crib (that we need to lower yet again because he doesn't like anything confining)....I am reminded all the time that Jack's growing by leaps and bounds.

Its not all sad though. Am I in shock (and maybe a bit nostalgic) at how quickly he's growing or how big he's getting? Absolutely. But these emotions are totally counteracted by this new, fun-loving, happy personality that is coming out each day. He claps, he smiles, he laughs, he goes from his belly to a sitting position like a pro, he's totally curious about everything-- its all an adventure, he tries to talk (and I can't hear "MaMa") and he's on the go all the time. He's getting to be a whole lot of fun.

Some photos of Jack @ 8 months:

Jack, meet Snoopy!

Now maybe the Holiday Specials will make sense! Yesterday, I had a work event at Wild Water Kingdom with Pepsi. Poor me, right? Kidding! It was really cool. And the client is so wonderful, that he suggested that I bring Jack with me. So, I went back and forth and decided to do that. So, out to Geauga Lake’s Wild Water Kingdom we went. It was mid 70s and he had a blast. He even got to meet the Peanuts characters. Maybe now, he’ll be excited about watching “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” and the “Charlie Brown Christmas Special!” These are Mike’s favorites by far. Jack did seem very into the characters…and into my good friend, Rachel, who came out to help at the event….she even sang to Jack. Would you believe that we were out there for 3+ hours and the little guy didn’t fuss once. What a good kid!

Jack's Favorite Animal

Every kid has their favorite stuffed animals growing up. I can still remember my panda bear and Vicky doll…then the Cabbage Patch Kids that my mom literally sewed for me. They were my favorites. Jack is just beginning to get into his animal friends…in fact there’s one in particular that he really loves: He moves and is very interactive (perhaps more than we’d like with the licks he tries to give Jack)….Yes, he’s cuddly and furry too. He’s also real…I wonder what Jack thinks. Does he differentiate between his “stuffed” animals and “real” animal pet? I can see how he might be confused. Check out the bed in his room. This is the view from Jack’s crib last night when I put him to bed. There is quite a special bond here...

5 days shy of 8 months and he...

learned how to clap! Mike has been working with him a lot on this and today, he just picked it up. And he's mesmorized by the sensation of his hands, with each finger, perfectly matching up against the other. At first, when he started to clap, we thought "cute-- very cute, but probably a fluke." So, we started clapping ourselves, saying "Yay Jack! Yay Jack!" And then, again, he slowly started to put his hands together and then squeal with glee.

Now, he does it all the time. It seems as though he feeds off of our excitement about it and it fuels him to clap and clap and clap! I'm in constant amazement. I know that these are little milestones, but to a first time mom and dad, they're incredible. I think the coolest part is that Jack is trying to interact with us. He's beginning to chase us while crawling. He gets really really excited when he reaches us. Its just really cute. It makes up for the crankies associated with getting his two front teeth (will the just please get here already?!?!?!?). He's having a bit of a time with those two teeth...but most of the day, he doesn't let them get to him. And when he does things like this....clapping and smiling with glee....we'll take it.

We're off to Cincinnati this weekend to get together with all of our friends who we used to hang out with from Provident Bank. Should be a lot of fun!

Pull Ups

Everyone told me "they grow up so fast." I heard what they were saying, but didn't really comprehend it until recently. It seems like every single day he's doing something new. Case in point, this weekend. Jack had another first—he pulled himself up to a standing position all by himself. I was shocked. The first time we noticed this, was when we went to get him out of his crib in the morning on Saturday. We heard him making some rumbles around 7am. As he started to stir, he pushed his “safari lullaby” music-maker, that hangs on his crib. Its funny—he’s been pushing the “ON” button of this toy often to alert us that he’s ready to get out in the morning. It cracks us up every time we hear it on the monitor.

Anyway, on Saturday, I was kind of shocked at the scene when I walked into Jack’s room. There he was, totally standing up, hanging onto the side of his crib with his head bobbing up against the animals dangling from his mobile. I think we have to lower the crib even more, which we’ll be doing tonight. He was all smiles as he saw me…and totally standing straight up!

The next time he pulled himself up, we actually saw him in action as he completed this little accomplishment. We were at Andy, Jenn & Hannah’s house for a cookout. Hannah has this adorable little kid-sized picnic table. Jack and I were sitting on the floor by it as we ate dinner. Jack was playing with toys and then noticed something shiny (my Diet Pepsi can) on the top of the table. He was curious….and up he went to see what it was. First, he pulled himself up from a sitting position to kneeling on his knees. From there, he started to reach up, pull and bounce a bit. Sure enough, he balanced himself and pushed upward into a stand while leaning on the kids table. It was totally cute. Another milestone! Wow, how does it go by so fast???

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Or should I say "Doggy See, Baby Do"...as in Jack and Boomer. I'm very serious here-- the two of them are totally in cahoots. No Joke. They seem to have their own little language and they interact with eachother in a really unique way. And they are both really good at getting into eachother's stuff.

Case in point, we're trying to keep Boomer from giving Jack "kisses." And by "kisses," I mean keeping Boomer from trying to lick Jack. We repeatedly tell him no, we snap our fingers close to his snout when he goes to do it, we even push his nose away from Jack. Then, I turn around for a second while Boomer and Jack are sitting on Jack's playmat and guess what....there's Jack literally leaning over with his mouth wide open trying to get Boomer to give him a kiss. And giggling the whole time. What are we supposed to do?

Then there's the issue of food. Boomer is already learning that when Jack goes into his high chair, its feeding time...not just for Jack, but maybe for puppy too if Jack's food-covered hands dangle his way. He's quickly discovered that Jack may be the biggest "Pez" dispenser ever. Likewise, Jack is very interested in what Boomer gets to eat. Ut oh. The dog food pebbles may be organic, but I still don't want to go there.

No matter where Boomer is, Jack wants to head his way. And now that he can "army crawl" with the best of them, he can get there. The basement play area has become a literal rec hall. It used to be Mike's sports den. Now its close to a "Little Gym!" My how things change.

The other way that Boomer and Jack are in cahoots is regarding toys. We have bins of toys for Boomer and bins of toys for Jack. We keep them separate....we have to because just about everything that Jack plays with ends up in his mouth. We're in one of those phases that every little baby goes through. Everything that gets picked up in Jack's little hands quickly goes into his mouth. And I'm all about keeping things as clean as possible. Anyway, are you curious to know what Jack's favorite item to chase is? Its Boomer's Pink Plastic Squeaky Bone! We're constantly moving it out of his reach. And then there's the four-legged first born...Boomer. Guess what he likes to go after? Jack's teething rings and rattles stuffed animals. Its pretty funny.

We'll get it figured out. I'm convinced they are working together!

First Fourth

Our 4th of July was very quiet-- and really nice. We've been spending so much time hustling around on the weekends, it was rather relaxing to have a couple days to just unwind. We did have big plans, but with me being as sick as I was earlier in the week (and not sure if it was a virus or bacterial infection), we weren't going to take any risks of spreading that sickness along. I felt way better (fever gone for 24 hours, on antibiotics for 48 hours). Still, we just wanted any lingering germs in the house to not pass along to our friends, so we cancelled the get together with the Bottoms family. I was bummed, but Jenn pointed out that we'll be spending a lot of weekends together shortly....and she's right

We did make a couple excursions during the holiday weekend. Most notably we participated in the little Independence Day Parade that runs through our development. That was a hoot. Families decorate strollers, wagons, bikes, tricycles, carts in red, white and blue and we do a lap around the neighborhood. We've done it for years with Boomer (and Calvin and Cameron when they visited us for the 4th). Its quick, but fun. The police come in and lead the parade on motorcycles while blocking off the streets so we can take over the street. Its sweet. This was Jack's first one-- and we're proud to say that Jack's first run in with the cops was a very pleasant one (lets hope that streak continues throughout his life :)

Hello Clippers!

Jack was born with a good amount of hair...especially towards the top of his head. The hair in the back of his head and along his hairline is much shorter than what's on top...that is, until today.

As much as we love his "cwazy hair" that goes in all different directions, the fact is that some of his hair is over 3 inches long and getting out of control. He looks a little bit like a Baby Kramer. So, its gotta be fixed. And that's exactly what we did tonight. It was our big night out-- Jack's first haircut and then a dinner out.

When we told some of our family and friends we were getting Jack's hair cut, we had mixed reactions. Well, we mostly had people telling us "noooooooo!" Its too soon. But, we really believed it was time. So, we did it. In fact, I wasn't even teary-eyed at the children's salon. I was flat out excited. I'm sure it helped that we went to a place that specialized in children's hair cuts. They were just great with him.

They had a "First Haircut Package" that included the cut, a certificate with his locks of hair, and a digital photo of him in his race-car chair. Yes, that's right, all the kids sit in cool different cars at this place. And they get to pick out a movie to watch, which plays directly in front of them while they get their hair cut. Brilliant! By the way, Jack watched his first Elmo movie and I think its pretty safe to say he's a big fan.

Not only was Cookie Cutters great-- so was Jack. He sat right in, grabbed the steering wheel of his race car seat and was like "lets go." He didn't flinch as the buzzer trimmed up his hairline and neck...and didn't even seem to mind when they wet the top of his head so they could cut the really long strands. He was a champ! and he looks just adorable with his new cut. We'll be going back again and again and again.




And, the newly-groomed, high-styling Jack:

Ear Infections and Tonsilitis, and Pink Eye OH MY!

Its been a week. Hence why I haven't had a chance to add a new entry onto Jack's site in so long. We've been taking on some fun (can you sense the sarcasm?) encounters.

It started with Pink Eye last Friday, which began in one eye, then went into Jack's other eye. Loverly. When we saw Dr. Golonka, he said that Jack's Pink Eye was probably a result of the onset of an ear infection (his nose was stuffy too). Just as he predicted, Jack's Pink Eye turned into an ear infection on Monday. Loverly, Part 2. I must say...he was quite a good sport about all of it. We got him started on antibotics and he was on the road to recovery.

So all was well...until about Wednesday. This time it wasn't Jack, it was me! I came down with quite an infection, causing me to run a fever that topped out at 103.1! Yuck! I went to the doctor and they tested me for just about everything...it wasn't strep or mono (phew). It appeared to be some sort of acute tonsilitis! All I know is that my throat was killing me, I had chills, shivers, and I just felt overall yuck. It gotten much better, but my throat is still swollen and irritated.

I've discovered that its really hard to be sick when you're a parent. Before Jack, if one of us was sick, we'd just call in and then sleep it off. Its different when there's a little human being who's 100% dependent on you. You can't "call in sick" to your child. Mike did double duty a lot this week-- I think as a result, we're both exhausted...and we're both looking forward to a relaxing and quiet 4th of July weekend...just the 3 of us!

What a week!