Oblivious

What are you looking at? Is there something on my butt?

Bye Bye Bottle

Well, I began the bottle weaning process with Jack this week. I hope I am not being unrealistically optimistic, but I think it will go well. He doesn't ever take a bottle to go down for a nap and we broke him of the bedtime bottle requirement 3 months ago. He does drink a full bottle for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In addition he has a smaller bottle for an afternoon snack and a cup of juice for a late afternoon snack. I figured, we would try to gradually replace each meal's bottle with a sippy cup of milk. We are starting with lunch. So far, so good, although it takes him forever to finish drinking it. He loves to play with it. He seems to drink about half and then wants a long break before I can push him to drink the other half. I am so tempted to just stick with the bottle to get his meals over with quickly. The good news, at least, is he seems ok with the gradual switch from formula to milk. I am open to any suggestions on this process...

As a side note, except on rare occasion, he still doesn't want to feed himself. What is with that? Every random object he picks up goes straight into his mouth, with the exception of food. Food is crushed in his hands and smeared around.

Quick video of his milk at lunch. He is a talker!

Chew Toys

Jack is still a biter and a chewer. Luckily, we have stopped the biting of mom. However, the chewing of everything else is out of control at this point. If he gets styrofoam, cardboard, or paper near him, it is devoured in a matter of seconds (no exaggeration.) I am amazed, however, at the damage he can inflict on other items. Here are a few examples:

He is obsessed with chewing shoes, especially dad's shoes! Often, Stuart waits until he is in the garage to put on his shoes before leaving for work.


Not a great picture, but he has about chewed a hole in the spout of his sippy cup.


I caught this one yesterday, which seems innocent at first, until you look at the last one closely and see that he has scrapped the paint off of the wall. That was not fun to dig out of his mouth.


I also believe he may have chipped one of his top teeth. It seems more pointed then I remember, but he won't let me get close enough to look. What a bad mom I am! (I have terrible guilt over this one, but I really believe it is Stuart's fault for letting him chew the plastic railings on the window seals by snapping it back with his teeth.)

Jack and the Stoner Sloth

Wow, if that headline doesn't get your attention, nothing will. (Editor's Note: Stuart is concerned I will offend someone with my little insider family joke of ours, so if you will be offended, don't read this post!)

I'm very excited to say that Jack is starting to show an interest in cartoons. Well, one cartoon to be exact. (I know, I know, kids aren't recommended to watch TV until they are 2. I don't care. We don't plan to use the TV as a babysitter and he really is more interested in other things anyway. Everything in moderation I say!) Anyway, he seems to really like the PBS program It's a Big Big World. He will sit and watch it for 5-10 minutes at a time. When he is fussy, I even play one of the songs he likes from the PBS website. It really is a cute program with a nice environmental message. Stuart and I were watching it in bed one morning with Jack and we really started to notice that the main character, "Snook" (the sloth,) seems to have some unique characteristics. He is extremely mellow, kinda shaggy, and talks like he is high. So, we have since nicknamed him "Stoner Sloth." Hmmm. Is this the best cartoon for our son? Our sense of humor is a bit off, so don't judge us, we know we have issues. (We aren't completely crazy, some of the supporting characters seem to have issues too! Check it out yourselves.) On second thought, maybe we should stop calling him that before Jack learns to talk; I would hate for him to start imitating that one!

So, for your enjoyment, here is a link to Jack's favorite song from It's a Big Big World:
http://pbskids.org/bigbigworld/video03.html

And, here is our little Jack, watching his cartoon:

Help in the Kitchen

11 Months Old and Look What I Can Do!

Today Jack is 11 months old. Last night he stood up and took 2 steps toward me. Stuart and I were so excited! (Although, he really didn't like us forcing him to try it again.) He is still struggling with balance so he doesn't attempt it very often and seems to prefer the crawling. I did get a brief video this morning of him standing.

What else is new with Jack?

1. He can brush his own teeth (although he prefers to just chew on the brush!)
2. He turns all the pages by himself in his Good Night Moon book when we read it at bedtime. (Dr. Seuss still gets him hyper so we always finish the night with Good Night Moon to calm him down.)
3. He waves now. Sometimes to say bye-bye, more often to indicate what he wants.
4. He can open doors by himself.
5. He still doesn't really like to feed himself, but he is getting better. He will feed himself cheese sticks and sometimes will use the spoon when pushed. Most often, mom doesn't have the patience and feeds him to get the meal over with quickly.
6. He is really good with drinking: sippy cups, regular cups, and straws are a piece of cake.
7. He gets jealous of my attention to Stuart. He seems to kiss me and cling on me more when dad is home, as if he is staking his claim.
8. He still doesn't understand that the lowest shelf on the media wall is not tall enough for him to stand under it. He crawls under there and repeatedly tries to stand up, bumping his head each time. He cries and gets frustrated, but hasn't yet learned the lesson. It is comical.
9. He kisses me frequently throughout the day!

Loving Baby

Friday night we had some friends over for a BBQ and were up late talking on the patio (it's been awhile since Stuart and I have been up late at night.) It was so nice to take the monitor outside and enjoy the time with our friends while Jack slept. Well, of course, as punishment, baby Jack decided to wake up extra early on Saturday morning (5am!) We were very tired by Saturday night and eager for the baby to go to sleep. To make things more difficult, Jack is getting his molars in and requires a little more help getting to bed at night as a result. I tried everything, but that kid didn't want to go to sleep. I was tired, my back was hurting from holding him, and to make matters worse, my thoughtful husband had already gone to sleep and I could hear him snoring in the other room. (selfish bastard!) For those of you who don't know, I am an emotional person, but when I am tired it is even worse. I was trying to rock Jack to sleep and I was crying. My sweet little boy just looked up at me with concern and gave me a kiss on the lips. Not the big slobbery kisses he usually does, but a sweet little peck. In fact he slowly gave me about 20 kisses. (no exageration.) I cried then out of love for his concern.

He is so aware of other people's emotions now. Sometimes that is difficult, as he is sensitive. He had a playdate with Savannah last week who is 18 months old and she kept hitting him on the head; not hard, but Jack was just stunned. He would cry, not out of pain, but the kind of cry he does when his feelings are hurt (usually reserved for when I tell him no.) This awareness is new. It was just so touching to see he could also know his mother was upset and try to comfort me.

Schools?

This picture has nothing to do with the topic, I just wanted to post it because it is my new favorite picture of Baby Jack.

Last weekend we looked at a new home. We really weren't planning to do any home hunting, but the relator is a friend of ours and the home for sale is down the street from her and her husband, so we thought it would be fun to check it out. Well, it was just about everything we wanted: one additional bedroom (which we need,) a basement (which we really want,) a split floor plan (desperately want,) and a gorgeous yard with a pool and lots of grass for Jack (yea!) It is actually double the square footage of our current home. We went home and talked seriously about the house. It needs serious upgrades inside and would really require my returning to work (or us being on a very limited budget.)

We decided we would really prefer that I not work outside of the home. And, to be honest, the cost of the home is based on the Scottsdale zip code. So, as much as we would love our neighbors, we can spend a lot less if we look at a different area. We decided to base our next home on 2 factors, something reasonably close to Stuart's office and the quality of the school district. Which, brings me to a big question. Where are the best schools for little Jack? I have been trying to research schools on-line and there is just so much information, it is overwhelming. So, I'm throwing the question out to all of you Arizona people. What have you heard? What would you recommend? Any thoughts, recommendations, opinions you would like to share? I need help!

Momma's Boy

These days it is becoming increasingly obvious that Jack is a momma's boy. No matter where I go, or what I do, Jack wants to be a part of it. This video was taken when I laid down because my back was hurting (big surprise with my carrying around such a big kid all day.) Jack just couldn't let me be.

Gotta Have Some!

Stuart went out with some friends after work on Friday and brought home Carl's Junior for me in the evening. (I know, not at all healthy, but oh is it good! Just love their chicken sandwich!) Jack was ready for bed, but got very excited about dad's hamburger. We were cracking up at his enthusiasm. He couldn't be stopped.

HAIR!

Yes, I am the mother of a bald baby. I always look enviously at babies with hair. We always assumed Jack would be a curly headed baby: Dad has thick curly hair (basically he has a fro!) and I have some natural curl. Jack was actually born with hair, it was curly and a little reddish, but that was gone soon and I know it will be awhile before he really has anything that can be called hair. You see, he takes after the Lambson family. Lambson babies are usually bald until they are 2! Jack is 10 and a half months and is just now getting a little fuzz going. I tried my best last night to coax the little that he had into something that was visible. I kinda like the results.

A Few Words From Our Sponsor

HOLY CRAP!

Too Much Love for Mom

It is becoming increasingly difficult for me to do anything these days. Jack is constantly climbing up on me and trying to get involved in everything I do. When I cook, he is hanging on to my clothes and begging to be held. I can't even use the bathroom without Jack banging on the door and coming in to unroll all of the toilet paper! It is cute, but very frustrating.

Recently, I thought I would try to resume my exercise routine (I need it!) I was extremely active before I had Jack and worked out religiously. Once we found out we were expecting, the doctor advised that I tone down my exercise routine; but to be safe, we cut it out all together, limiting my exercise to walking only. Jack is now 10 months old, and my only exercise is chasing after him. I occasionally do some lunges and squats while holding Jack, which offers a nice amount of weight resistance. However, I really thought it was time to do some stomach crunches. (I came to this conclusion one afternoon when Jack began pulling at and playing with the excess around my waist. Boy, is that a wake up call or what?!) Unfortunately, Jack wants to get involved in this new activity. Only when Stuart pulled out the camera did he lose interest in what I was doing.

With Jack, everything is a team sport!

The Tall Baby

Well, it appears Jack may just have the "tall" gene after all. I know this seems like a given to many of you since Stuart is 6'3" and I am nearly 5'11", but we weren't so sure. For a start, both of my grandmothers are hovering around the 5 foot mark. And, let's be honest here, with the exception of my dad, the Lambsons aren't especially tall. (You all know it's true.) My height pretty much came from the Conway side. So, we knew there were no guarantees with Jack.

Well, so far Jack is proving to take after his parents. I really can't keep up with the growth of this kid. We had to go shopping yesterday to buy him some new clothes. Although the size appears ok in his previous stuff, it's just not long enough for him now. At 10 months he is now wearing a size 2T. He also can reach everything. He can reach the door handles and the tops of the kitchen counters. He's making us crazy with all the trouble he can get into now!

Coolest Gift!

Jack recently received one of the coolest gifts ever from Baby Mel (and her parent's Tim and Becca.) My cousin Tim made these incredible wood blocks for Jack. Each side is carved with the number, Roman numerals, dots, the number in English, the number in Spanish, and a shape with the corresponding number of sides. It is so cool (and educational!) As you can see, they are also very tasty. Jack loves me to stack them up so he can knock them down. He will crawl across the room to knock them over because he cannot leave them stacked!

Thank you so much you guys!
That was so thoughtful. It is a wonderful and personal gift. We love it.