Baths

OK, here is the crazy baby after a shower with dad. He loves his evening bath or shower. He especially loves his towel. This is about the time he freaks out because he doesn't want to put on a diaper or get his pajamas on for the night. The kid loves to be naked.

Doggies

As I have said before, Jack is obsessed with dogs and cats. He can say kitty (tee tee) and sometimes dog (gog,) but usually he just barks to indicate dog. If there is even a flash of a dog on a television commerical, Jack will run up to the screen and bark. The other morning, Jack woke up at his usual time, about 6:30am. We could hear him quietly playing in his crib. Suddenly, the neighbor's dogs started barking and Jack immediately started barking in return. We were cracking up at his communication with the dogs when he still doesn't talk much to us!

Hear No Evil

Last week, we were watching TV and some program came on that showed Britney Spears dancing and singing. Jack immediately put his hands over his ears and ran away. That's my boy!

17 Months Old

As of yesterday, Jack is 17 months old. Here is a brief snapshot of his life and abilities today:

• His favorite toy is his little lawn mower. He takes it all over the house.


• He still loves his blanket. If he sees it, he runs over, throws himself down on it and rolls around with his face buried in it. I have to distract him so I can put it away.
• He still loves the sink in the master bathroom, climbs up on the tub to get to the counter where he can climb into the sink so he can get wet. Stuart even removed the faucet handles, but that doesn't stop him. He figured out how to turn it on from the base (which takes some force) and drenches himself in the sink. When he is bored with that, he walks over to the medicine cabinet to help himself to goodies.
• He loves to get out the pot holder, put it on, and then open the oven.


• He has outgrown his flexible little baby shoes. We went and bought 2 new pairs of big kid shoes. They were a size 7.5 and 8 respectively!
• He is obsessed with the garbage can. It's making me crazy. He throws things into it and takes trash out of it all the time.


• He can open anything. This includes our drawers, the cabinets, my tube of mascara (not easy to clean up by the way) and even child-proof caps. Very scary stuff.
• He has learned how to lock the back door. It was funny when Stuart was trying to grill salmon Monday night. Each time he went outside to check on the fish, Jack would lock him out of the house.
• He won't stop putting things in his mouth: rocks, Desitin, shoes, whatever he finds.
• He is obsessed with the car. He loves to sit in the driver seat and pretend to drive. He even loves sitting in the garage and just exploring the inside of the car. However, when he mistakenly hits the car horn, he runs and jumps in my lap and holds real still with his head against me. I have taken him to the park on more than one occasion where he was more interested in our car then in the playground equipment. After trying to keep him from running back to the car to play in it multiple times, I gave up and took him home.
• He still isn't talking--at least not so I can understand him. He seems to hold whole conversations with me that are another language. He will repeat some words we say to him when he is in the mood to do so, but there are few words he will say spontaneously on his own: daddy, mom (which still applies to more than just me,) kitty (tee tee,) gog (dog,) and of course, no. I'm beginning to worry about this. Shouldn't he be saying more? Seriously? How about something useful, like drink, food, bite, more, done, etc?
• He does this thing lately, where he spins in circles, stomping his feet as he goes. It is his own little happy dance. We just love it.

All in all, he is one crazy, adorable baby.

Jack is not very interested in brushing his own teeth but loves to use his tooth brush on mom and dad. One night Jack tried to brush his Dad’s teeth and ended up putting it up my nose repeatedly. Teresa was doing her best to watch her favorite show on TV and didn’t witness the nose assault. I told him to go brush his moms teeth. He proceeded to give Teresa’s teeth a thorough brushing, after a few moments Teresa encouraged Jack to brush my teeth and smiled at me as if to say it was my turn for the assault. Teresa laid there watching jack come at me armed with his tooth brush and I asked him if he was going to brush my nose again….

World's Cutest Baby

Ignoring Mom

As you can see, Jack does whatever he wants in our house.

American Dad

Yesterday, Stuart officially became a citizen of the United States of America. He got his green card years ago, before we even began dating, but now he is officially an American. The biggest difference is now he can vote. The ceremony was really very nice. I cried when a woman from the Philippines got up and tearfully thanked her parents for helping to bring her to the US so she could have the opportunities they never had. I was just overwhelmed by how much I take living here for granted. It was beautiful. There were also some who were honored for serving in the US military before they even became citizens. I was so grateful for what they did.

It was crowded and I had to stand in the back during the ceremony, but here are some of the highlights:

There is Stuart before taking the oath.


Lovely shot of the back of his head during the oath.


They played Lee Greenwood singing God Bless the USA. I'm sorry, but I cannot hear that song and not cry. I tried to get video, but Jack started fussing, so I had to stop before it concluded. If you listen closely, Jack is singing along.

The new citizen and his baby boy.

The whole family (yes, Jack is eating the American flag.)


When we left the court house, Stuart was cracking me up on the drive home. He kept joking about all the "foreign" drivers on the road. Afterward, we went to grab an early dinner to celebrate. Jack had missed his nap because of the ceremony and fell asleep before we got to the restaurant. He slept on my lap during the entire hour we were at dinner. Poor baby, I kept dropping food on his head while I ate.

Congratulations baby. I know you waited for this for a long time.

The Baby Diet

Yes, this is little Jack sticking his face into my dinner bowl, trying to help himself to a bite. He loves to share my meals. And even when he doesn't, he usually is into trouble and prevents me from finishing anything I start to eat anyway. I'm thinking of loaning Baby Jack out as a mini diet program. He is really helpful. He is so full of energy, that you will get all of your cardio chasing him around all day. He has been known to wear out even the most energetic of people. I know I am exhausted taking care of him.

Clueless

Despite our shotgun wedding, Stuart and I did discuss having a baby for a long time. We even discussed adding a baby to our family with Stuart’s daughters years ago. We actually had made an appointment to discuss fertility options with my doctor, as we thought we would have some difficulty conceiving. (Turns out I was 6 weeks pregnant by the time we had that appointment--go figure!) I knew Stuart would be a great dad--I mean look at what a fabulous job he has done with Heather and Karen--and I knew I wanted a lifetime with him, so what better start for our growing family?

Of course, I thought I had adequately planned and prepared to be a mom myself. I always knew I wanted children and so I had a lifetime to get ready for this role. (I did wait until I was 36 to have a baby, so that gave me plenty of time to prepare.) And, I truly thought I knew what I was getting into here. I am the oldest of 6 kids, so I had a hand in taking care of my 2 youngest brothers. I have about 100 first cousins, so I constantly babysat. During high school and college, I worked in day care centers and as a nanny. I have taken college courses on child education. I have babysat for my sisters more times than I can count.

Despite all of that preparation, I have come to the conclusion that I have no idea what the hell I am doing. That’s right, I said it. I am in the dark here. How did I reach this conclusion? Let me offer the following evidence to support my claim:

I can't keep my son out of trouble. He is into everything. Non-stop. He's a climber and can get into, or onto, pretty much anything he wants. He understands "no" but chooses to ignore it most of the time. I am so afraid he is going to kill himself with his fearlessness.

He won't stay out of drawers. Nothing is off-limits to him. Yes, here he is dragging my bras around to prove my point.

He won't stop putting everything in his mouth. And, I mean everything, except food that is. He doesn't want to eat anything anymore, but still chews on everything around the house or in public.

He is obsessed with me. He is by my side all the time. He loves his dad, but once Stuart gets home from work, it is like Jack feels the need to stake his claim. He throws a fit if Stuart tries to read him his bedtime stories, because it has to come from me. I can't get a moment's rest without Jack.

Worst of all, I can't figure out how to make him better when he is sick. That just kills me. He has slept with us for the last 5 nights straight and as a result, my back is killing me.

In conclusion, all of our preparation and training were inadequate. We are slowly losing the battle of the baby over here. Send help quick.

Blanket Baby

Jack loves his blanket. Yes, he gets that from me. I was a blanket baby. When Jack was first born, my Grandma Lambson even made him a duplicate of the blanket I carried around as a baby, anticipating that Jack might take after me. (Yes, she is amazing and so thoughtful.) Jack, however, didn't take to it. Instead, he was obsessed with my robe, so I bought him a blanket that matched the robe's fabric and he has loved it ever since. Normally, I don't let him have it except for bedtime because he will drag it all over the house. Since he has been sick, however, I have let him hold onto the blanket for comfort. As a result, he has not let it go in the last week. He won't even ride in his car without it. Luckily, I bought 2 of them so there is a back-up while I am doing laundry. BTW, I love this pic because he looks like me (or, I should say, baby pics of me.) In the first year, he looked so much like Stuart; only lately do I see the possibility that he might actually be my son.

Quick Jack Update

I have a lot of updates I wanted to share on Jack, but haven't had time because we have a sick baby. Jack has a really bad cold. He hasn't eaten more than a few bites of anything in the last 3 days and is having lots of trouble breathing. Right now, I really miss my baby sleeping in his crib as he is in this picture. He goes to sleep in his crib, but around 11pm he wakes up screaming. The last 3 days he has slept most of the night in our bed with us. I know that is a bad habit to start, but when he gets up every 1-2 hours, you do what you have to do to survive the night. Fever, runny nose, and sore throat...not a sleep inducing combination. In desperation, we gave him fruit sorbet about midnight last night to calm him down and help sooth his throat. No judgements--it worked. This kid is too much of a restless sleeper to share our bed even when he does sleep, so Stuart and I are exhausted. And to top it off, I woke up this morning with a sore throat. Great. I don't have time for this. I don't get sick days at my job.

Family Pictures

As I mentioned before, getting the girls to pose for a picture takes planning. By the time we got a photo shoot together, it was, unfortunately, late in the day and Jack was less than cooperative; he just wanted to play with the camera tripod. The girls didn't like any of the pics we took. Not sure why, they look great in all of them. Anyway, this is one that I particularly like. They left for the airport this morning and I am sure Jack will be looking for them when he wakes from his nap today.

Christmas Highlights

Jack on Christmas morning.

We were looking forward to Christmas this year because Jack can participate in so much more than he could last year. I thought I would share some of our highlights.

A few days before Christmas, we celebrated at my mom's house:

Rare picture of Heather and Karen when they didn't know they were being watched!

Jack showing the love for his cousin Ryan.

My mom tried telling the story of how Santa relates to Christmas. Ryan and Bremen were so cute during the story. Sorry for the abrupt ending, but if you watch the background closely, Jack was sneaking out the door and I had to go chase him down and drag him back into the room.

On Christmas day, we were busy. First, we decided to wrap the entryway into the living room for Jack to open Christmas morning. Jack had fun tearing his way into the room.

Jack and his stocking. Yes, it is about the same size as him. My mom made each of the kids these huge stockings. They love them, Santa, however, is struggling to fill them!

Jack and his story-telling Elmo. No, we did not buy it for him. We thought it was too expensive. His adoring sisters, however, went over the top in getting it for their little brother, using their hard-earned money. Jack kept trying to stick things in Elmo's mouth while he was talking.






The aftermath of the storm.

Then, we went to my dad's for presents and tons of good food!

Like these kids needed anymore presents!




Jack was more interested in the tiny Kit-Kats in our family stocking; he took them for himself. He even stole the ones from Charlotte and Bill's and then from Kevin and Marcy's stockings. It was funny because he walked around chewing on them while everyone opened presents, but the minute he chewed his way through to the actual candy, he spit it out and looked for another one.

This year, in an attempt to cut down on all the spending and excesses, all the cousins drew names for a gift exchange. It worked out great for us because Heather, Karen, and Jack drew the names of my nephews Logan, Ryan, and Bremen who are all the same age. They got Storm Trooper helmets with voice amplifiers. Ryan and Bremen just used them to butt heads. Since Logan was in Idaho, we got to watch him wearing his on the web-cam.

Jack's main gift from us, was a little car. No, it isn't motorized--we went old school. He loved it and couldn't even wait to finish unwrapping it before he climbed inside it.





Jack at the drive-in watching one of my favorite movies!

The girls got Guitar Hero for Christmas. We learned we can't really play until Jack is asleep because he is obsessed with the guitar. As you play, he will reach up and hit the button to reset the game or will pull down your pants trying to get your attention. It was very frustrating! Luckily, Jack goes to bed on-schedule and the girls are night-owls.

NOTE: Heather and Karen are not in many pictures because they refuse to have their picture taken without many hours advance notice, a make-over team, and a picture pre-approval condition. And, I got tired of ending up with pics of the backs of their heads. So, Jack is our star of the moment.