Monday Morning Smile

Just wanted to share Jack's smile with everyone this morning...it sure made my Monday a little brighter!

Dillyn brought Jack this shirt back from her vacation and while it's a little big yet, he LOVES it! Thanks Dillyn and hope everyone has a great Monday...don't forget to SMILE!

No more monkeys jumping on the bed!

Forgive the fuzziness of the picture...we are still learning with our new camera...

What a great big brother he will be!

This morning Jack completed his "Big Brother" class and did great! They read a book about a new baby, learned what toys babies can play with and which ones they can't, sang a song about babies, diapered, swaddled and fed their dolls, colored pictures, had snack and took a tour of the nursery and postpartum rooms where Jack will meet Max!

They even got a certificate!

A few weeks ago Jack helped his Daddy put together a new bookcase for Max!

He also thought he should try on a few of his old clothes, just to make sure they didn't fit and Max could have them...

I think he's going to be a wonderful big brother and can't wait for the next step in this adventure!

And his name will be...

In case you didn't catch it...

Max Oliver Lion

Before we'd settled completely on Jack's name, or at least shared it with everyone, Gramps called Jack "Max" when he was in utero. We'd been pretty sure about Jack's name then but I guess Max kind of grew on us and came to the top of the list this time around. It sounds like a fun, spunky little guy to me. Oliver is a name we both liked that went well with Max. I hope he likes his name as much as we do!

Here we are last week at 35 weeks and 2 days...getting close!



We spent 2 nights in labor and delivery at 33 weeks with contractions coming every 2-3 minutes for several hours. Fortunately, since it was so early, they weren't productive contractions, just annoying mostly. Since then we've had many bouts with them and they are starting to be productive, but still no real labor. This Sunday he'll be 37 weeks, which is considered full term and we'll be happy to meet Max anytime then. We can't wait to introduce him to you...stay tuned!

Gramps

Gramps isn't one to toot his own horn, so we'll take the opportunity to tell you all just how proud of him we are. Here he is at a bill signing last week with the Governor. He worked hard to pass more legislation to protect our environment. This time, he's making sure the Chesapeake Bay will be protected from excessive wastewater discharge without proper offsets. So hopefully, when Jack is Gramps' age, the Bay will still be a great play to play!

Gramps has always worked tirelessly to protect Virginia's natural resources and this isn't his greatest accomplishment by any means. He's done a LOT. But I want to be sure and capture it so one day, when Jack and his brother are old enough to understand, they can be as overcome with pride as I am when I see such a picture.

Imagination

The other morning, before school, Kenny and I were going about our normal routine while Jack played a bit before getting ready. He plays very well by himself usually, and he's very into building with blocks and legos right now, but we were really excited to see this...

He'd built a road for his dinosaurs out of Dr. Seuss books! He found all the similarly sized books on the bookshelf, took them off, built a little road and then gathered up some dinosaurs to walk on it. It's really wonderful to see him thinking outside the box!

Hilton Head Island

In July, Jack made his 4th trip to Hilton Head, though the first time, he was in my belly, so that one might not really count! We really love it there and enjoy watching Jack discover something new every year. Last year he couldn't get enough of the sand and this year he was much more interested in the water and animals he could find.

We started off our week with Eddie and Audrey making the long trip down to spend a few days with us. We were so excited to spend time with them, but unfortunately Jack came down with strep and hand foot and mouth pretty much as soon as we got there. Sick kids in a place other than home is pretty hard to manage, but Jack and I just spent a lot of time inside snuggling and waiting for his antibiotics to kick in! We did get to play on the beach and at the pool a little bit with them though, Jack just didn't have a lot of energy so we had to play for a few minutes and then rest and repeat!

We enjoyed the Pearsons' company so much! Jack would get up every morning and ask for Audrey and Eddie (who, like normal people, were still sleeping). He continued to do this every morning, even after they left! Of course, Jack started to feel better shortly after they headed home. :(

We had always intended to make the last part of the trip all about Jack. We wanted to spoil him a little before his little brother arrives. Being sick threw a wrench into those plans, but we had plenty of fun anyway! We checked out the neighborhood playground...

and looked for turtles!

We went to the petting zoo in Sea Pines...

and visited their BIG playground.

We also took a trip to "The Sandbox," Hilton Head's Children's Museum. Jack LOVED it! It really was a neat place, though if ever there, I would recommend going early. It got so crowded there wasn't anywhere to even stand. It was a lot of fun though and we carried Jack out literally kicking and screaming.

We spent more time at the beach, making sandcastles and playing in the waves...

and we made cupcakes (or pucakes as Jack calls them)! That was quite a hit!

We bought Jack his first legos for this trip and he played with them constantly. On the very last day he and his Daddy built a VERY TALL TOWER!!

I think we succeeded in spoiling Jack rotten and making sure he had a LOT of fun. We sure look forward to all that 2 sets of little boy footprints will bring to the beach experience and the fun they will have together...

A great big thanks to the Weavers for letting us use their amazing house and sharing Hilton Head with us. We love you guys!