15 months old!

Month 15 was full of excitement and changes. The biggest of course was the transition from this:



to this:



He's not looked back since he took off last week. He's cruising very quickly, kicking balls, picking up toys along the way and in general, much happier on 2 feet!



He got 3 new teeth this month and according to the doctor has 4 more coming very soon. That's a grand total of 12 so far! All those teeth caused him to wake, more often than not, at least once a night. I've gotten kind of used to it again, just like when he was 3-4 months old. His smile gets cuter and cuter though with each new tooth (if that's even possible!).



His 15 month checkup went well! It was the 1st appointment I've had to miss but Kenny gave me a great recap of it all!
weight: 21 lbs 4 ounces (10th percentile)
height: 31" (50th percentile)
head circumference: 20" (off the charts)
His head, while still very large, seems to have come a little closer to the curve instead of continuing to grow farther from it. He's still on Zantac and she thought it best to leave that alone for now and let him outgrow the dosage in time. She suggested that we cut back on his milk intake so that he'd eat a little more, which seems to be working. He got a few more vaccinations but apparently took them rather well and they were on their way, cleared for another 3 months!



Jack developed a love of rocks this month. We have a farmer's market in the park near our house every Saturday morning and we often go and let Jack walk a bit. He always stops to pick up a rock and then stops again every few feet after that to trade in that rock for a new one. Most of the time the rocks grow in size with each exchange. He gives his choice a fair bit of consideration too, it isn't just a quick pick up and run!



When his teeth weren't bothering him and he didn't have hand, foot and mouth hurting his throat, he loved playing lots of peekaboo and having fun with any household items he could get his hands on.





He learned how to say ball and night-night this month though he definitely saves them for special occasions and won't just say them on demand!

The transition back to work and school is still underway, though I think we are finally getting a little closer to it feeling normal. I miss Jack so much during the day and count down the minutes until I get to see him after work. He's fussing every morning when his Daddy drops him off though his teacher tells us he's ok once Kenny's gone. I think it's more an age/stage thing than anything else and expect it will last a while. Jack's apparently gotten very attached to Miss Amanda and cries when she leaves the room too. I can't blame him. She's so cute and sweet and I know she takes excellent care of him! He's always happy when I arrive to get him and while he smiles and comes right to me, it's nice to see him playing nicely before he sees me. He's napping fairly consistently there for 2 hours on his cot (no cribs!) and loves playing outside on the playground. Water play starts this week (after being rained out last week) and I know he's going to enjoy that!



I wonder every month how I can possibly ever love him more or think he's any cuter than he is right now...and somehow every month I fall a little more in love and a lot more in awe. Oh how I love being Jack's mom and can't wait to see what fun we have in month 16!

And he's off...

and walking!!

Not exactly off to the best start

Last week was a bit rough. Jack didn't exactly take to school like I hoped he would. Kenny took him every morning but after the 1st day Jack cried when they got there every day and most of the day after that.

My job got off to a slow start which made for long days with a lot of time to sit and worry about how upset Jack might be at any moment and how much I missed him.

Just as we got off to a fresh start on a new week, he got sent home first thing yesterday morning with a fever of 102. The doctor said his throat looked really bad but his strep test came back negative so there was nothing we could do but give him some pain relievers and hope it passed soon. It's been a long couple of days (and nights) but hopefully we are on the mend!

Jack did get to try out his very first popsicle last night as we tried to soothe him and cool him off a bit...



He liked it once he got over how cold it was! Look how sad his little eyes are though. Poor little guy didn't feel good at all!



Hopefully we'll all be better by the weekend when Mandi and Grace come to see us!! We can't wait!

Long weekend full of fun

We had a 4 day weekend full of fun! Kenny was off Friday so we all took a walk down to the river. Last time Jack went, he was in my belly, so we thought it was time we let him see it with his own eyes!





I think he liked it!





Saturday the Seaborns came over for a cookout and to play with Jack's new water table!



Jack poured water everywhere, drank it, and in general made the biggest mess with it he could.



Mary Alex however, was more interested in the penguin and made much less of a mess! Look at those dainty little fingers!



Jack dumped all the goldfish on the ground but that didn't stop these guys...



Sunday we went to a great cookout at the Wheawill's! Jack met a little girl, Kaylie, that he enjoyed playing with. They shared rocks...



and smiles...



and a first dance? Jack looks a bit skeptical. And that's peanut butter all over his face.





Today we spent the afternoon with Grams and Gramps! Jack had a ball, as usual. He helped Gramps cook...



and enjoyed meeting the neighbor's dogs and playing with bottle caps!



It really was a great weekend, filled with all the right stuff. Fun, friends, & family! Tomorrow life will change for Jack and me. I'm starting a new job and while that's a big relief after being laid off for 4.5 months, I'm of course really, really going to miss this little guy.



He's at such a great age - so inquisitive and smart and loving all at once. It's a good time for him to go back to school as he'll have so much fun playing with the other kids and will undoubtedly learn a lot more than he would staying home with me. But nothing will ever compare to our snuggly mornings watching Sesame Street together, dancing around the house to fun songs, afternoon walks, trips to the park or the smiles he had ready for me when I went in his room to get him after his nap. Nothing. I know this will be good for all of us but I'm so thankful to have had this time at home with him. We went back to school last week for a visit and he didn't want to leave. In fact, I carried him out literally kicking and screaming.

Wish us luck - we're, well, I'm going to need it!

Happy Birthday Mary Alex!

Jack was more interested in playing with the heart than posing with it, but rest assured, he's excited you're joining the ranks of the ONE YEAR OLDS!






We hope your day was perfect and that all the days ahead will be too!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Getting braver...

Jack seems to be letting down his guard a bit when it comes to walking. He only wants 1 hand now...



and he took quite a few unassisted steps yesterday. Not more than 5-6 in a row probably but it's progress for sure!



I thought I had some on video but it seems I don't. :(! I'll try and get some more soon. Stay tuned!

Around the house

Maybe Jack has been paying more attention to me than I thought he was...he seems to have taken an interest in all that is domestic...

Unloading the dishwasher



Looking at what's baking in the oven (or who that cute kid is staring back at him)



Inspecting the new vacuum



Wondering what took us so long to let him try out his new big boy seat at the table







I grew up in a small town that has an annual Apple Festival, where they make anything they can think of out of the local crop. As such, apple butter has always been plentiful in my life and I always choose it over jelly if it's available. To my delight, Jack seems to have inherited my love for the cinnamony deliciousness. He eats peanut butter and apple butter sandwiches almost every day. This morning I gave him a little bit to dip his french toast in since he hasn't been a fan of the french toast sticks and we have a whole box that we need to eat up. At first, just as I'd hoped, he was dipping the toast sticks in it and eating away...but it didn't take long for him to put the sticks aside and just take to eating the apple butter straight, with his fingers!

Happy Friday everyone!!

Mother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day filled with time with Jack, my Grandmother, my Mother and my Mother-in-law! What more could a girl ask for?











Not a thing! Especially after waking up to this...







Jack and his Daddy made them! All by themselves. It even required a trip to the craft store...Jack's Daddy is THE BEST!

Happy birthday Grams!

Hope your day has been as much fun as ours!



We love you!



Happy Cinco de Mayo to the rest of you!

14 months old

Another month older. Most months I really kind of hate thinking about how old he's getting but this month has been so much fun that I seem to be looking more forward now to the little boy stage and missing the baby stage a little less. I hope we'll have another baby one day and I'll enjoy that stage again but Jack is just getting to be so aware and so funny that I wouldn't trade it for anything else right now...even a tiny snuggly baby.





He did start the month off VERY fussy and we never could quite put our fingers on it but he seemed to work himself out of it after a week or two. It appeared to be a glimpse into the terrible twos and boy, let me tell you what, I am dreading that. He threw tantrums every time we wouldn't let him do what he wanted, complete with kicking and screaming. He was working on more teeth (we now have 9!), and we were trying to add in whole milk, and he was a bit off his sleeping schedule, and he had a runny nose. Maybe the combination was enough to put him over the edge. I'm just glad he got over it! After it passed, he went back to being our sweet little guy.



He chatters non-stop these days. Most of it doesn't make much sense but I love it! He did learn how to roar like a lion though and will do it in response to being asked "what does the lion say?" without us having to actually roar first most of the time.



Quite ferocious, isn't it? :)

And on our walks, or in the car, or on tv, or most anywhere, he will spot a dog or picture of a dog and "woof." Often, on first glance, I don't even see the dog he's "woofing" at right away and start to tell him he's wrong, when sure enough, there IS a dog! We went to the doctor one day this week (Kenny and I, not Jack) and Jack kept pointing at the doctor and "woofing." I was at first, a bit embarrassed and hoped she didn't understand what he was saying, after all explaining that he was looking at her and woofing might not be fun. But sure enough, just behind her was a calendar full of pictures of dogs that I would never have noticed!



He also often starts his own game of peekaboo with whatever he can find...a book, a towel, his shirt, or even the front doormat.





Jack and I take a little time most mornings to turn on some good singing songs and dance around a bit. He thinks it's the funniest thing ever and just laughs and laughs! We often sing the "itsy bitsy spider" (no dancing there) and he's started trying to do the hand movements that I do.

This month also brought the end of swimming lessons. We are so ready for pool season!! Swimming lessons started off pretty rocky. He screamed and held on to my bathing suit for dear life. He wouldn't let go of me for ANYTHING. Of course, he was pretty much the only kid in the class that acted this way and he wasn't the youngest. But, by the end of class, he was smiling and kicking and moving his arms and putting his face in the water. I complained about swimming lessons a fair bit - it was 10 weeks and took up our whole Saturday morning really - but I do think it was worth it and we'll be glad when summer arrives and he's not screaming in the pool! I forgot the camera on the last day but he did get a ribbon for finishing!

I can't wait to see what fun month 15 holds! I know it's going to be an exciting one...