amazin' acres of fun!

here are the pumpkin patch pictures. we had fun, and we look forward to going when he is older and it will be even more fun. as you can see from the videos, even mommie and daddy had fun!

oops

He's still not quite ready to play with this toy independently. He pulled himself up with it this morning, and was doing quite well, but lost his balance and it landed on top of him in a heap. I was expecting some drama to unfold, but he just laid there and looked stunned long enough for me to go get the camera. He's actually grinning under the passy, trust me. There were no injuries in the making of this photo. I'm sure he'll be big enough to play with his baby lawnmower soon. I'm sure it never hurts to give them practice mowing as early as possible right? Hopefully when he's using the real thing, we won't see a scene like this.

bathtime!

I know, I know...I'm silly for censoring. He just loves watching the water go into the tub and hitting all the toys into the tub. Now if I can just keep him from "baptizing" the side of the tub! :) Is that too much information?

quite a fashion statement...

I found these slippers cheap the other day, and thought they were cute. He's not sure what to think about ANYTHING on his feet, even socks don't stay on for long. Although the pjs are about to be retired, I just had to document this. Maybe I can save it as blackmail. He's my little frog prince.

Look what I can do...

Look what I found the other day when I heard him wake up from his nap. I confess, during the day, when he greets me with a grin, I think it's adorable...NOT so much at night now. I think since he's standing, he can get more air in his lungs, which means even louder hollering! Josh and I stayed up later than usual watching some movies (seems like his bad nights are often when I happen to go to bed late too...) so between that and Jack's erratic sleeping last night, I got about 4.5 hours sleep. This does not wear well on Mommie!

Just as I was beginning to feel sorry for myself, I got an email from a friend here in town, updating us on a family's situation. There is a young family, who already had 2 young children with #3 on the way. The baby girl had to be born at 30 weeks because the drs. discovered mom has advanced stage 4 cancer, and needed to start treatments immediately. The baby is now home from Vandy, but last I heard, the Drs. say there isn't anything else that can be done for this young mother, and they are sending in hospice care, and the community is raising money in the hopes of finding more advanced treatment. This story has absolutely broken my heart, and has certainly given me a lot more persepctive. Although I am OVER Jack's month long sleep issues, I am reminded to be thankful that we are happy and healthy, that I have a baby who wakes me up, and that I am healthy enough to care for him.

Please pray for this family. I don't know them personally, but I know several ladies who do. Many are searching for what is the right thing to say or do in this situation. All I can do is pray.

More "helping"

Silly me, I thought he would be content with the things I got out for him...oh no! I really is time to rearrange our cabinets. As you can see, he's even climbing inside!

It WAS a fun weekend!

Well, most of it...you know how I said in the previous entry that Jack did "SO WELL" at the birthday party and was up past his bed time, blah,blah,blah? Well, lets just say, he made us pay for it that night. I stayed up later than usual that night checking email, etc, and didn't get to bed until 11:30, and had JUST gotten to sleep when he awakened at 12 midnight. He kept me up for an hour and a half refusing to go back to sleep. I can't even remember what finally happened to get him to conk back out. Then he woke me up at 6:30 the next morning. I was still tired, why wasn't he?
Anyway, back to the fun parts...we went to "Amazin' Acres" which is a pumpkin patch here in town. I'll post pictures as soon as I can...we should be getting the computer back soon (thanks Steve/Mzee! You're the BEST!) which will make it much easier to upload the pics. It was a lovely time with other moms from my MOPs group and their kids.
Later that evening our babysitter showed up and had the easiest babysitting job ever...she interacted with Maggie WAY more than she did with Jack. Josh and I went to "Little Kobe Steakhouse and Sushi Bar." I was a little wary since this restaurant is in the Walmart shopping center, but it was actually very tasty, quite charming and pretty well priced for those kinds of restaurant. We decided to go to a place that we wouldn't/couldn't take Jack. There was TONS of food, and we were disciplined and brought 1/2 of it back to eat the next day. Then we went to BAM! (a.k.a. Books-a-Million) to wander and relax and drink coffee/hot chocolate.
When we got back around 10:15 (I know, we're such party animals!) Everything was just as we had left it. We're going to have to try this date thing again sometime. It was nice to reconnect as a couple and remember how much we enjoy spending time with each other, apart from being Mommie and Daddy.

(hopefully) a fun weekend

we are looking forward to this weekend. Friday night we were invited to a birthday party for a friend we met up here, and it was really fun. it's so rare that we've gotten to do anything social lately, so it was neat to get to meet some new people, share stories about our babies (5 babies there, all born within the last year, and all boys!!! SO FUN!!) Jack was up from 2 this afternoon until about 8:30 tonight....a VERY long stretch for him, and he did GREAT!
Saturday we are going to a pumpkin patch with some families from MOPs (a field trip that yours truly has arranged... :) I don't know many of the other families very well at all (and Josh has never met any of them), so we'll see how that goes, especially with my introverted other half. Jack should have no trouble at all, he either ignores the other people, or he flirts with the ladies non-stop....didn't get that from his daddy...(not that I mind that at all!)
Then Saturday night we have hired a BABYSITTER (this will be Jack's first non family babysitter...it's a friend of my sisters) but she is coming right at his bedtime, so she'll likely interact with the dog more than the baby, should be her easiest babysitting job yet...I always loved these jobs. We are going on a date, and we are trying to decide if we want to do dinner OR a movie, since we're not sure we can afford dinner AND a movie AND a babysitter all in the same night. One of the drawbacks of moving away from family...having to pay for childcare. :( Anyone know of any good movies that are out, or should we just stick with dinner? Better movies come out around the holidays, right?

we're okay!

I realized that after a few days of just having the previous entry up, ya'll might think we are next to dead! Josh by far had the worst case of the bug, but it looks like we are all over it...I hope. I took Jack to the YMCA yesterday and I heard someone in the nursery mention something about "that stomach bug that's been going around" and I got nervous all over again. eek! not another round, PLEASE! This whole episode has really made me more aware of how easy it is to pass things between parents and children. I can sleep on the sofa and avoid Josh when he's sick, but it's next to impossible to stay away from my child, especially when I'm the only one home to care for him. It's probably a miracle that families are not constantly sick! Thank goodness we only had 1 child to share it with!

attack of the stomach bug...

well, I guess it all started Thursday night when Jack woke up around 10 SCREAMING. When I went in to check on him he had covered himself and his bed with, well...puke. :( After getting him cleaned up and comforted, he was fine, even smiley and happy to see his daddy (who he hadn't seen that day) so I figured it was just that he had gagged himself on his yummy teething congestion mess...and that he was fine. No temp, no more episodes, no reason to worry. We went ahead and came to Nashville for my craft show and to see the family etc. Everything seemed fine until Sunday morning and I started feeling queasy...and it lasted all day long, until that afternoon when I got sick at my mom's house. We decided to brave the drive home and pray I wouldn't get sick again (it was only the longest 2 hours of my life, but I held off until we got home) and I fell into bed. Like a good daddy, Josh slept on the sofa with the baby monitor and took care of Jack when he inevitably awoke during the night. By Monday morning I was feeling weak, but once I got some food in me, I was feeling better. I just kept Jack as occupied as I could during the day with videos, books and anything we could do while sitting. Josh let me go to bed early and he slept on the sofa again just as a precaution. Unfortunately during the night, the stomach bug "bit" Josh, so we traded places, and he became the "sickie". This is NOT a good week for him to take a sick day (the other nurse practitioner is on vacation) but he decided that it wouldn't do for him to be making more patients for the medical practice. :) Keep us in your prayers. I hope I didn't give too many gross details. :)

Peek-a-boo

okay, okay, I know he doesn't have it down perfect, but he's getting the hang of it. He also cracks up if we just look at him and go BOO! I love that it's often so easy to get a laugh out of him! I understand so perfectly now why parents act so silly to get their babies to smile....knowing that you made a baby happy just makes you feel so good.

More "Music"

He's so talented. He wants to be in the drum corps like Uncle John and Uncle Daniel when he joins the marching band.

NKPC choir concert

We drove to Nashville a few weeks ago to see Mimi's choir concert. This clip is kinda long, but I thought it was so funny that it's a Korean church choir dressed up in sombreros and with maracas and tissue flowers singing in spanish, La Bamba! The picture shows them tossing their paraphernalia in the air at the end. :) It was a GREAT concert, and I was quite nervous since it was past Jack's bedtime. He barely made a peep and even fell asleep on Papa John's chest for a while. Almost the whole family was there, except for the Fargo Fishers.

gimme gimme

I just love this video. Josh was eating leftovers from Chilis and Jack decided that moment to latch on to Daddy's leg. He quite a strong little booger.

Playing guitar like daddy

Jack enjoys listening to Daddy play guitar, but he especially enjoys playing along with him. The guitar is stored behing the sofa when not in use, but when Jack gets a glimpse of it, he tries to climb over the back of the sofa to get to it.

a few random wonderings...

*Why is it that I can be standing less than a foot away from my car, furiously pressing the buttons on my key "clicker" with no response...yet when my baby is playing with it, he can set off the alarm immediately from inside the brick house 20 feet away from the car??
*Is it sad that neither the baby nor the dog know who I am fussing at when I fuss "NO, STOP THAT"...often they just both look up at me (usually the innocent one looks a bit confused) and then continue on with that they were doing...naughty or not. Should I just get used to being invisible?
*Is it bad that the baby wants to bite the dog, even though the dog has no desire to bite the baby? (I think I'm making it worse, since I laughed the first time I saw him try it...I couldn't help myself...now his expression on his face when he does it shows he knows it's "funny")
Thankfully I don't think he's been successful yet...all she does is lick him when he does it...she's such a sweet dog! He's such a silly boy!

Happy 10 months Baby Jack!!

Everyday I marvel at how remarkably he's changed over the past 10 months. It's astounding! He was born just shy of 9 pounds, and now he weighs in at 22.4 pounds! He's not gained a whole lot of weight the past several months (he's still big for his age, so I'm not too worried), but I'm guessing part of that is because he's down to only nursing 3 times a day and so much more active. I'm trying to make up for that by feeing him big boy food 3 times a day and snacks as well. I feel like I'm feeding him ALL THE TIME!! I can't remember if I mentioned this before or not, but I've started making some of his baby food. I am pureeing and freezing cubes of mixed veg, carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, green beans and avocado. I'm still getting jarred fruits and occasional veggies (especially if we are out and about). He eats 6 cubes of veggies a day and 1 jar of fruit and lots of baby cereal and yogurt. I'm having fun exploring finger foods for him. His newest has been those little bowls of fruit cocktail (with all the syrup drained off...) He really seems to like the pears and peaches that I cut up even smaller...if only they weren't so slippery. It's really testing his pincer grip! Today I think we will try kiwi :)
He's pulling up better than ever, still crawling on his belly, with occasional full-fledged crawling. He loves clapping, and we use that as his "more" sign at mealtime. I'm still working on "all done" and "drink". We'll see. We think that he understands a few words, such as "Jack" "More" "No" "Eat" "yay!" and "gimme 5" and probably others we haven't figured out yet :) He still says lots of "mamammabababalalala" but we don't think he knows that he's saying yet.
They day I wrote the previous entry about his sleep issues, he slept through the night!! Then last night, no such luck. He's gotten 3 teeth, and I think #4 is coming soon and the lovely congestion issues that come with it, which means trouble breathing at night. :( SHEESH!
It was really adorable last night when Josh got home. I knew it was REALLY close to Jack's bedtime, but I just love to see how excited he gets when he sees Josh come through the door. Unfortunately I think he's figurign out that around the time daddy comes home is also around bedtime, so time to start fussing. At least that's easily fixed. I marvel and thank the Lord everyday for this amazing miracle who has come to live in our house. This is the best Job I've ever had!

frustration...

Since he was 6 months old, Jack has been sleeping through the night, with maybe 1 night a week waking for a little bit...about a week and a half ago my mom and grandmother came into town for a visit. I was rejoicing (maybe a little bragging) that since he's been sleeping through the night, I'm getting more sleep now, than I did before he was born, even while I was teaching. Well, apparently he heard me bragging and decided to bring me down a peg, because since then, he's not slept through the night a single time! NOT ONCE! It used to be my habit, when he would awaken, to go in, comfort him for a few seconds, make sure his diaper is still clean and his passy is accessible, with no congestion issues etc, and then leave to let him "soothe" himself back to sleep...usually this would work pretty well. Lately, if I go in there, it just revs him up even more, and he ends up crying even harder even longer. So I decided to experiment, and one night when I heard him awaken, I only checked on him via the video monitor (future parents, this is a MUST HAVE!!! It may seem expensive, but it saves so many needless trips into the nursery to check on "what was that sound?") and let him tough it out without me. For the first few nights this worked pretty nicely, with his fussing being limited to just a few minutes....but for the past several nights, not even this is working. I've heard several parents say that the night waking starts up again around this age when they start sitting up and pulling up because they wanna practice in bed...so far this isn't the case (I'm not letting him hear me say this, in case it gives him any ideas...) he's just laying in bed fussing himself into a frenzy. Several of my friends suggest going in and patting him on the bootie or rubbing his back, but that just makes him mad, b/c if I'm in the room, he wants me to rescue him. When I do pick him up, he is immediately fine, and goes off the deep end again when I try to put him back down. ARGH!
Part of what frustrates me about this is 1, even after he eventually goes back to sleep, I'm still awake, unable to soothe myself back to sleep and 2)there are going to be a few times in the next month that we are going to be out of town and he will be sleeping in the same room with us...and letting him cry it out is completely different when he is in his own room and in the same room with us...with other people sleeping nearby who don't appreciate being awakened either. Usually if that happens, I'll cave in and feed him, but I don't want to allow him to get into bad sleeping habits and expect to be fed each time he wakes up at night...
I know, I know, this too shall pass..and we just need to find what works for us...but any insight about how long this episode of night waking lasts? Any hope at the end of the tunnel?

GO 'dores!

The whole family is pumped for the 4-0 Commodores today. We watched them on ESPN Game Day this morning (a first for Vandy!) and are looking forward to watching the game tonight. (Maybe the predictions of the commentators will be accurate, and they'll beat Auburn!) Jack is wearing the t-shirt that Papa John got him a few weeks ago. I wonder if I shrunk it when I washed it, because it is 2T and it doesn't seem all that big on him....

He's playing with one of the new big boy toys that Granny Ruthie picked up for him at a consignment sale. He's still not really ready to walk with this push-toy yet, but he likes all the gadgets on it and standing up like a big boy!

This is an exciting week for Mommie and Daddy's alma maters...All this excitement about Vandy and then the upcoming debate at Belmont. I'm excited that our beloved schools are being put "on the map"

Helping out in the kitchen

Although I am a nervous wreck when he is "helping" me with the dishwasher (his new favorite place to pull up) I do enjoy having him occupied while I am working on dishes or cooking. He and daddy have fun serenading me with song and instruments. I still have to keep an eye on him, since he likes to put the wooden spoons in his mouth (and half way down his throat!)

what are these?

after going sockless and shoeless all summer, he's not sure what to think about socks and shoes, and he especially can't figure out how to stand up in them or crawl in them. It's like they're concrete shoes the way he drags he feet around in them. oh well.

maybe I'll eat them...

see previous entry...

More pics from the playground

here are some of the pictures as promised. I was able to get the photos on a CD at walgreens, but you'll just have to wait for the super cute videos. He LOVED the swings (like his mommie) but he wasn't too fond of the slide, or the horsie. We had a super duper fun time. My favorite was when he got really amused watching me swing along with him.

Invading her space.

Under the dining room table is pretty much Maggie's last retreat (that and under Jack's crib...under our bed is a bit full now...) and even then he's invading that too. He likes to follow (chase) after her wherever she goes. What I find remarkable about this picture is that I had plopped him down on the floor near the laundry room while I moved around the clothes. He scampered away, and crawled under the table towards her. There is little to no room to turn around, but somehow he did. I heard some banging around, so I went to investigate and found that he had somehow turned himself around (without getting stuck or fussing) and was making his way out...and as you can tell, he was quite proud of himself. :)

from head to toe

I can't remember if I mentioned this lately, but Jack got his 3rd tooth (one of the top ones!) a few days ago. I think he's working on the other top one, so I've been giving him ice cubes and teething biscuits. I can remember younger siblings chewing on these teething biscuits, and being covered from head to toe. The same result still happens. Now I only give them to him when I know his next stop will be the bathtub. Today it was in his hair, up his nose, between his fingers. If I hadn't put the tray on his high chair, I'm 100% sure it would've been on his lower half as well. I just love that he had it in his mouth like a man with a cigar :) Can't you just see the mischief popping out of his eyes? I am seeing that aspect of his personality coming out more and more these days.

new opportunities

Starting today my mom and I have a space at a cute little shop here in Cookeville. We are showcasing our knitted goods, such as baby hats, blankets and booties, and scarves, purses, and other items for adults. You can check out the website of Broadway Boutique Mall by clicking on the link.
Also, we will be showing our items at a show or 2 this season. We are definitely planning on being at the show at Shimai-a giftshop located at the Loveless Cafe. The Biscuits and Bluegrass Festival is Saturday, Octover 11 from 10-5. Come by if you are in town and see us and enjoy the music and fun activities. Last year's festival was really fun!! I might venture out to do a show here in Cookeville, if I am brave enough. :)