We are alive

I know it has been forever since I posted but things have been a little busy around here. We moved into our new home the first week of November and it has been one project after another around here. However, we celebrated our first Thanksgiving in our new home with Kevin's family. I even cooked my first turkey! We are decorated for Christmas, complete with reindeer outside in the front yard, which Jack calls them "Mooos." (He thinks they are cows!) Now it is time to start shopping and getting everything ready for Christmas. Here are some pictures to recap the past few months!

Jack and cousing Katelyn at Halloween. This is the best picture we could get of him. He does NOT like to get his picture taken right now!

We tried really hard to get a picture of the 3 of them but that is much harder than it looks!

Having fun with Katelyn in the tunnel!

Look at the train!


Jack loved helping Daddy put the train together!

We took about 20 pictures trying to get a good one for our Christmas card...this is as good as it gets. Jack thought the bulbs were apples and kept trying to eat them.

18 months old

A few weeks ago we took Jack to the pumpkin patch to pick his pumpkins. After walking the rows and rows of pumpkins, this is the one he picked. We got 3 small pumpkins and they are sitting outside on our steps. Jack checks on them all the time and says pumpkin or something like that whene he sees them. After we got our pumpkins, we headed over to the orchard to pick some apples. Jack loved that even more than the pumpkins. The trees were low enough that he could reach a lot of the apples but he loved when Kevin picked him up so he could reach the apples at the top of the trees. His favorite part was when we cleaned off an apple and he got to eat it.

Today Jack is 18 months old. He went to the doctor today. Here are his stats:

- 24 lbs 11 oz and 34 inches tall.

He actually did really well with at the doctors and he only cried when he got his shots. The doctor thought he looked good and he was right on track.

We are counting down to the big move. We already have a lot of things in boxes and hope to have most of it complete this weekend as we leave our condo on October 28th.

17 months

Another month has quickly come and gone and Jack is one month shy of being a year and a half old! Here are a few stats



- 24 lbs and probably about 31-32 inches tall.


- 12 and 18 month shirts, he needs 18 month pants for the length but 12 month for the waist so we are having trouble with them.


- size 3 and 4 diapers. We keep thinking he is going to be in 4's but they still seem a little big sometimes so we have some of both.

-He sleeps from 7:30 pm to 7 am on a regular basis and takes 1 nap a day which will last for about 1-2 hours, sometimes longer if we are lucky!


-he loves to climb up and down the stairs and would much rather walk up and down them instead of going on his stomach, which scares me to death!


-He absolutely loves to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on tv. He calls it "Meeska." He stands right in front of the tv to watch and dances to all the songs! This allows me to get a few things done while he is busy!



-He loves to read books. One of his favorite things to do is sit in his room and pull EVERY SINGLE book off of his shelf and read it! This is another thing that will keep him busy while I try to get something done.



-His vocabulary is growing by the day. He is starting to repeat what we say (which we have to be careful with!) He says "Ya, Ya" all the time but I am yet to figure out what he means by it!



-We have been going to the local school's playground a lot recently. Jack absolutely loves to play there. He loves to climb all the ladders and go down the slides. He thinks he is pretty hot stuff.

We put him to work at a young age!

House

So for those of you who don't know, we put our condo on the market the beginning of August in hopes it would sell so we could find a house with a yard and a garage! We were optimistic that someone would come the first week and want it but no such luck. Now that it has been on the market for almost a month, we have stopped making it "show" ready every morning before we leave. I just said to Kevin last night that we need to do a good cleaning this weekend! So I left the house this morning, we will clean tomorrow!

Well wouldn't you know, today at 11:45, we got a text message saying that someone wanted to see our place at 5:45! My first thought was...FINALLY!! Then I thought, oh no it is not ready for anyone to see. So Kevin came home on his lunch break and picked things up and then I came home early from work and cleaned! I think it looked the best it could. Now we just have to hold a good thought that the person looking liked it. Wouldn't that be a wonderful start to a weekend!!!

16 months

This was taken when we were on vacation at my parents lake house the beginning of the month.

I am actually on top of things this month. Today Jack is 16 months old. His teacher told me today that she thinks that Jack is so smart. She said he is really busy and too smart for his own good but she loves him cause he knows the rules. The only problem is he doesn't always follow them. I think that about sums it up.

Jack is very curious. He wants to see and try everything. He wants to know what we are doing at all times and wants to try it too.

He is really into Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on tv right now. We have recorded several of them and he likes to come home from school and watch mickey. He really enjoys dancing to the "Hot dog song."

He also likes playing with his fisher price farm set. We tell him that his animals are hungry and he goes over and "feeds" them.

He is getting good at feeding himself with a spoon. At school he will not let anyone help him eat. At home we still help him from time to time.

Some other stats:

- We are in the process of changing over to size 4 diapers.

-He wears 12 and 18 month clothes

-He is a pro at climbing up the stairs and then sliding down on his tummy.

- He is beginning to play with cars and when he moves them around he says vroom.

- He is obsessed with our iphones. He loves to watch youtube videos on them. His favorites are 5 little monkeys and twinkle twinkle little star. He is also quite good at using an iphone. He knows how to unlock it and change the screens. He loves to flip through picture on it too.

We went to the Miami county fair last weekend with Kevin's family. This is a picture of Jack waving to the animals. He loved looking at all of them (and the all the people for that matter) but he would not pet any of them.

Talking Up a Storm

Jack's vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few weeks. He is trying to say more and more and I LOVE IT!!! He is actually communicating what he wants instead of whining all of the time. He can say ya and no and for the most part uses them correctly. He also shakes his head no. (He tends to do this more than agreeing to something.)

He says mama, dada and papa (which is what we are calling my dad.)

He says dog and kitty and he makes the sounds a dog, cow, lion, lamb and duck make.

He says ball and milk.

He says Thank you and love you (which are my two favorites!)

He is growing so much and is changing by the minute. We had such a good time at the lake with my family this past week. Jack was so busy and loved being there. He enjoyed swimming in the lake with his turtle water ring but he wasn't too crazy about the little pool we brought for him. He spent most of his days "exploring" and trying to figure out what he could get his hands on that he wasn't supposed to touch.

Now it is time to go back to do work tomorrow. (boooooooooo) Did I mention that we also put our condo up on the market last week. So hopefully soon someone will be interested in it so we can move to a place with a yard and lots of room for Jack to be busy! (because that is his favorite thing to do right now!)

A long over due post

I have seriously been slacking in the blog department. Life has been crazy the past few weeks. First our basement flooded, then we had to get all new carpet. Then I got strep throat and we decided to put our condo on the market and finally we went on a much needed vacation to the lake house with my family.

Jack also turned 15 months old in the mix of all of that so here is a little update on him

at 15 months Jack was

- 24 lbs and 33 inches tall.
- his appetite has decreased a little but he still loves fruit!
- he loves cheese nip crackers. I mean the kid is obsessed with them!
- he is saying more and more. (No, dada, mama, yeah, dog, cracker, milk, ball, oh no, more, thank you, shhhhhhhhh, papa)
- he knows a lion says "roar", a lamb says "baa," a cow says "mooo," and a dog says "woof"
-still in size 3 diapers
-wears 12 month clothes
-is a very happy, busy boy

New Signs

We have been working with Jack to help him learn more sign language and I am happy to report that he now knows how to sign, "more," "please," "thank you," and "milk." He is also answering questions. If you ask him if he wants something, he either shakes his head "no" or will say "yeah" if he wants it. I love it!

Tomorrow he will be 15 months old so I will post more then!

Peek a Boo

Just a quick post to tell you a cute story. . .


This afternoon after Jack and I left school, we ran a few errands before coming home. He was in the back seat sitting peacefully playing with his stuffed dog and pacifier. When we came to a stop light, I turned around and said "boo" and of course he jumped and giggled. So I did it again, only this time, he put his little hands over his ears and when I said "boo" he took them off. I think he is a little confused with the whole peek a boo thing, but I think it is pretty darn cute!

14 months...a little late

I kinda forgot to post this when he actually turned 14 months and then we were gone over the weekend...so this is the first chance I have had. Jack is growing and changing everyday. He is so much fun. This summer we have been busy going swimming, playing at different parks and exploring the out doors. He has already had a fair share of scraped knees and bumps and bruises. He is definitely all boy! Here are some other fun facts!

- He weighs almost 24 lbs. I know this because we had to take him to the doctor a few weeks ago because he kept breaking out and you could tell it was very itchy and bothering him and nothing we were putting on it was helping. Turns out, it is eczema (which is what I thought.) The doctor gave us some cream and it has worked miracles!

- He wears 12 month clothes and 18 month pajamas. Although I pulled out some shorts from last summer and they fit! Which means he is wearing 3-6 month shorts. Can you say skinny little thing!!

- He loves to eat, especially fruit. We haven't found a fruit that he doesn't like. He wants to start using a spoon. He cries for it when we are feeding him. So I started giving it to him. He picks the food up, puts it on the spoon and then puts the spoon in his mouth. Its so cute!

- He is saying more and more things. He says dog, Jack, baba (what a sheep says), roar (what a lion and many other animals says), more (he says this while signing please...it is so cute to watch. He does it about 1000 times a day!), bye-bye while waving, something that sounds like hello while putting the phone to his ear!

- He loves books. That is one of his favorite things to do.

- When he is trying to relax, he rubs something soft up against his nose. We call these "sniffies" and if you are lucky he will let you have sniff!

- He LOVES music! He loves to dance and sway to any song. He enjoys when we sing to him. Some of his favorite songs are "If You're Happy and You know It," "Baa Baa Black Sheep," and "Twinkle, Twinkle."

He is a busy little boy. He is fearless. He can now climb on the couch and chairs. He thinks it is pretty cool to stand on them too. We are working really hard on sitting. He loves to go up and down the stairs and he thinks he can do it all by himself without holding on to anything. He definitely keeps us on our toes!

A little update

I have definitely been lacking in the blogging department...sorry but for some reason I have a really hard time uploading pictures to blogger and frankly what is an update without a picture of our little man. So if you want to see pictures, you will have to look for them on facebook.

Jack has been changing almost daily it seems. He is constantly learning something new. His big thing this past week is that he now knows the sign for "please." I love it!!! He rubs his whole body with his hands when he does it...its too cute!

He is also trying to talk. He babbles all the time! If only I could understand what he is saying. He is trying to say things. He knows that some animal says "roar." What he doesn't know if which one. If you hold up any animal and ask what it says, he says "roar."

We got a zoo pass for the summer. We already went once and we plan to go again this weekend as long as the weather is nice.

We have also decided that Jack is part fish! He LOVES the water. We have taken him to the pool at our complex a few times and he has also enjoyed swimming in grandma and grandpa DeWeese's little pool when we have visited them.

And you are all very lucky...I finally got 1 picture to upload...This was taken at the zoo a few weeks ago. I think we might have a future bull rider on our hands!

13 months

Wow...its been a whole month since the last time I wrote. Things have been busy around here. Our baby is already showing signs of a toddler! He is busy, Busy, BUSY! He doesn't doesn't stop from the moment he pops his little head up in the morning until the minute it hits the pillow each night! At school, his teachers say that they can constantly see the wheels turning in his head. As soon as he gets one thing out he is already thinking about the next thing he wants to do. What a difference a year makes. Kevin and I were talking at dinner about how much things have changed over the past year.

Here are some things he is doing new this month. . .

- I would guess that he is about 22 lbs but I am not positive.

- He wears mostly 12 month clothes. He wears 18 month pajamas. Although, when it was nice last week, I put a pair of 3-6 month shorts on him and they fit perfectly...hehe

- He sleeps about 11-12 hours a night. He is tending to go to bed earlier and earlier. This school stuff really wears him out. We are lucky if he makes it until 7:00 pm. When he is at school he takes one afternoon nap however, on weekends he is still taking a morning and afternoon nap.

- He loves to EAT! especially pasta and fruit. He could live off of them if we would let him. He doesn't even have the food in his mouth before he is signing and saying "more." Its so cute and funny.

- Speaking of more...its one of his favorite words. He says it ALL. THE. TIME. The other day we were driving in the car and all he kept saying was "more." Yet he didn't have anything to want or need more.

- He isn't saying much but he will say ball and Jack. We are encouraging him to keep talking. He babbles a lot but it doesn't all make sense.

- He loves the "Five Little Monkeys." We showed him a very corny version of it on our iphone one time and he is hooked. He thinks that whenever he sees a computer or our phones that he has to watch the monkeys. He bops his head and waves his arms while it is playing.

- He is becoming attached to a long floppy eared bunny. He loves to carry it by the ear and hold the ear up to his nose. We will ask Jack if we can have a sniff and he will put the ear up to our noses as well.

- Over all he is just a fun loving little guy. He is loving the warmer weather and loves going outside at school. His favorite outdoor toy is the lawn mower. He is constantly pushing it around.

Another month has quickly come and gone. Wonder what this next month has in store for us?

(p.s. I would love to include a picture....but unfortunately our computer is not allowing me to upload anything right now...so stay tuned for those!)

Happy Birthday Jack

Jack turned a year old today! Where did the time go? He has grown and changed so much this past year. What an exciting year it has been! Check out all the things he has accomplished this past month. . .

- He weighs 21 lbs. 8 oz (50th percentile) and is 30 1/4 inches tall (95th percentile).

- The doctor told us to give up bottles. We plan to make the switch sometime this week. We have already started giving him milk in a sippy cup during the day. All that is left is his morning and evening bottle.

- He wears size 3 diapers.

- He wears 9 and 12 month clothes. He is starting to wear 18 month pajamas. He is now wearing hard sole shoes in a size 4.

- He eats table food. He pretty much eats what we eat. The only thing we are still working on is meat. He is not a big fan, but he is getting better. He loves fruits and veggies, except for bananas. His biggest meal is lunch. He eats a ton!

- He sleeps 10-11 hours a night and takes 1-2 naps a day. They are anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours.

- He can sign "more."

- He says mama and dada but I still don't think he knows what he means when he says them. He makes a lot of other sounds. Sometimes I think he tries to say his name when he is looking at a picture of himself.

- He is walking, more like running, all over the place.

- He attempts to climb on everything.

- He moved to a new class at school. The children in there are between 14 and 20 months. I moved Jack early because I thought he was ready and he was starting to beat up on the little babies. So far, it has been really good for him and he is doing really well. He is very busy in there. He has to sit in little chairs to eat.

- He loves to watch the "Five Little Monkeys" song on YouTube. Its only about 2 minutes but he absolutely loves it and sits completely still when it is on!

- He loves to read books. He doesn't really want us to read them to him, he just likes to sit and flip through the pages.

- He still sleeps with a pacifier and he loves to rub the end of a blanket against his nose.

After we took his cake away, he decided his toes tasted pretty good as well!

Something new every day!

With Jack's first birthday only 2 weeks away, it seems like he learns something new everyday. This week, three things stick out in my mind. He is really into music these days. He loves to sit on my lap and sing songs. His favorite is Twinkle, Twinkle. As I sing, he sways back and forth and gets the biggest grin on his face. Love it! He has created his own little fort. We have a chair that is angled out from the wall with just enough room for a little guy like Jack to crawl behind and make a fort. He takes some toys back there with him and sits for quite awhile and plays. He also likes to play peek-a-boo while he is back there! All we have to do is say, "Where's Jack?" and he pops his head out and giggles. Again...love it! The third thing is not such a good thing....he is fascinated with plugs and cords. We have all the protectors in all the unused outlets, but he loves to go find a cord and pull it. We are tying our best to put things in front of them so he can't reach them, but we have run out of heavy things to stick in front of the outlets. Any suggestions? We have thought about rearranging the living room, but I have a feeling that no matter how we arrange it, there will be an outlet exposed. When we tell him no and redirect him to something else he laughs and thinks its funny. On April 11th, Jack makes his transition to the next classroom at school. Typically we don't move kids until they are 14 months, but he is the only one left in the "baby room" who is mobile. The next oldest child in there is 9 months and that little girl just started crawling, so he is bored. The teachers have been taking him to the new room to visit. He doesn't like when Ms. Diane leaves, but after a few minutes he starts playing and seems to like it. I have watched tons of children transition to a new room and with each move I comfort their parents as they are sobbing about their child moving and tell them that it is harder on the parent to watch their child grow up than it is on the child to move to the new room. Now its my turn. I never thought it would be hard on me, since I am right there, but it is. I am having a harder time than I thought I would. I know it is the best thing for him, I just can't believe that a year has gone by and he is ready for the move. I'll keep you posted on how he does!

More, More

One of the thing that Jack's teachers teach him is sign language. They start it about 6-8 months with the kids. They show the kids a bunch of different signs but some of the most important are "please", "thank you", "more" and "all done." I have been working on them at home too and guess what...Jack has finally picked up on one of them! On Thursday night, I signed "more" before giving him more oranges and he signed it back! I was so excited. I told Ms. Diane, his teacher, about it on Friday and she asked him more during his breakfast on Friday and he signed it again! This weekend, he has been signing "more" no stop during meals. I really think he gets it and it is so cute! I love that he can communicate with us and at such a young age! In other news, Jack got his 7th haircut yesterday. Although, this time we didn't go to Cookie Cutters. Jack's daddy decided he could give him a haircut instead. We sat Jack in his high chair, put Baby Einstein on for him to watch and I fed him ice cream. He did so well. He sat very still and did not cry at all. Kevin did a great job too. For the most part it is pretty even and of course Jack looks adorable! It sure will save us a lot of money if Kevin is able to continue this. Who would have ever guessed that Jack would need so many haircuts?

11 month pictures

Sitting on the tractor wheel
Waving to his fans!

Jack climbed into the toy box to find his favorite book

Sitting with daddy in the tractor

Love my little man!

This hat was made for him when he was a newborn by his great, great aunt Margaret
He found it and wanted it on, but its a little small now!

11 months

Jack turned 11 months on Friday. Kevin and I took the day off. We spent the morning together before taking Jack to grandma and grandpa DeWeese's so we could have a night away. Jack had a great time visiting. Cousin Katelyn came over and we heard they had a great time together. Jack loves that he can chase after her now. Before we left, we took Jack to the farm and Kevin let him sit in the tractor. He LOVED it! He thought he was so cool trying to drive it and of course he wanted to tough all of the buttons. He has reached a lot of milestones this past month...check them out.

- He is about 20.5 lbs and 30 1/2 inches tall. (We have been to the doctor a lot lately, so those are fairly accurate.)

- He wears size 3 diapers.

- He wears mostly 9 month clothes, however, he is just starting to wear 12 month things. He has been in 12 month jammies since Christmas.

- He goes to bed around 7:30 pm and gets up around 6:30 am. If he doesn't have to go to school, he will go back to sleep until 7:30 or 8:00 am.

- He is walking, I mean running, all over the place. He rarely crawls.

- He loves to climb the stairs and can do it very quickly. Coming down is still a challenge. He thinks he can walk down them.

- He points to everything.

- He waves bye-bye and says the "b" sound as he does it sometimes.

- When we say "Hello" he pretends to hold a telephone to his ear. He also says something that sounds like hello as he is doing it.

- He is completely off baby food and only eats finger foods.

- He attempts to drink 3 bottles a day. An 8 oz. bottle in the morning, a 7 oz. bottle at 3:00 pm and a 6 oz. bottle before bed, however he is very stubborn and is not doing very well with them. Sometimes he drains them and other times he leaves 3-4 oz.

- He loves to read books. His favorite book is the Christmas dog book.

- His other favorite toy is the toy computer.

New things

Although Jack has been under the weather this past week, he has managed to learn some new things. He now gives High 5's. He has no idea why he is doing it but he gets a huge grin on his face and giggles when he does. He also waves hello and good bye. Kevin and I just kept saying bye bye Jack and he kept waving. Its so cute. Finally, he loves to hold our iphones up to his ear and it sounds like he is saying "hello" when he does this. I love it! He also enjoys riding in his little car. We push him around in it and he pushes the horn the whole time. He gets the biggest smile on his face and acts like he is large and in charge while driving around.

Jack has been battling a nasty virus since last Tuesday. We took him to the doctor and she said he had an ear infection and this virus. He has been miserable! Coughing, sneezing, watery eyes, fever...the works! Its been a rough couple of days. He ended up missing 4 days of school. (Thank you grandpa DeWeese for staying with him some of the days!) We went back to school today. He is definitely better but still not a 100%. He was very clingy today, which is hard on the teachers when there are 11 other children that need their attention too!

We are looking forward to this weekend. We took Friday off and Kevin and I are going to Cincy over night and Jack is staying at Grandma and Grandpa DeWeese's. We are looking forward to a mommy and daddy night and Jack is look forward to being spoiled!

This was taken a few weeks ago when he got his first big cut under his eye. He is definitely all boy. I am sure this is just the first of many black eyes!

Food!

Jack is really into feeding himself these days! As you can see he is very proud of himself. He is eating Mac and cheese in these pictures! Needless to say...he needed a bath when he was done!

Pictures

As promised, here are some new pictures of Jack! Enjoy!

Relaxing in his chair!

Smile!

Being his normal silly self!

10 months old

Jack turned 10 months old on Friday and with that came his first black eye. On Thursday, at school, he was carrying a toy (which is his new favorite thing to do...he thinks he is soooooo talented) anyways, he wasn't looking where he was going and feel into the little sensory table and hit his cheek bone. It instantly puffed up and got a nice scratch and bruise. It is looking a lot better now and I am sure it is just the first of many bumps/bruises to come because this little guy is all boy! Now that he is walking, I feel like he is an accident waiting to happen. Jack thinks that the faster he walks the better. The only problem is he can't keep up with his legs. They get going so fast and he falls. I always said he would be walking by February, which he definitely did but I didn't think I would have to worry about "running."

He also celebrated his 10 month birthday with another ear infection. I took him last Wednesday to discover this. After watching him pull on his ears for the past couple of days, I took him just so I would know what was going on. He once again screamed from the second the nurse said to take off his clothes until the second we walked out the door. (My mom said that I did the same thing when I was his age, so I guess this is my pay back.) It is so hard to talk to the doctor though and I feel like she can't really look at him because of how he is acting. But anyways, we have the privilege of trying to get his to swallow 1 tsp of the wonderful pink liquid 2 times a day for the next 10 days!

Now onto the stats:

- He is 20 lbs. 5 oz. I am guessing he is a little over 30 inches long.

- He wears mostly 9 month clothes, however he is starting to wear some 12 month things. He has been wearing 12 month jammies for a while now.

- He still drinks three 8 oz. bottles a day but he is slowly turning away from the bottle. Some nights he leaves 5-6 oz. I am thinking of starting milk in a sippy cup soon, since he does so well with water in one.

- He eats all table foods. The only time he gets a jar of baby food is at breakfast. He really enjoys the gerber graduate meals. Some of his favorite things are cheese...(he loves it and can't get enough of it!), fruits...everything I have tried he likes, most veggies, pastas, meat sticks (Gag!, but he loves them!), I recently tried turkey and cheese sandwiches and he likes that, yogurt, crackers, waffles, pancakes. The only things we are struggling to get him to eat are protiens.

- He loves ice cream! He cries whenever it is gone! Its so cute!

- He sleeps all night. He still moans but lately it has been better.

- Lately, he perfers going to me over Kevin, which I love! Now Kevin knows how I felt before!

- He is in a big boy carseat. He loves being able to look out and since we have a van now, he can see real easily. This makes car rides much more enjoyable!

- He gives high fives. He has no idea why he is doing it but gets real proud of himself after he does!

- He says mama and dada but I still don't think he knows what they mean.

- He loves to ride in his little car. He pushes the horn as his daddy pushes him around.

What a busy and fun month it has been. I wouldn't change it for the world.

(I have taken pictures but I am not able to upload them currently. I will keep working on it, hopefully it will work soon!)

9 month stats

This is our crazy little man. This is the best picture I could get for his 9 month shots. THE KID WILL NOT SIT STILL!!!!!!! (He also tried to eat the sign, so I gave up on it!) Also, this is the chair his aunt Kim and uncle Brad got him for Christmas. It has his name on the back of it. He loves it, however, he doesn't use it for sitting. Instead, he loves to stand and climb on it!

Jack had his 9 month appointment today and what an appointment it was. Jack cried from the moment I took his clothes off until the moment we got in the car. Nothing I did was helping. And since he was crying so much it was really hard for the doctor to look at anything on him since he was crying so much. However, she did think he looked great and was right on track. She looked at me kinda weird when I told her that Jack was taking steps. I can't help it that our son is brilliant and wants to try and do everything. hehe I have said all along that he will be walking in February, and I think he is right on track for that.

Onto the stats:

- He is 20 lbs. 1 oz (50th percentile) and 30 inches long (95th percentile). (I asked if we should be concerned about his weight and she said no since he has been consistent with his height and weight gain since birth!)

- He drinks three 8 oz bottles a day. One at 6:30 am., another at 3:00 pm. and then another right before bed.

- He has recently started eating finger foods and he loves them!!! He loves pasta, mac and cheese, peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, blueberries, mixed fruit, mandarin oranges, yogurt, cheese cubes, crackers. So far, every food we have put in front of him, he has liked!

- He sleeps all night but tends to moan in his sleep. He normally goes to bed around 7:30 and sleeps till 6:30. When he can, he normally goes back to sleep for an hour or so.

- He crawls like a crazy man. He is all over the place! He is able to crawl up the stairs without any help! (Don't worry, we bought gates!)

- He cruises around the furniture.

- He can stand without holding onto anything for a significant period of time.

- He has taken 2-3 steps without holding on to anything. The first time he did this was at my family's Christmas party, so my whole family got to see it!

- He is a daddy's boy! Whenever Kevin is around, I am chopped liver. He loves to wrestle, be thrown in the air and just do anything with Kevin!

- He loves taking baths. He is like a fish. Jack now takes baths like a big boy...no more baby tub. He loves his rubber ducky. He especially likes to suck on the wash cloth and splash in the water. He is not afraid to get his face wet. He will lay on his back and kick his feet. I think it is time to take the boy swimming. I have a feeling he is going to love it!

- Jack is in his big boy car seat now. The carrier was getting to heavy for me to carry. He loves being able to sit up more in the car. He also loves the fact that he now gets to sit in a high chair at restaurants and ride in shopping carts like a big boy.

Time is flying by. His first birthday will be here before we know it. It has been so much fun watching him grow and develop this past month.

New Favorite Toy

When we were at cousin Katelyn's second birthday party last weekend, she got this tunnel and tent set! Jack LOVED IT!!! He wasn't afraid at all to crawl through it. So this weekend, we were at my parents and had Christmas with my dad's family. My cousin Erika had the tunnel for her son and then Jack got one too! We decided to keep it at my parent's so he would have something fun to play with when we are there.

We had a lot of fun with my family. For many of them, it was the first time seeing Jack. He did great around everyone and he even took his first steps! We were sitting in the living room at my aunt's house and Jack was standing about a foot away from me. I put my arms out and he took about 3 steps to get to me. So I tried it again, and he did it. Then I called for Kevin and he did it again. He ended up doing it 4 times in a row and then he did it a few more times later in the weekend. What a big boy he is! I am still betting that he will walk in February.

We have started Jack on some finger foods and so far he is doing well with them. He enjoys mac and cheese, ravioli, fruits, veggies, crackers and the new favorite ICE CREAM!!! He tried it for the first time at Katelyn's party and loved it. So last night, we went to Handle's (the best ice cream place...ever!) and got Jack a kid's scoop of vanilla. We got home and he sat on my lap and ate the WHOLE SCOOP! He even cried when it was all gone. I think we have created a monster. No more trips to the ice cream store without getting some for Jack! We are going to have so much fun this summer!

Tomorrow Jack will be 9 months old. We go to the doctor next Tuesday, so I will post all of his stats after that!

We have enjoyed our day off as a family. Too bad it is back to reality tomorrow!

Christmas Recap

We had a lot of fun this year at Christmas with Jack. He wasn't too interested in the gifts. He ripped some tissue paper and wore some bows on his head, though. He loves all of his gifts now. His favorites are his soft tool set, Hokey Pokey Elmo and Ball Popper Machine! We tried to take a lot of pictures to capture all the excitement! Here are some of my favorites!

In his cousin Katelyn's new car...she wasn't too happy to share

The front of this shirt says, "My aunt Kassie rocks!" Its a little big on him now, but he will grow into it and I am sure many more pictures will be taken!

Eating the bag!

A family picture on Christmas Eve!

Jack being the conductor of the train!

What a happy boy!

We won!

We entered Jack into a contest and we won. The photographer who took his newborn pictures and our Christmas pictures asked us to pick our favorite picture and submit it to a contest she was having. Well this is the picture we picked and after receiving 45 votes...Jack won! We get a 11x14 canvas print of that picture! I can't wait.

In other news, Jack is changing by the minute. We were up at the lake with my family over new years and he was being a little crabby on Friday morning. I just happened to look in his mouth and discovered he has 3 new top teeth. They all came through at once. He is also standing without holding on to anything. He has made it about 20 seconds at a time. Today, we also moved him into the next car seat. It was getting too hard for me to carry the other one, so Kevin installed his big boy one. With this means, he has to sit in a high chair when we go out to eat and has to ride in a shopping cart. Both of these we tried before making the move and so far so good. He loves the high chair. He is becoming very picky with eating. He only wants to eat finger foods. He has refused to eat his cereal the past 3 days, but give him a graham cracker and he is a happy camper. So right now we are trying to figure out what he likes and start making the switch to finger foods.

Our baby is growing up so fast! Make it stop. I'm not ready for all of this. If he keeps this up, I am guessing he will be walking by 10 months...which is February.