Moving up in the world...

Better said: "moving forward."

Sometimes our little man is the cutest thing in the WORLD! And other times he is a GREAT BIG MONSTER! Either way, we love him and are sure glad to have him around!

Just some pictures and a video for today!

Check out these teeth!!! He now has 6- 4 on the top, 2 on the bottom. We know, you really can't miss his two front teeth!

After a bath- sometimes I let him play in his towel naked! I don't know what this move is, but it's pretty funny!

This is a "Pillow Pal" from Grandma Diane. When Jack is playing and needs a little rest he rolls around on it for a minute, but then he is rejuvenated and ready to go!

One of Jack's favorites- Quesadillas.

Our Saturday day was WIDE OPEN! We ended up at the mall, all three of us, plus our friends the Hatch's. Jack & Trevin played in the play area.

Sunday- a February birthday celebration. Jack's cousins came to town and we had a great party!

Sadly, Jack didn't even eat any cake. :( We are suspicious that he is allergic to eggs (LONG STORY). Luckily I made some caramel cookie bars that have NO EGGS in them, and he LOVED THAT! Plus, they had oatmeal so they were kind of healthy- right?

And finally- Jack's Tricks! He was doing all of his tricks at the Dr. office, but once we got the camera out it was all over. (Of course.) He also has started taking steps, usually 1 or 2, but last night he took 4 steps to Dan. Very special! (I think Dan may be his favorite these days too- kind of gives me a break- and they are very cute together.)



We did go to the allergist, and as of now he is allergic to blueberries. Kind of confusing, but we are still looking into the possibility of being allergic to eggs. (The good news, he may or may not be allergic to omnicef, an antibiotic that worked GREAT for Jack's ear infections. Luckily we haven't had any ear infections lately that it's been a problem.) Either way, we are getting to the bottom of this!!!

"Bonus Time"

Not to be confused with "Business Time"
(Another one of Dan's favorite YouTube videos-)



The discussion at our house is often "This is bonus time, let's watch tv, do a puzzle, relax." My argument, of course, "I'm going to do the dishes, organize Jack's clothes, do an odd job I wouldn't have time for otherwise."

Today I stayed home with Jack- he's sick again... just a throat virus, thank goodness it wasn't an ear infection! We went to the Dr., had lunch with Grandma, and stopped at Grandma Betty's house to pick out a special Beanie Baby for Jack Jack. After all of that, we went home and took a nap together. Aaahhh, to just relax and enjoy being together-pretty lucky, and SO WELL DESERVED!

I hope you all enjoyed your Monday!

First words...

I think we have figured out what Jack's first word is... "ball" On many occasions, we give him a ball or show him one and he says it with no prep at all! I love it! (Mama or dada would have been nice, but this is something very concrete so it makes sense. He still says mama & dada, whether or not he knows who we are is still up for debate.)

When this began, I decided I can't say "balls" to refer to private parts- I used to say things like "Are you playing with your b****" when he was in the bathtub or when I change a diaper, but I have now resigned to using correct terminology, which is better anyway. Let's hope he's not the weirdo 4 year old saying p**** to all of the other little boys.

And a couple pictures from our exciting life...

Our good friends are moving to Oklahoma, and we went to their house one last time just to hang out. Jack LOVED this chair, he crawled right in! (Dan held the back so it wouldn't rock on him.)

And of course, stairs. He is getting pretty good at them! At first it was just the 2 stairs at grandma & grandpas, now it's the set of 8 stairs- he's quite a pro!

I almost forgot- We went to the Dr. for our 12 month check up last Friday...

I have never been SO disorganized for a doctors appointment, so I was really frazzled and just not myself. We were late because I was at a presidency meeting for my new calling at church (no more Young Womens for me! I am in primary!) Then, I forgot my planner at home with our daycare form in it! AND once we get there we ask the nice nurse (who is Auntie Katie's friend) if they have a back-up blank daycare form, she hooks us up, and then she asks for our orange book to record all of his stats and info in. AND OF COURSE I didn't have that. That's because I've been to the Dr. with Jack literally 8 times SINCE our 9 month appointment so I haven't needed it. They hooked me up for that too! Not my finest moments.

Height 29 1/2 inches (50%)
Weight 24 lbs 12 oz (75%)
Head 97%

Healthy!



We tried to get a nice picture before the checkup, the shots, everything, but Jack is too entertained by the paper. Oh well! We did get 4 shots- 2 in each arm + a finger prick for lead and he did pretty good. My song of choice to sing as he got his bandaids on "The babies on the bus go 'wah, wah, wah'" I guess that was a little humorous.

Lucky for us, Dan got to come with us and then we enjoyed lunch at Culver's afterward.
Jack likes ice cream, what can we say! (We tried to get his "Gremlin" laugh on camera- maybe one of these days, before it disappears...)




As far as life goes, we seem to be surviving! One day at a time!

A weekend to celebrate!

Today, our weekend of celebrations have come to a close...

Dan and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on Thursday.
We went out on Friday for our anniversary/Valentines Day (or just because) and Grandma Diane babysat Jack.

Saturday we celebrated Jack & his friend Trevin's birthday with dinner, and cake, and presents! (And, of course, a bath!)

Today was Jack's birthday day and he celebrated all day long! Chocolate milk for lunch, a visit with our friends after school, and pizza, presents, & cake with Jack's Grandparents.





I think we can rest now.

It's always a party...

It is amazing how much FUN we can fit into one day! On Sunday we went down to Naperville to visit Jack's cousins and to see baby Cade get blessed. After church we enjoyed a big feast, celebrated Micah's birthday (we missed the celebration last week), played Mario Brothers on the Wii, and had a Superbowl Party. Exhausting, but so much fun! These are the only pictures I took to capture all of the excitement, but they are pretty cute.

Jack was all about the food. He loved the chips, picked at the nacho tray just a little bit, and just wanted to part of the excitement. It was great! (This is Lauren trying to help give him a chip, he's like "NO THANKS, I can do it on my own." Or he'd actually take the chip and then have like 4 chips in his mouth at once.)

Lauren, Grandma Cindy, and Jack just playing around. They're actually playing with baby Cade who is in the exer-saucer(sp?)...
I was the brain behind this picture, I should have not cut Cade out. it was cute that Cade and Jack were playing together.

And a couple extra pictures...

Our little Mozart
I half expected Jack to be standing by the window looking at the cars, chewing on the windowsill, but I was pleasantly surprised to find this.

And of course, my rainbow scarf. Jack LOVES this! (People ask me why I have a rainbow scarf- a student gave it to me years ago. It is the only fleece scarf I have so I wear it when I want something extra snuggly. It's unfortunate my SON has taken a liking to it, but oh well!)

To all of my Aunties...

Dear Auntie Michelle, Melissa, Miriam, Manda and Marcia,

I am sorry I wasn't feeling great last weekend when we got to see you, but I am feeling better now! It was sure great to see all of you, and I can't wait to see you again!

Love,
Jack