Tag! You're it!

There is an on-line version of a chain letter going on and I was tagged by Brie.

Here's the tag:
1. Go to your sixth picture folder and find the sixth picture.
2. Pray you remember the details!
3. Post it on your blog.
4. Tag four others and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they've been tagged.


Below is the picture requested. It is Jay holding Jack when Jack is about 10 minutes old. What a proud Daddy! At the time that I took this picture, Jack was still being referred to as Jellybean as he still didn't have a name...that didn't come for about another 20 minutes or so. I look back at that picture and I can't believe that Jack was ever that tiny!

To keep the chain alive, I am tagging Kyra. (I know the rules state 4, I just don't know enough bloggers!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jack celebrated his first Thanksgiving! Jay and I were the most thankful that we have ever been on that day. Everyday I think how lucky and blessed we are to have been given this wonderful bouncing baby boy! He has grabbed a hold of our hearts with both hands and we won't ever be the same again...nor would we want to be.
We went back to South Dakota the Tuesday before Thanksgiving...my birthday. We decided that morning to go and surprise my parents, so we called from their driveway and told them to come and give Jack a kiss. To say that they were surprised would be an understatement! We had two Thanksgivings and a day of shopping and Jack was a great traveler again...his favorite part is when we stop for a break, we let him get out of the car seat and play with the steering wheel. He loves it!

Jack did get to try a new food at Thanksgiving dinner...Papa introduced Jack to Great-Grandma's whipped cream. Jack loved it and would yell for more. I was less than thrilled, but it was cute to see Jack so excited.


Jack had his photo taken with Santa this week and it went pretty well. He didn't cry, but he wouldn't take his eyes off Santa, so we don't have any pictures with Jack looking at the camera.

In other Jack news, he is almost crawling. He moves a few inches, but hasn't quite figured out how to do it in a pattern. We figure that the Christmas tree is a wonderful incentive and that he will be cruising before the weekend is over. He has learned how to sit himself up from laying on his belly...this is a wonderful new trick because it frees up a good portion of my day!

First Sentence??? 2nd Tooth

If you have spent much time with Jack, then you know what a talker he is. Even when Jack was first born, everyone that visited us in the hospital commented on how much he talked. This seems to be the only trait that he got from his mama. Well, I guess with the law of probability, if you babble all day long, you will eventually land on some words, so recently Jay and I heard "Mama" (for about 30 minutes straight!) and now we even heard a sentence too! Last Friday night, I was tickling him and I said "How do you like that?", Jack answered clear as day, "I like it". Jay and I laughed pretty hard, figuring if you babble all day, eventually you will hit actually words. We had just never heard him string them together so clearly before. I figure that I still can't count it as his "first sentence", but it will make for a cute story to tell him someday.
In other Jack news, he popped his second tooth today. This one seems to have bothered him a lot worse than the first one, so I am glad that he finally got it through. Or maybe he was fussy because Nana went home today after a weekend full of cuddling and spoiling, hmmmm, hard to say which.

First Tooth! First Cold:( Standing!

What a week! Last Friday, Jack popped his first tooth! He wasn't acting all that differant from usual and all sudden it was there! To celebrate, we let him have a teething biscuit and he loved it!
The next day, Jack developed a light case of croup. So we have been staying home waiting for him to get better. His spirits were never hindered by the croup, he stayed happy as ever!
On Wednesday, Jack stood up for the first time! He was taking a bath and that is his favorite place to try and pull himself up. (Not at all the safest place in the house to work on that skill!!) All of the sudden, he was up with both feet planted firmly flat on the bottom of the tub. I would like to say that I was excited, but honestly, I am a little sad to know that his bath time will be getting shorter and shorter now that he will want to pull himself up the whole time.
Crawling looks like it will be any day now, so Jay and I have been doing lots of baby proofing, but several friends have told me that baby proofing is a never ending job!
As you can tell by the cheeks in this picture, Jack is still a good eater. The only foods that he doesn't really like are avocados, real peas and real carrots. (What I mean by "real" is that I buy them and puree them myself. He does like Gerber's carrots and peas though. Go Figure!) His favorites are sweet potatoes, yams, applesauce and pears. Jay REALLY wants to give him Cheerios, but I don't think Jack is ready quite yet, and since Jay does not know the Heimlich or CPR, he doesn't get a vote on this one. Jay is watching him next Saturday night though, I better make sure there are no Cheerios in the house before I leave (or Dippin Dots).

First Election

On Election Day, Jack went with me to go vote. As you can tell by Jack's shirt, Jay was out of town that day. I was a little nervous to show this picture to Jay, but he misses us too much while he is gone to stay mad at me for long!

Too Cute!

Here is my Monday Mommy group: Mickey Mouse, a skunk, a Tootsie Roll, a spider and a lamb!

Jack and Harrsion's costumes doubled as "Sprockets" from Saturday Night Live.

Happy Halloween!

Jay and I had a ton of fun dressing Jack up for his first Halloween! I had a hard time deciding what he should dress up as, but when I saw the Mickey Mouse costume, I knew it was the one!
This picture was taken at story time this week. He is sitting with his friends Claire and Harrison.
I know Jack looks less than thrilled, but I swear he enjoys story time!

Here is our little Mickey Mouse! He didn't mind it too much and even allowed me to put whiskers on his face!

Here he is Trick-or-Treating at our neighbor's house. He really enjoyed picking candy out of the bowl.

We didn't get very creative with the pumpkins this year...not enough time, but Jack still liked them.

Here is Jack and Jay shopping at MOA the next day. This is Jack's newest trick, sitting up in the stroller! He thinks he is pretty cool pulling himself up and looking around! He just looks so goofy doing it!

5 Little Pumpkins Went Out To Play

My Monday mommy group decided it was time for our husbands to meet, so we all got together at a pumpkin patch this weekend. Thanks to one of the mommies, all of the babies had matching pumpkin hats that made them all the more adorable.

I think we waited too long to do the group photo, Jack is asleep, Claire is crying, Henry and Harrison are about to cry and Ava is no longer interested in the cameras.

At the end, we had a pretty tired little pumpkin, but all of the pumpkins had a great day, and we all enjoyed getting the chance to meet everyone!

What a Little Pumpkin!

We took Jack to a pumpkin patch this weekend. He was less than impressed (as you can tell from the pictures), but Jay and I were really excited to get some pictures of him in the patch.

We took this one at a neighbor's house (our lawn has no leaves, so we borrowed someone's!) and discovered that Jack is afraid of leaves!?! I don't know why, especially since half of his toys make that crinkle noise.

South Dakota comes to us!

Grandma Dotty and Aunt Jackie came to visit us this weekend. (I don't know why I say "us", now with Jack around, people are really coming to see him, not "us".) Grandma brought lots of fruits and vegetables to make into baby food for Jack. This is a picture of Jack helping lick the spoon. Jack now eats applesauce, pears, sweet potatoes, squash, bananas, carrots and oatmeal. His favorite is having a frozen banana put in a little mesh-teether thingy. He loves it! He can polish off a third of a frozen banana is less than 5 minutes. He also started using a sippy cup this week. He likes it, but still doesn't quite have it all figured out yet.

6 Month Stats

Little Man Jack turned 6 months old today!
I am truly amazed at how fast time can fly and how much a baby can change! Six months ago, I was holding an 8lb 9oz, 21 inches, black haired, itty-bitty baby boy. Now I see an almost blond, big boy sitting up and laughing all the time.
His newest trick is trying to pull himself up in the bath tub. He can pull himself up far enough that his feet will fly out from underneath him and he will end up holding on to the side of his tub for dear life. His other favorite thing to do in the bath tub is to play with his froggie toy. Unfortunately, he isn't always the brightest, and will try to pick up the frog with his mouth (like bobbing for apples). When he does this, he continues to breath through his nose.
He then will cough and sputter while I am having a heart attack! Jay and I have gotten better at preventing this, once we figured out what he was doing.
Tonight, Jack tried a sippy cup of water for the first time...not a big surprise, he loved it! He would rather we held it for him like a bottle, but hopefully he will get better at it soon.

6 month stats:
Height: 27 3/4inches (89%)
Weight: 18lbs, 8oz (70%)
Head: 17 inches (34%)

Likes: Mommy, Daddy, being outside, bath time, being tickled, vitamins, cereal, squash, applesauce, pears, chewing on anything, Tylenol, mommy and daddy's bed, jumping, sitting up and his exersaucer.

Dislikes: Shots, new people, being on his tummy, bananas, sweet potatoes, naps and sleeping alone.

Back to South Dakota

It had almost been three weeks since our

last trip to South Dakota, so last week we got in the car and headed to Nana's house. Papa was off hunting, so he missed Little Man Jack, but Jack enjoyed sitting in Papa's chair all by himself! Also, Jack had started a new fascination off water bottles, I guess I don't know why I bother to buy him toys.

On Sunday, we went to Watertown for my Uncle Clay's 50th birthday party. We all had a great time and Jack even behaved himself this time.

Fun in the waiting room!

Last while I was having a dentist appointment, Jay and Jack played in the waiting room. Jack had a blast! He loved sitting in a little leather chair! The whole time that I was with the dentist, I could hear Jack laughing and shrieking. Hopefully he will like going to the dentist when it is his turn.

Fall Fun

Nana came to visit Jack a couple of weeks ago, (I know I got a little behind in my blogging) and took Little Man Jack to the Arboretum. Although it is hard to tell from these pictures, Jack had a wonderful time! It was a beautiful day and Jack loves to be outside! Nana also took Jack to a quilt show which he slept through. We all had a wonderful time with Nana visiting and Jack was on his best behavior the whole time (trying to make his parents look like liars!).

Jackson and the terrible horrible no good very bad day!

Jay and I would like to issue an apology to those who were unlucky enough to spend time with us last Saturday. We are very SORRY and hope Jack's behavior has not rubbed off on your own children.

Jay and I were very excited to take Jack to Hadley's birthday party, Jack's first little kid party. Unfortunately, Jack does not do well with large groups of people. Jay and Jack had to spend most of the party outside. Several parents warned us that cold weather is coming, but we are prepared, I have already bought him a snowsuit and sled!
After we left the party after a complete and total meltdown, we ventured out to meet some friends at the outlet mall. This went pretty well, after all, you do spend a lot of the time walking outside.
Well, eventually we went into a restaurant to eat dinner. That is where the "we" part ended. Jack had another meltdown and Jay and I had to take turns with Jack out in the parking lot. We would call each other on cell phones when it was time to switch. I wasn't at all concerned about Jack and I being kidnapped in a dark parking lot, after all who would want a screaming child? After three different people passing by suggested that I take him for a car ride. I did just that, only the parking lot we were in didn't let me get up enough speed to make Jack happy, so we had to go in search of a different one. After about 15 minutes of circling that parking lot, he was asleep and we headed back into the restaurant just as Jay was walking out with the other couple and their perfectly happy baby.
When we got home, Jack woke up and was very happy to be home. He acted like nothing had happened as Jay and I were absolutely exhausted. We have another birthday party to go to in a couple of weekends...I hope it is not to cold outside for Jay and Jack!

Trip to South Dakota

OK, so I haven't been able to blog lately, Little Man Jack has been keeping me pretty busy. Here's what we have been up too.
A couple of weeks ago we headed back to South Dakota for Jackie's birthday party. Jack had a lot of fun showing off his new jumping skills and even had a trip out to see the cows.

Jack has become much more active and is rolling more and more. He continues to "talk" all the time and has added blowing raspberries to his repertoire. We started giving him applesauce this week and he seems to be getting used to it. When we were in SD, Jay's parents gave us some squash, so yesterday I made it into baby food and froze it. I think we will try the squash next (I let him lick a little off the spatula while I was making it and he seemed to like it better than the applesauce). We will see how long I can keep up making his baby food, but I figure we can give it a try.
Also, this past week, I had THREE nights out while Jay took care of Jack. Each night when I returned, neither one of them seemed like they were too happy about the situation but at least nothing was given to Jack that shouldn't have.

Day at Mall of America

Jack and I went to the World's Biggest Playgroup at Mall of America with some friends this week. We all had a lot of fun. Jack especially liked playing with the musical instruments...so guess who is now searching the Internet looking for the one he liked the best.

On Wednesday, we went to story time at the library again. Jack enjoyed it all over again. He sat so focused that I am trying to get Daddy to come and see it! His sitting is getting better and better, but he still hasn't rolled over since that first weekend that he did it. I guess he thinks "been there, done that, I would rather yell for Mommy to come and roll me over".

Sitting UP!

Last Wednesday, Jack had his first Story-Time at the Library. He really enjoyed it. He was so focused for the first 10 minutes, that he sat by himself for the first time! I sat behind him for when he started to lean, but he did it by himself for most of that 10 minutes! After that though, he lost interest in the story time and became fidgety.
We went back for a quick trip to South Dakota this weekend. Jack had a lot of fun playing with Nana, Papa and Aunt Missi and showed off for them all of his new skills. On Sunday, we went to a family reunion at my Great-Uncle Bob's house. It was the first time my dad's family had met Jack.
Today, the Mommies from my Monday Mommy group came over with their babies. We took some group photos, it was exhausting! Hopefully between the four cameras, we might have one picture with all five looking!

First Hair Cut

Jack had his first hair-cut this weekend.
Jack was not very pleased with the whole experience, and I can't say that I am all that pleased with the job that I did, but we did get through the whole experience with both ears unscathed.

Beach Babies

Jack went to the pool for the first time on Friday.
Some other mommies and I thought that our babies would enjoy a day splashing and playing out in the sun and in the nice water. Well, as new mommies, we are learning that even the best plans can turn out quite differently than expected! We all thought that the babies would just love it! Well, the water turned out to be about 50 degrees. The babies did not think that this had been a good plan. In this picture, none of them are crying, but as you can tell, none of them are touching the water. Every time I put Jack's feet in the water, he pulled his legs up to his chest so fast, he looked like a frog! Little Ava was a brave girl and happily played in the water, hopefully the next time we go, Jack will appreciate the water more.

What Goes In, Must Come Out

Last night, Jack tried rice cereal for the first time, his first food (with the exception of the Dippin' Dots). Jack did pretty well, we got at least a few bites in his mouth.


This morning, Jay was saying good-bye to Jack and this is what he found. I hope cereal doesn't continue to have this kind of effect on him! (Yes, Missi, this is the cute WHITE sleeper that you gave him. Amazingly, it came clean in only one wash.)