1st Birthday Party

Last weekend, we had the big birthday party will all the family!

There were so many pictures that I wanted to show, that I just decided to do a slide show instead. Enjoy!

(I will probably add music to this later, but the cd I need is in Jack's room and he is asleep.)

We had a wonderful day and we are so happy that our families were able to come up for the party!
Thank-you all!

Shoes

Last night, Jack had an awful night. His teeth were really bothering him (I think it was his teeth, I can't think of any other logical explanation) and he was up about twice an hour all night long. When he would wake up, he would just wimper or whine for a few minutes, then fall back asleep. A couple of times, I went to check on him. He didn't want me or need his pacifier, he just needed to wimper.

One of the times that I got up out of bed to check on him, I almost tripped over a shoe. Now, I NEVER take my shoes off next to my bed, so how could a shoe end up there? (Do I even need to mention that it was a black and white polka dot high heel shoe? Do I even need to mention that I have not worn these shoes in at least 15 years?) Hmmm...wonder how it got there....

12 Month Stats

Today, we took Jack in for his 12 Month appointment. Here are his stats:

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Height: 30 3/4 inches (80%)

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Weight: 22lbs, 4oz (42%)

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Head: 17 3/4 inches (16%)

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Likes: cupcakes, the park (especially the swing and slide), Mommy's shoes (still favors the black and white polka dot high heels), Motrin and Tylenol, Daddy (and Mommy, but currently prefers Daddy to play with), dancing, throwing food on the floor, bathtime, snacks, the whack-a-daddy stick, running around, "cooking" (if you give him a bowl and a spoon, he will stir forever! Then, hand him a towel and he will wash the dish! I think he spends too much time with Mommy in the kitchen!) and anything cleaning related--the vacuum, the Swiffer, the broom and feather duster to name a few.
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Dislikes: being told "No", diaper changes, Daddy leaving the room, peaches, Cheerios (this also includes Cheerio dust--if you have a snack WITH Cheerios in it and just pick out the Cheerios, Jack can taste the remnants and will refuse to eat it), not being able to hold a spoon if you are holding one and too many car trips in one weekend.
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Special Skills: "So Big", signs for "eat" and "more"--he will actually do the sign for eat unprompted, claps (unfortunately, his clapping and signing for more are identical), he made up his own sign for wanting his pacifier--unfortunately it looks the same as "eat" (Every time we would tell him "night-night" he would start doing the sign for eat. We thought he was just trying to delay bedtime, but then he pointed at his nuk and did the sign!) can kick a ball, clucks his tongue, likes to make sniffing noises (!), can do almost all of his consonant sounds and all of his vowels, can say ma-ma (however he has no idea that is me), mimics facial movements, waves bye-bye, can climb stairs, can throw and roll a ball to you and cause lots and lots of trouble. Oh, and if you yodel, he will do the "woo-hoo" at the end. (I am Norwegian if that helps you figure that last one out.)

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Jack's doctor said that his motor skills as well as verbal skills were quite advanced. (Forgive me, but this is my blog, so give me a few moments to brag, after all, I not only grew this child, but I am raising him.) The doctor was actually very impressed by Jack RUNNING in circles around the office and happily playing. He said that the only thing that Jack is not advanced on (again, this IS my blog and my child) is his teeth. He currently has four teeth on the bottom and the corners of two on the top and two more about to come in. So, it looks like he will catch up soon. The visit ended with a couple of shots and a hemoglobin test. The hemoglobin test showed that Jack's iron levels are low, so we will be trying to get that up and we will be going in for a recheck of that in one month. The doctor suggested Cheerios (they are high in iron), but Jack is one of the few children in existence that hates Cheerios. Any suggestions for other high iron foods would be appreciated. Our current plan is to go back to doing his vitamin/iron supplement daily. We were doing it every other day at bath time, so we will just have to modify that and see if it takes care of the problem.

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The doctor also asked about Jack's daily schedule. He was very surprised to hear how much Jack sleeps. Jack sleeps 13 hours at night, wakes up around 8:30am (this morning it was actually 9:15am), takes a nap from 10-11am, another nap from 1:30-3:30pm and yet another nap from 5-6pm. He then goes down for the night at 7:30pm. The kid sleeps more now than he did when he was a newborn! Until he was 9 months old, he never had a nap that was over 30 minutes! This just shows how much he runs a day, not only am I and his guardian angels exhausted at the end of the day, but he wears himself out too! Oh, and a quick little story about his activity level--Jack and I were visiting a friend the other day and I was going on and on complaining about how "busy" and wild Jack is. When I finally stopped to take a breath, she said, "Stacey, he is your child...What did you expect?!?!?!" Huh, I hadn't thought of it that way before. When I told Jay this story, he said, "I have been thinking that, but I didn't want to tell you that". I guess Jack gets more from me than I thought.

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Also, as a side note, we wil begin the process of weaning soon (as in this week or next). I mention this only because I am proud of myself for being able to breastfeed this long. When I was pregnant, I planned on breastfeeding Jack for 6 months. Then, when he was born, I thought we would be lucky to make it to two weeks. At two weeks, I thought maybe we could make it to two months. Then at two months I decided that I could probably go for two more. At four months, everything seemed much better, so I decided to try to get to six months. At six months, I (Jay too, however he just agrees with what ever I say when it comes to this subject) thought if this is working, why stop? With Jay and I both being lactose intolerant and that I had to have hypo-allergenic formula mixed by the pharmacist when I was a baby, I knew that finding a formula would not be an easy task and that it would also be a very expensive task as I doubt he would handle the normal formulas. So, Jack is now one year old and has NEVER had a drop of formula (again, I only say that because it is an accomplishment, not that I am judging other moms). I honestly feel a little guilty about stopping now. The surgeon general says "Lucky is the baby that is breastfed to age two" (and you know me, must follow "rules") and so I am torn about stopping now. I feel that he is ready and I am ready so I guess we will end it soon. Bring on the Bahama Mama's!

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Thanks for letting me go on and on about how special we think Jack is. Hopefully you haven't had your gag reflex kick in and you will still be friends with me.

Happy Birthday Jack!

On Tuesday night, I put my baby to bed. When I awoke on Wednesday, a toddler was wanting to snuggle. I knew that this transformation would be tough for me, but it was actually a lot easier for me than I thought. As much as I miss the baby days (which by the way, I feel I totally got jipped because Jack really turned into a toddler months ago), I am loving spending my days with a little boy who loves to play.
Wednesday brought back so many memories for Jay and we couldn't help but spend the day thinking what we were doing at that time of day 365 days earlier. The entire day, we kept looking at the clock and asking each other if we remembered what was going on at that exact moment. It is amazing that one year ago, we walked out of the hospital with a tiny, beautiful, helpless baby boy and now we have an energetic toddler! What an amazing year it has been. I wouldn't have traded it for the world.

To celebrate Jack's birthday, we took Jack to Culver's for lunch. He loved the custard ice cream!

That evening, I made Jack's favorite meal for

dinner, Great-Grandma's chicken casserole and squash. For desert, I had cupcakes (I will admit, from a box) that Jack quickly devoured!

Happy Easter!

Jack had his first Easter! We went to see the Easter Bunny at the mall, Jack was not scared at all. While we were in line, he was pointing at him and talking to him, but once he was on his lap, Jack was no longer interested and I couldn't get a picture of him looking at me or even at the bunny. Oh, well, it's still a better picture than if he was crying!




For Easter, we went to Jay's parents house and Jack had a wonderful time! While we were visiting, we went to Jay's aunt and uncle's farm to visit the baby goats and puppy. They were so sweet! Jack loved them and wanted to run around with the goats.

The Easter Bunny left Jack lots of wonderful toys and treats--three baskets total! Of course, Jack loved the cheap plastic eggs best.

We went to my Uncle Chuck's on Easter Sunday. We had a wonderful time and Jack loved playing with my cousins kids. Jack wasn't very interested in the egg hunt, he just wanted to carry the egg around. He did like riding around in the golf cart though!

First 1st Birthday Party

The birthday festivities have begun! Last Sunday, we had a group birthday party for my mommies group. (We knew that there was no way that we would be able to make it too everybody's parties, so we had one for the five of them together.) We had it at the Chaska Community Center and it went smoothly!

Becky made these adorable shirts for the babies! It was so cute to have them matching!


Here they are waiting to get there cake. We tried to fill them up on other foods before we brought out the cupcakes!











Patience is not a virtue that Jack possesses. (hmmm....wonder where he got that?????)












No surprise, Jack loved the cupcakes! Becky made these as well---from scratch! (Did you know that you can do such a thing?) They were sooooo good, but after she told us how much butter was in the frosting, I tried to limit the amount I feasted on!








One of the FEW family pictures taken over the last year!












After the babies were done eating, we headed into the ball pit to work off some of that sugar. Jack is starting to enjoy it and we all had a great time.

I am so thankful to have met these ladies and their babies. They are all so special to us!

1 Year Video

I compiled some of the pictures that were taken of Jack over the last year. My baby is turning ONE in less than two weeks. My....Baby...Turning...One...(sniff-sniff)... I think that it is a cruel joke that babies grow so fast and that you are so sleep deprived that you can barely remember how to tie your shoes, much less what they looked like last week. Just today (well, I am blogging early in the morning, so actually yesterday), I was asking Jay if he remembered that when Jack first started sitting up, if he smiled too big, he would loose all concentration and fall over. Sadly, Jay said that he does not remember this. This only makes me wonder, "What have I forgotten?", what cute little things have occurred and is now a moment lost in time?

Jack's birthday party is in just a couple weeks. My sister keeps asking me what theme I have picked and what all do I have done for the party. Truth is, nothing is done. I am not willing to accept that Jack is actually turning one, so there for, I am not dealing with it. I really should just get over it. Really, I should...I am hoping if I keep typing it that I will...not working so far...I know that if I let him turn one, that next year he will just insist on turning two...definitely can't let that happen... The other day, I was reading in one of my parenting books about what your child is up to at this age. The book called my baby "Your Toddler". I am not ready for him to be a toddler. If you watched him race up and down the aisles at Lowe's yesterday afternoon, you would insist that I actually have a Preschooler, but no, in my heart, he is a baby.

Minnesota Zoo

Jay and I took Jack to the Minnesota Zoo today! It was quite chilly, but otherwise we had a wonderful time!
Jack's favorite exhibit was the Snow Monkeys (I think that is what they were called). He pointed at them and did his "ooooh--oooh" noises! I think he felt like family with them.

Here Jack is looking at a sleepy bear.

Here is our little sleepy bear! He did pretty well considering he missed his entire morning nap. He didn't fall asleep until we had seen everything that we wanted him to see.

Trip to SD--part 3!

The next destination was to my parent's house.
My sister drove up from Arkansas with her two kids and my other sister came from Sioux Falls to visit as well. While we were all home, we threw a surprise birthday party for my dad. My dad was very surprised!

Jack had a grand time exploring Nana and Papa's house! Jack got pretty sick while we were there, so that did slow him down a little. At one point, my mom said to me, "Well, he sure isn't letting his illness get in his way." I then explained to her that this was actually pretty calm for Jack. She then said that Jack can come back to visit when he is 10. Even though he was sick, he did manage to rip the blinds down from my bedroom window. He also managed to give me a mild heart attack--I thought my sister was watching him and I went upstairs for a moment. I am pretty sure that I closed the door behind me, so I was very surprised when all of the sudden, I could hear Jack on the stairs! I went running and the whole time I was wondering what do I do when I get there. If I catch him halfway and he sees me, he might stand straight up, loose his balance and fall all the way down! Well, I didn't need to worry about that--when I got to the stairs, he was already at the top!!!!!! He was quite proud of himself too! I think his guardian angels must be exhausted at the end of the day!

Here is a picture of Jack with his cousins, Cale and Ellie. I know it is a terrible picture, but of all the ones I took, this is the best one! Somehow, we didn't get any of them the whole time we were there, so this is on our last day there. Ellie is scowling at Jack because, well, quite frankly, she is sick of him by this point! Jack is crying because he is sick and Cale is being good as gold like always!

Jack and I were originally going to stay a few more days and visit tons more friends and family, but he was sick and not getting any better, so I decided to head home early so he could get some rest. He slept the entire 4 hour trip home! Once we got home, he didn't seem to get to much better, so I took him to the doctor and they told me he has pneumonia! The doctor said it was a pretty bad case and she said she would be more worried about him if he wasn't tearing apart her office. I felt terrible for thinking it was just a bad cold! They gave Jack his first anti-biotic (I still think that it is pretty good that we made it 11 1/2 months before the first anti-biotic) and he loves it! We had a re-check yesterday and they said he is all better!

Cash's Birthday Party--Trip to SD--Part 2

While we were in Parkston, we were able to go to Jack's second cousin, Cash's 1st birthday party.
This first picture is of me holding both Jack AND Cash, because Jack threw a fit when I picked up Cash! Apparently, Mommy is not meant to be shared! Good thing that I quit working, Jack would not like having to share me with 70 other kids!

I wasn't planning on giving Jack a pickle, but he saw mine and threw a fit. I thought that if I gave it to him, he would take one lick and not like it. Well, I was wrong! Jack loved gnawing on the pickle with his three little teeth!

Jack enjoyed the birthday cake! It was good practice for his party in a couple of weeks!

Big Trip to South Dakota

A couple of weeks ago, Jack and I did our first solo (well, first as in we made it ALL the way there!) trip to South Dakota. Jack did better than I could have ever hoped for! We did stop several times (4 times total). Our first destination to hit was Jay's parents house. We made it there Thursday night. Jay had been traveling for business and met us there that night.
Jack was glad to be able to run around after the long car trip and Jay's parents were glad to see him run! He quickly took over the house and had great fun with the Tupperware drawer and the Swiffer!

This picture was taken after he broke the Swiffer. Daddy fixed it, however he wasn't allowed to play with it anymore. Jack was not too happy about that. Jack also managed to break a baby gate and cause trouble all through the house!

Jack had fun checking on calves and watching the dogs, but I think the Tupperware drawer was the favorite...oh, and that Grandma's kitchen chairs are on wheels so that they make GREAT push toys!