Let's do some catch up?

It's been a bad few months in our house so of course the first thing out the door was blogging. It seems that somebody has always been sick. Spring allergies have hit the family hard. This will be our catch up post.

Jack's Godfather, Josh, sent him an Easter present. It's a little big but I've made a promise to him that he'll wear it soon....probably this summer. He does look cute in it though. Purple is a good color on him.

From Baby hats

Then we tried on some UT hats. They are getting much closer to fitting and will definitely be worn this summer.

From Baby hats

He loves sticking his tongue out all the time now. It's cute. He does look good in orange though.

From Baby hats

He wasn't very sure about the Notre Dame hat though.

From Baby hats

From Baby hats

Hugs from mom always make it better.

From Baby hats

He likes to bite our faces too. If either one of us ever have a bruise on our cheeks, eye or nose the chances that it's from Jack are about 100%.

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Dexter wanted to give kisses.

From Baby hats

It's Easter time!

Grandpa made the trip all the way from Albany, NY to see Jack. I think Jack missed his grandpa a lot.

From Easter 2011

We got some family shots.

From Easter 2011

Jack loves my necklace.

From Easter 2011

Jack with Grandma and Grandpa.

From Easter 2011

Jack loves to show off his maraca to Grandpa. He's been going to music class and so far it's one of his favorites.

From Easter 2011

I think that pretty much gets us caught up. The spring has been really hard on our allergies and in the last two months somebody has always been sick. We're finally looking much better. The weather is wonderful and hot. We're spending more and more time outside running, playing, and going to parks. There will lots more pictures to come, so stay tuned.

Swings equal happiness

After a full day of being cranky and not eating very much we took Jack to Tipton's 2nd birthday party in hopes of him snapping out of his funk. Well, he napped for the first hour so he was in a better mood but still not liking anything we did. After presents and the pinata we went to the swings in hopes of Jack perking up a bit.

Low and behold.....what's that???? A smile!

From Swings!

You can see his two bottom teeth in this picture.

From Swings!

I think he looks like my Grandpa in this picture.

From Swings!

Goofy mid swing smile

From Swings!

He then started to realize that we were going to be leaving soon.

From Swings!

He was not happy.

But a few more pushes and a kiss from mom and things are better.

From Swings!

We got home and put him to bed but we were in for another bad night. After several times up with dad with no success going down, I ended sleeping on the couch sitting up holding him becuase he wouldn't lay down with out screaming but would fall asleep instantly on my shoulder. Jay was in the same position on Friday night and the couch is a major upgrade from the chair he slept in. We ended up taking him to a walk-in clinic that was open on Sundays (I had gone there a week earlier to get diagnosed as having strep). Our suspicions were confirmed and he had a double ear infection and a red throat but the throat could be from crying and whining so much. We were able to go fill his Rx that day and get both doses in him and then next night already noticed a big difference. He's been sleeping much better and is only waking up at 4:30 for his paci. I'm sure once his ears clear up we'll be back to sleeping through the night once again.

He speaks!

Jack has certainly left us dumbfounded the past few days. From crawling to waving to people to even attempting to pull himself up on things it's been as if a light bulb went off in his head. Soon he'll be readying himself for his driver's test at this rate.

Tonight we were playing with him and he began speaking as usual but then at one point looked at Jay and said what we both believed to be, "Dada". It certainly surprised both of us and we both looked at another that it had to have been coincidence. Surely an 8 month old couldn't be talking yet, could he?

He kept it up though and would look in Jay's direction and begin saying "dadadadada". Jay rushed to get the video camera and capture it on film. See for yourself. This is the beginning of a long road of talking (and culminating in him talking back one day; hopefully way down the line)

New Foods

It's been a big week in our house. Jack is growing like a weed and learning so many new things.

We gave him cut up bananas and avocados. LOVE! He'd had bananas pureed but this was the first time he'd gotten them sliced.
He wasn't quite sure of the avocados at first.

From Avocado

But I'm pretty sure that he likes them.

From Avocado

He kept hitting the table which is his sign that he likes it and wants more. Also, there is no doubt that he's left handed. He barely uses his right hand when eating and he favors his left when playing. He will pick things up and pass it back and forth but defiantly favors his left. At least he'll have somebody to teach him how to do everything since Jay is left handed.

From Avocado

Saturday we went to our first Music & Me class. Jack wasn't quite sure about it in the beginning. I don't exactly have the best voice so I don't sing to him but Jay plays guitar and sings to him. There are only a few students in the class but there is another baby who is about 10 months old. The other kids are about 2-3 but I can tell that they have done this class a few times. We'll go for the next 10 weeks every Saturday.

After music class we headed to a coworkers sons 4th birthday party. He was absolutely amazed at everything going on around him. It was right in the middle of his nap time so of course a nap wasn't going to happen but he was still an angel there. He loved all the kids and adults cooing over him. Pretty much the minute we pulled out of the parking lot he was asleep.

Hand foot and mouth.....the adult version

Jay took some pictures of this hand while he has this lovely virus.

Here is day 1. They were just starting to appear and the pain was setting in. He slept a lot. Luckily I had a bunch of Xanex left over from having Jack so he'd take them to help manange the pain and take the edge off so he could sleep. I don't think he would have slept much with out those which is funny since they did nothing for me.

From Drop Box

Day 2 brought out the rest of the sores. Don't they look terrible??? They hurt too. He could barely walk and pretty much didn't. He slept more and only ate a small amount because it looks like they spread to the inside of his mouth. This was definatly the worst day. He also has them in his nose and ears but the nose is definatly the worst becuase he's also suffering from allergies.

From Drop Box

Day three looks much worse but it's starting to get better. This morning he was still in pain but much better. He could walk and even hold things now. He's eating more and sleeping less which is a good sign. He keeps latex gloves on his hands becuase it helps with the pain. He was actually able to give Jack a bath tonight. The sores make warm water almost unberable but cold feels good. His fingertips look swolen but better.

From Drop Box

Some day this will be funny. Some day. Right now, it isn't.