Way too many pictures of Jack

The little man and I had another "photoshoot" in the playroom today while he was desperately trying to crawl. I love how this shirt brings out his blue eyes (and I didn't even edit any of them!). Grandparents, enjoy!

Blurry, but you can tell that he's working on his pushups...

Mom, this is hard work

Clapping...

And more clapping...

Jack is 8 months old!

Happy 2/3 of a year, sweet little boy! Your mommy, daddy, and big sister absolutely adore you. You are at such a fun age right now and I wouldn't be upset if you stayed a baby forever :) I tell you this all the time and you just smile. The other day, I was cuddling Elise and told her that she would always be my baby girl, even when she was taller than me. Her response, in this tender moment? "When I am taller than you, I will drink Dr. Pepper."

Jack had a great 8th month. He got to spend 11 days in Texas for his first Christmas and was very spoiled by his grandparents, aunts, and uncles. He got to meet his girlfriend Lila (John's little sister) and future in-laws Ross and Sarah, and has just been a busy little boy.

Stats: He is still a little guy, weighing in at approximately 17 lbs and measuring roughly 27.5 inches. He fits really well in 6-12 month clothes, but most of his winter clothes are 12-18 months so I just have to roll up the sleeves. He still just has the two bottom teeth.

Sleeping: He continues to be a great sleeper. In fact, I think he sleeps even more than Elise did at this age (16-16.5 hours per day). He has started reaching for his crib when it is time to go to sleep. He even slept well in the pack and play during our trip to Texas. He still loves to suck his thumb. We purchased a video monitor for his room during this past month, and it has been so much fun to watch him play around in his crib. He snuggles up in the corner next to his bumper to sleep. He loves to practice getting on all fours and rolling around. I washed the bumper the other day and he was only without it for one nap and scooted himself back so that both legs were stuck outside the crib.

Eating: He is an excellent nurser and that makes the 2-child thing so much easier, as long as I can keep Elise out of his room for the 10 minutes while he is eating :) I am very thankful for this. He has learned to use the milk sign and very often "asks" to eat when it is a normal nursing time or time to eat solids. He makes his left hand into a fist and flicks it back and forth... so cute! He eats roughly 4 oz of fruits, veggies, or cereal for lunch and dinner but definitely prefers nursing to eating solids. I think he got a little spoiled by eating Sprout baby food and squeezy packs during our trip to Texas. Now, if he sees Elise eating a squeezy pack, he flips out until he gets to have one too. He's very interested in table food but hasn't mastered the pincer grasp yet, though he does like to nibble large pieces of fruit that he can hold in his hand. He gets milk in a straw cup probably once a week.

Schedule:

7:15-7:30 - wake and nurse #1

9-10:30 - nap #1

10:30 - nurse #2

12:15ish - lunch

1:30 - 4:15ish - nurse #3, nap #2, nurse #4

6:00 - dinner

6:45 - nurse #5

7:00 - bed

Playing: He is happy just about anywhere. After he wakes up, he likes to play on the activity mat for a while until he is bored and rolls or scoots away from it. He likes to move around on the floor and "chase" after his toys. When he gets tired of this, he likes to sit up with a bucket of toys, and then he usually ends his "playing session" by standing and playing with his musical table, standing and watching his sister, or playing in the jumperoo or exersaucer. He is so happy and easygoing. He does get frustrated when he wants a particular toy and can't figure out the right way to roll or wiggle to get to it.

"Learning": It is fun to see him start to pick up on things and recognize words. He definitely perks up and giggles when he hears "Jack", "eat", "milk", "clap", and some others. He doesn't babble nearly as much as Elise did at this age, but he still does use the "ba" and "be" and "buh" sounds. He started clapping on command this month and we're working on a few more signs to add to "milk".

He enjoys riding in the car, stroller, Beco, and is very easy to take anywhere, as long as it isn't nap time.

back of the hair - filling in nicely!

teeth

trying so hard to crawl/wiggle those hips/move forward... any day now!

I still think they look quite different, aside from the eye color and the thumbs in their mouths. Here are my babies at 8 months.

Babyproofed!

This house posed quite the babyproofing challenge, but we're done and happy with the result. I just wanted to share in case others need ideas for difficult layouts. We didn't need gates when Elise was a baby... we had a one-story house and just kept the bathroom door closed.

Our main problem areas are stairs... we have four half-flights that are constantly used. It didn't make sense to gate the top and bottom of every set of stairs... it would have been very annoying, potentially unsafe with Elise on the stairs, and very expensive to buy the attachments that would actually fit these stairs since there aren't mounting options on both sides. So, I scoured craigslist for a few weeks and bought two used Kidco Hearth Gates. Together, they block off the main stairs, front door, kitchen, both bathrooms, basement, and bedrooms while granting access to the play areas and living room.

Front door is on the left, bedrooms are upstairs, kitchen is through the door on the right

View from upstairs (we moved the table that used to be in this space and the playroom is around the corner on the left beyond the couch)

Next, we took down the shutter-style doors that connected the playroom and kitchen and replaced them with a North States Super Gate Easy Close Gate. This link is for the extra tall version, which we are using in another location. The thing I like the most is that these gates have a stay open feature. They are also easy enough to open that we will be able to teach Elise how to open them so that she can go to the bathroom by herself, etc. I don't think she would be able to figure it out without us showing her, though. You can see the gate on the left side in the open position.

And here, of course, is the reason for the gates...

The next problem area is in the kitchen, because we have another set of stairs that connects the kitchen and living room. These aren't carpeted, but we definitely didn't want to have gates at the top and bottom, which is why we added the previous gate to block off the kitchen so that we don't need a gate at the top.

And last, we finally finished the basement. We have so much room for storage that the basement is better used for playing. The totes that you see are blocking off exposed brick, golf clubs, and cords. Jack has a playpen (thanks, Mimi!) and exersaucer (thanks, craigslist!) and we moved the slide in from the backyard (again, thanks to craigslist!). The washing machine and dryer are to the right of the picture, so this is a great way for Elise to entertain herself while I am doing laundry.

This girl is so happy about her basement play room... (excuse the hair, we just came from gymnastics!)

35 months

So I've decided that her 36 month/3 year post will be the last monthly post and after that I'll do a long, detailed post every 3 months (along with other random posts in the middle). I feel like at this age, most of the content in these posts are in the "nothing has changed" category, and all people are really interested in reading are the funny sayings :)

Everything is still great in the eating and sleeping departments. She has done a fabulous job during our trip to Texas. She is in bed from roughly 8-8 and sleeps for probably 11 hours on a normal day. On a very active day, she will fall asleep sooner. She takes a two hour nap from about 1:45-3:45. She had one day this month where she talked through her nap, but other than that, she has slept great and I usually have to wake her up. She still wears a pull up at night and pretends there is a potty in it when she sleeps. She loves her crib but sometime in the next few months I think we will convert it to a toddler bed. I don't remember if I put this on the blog or not, but Elise basically stopped drinking milk a few months ago and only drinks water. She'd had a perpetual runny nose for probably a year (maybe since we started cow's milk, maybe not... we can't remember but we know it started when we lived in Texas), which we kept blaming on moves and climate changes. For a few days in September, she was sick and we didn't give her milk during that time, and we noticed that her runny nose went away. We experimented a little bit and determined that the nose running was in fact associated with milk. She still eats yogurt and cheese but usually only has milk when we get it as part of her meal at Chipotle, or if I buy it for part of a recipe (Mike and I are not milk drinkers).

She's been such a pleasant person to be around the last few weeks. She has been much less challenging and less clingy. The hardest part of the day for us is probably getting ready to go somewhere. She doesn't like to get dressed and she especially doesn't like wearing a coat/hat/mittens, to the point that she won't want to play outside because she doesn't want to put them on. Newsflash, sweetheart... it's about to get really cold in Maryland! When we get back home, we're going to finish organizing the basement and bring in her slide/climber so that we'll have a nice indoor place to be active. She'a also getting a Schwinn Roadster for her birthday that we will keep down there.

Her vocabulary, pronunciation, memory, and conceptual knowledge continue to develop so rapidly. It is quite amazing what a toddler can understand and learn. Here are some funny sayings from the last week:


(the Saturday before we left to go to Texas)
E: "Today is Saturday and we are going to the zoo. Tomorrow is Sunday and we will go to church. After that is Monday and we will go to Texas!"
(a few minutes later)
E: "We will not take naps [while in Texas], we will just play."


(while eating breakfast and wearing her pajama shirt with her sweatshirt and sweatpants because she was being difficult and we were late leaving the house...first time she's worn any part of her pajamas out of the house)
E: "You can't see my shirt. It's hiding."
Mimi: "It is?"
E: "Yeah... 'cause I'm wearing my sweatshirt!"
(pause)
E: "When you wear your pajama shirt all day long, that's what you have to do!"


Mimi: (walks in the bathroom to find Elise, arms folded, sitting on a stool in front of the open cabinets)
E: I'm not going to touch anything. I'm just looking.


(after going to many places to see many people in the days leading up to Christmas)
Pop: "Elise, what are you going to do today?"
E: "I'm going to play with... somebody."


Mimi: "Is your nose running?"
E: "Yes... I don't know why it's running. I think it's running from my cold I got when I went to the Baltimore Zoo but I don't know why it's running... I think it's 'cause I think too much."


E: "When I cough, I have to cover my arm so I don't get dirt on everybody."


E: "I just went potty all by myself. And I pooped. That was my option."


(I accidentally cut Jack's finger when I was using inferior nail clippers a few weeks ago)
Mommy: "Thank you for cooperating while I cut your nails, sweetie. Jack doesn't cooperate that well, because he's a baby."
E: "Is that because you cut his little finger?"


(We met some friends to eat at Chick Fil A today and she was staring at the logo and shocked me by saying this...)
E: "Chh Chh Chh. C H says Chh, like Chick Fil A!"


(while trying to get her to say long words, like 'anethesiologist')
Daddy: "Can you say 'arachnaphobia'?"
E: "Is that an animal?"


E: "Donkey Donkey duh duh duh... It starts with a 'd'! Is that similar to a 'k'?"
(going to the potty and asking Pop to leave because she likes her privacy)
E: "Leave, Pop. You can go play with the old people."


(randomly pondering the logistics of airport travel)
E: "Who is going to pick us up when we fly back to Maryland and Baltimore?"
Mommy: "Nobody is going to pick us up because we left our car there. We'll drive our car home from the airport."
E: "How are we going to get to the airport if we don't have our car? Are we going to take Mimi's car?"


E: "Mom, go wait in Mimi's bathroom while I go potty."
(pause)
E: "Do you have any questions for me?"


(reading with Daddy and not wanting The Night Before Christmas)
E: "I will crawl under the bed so I can't hear you."


(talking to Daddy)
E: "Go check on your son, Jack. You know, the one in the other room."

E: "Look at Mommy because she's your family."

E: "I misplaced Jack. I don't know where I put him!"


She also will say anything to prolong going to bed, like "Pop, you have pretty hair!" and "We forgot to do somethin'... what did we forget to do? We forgot to do SOMEthin'!"


I can't believe she's almost 3!! We love you, sweet girl!

Happy 30th Birthday, Mike!

I love you more than ever, old man :)

Conversation from dinner last night... we wer:

Elise: "I got you a birthday present."
Mike: "What is it?"
Elise: "A surprise!" (we've been working on this! little lady is not good at keeping secrets)
Mike: "What kind of surprise?"
Elise: "A surprise football and a surprise frisbee!"

First haircut

Well, I think Mike cried a little inside when he saw Jack with less hair, but at least the little man won't be getting hair in his eyes anymore :)

Jack is 7 months old!

Happy 7 months, sweet boy!

Stats: I haven't weighed or measured him yet, but I don't think he's grown that much since his 6 month appointment. His 6-12 month clothes fit well, but most of his winter clothes are 12-18 months because I only wanted to buy long sleeved clothes in one size. I have to roll the sleeves up, but that is fine. I hear it is still cold in April so we're going to make the long sleeves last as long as we can. He has the two bottom teeth now. The second tooth popped through last week.

Sleeping: Still a great sleeper, even with teeth! I'm so grateful. He goes to bed around 7 and wakes up between 7 and 7:45. We successfully transitioned to 2 naps during the second half of this month, and he's done great. He takes his first nap from 9-10:30 and then his second nap from 1:30-4 or 4:30. This falls in the window of Elise's nap, which is super for Mommy! He's usually a little fussy between 1 and 1:30, so that is often jumperoo time. Once or twice a week, he wakes up a little early (during the 6:00 hour) and I either feed him and put him back to bed or leave him in his bed until 7, depending on the time.

Eating: He still nurses 5 times a day, at roughly 7:30, 10:30 (after nap #1), 1:30 (before nap #2), 4:30 (after nap #2) and 6:45 (before bed). He eats 2-4 oz of something at dinner. He's not a fan of fruit, but he really likes the yellow/orange vegetables. I haven't added the lunch meal yet, but I plan to this month. His favorite food so far is pumpkin.

Playing and other random stuff: He's such a happy, silly, sweet baby. He still enjoys his activity mat, jumperoo, and exersaucer. He spends most of his time playing on the floor or sitting and playing with toys, but he usually gets a little time in the exersaucer right before dinner and in the jumperoo right before his second nap. He's very easy to take places and loves to flirt with everyone. He enjoys sitting with a bucket of toys and pulling everything out. He also loves knocking down towers of cups. He LOVES to stand up and either hold on to the toy box or to someone's fingers. He also tries to walk and jump while holding onto our hands, sometimes taking up to 10 little "steps". He's still trying very hard to scoot on his belly, and can make it about 1/2 inch at a time. He still likes the "b" sound, and often says "ba", "bee", and "buh". I've caught him on all fours a few times, and he can stay up there for a while if he's in the mood.

Since he's been teething, he has really enjoyed the pacifier again (this is after over two months without it). He doesn't use it to sleep, but I will let him have it when we're out somewhere or if he's fussy while he's playing. He likes to suck on it and chew on it. He also loves his Sophie the Giraffe toy and his Haba rattle/teether toys. Thankfully, he spits up a lot less now and I bet he will have outgrown it altogether by 8 months old. Elise was also 8 months when she stopped spitting up. I am about to attempt his first hair cut. The long hair has gotten less curly except when it's wet, and now it hangs down over his little eyes. Sorry about the complete randomness of the last two paragraphs.

Happy 7 months, Jack! We love you to pieces!