Halloween '07

Alright, so maybe I'm not the world's greatest pumpkin carver. But I got a cute baby, so who cares?

These pictures are from a year ago. This was Jack's first Halloween.

I swear, from looking at these pictures, you'd think we never fed the little guy. He latched onto thhe pumkin like he was starved.

So About that.....

This pic is from last year about this time, carving pumkins.

Turns out, Jack really did have something worth complaining about. I don't know about you, but if I had a monster-hunking ear infection complete with a blister on my eardrum, I would have a pretty crappy day, too. We had scheduled Jack's 18 month appointment for today ages ago, so it was actually pretty lucky for us. Dr. Arnold (greatest pediatrician ever-I LOVE Alpine Peds) was able to prescribe some ear-numbing drops and a round of anti-biotics. Also, Jack is 35 inches tall, which puts him above the 97th percentile for his height. His weight, at 26 pounds, puts him in the 65th percentile, which is the percentile he was in last time. The good doctor tells me that some kids get between 6 and 8 ear infection in the first year, so for Jack to be at his 18 month check-up with his first one bodes well for him. I didn't have too many that I can remember as a kid, but Heather has a long and rich history of ear infections, so maybe we can avoid that. Since we got back from Costco to pick up his meds and picking up Heather from work, and giving him his meds, Jack has had a good bottle, joked and laughed for his mom, and is finally getting sleepy. Maybe hopefully tonight we will have a good night.

I had to add a really cute picture of Bubba today, because last night was so rough. I don't know where he picked it up from, but he's got some bug that kept him up from like, basically 11pm last night until 5 this morning. I tried everything, diaper, more food, bottle, cuddling, binky. Finally, I decided to ignore him, so of course that's when he worked himself up into such a fit that he barfed. If there's one thing I LOVE, it's cleaning up cottage-cheese barf from bedding and carpet at 2 in the morning. Then, of course, he slept from 5 until 6, and then woke up like the screaming little banshee he has become. Anyway, the cute picture is mostly there to remind me of how much work it has been up to this point to get him here, and what a shame it would be to chuck him into a wall now.

The Usual Suspects

Are Connor (Con-Con) playing or fighting? Who knows?

This is Jack, playing with one of the many 'community' toys that randomly appear on the playground for days at a time and, just as suddenly, disappear.

This is Rhaegan, or Rhae-Rhae. She always keeps her cool.

Going to the Park

We love to go to the park. Meaning, if we don't take Jack to the park, he becomes impossible to handle and we come dangerously close to losing it. So, we opt for sanity and the park, as many times as it takes for as long as we can stand it. It is actually really great, it is one of the reasons we love living here and feel so blessed we moved when we did. There are always a bunch of kids and parents out there, so it is a good time for all. The parents talk recipes and kids and stuff, and keep one eye out for all-out brawls or bleeding.

Can we go see the chick-ens?

One of our favorite activities this summer has been visiting the chickens. Adam and Laurie,

friends and neighbors of ours from down the block, have two pens with hens for laying eggs and for eating, we spent a lot of time catching grasshoppers to feed them to the chick-ens (as Kyle likes to say). Kyle and Kaden are Adam and Laurie's boys, and they usually accompany us on these trips.

Sleepy Monster

The blessed days of two naps in one day are but a distant memory, and I fear the day when no naps are needed at all. Currently, Jack will snooze from 11 or 12 until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. We like to spend our time doing homework, cleaning, relaxing, catching up on tv that doesn't include animation, puppets, singing, or trains. I still can't stand catching myself singing 'Elmo's world' at random times throughout my day. Damn that furry little red puppet, why is he so addicting to babies? It's like baby crack.

Heather is trying to take the pacifier, or binky, away from Jack. During the day he's actually good without it, but at night he will still cry out, so I voted to give it back. And by vote I mean that he was crying, I was the one that got up and couldn't comfort my own child back to sleep, so I got the binky out and gave it to him. It worked, so he's still on-again, off-again with the thing. I think it's ok, cuz he's still got teeth coming in and maybe that is why he needs it & why it still helps him.
Needless to say, I think he is so dang cute, 'specailly when he wakes up. It used to be the only time you could get a hug from him, but we've trained him to almost give hugs and kisses on command. Sometimes he will refuse and say no, but we try.

About the kissing, we're also very glad he learned to kiss with his mouth closed. Not that I don't appreciate a good wet kiss now and then, it's just that I usually prefer it come from my wife and not my kid.
Jack's current words are 'brush,' 'shoes,' 'duck,' 'yeah,' 'no,' 'Aunt,' (per special request of her Auntie Freddi) and something that sounds like, 'whatszou?' which is what he says when he asks a question and points at something.

Cell Phone Bandit

If you've been dry-dialed by my phone-now you know who, and how. We may never know why.

Little Linus?

Somehow, Jack loves his blanket. See for yourself.

Tan Lines & Shower Time

We spent a lot of quality time at the pool this summer, and we finally got a little bit of the Mexican half of Jack to shine through, as you may be able to tell. Mostly, Heather and I would swim while Jack wandered the perimeter of the pool with his floaties on, looking for trouble. Doesn't he have the cutest bum in the whole world? Ok, so maybe I'm a bit biased, but still, that's cute. Heather and I figure that the reason Jack is so cute is because he is going to be so much trouble. He already is and we haven't really started the 'terrible two's' quite yet. Check out those muscles!

What Sound does a Mommy make?

Heather was putting Jack to sleep one night not long ago, and he said the cutest thing. She was going through the animal noises, you know, what sound does a dog make, yadda, yadda, and she ran out of things that make sounds. So, spur of the moment, she asks Jack what sound a Mommy makes, and Jack though about it for a second, put his finger in the air and waved it and said, very slowly but deliberately, "No, no, no." Sooooooo cute, it kills me.