No Teeth QUITE Yet....

Last night, Jack was miserable. He couldn't fall asleep (and usually he's a champion sleeper right after his nightly bath), he was fussy and just generally on edge. Finally, fed up, I shoved my finger in his mouth. He gnawed away, biting and chomping, and finally drifted off to sleep on my shoulder.

I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth, and lo and behold, there was blood on my t-shirt. It seems our little guy is finally, officially cutting his first tooth! We can't feel the sharp edge yet, but we see it on the top, and it's so very close. Phew! I was getting worried! All of his friends at daycare have their teeth in. Of course, since I am still nursing occasionally, this could be a mixed blessing.

Tomorrow morning he heads back to the doctor to have his ears checked out, and get his 6-month checkup. What can he do now, you ask?

• Roll Over. This is definitely one of his favorite things to do now, as he has made his crib his own personal jungle gym.
• Take off his own socks and bite his feet. Miss Ashley says that at daycare, the three boys (Tucker, Jack, and Aiden) have competitions to see who can yank off their socks the fastest. Jack's a pro!
• Feed himself finger foods. He loves the "Crunchies" as we call them - Gerber's whole grain finger snacks. He loves the wagon wheels, but his ultimate favorite is the veggie sticks. He can feed them to himself and he also knows to chew them - which I find pretty incredible.
• Almost pull himself up. Put him next to a table or railing, or your hands, and he can hold himself up on his feet standing pretty steady. He can pull himself from sitting to standing with your hands ... but not quite on his own yet. Soon enough!
• Almost use a sippy cup. He can hold it himself, and gnaw on it, but he has trouble getting it high enough to create a suction and get liquids. At daycare they recommended that we let him play with one at every meal, just to get him used to the feel of it. So we do, and he enjoys it!
• Sit up and play while I take a shower. We tried this last night, and for some reason Jack loves getting water sprayed directly in his face. (Weird kid!) So of course, this was a hit. I put up a non-slip mat and just let him sit at the back of the tub. Success! (It was necessary because we had just eaten prunes, but that's a different story.)
• Sit up in the grocery cart and hold on by himself. It's his new favorite place!
• Hold his own bottle. If you get it to his mouth for him, he can feed himself for a few minutes. Very useful skill, I must say!
• Conduct entire conversations with his toys. He's known at daycare as the kid who yells angrily / laughs hilariously at all his toys (a little funny, and slightly disturbing!) You can leave him alone with his stuffed Elmo or his green frog, and wow. He goes to town telling them all about the trials and tribulations of his day. I can't wait to hear what the little guy actually has to say! Maybe he'll grow up to be a commentator, or a talk show host...or a therapist. He LOVES to talk!!

Tomorrow we will get his new measurements. I know he's grown, because a month ago his feet didn't reach the floor in his walker, and now they do. Also he's almost outgrown most of his 6-month clothes and is now into 9-month clothes. Our little boy is growing up so fast!

Our Weekend

A few deer decided to visit our backyard yesterday. We got a few inches of snow and I guess they were hungry! They were beautiful and Jack & I watched them for about 10 minutes before they moved on.

Deer out our kitchen window!

Jack is still runny, as you can see...he goes back to the doctor Monday, thank goodness!

Video #2

Sorry, for some reason it would only let me upload one video in the last post. Here's another one.

I will get one of him rolling over one day! He's stealthy, I tell you.

Our Little Man is becoming more mobile every day!

Jack can now go from the sitting position to the laying down position all by himself (or I should say, on purpose, without crying and freaking out!) He can also easily roll over from front to back - but he still isn't too thrilled about going back to front. He also does the "superman" (seen on the video) where he lays on his belly and sticks all his arms and legs straight out. He loves to reach and curl up his legs so I am sure it won't be long before he starts crawling!

Every morning now, and every day after his nap, he flips himself over to his back and entertains himself - at least for a little while. I can't wait until he can go to the sitting position all by himself - he will be able to play with the toys in his crib without ever waking us up! (Hey, we can dream.)

The downside of all this mobility? You have to watch him EVERY. SINGLE. SECOND. On the bed and the changing table especially - he has to be barricaded or strapped in. Also, in his new bathtub which he can sit up in, he falls face-first easily so you basically have to have your arms on him at all times. But it's worth it! He's just learning all these new things that his body can do and it's pretty amazing to watch.

He also raises his arms now if he wants to be picked up. It's new and super cute. At first I thought it was an accident - but now I know it's on purpose and he knows exactly when he wants to be held! What a smart headstrong little boy we have. :) Just like his .... Daddy :)

Sick Jack!

Poor baby Jack. Last Friday (1/22), I kept him home from daycare with a fever. Last time he had a fever, it was just a cold, and the doctor couldn't really do much, so this time I figured I'd just let it run its course. (See left. He was still happy on Friday - runny and stuffy, but happy!)

By Saturday afternoon he was so lethargic and groggy that my "mommy radar" went off. Something just wasn't right. I hesitated, but called the doctor (thanks Mom for the advice!)

Sure enough, they wanted to see him right away. Turns out he had double ear infections and RSV (which you can read about here.) RSV is a pretty common, but ultimately scary, respiratory infection. Unfortunately there is no real treatment for it, because it is a virus and therefore immune to antibiotics. It is also very contagious and is the cause of a lot of infant hospitalizations. The ear infections, on the other hand, seemed to follow the RSV and were easily treatable by Amoxicillian (you remember the pink stuff you took when you were little? Yeah, Jack hates it.)

Anyway, it was a scary weekend overall. By Saturday night the only fluid I could get into him was Pedialyte through a medicine dropper. Thankfully by Sunday afternoon he was starting to eat a little more normally (even if all he wanted to do was nurse.) He also decided he liked solids again on Monday. So we are getting better, slowly. It is still a fight to get the antibiotics into him - he really, really hates it, but Justin has gotten a good system down of forcing them into his mouth and then forcing him to swallow.

He has a follow-up doctor's appointment on Monday. They are requiring him to get a flu shot then, as he is over 6 months old and that's safe now. (Even though he technically had the flu in December, they want to make sure he has immunity to as many strains as possible.)

We also found out that our big boy is now 17 lb 4 oz! He will get measured and a checkup at his next appointment; I will post all his stats then. Until later....

Our Basement Rehab ... Part 1

As some of you may remember, back in June we had massive flooding here in Massachusetts and we ended up with a couple inches of water in our basement. We had to rip out all the carpet, drywall, paneling, and a lot of the walls.

Well, FINALLY, we are getting it finished! The contractors have been here for 4 days and they have made a lot of progress. We are adding a few walls so that now we will have four distinct rooms: a playroom / family room, an office, a mudroom / laundry room, and unfinished storage space.

The wall they added between the mudroom and the unfinished storage space.

There used to be a giant hole here where the old owners had a TV! Finally, it's a solid wall again!

Here is the second wall we added, between our family room and the stairs / office. It's coming along nicely!

Jack is sick (AGAIN) ... and other news.

Today I have sick-baby duty as Jack is home with a fever, vomiting, and a bad cough. Poor baby boy! He is so runny and phlegmy that he can't do anything except whine - and I don't blame him!

Making this even harder is the fact that the contractors are here today working on the basement. It is a loud business and poor Jack just wants to sleep. I think it's time I throw him in the carseat and take him for a long, quiet drive.

I will post pictures of their basement progress soon! I can't wait. It's going to be beautiful when it's done!

Jack LOVES FOOD

Our little guy has rapidly progressed from a milk-only baby to a food enthusiast! He loves just about every new food we give him ... from this video, you can see he even loves Brussels Sprouts! He enjoys eating, holding his own spoon, sitting up in the chair like a big boy, and we try to actually eat dinner like a family at the table at least a few times a week. That was virtually impossible with his "fussy time" when he was breastfeeding exclusively ... but now, it's a great treat! Justin jokes though that he has "cobra reflexes" because his hands can dart out and grab just about anything within reach - and some things out of it!! Last night he knocked over my glass of water that I would have bet money he couldn't touch. And with this, babyproofing commences!!

We have made a few big changes lately. The first is that he is getting formula supplements, at least once a day. As good as my intentions were, I just cannot keep up with his appetite while I am pumping at work. He still nurses at night, in the morning, and on the weekends, but he is getting formula once or twice during the day at daycare. I try not to think of it as a failure - I really wanted to keep him on only breastmilk for longer - but it's the best I can do and I have resigned myself to that. I have learned so much about him, about myself, and about my ability to really "do it all" in the last months. I can't beat myself up over something like that when he's happy, healthy, and growing perfectly!

The second big change is that we are about to make the move out of the baby tub into the big bathtub. He's outgrown his baby bathtub - last week I found out that he can STAND UP in it all by himself! He also can grab the faucet, any soaps or bottles nearby, etc. Even though we watch him very closely, I don't think it's safe anymore. He could turn on the hot water or slip right out of the tub at any moment. So now, it's time for the big boy's tub! He can sit up on his own so we are in search of the perfect non-slip mat - and then he will be able to splash and play safely as much as he wants. :)

Next week he will celebrate his six-month birthday. It has been a rough learning curve but I really cannot remember our little family without him! His laugh and his giggles and even his cries are a part of the regular soundtrack in our house now - and it's such a welcome joy.

Lots of love,

Kelly and Justin

A Few Quick Updates

We've had quite a bit of snow here in New England over the last month. We wanted to take Jack out sledding, but two things prevented us from being very successful. One, the only real snowsuit he has is for a two-year-old. It's giant on him. And two, we don't even have a real sled!

Nevertheless, we perservered. What did we get for our troubles? A LOT OF YELLING!!

Jack and Daddy came to visit me at work during the week that Bose and daycare were closed. Look at my twins!! Everyone at the office loved Jack. Jack, however, loved the bag of Tostitos more.

Happy 2010!

Happy New Year! We have started a new decade ... and it's amazing that time has passed this quickly!

Jack is 5 and a half months old. He is growing more and more every day. What can he do now? Reach, grab, and pull! Yesterday we were in Stop N' Shop and he was in the BabyBjorn having a great time. I looked down and he had a candy cane in one hand and a packet of peanuts in the other. UMMM...where did you get those, big guy??? No idea. I have to be much more vigilant now. :)

In other news, we took down all our Christmas decorations this weekend. Our tree didn't make it very far - it was snowing and freezing, so Justin just threw it in the front yard. It stood up!! We'd gotten so much snow that it was no problem. Boy, we are KLASSY with a capital "K."

Happy New Year to everyone, and best wishes for a wonderful, happy, healthy, and prosperous year. Miss each and every one of you!

Brrrr! Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Since we have gotten over 10 inches of snow in the past 24 hours, we decided to take Jack out to enjoy his first experience with the white stuff. He wasn't a fan ... it was cold, about 25 degrees, and wet. He lasted about 2 minutes before he started screaming!!

Here's our little smurf out in the snow for the very first time ....