The SS Crosby House... Justin's the Captain, I'm the First Mate, and Jack is the Skipper...

It's a good thing we just spent all that money having our basement finished!! Cause wow, it was a very good investment, huh?? *Sigh*

We have gotten two months' worth of rain in a two-day period, and it's been the rainiest March on record in Southborough since 1873. Does this make me feel any better?? NO! I never thought I would ever say this, but bring on the SNOW!!! It's much easier to deal with.

8 Months Old

...Jack is now 8 Months Old. What can he do?

• Crawl. He is a very good crawler! He gets faster every day, and he can even crawl now with pants on, which is a big improvement. He can go quickly from one end of the house to the other - so not only do you have to constantly keep an eye on him, but he's always underfoot!
• Cry and cry when Mom and Dad leave. Yup, we are at that horrible phase of separation anxiety that (I have heard) peaks around this age. He usually doesn't cry in the mornings when Justin drops him off (he's in a good mood in the mornings, and it progressively goes downhill.) If one of us drops by mid-day to say hi, he will coo and giggle and hang onto us for dear life. The second we head for the door, he bursts out into horrible, ear-shattering, red, noisy tears. It's so sad! It literally makes my heart hurt. Justin and I had an event to go to after work last week, but we stopped in daycare to say goodbye before we left for Boston (Miss Kara was taking Jack home to babysit him.) He screamed and screamed!! She said he calmed down after we left, but phew! Poor kid...and poor us. The other side of this is that he hangs onto you all the time. He is constantly crawling up to my legs and pulling himself up and hugging me. It is super cute - but super hard to make dinner! :)
• Take a Big Boy Bath. Last night was the first night in the tub all by himself - no inflatable duck, just a rubber mat and Jack and his toys. He loved it! He was constantly trying to crawl out of the rubber duck anyway, so this actually seemed safer in that he couldn't really get a lot of traction to stand up. He still loves bathtime...although he pretty much hates getting out now.
• Eat mostly solid foods. He eats 3 or 4 cubes of homemade food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus juice, yogurt, and/or crunchies. He only gets 3-4 bottles a day, for a total of about 25-28 oz of formula. This is a good transition! My goal is to have him off of bottles by the time he is 1 year old...so we are making headway. He can drink out of a regular cup (if you hold it for him) and he can feed himself most anything. We have also been giving him pieces of our meals - this weekend we went to IHOP and he had scrambled eggs, some pancakes, and some bananas. It's much more convenient than hauling around a whole lot of bottles, forumla, and baby food!
• Be good in public. We feel pretty comfortable taking him out for breakfast or lunch, and out shopping or running errands. He's a very good baby and is so easily entertained just by watching people go by. Dinnertime is still hit or miss, but we are working on it!
• Idolize his Dada. He really, really adores Justin. I know I am his Mom, and I feed him and do all those other important things...but to Jack, Justin is really the best there is. It's so cute to watch him absolutely light up around Justin, and to be interested in every little thing that Daddy does. And I'm OK with this, because a boy certainly needs his Dad!

til later...

Crawling is now a sport...

He's a champion crawler...and he's so much happier now that he can go after what he wants! We are so impressed with our little budding athlete!! (Yes, even with his roly legs!) :)

We should not encourage this...

But he LOVES to play with the baby gate! He thinks it is absolutely hilarious when Mom and Dad are "in jail" and can't get out. We do spend quite a lot of time entertaining him with this...although it probably isn't the safest thing ever!

Getting Bigger by the Day...

Phew! How can we keep up with all the new things our little guy is doing?? It's tough. He can pretty much pull himself up to standing on anything now. His favorite spot is on the shelves in the kitchen:

We got tired of trying to always take away his baby treats (which we had kept there) and so we just put his toys on that shelf. Now it's easy for him to play while we make dinner, do the dishes, etc. Genius, I tell you! Being a parent is all about being innovative. :)

We enjoyed a WONDERFULLY warm St. Patrick's Day. Justin and I lit a fire in our pit outside and had a few beers to relax after work. Jack, it seems, was not to be left out. He loves to chew on bottles and this was no exception! He wouldn't be a true Irishman unless he loved beer...which he does. I guess we are in for a scary time once he gets to college.

Finally, we had a bit of a "disturbance" in the Crosby house this weekend. Jack threw up in his hair on Saturday morning, and Justin, being the good dad that he is, volunteered to clean it out with a wet washcloth. So he did, and he made his hair all spiky (below, so cute!!) I got in the shower so that we could all get dressed and go get some breakfast. What did Justin do while I wasn't looking?? He gave Jack a buzz cut!! His beautiful, soft, long baby hair is ALL GONE! Pictures of that later. I hope that his blonde locks can grow back out before summer. I almost killed Justin and I think now he knows to never do that again! :)

Jack says hi to all of you! Lots and lots of love ...

Enjoying the Weather...Finally!

We finally had a sunny, warm spring day...and we wasted no time taking advantage of it!! Jack was a huge fan of playing outside and getting some fresh air.

Sleeping and Eating and Talking and Crawling

Jack is a busy boy! There is a lot going on in his life right now. He is crawling up a storm ... he can do the loop around our kitchen - dining room - living room in about 20 seconds flat. (Of course, he often gets distracted by the bookcase or the shelves in the kitchen where we keep his treats, but that's another story!) He is doing really well with solid foods, and I have started introducing some new things lately. I made him his very own batch of beef stew last night, along with a lentil casserole that he loved. He is also getting chunkier things like dried fruit pieces and graham cracker biscuits. The only problem with this newfound eating independence is that he likes to hold his own spoon, and he is STRONG. He will grab it out of my hand, try to get it in his mouth (but really just fling food everywhere) and then cry when he doesn't get anything. Poor kid! Although doing that the other morning with cranberries and blueberries was NO fun for Mommy or Baby!

He also has gotten much better at forming words. Justin is definitely "Dada," and man, do I get tired of hearing "Dada? Dada! Dada? Dada." constantly!! I feel very neglected. He also says "heeeeey" all the time, which is super cute. Hopefully soon he will start with lots more words, because he goes ON and ON in his own little language all the time. I can't wait to see what he's really saying!

Finally, he has been sleeping better lately. I think that daylight savings time is actually going to help us with Jack's schedule. Sunday was the best. He woke up at about 4, and I gave him a bottle. He curled up in bed with me in the guest room and BAM! We were both out cold until 9am!! I slept so hard, and so soundly, and I know he did the same. It was much-needed and just a really good way to start a morning. :)

We miss all of you! Lots of love from our wet, rainy house!

Enjoying A Warm(er) Day!

We finally had a day over 50 degrees!! The first thing we did was head to the park. Yes, there is still snow all over the lake in the background...but it felt like spring! All the kids were out in full force, and Jack had a great time on the swings and hanging out with Mommy and Daddy in the fresh air. This little taste of warm weather only made us long for summer even more!

Watching the big kids play in the sandbox. Maybe in a few months, Jack!!

Enjoying the swing...

Having so much fun!

Smiley boy!

Reading....

Hmmm. Jack has been crawling for two days now, and he's already starting to do this weird tripod-type thing where he tries to stand up but isn't strong enough. He then starts to scream until one of us comes and props him up on something. The only thing he can successfully pull himself up onto now is his toy basket (above.) So he spends a lot of time "practicing" on that!
He also loves to read, even if the book is bigger than he is!

I CAN CRAWL!!!

LOOK AT ME GO!!! I am an expert now, forwards and backwards!!

7 Months Old (A Little Late!)

Jack turned 7 months old a week ago. What new things can he do?? Let's see...

• Crawl (backwards!): He hasn't quite mastered the front-crawl yet, but he can scooch around backwards with the best of them. You have to keep your eye on him now at all times, because he is fast!
• Feed himself: He loves crunchies and baby cheese puffs, but he has recently gotten a little more advanced in his food skills. He can feed himself little pieces of cheese, pieces of banana, little baby rice krispies, and he even had a bite of carrot cake this weekend. There is prettty much nothing that he doesn't love ... except cranberries. He wasn't a fan!
• Move all over his crib: He never wakes up in the same position he went to sleep in. He rolls and turns and tangles himself all up in his blankets. He gnaws on his "lovey" at night and even practices standing and crawling in his sleep (his little legs never stop moving!)
• Stand up for extended periods: Holding onto something of course, but he can stand for 10, 15 minutes or more. He eventually falls into a split position as his legs get tired, but it's his favorite thing to do! They let him practice at daycare all the time. He loves it!
• Have separation anxiety: He knows when Mommy and Daddy leave...and when they come back. He doesn't like to be alone. And he makes it known!
• Say certain words OVER and OVER again: His favorite words? "Hey!" "Dada" and "Blue"...he never stops talking!!

We love our little guy, and he is more and more fun every day. We can't wait to see what he will learn next!