Tuesday, November 15, 2011

A Year of Jack

Day 1



1 Month Old



Two Months Old



Three Months Old



4 Months Old



Five Months Old



6 Months Old



7 Months Old



8 Months Old




9 Months Old



10 Months Old




11 Months Old





1 Year Old



Jack, 1 year

Well, it happened. We have a ONE YEAR OLD! So unbelievably crazy to me... we only snapped a few pics of Jack by himself on his birthday, because it was a busy busy day getting ready for his party. He was so excited that he couldn't take his afternoon nap.


Jack's stats from his one year check-up:
weight.... 18 lbs 10 oz.... 4th percentile
height.... 31 in .... 75-90th percentile (real shocker there, all things cosidered)
head... 48 cm.... 90th percentile (not a surprise, it's always difficult to put his t-shirts on)

Jacks's doc says he is doing very well for a kid with his diagnosis. We're trying a few of the doctors tricks to see if we can get Jack so gain some more weight. Jack had his last follow up appointment in Indy and things look GREAT. Now we will only have to see the cardiologist in Bloomington every 6 months just so they can take a listen to his ticker.

It seems like every week Jack is becoming more and more of a kid. He does the funniest things. He often makes a face where he puckers out his lips and squints his eyes shut. Some times he does it and says "OooOOoo" or "EWewEW". His facial expressions are becoming funnier and funnier. Sometimes he'll look at me, then shut his eyes really tight for a few seconds, then open them up again... Not really sure what he's trying to communicate with that one, but its cute.

Jack can say "happy", "baby", "boo" and my personal favorite "amen" which sounds something like "amy". He just says it at the end of our prayers. We didn't even teach him how, he just does it on his own. It's probably the cutest thing he's ever done, ever.


Jack likes to blow on his food. This is a trick I'm pretty sure he picked up from his Gramma.

Jack can stand on his own for a few seconds at a time. He's getting more and more confident and slowly building up the time he can stand before he sits down.

Jack claps when he hears people clapping on the tv.

He still isn't walking on his own yet. Although, he has taken one or two steps a few times unassisted, so I think he's getting close. We bought him a push walk toy that he loves and I think that's helping him gain some confidence. He practically runs with that toy he is so fast.

I think that's another reason why he hasn't started walking. He is so dang fast at crawling. A few weeks ago I was changing a poopy in the living room and I got up to throw the diaper away and wash my hands. In less than two minutes Jack managed to crawl from the living room, through our bedroom, open the sliding screen door, crawl all the away across the deck, and I found and caught him just as he was about to fall feet over head down the stairs. The kid gave me a heart attack. So anyway, why learn to walk when you are so fast at crawling, right?

Jack has completely switched over to whole milk (yay for no more stinky formula!).

Jack blows kisses.



Jack is a wiggle worm. Rarely is he ever still. On occasion he snuggles up to me for a few seconds and I just soak it all in. Then, like a flash he's off again... it takes a small miracle for me to change his diaper alone.

Jack has started the strangest habit. He hits himself in the head. He doesn't even do it when he's mad or frustrated... it's almost like he thinks it's silly... Not really sure what that's all about.

Jack loves to turn the lights on and off and to play with the strings on our blinds (with adult supervision of course).

Everything Jack picks up, he pretends its either a phone or a hair brush.

Jack likes to brush his hair and his teeth.

Jack's most recent obsession is kissing babies. It's like he gets a case of the squishies and can't help himself. Any kid that is his size or smaller is a target. He crawls over, grabs their head in both of his hands and plants a big open mouth wet on on the babies forehead. It's really cute, but I have to keep an eye on him at church because he's accidentally knocked a few babies over...

Jack's favorite foods are pickles, ice cream, pizza, chocolate, and mac and cheese.

Jack got two new teeth. So now he has four on the top and two on the bottom. It's so cute to look at him and see a mouth of teeth when he smiles...

This past year with Jack has been amazing, and difficult all at the same time. Gordy and I have done things that I never thought we could do. Jack has over come so much, and grown so much too. I am so happy to have Jack in our family. He is a good example of happiness and strength. I thank Heavenly Father every single day that we have the most amazing little boy.



Gramma and Grandpa Visit


In mid-October my parents came for a visit. Jack was probably as excited to see them as they were to see him. Understandably so... I mean who wouldn't want to wear awesome hats...?


Jack always wants to wear a hat when he's around his grandpa. It's so cute how he wants to be like him.

Gramma and Grandpa take Jack to do fun things, like go to the park...









He had such a good time with my parents. Gordy and I really enjoyed their visit too. They babysat for us while Gordy and I went to a movie. It had been almost exactly a year since I had been to a movie theater. Crazy, no? Man, oh man do we love having visitors!

Monday, November 14, 2011

Jack's Big Bonk

We've been so lucky to have a really long fall this year. Fall is definitely my favorite time of the year. This fall, we've usually met up with our friends at Olcott Park on Sunday afternoons to enjoy the beautiful weather. In fact, I would look forward to Sundays all week because I knew I could lounge around with my boys outside and just relax. No worries about school, or job hunting, or anything else allowed. Just beautiful weather.

Two weeks ago was our last Sunday park outing because the weather is starting to get colder. We were the first of our friends to arrive and we were having such a nice time together...



Jack was even practicing standing. He was standing on his own for about 30 seconds when we took this picture. Pretty huge step for our little guy...


... and here he is feeling pretty gangsta because he was doing such an awesome job.


Then we took a little stroll with our friends, and then the bonk happened. Jack accidentally got hit in the head with a frisbee by another little guy. It was a pretty bad bump. Within seconds the bump stuck out a half an inch from his head and was an inch and a half long. It just kept getting bigger and bigger... We thought for sure that it was going to split open and that we would have to take Jack to the emergency room for stitches. Instead we rushed him right home. I held him in my lap with a towel ready just in case the bump split open and gushed blood. Jack was so excited that he didn't have to ride in his car seat that he completely stopped crying and tried to play with all of the things he ordinarily can't reach when he is buckled in. Luckily, as soon as we got home and put ice on it the swelling went down immediately. This pic was after about 10 minutes of ice and the bump was dramatically smaller. Our little guy even smiled for the camera when Gordy snapped the pic. Such a sweetheart.


We are so glad that the bump never split open... We were also fairly certain that he would have a black eye, but he surprised us again. He just had a scab and a wicked yellowish green bruise for a few days. He's such a tough guy.

Jill and Cole Visit

How lucky is it that my best friend's husband has a hobby that occasionally takes them to Indiana? Super lucky.Jeremy stayed with us for two days, but Jill and Cole hung out with us all week. We didn't do anything outlandishly fun while they were here. Jill and Cole just joined in on our normal routine, parks, naps, cardiologist appointments, and some good food. There visit was so much fun for me.

Cole is such a doll. He's so incredibly mellow and even his mad noises are so cute and little. In short, I love him. Jack did too. He spent the entire visit trying to crawl on top of Cole in his bouncer so he could plant a bit wet one on Cole's face.




Once again, I need to better about snapping pictures. It was so neat to have my best friend visit and for our little boys to play together (sort of). It was a lovely visit.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Halloween


For Halloween Jack was a heart surgeon. We thought it would be pretty fitting (thanks to cousin Rikki for the adorable scrubs). I made him a surgical cap, a scalpel, and a broken heart to round it all out. He was a hit in his costume.

He actually won the costume contest for his age group at the Law School Halloween costume parade. I mean, who could resist a tiny surgeon who is just learning how to walk?

Jack got the hang of reaching into the candy bowls and picking a piece of candy by himself... Much to our disappointment he picked whoppers every. single. time. It's a mystery why he kept picking the whoppers.... it's not like they are in a brightly colored package...? Oh well, I guess he'll eventually learn that whoppers are lame-o.

Jill and Cole were staying with us while Jeremy went on a hunt. It was so fun that we got to spend Halloween together. Cole was so cute in his monkey costume. I was so sad that we didn't get more pictures of them together, especially because we couldn't seem to take a picture where Jack wasn't shoving pizza into pie hole. I guess that's how it goes with kiddos...


Jack had a fun time at the ward Trunk or Treat party. He even learned how to raid unguarded candy bowls.




Jack with his bud, Ethan.






Happy Halloween!