First Outing

On Sunday, Jack had his first official outing out of the house with a trip down to Mokena to Grandma and Grandpa Luchansky's house. He did great on both car rides and snoozed the entire time. The visit was also special because Jack got to meet 3 of his cousins! Unfortunately, the Ristich clan was out of town but the Quirkes were able to come over and hang out with Mr. Jack. The kids were super sweet and cute with him, especially Max who was a big help burping and feeding him when Andrew and I stepped out for a few minutes to run some errands. Can't wait for the Stiches to meet him too! It was very nice for all of us to get out of the house together and I'm looking forward to the end of cold and flu season so we can start getting out regularly.

In other Jack Jack news, he is a growing boy! Andrew got on the scale with him at my parents house and we estimate he is closing in on 9lbs! It's definitely noticeable too as he has a major belly on him and is really filling out some of his newborn sleepers these days. He is also sooooo close to smiling! I swear he has smiled at me a few times already so just waiting for it to be consistent and a full on toothless grin to confirm for sure :) Can't wait for that. 1 more thing to note b/c I'm a freak and have to, but when Jack is freaking out during a diaper change one of the things that calms him for a minute is me singing Kelly Clarkson's new song "Stronger." My baby does love Kelly after all!!


playing with Mr. Clyde Frog



from the look on his face I think it's clear he loves Valentine's Day



heading to Mokena

Mini Me

We came across some baby pictures of the two of us...I'll let everyone come to their own conclusions as to who Jack looks like...but pretty sure the title of this post says it all :)

Due Date!

Yesterday was Jack's due date...and tomorrow he will be 6 weeks old. Crazy sauce! I think I say it at least twice a day but I think it is just impossible to think that he should just be making his appearance into the world now. I can't imagine what life would have been like these past 6 weeks without him around. To celebrate his due date, Grandma Susan and Grandpa T came up to visit for the afternoon and then Mommy and Daddy went out for some margaritas :) Happy almost 6 weeks Jack Jack - thanks for giving us 6 extra weeks to love you!

Here are some recent pics of the little nugget.

Valentine's Day outfit from Grandma Paulette

enjoying his first Super Bowl game - he had 1 too many MGDs

floating head

hanging out with his sister, Lucy

sweet baby

Butterball

Just got back from Jack's 1 month check up. The kid weighs 7lbs and 1oz! We were hoping he would gain an ounce a day, which would have put him at about 6lbs 8oz but he went gangbusters on us and I couldn't be happier! We've noticed he's gotten bigger and filling out in his cheeks and tummy but I was so surprised when the nurse read the numbers I asked if it was right and if she needed to do it again! So proud of the little nugget. He also grew an inch and is 20 inches long. I asked the doc how he would rank in percentiles and she charted that even WITHOUT doing his corrected age he falls into the 2 percentile for all 3 stats (head circumference - didn't ask about that one, weight and height). She seemed very pleased with that! He got another Hep B shot and took it like a champ for the most part and everything else checked out just fine. We'll go back in another month.

Can't believe it's already been a month since Jack was born...and also can't believe that he's supposed to still be cooking away in my belly. We are so lucky that he decided to come early so we could have all of this bonus time with him and so fortunate that his time in the NICU was short and "easy" for the most part. We are all slowly starting to settle into life as a family of 3 and each day seems to get a tiny bit easier and I feel a bit more human like each day. For instance, today I was up, showered, with make up on and a cup of coffee by 9am - unreal!

A few other things to note about Jack on his 1 month bday:

- he is starting to focus in on whoever he is "talking" to. Seeing those blue eyes stare up and look at me is the most amazing feeling ever and just about makes me cry everytime. This month we are going to work on tracking objects and smiling which would be 2 big ones.
- he does really good with tummy time (which takes place mostly on Mommy when napping on the couch) and is able to really pick up his head and change sides back and forth.
-he's in a big boy bath in the sink and does really well with them. Much calmer than the sponge baths.
-he takes a bottle usually once a day late at night (thank you Daddy) and takes over 3 ounces everytime.
-the noises out of this kid are hilarious. Well, his burps and toots are funny...the grunts, squeals, and whines constantly in the middle of the night when we're trying to go to sleep aren't so cute but I hear those will subside with time.
- he does a pretty good job napping throughout the day. He's about 50/50 in the swing and bouncy, but does a bit better on his activity mat or the couch next to Mommy. But his favorite nap spot is on Mommy (which is Mommy's favorite nap spot too).
- he's still in newborn diapers and clothes but at the rate he's growing, maybe not for much longer!
- I've gotten sprayed quite a few times in the past few days alone. Twice in 1 day, 2 changes in a row. Fun times.

Here are a couple pictures from his 1 month photo shoot.

he looks so tiny in this chair!

gaining ground on the football

Love you, pumpkin! Can't wait to see how you change this next month!