Baptism

Little Jack Harold was baptised on Sunday in Morrison. Service was at 9am, right in the middle of morning nap time, but he managed to snooze on me for about 15 mins of the service and then was pretty content to chill until it was his big moment. He did very well through the baptism, no tears or restlessness and even caught Pastor Dan a bit off guard when he looked directly at him when he said "Jack Harold..." He started to lose it a little after the service due to hunger and tiredness, but overall we were once again proud of how he did and mentally added another gold star to Grandma P's behavior chart :) Afterwards, everyone headed over to Grandma Susan and Grandpa T's house for lunch and cake. THANK YOU to Jack's Godparents Auntie Gretchen and Uncle Jeffers, Grandma Susan & Granpa T for hosting us, and the Luchansky/Quirke/Ristich clans for making the long and early drive to celebrate with us. God bless Baby Jack!

starting to lose patience

cousins!

5 Months!

Jackypants is now 5 months old! It seems like every day he looks a little bit bigger, feels a bit heavier and is doing something new than the day before. It's super exciting and a little sad at the same time...but mostly exciting. We went to the doc last Friday for his check up and he checked out great! He showed off his talking skills for the doc, did good tummy time and only cried a wee bit with his shots. We are also now cleared for solids - though I think we might wait until closer to the end of the month to give them a try. He still feels too little for that to me! Here are some stats and fun facts for Mr. Jack:

- he now weighs 14lbs 11oz (50% adjusted), 24 inches long (20% adjusted) and a 40cm dome (40% adjusted).
- he is still pulling off 3-6 month clothes but is starting to wear more 6 month clothes. Actually, for being a shorty, 6 month clothes seem fine in length but he's got some room to grow out in them.
- I think he's finally gotten over his aversion to tummy time. He'll still squirm every now and then, but most of the time he pops right up and is starting to reach for things and can chill that way for a while.
- he is pretty consistently rolling from tummy to back. Still working on back to tummy but he'll get it.
- he is starting to sit unassisted and is doing really well at it! He has to lean forward quite a bit but he has held his balance for some good 10 second stints and is getting better every day. My new favorite game with him is to pull him up to sitting on our bed and let him crash down. It's hilarious - he has no change of expression/emotion when he tumbles backwards or even face plants. On the same token, several times when he's been propped up on the couch playing with a toy, he'll slowly tumble sideways and is perfectly content to continue to play in his new position.
- he talks, squeals, and screams ALL THE TIME. It gets worse at night when he gets tired - he gets super batty and needs to let us know he is ready for bed.
- he is starting to hold his own bottles a little bit
- he still loves talking to his hanging friends on his activity mat each morning, is starting to outgrow the bouncy and is still napping in his swing. That's the goal for next month - to get him out of the swing and into his crib for naps. But...
- speaking of naps, he is all over the place. On a good day, he'll sleep 90mins - 2 hours in the am, 45mins mid morning and then another 90min - 20 hours in the pm. But on a bad day (and usually the days I work from home like today) he'll take 3- 30min naps.
-He had his first sleepover at a friend's house (Jonah's) and his first weekend away from Mommy. He did great with both and I like to think that he missed me while I was gone. I say that he did - when I got him he was super smiley and cried when I tried to put him down for a nap so we snuggled more :) Kudos to Daddy for a job well done.
- he's still sleeping great at night - down by 8ish and up for breakfast at 7am. Lately he's been up around 5:45 or 6 but if we bring him into bed he'll sleep another hour. don't judge.
- no toothums yet - the doc confirmed he didn't see anything at our appointment, but the kid is a good drooler and is always eating his hands.
He pretty much hates being outside. He gasps for breath in the wind and can't bear to open his eyes in the sunlight. Could make for a pretty interesting summer.
Think that's it for now. Love you, Jackaroo!



very pensive this month during his photo shoot



our attempt at a bare skin rug pic

practicing his prayers for his baptism



cool new sunhat



rough life



getting the hang of sitting!

Mother's Day

A little late, but just thought I needed to comment a bit on my first Mother's Day. I had requested french toast for breakfast (in bed), a nice long nap and a visit to the Chicago Botanical Gardens for a good walk. Life happened, so plans changed a little bit, but it was still a wonderful day spent with my 2 favorite boys and my favorite in laws :) Jack gave me a very nice card, and Andrew was sweet to make me his first batch of (yummy) french toast for breakfast in bed. Jack was a doll in the morning (the afternoon was a different story) full of smiles and squeals and we spent plenty of quality time together throughout the day.

It's still pretty dang surreal that I have a baby and am a Momma and I wonder when that will set in once and for all. I do know that I am incredibly proud to be Jack's Mom and I'm not quite sure how I got so lucky to have such an amazingly sweet, adorable and perfect little boy. Can't wait to spend many more happy Mother's Days with you, Jack Harold!

A few pics of me and my Munch in honor of Mother's Day

Bye Bye Straight Jacket

We have been swaddle free since Friday! I'd say 4 nights (currently successful in night 5) is a good sign that we are just about home free. I had already been dreading our next doc appointment b/c at 4 months the ped said we had 1 more month to swaddle, and I was sure we were really in for it when that time came. However, it turned out to be super easy and drama free. Friday night Jack was having trouble settling down in his crib. He had been changed, fed, rocked, fed some more and was still unhappy, so I decided to pull 1 arm out of the swaddle. That prompted him to start squirming to get the second arm free so I took the other arm out and wrapped him up around his waist. He gave me a little smile like "thanks Mom, that's what I wanted" and turned his head and closed his eyes for bed. Easy enough! Thanks for ALL of your help, dear swaddle. You were our savior and I can't thank you enough :)

A Special Day

On Sunday, May 6th Andrew's family hosted a shower for Baby Jack. The shower was perfect and we once again received so many wonderful gifts including new books, clothes, toys and our convertible car seat. Jack was a trooper for the long car rides and handled being passed around a bit very well too. It was so nice for Jack to meet so many members of the family, and it was incredibly special for Jack to meet his Great Grandma Susie. Words can't really express how thankful we are that they were able to meet and that Jack provide her with so much joy during her final days. She said having Jack on her lap was "just like Christmas." We know that while their time together on this Earth was very short, Grandma Susie will continue to watch Jack grow from heaven and will be a very loving guardian angel for her "Jack Leonard." :)

4 Months!

Nugget Boy turned 4 months old on Wednesday - 1/3 of a year old! I highlighted his 4 month stats in an earlier post, so here are his other fun facts for the month:

- he is still in 3-6 month clothes and just graduated to size 2 diapers yesterday.
- for the past month he has been sleeping all night long! Some nights, we're in to change a diaper or put the pacifier in to settle him back down, but he's getting a lot better at not needing us at all, which is amazing. Keep that up Jack! We're still swaddling him, however 2 nights in a row this week he did bust his arms out. He stayed asleep during all this, so that's encouraging for when we attempt to de-swaddle
- Naps have become a bit of a struggle. He goes down for a nice long 2 hour morning nap like a champ, but after that it's anybody's guess if he'll nap again (and when).
-he's discovered his hands and feet and loves looking at them. Feet especially.
- Speaking of hands, he's constantly eating them and is starting to become a little bit of drool machine. He loves blowing spit bubbles. Any new toy he picks up immediately goes towards his mouth first.
- He really is a happy, sweet boy 99% of the time. Every morning we get a huge smile before getting him out of the crib and he is always very talkative and full of energy. Only time he really gets crabby is if his meal is not presented to him fast enough or he is very tired.
- He takes 5oz bottles from Grandma Paulette during the day when Mommy is at work 3 days a week. They seem to be getting along pretty good and we are very thankful Grandma is willing to make the drive every day!
- As previously mentioned, he rolled over this week. However that has yet to happen again but we are still working on it.
- This week we tried him in the bumbo chair and he did great. I think he enjoys sitting up like a big boy as it gives him a change of scenery.
- he started playing with new toys this month, namely his light up turtle, key rings, and drums. At Grandma Paulette's last weekend she put him in their piano entertainer and he did ok. I think in a couple more weeks we can bust that one out at home.
Here are some pics from the past month of our handsome little man

He Rolled!

YAY! The little nugget rolled over for the first time tonight! He has been very close a few times before, teetering on the edge, and tonight he was able to give himself the extra little push to roll on over to his back. He wasn't quite sure what to think at first, but I was all up in his face clapping and cheering he quickly smiled at his accomplishment. We gave him a little break and tried again, hoping to capture a roll on video...but no such luck. He got super close, this time going to his left side, but he was pretty tired and had reached his breaking point for the day. Very proud of my baby -can't wait to have him practice again!