9 Month Pictures

We got Jack's 9 month pictures taken Saturday at Portrait Innovations. It was quite a different experience from his 3 month and 6 month pictures, when he was happy as can be. His separation anxiety was in full force Saturday, and he cried if I put him down or stepped away even one or two steps. I was impressed that despite the challenge, the photographer got some decent pictures.



You can see in this one the he's sitting on my legs (under the white blanket) because at the beginning that was the only way we could get pictures without me in them!

Laura & Paul's Wedding

As I mentioned in the last post, Jason and I were in Los Gatos, CA last weekend for the wedding of my oldest friend in the world, Laura Brasier. The wedding was at a place called Nestldown, and it could only be described as "enchanting" or "magical." It was beautiful! Everything was outside, except the late night dancing and it was among a forest of giant redwoods and beautiful flowers and greenery. I can't say enough about it, so let me show you some pictures:


Of course, Laura was a beautiful bride, and everyone had a blast!!



My family and I got there on Thursday (except Jason who didn't come until Friday night). Thursday afternoon we went to Santa Cruz for lunch. Friday we spent the day in Carmel doing the "17-mile drive," which winds around the beaches and Pebble Beach and its two sister golf courses. It was very scenic!
The Lone Cypress (inspiration for the Pebble Beach logo):
Pebble Beach:
Pebble Beach:
The Lodge at Pebble Beach:
Sunday, we checked out the Winchester House. Basically, it's this huge old mansion where Sarah Winchester (of the Winchester Firearms family) lived. She was told by a psychic that to keep away the spirits of the people killed by her company's firearms, she should always have construction going on at her house. So for 38 years, she had some sort of construction being done, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The result is this crazy big house with all kinds of quirks (stairways that lead to nothing, doorways that open into a wall or to a drop-off, etc.). It was pretty cool. We weren't allowed to take pictures there, but the website tells you a little more about it if you're interested.

9 Months Old

Jack is 9 months old today, and we had his check-up this morning. He weighs 24 lbs, 3 oz, is 29.5 inches long and has a head circumference of 18 1/4", all of which are in the 90th percentile. He's finally on the charts! He had to get one shot (Hep B), so that's better than the three he got at the last visit.

We also went to the doctor last Wednesday after three straight nights of not great sleeping. Turns out our poor little man had a double ear infection. Nothing a little Amoxicillin can't cure, but we still hate to see him uncomfortable.

We survived our first weekend away without Jack this weekend. Jason and I were in Los Gatos, CA for my friend Laura's wedding, and Jack stayed with Grandma & Grandpa Clayton. (More on the wedding in the next post - it deserves its own post as soon as my camera battery charges. Don't worry, I won't post all of the 250 pictures that I took!). They said he was a very good boy while we were gone.

He is now officially crawling all over the place and getting into everything. He seems to be magnetically drawn to electronics, dog food and any shoes we leave laying around. He's going to start hearing "no" pretty regularly now. He's pulling up on everything and starting to do a little bit of "cruising" around furniture as his confidence increases.

He is cutting his 3rd tooth (all on the bottom) with a couple on the top coming soon we think.

He is definitely loving his new-found freedom and is exploring all of the rooms of our house. It's fun to watch him see and touch new things.

Drinking a bottle:Checking out the door stop - it makes such a fun noise!
Jack and Maggie:

Crawling!!!

Mr. Jack learned to crawl today! We are so proud of our little guy. Last night, Grandpa Lang was really working with him and he was sooooo close, then today he mastered it! He gets this big happy smile on his face like he's just so proud of himself. So cute.

Crawling, Take 1:

Crawling, Take 2:


We already had one mini-casualty in our not-quite-baby-proofed house - Jack pulled the speaker tower down on himself. It's pretty lightweight, so it didn't hurt him, but it scared him for a second. Daddy came to his rescue in a quick second and stood the speaker back up, after which Jack immediately tried to topple it again. Ah, the fun begins!!

Here's a bonus video of my favorite little laugh:

And a funny one of our little dancin' machine:

First Official Haircut

Jack had his first real haircut this afternoon. We went to this adorable place called The Hairy Elephant, which caters to babies and kids. Jack was a perfect little angel. I sat him in his Jeep and strapped him in and he was all smiles the whole time. She even used the trimmers around his ears and the back of his head and he just giggled. Such a big boy!! He was mostly focused on eating the comb he snagged from the stylist. Luckily she had a spare to use for his hair.

Before:
Snip, snip:
Here come the trimmers!
After:
His certificate of honor, complete with a photo and some snippets of hair:
The finished product:

Pulling Up!

Our big man is officially pulling up!! This morning when I went in to get him, he was sitting up in his crib, which was a first! Then when I went to visit him at school at lunch, his teachers said "has he ever pulled up in his crib?" When I told them no, they showed me the pictures they had taken. Sure enough, the little guy was standing up chewing on the crib rail.

As promised, here is a video of Jack's floppy-armed bye-bye:


And, here's a demo of the current "crawling"

Family Update

It's been awhile since I've talked about the rest of the family, so I thought I'd do a quick update. First and foremost....my sister is getting married!! Kelly & Greg are planning a small wedding in October in Rochester, NY where they live. We couldn't be more excited for them!! The ceremony will be on a boat cruise on the canal that runs through downtown Rochester, and the reception is at one of their favorite restaurants. She is calling it 'the anti-wedding;' no flowers, no photographer, etc. Can't wait!

Darlene finished her last chemo treatment today!! Very exciting! We had a celebration steak dinner tonight. Hopefully she'll be back to feeling normal before we know it.

Jason is doing great, keeping VERY busy with his business. He's starting his second full season with lawn care/landscaping, and April was a great start. If you know anyone in need of lawn care or landscaping services in the St. Louis area (especially St. Charles County), please let us know. His latest excitement was winning a 32" Sharp Aquos LCD Flat Panel TV in a raffle at a golf tournament Monday. Very lucky! We could use a TV in our bedroom, so we're thrilled.

I'm doing well, my job is finally starting to slow down some, which is nice. There were several weeks there where I was really questioning if I had made the right decision in accepting the new role. I started sand volleyball again a few weeks ago after taking last summer off when 2/3 of our team was pregnant. It's just so much more fun playing in the sand than in a gymnasium.

I think those are the most important updates in our family. Back to Jack in the next post.

Bye Bye

I forgot to mention in last night's post Jack's new skill. For a couple weeks now, he's been waving bye-bye, but only after the person leaves the room. It's too funny, we beg him to wave bye-bye, but he just stares, then as soon as the person leaves, he's a waving machine.

BUT this weekend, he mastered his timing and now waves bye-bye on cue. It's a floppy arm wave, and we love it! I'll try to post a video of it soon.

School Pictures

Jack's first school pictures are in - they turned out so cute! It's a little unfortunate because I kind of have to buy them now even though I got pictures done at 6 months and will get more taken at the end of this month. Who can pass up cute pictures of their baby though? AND they're his FIRST school pictures!!Jack's doing great. I think we may be officially finished with our run with nursing. We were down to only morning and night, then this week I switched the night feeding to formula. This morning Jack fought nursing, so I gave him formula instead. We had a good run, and I'm happy with how long we made it (8 1/2 months if you lost track).

We're starting to try out some finger foods. So far, Jack has tried whole grain bread and Swiss cheese, and he loved them both. He's so funny because EVERY item he has ever come across has gone straight to his mouth, but when I put food, puffs, yogurt melts, etc. in front of him, he picks them up and throws them straight onto the floor. Thank goodness for our doggie/vacuum cleaner. Today we tried a biter biscuit, which is much bigger than the pieces I've been giving him and he chowed down. Of course, he made a huge mess because the biscuits are made to get mushy when wet.

Jack had his first bath in the real tub this week (until now we've been using the blow up ducky in the big tub), and he loves it. He spins himself around so he can bang on the wall, then scoots over to grab a toy, then leans forward to touch the running water. He loves it. I truly think he would spend hours in the tub if I let him.

We celebrated the first of many 1st birthday parties this weekend - Addison Asher turned one! We had a fun time at the party - it's so fun having all the babies together. Addi got lots of goodies and did a great job making a mess of her smash cake. So fun! Nathan is the next one to turn one!

Jack is now rocking back and forth, but not making any forward movement yet. Boy does he LOVE to stand though!! He thinks he's such a hot shot when he's standing. It's too cute. And he is quite the dancer! ALWAYS dancing! Love it!