A Little Off

Well, Jack is officially 8 months old. Let's see what's new since the last update...

We celebrated Mia's 4th birthday on Saturday. She had a bouncy castle, which all the kiddos loved of course. Jack wasn't sure what to think. At first I don't think he could tell if the squealing kids were happy or sad - he just kind of stared in shock for several minutes. After he took it all in, he and I got in for a couple minutes. Again, he wasn't sure if he liked the bouncing or not.

We have now had our 2nd and 3rd overnights without Jack. The 2nd was unplanned last Thursday when I got stuck at work until 10:50! Grandma Lang picked Jack up from day care and took him home. By the time I finally left work, I decided it was best to just let him stay there to sleep. Then our 3rd overnight was Saturday night while Jason and I went to my friend Melissa's (from work) wedding. We had a fun time at the wedding, and all survived the overnight.

Unfortunately, Jack woke up 4 times while he was at Grandma & Grandpa's Saturday night (sorry Grandma!). Then he continued this new fun trend for the following 3 nights as well. That made for some long, sleepy days at work for Mommy! He also hasn't really been himself the last few days, so Jason took him to the doctor yesterday to get checked out. No ear infection, so that's great. We think he might have a touch of the stomach bug that seems to be going around and/or he's working on some more teeth. He also has the most raw little hiney that I've ever seen. Poor little guy. We've been giving his little tush some air time, which is a little nerve-wracking when he's rolling all around on the carpet. So far, no accidents (knock on wood!).
We had a visit from our new (and much improved) Parents As Teachers rep yesterday. She had a lot of good pointers on helping him crawl, get more stable on his feet, etc. I think she's going to be a great resource for us. We won't see her again until the end of August since they take the summer off, so she gave me a whole list of stuff to watch for with Jack.

Just in the last couple of days, Jack has figured out how to get up on all fours. He's not spending any significant time there, but it's a start! And tonight I noticed he's pushing himself backwards. In fact, he pushed himself several feet and ended up under the bookshelf (all while still 1/2 naked - hope he didn't get rug burn!). Silly little man. He's also trying to pull himself up, but hasn't quite been successful yet. He's getting more and more sturdy on his little feet too! Only a matter of time...

Tooth #2

Jack's second tooth has arrived! His other bottom middle tooth poked through the gums this morning. Big day.

Also contributing to his big day: his first taste of meat! I boiled a couple chicken breasts and semi-pureed them (left it a little lumpy to get him used to more texture). He liked it at first, but after several bites he got kind of tired of it. I think he was getting tired of all the chewing. :)

Jack has perfected his "so big" and does it all the time now, sometimes without being prompted. We're working on a few more tricks and so far have almost mastered the high five. We're still working on clapping and waving "bye bye."

We've been enjoying the nice weather by going to the playground, taking walks and just hanging out outside.

Enjoying the swing:
Mia & Jack:
Going down the slide (Mia had a death grip on him - it was cute):
Brace yourself for the cutest baby legs you ever did see - so excited about shorts weather!!
Little soccer star:So big!
This picture shows off his tooth, and if you look really closely, you can see the new one to the right of the other.

New Trick

Poor little Jack is probably going to get sore arms because Mommy LOVES his new trick!

Happy Easter!

Hopefully everyone had a nice Easter. Jack's first Easter was great - we had perfect weather and spent a lot of quality time with our families. Jack got a lot of goodies from the Easter Bunny, his grandparents, Aunt Kelly and Uncle Greg and even Mommy's cousin! Lucky little guy.

He looked quite dashing in his linen shirt, khaki shorts and no-lace Converse-esque shoes, if I do say so myself.

Getting ready for Easter:
Jack and Grandpa Lang:
Showing off his duds (notice how long the "shorts" are on him - that's what happens when you wear 18 months when you're only 7 months old!):First time feeling grass:
Playing with his new drum (thanks Aunt Kelly & Uncle Greg!):
Playing with his cousins Lily and Mia:
So sweet - Mia and Jack
Mia and Lily:We also visited the Easter Bunny at Bass Pro Shops last week. Jack was all smiles until he looked up and checked the bunny out, then looked back at us and realized he was all alone. We had plenty of time to get a few happy pictures though! My favorite was the little girl in front of us, who was maybe 3 years old. She looked up at the Easter Bunny with this super serious face and said "I would like a horsey and a bouncy ball." What a riot.Patiently waiting in line (and drooling as usual):

Here are a couple videos from Easter.
1. Playing catch with Grandpa

2. Checking out the goodies the Easter Bunny brought for him

Play Date

As promised, here are the pictures and a couple videos of a recent play date with Addison and Jack. Are they not just the cutest little things??Our little dancers:

This video is awesome - the Ashers have discovered that Addi doesn't like to crawl with bare legs on the hard floor. That's not stopping her from getting where she wants to go:

Mr. Roly Poly

Jack is not crawling, nor doing anything resembling crawling, BUT he is quite mobile nonetheless.

It's officially time to baby-proof.

Baby Presson

My friend Rebecca had her baby on Monday, and it's a girl!! Caroline Ann was born at 1:44pm and weighed 9 lbs., 2 oz. I had the pleasure of meeting her on my lunch break today, and she is absolutely precious! I wanted to share some pictures of sweet little Caroline:
Rebecca is doing great, and they will be going home from the hospital tomorrow or Friday. So exciting to have another baby in our lives!

Jack said he's glad it's a girl - he doesn't know how to play with boys since he is surrounded by girls everywhere he goes!

Cuts & Cocktails

Most of you know, but some may not, that Jason's mom Darlene was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer in December. She had a lumpectomy in January followed by some intense radiation 2x/day for a week. She has now completed her second of four chemo sessions and started to lose her hair. Enter her wonderful work friends (she works at a firehouse), who planned an awesome party for Friday night. The theme was "Cuts & Cocktails" and several beauticians donated their services to shave Darlene's hair, along with anyone else who wanted to shave their heads in support. Several firefighters quickly volunteered (I'm guessing maybe 12 of them), along with Mert (my father-in-law), Jason and Todd (my brother-in-law), a few other friends and even some kiddos. Turns out they all look pretty decent bald!

It was a fun night with a great turnout - I think the guest of honor had a good time. The night started for her with the big pink fire truck from Wentzville picking her up at her house as a surprise. So fun!

Everyone wore pink shirts in support. Our family had some very fun ones:
Darlene's: Cancer Sucks
Mert's: Save the Racks (with a picture of deer antlers)
Jason's: F Cancer (of course that's what he picked)
Todd: Support Second Base
Jack: I'm Not a Girl, I Wear Pink for My Grandma
Mine: Fight Like a Girl
Cyndi's: Lots of different words for breasts (i.e. Bazookas, Boulders, Gazongas, Guns, etc...)

Darlene is doing great - she's handling the chemo like a pro and so far has just had a few days of "ickiness" after each treatment. She'll be back to normal in no time!!

Here are a bunch of pics from the party.

Darlene's chariot:
Clayton family w/the pink firetruck:The fun cake:
Party favors:Let the shaving begin:Almost done!
Mert's turn:Jason mid-shaving - nice strip down the middle (and notice the fallen curls on his shoulder):
Todd steps up:Jack getting in on the fun:Family Clayton post-shaving (Annie, Jack, Jason, Darlene, Mert, Cyndi, Todd):The baldies (Todd, Jason, Darlene and Mert):
Our friends who came to support Darlene (Renee, me, Melissa and Shea):Greg, J and Ryan:Cyndi & Me:
My handsome boys:

Haircut! And Other Updates

I finally broke down and cut Jack's hair. A couple months ago, Jason desperately wanted to cut it and I wouldn't give in - who cuts their 5 month old's hair?? Finally, a few weeks ago, I resigned and said I was ready at which point Jason had changed his mind. It's laying down a lot better now, so why bother? But the long pieces on top were REALLY starting to bother me, and now that the rest of his hair is coming in, I decided it's time to shorten the long baby hairs on top. I was fully planning to take him to one of those cutesy barber shops made for kiddos (and still will for his first official haircut), but I couldn't wait any longer. SO, I got out the scissors! I have to say after just a few snips, it is a VAST improvement! I still have some touching up to do, and as I said, he will need a professional haircut one of these days, but for now, I am satisfied.

Before:

After (you probably can't tell a huge difference, but trust me, it looks better!):

Freshly cut 'do:

Let's see, what else is new with Jack. He has tried a few new foods: pears and peaches. We also found the first food he doesn't like - avocado! He was not a fan, and neither were several of my friends' babies. They'll come around when they discover guacamole I'm sure. We tried Puffs for the first time the other day and he made the funniest face - I don't think he knew what to do with it! We'll keep practicing.

Puffs face:

Still no progess in crawling - as I said, he rarely stays on his tummy for long stretches, so I'm pretty sure he'll be a late crawler. I have been holding him by his hands and letting him walk, and boy, does he think he's a hot shot! Just smiles and giggles the whole time. He's of course very wobbly and not close to walking on his own, but it's still fun to practice.

Jack has now gone to three swim lessons and he's loving it. He figured out how to stand in the shallow water (the first day he just kept letting his feet float instead of pushing them down to the bottom - not sure he realized there was a bottom). He likes to splash and is getting good at reaching for a floating toy when he's on a kickboard on his tummy. Mommy is having fun too. I decided last week to try dunking him. The lifeguard told me to blow in his face so he'd hold his breath, then dunk him. So, I did, and he was not a happy camper. He got this horrible frowny face and let out a cry! It only lasted a second, but I still felt bad. Apparently not too bad though, because I tried it again and this time he just had the frown face but no cry. Baby steps!

He also finally had a couple good play dates with his friend Addison. We realized that until now, every time we've gotten them together it's when we're hanging out for the night and the babies get to play for maybe half an hour before they have to go to bed. Last Sunday we watched the afternoon Mizzou basketball game (boo!) with the Ashers, so Jack and Addi got some quality play time in. It was really fun to watch them. My favorite was when Addi tried to pull herself up on Jack not realizing he's not quite as sturdy as the couch or ottoman that she's used to. They both toppled over. I took pictures and videos, which are on the other computer (with Jason at Tablerock Lake), so I will have to post them later.

Handsome guy (with self-inflicted scratches all over his forehead):

Love those cheeks! And you can kind of see his "before" hair here too:

7 Months

Jack is 7 months old today! Hard to believe!

Our latest news is that we're are officially supplementing with formula for one feeding (out of five) per day. I am a little bummed, but I made it past my goal of strictly breastfeeding for 6 months, so I can't complain. Lately I am struggling to pump 3 bottles-worth of milk per day, so starting Sunday, we have replaced his lunchtime bottle with formula. I don't think he's even noticed a difference, which is great. Hopefully I can continue with breast milk for the other 4 feedings/day for a few more months because I am really enjoying my daily cookie from the cafeteria and without the extra calorie burning, I might be forced to cut that out.

I shouldn't even be writing this because I know I will eat my words, but so far the tooth has not clamped down on me yet. Knock on wood!!

That's it - just a quick update.