Christmas Joy

Christmas has always been a big deal in my family.  Sure there was excitement over the gifts and unhealthy food that was approved for a few days, but we always looked forward to our family traditions and time together.  I hope we can create the same memories for Jack that are so fondly engraved in my mind and heart, courtesy of my parents/family. 

Jack had several days of excitement seeing his family from both sides.  It included his cousin Lucy helping him with his bath, sweet kisses from his cousin Sophie, lots of hand holding with Lukey, there was no shortage of love & affection for our sweet boy.  He was doing a bit of teething on Christmas Eve, but aside from that he did pretty well with unwrapping & checking out his new toys.  He happily banged on his drum, read   chewed his books, peeked in his stocking, clicked his remote, etc.  Here are a handful of photos from the past few days of celebrating what is sure to be our purest Christmas joy... 

Now we will enjoy some time relaxing at home and recharging for the start of what is sure to be a great New Year :)

8 Months Old

Just over 8 months ago we were feeling as prepared as we could for the arrival of our baby boy.  What we weren't entirely prepared for is the overwhelming need to protect that new arrival.  There have been so many unfortunate events in the news lately, first the accident involving 4 local high school students and less than 2 weeks later, the unbelievably tragic shooting in Newtown, CT.  Both of these events hit so much harder after having a baby of our own.  I had to stop watching the news in the morning while getting ready for work because I was spending more time fixing my makeup from crying than it took to put it on in the first place.  President Obama said it perfectly in his speech in Newtown "With their very first cry, this most precious, vital part of ourselves, our child, is suddenly exposed to the world, to possible mishap or malice, and every parent knows there’s nothing we will not do to shield our children from harm."  That couldn't be further from the truth, I know both Brian & I will do everything in our power to keep Jack safe and we pray to God that he stays safe forever.

How can you not want to protect this face from ever knowing any type of evil:

I went out to run some errands last night and when I got home Brian said "I think Jack has reached another milestone..."  I said, "Oh yeah?!  What's that?"  He said "He doesn't seem to need/want us to rock him to sleep anymore".  My response was (eyes full of tears immediately) "but I love to rock him to sleep...."  It seems for naps he's still OK with it, but Brian's right - at night, he likes to put himself to sleep lately, I've just been in denial about the Jumparoo/kicking/dancing routine that Jack is doing on my lap while I'm blissfully rocking away at night...

Jack has been a busy guy in the past month: 

He weighs ~18.5lbs and measures ~28.5"
He is super excited to meet his newest cousin, Brody!!
He now has 4 teeth (bottom and top central incisors) with what appear to be a couple more on their way anyday now...
He likes to hold his own bottles thank you very much.
He had pink eye in both eyes shortly after having bronchiolitis and has a pretty constant runny nose (thank you daycare & teeth!)
He flips himself over immediately when you put him in his crib so he can be on his belly to sleep.  He's more willing to spend time on his belly when playing than he used to be, but still not overly thrilled with the idea. 
He goes through phases with eating solids...some nights he is all about it, mouth wide open, ready for that food, other nights he outright refuses - I'm thinking it has something to do with teething or he's just showing me who's boss.
He isn't finishing every bottle at home, we've recently decided to try to phase out his 6pm-ish bottle & replace with solids, moving his bedtime routine up a little earlier than before.
He still sleeps through the night solidly, 8pm-6:30am (except on the weekends when he likes to get up around 5:30am so we can spend the WHOLE day together ;))
He likes to bounce himself off of whatever is behind him, couch, person, exersaucer seat, highchair, etc.  He really gets going on the couch these days! 
He loves his "Little Blue Truck Goes to the City!" book, we read it A LOT.  :)  He isn't such a fan of the books that don't have bright colors/pictures on every page.
He made his first school Christmas ornament for our tree:

He is one. happy. baby. that makes us smile all of the time.

Our little boy is growing and changing all of the time, we are both very much looking forward to having 11 days at home with him starting this weekend :)  Time flies when you're having fun...

Teeth are for...?

Jack's 4th tooth is SO close, we're just waiting for it to pop through.  You can see the whites of it and feel how swollen it is, poor guy!  Now if only he could figure out what to do with the teeth he already has...  He is making some progress with solids, though it is slow and minimal.  Whenever he gets something in his mouth that has a consistency any thicker than a fine puree, he chokes on it.  And it's not a choke where he doesn't like the taste in his mouth, it's a full-on-gag that happens as soon as the food hits his throat, face turns bright red, eyes fill with tears, kind of choke.  And I'm talking about diced steamed veggies, not filet.  Why he doesn't try to chew things with his 3 perfectly good teeth and hard gums, I do not know...  But I get really excited on the nights where he will take more than 1 bite of anything other than bananas :)  Small victories! 

He is loving the Chrismtas decorations in the house.  He likes to touch the branches and he loves anything that has a bell hanging from it.  He will shake shake shake shake shake, over and over so he can hear the bell - with a big grin on his face the entire time.  He also has been enjoying watching/listening to us when we blow our nose.  Honestly, I had Brian stand behind me and blow his nose while I was trying to get a photo of Jack in front of the Christmas tree.  It works every time.  He likes Brian's nose-blowing technique a little bit more than mine, I haven't figured out what it is yet but we've started to make sure we go in front of Jack when we do have to blow our nose so we get to see that precious grin :)  Oooh the things you will do to see the smile on the face that you created...

Jack is Back!

The last week has been a little out of the norm for Jack.  I had taken last Wednesday off to spend the day with my pal, hoping to play, snuggle & have some fun.  Jack’s lungs had different plans for us though…  It’s a tough thing to see your typically happy/easy-going/fun-loving baby become an uncomfortable, snot-dripping, mucus-filled coughing mess.  He didn’t want to be laid down for naps, or really at all for the first few days.  I didn’t mind giving him extra snuggles and holding him to nap for the most part, but after a few days, admittedly my patience had started to wear thin.  (Patience has never been my strong suit – one of the many reasons I would make a terrible teacher.)  Luckily I’m not a single parent and it was 5 day stretch that both Brian & I were home for with lots of family around to help.  PopPop missed Thanksgiving dinner because he was holding Jack while he finally napped amidst all of the noise & craziness that Thanksgiving brings in our family.  Grammy entertained him & brought out multiple smiles/giggles when Mom/Dad just couldn't seem to get them from him...  PopPop held him again on Friday afternoon for a couple of hours while he napped (PopPop is a good napper). Nana took a turn and held him on Sunday afternoon while he napped, which allowed Brian & I to finish decorating the house, fold laundry, cook dinner, etc.  Thank goodness for family! 

There was only 1 night that Jack didn’t sleep through the night in his crib and even in between the coughs & nose wipes, he was still squeezing in multiple smiles/giggles. 

Everything is relative to what you know and experience.  Last week wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t too fun either.  We know that we have a good baby on our hands and genuinely feel lucky & blessed 99.9% of the time, but we’re all allowed to feel frustration & self-pity sometimes, right?  This morning I had to wake Jack up at 6:40 so we could get him ready for the day and he was such a happy happy boy again, I think Jack may be back and I couldn’t be happier - for everyone’s sake J 

On another note, Jack has been very interested in grasping/reaching/lunging for things that catch his eye (tomato soup anyone?). 

He seems to get frustrated pretty quickly if he sees something, but cannot reach it or touch it.  He still despises being on his belly for any amount of time greater than about 5 seconds, which makes it difficult to teach him how to move in order to get himself to touch those things that catch his eye.  As of this morning, he has officially been moved to the Infant 2 room at school.  This means he’ll now be surrounded by crawlers/movers which may be the motivation he needs to figure out this whole crawling/scooting thing.  It’s convenient to be able to plop him down with toys in front of him and know that he will still be in that same spot when you turn back around…so we’re not overly anxious for him to move.  But if his frustration/temper (don’t know WHERE he gets the temper from) also makes us eager for him to be able to control his ability to get to those things that catch his eye…  Life is about to get interesting in our house J

Thankful

Thanksgiving at my Mom's house is the opposite of quiet...and as our immediate family keeps growing, the noise seems to multiply...  A few years ago, my cousin Jacki started a tradition where everyone writes down what they're thankful for and then we take a minute after dinner to sit together and read them, even the little ones write their own!  I quickly snapped this photo tonight during "thankfuls" (doesn't show our whole crew) and was amused at just how much is going on here.  It was a great day (as always) spent catching up with family and stuffing ourselves with delicious food...

 

Snuggles with family earlier today: 

 

Brian & I have so much to be thankful for this year, but of course we have 1 in particular...our easy going happy boy Jack Maurice.  Jack is currently experiencing his first sickness (bronchiolitis) and it has been heartwrenching to watch.  Here's a photo when he fell asleep today during his nebulizer treatment, poor guy :(  Even through all of the coughs & wheezes, he's still smiling...we can't wait until he feels better.

7 Months!

Our little buddy just keeps on changing & growing!

At 7 months old he:
Weighs 16lbs 14oz
Loves when people make eye contact with him so he can give a big grin and show off his dimple.
Sits independently & fearlessly reaches for objects that look like they may be within arm's reach...
Dislikes his belly just as much as he seemed to the first time we put him on his belly
Still loves hanging out in his bouncy seat that we're pretty sure he is far beyond the weight limit for, but it makes him happy :)
Will entertain himself in his exersaucer for quite a while
Enjoys hanging out in his playroom, playing with musical toys, blocks, rings, etc
Sleeps solidly from ~8pm - ~6am
Naps multiple times a day without predictability on timing
Loves sucking on his fingers (still)
Has tried rice cereal, oatmeal, apples, bananas, peaches, pears, green beans, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, mashed potatoes, avocado, puffs, Mum Mums - the only thing on that list that seems to interest him is bananas, guess he gets that from Mommy :)

Jack's personality seems to shine through more and more as the weeks go by... The fierceness/depth of love is not something that we were entirely prepared for, no matter how many people told us about it.  It just seems to grow deeper as the days go on - my goodness, we love this little boy. 



Food & Hockey...Is this my future?

We're making progress with solids at a slow pace and going through our paper towel supply rapidly.  Jack has now tried apples, avocado, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, rice cereal & oatmeal.  His facial expressions are pretty amusing.  He could be happily eating away one minute and then make a disgusted face the next, with no change in the food in his bowl...  Some days he likes Mum Mums, some days he doesn't.  He is in charge.

 

 

He is also doing much better with sitting.  It seems like early last week he decided he was going to make full use of his abs and give himself some stability while sitting.  He can sit on his own for quite a while, happily playing with toys.  This past weekend, I was outside using the leaf blower and Brian was inside with Jack, having a little photo shoot (role reversal?!).  Although Mommy is not a fan of this sport, the photos sure are cute...I suppose we'll just see what Jack is interested in playing...

 



 

Trick or Treat!

Apparently I didn't realize what a big deal Halloween is for tiny babies...Jack's school had sent a letter home a week or so ago letting us know there would be a parade at 3pm and we should send costumes in for the kids to get dressed in right before the parade, parents were invited, etc.  I figured if I could escape work, I would, if not - no big deal, he's 6 months old.  Well, I didn't get to leave work in time for the parade and I showed up at school to find out that Jack was one of 3 babies left in the building!!!!  All of the rooms were dark, parents were streaming out of the parking lot and my poor little buddy looked so lonely in the exersaucer when I got in his room.  We were making a trip to Grammy & PopPop's after school so we could see our cousins in their costumes and go on their first trick or treating with them - Jack fell asleep in the car on the way over.  Needless to say, he never left the car.  Luckily I took a couple of photos of him on Tuesday night when we tried his costume on him to make sure it fit.  Daddy's idea to try on the costume - and thank goodness, at least we have 1 photo of his first Halloween!  Though I'm sure the scars won't run too deeply from him having missed out on it :P

Interesting tidbit...Jack's costume is on it's 3rd round...I had bought the costume for Tyler when he was a baby since Kristen loves monkeys...who knew it would come full circle 2 years later?!

Solids Shmolids.

I'm happy to report that Jack has finally shown a little bit of interest in solids...  I had attempted giving him rice cereal a few weeks ago, but he showed no interest.  I tried again on his 6 month birthday and he just showed total disgust.  I then tried baby oatmeal, where he proceeded to roll it around on his tongue and spit it out.  No matter who you ask, everyone (doctors included!!) seems to have a different opinion on what type of food is best to start with, what age, what quantity, what time of day, etc.  I've been trying to just follow J's lead but at the same time, wanting him to like food so we can get going on the process already!  The general rule is that you introduce 1 food for 3 days before trying a new one...this could take a LONG time.  I haven't felt "stressed out" about it but I have admittedly been anxious about it.  This is another one of the things I wanted to document so several months from now when J is eating everything under the sun I can remember that we had a rocky start with this too.  When more of my friends are going through this with their first babies, I can look back and say - oh yeah we had a tough time in the beginning with that too!  But, sust like anything else in life, things only seem important when you're going through them yourself ;)  Once you're through it and moved on from it, it seems trivial! 

On Friday I went to target and bought baby food, all different kinds.  Baby food is so cheap, who knew?!  When I got home from picking J up from school, we sat in the kitchen and I took out the baby apples and we got down to business.  He seemed much more interested in the apples than he was in either the cereal or oatmeal.  He made a handful of funny faces and noises while smacking/sucking his lips and I was very entertained.  He had apples Friday, Saturday & Sunday and it seems like we may be making progress.  I tried mixing in oatmeal with the apples last night and I think he outsmarted me by sucking in the apples and spitting out the oats...  Tonight we're going to try sweet potatoes, but we'll keep on trying until he gets the hang of it - just like everything else that you do for the first time with a baby :)  He also seemed to really get the hang of the "Mum Mums" last night and made a pretty decent mess of himself, but at least he wasn't just banging it on the tray of his high chair over and over and over like he did on Friday... this kid cracks me up! 

6 Month Checkup - Get Mom a Tissue..

Jack had his 6 Month checkup yesterday and was such a good boy!  He was playing away with his little tootsies while waiting for the doctor to come in and see him, happy as could be looking at the clouds and airplanes in the light!! 

He showed off his new trick of sitting up, he let the doctor check out his great head control and also demonstrated how strong those little  short legs are!  He weighed in at 16lbs 9oz which is the 25th % for his age/gender.  I asked the doctor if I should be worried about that and her response was, and I quote, "Have you seen his thighs lately?"  Let's just say that I'm pretty sure Jack didn't get his thighs from his Dad...sigh.  He measured at 28" long which was 90th % for his age/gender and I'm also pretty sure he didn't get his height from his Mom...  Jack also showed off his two pearly whites and the doctor showed me how close his top FOUR teeth are to coming through, ahhh!!  The doctor said he's as healthy as can be and to keep doing what we're doing. 

Jack had to get a number of immunizations/vaccines yesterday, including 3 separate shots.  Shots are tough, maybe more so on Mom than on Jack.  He was laying there innocently babbling away and all of a sudden he gets stuck with this sharp foreign object, his face turned instantly BRIGHT red and he sucked in a deep breath before letting out a big loud cry, looking at me as if he was saying "whyyyyyy????" (This little boy doesn't let out deep cries very often at all, so when he does it triggers something in me so quickly that I can't stop my tears!!!)  Then they stuck him again in the other leg, TWICE.  Poor guy :(  He pulled it together much more quickly than I did!  By the time we got to check out in the front, he was back to showing off his smiles and raising his eyebrows at the receptionist - clearly he was going to be fine so I also had to pull myself together :) 

Our next appointment isn't until 9 Months - I can't imagine how many new things we'll have experienced by then!!

1/2 Birthday!

Well, we've reached the 1/2 way mark and I have to say, I can't believe how far all 3 of us have come since April 18th.  We're starting to settle in to more of a routine though at the same time, things seem to be changing everyday! 

Jack had a big week last week, his first tooth broke through (bottom left incisor) on Monday while at school - and his second bottom tooth broke through yesterday at school, apparently Monday is the day for new teeth!  Only 18 more to go..

Current happenings:
-  Talks/babbles constantly and makes hilarious facial expressions while doing so
-  2 bottom teeth broken through, the first to break through is starting to come up a little more and you can sort of see it when he smiles, it's TOO cute. 
-  Just started rice cereal on his 6M birthday...seemed to go OK until he threw it all up after getting out of his highchair, twice.  After that, he's completely disinterested and closing his lips very tightly anytime the spoon goes NEAR his mouth.
-  6 feedings a day (~6,9,12,3,6,8)
-  Typically takes a dog nap b/w every feeding, sometimes 20 minutes, sometimes 2 hours - depends on his mood, his naps are still completely sporadic
-  We recently cut out his last dog nap of the evening...it was paining me to let him fall asleep and then consistently have to wake him up only to nurse him and put him to bed.  So now we do all sorts of playing/interacting to keep him awake as long as possible after his 6pm-ish feeding, then he gets a bath and one more feeding before bed.  I will admit I was ultra nervous about doing ANYthing to mess with his routine, but thankfully he continued to sleep through the night just fine =)
-  Typically sleeps 8pm - 6:30am
-  Has lost interest in rolling over
-  Sits up relatively well on his own if he is occupied with a toy in front/center of him, though is wobbly still and typically falls to the left, more stable when leaning to the right
-  LOVES to stand up and can hold his weight for an extended period of time while playing on the activity table/center
-  LOVES the exersaucer and the jumparoo, but not so interested in the swing anymore (at home at least, seems to be OK with it in school still)


He still makes us smile non-stop.  Words can't express how enamored we are with this little boy and it seems every day we fall a little bit more in love with him.

Happy Birthday Virginia!!

We ventured out on to the open road again this weekend...this time heading to Connecticut to celebrate a very special first birthday for Virginia.  It was  Jack's first trip to his Mama's birth-state!!  We had such a nice visit with Virginia & her landlords on Saturday morning before her big birthday celebration.  It started with some casual play in their PJs



Later that day they changed in to their party outfits & got ready to celebrate!

 

Happy Happy Birthday to a very special girl - Virginia!!  We look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you in the coming years :)  xo!

 

 

Fun in NJ!

Jack made another trip to New Jersey this past weekend to celebrate his cousin Lucy's 2nd birthday!  We were on the road bright & early after Jack's first feeding of the day.  When I got back in the car from picking up the essentials (Dunkin Donuts) my sensitive sniffer indicated that Jack had finally decided to break his 3 day streak of no bowel movements...  Luckily we were right in front of a park & ride lot just before getting on the Northway when my sniffer kicked in.  A quick change in the back seat of the car, strapped our buddy back in and we were off!  Jack slept for about an hour, woke up and serenaded us, babbled about the surroundings and then dozed off for about another 45 minutes.  He was a perfect traveler!

We were spending the night at cousin Tyler's - he was very excited when we arrived and Jack was VERY interested in taking in the surroundings of Tyler's house.  He snuggled with Uncle Mike and then we were off to the park where Jack enjoyed his first time in the swing!  We weren't sure if he'd fit in it, but Brian put him and he was happy as could be.  He was smiling away, kicking his legs with delight and turning his head back and forth watching all of the kids run around. 

Tyler wanted to show Jack all of his favorite things in the area, fire trucks, back hoes, ambulances, police cars, etc.  We took a walk to check these out and then Auntie Theresa, Keith & Kyle met us back at the park for a visit.  Jack paid close attention to Kyle & Tyler as they climbed on everything and anything that looked like it was elevated off of the ground, it seemed like he was taking notes...

We went back to Mike & Kristen's for an afternoon snooze...

And then we were off to Lucy's for the big celebration!  A whole new mix of people for Jack to check out! 

 

We had a great weekend visiting with family & friends and were so thankful that our little man cooperated as nicely as he did.  He took naps in all different places (mostly in the arms of people that had been missing him!) and was an easy going, happy guy.  He had enough of his carseat about 20 minutes from home but overall he was quite a trooper...we love that little boy to pieces!

Case of the Mondays

When I was on maternity leave, Brian always used to tell me that Mondays stink.  Most people that work a typical 5 day work week can relate to this.  Now that I'm back at work, I have an even better understanding of just what he means.  I get especially excited to pick Jack up on Friday afternoons.  We chat in the car on the ride home about what we're going to do over the weekend.  He usually says "baaabbaaaba adaaaaa yaaaaaaa ooooh aaaaah".  Saturdays begin when Jack tells us it's time to wake up, he's in charge you know.  We have so much fun with him these days.  We've been assembling all sorts of baby equipment lately, exersaucers, jumparoos (yes there is a difference Theresa), high chairs - Jack loves them all!  It's so fun to watch him explore new sights, sounds, colors, you name it!  I usually watch videos of him throughout the day for a break from work, but on Mondays especially.  He melts our hearts, that little boy.  Here are some photos from our adventures of this weekend, we still managed to make the best of a rainy weekend!  We bid Grammy & PopPop farewell as they left for their recharge trip (sans kids & grandkids - I don't get it?), we had a visit with our friends & went to the orchard  with our cousins for cider donuts & a visit with the "DISGUSTING" animals as Sophia called them.  Weekends like this really make us count our blessings :)  

First Night Away

Brian & I had our first overnight away from our little buddy this past weekend.  One of Brian's fraternity brothers from RPI was getting married in Buffalo so off we went!  When we found out about this wedding last year, before Jack was born, we figured we would just bring Jack with us and bring along Nana & Grandpa to babysit and make a long weekend trip out of it...  Then we realized how many logistical challenges come along with a 5 month old nursing baby and attempting to bring that baby on a 4-5 hour drive and stay in a hotel.  Our next idea was to leave Jack with Grammy & PopPop for 2 nights so Brian & I could have a mini getaway.  Then I realized that 2 nights away would be a long time for me to go without seeing my little man :( not to mention that it would have entailed pumping about 13 times over the course of the 2.5 days away.  So it was down to driving to Buffalo Saturday morning and driving home Sunday morning.  :-P  Jack did great for Grammy & PopPop, they said he was absolutely perfect all weekend and they sent regular/frequent text messages with photos & updates throughout the day/night which made me very happy :)  We took Monday off to catch up on the lost time with Jack and it was a great day!  Jack slept in until 6:15 (woohoo!) and then we all snuggled in bed (even Buster!) where Jack proceeded to fall back asleep for his morning nap.  His morning nap usually lasts about 45mins-1hour...but yesterday Jack napped in our bed for 1hr 45mins when I finally got him up so he could eat again!!  Apparently he likes our bed?!  We had since gotten up and gone downstairs to start our day...neither of us is accustomed to actually staying in bed past 6am these days, nevermind laying in bed until 9am!! 

To say we enjoyed our day off with our little man is an understatement...

5 Months Old!

Overall "stats" for our handsome man seemed to have stayed pretty much the same since Jack's 4 month checkup...I got on the scale with him this morning and that showed him at ~15.5lbs and measuring his length, he seemed to be the same at 26.5".  He's getting better at smiling for the camera, meaning he doesn't just have a blank stare as soon as the black object is in front of his face :) 


Current happenings:
Jack is still eating 6 times a day, the exact timing depends on when he wakes up & his naps.  He still sleeps from about 9pm - 6:30am (except on the weekends where he consistently wakes up at 5:15am)
He will still allow us to go out to restaurants where he cooperates nicely & looks around at all of the new surroundings & action.  We'll always put him in cute outfits before our family date nights but more often than not, he doesn't leave his seat!  (Luckily for now :))
He rolled over this past weekend from belly to back:

 He also enjoyed his exersaucer for the first time this past weekend:

We consider ourselves pretty lucky with this little guy...he is still sleeping through the night, hasn't yet had his first fever and is overall a very happy & easy going baby. We love hearing that precious giggle and will do pretty much anything it takes to provoke it...including silly dance moves (Mommy only for this one), songs, funny faces, noises. The cliche saying of "time flies" has never felt more real until watching your first born grow. He hasn't become mobile to the point where snuggling is a thing of the past YET. I love holding him at the end of every day, feeling his perfect little breath on my neck and his little chubby hands on my shoulders. Our worlds totally revolve around this little guy in every way, logistically but certainly emotionally & spiritually as well. We are smitten.

First Call From School...



Well, we had Jack's first call from school today - I saw the number on my phone and my heartrate sped up a bit... Miss Nora wanted to let us know that Jack had a little bit of a rash on his belly and arms. She told me not to worry, he was still smiling away, eating and acting like himself. I had changed him just before bringing him in at 7:30am and she called me at 9:30am, so that rash worked quickly! I called the doctor who suggested I bring him in just to be sure. Jack was smiling away in the waiting room...

When we went in to the exam room and got him undressed he started to get a little more concerned about where he was & why!  (Plus it was nap time and he was over tired.)  The nurse weighed him in at 15lbs 7oz (an increase of 7oz from just about 2 weeks ago!)  His temperature was normal, no fever and everything else seemed fine, so we waited for the doctor...

His rash didn't have any raised bumps, but looked worrisome enough... the doctor tried looking in his mouth various times but Jack was having none of that.  He was a happy easy going boy until she put that tongue depressor in his mouth, then he became all business with a super serious face telling her - no way are you shining that light in my mouth.  Eventually the doctor and I were able to hold his arms aside, pry open his mouth and revealed that his throat was a little red.  She said it was likely a viral infection/rash and nothing we could do but let it work its way out of his body.    He was cleared to go back to school and Mommy was cleared to go back to work and not worry too much (though we always worry).  I called school to check on him a few hours later and they said he was doing great, napped, ate, played - his usual day.  He was happy as could be when I picked him up and the rash seems to have disappeared on most places.  Hopefully we don't get another call from school for a long time :)  Neither Daddy nor I like hearing that something out of the norm is going on with our little man...

A Ladies' Man

We've begun to realize that Jack has a thing for pretty blonde women.   There is one teacher at daycare that he seems to pay particular attention to...her name is Annalise.  Whenever she is in the room, Jack STARES at her with a big grin on his face and when she makes eye contact with him, I swear he raises his eyebrows to her.  I told her that Jack might think she is his girlfriend, Jack then celebrated a small victory when she replied to my statement with "Awww, well I'd love to be his girlfriend!"  During his most recent doctor's appointment he was none too pleased with the nurse that took his measurements and he let her know it.  However, when the blonde doctor walked in the room and poked/prodded him way more than the nurse did, he just batted his eyes, coo'd and smiled at her.  This past weekend we went out to lunch & had an attractive blonde waitress - he immediately made eye contact with her and gave an all-out smile.  It seems that we have a little bit of a Ladies' man on our hands...