8 months

Shakin his little tush up in the air!

We had his friend Claire over and they played in the ice cold sprinkler for over an hour!

This is why you shouldn't feed a tired baby blueberries!  Of course his hand went right up to rub his eyes.

We took this pictures to announce the arrival of his bottom two teeth.

Here's Jack with his Grandpa Schep...in matching outfits!

What does a mom do when fun new shoes arrive in the mail?  

Why strip him down to his green diaper and plug the green pacifier in the mouth, of course! 

They probably won't fit him until later this fall, but we just had to try them on.

(and look at those tired eyes)

Jack has been so much fun this past month and picks up on new tricks each day.

• His first tooth popped up just after the 7 month mark and the second one popped up exactly one week later.  0.4mL of Tylenol and he was a happy man!  Lets hope the rest of his teeth are this easy.  He has drooled like crazy since he was 2 months old and now that his teeth have poked through, he barely drools.  Also, he is less interested in his pacifier now and has started to suck his thumb.  8 months seems a little late to pick up that habit, but I have to admit that it's pretty cute.
• At 7.5 months Jack and I were driving back from a weekend in Chicago and he was starting to get a little mad in the back seat.  All of the sudden I heard "Mmmmmaaa, mum, mmmmaaaa!" over and over.  Talk about a heart breaker when you're driving and can't pull over right away to respond to your son really calling out for you for the first time.  Long story short, we stopped about 5 times during the 3 hour drive.  Since then, there is lots and lots of 'mum' talk from Jack.  I sure love it!
• Jack is really good about going to anyone, but he's starting to have a preference for Andy and I if we're around.  He'll reach and lean for us to hold him.  And if he's tired, he's a mama's boy.  Or it could just be because he's hungry and tired!
• Speaking of food, in addition to nursing, Jack usually eats baby food about twice a day.  We also started giving him puffs about 2 weeks ago and he really likes them.  He's practicing picking them up and putting them in his mouth on his own.  It's a good thing to keep him busy if we're out to eat! 
• Jack waves about 50% of the time.  If I'm saying goodbye to someone he will open and close his little baby fist without being prompted.  If I tell him to wave, he does it 0% of the time.  We're working on it.
• Jack hasn't quite perfected the forward crawl yet, but will scoot forward, roll side to side, or crawl backwards which pretty much gets him anywhere he wants.  
• One afternoon after laying him down for a nap we just heard talking and talking so we went up there and opened the door to see him sitting up for the first time.  It's like he was just waiting for us to come and see his new accomplishment.  We picked him up, told him that we were really proud, and told him to go back to bed!  There was about a week of this and now he's learned how to lay down again. 
• His hair is slowly coming in and at times you can see some red tints in the blonde.  I have an aunt and uncle with red hair so it's definitely a possibility.  Maybe he'll be strawberry blonde:).
• Jack went from loving to sit to only wanting to stand!  If I'm in the kitchen and I try to sit him down on the floor, he straightens his body out like a board until his head is about 2" off the ground and then just lays down and cries.  He likes to stand and hang on to the couches or our legs.  One night in the bath he even took a few steps left and right while hanging on to the edge.  Yesterday I actually found him up on his knees and hanging on to the crib railing.  He's working on those leg muscles! 
• Oh and yesterday while at the pool I dunked him for the first time and he wasn't even really fazed by it.  I just blew in his face (so that he would hold his breath) and dunked him. 

We are taking Jack hiking later this month and can't wait to show him the mountains, enjoy the fresh cool air, and to spend our afternoons swimming.  Get ready for lots of pictures!  I better find my camera before then!

7 Months

We are having a fun summer with Jack!  Here he is enjoying his first taste of Iowa sweet corn. 

It's good to be an Iowa baby!

He thinks he should be able to eat anything now.  Like blonde brownies.  Maybe next summer, Jack!

(with Grandma Carol)

This was his first time at the pool.  He was a little overwhelmed at first with all of the splashing kids, but as long as he had this stingray in his mouth, he was happy.

Playing with his cousins, Esme & Annalise.  They are so sweet to him.  One night when they were playing with him and he was getting crabby they looked at us adults and told us that he needed some big arms to hold him.  Cute!

Esme took these shots of Jack sleeping in the pool. 

And don't worry, I highlighted my hair shortly after this:).

A little Rummelhart family picnic one nice Monday night out at Lake MacBride.

Four generations!

Smooch, smooch!

Updates:

• Jack can scoot around a bit, mostly going backwards.  He can easily get across a room in a few minutes.
• He LOVES sitting.  He will sit forever and just play with whatever I give him.  I know this won't last long!
• The other day in the kitchen Jack looked up at me and said "MumMum".  Who knows if he was really saying Mama, but I got so excited and got down on the ground with him and his face looked so proud.  I had also thought I heard him say "hi" once or twice but thought I was being a crazy mom.  When Grandma Carol was watching him last week so told me that she swore she heard him say "hi" numerous time.  I think he can make it official and start bragging that he's a talker!
• Jack really likes walks in his stroller and always has his little toes resting up on the car seat attachment bar.  People eating outside of the restaurants downtown always comment on the little tootsies as we walk by.
• Jack has had some sleep regression and has been getting up to eat once each night for the last month.  I think some of our traveling and shifting of sleep schedules may be to blame.  Or maybe he just misses his mama and wants a 10 minute feeding/cuddle session before getting a few more hours of sleep!  It's been fun Jack, but I'm okay with you sleeping 12 hours straight again if you're up for it.
• Speaking of eating, I can only nurse Jack up in his rocking chair in his room.  Otherwise he gets so distracted by Andy's voice or looking around for Andy if we're in our bedroom, etc.  This boy really loves his Dada!

 

Boji Babies!

We were lucky to be able to spend 6 days up in Okoboji over the 4th.  This meant lots and lots of cousin time from Jack and Nico.  Here they are in my Nana & Grandpa's backyard one morning.

(This is a classic Nico face right before he darts off somewhere!)

Such a sweet boy!

Jack standing with a little assistance at 6 1/2 months old!

And an expert sitter!

I wish this picture wasn't fuzzy.  Nico is the most edible toddler I know!

Jack getting a good belly laugh from his Auntie.

We also took the boys out on the boat and we did a little tubing.  Jack laid like this the whole time.  I guess the rocking really relaxed him!

            We should have took a family picture before I did some extreme tubing and getting major boat hair!

Another after bedtime snapshot:)

That didn't stop Nico though!  He knows how to live it up in Okoboji!

Jack Jack with his Uncle Tyler

And a great shot of Jack and my dad the day before the 4th.  It was so nice to share Jack with all of his extended family!

(Desiree has a lot more pictures which she'll post soon.)

Nom Nom

When Jack first started eating cereal, he wasn't that in to it.  I would try feeding him a few bites every few days.  After about 2 weeks, he got the hang of it.  I guess he wanted more exciting stuff than rice cereal!  Here he is in his high chair from his Great Grandma Freida.  It's an old, beautiful high chair and our little guy looks so cute in it.  Theres so much baby stuff out there that it's kind of nice to see that something they used 100 years ago still gets the job done today! 

We should have known better.  We gave Jack a few sips from our cups and now he wants a sip everytime!  At least he's learning to drink from a straw and cup nice and early.  He can even drink from my camelback water bottle where you have to bite down and suck at the same time on the straw to get anything out.  Impressive!

And he does get a little water in a sippy cup sometimes too.  There is no valve so it does get a little wet!

These are the foods that Jack has tried in the past three weeks:

Rice cereal, oatmeal, bananas, canteloup, blueberries, peas, pears, apples, green beans, carrots, vanilla yogurt and tonight his Grandma Carol gave him a lick of a popsicle!  Now he's getting really into tasting everything.  Andy and I both aren't picky eaters at all so I always said that I hope our children aren't picky or I'll have no sympathy for them! 

Master Bedroom Revamp

This past weekend we went to a neighbors estate sale as he will be moving to China on Wednesday.  He had lots of neat stuff, most which was already reserved.  We did find a great bed frame which we decided to grab.  This motivated a little master bedroom revamp. 

This was our old bed (and this is the picture I used to sell it on Craigslist).  It was fine, but I was kind of tired of it.  Plus, it was REALLY high off the ground.  Like Jack should probably wear a helmet when on the bed.  I was also never sure what to put up on the walls so it's been bare like this for the past 3 years.

This is our new bed along with a new mirror that I picked up at another estate sale (that couple was moving to Germany).  You can't tell from the pictures but the bed is massive.  Like 6" think headboard, footboard, and beal-like bed rails.  The wood is a bit distressed, but it has clean lines.  I call it mountain modern. 

I'm thinking about what else I can do.  I may switch out the lamps or spray paint the bases and put new shades on them.  I think I will also sew a long roll pillow in a fun pattern to put in front of the white pillows.  I'd also like to sew some panels for the windows.  Any other suggestions?  It's already an improvement and we're happy with the new look.

And guess what, after selling the old bed on Craigslist, the new bed and the mirror only cost us $40! 

6 months

Yesterday Jack turned 6 months old.  I can't believe we are already half way to his first birthday!  Here are some pictures from the past few weeks. 

Jack and his buddy Sophia.  She is just 4 days older than him.  We joke because we usually meet up and walk with them and they barely see each other for their 'play date'.  We will need to start incorporating some time for them to actually interact now that they are getting older.

For Memorial Day weekend we headed up to Okoboji and Okabena for a quick trip.  Here we are with the Bayerkohler family craddle.  My grandpa was the first to sleep in it and over the years lots and lots of babies have slept in it.  We passed it on to my cousin and his wife for their new little baby.

Apparently he was sad that the crib had to go to the next baby.

Here we are with Desiree, Nico, and Lou at Barefoot in Okoboji.  It was a good kick-off to summer.

I wish I knew what my grandpa was telling Jack...I'm sure it really was funny!

And Jack getting some lovin' from his Nana Scheppmann.

Here we are at the Brown Street neighborhood party.  All of the little girls loved playing with Jack.  And this is what he looks like when we make him stay up past 6pm.  Tired boy. 

Bath time!  I think this was the last time he used the baby tub.

And yesterday to celebrate Jack's 6 month birthday, we introduced him to food for the first time.  We whipped up some rice cereal, sat him down on Andy's lap and put the spoon in his mouth.  He didn't quite get that he was eating. 

He blew some bubbles into the spoon, spit some out, flung some around with his hands, and looked at us like we are usually more fun. Towards the end he would lean into the spoon, but still wouldn't open his mouth that much.  He was unusually tired yesterday so it probably wasn't the best test.  

On the otherhand, I got excited about him eating and whipped up a bunch of carrot, pear, and apple purees.  They are in the freezer, just waiting to be gobbled up!  I spent more time yesterday going through my baby food cook books and brainstorming other things I could make him as he gets a bit older. 

And after a messy feeding comes bath time!  We just lay him in the tub now with an inch or two of water so that he can move around and kick and splash.  He really loves it!  He always tries to roll over onto his stomach so we have to really watch him!)

And when we empty the tub we let him sit up and play with his toys.

And then when the waters gone, we get to wrap him up and snuggle him in his warm towel.  Andy always puts it in the dryer. 

And here's a picture of Jack just lounging around after church today.  He just cracks me up with his little smirks.

Other updates:

• 
  
  Jack can sit up forever now.  This is a skill he has more than mastered.
• 
  
  When you lay him down he rolls over onto his tummy in about 1.5 seconds.  He straightens his arms and looks around like he's so proud of himself.  He's still not great and rolling back so after awhile he gets a little frustrated.  Just today he was starting to get it down a little more.  Because of all of this tummy time, he has learned how to scoot forward just a little bit and turn in circles.  Andy and I never know what position we'll find him in when he peek at the video monitor!
• 
  
  When I'm feeding him before bed he will rub my arm or face so gentle with the palm of his hand.  Then he likes to naw on my chin for a few seconds which gets a bit slobbery!  Also, after I burp him he lays his head on my shoulder, and sticks his little diaper butt in the air and just snuggles for a little bit.  Such a sweet boy.    
• 
  
  Because of all of this rolling around, it's taking him longer to settle into bed at night and for naps.  We are taking the strategy of making sure he's safe, but otherwise just letting him be.  He usually ends up falling asleep on his tummy and sleeps well in that position.  It just took him awhile to realize that he could just lay his head down to sleep after sleeping on his back for the past six month.
• 
  
  Jack is also starting to want specific things.  For instance, he will see a can on the kitchen table and squeal and reach for it until he gets it.  I'm guessing that this persistence will serve him well when learning to crawl.