17 month!

Jack will be 17 months old tomorrow. 

• He is a really good eater and pretty much eats the same meals that we eat.  Andy has been making him smoothies each morning and he really LOVES those.  Lucky boy!
• He loves using a cup and can pick it up, drink, set it down, repeat over and over without spilling.  So far at least!
• He is learning to do summer saults and if I ask him to do one he'll squat down, put his hands on the floor, put his head down, and then either waits for me to help him over or rolls to the side to do it by himself.
• He also recently learned to walk backwards and he thinks it's so funny and laughs out loud each time he does it. 
• He's really great with his fine motor skills.  For the last month he's really been into stacking things.  With small 1" blocks, he can stack them seven cubes high.  And then yesterday I had him eating grapes at the kitchen table and he started poking them with a wooden kabob stick and had the whole stick full of grapes!
• He is starting to talk more and more.  He's also starting to sign two words together, his favorite being 'more please'.  It's too cute and I can't help but say okay each time.  At times he'll randomly say two words together like, Grandma Frieda or red fox, but that's not very consistent yet. 
• He LOVES his gummy vitamins and will change from being whiney and crabby to a sweet smiling little  boy saying "pease" if we ask him if he wants one.  I guess it's our best bribe trick so far.
• Jack loves being outside, walking, strolling, going down the slide head first, collecting rocks to go in his bucket, etc.  It will be a fun summer!
• Jack has his four top teeth, four bottom teeth, and three molars.  I told Andy that I think these teething stages have been the hardest part of parenting so far.  Good thing Jack enjoys a dose of tylenol now and then!
• He is wearing mostly 18 month clothes, although some of his 12 month stuff still fits.  He's kind of a peanut.
• He understand simple directions like "go put your jammies in the hamper" and "please throw that in the garbage".  Unfortunately he likes to throw lots of things in the garbage.  We have to watch that boy! 

 

 

He likes hugs and snuggling, and leans his forehead in if you ask for a kiss.  I always try to get him to give me a smooch on the lips, but it doesn't happen very often.  When he does want a kiss he'll pucker up and go "mmmmmmmmm".  Of course we then attack him with kisses.  He is too sweet!

 

 

Catch up!

Yes, I'm the worst blogger.  Here's a quick little picture catch up.

Jack around 15 months old.

Here we are in Chicago with Desiree, Lou, and Nico for an afternoon of baby shops and dinner.  

 Here's Jack right at 16 months old helping with the grilling. 

 Grandma with her boys at Lincoln Park Zoo last month.  I think this picture perfectly captures their wild boy personalities!  I always call it baby wrangling instead of babysitting!

 Jack and his cute little dimples.

 And here is Jack at his first Easter Egg Hunt.  He was a little slow to catch on, but as soon as he realized there was candy inside of the eggs, he was obsessed!  The boy has a sweet tooth!

 Grandma and Jack Jack on Easter Sunday at church.  He wore white linen shorts, a white dress shirt, and a seersucker blazer.  Oh my, the cuteness!

 With Daddy after church.

 And my main excuse for not updating this blog more often...we finally wrapped things up with the remodel and moved in!  Thanks to our family for coming into town, packing up our entire house, moving everything, unpacking, and even decorating!  It was a 'working' Easter weekend for sure!  I was glad we were able to still go to the Easter egg hunt, and celebrate Easter with church and a nice dinner.  I still can't believe how much we got done that weekend and we are SO thankful for family:)

Here's Jack and Nico enjoying his new bedroom.  He has a nice big room with four windows so the first order of business was to get some window treatments to ensure 5:30am wakeups didn't last long!

 And here's the family room from the weekend we moved in...

We just love it!  All of the hard work over the winter was worth it.  It feels good to spread out a bit, to have a beautiful, wooded back yard, to have a lower level family room for all the toys, to have two guest bedrooms for when we have visitors.  We still have a handful of little projects to finish up, but we're definitely feeling settled.  I'm ready for a fun summer full of swimming and play dates with Jack!

 

Park Rd. house update

I had intentions of posting more regular updates, but didn't quite get it done.  That's what happens when you take on a major house renovation with a 15 month old!  Here is the original post if you need a refresher of what we were working with.

Here is the kitchen from the dining room.  We installed all of the cabinets and crown molding and then the granite was installed last week.  The kitchen was kind of my baby and I'm loving how it turned out. 

I'm totally in love with the squared sink and faucet.

Another angle from the dining room lookin out into the family room.

And from the family room looking towards the kitchen and dining room.

Family room with new gas fireplace insert.  This also doubles as miter saw central!

Our flooring up close.  We have this installed throughout the entire upstairs.  I still haven't seen exactly how it's going to look as it's mostly covered with cardboard to keep it protected.

Upper bathroom tile and floating vanity (it's hard to tell in this picture, but it's about 8" off the ground.  There will be two sinks and a granite countertop added.  (pardon the dust)

There will be a framed out large sliding medicine cabinet above.

Lower level bath (with a nice view of the woods behind the house- just today we saw deer, a red fox with babies, and a badger)

And here is the white subway tile that my mom and I installed this past weekend.  We installed it all of the way up to the ceiling.  We're very happy with how it turned out!  Andy will install a glass door on it this week.  (and white cabinet doors go on the built-ins) 

Lower level tile.

Lower level family room aka sweat shop!  My mom happens to be the best painter ever so inbetween loving on Jack, she offered up lots and lots of hours of priming and painting.  Andy and I are pretty burnt out on painting so we were so appreciative to have her help.  Aren't these doors cool?  They were the original doors.  They weigh about 150 lbs each and have this cool squared off molding.  I can't wait to put them back up!

We still have a nice little list of projects that need to be completed (including a stair and deck railing!), but we're feeling re energized after such a productive weekend (and a little bit sore).

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to my two loves!

Andy is my valentine and Jack in my mini valentine!

Andy got Jack dressed today and put a red shirt on him because he knew that's what I'd want.

He went to New Pioneer and picked out a nice bottle of wine and a piece of turtle cheesecake, just like we used to get when we were dating and also what we served at our wedding.

I decided to do some tiling over at the Park Rd. house this afternoon and when I came home Andy was dressed up, hair spiked, Jack was bathed and in red jammies (and also had his hair done!), and had candles lit.

He also made a wonderful dinner of grilled vegetables (first time using his new grill pan!) and ribeye steaks. 

It was so good!

And here is a picture of the valentines that Jack gave out to his friends.  I got the idea last year from a bog called 24-7-365.  It was kind of hard to get a 14 month old to look and smile at the camera while making a fist.  And yes, that's a pancake in his hand, but it worked!  I just took the picture, added the picture in picnik.com, and then threaded the sucker through his fist.  Cute, huh?

We try to be very lovin gto each other every day in our family, but it is fun to have a day to really focus on each other and show them how special they are to you.

xoxo





Passport, please!

I'm ready to go!

So I thought these were going to be more like the tight, James Bond style trunks, but apparently not on my baby.  They are still pretty cute!



12.5 Months

(I have more pictures I will add soon- the uploader is SLOW)

Jack has mastered going up and down the stairs.

Hanging out in his stroller with his bud Enrique.

Eating German potato salad all by himself.  PS- he loves it!

Waiting for me to get home one day.  I love how excited he gets when he sees his mama!

Jack is a great imitator.  He loves to stir things in my saucepan with my wooden spoon and has started fussing every time I'm cooking because he wants me to pick him up and let him stir whatever I'm making.  If he sees a hair brush, he will automatically start brushing his practically bald head.  He tries to put shoes on his feet.  If he finds a pen or pencil, he'll pretend to draw on paper (or actually draw if the caps off).  Lets hope he sticks to paper and not on furniture or walls!

He just started clapping his hands this past month too.  I know many babies do this much earlier, but he was more of a hands up in the air excited kind of a guy.  Now he's a clapper.  He keeps one hand stationary and moves the other one to clap.  Totally cute.  And because maybe he's a little late for this milestone, I have to brag that he can pick up the computer cord and plug the tiny little end into the lap top all in one swift move.  Very impressive!

Auntie Desiree gave him some new toddler silverware for Christmas and he is getting great at feeding himself with a spoon and fork.  He can pierce food and get it in his mouth and he can get things like yogurt or applesauce with the spoon. 

Jack is obsessed with tooth brushes and has been for a few months.  I carry one with me in my purse and if he gets fussy when we're out, it turns into the golden ticket!  Often times he will have two in his mouth at once.  I think they feel good on his teething gums.  Andy is often times trying to track down his own toothbrush.  It's a good think we're all family and that I keep many extras in the linen closet!

Jack also now has 6 teeth.  Two on top and four on the bottom. 
The morning of Jack's birthday he started taking more than just a step or two.  He'd walk up to 8-9 steps between two people and was really proud of himself.  I thought he'd just take off from there, but he's smart and realizes that crawling is faster.  Also, since we live in a small house he can cruise around from room to room hanging on to furniture so it makes it easy to not have to walk.  I'm sure it won't be long!

He likes to crawl and sit in things.  Like the recycle box by the front door, Andy's new little roasting pan that I gave him for Christmas, the drawer of the coffee table, etc.  Andy said that he even crawled up on the coffee table from the drawer this morning.   

Jack is in to everything!  I was making two quiches the other night and when I stopped and looked around the kitchen it looked like a bomb exploded!  After all, his favorite game is emptying/clearing things (including cabinets).  I used to think that parents need to just teach kids that some things they can play with and some they can't.  I told Andy the other day that I'm locking up EVERY cabinet in the house and hopefully he'll get bored and play with all of his toys instead.  This mama is tired of cleaning up!

Jack really has a love for his family.  He will reach for his grandparents from across the room and loves going back and forth between them.  He loves his Auntie Desiree so much.  At church on Christmas Eve, he just wanted her to hold him.  I think he can tell how loved he is and likes to give it back through open mouth smooches and snuggles. 

Jack's 1st Birthday Party!

We celebrated Jack's 1st birthday last Sunday, right on his birthday.  We were lucky to have lots of friends and family help us celebrate.  Especially Aunt Desiree who is turning into a cake master!  Can you believe these are only the second cakes she's ever made?  We had the party at our friends house and were planning to do sleigh rides with their Clydesdale horses, but because it was SO cold, they had the genius idea to bring them in the garage for the kids to see and to feed carrots to.  

And here is the party in pictures!

(Can you tell we went a little "Giddy Up" theme crazy!?) 

Jack's newborn picture and a current headshot.

Jack getting a look at Bubba.

Still keeping his eyes on that awesome horse!

Some of Jack's friends getting a look.

The birthday boy in his cowboy gear and birthday hat that I made him.

First taste...

A little confused why everyone was looking at him...

And yes, there was red frosting everywhere!  He managed to dig into quite a bit of the cake, but all using one finger. 

Jack, you are the sweetest, most handsome, best humored baby.  We have enjoyed you everyday the past year and can't wait to continue to experience life together with you.  We are so lucky to be your parents.