bye, bye baby

seriously jack and i went to buy, buy baby today to get him his new car seat. it was kind of sad in a very sappy sort of way...i literally thought to myself how appropriate that we're at buy, buy baby to get this as i feel like i'm saying bye to my baby! he just keeps getting so big...stop growing already;)

cousin robbie, jack would like to thank you for his t-shirt and let you know that he's ready for NYU as long as you'll pay for it;) oh, and check out this chubster--he just fits into it!

i finally put the corner protectors on the table, and i'm not joking when i say j spotted them in about 2 seconds. apparently i put them there for him to chew on?!

the bronx zoo & sttn!!!

yes, i said it out loud because the night has come and gone, and i do believe it was a fluke, but jack slept through the night!!! it was this past thursday, and ironically i was up twice and then about 45 minutes prior to him being up for the day!? geesh, even when i can get some sleep i manage not to!!

we headed to the bronx zoo yesterday. we had been wanting to go for a while, and we're literally 10 minutes away from it. truthfully it was more for our enjoyment than jack's but it was fun nonetheless. i hadn't been since i was really little so the whole thing was "new" to me. our excursion was cut short due to inclement weather, but it worked out perfectly because j needed his afternoon nap bad! below are some cute pics;

j and dad taking in the crocodiles

and here are some other fun ones...

he looks both so serious and like such a little boy here:)

unfortunately he has inherited mom's "morning" eyes;)

da, da, da...

doesn't it remind you of that VW commercial from a few years back!? well, that is the newest babble in j's repertoire. he's so funny when he does it too...i'm working on him associating da with mike. hopefully, ma isn't far behind. i mean i only do just about everything for him day in and day out, you would think he'd show some appreciation by saying mama;) anyways, i digress, below is a fun video of the "da"...



here's a cute video from the other night...mike had just gotten home and jack crawled over to him, so mike sat him up on the couch next to him while he opened the mail. they're just chillin' :)

awww...he kisses back!

out of nowhere the other night, he kissed mike back! it was the cutest thing. i have been trying to show him how to do it for a while now, and in the beginning there wasn't necessarily reciprocation on his part, but he would open his mouth and stick out his tongue (very g-rated, he just didn't know any better). now, when you go to kiss him he leans towards you. of course, only if he feels like it. i'd say 50% of the time he puts his hand up and pushes you away! i guess i should get used to it, as i'm sure he'll only do that more often as he gets older!

and he still doesn't like to sleep! you'd think after 9 months we would be done with sleep issues, but that is not the case. jack decided he needed to get up 3 times last night. mike usually goes in first, because once jack sees me he wants to eat. well, he was not having it last night. i tried to soothe him back for over an hour around midnight, and finally he just lost it. so i caved and fed him, and he was out in about 10 minutes. well, then continued the pattern at 3:30, & 5 am...so fun. i think perhaps it was teething related and his front teeth are still making their way down. here's to hoping it was just a fluke...i'm really tired today!

he eats just like his dad...shoving it in all at once;) emily post would have a field day with him!

whenever he sees me with the camera, he crawls right up to me...he wants to get his hands on the camera in the worst way.

and it is true that all a kid needs is a cardboard box to keep he/she occupied!

fun at the pool!

jack and i probably head to the pool almost every day after he wakes up from his afternoon nap. it gives us something to do when its too hot to really be outside for very long. he really loves the water and the kids. he doesn't really interact per se, but he loves to watch them. i think he is mesmerized by seeing someone else his size:)

here are some fun pics, they were actually taken on sunday when mike came with...

vacation? what vacation!?

i really wish that i could say that i am totally relaxed & revived after a week at the beach, but alas that is so not the case!? jack decided that sleep was for sissies this past week, and that meant that mom didn't get to sleep either. the true root to this lack of sleeping was the breaking through of his 2 front teeth! he now has 6 teeth. boy these ones seemed to be more bothersome than the others for him. we averaged 4 wakings per night, as well as a 5am wake-up just about every morning. and naps, well we got them in here and there, mostly on the beach!

actually, one night jack was up from 2-4 just crying for no apparent reason--he had motrin & nursed, both of which usually help during his teething, so mike and i packed him into the car and went to the er thinking that his recent ear pulling was the result of an ear infection. nope, he was perfectly healthy, thankfully. you know its bad when you walk into the er at 4:30am and the guard says good morning to you on your way out at 6am?! ironically, mike has hypothesized that the root of his crying was due to hunger! he didn't eat much dinner that night because he liked nothing i had to offer him, and when we got home that morning jack kept looking at the high chair and crawled to the kitchen!! i think he's smarter than we give him credit for--never mess with a boy and his food;)

all in all we had a great time...jack warmed up to the beach post sand-eating, and we did take advantage of grandma and grandpa's willingness/eagerness to help out;)

below is a plethora of pictures from the week, i believe i took almost 300!

hanging out with uncle greg on the plane

meeting his great-grandma smith for the 1st time

sunrise on the beach

catching some zzz's in harbor town

feeling his new teeth;)

finger painting grandpa's 60th birthday sign!

grandpa's 60th birthday dinner

clearly the hostess didn't tell us she was taking the shot!

jack's 1st taste of meat (grandpa made him organic meatballs)...wasn't too crazy about it. maybe he is my son after all;)

1st time on a bike...started out ok, but his helmet kept catching the back of the seat..he pretty much cried the whole ride!?

just being cute

loves to be on dad's shoulders--he usually eats mike's head!

check out the drool!

check out this storm...it made us flee the beach and then it never hit us!

sleeping peacefully:)

the general consensus on this hat was that it was silly--small sample pool though, a.k.a. dad and grandpa!

last morning on the beach...

Greetings from Hilton Head!

So Kristin let me (Mike/Dad) guest blog for today. We headed down to Hilton Head on Saturday after a relatively painless flight with Jack -- he was remarkably well-behaved, and even squeaked out a 40 minute nap. So far we've visited my grandmother in Guyton, GA, went to the beach a few times, I played the Ocean Course at the Sea Pines Plantation with Greg, and Jack managed to eat his weight in sand. No, seriously, he did. He's practically pooping sandpaper. Here's some pics from the first two days:

Here's Jack and I at LaGuardia Airport on Saturday, in front of our very small (and crappy) Canadair "jet."

first thing we did when we got to the house was jump in the pool...it was so humid out!

sunrise on the beach...jack, kristin's mom, greg & i walked to the beach the 1st morning since jack decided to get up at 5am!?


the progression...pretty much speaks for itself!

happy 4th of july!

so i must say that this 4th is rather lame...so far i've packed jack and my suitcases, done a load of laundry & cleaned up a bit. jack has taken his standard 1/2 hour nap and mike is in the office working on his final paper. ugh...at least with it being cloudy i don't feel so bad being stuck in the house!? we're leaving tomorrow for vacation, so i guess i shouldn't be too upset over the lameness of the day!

i also cannot believe that i had no fun props for a little happy 4th photo shoot, but alas i think i've been a bit preoccupied. anyways, jack is in the standard red, white & blue and he does have a 1st 4th bib, so i suppose all is not lost:) these are from this morning...long gone are the days that i could get him to sit still long enough to take at least 1 decent pic!

not sure i'll get to blog while we're away, but i'll be sure to get both pics and video!

ironically this is from the other day...he could be wearing it today with the red and blue. this is of course his "look" when i tell him "no, don't do that!?" i'm sure i'll be seeing that look for years to come;)