can you say word explosion!!?

so for about 3 weeks now jack has been in what many have termed the "word explosion." i will admit that i feared we would never get here, but alas we have. it has been so much fun to listen to him, and i am in awe of his ability to hear a word once and repeat it back. many words seemed to come with ease, but with some others (mostly "m" words) it took a little while for him to perfect them. for instance, milk was simply a hard "k" sound for about 2 weeks and then all of a sudden he was able to sound out the whole word! he's gone from signing the word "more" to signing and saying the word. he will say words without being prompted, or without having heard me say it. i am so proud of him!

i was able to get some fun video of him showcasing his vocabulary, but need to find my firewire. stay tuned...

vacation: week 2

as promised here are lots more pics from vacation, albeit a bit belated...

having fun in the sand hole daddy dug...he was so mad when he had to come out because it started to collapse!

mike, greg & i went on a bike ride through the forest preserve, and here are the 2 goofballs posing at the sign. notice mike's arm...he thought it was so funny to make it look like the bird was perched on his arm...can you say dork!

we saw lots of wildlife, including this little turtle--he blends in quite well on the branch

mimi & jack; this looks like a serene pic, but i'm pretty sure mimi is holding jack back from running into the water;)

one of my favorites:)

if only life were a beach...

another favorite...

jack loved the water and showed no fear of the waves, which made for interesting days at the beach...there were many "eyes" watching to make sure he didn't decide to brave the waves alone!

harbour town lighthouse

we had such an awesome time. jack was so excited to have lots of people around to take him places. i think he already misses his daily morning coffee run to starbucks with uncle greg! he loved to ride on the back of the bike, jump into the pool (which is also quite scary because he apparently thinks he's michael phelps!?), and loved going out to eat so much so that i was afraid when we got home he would think we ate dinner out every night--or as he would put it "bye-byes; car, car (in his boston accent); eat, eat!"

vacation: week one

we're in hilton head for 2 weeks!! so far, it has been awesome. the drive down, while verrrry long, was really not as bad as we expected it to be. of course, mike was in the car sans jack, but believe it or not he did really well.

jack loves water, and we've done the pool and beach at home, but i wasn't sure if he would love the beach down here because there are more waves. let's just say he is a daredevil! he is not phased in the least by the waves or the salt water, which he keeps drinking?! in fact, he is so fearless that he runs right into the water without waiting for one of us. not to mention he apparently thinks he's michael phelps in the pool--he attempts to jump in all by himself and tries to go underwater and then laughs and goes hahaha!

here are some pics, i have a lot so i'll post some random ones in the next day or so as well...

portable dvd player--best purchase thus far. it saved us at 3am when he was woken up by lovely i-95 traffic in DC...

he'll sit in the seat for about 2 minutes and then he wants to get out and "swim" by himself

1st beach day...wanted to go right out into the waves

more sand dad, more sand...

early morning beach walk with mimi...they saw a sand dollar, crabs, a baby alligator, and held a starfish!

jack has something to say...

i'm going to be a...

our family will soon grow from 3 to 4. i am 16 weeks along, with an expected due date of 12/28--yikes!

it is only fair that this baby have a blog too, so in the next couple weeks i'll add a link from jack's blog with updates on baby #2!

sad day...

it is with a very heavy heart that i write this post. we had to put my family dog (bailey) to sleep today. he was diagnosed with cancer, and deteriorating rather quickly. i'm posting this on jack's blog because jack's love for bailey was instantaneous. from the moment he was aware of his surroundings, he was completely enamored by him. in true "bailey" fashion, he was quite skeptical of jack and unsure of what to think of him. i think when it became apparent to him that jack was here to stay, he finally accepted him and took a permanent spot underneath jack's highchair! and while it was very much a love/hate relationship (moreso on bailey's part;), bailey was very protective of him...the moment he heard jack cry from his crib he was outside the door waiting to get in to check on him. i really think had bailey not been sick, the two of them would've had the cutest relationship.



i found this very early video of jack at my parent's house...as you'll see he was crazy for bailey:)