He's Famous!

Here's the brochure for the YMCA where they used Jack's picture. Didn't it turn out so cute?!

My little talker

Here's a (finally!) updated picture of Jack. This was taken at his Mimi's birthday lunch while he was sitting on the birthday girl's lap. I know you'd probably rather see tons of updated pictures, and I promise I will do that soon (it's been a busy summer...what can I say?!) but I thought I'd catch everybody up on all of Jack's new words. He's been saying "Dada" for many months and "Mama" for a few months, but now he's also saying:
Mimi
Pop (for Poppy)
Nanana (for banana)
Hi (which he screams in his loudest voice every time he says it)
Bye
Mag (for Maggie) or maybe it's more like, "Mah"...can't tell...
There's more but that's all I can think of right now!

He's also clapping, pointing, waving hello & goodbye, and giving high-fives. We laugh at him all the time because any statement that is posed as a question, such as, "Jack, do you want some prunes?" he automatically shakes his head no and sometimes you'll get a slight grunt as well, as if to reaffirm that he really means no. Pretty much no matter what the question is he'll answer with a no. Don't worry: I'm working on the yes-thing! :)

In other big Jack news, he is now a poster-child for our local YMCA. Literally.
I'm there working out just about every weekday, which means he is too, and all of the girls that work in the nursery adore Jack and get so excited to see him every time we walk in the door. The head of the child-care department chased me down the other day to ask my permission to use Jack's picture in their new brochure. She showed me the picture and it is adorable. Jack's sitting on the floor with toys all around him just grinning his biggest grin right into the camera. I'll have to figure out a way to scan it in once I get a copy so you all can see it.

More later (with more pictures!)

Horses

We went out of town a few weeks ago for our first overnight away from Jack. My mom and Benton kept Jack and they all had a great time. (We had so much fun having an entire night that was kid-free!) One thing that they did was put Jack in Maggie's old jumper. (You know, those things you hang from the top of the door and kids can jump up and down in them). Apparently Jack just went wild for it, so we thought we should get one for him to have at our house. Well, we found a cowboy-themed one that stands on its own, so you know we had to have it! It is so funny because as he's jumping in it, it makes sounds like a horse neighing and plays western-themed music complete with horse-hoofs pounding away in the background. Jack loves it and we crack up every time we put him in it.
Here's a picture of Grant, Maggie, and Jack from a month or two ago that I just found. So many people (including Grant) have been discussing how much Maggie & Jack are looking alike these days. Now if only we could get Courtney on board...she thinks we're crazy! :)

New Orleans

We went to New Orleans in May, so I know I'm a little late in posting these! We had such a wonderful trip visiting Lindsay & Jim and watching Lindsay graduate from medical school. The ceremony was a quintessential New Orleans ceremony, complete with brass band playing "When the Saints Go Marching In" and people marching out while pumping their umbrellas up and down. Lindsay and Jim had a party at their house after graduation and we got to meet some of their sweet friends whom I know they miss now that they are living in Miami. We also had some amazing food at the party as Jim's mom, Jane, made her famous jambalaya and crawfish etouffee. It was such a fun weekend and I'm sad we won't be able to visit them in New Orleans any longer, but we are looking forward to visiting them in their new hometown of Miami!


Here's Mom and I wearing our matching shirts...aren't we cute?! :)
Snuggling with Uncle Chris while wearing his Nashville guitar shirt
Reading on the bed with Daddy
With Uncle Chris & Aunt Kajsa
Here's Jack with Uncle Jim. Look at all those gorgeous blue eyes!

With Lindsay the day before she officially became Dr. Lindsay!

The cutest cowboy in the world

I know, I know, I know....I've been awful about posting lately! To make it up to you, here are some pictures from our trip to South Dakota for my brother's wedding two weeks ago. The wedding was on my now sister-in-law's cattle ranch. She had told us before-hand that everyone would be dressed in cowboy gear. So of COURSE we knew that meant we had to get cowboy gear for Jack! Can you believe they even make boots and cowboy hats small enough for babies?

The first picture is Jack in his wedding attire with his Aunt Lindsay. The groomsmen all wore khakis and blue button-down shirts so you can see that Jack matched them pretty well.








































I hate that you can't see Maggie's face in this one of Court and I and the kids. Maybe she was just being shy. We dressed Maggie and Jack in matching outfits for the rehearsal dinner and you can see that they are both proudly wearing their cowboy boots.








And here is a hilarious picture of Courtney and Maggie at a kids area in the Minneapolis airport. Who knew they were such great athletes? :)

The huge tree up above is where the wedding actually took place. It was really beautiful.

This last one is my cute hubby and I at the barn dance which happened after dinner at the reception.

Mother's Day

This was my first official mother's day (well, ok, I did celebrate last year because I was pregnant, but it wasn't exactly the same thing) and it was wonderful! Jim made it a mother's weekend instead of just one day and he was so sweet and made me feel really special all weekend long. I got a massage on Saturday and my back finally does not feel like it's on the verge of snapping in two (it's hard carrying a 22 lb baby on your hip all day long!) and then on Sunday we got to do whatever I wanted to do which included walking down to the Hill Center, doing some shopping, and eating lunch. Then that night, we had my mom & Benton and Court and her family over for cupcakes to celebrate with them. (By the way, I did steal this picture from Courtney's blog because I can't seem to find any of the pictures we took on our camera from mother's day!) But anyway, it was a great weekend and I was so sad for it to end. I really love being a mom so much and it was so fun to get to celebrate that with my family. We're off to New Orleans this afternoon for the weekend because Lindsay is graduating from medical school! Hooray for Lindsay!!!! I'll post pictures of our trip when we return...

Play Gym

Courtney watched Jack for me the other day so I could go get my hair cut and I got home just in time to see Jack and Maggie both on his play gym. Maggie was being really funny and making Jack laugh so hard. It's really fun to see them together because they love each other so much. Here's a sweet story of how they love each other:
The other day Court and I had both of the kids in the back seat of my car because we were on our way to my mom's house. She and I had been talking up front and we heard them get really quiet in the back, so of course we listened more closely to hear what was going on. Maggie was leaning towards Jack and he was gazing adoringly at her (as he always does!) and she whispered, "Jack, thank you for being my cousin. I love you so much. I love that you're my cousin." Isn't that ADORABLE? Of course it brought tears to my eyes (and Courtney's, too) because since we were little girls, both of my sisters and I have always talked about how much we hope our kids are all close and enjoy spending time together. It looks like our wish is already coming true!

Yummy...

Jack's been eating solid food very well for awhile now. I've been making all of his baby food and some of it's fun to make (pears, sweet potatoes) and some of it is not so fun to make (prunes, green peas). The only reason the prunes and peas are not so fun to make is because those particular foods have to be strained after you've steamed/baked them because the skins are lumpy and can be hard to digest for a baby of Jack's age. Overall, though, I'm really enjoying it and I love that Jack will grow up liking food that tastes like the actual fruits and vegetables that he's supposed to be eating. I think the night of these pictures Jack was eating peas, sweet potatoes, and cereal. That's just what the evidence is telling me. :)

By the way, sorry I haven't been posting much lately, but I think I've made up for it because I've posted a ton today! (Jack took a great nap so I had some time to update the blog).
I'll try to be better!

Funniest. Picture. Ever.

Here's Jack "drumming" with Uncle Grant at Whole Foods the other day. If you saw Grant do this with Maggie when she was younger then you know what we're talking about. If not, let me explain it to you: basically, Grant moves Jack's arms like he's drumming and makes the appropriate drum noises along with the arm movements. If you're lucky, every once in awhile you'll get a drum-stick twirl. Jack's not really crazy about those twirls, but he does love the actual drumming part. You can tell he's Jim's son! The second picture shows Jack enjoying the drumming, but the first one was so hilarious that I had to post it!

Reading makes you smart!

...Or so I've heard! Jim took this picture because he wanted to document me reading to Jack. I guess he thought Jack wouldn't believe us if we tell him when he's older, so we needed hard proof to back up our story! :)

He really does love it when we read to him, though. I bet we read about 15-20 books a day and I love that he loves it so much. I've always loved reading so I hope somehow that gets passed on to Jack.

I don't think I've discussed Jack's sleeping habits lately, so let me update you: nighttime is WONDERFUL! Up until the past few weeks, he was still waking up for that early morning (4 or 5am) feeding and then he'd fall back asleep until about 7am. Well, I'm happy to report that he's finally dropped that feeding and is now sleeping continuously from 7:30pm to 7-7:30am. Aah.... Now if only I could sleep continuously throughout the night! For some reason I am waking up at least once, sometimes twice, for no reason at all. I think I've trained myself to not sleep through the night! Yikes! Did any of you other moms go through this? How do I make it stop? It's so frustrating that my kid can sleep through the night but I can't!

Granddaddy & Jack

Two of my favorite men...

The wonderful week with Lindsay...

We flew Lindsay up here for her Graduation present from Tulane Medical School and I can't say her present wasn't somewhat selfishly motivated! We LOVED having her up here for a week and spent almost every moment together having fun and talking, talking, talking. Jack adores his aunt and she has this wonderful ability to make him laugh so hard and for so long...it's so cute!

She and her husband, Jim, (who couldn't come because he was studying for his boards...we missed him!) are moving to Miami next month for Lindsay to begin her residency program at the University of Miami. Jim will be transferring to their med school, as well. We are so excited for them because they will both be a part of really amazing programs, but we are simultaneously bummed that they will be so far away. At least we will have a fun place to visit them and we plan on visiting a lot! We are going down to New Orleans for Lindsay's graduation in a few weeks, so check back to see pictures of our visit later!

Dan & Amy's short but sweet visit

The Landers came up for a quick 24-hour visit on Saturday-Sunday and we definitely made the most of our short time together. It was so beautiful here that we spent a lot of time outside: walking to Radnor and walking to Whole Foods. We got a new camera (yay!) but I don't know how to download pictures from it yet and that's where all the outdoor pictures are, but in the meantime, check out these cute pictures of Jack snuggling with his Aunt Amy and Grandpa, and one of him checking Grandpa out. He hasn't quite figured out what he thinks about that hat! :)

Did you hear that?

Cousins

Can you feel the love? ...and the hug?!

Thirty, Flirty & Fun

Ok, I know that was terribly cheesy, but I do love that Jennifer Garner movie "13 Going on 30." Saturday was my 30th birthday and we had SUCH a fun weekend. Our friends, Amy & JD, came into town and brought their sweet new baby, Charlie, for us to ooh & aah over. Kelly & Josh had a big cookout at their house Friday night and then we all went out for a birthday dinner on Saturday night to Radius 10, one of my favorite restaurants in Nashville.
My cake was the best cake ever except that by the time we got a picture taken the sparklers had burned out.
Have you noticed how in big groups, even though we're not in high school anymore) all the girls always end up at one end of the table and all the guys end up at another end? See, we really are all 13 at heart! :)
And finally, here's a picture of my and my sweet hubby, who is also a fantastic party planner.

Jack & His GrandNonna

LaDonna came into town today on her way to East Tennessee and we had such a wonderful visit (albeit too short) with her. There is no doubt that Jack adores his GrandNonna. The entire time she was here he couldn't keep his eyes off of her (making nursing him slightly difficult at one point!) and she could just make him laugh and laugh. It was really cute to watch and fun for all of us to get to spend some time with her today. Here are some cute pictures from her visit.

I Heart Spring

As long as we've been married, Jim and I have always taken walks around our neighborhood (when it's warm enough) when he gets home from work in the afternoons. The weather has been so nice here lately and we've really enjoyed being able to resume our afternoon walks. It's been especially nice to take them with Jack because he loves riding in his stroller and seeing all the birds, dogs, and creeks that we pass and he'll just chatter along to himself the whole way while Jim and I get some quality "grown-up" time. Here's a cute picture from right before our walk the other day.

Jack's First Easter

We had such a fun Easter with Jack except for two things: it was FREEZING cold and Lindsay and Jim couldn't come home and be with us. (Made doubly bad because Easter fell on Lindsay's birthday this year). My mom hand-stitched the embroidery on Jack and Maggie's outfits and they turned out so cute! We had an Easter egg hunt outside but it was so cold so we had to put a hat on Jack to keep him warm. Mimi ordered Jack and Maggie Easter baskets embroidered with their names on them. Maggie's was a bunny and Jack's was a yellow duck. They looked adorable carrying them around. Maggie's was full of eggs and Jack's was obviously empty, but we can't wait for him to join in the hunt next year!

St. Thomas trip

Sorry it's taken me so long to get these pictures posted of our trip to St. Thomas! I know there's a ton of pictures, but I actually had a bunch of other cute ones I wanted to post, so believe it or not, these are just a few of them. We went with my Mom & Benton and Chris & Kajsa. We had so much fun on our trip and Jack was such a great little traveler. He slept for almost the entire flight of each leg between Nashville, Miami, and St. Thomas. We got him in the pool for his first time and he loved it! Well, the very first time he didn't love it too much, but after that it was great. Apparently you're not supposed to put sunscreen on babies under 6 months, and since he was 5 months old on the trip, we decided to purchase him a SPF swimsuit and hat. Poor thing, he looked like he was wearing a wet suit in the pool! But it was actually really cute...

The other pictures are of Jack snuggling with his Mimi (one of his favorite pass-times!), him cracking up as we are about to go down to the beach, and a beautiful rainbow we woke up to one morning that was stretched out over Charlotte Amalie and the ocean in front of our balcony.








You can also see a picture of some of the local inhabitants on St. Thomas. These iguanas were everywhere! Anytime I would get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I would have to turn a small light on because I was afraid that one would somehow get into our room and be sitting there waiting for me to trip over it in the dark. I know...I am delusional!
There's a picture of all of us from our last night on the island at a great restaurant called Oceana. Obviously Jack was ready for bed and not enjoying having his picture taken!


We took the ferry over to St. John one day and everybody but Jack and I went snorkeling while we were at Trunk Bay. The picture of Trunk Bay is the one where you can see people swimming in the water. (I still haven't figured out how to put comments next to the appropriate pictures!) The beach was really beautiful so he and I sat in the shade under a palm tree and he took a nap. The picture of the beach with the small pier jutting out into the ocean was the view we saw every day from our balcony.

We are finally beginning to adjust to life back in the real world. It snowed here this weekend while Jim's sister was here, but unfortunately we forgot to take any pictures so you'll have to just enjoy these sunny beach photos for the time being.

Go Team!

Hook 'Em Horns! ...and... War Eagle!
These outfits were given to Jack by his Granddaddy (my dad) and his Grandpa (Jim's dad). Can you guess who gave him which one? Hint: My dad went to dental school here and Jim's dad did his undergraduate here.

Twice the fun

The night before we left for St. Thomas, Jim snapped Jack trying to get both of his favorite toys into his mouth at the same time.

BIG-time

We went to the doctor yesterday for Jack's latest round of shots and he weighed in at 17 and 1/2 pounds. Crazy!!! Sorry we haven't had much to post lately. We're leaving in a few days for a week in St. Thomas so I'll definitely have some new pictures to post once we get back.

Jack Burrito

You can see that we still love bath-time around here! For some reason we would wrap Jack up in two towels after his baths when he was a newborn and he still loves it. This is him wrapped in a cute bear towel he got in his stocking at Mimi & Poppy's house this past Christmas.

Happy Jack

We were playing this morning on the floor of Jack's room (where you can find us most mornings) and he was just laughing hysterically and being so cute that I had to snap some pictures. You can also see him with his favorite toy in the whole world in the second picture.

Pretty boring

Sorry I haven't posted anything for a couple of days. I guess we've just been pretty boring around here and there hasn't been anything new to report! Jim went to Memphis last night because he has work meetings there today (Morgan Keegan's headquarters are in downtown Memphis) and I was so worried about him with all of the awful storms that came through West Tennessee. I think around 36 people died from the storms/tornadoes last night. At one point I talked to him and could hardly hear him because of the tornado warning sirens that were going off so loudly. Thank goodness he was ok, but I am so sad for all of the people who lost a friend or family member. Jack and I stayed with Mom & Benton and I am so glad we weren't at home by ourselves when those same scary storms came through here in the middle of the night! Well, that's about it because, like I said, we're a little boring these days. I hope everyone around here has been enjoying the 60-70 degree weather the past few days because I think it's about to get cold again starting this afternoon. Yuck.

Zzzzz....

I forgot to mention that the sleep-thing is going great! He rarely cries when going to sleep now and is sleeping about 11-12 hours every night. The naps could still use some improvement in length but are getting much, much better. I am sooooo encouraged and am finally starting to feel normal again! (As opposed to the sleep-walking, space-head that I was turning into).

ExerSaucer

When my grandmother and Aunt Vee gave us this ExerSaucer for Jack at one of my baby showers, I couldn't imagine that he would ever be big enough to fit in it. We put him in it for the first time this week (at Courtney's suggestion) and he loves it. Whoever invented this thing was a genius!

Ready for vacation

We are going to St. Thomas with my parents next month so we were trying this sun hat on Jack to make sure that it would fit him and also to see if he would hate it. The answer to both questions is yes.

More fun with Maggie

Don't they look so much alike here?

Granddaddy & Tup-Tup

If you read my sister's blog, then you know that Maggie calls her uncle Spencer (my 10-year-old brother) Tup-Tup. Nobody can figure out how she got Tup-Tup from Spencer, but she's always called him that and we think she always will! We are also hoping that Jack will call him that because it is just so funny and cute. Anyway, my dad and Spencer stopped by on Saturday and here are some cute pictures of them with Jack. For a 10-year-old, Spencer is so good with both Maggie & Jack (and they both love him him so much). Doesn't he look just so comfortable holding Jack?

Tummy Time can be OK

Like most kids, Jack used to HATE tummy time. He's finally doing a little better with it and I took these pictures because I couldn't believe he was being this easy-going as this was the morning after our (sleepless!) first night of letting him cry-it-out a little. (By the way, I promise I do put him in something else besides pj's, but for some reason every time I have the camera nearby at home he's in a pair!) Speaking of crying-it-out, last night went really great...he slept for 12 hours with only 3 sessions of 5 minute crying! I got 8 straight hours of sleep, which is something I haven't had since my 1st trimester of being pregnant with him! The naps haven't gone so great, though. Naps have always been harder than nighttime sleep, but he gets to the point where he looks like he will just fall over (or falls asleep nursing) and I try to put him down but he just cries and cries and never falls asleep. He looks pretty awake when I go in to check on him every 5-10 minutes or so, as opposed to sleepy-crying other times. I am at a loss of what to do. This kid has GOT to nap! Any suggestions?

Maggie holds her baby Jack

Maggie & Courtney came over yesterday and Maggie REALLY wanted to hold "her baby Jack." Of course we let her (with some assistance from Court) and she had so much fun! I love the looks on both of their faces. Can you believe how Jack looks like he's almost as big as her in this picture?

Brrr!!!!

Again, on the way to meet up with Chris & Kajsa, but it was cold that day so we put him in his hat again. It just makes me laugh every time I see him in it. It's huge! But very practical, since it is fleece-lined and covers his ears. My mother made sure to let me know that she really liked those features. (She's always worried that I don't wrap him up enough for the cold weather!)

Such a big boy! (and no sleep)

This was taken on Saturday before we left to meet up with Chris & Kajsa. Doesn't he look like such a big boy in those clothes? I just love the little sweater vest and collared shirt. And, as always, he's making his signature expression that is reserved solely for the camera!
Speaking of being a big boy, now that Jack is officially four months old, we started trying a new sleep technique last night. Jack has been sleeping terribly (up every hour some nights!). I have read book after book on the subject and had initially planned to do the No-Cry Sleep Solution (by Elizabeth Pantley), but after much research (and many frustrating nights) we decided to go with a kinder, gentler version of crying-it-out, per the (much misunderstood) Ferber method. Ugh...it is SO HARD! I have been up since 1am last night with him through this learning process, and Jim didn't get to bed until 3am and had to be up at 7am for a meeting. So we each got about 3 1/2 to 4 hours of sleep last night. We are so tired and there is nothing harder than watching/hearing your sweet baby cry, but I guess there is just no other way to help him learn to fall asleep on his own. I have been crying on and off since BEFORE we put him to bed because I knew how awful it would be! He's finally asleep for his morning nap right now but is moving around like crazy because we also quit swaddling him and he's not used to that yet, either. Please pray for us because not only are we exhausted but we are completely worn out emotionally, too! Thank goodness I have such a wonderful man by my side because I could not have made it through this without him. I hope to report back soon with happy tales of sleeping through the night....

Chris & Kajsa got engaged!

My little brother, Christopher, got engaged to his girlfriend, Kajsa Perman, last night! Apparently it was a very romantic proposal and her ring is gorgeous! Kajsa is from Lowry, South Dakota and that is where the wedding will take place on her family's ranch there on June 14th. Check out their ranch, Rock Hills Ranch.
We met up with them at SatCo. for lunch today and Jack loved spending some quality time on his Aunt Kajsa's lap!

I guess it's my turn...

So now we're all sick! I was telling my mom earlier that it feels like the flu, but without the aches and pains. Stuffy/runny nose, cough, sore throat, headache, soooo tired, etc. If you have these symptoms, I bet you have RSV, too! Why, oh, why did I let that doctor remove my tonsils in college? I really do think that's why I catch colds so easily. Don't they offer you more protection if you have yours? By the way, are you all impressed that (so far!) I'm keeping my new years resolution to blog more? I'm pretty impressed with myself... :)

8 Things...

My friend Amanda tagged me to write eight things about Jack on this blog, so here goes:
1. His scent is the sweetest baby smell in the world.
2. His little toes look like candy
3. He loves his learning caterpillar, stuffed dog rattle, and when I sing to him.
4. He sucks/chews on his fingers these days like they might run away from him. Could he be teething? Hope not!
5. He loves when Jim pretends like he's coming to get him and then tickles him all over.
6. He never fails to pee in the bath less than 10 seconds after being placed in the warm, clean water.
7. As soon as he sees me from his crib when he wakes up in the morning or from a nap he gets the hugest grin like he's thinking, "Hey, Mama! I was hoping to run into you here! How did you know where to find me?"
8. His cheeks are perfectly proportioned for millions of my kisses each day.

There's eight so now I'm tagging Courtney, Christy Z, Katie Jane, & Elise to do the same for each of their kids.

Baby Bjorn

We just got a Baby Bjorn and Jack loves it. Jim took him outside and it was pretty cold so we put this hat on him and it was too cute not to document!

Bronchiolitis is Bad

Apparently it's RSV season. If you're not familiar with RSV it's a virus that causes a respiratory infection. In babies, it can cause bronchiolitis, not to be confused with bronchitis, which means it's moved into the lungs and there's lots of drainage, wheezing, and coughing. Jack has this and it is NO fun! Supposedly every child under 2 will get RSV at least once, but not every one will get bronchiolitis. The doctors told us nearly every child they've seen in the past few weeks has had RSV, but that doesn't make it any less stressful when your child has it! There's nothing you can do to make it go away, but something that can help a little bit are breathing treatments. Well, Jack hates them. It's not that they hurt or anything, but I guess he doesn't like having the little mask pressed up against his face. He's doing a little better today, but here's a sad picture of him during one of his breathing treatments.

Our Christmas card

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Daddy-time

One of the best inventions of all time is the pump. It allows me to still give Jack the most perfect food possible for him, but without always having to be the one who gives it to him. Which means Jim can give him a bottle for one of his nighttime feedings. Which is realllllllly nice! Here's an example of that and as nice as it is for me, Jim loves it, too, because he gets to be the recipient of that sweet, food-time gaze.

The Erins

One of my best friends is named Erin, also, and she and her husband live in Santa Barbara, CA which is beautiful but way too far away. They came in town for the holidays and her parents had an amazing brunch at their house a few days after Christmas. We had so much fun and the time flew by way too fast and before we knew it it was over and they were gone again. Very sad. But...I did love this photo because somehow Jack managed to be the only guy in this shot and he looks like he's enjoying his stud-status!

A Very Landers Christmas

The Landers came up to celebrate with Jack a few days after Christmas and we had a great time. Jack got tons of gifts and loved spending time with them. The picture with Dan & Amy on the couch is hilarious because Jack would cry every time Dan tried to hold him. We decided he must not be used to seeing Santa Claus when he's not in his red costume! :)

The best gift ever

He will hate me for this one day!

Jack & his Bumbo

Jack's GrandNonna got him a Bumbo seat as one of his (many!) presents from her. I think this picture is so funny. As soon as we'd sit him in there, he would lean to one side and clasp his hands together. Jack loves his Bumbo & he loves his GrandNonna! I thought we had taken more pictures of that morning, but I guess they were all on Victor & Amy's camera. As soon as I get copies from them I will post those on here.

Christmas Eve & Christmas day

We had such a wonderful Christmas with Jack. The only not-fun part was that he was having a growth-spurt so he was feeding every 2 hours all day AND all night so we didn't get much sleep on Christmas Eve. But we still had so much fun and here are some cute pictures. Notice Jack in the picture with his Granddaddy and he has on the Santa suit his Aunt Amy bought him. We just laughed and laughed at him in that outfit! I love the picture of Jim holding Jack swaddled & asleep and Maggie talking to him. She was probably using her version of the baby-voice she's heard Court talk to Jack in. It is so funny because instead of talking in a higher-pitched baby voice, she gets this really low, exaggerated voice that sounds like Shaft or Barry White. I love it!

Silly Jack

He laughed. I laughed. He is just so much fun and his gummy smile melts my heart every time I see it (which is now too many times in a day to count!) This photo's a little blurry, but you get the idea.

Santa, Jack, and Mimi

Here are some pictures the day Mom, Courtney, Maggie, Jack and I went to the mall to get the kids' pictures taken with Santa. For some reason in the week or two leading up to Christmas, Jack would cry every time his Mimi held him. She tried not to let it bother her, but I know it was breaking her heart! He's back to loving her more than ever these days, but this first photo is a very accurate documentation of their relationship at that time. The second one is a little better and then there's photos of Courtney and I with each of our little elves!

Full-time mom = new car

I'm officially a full-time mom! I turned my notice in recently and while I'm sad to leave all of the physician's offices and co-workers that I loved, I am so excited to be with Jack all the time! Since I'm a drug rep and have a company car, that means I have to turn in my car and we would be short one car. So THAT means we had to get a new one! I absolutely love it! It was fun to pick out a car that I wanted after almost five years of driving a car that was assigned to me. Don't get me wrong: the free gas & insurance & no car payment were really nice, but this is definitely more fun. Here's one of Jim & Jack in the back seat the day we bought it.

Christmas party

Our group of friends always have a big Christmas party and this year it was at Steve & Katie Jane's house. We had so much fun, partially because Granddaddy (my dad) kept Jack so it was kinda like a date night! Here's pictures of the girls & the guys.

The camera goes Flash!

We've noticed that in most of his pictures Jack has the same funny expression. He can be smiling or making the cutest face and we go to take the picture and as soon as the flash goes off his expression instantly changes to one of dumbfounded confusion. It's hilarious! Here's an example of this in a picture of him in his Christmas pj's.

Decorating the Tree

So this is obviously Jack's 1st Christmas and we had so much fun decorating the tree and house. Wait, did I say we? I meant JIM had fun decorating. For some reason I was being a huge scrooge this day (I think I didn't get much sleep the night before) but thank goodness my two guys were around because it's hard to be in a bad mood around the two of them! We ended up having a blast and Jack loved looking at his tree all season long. Here are some pictures of us once we got the tree up.

Jack & His Changing Table

I don't know what it is but there is something about Jack's changing table that he loves. Once we put him down he starts smiling and cooing away and being just generally adorable. Here are some pics of him on it (even though we never could get a picture of him smiling!) and a cute one of him & Jim in the kitchen.

Mama's finally sleeping

Jack's been sick (as mentioned below) so none of us have been getting enough sleep lately. I keep falling asleep while rocking Jack after I feed him in the middle of the night and Jim snapped this photo of us both still asleep in the chair around 5am! I guess he was wondering why I never came back to bed and found us like this...

Jack and his PJ's

These are some cute pictures of Jack before bed two different nights

Jack's a Swinger

Mom & Benton gave us this swing for Jack at my shower and he hated it for the first 6 weeks, but now he loves it! He'll take naps and we can put him in there at dinner-time and he'll actually let us eat!

Baby in a Chair

When Courtney was over the other day she set Jack up in the corner of this chair and he just sat there, happy and looking around the room!

Can you believe how big he is? Here he's 8 weeks old and weighs over 12 pounds!

Maggie loves to kiss HER Baby Jack or HER Jackie, as she calls him. I can handle her calling him her baby Jack, but I haven't quite gotten used to her calling him Jackie yet!

Bath Time

Jim & Jack get annoyed that I love brushing Jack's hair so much after his bath!

Warm, clean & happy

I figured a buns shot was completely appropriate here!

Snuggling with Mama after his bath

Jim took this photo once he'd put Jack in his pj's after his bath. I think they both look adorable here!

War Eagle!

The world's cutest Auburn fan...no, not me...Jack! :)

Jim has been counting down the days until Jack would fit into this outfit for game day. This is for the Auburn/LSU game. Unfortunately this outfit didn't bring them any luck...

I had to post this one because you can see Jack's beginning to smile. He has been smiling so much lately and cooing up a storm! It's basically the cutest thing ever!

Chunky Monkey

We've been at the doctor's office several times this week and every time we go, Jack weighs more than the day or two before! At his visit yesterday he weighed 12lbs 8oz...and he's just seven weeks old! Jim's pretty confident we have a future linebacker on our hands.

Sick Baby

On Tuesday night we were going up to bed and Jack woke up crying and sounding so stopped up we weren't sure he could get any oxygen. Things continued to get worse and the next day we took him to the pediatrician where he had a fever of 100.5 degrees. Since he was 6 weeks old they sent us to Vanderbilt Children Hospital's Emergency room for some tests to be run. Let me say that this was one of the scariest, most traumatic day of my life. They had to get a urine sample, which meant a catheter, as well as some blood samples, which meant an IV in each arm because they had a hard time getting a good sample, some x-rays, and lots of rectal temperature checks. Which for each of these things meant lots of horrible crying from both Jack and from me! Everything came back fine (meaning no meningitis, RSV, bladder or kidney infection) so they decided it was just a virus causing a cold. I mean, the tests were way more upsetting then the illness! He's now doing a little better but we've had to have several visits to the doctor's office for them to conduct follow-up check-ups on him. Oh, and now Jim and I are sick, too! I guess we're just one big germ-y family!

Jack's shoes & naked baby pictures!

I'm obsessed with these baby New Balance shoes. I just think they are so cute! We might have to buy them in every size...
Also, can you ever have too many naked baby pictures? These were taken on his play-gym, which he loves!

Aunt Lindsay & Uncle Jim

My sister, Lindsay, and her husband, Jim, live in New Orleans where they are both in med school at Tulane. Because of their crazy school schedule they weren't able to see Jack until he was 5 weeks old when they came up for a weekend. He loved spending time with them and spent about 8 hours straight sleeping and snuggling on Lindsay's shoulder!

Jack's first Halloween

Jack spent his first Halloween as a lion. We bought this outfit before he was born knowing he would be about 6 weeks old. The outfit said it's 0-3 months but it was so tight I couldn't button the onsie! We went to the zoo that morning with Courtney & Maggie (also a lion) and Kelly & Georgie (a cheerleader) and had so much fun! That night we went over to Court & Grant's before Maggie went trick-or-treating and got some great photos. I think it's safe to say that Maggie has the better roar...even though Jack's costume does spell it out for you!

Jack's 1st three weeks

Several of you have asked for photos of Jack so this is a variety of different photos with friends and family during his first three weeks.

sleeping with Daddy

at home still in our polka-dots

with his GrandNonna

with Grammy (his great-grandmother!)

with one of my best friends, Becky, and her son Nickalai, who is about 8 weeks older than Jack!

With his Aunt Amy supporting her favorite driver

with Amy at a baby shower for her and her baby, Charlie

snuggling with Grandaddy

Heather and Brooke brought us some yummy homemade lasagna right after Jack was born and I turned the dinner into a photo op!

Polka-dots everywhere!

Maggie turned two in October and had a really fun polka-dot party to celebrate and asked that all her guests wear polka-dots, too. These are some cute photos from that day.

Jack's first week at home

Loving his Mimi

Us at home...do we look tired to you?

This is Jim's favorite position

As his cousin, Maggie, likes to say, "He's so tiny!"

I think he knew he was having his picture taken!

Sweet kisses from Maggie

Here are some photos from our first crazy week at home after Jack's birth. My mom, Jack's Mimi, was staying with us (thank God!) and she took some great photos of him and of us falling in love with him.

Jack in the hospital

with Poppy

with Mimi

Uncle Chris & Aunt Kajsa

Possibly the best profile ever!

Jim's first conversation with his son

Three generations of Landers men: Jim, Grandpa, & Jack

Aunt Courtney helped bring Jack into this world! Court was the most amazing doula. She and Jim were the best team in coaching me through the natural birth that I wanted. Because of her help I was able to go completely drug-free!

One of the happiest moments of my life: holding Jack after delivery

Three generations of Austins: Mimi, me, Jack

exhausted after a great labor and delivery!

our first family photo taken right after his birth

So....Jack's six weeks old and we're finally getting it together enough to post pictures on this blog! We're hoping to update this often to keep you out-of-town relatives (and anybody else who might care!) in the loop with what's going on with Jack and maybe if there's something interesting going on with Jim or I. So let's start at the very beginning: photos from the hospital, including our first family photo.

Erin/Jack's check-up

We went to Vanderbilt last week and got an update on Jack's progress. The Dr. told us that Jack was a week ahead in his development.

I think Jack looks like Erin. What do you think?

Two months left and counting