Before there was Jack...

First there were two.

And then I started to grow.
Lavender dress: Susan's wedding *wink*
Lime dress: Jen's wedding
Red dress: Tara's wedding
Black dress, not a bridesmaid.. but at Rusty's wedding

Very pregnant. And p.s. that bottle of Jergins did nothing to prevent the million stretch marks I got, so don't waste your money. (Thankfully they have all but disappeared now.)

You don't get more-pregnant-er than this. This would be the beginning of the worst day of my life, which fortunately was followed by the best say of my life... but still. And yes I gained about 55 pounds. The doctor speculates that about 25 pounds were from water retention, how gross is that?

And as promised here are my cankles. If you look closely you can see the swelling in my face migrating to my feet. ::shudder::

What makes it worth all that? My handsome little man, of course, and the fact eventually your face, your skin, your weight, your emotions, and your SARS all return to something resembling 'normal'.

Ode to Thursday..

Lindsey and Cady hosted group this week; the babies think it's very neat
that the mommies always find time to meet. Soon our children will learn to creep.

For now, Brooks will play Colin like a bongo - it won't be that long though

before these kids are finding trouble.

At the end of the day, it was so hot in our house that Jack insisted on being a 'nuddie-bird'.

Beware the SARS academic: sometime I'll post some swollen-Emily pictures so we can all have a good laugh.

So far this week...

The Clown and I hung out. Chillin.
Mommy harvested her peas.

Colin and I hung out.

We also went swimming. Mommy came with me.

Mommy went to one of her daycare classes (tonight) so Daddy fed me dinner. But then I decided that 'd rather feed myself dinner thank you, very much. Most of the time I like to guide the spoon into my mouth. I get really excited during meal time and the food just can't come fast enough!

The Island of Misfit Toys

Our story begins with Moms' Group, as it begins as a normal Thursday. Brooks is demonstrating the proper use of tummy time. Jack is demonstrating improper use of tummy time. This still makes for a normal Thursday.

Here we have Colin, Jaden, Amedeo, Joselyn, Brooks, and Ria (clockwise from left). Moms' Group has become more and more interesting as our babies are actually starting to interact with eachother.

And here is where our story takes a horrible turn. The clown, purchased this morning at babies'r'us was an instant hit with Jack. We played with the clown at group. We played with the clown in Target on the way home from group. But when we got home we realized the clown was gone.

Panic set in. We rushed back to Target. The clown was not in the parking lot. The clown was not in the lobby. We made our way back to the baby food isle, retracing our steps. At the end of the isle, laying face down and alone we found the clown. The clown was so happy to see us and we were happy to see her too. She almost ended up on the Island of Misfit Toys, abandoned and homeless. But we found her and brought her back home.

Now she's covered in saliva. Hmmm...

Later that night Jack ate his first baby cereal. The pediatrician said this would take time, many frustrating days of food being spit out and not swallowed. Jack ate like a champ! We've been practicing the airplane for the last 2 months with his pacifier, so a transition to spoon was no big thing.

Woo hoo!

Rain, Rain...

Go away,
Come again another day. Today a huge storm front rolled in. Jack spent most of the storm intetrested in the noises the rain made on the roof. Like an idiot, I thought "Oh no! The herbs." So I ran out onto the back deck and pulled the plants under cover. This or course left me completely soaked.


Jack was amused by all this, of course.

Long Day

Jack woke up early today, as though he knew that there would be a lot of excitement! After a quick trip to the mall we went to story time at the Glenwood (right?) Library for story time. We were a little late so we didn't want to barge in during the middle of the session. Jack and I cozied up with a dinosaur book and discussed why the Tyranosaurus is so mean (short arms can be frustrating). Later we went to Marla's house. Jack decided to play with the diaper bag.

After some time with the Moms' Group we went to the pediatrician. Jack is 26.25 inches long and 15 pounds 6 oz. After his DTaP shot he was a little tuckered out.

Sleepy head.

Then we had a bath, and went to sleep. Jack put himself to sleep tonight, as recommended by the Moms and the pediatrician ;-)

Here is some more of Jack's posse. In all green: Amedeo, Yellow bib: Jack, Plad: Andreas, Blue and green stripes: Brooks.

Happy Belated Birthday to Me!

Hi, Jack here. I turned 4 months old yesterday. Mommy and Daddy dressed me up and took birthday pictures of me. I am really really rediculously good looking.


I'm a very active boy. Sometimes I like to practice standing.

I run with a crew. Here are some of my 'boyz'. I really have to get a picture of my whole posse - but we're all such busy babies, it's really hard to get our people to coordinate our schedules.

I find out tomorrow how big of a boy I am. I wonder...