Mickey D's!!!

So Jack and I were alone today, as Mommy was working at the hospital. We decided to treat ourselves to lunch at McDonald's. He seemed very excited about having his first Happy Meal! Sorry for the low quality pictures, they were taken with my crappy cell phone. If only I had an iPhone to capture these moments with clarity...

Afterward, we made our way into Playland, and he had a blast in there. Stacey met up with us there and managed to enjoy the fun too.

Here he is opening the toy, while eating a french fry.

From McDonald's

And miraculously, he picked up the whole cheeseburger and took a bite. Right after I took this picture, he pulled the meat and buns apart into 3 separate pieces and threw them all over the floor. Along with the fries. And ketchup packs. And napkins. And straws. And the toys.

From McDonald's

Swimming Update

The video below is Jack's swimming lesson from this morning. Sorry we didn't get to post one last week, but we're only allowed to bring cameras on Fridays, and last week he had a doctor's appointment, so we missed swimming.

Anyway, as you can see, he has progressed nicely from the last time we recorded 2 weeks ago. Video here.

This video is almost 9 minutes long, so if you just want to see highlights, here are some that I recommend:
0:56 - she dunks him underwater.
1:35 - she dunks him again, but with a great scream of anger afterwards.
2:22 - he stares at me for about 10 seconds, begging me to get him out of there.
4:35 - he flips from being on his stomach to his back. Again at the 5:00 mark.
5:50 - he 'falls' from the pool stairs and corrects himself.
8:10 - she flips him feet over head, and he recovers nicely.

Soakin' Wet

Erin and I are so happy that Jack's swim lessons (which are great, but a bit scary for him) have not changed his love for water. The other day it was early AM (I was still in cozy pj wear) and we went outside to play. The pool water level was low so we were filling it up a bit and Jack took a great interest in the hose. It was fun, but we both ended up soaking wet. I like these pictures because you can really see the flow of the water. Jack was shaking the hose all over the place, quite frequently shooting it right in his own face for quite a splash.

From wet

From wet

From wet

TODDLING

Update:
We loaded it onto youtube for better quality, the video is below the original blogger player.

I guess Jack is officially a toddler now! His walking is getting better and better. He can now almost make a lap around the house and seems to be so excited with his new skill. He just meanders around...venturing into each room of the house. It's so fun to watch him. Here is a video we caught tonight.

Newport Aquarium

On one of my days off it was overcast and rainy so we decided to take Jack to the local aquarium (in Newport, KY). In all honesty, it was way too crowded with people. (guess everyone had the same rainy day idea) We did get to see lots of cool fish though. Jack seemed to have a good time, but funny enough was often more interested in the various paintings on the wall than the actual fish in the tanks. His favorite was the room with African fish where they had lots of drums to bang on...once again, who cares about the actual fish! Oh well. Here are some pictures before leaving, in the car (reading one of his favorite books), and at the aquarium.

One of our current obstacles in the life of a one year old is trying to keep shoes on his feet. He usually kicks them off or pulls them off within about 5 minutes of putting them on. The first few pictures are at home before we left with him already trying to take off his shoes. As you can see in later pictures, he succeeded enough times that we eventually just left them off.... ahhhh....

From aquarium

From aquarium

From aquarium

From aquarium

From aquarium

From aquarium

From aquarium

From aquarium

Mmmm..Spaghetti!

We have been trying to diversify Jack's food intake. I am getting tired of serving him baby mush, so I know he must be getting tired of eating it. He now has six teeth, so still not a ton for chewing, but we are trying more solid 'grown up' food to broaden his horizons at the table. He still is not a big fan of 'chunks' in his food, but is willing to try new things if he can pick it up himself. Recently we gave him a go at spaghetti. He ate a few pieces, fed quite a few to the dog (he now calls for Lola when he has something on his try he doesn't want to eat...great!), and generally just played with the noodles. It was pretty entertaining (and messy!)...here are some pictures.

From spaghetti

From spaghetti

From spaghetti

From spaghetti

Meet the Cousins!

Last weekend we all piled into the family mobile and made the drive up to Canada. Jack did pretty well in the car. He can now face forward (since turning one) and this seems to make things a bit better for the long car rides. Thank goodness for the Baby Einstein DVDs! The last hour is always the longest for him, but we made it there and back and kept our sanity!

We had a great visit at Nanna and Poppa's house. Erin's sister Amy and her man Brent were there with their baby boy, Avrey. He is now about 5 months old and is SO cute...ALL cheeks! He was such a happy and peaceful baby...he put up with everything from dog licks to a 1000 Makayla kisses! We also got to meet Chris (Erin's brother) and LeighAnne's new baby boy, Hunter. He was such a little peanut and kept us laughing with his adorable baby noises and peeing across the room! He is also so sweet and such a good little sleeper! And of course, Makayla was there to bask in the joy of having three babies around to cuddle and kiss and hug. She is getting to be so grown up and beautiful.

Erin got to attend the annual Jupp Golf Tournament and had a great time hanging out with his buddies. I know he wishes he could see them all more often!

So, here are a bunch of pictures from the weekend. I'll add some commentary along the way... Thanks to Nanna and Poppa for hosting us! It was so wonderful to see everyone and share some time with the family!!

Jack and Poppa with a big stick for Lola to chase into the pond.

From Hey Cuz'

Lola goes for a dip as Jack and Poppa smile for the camera.

From Hey Cuz'

Jack and Uncle Chris.

From Hey Cuz'

Lola and Remy who were best buds the whole weekend.

From Hey Cuz'

The Mama's and the Babies. (from right to left...Amy and Avrey, me and Jack, Makayla and LeighAnne and Hunter)

From Hey Cuz'

Little Hunter takes a snooze.

From Hey Cuz'

Makayla gives Jack a big hug and squeeze and kiss and hug and kiss....(she is so affectionate!)

From Hey Cuz'

Checkin' out the view and spending some time together.

From Hey Cuz'

Jack was in heaven...two dogs AND a ball.

From Hey Cuz'

Jack sat for a good 15 minutes on the floor fishing out cheerios and feeding them one by one to Remy. It was pretty cute. I don't think he ate a single one himself.

From Hey Cuz'

Another Makayla hug.

From Hey Cuz'

Jack and Poppa. By the end of the weekend he could say 'POP-a' pretty well and would shout it out whenever he saw Mark.

From Hey Cuz'

Happy Happy grandparents.

From Hey Cuz'

Uncle E lets Avrey borrow his hat. Look at those cheeks!

From Hey Cuz'

We tried pretty hard to line up all of the grandkids and take a picture. It was pretty comical and out of quite a few pictures this hectic one was the best. Jack would not sit still and kept this red apple in his mouth. We will have to try again once a bit older!

From Hey Cuz'

FOUR grandchildren (and one more on the way!)...Nanna and Poppa were so happy!

From Hey Cuz'

Jack received some wonderful birthday presents from Nanna and Poppa and his aunts and uncles. Here he and Makayla are playing with some new balls. I love the clash between his ACDC shirt and his new cool preppy hat!

From Hey Cuz'

The next day...showing off one of his new outfits...looking rather devious.

From Hey Cuz'

Poppa gives Avrey an airplane ride. He was giggling up a storm.

From Hey Cuz'

Makayla's turn to sneak in some love.

From Hey Cuz'

Hey mom...this is a delicious toy.

From Hey Cuz'

Hi G.G. (great grandma or Gram) can I grab your glasses?

From Hey Cuz'

One last shot...this was after the crew got home from a wedding. Makayla was the flower girl and looked so pretty! Nanna looks pretty hot too!

From Hey Cuz'

Swimming Lessons

So, Jack’s been taking daily drowning prevention classes; a birthday gift from Grandma and Grandpa. The gist is that they teach the child to float properly, should they fall into a pool or other body of water. Anyway, on Fridays, the parents are allowed to record the daily torture session swimming lesson, and the video below is what happened today. The poor kid doesn’t like it one bit, but it could save his life one day, so we take it pretty seriously.

A couple of spots to watch for are at the 2:50 mark, she torpedoes him straight down, and he makes a very nice recovery, and at the 3:50 mark, when he looks straight at me, and with his eyes, begs me to save him from the craziness…

After the lesson, we went over to the Waffle House, and he LOVED IT (who doesn’t?), until he barfed up everything he ate all over himself, me, and our table. Many thanks to the strangers who stopped eating to come over and help clean up the mess that the two of us made.

Steps, Part 2

So, as we were trying to upload the first video, he started to actually walk for us. We quickly turned the video camera back on, and caught the following. Try to count the number of times he says his new favourite word - 'no'.

A Video For Your Viewing Pleasure

We were finally able to catch our little man taking a couple of steps. We are so proud!!! Anyway, here's the video evidence. Hopefully there will be more to come later.