on his way to the tub!!

18 weeks, 4 days

Exersaucer 101

Jack loves to stand up, so this morning we tried out the exersaucer for the first time. He's still a little too small to fully support himself, but that's nothing a couple of towels couldn't fix!

Once we wedged him in there and backed away, he was amazed that he was standing without our help! He got some good practice in and even figured out how to make the blue, yellow, and green wheels turn! He was able to turn himself half way around, so he has an entire side still to explore! We think he likes it!

Our Weekend at the Lake

The Estes' invited us to the lake for the weekend, and they didn't have to ask twice! We packed our bags {for three this time!}, loaded up all the baby gear, and headed out. We enjoyed a BBQ dinner and then headed to the house to relax for the night.

Saturday morning began with some play time inside, a nap for Jack, and pool time for Eva. Already sporting the accessories at two and a half-I love that girl! The Goddards arrived and we headed out for a boat ride-it was Noah's First! The weather was actually quite nice, so we all enjoyed the nice lake breeze. We docked, the boys lounged in the lake, and the babies played on the deck in the baby pool--well two out of three. Jack napped again. We realized that the pack and play is now too small for our long boy, but he did a pretty good job making do. Eva loves to hold Baby Jack, and she does a great job! If he's awake-or even if he's not!-she asks to hold him, and he's just as content as can be in her little arms! He loves his god-sister! Our three sweet babies. Mark and I are so thankful to have such wonderful friends and meaningful friendships. Who would have thought way back when we were roommates and suitemates in college that we were also going to be able to raise our babies together?!? What a blessing! We had a very relaxing weekend and look forward to many more like it! Thanks again MB, Joey, and Eva!!

Happy Birthday, Lauren!

We hope you had a great time at the beach and a wonderful birthday today! We can't wait to see you soon! Love,
Mark, Michelle, and Jack

My boys

17 weeks, 6 days

Dear Grandma,

Thank you SO much for coming to stay with me for the past few days-what a fun time we had! I'm especially glad you were here to take such good care of me after I got my shots. I was feeling a little run down, and it was so comforting to be able to sleep in your arms!It was fun to make my new funny face at you, go for a walk-and fall asleep-for the first time in my stroller with you, and take great naps in the same one year old crib that you took naps in!I love you so much, grandma, and I hope you come back really soon! This is my "I miss you already!" face!
Love,
Jack

It's Contagious!

When you hear this, you just have to laugh, too! Or at the very least, it'll put a smile on your face!

Four Month Well Check

We went for Jack's well check-up today, and it went great! He was such a good boy again and even showed off his sweet smile when Dr. Trey was talking with us.He's meeting all of his milestones and received a clean bill of health-Dr. Trey said he looks great, and we are so thankful! He gave us the ok to start solids, but I think we'll hold off for now. He's already growing up too fast!!

Weight: 15 pounds, 10 ounces-70th percentile

Height: 28 1/4 inches-off the charts!

Head Circumference: 16 1/2-50th percentile

Happy Father's Day!

Jack is so excited to be able to celebrate his daddy's first Father's Day!From the moment we found out we were pregnant, I was convinced that Mark was going to be a wonderful daddy to our baby. As soon as they met, his daddy insticts kicked in, and he hasn't looked back! He loves to be the recipient of Jack's big grins and giggles, and knows just how to make that happen! Happy first Father's Day, babe-I couldn't imagine anyone better to raise our babies with! Jack loves you so much, and so do I!A big Happy Father's Day to my daddy who has taught me so much! A father's a father they said to me...He's the one who picked "Once Upon a Lullaby", then held my hand as we danced and cried! I love you deed! Happy Father's Day, grandpa! We look forward to telling Jack about what a wonderful grandpa you are! He can't wait to see you soon! Happy Father's day to a great father-in-law! It was nice to celebrate with you today!
And to a wonderful godfather-Happy Father's Day, Uncle Joey!

Does he look like me?

We've been hearing a lot lately that Jack looks like me. Here we both are at four months-what do you think? I see the eyes and nose, but that's it. Oh, and Mark said the ears.

Four Months Old

Another month and so many more reasons to be so thankful for this little guy. He's showing us more and more of his awesome personality each day, and we just can't get enough.He still gets pretty tickled with his daddy and is still pretty generous with his smiles-although I think he's starting to play games with us and hold out until we do something really worth a smile. He's such a happy baby!!This month he has become more mobile-for someone who can't crawl or walk! He's good at rolling from belly to back and rolled from back to belly once so far. He rolls onto his side a lot and grabs those sweet little toes but just looks at them wondering what they are. If he's on his playmat or crib, we never find him in the same place we left him! He is also grasping for his toys and pulling them close to study them. It's neat to see him learning so much already.He is starting to really find his voice. When he's on his playmat, he'll talk to the animals with a lot of coos and some squeels--love it!! We're working on ma-ma, but no luck yet! :) He is still a great eater, every three hours during the day, nursing for the last time at 7pm and then waking up to eat again at 7am. I think we'll start to stretch the daytime feedings soon, but I don't want to mess with his great sleep schedule!Jack,

It's been four short months since God gave you to us to raise. We hope that we've done a good job so far, and we promise we'll do our best to make you as proud to call us mommy and daddy as we are to call you our son. We light up at the sight of you and continue to pray for your health and happiness! We love you so much, sweet boy!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Thanks for the lunch date!

Grandma and Grandpa,

Thanks for driving half way to meet us for a lunch date! It's always so fun to play with you! Grandpa, mommy said she's glad she got to celebrate Father's Day with you one day early, and grandma-we'll see you in a couple days!!Thanks for the books and the paci thermometer, too!! You guys take such great care of me!

Love,
Jack

Happy Birthday, Laurie!!

Happy Birthday, roomie! We hope you have a great day full of hugs and kisses from Emmie and Cliff and nice kicks from baby Christian!We love you!
Mark, Michelle, and Jack

Four Years!!

Happy Anniversary, babe! I love you now more than ever!!Love, me

Finding his feet

Something new every day! He hasn't put them in his mouth yet, but I'm guessing that's coming next!

16 weeks, 4 days

Technology Baby

We are so thankful for technology, and so are the grandparents! We have a great time 'Skyping' with them-now if only we could figure it out for grandma and grandpa great!!

Happy Sunday!

16 weeks, 2 days

The Columbia Blowfish

It was a hot, hot day in Columbia, but by early evening it cooled off enough to have a night out as a family. After dinner with Meredith and Namath, we met the Goddards at the Columbia Blowfish game-Jack's first live sporting event!He did pretty well and seemed to enjoy watching the action. I think we made it thru five innings, and then he had had enough for the night-he wasn't too sure about all the loud noises.During a team change over, they let the kids chase Blowy (I think) the mascot, so Noah got in on the action with a little help from mom and dad. It was too cute! We are so thankful to have such a fun family activity right in our backyard. Jack has a lot to learn from Noah, and I can see that they will be running those bases together soon!