A day at the park!

Last weekend Daddy took Jack back to RI for the weekend while I worked. It was my first overnight away from him. Even though I was very tired from work, it was still hard to be in our little apartment without my 2 favorite boys. It was so quiet. I did get a good night sleep, but I missed my boys A LOT! While in RI they went to Jack's first birthday party-for baby Michael. I hear he was passed around and around and was able to see his cousins and be loved on by all sorts of family! It was a little overwhelming for Jack to be around SO many people, so they only stayed for a little while :). Daddy and Jack then spent Easter with Gramma and Big Papi too. It was a fun weekend for them. Jack got to show off with eating his "solids" and the Easter Bunny brought him some very fun little toys too! I was SOOO happy to see them both on Sunday night when I got out of work. :)

On Friday Jack and I drove up to Bellingham, MA and had a play date with Jill and Nick. It was a beautiful day so we had lunch at a park near their house and then took the boys for a walk. It was a fun day of chatting and playing.....the one down side-I left my stroller in Jill's car. :(
Something I realized when I woke up Saturday morning. After a quick call we made plans to see each other soon so she could return it to me. I AM LOST WITH OUT IT! I use that thing EVERYDAY!! Oh well....i will make due this weekend :)

Since the warm weather has FINALLY come to NE, we decided to take advantage! Today we packed up Jack and a picnic lunch and headed to Wickham Park in Manchester. It was a beautiful day and the first day that Jack was out enjoying the sunshine (other than being in his stroller for walks). We set up a blanket with some of his toys and let him play. Daddy and I enjoyed a nice lunch and soaked up the sunshine too. Jack felt the grass on his bare feet for the first time. Not quite sure what he thinks of it. :) There was a guy at the park with a personal parasail-thing. It was a huge "kite" attached to a little seat, attached to him. We watched him for about an hour trying to "take flight". It was pretty funny, but exciting when he did briefly leave the ground. All the fresh air and sunshine tired Jack out and he took a great nap when we got home (so did Mommy:) ). This is the first weekend in a while that we all have been home with no plans. It has been so nice to just hang out and relax at home!

Jack giggles!

Here is a little video of Jack and I playing. He has the cutest laugh when he gets going. I had gotten him laughing REALLY hard, but ran out of memory on my camera and had to try again. This is the second attempt. At first he is not going to let me have a laugh....but he eventually gets going! :)

Vanilla Ice, Final Four and Opening Day!

While Daddy and his UCONN buddies got together to watch the final four Jack and I headed to RI. We felt this was the "safest" place for us and it gave Daddy a chance to have a guys night and participate in some shenanigans with his friends while we were away. We were able to attend the 2009 Dancing with the Senior Stars at the high school and watch Uncle Mike. This is a program where seniors that are interested ask a teacher to join them as a partner and perform a routine. There were 12 teams that competed. It was very loud and that scared Jack at first. He is just not used to being around so many people and so many screaming high school girls! :) Mike put on an amazing performance with his homeroom teacher from 9th grade (Ms. Catenzaro). They danced to compilation of Ice Ice Baby and Funk Soul Brother. Mike blew us all away with his hidden dance skills! They came in second place (even though WE felt they should have been first!). All in all Mike said it was a REALLY fun experience and he was sort of sad that it was over. Here is the link for the performance on You Tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWGsZo6_tRs

On Sunday we added bananas to Jack's rice cereal and he gobbled it right up. We couldn't get the spoon in his mouth fast enough!! We also started giving him the cereal in the morning too since he likes it so much. So far so good!

Today we are getting ready to watch the Red Sox Opening Day game! It will be Jack's first Red Sox Game and we can't wait to introduce him to something we both love so much! Grammy bought him his first Red Sox hat and he even posed a little in it for us! Jack get ready to be immersed in Red Sox Nation! Jerry Remy and Don Orsillo will be voices you will soon recognize. I bet Daddy even gets you listening to WEEI in the car :).

We continue to work with Jack everyday with sitting in his Bumbo to build his back strength for sitting (eventually) and on rolling over. He is pretty good at going from belly to back and is about 80% with going from back to belly. If we hold his bink in front of him, he reaches out for it and can put it in his mouth! He is getting SOOO big! :)

Who's that cute baby in the mirror?

Time for rice cereal!

Yesterday we went to the doctor's for Jack's 4 month appointment. He weighed in at 12lbs, 13oz and is 24 &3/4inches long! He has reached all of the developmental milestones for this age and the doctor was very impressed by how well he was holding his head and interacting with us. He did well with the shots and so did I! I didn't even shed a tear and Jack's tears were quickly stopped with his bink and a few little songs and kisses! He was so brave :). We got the go ahead to start rice cereal and start to introduce the stage I foods (fruits and veggies). We expressed to the doctor that Jack has recently started waking up at night (usually twice, one time to eat and the other to "play"). The doctor told us that since he had previously been going through the night without needing to eat, he should still be able to do that and that he was just testing us. Well it looks like we have been falling for it! :) Since this not sleeping through the night started over the weekend while I was working, I just kept bringing him into our bed, more so that I could get back to sleep quickly. The doctor reinforced that this is exactly the time where we should be letting him cry it out to figure out for himself how to get back to sleep. Sounds like torture to me...but I know that it is the right thing to do and will only benefit all of us in the long run. Last night we put it to the test. He woke up at 1:30am and I let him cry/fuss for 10 minutes and then I gave him his bink...he was out until 3:30 where I did the same thing and he slept until almost 7am! This definitely proved to me that he is just looking for a little attention at night and is not starving or truly uncomfortable. Hopefully we can wean him off this little routine over the next week. I had gotten too used to sleeping all night :)!

Last night we also started the rice cereal. It was hysterical. At first he was totally confused, but eventually was getting more of a hang of it and actually seemed to swallow a few bites. Most of it ended up on his bib, shirt and all over his face and I am sure very little went to his belly. Tom had the video camera ready and we got some still shots too.

Over the past couple of days Jack has "found" himself in the little baby mirror that came with his jungle gym. He will stare at the baby in the mirror and just smile and smile. It is so cute. Tom captured some great shots of his face in the mirror! We are still working at getting him to roll from his back to his belly and he consistently rolls from his belly to his back now. When he is on his belly he has started "swimming" where he is moving his arms and legs like crazy....guess he is just training for his time in the pool this summer!

That is all for this week....have a great weekend!!