Mommy & Jack at Mountain Branch

Okay, I know. I know. No one is updating the blog anymore. Mary is too busy with Facebook, and, well, I'm just too busy. So the blog suffers.

I'll try to be better about it.

Cheeks!

Popsicles

In honor of America's birthday, we allowed Jack to taste a sugar-laden Firecracker popsicle for the first time this weekend. Needless to say, he really enjoyed it. Jack had a very nice 4th of July weekend. His Grandma Anna came up from Hilton Head to spend the weekend with us. He also got to spend lots of time with Grandma Susie, Auntie Kate, and Uncle Pat. Jack is very lucky to have so many wonderful people in his life!

Tampons are Fun!

Swimming lessons

Daddy and Jack had a great time at swimming lessons last week! Jack seems to be a natural swimmer. He loves kicking and splashing, and he doesn't even mind being dunked under water. We also discovered, at today's lesson, that swim diapers are really effective! We successfully avoided what could have been a very embarassing (not to mention disgusting) "fergie" in the pool situation!

Jack and his buddy Hannah had a fun time hanging out Memorial Day weekend...

"All Doubt Erased - He's Definitely a Buck"

Well, if there were any doubt that this child is the result of combining Mary and Jamie's DNA, consider it dispelled.

"I'm precious, see?"

Eat Carrots... Turn Into Screetcher Monkey!!

Madras and Mommy!

Jack's New "Look" for Spring

Well, to be fair, it's not so much a new "look," as a new expression. He gets this devilish, almost scheming, expression every once in a while, like he's thinking of doing something naughty, and I freaking love it. The new and normal looks are shown for comparison.

"Yes, I can pull off these shorts."

The Elusive "Suzequatch"

This video speaks for itself.

Jamie: "Eat your heart out Orvis!! Let Susie Buck show you how it's done!! (Keep in mind, this water is 46 degrees Fahrenheit!!)."

Susie: "Does this vest come with a hands-free system?"

Family Fly Fishing!

Susie and Jamie fly fishing the Gunpowder River on a perfect Spring day. Susie caught her first trout of the season using a difficult deep water "streamer" fly technique! Jamie almost caught several fish. The one that got away was, naturally, enormous.

Cute Close-Ups

I couldn't decide which one I liked most, so I posted them all.

-Proud Papa

Busted?

Is it me, or does he look guilty, like he was just caught in the act?

Chubster

OMG. I was just looking through some pics of when Jack was a newborn and I cannot believe how incredibly small he was!!! I think that at the time I refused to see or acknowledge how tiny he was. I'll admit now that I even got a little upset when people saw him for the first time and commented on how small he was. But my god, it was so true!

Jack at Four Months

I seem to get a lot of these pictures of Jack when we're puting him into or taking him out of his car seat. Maybe it's because he's sitting still, which is rare.

So, for all of you asking for updated photos, here's a picture from this past weekend.

Maggie's New Game

So we finally decided to put the old stuffed animals that were mine as a baby away. The ones that Maggie kept pulling out and leaving on the floor. See Jan. 22nd post.


That didn't stop Mags though. Her new game is to search for and retrieve one, just one, of Jack's pacifiers, and leave it in the middle of the dining room floor as she did with the stuffed animals.


The other day I came home early, and was greeted by a VERY guilty looking dog, who apparently had just committed an illegal act. I immediately new something was up by her expression and demeanor, and asked her, "Maggie, what did you do?" She took me into the dining room and showed me this. I immediately snapped a picture with my phone.

All Smiles!

Well, as you can see, Jack has a thing about being super cute in the mornings just before we head off to Grandma's house for the day.

He's almost at the point where he can actually laugh out loud, but not quite there yet.




So, when he smiles like this, a funny cooing giggling sound comes out of him. It's absolutely precious.

It's Cute, So It's Posted!!

Well, simply put, this has to be my favorite picture of Jack so far.

I snapped this as Jack and I were getting ready to leave the house and head for Grandma's.

Mary was having a rough day (Friday the 13th I might add), as she had just come down with a cold. Jack was being about as cute as I've ever seen that morning, so I snapped this with my phone and sent it to Mommy to cheer her up.

It worked.

Concerned, Just About a Few Things

"Ummm... I'm really not so sure about this whole 'sitting up' thing. In fact, I have some questions for you, if you have the time."

Daddy and Jack

Strollin'

We had gorgeous weather in Baltimore today, so we took Jack for a spin in his ride. He slept the entire time, but had fun anyway. We're very much looking forward to spring so we can go for walks more often, because being cooped up in the house gets old after a while.

Big Boy Clothes

I usually just dress Jack in little sleepers, so I got quite a thrill out of dressing him up in big boy clothes today!

Almost 11 weeks old

All of the sudden, my 2 and a half month old preemie is outgrowing all of his 3 month clothing! For the first 2 weeks he was home, he was wearing preemie clothes. From mid-December to mid-January he was wearing newborn clothes. Now all of the sudden his 0-3 month clothes all seem to be too small! I heard that they grow like weeds, but this is really too much.

Jack is so much fun now. He's smiling and cooing all the time and even laughed at me this morning. It's so much fun to watch his little personality develop. He is still so laid back, it's a wonder he's even my child.

Buddies

Jack’s grandma Anna made a beautiful wooden toy box for him for Christmas. She also gave us 3 stuffed animals that were Jamie’s when he was a kid: a puppy, a unicorn and a bear in a raincoat. When we were putting away all of the Christmas goodies in December, I just put the stuffed animals in the toy box and left it on the floor in Jack’s nursery. One day last week, Jack and I went out to lunch with my friend Kim. When we returned home, Maggie met us at the door with a very guilty look on her face. We discovered that she had removed two of the stuffed animals from the toy box. One was on the dining room floor and the other was on the landing of the staircase. I told Maggie that they were not her toys and picked them up and put them back in the toy box. The same thing happened a few days later, so again I picked up the animals (the same two she chose the first time) and put them back in the toy box and this time put the toy box on the floor in Jack’s closet. Well, Jamie returned home from work yesterday and snapped these pictures. Apparently Maggie had gone into Jack’s open closet and retrieved the stuffed animals yet again, this time all three of them. You’re probably wondering why we don’t just put the stuffed animals away somewhere Maggie cannot get to them. The answer is that we find this little game to be absolutely hysterical. Maggie is well known for destroying her “buddies,” as we call her stuffed animals. She’s also very smart and understands when a toy is not hers. So, she’s bringing these toys to us and asking us if she can have them, but isn’t destroying them while she has the chance because she knows they aren’t hers, although they do look very much like her buddies (as you can see in one of the pictures). So basically, this is just a call for attention. Her life since Jack’s arrival is still far better than most dogs’. Jamie still plays ball outside with her at least once a day and we still shower her with love and affection. Cesar Milan would certainly disapprove of this game we’re allowing her to play, but we don’t care. The look on her face when we discover the animals strewn about the house and then feign disappointment is just priceless.