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.

Christmas Day

O Christmas Tree

Merry Christmas everyone! (a wee bit early)

Stinky Jackson!

I was under the mistaken impression that newborn poo wasn't supposed to smell all that bad. Boy was I wrong!

Bouncy seats are fun!

Sleepy Monday Morning

Jackson is home!!!

Jackson finally came home yesterday, after 24 days in the NICU! Jamie also pointed out to me that yesterday was the 4 year anniversary of our first date, so it seems that December 4 is a good day for this family.

The highlight of the day was introducing Jack to Maggie. She wasn't really sure what to make of him, but she definitely seems to like him. She needs to learn that licking his hands is a no-no. I'm attaching a video...sorry it's sideways. I can't figure out how to rotate it. Just tilt your head ;)

We didn't get much sleep last night, but are just so thrilled to have Jack home that we don't care. He's a really loud sleeper (lots of cooing, groaning, gurling, etc) so that kept us up. Also, if Jack went more than 10 minutes without making noise, Jamie jumped out of bed to peer into the bassinet to make sure Jack was still breathing. It's so much fun being first time parents!

We took Jack to his first pediatrician appointment today and he weighed in at a whopping 7 lbs!

Wow.

Jamie can't believe that horrible sound just came out of his precious, tiny baby.

EARLY ARRIVAL!!!

Well, to say we were surprised by Mary's water breaking 5 weeks early should say a lot, if you know Mary, who's usually prepared, and a step ahead of chance. But, break it did, at 3:00 a.m. on November 8th. So off to the hopsital we went.

I won't go on about the details, but the short of it goes like this:

Water breaks; Mary wakes up Jamie; Jamie still thinks he's asleep.

We go to hospital, and are informed "oh yeah, she's 2 cm dilated, and 65% effaced. Jamie still doesn't know what these terms mean exactly, expecting to learn all about them at birthing class on November 9th. (more below).

We go to Labor & Delivery, but labor is stopped later that day.

Jamie walks over to the scheduled birthing class the next day, to tell them that, unfortunately, "we weren't going to make it." (Also, we wanted our money back.)

Mary gets moved to the "high risk unit," where she is told she will stay until her due date, or until the baby decides it's time, or until the docs decide the risk of infection is too high.

We get totally moved in. The docs THEN tell us the risk of infection is too high, and we're inducing that night. Nice.

The inducing does indeed happen that night, and we sleep through 13 hours of labor. Thank GOD for the epidural! (Jamie tried unsucessfully to get his own epidural several times).

JACKSON HENRY BUCK is born at 8:23 a.m., on November 11, 2008.

Little Jack has been in the NICU since his birthday. He's doing really well, and we're hoping spring him any day now!!

Here are some pictures to introduce you to Jack!

Love,

The Buck Family

Jackson Henry!!

More Jackson Henry!!

33 weeks

At my sonogram early this week, the baby was estimated to weigh 4lbs 15 oz already...and I still have 7 weeks to go. My OB tells me that I am carrying a "gigantic" baby and joked with me that if he goes to term, we are going to have to figure some way to get this baby out of me.

PS...check out the Shrek hands.

Happy Halloween!

Jamie's awesome pumpkin carving.

Karma?

Having had my catalytic converter stolen from beneath my 4Runner last year, along with an attempted theft of it in '04, I get a sick sense of pleasure out of this news story:

Man Crushed By Car In Salvage Yard
BALTIMORE -- Baltimore city police said a petty crime turned deadly for a man at a city junkyard. Police said two people were looking for parts from vehicles at a salvage yard in the 2800 block of Hawkins Point Road at about noon Friday when they saw a man lying under a car that had fallen when a jack he was using to lift the vehicle collapsed. Authorities said the victim was trying to steal a catalytic converter. Crews found the tools he was using to remove the part. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. His name has not yet been released.