Jack & Spencer's World

Jack is a lucky boy to have not just one great-grandmother, but two! On Saturday, Jack met his other Great-Grandma - Great-Grandma Dot (Jenn's maternal grandmother). It was cute! Great-Grandma Dot was also very very happy to meet Jack. Four Generations: Great-Grandma Dot, Grandma Judy, Mom, Jack

The first part of road trip has been great. We started out Thursday morning - making our drop dead time to get out the door. A baby makes that process much longer! Our first stop was Mt. Joy, PA. One of Jack's Great Grandmothers (Jenn's paternal Grandmother) live there. The ride went well. Along the way, we introduced Jack to Chick-fil-a. Life will never be the same. :) The visit in Mt. Joy was great. Grandma Lyn and Jay were ecstatic to meet Jack. I've included some pictures below. We unfortunately couldn't stay too long as we had booked a hotel in Virginia for the night. Even more unfortunate, we didn't realize that our GPS system had a setting to avoid toll roads. Our little tour through Harrisburg added 30 minutes we would have loved to have back! Along the way, Jack did celebrate crossing the Mason-Dixon Line - he felt his Southern roots growing. :) Our overnight stop was in Harrisonburg, Va - home of James Madison University. We arrived around 9 pm whi...

Jack has started to smile more - we think that some of these are intentional and not just gas. This one is mid-dream.

Oh how things change - case in point, our Saturday nights. Two years ago, we'd likely be out with friends starting with dinner reservations between 9 and 10. Followed by drinks, out until 2 (or occasionally later) in the evening. Last night wasn't exactly that model. Here's how the night unfolded: 6:00 - small feed for Jack and then bathtime. 6:15 - Justin starts cooking dinner (wow, eating at home rather than ordering!) 6:45 - rocking Jack to go to sleep 7:30 - Jack down 7:40 - Justin and I sit down for dinner - I think this is great, I could be asleep by 9 pm! 7:55 - Jack starts to whimper. Justin goes to calm him, I start to clean up. 8:00 - Justin realizes that Jack is hungry as his cries increase. We hand off tasks. 8:02 - Jack's crying. Mel (our orange tabby cat) pukes on the rug next to the dining table. 8:50 - finish dinner and cleaning once the chaos clears! Sweet. Not exactly your rockin NYC Saturday night! Don't worry, I'm not posting ...

On Saturday, September 12th, Justin participated in his first NY Road Runners race. The race was four miles in Central Park. With the company of our friend Rich, Justin completed the course in just over 31 minutes - averaging 7:30 minutes per mile! Quite the personal best. Jack and I met Justin at the finish line. Justin has on the red shirt in the picture below. Rich is to Justin's right.

Perfecting his fly catching technique.

I've posted a couple of other pictures of Jack during bath time. These were priceless.

Jack is starting to work more and more muscles - from his flailing arms and legs to his little face. We caught this one while he sat on Daddy's lap.

...is not my favorite store. I have a variety of reasons that may appear in a later blog. I will share today's experience. I packed up Jack and drove to the Babies R Us in Paramus , NJ. This store is pretty mediocre in general, but it's the easiest one to get to with a car. I took my time reviewing options for some of the things I wanted to pick up. Jack was great - he slept in his car seat the whole time - despite the loud shoppers and frequent PA announcements. As I was checking out, Jack decided that he was hungry and told me in the only way he knows how - by crying. The lady at the register doesn't seem to understand that a crying baby means move faster. She starts by asking my phone number and then doesn't recognize my area code. As she is scanning the items, one comes up "do not sell." She ponders this and then says she'll need to figure out why. I have to ask her to put it aside. Then she uses the wand scanner for a larger item. After scanning the i...

Last Friday, we had a lactation consultant come in. I was worried about a couple of things: 1. Is Jack getting enough to eat through breastfeeding? 2. Is there anything I can do to help him feed more efficiently and potentially reduce gas? 3. A gut check on some of the things that we have experienced in the first 3 weeks. After starting with a contentious Q&A (thanks Justin), the consultant took an initial weight. Jack hadn't been weighed since day 5. We knew that he'd gained weight, but weren't sure how much. Let's just say that I don't have a supply issue. Jack weighed 10 lbs 4 oz. At a normal weight gain, he should have weighed 9 lbs 12 oz. So, we have a big boy. :) If nothing else, I can cross off one of my concerns! Check out this belly: