Jack & Spencer's World

One of the big surprises at Spencer's birth (besides his being a boy) was that he had a head of dark hair. He had a thick horseshoe of hair around the middle of his head with a thinner patch on top. He kind of looked like a balding, middle-aged man. I guess this look didn't work for him as he is now losing the dark hair. It's coming out in small tufts leaving nothing in its place which is really funny looking. It will be interesting to see what color hair replaces the first batch and how long it takes for him to grow new hair. For the record, Jack was mostly bald until after his first birthday.

Last week, Justin and I broke down and finally got Jack's hair cut. We kept hoping that it would grow in with curls. Instead, Jack looked completely disheveled unless he had sunscreen in his hair - at which point he had greasy, curly, disheveled hair. We sucked it up and took Jack to a local children's salon. Yes, I'm sure that these mostly exist in NYC - but what else were we to do? There were tears and a few screams, but it wasn't as bad as expected. The result is a much cuter coif that makes Jack look a year older. Wow - is our little man growing up fast! the before not your average salon chair - there was also a tv to watch the movie of your child's choice (we went with Little Einstein's) things started a bit rough settled down once he realized a cartoon was playing the after - our little boy is growing up!

On June 1st, Jack took on his newest and likely most challenging role to date: big brother. His baby brother was born early that morning at 1:47 am. Jack's world will never be the same...but hopefully it will be a thousand times better! Spencer Shane MacFarlane is the newest addition to our little family. He weighed 7 lbs, 6 oz at birth which after Jack, made his momma quite happy! He was also 20 3/4 inches long. In the first 17 days of Spence's life, he has probably gained over a pound and grown an inch. Well the inch may an exaggeration, now that he's stretching out his legs, he seems to have grown. Jack has taken on his new role in style. He is very sweet to his little brother and also very curious. We are starting to see some pangs of jealousy, hopefully we are able to handle those well and spread our love and attention.

I remember a friend posting something to Facebook asking how you teach a toddler to blow his/her nose. I think I was pregnant with Jack at the time the question was posted and it really got me thinking...and stressed. I had no idea?!?! Well, somehow, we have managed to teach Jack to blow his nose. In fact, he has solid nose blowing skills that he likes to demonstrate multiple times a day. The only problem is that he hasn't associated having a tissue as a prerequisite for blowing your nose. So, snot and boogers get blown not only on tissues, but also on hands, books, Lovey, blankie...pretty much anything. This is definitely an "oh well" phase for us! :)

The Westside YMCA hosted a fund raiser last Saturday. They closed down 64th street and had a bunch of different trucks parked along the way - a fire truck, police car, school bus, ambulance, a Fresh Direct delivery truck (Fresh Direct is grocery delivery), ConEd Truck (ConEd is the local power company), backhoe, street sweeper, and several others. Kids (and kid-like parents) could climb into the trucks, play with the controls, and, of course, honk the horn. Given that two of Jack's favorite books include pictures of trucks, that he points out every truck like vehicle on the street, and that his current favorite toys are trucks (well, actually they are a police car, a taxi, and a tour bus - for now, all classified as "trucks"), we thought this event would be a hit. Overall it was. Jack seemed to enjoy steering the big trucks and playing with the controls. He was a bit overwhelmed by the number of people and the noise - there was a lot of noise - especially coming from th...

Yep, still posting late...but better late than never I suppose. We headed up to Massachusetts for Mother's Day weekend for a quick visit before #2 arrives. It was great to see all the family, celebrate Mother's Day, and - a bonus - celebrate Connor's 7th birthday. Some pictures are below: Looking just like his Daddy Peeking under the table at dinner Julia, Jack, Connor, and Jake (yes, J names are popular) Posing with Poppy Dad? It's for you.

Funny, this topic has been unintentionally omitted the last few months. Here's the quick update. Everything is going well with the pregnancy. I'm 36 weeks now - so only 3-4 weeks (hopefully not 5 weeks) to go. This little one is quite active and manages to stretch my belly in all sorts of directions. Otherwise, the baby is healthy and I am healthy. We have started to prep for the new little one. We have new stroller that can convert into a double at the right time. Jack loves it and I have to say that we prefer it to the other one we've had! The second crib arrived today and I'm expecting the changing table by the end of the week. Both of these will go in our room. Should be interesting to have the little one in our room for a while. Jack went straight into the nursery. I'm not sure how much Jack understands about what is happening. When we ask him where baby is, he smiles and points to my belly - which is super sweet. But he has also pointed to his belly and ...