One Large Post and A Lot of Pictures

Long time, no post! Yes, we're still alive. I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. I don't really know why I haven't. I guess I have had "Blogger's Block" and couldn't get it all together. But I'm back and I have a lot of pictures. Jack has really been growing and maturing. He is sleeping great. He slept from 7:00 last night, until 9:05 this morning - straight!! Then he napped for two hours around lunch, an hour in the afternoon and went back to bed at 6:30 tonight. I can't complain. This week we are going to work on taking a shorter morning nap and a longer afternoon nap. Without a long nap after lunch, we have a very long afternoon and a minor meltdown around 5:00pm. But like I said, we can work around all of that.

He's almost there!! Last week we put him in his Bounce, Bounce Baby that his BeBe and Granddaddy Guy gave him for Christmas and his feet touched the bottom!!! We were so excited. He needs to gain a little more upper body control before it is a perfect fit. He still tends to fall forward when he is sitting in it. On this day he stayed in it about 10 minutes and really seemed to enjoy himself. It has music and flashing lights and that's all he needs. In another week or two, I believe he will have the hang of it.

Jack making a silly face!

He makes a lot of silly faces these days and has learned to blow razzies. He blows them all day long and laughs at himself. Once that old colic lifted, he became a happy, silly baby!! We couldn't be happier ourselves.

Bless his heart, we had to go to Madison Friday for his 4 month check-up and shots. He did great - on the ride there, during his shots, and on the ride home. I couldn't resist taking this sweet picture, on the way there, of him sleeping.

Are we there yet?

This picture is of him waking up around

Winona on the way home.

Below are pictures of his wounds. He is happy to show them off, especially the band-aids. We kept telling him they were "Wild Thang" band-aids just for him. I think he liked them better than the Charlie Brown band-aids he got last time.

He did a few "Body Builder" poses for the camera. He wanted me to make sure I got word to Maggie that these handsome pictures were on his blog.

In the other pictures, he kept hiding his zebra print band-aid. But I managed a close-up.

He got a great report. He weighs 15lbs., 10oz. and is 26" long. He is in the 75th percentile for his age group and Dr. Ellison said that was perfect!!

Here he is waiting to go to the ballpark

to see his cousin Austin play ball.

During his 2 month check-up, Dr. Ellison said we could start trying him out on baby food around 3 months. We decided 4 or 5 baby spoons everyday at lunch. Just to slowly get his stomach accustomed. He loves his baby food!! Especially his sweet potatoes. Friday, Dr. Ellison said since he had done so well with the sweet potatoes, applesauce and pears, we could start trying other foods and he could have as much as he wanted three meals a day if we wanted to. So today he tried carrots and really liked them. I don't want to give him a stomach ache, so we're going to continue taking it slow for a few more weeks. I'm still going to feed him baby food at lunch, increase the amount a little bit, and try a new food each week.

Right now, his Bumbo makes the perfect high chair.

As you can see in the picture below, taken 2 or 3 weeks ago, Jack is outgrowing his little bath tub hammock.

So, tonight we decided to take the hammock off and see how well we work without it. We figured he would like his tub better without sitting in the hammock, because he could play in the water more.

He loved sitting up in his tub and playing in his tub. Since he can't sit by himself yet it was a little hard for us, but I think we can get use to it. Things were going so well until John spotted a UFO (an Unidentified FLOATING Object). Needless to say, Jack was forced to make a hasty exit from his tub. I won't go into detail about the UFO or it's "origins", but I imagine you know what I'm talking about so no explanation is necessary.

Now that we know he enjoys playing in the water so much, I don't think we're going to put the hammock back on. we'll just have to keep our eyes opened for those UFO's.

He loved his yellow rubber duckie!

Last weekend, Jack went to Winona for a couple of days and I have several cute pictures of his exciting time. I'll post those later in the week. I just wanted to catch everyone up on our Chunky Monkey.

He is enjoying this great weather. He loves to be outside and he loves to go for strolls and wear his red sunglasses.

We hope everyone has a great week!!

Hooray!

Blow the horns and shout "Hooray",

Our sweet baby Jack

is 4 months old today!

Sweet Little Hand

When I went in to check on Jack a few minutes ago,

this is what I found. A sweet little hand peeking

out from between his bumper pad and mattress.

I ran and got my camera. I told John if I

woke him up, it would be worth it.

I had to get this shot. I LOVE that hand!!

It's a Hard Life

Jack has such a hard life. Can't you tell?

Here he is sitting in his swing, wearing

just his diaper. There is nothing

this little monkey likes better,

except maybe his bottle!

Hey girls, call me for a swingin' good time!

Prayer Request

Easter morning my mom called around 8:00am. I expected they would call to wish us a Happy Easter and to see what the Easter bunny brought Jack. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. She called to tell me my cousin, Catrice, had died during the night. Catrice is my Uncle Clannis' youngest daughter. She was 35 years old and died in her sleep. They aren't yet sure the cause of death. She leaves behind two precious children, a son Peyton (13 years old) and a little girl Zoe (6 years old). Needless to say we are all in shock. Catrice and I grew up together and all I have been able to think about are all of the hours we spent playing barbie dolls and riding three wheelers. In one of the last pictures I remember being taken of us, we were at my grandmothers, and Catrice was rolling my hair on my Granny's old rollers. The kind that get tangled in your hair and hurt if you sleep in them. Not the sponge type, but the ones made out of wire and hard plastic.

I was also thinking this morning about my aunts and uncles on my mom and dad's side of the family. Nicole and I are blessed with wonderful aunts and uncles. Ones that love us like their own and would do anything for us. That's one thing that makes Catrice's death so hard for us - knowing how much it hurts our Uncle Clannis. Please pray for him and Catrice's sweet children. Life will never be the same for them, but I know the Lord can help them establish a new normal at some point and help ease their pain.

Jack's First Easter

Well, we just passed another milestone - Jack's First Easter! And I have to say, "It was a success!" Much like Valentine's Day, he celebrated Easter for about two weeks - thanks to all of our family and friends. Saturday we celebrated Easter, in Winona, with my family. Thankfully Nicole is feeling better and was able to make the trip from Tupelo to Mimi and Poppa's. We are so glad we got to spend time with her. We never get to spend enough time with her. And today, we spent Easter with John's family. We ate too much and had too much fun all weekend. (Can you really ever eat too much or have too much fun?) Here are a few pictures from Jack's First Easter.

Oh Boy, It's Easter!!

And I finally get to wear my new Easter

outfit my mom has been talking about.

She says my BeBe gave me this outfit

before I was even born!

Jack's Easter gifts from our friends and family.
By the way, we have the best friends and family.
Jack also received a large stack of Easter cards
in the mail. All of which are going in
his scrapbook. Thank you everyone
for being so sweet and generous to Jack.



More gifts.

And from the Easter bunny!
Jack got his little swimming pool!!

Jack and Uncle Sam.

I think Jack is trying to sweet talk

him into moving Aunt Nicole

closer to Grenada!

No, it's not Elton John.

It's our very own Jack

behind a pair of gaint Easter Egg glasses.

Ohhhh, you shouldn't have.

But I'm glad you did!

Talking things over with Aunt Nicole.

Relaxing

I will be more excited AFTER

my morning bottle!

I like Easter.

I like Easter eggs and

the Easter bunny.

But mommy and daddy told

me the best part about Easter

is that it is the day Jesus rose

from the grave!!

I Love Jesus!!

My favorite song is

"Jesus Loves Me".

Here, I'll sing it for you!

Easter Sunday with my

BeBe and Granddaddy Guy!

They have a beautiful yard,

perfect for pictures.

This is my cousin, Sara Brooke.

She has a broken collar bone,

but still managed to play with me.

She made me laugh and laugh.

She is very sweet and pretty!

This is my cousin, Austin.

My daddy says I will be as big as he is

one day and then we can all go

turkey hunting together.

I can't wait!!

Sitting in my Bumbo seat,

taking in all of the sights and sounds of Easter!

Jack had a great Easter and we enjoyed getting to spend time with all of our friends and family this week. Jack was perfect everywhere we went. I believe he enjoyed himself the most. John and I have been reading a sweet little book to Jack this month called "What is Easter?". It teaches children that hunting eggs and the Easter bunny are fun, but they are not the reason we celebrate and honor Easter. On Easter, we celebrate and honor Jesus and the fact He gave His life for us. I don't believe you can start to early teaching your children the true meaning of Christmas and Easter, or the importance of Christ in their lives. I hope all of our friends and family had a wonderful Easter.

Love Bugs

Two of my Love Bugs!

Jack always seems to surround himself

with pretty girls. My other bug, Matt,

had better things to do than hang out with us.

He and his dad were on their way to

a Kirk Academy baseball game.