Street Soccer

Here's a quick video from this past weekend. After a week of rain everybody was happy to get outside. Sorry the quality is kind of grainy-- I'll have to learn from somebody who knows how to encode these better for uploading to the web.

4 months old today

Jack celebrated his 4-month birthday by staying up past his bedtime. This makes two nights in a row the young prince got a second-wind when he should have been heading to Sleepytown.

Last night, we only had ourselves to blame. We were just having a blast with the boy, dancing around and singing "Twist & Shout." Jack loved all this and then, of course, wasn't in the mood to sleep. Tonight, who can guess his reason. The mischevious smile you see in the picture above is fresh off the camera-- that is one wide-awake 4-month old!

He's down now, but he's got a big weekend ahead with lots of fun in store. A little road trip tomorrow and a Halloween parade in Del Ray on Sunday. Get some rest, young man-- you need it! (And so do your parents!)

As promised, here is an album pictures from October. We'll do a separate one for Halloween.

Mr. October

Best buds

Jack and Alex have hung out the past two weekends in a row. This past weekend, Matt & Mae brought Alexander to Alexandria (sorry, couldn't resist) and we all watched the Buckeyes play Michigan State. During halftime, we strolled the boys down Mount Vernon Avenue to The Dairy Godmother, a great little shop that makes frozen custard and sorbet. Del Ray is very baby-friendly. Our neighbors up the hill wrote a good post about Art on the Avenue, a neighborhood festival in Del Ray that everybody walks through, on their baby blog.

The weekend before last, Jack rode out to Centreville. I mention that drive specifically to discuss Jack's big improvement in handling car rides. Readers of this website no doubt will remember the Labor Day fiasco when Jack, then 2 months old, couldn't be subdued for hours on end in the car. Nowadays, he handles these trips much better.

What changed? Well, Jen found a neat product (cue endorsement): the Tiny Love clip-and-go mobile. It's simple, battery-operated and offers a great distraction when strolling or riding in the car. It's not on all the time, but it's a great thing to be able to turn on when he starts fussing.

In more interesting news, the young prince has become incredibly vocal. I will have to catch his ramblings on film again and share them with you. Sometimes he pumps his fist to emphasize the points he is making like a politician giving a stump spech.

Jack's 4-month birthday is right around the corner, and we have a check-up (and immunizations-- poor guy) scheduled for November 1st. I have a small stash of pictures I'll put up in an album before then, and of course Jack's first halloween is coming right up!

Too sexy for his onesie

Parents are always good sources of unbiased information about their children. Having said that, I'm happy to objectively report that Jack is the most handsome kid ever. No matter what he's doing, he's a darned cute little guy. This picture was snapped over the weekend at Matt & Mae's house (more pics to be posted later). Check him out-- he's cute just laying on the changing table!

It's a good thing he's got his looks going for him, though, because his sleep habits have gone retro and we are no longer enjoying the nice long stretches of uninterrupted sleep at the start of the night. This isn't a total surprise-- babies often have adjustment periods when mommies go back to work-- but knowing a thing doesn't make it all that much easier to handle. Fortunately, the little charmer keeps smiling his beautiful smile at us. We know he'll make it through, and so will we!

"Subscribe. Get your issue."

Have you ever logged onto your computer Monday morning expecting to see new pictures of Jack only to find that we haven't put any up yet? Or are you worried that one of these days Jack will do something really cool (like roll over) but you won't hear about it because you don't check the website very often?

Now you can avoid both of these tragic scenarios by subscribing to the website! Just pop in your email address in that new box in the left-hand column and you'll get updates delivered to you automatically.

While one moon waxes, another wanes

True Story: My sister, pregnant with #2, called last night to report to Jen that she could no longer button her pants. On this same day, Jen had happily discovered that she fit into a pair of jeans she hadn't worn in quite some time. It's the circle of life.

The social butterfly

After Jen's first day at the office last Friday, she surprised me by calling me as I drove home and suggesting we invite Jeff, Kathleen and Ellie over and order carry-out from Bombay Curry. I thought the babies weren't ready for Indian food just yet, but I was thrilled Jen felt up for it. We had a great evening with our neighbors and Jack got to try his smoothest "yawn-and-stretch" move on Ellie. Or maybe he was actually tired.

The next day, Jack got to see his buddy, Austin, when we popped over to visit Josh and Jenn. These guys were cracking each other up.

Now when all the fun was over and we were done visiting with friends and letting the babies play, (well, not exactly "play" at this point,) Jack went down to sleep. The weight of it all caught up with momma Jen, who became very sad as she thought about the demands of modern life and the "two-income trap" of living in the DC-area. It's very tough to leave young Jack in the morning and this adjustment period is a real challenge.

Pictures from the family visit

I'm finally getting those pictures up I promised last week from my family's visit to DC. It's no small effort to transport four adults and one child from Ohio to DC for a weekend-- Jen and I are very grateful for the effort. The weather was picture-perfect and we were thrilled Jack got to meet his cousin, Ethan.

Click on the album for a bunch of pics. I may add a few to this album down the road if I can get my hands on Karin & Dave's camera.

Family Fall Visit

Hot momma goes to work

I used to think having a camera on your cell phone was a gratiutious "convergence" product that didn't serve any real useful purpose. But then, this morning, I realized I had a chance to document a fairly momentus event-- Jen's return to work-- as I dropped her off at the Pentagon City metro. Now I think my cameraphone is nifty.

Things to notice in this picture:

• Jen's pants fit. (Wow.)
• Jen can't button her blouse all the way up. (Awesome.)
• Jen is carrying her breast pump in a discrete black satchel. (Slick.)
• There is a mailbox in the background decorated to look like R2-D2 from Star Wars. (Why?)

Once in a while I have to pause to pay tribute to my wonderful wife for all that she does. Jen has been amazing in the run-up to her return to work. Jack and I are lucky to have her in our lives, and I will be sure my son always appreciates his mother.

This weekend I'll post an album of pics from my family's visit last weekend, but in the meantime, here are a few tidbits from the World of Jack (also in list form):

• All the mothers who said Jack had tooth buds were wrong! Jack's doc said they are "pearls" and they go away. So much for the early-teether theory.
• With the teething theory shot, it turns out Jack might have a touch of reflux, after all. He's been struggling a bit with some of his feedings, so we are going to give him the reflux medicine. Put in perspective, this is a small thing, but for first-time parents like us, it's been an emotional rollercoaster.
• Jack likes to face out when he is carried. In fact, he insists on it. The boy likes to look out on the world, not at your shoulder.
• Jack is discovering his hands. In addition to putting them in his mouth, Jack is grabbing onto things with great deliberateness.
• Jack continues to be Mr. Smiles, especially in the morning. This kid can melt your heart with all his happy faces.
• Jack is also Mr. Talker now. He is making all kinds of noise. It's hugely entertaining.
  
• Last, but certainly not least, Jack set a sleep record last night. He must have known that his momma would need a good night's rest before going to the office, because he went down at 9 o'clock and slept until 6 am. Nine full hours! What a great little boy. Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention that we moved him out of our room to his crib earlier in the week. It's been a big week for our little family!