Meet the Fullers

Jack Walking Around the Cabin in Door County from The Fullers on Vimeo.

Jack shows off his new talent for walking as he explores the cabin in Door County. And he manages to tidy up along the way. Way to go, Jack!

One of the really nice things about going on vacation to Door County again with John's family was that they offered to babysit Jack a couple of nights. John and I got to go out to Trio for dinner on tuesday night of our week.

Continue reading "Date night Door County Style" »

For Becky's birthday this year we took the day off from work. The day started out with us attending a mass for our longtime friend and accountant Dan Murphy who passed away after his battle with cancer. He will be missed.

In the afternoon we picked Jack up from school and took him to the Brookfield Zoo. He especially enjoyed watching the dolphins swim past the underwater viewing window, and the ice cream that we had for a snack. Afterwards we had dinner outdoors at Winberie's in Oak Park.

Some pictures used with permission from Andrew Falconer and Richard Tomlinson.

We're a bit behind in posting this...at least we got it up before July!

Jack's first birthday party was on Sunday, June 1 at 2 pm. John designed the invitations, and he made Jack a fancy t-shirt with a "1" on it to wear. John's parents, my mom and step-dad, my dad, and the Tomlinsons, Falconers, Goodnights, and the Gilchrists joined us for a beautiful afternoon of grilling out, playing with the kids, and celebrating.

Jack's First Birthday Party from The Fullers on Vimeo.

Continue reading "Jack's First Birthday Party" »

Happy First Birthday, Jack! You are such a light in our lives, and we love you so much!

Continue reading "Happy First Birthday, Jack!" »

Mission Impossible: Eating soup with a spoon from The Fullers on Vimeo.

We've been switching Jack to all self feeding for about a month, but we thought it was time to see if he could do anything with the spoon. He doesn't get much on the spoon, but he's getting the idea. Soon after he learned to say "yay!"

We hosted Nana and Grammy Rose for my first Mother's day here at the house. John and I had photo albums made of Jack's first year to give to the grandmothers; we deemed it a success because within the first few pages they were tearing up. John gave me a really nice new (larger) diaper bag that I can use as a work bag later, and the grandmas went in on Pottery Barn gift cards for me as well.

We had a lunch of chicken salad, croissants, potato salad, fruit salad, and Magnolia Bakery vanilla cupcakes, and celebrated the day with cava mimosas. Such a nice afternoon! And of course there was lots of grandparent time with Jacky.

Spring has been pretty cool around here, so we took advantage of a lovely early May afternoon to walk to Proksa Park and try out the baby swings. Jack seemed a bit unsure, but once he got a good hold (he tried several) he seemed to feel more comfortable. It was a lovely walk-one I've missed since being back to work.

Jack may also have been a little cranky because his first tooth finally cracked the surface today! At 11 months and 1 week, he seems to have been on the "late" end of getting teeth, but better late than never. He was cranky the week before as well when my parents came in to visit: he normally doesn't want us to hold him--he wants to go!--but he didn't want anyone to put him down. Since tooth one was fast followed by teeth 2, 3, and possibly 4, it's no wonder the little man was so cranky.

We are members of the Art Institute, and decided we wanted to see the Edward Hopper exhibition, so we loaded Jack up early on a Sunday morning to make the Member's hours before the exhibit officially opened for the day. We were glad we did, as later in the day the line was crazy! We really enjoyed the exhibit, and Jack professed his approval as well by doing his usual-sleeping through most of it. He did wake up at the end and expressed his thoughts about Hopper's later works while having a bottle.

Continue reading "Downtown Visit" »

Learning to Walk from The Fullers on Vimeo.

On a whim, we got out Jack's Walker after we got back from vacation. We ordered it with a few other toys off of E-bay when he was four months old, so it had been sitting unused for a while. But after watching him pull himself up like crazy on vacation, we thought maybe he was ready. And boy, was he! Jack pulled himself right up and proceeded to march across the family room repeatedly. He looked like he was mowing the lawn--John sees his freedom from mowing in ten years or so. He's worked up to being able to turn it around as well.