These photos were shot on May 8, the day that Becky reached 36 weeks of pregnancy. That means we're getting close! 40 weeks is the full course, making our due date June 5th, But at 37 weeks the baby is considered full term. The baby apparently spends the last three weeks putting on weight so that when he comes out he's got the strength to face the world. Bulk up little man, you're gonna need it! Becky's carrying the baby like a champ! Compared to most of the other women at similar points in their pregnancies that we've seen in our classes, Becky doesn't look nearly as completely taken over by belly. This must be one of the many pluses of being tall.
These photos were taken on April 15 at the first of two wonderful showers that people threw for us. This was in Rockford at future grandparents Rich and Leta Stewart's house.
These photos were taken on April 29 at the second of two showers that were thrown for us. Many thanks to Anita Goodnight, Danielle Tomlinson, and Lisa Falconer for all of the organization efforts, and to everyone else that attended for all of the presents!
Here's Becky at 37 weeks on May 15th. Today is a landmark because even though our actual due date is still three weeks away, this is considered full term. So if the baby comes now, he should be in good shape and healthy. Congratulations Sparkles, you're almost there. We can't wait to meet you!
We took Jack in to meet his new pediatrician today, Dr. Gruszka. He's doing well, and has maintained his small loss of 2 oz. from his birth weight of 6 lb., 2 oz. He's holding steady at 6 pounds, which is great considering he's so small! They expect babies to lose up to 10% of their birth weight, but we were hoping that Jack wouldn't lose that much. Way to go, peanut!
So I went a little crazy with the pictures, but I couldn't help it. I love Jack's new Babylegs. He has four pairs, three of which are nice and cute and babyish, and the fourth are these hot numbers. I think I'll get him the Jolly Roger ones as well. I'm here to testify that these are a genius invention-you can change diapers around them, they keep Jack warm in the AC, and they're cute to boot. Yay, Babylegs! John sings the theme song to "Fame" to Jack whenever he wears them.
Jack went to his first 4th of July BBQ! And wore his special bib just for the occasion, thanks to my parents' neighbors across the street. We took Jack over to visit his buddy Karthik at Chris and Anita's house, and Danielle and Richard brought Liam as well. It was a nice afternoon-hot but not too hot. Jack slept in his sling on Daddy for most of it. We didn't make it to fireworks this year but maybe next year...
Today Danielle, Anita and I took the boys to the zoo. Karthik and Jack were there for the first time. The Brookfield Zoo is about 10 minutes from our house, so I predict we'll be spending a lot of time there in future. And that's a good plan, as going to the zoo is a lot different when you go with a baby (or three). We bundled everything into the car (that took a while), then we had to get us organized (buying water for Danielle and Anita, getting cash for me), then we walked a little. Then one of the boys needed a diaper change. Walk a bit. Then we (the mothers) needed to go to the bathroom, then the boys needed to eat, then they needed diaper changes...it was all we could do to see about five different animals before we had to go.
Luckily, Danielle and Anita have memberships (and kindly took Jack and I as a guest), so since that lets them go as many times as they like it means you can go for a couple of hours and not feel badly when you don't see much. I think a membership is in order for the Fullers next summer! Hopefully by then Jack won't sleep through the whole thing...
John's mom and dad and his aunt and uncle stopped by for a short visit on the way home from their annual vacation in Door County-it was a lovely afternoon! We got to introduce Jack to his Great Aunt and Uncle and of course he got some time with Grandpa Jack and Grammy Rose. They brought Jack a Wilson's Ice Cream parlor t-shirt from Door County that is sized right to fit next year and camouflage ice cream stains. I got a really nice berry colander (and Jack got another onesie as well). Also, Grammy brought baby photos of her and Grandpa Jack-the family resemblance for little Jack is clear! We'll scan it soon and post a comparison.
The day after Baby/Daddy day, I had my six week check up with my OB/GYN. We took Jack with to reintroduce him to Dr. Chen, who delivered him. John has always been amused by the fact that my doctor is in the Playboy building on Lake Shore Drive, so we figured as an extension of Baby/Daddy day we'd take a photo of Jack outside the Playboy building. It's like a trip to Mecca for the breastfed baby!
Feeling like they've been away for too long, Grandma and Grandpa Stewart came for an afternoon visit. We couldn't have had a more beautiful day for it. The weather was perfect and we took the opportunity to sit outside and barbecue pork chops. A wonderful day all around.
On Sunday John's parents came for lunch and a visit...and brought lunch for us-Gondola sandwiches from Peoria! They also brought us some shady plants for our garden and helped John plant them, and of course had some cuddles with Jack. We showed them Jack's tricks (smiling, cooing, sitting in the Bumbo seat, looking at his friend Star and hitting the toys to turn on the music) and they thought he'd grown a lot since they saw him three weeks ago. We also scanned pics of Rosie as a baby and Jack as a baby and will post those soon.
Although we love the name Jack Carlyle for its own merits, when we were choosing the name we were inspired by our families and picked a name to recognize those that have come before us. The name Jack is the first name of my father, and the name Carlyle is a name that has appeared a few times in Becky's family.
More on the people in the photos after the jump...
Week 11 update:
This week I finally got around to installing the letters on Jack's bedroom wall to spell his name. It was way more tricky than I imagined...
Jack and I took a walk at least several days a week this summer, and often we went the same route through Proksa Park, as it was very pleasant and also cool on hot days. I took pictures of our route on one of our last summer day walks to remember it!
We went to a Labor Day bbq at the Goodnights on Sunday-it was another chance to get the boys together! AND...there were GIRLS. For once. The Eures brought their twin girls to offset all those boys. It was fun to watch them all play on the grass (though Jack is still a little too young to do much). We did a little photoshoot as well, but turns out baby wrangling is like herding cats, so these are the best ones John and I got.
Here it is the beginning of October and we just realized that we essentially missed all of September for posting. The number of pictures taken has also dropped sharply. I attribute this all to going back to work, and the fact that we've been suffering from a host of plagues in September. September, usually I love you (last year I loved you so much I got pregnant) but this year I was happy to see the backside of you.
Is there a weekly equivalent to "Annus Horribilus?"
Week 17 Update
We came home from Rockford feeling good...great even. John had a new digital video camera, Jack had Twilight Turtle, we got shakes and cheese fries at Beef-a-Roo. What could possibly go wrong?
My dad and Bobbi came in to visit for Thanksgiving and babysat for us so we could go to Dennis' party. They sort of laughed at our first time parent instructions, being that between them they have four children and we have one, but they were very indulgent, and apparently Jack did his part and slept peacefully without waking up once. Yay, Jacky! Way to convince people to babysit!
We had a great time celebrating Liam's first birthday with him...hard to believe it has been a year already (or that Jack is six months old...he's almost exactly six months younger than Liam). Here's to many more happy birthdays together! Best wishes, Liam!
We did a little photoshoot this weekend for our Christmas cards (yes, we probably should have set something up professional-like; remember how we didn't post for a month? Planning is a bit lax here at the moment). The results came out pretty well for it being an amateur job; at least we tried to get some natural light. That was a bit challenging as a snowstorm was brewing (Jack got to see his first snow later in the day on 12/1).
Jack got an early christmas present in a Mini Boden snowsuit from Linda and Chris in Colorado. It's super warm and puffy. Hey Mom, let's go snowmobiling!
We put him in it to go get our Christmas tree, but neglected to take any pictures of the event. However, it kept him so warm and cozy that he fell asleep while we got the tree in the snow!
We signed Jack up for some swimming lessons at the Y. He had to wait until he was 6 months old, but now he's signed up for a three week session on Saturday mornings. He took right to the water without any screaming or crying. He seems to be a natural!
We traditionally went to both Rockford and Peoria for Christmas; it was a lot of packing and hauling and travel, but it was fun and we did it knowing that we'd eventually want to have Christmas eve and morning at our own house when we had children. That time is here! We have tentatively set up a plan where we spend Thanksgiving with either John's parents or mine, and then the parents who hosted Thanksgiving are invited to join us at our house for Christmas eve and morning. Then we travel to the other parents' house either later in the day on Christmas or the next day. This year, we hosted John's parents and his aunt and uncle. It was a great success, and we had a lot of fun!
After Christmas morning with John's parents and Aunt and Uncle, we did a bit of cleanup, fed the cats, and then packed up and headed out for Christmas round 2 with my parents in Rockford. We arrived about 4 pm...
Jack's First Christmas-Celebrating with Grandpa Rick
On the afternoon of the 26th we stopped over to see my Dad. He was supposed to come in and visit us on 12/23, but he was ill and couldn't make it, so we got together in Rockford instead. He was impressed with how much Jack has grown (he weighed 15 pounds, 4 ounces at the Doctor on 12/27! Way to go, Peanut!) and how active he is. John and I joke now that it's less like having a baby and more like having a baby badger. He's very active and twisty-a fact my Dad found out first hand trying to hold him.
We exchanged gifts, and also tried to help my Dad set up his Tivo we gave him-there have been some technical difficulties, but hopefully he's on the path to getting it set up and joining the "tivolution".
Becky woke up this morning wanting waffles. Jack has never had them before but seemed to approve. And the maple syrup must have worked some magic too because he gave the jumperoo a good workout afterwards.
Jack demonstrates his new technique for grabbing very small items and feeding them to himself. Peach puffs! And then he gets messy with a teething biscuit.
For Valentine's Day, Nana and Grandpa Stewart gave us a membership to Brookfield Zoo. We took advantage of the (relatively) nice weather to take jack out for a visit. I don't think he had any idea about what the animals were, but he enjoyed watching them anyway, and we enjoyed telling him their names. I think his favorite was the miniature horse who stuck his head out of the pen to smell Jack.
Jack had a lot of fun in the condo. He's become an expert crawler and is moving on to standing. He pulls himself up on all furniture and can no longer be trusted not to get into whatever it is that you don't want him to get into. This was our first vacation with Jack along, and it was great. It takes more time and planning to have him along, but he's so much fun. He was adorable crawling around the condo and kept Becky and I laughing at his antics.
The Condo we stayed at thanks to the DiFranco family was beautiful. It was part of a community called Fiddler's Creek. One of the perks was that we got to enjoy the beautiful pool at the "Club". It rivalled any of the nicest pools that I've seen in Las Vegas, except that it was much less crowded. And they would bring around the most delicious mojitos I've had. I think that Mojitos will need to be this summer's drink. I need to plant some mint in the garden.
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.
