a boy and his dog...

jack and rosie vying for space at the front door...enjoy :-)

yeah for snow!

be it global warming, el nina, whatever, the mid-atlantic region has not been blessed with an abundance of snow this winter, so when we woke up to a few inches on the ground this past Friday, we knew it called for a snow day! here's some pictures of jack enjoying the snow (yes, that is an inflatable tub he's sledding in...no comments from the peanut gallery).

come on mom and dad, let's sled!

this is fun!

here we go...

sledding in tubby

this is the life...

family photo

walking is hard enough without snow

ok, i'm done, let's go inside and warm up

here we go...

fearless...the boy is just fearless...and finds walking to be quite and amusing activity - well, the lunging part at least.



oh, and if you listen close you can hear him imitating the laughter at the end of the alphabet song his frog is singing...what a nut.

and more...

in addition to my monthly updates, i'm going to try and provide more interim reports on your daily, weekly, bi-weekly, whenever doings...so here goes. funny weekend activity - lunging. to practice walking, daddy and i sat on the ground and put you between us - rather than take a couple of steps though, you found it much more amusing to just lunge for one of us, crumpling into a fit of laughter...oh well, steps will follow one of these days i'm sure - then we're really in for it.

we've also decided you are much more "miesmer" than murphy, you don't sit still...ever (well except for naptime)...you are on the go all of your waking hours - don't even like sitting in your highchair long enough to enjoy a nice meal...go, go, go, looking out the window, up the stairs, over to the basement to say hi to rosie, in and out of your house...phew, it's exhausting - but we know where you get it from, just look at mommy.

here's you and your friend sophie giving each other wagon rides this weekend - she's also a gal on the go...you two make a perfect pair.

"faster sophie, faster!"

"where to m'lady?"

One more month to go - Happy 11!

author's note: i was getting bored with the old template so have spiced it up a little - hope you like it! don't forget to leave comments, jack likes to know who's reading about him.

wow - in just one month you will be one whole year old...time does fly. well, our decision to take you out of daycare has proved to be a good one. you've gone 6 weeks since your last ear infection and have had a little cold in the meantime which, for the first time did NOT move to your ears - hooray! we saw the ENT in january and he did not recommend tube surgery for you, but wants to see you back in after the winter - another HOORAY! we're hoping your good health continues through february and into the springtime.

january is the month of "da" - everything is "da" you point enthusiastically at photos, the dog, yourself and "DA!" - we promptly respond with naming whatever the item is for you so as not to totally confuse you by thinking the world is made up of "da!" you've also started waving, clapping and doing a funny little jig this month...bruce springsteen is still one of your favorites, with the wiggles a close second :-)

stairs are also a great source of amusement for you - up, up, up you go until someone pulls you back down on your belly. tiring, but good exercise! this month, you and i took a road trip to washington d.c. to visit aunt maureen, uncle josh and stanley - you had a great time, especially yanking on stanley's fur!

jack goes to washington

though technically a february event, the majority of the fun was in january with the Giants winning the superbowl. every game day you put on your lucky eli manning jersey to cheer on big blue...here's some pictures of you and daddy cheering for the Giants.

Giants vs. Tampa Bay


Giants vs. Dallas


Giants vs. Dallas again (we're missing Green Bay)


SuperBowl!
(and yes, that is the same playoff beard on daddy....)

you have two lonely little bottom teeth - but i keep thinking the top ones are on their way in...i can see them just under your gums, but no actual top teeth yet. you're really getting to be a big boy - you drink one of your bottles out of a cup now and have started eating much more "big person" food - some of your current favorites are veggie sticks, teddy grahams and tortellini. only one more month until your first birthday - where does the time go?

11 months

happy 11 jack-jack!

love,
mommy

Happy 10!

The big 1-0! 10 months old, I can hardly believe it. Gone is the little cuddly baby and in his place is a rambunctious, happy, energetic almost toddler. Though you've had your fare share of ear infections this past month, the new year started off bright. To help with keeping you healthy, we've decided to take you out of daycare for the time being. Ms. Yvette was very sad to hear you are leaving, but daddy and I think it's the best thing for you in the end. You've got a great new babysitter, named Becca who comes to our house to watch you.

This month certainly has been a busy one! You say "mama", "dada" and lots of other "ba", "ga" and "ka" sounds. You're a pro crawler and as the video below shows, have started in on walking (with some help from your school bus). You're also really getting into table food, to the point where you tried to climb on top of your leapfrog table to get to the pretzel bowl!



We also celebrated your first Christmas - we had visits from everyone! Aunt maureen and uncle
Josh came to visit on their way to CT; grandma, grandpa, aunt kris and uncle mike came on the 23rd and nana and pop-pop were here at the end of the week. Below are some photos and video of you enjoying your first Christmas.

reading with aunt Kris and uncle Mike

Merry Christmas!

We also made a trip to Maryland for you to meet your great-grandma miesmer (also knowns as Gee-Gee). We had a fun visit - despite the fact that you REFUSED to take a nap.

playing organ with Gee-Gee

reading with nana

happy 10 you to, happy 10 to you, happy 10 dear jack-jack, happy 10 to you!

love,
mommy

Happy 9!

hey little buddy - happy 9 months old! it's been quite a busy month for you. we celebrated your first thanksgiving at the chaneski's house (aunt lee-ann, uncle steve, laura and scott). you had a great time and enjoyed all of the food there was to eat.

happy thanksgiving!
(pre-dinner)

happy thanksgiving!
(post-dinner)

daddy and i continue to be amazed at how quickly your world moves. from your early crawling at the beginning of the month to now you are nearly cruising on the furniture. you pull yourself up with relative ease - a good and a bad thing - as you'll pull yourself up in your crib and haven't quite figured out how to get yourself back down yet! you also manage to get yourself stuck in a few sticky spots.



some of your favorite toys this month are your leap frog musical table, your walker with the plastic envelopes, your train and of course your wooden blocks are still a hit! you also love to read books with flaps for you to lift and explore - the "peekaboo" series being your favorite. here's some video of you doing one of mommy's favorite moves (all we need is the stayin' alive soundtrack!).



you and daddy love to spend time playing guitar and you even sing with him sometimes. one of your new favorite games (not ours) is to spit while you eat, spit while you play. daddy decided it would be fun to have a spitting contest with you over this past weekend...




on the not-so-good front is your inability to nap at daycare, you just love being awake and playing with your friends so much that you just refuse to nap! it's frustrating for me and daddy because then you are very tired at night when we get home. hopefully you'll get it figured out soon and starting taking better naps.

only 3 more months until you turn one-year old! i can hardly believe it, daddy and i were looking at video of little tiny baby jack this week and can't believe how big you've gotten.

happy birthday little chief.

love,
mommy