26 & 27 weeks...oops

I can't believe he's 6 months!!

Well, obviously last week got away from me.  We were having too much fun with our meetups and playing in the evenings.

Jack isn't crawling yet, but he is doing the army crawl/scoot.  As soon as we lay him on his back, he flips over and starts to move all over.  Who knows how much longer we have before he's crawling.  Now in the bathtub, his main focus is pulling himself up.  He's almost there, but not quite.  If he holds onto our arms or hands, he can pull himself all the way up, but the level of the tub is awkward for him to do it without....as of now anyway.

Today we had our 6 month checkup.  Our doctor and nurses were so happy to see him and proud of his progress.  They said he is still above average on his strength and how well he can sit up on his own.  The doctor was laughing at how curious he is about EVERYTHING.  You can see him thinking about his next move when he gets his eyes locked in on something.  She said he's doing great!  He's grown 2 inches in the last 2 months.  He's 25.6 inches tall and just under 16lbs.  His body is finally catching up with his head :)

We reintroduced dairy as the GI instructed us to and it doesn't look like it's the right time for Jack.  Same with soy.  We tried soy first and his face broke out with the eczema.  They said that's the first indication that his system is reacting with it.  With the dairy, we had Home Slice pizza (my fav white pie in Austin).  It was yummy, but I didn't really fully enjoy it because my stomach was in knots with so much anxiety.  I was so excited to eat pizza, but even more terrified of Jack being in pain.  It didn't seem to bother him that much, but the eczema showed up on his face and tummy.  He was pretty fussy yesterday and the doc said that's likely why.  Apparently, it can take a few days to hit him.  Soooo, back to soy/dairy free diet we go.  

Tonight we get to start solids!!!  Jon and I are super excited about this.  I think we are going to skip the cereal (doc said it's fine) and go straight for the avocado.  They say this is one of the best things to start with because it has the good fats like breastmilk.  We will be sure to videotape how it goes.  I'm sure it will be more of a messy game than actual nutrition.  

Well, I think that's about it for now.  Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Lots of love,
The Waags

Almost there!

He loves his new swing

 

Makeout session

"Hey, you look like me!"

Yummy

My Dad says I used to do the same exact thing. Get this thing off my foot!

25 Weeks

Well, we survived the 2nd round of flying.  Flying is a completely different ball game now that Jack is interested in the world and is more mobile.  He slept a little on the flight from Austin to Dallas.  The flight to Pittsburgh was supposed to be a completely packed flight, but lucky for us, someone missed their flight, so Jack got his own seat.  Unfortunately, he only took advantage of this cozy little bed for about 30 min.  It was still nice to have him be able to stretch out and be out of my lap though.  We played with his toys, practiced standing, met a little girl that was his age and doing the infamous walk up and down the aisle, and played with some of the baby aps on the ipad...basically anything to distract him from chewing on everything in sight.  He didn't care to chew on his teething toys, instead, he preferred the germ infested armrest or seatbelt.  GROSS.

The weekend was great; the weather was perfect!  Tinga and Paps were happy to have their time with the little guy.  He had some new toys there to play with that he loved.  The old tried and true, color rings and shape blocks that fit in the holes...don't you love my technical names for these?!  Jack didn't sleep much while we were there, but he still did pretty good.  The wedding was a great time.  It was so good to see everyone!  Now if we can just convince people to get married in Austin :)

The flight home was much easier.  Since Jack was exhausted, he actually slept most of the way home.  Every flight attendant and lady on the flight wanted to pinch his cheeks.  He got compliments again on how well he did.  I don't think he had enough energy to really do anything but sleep haha!

He started getting a cough the day we left, and is still congested and coughing but no fever.  Everyone is still saying teething, but I'm not convinced he will ever get teeth.  I'm sick of teething and we aren't even through the first set of teeth, LOL.  Poor little guy can't stop chewing on things.  He's really going after his pacifiers which is not like him, but I guess it feels good and is soothing.  

Today we have swim lessons and then on Friday we are going to drive to Dallas to see the family.  Hopefully, this trip he sleeps most of the way and doesn't need to stop every 1.5 hours like the last time.  Jon is flying there again, so I'll be doing it solo.  We are looking forward to seeing everyone!!  

Have a great!

Lots of love,
The Waags

24 Weeks

Happy Tuesday!

It's been a great week since the last post.  Last week, Jack was SO close to flipping back to front.  He would get about 3/4 of the way there- completely on his side and then decide it wasn't worth the effort.  We were having a tummy time session trying for that next flip and I decided to put the baseball just out of his reach...that was the push he needed.  Instantly, he flipped all the way over and grabbed his baseball.  Of course it wasn't all the bright, flashy new toys we've bought him, no, it's the baseball that Jon has had for probably 20 years, covered in God knows what.  Now everytime we go in for a diaper change or trying to get him dressed, he is trying to flip over.  My grandmother reminded me that they used to use diaper pins...I have NO idea how they didn't stick the baby every single time.  Jack is such a wiggle worm, if we used stick pins, I'm sure someone would have already reported me to CPS from all the pokes he'd get.  

This week we start swim lessons!  I'm so excited to start these :)  Today we have music class and then tomorrow is our very first swim lesson.  Luckily it's just down the road, so it shouldn't mess up his schedule too much.  The past few days, Jack has decided he wants to sleep 2-2.5 hours during his morning nap and doesn't really want his evening nap.  He's always changing it up, but I like this change up...a lot!  This means I have more time in the morning and he goes to bed a bit earlier.  Win, win!  The only downside is he is sleeping through the usual meetup group time.  Yesterday we hosted the playdate at our house, so it didn't matter if he slept the whole time.  I think most of the babies are starting to sleep more in the mornings, so we might be moving the times around anyway.  It was fun having everyone over.  We had a few new moms join.  Everyone seemed to have a great time.  We are all looking forward to the fall where we can get these babies outside without melting!

We are going for round 2 on flying this week.  I'm not nearly as nervous, but I'm sure I'll still get a panic attack right before we go.  We are heading to Pittsburgh for another wedding.  Steve Mac and Katie are tying the knot!  We are so excited everyone and I know Tinga & Paps can't wait for their one-on-one time with their grandson.  

After Pittsburgh, we are heading to Dallas to see my family.  It will be my brother's last weekend in TX before he deploys.  We are really looking forward to seeing everyone, I just wish it wasn't his time to leave.  His time at home always goes by so fast!  We are crossing our fingers, eyes, toes, legs, etc that this is truly the last deployment he does.  Hopefully it flies by for everyone.  

I hate deployments, but a big thank you to the men, women and their families that put their country before themselves. It is so easy to go about our day and  take for granted that we have our freedom and have a safe place that we can call home.  All too often, we forget that there are so many that are away from their families so we can have these freedoms.  I know I wouldn't last an hour living in Iraq or anywhere in the middle east.  These men (and women) miss the big events like the birth of their kids, as well as the little moments that sometimes mean the most.  My brother has missed numerous events throughout the years, it wasn't always the holidays that were the hardest- it was the day to day events and "luxuries" of just being able to pick up the phone and talk whenever I wanted or just having him visit for the weekend. I am so thankful he has an amazing wife and daughter supporting him through these deployments.  Today marks the 2nd anniversary of Extortion 17.  31 families and numerous friends lost their loved one that day.  I will never forget waking up and seeing the news brief that a chopper went down with some of our finest in it; I knew instantly that my friend JT was in it.  I had just heard from him the night before through Facebook.  JT was an amazing guy that touched so many throughout his life.  He was a great friend, as well as an inspiration.  It seemed like there was nothing JT couldn't do; he always welcomed a challenge and wouldn't accept any excuses.  He is missed by many, but he loved his job and he loved his country more than anything.  I am thankful there are people like him in this world, because I know I couldn't do what they do.

Well, I gotta get ready for music class.  Time for singing cheesy songs and dancing with my little man.  Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe week!

Lots of love,
The Waags

What are you looking at??

He loves this baseball

He's not sure what to think of his new speedo :)

Him rolling over for the ball- sorry for it being so blurry, but I wanted to get it for Jon since he was working.

Eating out in his new travel big boy chair.  So cool- it clips on the side of the table.

The balancing act :)

Our Sunday morning :)