The Many Smiling Faces of Jack

laughing with Daddy

Grandma Tammy with Ethan, 6 weeks, and Jack, 11 weeks (she was confident she could handle both at once - and get both to sleep - because my mom's first two were twins.)

Though Jack has always been a talker (since day one), lately has also become quite the smiler. My favorite is when I lean over his crib to pick him up. He gets this big grin on his face and just starts giggling because he's so excited I'm there! Little things like that make being a mom all worth it. :)

Fun facts about Jack, eleven weeks old:

• His usual sleep schedule is from 10pm to 7 or 7:30am.  9 hours isn't bad at all! He usually goes down "for the night" around 7pm, but I wake him up around 10 for another feeding, which he hates. I wonder if he'd still make it through the night if I didn't wake him up?
• His laugh sounds a lot deeper than his "talking" does. It's like a "huhhhhh huhhhhhhh huhhhhhhhhhhh" sort of noise when he gets all excited.
• He is a little squealer! We call him "squeaker" as a nickname. I've never heard another baby make high-pitched, ear-splitting noises like he does.
• His cheeks keep growing and growing! He's like a little chipmunk.
• His hair also keeps growing and growing. He really needs a haircut but I'd feel bad giving him one already! It sort of parts in the middle, which is pretty awkward, and he has too many cowlicks that I don't know what to do with. His hair is naturally curly like mine and I've just been keeping it that way lately. Today I put some cream-gel in it to keep the fuzziness down.
• He's not an ambi-turner. (Name that movie!) He has torticollis, which is a condition where he has trouble turning his head to the left. It's not that he can't turn left, it's just that he prefers not to. So it turns out we have a little Zoolander baby after all! :) We are going to physical therapy with him right now to correct this and he's made a lot of improvement! Dr. Ben is very patient with him and we do exercises at home with him everyday. They think it was caused by him turning in the womb too early. His head was in my pelvis for the last two months, and therefore his neck probably wasn't straight and didn't strengthen as much on the left side.
• He has tasted tiny bits of both tomato and sour cream, and doesn't care for either so far. Mommy thinks he's holding out for the real stuff - chocolate. ;)
• He hates tummy time, but the funny thing is that he only turns to the left when he's on his tummy. So unfortunately this is a great exercise for him! He has also learned to roll over onto his back from his tummy when he gets ticked off. Unfortunately then I have to "rescue" him because he gets "stuck" in the boppy pillow!
• Jack picks up on jokes. Whenever Tyler or I tell a joke to one another (not even acknowledging Jack), he giggles and smiles really big. Do you think he knows what we're saying??
• He loves college basketball and sportscenter on ESPN. Daddy is really excited to teach him math through sports. Maybe it's not the best thing that our 2 1/2 month old loves tv already, but it sure does help us with this neck exercises.
• He is just now starting to fit into his 3-6 month clothes. He is still a tall and skinny baby. He fits best into Gap, Old Navy, and The Children's Place clothes.
• He loves "jogging" with Daddy in his stroller. He is such a good sport - Tyler and I exercise 5 days a week now and he seems to love it too!
• He just recently graduated from the slow bottle nipple to the medium bottle nipple. (Funny story: My parents were in town this weekend for my sister's baby blessing, and we went to Walmart with my dad. Tyler was looking at the bottle nipples and was hesitant to get the brown ones - they didn't have the medium flow clear ones like we are used to. Tyler just said the brown ones looked weird. Then my dad chimed in and said something like, "Well, Tyler, have you ever seen a clear nipple on a woman?")
• Jack loves his swing now. He has taken a nap in it several times, which is nice because it allowed me to get chores done around the house.

Fun facts about Tyler and Alie:

• Tyler graduates with his masters degree in April. We are so excited!!
• Alie is finished with school, but doesn't know if she wants to walk or not for graduation.
• We have made a commitment to exercise 5 days a week. It's going well so far and we love it!
• Alie is making travel posters to decorate the family room. They look really cool so far and we're excited to hang them up and bring some more color into the room.
• Alie ate a piece of shrimp for the first time yesterday. She didn't die, but she won't do it again.
• Tyler made Alie breakfast in bed this morning. She loves him so much for this. :)
• Alie made two batches of cookies Thursday afternoon. Tyler woke up on Friday morning and told her he had a dream about them. (Must have been some dang good cookies!)
• Alie just finished reading I am Number Four on her Kindle and loved it! She can't wait for the sequel to come out.