Wisconsin trip

We've been in Wisconsin the past few days, so that's why I haven't posted in a while. Every year we go up to northern Wisconsin to a lake house that our friend Don Brown's family owns (that's Don in the picture above). Unfortunately the weather was cold and rainy most of the time we were there, but it was still nice to take some time off and get away. A friend of ours loaned us an infant life vest, so we were able to take Jack out on the water. He was very helpful to Don in steering the boat. That picture was actually the only time we made it out on the boat due to the weather and cold lake water temperature. We were just out on a slow cruise; no one did any waterskiing. Since I was pregnant last year when we went up there, this is the second year in a row I haven't been able to do any water sports :(

The rest of the pictures are all from Wisconsin too. I hadn't realized until we got home that all of them were of Jack sleeping. I swear he didn't sleep the whole time we were there. I thought this was funny because you can see he's sleeping but wouldn't give up his grip on the toy.

This was from the one day where it didn't rain. Jack fell asleep while we were out for a walk, and he pulled his hat down cowboy-style over his face. He's asleep in this picture but still holding onto his hat.

Here's dad and Jack together on the couch.

Jack helped us out by sleeping quite a bit on the drives to and from Wisconsin. I had been a little worried about the trip, since each way it's 5-6 hours, but he did fine. A couple times he got a little fussy, but I'd go in the back and entertain him. I think we only had to stop once during each drive, so he really couldn't have done better. I hope he does the same next week when I take him to Louisville, Kentucky. I have a conference there for work, so we'll be doing a fairly long drive again. I'll have a couple of coworkers with me so we won't be by ourselves in the car. We're looking forward to the conference and also getting to see my high school coach, since I went to high school near Louisville.

I forgot to mention that Jack had his 6-month old checkup last week. He did great getting his measurements taken this time, and he didn't suffer any ill effects from the shots. His weight was 17 pounds 12 ounces, and they said his length was 26 inches but I know he's longer than that. He won't fit into a small sleepsack anymore, which is 26 inches long. So his weight gain has definitely tapered off--I think he's gaining at only a pound a month now. 

Unfortunately we also had to visit the doctor again today. Jack had an allergic reaction, which we think was due to the introduction of a new food (peas). He started to break out in a rash while we were in Wisconsin, and by the time we got back to Chicago it still hadn't gone away, so we took him to get checked out today. The poor kid has hives all over his chest, back, and up the back of his head. It doesn't seem to bother him too much, except for a few bumps on his face which he keeps rubbing. When he's undressed, he'll scratch his stomach, but with clothes on he usually doesn't try to. We got a cream today which should help ease his symptoms. Unfortunately he's still too young for Benadryl, so we can't do anything to stop the allergic reaction. It hasn't gotten worse today, so hopefully we've reached the peak and it will gradually get better. But as long as we can relieve the itching, that will make the main difference for Jack.