Poor Lou can't catch a break. Jack completely took over Lou's bed the other day with his toys and turned it into his personal office while he caught up with some work on his laptop.


Jack's speech therapy has been going well. I think he's had 5 sessions now. Our therapist really gets along with Jack, and she does the sessions at our house. She's been very impressed with how smart Jack is and says a lot of the things he can do are more reflective of an older 3-year old. She brought all these toys to teach him letters, colors, shapes, etc, but he already knows everything!

She's taught him a little sign language, which he picked up on instantly. He's getting better at trying to make sounds and repeat noises that we make. The therapist said she'll help teach him and us the basic tools for practicing speech, but it ultimately comes down to the fact that he'll start talking when he's ready. I took this video a while ago, maybe even before the therapy started, and forgot to post it. These are the 3 words he says the most. It's so cute how he says "papa" and "dada."


We also have some other exciting news--we're moving! We've been looking for a house (to rent) for months and finally found a great place that will give us the extra space we need. It's in Oak Park, which is just outside of Chicago. The last stops of 2 El trains are in Oak Park, so we'll still be connected to the city and the commute downtown will be easy. The house is significantly bigger than our current townhouse, and it has a huge backyard. We're really excited about it!

We'll be moving on July 16, and our new address will be: 508 S. Elmwood Ave; Oak Park 60304.

Fathers' Day Weekend, Part II

Jack had lots of fun playing with and being spoiled by all his grandparents on Fathers' Day. He and Grandpa Nold tossed the ball around while Jack sat perched atop his mountain of pillows.


Everyone likes to play with his firetruck.

Jack ready to hit the beach.

He's still not a big fan of sand (doesn't like the way it feels and that it's hard to get off his hands), but he'll at least use shovels and buckets to play. Jack and Grandmomma Fields made some nice sand piles.

He had the most fun playing with his watering can.



Our next-door-neighbors' granddaughter Eva was visiting that weekend. She (reluctantly) shared some of her toys with Jack. She's just a few months older than he is.



All good things have to come to an end...here's Jack saying goodbye to Grandmomma and Granddaddy Fields. We had a wonderful time and miss you already!

Fathers' Day Weekend, Part 1

First things first, Andy got to hug the Stanley Cup on Friday when it was brought to the Options Exchange.


We had a wonderful Fathers' Day weekend. Granddaddy and Grandmomma Fields visited from Georgia, and along with Grandma and Grandpa Nold, we all went to the lake house for the weekend. One of Jack's favorite activities was playing with this large piece of bubble wrap.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner outside on the porch Saturday night.

Jack entertained everyone by making funny faces. He's also recently discovered ketchup, which you can see on his tray. On Friday night, to our great amusement, Jack tried and seemed to enjoy the unusual delicacy of strawberries dipped in ketchup.



Jack helping Dad drive the boat.

Tubes make great trampolines!


Jack spent some quiet time before bed playing with his firetruck.

Bedtime hugs and kisses were passed all around.

Flashing gang signs?

Still a Girl!

I had an ultrasound earlier this week and got confirmation that it's still a girl! Everything else with the ultrasound looked good too. I'm 25 weeks along now, and she's estimated to be about 1 pound, 9 ounces.

The pictures were a bit harder to make out this time. This is a profile shot from the side, with her head on the left, and her arm and hand sticking up.

This is looking straight at her face--the roundish shape in the middle. Her nose shows up very white, and you can make out her left eye pretty well.


Some other exciting news is that we're finally going to have our first speech therapy session for Jack this evening. It's been about 2 months since we started the process of getting him enrolled in the program--though I was just talking to my coworker, and she says it took 3 months for her child, so maybe 2 months isn't so bad.

He's actually been making a lot of progress lately on his own. He's not really saying more words, but he's started saying almost all the letters of the alphabet. I'll have to get a video of him sometime. It's really cute; for some of the letters he pronounces them phonetically versus saying the letter ("P" is "puh," B is "buh," etc.) He's also getting better about repeating things after us and experimenting with new sounds, which he was always reluctant to try before. So maybe it won't take too many sessions for him to start saying some words!

Fun with Grammy

Grampy's not the only one who played with Jack while we were on vacation! We were just better about getting pictures of the two of them. When Jack and I were waiting to fly home, our flight was delayed for over an hour. Jack took advantage of the extra time and had a great time seeing all the cool sights at the Manchester (New Hampshire) airport with Grammy.

I think they're looking at a big moose statue here.

Jack had the best time on the escalators and moving sidewalks.

Wheee!


So while it was a bit frustrating and boring for me to kill time while our flight kept getting pushed back, it was definitely worth it overall for Jack to get a little more quality time with Grammy before we left. Jack was also very good on both plan rides. This was the first time he's sat in a seat by himself, as opposed to sitting in my lap.

We had a wonderful trip and look forward to whenever we can make it back in the future (next time with 2 little ones!). Jack will be spoiled some more this weekend when Granddaddy and Grandmomma Fields come to visit from Georgia.

And finally, just because they're so cute--another picture of the Vermont puppies.

Fun at the playground

Congratulations to the Blackhawks, who won the Stanley Cup on Wednesday night!! It was a thrilling game to watch. I don't know if the Hawks have slept any since then; they arrived in Chicago early Thursday morning, and all we keep seeing on the news are videos of them hauling the Stanley Cup around to different restaurants and bars in Chicago. Countless people have been drinking beer out of it. Looks like a lot of good cheer, beer, and probably Hepatitis is being passed around the city!

I'm bummed that I'm going to miss the celebration parade today. I'll be working fairly close to the parade route, but during the parade I'll be in a 3-hour meeting and won't be able to escape. Oh well, it would probably be too packed to see anything anyway. The parade doesn't start for almost 5 hours, and people are already lining up on the route.

Here are some pictures of Jack at the playground we visited a couple times in Vermont. He had a great time on the slide:


Look at that hair!

This turned out to be his favorite activity, by far. Jack loved pushing this zip-line type bar back and forth. Grampy got quite a workout lifting Jack and running around!


Listen for the giggles and squeals of pure joy.


Heading back to the car after some hard playing.

Day at the farm

Vermont pictures, round 3! On Monday, we visited the farm where Grammy and Grampy's puppy, Moses, is still with his mother and litter mates. Jack loved seeing all the animals. He pet some horses,


looked at chickens,


and even got to pet a huge Clydesdale! I was impressed that Jack didn't shy away from this horse. Look at how much bigger he is than the first horse! That head is gigantic.


And now it's time to say "awwww." Here are some pictures of Moses.




Jack loves to swing when we're walking.


The beautiful view of the countryside from the farm.


Jack giving me a flower.


Jack had a great day at the farm!