More visitors!

Grandma and Grandaddy Fields arrived last night! Jack only got to spend about an hour with them, but we get to see them all weekend too. Today all of us will head for the lake house, and Grandma and Grandpa Nold, and Aunt Lisa will also be coming too. Jack will have so many people to entertain! I'm sure I'll have a ton of pictures to post on Monday.

Lots of visitors

We started off the day yesterday with a visit from Grandma Nold. She threw the football around with Jack a little, and he also had fun with the new hippopotamus push-toy Grandma brought him.


Grammy and Grampy Jarvis, and Uncle Paul, arrived later than expected, but fortunately Jack had taken a late nap yesterday so he was able to stay up longer than usual.


Despite being tired, Jack put on a good show for everyone. He demonstrated his new walking skills, made lots of funny faces, and stuffed his face when we ate dinner. For a while, Jack was tentative about touching anyone else besides me. He would share toys back and forth with people, but he'd only reach far enough away so that one hand was on me at all times. But as you can see, he eventually let Grammy and Grampy pick him up.



Funny face


Hi-fives





Playing peek-a-boo with Grampy and Uncle Paul


Jack had a great time with everyone! We were so glad Grammy and Grampy Jarvis and Uncle Paul were able to stop by Chicago on their way home from vacation in Montana. Next weekend Jack will get spoiled again when Grandma and Grandpa Nold, and Grandma and Grandaddy Fields come up to the lake house for a visit.

One more day!

Jack's excited!
Tomorrow, Jack not only gets to visit with his Grandma Nold, but he'll also get to see his Grammy and Grampy Jarvis and Uncle Paul. Thanksgiving was the last time we saw them. We won't get to visit with them for long, but we're looking forward to it!
Also happy birthday today to Uncle John!

Whatchyou Talkin About Willis?

Today we bid a sad farewell to the Sears Tower. For those of you that don't know, the Chicago icon is under new ownership and has been renamed the Willis Tower. However, I believe most Chicagoans will disregard the stupid new name and still call it the Sears Tower. This was my favorite quote from the newspaper: "The only way I will ever call it the Willis Tower is if they change the name of the Hancock Building to Arnold."

On different note, here's some video of Jack walking. This past week he's gotten a lot stronger and gained more confidence, so he can move around pretty well. His walk is still a little Frankenstein-esque, but at least he's moved past the orangutan phase and doesn't hold his arms over his head when he walks anymore.

Lake weekend

We just got back from the lake house about an hour ago. Jack was pooped from a full day of playing, so he went to sleep as quickly as we could get him changed, bathed, and in the bed. Jack had also literally pooped--apparently we're starting a new tradition in our travels. On both return trips from the lake the past couple weekends, Jack has entered dumping mode right after we've entered the city of Chicago. And they've been impressive dumps both times. It's such a treat to have that to look forward to when we're trying to get home and unload the car.

It was pretty hot on Saturday, so Jack spent the afternoon in just a t-shirt and diaper. He loves to play with the magnets on the fridge (at home he doesn't get to do this because magnets don't stick to our stainless steel fridge). He's only got 4 magnets to play with...looks like I need to get some more.


He was also drawn to the sunny areas on the porch. That little car continues to be one of his favorite toys.


Not to be outdone, Lou sneaked out the back door and also found a nice sun spot to curl up in (he's on the walkway by the garage).


On Saturday, Jack showed more interest in the water than he had previously, so this morning I blew up this floaty water toy for him to try out. He was a little hesitant at first, but after a while he really got into it.



Lou was so worn out that he passed out on the deck, still wearing his life jacket.


Finally, here's a couple videos of Jack. I took the first one right after he got in the water. The second one was taken later, so you can see how much more fun he was having. Jack also shows off his newly developed ear-piercing squeal. He mainly does it when he gets excited, but sometimes he'll squeal just to hear himself make noise. It was a little embarrassing when he kept doing it in the grocery store on Saturday.

Jack and Lou

Unfortunately for Lou, Jack loves his dog bed. Lou is often gets pushed to the floor, but at least he's a good sport about it.



Jack sometimes tries to lay on top of Lou, but he rolls off so quickly I never can get a good shot of him doing it.




Have a good weekend, everyone! We'll be at the lake house in Michigan.

4th of July weekend

We had a great holiday weekend at the lake house in Michigan! Here are some pictures of Andy and Jack sightseeing out by the water. The weather was a little colder than we would have liked most of the weekend, but at least the predicted thunderstorms bypassed us on the 4th so we could watch fireworks.

Several of the residents on the lake set off their own fireworks, and they put on a pretty good show. Amazingly, Jack slept through the whole thing. I had a fan running in his room to help drown out the noise, but I was sure some of the really loud fireworks would wake him him. Happily, he proved me wrong!

Jack actually slept great every night we were there. He slept until at least 8:00 every morning, which is unheard of for him. I'm not sure if he was really exhausted, or if it was the lack of early morning sunlight in his room. The room he slept in was much darker than his room at home--which is why I promptly went out today and bought some curtains in hopes that he'll continue his good sleeping here!


Lou also got to go out on the water, since we got him a spiffy new life jacket. (I know dogs can swim, but Staffordshire terriers can't swim very well with their thick bodies and relatively scrawny legs.) Lou put up with the life jacket surprisingly well, and it had the added benefit (for us, at least) of slowing him down since it forced his run into more of a waddle. Lou got in the water a couple times and seemed to enjoy himself.


Aunt Lisa, Jack, and Lou on the boat. Jack kept this ticked-off expression on his face pretty much the whole time we were on the boat.


Lou is such an anxious dog, we expected him to turn into a quivering mass of jelly once the boat started moving, but he surprised us. He was a bit nervous at first, but after a while he relaxed enough to lay with Jack and me.


I caught Lou out on the screen porch getting a good view of things.


Jack and I did some practice tubing inside the house.


And this was all the tubing Jack wound up doing. (He's standing up--the tube's hole doesn't go all the way through.) The water was just too cold for him.


Finally here's a shot of the front of the house--now I've learned after being corrected several times that the front of lake houses is the side that faces the lake. You can see Andy and Jack walking down the dock toward the house.