Fun at Grandma and Grandpa's

Grandma and Grandpa Nold are visiting this week, so we went to see them Sunday afternoon. Jack had some crying episodes when Andy and I weren't there, but for the most part he had a great time. Here's Jack hanging out with Aunt Lisa and eating her cell phone.

And here's Jack showing off his milk-chugging skills.

Jack also likes to be upside down. When we start playing, sometimes it's hard to even keep him in an upright position because he keeps rearing back to get upside down again.

Here's a close-up of the happy boy!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We probably won't be posting again until after we get back from our trip to Vermont. 

Getting there

Jack's still not crawling yet, but the progress he's made this past week makes us think he could be getting close. Now he's strong enough to keep his belly off the ground when we put him on his hands and knees. Before, he would just flop down on the ground when we tried to put him in that position. When I took these pictures, he was able to stay up for about 20 seconds.

He's also enjoying tummy time a lot more. He's been able to roll from his back to his stomach for several months, but he rarely did it since he didn't like ending up in that position. He surprised me within the past couple days by rolling over often and then staying on his belly for a while and playing. I love to watch him do it, though unfortunately his favorite time to roll is when I'm trying to change his diaper!

This video is from yesterday when we were playing. He discovered that he can throw his little football when he's on his belly. I wish I had started filming earlier during playtime; by the time I filmed him, he only had enough energy left for one good throw, and then he was just too tired and had to lay his head down. Prior to that, he was throwing the ball really well and would laugh when he watched it roll across the floor. We'll have to try getting it on camera again sometime.

Just hanging out

Here are some pictures from the other day when Jack was playing with Louie. They're getting to be pretty good pals, though Louie has learned to back away to a safe distance when Jack starts reaching for his ears or tail.

I can't believe Thanksgiving is just a week away! What happened to November? We're looking forward to seeing Grandma and Grandpa Nold when they come into town this weekend. And then we'll get to visit Grammy and Grampy Jarvis and all our Vermont relatives when we fly up there on Wednesday.

Fun at school

We don't have anything really exciting to post, but I thought I'd share some pictures our nanny took of Jack. Twice a week she takes him to a tots class. It's in the middle of the day, so Andy and I can't ever go, but she sometimes takes pictures to show us what he's been up to.

As usual when he's around a bunch of people, Jack is in his serious mode. No smiling, especially not for the camera. The little quirks and different facets of his personality are so cute!

We hope everyone has a good weekend. It'll be cold here--30 degree temperatures both Saturday and Sunday. Brrrrr!

Some of my favorite things

There is definitely truth to what everyone says about babies' favorite "toys" being cheap household items. Jack has recently discovered some of my cooking utensils, as you can see here. Sometimes he gets really excited and bangs his spoon like he's playing the drums, but he wouldn't cooperate and do it while I was trying to film him. He also loves plastic containers. We're trying to introduce a sippy cup, and he'll drink from it if we hold it for him, but once it's in his hands, it becomes a fascinating toy for him to shake. Louie is also one of Jack's favorite things. Jack usually starts laughing whenever Louie runs around or makes noise. One other thing that Jack really likes is a commercial on TV--it's a Toyota ad with a song that goes "Save by zero..." Whenever that commercial comes on, Jack will stop whatever he's doing and stare at the TV and smile.

Happy Birthday to Grampy Jarvis tomorrow, and to Great-Grampy Jarvis on Friday!

8 Months Old!

Hey there, it's me Jack. I'm 8 months old today! That's me in the picture up there with my truck that my Great-Grampy Jarvis made for me. He also made me a rattle, which I really like, and now I'm starting to notice the truck more. Mom says Great-Grampy went into the hospital yesterday, so we all hope he's feeling better soon.

Here's a picture of me standing on the couch. Mom and Dad like to prop me up like that, but I'm not really sure what they want me to do, so I just stand there for a while and look around. I don't think it's really that interesting, but they seem to get a kick out of it so I usually humor them for a little while.


Sometimes they ask me when I'm going to start crawling. I thought about it, but come on, really--what's the point? When I'm sitting down Mom and Dad play with me and give me toys. Why would I want to move around?

But even though I don't crawl, I'm still very strong. You should see me when my nanny takes me to class. I can sit up by myself and play longer than any of the other babies. The teacher usually sits next to me because I'm such a good example for the others.

I'm starting to see why Mom and Dad like to eat food. I used to not be that intested in eating, but lately I've tried some things that actually taste pretty good. My favorite is bananas, and I also like Cheerios. But I like Cheerios mainly because they're fun to play with. I try to smash them, or sometimes pick them up. It's also really fun to throw them on the floor. My dog Louie usually sits next to my highchair now when I'm eating. Mom says she doesn't mind because he helps to clean up.

Mom says I need to wish my cousin Tyler a happy birthday today! She lives in London, wherever that is. Mom says London is pretty cool, but I don't think any place could be cooler than where I live.

Here's a couple more pictures of me playing with my truck. Mom said something about me giving her the "evil eye" in the last one, but I don't know what she's talking about.

Splish, splash

I've been meaning to get a video of this for a while, and I just kept forgetting. For the longest time, Jack was not a big fan of baths or getting water in his face. But then a couple months ago, he finally discovered splashing and started having fun. We moved him from his sink bathtub into this inflatable one after we got tired of him soaking us at bathtime.



I also wanted to congratulate Andy and myself on our two-year wedding anniversary, which was yesterday! Quite a bit has changed over the past two years, but all for the better. Ahh, just to think two years ago today we were laizing in the sun on our honeymoon in Cabo San Lucas...

It's been an interesting day here in Chicago with the election. The downtown area is essentially shutting down tonight for Barack Obama's rally later. I didn't work at our downtown office today, and it's probably a good thing I didn't, since they locked the building up after 2:00 this afternoon. We live just to the west of the downtown loop area, so hopefully at home we won't be affected too much by crowds or traffic. Unfortunately I expect we'll still hear a lot of the noise. Last night at 9:00 planes and helicopters kept flying over us, which was really annoying. I'm sure it will be much worse tonight. Oh well, at least it's interesting being in the midst of such a big event. History in the making.