St Jude's Trike-A-Thon 2008

Jack's daycare raised money for the St Jude's Children's Fund. Jack raised $100! Here is a slideshow and video from the big event!

Jack's Chicago Summary

New Jack City

Actual words coming soon...too tired...

Day Out With Thomas 2008

My fear was Jack would pull a Santa and be deathly afraid of the "real" Thomas.

Instead he shocked us by being super excited and having a great time. Along with Tea, Jacob, Ellie, and Kate, Jack explored the train museum and loved every moment of it.

The Real Choo Choo

My sister went downtown to check out Columbia and scout if she truly wants to attend school there. The rest of us went to the train station to pick her up. This was Jack's first real visit to see a real train. He was not scared at all and after the train pulled away he said "Bye Gordon!" after his favorite Thomas train.

Next month he meets the "real" Thomas. We can't wait!

Kohls Children's Museum

Jack, Grannie Annie, Grandpa, and I went to the Kohls Children's Museum in Glenview with Jack. He obviously had a great time. The place is a fantastic kid friendly atmosphere. I think we may have his birthday party there!

Trick or Treat in Southport

Jack had a good time trick or treating with the Buzzards in Southport. There were tons of kids in costume going around to all the Chicago stores and restaurants getting candy. Of course, Jack can't eat any of it, but he sure made his mother happy with plenty of chocolate!

Adventures at the Pumpkin Patch

Jack went hunting for his first pumpkin today. Last year, he was in the hospital recovering from surgery at Halloween time. We went to Goebbert's Farm with the Buzzard and Lim families. Jack had a great time. Just take a look at these photos!

Frequent Flyer

Jack is officially the greatest baby in the world.

Well, ok, that was official the day he was born....

He is now officially the best infant traveller of all-time!

Both the trip to DC and back, he slept like a champ and didn't cry at all. That makes a total of 4 plane trips that he has not had any issue. On 2 of those flights, other passengers told us how every child should be like that on a plane.

Taylor and I are still waiting for the other shoe to drop. It will probably happen with the next one.

Jack at Cantigny

We took Jack to Cantigny Park, the site of our wedding photos. It was a beautiful day and we got some great shots of the little guy. This was his first outing wearing "big boy" clothes (i.e. not a onesie). He did well, his belly getting exposed less frequently than we thought. It was a very fun adventure.

Jack in the Springtime

We took a trip to the Huntley Outlet Mall today. It was beautiful outside and Jack got to enjoy the wonderful weather.

Fudge Goes To The Office

Jack came to visit me at work today. Taylor brought him to visit at lunch-time. I had been telling everyone that he was coming and then paraded him around like a doll. Everyone loved him and he smiled at everyone (except my former boss, who made him cry because he is bald and looks like an alien from the future...or a giant baby). I felt so proud of my little guy as I showed him off.

We went to lunch at Mitsuwa Asian Market. Jack sat and played while we ate and behaved well. I liked riding with him during the middle of the day, it made the afternoon more bearable.

When I got back from lunch, people kept coming up to me and saying how cute he is and how lucky we are since he is so well behaved. I am a beaming father, proud of my little boy.

One Man & A Baby

So, Jack and I have been solo since 5pm yesterday. Taylor is in North Carolina for work. This is the first time she has been away from Jack for more than a few hours. I am sure part of her is not doing so well.

But, this was my opportunity to prove that I can handle Jack by myself. I was never so paranoid in all my life. What if I don't hear him cry? What if he goes into a fit while I am in the shower? What if I can't get him to go to sleep? What if? What if? What if??

But, it was a normal night. We ate and played and went to bed. It took him a little longer than usual to go to sleep (45 minutes), partly due to shorter naps at daycare and also because I am not the normal person to put him to bed. My body temperature is high, like his, so he gets sweaty quickly and has trouble getting comfortable. But, he went to bed and didn't wake up until 5:45 this morning. The drive to daycare was okay too, but getting to work after dropping him off took forever.

There were two moments in the last 24 hours that broke my heart:

* Normally, when we get home, Jack and I play for a few minutes, then change into his sleep outfit, then play until Taylor gets home. Then, he eats and we hang out a little longer before bedtime. Last night, Jack kept looking at me around the time Taylor walks in the door. He looked at me then towards the front door. A few minutes later, he did this again. Each time he lifted his head up to look at me and his big eyes looked like he wanted to say "where is mommy?"

* This morning, when I dropped Jack off at daycare, I kissed him and handed him off to one of the teachers and chatted for a moment. I have never dropped Jack off at daycare before and as I walked to the door, he stared back at me with the same eyes, but this time they said "where are you going? Daddy picks me up, why are you leaving?"

So, not only was traffic horrible this morning, I had his sad little face to haunt me the entire drive. Sigh, hopefully neither of us has to leave him very often.

Jack's Full Day

We have ourselves one great kid!

We had several errands to run and wanted to take Jack out with us. We were only planning a morning excursion to Babies R Us and a couple of other stores. We left the house at 11am.

We didn't get home until 7pm.

Jack only had a 45 minute morning nap, but we ventured out nonetheless. We shopped at Babies R Us and got a second convertible seat for the other car, a new bathtub, an Easter outfit, and some other little things. We met Wany and Ellie there and then ventured to Target.

Now Jack has developed a habit of falling asleep 5 minutes before we get to our destination. But, having the convertible seat now, we do not have the luxury of taking Jack in that and locking it into the stroller. Now, Jack has to be picked up and tends to wake up each time.

At Target, I took the newly roused Jack into the men's room to change his diaper. He looked very confused at all of the strangers walking in and out as he had his lower half exposed, but didn't complain. We shopped for a bit, then decided to hit Barnes & Noble. As we left, a man stopped us and said he we had a beautiful family. He also said he was the grandfather of seven and he knew good looking kids when he saw them. We thanked him and went to the car.

This time, Jack would be taken inside in the Baby Bjorn so he wouldn't wake up, but alas, he woke up and stared at me then entire trip. But, no complaints.

We then ventured to Grandma's house because Baby Kate was there. We went up and I ran out to get some lunch from Pita Inn for everyone. When I got back, Jack was napping and he stayed down for 75 minutes. We then ate and hung out with Grandma before leaving to venture to Woodfield.

Jack napped as we hit the stores and shopped around, constantly seeing people checking Jack out and others coming right up to tell us how cute he is.

Before we knew it, the clock read 6:30 and we had to get home.

But, not before visiting the Easter Bunny. By this point, Jack was very tired. You can see in the picture above he was not quite sure what to make of the 7 foot tall rabbit. But, no complaints.

Now he is asleep after a little bit of cranky crying. All in all, Jack was phenomenal being out for so long. He ate well, had OK naps, and was almost entirely covered with smiles! This kid will do great when we go down to Florida in May.

More pictures coming soon!