Jack's Baptism

A little over a week ago, Jack took the plundge and was baptised into the Catholic Church. He was baptised on November 20, 2011 at Saint Francis Cabrini in Littleton, Colorado. My parents, Allan and Joan Hesseltine, were Jack's Godparents, which was special for all of us. 

 

Jack did really well during the ceremony, considering it was during his naptime.  And because he loves his baths, he did great with the water, even when it ran into his eyes (good thing they warm the water for baptisms!). We had a little crowd that gathered to celebrate, including family and friends.  Thanks for making it a wonderful event!

Jack's baptismal garment was hand made by my mother, and included pieces of her wedding dress. We also had a beautiful blanket made by Jack's Great Grandmother Morse (my mom's mom). There are pictures uploaded to Picasa, and many others were taken that we are hoping to get our hands on very soon.

Hungry, Hungry Hippo

Jack has started solid foods, and all of a sudden it started going really well.  He has had rice cereal (he seems to like most of the time), yams (he likes), avocado (he did not seem to approve), and tonight we tried winter squash. This baby loves him some winter squash! After having some milk, he downed a small tub of winter squash, and washed it down with some rice cereal.  Hungry boy!  The food is a lot of fun, and Jack is getting better with taking the spoon and minimizing the mess ( at least when Sonia feeds him).

At Jack's 5 month appointment, he weighed in at 18 lbs. and was 26.5 inches long.  He is growing at an incredible rate! :)  He is also doing great with activity level. He likes to lay on his back and squirm, he enjoys time spent in his Exersaucer, and he is getting really good at rolling from his back to his tummy.  He has only returned to his back on his own a couple of times, with the first time occurring just a few days ago.  More often than not he becomes unhappy while lying on his stomach, so we are working on that. And we'll have to get him rolling in both directions, because right now all rolling happens in one direction. This, as you can imagine, makes for a frustrated baby when he has rolled over in his crib, and he can't get back (and makes for some late night wake-up calls).

Hardwood done

So we finished the floors last Sunday thankfully because I don't think I had another straight weekend in me.  The furniture is back in the house and it's not a total disaster anymore.  All told it took three full weekends.  It wouldn't have been possible without a lot of help from Allan, Josh, Ross and Scotty.  Sonia and I both love the outcome.  The natural light in the house is so much better.  That was really our biggest complaint with carpet before.  Spills are much easier to clean up, and that's already been tested plenty of times in the last week.  I still have to add baseboards and a little bit of other trim, but we currently have Jared and Terri and the girls in town, in addition to it being Thanksgiving week, so it's a good excuse to take a break.

All of the renovation photos can be seen in the Picasa album... https://picasaweb.google.com/111722875828833100930/Renovation

Flooring continued

So, we made HUGE progress on our flooring project over the weekend. We now have hardwood floors in the main room, which runs from our kitchen to the wall that the TV is hanging on.  We are so happy with the hardwood we selected, and it looks amazing in the space. We are thrilled we didn't go with the other wood we had it narrowed down to, as it was considerably thinner, and would have required much more work. And the room already looks brighter, as the wood reflects what little natural light we get.

Some of you may be wondering, "Why now?" Well, it wasn't too long ago that my friend Liana was over visiting with her daughter, Eva. I was embarrassed as Eva kept picking stuff up off the carpet, and I was grateful that she shows her mom things before putting them in her mouth (what a good little girl!). I quickly realized how unsafe this situation was for children in our home, both our own kids, as well as all the children who we care so much about.  So, with a visit from the nieces scheduled, we decided it was as good a time as any.  We have about 1.5 weeks until they arrive, and we are hoping to have the project complete, or at least nearly so. Needless to say, we will sleep better at night knowing that our floors are a safer place for kids.  Poor Ozzie will no longer be allowed to destroy tennis balls, leaving small pieces of plastic everywhere, that's for sure.

An ENORMOUS THANK YOU to all those who have helped with the project so far:

• Scott, for his braun which was might handy when moving furniture out of the space
• Ross, for his tebowing technique perfection while removing linoleum (admittedly Justin's least favorite part of the entire project, and the company made it  more enjoyable, as if removing linoleum and enjoyable ever belong in the same sentence)
• Josh, for his nailing expertise (and Lauren for letting him come help when under the weather herself)
• My dad, Allan, for his dedication to the project for three solid days. The first day doing prep work with Justin, including screwing down the squeaky spots, trimming door jambs and prep around the fire place, and then laying hardwood for two days, even working when Justin and I had to leave the house for a class.  Your amazing dad!

The project isn't complete, but it wouldn't be where it is without the help of so many.  Thank you again!