Crawling

It's official Jack has crawling skills.  For a while now he's been army crawling, or shimmying, but the technique wasn't officially "crawling".  He seemed to be perfectly content to just play with toys nearby, or even just to sit casually when all his toys were moved away.  Well tonight he perfected his technique and his confidence skyrocketed.  It was pretty awesome to watch.  All three of the below videos are from tonight, and definitively the fastest change in his mobility we've seen.  If your getting this in email and the videos aren't showing up go to: www.justinandsoniabuckmaster.blogspot.com

The first video is of him crawling across our office floor chasing after a rattle that I had under my foot.  I felt a bit like a tease, but he just needed a little motivation.

The second video is just before bath time.  Sonia got him undressed down to his diaper and went in the bathroom to run his bath.  He decided to make chase...also a first.  I stopped recording just before the third video because I thought he was done.  (On a random note Ozzie has a bag on his foot because he cut his nail and we didn't want him bleeding everywhere)

Obviously the ending is abrupt because someone had to stop him from going down the stairs... little stinker.  I guess he just needed a little confidence.  Tomorrow there will be a gate at those steps.  Fool me once...

8th Month Photo Shoot

Ok, so we have a great photographer who is practically family, so it's hard to venture too far from there.  However, I came across a deal for a little photo shoot session at Picture People.  Basically, for $18 you got the session and 6 sheets of photos, various sizes.  Naturally, I did the math, and I determined I couldn't print my own photos for that!  So, I decided Jack and I would go check it out, and make good on the deal. We sometimes need reasons to get out anyway.

Also, I had been wanting to get some photos of him with my Colorado School of Mines hard hat.  Every year, your graduating class is given a colorful hard hat - Justin's and mine was red.  You wear this hat as you hike up Mount Zion with a rock you are told to bring (they don't tell you how big of a rock to show up with, or what it's for - mine was pretty small, thankfully).  Mount Zion has the "M" on the hillside, which is made from white rocks (visible by day) and lights around the edges (for night viewing).  On the hike, various campus organizations line the sides of the road with waterguns and balloons and greet you along the way.  When you get to the "M", there is a bit of white-washing that goes on, and people with spray paint go crazy on your hard hats.  Anyway, it was a tradition I took part in most years (usually with the Alpha Phi's), and I was really quite fond of it.

The "M" became a warm welcome everytime I returned to Golden.  It meant I was nearing home.  After many volleyball road trips, many of which you return to the gym when it is still dark outside, I can honestly say I really love that "M", as much as I love home.  Mines and the town of Golden hold such a special place for us, as that is where Justin and I met.  So, it only seemed appropriate to get some photos of Jack with this wonderful momento, and it probably won't be the last time he is photographed with it.

South Facing

This is a shot out to my good friend Liana. She recently posted a similar picture, and I wanted to let you know that we are "those" neighbors also. Having a home that faces south is great in the Colorado winter, as the sun does a lot of the snow removal for you. However, it is not ideal when you'd like to air your laundry, literally. Oh well, I'm sure our wonderful neighbors can handle it. The new guy across the street hasn't moved in yet, but boy will he be pleased.

Jack at 8 Months

Jack is now 8 months old, and it seems like time is flying by.  I wanted to blog about all the fun things he's doing now so as to share with others, and to document for my own bad memory.

He went back to the doctor for a couple more shots. This is the first (and only, I think) time he received 3 shots at once.  Jack cried out after the first shot, his cries intensified with the next two, and almost immediately after I picked him up, he stopped crying.  He is such a tough little guy!  Shots tend to make him nap a little better that day, but no lasting side effects.  I make sure to take advantage of the extra doctor's visits by getting an accurate weight check. Jack weighed in at 22lbs. 9.4oz. No wonder my arms get tired when I hold him for too long.

Jack now has 5 teeth, two on the bottom and three on top.  He certainly is not a picky eater, and has seemed to like almost everything we've introduced (only exception is avocado - but I figure that's okay because maybe he won't take mine).  In the last week, I've started giving him a few little puffs to chew on.  At first, he didn't know what to think about the new consistency, but now he will gladly let me put more in his mouth.  For the most part he has wanted me to put the food in his mouth, which I just find comical seeing as everything else he touches goes into his mouth first :)  He did manage to get a couple in his mouth on his own last night, and I am looking forward to the days of finger foods.

Jack has the sweetest disposition.  He doesn't seem to fuss when a toy is taken from him.  His cousin Grace was the funniest - she is learning the word "share" which she sometimes confuses with "take" (as in insisting that Jack share with her). But he doesn't seem to mind. When he drops an object, he will look down at it for a few seconds, and then he will gladly move onto the next thing.  No whining! Jack is also turning out to be a quite a little mover.  He still loves spending time in his jumper, and is learning to move forward on his stomach. I wouldn't quite call it crawling, but he can get to an object that he desires (he went a good 4 feet for my cell phone the other day). I will try to get a better video soon, but this one will have to do for now.

Jack is so fun, and we are constantly looking forward to the next big thing, and trying to enjoy all the fun along this journey.

Weary Travelers

Two weeks ago we traveled to Phoenix.  Sonia wrote a summary about it in the last blog post.  This is more of my synopsis of the travel.  The flight there went pretty well, and Jack was a good boy.  He slept in his pack and play for a week, and I didn't think he slept all that well.  At home we get a 7:15PM to 6:30AM sleep from him.  In Phoenix, not so much.  Most days he woke up at 5 AM and we played the baby trading game until around 8AM.  Many of you know how much I LOVE! my sleep, so a vacation with minimal sleep was a bit unexpected.  Straight Zombie mode.  Regardless the three of us had a great time with her family, it was completely worth it and I wouldn't trade the sleep, but oh boy was I happy to get home to sleep again.  We got to meet our newest nephew Samuel, and hang out with our niece Grace, among the many other wonderful family highlights (Uncles, Aunts, Great Uncles, Great Aunts, Grandparents, Cousins, Second Cousins etc).  We stayed up too late most every night, but the real treat came on our flight home.  Lets just say Jack was not a happy camper.  He woke up early that morning (again dagnabit!) and was off his schedule the entire day.  He didn't nap well on the flight, and the last half hour we had our worst fear realized....full Jack meltdown on a crowded plane.  Yoooooo not cool!  I've witnessed these meltdowns of other peoples kids, but being the central focus is ROUGH!  Talk about a whole new level of anxiety.  These pictures are from our bus ride back to the car after landing in Denver.  After about 10 minutes (felt like hours) of screaming terror Sonia was able to cheer him up.  After that episode both Sonia and I felt the true effect of the weary parent travelers.  We were both pretty worn out from the travel day.   Thank goodness Jack bounces back quickly, you'd never know by his smiling face on the bus ride.  He's pretty smitten with his Momma so it's a good thing she was there to save the day.  

Arizona Vacation

All three of us traveled to Arizona for a 9 day vacation. This is the third year my parents rented a house to enjoy some warm weather and golf in the winter.  Justin and I decided to go for longer this year, especially because all my siblings were going.  My sister and her family were there for two weeks, which allowed us the opportunity to meet our new nephew, Samuel.

Overall, Jack did well.  He recently cut three new teeth, and I think they were bothering him a bit during our vacation. He slept fairly well in his pack n play (we had a large closet that he fit in quite nicely), but he woke up at about 5am most mornings, with a couple 3am crying bouts.  The early rising led to Justin and I passing him back and forth, about every hour, while the other tried to catch a little more sleep.  It didn't help that we were going to bed at our usual 10pm, so we were pretty tired most of the trip.  But he seemed to have a lot of fun, enjoyed watching his cousin Grace run around, and had some nice time with the extended family.  I really wanted to get him in the pool, and even though it was a heated pool, it was a little cold (it seemed to bother me much more than it bothered him). So instead, I took him in the hot tub (the heater had shut off, so it wasn't much warmer than a bath). He really enjoyed it, but unfortunately I didn't catch a photo of him in his adorable swim trunks.

Justin and I got three rounds of golf in, and had a good time swinging the sticks. We enjoyed the hot tub, the fire pit, a nice dinner out with Sarah and Scott, hung out at the chocolate festival, and I got to witness Justin bowling for the first time ever.  It was a blast!  We had fun going to dinner with Justin's Uncle Russel, Aunt Barb, cousin Valerie and 2nd cousins Mara and Liam (those 2 kids have grown so much in the last year, and they are so great!)

All in all, great trip. We really didn't take very many photographs, but you can check out the few photos on Picasa.

Me Tarzan

Jack loves bathtime.  It's one of his favorite things to do.  He also getting much stronger.  Recently he's been getting extra handsy with everything.   When we try and rinse him with the removable shower if we don't leave enough space he quickly swipes at it.  This time he got it.  He tried to pull himself up and got halfway out of the tub.  Thankfully the shower head didn't rip out of the wall.  Way to go baby Tarzan.