Jack is 9 Months Old!

Jack is 9 Months Old!!!

Very exciting. Even though this is our second time around the block (read: we're pros), we still celebrate every month. 9 seems big. It's so close to 1. He's doing so much. We're getting glimpses into what he might be like when he's Lauren's age. Sometimes it blows my mind that there are only two years separating Jack, who can't speak to speak of, can't walk, etc., from Lauren, who uses complex sentences and can climb around a jungle gym.

9 months has Jack sitting up like it's no problem, putting himself to sitting on his own (that's in the last week or two), and army crawling. Not crawling like Lauren did, where it looked like she'd broken both of her legs, but real deal army crawling that involves his arms and legs. He gets up on all fours and rocks, and the stomach off the ground crawling is clearly coming soon. Yesterday, he pulled himself up to his knees, so I imagine he's going to be pulling up to standing soon, and then cruising. Every milestone is such a huge victory for us.

Below, an impromptu couch race progression, where Jack gets a head start but has to body check at the end, and Lauren still wins.

Jack is a different beast than his sister. While he's slightly behind the curve like she was as far as crawling, pulling up, cruising, etc. goes, their methods are different. Lauren was so easy, we didn't have to baby proof anything, if she found a questionable foreign object on the floor she picked it up, deposited it in my hand, and then scooted away, like "I'm pretty sure I shouldn't have that." Jack's arms and legs are moving before we even put him down on the ground, and then he surveys the area, finds the most dangerous object, and gets there. In a hurry. Then puts said dangerous object in his mouth. He's taking years off of our lives, but mostly in a fun way. The best part is that he and Lauren can play together more now, when Lauren's in the mood. Sharing is still a bit of an issue with Lauren, but I think it makes for a pretty mellow Jack, so I'm OK with that byproduct.

Jack is still saying dada a lot, and now he says mama, too. I'm not going to say he's saying it directionally yet, but there are some indications that he might be figuring it out. I've just started giving him some finger food little cereal puffs recently, and he's not great with them yet, but I'm sure that's coming. He has his bottom two teeth, and then instead of his top two teeth, he has the teeth on either side. Little fangs, if you will.

We recently had Jack's 9 month appointment, and he is still long and skinny.  Of course I can't locate his stats right now, but I'll edit the post later and update with those; this is, after all, his baby book.  If I'm remembering correctly something like 85th percentile height, 15th weight.  Get this boy a cheeseburger.

4 Month Stats

We just got back from Jack's 4 month well visit, and he passed with flying colors. A little on the tall side, a little on the slim side, but healthy as can be. Our pediatrician says he's probably just going to be on the tall and slim side and that the slight percentile drop in weight (50th to 40th) is nothing to be concerned about. He also predicts early walking. It will be interesting to see how early, but we're pretty sure it will be earlier than Lauren (approximately 15 months old). We are free to give him any baby foods we want (he already has cereal most days), but he doesn't really need them (nutrition-wise) until he's six months old, so for now it's just for fun, and to help with the reflux (they stay down better than milk). He got some immunizations (very sad) and then passed out in his car seat. All is well!

4 month stats:

Height: 26 inches (90th percentile)
Weight: 14 pounds (40th percentile)

Jack is 3 Months Old!

It's hard to believe, but Jack is three months old. Which means that yours truly will be back to work soon (after Labor Day), and Jack will be following in his sister's footsteps and starting in the class that she started in at UH. His teachers are very excited to have him and keep asking when they get him every time I go in to pick up Laur. Back off, ladies! For now he's still mine.

Just like Laur, at 12 weeks he woke up all of a sudden and is so much fun. He laughs, smiles a ton, and even found his feet last week. He still prefers to be standing (I know, Grandma, this will allegedly make him bow-legged), thinks sitting is second best (and laying down is the WORST) and can hold his neck up like a two year old. Sean and I predict that, unlike his sister, he will be walking well before his first birthday. WELL before. He continues to mostly sleep through the night. He doesn't eat during the night anymore, since he turned 7 weeks old (night at our house is 8pm to 7am for both kids), but sometimes wakes up politely requesting a binky (by politely requesting I mean he screams bloody murder until he gets a binky) or that I re-swaddle him. I happily oblige since it takes about 10 seconds and means I get to go back to sleep. Life with Jack is good. Even though I went through it with Lauren I can hardly believe that some day he'll talk and have his own little personality. I mean he has one now, of course, but you know what I mean. Sean and I might be the two luckiest parents in the world.

Jack the Sleeper

It's hard to believe our little boy is 9 weeks old, and by the time some of you read this he'll be 10 weeks old. This maternity leave is flying by. We recently had Jack's 8 week appointment at the pediatrician. He was 25 1/4 inches long, and 11 pounds 13 ounces. This puts him in the 50th percentile in weight and well off the chart in height. We talked to the doctor about my suspicion that he has reflux issues, and because of some of the symptoms we described we ultimately decided to put him on Zantac to help him feel a little better. The weight wasn't a huge concern since he's still in the 50th percentile, although considering his height, and the fact that he was a larger baby at birth, it might be a little low because of the reflux, so we'll see how he does after he's on the medication for awhile. It definitely seems to be helping what appeared to be some pain after he eats (not every time, but enough that it concerned me), and he looks a little plumper now, so maybe it will make his weight go up a bit, too. Or maybe he's just going to be tall and skinny...only time will tell.


While the reflux talk is all so very exciting, I've yet to tell you the most exciting news: JACK IS SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT. Has been for awhile now, actually. At 7 weeks, just like his big sister, Jack magically slept through the night. We have had a few nights where he wakes up in the middle of the night, usually because he's Houdini-ed himself out of the swaddle, but for the most part he sleeps from 9pm to 7am. What a dream. I feel human again. In case you're wondering, we achieved this miracle through the techniques in the Baby Whisperer book with both kids. Thank you Tracy, for your sleep training methods. We're basically running a baby boot camp over here. And thank you, Lauren and Jack, for apparently being prone to long bouts of sleep. Or maybe Lauren and Jack should thank us, since both Sean and I are pretty good sleepers ourselves. You're welcome, children. It's a mutually beneficial relationship.

Jack is getting more and more interested in what his big sister is doing, and what's going on in the world. He's also learning self defense at a very young age, as Lauren appears to have lost control of her limbs and often knees, kicks or elbows Jack in the face. Poor Jack. But you'll thank her later when you're tough Jack, I promise. Above and below, Lauren can't stand to not be the center of attention and cuts in on Jack's cuddle time with Grandma Power. The Power grandparents visited this weekend and were as surprised as us at how much Jack has grown.

Jack is a dream of a child. After he sleeps for 10 hours, he wakes up and eats, plays a little, and then naps for three or four more hours. This is when I head to the gym for an exercise class; my teacher calls him the class mascot (he sleeps in his car seat next to me the entire time). You can see that the gym class is working for him in the photos above, he has crazy neck strength. But it's not just the sleep, Jack is happy and easygoing. He's starting to smile a lot more, and in fact when he wakes up in the morning he doesn't even cry, just wriggles a hand out of the swaddle, sucks on it a little bit, and then when I go in to get him gives me a huge smile. Love this boy. I've always heard that you're only given as much as you can handle, so apparently I can't handle much because I've had two amazing babies. There's a lesson in there, I think.