5 AM is not a good time to wake up! August 29, 2007

Jack has decided that he wants to wake up at 5 am! Of course he does this when his daddy is away. I do get him back to sleep, but it takes 30 minutes. At least when he woke up at 6 am he would play in his crib for 30-45 minutes, but this 5 am thing is too early. Well, today he rolled onto his tummy at 5:08 am and he started to yell, so I rolled him back over and he went back to sleep. Then he did it again at 5:25 am! He fell back asleep until 7 am, and I got up at 6:30 am. We can’t wait until daddy is home

That said, he’s been going to bed at 7:30 pm and sleeping through until 5 am. I tried to push back his bedtime to 8 pm thinking that would do the trick, but it didn’t make a difference! haha! For the past two days he has cut out his third nap, so now he just naps twice at daycare. We’ll see how long that lasts! Hopefully it’s a permanent thing.

Other than the whole 5 am thing (which isn’t really a problem, just a pain), he’s doing great and is still a happy, smiley guy!

The Ellis Brothers August 25, 2007

This was taken yesterday. Michael and Jonathan left today, and the house is quiet. Ella is depressed! They gave her a lot of attention. It was cute to see the three boys together. Jonathan even gave Jack his bedtime bottle last night. Fortunately, it will only be four months before we see them again when we go to the UK for Christmas.

My big brothers August 22, 2007

Here are cute pictures of Jack and Jonathan and Jack and Michael. More pics to come! (Yes, Jack likes to stick out his tongue!)

Daycare Update! August 22, 2007

Jack had a great first day at daycare. I was trying to be good and not call until after lunch. However, Bella called Gerry to see if we lost the number because we hadn’t called yet! haha! I guess a lot of the parents call numerous times throughout the day. So I called and she said he had a great morning, took two naps and ate well. When Gerry picked him up at 4 pm all of the teachers were coming over and saying how much they liked Jack and that he was such a happy baby. He was in his crib and gave Gerry a huge grin when he saw him. Aww…….

Jack Started Daycare August 22, 2007

Well, Jack officially started daycare today! The doctor said he was fine and just had a bug. He had a great day yesterday and he is back on his regular schedule. So, we took him to Carnival this morning. The great news is that although the room takes 8 babies, there are only 4 at this time — and 2 aren’t coming today! So it will give Jack and Miss Bella more time to bond. My biggest fear was that he’d cry when I handed him over, but nooooooo…he was as happy as could be! He gave them lots of smiles, and I know they are going to love him. He has his own little crib with a mobile. And all of the kids are color-coded. Jack is orange. I only cried a little when I left I know he’ll do great there and it will be good for him socially and developmentally.

Here’s his 7 month pic that we took on Saturday.

Jack and Baby Pluto August 21, 2007

I just love this picture. It was taken at the hotel in Pittsburgh. We bought the Pluto last September at Disney World. Gerry loves Pluto

I have a Tummy Bug :) August 21, 2007

Well, Jack has a bug or something. It started on Friday with runny diapers. The highlight was on Saturday at Madeline’s daughter’s 1st birthday party. We were sitting on the couch, I had just fed him, and he projectile-vomited everywhere! All over me, all over her couch…I was so embarrassed! haha! So, we went home and I called the doctor. Jack didn’t have a fever, so it was just pedialite and then back on his schedule. He was fine – until Sunday morning when he vomited his bananas and had 4 dirty diapers in about an hour. So I called the doctor again and we did the pedialite again. He was fine the rest of Sunday and all day Monday. The last night I gave him his bottle before bed. I was burping him and…projectile vomit all over his nursery! Grrrr…. so I am waiting for the doctor to call back.

He was supposed to start daycare yesterday (Monday), but we kept him home. He’s home today as well with Gerry and the boys. We want him to have a normal day before starting daycare. Speaking of daycare, HE GOT INTO CARNIVAL! Yippee! Last week he was #20 on the list (they only have 8 slots for babies). But parents whose kids don’t get in when they need to start daycare make other plans, so the list was cut down and we got the call Friday. We are very excited. It’s a Bright Horizons daycare, and it’s highly accredited. I can’t wait for him to start.

The other news is that Jack turned 7 months on Saturday! Time flies! I took his traditional picture, and I will post it when I get home tonight.

I’ll update the blog about his tummy when the doctor calls back.

I met my brothers! August 15, 2007

Today was a big day for Jack! He met his big brothers, Michael and Jonathan, for the first time. They arrived late last night from England, so they only got to see Jack sleeping. This morning Jack was up nice and early, and Ella decided to wake up both boys (men, guys, whatever!) by bursting into their respective rooms and jumping on them. Fortunately for her, they both love her and don’t mind being licked!

It was very special seeing them meet Jack. I videoed it so one day Jack can see it. I think it still seems a bit unreal to them that after all these years they have a baby brother. They both held Jack and it was cute. He gave them big smiles And they brought Jack a Wirral (where Gerry is from) soccer jersey. Gerry was verrrrry happy about that!

We’re Back! August 13, 2007

Sorry we’ve been off-line for a little while. We just returned from a weekend in Pittsburgh, PA, for my (Julie’s) family reunion. Despite a rocky start, it was so much fun! The reunion is held every 5 years in McKeesport, PA, (right by Pitt) where my great-grandparents lived. My grandma is one of 13 kids, so we have a large extended family! This Aug. 11 was their 100 wedding anniversary, and the city of Pitt. declared it Z.L. and Dora Weiss Day! Cool! It’s my dad’s side of the family, by the way. Here’s a break-down of the weekend. It’s a bit long!

Thursday:
We had a connecting flight to Pitt. Never going to do that again! We went from Miami to LaGuardia with no problem. However, Pitt. had the worst storms and flooding in years (typical) so our connecting flight on to Pitt. was CANCELED! Did you know that if the cancellation is weather related, the airlines are not responsible for helping you!? So, first they put us on a flight at 6 pm from Newark! It was 3:30 pm – no way we would have made that, and no guarantee that it wasn’t going to get canceled as well. Then they put us on a flight out of JFK at 9:30 pm, with no guarantee that it would go. We took those tickets, got our luggage and talked about our options. Did we really want to get in a taxi and go from LaGuardia to JFK and wait and hope the flight would go. If it was canceled, we would then have to find a hotel room. So, we decided to spend the extra money and rent a car and DRIVE the 6 hours to Pitt. By this time it was 6 pm, so we headed out of town during rush hour. No fun! I called Mara (who lives in Manhattan) from Harlem and told her “so close, yet so far away!” We finally got to a rest stop around 7 pm, ate dinner, fed and changed Jack, and headed back out on the road. Speaking of Jack, he was a star! Not a peep out of him the whole time. When we got back in the car around 7:30 p.m., he fell asleep and woke up the next morning at 7 am bright eyed and bushy tailed! That was all I cared about – Jack’s nighttime sleep not getting interrupted. The driving was fine and would have been even better if (1) it didn’t rain and (2) we could have seen the beautiful scenery. Because it was nighttime, we only saw darkness. Oh well! And did I mention I got sick on Thursday and was getting laryngitis? Oh yeah, it was fun!

We arrived at the hotel at 1:30 am and were in bed by 2 am. Again, Jack didn’t wake up during our drive or transition in to the hotel. Lucky us! The best was that I kept getting recorded voice mails from the airline telling us our 9:30 pm flight was delayed. Last we heard it was scheduled to take off at 11:30 pm and arrive at 1:30 am!!! Can you imagine if we had taken that flight? We would have been sitting at JFK for 8 hours with Jack! He would have been a mess with all of the noise and announcements.

Friday:
We got up and saw Paige, Hailey, Shelley and Michael. They were in the room next to ours, but they were asleep by the time we got in. Then we went to my grandma’s so Jack could meet his Aunt Sue (my dad’s sister). After lunch, we met the Greenfields and our cousins Gregg and Judy and their kids, Connor (5), Cameron (3) and Riley (6 weeks), at the museum of natural history. It was nice to spend time with them and the museum was cool. Friday night we had a dinner at my cousin Marsha’s house. Sadly, I had total laryngitis at this point and couldn’t say much. And of course no one wanted to get too close in fear of getting sick! But it was fun and everyone loved carrying Jack around. He was a star. There were about 60 people there. Thank goodness we had name tags!

Saturday:
Saturday morning we ran to Kohl’s. Sad, I know! But we don’t have one in Miami! Then we met up with the Greenfields and Gregg and Judy’s clan for lunch. They weren’t serving food at the picnic until 4 pm, so we needed to get something to eat first. We arrived at the picnic at 2 pm and there were about 106 family members in attendance. It was really nice to see everyone. Some (most) I had never met or only met once 5 years ago at the last reunion. Others I knew only from our family web site. And a few I knew because I had seen them more often growing up. Many of them came up to me and told me they loved my dad and I look like him. That was nice to hear. It was a typical picnic with kiddie games, football throwing, a balloon-making clown and eating. But most of the time we sat and caught up. Jack was passed around again, and he did really well. He even took a nap! There were all ages at the picnic: Riley is the youngest at 6 weeks, and Jack was second youngest. My Aunt Florence is 94 and still going strong. We all are numbered in the family according to birth. I am #67 and Jack is #132. Pretty cool! We left there around 6:30 pm, went back to the hotel and put Jack to sleep. We just hung out until it was our bed time.

Sunday:
We met up with my grandma, Aunt Sue, cousin Steve, his fiance Jeanne (whom Jack loved!) and the Greenfields for brunch. After that, it was time to head to the airport. We had a direct flight home, and I think it was the quickest we have ever gotten our luggage and gotten home. A perfect end to a fabulous weekend.

If you’ve made it to the end of this blog entry, I’m impressed!

Jack’s 6-month check-up August 6, 2007

Just came from Jack’s 6-month check-up (a couple weeks late!). He is doing great, and the doctor said he’s practically caught up to a full-term baby! He’s 16 pounds, 1 ounce, and 26 3/4 inches long. He grew 2 inches from his last appointment 6 weeks ago! He’s doing all of the developmental stuff on target too. And she upped his solids to 3 meals a day. We are going to see a head specialist about his flat spot because we don’t want it to get worse. She said once his soft spot closes a flat spot can cause his face to be lop-sided. No thanks! If he needs a helmet, better to get it now than later. He also had his shots and he was so brave. He cried when they gave them, but once I picked him up he stopped and was like “ok, not so bad.”

Here’s a picture of him propped up on his elbows watching his beloved train.