Big Birthday Bash! (oh, and Jack walked)

What a day... actually what a weekend! More than 40 people showed up Saturday to help wish Jack a very happy 1st birthday. The food was good (and plentiful), the conversation was lively and the guest of honor was his regular well-behaved self. Oh yeah, and he walked! I mean Jack really walked. He let go of furniture and took more than ten steps unassisted and ungoaded (is that a word?). Now he's a walking fool. Anyway, more about the walking later... let's get to the party pictures...
The bubble machine was a big hit... Piper (a little girl from across the street in the jumper and striped shirt) loved it more than anyone. At one point she just stood in front of it and had the bubbles smash in her face. The little guy in the photo is Ryan, our next door neighbors - he is 9 months old... Jack on the floor smashing bubbles and then there's Harper near his sister Piper.

These are the face painters who entertained the masses for more than an hour. Some even washed their face and had them do it all again...Jack just opted for a simple "1" on his cheek.



Here are Owen and Jack giving each other the High Five. And the headless woman with the green shirt is Maria... she is having #2 in July!

A little conversation between in laws and father and son...

Playing this much really works up a man-sized thirst!

Right after the cake... Jack pretty much passed out for more than an hour! He didn't even eat any because he was so tired... but he did tonight (but that's for tomorrow's post!).


All the cousins... (Jack looks pleased!)... from left to right we have Andrew, Ava, Allie, Olivia, Jack, Hunter, Lucie and Elizabeth.
I'd like to thank everyone for coming to share our special day! We really appreciate it and hope everyone had a good time. Tomorrow I will blog about the cake eating and the gifts... with video!

Party Preps

Party preps are in full swing... which is a good thing since it's in just four days. I can't believe Jack is going to be one year old! Seems like just yesterday when Stephen and I were feeding him just one ounce of breastmilk (or whatever I could muster) at a time. Now he's chugging on his bottle and sucking down 8 to 10 ounces at a pop. Before he was just this little munchkin that couldn't hold up his own head, now he can climb a full set of stairs (with me close behind). He's such a little man and I truly think I love him more each day... and I'm not sure how that can be possible!

You asked for 'em, you got 'em...

You people are a bunch of sickos. You want to see the ant photos... so here you go:





This isn't a fair representation. This is AFTER Stephen used the vacuum for at least 20 minutes!

Midnight Man

Lately Jack has been waking up crying around midnight. Not sure why, maybe he's trying to push out a few teeth before his big birthday. Regardless, I've been too tired to rock him back to sleep so I've been a bad mom... I've taken him into our bed! Last night when I brought him in (around 2 or so) he was so happy to be there. I mean he was just looking from side to side and grinning from ear to ear. Didn't matter to him that it was the middle of the night, he was just happy to be close to us (actually he wanted to be next to Stephen, he has a thing for him lately).
After 45 minutes of enduring Jack's pure joy it was time to bid him adieu. He just wasn't going to be able to settle himself down so I drew the short straw and brought him back to his crib. I figured at this age he won't remember that I'm the mean one who brought him back! I was sure he was going to scream and cry, but again Baby Man proves me wrong. He whimpered for about 1 minute and then snuggled up to his penguin and bunny and fell asleep 'til 7!
When he woke up he joined us again in bed and this time took ownership of the remote control... hence the photo below:

Final Bathroom Pictures

Well, the master bathroom is finally done! We can stop sharing with Baby Man and move all of our stuff into our newly remodeled bathroom.
Here is what you see when you walk through the door. The Silestone counter top was just installed on Friday morning. The towels I just picked up the other day from Restoration Hardware. And Stephen installed the faucets this afternoon. No leaks! The TV crew comes on Friday for a final shoot and then I think it will air on April 23rd. The good thing about NECN is that they post all their shows on the internet, so I'll post a link to it on the blog.

This is the shelf that Stephen built... he did a very nice job. He also hung the bamboo shade today.

This is the only way I could shoot the tub area and show part of the shower curtain. We also got rid of the old school disco lights around the mirror. Instead of putting up a new mirror, we just framed around the old one.
Nice tile work...And this is the magic toilet. I think I've blogged enough about this in the past :)

I'm Back!

It was a sad couple of days. My power supply to my laptop died! Stephen ordered me a new one, but it took a couple of days to arrive... but never fear... I'm back in business. And boy do I have a story to tell you... I will preface that it is one of the most horrifying stories you may ever hear... here we go.

So a week ago or so we started noticing black carpenter ants in the car. At first it was just a couple, but then one day I must have killed like 30 or so. It was tres disgusting. So I took the car to the car wash and vacuumed the inside hoping I was killing them all.
For a bit it seemed like I was on top of the problem, but along came a somewhat warm day here in New England, and the ants were just everywhere. Then we noticed where they were coming from: the car seat! Now let me remind you, these are carpenter ants - the kind that feed on wood and such - not food ants. So when we got home from work and daycare Stephen took the car seat out of the car, took off the cover and found maybe two dozen ants. I was pretty grossed out but Stephen sucked them all up with the shop vac and we thought that was it. Au contraire mon frere.
He then looked into the base of the car seat and saw THOUSANDS of ants - a true infestation! So he rapidly began sucking them out with the vacuum thinking we were getting ahead of the game. Wrong again. He then banged the seat on the ground and they were seriously coming out of the entire seat. Jack had been sitting on a nest of carpenter ants! Makes me itchy thinking about it again. The ants were in the base, in the nooks, in the crannies, in the styrofoam safety inserts... just everywhere. There was no way we'd ever be able to use this $300 car seat again.
So Stephen put Baby Man to bed and I boogied on down to Target to get a replacement seat asap. In the meantime, Stephen sprayed the seat with ant spray and killed them all. There was ant doody everywhere. It was so disgusting!
The interesting thing is that when we first installed the seat in the car we noticed a dead ant in the box, but we thought nothing of it. 'Til now!
So the next day I get on the phone with the folks at Britax, tell them the whole sordid story and all they cared about was the lot number and the serial number. They were not that interested in finding out if the ant issue began in their factory or warehouse. So then I called Toys R Us. They were much more accommodating. After telling my whole story several times to different people, they agreed to replace the seat for free.
So now we've shipped back the old seat, we're using the interim seat (which I will then be able to return to Target) and just wait for the replacement seat to come.
Isn't that the nastiest story? I have pictures, but I'm not sure you really want to see them. If you're anywhere close to mealtime, the answer is definitely no. In fact, you're going to have to vote to let me know if you want to see the photos. Vote early and vote often! (in the sidebar to the left)

Happy Jack

This video is what you get when you go into Jack's room after he wakes up in the morning. Generally he gets up a bit earlier than most would like (around 5:30). But the good thing is that he will just sit there and play with his toys... like his keys, penguin, bunny and monkey... for a while, up to 20 minutes or so. The best thing about being the one to get him out of the crib - he thinks you're his hero and he's what I call "Happy Jack."



And besides being darn cute... he's generous. Wasn't that nice of him to offer up his penguin? Did you notice he was playing with his bunny's tail when I snuck up on him? He loves to play with it and suck on it... the tail is a bit hard from all the saliva.
Tonight Jack has homemade pizza for dinner and he chowed! That was really good since he hasn't been eating all that well again because he's sprouting more teeth. Hopefully this process will be done before his big birthday bash.

The Toto Washlet

Well the magic toilet is finally installed. We've both used it and have never felt fresher :)
Now to demonstrate how it works I've hired a model to sit on the can. Just kidding. Neither Stephen nor I were willing to post our butts on the blog so we'll just show you the function where the cleaning wand comes out (so you can clean it), but you'll get the idea. There's a front wash (for the ladies!) and a back wash (for both). Oh yeah, the seat is heated too... nice amenity! After you cleanse yourself, there is an air dry function as well. Not sure how long you'd have to sit there to be totally dry.
Here's the video:



You are all welcome to come over and try it out. To be honest, I was bit nervous at first, but now it's nice. The washlet retails for about $2200. If you'd like to get one I might be able to get you a discount :)
Remember, a clean popo is a happy popo.

This one is self explanatory...

Climbing on the "Mom Gym"

Tonight Jack and I had a good time goofing off and acting like wild animals. In fact here is a video that shows Jack crawling on the "Mom Gym." He looks a bit crazed, but it was a lot of fun.


Here is a really cute profile (at least I think so) of Jack... this was taken as he watched his favorite show, "Jack's Big Music Show."

I took him to the doctor this afternoon to make sure his hacking cough isn't bronchitis or anything else. Right now we're in the clear, but we did get a nebulizer to mist saline on him to clear up the congestion. Hopefully that will help. It should be interesting trying to get him to sit still for 5 to 7 minutes during his "treatment." I think I might do it while he's sleeping, otherwise I don't see it happening. By the way, the doctor thinks Jack's obsession with toilet paper is quite normal... no reason to worry.

B'Easter report

So the very first B'Easter was a raging success. Everyone had a good time, the food was spectacular and Jack entertained the masses. The only hitch of the evening was at the very end when the kitchen sink got clogged and all the men tried to fix it to no avail. (A plumber came today and rectified the situation)
Jack was entertaining everyone by walking behind this little push toy... Making silly faces with Grandpa Tractor...
and getting tickled by his great-grandmother...
and eating frosting off his mom's birthday cake...

Who Me?

Doesn't he just have a look on his face that says, "Who me?" Jack is getting more adventurous every day. From taking off quickly on his hands and knees to throwing things out of his crib to get our attention, he certainly is growing up before our very eyes. He did a great job during dinner last night, sat for almost the entire meal and ate a roll. Considering what he's been eating lately (nothing) that is pretty good. He also liked the frosting on my birthday cake, go figure!