Here is Jack at 11 weeks old…
(April 12, 2012)

We have discovered that Jack-boy looks very good in the color red! We photographed him quite a bit in the same onesie this week.

We had a lovely Easter! We had Easter dinner at my parents’ house, where we hunted for Easter baskets. Jack was a little sleepy, so I did his hunting for him…

Because Jack was born at 37 weeks our pediatrician treats him accordingly, so we had our 2-month well-baby visit this week. His stats were:
Weight = 11 pounds, 2.8 ounces
Length = 22 1/4 inches
Head = 15 3/4 inches

The doctor remarked that Jack has good neck strength for his age. It’s probably because he spends so much time on people’s shoulders looking around.

During his visit, he received two vaccination shots which R attended to. I buried my attention into my iPhone and pretended like nothing was happening. It was too much for me. Thank goodness for husbands. Jack did great and only felt really icky for a short time later that evening.

Jack continues to charm all of his grandparents on a regular basis. Here he is in his favorite grandparent-napping-position with Grandma Maureen…

This week, Jack and I took a walk along the beach in Santa Monica with my friend, Kathleen, who was nice enough to snap this picture…

Jack’s current nicknames are:
From Mom: Little Leprechaun, BooGoo, His Royal Bugness, Jack-boy
From Dad: Kiddo

Jack gets more and more expressive every day. I’ll give you one guess who was standing over my shoulder while I snapped these photos…

Nobody makes Jack smile like his Daddy! They also play a really cute call and response game where R will sing a vowel sound and Jack coos back. It’s adorable. (Sometimes I get in on the conversations, too).

Jack sometimes enjoys playing by himself on his activity mat. I spy on him while he entertains himself by dancing and cooing and kicking his toys. Here he his doing so in his sleep gown that I think looks like a baby kimono…

Jack’s favorite things are: The mirror and people’s faces. He hasn’t really taken to toys yet.

Finally…

Can you stand it? I love my little leprechaun.
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Here is Jack at 10 weeks old…
(April 5, 2012)

Jack-boy is discovering his hands and likes to suck on them to indicate one of two things.
1) I’m hungry, please. 2) I’m getting sleepy, please.

I finally mustered the courage to trim Jack’s fingernails for the first time this week, which he slept through very soundly…

Jack’s biggest milestone this week was reaching 10 pounds! Here he is at the weigh in…

I’ve decided that since he has finally reached 10 pounds, I no longer need to weigh him weekly. I will wait patiently until his well-baby check-ups like a normal mother.

Jack is moving into the 3 month clothing size, which I am enjoying so much! I am particularly fond of this outfit. I’m sure you can see why…

Just before Easter, Jack got dressed in his first big-boy-outfit and we went to see my friend Chelsi who accompanied us to our Easter Bunny photo shoot. Here is Jack expressing himself to Chelsi. Jack found Chelsi to be an empathetic listener…

Jack has now taken to sleeping one 4-hour stretch at night usually beginning at about 8:30 or 9:30pm. He then wakes up every two hours after that. We are working on the 4 hour stretch starting a bit later so we can sleep with him.

Time sure flies when you have a baby! My maternity leave is coming quickly to an end (in 4 weeks: boo hoo). I requested to return to work 80% time and unfortunately my request was not granted without relinquishing my current position as a department leader and taking a “step down”. I am very disappointed, to put it mildly. So, our family is now in decision mode about how to move forward. I will be sad to leave Jack for 5 days a week if that is what I have to do. I just don’t want to miss anything at this tender and sweet age…

Can you blame me? Jack is my little rockstar cutie!
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Here is Jack-boy at 9 weeks old…
(March 29th, 2012)

Now that Jack has grown so much and has finally developed fat baby thighs, he has found his way back into cloth diapers. He’s pretty cute sporting his colorful diaper covers! Here he is dancing away during a diaper change…

Jack continues to enjoy the company of all his grandparents, especially because they regularly hold him in his favorite position. Here he is loving Grandma Jodie and Grandpa Jack…

Jack and I have been attending regular Stroller Strides classes, which require us to get going early in the morning. So far, Jack is not a morning person…

We love the many faces of our sweet Jack-boy…

And finally, Jack’s smile…

It melts my heart every time!
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Here is Jack at 8 weeks old…
(March 22, 2012)

At 8 weeks old, Jack weighed in at 9lbs, 5ozs. He continues to gain weight steadily, which is wonderful! If it seems I am obsessive about tracking his weight gain, it’s because it was such a struggle in the beginning, so seeing such great progress when I weigh him every week makes me happy.

Jack, having Irish roots on his Dad’s side, is already celebrating St. Patrick’s Day like a true Irishman should. Here he is showing his Irish-pride at bedtime…

Earlier in the day, he sported his lime green hat, which made him look like a leprechaun…

Inspired by my son’s enthusiasm for the holiday, I tried a new recipe. I baked Irish Soda Bread, which I had never had before and it was delicious. I substituted cranberries soaked in whiskey for the raisins in this recipe. I highly recommend it…

This week, Jack and I went walking several times, once for 3 miles around the hills of our home, which was fun! We bundled up and Jack napped the whole way…

The biggest news from this week is that Jack began to outgrow clothes. I had to pack away his first little pairs of pajamas, which was bittersweet, but we’re falling in love with new pjs and rolling up the sleeves…

All this vigorous growing makes a boy sleepy…

Not that he always sleeps. This week we reverted back to shorter periods of sleep.

Jack’s smile continues to delight us and his sweet cooing is the best. I love having conversations with him – I know he has a lot to say!
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Here is Jack at 7 weeks…
(March 15, 2012)

At 7 weeks, Jack weighed in at 8lbs, 9ozs. Look at these chubby cheeks…

Lindsey came for a visit this week and we walked down to have a snack at Starbucks. Here we are sending photo-text love to our friend Kirsten (to cheer her up since her infant daughter had a bad cough)…

Lindsey took this nice photo of Jack-boy and I…

Jack hit a fun milestone this week by smiling socially! He first smiled at me shortly after Lindsey left and then at R in the middle of the night. Here is one of his smiles…

My Aunt Susan and Aunt Carole visited SoCal this week and met Jack for the first time. They doted on him, cuddled with him, sang to him and fed him. He liked all the attention as you can see by the smile he has in our photo together…

Another milestone was his first major diaper blowout. It was quite the production. I’m sure he’ll appreciate me documenting this when he is older…

I only mention this blowout because I finally got the hint that he needed the next diaper size. Next time I won’t wait for concrete evidence, but trust the signs ahead of time. And I promise not to share any more details about the contents of Jack’s diapers.

This event was so messy, I had to put Jack into a bath immediately…

This week, Jack became so much more expressive and interactive. He really makes eye contact and seems interested in everything. He loves looking in the mirror and he especially likes being outside, but his favorite place is still propped on somebody’s shoulder for a nap. Now that he is over 8lbs, I can wear Jack in the Baby Bjorn, which is great fun.

In other news, I got clearance to start exercising. I began my journey back into exercise by taking an S Warm-up and, um, let’s just say I didn’t walk out feeling fabulous. I admit I was very discouraged by how much core strength and flexibility I have lost. I didn’t feel very daunted by getting back into shape before, but now I do. I am not used to feeling so outside my body and it left me feeling a little down. In my future: lots of walking and elliptical, stroller strides, yoga, yoga and yoga. I also signed up to try Pilates for the first time. I realize it will take some time.

Finally, look at this face…

Master Cuteness!
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