Santa!

Jack's first visit with Santa! He was very good for the photo shoot, but of course he started smiling and giggling right AFTER we were done!

Just a few days after this picture, Jack had his 2 month check up. He is almost 24 inches tall, and over 13 pounds! The doctor asked what we were feeding him to make him grow so well. This is a boy who loves to eat! Maybe next year he can enjoy his first candy cane.

Other interesting Jack Facts:

• His eyebrows are coming in a very, very light brown. They're almost invisible.
• His dark brown hair is being replaced by spiky dark blonde hair.
• His eyes remian a very dark blue.
• He continues to smile and giggle at his Favorite Lamp.
• After he sneezes he always says, "Ohhhhhhhhh...," like a sigh. Cutest thing ever!
• He loves the Beatles--he'll stop crying as soon as they come on in the car-- but is not crazy about The Greatful Dead. Good boy.
• And yes, his name is John Aidan, but we call him Jack. You know, like JFK.

And this is not about Jack really, but it's cute anyway. When Jack is crying really hard--like when he has to wait for his bottle to be warmed-- Seamus will bring him a toy! Very sweet.

More pictures

7 weeks and look at that smile!

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7 Weeks. Although he is the perfect baby, he cries once in a while!

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5 and a half weeks, and starting to smile!

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5 and a half weeks -in his bouncy seat.

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Sleepy, swaddled baby

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4 weeks, in a crazy bonnet

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Thanksgiving!

Jack's first Thanksgiving! Of course, he didn't really get to enjoy all that Thanksgiving has to offer--what is Thanksgiving if you can't eat the food? I was determined to give him some sweet potaotes, but I didn't. He was passed around too much. Sean and I hardley get to see Jack at all at family functions.

You can't see it in the pictures but Jack did have a special Thanksgiving outfit. It was a sleeper with little turkeys and "gobble gobble' all over it. How did we not end up with a good picture of that?!? Oh, well--just wait for Christmas!

Halloween!

Jack's little dog Fergus, dressed as a bee. A polka-dotted bee.

Pumpkins in progress. Jack choose not to participate, since he can't hold a knife. So he....

...watched The Nightmare Before Christmas with Grandma for the first time! It's a family tradition.

Mad Jack the pirate

Doesn't he look bloodthirsty? Arghh!

Another pirate! (It's Jack's relatively big dog named Seamus. Aren't we nice to supply Mad Jack 2 little dogs before he can even sit up?)

First bath!

A milestone in every young man's life! Jack had his first bath. His first completely submerged yikes-babies-are-slippery bath. He had a sponge bath his first week, which he hated. He screamed til he threw up --there goes all my hard work-- and then his umbilical cord fell off, which made me want to throw up. So a few days ago, it was time for another bath, but with the icky umbilical cord gone, we could finally fill up the tub! I mean a baby tub, and it was only a few inches, so don't worry if you are reading this Mom.

First you obsessively check the water to see if it is warm enough, but not too warm. Is it deep enough? Too deep? Will he be cold? Then we stripped him down--which he hates-- and carefully put him in the tub. Ah, pretty good, he seemed stable. But then how do you wash his back? For goodness sake, I don't want to have to move him!

As you can see from the pictures, he tolerated it pretty well. He mostly looked bewildered. And by the way, those are my hands in the picture. Sean kept telling me to move my hands out of the way as he took the pictures, but I reminded him if we posted pictures of a baby apparently sitting alone in a tub full of water on our blog, we would instantly be arrested for child abuse. Rest assured that Jack was held by not only me the whole time, but Sean too when he wasn't taking pictures. Everything around here is a team effort.

There is nothing like a freshly washed, sweet smelling baby!

Baby Shower Pictures

The guest of honor!

Yay! Lots of snacks!

Mimi (Great Grandmother) and Jack

Papa (Great Grandfather) and Jack

Myrna, Cousins Aarin and Brianna, and Grandma holding Jack

Grandma Claudia holding Jack, and Great Grandma June

Great Grandma June and Jack

Janelle, Myrna (holding Jack) and me. They hosted the shower.

Baby Shower!

Jack attended a baby shower in his honor on October 20th. He was very popular! He was passed around the whole time, and I only got to hold him when it was time for a diaper change. He charmed everyone of course with his good behavior-- he slept the whole time!

We got a lot of good presents. Formula and wipes and toys and blankets--all things we really needed. It was really fun-- for one game, different candy bars were melted into diapers, and we had to guess what kind of candy bar each one was. Very funny and disgusting! I wish someone had a picture of all of us sniffing what looked like very dirty diapers...

On Thursday, Jack went to his 2 week Well Baby appointment. He is growing like a weed! The doctor said he has great muscle tone, and he had gained 2 pounds and grown 2 inches since we were last at the doctors office! All of his newborn clothes are starting to fit really well--which I suppose means he'll be growing out of them in the next week or so!

See the next post for more shower pictures......

The many moods of Jack, week 2

Hello Jack!

Surprised Jack

Sleepy Jack


Relaxed Jack

Pensive Jack

Movie star Jack

Jack's good side

Jack thinking

Jack flashing gang signs

Happy Jack

Bringing Jack Home

Well the hour long ride from the hospital to our house was the slowest I have ever seen Sean drive! I sat in the back seat with Jack, to make sure he was still breathing of course. We were heading to my Mom's house to show him off a little before we spent our first night alone with him.

Our first night alone!

It wasn't so bad really. He woke up every few hours to be fed and changed, but he was still so new and amazing, we were happy to get up. It's sort of a blur now. There have been so many long nights, so many diapers. People always tell you how tired you will be when you bring a new born home, but I always thought, "Well I've been tired before, it's no big deal." But this is a whole different kind of tired! How many times have Sean or I poured the formula directly on the counter instead of into a bottle in the wee small hours of the morning? More than I can count! Thank goodness there are two of us, so we can trade off.

It's all working out just fine though. We are managing to keep the house in some sort of order, and everyone if getting to eat and sleep eventually. We've even taken Jack on some field trips--to a baby shower (he was passed around so much I only got to hold him once, and only becasue he needed to be changed!), to the library in his stroller (slept like an angel, cried when we got home), to Target for a bathtub (he really needs it!) , out to dinner and out to lunch! He's very good in public (and so handsome!), so he makes a good impression.

Alright, time for more pictures, showing the many moods of Jack.....

More Pictures

Jack in the hospital

Mom and Jack!

Father and Son at Hospital

What a long strange trip it's been

Sean and I started talking about adoption in the beginning of 2007. After a lot of research we picked an agency, and got started. Oh the mountains of paperwork! The hours of introspection! The 120 question questionairre we had to fill out for the agency! It was a lot of work completing the homestudy. But by the beginning of September, we were working on our 'Family book'--the book of pictures for prospective birthmothers to look through-- and wondering how long we would have to wait to be picked. A year? Two years?

One week!

Sean and I were having lunch together--a rare occurrance--when I got a call from our agency. It was our clinician calling to tell us congratulations. We were picked! Sean turned completely white. I couldn't finish my lunch. It was a really good BLT too.

A few days later we went nervously to our agency to meet the our birthmom. Would we like her? More importantly, would she like us?!? It was like a first date and a job interview all rolled into one. But we all clicked! Talking to our birthmom was really easy--there was a lot of laughing, and a little bonding over our tattoos. She was so nice and cute and funny! And so smart! We loved her! As we left we were feeling really good about the meeting. But then we started to wonder--did she like us too? Maybe we talked too much. Maybe she thought we were goofy. I remember saying to Sean that if the baby boy she was carrying turned out to be anything like her, we would be lucky. But what if she didn't like us?!? See? Just like a first date.

A day or so later we got another call from the agency--she liked us too! Yay! We set a date to meet again for dinner. But that day, we got a call saying she had to cancel--she wasn't feeling well. Our clinician said it sounded like the beginning of labor. Labor? We were going to be parents soon! Yikes! We needed someplace for the baby to sleep! Some clothes! Diapers!

And sure enough, Jack was born right on his due date, October 7th. He is beautiful and perfect. Our birthmom did a great job! Jack spent a few days in the hospital, and since we were an hour or so from home, we spent the first few days in a hotel. What a honeymoon that was! We got to see Jack anytime we wanted, but we still got a good night sleep back at the hotel room every night.

Next time--we bring Jack home!