I hope you don't mind.

I hope you don't mind
that I put down in words,
how wonderful life is now you're in the world.

{Thank you, Sir Elton. My sentiments exactly.}

Happy First Birthday, my darling son. I love you so dearly.

Jack's 11 Month Update

My not-so-tiny baby is less than a month away from his first birthday. I don't want to go all cliche on you, but good lands, where has the time gone?!?

{I also haven't done a specific monthly post on him since 7 months. This is a prime example of why I do not scrapbook.}

One of the few pics without the sign in his mouth.
My sweet baby son is all over the place and pulling up on everything. Somewhere in his 9th month he went from barely moving from one spot in the morning, to crawling into the kitchen to remove all of the contents of my Tupperware cabinet by the afternoon. The Lord showed me great favor and allowed it to happen on a day I was home from work. He is in the smallest of my details.

Besides that, we finally have some teeth! He's been warming up to real food for a while now, but eating toothless, I would imagine, is quite a challenge. His first taste of real food was a Little Debbie Christmas Tree cake. If you've ever had one, you can understand why that finally motivated him to eat real things. For the record, it has not turned him off of healthy foods, and I did make him share it with me. He'll eat anything I put in front of him these days, which of course is making me evaluate how healthy we are eating (i.e. limiting frequency of Little Debbie incidents.)

We just moved him into 18 month pajamas, which have historically been the first clothing item he's advanced in size. I think we're about to need new Levi's, and his winter coat seems a bit snug. All of these are signs of a healthy little man, who has charmed us to pieces. And on February 26, he'll be an entire year old!

Previous updates found here!

Seven Months!

Seven months is getting away from me!

It goes without saying that we just love, love, love this boy. He is cracking me up so much these days. My dad made the discovery this past weekend that if you hold any iPhone up in front of him, he will smile. Even one of our distant family members (who he did not know) held her phone up, and that kiddo of mine flashed his big gummy grin. Perhaps his mama takes too many pics? Is that even possible?

Speaking of gummy grins, there are no teeth yet although he is really working his gums. I'm expecting one any day now. He was 20 lbs 1 oz at his last doctor appointment, and crawling is imminent. Last weekend he was a little mama-clingy (kinda flattering, ok very flattering), but I'm fairly certain it was because we were in different territory around so many new faces. His favorite toy these days is a ball with holes that he can put his fingers in and throw. Typical boy.

Jack's 5 Month Update

This boy continues to steal our hearts. He is just too much! This month, he expanded his eating of solids. From fruits to veggies, to mac and cheese and chicken noodle, so far I've not put anything in front of him that he hasn't eaten all of. One of my friends was keeping the baby room in the nursery and commented on how solid he was. And he is definitely that--a solid little kid. I love it! He's outgrown his little bibs, so we've moved on to the bigger ones. He rolled over a couple of times from back to front, and then got mad that he was on his belly. (He's figured that one out in month 6th, for sure.)

Below is a video of suppertime. When I introduce a new food I will say, "MMMMM, yummy!" You'll notice he's picked up on that. A little.

I'm so blessed to be Jack's mama!

Jack's 4 Month Update

It appears that I'm running a full month behind, because today Jack actually turned 5 months old! So that inspired me to post about his 4th month.

He is growing like a weed. I always thought it was so cliche that "they grow up too fast." Seriously not cliche. Definitely truth. At his checkup, he weighed 15 lbs. 10 oz. and was 25 1/4 inches tall. I admitted to our very awesome pedi that I'd been feeding him cereal for some time since month 3 (he is a BIG eater), so she said I might as well start him on baby food. I guess that is considered solids? They seem pretty liquid if you ask me. Anyway! We went straight to the store and stocked the pantry with food for the young gentleman.

He is such a joy to both of us. This month he figured out how to smile for the camera, rather than looking at it so pensively when we bring it out. That's made for a lot more photo sessions, most of which get posted on Twitter or Instagram. Feel free to follow me there--my username is em_gentry.

THREE Months Old

I've gone back to work, which is why there are crickets chirping around here. I am B-U-S-Y and heading into the office at a crazy, dark-thirty-type hour of the morning so I can be home to pick up the J-Bird in the evening and still have every other Friday with him. It is so worth it.

My sweet kiddo is (a little over) 3 months now. He is THE BEST. Seriously, just the best. We're having so much fun. He is laughing tons, smiling tons, and just all around super sweet. He only fusses a little when momma isn't so quick on having the bottle ready, so usually not much (I am johnny on the spot.)

So obviously the biggest change in J's life is that I'm not home with him during the day. We had a few nights where he started waking up again, but he's found his rhythm and is sleeping all night long. His care while I am at work is the perfect situation if I'm not at home with him. We are incredibly blessed that I can go back to work with confidence that he's well taken care of.

Other things this month: still in size 2 diapers (by month 4 he'll be in 3's), shakes his rattle, and enjoys tummy time for about 2 minutes.

Two Months (a couple of weeks late, oopsie)

Jack is joy and a half. He is cooing and smiling and turning me to mush a few times a day. He especially loves bath time these days and is especially chatty then. I love it. When I start a rendition of "I Feel Good," he starts wiggling his arms and legs, and when I stop, he stops and looks at me like, "what happened?" Of course we think it's hysterical. The longer I laugh, the bigger his smiles. It is just too much.

At his 2 month check up, he weighed 12 lbs. 8 oz. and measured 23 1/2 inches. He was in the 75 percentile all the way across the board. Perfectly proportional and meeting all the developmental milestones as he should.

{The bear in the pic above is Jack Bear. Brad and I made him at Build-a-Bear on our last date night before Jack was born.}