Happy Half Birthday, Jack!

Jack is 6 months old today! I can't believe a half a year has passed since he was born. Here's how we celebrated:


With pureed vegetables...yummy!

And by starting to sit up, which looks something like this:


And then like this...


My life has never been as full and meaningful as it has in the past 6 months--this has been the best 6 months of my life. I feel so blessed to be watching this little person become and I am so, so blessed to walk this road with my husband.

Jack gave us a gift last night for his half-birthday--our best night of sleep ever. Still not "through the night" but a good night anyway.

Not a Perfect Ten in My Book...

Source: Getty Images (Copyright)

For the record, I will say I am sorely disappointed in the Olympics this year. I'm not sure when, but they did away with the "Perfect Ten" in gymnastics. A perfect 10 just sounds SO much better than 15.26. My best childhood friend, B. and I spent hours upon hours first watching the movie Nadia and then playing gymnastics and fighting over who got to be Nadia (then we got smart and realized her teammate Teadora was way prettier...then fought over who got to be Teadora). Which brings me to my next disappointment--I've been combing the channels for a replay of that wonderful 80's movie Nadia--and it hasn't been on. :-(

Since B. is the only one of us with a daughter, I'm pinning all of my Olympic hopes on her future career as a gymnast. Hopefully they will have brought back the "Perfect 10" by then.

Wedding Bells

My little brother got married on Saturday evening and my parents are one in-law closer to their original plan of having 12 children...(they stopped at 5!). Four down, one to go...and that includes three weddings in 18 months. Way to go Mom and Dad! The wedding was beautiful, the setting was gorgeous (close to sunset overlooking the water), and the bride was stunning. I'm lucky to have added another sister to my arsenal.

Some highlights from the weekend:

1. Beautiful ceremony, officiated by one of my brother's best friends, a rowdy kind of guy, who knocked my socks off with a touching, meaningful ceremony. I'm officiating my little sister's wedding in January--I may plant him in the audience and have him feed me my lines through an ear bud...

2. Teary vows and my little brother baring his heart, which is the trait I love him the most for. Hoping my son (named for him) gets this trait.

3. A sweet entourage of flower girls, of which all three were my adorable nieces, all of whom made it down the aisle flawlessly.

4. Ring bearers who actually got to carry and present the rings. I wasn't so brave at my wedding and my nephew (both a ringbearer then and in this wedding) declaring to my mother that he really didn't know why he was carrying the pillow if there were no rings...

5. Catching up with relatives I don't see frequently, including meaningful conversations with two of my aunts, who I really haven't gotten to know well before. Hoping to hold on to and cultivate the relationships.

6. The unexpected surprise attendance by my best childhood friend's husband (wow, that was wordy!), who is only home here and there for the next few months as he is on worldly Navy SEAL missions. We think about and pray for his safety often!

7. Catching up with said childhood best friend--who amazes me more than anyone else I know--two young kids, she not only holds it altogether pretty flawlessly, even with oft-absent hubby, but does so radiantly.

8. Lots of people getting to meet Jack for the first time.

B. and K.--congratulations! We love you and hope for a love that grows deeper and deeper each day. Your relationship has been a treat to watch grow into the one soul you forged on Saturday. We love you!

America's Next Top Model...

Isn't he cute????

We had a busy, but fun, weekend. Saturday was full of bachelor fun for Jared as he helped my little brother celebrate his LAST WEEKEND as a single guy. They did a tour of local breweries on a party bus which, judging by the pictures and the boys' slurry speech upon return, seemed to be quite the good time. Jack and I also did a tour--albeit of cousins. We started at my older brother's house, visited with Cousins A. and P. and Auntie K. and then headed over to my older sister's for a visit with cousins M. and C. My sister and family have been on a week-long trip to Colorado, during which time I sorely missed her and her entertaining blog entries. At least I was kept entertained by her "In 25 Words or Less" sidebar. Then, feeling rather ambitious and with a fed and rested baby, Jack and I headed over to Babies R Us for some pictures. They turned out great and we were in and out in less than an hour. Can't really beat that.

On Sunday, we took Jack to his first ENTIRE church service since being baptized. All in all, he did great. He was rather entertained by the stained glass and the nice man sitting next to us, who he treated to gummy smiles. We then headed to the Race Track to see the ponies run for a company-sponsored Sunday at the races. It was a lot of fun and made me want to go back before the season is over. It's been a long time since I've been to the races and I forgot how much fun it can be. Alas, no money won but a good time was had by all.

Updates

14.5 lbs!!! That's right folks--at 5 months, Jack is 14.5 lbs, almost catching up to his peers! It seems as though Jack has exploded with new things lately! It's amazing to watch him come alive and discover the world. Definitely a lesson in seeing things through virgin eyes...

Last Sunday, after much effort on his part, Jack finally rolled from his back to his tummy! He had been able to roll from his tummy to his back for a couple of weeks and had recently been stuck on his side trying to get from back to front. Once he did it, he practiced all week long and has now mastered the art of rolling as a mode of transportation! He's already trying to pull his legs up under him, ostensibly in preparation for crawling. I can wait on that for a while, though! With the rolling, he has discovered his toes, which are now spending quite a lot of time in his mouth. He's also become SO verbal! Loves hearing his voice, squeals constantly and babbles away. It's so cute and I am loving this new stage. His Auntie and Uncle recently bought him an exersaucer, which he is spending a lot of time in. It fun to watch him discover all of the different toys.

Since he's been so into moving and sitting in his Bumbo seat and basically being up with the big people, I thought it might be time to break out the highchair and let him sit in it while we eat. Well, I think I forget sometimes how bitty my baby still is...he practically disappeared in it and looked SO little. I think it will be a little while before we try it again.

The Wide, Wide Web World

One of the best things about this new world of "blogging" and internet bulletin boards are the friends you make along the way and the exposure to people's lives, stories, etc. that you wouldn't otherwise have.

I really didn't know much about blogs (I thought they were all political animals or things like Myspace) until my sister started hers a little less than a year ago. I also really didn't know much or care much about the bulletin boards until I got pregnant and was diagnosed with a pretty rare uterine anomaly that can have some negative effects on pregnancy. Being a paranoid pregnant person to begin with, I promptly googled my condition and came across this bulletin board of women with my same problem. The ladies on that board were all in the same boat as I was and I was able to draw on their experiences. For the most worrisome part of my pregnancy, they kept me afloat. A couple of those ladies have become near and dear friends, even if we've never met in person.

My sister's blog opened my eyes to the wide world of blogs. I found Tricia and Nathan's story on Blogger, which opened my eyes to Cystic Fibrosis and Nate's blogs about their NICU experience helped prepare me for some of what to expect when Jack was born early, even though our experiences were very different. Through commenters on some of these blogs, I've been turned on to others and now have a whole list of those I read and have been fortunate enough to actually email back and forth with some of the writers. I just think all of these new resources and experiences are so cool.

Please Pray...

I posted earlier about Tricia and Nate Lawrenson's journey through cystic fibrosis, lung transplant, and the very premature birth of their daughter, Gwyneth. They've been blessed with a lot of miracles in the past year and they need another one. Tricia developed a type of post-transplant cancer, which did not respond well to the first round of chemo. She is facing a much harder road of treatment. Please pray for her health, her ability to face the treatment with the same resolve she has approached everything else in her life, and for a good response to the treatment.