Five months!

Jack is five months today! He changes so much and so quickly, but there are a few personality traits that has stuck with our little one.

He's focused: Jack decides what he feels like doing and focuses on that. When he was a baby he loved looking at our vintage travel posters in our rooms. If you were holding him and you turned around, he would often strain his neck just so he could keep looking at the same picture. He's still that way now focusing o
n one toy or task at a time and you won't have any luck distracting him with another bright, shiny object.

He loves his daddy's voice: From the very beginning his daddy's voice always makes him turn his head. If mommy is holding him and daddy starts talking Jack often turns his head towards his voice and smiles.

He loves hanging out mommy and daddy together: Just like all parents we are juggling many different things so often one of us has Jack duty and the other is getting something done. We noticed around 3 months that he smiles a lot more when he sees both of us are with him. We try to put him to bed together every night.

Don't get between him and a bottle: When Jack is hungry he must be fed immediately. There is no one minute or even one second. He needs to eat NOW.

He's a bit of a chatterbox: This one likes to talk. He'll go for several minutes just telling us about something that he feels we need to know. He also likes to join in conversations between mommy and daddy too. Oh...and he likes to scold us if we don't feed him on time. A few times at nap time or bed time we'll catch him mumbling in his pacifier as he drifts off to sleep.

He's careful: He can be wary or new things and situations and often looks to mommy or daddy for reassurance that this is ok. He actually does ok with new people as long as we are in the room. If he remains the same way as he is now, I won't ever have to worry about Jack getting in to a stranger's car.

He loves being naked: One of his favorite times of day is bath time. I think partly because of the warm water and partly because he is in his birthday suit. He also gets very excited when you change his diaper because he thinks this might be the time when he gets to hang out in just his diaper. It's been too cold lately for that, but the baby likes being sans clothing.

Jack's First Christmas

We had a good Christmas morning despite the fact that each Bigelow has had their own up chuck moment in the past 48 hours. Food poisoning, stomach flu, noro virus...something gave us their gift earlier this week.

Jack's big present was a jumperoo. He loves standing (with help of course) so much that we thought he would really enjoy it. You can tell from the video that he is a bit apprehensive and then daddy really makes him a bit scared at one hilarious moment. The good news is that we've put him in the jumperoo already a few more times and he's getting the hang of it.

Merry Christmas!!

Wax on, wax off

We love Jack's giggle and it is very rarely captured. Here's a video to show our success!

not quite clark griswold

For Christmas, I decorated the outside of the house and Lelaine and some friends decorated the inside. Unfortunately I didn't buy enough lights and didn't have a ladder, so our lights in the front leave a lot to be desired. While I suppose I could purchase both more lights and a ladder, we want to keep expectations low our first year in the neighborhood and then add more and more lights every year. There aren't many houses on our street with lights, so the half ass job I did is really noticeable.

Below is a pic of the Christmas tree and stockings that Lelaine bought. The inside looks very nice. The theme of the tree is either rustic-lux or ombre. One is the theme of the tree, the other is Lelaine's haircut. I get them confused, but both are lovely.

And one of the things on my to do list during paternity leave was to clean up the back patio and put up some lights. Unlike the front, I think I did a pretty solid job with the back.

day care

Today was Jack's first day at day care. It was more like a brief visit - we were only there about half an hour and I stayed the entire time - but he did a good job. Including JLB there are six babies in the infant room, and one of the little girls came and stole one of the toys they gave Jack to play with. At the very least it is nice that 1-he will soon have professional care from people who know what they are doing and 2-he will be around other babies. We are going to make another visit tomorrow, and this time I will leave him for a little bit. Hope he continues to do well.

Christmastime in DC

We had the great privilege of touring the White House while it is decorated for the holidays. Here's one if the pics from the day. 

Story Time: The Gruffalo

We've heard the demand for videos of our little one is very high! Unfortunately, this one is getting used to being in front of the paparazzi and isn't always showing how cute he is in front of a camera. We did manage to capture this great vid a couple of nights ago during story time. The Gruffalo is one of my favorite books to read to Jack. It is a story of a very clever mouse in the wood. Don't want to tell you too much...might spoil the ending!

The Pilgrims ate rice cereal

Over the past few weeks we have discovered Jack likes watching us eat. We'll sit him at the table in his bumbo seat and he quietly hangs out while mom and dad eat dinner. It's been great family time. Every once in awhile I'll catch him eyeing what we put in our mouths so we figured he must be interested moving beyond the bottle. What better day than Thanksgiving to start eating solids?

He had brown rice cereal just like the pilgrims. We were very happy he liked what he had although we aren't sure how much went down the hatch and how much ended up on his bib.

Jack is also at the beginning stages of teething and very much enjoys salivating on his hands. In some ways, the rice cereal has some stiff competition, but we're hopefully he'll start to enjoy it a bit more and we can move on to more fun meals.

Four months!

hotty toddy #JacksMissAdventure

our actual seats

My friend Doug and I have heard a lot of stories about the best college football gameday atmosphere happening at Ole Miss. So when the schedule came out and we saw that Mizzou would have road game there this year, and maybe not again for another 12 years, Doug and I knew we had to go. And to help sow Jack's future Tiger fandom, we figured we should probably take him with us.

Jack and I began the 65 hour, 1858 mile journey at around 6am Friday morning, driving to the rough streets of Glover Park to pick up Doug. Three hours later Jack was visiting his first truck stop in his life, as his dad (sporting Mizzou zubaz pants) and Doug choked down food from a breakfast buffet and the worst cup of coffee ever consumed. With a couple of exceptions, bad food was a constant on the trip.

Next stop was Knoxville, which was also about the time Jack needed to spend some time out of the car. Not only was the Downtown Grill and Brewery the top rated place to eat in Knoxville on beeradvocate, but it also shares initials with Mizzou's stud receiver Dorial Green Beckham. It was as though we were meant to eat there.  After giving Jack a couple hours to stretch out, we got back in the car for a few fairly uneventful hours.

In anticipation of the weekend...

You may already know that Chris is taking Jack to the Mizzou game at Ole Miss this weekend. Many think he might be crazy, but it sounds like Jack is pretty excited. Here's a quick snippet of my chat with Jack before the weekend started.

Can you believe that play?

Skyline Drive

To celebrate Jack's 3 month birthday  we took him out to Skyline Drive. We packed the baby bjorn and took him on a short hike called Fox Hollow and we walked around Low Gap. He enjoyed seeing the leaves and trees, but then eventually passed out. We woke him up a few times to get a few cute pictures, but for the most part, this was just a great nap in fresh air.

On a side note: We ate at this really great burger place called Melt recommended by my friend Becky. If you are in the Leesburg area you need to stop by! Amazing burgers, fries and shakes.

Happy Hipster

Jack's First Halloween

Jack's first costume is a monkey! It might be a little big, but it still looks very adorable. We took him trick or treating at an event at the White House. He's only three months old and his social calendar already includes a White House visit! I won't tell him we might have been in line longer than we were at the event.

The sounds of the bony band in the picture lulled him to sleep for the entire event. We got a little keepsake M&Ms, trail mix and a sugar cookie in the shape of the White House.

We also noticed our neighborhood is quite the attraction for Halloween. A lot of people do it up "a la" the Dumfy house from Modern Family. We can't wait to soon take Jack around the hood for Hill-oween!

Three months!

Our little one is three months old! It's been quite the journey. The little man recently gave his parents a present. He's been sleeping 4-5 hours during the night!

He's also been smiling quite a bit, but that is harder to capture on camera of course. Hope we can post some smiling pics soon.

For my next trick

Jack is kind of bored with tummy time recently and has decided to try and just roll over. He can't do a complete 360 yet, but he can roll over on both sides. He's quite the little squirmer!

Jack Rolling Left

Jack Rolling Right

P.S. Despite our best efforts to get the videos to work on all platforms we have been unsuccessful. Sorry if you can't see on your mobile device.

fall fun

Saturday afternoon we went for a drive to do something fun.  One of the stops was a "Pumpkin Fort" an hour south of DC.  It was more like a bunch of pumpkins, a few random animals, and some strange cardboard cut outs, but Jack liked being outside and seeing new things even if he was too young to do much.  Maybe by next year he will be old enough to play in a wagon or slide.

Happy Monkey

Halloween a little early

weekend with dad

Lelaine had a much deserved weekend out of town with the book clubbers so poor Jack was stuck with me all weekend. Fortunately we both survived.

Lelaine dropped the little one off with me on Friday afternoon and Jack had a thrilling hour or two in the office, followed by a stop by District Taco since I had been told it was national taco day. We had a low key evening at our place and were visited by a few friends. Jack slept well that night, so we were off to a good start.

Saturday was a tremendous day. After doing some work at home and cleaning up in the morning I took Jack where any good father of a ten week old would take his son on a fall boys weekend - to an Octoberfest party. After Jack's first metro ride, we met up with Doug and Kevin and had a nice day in Columbia Heights eating kielbasa and pretzels, watching a dog costume contest, and drinking a couple of beers. Truth be told Jack slept 95% of the time, but he did so well that I decided that instead of going home in the afternoon, we would join Doug in swinging by Maddy's to watch Mizzou play Vandy. The Tigers jumped out to a quick 17-0 lead and all was right in the world.

Although he continued to sleep well that night, Mr. Jack was not in the best of moods most of Sunday. He was probably upset we were staying at home and not going out to more bars (or he missed his mom). Luckily for Jack, Lelaine came home early afternoon.

My first prolonged one on one time with him was a success.

A great birthday present

Jack is two months old and he has a lot to celebrate! Today the neonatologist officially cleared Jack for wired free living (meaning no more apnea monitor). We did of course watch him every minute of the car ride home to make sure he was breathing the whole time.

We quickly adjusted and I can say the past few hours have been glorious for his parents. We can actually take him from room to room without fear of tripping or a loud beeping noise. 

We are still working on his acid reflux and apparently Jack has been eating at mommy's buffet a bit too much because the doctor told us to limit his feeding times. However I am not sure if she's heard Jack cry when he is hungry. He rivals his mom when she hasn't had enough food and that can be SCARY.

We also get to give Jack a bit of prune juice everyday to help his tummy troubles. Hopefully, by Monday we have a baby that just loves to go to sleep and stay asleep. 

Was it a rough day Jack?

Sometimes our blog posts may just be pictures with captions. 

due date

Today was Lelaine's due date. It is very strange to think about the possibility that she would have been pregnant this whole time and may not not had the little guy, who wouldn't have been little had he gone to term. The six weeks since since July 26 have been amazing, but his actual birthday seems like eons ago.

Another favorite pillow

It's been a LONG time since Jack has slept in his crib. He tends to prefer anywhere else to sleep. His latest favorite spot is the boppy pillow--a discovery by his Lola (grandma in Tagalog). Doesn't always look comfy but it works.

one month

Jack turned one month old on Monday. He celebrated by drinking a lot of milk and taking a bath, which he actually enjoys.

In some ways the last month has been the longest month of our lives but in others it has flown by. One thing is certain - we have been lucky to have a lot of help. My parents were in town last week and Lelaine's mom is coming in town tonight. And a number of friends have done a lot, from trips to Ikea and putting together furniture to giving us their old baby stuff or bringing by dinner.

The mustache Bigelows

splish splash I was taking a bath

Now that the nub from his belly button has fallen off, Jack can take a bath. He doesn't like getting his body wet, but he really likes when you massage his head when washing his hair.

Tummy Time Take Two

Jack had a big day today! He was able to lift his head a few times during tummy time this afternoon. I was able to snap a few good action shots of one of the head lifts. He celebrated his accomplishment with a couple extra mLs of milk and nice nap on his pillow.

Jack's favorite bed

We have several beds for Jack: a crib, pack n play, mom's arms, dad's belly, Moses basket, a swing and bouncy seat. Ironically when you have tried everything to get him to sleep he immediately passes out on our $5 Target pillow we use to prop our arms when holding him. It's great in the daytime when you watch over him and make sure he doesn't roll over and either fall or suffocate. In the wee hours of the morning, it's not such a great thing. Although I have contemplated sleep on the floor next to him. We'll see how desperate we get in the next few days.

The Brick

The fam woke up early this morning to grab breakfast at Eastern Market for Chris's birthday. We didn't let a little rain deter us from what Chris describes as one of the best breakfast sandwiches, "the brick." The brick is a meat, egg and cheese sandwich with breakfast potatoes inside. Very simple addition, but it does make the sandwich stand out.

I treated myself as well by having a a short stack of blueberry buckwheat pancakes.

Jack was a bit full from his feeding a half hour earlier so he just slept. But he wished his "old man" a very happy birthday. 

someone is being difficult

Since my shift began around 2am, Jack has decided that he is only interested in sleeping if and only if he does it while lying on a pillow on my lap. In the last few hours I have gotten him to sleep five times and I have set him down, only for him to wake up and start crying loudly a couple of minutes later. On the bright side, the English Premier League season starts in an hour. I assume Lucky Bar and a couple other spots are opening up at 7am for the first match - at the ripe age of three weeks, maybe it is time for Jack to go to his first bar.

tummy time

We have started to do tummy time, because every baby book says that tummy time is very important. Unfortunately for Jack, I haven't bothered to learn what you actually do during tummy time other than lie on your stomach and try to pick you your head. I guess at some point I should get around to watching a youtube video or something.

JLB can actually hold up his head for a second or two already (although we weren't able to capture it on film), and when you are burping him he is quite adept and moving his head in directions to squirm out of your hands if he has decided he would rather continue eating than having to take a break to burp. Here are some pics

You know what is better than tummy time? Sleeping.

Dad, leave me alone

getting out of the house

Jack Lincoln and Abe Lincoln

If you discount sleep, coherent thought, and sanity, all is well in the Bigelow household.  Jack had another appointment today with the pediatrician, who reiterated that he is still progressing nicely. He is now back to his original birthweight and can go up to four hours without eating once or twice a day, which is fantastic for us, assuming he can sleep that long.

Jack's nursery is right next to our room, so when he is in his crib and crying, we both hear it. Over the past several nights he has decided around midnight he no longer wants to sleep and instead shuffles around, cries, and does other things that keep us up for many hours. In an effort to give Lelaine a break, last night I offered to have Jack sleep in the pack and play downstairs with me next to him on the couch. I am normally on late night feeding duty anyway, so this way there wouldn't be any collateral damage of her not being able to sleep when he is sobbing - she would be far enough away she wouldn't hear it.

Walking through the park just the other
day baby, what do you think I saw (I have
playing Jack some Led Zeppelin)

It was a mistake. I jokingly told him around 11pm we were going to have a slumber party. Little did I know he was going to stay awake, and make just enough noise to ensure I was awake with him (I once slept through part of a fire drill, so this is really saying something), until 5:30am. And since we had to go to see the doctor in the morning, we had to wake up at 7am. That is the last time I offer to do something nice (just kidding.....kind of).

Fortunately today was a gorgeous day, so after getting back from seeing the doc and taking care of some things, the three of us went for a walk. This was our second day in a row to do so. We went around Lincoln Park, over to Eastern Market for cupcakes and hedge shears, and then back to our place. He was awake for a grand total of seventeen seconds for both walks, but at least for us it was nice to get out of the house. While we have some pretty crappy brick sidewalks in our neighborhood, the stroller handled the bumps and only made the little one fuss a few times.

Dreaming of bacon

 By the way, thanks to our friends Kevin and Meaghan who are very kindly letting us use their SLR camera to get pictures of the squirt. It is obviously a huge step up over the iPhone, particularly when a certain someone who will go nameless (hint - she is Jack's mom) thinks Instagram improves pictures.

pics of the two week old

relaxing in the moses basket

making his mean face while getting burped

not exactly filling out the crib

mid-yawn

Right after being changed he made a number of different faces in a few seconds: