Getting ready for Christmas

We are busy in the Lanz house right now, trying to get everything ready for our trip to Minnesota! For the first time since we moved to Colorado, we are flying home for Christmas. After last year's (horrible) road trip filled with car trouble, sub-zero temperatures, and frozen pipes I vowed never to drive back in the winter again. So...Jack's first flight is coming up on Saturday! I'm sure I'll be more rattled about the experience than him. I'm nervous about how we'll be able to comfort him if he (as Adam calls it) starts "blasting" on the plane. He can be a little "blaster" sometimes.

When we get to Minnesota, we'll be picked up by the Hjelles and stay at their place for a night before heading up to Alexandria for the next few days. We'll spend Christmas Eve in Alexandria where Jack will meet his Great Grandma Gloria and Great Uncle Tom and maybe some other Southward relatives. On Christmas Day we'll head down to St. Cloud to spend a few days with the Lanz side of the family. Jack will meet numerous aunts and uncles (Sara, Darren, Tommy, Michelle, Joe, Kathy, and Michael) and his cousins William and Eliana. We'll go to three Christmases in St. Cloud...the extended Lanz family, the Weber family, and the immediate Lanz family.

On Sunday the 27th, Jack will be baptized. He will become a fifth-generation member of my family's church, Calvary Lutheran, in Alexandria. Both his godmothers, Lissa and Sara, will be there to help welcome him into the Christian faith.

After the baptism and all the other adventures I'm sure we'll have in Minnesota, we'll head back down to St. Paul and hopefully meet some of Jennie's college friends before we head back to Colorado on December 30th! We have a lot planned, but everyone assures me that I won't have any trouble finding someone to hold Jack while we're home. We're getting really excited to see everyone and help Jack celebrate his first Christmas!

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Nine weeks ago....

And today...

Goo Gah!

Jack likes to chatter away while he eats. Usually it's "aahhh," "ooohhh," "eeeh," and the occasional "wehhhh."

While eating this afternoon, he momentarily stopped sucking, broke the latch, and yelled "GOO GAH!" then immediately when back to eating.

I laughed out loud and then told him how proud I was that he is learning his consonant sounds! Good job Jack! We'll teach him later that it's not polite to talk while eating.

P.S. Thanks for the new outfit, Grandma Mary; he is really is the "Most Adorable Player!"

What Jack Can Do

Jack seems to change every single day. Besides gaining weight (we think he's up to about 9 pounds now), he's mostly right on track developmentally for his age. We'll continue to use his "adjusted age" until the doctors are sure he's caught up with his actual age cohort. Still, we are pretty impressed with all the different things he can do. Here's a partial list of his achievements so far:

• Smile! (My personal favorite)
• Laugh? (sort of a devious chuckle in his sleep)
• Roll over halfway
• Hold his head up 45 degrees when on his tummy
• Watch and follow an object 180 degrees
• Find his hands and suck on them
• Hold his head straight when sitting up
• Look adorable