Four Months Old!

Jack had his 4-month doctor's appointment this morning. He is doing great!

Adam and I were making bets as to how much he would weigh, and Adam won (I was conservative with a guess of 11 lbs). Jack is 12 pounds and 1.5 oz now! He is also 23.5 inches long. We are super excited that Jack is finally measuring on the charts for weight; he is only in the 5th percentile, but we're sure he'll catch up soon.

He's been such a happy, smiley baby lately. He is so fun to be around, to play with, and to cuddle. Since both Adam and I went back to work full time after the holidays, Jack has been spending his days with his nanny, Amandine. She is a former co-worker of Adam's and loves kids and has experience. She comes to our apartment every day and spends the whole day playing with Jack. They both have a great time!

Another change is that Jack is making the transition from the bassinet in our bedroom to his "big boy crib" in his own room. It was more of a transition for me, frankly, as I cried a little the first night he spent in there (my baby is growing up!).

Jack is also advancing in other ways, he can: roll over "halfway" (from his tummy to his side and from his side to his back), hold on to things and bring them to his mouth, sleep five hours in a row (this is what Adam and I are the most excited about!), and continues to make new consonant sounds every day. Amandine is great about giving him "tummy time" every day and he can now lift his head up pretty well when he's lying on his tummy.

I think that he's outgrown his "colic" (or whatever it was) in the evenings, but still has somewhat of a hair trigger. Overall, Jack is progressing normally and is generally a very agreeable and happy four-month-old. We can't wait to see what the next four months have in store for us!

Christmas Adventures

We had a great time in Minnesota over Christmas.

Jack was a good little traveler; he slept the entire time on the bus and plane going to MN. There were several other babies on the flight but Jack was the best behaved and the cutest. We were lucky he was in a good mood because we were all over the place; trying to juggle a three-month-old and all of his accessories (bag, diaper bag, car seat, sling, bottles, etc) through security was pretty hilarious. Adam and I were running around trying to look like we knew what we were doing. We decided Jack won't fly again until he can carry his own bags. We also decided if we ever fly anywhere for Christmas, everyone is getting gift cards from us (and we won't ask for books again either).

After one night in St. Paul, we went up to Alexandria to spend some time with my mom. Jack met his great-grandma Gloria and great-uncle Tom.

This night, Jack started his "I'm going to be fussy for no reason from 7-9 pm" phase that lasted throughout our trip. He just didn't know whether to be hungry, sleepy, awake, happy, or sad. I figured out after a week that I shouldn't take it personally, and holidays are stressful for babies too.

Aunts Lulu and Lissa, and Uncle Luke came to Alex the day before Christmas Eve. We had a great time trying to figure out the game Lexagon and discovered that its absurdity should become a new Christmas tradition. We also visited my great-aunt Eunice who lives in Bethany Home. She loved meeting Jack and loved his adorable hat and coat.

Christmas Eve we went to church in the afternoon. Jack decided that church was a really good time to fill his diaper. In addition to that fun, there was a little girl (daughter of two of my high school classmates) sitting in front of us in church. She spent the entire service pointing at Jack and saying "Baby!" It was pretty funny, and I'm sorry to say I couldn't entirely concentrate on the sermon or the hymns with all the baby-ness going on. After church we went back to my mom's and gave her the newest shirt in our Ugly Christmas Sweater family collection. (Lissa and Laura forgot their sweaters, so they picked up some replacements at Walgreen's).
We ate Christmas Chicken and lefse and then opened presents. Jack got some adorable clothes and books and toys from everyone in the Scott family. We tried to put him to bed during the gift opening, but he wanted to be part of the action, so he stayed up and watched us open presents until midnight.

Christmas Day we went down to St. Cloud to be with Adam's family for a few days. We went to Adam's grandma Juletta's house. Jack was passed around by aunts and uncles and grandparents and slept through it all. We played the fast-paced and chaotic gift exchange game, ate a delicious meal, and then went home and slept (exhaustion was really starting to get to all of us).

On the 26th, Adam's parents hosted the extended Lanz Family Christmas. Jack was again passed around and loved by all. We played another gift exchange game and ate a lot more delicious food, and went to bed exhausted again.

On the 27th of December (doesn't it sound like I'm listing the 12 days of Christmas?!), we went back up to Alexandria for Jack's baptism. Both our families were there, and Jack got to meet one of his godmothers, Sara. Her family had been in Arkansas for Christmas with her in-laws, so she didn't meet Jack until the church service when she helped his other godmother Lissa welcome Jack into God's family. The service was very nice (and Jack was well-behaved, of course) and was followed by a small reception at my mom's apartment. All of our brothers and sisters and parents were there to help us celebrate.

After the party, we went back to St. Cloud to celebrate yet another Christmas with Adam's immediate family. We had a delicious meal of lasagna and opened more presents. Jack got books, I got food, and Adam got beer...we were all pretty happy.

After a few more days in St. Paul (during which Jack met some more friends and we ate more delicious food), we finally came back to Colorado on December 30th. Jack celebrated our homecoming by sleeping longer than ever before: five hours in a row!

We all had a wonderful time over Christmas. Jack was so excited to meet new people and they were pretty excited to meet him too!