Miracles

In a world where fire ravages entire cities, Pennsylvania experiences the hottest October on record, and Joe Torre leaves the Yankees I still believe in miracles as I participated in one last night. Jack went to bed at 10pm, made a bit of noise but didn't wake up at 3am, and at 6am I checked to be sure he was still alive and breathing. He slept through the night. If it was possible to reward or praise him in some way I would but it is just about impossible to do more for him that we are doing. So instead I will sing his praises here, remind myself that this was most likely a fluke occurrence, and cross my fingers as we head for bed tonight.

Meet the Grandparents

The Washburns came for a visit last week. It was their first chance to meet Jack in person and I think he won them over. We took several day trips around Lancaster and the little man behaved like an angel. First, we drove around Amish country stopping along the way for hand-dipped candles and soft pretzels. Next, we spent a day wandering around downtown - browsing the galleries, visiting Central Market, having lunch, shopping for Jack and his cousin Addison. Again, Jack was a doll - he slept happily in the Bjorn, ate his lunch with the aid of the hooter-hider, and slept some more. Finally, we took another drive through the countryside - stopping at an orchard and hitting a few of Lancaster's covered bridges. Perhaps the best was when Dan and I left Jack with Trey and Marian and went out on our first solo date in 7 weeks. It was great for Jack to spend some quality time with his grandparents, he's still talking about it! I was especially excited to have a pediatrician in the house to ask the numerous questions that I have, questions like, "Really, how much can I drink while breastfeeding?" and "Is it supposed to look like that?" It was wonderful to see Jack interacting with his grandparents. He was awake and alert more often and had a chance to connect with them in his own way. They will get a chance to do it again in January when they come back for a holiday visit. He can't wait!

A Day in the Life

6am - Jack wakes up hungry. After a bleary-eyed feeding I either hand him off to Dan who will take him downstairs and entertain him while I get another half hour of sleep, or I bring him back to bed with us and let him sleep on my chest for another hour. He has decided in the last few weeks that he takes after his dad and is a morning person so the nice morning snuggles in bed are becoming a thing of the past. Once I take Jack off Dan's hands I clean him up and get him dressed for the day. (He has gotten so big now that he no longer fits into the 0-3 month size onsies, they are too short for our tall guy!)

9am - Time for second breakfast. Hopefully I have managed to get my breakfast in by this time, but that's not always the case. Once Jack is done eating he will go down for a morning nap in his big-boy crib. Dan and I scramble to get showered and eat breakfast if that hasn't been done already. I finally get some quiet time to read the NY Times and do the crossword.

11:30am - Dan and I eat a quick lunch. After lunch, Dan heads off to class and I enjoy a few last moments of silence before the noon feeding. Jack is spending more and more time awake each day so after his lunch we usually spend an hour or so "playing" before it is time for the afternoon nap. While Jack naps I get a chance to do the exciting things I didn't get done in the morning like laundry or vacuuming.

3pm - Guess who's hungry again. Jack downs his second lunch and then is awake for the rest of the afternoon. We spend some quality time on the activity mat - he is getting better at following objects with his eyes and head and he likes to look in the mirror. He also enjoys looking at the spines of the books on the bookshelves - Dan thinks this bodes well indeed! If the weather is nice we will take a walk. At this point in the day we amp up the feedings and try to keep him awake as much as possible in preparation for the night.

5pm - Pre-dinner feeding. After I feed Jack I hand him off to Dan who is home from work at this point, and start to work on dinner. We are relying less on frozen meals and take out now and actually cook several times a week. We like to have Jack in the kitchen with us while cooking - we give him herbs and spices to smell and he likes to look at the shiny spoons and whisks.

6:30pm - We eat dinner. We have actually been able to eat dinner together lately as Jack has been more content in his bouncy chair these days. But, this is still prime fussy time so by the end of the meal we are generally taking turns putting the pacifier back in.

7pm - Dan cleans up the kitchen while Jack has his dinner. After this things can get a bit hectic. Often Jack will try to fall asleep, but we really don't want him sleeping now so we try to keep him awake - a little nuzzling with Dan's beard usually does the trick. More often though Jack will do a fine job of keeping himself, and anything within earshot awake, by fussing off and on for the next few hours. To give him some credit, the fussing is diminishing in both intensity and frequency lately - we hope this means he will be able to stay awake without fussing at this time of day soon. (We aren't holding our breaths.)

9pm - I take Jack upstairs and get him cleaned up and ready for bed then he has his dessert. When he is finished, usually around 9:30, we get ready for bed and read a bit before falling dead asleep around 10pm.

3:30am - Jack wakes up. I take him into his room and feed him. I have been known to fall asleep during this feeding but now that he is sleeping longer this is happening less frequently. It can take him awhile to fall back asleep after this feeding so we rock for a bit before heading back to bed.

6am - Jack wakes up hungry.

Apple Jack, and Other Outings

The three of us have actually managed to leave the house for reasons other than doctors appointments lately. The first outing was on our anniversary. We decided to go to the Central Market and wander around downtown a bit so we packed up Jack and headed out - not an easy feat as we had to feed and change Jack, pack the diaper bag, load Jack into the carseat, grab the market basket, and then get all of us into the car. Somehow we managed it all and had a great time, but even better Jack behaved beautifully by which I mean he slept in the front carrier the whole time despite having a rather full and stinky diaper. The next big outing was to an apple orchard. The weather briefuly turned fall-like here with mild temperatures, cool breezes, and big fluffy clouds in a perfect blue sky. So, we again packed up Jack and headed into the amazingly beautiful Lancaster farmland. We found an orchard that had numerous varieties of apples and a u-pick option. It was a perfect afternoon. Once again Jack was great - slept in his carrier the whole time. We picked 20 pounds of delicious apples which are now hanging out in the basement waiting for Dan to turn them into one of his signature apple pies. Jack has been with us for 5 weeks now and our two big outings, as well as a few smaller ones, have not only been successful but have helped us build our confidence. We are actually looking forward to going out with Jack more now and exploring the world with him.