How could I forget?

How could I forget to post such a priceless moment as this?

About a month ago, Troy was driving in his truck with Jack and noticed extreme concentration (bad sign) on Jack's very red face (very bad sign). What happened next is not for the faint of heart, but it resulted in Troy having to pull over on the side of the road to change Jack. It also resulted in this priceless photo that was sent to my phone by Troy:

J's first cold

Jack came down with his first cold yesterday. I'm staying home today and he doesn't quite know how to deal with feeling under the weather. But, if he were a British warship, he'd be the HMS CrankyPants. If he were a robot, he'd be the Clingyster 5000.

The sweet spot

We are now in the sweet spot of parenthood. Jack is pretty much finally sleeping through the night - excluding 1 occasional wake up a night - he's happy (and adorable), and is not yet talking back! Let's just press the "pause" button shall we?

Here is Jack at his friend Kaidin's birthday. It was his first time on a swing. When was the last time you were this blissful?

In dirty hippy news, I have developed a mad and torrid love affair with canning. I canned 22 jars of peaches by myself (A LOT of freaking work that I wasn't prepared for), a buttload of jars of applesauce with my sister, and 20 jars of pears with the help of my mom and sister. Later this week I've roped Troy in to helping with some more pears. I bought the final strawberries of the season from a local market, and will be making Troy's favorite - jam - tonight.

When it's January and snowing, I'll be happy to open a jar of summer yumminess.

Jacky Bear Pets Poppa

This is Jack about 4 1/2 months old petting poppa's hand while in the car. What a sweet boy he is.

Lots of changes in our house

Jack has gotten ridiculously big and grown up in the last few weeks. It's hard to believe my little man who used to look like a tiny little baby burrito in his swaddle is now so mature! He now sits very well on his own...assuming you can convince him to bend at the waist as he prefers to stand. And, as of Friday the 18th, he is the proud owner of one lower tooth!

In health news, Jack started to poop blood again about a week ago, so back to the doctor for us...again. Turns out the official diagnosis is milk colitis, so I'm off delicious dairy...again. I can try introducing it back in when Jack is 9 months. Le sigh.

The new job continues to go well, and Jack has been having lots of fun staying with Great Uncle Jim and Great Aunt Connie while Troy and I are at work. It's hard to be away from him, but it makes the time we have with him on the weekends extra special. Yesterday, Troy and Jack hung out for a few hours and snuggled up for a long nap so that I could can some peaches. I've never canned peaches before, but I got a great deal at a local produce stand, and thought I would try my hand at it. I now know why they say that canning is a team sport! I made 22 jars of peaches, and miraculously managed to not burn down the house, burn, or cut myself. Assuming I don't kill us all, Amy and I are going to make and can some applesauce next weekend.

Jack and Uncle Jim taking a nap after a long day of playing:

JB in the owl hat GAC knitted:
Mr. Grown up sitting up all on his own:

Momma & Jackie snuggling in his crib:

Proof that expensive toys are a waste of money...:

What a big boy!

Jack is such a big boy these days! It's hard to believe the same little guy who could barely breastfeed, is now holding a sippy cup with his giant man hands.

Jack has spent the last month staring at us while we eat and drink, which is a sign that he is ready for solids. We're waiting until 6 months just to be cautious about food allergies, but have started to spoon feed him breastmilk during dinner time. Given that he spends 25% of his day watching people eat*, he knows EXACTLY what to do. The first time we put a spoon near his mouth he opened up wide and practically attacked our hand trying to shove the spoon in.

He also loves to play with his sippy cup, and probably gets about 1 tblsp total out of it during a 30 minute dinner. If we hold it in his mouth he'll chug the water, but we usually just let him play with it himself. It keeps him occupied and is good practice!

*there was one day where Jack was watching Uncle Jim eat some pot roast so intently that I think Jim actually felt guilty about eating in front of him.

Hello strangers!

We've been on a bit of a blogcation for the last few weeks. It has been a mother-freakin' whirlwind in our household!

I got a new job! I wasn't supposed to leave my last job until October-ish, but an opportunity presented itself earlier, so I jumped on it. I'm now in-charge of advising and recruiting nursing students at a local community college. It's an enormous paycut, but the worklife/balance is so much better than my last job! I already miss everyone at my last company, but I guess everyone moves on at some point.

I also got the job 36 hrs before they wanted me to start - YIKES. We were scrambling to find childcare for Jackie Bear and totally stressing out. Our church daycare had an opening, but after enrolling Jack in their program, Troy and I spent the next 6-10 hours FREAKING out about it. Jack was used to being home with me all the time and getting tons of 1on1 attention. The church people were nice, but there were a lot of kids and we were scared that he wouldn't be given 100% quality care.

In a moment of panic, we emailed GAC (Great Aunt Connie) asking if she would be interested in watching Jack 4 days a week. God smiled on us, angels sang, and GAC decided to watch Jack on a one month trial basis!!!!!!!

Uncle Jim and Aunt Connie have been awesome and Jack is always super excited to see them every morning! Connie writes a little diary for us throughout the day, and puts it his diaper bag when Troy picks up J. It's so fun to read it every night, and I really look forward to seeing how J spent his day. I have noticed a dramatic increase in postings that say "Jack and Uncle Jim took a nap together"... =D

Let's see, what else... Jackie Bear is 5 months today! Our big boy is 17 lbs and 2 oz and the happiest little duckie in the world. He loves his Poppa and Momma so much, and adores being naked whenever we give him the chance. His favorite game is "boo!" (not peek-a-boo), and the "squishing game" where we pretend to squish him with a couch pillow. He screams in fake terror and tries to eat our faces when we get close to squish him. He loves to stand and also loves to hit himself in the face with Sophie - his giraffe teething toy which was a present from his friend Kaidin.

We're working on independent sitting, but given that he isn't a fan of bending at the waist, it could be a long ways off. He can roll over like a champ (except when Poppa is looking) and spent about 10 minutes today rolling around on Grandma & Grandpa Q's floor showing off his skills.

Since I didn't post for so long, I've included lots of photos to tempt your "awwww" reflexes.

Reading books with Poppa:

Jack had a playdate with a little no-neck from our birthing classes. Ben seems to have some anger issues, but Jack took it all in stride:

I think Jack's cousin Ashlyn is telling him a secret in this photo:

A reminder that babies, pot, and bathtubs are not a good combination:

And finally, Jack and Poppa doing a dance to the BeeGee's song "Stayin Alive to get some boobie milk: