1 YEAR OLD!!!!!!!

We have survived Jack's first birthday. Seems like it's been such a long road (especially to start with) to get to this point....but it has also just flown by. We had a great day. Had some friends and family over and started off at house letting Jack assist in the opening of presents. Honestly he just wanted to tear and chew on the wrapping paper. After that we went to the Sacramento Zoo for his little party and some cake and ice cream. If you take a peak at the photos you can tell he really hated his cake! Now we are back at home, exhausted, and trying to clean up the mess of paper and card board that all his gift/toys came in. I've decided to convert the garage into a toy storage for Jack so I might be busy for a few days. I also posted a short video of Jack deciding he's big enough to stand in his crib.

What a Difference a Year Makes

Happy kick-off to the Holidays people! We hope that everybody had a great Thanksgiving. We certainly did. Jack enjoyed his first Turkeyday ever, he had some mashed potatoes, stuffing and ground up turkey. He was stuffed!

I was running through my pictures and thought I would update with last year's pic, and this years. Last year Mary was on strict hospitalized bed rest, due to pregnancy complications. It was very nice to not be there this year, and so glad everyone is healthy and happy. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!

PS-I also included a picture of Jack who is now able to pull himself to a standing position in his crib.......we are in trouble.

Right on Course

It's getting really close to Jack's birthday. Just over one week to go, and we'll be having his party. Jack is doing very well. He had his second visit to the High Risk FollowUp Clinic. They tested his motor skills and tried to determine how he was developing mentally. He passed with flying colors!!! He was reaching for things with purpose and trying to figure out how things worked. He is very mobile, just needs to use his left arm a little more, then get up and crawl. Jack wasn't very talkative, so they really couldn't test that, but we assured them that he loves to chat away at home and is constantly discovering new sounds.

Hopefully in the next few days we are going to get our Christmas Tree up (hopefully he won't pull it down), and try to get a picture for our Holiday cards. Also going to be venturing to Chico for Thanksgiving dinner at my Sister and Brother-in-Law's house. Can't believe it's almost December already....Jack hasn't even started his Christmas shopping.

Almost 1

Hi all, thanks for continuing to read all about Jack. Just a few weeks away from his first birthday, and boy are we all excited. He is still getting stronger and surprising us with some new activity each day. His newest is clapping, he especially likes to clap while eating. He is still working on getting up on his hands and knees to crawl, but he get around plenty good doing his combat crawl. Jack is also getting over his first small cold, he has been a little stuffy and coughing for about 2 weeks, but he hasn't complained too much.

Over the next month we have a bunch going on. A few doctor's appointments, Thanksgiving, a birthday party, Christmas pictures, then out to Oklahoma for Christmas. Jack is now above the 21 pound mark, don't really know how long because we haven't measured him for a while. We will probably have more information at the end of the week, after he has his follow up at the high risk infant clinic.

Happy Almost Halloween

Hi folks. Jack is still trucking right along. He got a few more immunizations and his flu shot for the year. Jack and I have to go back in November. He needs a booster since this was his first flu shot, and I will get mine for the year. He is almost up to 21 pounds, still eating like a champ. He eats a lot of solid foods, but his favorite seems to be stew. For the past couple weeks we've just been hanging out at home, and having a good old time. We had planned a quick trip out to the zoo, but it rained the day we wanted to go. Jack will have to wait for his caged wild animal encounters. Everything is pretty boring for now, gearing up to see if Jack's Halloween costume will fit and wondering he will handle all the trick or treaters coming by the house.

Follow Up

Just a quick follow up to the post earlier today. Jack had his in home visit with the high risk infant folks. They said he is doing very well. Most everything he is developmentally 8-10 months along. He is slowly but surely catching up to his birth age. The nurses couldn't believe how big he was, and that if they didn't have the paper work in front of them they would have no idea he was a preemie. So, quite a nice review for Jack on his 10 month check up.

Jack the 10 month old.

Seems very hard to believe that our little guy is almost 1 year old already, and just over 20 pounds. It seems like he does something new everyday. He is so very close to crawling on hands and knees. Right now he does a modified Marine crawl to get around. He has also found various things he shouldn't. I found all the DVD's pulled off of the bottom shelf of the book shelf, and he loves to pull magazines out of their basket and tear up pages. With cooler temperatures coming he will have to start get his shots to prevent RSV again, and he is almost due to get some more immunizations. Today he has a follow up in home visit from the high risk infant clinic. They just come in to see how he is at reaching milestones, and if he is struggling in some areas they will give us things we can do to work with Jack.

Not a lot planned over the next couple weeks. We are just going to chill at home. His regular babysitter on Monday's and Tuesdays, Penny, will be back in Oklahoma visiting the family, so he will get some substitutes. My sister and brother-in-law are coming down this Sunday to provide day care, and his Grandma and Grandpa Passalaqua are coming to hang out too.