Love this laugh...

Jack has the best laugh! And when we really get him going it's just contagious. Here he is cracking up at me doing my best impression of Tina Turner's Proud Mary. Oh, and we apologize for the mouth full of soggy gold fish. The kid has his dad's manners. Happy Laughing...

New Shoes!

Now that Jack is walking and has moved up to the toddler room, he needs to have a pair of real walking shoes....or in his case, 4 new pair! And I think it's a right of passage to get your first pair of shoes at Stride Rite, so on Sunday we headed to the mall to get the kid some kicks. He was a little tired so we were worried he would throw a fit but he was so awesome! He was super cooperative and very friendly with the staff. He smiled and waved at everyone and made friends with the other kids in the store. I swear he's going to be a politician one day...Senator Jack David from California! But I think the best way to narrate Jacks shoe day is through pictures (yes, of course, I took pictures!)....

The first order of business was getting his feet measured. He was being such an angel here. I knew he had my big feet, but was not prepared to hear just how big. Drum roll please.....



Size 6....wide! The clerk said that's the size of an average 2-3 year old. How did we create such a linebacker! Check out these chubby hoofers....

So I begin to scan the rows of shoes, which by the way are so not as cute as the girls shoes. Why do shoe designers want boys to look like nerds? But anyway, I manage to find a few cool pair only to find out that they don't make those particular styles in WIDE. "Ma'am, you need to look at these shoes?" I felt like they were pointing me in the direction of the big and tall store! Begrudgingly, I look again and we settle on a few others. Then it was time to try them on. We thought for sure he would arch his feet and refuse the shoes, but alas, he continued to be an angel, even smiling and waving at our clerk....

After 28 trips to the stock room, our clerk (god bless him), managed to get Jack and his big feet into 3 pair of pretty cute shoes. I still wish he could wear the uber-stylish ones, but I digress. Here's what $95 will buy you...and probably last us for one month....


So with an extremely tired child in tow we head for our car, but both of us really wanted the kid to get back some street cred he lost in Stride Rite. It was nap time, lunch time and pretty much time to go....but we braved the elements and diverted to Nordstrom where the cool shoes live. And we found these very expensive, very unpractical, but killer kicks...

Today, Jack got to wear his new shoes to school. I have to tell you, as I was dressing my 11 month old in a size 6 big boy shoe, I had a little moment. I was no longer dressing my baby, I was dressing my walking, talking, shoe wearing toddler! It kinda got me a little bit...our buddy is a big boy now. I was a little sad. But he was so excited to wear his new shoes and socks. Here he is testing them out before school...

(Side bar: If anyone thinks Jack has a mullet please raise your hand! You can't see but mine is raised. Christian refuses to let me cut his hair but we're heading into white trash territory here. Maybe if enough people think it needs to be cut, Christian will relent. So let me know!)

Making Friends

Jack has been transitioning into the young toddler class at school for the past two weeks. Unfortunately, we had a few bad days where he cried a lot...so I cried a lot. I started to wonder if it was too soon to move him up. But all the teachers and my mommy friends told me to hang in there and it would get better.

Well, they were right. Jack is slowly becoming more comfortable in the room and has been having fun exploring his new environment. His new teacher, Ms. Kelly, is so sweet and always sends Jack home with really nice letters about his progress. I am so proud of him for adjusting to all of this change....wearing shoes, eating at a table and even taking a nap on a mat.

But by far, the cutest thing is that he's making friends in there. Everyone always says that babies don't make friends until they are 18 months, but I have disagreed after seeing Jack play with the other boys in the infant room. Jack met his little friend Marc in the infant room and they were always together. Marc actually got moved up last month but now they are reunited! On Thursday I received the following note from Ms. Kelly and it just melted my heart. Our little buddy has made his first class friend....

Jack loves to play with his friend Marc. They laugh at each other when they're being silly and Jack likes to lay his head on Marc's shoulder! It's so cute! We'll try to get a picture of it.

Is that precious or what?! I hope they get a photo so I can share it with you all.

Fun with Gigi!

Here is Jack and Gigi at dinner. Gigi says it's like taking care of Chris all over again. He does look a lot like Christian...except that at this age Chris had a full head of blond curls.

Gigi came out from Chicago to visit Jack (and us, I think) about 2 weeks ago. She was able to stay for 5 days so she got a lot of QT with Jack....which was the intention. She came at the perfect time because she got to see Jack doing some new tricks....he started walking a lot, said a new word- ball, and really enjoyed the pool for the first time. It's so awesome when Jack has family around to experience these types of milestones. And I'm sure she was thrilled to be able to witness it all. We're so happy she could make the trip...but we missed Papa!

Jack and Gigi had a great time playing and hanging out together. She took him on long walks every day which usually resulted in him falling fast asleep...she just has the magic touch with babies. We had a really nice weekend relaxing, eating great food, blowing bubbles, shopping and going to the pool. And mommy and daddy got a much needed date night! I know Jack was sad to see her go....the day after she left Christian was asking him where Gigi was and he was looking all over for her. But we'll see her and the rest of the family here for Jack's big birthday bash in a few weeks.

Thanks Gigi for coming out and visiting us and taking care of Jack! We miss you and love you!

After dinner we went to play in the fountain. After months of screaming in the bath, Jack has a new found love for water.

Bored with the water after a few minutes, he zeroed in on Gigi's glasses. The kid loves to accessorize...or should I say, EAT accessories. My bracelets are his faves.

Pool time! I had to go old school and make the white sunscreen line on his nose like when I was a kid. He looks thrilled doesn't he?
(Side note: Who thinks Chris looks like a lost member if the Bee Gees?!)

Jack let Gigi take him into the water sprayer.

Great pic of Gigi and me...not so sure about Jack! But he was having a great time, I swear.

I'm Walking!

We finally got a good video of Jack walking. He's really getting the hang of it now and can make it all the way across the living room. It's so surreal to me that he's walking - I feel like he was just learning to sit up and crawl yesterday. He still looks like a drunk man with flat feet but it's very cute to see him go. This is a video we shot on Friday. He walks somewhere towards the middle, the rest of it is him just being a spaz! We often wonder if other children are this weird?

For some reason, this video was too large to download on the blog so I put it up on YouTube. We just got a new camera so hopefully this won't be a problem anymore. Check out the link below...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzqHptC8-7M

I'm 11 Months Old...4 days ago!

Happy 11 months to me! I'm all smiles! My numbers book only went up to 10 so mom had to get creative and make a sign for me....pretty good hugh! She did 11 neckties in honor of Father's Day, even though daddy never wears them.

Sorry for the late blog...I've been super busy with work and getting ready for Christian's first Father's Day. Plus, I was a little blogged-out...it's a full-time job keeping up with all this modern technology....facebook, shutterfly, blogging. What ever happened to the classic 4x6 glossy? But I digress. This is about Jack, right?!

We've had such an action-packed month that it's hard to scale it all down. Jack continues to entertain us on a daily basis...we're in constant movement with this kid. And now that he's walking it's getting busier by the day. Jack really is ALL boy...he loves to wrestle, which often ends with Christian or I getting a fat lip or bruise. He also nose dives off the couch whether we're there or not, eats food like a pig and farts like an adult man. You can't help but laugh.

His transition into the young toddler room at school is going quite well and he seems to like it in there. There's lots to do and learn and I think it keeps him stimulated. He's definitely learning a lot...he's beginning to recognize objects by name and is currently mastering the art of shape sorting. It's quite a celebration when he get a shape into the right hole. And Jack loves when we clap for him so the game can go on and on and on. But we don't mind because it's just so darn cute.

Christian and I cannot believe our little buddy is turning one in less than a month. It's crazy to think about. But I'm in full planning mode for the big party so I'm sure the next few weeks will fly by. We are so blessed that so many of our family members are making the trip and we can't wait to spend the weekend with everyone. Until then, here are a few pics of our adorable Jack...



I got some new swim gear so I had to show it off. But mom and dad say my hat makes me look like a little old lady.

Mom was tired of my toys scattered everywhere so she bought me a new toy box. Can you tell how much I love it!

Just picking flowers on a sunny day.

White trash alert! Baby with no diaper, runny nose and exposed diaper sitting in the dishwasher. How classy!

My other new favorite thing is bubbles.

Hey, they named this surf shop after me!

I'm cool, man! Chicks dig me.

Water Baby!

Our little man standing on his own in the water....lucky for him the water is only 2 feet deep!

We took Jack to the pool for the second time this weekend. If you remember, he wasn't too fond of it the last time so we were hopeful that the second time would be a charm - and it was! Jack absolutely LOVED it!

It took about 15 minutes for him to warm up to it but then he was all over the place. He let us swim around with him and take him under the waterfalls. Then he got brave and wanted to stand on his own. He even tried to dive in the water head first. I know it sounds cheesy, but we were so proud of him for being so brave. He looked so ridiculously cute splashing around. We had such a great day and can't wait to take him to the pool all summer!

At first Jack would only put his hands in the water. Here he is with his Gigi who was visiting from Chicago.

Then he let us swim him around and he was all smiles.

Jack got brave and wanted to stand on his own.

By the end of the day he was letting us taking him under the waterfalls. We were there for 2 hours and it was so much fun!

Swimming in the water with mommy!

Walking & Talking

Jack has had quite a week! And all of his new tricks remind me of how big he's getting...and how fast it's all happening! It makes me excited and sad at the same time....but really more excited because it's just so cool to watch him develop and learn.

The biggest news is that he's taking real steps! I predicted he would walk by 11 months, but as the weeks past I wondered if he'd ever take the leap of faith and walk forward. Well friends, on Wednesday, he started doing just that. He's officially up to about 4-5 steps at a time before he biffs it. He turns 11 months in 5 days and I think he'll have it down by then. Mommy knows her boy :)

Then today, he said his third word - BALL! He's always saying ba-ba, but we never really knew what he was referring to. But today, I grabbed his basketball and held it up to him and asked him if he wanted to play. He looked right at me and said BA! It's like a little light went off in his brain - It's so awesome to witness this kind of language development! He's starting to recognize objects and show his happy emotions when he gets something he likes. He got his first balloon today and he was over the moon with joy!!

The the cool part about all of this is that his Gigi has been here to see everything happen! Of course, we never seem to have the video camera handy when he walks really well. But here's a little sample of it...it's not him at his best but you get the point. I promise to get a better one soon (We're currently on the market for a new camera). Here's a few pics of Jack with is new balloon and a video of him taking some of his first steps!

Ooohhhh, my very first balloon!!

I'm soooo happy!!!!

Taking a few steps, but getting better every day!

The Biter!

So, yesterday, our fears were confirmed that Jack is "that kid in class." Yes, folks, we have a biter! Jack's been biting us at home for a few weeks now and let me tell you, it really hurts. He's left bruises on both Christian and me. We've been very stern with him and it's slowly getting better so we thought it had passed. But were were so wrong. Apparently he bit one of his friends on the back....not once but twice! The school had to write up an incident report and everything. This is one letter you never want to see. It makes you feel like a terrible parent, even though the school tells us not to worry and that it's very common.

But, if there is one positive thing in this situation, it's that they recognize that Jack is extremely bored in class. There are only 2 other boys his age and the rest of the kids are babies under 6 months of age. He and his buddy Davis (both very big boys) basically run around the room and terrorizes the helpless little infants. So they are going to slowly introduce Jack and Davis to the young toddler room in the next few weeks. Truthfully, I think the teachers want Jack and Davis out of their room :)

Anyway, Jack loves to play with older kids so I think he'll do great. And he's on the cusp of walking and fully using a sippy cup so I'm hoping this will help move things along. I'll let you know how it goes - hopefully he'll keep his teeth to himself...would you want these big ole chompers biting you....

Our precious little Parana...he's got his mama's big teeth!! I definitely see braces in his future.

Simply Gross!

This video doesn't need much set-up. But I'm hoping the fact that grilled cheese is Jack's absolute favorite food will explain his behavior a bit. Gotta love little boys! Enjoy...

Summertime!

Jack's first trip to the pool! He was all smiles until we actually put him in the water.

Memorial Weekend marked the official start of summer for the David's...and most of America! And we've vowed not to let the down economy spoil our summer fun. Last summer I was preggers (and very large) so I am determined to make the most of the warm weather this year, even if we can't do much traveling. So although we didn't go out of town, we had a really fun weekend. It started off slow because Jack had an ear infection, but by Sunday he was in great spirits.

Christian has been working really hard on the yard and it looks amazing, so we enjoyed a few BBQ's on the patio. Jack loves to be outside - eating, catching bubbles, looking at birds, just hanging out - so we spent a lot of time outdoors. We also went to a cook-out at our friend Sarah's house and saw some old friends, which was a good time. We had to leave early because Jack started to not feel great - I'm sure the other party-goers were happy to see the crazy kid leave.

But the highlight of the weekend was our trip to the pool. We have a really great kids pool a few miles from our house and it's a blast - it's like a mini water park. Christian and I have been looking forward to bringing Jack there since he was born so even though he didn't love it, we had the best day just relaxing in the sun (as much as you can relax with a 10 month old). Jack was really indifferent to it - didn't love it, didn't hate it. I think the cold water shocked him a bit. But he looked so darn cute in his new Billabong board shorts that we snapped a million pictures. Here are a few of them. Here's hoping we get to post a lot of pool pics this summer. Happy Swimming!

Jack and Mommy! This was before we put him in the water and made him put his hat on so he was still smiling...sort of!

Again, pre-water so he was happy, even with the hat. I love the flirty little expression on his face.

Finally in the water...cue the scared expression! But I had to put this pic in because Jack and daddy have matching board shorts. Love it!!

Terrible Parenting 101 - put scared child water alone just to get a photo for the blog...

...Then continue to take his photo as he's falling into the water. And just so you don't think we are the worst parents in the world, you should know that we did pick him up before he did a face plant!

Ahhh, back on dry land! All smiles again. I'm even letting mommy put me in my ugly old man hat.

Back to the bad parenting - Christian is literally holding Jack's hand down so I can get a picture of him in his sun glasses.

And they're off...

All tuckered out! Jack lasted about an hour and a half before it was time to head home...but not before mommy and daddy went down the big slide a few times!

Don't freak out - it's not blood. Someone got their grubby little hands on a red velvet cookie at Sarah's BBQ. Talk about hard evidence!

Jack looks a little scared but after about a minute he really warmed up to Timber, Sarah's dog. Timber was so cute and sat next to Jack like his protector.

Here's a few minutes of Jack "enjoying" the pool!

Jack & Jill hit the road...

Jack & Jill on Mission Beach in sunny San Diego. This was our first solo trip, but we both really missed daddy.

Lucky for me, my last work event was in San Diego about 10 days ago. So I basically got a free trip home...free airfare is always nice....and I got to take Jack with me, which is an added bonus. Unfortunately, Christian couldn't make it, so I packed up the kid and braved the 4.5 hour flight all alone.

After successfully getting through security in no time flat, I was feeling confident until we arrived to the gate to find the flight delayed, and delayed, and delayed due to weather! We ended up taking off 3 hours late! Jack was such a trooper but I was so worried that by the time we got on the plane he would be so over it.

He was very active and busy as usual but he never really cried...as long as I kept his mouth stuffed with Gerber Puffs! And I was so blessed to have the nicest man sitting next to me (can't say as much for the woman in front of me- arg!). So all-in-all it was a good flight and I learned how to successfully pee with a baby in the tiny airplane bathroom.

We had an awesome time and my family got some QT with Jack. Marseille and Jack are so enamored with one another - it's the cutest thing! They squeal with excitement when they see each other and then chase one other all over the house. M even taught Jack about Yo Gaba Gaba... I swear it's like crack to babies. Here are a few of the good pics, most of which are at the beach...

This is the best pic I could get of the babies together. My camera is about to die and it's so darn slow that it misses the moment.

Jack & M loved to take baths together. They're best buds! But we couldn't quite get M's hair in a Mohawk because she has so much of it!

My precious little mama!

Aunt Donna came down solo because uncle Jess had a soccer tournament. Donna's the coolest auntie and the kids adore her.

Jack and Marseille's other aunties, Kasey and Marina. It's hard to believe they used to be our babies. They've grown into such beautiful and kind young ladies.

The babies with grammy and mimi!

Jack loves his Papa Joey!

Love this face!!

This is Jack's latest - he covers his face like life is so difficult. He's very dramatic.

Here are J&M playing nicely together until chaos erupts. I love it! Just try to ingore my fuzzy recording - my camera is tanking!