A reluctant giraffe

We received a hand-me-down giraffe costume for Jack, so we figured we ought to put him in it at least once. We dressed him up for costume day at day care, and we felt like the parents in The Christmas Story making their kids put on the bunny suits. Thankfully, he tolerated it pretty well.

We also went to a "pumpkin patch" at a neighborhood church. We didn't make it until the day before Halloween, so the only ones left were scary ones with warts. Maybe next year we'll get the obligatory cute-baby-sitting-next-to-a-pile-of-pumpkins picture.

We're back!

After a very, very busy October and November, we're finally catching our breath before the holidays get into full swing. We didn't take many photos or videos, but here are a few posts with what we do have.

Two sets of grandmas and grandpas

Jeff's grandparents and parents came for a quick visit this weekend. I had my firm retreat for work on Friday night in Estes Park, so on Saturday morning Jeff, Randy, Bob, and Shirley came up to meet me. We ate lunch at Mary's Lake Lodge and then drove around Rocky Mountain National Park to see the fall leaves. We didn't see any elk, but it was still beautiful.

Jack is getting so much closer to crawling. He was wiggling on his belly the other day, almost doing an army crawl. It's so much fun to watch him learn how to use his body and figure out how to move. Sunday was rainy and cold. It was disappointing for our visitors from Iowa who always have this weather, but Jeff and I loved it. We made our first batch of chili of the winter and even fired up the fireplace upstairs. Perfect!

Videos!

The time has come when Jeff and I have stopped leaving Jack alone for more than a few minutes, as this next video shows. We've started using couch cushions to create a barrier around the living room rug so he can't go very far. Once he starts crawling, we'll have to figure something else out because he'll be able to move the pillows pretty easily.

In this next video you can see Jack's obsession with tags. He loves to put everything into his mouth, but tags are definitely his favorite.

There's nothing exciting in these next two videos, other than just watching Jack be Jack, which is exciting to his proud Mom and Dad. Have we mentioned how much we love being parents? Every day we thank God for this wonderful blessing He's bestowed upon us.

p.s. This next video is blurry. I'm not good at getting it focused before the video starts, and then once it starts, it won't correct. I'll get better.

Eating like a champ

Jack has been eating like a champ. He's conquered rice and oat cereal, peas, and green beans. He's still not eating very much at a time, and gets distracted pretty easily, but it's generally a pretty funny experience. I finally figured out how to make video uploads easier by converting the videos to a different format that condenses them (and decreases the quality a bit), so be ready for lots of videos. This first video is the first time we gave him rice cereal about four weeks ago.

In this video from about a week later, he kept making raspberries every time I'd give him a spoonful. I was trying to hold the camera and feed him at the same time, so it gets pretty wobbly.

Congratulations Marc and Stephanie!

Two weekends ago we were able to sneak home to Iowa for a few days for Nike's cousin Marc's wedding. It was so fun to show everyone Jack's latest tricks, and he was a perfect traveler yet again. The weather was cold and rainy, perfect fall weather. Jack was even treated to his first real Iowa thunderstorm. We got to have a date night (to the Vine for wings), and catch up with lots of family and friends. Thanks to everyone for a great trip home!

Jack, Liam, and Haley (sitting for the first of many second cousin pictures)

Rice cereal . . . yum.

We fed Jack rice cereal for the first time yesterday. He got really shy. Jeff and I were both huddled around, and Jeff had the camera out, so we think he knew that this was a Big Deal. He seemed to like it okay, and we'll slowly get him used to eating the rice cereal before we move on to exciting things like strained peas and squash.

I tried to post videos, but it's not letting me upload them. I'll try again later this week. Here are a couple of other pictures from this weekend too.