Okay, so it has been like, six months since I posted anything on here. I have no real excuse, other than the fact that Jack went from a sweet little immobile baby to this crazy kid running around all over the place, which makes it much more difficult for me to sit with a laptop for any length of time. I feel like I have so many things to say, so many things I want to document, and yet no words to describe how wonderful each day is.
I am currently doing the stay-at-home mom thing, until I start my internship in the fall. This experience is one of the most challenging and rewarding I have ever been in. I LOVE spending so much time with Jack, and yet it is really difficult to not go off to the respite of the office every once in a while. There is no distinguishing between work and home, so I often feel like I have no down time. At the same time, I know there are so many wonderful moments with Jack that I will miss once August roles around.
It is just amazing how fast he is picking things up now. I can ask him to hand me a specific toy or an object without pointing at it, and he knows which one I am asking for. When I ask him yes or no questions he often gives me a real answer. It just blows my mind that this time last year I was busy with nursing him and listening to him coo - he wasn't even eating solid food - and now he's this little boy that tells me things and shares jokes with me, it's incredible. He definitely loves to laugh and tell stories just like his father. He will babble on and on and then start laughing hysterically.
My favorite thing so far this summer is spending time outside with him. I think he got my love for the outdoors, and we have spent hours walking at the nature center or even just running around the back yard. He points out all the birds and trees, and we explore the world through his eyes. My favorite thing to do is set him down and just follow him around, seeing what he is interested in and what kind of "experiments" he will come up with. One day we spent thirty minutes at the nature center throwing sticks off a pier into the water below. I literally had to drag him away. I'm just hopeful that I can help him to always appreciate simple things like that.
Well my goal is to post more regularly on here. I definitely have some stories I want to tell, things I want to keep up with if only for myself. Now if I can just get Jack to understand the meaning of mommy-time maybe I will have a chance to post!
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
A New Beginning
Jack has reached a new stage in his ever evolving life. He has begun narrating every aspect of his life, whether it be eating, playing, watching a movie, or pretending to work on the computer (my particular favorite). It's weird, though, because you can tell he's working extra hard on chaining syllables together to make something understandable for us to enjoy. Almost every day he masters a new word or puts together a new phrase. But, of course, with all other new stages, the frustration of overcoming a new challenge makes Jack a very irritable boy. We consistently battle because he cannot tell me whatever it is he wants to and he takes that frustration out on me. That's right, my 1 year old son is abusing me. Ridiculous. Seriously, Jack and I have been working on certain phrases that I think are absolutely necessary for his early communications. We've been working on things like, "Food now." "Poop in pants." "I'm drunk." and my favorite "Hey baby!" I have to report that the only one of these awesome phrases he's been able to master so far is the latter part of "hey baby!" He runs around all day pointing at everything and going "Ba-beee!?!" to which I respond, "No, that's (insert whatever he's pointing at)."
In all other respects, Jack is abiding by his own normal standards of insanity. He's killing me with his desire to mimic. Steph is laying on the couch watching a movie so Jack laid on his couch and started watching the movie just like she was. That boy loves his mommy.
In all other respects, Jack is abiding by his own normal standards of insanity. He's killing me with his desire to mimic. Steph is laying on the couch watching a movie so Jack laid on his couch and started watching the movie just like she was. That boy loves his mommy.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Oh, Boy!
Jack is a handful. He's nuts. I know, it's not that surprising when you consider his source, but lately he's been out of control. He never wants to sleep; when he gets upset, he does this strange body contortion thing that usually results in slamming his head into either the floor or some sort of furniture; he's even lately decided that he's ready to start running and I think you can picture how that's working out for him. What's really strange, though, is how smart he is. If he does something wrong - like when he trips or he can't figure out how something is done - he sits and examines it, contemplating on the functionality of whatever he is examining. Surprisingly, he usually comes to some sort of epiphany and actually learns something. Unfortunately, this is not always a great thing.
On Friday, we were trying to put Jack down for a nap when we noticed some strange noises. Steph and I peeked around the corner to see Jack standing in his crib, stretching over the side to press the buttons on his "Lullaby player." He even tried a couple times to lift the player into his crib for a closer examination. Seems cute, right? Well, at the time it was, we both got a little chuckle out of it. Later that night was a different story. It was about 9, Jack's bed time, and I had just put him down. In his usual rhythm, he got up and started crying. As usual, Steph and I were waiting him out. And then we heard it. A loud thump followed by a split second of silence and then a bone-scraping scream that turned my innards into melted gelatin. Steph raced into the room before me to find Jack sitting in between his rocking chair and the crib, looking as confused and slightly more upset than his mother and myself. Steph yanked him up and pressed him against her while she quickly examined his legs, head and back. Once all the commotion subsided, Jack quickly fell into a deep sleep, which only made Steph worry more.
As you can imagine, the next morning, Steph had me lower the crib and rehang the nursery door in an effort to get Jack to sleep better.
At this point, I'm sure a lot of you are thinking that parenthood is a horrible adventure riddled with fear and worry. However, Saturday morning was probably one of my favorite "Dad" moments to date. While I was unscrewing the wire frame from the bottom of the crib, Jack came over to hold the screws and investigate my work. He even sat down in my lap and put his little hands over mine on the screwdriver to help out. When we were all done, he clapped and laughed as if he were saying, "Thank you, Daddy. I appreciate you taking the time to convert my crib from a death trap back to a safe sleeping apparatus." And, yes,that is how he talks in my head. Then, when Steph's dad was over helping put the door back up, Jack would stand there holding the hinge pins and a screwdriver laughing that he was getting a door. He was so excited that he had a door to open and close that he sat there for a while letting Sandy come in and then closing the door, then opening it again and letting her run out. So goofy.
Since the changes, he's been sleeping much better. Life is good.
On Friday, we were trying to put Jack down for a nap when we noticed some strange noises. Steph and I peeked around the corner to see Jack standing in his crib, stretching over the side to press the buttons on his "Lullaby player." He even tried a couple times to lift the player into his crib for a closer examination. Seems cute, right? Well, at the time it was, we both got a little chuckle out of it. Later that night was a different story. It was about 9, Jack's bed time, and I had just put him down. In his usual rhythm, he got up and started crying. As usual, Steph and I were waiting him out. And then we heard it. A loud thump followed by a split second of silence and then a bone-scraping scream that turned my innards into melted gelatin. Steph raced into the room before me to find Jack sitting in between his rocking chair and the crib, looking as confused and slightly more upset than his mother and myself. Steph yanked him up and pressed him against her while she quickly examined his legs, head and back. Once all the commotion subsided, Jack quickly fell into a deep sleep, which only made Steph worry more.
As you can imagine, the next morning, Steph had me lower the crib and rehang the nursery door in an effort to get Jack to sleep better.
At this point, I'm sure a lot of you are thinking that parenthood is a horrible adventure riddled with fear and worry. However, Saturday morning was probably one of my favorite "Dad" moments to date. While I was unscrewing the wire frame from the bottom of the crib, Jack came over to hold the screws and investigate my work. He even sat down in my lap and put his little hands over mine on the screwdriver to help out. When we were all done, he clapped and laughed as if he were saying, "Thank you, Daddy. I appreciate you taking the time to convert my crib from a death trap back to a safe sleeping apparatus." And, yes,that is how he talks in my head. Then, when Steph's dad was over helping put the door back up, Jack would stand there holding the hinge pins and a screwdriver laughing that he was getting a door. He was so excited that he had a door to open and close that he sat there for a while letting Sandy come in and then closing the door, then opening it again and letting her run out. So goofy.
Since the changes, he's been sleeping much better. Life is good.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Jack's First Year
It has been WAY too long since I last put words to web. There has been a lot going on and I guess it's been a little difficult for me to find the time to sit down and reflect on all of it. So, here's what's a brief overview of the current life and times of Robert "Flash" Gordon.
First off, married life is wonderful and family life makes it even better. Steph, Jack, and I went to the Georgia Aquarium for Valentine's Day/Jack's birthday. I hate to say it, because I was really looking forward to the trip and everything, but the Georgia Aquarium is a bit disappointing. For one thing, it has more of a flashy mall mixed with a night club feel than that of an aquarium. Also, the design is horrible. The way it's set up, you come into a main lobby area and then the exhibits all shoot off from there. So, it doesn't sound like a big deal, but it leads to bottlenecking at the entrances and exits of each exhibit, giving a very chlostraphobic feel. Also, most of the exhibits were the same as the exhibits inside the Tennessee Aquarium, so it wasn't like we were seeing anything really new. The one saving grace, though, was the beluga whales. They were gorgeous. Jack seemed to really enjoy them.
In case you didn't pick it up from the previous paragraph, Jack had his 1 year birthday. His official birthday was last Monday but he had his family birthday party that Saturday which he shared with his cousin, Allie. The theme was 1st Birthday/Tinkerbell, so some of the pictures might be misleading. We did not have a Tinkerbell party for Jack. Steph is very gender neutral, but I think she could even agree that a Tinkerbell-themed party for a 1st birthday would be going a little too far. He had his first encounter with real sweets, a chocolate cake. The sugar rush lasted three days. Ever since then, he has been talking up a storm - I mean, it's gibberish, but you can tell he wants to get some kind of message across. In fact, he gets very frustrated because he wants to be understood, even though we are obviously not speaking the same language. I fear he has my temper. But the most exciting/frightening new discovery is that he has started walking. He's clumsily making his way around the house and causing many a skipped heart beat on the tile and hardwood floors. He kills me because he refusess to walk unless he has everyon's undivided attention. Then, once he walks to his destination, he plops on his rear and begins clapping, which is a cue for everyone else to start clapping. Anyway, for part of his birthday present, Steph and I both made little videos chronicling Jack's first year. Below is the video I made. There are some things I would have liked to have done differently, but I'm still very proud of how it turned out.
First off, married life is wonderful and family life makes it even better. Steph, Jack, and I went to the Georgia Aquarium for Valentine's Day/Jack's birthday. I hate to say it, because I was really looking forward to the trip and everything, but the Georgia Aquarium is a bit disappointing. For one thing, it has more of a flashy mall mixed with a night club feel than that of an aquarium. Also, the design is horrible. The way it's set up, you come into a main lobby area and then the exhibits all shoot off from there. So, it doesn't sound like a big deal, but it leads to bottlenecking at the entrances and exits of each exhibit, giving a very chlostraphobic feel. Also, most of the exhibits were the same as the exhibits inside the Tennessee Aquarium, so it wasn't like we were seeing anything really new. The one saving grace, though, was the beluga whales. They were gorgeous. Jack seemed to really enjoy them.
In case you didn't pick it up from the previous paragraph, Jack had his 1 year birthday. His official birthday was last Monday but he had his family birthday party that Saturday which he shared with his cousin, Allie. The theme was 1st Birthday/Tinkerbell, so some of the pictures might be misleading. We did not have a Tinkerbell party for Jack. Steph is very gender neutral, but I think she could even agree that a Tinkerbell-themed party for a 1st birthday would be going a little too far. He had his first encounter with real sweets, a chocolate cake. The sugar rush lasted three days. Ever since then, he has been talking up a storm - I mean, it's gibberish, but you can tell he wants to get some kind of message across. In fact, he gets very frustrated because he wants to be understood, even though we are obviously not speaking the same language. I fear he has my temper. But the most exciting/frightening new discovery is that he has started walking. He's clumsily making his way around the house and causing many a skipped heart beat on the tile and hardwood floors. He kills me because he refusess to walk unless he has everyon's undivided attention. Then, once he walks to his destination, he plops on his rear and begins clapping, which is a cue for everyone else to start clapping. Anyway, for part of his birthday present, Steph and I both made little videos chronicling Jack's first year. Below is the video I made. There are some things I would have liked to have done differently, but I'm still very proud of how it turned out.
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