Jack's First Christmas

Wearing Daddy's Christmas outfit from 1984

Isn't my hat cute?

I love my PeePaw :)

Big Jack & Little Jack

We played for a long time!

What?  It's Christmas?

This stocking has lots of cool stuff in it!

"LuLu, will you help me?"

With my Mommy

What's in here?

Christmas is so much fun!

Christabelle & I

Great-Grandpa Tom & I

Snuggling with Aunt Mirt

Opening my presents from Grandma & Grandpa Morgan

Jack: Four Months

Age: 4 months

Weight: 17.5 pounds

Length: 26 inches

Size: He is still wearing a few 3-6 month clothes, but his 6-9 and 6-12 month clothes fit him the best.

Hair: His hair is definitely getting longer, I now have to actually brush it after his baths.

Teeth: Nope

Sleeping: We have had a little regression as far as sleep goes.  He had a cold for the past few weeks and has been waking himself up coughing at night.  Once he was awake, he realized that he could eat at night, so now he has been waking up a few times a night to eat, even though his cough is almost gone.  Mommy doesn't mind, though, because she misses him during the day while she is at work.

Eating: He is still eating really well from the bottle and breast, but since he is eating more at night, he isn't eating as many bottles during the day.

Movement: At the beginning of the month, he rolled over from his belly to his back, but he hasn't done that again since then.  Just yesterday, however, he rolled over from his back to his belly!  He must have thought that it was really fun, because once he started, he was rolling all night long.

Milestones: Jack's first Christmas was great!  He got lots of presents from Santa, and he even enjoyed helping to rip the paper off of a few. 

Favorite Toys/Activities: He has started to really settle in at daycare.  He loves Miss Annette and Miss Susie, which makes Mommy very happy.  He really loves watching Charlotte and the other kids play - it really entertains him!  He is still a big fan of being naked, the "no pants dance" is still his favorite time of day.

Dislikes: Putting his pajamas on after "the no pants dance."  He gets so mad at us when we even pick up his diaper!  He also doesn't like waiting on his bottle to be warmed up.  Phillip's boss Phil (confusing, right?!) takes his little girl Charlotte to Jack's daycare, and he says that when he drops her off Jack is often waiting impatiently for his bottle to warm.  I keep telling Jack that if he would just take his bottle cold, then he could have it more quickly, but he isn't listening to Mommy!

Words & Sounds: Jack has found his voice!  When he is happy, he squeals very loudly. I will try to upload a video soon so you can hear him!

Jack: Three Months

Age: 3 months

Weight: 16 pounds

Length: no idea, he doesn't have a doctor's appointment until the middle of December and I'm not going to try to lay him down to measure him!

Size: He is firmly in 3-6 month clothes, actually a few of them are getting tight on him

Hair: His hair seems to be getting longer - I actually put it into a little fauxhawk for his picture today!

Teeth: Nope

Sleeping: Jack is still quite the sleeper.  He generally sleeps for 9-11 hours straight, but he has slept 12 hours a few times.

Eating: He has been doing really well using a bottle when his mommy isn't around.  He likes to grab ahold of the bottle to make sure that noone takes it away from him.

Movement: Jack has started grabbing his toys and shaking them around.  He is also holding his head up so well that he can sit in his Bumbo seat all by himself.

Milestones: He enjoyed his first Thanksgiving with all of his cousins (some of which he met for the first time).  The big milestones this month, however, were his first day away from Mommy (he stayed with Grandma the first day) and his first day of daycare which was on his three month birthday.  He did really great, Mommy however had a little more trouble.

Favorite Toys/Activities: He loves Sophie the Giraffe and her friend Gnon.  They are soft rubber toys that squeak, and are often confused with dog toys.  He loves them, though!  His favorite activity is what we like to call "the no pants dance" - basically he lays in his crib naked, kicks his legs around, and laughs the biggest belly laughs ever.  It is the cutest thing ever.

Dislikes: Wet diapers.  I thought that maybe he would get over this, but he still *hates* to have a wet diaper.  He doesn't mind a dirty diaper, but a wet one sends him into quite a tizzy.

Words & Sounds: He has started "talking" to us with coos and grunts.  He will actually respond to you if you talk to him.  He also has started squealing loudly and laughing afterward, which tends to make LuLu bark, which tends to make Jack cry.  It's really fun.  

Jack: Two Months

Age: 2 months

Weight: He was 12lbs 5oz at his 6 week check-up.  That means that he gained a pound a week since his 2 week check-up.  When I stepped on the scale with him this morning, there was a 14 pound difference - he's such a big boy!

Length: He was 23 1/4 inches at his 6 week check-up

Size: He has started wearing a few 3-6 month outfits in the past week, but he is still mainly wearing 0-3 month clothes.

Hair: It seems like his hair is starting to get a little lighter, or it's just stating to thin out a little.

Teeth: None yet, thank goodness.

Sleeping: Jack has made some major sleep progress this month!!  He is consistently sleeping 7-8 hour stretches at night - yay!  He has started going to bed earlier, though, so mama still has to get up around 4:30 to feed him.  He is still sleeping in a bassinet next to our bed, but we think that we're going to try moving him to his crib at night soon (he naps there during the day).

Eating: Jack has finally started spreading his feedings out longer, which makes mommy very happy.  He eats for longer at each feeding, which I think helps him last a little longer before needing to eat again.

Movement: He has really started purposefully moving his arms and legs recently.  He will bat at a toy, but he still doesn't control his arms very well at all - he often smacks himself right in the face!

Milestones: Jack has started giggling this month, which is the funnest thing to watch ever - I think I could just sit and make him laugh all day!  He is also leaving for his first weekend trip (and first hotel stay) today to see Uncle Zach in Chicago.

Favorite Toys/Activities: He is really enjoying his playmat recently.  He will stare at the toys and bat at them for several minutes before wanting to be picked up again.  

Dislikes: Not being included - he would really prefer me to hold him whenever I'm doing something.  My baby carriers have been very helpful recently.

Words & Sounds: He has started making more distinct coos and sounds at us - not just whiney noises.  Uncle Ross also wanted it noted that he is very good at making noises with his hind end, too!!

Jack's Adventures in Cloth Diapers - Newborn Edition

 I've had a few requests for an update on Jack's cloth diapers.  First things first, we're loving them so far, and he hasn't worn a disposable diaper since he left the hospital.  I've been doing diaper laundry most days, but I could go two days without washing - I'm just too afraid of running out of clean diapers, so I wash them way before I need to. 

In these pictures, I would guess that Jack weighs around 10.5 pounds.  You can see that he's already growing out of some of his diapers!

First off, let's start with the diapers that don't require a separate cover.  This includes all-in-one diapers and pocket diapers.  All-in-one diapers are just that, they require nothing more than putting them on baby (with velcro or snaps) and washing.  They are very easy for dads and babysitters, but they take a long time to dry and tend to be the most expensive kind of diaper.

First up is the Lil Joey by Rumparooz.  These are the tiniest diapers ever!  They fit great right after we came home from the hospital, but they were also the first diapers that he grew out of.  They also had a nice snap that kept the diaper away from his umbilical cord stump until it fell off.

Next is the Grovia Newborn All-in-one.  This fit him pretty well from the beginning (he weighed 8lbs 8oz at birth) and they come in some really cute prints - this one has airplanes on it!  The major con to me was that this diaper took the longest to dry by far.  All of my other diapers would be dry and this one would take an extra 20 minutes in the dryer.

This diaper is the Tiny Fit by Tot Bots.  This diaper has a higher rise, so it didn't fit him for the first week or so.  The absorbent part of this diaper needs to be folded back into itself before putting it on him, which was a little bit of trouble, but also made it dry really quickly.  It is one of the most absorbent newborn diapers that we have.


Next is the Extra Small All-in-one by Bumgenius.  I thought that this would be one of my favorite diapers, but I was disappointed because they never quite fit him right.  Every baby is different, and most moms love these, they just didn't fit Jack well, so they tended to leak out of the leg holes.

This next diaper is a Happy Heinys Pocket Diaper.  Pocket diapers are essentially a waterproof cover with a pocket that you have to stuff with an absorbent insert.  This makes them a little less expensive than All-in-one diapers and they also dry much faster.  Another pro of pocket diapers is that you can adjust the absorbancy to the level that you need (i.e. adding extra at night).  To be honest, I rarely put Jack in these diapers because they seemed very insubstantial and I thought that they would leak.  The few times that I did put him in them, they didn't leak, so I think it was all in my head.

These diapers are Kissaluv size 0 diapers and my personal favorite for newborns.  Fitted diapers are not waterproof, so they require a separate cover over the top (see those below).  This means that they dry very quickly and are the least expensive diaper that I own.  Because of the second layer of protection, we have never had a leak (#1 or #2) with these diapers (we have actually never had a poo blowout in cloth diapers *knock on wood*).

Covers:

Since we have never had a leak in a fitted diaper with a cover, I would say that I recommend all of these diaper covers, so I won't go into long explanations of each one.

Thirsties Wrap size Extra Small

Thirsties Duo Wrap size 1

Bummis Super Whisper Wrap - Newborn

Swaddlebees ABC cover size small (cow print)

Gen-Y Cover size small (free range print - yes it has chickens on it!)

Starbunz size small (monkey print - Jack's cutest diaper!)

Custom Colts Wool Cover size small by Chickadee and Me

Jack: One Month

Yes, this is about a week late - but I promise they won't all be this late (if I put it in writing, I'll keep my word, right?!)


Age: 1 Month

Weight: Not sure - he hasn't had an appointment since week 2  I stepped on our bathroom scale with and without his this morning, and there was a 10 pound difference.  Our scale isn't very precise, so who knows how close that really is.

Length: Not sure either

Size: Jack has outgrown most of his newborn-sized clothes and is in 3 month and 3-6 month clothes.  Because we're using cloth diapers (a cloth diaper update it coming soon!), he has a little more junk in his trunk - so some of his clothes are a little tight around his bum.

Hair: His hair was much darker than we expected when he was born.  Phillip & I both had very light hair as children, so we were expecting him to have the same.  It does seem to be getting a little lighter, so we'll see!

Teeth: None yet, thank goodness.

Sleeping: Jack has been such a good sleeper for mama!  After feeding him around 10:30, he only wakes up once what I would call "in the middle of the night" - usually around 2:30 or 3:00 am.  He eats one more time as Daddy is leaving for work around 7:30, and then we normally go back to bed for one more "round."  I've told some of my friends that as long as I get up before the Today show is over, I don't consider myself lazy. 

Eating: Jack is quite an eater.  He is 100% breastfed, and he loves his milk.  Most of the day, he wants to eat every couple hours, but most days he will have a stretch (mostly in the evenings) where he will eat every 45 minutes to an hour.  It really wears me out, but Phillip is great about helping with dinner and getting me drinks and my computer so I can just sit and feed him as much as he needs it.

Movement: He has been really willful as far as movement goes since day one.  We had to have the photographer come back a second time because he moved around so much it was hard for her to get good pictures.  He lifts up his head all the time, but since he can't really control it, he tends to let it flop back down quickly, scaring Mommy.

Milestones: I guess everything he does right now is a milestone!  He took his first trip to Grandma & Grandpa Morgan's house on the Friday before his one-month birthday, and his first trip to Grandma & Grandpa Winters' on his one-month birthday.  He has started focusing on more objects and will follow them with his eyes and head.  Mommy's favorite milestone so far, though, happened on his one-month birthday when Jack gave us his first real smiles.  I got this picture on my phone the next morning (he smiles much bigger than this, but this was the best I could catch):

Favorite Toys/Activities: I printed off some high contrast black and white images, and Jack loves staring at them.  I've taped them all over the house - on his changing table, in his bassinet, and in his crib, so he always has something new to look at.  

Dislikes: Diaper changes, Clothes changes

Words & Sounds: He makes lots of weird little noises, but our favorite is what we call his "goat call," which sounds like a mix between a giggle and a goat mating call.  He tends to make it when he is sleeping and sucking on his paci, and it never fails to make us laugh.

Professional Pictures

A few days after Jack was born, we had a wonderful photographer come to our house to take some pictures. Here are a few of my favorites

He's Here! (Better Late Than Never!)

Yeah, so our little guy is almost six weeks old and I haven't posted on here since his birth - oops!! I guess I've been a little busy :)

I guess I'll introduce you:

Jack Phillip Morgan

Born August 28th, 2011 at 11:52 am

8lbs 8oz & 20 inches long

Our first picture as a family

Such a sleepy little guy

Let's talk about sex, baby!

Now that we're getting closer to our little one's arrival, I've been asked multiple times "what we think we're having." My answer is always "a baby - I'm pretty sure it's not going to be a tortoise or a turkey sandwich (insert two random items depending on the day)." So let's see what some other people have to say about what we're having!

Old Wives Tales

Mayans
The Mayans determined the sex of the baby by taking the mother’s age at conception, and the year of conception. If both are even or both are odd… it’s a girl. If one is even and one is odd… it’s a boy.

I was 27 at conception, and the baby was conceived in 2010, so....
BOY

Beauty
The old wives tale is that a girl will steal her mother’s beauty.

I've noticed that my skin is clearer and my hair is so much less oily, so....
BOY

Nausea
The old wives tale is that a girl will make you more nauseous.

I was very nauseous for the first few months of my pregnancy, so....
GIRL

Heart Rate
The old wives tales is if the heart rate is above 140, it’s a girl. If it’s below 140, it’s a boy.

Every time we go to the doctor, the heart rate is right around 140. One time it will be 136, then 143, then 138, then 148, so....
TIE

Cravings
The old wives tale is that if you crave sweets, it’s a girl. If you crave sour, it’s a boy.

I've only really been craving greasy food (which is completely normal for me), but I guess of the two options, I would say sweet, so....
GIRL

Husband’s Weight Gain
The old wives tale is that if your husband puts on weight during the pregnancy, it will be a girl.

I think Phillip has actually lost a little weight, so....
BOY

Acne
The old wives tale is that a girl will cause acne because she is doubling your hormones.

My skin has never been clearer, so....
BOY

Clumsiness
The old wives tales is that if you are clumsier than before, it’s a boy. If you are as graceful as ever, it’s a girl.

Well, I fell out of my desk chair and broke it at work just yesterday, so I guess I'll say...
BOY

Hairy Legs
The old wives tale is that if the hair on your legs grows faster than before, it’s a boy.

I haven't noticed this at all, so....
GIRL

Boobs
The old wives tale is that if your boobs grow a lot, it’s a girl.

What's a lot?....
GIRL

Sleep
The old wives tale is that if you prefer to sleep on your right side, it’s a boy. If you prefer to sleep on your left side, it’s a girl.

I've been trying to sleep on my left side (because that is supposed to be better for baby), but I tend to end up sleeping on my right, so....
BOY

Hands
The old wives tale is that if you have softer hands, it’s a girl. Rougher hands, it’s a boy.

I don't know if it's just from putting lots of lotion on my belly, but....
GIRL

High or Low
The old wives tale is that if you feel heaviness down low, it’s a boy. If you feel pressure up higher, it’s a girl.

Hmmm, I tend to disagree with what people think I "look like" I'm carrying. I feel a lot of pressure down low (while my grandma swears that I am carrying this baby so high), so....
BOY

Chinese Gender Charts

There are a whole bunch of Chinese Gender Charts out there that will tell you the gender, based on when you conceived. My estimated ovulation date is 11/20/2010, and I was 27.

Chart #1 = GIRL
Chart #2 = BOY
Chart #3 = GIRL
Chart #4 = GIRL
Chart #5 = GIRL

Totals:
GIRL: 9
BOY: 8

Well, it came out almost even - but if you're betting, maybe you should bet for a mini-Jamie instead of a mini-Phillip!