Jack's Name Ends in an 'S'

This came as a big surprise to Terra. We forget his Christian name is James, we just like to call him Jack.

The four month well-baby appointment went very well. Jack is a big boy, like what we hoped. He's 95th percentile in weight, at a strapping 19 lbs and 9.5 ounces. The big Jack's height is between the 90th and 100th percentile although with 26.5 inches. He's so much bigger than when we first brought him home.

Misty's harassing the Gap people right now for the details regarding the specific delivery of Jack's new bedding for his new crib in his very blue room. "One of the items isn't available . . . " Jack is sleeping comfortably in hew new bed, last night he slept well for a full seven hours. Jack is infatuated with the turtle Aunt Lauren and Uncle Bill sent. The turtle will light up with three different colors: blue, green, and amber. He will just stare and stare at it.

Jack has taken to squeaking, too. When he wakes up (seven hours of sleep is great, but seven hours is really seven hours from 8:00PM, so he still wakes up really, really early) he squawks playfully, and even at 3:00AM, it's cute. It's not so cute when I get him, but it is cute when Misty gets him. She is the best.

The girls are playing, "check." This is a version of poker. Actually, it's poker, I just would rather the girls answer the following question: "what'd you do last night?" with, "I played check," than, "I played poker." Madeline is really aggressive, and I think Terra's taken too much out of Rob's book, she likes to bluff. They both want to play with real money, but real money for these girls is Dad's money.

Ice Reduces Friction

Stepping outside to open my car this Saturday so I could get my gloves I quickly fell on the driveway. It was so slick. The ice was everywhere. The girls were outside playing, I bundled up to see what we could do outside in the blustery weather.

We took a piece of compressed particle board from the garage, split it in half and tried to "sled" down the driveway. This wasn't steep enough, we weren't getting anywhere enough speed. I had an old hose in the back yard that I needed to throw away. Instead we used this hose for leverage. The girls held on to the hose, sat on the old particle board, and I pulled them fast down the sidewalk. This was so much fun, we all had a great time and it got us out of the house. I could see the smiles on everyone driving by the house, looking at the fun we were having.

Goof Off

We painted the young man's room today. Madeline wanted to help so badly. She wasn't allowed. "Fine, when it's time to paint my room yellow, you guys aren't going to be allowed to help," she fired back. Such independence.

I would do several things different next time I paint a room. First, clear everything out of the room. I halved it, and used a tarp to cover the part of the floor where we were painting, then moved the tarp when that section was finished. This became more trouble than I thought, mostly this technique was to try and get around the big couch that remains in the boy's room.

Second, put the painters tape all around room, following the same stretch with large overlaps so it will pull off simpler.

Third, start during the afternoon instead of the early evening, especially in the bedrooms upstairs, the light is poor because there is only one can light.

We did the prep work well, the plastic fixtures around the electrical outlets and switches were removed, and we did use painter's tape.

Even with the painter's tape (which we need to get thicker tape for the base boards) the base boards have blue paint over some spots. I'll get the Goof Off and clean that up then we're finished.

Two Month Well Baby

We have a two month well baby that went for his two month well baby checkup. The doctor says Jack has great head control. He's "big" so we need to make sure he's clean between all the rolls of skin he has on his legs, chin, belly, arms . . . just about everywhere really. This child weighs 15.1 lbs and 25.5 inches long. We've been very curious about that weight. He does like to eat. He's a charmer now, too. He's smiling a lot more. He seems to do this for me when I'm changing his diaper. He does this for his mom whenever she wants him to. Dad is just a little jealous about that part.

"He looks like you"

"It's so weird to look at him and see your eyes," Misty told me the other night. Visually, it's fun to look at the child and see which features he has from the different sides of the family. Jack is still new, so I'm sure some of these things will need to take off, we've organized him as follows:

• His hair is brown, so he could have had that from either
• His eyes are already looking to be brown, he received that from his father
• His nose and lips he gets from his mother
• his ears, mom and dad both think the ears come from themselves

He's still such a sweet little baby. He coo's at us now and we try to get him to smile. He's started looking at people now, although I admit he is mostly looking at his mother.

He still loves to look at light, today when I brought him inside after we spent some time relaxing on the patio, he looked at the ceiling and started to cry when we came inside. Still looking at the ceiling and still whimpering a little, it was like he was looking for the sky, "Where'd that blue light thing go, old man! I liked that part."

Still a very loud eater, still a grunter, and still a little chunk.

No Tears, Ever

Jack screams when he's really unhappy, mostly he grunts when something isn't going his way. I've noticed he likes to be in the same position. By far, his favorite position is to lay on his belly, but he gets used to anything. When you take him out of that though, say to transfer to someone else to hold, he grunts a little, sometimes yells, but never have there been any tears.

So he couldn't cry even if he wanted to, today. Misty picked him up from the day care at work and his eyes were puffy and runny, like symptoms from pink eye. She took him to the urgent care facility up the street to see what the diagnosis is, and it's a blocked tear duct. Poor guy.

However, he was weighed in again for the visit. He's clearly getting ready for a professional eating career, he's up to 13 lbs, 8 ounces.

One Month Well Baby

Our one month old baby went to the doctor's office for his well baby appointment this day after Labor Day. It is so freezing in this place, somehow he managed to get through it all without frostbite anywhere.

Old Jack is weighing in at a mean 12 lbs 7 ounces and 22.5 inches long. That's a lot of weight gain after his one week old appointment (3lbs and 3 ounces). He is getting chunky, too. His legs look like drum sticks, his cheeks are so puffy.

Claire gets sick

Claire doesn't do travel well. She was sick twice on her cross country trip, once just before getting to our house, and she slept all day yesterday. Poor thing. Even though Claire was sick we had a great time.

Friday, the girls had a sleep over at a friend's house for her birthday, the remainder of us went out to eat at the Sunset Grill. There was a live band and the food was great. All the girls picked the rib eye special.

I'm not sure Jack knew all the attention was about him. He slept most of the weekend, but everyone had a good time holding the new little guy.

While Claire recovered from a brief pool adventure, Grancy, the girls and I went out for a walk/bike ride on the trails in the nearby park. Grancy and I practiced our close-up photography taking skills, which are greatly enhanced through macros on the cameras.

Saturday night we had a gourmet dinner at home and Jack's Birth Day celebration cake for dinner.

Sunday came way too early and Claire and Grancy had to leave early for the airport to get back and get ready for work/school tomorrow.

Jack Sees Angels

There's no other explanation for it. Jack never looks at you. I understand that the baby's vision isn't as keen as an adult's (I would put myself in an exception, I have terrible vision), or a young child's, so he never really looks at you. I think it's funny that he seems to acknowledge I'm here, but then he looks right past me, and I think I know why.

He is looking at angels. Maybe he sees them? Mom thinks this might be his guardian angels and I would say that he has two of them. One to protect him from the affection one sister gives him, and the other guardian to protect him from the other sister. They are very affectionate, they love their little brother.

First Day of School

Both the girls started school this August, second and fourth grades here we come. Both first days went very well. Madeline started last Thursday and Terra started Monday. Madeline wanted to bring her lunch, Terra decided the hot dog sounded good, which is amazing, because hot dogs never sound good at home. Terra's friend Devyn gave her a big hug when she first came in the room. We sat down and I helped organize a mountain of school books into four shelves that attach to the desk. The rest of the week went very well, we don't find out how she did on the first week's spelling test until next week.


Madeline's in class with a lot of her friends from last year and sits by several. The first day, she was nervous other kids would see Jack, so she asked that Mom just stop by the room, but not go inside all the way. We were really, really excited about the spelling test (14/14 for 100%), until we noticed the name of the sheet was Grace and not Madeline. How'd that happen?

Two big girls off to school. It was a good summer, now it's time to learn.

New Bikes for the Sisters

We got the girls new bikes Saturday (8/18). Big hit. Both have ridden their bikes into the ground (which is good). Terra's worn the rear tire on her bike so badly you can see the inner tube. It needed some maintenance both their tires always need air, and thank goodness for the air compressor.

Misty took the girls to the Baby Shower for Baby Jack, I lowered the back seats in the white sedan and headed for the store. Found two cool Schwinn bikes, same color, same size, same everything, and packed them into the car. Then got home, aired them up and hung them in the garage for the girls to come home. Misty pulled back in the garage after coming from the baby shower, Terra walked completely by the tire, suspended by a hook on the ceiling.

When they came inside, I said that I bought the stuff to get fix the tires on their bikes and they needed to help put it together. Terra went to get her shoes Madeline was first in the garage. I said, "Here's how we're going to fix the tires," and looked up to the ceiling. Madeline followed my line of sight and said, "OHH Terra! Awesome, we got new bikes!" Terra ran out with equal amazement.

They rode them up and down the street doing new tricks and are very happy with the new hand brakes on the bike, the new size, the colors, the look, it all went very well. Before they went to bed they both washed their bikes. with a sponge. and water.

This morning Dad, Terra, and Madeline went on bike rides through the trails. It was fun, but they were tired in the end. Going down a hill really, really fast, I heard Terra say almost to herself, "This is so much fun."

Bath Time for Jack

Jack got his bath this morning. Here's what he likes; he likes the wash cloth squeezed and the water dripping on him, he likes to be naked, he likes to pee when it gets cold. Jack doesn't like to have his hair washed and he doesn't like cold water.

He does his lovable little grunts some during the bath time, very little crying.

Cobra Kai is going down!

Jack decided that he could pee on all his clothes today. His clean clothes at least. So, the little guy gets to wear his Karate Kid outfit. Watch out though, because this old guys butterfly kick is in need of some work. Some work real bad. Not that Jack has time for work. He is presently too busy doing one of three things: eating, sleeping, or getting his clothes dirty.

Baby Monkey

We got a box in the mail today. A big box. My Espresso machine collapsed last weekend and so I immediately ordered a new one. Opening the box and expecting an Espresso machine Misty noted the monkey. Then looked at the addressee and saw it was for Jack. Jack got his first piece of mail! and it's got a monkey!

He loves it. Misty put the monkey with the plush fur on the floor and laid baby Jack on it for some tummy time. He loved it, cooed and squealed making the "Content and happy Jack noises." Misty picked him up and he started crying, he missed the monkey.

The monkey matches the ones both his sisters got from Grancy from Build-a-bear. He's part of the Monkey Club now.

you tube videos

Check out some of these videos of young Jack.



Tummy Time:


After some tummy time, it's time to make it really hard for people to view the video and turn the camera upside down.


The last of the upside down videos.

Well Baby Appointment

The well baby appointment this morning went extremely well.

They didn't take his length, but his weight is up, he's at 8 lbs 8 oz now. They lose weight after they are born and before we left the hospital he was 8lbs 4 oz. So, he's gaining weight.

Everything else related to our hospital stay, we're "going to be pretty happy with."

I should also point out that baby boys have a gift for pee'ing at the inopportune times when the diaper is off. Misty witnessed a golden fountain, "I had no idea it could go so high," while changing a diaper. Jack also took this chance to pee on the doctor.

The poop stinks

The stuff before didn't stink but it was m-e-s-s-y. This stuff is less messy, but it stinks. I'd rather have the latter. He also does these things very loudly and with animation. His forehead wrinkles up and his legs go straight, his toes curl.

Terra Stayed Sunday Night

Terra stayed Sunday night. What a blast. Just the two girls and Dad were able to go to the pool. Next year, we need to get the inflatable tubes. That was a great game. Madeline and Terra both had a blast.

Monday morning we went to the car wash and used the free vaccuum. The girls, pretending to be terrified, grabbed the Polly Pockets, Barbies, Crayons, shoes, socks, and everything they were worried the "sucker" was going to eat. They laughed gleefully.

On the way to Terra's mom's we played 20 questions.

Home, all five of us

We made it back home safely and soundly. There were some problems with the car seat. It's been a while without babies. It takes two to change a diaper. I hold Jack's feet to make sure he doesn't get them in anything (messy) and Misty's busy cleaning up. Why is it anything safety related with the baby you have to read the directions? It took some time for me to figure out the car seat before we could leave the hospital.

Favorite anecdotes from the weekend, one from both girls.

Madeline's:
Travis asked about the name "James," as in "Where did James come from?" Madeline quickly answered, "From Mommy's belly."

Terra's:
Holding Jack, Terra remarked how little he is and followed it with, "In two years . . . " a pause as she realizes the obviousness of the statement, ". . . Jack's going to be two."

Baby's Born

In what seemed like no time, this baby came out.

It was tough waking up Friday morning. Misty and I stayed out late Thursday night and went to a movie. I didn't get to sleep until 1:30 A.M. We needed to be at the hospital by 6:30 A.M. Mom was connected to the intravenous tubes and setup for the putossin drip and some antibiotics.

Kathryn was the nurse and she was so great to talk with. She did an excellent job. The anesthesiologists were sent for and arrived about 10:30AM. They setup the epidural. Paul forgot to tell Misty about the button so at noon Misty's wondering, "What's this pain? Why is the epidural not working?" The button was soon discovered, the anesthesiologists arrived again and topped Misty off, and we were back in business.

Kathryn paged the doctor at 12:30. Misty said, "We're having this baby at one, I want to be eating by two." Dr. King arrived by 12:40. The head was crowning, the doctor said that this is progressing nicely. I watched a little as the doctor was getting suited up and two other people from the hospital staff arrived with carts, sheets, tons of stuff.

I hear Dr. King say, "Misty, you're making my job easy," and the next thing I saw was the head peeping out. The doctor supported the baby's head and the nurse, staff said the baby's looking beautiful. Misty's not saying a peep, she's focused with intensity that I will never be able to match.

I wanted to know if this was a boy or girl. The doctor pulls the baby up and the right thigh is covering the privates. I thought, "Hey! Another girl." Then the leg dropped and the thigh with it. There it was. A boy.

James Bruce Alexander was born today weighing in at a mean 9.03 lbs and 20.5 inches long.

We'll have a baby on Friday

I am listening to Madeline and Mom talking about the baby.

"Daddy, are you going to bring the game boy to the hospital?" Madeline is asking.

"Yes." I reply.

"Mommy, is daddy going to help you? is he going to watch when the baby is born?"

"So you're going to bring the bear, the pacifier, and the stuff, to the baby?" Madeline is asking.

We finally settled on our names. Ava Elizabeth if this is a girl, and James Bruce if this is a boy. Misty and I picked out a new mattress for our bedroom. We are ready.

Unlike my niece, our child does not yet have a name. Sophia has set the bar, I've had to check on some names here for madelineelisealexander.com and terraannalexander.com. A friend of mine has haverkamp.us. Curse Don for not having a distinct last name. Alexander.us is just some squatter, too.

Misty's so tired now. She cannot sleep, the poor girl is so uncomfortable. She's up most of the night. I wake up and can notice the bed is empty.

We did an ad-hoc measurement last night and the baby was 10.5 inches with some points and feelings Misty has in her belly. The baby's moving right into position. The heartbeat is 128 beats per minute last Friday.

Tonight we ate brisket. Terra said that the baby is going to like red meat since we've been eating so much. Yesterday we had chicken fried steak. The day before we had paprika chicken. Terra eats:

• Chicken Nuggets
• Bagel Bites

What were you expecting a big list?

Unlike my niece, our child does not yet have a name. Sophia has set the bar, I've had to check on some names here for madelineelisealexander.com and terraannalexander.com. A friend of mine has haverkamp.us. Curse Don for not having a distinct last name. Alexander.us is just some squatter, too.

Misty's so tired now. She cannot sleep, the poor girl is so uncomfortable. She's up most of the night. I wake up and can notice the bed is empty.

We did an ad-hoc measurement last night and the baby was 10.5 inches with some points and feelings Misty has in her belly. The baby's moving right into position. The heartbeat is 128 beats per minute last Friday.

Tonight we ate brisket. Terra said that the baby is going to like red meat since we've been eating so much. Yesterday we had chicken fried steak. The day before we had paprika chicken. Terra eats:

• Chicken Nuggets
• Bagel Bites

What were you expecting a big list?

Captain Underpants

This started off so wrong. Madeline keeps stretching her shirts out to they fit over her head. She started this at first just as a past time, but Mom saw the shirts stretched out in the laundry and reminds her to stop. Terra, however, laughs so hard when she sees it. Madeline can make a joke go a long ways, she's so funny.

After being reminded not to stretch her shirts over her head, Madeline ran upstairs and from the clean clothes pile grabs some underwear and instead of stretching the shirt over head, now has a nice pair of tighty-whitey's with flowers on them.


So now Terra and Madeline are literally rolling on the floor laughing hysterically. Terra regains some composure and is able to stumble giddy up the stairs to her room where she comes down in the "Captain Underpants" garb. The alter ego is a comedian that will save the world.

This is a first post

Trying to see what this will look like.

Parent Teacher Conference

This is the best video with Madeline and Terra because it shows how nicely they play together (most of the time). Terra's the teacher, Madeline is the mother of a student which is the subject of the meeting.

Terra's really intent, you can hear her earnestly giving instructions on how Madeline's "child" is progressing in school. Madeline patiently listens, but her eyes blink so fast, because they are turning yellow. In the end she hiccups and informs Terra she has to go to the bathroom.

It was actually taken in April, so I'm back dating the post.