No More Formula!!

I never thought this day would come...The day where Gabe and I don't have to mix up formula and give Jack a bottle. He is a week away from turning 1 so Gabe and I decided to bite the bullet and switch Jack to whole milk. Since Gabe and I have no idea what we are doing this was a very stressful decision.We were full of so many questions: how much do we give him? what if he doesn't like it? how can we keep his night time routine somewhat normal without a bottle????? After alot of internet searching (by Gabe) we decided to cut Jack off of formula cold turkey and switch to milk. He didn't like it at first, but after a couple of days he is starting to come around. In fact, he had 2 cups of milk with his breakfast this morning!
Now if we can just get him potty trained....  :)

Halloween

I have been a huge slacker when it comes to updating my blog! I feel like the month of October has been a blur of volleyball and I haven't had any family time! We had 2 big volleyball tournaments and the season is winding down with the girls playing in the state tournament this week. I must take a quick detour and brag about my team before I move on with this blog--This has been the first year we have played up in Division 1 with the really big schools and my team ranked 5th out of the top 16 teams that qualified for state. I am super proud of the girls and I am excited to see how far they will go in the state tournament. Ok--back to my blog now.... :)
This is the last official holiday of Jack's "firsts"! He was still cooking last year at this time. I remember sitting outside with Gabe handing out Halloween candy dreading having to dress someone up and take them trick or treating! ha ha! Luckily for us we just dressed Jack up in his costume, took a few pictures, and then let him run around outside.
We spent the evening at the Bauer's house where we joined the Putz crew along with Bea, Tom, Pat, and Al. It was fun to see the Putz girls get excited about dressing up and watching Ethan have a meltdown when it came time to put his costume on. Jack was a monkey (bought for him by his Nana Ceci) and he handled the costume pretty well. He didn't mind putting the outfit on (which was very thick and hot) but he kept wanting to take the head piece off. Eventually we just let him take the head off and run around in the monkey suit. He loved chasing after all the kids and spending the evening outside. It was a great night!! :)

Jack with Lauren and Kaelyn

The crew...notice Ethan having a meltdown

Round 2 of putting the costume on---look at Jack's face!

Taking a stroll with his Nana

While the kids were trick or treating Jack wanted to go on a Ranger ride. He wants to drive. :)

11 months old!

Yep, you guessed it right, I can't believe Jack is 11 months old! Ha ha! Time definitely isn't slowing down the older he gets. From the moment he wakes up in the morning (around 6:15 am) he is non-stop action. He is crawling and into everything. One of his favorite games is to have you chase him around the house or to sit in a room and shut and open the door on you. He loves opening cabinets and taking whatever is in them out. Gabe had to babyproof the cabinets in the kitchen today because Jack kept pulling out the glass bowls. He did leave Jack the tupperware cabinet to play in. One of the worst places Jack gets into is our bathroom cabinets. Nothing like having Jack play with razors and nail polish remover...these cabinets will get babyproofed asap! :)
Jack is holding steady at 8 teeth although I feel like he has something in the works coming in. He is sooooooooooo drooly! This kid goes through at least 3 shirts a day. He loves to hear his own voice. Jack can't sneak up on anyone because he is so loud. He still loves saying "da da da da" the most and he will say it at different volumes just so you understand him.
Jack is getting better and better at walking. He takes a few steps on his own but isn't confident enough to cover much distance. If Gabe and I sit apart from each other on the floor then he will go back and forth between us but he will only take a few steps if he is coming from the couch to one of us. The easiest way to get him to walk is to give him something to hold on to. It's almost as if he forgets he is walking when he holds something.
Jack's newest food to date is chicken nuggets. I made them for him for lunch today and he couldn't eat them fast enough! I had to try to get him slow down so he wouldn't choke. He still loves his avocados and pears in the morning too! Lets face it...the kid likes to eat! :)
Everyday Jack does something new that makes me laugh. I look forward to what this month will bring us. :)
On a side note, I did get to see my new niece today. Brooke Laurel Morgan was born last night at 11:41 pm weighing 6 lbs 7 oz and 20.5 inches long. Congrats to Ryan and Katie. It will be nice to have a girl in the mix with all the boys! :)

Jack decided to go for a little swim in his bath the other night. Kept putting his head under water.

He was trying to eat the bubbles on the water!

Such a happy boy when he is in the cabinets

Had to add this picture. His shirt says, "I'm faster than you and I crawl", and the shirt is 100% right!

Not only does he empty the cabinets, he eats what he takes out. 

Eating his chicken nuggets today

 I tried to trick him and put banana pieces down too and he would only eat the chicken. Smart little guy!

These are the only kind of pictures I can get of him most of the time. He is always on the go!

Notice how wet his chest is!!

WALKING!

Jack took his first steps on his own tonight! I was cleaning up the kitchen and Gabe was playing with Jack when this all happened. Gabe kept putting Jack a few steps away from him and Jack would just walk right over. I watched it a couple of times and then got in on the action. Jack walked back and forth between Gabe and I several times. He would even stop in the middle, stand and balance, and continue walking! It was so cool. After about 4 times back and forth I said, "why aren't we video taping this?", ran to grab the camera, and of course he didn't want to walk anymore. Figures!! Oh well, it was so fun living in the moment and I have plenty of opportunities to get videos of him. :)

New Pictures

I have been slacking in the picture taking department...With the start of volleyball season I get home late and just want to get all the good play time in I can without thinking about pictures. Last night we were home getting ready to watch the ASU game so I thought it would be a good time to get some pictures of the things Jack has been up to lately. Pictures are worth a thousand words right???

This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago when it was nice enough to go outside at night.

Jack was obsessed with pulling the grass up!

Jack has started to get his own toys out that he wants to play with.

He likes to stand up in this area but the top of his head hits the top. (Of course he wouldn't stand when I got my camera out)

Time to get down

Success!

All Jack wants to do is walk. He either pushes everything around or he finds someone to help him.

This guy is speedy when he walks using the couch

The start of the journey...

He knows where he wants to go...

Almost there...

Found the tupperware cabinet!

Now he gets comfy...

Let the disaster begin...

Jack just started to move his high chair around yesterday. 

Gabe thinks he is going to be a lineman...

I love this picture

Picky eater

For whatever reason, Jack has turned into a really picky eater. He has never had issues with food before but now he gags on everything I try to feed him for lunch. I don't understand what the problem is...He still loves his avocados and pears for his morning snack (he is almost eating a whole avocado a day!) but this week he decided he was going to gag when he eats his yogurt and bananas for lunch. I tried to mix in different fruit, that didn't work...I tried different flavors of yogurt, that didn't work. So now I have to think outside the box in terms of feeding him. I have tried macaroni and cheese, cottage cheese, and string cheese, and he hates them all. I have been resorting to giving him a few pieces of fruit and then just giving him a bottle. He still eats his dinner like a champ too. It's just in the middle of the day he doesn't want to eat. I don't get it. On a positive note, I have discovered he loves raisins just like me. :)
Jack has started to become a more confident walker. He now likes to just hold onto things with 1 hand and walk. He has also taken a few steps on his own. Gabe and Nana Ceci saw him take 4 steps and tonight I saw him take 3 steps. Of course when I was watching him he took his 3 steps towards the couch where the remote was. Some things never change! The big guy is getting really close to walking on his own...

Standing

For the past couple of days Jack has become more adventurous. Besides moving every piece of furniture around the house that he can his newest thing is to stand on his own. He normally only does it for a couple of seconds but last night he was standing using his walker and I gave him his sippy cup so he could drink some water. He took the cup with both hands and proceeded to take a drink while standing in the middle of the kitchen. I hovered for a couple of seconds waiting for him to lose his balance and when he didn't, in my most urgent voice, I called for Gabe to look. We were both shocked!! Jack just stared at us like we were crazy when we were both so happy. This kid is so busy he doesn't want to stand unless he is also doing something else! From now on he only gets his sippy cup when he is standing. :)