Jack's home boy

Jack is such a curious little guy and just does not want to miss anything that is going on. Often we have to seclude ourselves into the bedroom when it is time for him to eat. Jack recently discovered  a candle with the picture of Jesus on Nathaniel's night stand.  It is the cutest thing, because every time he sees it, he smiles this huge smile. Like he is reuniting his with a long lost friend. I would love to know exactly what he is seeing!

God Mother love

  

Even at the young age of 7 months, Jack knows how lucky he is to have Maggie as his God Momma. She is one special lady, and he loves spending time with her. He is trying to get as much cuddle time in with her as he can, because next year she and her hubby Matt will be moving to Ecuador for two years. Jack says he won't let a little distance get in his way of spending time with her. Besides, he is eager to start getting stamps in his passport.

First Family Bike Ride

What is this thing?

First time in the swing, and he is hooked!

Can't get enough

We had a wonderful first Easter as a family of three. After church, we went on our first family bike ride. So fun! Right from the start, my heart melted, because Jack looked so darn cute in his helmet! The moment we took off, we knew he was having a blast because his little feet were kicking the entire time. It was so fun to see him looking out his little windows, taking everything in. At one point, we stopped to watch some dogs pass us. He was so enthralled by them that he was rubbernecking to see them even after they were behind us.

On our ride, we made a stop at a playground, and Jack went down his first slide with Nathaniel. It is hard to say what he thought about this-his face was very serious going down. However, I am sure that after a couple more times down the slide, our adventurous little guy will be begging for more. He also went in his first big-boy swing. His face was expressionless when we sat him in it, but the moment Nathaniel pushed him forward, he started to beam, and he did not stop the entire time.

Nathaniel and I love our bike rides together, but today was by far the best ride we have ever gone on. It is fun to think of all the adventures that await us!

Happy Easter!

Getting down and dirty in his suit

Angelic 7 month old or tough bouncer?

Moments before tumbling to the floor-the best part is he was smiling even when he hit the ground!

Our little dare devil

Momma's two handsome dudes

Silly guys

Cumberland Visit

Jack is quite thrilled to no longer be the youngest Hedke. He takes his role as the elder Hedke baby very seriously, teaching Landon and Grace all of the things he has learned during his 7 months of life.  Omi and Opa stopped by during various parts of the day, so there was a lot of love and laughter all day long.

Jack's trademark wiggle worm move in action

Opa and his two grandsons

Nathaniel using his trademark "Kung Fu Burping" move on sweet Grace

Cassandra and Landon

Jack meets Hoss for the first time. He loved petting him, and Hoss loved licking Jack's forehead!

Snuggling with Landon

Cuddles with Omi

Jumping Jack

My friend Jen gave us this Johnny Jumper as a baby shower gift, and we were so excited to finally be able to use it.  Needless to say, we get as much joy out of watching Jack use it as he does jumping around in it!

Como Zoo and conservatory

Over Nathaniel's spring break, we decided to go to Como Zoo and conservatory with Jack. The animals were all taking a siesta, so they were not so intriguing to Jack, but we did get to see lots of pretty plants and flowers.

sick days

Several weeks ago Jack had the flu. The poor little guy had a couple of episodes of projectile vomiting. And while he was happy as a lark right after that happened, during the day you could tell that he just was not feeling himself. One of Jack's favorite past-times is looking out the window. Even if he is crying, the moment he sees what is going on outside, he stops. We normally just hold him and look out together, but we thought we would give him is own little chair for a little bit. You can see in his eyes that he is just not feeling 100%, poor little thing!

He reminds us of an old man sitting out on his porch watching the world go by. Luckily, window time, lots of cuddles, and tons of sleep helped Jack kick the bug.

experimenting with his voice

Jack has been having a blast experimenting with expressing himself. And we have been thoroughly entertained as well. It is funny to listen to him try new sounds and move his lips like he is talking. Perhaps our favorite thus far is when he whisper talks. He makes very quiet sounds, and moves his lips like he is having a long conversation. Usually it is as he is staring off at something. He has no clue how funny he is!

6 month stats and milestones

Looking cool in his first pair of sun glasses

First time eating peas-clearly we were not going fast enough for him, because he kept grabbing the spoon to help us put it in his mouth!

Well, considering that Jack will be 7 months next week, we figured we better up date the blog on what Jack has been doing this past month. We will share all of the things that he was doing at the beginning of 6 months, but keep everything new that he is doing now a surprise for the 7 month update.

Weight: 16 pounds, 9.5 ounces (35th %)
Length: 26.75 inches (55th %) *done by the same lpn who weighed Jack at his first office visit-her measuring    skills are questionable, so we will have to do our own measurements!
Head: 17.25 inches (50th %)

We had been holding out to give Jack solids until he turned 6 months. However, we ended up starting oatmeal a week earlier. We were up to 8 ounces of milk every 3.5-4 hrs at school, and he was still acting hungry. In addition, he had been watching us like a hawk for the past month when ever we would eat. His eyes would not leave our mouths as we chewed, and he would try to grab what we were eating.He definitely was trying to tell us that he was ready for solids. And boy, was he ever. Right away, he opened his mouth, and he would reach for the spoon to help us out. We were expecting him to spit things out, but not our little guy. He was a pro right from the start. He is definitely a Hedke-he LOVES his food! We will post an entry specifically on his first feeds and foods with pictures and videos.

We also introduced a sippy cup with water for the first time about a week after he turned 6 months. Most of the water ended up on his bib, but, there have been a couple of times in which we hear the swallowing, so every now and then he gets it.

Jack has been working very hard at sitting up. He can sit by himself for several minutes, but he still has a tendency to lean to the side and fold over like a pretzel. So, we don't feel comfortable letting him sit without one of us present quite yet.

Jack's sense of humor is really growing. He now cracks himself up when he is randomly playing. His laugh has changed, and it has become a fully belly laugh. He laughs at more subtle things, not just the obvious. The sound of his laugh dances through the air, and we start laughing ourselves.

We also recently learned about a secret talent (one of many, of course!) that Jack possesses. He can find a tag on any stuffed animal or toy in a matter of seconds of playing with it. And the moment he finds it, it goes straight into his mouth. He loves to suck on tags, and then he talks up a storm. It is as if the tags are comforting to him, unlocking the little chatterbox within him.

And last but not least, he is moving all over the place. He rolls from one place to the next, especially when he is driven to reach a toy. The first time he rolled half way across our living room, we were shocked! He did not realize what he had done, but a couple days later, he put it together and figured out he could get things this way. He is inch worming along even more than before. He digs his toes, and will sometimes go onto his knees. He still has not developed enough upper arm strength to crawl. To be honest, we are quite relieved-with all of the other big boy changes, we are happy to hold onto what ever little baby qualities that still remain.
.
We don't know where the past six months have gone. All we know is that we have been blessed a million times over with little Jack. He is even sweeter, more loving, and more entertaining that we ever imagined a son could be. Nothing we did before him even comes close to being as incredible. We are so lucky that God chose us to be his parents. We love you little man!

add it to his resume

Bundled in the BOB, cuddling with his lovey

Jack can now add personal trainer to his resume.  We started going on family runs this week, and Jack quickly made it clear that he was going to make sure we were not slacking.  He loves to be out with us, soaking up everything around us.The faster we go, the bigger his smile is. He also has a new method of motivating us at the end of the run, when we are exhausted. I think he must have a sensor that knows the exact moment we want to throw in the towel, because this is the moment he starts to fuss. However, if we pick up speed, he quickly sits back to enjoy the rest of the ride. He definitely is the best trainer and motivator either one of us has ever met!

RIP dream feed, RIP

A sad day has come in the Hedke household.  Jack officially does not need his dream feed. This discovery was actually accidental. We had talked about gradually phasing it out once he turned 7 months, because at that point he would have had a month of eating lots of yummy solids. It would be very systematic-adding an extra ounce to a daytime feed every couple of days or so, and subtracting that ounce from his dream feed. Well, needless to say this is not how it went!

Weekends are my shift, and I usually have no trouble staying up until 10 PM when we start getting things ready for his dream feed. This past Friday, though, I fell asleep and did not wake up until 1:30 AM. I figured at this point, what was the harm in seeing what would happen, although I really expected to have him wake up around 3 or so, dying to eat. But the little guy did not-he slept until 5:45! We tried it again last night, and he slept from 7:30 until 6:15-no wakings, just big boy sleep.

I must say this is a bitter sweet discovery-while it is great to know that both of us could go to bed at 7 PM if we wanted, I really enjoyed my 10:30 cuddle session with sleeping Jack, as he gobbled up his bottle. His little hand would sometimes rub my side, and he just looked so precious asleep in my arms.  Right from the start, we would put him into his crib while he was awake, and 98% he would fall asleep without fussing or crying. He was so used to falling asleep on his own that even if we wanted him to, he would not fall asleep in our arms- he did not want to miss a thing! I definitely am not complaining, since he was such a great sleeper, but between the two of us, he has probably been sleeping in our arms a dozen times or so (not including dream feeds). So, dream feeds were a time to cuddle with our sleeping baby late at night. I often would rock him even after he was done eating, just so I could savor having him in my arms, feeling his little chest rise up and down with each breath, holding his pudgy little hand in mine. These past few weeks I have relished these moments even more, since he has been growing so quickly, and the little baby that entered our life 6 months ago is almost no where to be seen. Instead we have a mover and a shaker, a talker, and a little guy with a growing sense of humor.

This afternoon, Jack feel asleep trying his hardest to pull his monkey friend down.

Sweet afternoon naps

So peaceful

Love him

I guess this is just the first of many baby things that we will have to say goodbye to. Luckily, he keeps learning things that are even more exciting and sweet than the things he grows out of!