early riser

Jack likes to get up at the crack of dawn-- a little before actually. Most days Joe is ready for him and will let Jack "help" him get ready for work while I steal a little extra shut eye. (Joe even lets him shave with his electric razor for reals. Won't that be a huge bragging point when he's a teen: "Oh yeah? I've been shaving since I was TWO!!)

One morning recently, after a really rough night, Joe was not ready for our little morning man. Here's how it went:

Jack: (cheerfully bounding into our room) IT'S MORNING TIME!!!

Joe (groggily): Oh man... Daddy's still tired Jack. Why don't you go sit in the green chair and read some books for a while.

[ten minutes later] Jack: Did it. Can I be wake now?

Joe (still from bed): Yeah...


Jack: Can I put my jammies in the hamper?

Joe: Yeah...  (jack puts jammies in the hamper)

Jack: Can I pee in da potty?

Joe: Yeah...  (jack pees in the potty)

Jack: Can I put on my underwear?

Joe: Yeah... (jack puts on some underwear)

Jack proceeded to get himself ready for the day (even grabbing the container of leftover oatmeal from the fridge and helping himself to a breakfast of cold oatmeal and almond milk)--  asking for "permission" at each step of the process.  He's truly a do-it-yourself kind of kid.

If only his brothers would get themselves up and ready for the day before mom and dad rolled out of bed every morning...

deep thoughts from a potty-training toddler

Jack has been busy figuring out that whole new use-the-potty concept lately. And he's been doing really well-- as long as he's stark naked. Put some undies or pants on that kid, and we're guaranteed an accident. {i usually try to have him at least start the day with a tee shirt on, but that never lasts long}

So, he's been spending a lot of time in his birthday suit. I'm not too bothered by this, as Daniel potty-trained the same way and eventually figured things out and now even wears clothes most of the time. Really, I should give the Dan Man some credit. He wears clothes all of the time. I can hardly get him to take them off to bathe.{What is it with 5 and 6 year-olds and a crazy aversion to bathing? Seriously!}

Anyways, back to Jack. All of his naked time has given him lots of time to ponder his {ahem} anatomy. And notice who else in the family shares the same plumbing and who doesn't, to put it delicately.

The other day, he told me that I should go to the store and buy a {read between the lines and use your euphemism of choice here}. The kid must be worried that I feel left out or something. He's so thoughtful.

for the quote board

Jack dictated the following letter to Kaley (his missionary Aunt):

Dear Dadee (Kaley),

I pee in da potty. I have bwoo (blue) Thomas unwheah (underwear). I get diddows (skittles) when I pee in da potty. I get wed (red) and geen (green). I go in da baffwoom (bathroom).  I'm 2. I'm Dack (Jack). I wuff (love) you.

the latest on Jack

 Jack is the lover in our family. He's almost always ready to dole out snuggles and loves and absolutely cannot go to sleep at nap time and at bed time until he's given kisses to every single person in the house-- even if we've got non-family-members visiting. He loves Stella a lot. Sometimes too much; I've got to keep a careful eye on him around her or I'm likely to find him smothering her with hugs or covering her face with his blankie, which he so generously wants her to snuggle.

He's also an incredibly tidy child. He actually enjoys wiping up spills, putting away toys, starting loads of laundry, vacuuming, etc. etc. I can keep him busy while I'm making dinner if I ask him to stand on his step stool and wash the dishes. Heaven forbid if we forget to put away a book or toy before nap time or bed time-- he won't sleep until it's put away.

Speaking of sleep... Jack recently made the big switch from the crib to the toddler bed. He's been in it a couple of months now, but he still calls it his "New, new bed". I was worried that we'd have to give up naptime when he left the crib, he did surprisingly well at making the transition. I find it highly ironic that my most difficult baby sleeper has turned out to be my most reliable toddler sleeper. 

He's slowly but surely learning to talk; adding a couple new words to his vocabulary every day. He's very much a two-year old though, as his favorite word is "NO".  He pronounces the 's' at the end of words funny: like a "fff" sound, except made by sucking air in instead of blowing it out.

snuggling with Stella

Smile!

Two of his favorite things: Dad and a Good Story

Jack's Perfect Morning

Grabbed my shoes and jacket and asked to go ("doh") right after I got out of bed, just like I always do. Except this time I really did get to go right away 'cause it was my turn out with Dad. We ran errands (my trusty BYU volleyball never left my side), and I got to eat a doughnut the size of my head for breakfast. Awesome.

third generation crazy monkey feet

My mom picks things up with her toes. I pick things up with my toes. And now, so does Jack...

the poop factory...

...or "why I picked the wrong day to switch back to cloth diapers".

Jack really likes his sister

Aren't these two cute? So adorable and sweet that you just want to smother them with kisses, no?

Well, there just happens to be a somewhat insidious side to this delightful duo. Namely: poop.

Yesterday, I changed 19 diapers between the two of them, most of them #2, if you know what I mean. And it didn't just stay in the diapers; we had 6 costume changes between the two of them because of blowouts (5 for Jack, 1 for Stella). To be fair, Jack accidentally got a little milk earlier in the week, which he is allergic/intolerant of/highly sensitive to, so life in the diaper arena is normally much calmer (and cleaner!).

Yesterday was also incidentally the day that I decided we were ready to switch back to cloth diapers. In only a few hours, we blew through a stash that's supposed to last us a couple of days. Ha!

(in other news, Stella had her 2 week check-up yesterday and she was declared fit as a fiddle. She now weighs 10 lbs 13 oz and is 22 1/4 inches long)

jack's birth story

One year later, it's kind of fun to look back on the day Jack joined our family.

Our baby was due March 18th, 2009, but I expected that I'd follow my typical pattern of going a few days past my due date. I was aiming for the first day of Spring, March 20th.

The weather had been really lovely all week and I'd spent a lot of time outside weeding and doing a bit of Spring cleanup in the yard. The daffodils had just bloomed and it seemed to me that mid-March was a wonderful time to have a baby.

On Friday the 20th I was making pizza for our regular pizza and movie night and the Braxton-Hicks contractions that I'd been having all week gradually became consistent and closer together. It was pretty obvious that the baby was on the way. I called our midwife Richelle to let her know what was up and she agreed to come over soon. We expected things to move pretty fast since my labor with Daniel lasted only two hours.

Richelle came at around 8:00 pm and started setting up her stuff and then turned her attention to me. She checked my dilation and found me to be at 6 cm. We figured it wouldn't be much longer before I had a baby in my arms, but the contractions didn't seem to pick up much in intensity and were becoming a bit erratic, so Joe and I headed out for a late night stroll around the neighborhood to see if we could get things moving again. We walked up and down our street, pausing for me to lean into Joe during contractions. We ended up at the neighborhood playground and Joe tried to convince me that swinging on the swings would be good for labor. I wasn't in the mood for swinging, but tried to sit down on a swing and relax for a bit-- it was way too uncomfortable.

The contractions did pick up a bit as a result of the walk, but they slowed back down again when we got home. We all agreed that rest would be a good thing, so Richelle gave me a nice. long massage (heaven!!) and then Joe snuggled up next to me and we slept/rested for a couple of hours. I couldn't rest through the contractions anymore at that point and I decided I was ready to get up, move around, and get the show on the road. Joe and I headed out for another walk around the neighborhood, again pausing for contractions, and laughing at how funny we'd look to anyone driving by: a hugely pregnant woman in a fuzzy pink bathrobe hanging from the neck of a tired skinny guy.

Richelle had been monitoring the baby's heartbeat since she arrived and things were looking great. After we returned from our walk, I got a nice belly rub with Clary Sage oil. My contractions were finally starting to feel serious. I walked around the house making my whale noises and swaying my hips from side to side. We decided this would be a good time to get into the birth pool (an inflatable kiddie pool that we'd purchased just for Jack's birth). Joe, my mom and Richelle started filling it up and getting it ready for me. It was finally filled and ready and I climbed in. I spent five blissful minutes in there before everyone else realized that the pool had a leak. Fortunately, we had plastic down under the pool, so no water had made it to the floor yet, but it was obvious that I'd have to get out and the pool would have to be drained. I put up a bit of a fight-- but in the end Joe was able to talk some sense into me in spite of my fuzzy laboring brain.

I spent the next little while crying about my leaky pool in the shower while the rest of the crew worked feverishly to empty the pool before it made a mess. I think Richelle gave me another massage after I got out of the shower and I started to feel better about things. I was finally tired of walking around and started spending more time draped over the birth ball in a modified hands and knees position. I felt so spoiled to have three people taking care of me. I had Richelle doing counter pressure on my back, my mom doing light touch massage on my calves and feet and Joe looking into my eyes and whispering encouragement. (my sister Erin was there to take care of the boys-- but they were asleep)

Around 7:20, Richelle asked to check my dilation again. I was still 6 cm. I was a little discouraged at that news. The baby was very low in my pelvis and Richelle suggested that it was possible that I needed to have my water broken to get things to move past that point. We agreed to it and there was a big gush of clear water (a great sign)

She wasn't kidding about getting things moving. Labor became very intense for me. If my labor support team had been nice before, they'd become an absolute necessity and I needed all the kind and encouraging words and firm touch they could provide to help me stay centered and grounded. I moved to the bed and assumed a side lying position and not long after, the baby started to crown-- everyone started to comment on how much black hair the baby had. I blurted out, "If it's a girl, her name is Maggie!" (we hadn't found out the baby's gender before-hand).

Lincoln woke up and came upstairs to see what was going on. Joe sent him back downstairs to wake Daniel so that he wouldn't miss the baby's birth-- they'd both been looking forward to this. After only a few pushes, the baby's head was out. I'll never forget the look of awe and delight on their faces as they watched the baby emerge. Once the head was out, the baby paused a little before rotating it's shoulders and coming free. I remember reaching down and feeling a tiny ear and soft little cheek. Once the shoulders were free, Richelle told me to reach down and bring up my baby.

And suddenly, there was a perfect little baby on my chest. He didn't cry much, but his muscle tone and color were great so we weren't concerned. I did a quick check between the baby's legs to see what we had and then announced to everyone that we had a boy! Lincoln and Daniel climbed up on the bed to say hello to their new brother. We waited until the cord stopped pulsing to cut it. My mom did the honors, just like she did when Lincoln and Daniel were born and then our sweet boy went to his daddy's waiting arms.

When the placenta came, there was a huge gush of blood immediately after. I was hemorrhaging. Richelle quickly gave me a shot of pitocin in each thigh and started firmly massaging my belly to get my uterus to contract and stop bleeding (my least favorite part of the entire ordeal). The bleeding slowed and then stopped and she started a saline IV to help keep my blood pressure up. Because I was stable-- I hadn't passed out or even felt dizzy or lightheaded-- she gave us the option to go to the hospital for a transfusion or to stay home and monitor my blood pressure and iron levels. We opted to stay home and start on a supplement regimen to get my iron levels back up. (I took Floridix and Chlorophyll and my iron levels were back to normal within two weeks)

My mom brought me a big breakfast of juice, toast, scrambled eggs and lots of fresh fruit-- I was sure it was the most delicious meal I'd ever eaten. Richelle weighed, measured and cleaned the baby and we were shocked when he weighed in at 9 lbs. 7 oz.-- he looked so tiny to all of us! After the baby had nursed well and it was clear that I was okay, Joe was finally overcome by exhaustion and went to sleep downstairs. Richelle and my mom got everything cleaned up and then Richelle headed home too with the promise to return the next day to check on us, but only after giving us lists of things to watch for in both me and the baby. I spent the rest of the day cuddling in bed with my sweet new little one. At some point in the afternoon, we decided to name him Jack Webster Hadfield. And the rest, you know, is history

uno

Remember this baby?

Exactly one year ago today, we met Jack. It was love at first sight. We all thought he looked a little scrawny at birth, so we were shocked when the midwife weighed him in at 9 lbs. 7 oz. A big boy. I suppose we wouldn't have been too surprised if we knew what was going to come next:

The baby who started to gain weight like a baby whale.
The baby whose fat rolls had fat rolls.
The baby whose squishiness we just couldn't get enough of.

The baby who weighed 27 lbs and wore size 2T (due to a portly waist) at 6 months.

The baby who's slimmed down a little (lot) since he started moving around.
(he still weighs 27 lbs.)
The boy who got pink eye and a cold for his first birthday. (poor kid)

We kept things pretty low key today. Just a bunch of balloons and some of our traditional chocolate cake with caramel icing. And more presents than he knows what to do with (much to the delight of his big brothers). We had planned a hair cut too, but we'll put that off for another day. Maybe when he's not sick.

See here just how (not) thrilled Jack is to be put in his highchair for his cake.

Documentary on Jack, narrated by Lincoln

the best day ever

Tonight as we were tucking the boys into their beds, Lincoln and Daniel decided that this was the best day ever. I heartily concur. It all started with a cheerful breakfast looking out over a lovely, warm, sunny morning. We saw happy little crocuses poking their heads up through the soil, and daffodil and hyacinth leaves reaching out to the sun.

Daniel declared it a blowsy day, so we found our kite and went to the park after lunch. The wind was perfect-- just strong enough that we didn't have to run to get the kite in the air. All it took was lifting it up. Like this:

And before we knew it, we had a kite "super-duper high up".

Jack couldn't take his eyes off of it. Don't be fooled by the solemn face; he was having a grand time.

After we'd been out for a while, heavy storm clouds gathered and the temperature dropped, so we headed home for a cozy read-a-thon. We put Jack down for a nap and made cookies and hot chocolate, lit candles in the fireplace, set up the play tents and snuggled down to read a couple of chapters from The Trumpet of the Swan. (this is about our 9th time through; can you tell it's our favorite book?).

Before we knew it, rain turned to snow and a couple of inches had accumulated. The boys pulled on their snow gear and went outside to make a snow dinosaur with some neighbor kids. We finished off the day with warm soup and fresh bread and hot baths for the littles.

After a couple of weeks of sick, crabby, housebound kids and a cranky and often impatient mom, this wonderful day was a Godsend. I just hope the memory of it doesn't fade too soon.

why is it...

...that the same food he refuses in his high chair....

... is irresistable off the floor?

Look what I can do! (part 2)

Just look at this guy. Isn't he a charmer? We're all smitten with our smiley and cheerful Mr. Sunshine.

And did I mention that he's got depth? Yes sir, not only does this little man have looks, charm, dashing wit, and an excellent work ethic--He's also got the ability to go places and excellent taste in jewelry.

See for yourself:

Look what I can do! (part 1)

First of all, before we get to the exciting stuff, I've got a little advice for everyone:

Be cute. Always be cute.

And now for my trick. Drumroll please...







Wait for it...







Ta da!

All hail Jack: Victorious Conquerer of the Crib!!

2 months

Jack turned two months old yesterday. What the heck?!

Our reward for making it this far? A mega-blowout and a case of thrush. woot.


But in spite of that, we think he's just about the best thing ever. See for yourself.