The Hauer Family

For Easter, Aunt Laura and Uncle Nick bought Jack a paddling pool. We were thankful for a warm afternoon so we could break out the SPF and give it a go. And, of course, the reasons we like it — it has a canopy, and the cute little legs and eyes — are the same reasons Jack was crabby about it.

He warmed up to it though — once we met his demands of warmer water and location change (to the patio, that kid is not fond of grass).

Check out this svelte little guy. And, yes, those are European swim trunks.

Thanks for such a thoughtful pressie! We’ll make good use of it this summer.

Inching closer to that 1-year milestone. You are ever an inquisitive, thoughtful little guy. You like to take in your surroundings and then explore. You always seem to be moving, but it seems to be with a purpose. Almost like you want us to notice that you really do know what you are doing. And sitting still in the chair is getting harder and harder to do.

This past month:

– finally like putting things “back” and “in” — as a result things can go back in the basket (and come right back out again), and the rings find their way back onto the tower

– given up on waving, instead you just look (ahem, stare)

– no unassisted steps yet; but you like to walk holding our hands

– if it is a ball or has wheels you are all for it. and if you can throw it, even better. favorite game is “1, 2, 3…”

– pretty sure you can say “all done”

– play with Molly; goes something like this:

New outfit (what would we do without Nana Pauline!). Church. Cadbury egg. Obligatory family photo. Check. Check. Check. Check.

Enjoying the grass and springtime weather. Hit or miss.

Thank you to Gramma Bonnie and Grandpa Doug for a lovely weekend of baseball and celebrating!

Bill should really write this post. Baseball is his thing. I enjoy it, but I only really like it when the conditions are just right: 70 degrees, not too sunny, not too windy; the home team must be offensively excellent and make particularly spectacular defensive plays as the away team rallies. Otherwise, I lose interest right around the 5th inning — after I’ve had my nachos. But, I appreciate the tradition of ballparks. And, I appreciate Bill’s love for it and his desire to pass it on to Jack. So, here we are, with tickets for Opening Day (and the 9 other mandatory games).

Parade.

Game.

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Innings slept through: 4.

And… Happy Birthday Aunt Andrea. We’re so glad we got to spend the day with you!

For Jack’s 10 month birthday, he got to take his very first plane ride. Southwest 737, powered by CFM56-3 engines. Louisville, SDF to Chicago, MDW.

It was a one hour, early morning flight, that was passed with readings of Brown Bear, Brown Bear and I’m A Little Teapot — over and over and over. The college kids who were headed to the city for St. Patrick’s Day festivities made me feel old.

In true fashion, there are no additional photos that captured this momentous occasion; but I promise, it happened and, not only did we survive, but we had fun. Thank you Jacki (and Trevor) for being such a fabulous hostess — indulging in Portillos, sharing the newborn cuddles and allowing me to play “cool aunt” to Analiese. Somehow, even though we were surrounded by 3 kids under 3, I still felt like we were 16.

In the days prior to leaving, Jack learned two very important things:

1. Waving; first witnessed by us as he waved to the Boone’s as we left Fiesta Time

2. Shaking, well, more like a refined bobble, his head ‘no’. To date, the rules in which we shake our heads ‘no’ are:

• putting hands in Molly’s water dish
• eating Molly’s food
• tasting the toilet bowl
• grasping for things in the fireplace

Both are ridiculously cute and have pushed us into a new era.

For me, the advent of these two things signaled the beginning of parenting. It’s hard to describe the feeling that comes about when you realize your kid grasps concepts and begins truly interacting with the world. Yes, it seems as if that parenting-thing should be ingrained the moment he arrived, but it didn’t, not really. I felt a lot like a blessed caretaker, the only duties involved making sure he was fed, had a clean diaper and generally survived. No longer are we part of the elite — the newborn club — wherein everyone says “you’re doing great” no matter what state they saw you in. We’ve entered the ranks of the masses. The masses whose child(ren) [insert humiliating event] in [insert public place].

Now, not only do we need to be caretakers, but shepherds — parents. Boundaries. Expectations. Honoring his curiosity. Nurturing his unique personality. Cultivating a little boy. God save the baby, indeed.

Oh, and on a lighter note… Jack discovered Jack Bauer. And the Goonies.

Exciting things happen on Saturdays. Mainly we get to witness what Jack has been working on all week (or, perhaps, he really does save this stuff for us?).

This past Saturday, March 3: Jack made it to the 3rd step on the stairs before this attentive Mom realized what was happening. I suppose his babysitter keeps the baby gate up ALL the time. Duly noted.

And the Saturday before that, February 25: Jack decided to stand behind his walker and start cruising around. I ask you, how can such a little guy do such big guy things?

Jack, you are 9 months old. You are ever-curious and ever-changing. It was almost as if you were waiting for that hair to be cut, to shed that baby-self, so you could quickly navigate through all these little milestones I have trouble recording.

You are now mobile, and hate being anything but. You weigh in at 17 lbs. 3.5 oz., keeping you in the 5th-10th percentile. And you are as smart as they come. You listen when I say “no” in my best mommy voice — as a result the bath water stays in the bath and Molly’s water dish has not become a mini splash park (well, this may be in part to it’s location change to the laundry room). Above all, Dr. Church thinks you are progressing just famously, minor exception: you are low in iron –bring on the ferrous sulfate drops! We like Dr. Church.

Things that are awesome about you right now:
– as I’m reading your bedtime stories and finish one, you peer down into the basket of books as if to say “one more”
– your bounce up and down dance move
– you kick your legs cause you see something you like coming your way, mainly associated with food. [we are failing miserably at sign language]
– your one leg-propelled crawling
– how you follow me around and tug on my leg cause you want to be picked up
– your random giggle fits

Things that I could do without:
– you no longer lie still on the changing table, or sit still for longer than a couple of minutes

Happy 9 months little man.

And, since I know you are interested: what it took to get that photo.

And, yes, it ended like this…

From the moment Jack was born he has had a full head of hair, and I don’t think one lock of it ever fell out, his head just seemed to get bigger and his hair lighter. As a result, said hair was becoming quite unruly; the side sweep was looking more like a comb-over and two rat-tails were creeping down his back. If you know his Daddy — this hair “style” was painful on many levels. Dad has good hair, and so must his son.

So we found ourselves in the kitchen, before church, on February 12, with a pair of Fiskars.

Before.

During.

just like Fritz's

After.

finishing touches.

A lock of that precious baby hair is being preserved in a Ziploc bag. Though, if the blog is the new baby book, I’m not sure where I’m planning on putting it?

Found myself entwined in the letter E. And I’m pretty excited about it.