Jack's current favorite place in our house is our freezer.

Yes, you read that right. As soon as he hears me open it to get out his dinner, he scoots right over and pulls up to look at the bounty inside. Crinkly bags! Cold ice cubes! The items available to feel are amazing to a 10 month old.

Totally worth the 3 degrees of electricity we lose when he comes to play.

Just look at how happy he is.

Most nights after work Bryan goes out to water the plants, because we forget to do it in the morning. And by we, I mean Bryan, and by Bryan, I mean I'm too lazy to water the plants so Bryan knows he has to do it or they will die. Sometimes Jack goes out with him. Last night Jack was too busy playing to go outside, so Bryan went on his own. When Jack looked out the door and saw Daddy outside, he went over to wait for him.

Adorable.

Also, the decision to get the half glass / half screen storm door is already paying off.

We took Jack to the local kiddie pool this weekend for some splash time. He takes after his mama and seems to really enjoy the water! He was playing with some big kids and didn't even mind when they splashed him (not on purpose) and water got in his face. And he was so cute in his swim suit and sun hat :)

 

Click to see the video!

Last week Jack welcomed a new cousin to the family - Miss Matilda (Tilly) Grace Naughagle! She was born on June 27. She's beautiful and a bit hefty for a newborn at 9 lbs 6 oz. 

To give the new mama and daddy some time to get to know their peanut, we invited Cousin Alice to stay with us for a few days, and we promised to return her to Auntie Mere and Uncle Joel at the Muenich Family 4th of July BBQ. I got to spend a whole lady day with Alice, getting our nails done, visiting American Girl and shopping at H&M, and then Jack, Alice and I spent the next day together at the park and the nature museum. Alice is a great cousin to Jack, and they loved hanging out together.

At the 4th of July BBQ, Jack discovered a new, amazing food - corn on the cob! He was gobbling up kernels of corn and then just grabbed the whole cob off my plate and started chewing on the end. It was delicious!

Click to see the video!

That night, we left Jack with a sitter and Bryan and I headed out on the Mosination with his cousin Melissa and fiance Matt and some friends to watch the fireworks at Navy Pier.

The next afternoon, we met Matt and Melissa at the park to play with Jack a bit before they returned home to Iowa. Jack was pretty taken with this cousin, too :)

The weather hasn't been cooperating much for boating this year, and we've been out of town on the good weekends, so this past weekend was the first time we managed to get out on the lake as a family.

That's right - Jack's first boat cruise!

He was a champ - he was so interested in everything going on, but when I put him down for his nap, he slept like...well, he slept like a baby :) Which gave mama and daddy some time to enjoy the sunshine and the view.

There's nothing like summer on Lake Michigan!

Bryan and Jack with Joe & JJ

P.S. - Yes, Dad, Jack has a coast guard approved life vest with all the bells and whistles. We didn't make him wear it while the boat was stationary, but we will once he starts walking and tries to climb all over the boat on his own (we've seen this firsthand with JJ). Your grandson is in good hands.

We have traveled out of town 4 of the last 5 weekends, and I’m wiped out. The bad news about traveling with Jack is that babies need a lot of stuff. His clothes take up approximately 1 square foot of real estate in our luggage – his toys, diapers, travel bed, car seat, stroller, nebulizer, my diaper bag and my pump take up basically the rest of our luggage allowance / trunk space. So Bryan gets to pack one backpack of clothing, while I look like I’m moving my entire household overseas for the foreseeable future. Additionally, the stuff Jack needs to travel on the weekend is basically the same stuff he needs during the week, so unlike Bryan and I, who used to leave suitcases unpacked for weeks at a time, Jack requires laundry and unpacking and sorting right away. His pincer grip is coming along quite nicely, but his motor skills in general haven’t quite advanced to a place where he can do any of these things on his own, so mommy has been unpacking and repacking every week for 4 of the last 5 weeks, and frankly she’s had enough for the summer.

The good news is that Jack is a dream to travel with. He will sleep anywhere. He will eat anything. We can leave him with babysitters he doesn’t know. He also does extremely well on airplanes. Our experiences flying so far have gone something like this:
Enter airplane. See new people. Smile. Make cute cooing noises.
Look out airplane window. See new places! Smile! Make cute cooing noises!
Plane begins to taxi. Start eating. Sigh. Pass out for remainder of flight.

This is basically how I used to fly (minus the cute cooing noises). This is still how Bryan flies (minus liking other people at the airport). I sincerely hope Jack takes after his daddy in this regard, since I’ve developed a somewhat overwhelming fear of flying (which to be fair, is less a fear of flying and more a fear of the plane no longer flying while at 30,000 feet, but whatever).

So all in all, this bodes well for our future, because Bryan and I like to travel. And while I’ve had enough of the packing and unpacking, we’ve loved getting to see friends and family, and I doubt we will ever have enough of that, so hopefully Jack will continue to be a happy traveler far into the future.

And at 9 months old he has now been to 5 of the 50 states, which ain’t bad. I’m rooting for Hawaii for his next stop.

So anyway - here are the pics from our mini vacation in Denver two weekends ago. Enjoy!

Jack is testing a new possible profession - soccer star.

Check out that hair. Check out that throw in! He's destined to be a goalie.

Click to see the video!