Tuesday, May 25, 2004

About Last Night...

So, here's the thing about regular updates: Jack doesn't do much. This blog will certainly lose its edge if I resort to listing how long he slept (until 5), and what he's wearing today (a cute Tommy Hilfiger thing). Miss Theresa at KinderCare said he's a much happier boy since we brought a pacifier in to help with his naps.

Many people are aware that the holidays are an awful travel time for us. There are too many places, in too many states, and too few days. Well, this year we're taking decisive action. The week of Thanksgiving, we're going down to Oklahoma for a visit. It ought to be a lot less hectic than Christmas, and since we've decided to drive, that means Ilsa can come, too! I can only assume that Jack will welcome the opportunity for early Christmas (and, um, timely Thanksgiving).

We have a big weekend coming up at the lake. Even if I can't bring myself to update the blog again this week, there should be some pictures and an update early next week.

Sunday, May 23, 2004

Weekend Update (no sign of Tina Fey)

I really should get in the habit of updating this blog every couple of days. It's hard to remember back over an entire week.

Jack's first week of day care went well. It changed his sleeping pattern, now that we're getting him up at 6 am, and so he goes to bed earlier at night. As a result, he's not making it through the night like he was, and usually wakes up around 2:30. He doesn't usually stay up for too long, though. During the day, he likes to sleep in his swing, and protests any attempts to make him sleep in a crib. The poor ladies at day care aren't allowed to let him sleep in the swing, so they've been trying to convince him that the crib is a nice place to sleep.

Jack and I had an unplanned day off together on Thursday, thanks to the incompetence and consumer-unfriendliness of Time Warner Cable. I get my RoadRunner Internet access from Time Warner, but not their television service, and so they install a filter on the pole that prevents the television signal from getting through. They do this even though the signal is scrambled and can't be easily descrambled. This is because they believe in their hearts that Americans are thieves, and that they must be protected from this thievery at all costs. Well, their fancy filter corroded to a point that it killed my Internet access, as well. In order to have it fixed, I had to take the day off from work and wait for a technician to arrive (between 8am and 7pm). I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank Congress for the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which guaranteed that cable companies could maintain their local monopolies. Jack and I spent a lovely day together, thanks to that legislation.

A picture of Jack with a big smile is now available on his springtime photo album. He's been smiling a lot in the past couple of weeks. I'd smile, too, if I had a couple of people tending to my every need. Of course, the cat is upset at the loss of her staff.

Monday, May 17, 2004

Sunday on the Porch with Jack

Ian and Jack finally got to meet on Sunday, when Grandma, Grandpa, Scott, Maggie and Ian all came to Milwaukee for the afternoon. The weather was spectacular--perfect for sitting around outside. Stacy and I hadn't seen Ian since January, and so it was quite a surprise to see how big he's gotten.

Some snapshots of the day can be found in Jack's springtime album.

Thrown to the Wolves

Jack started daycare today. Stacy and I were fortunate that we could afford for her to stay home with him for 10 full weeks, but at some point you have to get back into the swing of things. Stacy has been anxious about this day, but everyone says it doesn't matter if you wait two months or two years--you always feel like it's too soon.

I had the privilege of dropping Jack off for his first day. I am a very staunch believer in daycare, and the benefits a child enjoys by attending a good center, but it was pretty tough to leave him there. I was briefly tempted to take a sick day, so he could have one more day at home as the center of attention. It didn't seem like he'd be hurting for attention, though. Everyone that came in commented on the new boy, and how big he is. It looked like he was going to be held for a good long time, too.

I have a feeling Jack is going to be a very pampered boy tonight.

Sunday, May 16, 2004

Finally, the JackBlog is born

For months, I've been thinking of various ways in which to implement a blog system, so that I could keep interested parties up-to-date on Jack's growth. The photo album site has been very popular, but limited in how much information we can actually convey. I gave up on the idea running my own server, and so this project is finally underway. It burns me up to surrender any sort of control, but I guess I'm growing softer as I grow older.

So, let's have some preliminary Jack news. He had his 2-month visit with the doctor on Monday. Unfortunately, it was time for some vaccinations, and Jack had never before experienced such betrayal. I think we've been forgiven. He now weighs in 14 pounds, 9 ounces and stretches out to 24 and 1/2 inches. Both measurements put him in the 95th percentile of kids his age, which (I think) is a fancy way of saying that he's a big boy.

We had some visitors today. Hopefully, a blog entry about it will not be long in coming.