Class Clown

Miss Irene, the woman who watches Jack a couple of days during the week, took this snapshot of all the kids she had the other day. They were all so serious (except for Jack who, apparently, didn't get the memo). She thought it was hysterical so she printed an extra copy for us. Too funny, Jack!

The Potty Page

Potty training is going pretty well, but I bet we're not the first set of parents who wished it would go just a little bit faster... Now we're resorting to the age-old tactic of bribery using jelly beans and a fancy sticker-board that Amy made for him. Each successful trip to "The Big Toilet" earns him a special sticker that he gets to put on his board. Extra-special trips (you figure it out) earn him stickers and jelly beans!

Trike Ride!

Here it is- the moment Jack first figured out how to ride his trike! Luckily I had my cell phone camera and whipped it out in time to capture the moment at Grammy and Grandaddy's house. We were all standing around talking and Jack just pulled his trike out of the closet and started riding it around!

After a minute or two of riding on the boring flat ground, he insisted on going for the nearest hill. Fortunately it wasn't too big as you will see from his Evel Knievel landing!

We thought he'd be ready for his Ferrari trike that he got for Christmas from Aunt Debbie and Uncle Mark, but he still prefers to just scoot around on it. That one is just a little bigger than this trike, so I think he's pretty close and it's only a matter of time!

Alphabet Genius

Jack surprises us every day with what he continues learn. A couple of days ago he came in from the backyard crying and told me that he'd hurt his left leg. He was right! Here he is playing in Nathan's crib before bedtime and showing off some letter skills.

More Practice with "Baby Brother"

Practicing for Baby Brother

Jack has not been all that excited so far about a baby brother invading "Jack's house."  A few weeks ago Jack saw me holding a baby and it became obvious we may have a problem in store for us.  Two days later he announced that, "Jack is so sad."  When I inquired why I was told, "Jack is so sad when Mommy holds the baby."  Later we were told that he was also sad when the baby came to live with us.

Well, the due date is exactly 4 weeks from today so I was relieved when this afternoon Jack had a change of heart.  He has been carrying around his baby doll for at least an hour now taking care of him.  This includes giving him milk from a bottle, hugging and kissing him, putting him to sleep in "Jack's Lightning McQueen bed" and I even caught him explaining to the baby that the street is dangerous.  Maybe this won't be as bad as we thought.....

Boys' Rooms Are Finished!

Nathan's nursery- all ready to go!

Here's the changing table that Gramps built with just a few minor modifications to go with the new color scheme.

Hopefully Nathan will like it!

Now enter Jack's room... if you dare!

We had a lot of fun with all the car stuff and Valvoline-themed things I have picked up over the years. Jack loves his new car room!

Swimming!

We've been working a lot on our swimming lately. Trying to convince Jack to let go of the side and go solo wasn't too tough, but still took a little work. "Yeah right, Dad. Do I look stupid or something?"

"Alright, I think I'm ready!"

Look at him go!

Nothing beats a day of swimming like a quick (naked) tractor ride around the yard!

The Phillips girls came over the next day and Jack was ready to show off his aquatic abilities.

He had already gone down the slide three times by himself before we got out the camera! But on this particular time, this was as far as he got before he chickened-out and wanted down. We were still impressed that he went down it at all!

Fueled by Mom's rootbeer that he kept sneaking!

Doug and I decided to play a really dumb game where we would throw pool noodles at eachother as hard as we could. The only rules were that you couldn't flinch or defend yourself in any way. This was after a direct hit to the forehead!

Pizza Party

 Jack and his good buddy, Matthew, met for a pizza party last week. Here they are negotiating over who would pay the bill.

 Eating the pizza didn't last too long, because they soon found: VIDEO GAMES!

Work in Progress

Getting closer with the boys' rooms!



 Amy helping out with the detail work.

 Jack was thrilled to start painting his room! And he chose his favorite color... BLUE!

Once we finished with the paint and floor, Jack started sleeping in his room again. But without any other furniture, where would we put the monitor??? Leave it to Amy: "How about I cram the antenna up into the A/C vent and then slap a little masking tape around it to make sure it doesn't fall out?"

...Brilliant!



Dog Door

We thought Jack was too big to fit through the dog door anymore...we were wrong.

July Update

Sorry- it's been quite a while since we've had an update. To be honest, things have been a little quieter than normal for the McGuire family during these dog days of summer. In late June Amy's mom came down and stayed with us for a very fun 19 days, 13 hours, 53 minutes and 12 seconds. After that, most of our "spare time" has been devoted entirely to getting the nursery set up and Jack's room finished before Nathan arrives. As of this writing, Amy is already 33 weeks pregnant and pretty convinced this kid will be arriving early! So we've really been feeling the pressure to get things all wrapped up before we are truly out of time. Unfortunately, both rooms have revealed some major challenges that were quite unexpected... everything from bad foundations to bad walls. Nothing that Dad can't fix, though! So here are a few pictures to catch us back up:

4th of July

 The night before the 4th we tried a practice run with the sparklers so Jack could get used to the idea. Glad we did because he was definitely NOT having any fun for the first few tries!

Even when I stepped in for some assistance he wasn't convinced things were okay.

We gave up on the sparklers and decided to slow things down a bit with some "pop-its" that snap loudly when you throw them on the ground. Jack was way more into those!

Things went much better on the night of the 4th and Jack had way more fun with the sparklers!

Swim Lessons

We signed Jack up for swim lessons through the city at a public pool. It did not go well. The instructor insisted on squirting him in the face with a toy over and over to "get him used to getting his face wet". She didn't back off even when he got upset and the whole thing backfired big time. He started off looking forward to the lessons, but by the second round of bad experiences we packed up and went home!

We've had much better success (and a LOT more fun!) at home. This suit has foam inserts that help keep him buoyant but don't restrict his movement. He's getting pretty good at swimming and is very independent in the pool so I am going to start cutting out the foam pieces one by one until he's doing it all by himself... hopefully by the end of the summer!

Sometimes when we're up a little late, we go night swimming! Jack likes to "jump" off the end of the slide which is great because he's learning to hold his breath when he goes under water.

So much fun!

Wine Tasting

The last weekend of Jean's visit, her good friend, Evelyn, flew down for a few days too. I was in Kentucky, so Amy and Jack took them over to Paso Robles on the coast for the Lavender Festival and some wine tasting at local wineries.

Jack got his very first face-painting!

He wasn't too sure at first...

...but then realized there was a giant spider on his face!!!

He was very interested in this pig fountain in the front of the Eberly winery.

Remodeling

After seeing how good Nathan's nursery looked (pictures to come), Jack wanted to get started on his own room by removing all the ugly old wallpaper!

Looks like a job well done!

Cookies!

Jack's Great Grammy stayed with my parent for a week and did some baking! She even let us take home some of her world-famous gingersnaps!

Now that hits the spot!!