Back to Tacoma

All the other pictures from our Tacoma trip!

Learning to ride on Gramps' shoulders... Gramps looks a bit concerned about this idea!

Great-Grammie


Catching a quality snooze


Gramma Jean has been so excited about finally getting to feed Jack herself. We warned her about what a messy eater he is!

She hardly got any food anywhere! How does she do that?! Must be Super-Gramma-Jean powers!

Another snooze with Great Granny Franny

Jack thought this laughing toy dog (that never shut-up!) was absolutely hysterical!

It was still just as funny the next day!

Carmel

Amy's Aunt Debbie and Uncle Mark were good enough to have us over for a weekend to share a cottage they had rented in Carmel, CA. The house had a ton of character and was only a few blocks from the beach. We spent most of the time walking around and just catching up. One night, we even stayed up until 2:00 A.M. talking! Remarkable, considering we are still new parents. Jack loved Aunt Debbie and thinks Uncle Mark is funny (looking)! Thanks for having us!

Hanging out in the kitchen watching Uncle Mark do the dishes- what a deal!

Being a responsible father...

...not realizing my son is devouring a paper napkin!

Playing airplane with Jack. Fortunately, this did NOT result in the "airplane" losing all its "fuel"! Baaaaarf!

"Reservoir Phrogs"

Amy had a business conference in San Diego, so Jack and I decided to accompany her. Despite being strapped-down in his car seat for the seven-hour drive, Jack was a trooper (as always).

On Saturday evening we met up with my cousin, Elisa, and her family who were recently relocated to Camp Pendleton from Florida. You may remember her daughter, Ellie, from an earlier post... Her husband just received a pilot's slot for the Marine's H-46 "Phrog" dual-rotor helicopter (very cool!). We got a first-rate tour of the flight line to see all the "Phrogs" along with Hueys and some wicked-looking Cobra attack helicopters. Even though the MP presence was high, we got to climb all over them and Jack even got to sit in the pilot's seat.

Amy had her presentation Sunday morning, so Jack and I went to the San Diego Zoo along with Elisa and her family. We had a great time, although Jack slept most of the time and was usually more interested in his own reflection in the glass rather than the animals. That being the case, there weren't too many opportunities for good pictures, but we did get one funny one!

A scene from the movie "Reservoir Dogs"?

One of the training "Phrogs"

Jack flying a "Phrog"

A curious orangutan at the zoo. Notice the monkey shirt, too- nice coordination, Dad!

It's a Pea-esta!!!

Jack has been pretty sick for the past week (don't worry- even though he is a little piggy, he does not have the Swine Flu), but he has still managed to have lots of fun eating his mushy peas!

He really got into it this time and managed to sling most of his dinner all over the place.

That's the look of a job well done!

This is the first time the dogs have been "rewarded" by Jack's feasting. WERE THEY EVER EXCITED!!!

Sophie just couldn't help herself: "It's so good once it hits your lips!"

Look carefully- green fur does not occur naturally in the wild.

From an earlier feeding: Jack prefers peas to rice cereal!

Jack's Favorite Toy

Our good friends, the Kendalls, got this fun ball-popping toy for Jack a couple of months ago. He always seemed to like watching it, but other than holding his interest, that was about it. Well, we tried it out again this evening and got a much better response. IT CRACKS HIM UP! This went on for a good 20 minutes and we actually had trouble choosing the best clip to post. If this short video doesn't make you laugh out loud, you're having too bad of a day to be fixed!

Jack- The Screeching Droolosaurus!

Jack is really into making "dinosaur" sounds lately and loves to fly around like a hungry Pterodactyl! Watch carefully for the long strand of drool he uses to stun his prey...

Some more dino-sounds. Sometimes Jack gets a little confused, though, and his dinosaur starts to sound more like the mating call of a dolphin, but Amy does a really scary version! You be the judge.

Jack has now evolved from mushy rice cereal to mushy peas! These two pictures will gross-out his Grammy who HATES peas. Pass more peas, please!

Soup Du Jour

Doctor finally gave Jack the go ahead for "real food" (rice cereal - aka mush). Here are the highlights...

The Live Action Video

Mmmmmmm!

Puttin' out the "food vibe"

All Done!

Family Planning

Friends and neighbors, I need your help. It dawned on me the other day that if having one little boy was this much fun, just think how good it would be to have six! I've shared my vision with Amy and now I will share it with you.

The McGuire Clan- six strapping young manly-men and their dad. We would all go hunting and fishing and camping and logging and work on cars and weld stuff all the time and grow chest hair. It would be great! In fact, I've even got names for all of Jack's future brothers:

Mitch, Bruce, Chuck, Walt and Gunther... all McGuires... all MEN.

Please drop Amy a note and let her know it's okay to get excited about such a wonderful thing! Thank you all in advance for supporting me!

Ryan

Amy's Sweet '70s Boat... for Mother's Day!

So I just bought Amy a boat... you know, for Mother's Day! She seemed to be in denial when I trailered it home. This surprised me because I had even asked her permission that morning over the phone.

Ryan: "Hi Honey, I just found a sweet '70s boat on Craig's List. Can I buy it?"

Amy: "Suuuuuuuuure."

If that's not two thumbs up, I don't know what is! Since I didn't feel her enthusiasm was what is should have been, I have decided to un-gift it to her and re-gift it to Jack so we can go fishing together!

We had her out on the lake this past weekend with my mom. Doug Phillips was also in attendance as acting First Mate. Believe it or not, it floats! Jack is thrilled that his dad loves him so much!

The biggest challenge so far has been coming up with a proper name for this classic beauty. So far the "S.S. Frat-tastic" and "Sea Weasel" seem to be popular among likely voters. Please feel free to pass along any name suggestions!

The stripe is brown glitter... AWESOME!

Captain Jack!

Safety First!

4-Month Checkup

Jack got some shots today, so no happy pictures to post- although it went much better than last time. He did not give us the look of ultimate betrayal. Not too much else to report except that all is well. He weighed in at 16 lbs. 8 oz. which puts him around the 75th percentile. I guess he is starting to slim down a bit compared to where he was two months ago. He has been stretched out to 27.75 inches, however, and that puts him in the 97th percentile for height! No Liebert genes, I guess...

Emotional Rollercoaster

Jack was on Skype the other night with Gramma Jean, Gramps and Auntie T.C. Unfortunately, Jack wasn't in a great mood. But I came to the rescue so that everyone could enjoy a positive Skype experience. What you can't see is me dancing around like a crazy fool trying to keep Jack entertained. It worked... until I got tired and stopped. He started crying again immediately, so back to work I went. By the time this Skype session was through, I was about to die from exhaustion! Believe it or not, this video was shot from Doug's camera aimed at their computer monitor in Tacoma, WA while we were in Fresno. Ain't technology amazing?!

Crawling... Well, Sort Of

Jack is soooo close to crawling, it's scary! He's got all the movements down, he just hasn't yet coordinated everything together. We have done everything short of tying his legs together to discourage this naughty behavior, but he is determined to become mobile!

He has his four-month checkup in a few days, but I weighed him this morning and he is just under 17 pounds- I couldn't believe it! He has also been teething like crazy, so it seems everything is coming early for Mr. Jack. At this rate, he will be doing algebra by Christmas!

"Wait- so you're telling me that I, by myself, can get to the other side of this bed?! You're joking, right?"

What a naughty little boy!

Santa Cruz, Dude!

Jack's first trip to a sandy, California beach was at the end of July. We were thrilled to be invited to Santa Cruz by Doug and Ann Phillips (Jack's Godparents) and stay in Ann's mom's beach-palace. I think it had been something ridiculous like 18 days straight over 100 degrees in Fresno with over 110 being pretty common. We prefer Santa Cruz weather!!

Although it was not documented on film, Jack did his first official and unassisted roll-over on the beach. Not too bad for under four months!

Jack wasn't too sure about the whole sand thing at first... until he ate some and got to root around in it for a while. Then he loved it!!!

Happy as a clam on the beach!

Ann (the one waving) ran in the "wharf to wharf" mini-marathon that weekend. We all thought she was crazy and decided it made more sense to sit on the deck and drink mimosas instead! She has been training for a year to run in a full marathon (26.2 miles!) this fall to raise money for cancer research. Please check out her website and you can make arrangements for her to run a mile in honor or in memory of a cancer fighter. She is going to have all the names temporarily tattooed to her arms so they can be with her. She will be running the 6th mile for Jack's Great-Grandfather, Ward Lawler. Here is the link:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/cca/TwoCity09/aphilli1ax