Jack had a lot of fun on his first Halloween. We bought his costume a month ago, and he must have had a major growth spurt because the legs were WAY too short - haha! But we made it work. We went over the Sean’s dad’s house and did trick-or-treating in their neighborhood. We put Jack in the stroller and wheeled him around a cul-de-sac to give him the Halloween experience. Although he had no idea what we were doing, he really enjoyed being outside and getting to ride around and see new things. Here are some pics for you to enjoy.

Off to trick-or-treat!

Grandude, Jack and Sean

“Can I give him a Kit Kat?”

Mimi, Jack and Uncle Reed

Today, Jack had his 6 month pictures taken at Portrait Innovations in West Cobb. They did such a great job! We had his Christmas pictures and fall pictures made. With only a 15 minute morning nap, he managed to pull it off with big smiles for the camera.

Today, I took Jack to the pediatrician to check on the rosy rash on his face. I have been using Aquaphor for a few weeks now, but it doesn’t seem to be getting better. Apparently, it is from teething, and we got a stronger lotion to use to help clear it up. Hopefully, it will help. It looks very “angry” today. While we were there, we found out that Jack weighs 20 lbs. 13 oz.! I still can’t get over how big he is getting. It’s just crazy!

As usual, I was catching up on my blog and updating new pictures, and Jack was having a ball playing in the floor with all of his toys. When I looked up a few seconds later, he was on his elbows, pushing with his feet and scooting across the floor towards one of his toys. It was almost like an army crawl. I couldn’t believe my eyes! He is so close to crawling now!

Tomorrow, Jack will go get his 6 month pictures done. It’s the last day he will be 6 months old, so we were cutting it real close this time. Our normal photographer has had to cancel on us twice this month, and I couldn’t wait any longer to get them done, so we are going to try Portrait Innovations tomorrow. I have had several friends use them, so we’re going to try them out. Jack will have his Christmas photos done, as well as a fall picture. I’m excited! Pray with me that he will be in a good mood and survive the 45-minute car ride down there!

Today, Jack and his cousin, Cadence, took a road trip to the pumpkin patch. We all had so much fun! The babies got mini pumpkins while we each picked out a big family pumpkin. Check out a few pics of out fall fun!

Jack was very intense today with his toys. He would roll from one side of the room to the other, grabbing whatever toy was in his grasp. He would stop and examine it carefully. It was so funny! He was very serious. Here are a few pics from playtime today. I couldn’t help but laugh when I came in the room and saw him laying on his tummy watching cartoons on PBS!

This week, Sean began his weight loss plan with Quick Weight Loss. I refuse to call it a diet. In some ways, it is. But in other ways, it’s not. When he first told me about it, the first thing I asked was if they required that he eat boxed meals. I’m totally against boxed meals at these crazy weight loss centers! They don’t teach you how to eat right; they only fool you into losing weight by making money off of those nasty boxed meals. Then, you go off the program and the boxed meals, and guess what? The weight comes right back on!

So, how is this any different? It’s MUCH different. They teach you to eat right and lose the weight at the same time. So, when the “diet” part is over, the weight stays off. Sean is going through the three-day “cleansing” process right now. He is required to eat two eggs for breakfast, half an orange as a morning snack, a meat and raw greens for lunch, half an orange for an afternoon snack, and then meat and raw greens again for dinner. All while downing 80 ounces of water per day! Of course, there are vitamins as well. Once that is accomplished, you are signed up to attend a nutrition class. He will do this tomorrow. Basically, they teach you how to shop at your local grocery store, read the labels and make healthy food choices. I believe you are pretty limited on what you can eat while losing the weight, but slowly they will teach you to incorporate “normal” foods back into your diet so you can maintain the weight you have lost.

So, there you have it. Sean is scheduled to lose 107 pounds in 31 weeks! I’m so proud of him! He is setting up a website, so he can blog about his progress. I’ll let you know as soon as he has set that up, so you can join him on his journey!

We have come such a long way in the sleep department over the past few weeks. Jack is really starting to get this sleeping thing down. He didn’t sleep well when mom and dad were visiting. However, before and after their visit, he has started to display much healthier sleeping habits. He is sleeping between 5-8 hours at a time during the night, and he is starting to take 1.5 hour naps. He usually only naps twice during the day if he has really good naps, occasionally three shorter naps if he is having trouble sleeping that day. Sean and I finally found his “magic” bedtime, which is 8 p.m.

So, there you have it. It took six long months, but our son is finally starting to sleep. Sean and I are just beginning to catch up a little bit. We all wake up so much happier when we’ve had a decent night’s sleep. So, whatever “normal” is, we are getting close to feeling that way once again.

Originally, we had planned to take Jack to the pumpkin patch today. When we viewed the forecast, we realized it was going to be raining all day. With Grandpa and Grandma visiting, we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to head down to the GA Aquarium for Jack’s first visit (and the grandparent’s too!). We had a GREAT time! Jack was so attentive to all of the fish, even the ones over his head. He squealed in delight when he looked up and saw fish swimming over his head for the first time. It was precious! Everything was so new and exciting to him. It was more fun to watch his reaction to things than actually viewing the exhibits ourselves. Here are a few pictures:

Jack’s new dino boggin’

We look really tired here!

Grandpa couldn’t take his eyes off of Jack the whole day

Looking at the fish

Jack loved the sea otters!

Once we got home from the Aquarium, we were pooped! Grandma rocked Jack for his entire nap, Grandpa studied for a little while and took a nap, and Sean and I snuck off for an hour to go to Waffle House. It was our first date since Jack has been born. We found ourselves sitting in the booth wondering what we actually did before Jack was born - it seemed so boring and mundane. It almost felt like a first date because we were sitting there staring at each other with blank stares for awhile, and then I learned that Sean taught himself how to play the piano when he was younger. Who knew?! HA!

Finally, a break in the horrible teething cycle! Last night, our house had the pleasure of enjoying what other people call SLEEP! It’s this amazing process of laying down in a bed, pulling the covers up over you to keep you warm and cozy, laying your head down on a pillow, closing your eyes, and drifting off into blissful rest and relaxation.

HAHA! Yes, I just had to redefine sleep for myself to remember what it was. I put Jack down at 8 p.m. last night, and he slept for 2.5 hours without getting up. Sounds bad? It’s not! Normally, he gets up every 45 minutes to an hour for the first three to four hours of the night. Then, I put him down again, and he slept FIVE HOURS STRAIGHT. WOOHOO! After a bottle, he went back down and is still asleep. What a wonderful night!

Today, mommy is up early. Sean had to wake me up so I could take a shower before he left for work. You are thinking that’s not a big deal, right? Well when your husband gets up at 5 a.m., it is a big deal! HA! But I did it. We’re getting a new roof put on our house today. Jack would never be able to sleep through all of that noise, and I was afraid it also may scare him. So, we are heading over to Brother John’s house this morning when Jack wakes up. We’ll hang out there most of the day and run some errands before coming home to a new roof! YAY! We had a very bad hail storm in May that caused a lot of damage, so thankfully insurance is covering most of it for us.

Hope you all have a great day today!