I'm One!

Yes, it's true. I turned one yesterday!!! Hooray!


Here I am, the birthday boy, sporting my cool birthday cake hat from Aunt Julie.

I also loved my talking truck from Nana Xuezhen.

Here I am with Nana Peggy and our cool party hats!

Grampa Kent had one too. Mommy thinks it's pretty funny that our kitchen is the same color as a party hat.

This is my new car from Mommy and Daddy.

You can't have a birthday weekend without yummy spinach from "The Q-Shack."

Blowing out my candle. I had no interest in eating the cake, but I DID have interest in dumping it.

My birthday quilt. Intended for my real birth day (i.e. one year ago), but completed, nevertheless. Better late than never! Made by Mommy with some final touches by Nana Peggy.

My birthday was made complete with an awesome kid party at the Little Gym!

We played with balls, which are my favorite.

Thanks to all my friends for making it such a special day!

I practiced my walking... and surprised everyone with cartwheels!

(just kidding!)


More balls with Grampa Kent.

Making music with Daddy.

Here I am, clinging to Mommy and afraid of a balloon... I got used to it though (see photo number 1 above).

Here I am with my friend Daniel. He was very patient waiting for the hula hoop.

We hung out together in the giant parachute.

It was cool.

Here I am with my big cake. Mommy tried to help me blow out the candle, but she's pretty bad at candles. Daddy had to blow from across the room.

Mommy and Daddy say Thank You-Thank You to everyone who helped to make this the best birthday EVER! ;)

Cat Wrestling

The title really says it all.

(Commentary by Mommy)

Here is the blow by blow, in order, starting with the first attack from crawling position...


Next, using the cat's face for balance.



Almost up to standing.

Standing success!

And down for the tackle!!

Score! Jack 1, Hans 0.

The real prize, however, goes to Hans the cat, who has the most patience of any animal, ever.

My First Easter!

Ah, yes, Easter... a burgeoning holiday of commercialism. Here I am with Mommy finding my very first Easter basket from the Easter Bunny. No, we didn't go to church. In fact, Mommy says I am being raised without religion, but in the tradition of religion... (huh?) My basket was filled with baby-proof plastic eggs that I am learning how to open and close. I have heard rumors of coloringreal eggs next year -- which should go well with my new ability to throw things.

For some reason the Easter Bunny put my basket out in the muddy woods. Silly Easter Bunny.

Whoa! The green ones taste awesome!!

The human balance.

I'm all vklempt.

Me and Mommy. Don't tell, but I think she's been stealing candy from Daddy's easter basket.

The other great thing about Easter Weekend was a playdate with Mommy's resident moms group at Alex and Jonah's house. Here I am demonstrating my ball throwing while standing skills.

And here's my friend Isabelle... I'm pretty fond of older women.

In fact, there were many older women at our playdate... and they all called me "the baby" because I am the youngest. It was pretty sweet.

Hope you all had a happy Easter!

I can walk!

Yes, it's true. I can walk! I can go about 8 steps before diving into the arms of the person catching me... or I just dive into the floor.In fact, I am now so mobile, the pack and play is now being used as my mini-lockdown. I will no longer use the exersaucer -- it's for babies!!Here I am this morning with what looks to be the beginning of rock star hair again! Yes! Mommy is hoping that if I am somehow a rockstar, Daddy will spring for Guitar Hero.Mommy and I went to the park this afternoon. Here I am about to have a snack.And here I am after dumping the entire bag of snack in my lap.After my snack I got to take my first ever swing ride!I look surprised, but I really had lots of fun. Stayed tuned for the big event in just two weeks from tomorrow!

Road Trip IV: The Final Installment...Atlanta, Asheville and Beyond!

The last part of our road trip was one of the best parts, for I finally got to meet my cousins Ellie, Christopher and John. We had only a brief stop in Atlanta, but Mommy and Daddy were ever thankful for the rest-stop, awesome breakfast and even awesomer company! I also got to meet my first puppy, Cocoa. Mommy thinks my experience of Cocoa was much how Hans, my kitty, experiences me... being jumped on, licked, pulled on... an interesting role reversal it was. Apparently this was supposed to help me learn to be 'gentle' after getting a taste of my own medicine.
After driving all night from Florida to Atlanta, we then drove another 5 hours and finally made it to Asheville. Here is the view from our rental house when we arrived. It was scary-high up in the clouds.

While Daddy went to his conference, we did lots of fun stuff. Here I am at the NC Arboretum hanging out with Mommy. I am, of course, eating twigs.

If you look closely, you can see my green pants. This was in celebration of St. Patrick's Day. (Mommy says to apologize for the lateness of this blog, now over two weeks after the fact.)

Mom was wearing green too.

Here I am with Daddy closing up the hot tub... Don't worry, the depth of field and perspective of this photo are deceiving. Daddy was not about to let me crawl off the balcony.

Here we are at the Biltmore Estate. It was big.

The view from the Biltmore balcony.

Here I am with Nana playing in the grass and posing for Daddy's camera.

Don't you think Daddy should win a prize for this one? Nice shot Daddy. Very artsy.

I got hungry and fussy, so nursed a bit in the garden. I was a bit distracted though. This is me popping up for air.
Here I am checking out the gardens from up high.

And checking them out from down low.

We ended the day with my first ever ice cream cone. You can see that it was a pretty chill experience. (Mommy swears she didn't mean that pun.)

Our last day in Ashville with a little sword action.

Bye-bye mountains!

I feel asleep even before we got in the car for our journey home...

I almost made it through the 4 hour drive, but needed an exercise stop about 30 minutes from home. We went shopping for leaves, twigs and acorns... and then finally, we made it home.

Thanks for checking out our vacation pics. Mommy promises to have updated pictures soon!

P.S. Good night in the CCU, Daddy! I promise to sleep all night long tomorrow.