10 months old!

Here are Jack's 10 month stats from the doctor:

weight: 23 lb 12 oz. 80th percentile

height: 29 1/2 in. 75th percentile

head circumference: 18 1/2 in 80th percentile

His bottom right tooth is the first tooth to make an appearance. The tooth has slowly been coming for weeks now and its not even a half tooth yet! I think its left mate will make an appearance any day now.

Jack loves to crawl and cruise around the furniture. He is happiest in the morning, loves to play with balls and still doesn't sleep through the night!

Tonight we had dinner and fun at the mall tonight with my friend Jen and her baby Kayleigh,

Jack 10 months, Kayleigh 14 months

A few months ago we did the same thing!

Jack 7 months, Jen & Kayleigh 11 months

Tonight Jack fell in love with his first balloon. The balloon could have provided hours of entertainment

But then it flew out the window and Jack cried.

Thats the thing about balloons the good ones always fly away.

RIP Bande

Gabe's family Dog passed away this morning.

Jack, Jack's grandma, Dennis (Mr. & Mrs. D's Son), Bande and I all went on a walk last night.

I didn't really have a reason to go over to my in-laws house last night, only my mother-in-law was home and of course Bande was too. Little did we know this would be Bande's last walk.

Yesterday, as I pulled up I saw Bande barking his head off through the window, typical Bande, he knew how to give you a proper greeting. Jack was asleep, I knew he had no chance of staying asleep with Bande's excitement.

Jack loved Bande

We were babysitting Bande this week, he escaped twice.

Jack's first walk, it wouldn't be a walk in the La Monica neighborhood without Bande.

The walk was like any other walk, Jack in the stroller, Bande on the leash, enjoying the evening.

I have taken Bande on many walks. He was 9 years old. I met him 8 years ago. At the time, he was no longer a puppy in size but he certainly was a young, hyper pup. We had many parties at Gabe's parents house over the years, he was always there and often entertaining.

When Gabe and I first starting dating in high school, he usually called me every night when he was taking the young dog on a walk.

I walked Bande all over McLean and he was my beautiful running companion too.

Bande always loved me and I loved him, even when he pounced on my pregnant belly.

He protected Jack.

We are over at Gabe's parents house now, Bande lies downstairs by the door, his finally resting place, protecting the family he loved.

Today we read Dog Heaven by Cynthia Rylant to Jack.

"When Dogs go to Heaven, they don't need wings because God knows that dogs love running best.

He gives them fields. Fields and fields and fields.

When a dog first arrives in Heaven, he just runs...

...There are children, of course. Angel Children.

God Knows that dogs love children more than anything else in the world, so He fills Dog Heaven with plenty of them...

...So sometimes an angel will walk a dog back to Earth for a little visit and quietly, invisibly, the dog will sniff about his old backyard...will follow the child to school...

...When he is satisfied that all is well, the dog will return to Heaven with the angel. It is where dogs belong, near God who made them...

...[In Heaven]...The homes have yards and porches and there are couches to lie on and tables to sit under while angels eat their dinners...

...And each dog is petted and reminded how good he is, all day long.

Dogs in Dog Heaven may stay as long as they like and this can mean forever.

They will be there when old friends show up. They will be there {barking} at the door. "

My mother in law called this morning to share the news, we have been over here ever since. Gabe mowed the lawn, we all played with Jack, Grandpa has been out, he will be home soon and the grave will be dug in the back yard.

Bande's life was cut short, we do not even know how he died. His last adventure was to Tennesee to see the youngest La Monica child graduate college. The La Monica house has always been loud but now it will be quieter. We miss Bande already as he wasn't here to wake Jack up from his afternoon nap.

Mr. & Mrs. Admiral D

Mr. and Mrs. Admiral D*

(*I am trying to have a degree of privacy)

The D's live across the street from the house Gabe grew up in McLean, VA.

The D's have known Gabe since he was about 6 months old. They have been like grandparents to him and his sisters. His family cares about them a lot and the D's love us. I admire my father-in-law, he drives Mr. D to almost all of his doctors appointments in Bethesda, MD. I admire how all of my in-laws help take care of their neighbors.

Getting old stinks. The D's were old when I meet them back in 2002 but still able. I was always invited to Gabe's family events, sometimes it was a bit overwhelming, he has a big family. It was relief when I would site Mrs. D at a La Monica party. I enjoyed spending my time chatting with the D's. Mrs. D was stylish and the type of person that made you feel good about yourself. I had real conversations with her and even shed a few tears once or twice talking with her. She believed Gabriel and I were meant to be.

The D's love Jack, the first walk we ever took Jack on was in his grandparents neighborhood, which of course included a stop at the D's so they could meet the baby.

They were amazed the child, Gabriel, they watched grow up now had a child of his own. With the young girl they loved, they couldn't be happier for us.

Jack, on his first walk, in his grandparents neighborhood, 8 days old. We didn't have the car seat snapped in the stroller correctly, that's why his head is falling forward, oops, we were new parents!

In case you forgot, like I did, Jack did have a little hair when he was born, then it all fell out!

A few months ago Mr. D fell and broke his hip. He was in the hospital and then a rehabilitation center for a while. This was hard on Mrs. D, they had been married forever, retired for many years and used to spending every minute together, she missed him dearly.

When I think about older couples, I admire how united they are. It would be hard to function if something happened to your partner, the person who has become part of you.

I know this would not be true of every couple, but for the D's it is.

Tonight, as we all admired Jack cuteness. Mrs. D gushed about how cute she thought her husband was too. I admired that.

Mr. D has been back home for a while now but has still had to return to hospital a few times.

Even after breaking his hip earlier this year, he was still on the floor playing with Jack. Mrs. D actively played with him as well.

Like I said, getting old stinks, the D's health has changed since 2002, their love for the La Monica clan has not and never will.

Returning to the blogging world!

Last fall I attempted to start blogging, for a reason or two I did not continue. Now I am hoping to begin again and be successful!

So much has changed since last fall! Mainly, our main man Jack. Who is that baby in the below post laying still on the changing table? Of course it is my sweet baby Jack at 11 weeks. At the end of this week Jack turns 10 months old!

What are some of his current tricks?

Flipping over as soon as possible when he is laid down on his back.

Yes, he has been rolling over since he was three or four months old, yikes I can't remember, case and point why I should probably blog! He can almost do it all now, he is very close to walking!

But the two moments when you need him on his back are when you are changing his diaper & putting him to bed. The diaper changing table flip, I am pretty skillful at controlling.

The putting him to bed in the crib back flip is the challenge.

Literally as I have been attempting to blog Jack has woken up twice and flipped over.

Yes, Jack almost 10 months old does not sleep through the night. Another thing I missed blogging about is how he did not have a set bed time for a long time, now he does but now it is being disrupted by the back flip!

No, he doesn't really do a back flip. What happens is, as soon as you lay him down on his back he flips over to his front on to his hands and knees and is pulling himself to standing in record time. Then stands and sticks his arms out to be picked up...

He just woke up a third time. Luckily Gabe is home now and jumped up to sooth him back to sleep, which with luck usually isn't hard, but sometimes it is.

Ahh for the fourth time he is crying, this is not how I wanted this post to turn out! I love my little boy, he has been asleep since 9pm (his bedtime, tonight he went down so easily it was a miracle/too good to be true) now its been three hours and maybe he is hungry, maybe he senses dad is home, maybe he wants to play, probably all of the above. Ahh again Gabe got him back to sleep quickly.

Gabe's works for a 24 hr news channel and his schedule is not traditional. He works Fridays, Sat, Sun, Mon, Tues and is off every Wednesday and Thursday which has been dubbed the "La Monica weekend". So your Friday is our Monday, and so on. Tonight is Monday, therefore its our Thursday, woohoo one more day closer to our Friday(Tuesday)! He usually works 2pm-10pm. How I wish he worked 9-5, but I do appreciate the perks, we sleep in, we have breakfast/brunch/lunch together (almost) everyday, he spends way less time commuting, which is great because we live in Virginia not D.C. AND our Wednesdays and Thursdays are much better then yours!!!

There is a downside, its nearly impossible to do traditional weekend activities together, and we stay up late! He doesn't get home til around 10:30, we like to hang out, we just watched The Office from last week, and now I am up way too late blogging.

I didn't know where to start but I wanted to start blogging again and these are the results! I am new to blogging so hopefully I can only improve from here! I am using this blog as a journal, so please don't be critical, ignore the run on sentences and try to enjoy!

I saved the best for last! Here is the cutie, exploring the house, the front living room, which of course is one of the two rooms in the house we don't use often.