Rare Sighting….

Happy, content, peaceful, non-hungry Jack …..

First Tooth

Jack is growing up super fast – this week we found that he is cutting his very first tooth (upper left incisor).  He is more than a little cranky and hard to soothe as he hasn’t yet worked out that gnawing on things might  make him feel better!  It is truly a double edged sword – no sooner had his colic stopped than this started – we got a full nights sleep on maybe three occasions! 

Art for Arts Sake

I’ve never been the type of guy who gets ecited about a trip to the art gallery. I have seen the Mona Lisa, the Dahli ehibition and made several trips to the National Gallery in London but nothing ever really caught my imagination. I am the first to admit that I have a less than creative mind but I have always secretly wished that I had artistic/creative talent. (I also wish I could sing and drive the space shuttle).

Anyway – i have stumbled across the works of a guy called Phil Hansen and they are quite simply amazing on a number of levels. I have no idea how he gets the ideas he does and the talent it must take to produce them in such different mediums is outrageous. My personal favourite right now can be found HERE – it is amazing and baffles me as to how somebody could even start to compose an image like this. He also has a great studio cam which can be seen HERE. THe picture I have featured here is actually drawn onto the sidewalk with chalk and is composed of hundreds and hundreds of chalk stickmen! Crazy huh!
I know very little about this guy other than he lives and works in Washington – maybe he is fameous and wealthy from his works and maybe he isn’t. Take a look- it is well worth the time!

Miracle Mosquitoe Cure

This is possibly the best bit of information I have come across since I got to Memphis! Now I appear to be the mosquitoe equivalent of caviar for these pesky insects – I am irresistable to Mosquitoes and always have been. When I am bitten the bite swells to a hard white lump and itches and aches for about three days – it sucks! (as does the mosquitoe!)
Well – I may just have solved the problem – and I wish I could remember where I read about this as I would love to give the originator credit! Apparently the proteins that are injected into the skin by the mosquitoe cannot survive if they are heated higher than 45-60 degrees – no proteins, no irritant – no irritant no miserable itchy lump. Best way to heat the bite to above this temperature – just rub your hot coffee cup against it for a few mins!
Now this seems too good to be true but it appears to work! I haver just tested the theiry for the first time – the itching hasnt disapeared totally but it is probably 80 percent better than it was a few minutes ago. I can see how rubbing certain areas with a coffee mug might be deemed socially unacceptable but for now I am extremely happy with this solution to my mozzie problem!

Learning to love Binky

I have always been very ‘anti pacifiers’ – they have always felt like an easy option when it came to parenting and a surefire way to guarantee your child a set of croked teeth.  I now take all of that back…….

Baby Jack’s sleeping habits have been somewhat ..non-existant to say the least.  Sleeping in spells no longer than a coulpe of hours, none of us are getting a whole lot of sleep.  In desperatino we had tried a pacifier but Jack had cosistantly spat it out with the distain it seemingly deserved.

That was until the coming of Binky……  Now the ‘Binky’ pacifier range from Walmart is not the cheapest but boasts a realisticly shaped silicon nipples that babies are just going to love.  We swallowed our pride..and the cost and what do you know..BINKY IS WOKING!  Jack loves it, we love it (because we get some sleep) and frankly I will trade all the bad parenting connotations for six hours of unbroken sleep any day!  Forget the cheaper but unpalatable Walgreens alternatives, Binky is the only way to go!

Hooray for Alcohol!

For nine long pregnant months, Diane has been teetotal.  In a spontaneous (and some might say foolish) gesture of moral support, Russ declared a state of prohibition at the same time and commited himself to a nine month spell of sobriety.  Now neither of us were ever really big drinkers, but towards the end of the pregnancy we really craved not only a drink but the kind of night out that typically goes with one!

Well yesterday the wait was over!  Mommy and Daddy got their margaritas, Baby jack got his first visit to a bar and all three of us ate nachos!

 

 

Feeding the Ducks

Armed with loaves of bread and mosquito repellant we spent an hour feeding ducks and turtles.

Tony Stewart at Graceland

Tony Stewart was at Graceland last night recording a live radio show.  It was a great  opportunity to get up close and personal with his car (allegedly the one he raced in Vegas a couple of weeks ago) and to let the kids get their picture taken with it.  Jack managed to sleep through the entire event but this marked a big occasion as it was his first trip out in the stroller!  Pictures can be found HERE!

Yet More Baby Pictures

Jack is now just over a week old but he is already starting to lose that ‘new baby’ look.  He does a lot of sleeping and pooping, some occasional crying and every now and again manages to make himself go cross eyed!  We are very proud!

He is waking up probably once a night; feeding at around 11, 5 and then 9 – not a bad schedule at all!

Latest pictures can be found HERE!

Family Art Project

After weeks of complaining that we needed some new artwork to brighten up the walls, we decided to make our own!

Baby Jack the Movie – part 2

Part 2 – View Part 2 HERE!

Baby Jack the Movie – Part 1

We thought it would be fun to pass the time waiting for Jack by taking some video footage – some bribery material for future 18th birthday parties / weddings etc . 

Part 1 of Baby Jack – The Movie can be found HERE!

 

Exclusive photos of Baby Jack!

The first pictures of baby Jack can be found HERE! 

It’s a Boy!!

Diane and Russ are extremely proud to announce the arrival of the newest member of their family – Jack William Anderson.

Baby Jack was born at 08.11 on May 3 2008 at Germantown Methodist.  Weighing in at a healthy 7lb 5oz, he spent a couple of nights at the hospital before being allowed home this morning.

Mother and baby are thriving – we are all very excited!

Monster Trucks!

Daniel and Diane had a great night at the Fedex Forum watching the Monster Trucks.  Gravedigger, Ninja Turtle and Executioner were all there, flattening cars and jumping off the ramp – there was even a crazy woman who got shot out of a cannon! Check out a selection of their photos in the gallery on the right hand side of this page.