Florida, beaches, picnics, and summer fun!

Well, it is official - Shane has had his first airplane flight, his first vacation, and his first dip in the ocean! Florida was beautiful and Shane had a great time meeting his Uncle Jack and Aunt Tina! They spoiled him rotten with love and attention - not to mention the bag full of outfits Aunt Tina had waiting for him, the two lovies she got for Shane (one can be in the wash while one is being used), and the adorable monkey that hangs from Shane's car seat that Uncle Jack got for Shane at the zoo! However, the main reason for our visit was for Shane to meet his Great Aunt and Great Uncle. I grew up very close to my Great Aunts and Uncle and I did not have that many! Shane is blessed to have many Great Aunts and Uncles who adore him! He has his Aunt Joan on my side and on Dan's side he has Uncle Jack and Aunt Tina, Uncle Jerry and Aunt Geri, Uncle George and Aunt Marilyn, Aunt Bernadette, Aunt Margaret, and Aunt Sue. Almost everyone lives here, except for Uncle Jack and Aunt Tina in Florida and Uncle George and Aunt Marilyn in Arizona. We wanted Shane to have a chance to meet and bond with his out of town family so we planned the Florida trip. Dan and I are hoping we can make it out to Arizona soon!
Here is a photo of Shane with his Uncle Jack and Aunt Tina.

While in Florida we spent a lot of time swimming in Jack and Tina's pool - which was BEAUTIFUL!!! The water was warm and Shane loved it! They even had a rubber ducky that shane loved to watch floating around the pool.





Jack and Tina were AMAZING hosts! I felt like I was at Tina's cooking school! She prepared gourmet lunches and dinners every day and I watched and learned! I am making her salad already and will soon be making her filets! She is so fast and fun to watch in the kitchen! I got tons of ideas from her! Tina's good friend and neighbor, Michele, also made us delicious desserts and homemade lasagna! We were so spoiled! Jack and Tina also took us all around Naples and it is beautiful! On Tuesday we went to Marco Island and then spent time hanging out in the pool. On Wednesday we went to the Naples zoo which is small and allows for unique animal viewing! The primates all live on islands and they won't cross the water so no cages, gates or fences are used. You see the primates via boat. Here we are waiting to get on the boat! Look how cute Shane and his Uncle Jack look together! I am also including a picture of a lion laying right at the edge of his enclosure so you can see how intimate the zoo is!




On Thursday Aunt Tina watched Shane and Uncle Jack took Dan and I out on a boat. He is a member of a boat club and treated us to a day on the water! It was beautiful! He taught us the rules of the sea and showed us how the other half live!

Dan said he would buy me that house for my birthday! :-)
After the boat trip, Jack took us to his favorite place for a delicious burger, The Dock. It was yummy! It also allowed beautiful views of the water! Here is a photo of Dan and Jack at The Dock.

Meanwhile, back at the house, Tina and Shane spent a fun day together!

On Friday, we asked if we could go to the beach as we wanted to get Shane into the Gulf of Mexico. We went to Tiger Tail Beach and it was beautiful! When we got to the beach it just looked OK - nothing special. Then we started to notice people wading across the water - this was not on the ocean - it was an inlet and it was about 30 feet wide. After about the 50th person waded across, I sent Dan to investigate. He came back and said that they were waist high in water and that it did not matter where they were going because we had a stroller. However, the curiosity got to Dan and he asked the man who was renting out cabanas what was over there. The man said, "The Gulf of Mexico!" He offered to watch our stroller and we nervously carried Shane across the water to a path on the other side. Once we walked about 20 yards up the path we found ourselves on a beautiful white sand beach! It was so nice! The water was 85 degrees and so nice! We took Shane in and he had a ball! We were so concerned with applying and reapplying his sun block that I forgot to get my back and shoulders and I burned nicely! Shane, on the other hand, stayed lilly white! After the beach we went back to Jack and Tina's and relaxed. We went out to dinner that night. Here is a video and pictures of our adventure!







We had an amazing time in Florida and already miss Jack and Tina! Shane would start smiling as soon as he heard Tina's voice! We love them and thank them for a wonderful time!
We arrived home just in time for the Greenfield family picnic on Sunday. It was so nice to see everyone and introduce Shane to more family! Let me begin with a funny story. We had just arrived at the picnic and I wanted the camera to take pictures. I could not find it so I looked around for Dan, found him, and approached him. I put my hand on his shoulder - no matter what Geri says, I did not grab him - and said, "Hon, where is the camera?" Now you are probably wondering what is so funny about that? Well, nothing if it was Dan, but it was his cousin John. He said, "Me?????" You tell me, is there a resemblance? I don't think so!

In other picnic news, Shane hung out with Bill, Colleen, and Liam who so kindly stayed in our house to watch Thunder while we were in Florida. We are so happy that they were here! Shane really loves them all, but is so good for Bill!



Dan and Shane dressed alike for the event. Dan's shirt said, "I'm with the best son in the world." and Shane's said, "I'm with the best dad in the world."

When Shane started to fuss it was Uncle Jerry to the rescue! He had some rocking moves that calmed Shane right down and eventually put him to sleep!

Shane also hung out with his cousins Joey, Jack, and Sarah! Jack just started his first teaching job at a charter school in Chicago! We are so proud of him!!!!



When he was not hanging out with his cousins, or trying to steal Uncle Bob's beer (I guess he is a true Greenfield), he hung out with Grandma and Grandpa!


You may be wondering about that beer story. I guess it needs a bit more explanation. You see, Shane recognizes his bottle and lets us know he wants it by reaching for it and opening his mouth. He tried to do the same to Uncle Bob's beer. Thankfully, Uncle Bob did not give it to him! Besides begging everyone for beer, Shane also hung out with his cousin Margie - John's wife when he isn't married to me!

He also met his cousin, who is only 2 weeks older than him. He is Dan's cousin Jim's son.

After some time hanging with kids his age, Shane was back to hanging with the adults. He spent time with Dan's cousins Cathy and Kathy!


Before Shane went home for the night, he spent some time with his cousin Pat, a Cubs fan, so Shane felt right at home!

When it was time to go, Shane was unhappy! He let Aunt Sue know that he was not done having fun yet!

Next year Shane will be running around the picnic! It was a wonderful day! I am so glad that Dan's mom arranges it every year! Everything was great! The weather was perfect, the food was yummy, and the people were great!
On Monday we met up with Kristine and Connor for lunch! I forgot my camera, but Connor is getting cuter by the minute!
On Tuesday, Shane and I went to a Lap-sit class at the Joliet library with my new friend Cathy and Shane's new friend Alex. It was a lot of fun and Shane loved the songs! After class, we went for a nice walk in the preserve behind the library! Then, we met up with our dear friend Debbie at Oak Brook! Debbie's dad is very ill and we were so glad that she was able to take the time to meet up with us! She is a great friend!

Today is another busy day for us! We are off to Grandma Carolyn and Grandpa Bob's for a swim in their pool! Shane is a true water lover! Tomorrow, I will go to Jorie's school (they went to year round and she went back yesterday) to help her out! That is it for now!

Cereal and so much more!!!!!!!!

It has been a while since I updated this blog and Shane has been a super busy guy so I suggest getting a cup of coffee and settling in - this is going to be a long post!! I usually like to chronicle the little man's adventures in order, but today I need to start in the middle with cereal! Yes, my baby is eating - sort of. He doesn't like cereal much yet, but we are getting there. His first cereal meal was on Sunday, July 19th. We fed him using Dan's baby spoon, which is not rubber-tipped like the doctors recommend, but was important for us to use for the first meal. Most of the cereal went in his mouth and then came right back out, as evidenced by the before picture here.

and the after picture here! What a face!!!

However, Dan did get a rhythm going and was able to get him to get some real swallows in as evidenced by this video! Make sure to hit play! As our friend Kristine often says, Dan is rocking the daddy thing!

I wish I could say that after this video was shot all of our cereal problems were over and Shane was eating it like a champ now, but I can't. He has good days, one where he ate the whole bowl! Then he has awful days where he screams bloody murder the second you put a spoonful in his mouth. We are using rubber-tipped spoons now in order to protect his gums and he sometimes likes to slurp the cereal off of the spoon and sometimes not. He finds my desire to get him to eat very funny. In fact, the other day I was saying that he was going to go to kindergarten with a bottle (after all Connor liked cereal the first time, so did Shane's friends Augie and Emily) and he started laughing! Then, I started saying "yum, yum, num, num" and he was squealing with delight - note the video below. However, the laughing and squealing do not make him eat any more.

Last Wednesday, July 15th, was our graduation. I was glad we went. The graduation was held at Navy Pier so it was beautiful and it made our Master's degrees feel more official. We loved having Shane there as well as both of our sets of parents and Jorie. Shane behaved himself and seemed to like being out and about.


The best part was that Wednesday nights at Navy Pier are firework nights! We didn't go out for the fireworks on the 4th so we decided to stay and watch them after the graduation. I was not sure how Shane would react, but he LOVED them! Look at the look in his eyes as he is watching them explode! While you are looking at his eyes - avoid looking at me because I hate this picture of me.

On Thursday, July 16th, Shane went for his 4 month pictures. It was safari day at Sears and they came out cute! I did not buy the cd so I do not own the rights to those so I can't put them up on the blog. Then Liam came over to stay for a few nights while Bill and Colleen were in a wedding. On Thursday night we went to a park for a picnic and then out for ice cream. Isn't Liam adorable!

On Friday we met Kristine and Connor at the zoo. Shane was not aware of the animals during his first trip to the zoo, but Liam and Connor loved them.


After the zoo we went home to relax for a bit. In fact, Liam fell asleep at the zoo! After the boys (and I mean all of them - Dan included) took a nap, we took some pictures and headed off to Plainfield fest for the evening. How cute do Liam and Shane look together! Liam was so great with Shane!

Plainfield fest was a lot of fun. Liam decided he wanted to go on some rides, but later realized he didn't like them. Here is a picture of him on the motorcycle ride BEFORE it started moving. Let's just say once it started, he stopped smiling. In fact, as the ride went around he started saying, "I can't ride this, I CAN'T RIDE THIS!!!!!" We had them stop the ride and then Liam asked to go on trucks. Dan went on with him and he still asked to get off, so we stopped riding rides and turned to bouncy rides which he loved.




Liam went home on Saturday, we started the cereal on Sunday, and we spent a lot of this week watching our nephew Joey play baseball. He was pitching on Monday so we went to watch and then learned his next tournament was 15 minutes from our house so we stopped by Tuesday and Thursday as well. We are so proud of Joey and Danny! They are awesome baseball players!

Whew! I think I got it all in! We are leaving for Florida to visit Dan's uncle Jack and his wife Tina on Monday so I am not sure if I will update before we leave!

Swimming!

Shane continues to enjoy his summer and experience new and exciting adventures! The latest first was swimming! We got the OK from his doctor to take him in the water and decided that Sarah and Megan's graduation party would be a great place to try him out in the water. I was not expecting him to like it since he did not enjoy the bathtub. We practiced in there by filling up the tub and having Shane get in with us. He was not too happy about it. However, he loved going in the pool with his daddy. He was especially intrigued by the splashing he learned how to do! We can't wait to get him in the water again! Check out the short video clip at the end of the blog!
In other news, Shane is starting to really notice Thunder and we have been using Thunder as a way to encourage Shane to spend more time on his tummy! Shane HATES tummy time! I am convinced he will never crawl if he can't stand being on his belly! We will see.
Tomorrow is our graduation from out Master's program and Thursday will bring Pictures! I am taking Shane for his 4 month pictures to Sears for Safari day! He even has a cute safari outfit to wear! We are picking up Liam on Thursday and he will be staying with us until Saturday! We are all going to the zoo, with Kristine and Connor, on Friday and I can't wait!

4 Months!!!!!

Shane is 4 months old today!!!! It seems like he has been 4 months forever to me, but Dan is always explaining that weeks and months are different. Shane will be 18 weeks on Tuesday, but he is 4 months today (7/10/09). I do understand the logic of it, but...
This is also the day - 1 year ago today - that I found out I was pregnant with Shane! I took the pregnancy test in the middle of the night and woke Dan up at 3 am screaming, "We have two lines!!!!!" Dan had no idea what that meant at 3 am, but I soon explained that it meant we were having a baby! I can hardly believe that baby is here and 4 months old!!!!
Shane had his doctor visit this morning and the doctor said he was doing great! He is a chunker weighing in at 17 pounds and 4 ounces! He is in the 90th percentile for weight. The doctor said this is great because he is getting plenty of nutrients to grow his brain! He also said they love to see "screw on hands!" That is exactly what Shane's look like! Dan and I often say they look like he has a rubber band held tight around his wrist! Shane is 24 and 3/4 inches long (close to the 50th percentile.) He can start rice cereal soon and stage 1 baby foods just prior to his 6 month check up. He had a great day after his visit and was not even cranky from his shots! Colleen had volunteered to babysit for Shane tonight so Dan and I dropped him off and went to dinner and a movie!!!! THANKS, Colleen!!!!!! We were so happy to have a break and know that Shane was in great hands! Liam even read stories to Shane before he went to bed! Liam is awesome with Shane and so adorable!!!! Liam and Colleen came over and spent the afternoon with us on Wednesday. I am including a picture of them with Shane.
Yesterday we took Shane to his first baseball game. It was a White Sox game - note the empty seats everywhere! I actually took a picture of Shane crying (he was hungry) when we got to our seats and was going to put it up and explain that he wished he was at Wrigley Field watching the Cubs, but I didn't because Shane really loved his first game! He was so good that we stayed until the 9th inning! The Sox even gave him a certificate noting his first game and the date! Dan's Assistant Principal, Robert, was at the game and hung out with Shane for a while (see pic.) You will see that I am including a picture of him in his cute Cubs overalls, just to be fair and balanced! There is another short video of Shane at the end of this post!
PS- look at the picture of Shane in his Bruce Springsteen onesie with his daddy! That was the first outfit we/I bought for Shane. I gave it to Dan for his birthday last year! I can't believe Shane is finally here and able to wear it!

Shane's first 4th of July

Shane's first 4th of July was not his happiest day. In fact, after hours of screaming interrupted only by a short nap, we were all wondering if Shane could be teething. I don't think so. He was back to his normal happy self today, but I plan on asking the doctor when Shane goes in for his 4 month check up on Friday. The weather really dampened (literally!) everyone's mood and our plans for an outdoor celebration. Some of our neighbors that were supposed to stop by didn't, Dan's plans for a bags tournament did not happen, and it just did not feel like the 4th of July with all of the rain and the cool air. I had to put a long-sleeved onesie under Shane's shirt and a long sleeved shirt under my T-shirt as well. The weather coupled with Shane's mood (did I mention how unhappy my sweet pea was???) made the 4th of July feel like the 4th of November. The nice part of the day was seeing some great friends and family. Both sets of Shane's grandparents made it out (see pictures), so did Kristine and Connor (note the cute picture of the boys - Connor gets more handsome every time I see him! The photo I took of Kristine and Shane shows a screaming Shane so I am not posting it.) We were also glad to see our good friends Dave and Maria (I am including a picture of Shane with them.) We also got a nice-ish family photo. I say nice-ish because while we are all looking at the camera, we are not all smiling---Shane! Dan also took some great pictures of Shane today that will have to wait for another post. My Shane is becoming a real Daddy's boy!

Summerfest & other adventures

Shane has been a busy guy lately! On Monday we met our good friend John downtown for lunch. John left the next day for a month in Seattle so it was great to see him! Shane behaved like a champ at lunch and posed for some pictures with John. On Tuesday our friend Jen came over to see Shane (no pictures.) Thursday had us packing the car for a trip to Milwaukee for Summerfest, a stay in a local hotel, and a return to Summerfest this morning. In between all of this excitement, Shane went in his Baby Einstein Stationary Entertainer for the first time! He loved it. There is a video of him playing in it at the end of this post. Just hit play to watch the excitement in Shane's eyes as he discovers how the toys work!
Summerfest was awesome! We walked around and ate way too much! It was cool out so Shane was in overalls, a long sleeved onesie and a jacket! He stayed in his car seat half of the time and was carried around by his Daddy in the Snugli carrier the rest of the time. He loved the carrier and loved people watching. We stayed away from loud music, but hung back and watched a Bon Jovi cover band. Shane loved the music and we danced the afternoon away with him! He is a doer and he seems to prefer being out and about to being at home. I am also attaching a video of Dan and Shane dancing away at Summerfest. This video is also at the end of the post. I know I don't usually post videos and this post has two, but they are really cute! Shane is a great traveller and sleeps better in hotel rooms than he does at home! Dan and I are already planning ways to darken his room! The hotel shades keep the room nice and dark and that keeps Shane sleeping until 8 or 8:30 in the morning! We love it!!!! Happy 4th of July everyone! We will have pictures of Shane's first by Sunday!