One Week

Jim didn't go back to work until Tuesday night, so he and Jack got to do some fun Halloween things Monday and Tuesday. On Monday, they went to the Magic House for a members-only Halloween morning. Jack got to play with his friend, Margo.

Superman went down the slide faster than a speeding bullet. Jack has become quite fond of the number 5. If we say we will read 2 books, he says, "No. Five books." as he shows us 5 fingers. If we say we are leaving in 3 minutes, he says, "No. Five minutes." He apparently wanted to, "Go down the slide 5 times."

On Tuesday, Jim and Jack went to a Halloween party at the Transportation Museum. It was little surprise that Jack spent the majority of the time playing with the trains.

Yesterday I took Patrick to his one week check-up. When we left the hospital, he weighed 7 lbs, 9 oz. Six days later, at his check-up, he weighed 8 lbs, 10 oz! Clearly one or both scales are slightly off. I don't think he really gained over a pound in less than a week. Regardless, he is gaining weight which is great! Also, they measured him at 21.5 inches - a full inch more than at birth. I am sure he didn't grow an inch in a week, so one or both measurements were probably off as well.

Tonight we gave Patrick his first "bath." He didn't mind it so much, but he did not like being naked after it was over. We dried him off with this great towel my cousin made him.

Welcome Home, Patrick!

This is Patrick: This is Jack (when he was a few days old):

Did you see any similarities? ;)

Patrick got this cool shamrock hat from Jim's friend Tim.

We have another Cardinal fan in our house!

We brought Patrick home from the hospital yesterday, and he was finally able to meet his big brother Jack. This is Jack's first look at his little bro:

Patrick had a couple presents for Jack (wasn't that sweet of him?).

Jack is rocking his little brother in the car seat.

Jack got to hold Patrick for the first time. He kept giving him kisses and hugs. Cute, but not as gentle as we would like.

Today, Jim took Jack to a Halloween party. Jack got to wear his Superman costume for the first time. He didn't take it off the rest of the day.

Jack got to decorate a cookie, and eat it!

There was music and dancing. At first Jack just wanted to sit on Daddy's lap.

Later, our shy guy got up to dance a bit.

Look at Jack's cool elephant balloon! By the time he got home and I saw the elephant, all that was left was the trunk, eyes, and one ear. Now the only thing left is the eyes. I am sure those will be gone by morning.

Uncle Michael and Kathleen came over to see Patrick.

Jack was excited to hold Patrick again. His interest in holding the baby lasts about 20 seconds.

We have taught Jack just to kiss Patrick's forehead (not the lips as he was doing before).

If you want to view the pictures the photographer at the hospital took, go to www.bellababyphotography.com. Click on the middle picture to "View My Photos." The password is 1021patrickkelly.

Welcome Patrick James!

Patrick James Kelly was born at 7:39 a.m. on October 21st, 2009. He weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces and measured 20.5 inches long. He has dark, gray-blue eyes and light, straw-colored (perhaps with a tint of red) hair. He is taking everything in stride and he is surrounded by lots of loving family and friends. He has not had a chance to meet his big brother Jack because, with the threat of the flu, Jack has not come into the hospital.

Pumpkinland

Yesterday was a beautiful fall day (unlike the past couple of cold weeks). Jim got home from work early, and we decided to take Jack to a pumpkin patch. We had a lot of fun. Jack liked everything there. It was hard to get him to move from one activity to the next, but when he did go to the next activity he liked it just as much as the previous one. The first thing we did was go down this fun slide. Jack wanted to "do it by Jack's self."

Next, Jack and Daddy were going to go through this completely dark tunnel. We didn't have a flashlight with us and the tunnels are long, so we opted for a shorter one instead. The short, kid's tunnel was much better for Jack and he could go all by himself.

Jack needs to be a little taller to ride this tractor by himself. He is tall enough to sit while Daddy pushes him, though.

This horse made of tires was not quite as fun as the real horse he got to ride a few weeks ago, but it put a smile on his face nonetheless.

Jack went through this small maze. Later the three of us went through a big maze of corn. We couldn't see over the stalks of corn, so it was exciting for all of us.

After climbing the spiderweb, there is a slide on the other side!

One of Jack's favorite things to do these days is pretend he is a digger. He makes his hand into a scoop and "digs" stuff like a digger does. He enjoyed digging the hay and then throwing it up in the air.

Our little pumpkin!

Well, I am almost 41 weeks pregnant; the most pregnant I have ever been. :) I am going in to the hospital tomorrow morning for an induction, if I don't go into labor on my own before then. I have been having contractions today, but I don't know that they are quite strong enough to send me to the hospital. Hopefully we will be able to update the blog tomorrow with pictures of our new little boy or girl!

Due Date

So, today is officially my due date. It's almost 10:00 p.m. and no baby yet, so I think it is highly unlikely I am having the baby today. I really don't feel like this baby is coming anytime soon. A lot of people assume I am incredibly anxious to have the baby, but the truth is that I am not. I know the baby is exponentially easier to care for now than after he/she is born. That is not to say I am not excited, though. I am. I just don't feel the need to have the baby immediately. My doctor won't let me go more than a week past my due date (I am thankful for that - I don't want a huge baby), so I will probably be induced next Wednesday or Thursday. Here is a picture of me tonight. This is the most pregnant I have ever been (Jack was induced a few days before his due date because the amniotic fluid levels were too low). In other news, we have just been playing, playing, playing. Last week we were able to meet up with my friend Katie and her son Ben since Katie was on vacation. We went to the Botanical Gardens and the kids had fun at the Children's Garden. Jack went down this slide first.

Then Ben went down, and flipped around on the way.

Jack loves to climb things. I am actually very afraid he is going to climb into the crib with the baby since they are sharing a room. He climbed up this rope/web thing all by himself.

I got these two to sit still for a picture by giving them each a stick to hold. Too bad they didn't look at the camera!

We continued to spend time with Uncle David and Aunt Melanie before they left for 7 weeks in South America (they left today). Yesterday, we met them at the Magic House. Jack enjoyed the new Curious George exhibit.

We spent a lot of time putting these things together.

This was definitely Uncle David's favorite part.

Aunt Melanie got to pretend to be the president.

So did Jack.

Next, Jack showed us how to be a judge. He may need to watch more Matlock to perfect his imitation.

I am not sure who had more fun in the construction area.

Check out Jack and Aunt Melanie's hair!

If you look closely you can see that Uncle David is completely inside a bubble!

We went to dinner at my parents' house last night to say good-bye to David and Melanie. Michael was working, so after dinner we went to his work for a couple drinks (he's a bartender) and we played some Wii. We sure are going to miss David and Melanie when they move to Australia at the end of November!