Play time

Jasper loves hanging out on his back with his legs in the air. We put him in position to kick the toys hanging from his activity mat, and he kicks so hard that some of the toys held on the links with just a magnetic closure are kicked off the links.

Jasper also loves his hands, and he sucks on them all the time. He can't fit his whole hand into his mouth. (He has a pretty small mouth.) But he can fit multiple fingers in. He's a really content kid, and generally plays for a good while on his own.

Bumbo Seat Update

I'm not sure how long it's been since we've posted a photo of Jasper in his bumbo seat. He sits in it very well now. As long as he can hold on to a toy of interest, he is totally fine hanging out on the seat. This toy is from Ann, Joel and Johnny Z.

SplashCity!

Jasper has started splashing uproariously during his baths. We've cut back on how much water we put in the tub, but he still manages to get the counter, wall, floor and Drew very wet by the end of bathtime. We sadly must move bathtime into the bathroom. Drew and I love the ergonomics of giving Jasper a bath on the kitchen counter. It was great! But, he's a growing boy, and the arrival of this day was inevitable. Here's a video of bathtime tonight to see first hand how crazy things got. Sorry it's a little shaky, I was laughing while filming. :)



Here is what Drew looked like at the end of the bath.

Hanging out with Daddy

This is Jasper's Sunday outfit.

Jasper isn't a fan of tummy time, however he is strong enough to lift his huge head (think Mike Meyers when you say that) and torso. He hasn't figured out how to lift his big belly yet, so crawling isn't immediately in his future. Tummy time generally winds up with his head & belly on the floor, his rear end up in the air and his legs trying desperately to push himself somewhere. Once he gets his belly up, look out!

Play time with daddy.

Ultrasaucer

Jasper is getting really strong! He likes being in his ultrasaucer that he got from Papa and Grandma Jasper for Christmas. He bounces in it, turns around and is generally engrossed by the buttons that play animal sounds & music when pressed. One of the songs is Old McDonald. If you push any other button while the music plays, the animal sound for that button will cut in on the song. Drew and I find it especially funny when it gets to the point in Old McDonald: "... and on his farm he had a ..." and Jasper hits the lion button so a big roar comes bursting in. He manages to time it well more often than we'd expect.

Today Drew & I spread mulch in our front yard planting beds. Jasper napped for the first half of our outdoor activity, and then for the last part he hung out on the front step in his ultrasaucer. The days of him hanging out in his bouncy seat are nearly over. He is getting so big that he can twist around in it and sometimes even sit up, reaching for his toes. So thankfully he likes his ultrasaucer and is happy hanging out in it. Below is a video of a portion of his time in the ultrasaucer earlier this week while I was having breakfast.

Uncle Jon

Jasper's Uncle Jon (Drew's brother) came to visit us this week. He got to spend three days here in Austin, relaxing, eating BBQ, hanging out with his nephew and soaking in the sun (and the rain). As he said, "it was just what the doctor ordered." He and Jasper totally hit it off, and they had a great time hanging out. Jon and Drew even got to play golf yesterday. It was nearly 80 degrees and beautifully sunny with a slight breeze. Just about perfect.

Meeting Floyd!

I'm going to hijack Jasper's blog to tell all of you that I met Floyd Landis tonight! Floyd won the 2006 Tour de France, and he was in Austin sharing information about his case with those in attendance. Going into the event I was pretty much convinced that the evidence shows Floyd's innocence. While I didn't learn much of anything new about the case, I did learn a little insight into Stage 17 of the '06 Tour. It seems that a couple of his Spanish teammates let the cat out of the bag before the start that he was going to attack on the first climb. I asked Floyd to share with me what events lead up to the stage, and it was great to hear the story from the man who created it. It was an honor to meet him.

Unfortunately, I felt like the event was not as well attended as I would have hoped for from a strong cycling town like Austin, Texas. I purchased a poster while I was there, and my brother took a couple of pictures. If Floyd gets a fair hearing, I think he has some strong arguments, and I only know the evidence they are willing to share at this point. We will have to wait until May 14th to hear USADA's case, but the "B" sample testing looks like they are getting pretty desperate. For any update on the case, go to Trust But Verify .

Bluebonnets Take 2

The weather was so nice here on Sunday that we set out for the hill country to enjoy the wildflowers. We found a beautiful patch of bluebonnets, and Jasper was patient while we took some photos.

Check out our little sunbather!

Meet more of the family!

We visited Michigan last week, and Jasper got to visit with more of his family. I had to be there for work, and Erica enjoyed spending time with her sister Lindsay and parents. As a wonderful surprise on Friday, my parents brought my grandparents to Michigan. Jasper had a great time meeting his Great Grandparents.
It was great for us to see Jasper and my grandparents enjoying their time together.Once again, Jasper was a great traveler. He didn't fuss on the plane, nor when we waited to change planes. We know Jasper will change, but we are very happy that he is a good traveler currently.

Play Time at the Gant Home

Our friends Ryan and Ame asked if we would take care of their daughter Azalea while they attended a wedding reception on Saturday evening. Azalea is approximately 3 weeks older than Jasper which means that we had two children under six months of age in the house. It also gave us a little glimpse into life with twins.

Azalea was a good kid during the time we shared, and the two of them interracted a little throughout the evening. However, we both have a new respect for families that include multiples.

Texas Bluebonnets

We took Jasper out to a field of bluebonnets to introduce Jasper to some of the beautiful Texas wildflowers. The bluebonnets are out, and more of the wildflowers are coming out all the time. Unfortunately, it wasn't a sunny day, but the weather was predicted to worsen over the weekend. To add to the unfortunate circumstances, Jasper was not in a smiley mood. Consequently, the photos aren't the best, but it was still fun.

Living up to his nickname

At our visit to the doctor for Jasper's 4 month well check-up today, first things first, he had his weigh-in. To our surprise, he came in at 17lbs ... 13oz! He's just 3oz shy of 18lbs. Yep, he's a whopper, and apparently truly linebacker material.

4 Months Old!

Sunday was Jasper's 4-month birthday. Drew got him dressed for church. Isn't the outfit totally adorable? I saw him after he was dressed and thought, he looks so much older than 4 months! Someone at church thought he was 6 months old. While he might not have put on a ton of weight since last month, his personality is certainly developing more. He laughs and smiles on a daily basis. Sometimes it is for no apparent reason, but it's great! You can see he is more relaxed with his body. He's chill-axing on the couch in the photo from yesterday just below. :)

The photo below (w/ the whale shirt) is from when he was 3-months. My how he's changed!


Jasper has such strong legs, it really amazes us. We help him walk around, although he has no idea what he's doing. Right now, it's just fun for us. Isn't he cute with his daddy in their Sunday best? The shirt is from grandma Gant, a 9M Polo button down. The pants have 5 real pockets and two faux pockets in the back. Of course, anything small enough to fit in the pockets would be a choking hazard for him, but the pockets are cute nonetheless.


Yes, he's a looker and linebacker material. The comment we always get about him is "he sure hasn't missed any feedings."

Tomorrow we go in for Jasper's 4-month Dr. visit. We were looking at Phoebe Gainey's blog yesterday (check out the link to the left), and we noticed that she was 16lbs 13oz at her 4 month visit. Drew asked me, "do you think Jasper is going to be bigger than Phoebe?" I don't know - but if not, he'll be darn close! In honor of our doctor visit tomorrow, I decided we had to try napping in the crib again (Jasper, not both of us). He went down this morning well and slept soundly for 40min. This appears to be his maximum length right now. (It's been that since the beginning. He's never slept more than 40 min in the crib, at least according to my notes.) I tried multiple things for the next 50 min to get him to go back down in the crib, but nothing worked. He was certainly very tired and not really hungry - so he should have been able to sleep more. (He wanted to, just not in his crib.) I think he should be able to sleep a total of 1.5hrs in his crib. Somehow we just have to help him learn how to fall back asleep in the crib when he wakes up in 40 min. Not sure how to do that yet. I'll keep you posted.

If you happen to check out the other links to the left, specifically the "Trust but Verify" blog (Drew's favorite, second to Baby Gant) you'll see that the owner saw we linked up to his blog and commented about it in the Sunday Roundup. Drew was geeked about that. :) Speaking of Drew, today is a big day for him. He starts a new job today at M3 as the manager of the Healthcare Innovations team. He's excited about the prospects for new work and really helping M3 chart a course in this field.

Along with the blog links to the left, we also set it up so you can send us email right from the blog. We know many of you check out the blog at least pseudo-regularly, and we'd love to hear from you. Let us know what you like. :)

And last but not least, we want to send a shout-out to Mindy and Ryan. Congratulations on year #1! Despite being married on April Fools Day last year, we know your commitment wasn't a joke. Now when are you going to come visit us in Austin???

Rolling Jasper

We are trying to teach Jasper how to roll, and here is a video of our early attempts.

Toes!

Jasper has found his toes, and he can't stop! He looks for his toes whenever he can...on the changing table...in the bath...everywhere.

Hosting Grandparents (Updated)

For the last week Jasper has been getting spoiled by BOTH sets of grandparents. Grandma and Papa Jasper came on Monday night and left Thursday evening. Grandma and Grandpa Gant arrived Thursday night and are still here this morning. (They leave tomorrow.) This has given me some added free time but more so it has given both sets of grandparents time to bond with the little guy. They've loved it!

Grandma Jasper thinks Jasper will get hair like his papa. Right now Jasper's hair isn't quite as thick as papa's, but we'll see how things develop.

Jasper wasn't quite on the same page as Grandma in the truck book, but he still liked it. It's the story of a pesky turtle who keeps getting in the way of construction, and about some friendly construction workers who stop to help him. It's interesting how an environmental theme would get woven into a children's book like that.

We realize Jasper has two Aunties, but he feels the same way about both. :)

Papa Jasper is rolling the dice here, very likely going to get hit with some massive drool ... but he didn't care. He had fun playing airplane with Jasper. (Papa even got a chance to hit golf balls last week while Jasper napped - so he was happy about that!)

It's official, I am not a manicurist. Goodness gracious! I can't keep my son's finger nails smooth enough to prevent them from being weapons. He has scratches on his face and even his belly from these razor sharp nails. I can't imagine how his nails could be so deadly, but alas ... they are. I spent three days in a row cutting, filing and refiling his nails. This is the last attempt, with Grandma Gant's help. Jasper has stopped resisting violently anymore. Perhaps he's just figured out it's better to go with the flow for a little while to get it done - because I am persistent and will keep trying to get his nails softer. I was sure I'd have my mom card revoked when he showed up at the nursery yesterday with two fresh scratches on his face. ugh!

Grandpa and Grandma Gant gave Jasper a bath during their visit.

Grandma Gant is sitting with a melow Jasper. Shortly after this photo was taken Jasper got very active for his bath.

Grandpa Gant shared a laugh with Jasper.

Close-up

High Tech Baby

Jasper's been going into the nursery at church the past three weeks. Each week we haven't been sure how he'd do - sometimes he sleeps and sometimes he doesn't. Last weekend, we had him stacked to be pacified. Namely, we had his MP3 player in his car seat playing Jack Johnson music. I got this "sound box" as an IBM Thanks! award last year that you can plug an MP3 player into and it is a speaker (so, no we do not put earphones in his ears). We can tuck the MP3 player inside the sound box, and it zips up with a soft exterior case. It also says IBM on the front. So ... when we brought Jasper to the nursery two weeks ago he had his sound box in his car seat, and the ladies all thought it was totally cool. They referred to it as his little computer and call him the "high tech baby." Despite the fact that he sometimes sleeps and sometimes doesn't, he has been a great kid in the nursery. All the ladies say he is mellow and just a dream. He still cuddles when he's tired (and he should be napping when he's in the nursery), so if he isn't asleep and he gets picked up he'll definitely snuggle into whomever's arms. I think he's winning fans there. (This is a good thing!)

I'll take a moment here to extoll the virtues of the Jack Johnson "Curious George: Sing-a-Longs and Lullabies" album. Drew loaded this on the MP3 player, and I'm so glad he did. The songs are really fun, so mellow to listen to, and the lyrics are really great. Jasper responds to this album when we play it, or when I sing to him (he likes Michael Buble too). We listen to it almost all the time. He seems to prefer it to the Sunday school songs album I have. That one is a little more peppy, where as the Jack Johnson album does give you the feeling you are rocking in a hammock. The Sharing Song is our favorite (lyrics below).

It's always more fun to share with everyone.
It's always more fun to share with everyone.
If you have two, give one to your friend.
If you have three, give one to your friend and me.

It's always more fun to share with everyone.
It's always more fun to share with everyone.
If you've got one, here is something you can learn.
You can still share, just by taking turns.

If you've got a ball, bounce it to the gang.
If there is a new kid, invite him out to hang.
If you've got one sandwich, cut that thing in half.
If you know a secret joke, tell it and share a laugh.
If you've got two drumsticks, give one to your friend.
Make one beautiful rhythm, share a beat that never ends.
And if you're feeling lonely, share time with your mom.
Share some milk and cookies and sing the sharing song.

It's always more fun to share with everyone.
It's always more fun to share with everyone.

Stroller Ride

OOPS! It's been about 2 weeks since we last posted. I'm sorry for the delay. We've been hosting grandparents the past week, so I am behind on various things. ... more photos on that to come.

But ... almost two weeks ago (3/15) Jasper and I went on a walk in the neighborhood. It was a gorgeous day, and we just couldn't pass up the opportunity to be outside. Jasper fell asleep almost immediately once we hit the streets, so he didn't fuss as his sunglasses and hat fell out of position. Check out the final product below ... this is how he looked when we got back home about 30 minutes later. Accompanying him/us on the walk were Zelda the zeebra and his MP3 player jamming to Jack Johnson's "Curious George" soundtrack. :)

Frog Legs Video

Here is a video showing Jasper "Frog Legs" Gant in action after his bath.

Ultrasaucer

Today, Erica put together one of Jasper's Christmas gifts. We think Jasper is going to like his ultrasaucer...

...especially the sun.

Erica did a great job getting the gift together. Anybody want to place bets on how long before the first diaper explosion?

My future's so bright...

...I gotta wear shades!

Frog Legs & Linebacker

Frog Legs is one of the nick names I have for Jasper. Drew and I just laugh at how much Jasper likes to kick his legs. Not only does he kick them wildly when we're trying to change his diaper or get him ready for a bath or try to lotion him up after a bath. But he also kicks in the crib. This kicking is different. He throws his legs in the air and then slams them down on the mattress, pro-wrestling style. This is the primary way I know it's time to get up in the morning: when I hear him slamming the mattress. At this point he's not quite ready to get up. I generally have about 20-30 minutes for him to do this, start talking to himself and then decide he's hungry. We're quite sure he does this both in his sleep and while he's awake. We've witnessed the result of this leg slamming to rotate him in the crib 90 degrees, but last night he did a complete 180! I could have sworn when I checked on him before we went to sleep that his head was at the left end of the crib, and this morning it was at the right end. Drew confirmed that yes he had rotated himself around. He's a crazy boy!

Last night we went to play group at Azalea's house. It was a packed house! There was Amalie, Azalea, Diego, Grant, Leo and Jasper. Leo was the oldest at 7mo, but most of the group was 3-4mo. Azalea is as beautiful as ever and so attentive, interacting with the whole group. Leo is adorable and so fashionable in his rainbow-colored leggings. Jasper was the 2nd youngest (by 1 wk), however he was the biggest ... even bigger than Leo. Ame lifted him up and just started to laugh, saying "Erica, you're going to have the biggest biceps on the block!" Jasper got teased a little that he was going to be a linebacker. If so, we'll trust his uncle Chris will teach him all he needs to know football-wise. He could be an offensive lineman, too. :) We haven't weighed him recently, but pre-Utah when we were weighing luggage, we also weighed Jasper and think he is around 16lbs. He's a big boy!

One of the benefits of him being so big is that he sleeps like a CHAMP! Yesterday he took a 4hr nap in the afternoon, and then we put him down for bed at 9:30pm last night, and he didn't start really stirring this morning until after 8am. That was with only 4 feedings, too. We were so proud of him! Drew and I have enjoyed good, full nights of sleep for multiple weeks now, and we do not take that for granted. God has blessed us with a healthy and beautiful son. Sorry ... we're biased. :)

Laughing Jasper Video

I'm sorry this is so dark, but it is more about the sound. The video shows Jasper and Erica playing on the couch. He really likes if you hold him up by his arms instead of his body. Erica had him standing on her legs, and she held Jasper up by his arms. The result...hilarity.