As previous months, Jack T had a lot of firsts in his 11th month! Mommy noticed Jack T staring at her while drinking water from a cup, and so upon offering him water, he drank several sips of water directly from the same cup. He got a big toy bus to push around the condo and chase Bentley. After playing with it he went from taking a couple tentative steps on his own to full-fledged walking in about two weeks. He tried all kinds of new foods including cantaloupe, pineapple, blueberries, cheese, turkey, sweet potatoes, and stuffing (yummy Thanksgiving food)! He had his first really bad cold, however, despite being stuffy and tired, he was still a very agreeable baby. His 7th and 8th teeth came in on the bottom and, after several months of showing him the baby sign, he started making the baby sign for “milk.” Jack got to enjoy lots of time with family and friends for Thanksgiving; seeing both sides of his extended family, “playing” with all his cousins, and spending time with Mommy and Daddy's friends when they hosted Friendsgiving.  After Thanksgiving, Jack also started to enjoy his first Christmas season by going to see Santa Claus (of course he had been a good boy all year 'round) and gazing in awe at Mommy's beautifully decorated Christmas Tree!  Every time we turned on the tree lights he was simply delighted!

(If you're viewing this on Facebook, be sure to click the "View Original Post" link to see the pictures)

Wow, it's been a long time since we've had an update.  There's no way to cover everything that's happened since the last post, so allow me to summarize...

Jack T is now almost 5 months old!  FIVE MONTHS!  Time is just flying by.  He has continued to amaze us every day with his discoveries and adventures.  He has rolled over from tummy to back many times, he just started eating rice cereal, he took his first airplane ride, he is sleeping 10-11 hours a night, and today Mary saw the first signs of a tooth coming in!  Of course, there is quite a bit more, but that is the summary.

Mary and I also had a little "vacation" to Washington DC with her parents.  Although we didn't have a lot of time to look around at the sites, we did get to see the World War II Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and we drove by a few other sites.  I'd love to go back again to spend more time soaking up the history.  Apparently, there is a lot more to our nation's capitol than I saw on my 8th grade field trip.  Oh, we also ate one night at The Burger Joint...awesome burgers!

Another big event was the birth of Jack's new best friend, Benjamin Patrick on March 26! We are so happy that Jack not only has lots of cousins close in age, but also that he'll be friends with some of our best friends' kids. The boys have been in the same place at the same time, but obviously they aren't really aware of each other yet.

Admist all the goings on, we decided to try and sell our condo and look for a home in the burbs. We love our condo and living in the city, but after Jack T was born we came to a realization: babies need a lot of stuff!

Look for videos and pictures to follow!

Two weekends ago, Mary and I took our last vacation before we have Baby in tow.  Mary's parents were going to be in Seattle visiting family, so we decided we'd tag along.

We made it a long weekend, arriving late Thursday night and staying until Monday. Friday, we got to spend the afternoon hanging out with Mary's cousins who live in Seattle. We drove around West Seattle a bit to catch a great view of the skyline.  Afterwards, we walked around Capitol Hill just checking stuff out. There was no shortage of coffee houses, pizza places, and an interesting assortment of shops and bars. All in all, a very cool place.

That night, we all met up for dinner with Mary's parents and aunt and uncle, who came in from outside Seattle to visit as well, at Salty's. I had grilled Alaskan salmon and Mary had king crab legs. After a nice long relaxing dinner, we called it a night.

Saturday, we decided we'd peruse the Pike Place Market.  We spent a few hours just walking around, sampling pastries, baked goods and smoked salmon, and just generally checking things out.  Mary's mom treated us to a few nice little treats.  One of the more interesting things to see was the fish throwers.  Not a lot of people were buying the enormous fish, but the few that did provided a great show for us tourists.  We also discovered what I consider to be the best cupcakes ever.  They were mini cupcakes from a Swedish bakery.  Mary and I split a chai cupcake and a pumpkin cupcake.  They were perfectly moist and delicious! 

That evening we went to a restaurant called Von's Roast House.  Again, the food was great.  Sunday, after Mass, we made a stop at Bakery Nouveau and were fortunate enough to get a table while we sampled some fabulous pastries (twice baked chocolate croissants, parisian macaroons, passion fruit tarts).  Then it was on to some wine tasting!  I felt bad that Mary couldn't participate, but I guess that just means we'll have to go back after the baby is born.  We only made it to one winery, but it was a good one: Chateau Ste. Michelle.  Despite the fact that it was raining, the grounds were beautiful, and the wine was great

After the wine tasting, we said goodbye to Mary's family from Washington, and had one final dinner with Mary's parents at the Pike Brewing Company.  I don't think I had very high expectations for the menu, it being a pub, but the food was actually really good.  I also had one of their beers, and it was great as well.  I definitely recommend stopping there if you're in downtown Seattle.

The next day, Mary and I had breakfast at the hotel, made a quick stop at the market for another pumpkin cookie, and went straight to the airport.  Althought it was only a long weekend, the trip was so relaxing and easy-going, it was just what Mary and I needed!

Last Saturday, Mary and I spent some long overdue time doing things around the house.  Everything from cleaning to laundry to paying bills.  At night, we went out to the burbs to visit our friends, Kristen and Jay.

They recently got married and went on their honeymoon in Maui.  They stayed right next to where we stayed in Ka'anapali.  Their trip was booked before ours, so I guess we copied them, but c'mon, it's Maui!

For dinner, Jay was going to grill, so we expected burgers or something else simple.  That would have been good enough for us.  So to say we were surprised when he grilled steak and lobster tail is an understatement!  They also made guacamole, pasta salad and grilled some pineapple.  All of it was delicious.  Jay even had some LaBatt Blue for me, which took me back to my college days.

Aside from getting to catch up with them and enjoy a nice relaxing evening with friends, I also got to meet their puppy, Kozmo.  He's an eight month old Shih Tzu with short hair and is adorable.  Yes, I'm not afraid to lose man points and call this dog adorable; he's just that cute.

Although Ken already had his bachelor party a few weeks ago, I wanted to try and take him out for a little night on the town with the guys.  Unfotunately, due to timing, two of our good friends couldn't make it, and Steve had to leave early due to a Marley emergency (everything seems to be ok now).

I had a great time, though, and I think Ken had a pretty good time, too.  Most of our night was spent in Chicago's River North neighborhood.  We started with dinner at a place called Theory, which is across the street from Rockit and Howl at the Moon.  The food was pretty good.  They also had a lot of TVs, including small TVs in the booths with the ability for patrons to change the channels.

After dinner, we went to a recently opened cigar lounge called Tesa Cigar Co.  Tesa, which is in River West (and closer to where Mary and I live), specializes in Nicaraguan cigars.  We bought cigars there, and although we didn't know it at the time, you can bring your own beverages.  There were several groups of comfortable leather chairs, perfect for smaller groups to sit around, relax, and enjoy a cigar.

From here, we went to a newly opened bar called District.  It had only opened the night before we went, so there weren't many people there.  I think this place may have been my favorite of the evening.  It was fairly spacious and the main area in the center of the bar was arranged in a large circle.  The circle was outlined with couches and several low-rise bar tables and ottomans, perfect for groups to congregate and unwind.  It was very slick without being pretentious.  Although our server was a little slow, the rest of the service staff was very friendly.  They also had a secluded party room with private bar that was hidden by a secret bookshelf/door, much like an old time speakeasy or hideout. 

While at District, Steve had to depart.  Shortly after he left, Ken and I started our "club" tour!  The first stop was Vertigo Sky in the Dana Hotel.  This place looked really cool on their website, however, it wasn't that great.  The pictures on their site show the place empty and with the lights on.  In reality, it was totally packed, and most of the lights were out, which drastically took away from the "lounge" atmosphere and just made it feel like someone forgot to pay the electric bill.  There were two bars, but they were small and the bartenders seemed to be on top of each other trying to serve drinks.  The only cool thing was the outside deck with a night view of the city, but since it was raining, no one was outside.  We left after about 25 minutes (as long as it took us to finish our drinks).  Since there was no cover, I'd recommend going there some time just to see the view from the outdoor sky deck.

From Verigo Sky, we made it to our last stop, The Underground.  Although this really isn't our normal scene, and there was a $20 cover, it was pretty cool.  It was crowded and there was no where to sit unless you paid for bottle service (starting at $300), but it was a good last stop for our night on the town.  The music was good and the crowd was energetic.  We stayed for about an hour before deciding to call it quits.  Ken and I climbed into a cab and immediately crashed when we got back to our place.  When all was said and done, we had a pretty good time.  Hopefully it was just the thing Ken needed before tying the knot, although, I doubt you'll see either of us in the clubs any time soon!