4 Months

Under the tree at Grammy and Pops's

Love the blanket and pillow Aunt Annie and Karissa made

JD & Jack (finding his thumb)

Opening presents from Krebs family

Charlie & Jack

We love Thursdays when Gramadel comes to visit. Jack always has a smile for her.

Your first Christmas. It was so wonderfully peaceful. We stayed home this year to spend Christmas morning together. All of the kids were excited to open their gifts and we had so much fun watching each other and sharing the time together. Jack, of course, loved the paper and boxes! He has a shirt that says, "All Mommy wants for Christmas is a Silent Night." That could not be more true! Oh to sleep again. Some day... :-) After the opening of gifts we went to Fayetteville to celebrate with the Shankle family. It was crazy wonderful chaos as always!

Jack's first Christmas Tree

I love all of our stockings. I bought them when we had only 3 children. I bought enough for 6 children. This year I ordered another for baby Jack.

On your 4 Month birthday I took you to see Blythe our PA. You weighed 16 pounds 4 ounces! What a chunk! I am so happy about how wonderfully you are growing. She said that I could try some rice cereal to see if it helps you sleep better. You sleep at night from 10 pm- 2 am then often wake every hour after. Your day time naps are not much better only about 1 hour usually. Here are pics of your first bites of cereal. You really have enjoyed it and do a great job eating! I love you so much, my little sack of sugar!

Sometimes You're So Serious

FINALLY A SMILE!

I absolutely cannot resist your adorable pouty lips! I laugh so hard when you raise your eyebrows at me. My heart melts every time I look into your eyes! I LOVE YOU!

3 Months

Thanksgiving was such a nice time. We were able to go out to Gramadel's cabin to celebrate with Uncle Jim, Aunt Connie, Tommy, Erin & Jeejo. We really enjoyed our time out there as we always do. Gramadel did all of the cooking except for the green bean casserole that she let me take.

Jack & Uncle Jim

Jack & Erin (She is expecting and not feeling well)

We enjoyed having Cortland and Conley with us too!

There are many sweet girls that enjoy holding Jack Henry. This is Ketrina Koons that comes looking for him any chance she can.

Trooper and Jack

You are just starting to be able to hold yourself up in the Bumbo, but you don't last long. We will have to work on those abs. :-) November was a fun month. Uncle Ben, Aunt Stacy and cousins Sawyer, Walker, Sunny & Trooper came over for the weekend. You had so much fun laughing at Trooper and being in the middle of all of the kids. We are thankful to have family so close.

1 month-3 months

At the Liberty Football Stadium

2 months old

With friends Anna and Summer Wolf

2 months old

Charlie, Jack & George

age 2 weeks

Jack with Grandma Barb

age 2 weeks

Visiting with Gma Barb during her visit.

age 2 weeks

Pops and Grammy came to visit

10 days old

Time has flown by in so many ways! You are such a joy to have in our family. You are smiling all of the time and even giggle at us every day! I am amazed at how ticklish you are! Is that soon to be so giggly? You had your 2 month doctor appointment and weighed in at 14 pounds! You are doing great on all of your development! You are nursing often. It seems to be your favorite past time! You are not the best sleeper, but love to be held and have lots of attention. That is good because your brothers and sisters are always around to give you just that! You are not a big fan of the car seat, but did pretty well on our long trip to Lynchburg and Pennsylvania to see a Liberty football game and to visit Grandma Barb and Pap.

2 Weeks

Dear Jack Henry, You are already 2 weeks old. It is hard to believe that you have been here 2 weeks, but also feels like I have loved you forever. You are a delight to our family. I have done little else but hold you and study your sweet little face and watch all of your precious expressions. You are eating about every 3 hours and sleeping in between. Every one of your siblings asks to hold you. You have spent very little time lying down alone. I am not sleeping very well because you are in the room with us. I hear every grunt and squeak that you make at night. The sleeplessness is starting to catch up with me, but I'll survive. I love being your mom and I am thrilled that you are here! Grandmadel is happy to have another baby to rock. She stops by as often as she can to get a few minutes to rock you. Pops and Grammy came last Sunday for a visit. Pops had been in China and just returned. Then Wednesday Grandma Barb came to stay for the week. She has enjoyed getting to hold you and love on you just like the rest of us. We all think you look a bit like George and a bit like RandiKate. We will enjoy watching you grow.

Finally!

Baby Jack Henry Summers made his arrival Friday August 13, 2010 at 2:36 a.m. He weighed in at 9 POUNDS and 22 inches long. He is our biggest baby by far! He is well and wonderful and we are immensely grateful!

Birth story:

8 days past my due date. YUCK! It is so hard to be over due! I had not had any contractions to speak of the entire day. At 10pm I went to bed. Then, I had a couple of contractions, maybe 5 in that hour. At 11 pm my water broke. It wasn't a real obvious water break, just a trickle and I thought, "I think my water broke." At 11:15 pm I called my mom and told her to come on. I also called Ruth our midwife and told her. She arrived at 12:30 am. I was 8 cm dilated. I was feeling pretty good about my progress and felt as if the contractions were manageable at this point. All of the kids were sleeping, so we decided to let them stay. My friends Laura Robertson and Dalene Fisher came over and agreed to take the children in the case that they awakened. At 2:15 my mom arrived. I was then 9 cm. I decided to get into the birthing tub. I got about a 3 minute break from the tough contractions and then they really hit hard. I began pushing. I could tell it was more difficult than in the past. I wasn't feeling strong. Finally, his head came out, but then I was still have trouble with the shoulders. Turns out he had moderate shoulder dystocia and was stuck. He did come out after 3-4 pushes, but wasn't ready to breathe. He gave us a bit of a scare, but began to breathe and "pink up" after about a minute. There is nothing so wonderful as the cry of a newborn baby. Thank you Jesus!

The past 4 days have been perfectly dreamy. I am so in love with this little baby. I have held him and slept with him as much as possible. All of the siblings are as thrilled with him as we are. We woke Chandler and RandiKate up about 4 am to meet baby Jack Henry. At 7 am Lily, George, John David, and Charlie came in to see him. Lily was amazed that he was no longer in my belly, but announced, "I fink ders anudder one in der." They all want to hold him and love and kiss on him. I don't think he will be lacking for attention.

He is a great nurser. He had one night of upset tummy, but I think mommy ate something too strong. He is sleeping like a charm. Doing all of his jobs well. My mom has been here ever since but went home today. She is a great help and I am a little overwhelmed with the idea of doing all of this alone. Some one said, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." That is how I must approach my job each day. I am overwhelmed with thankfulness for this I have been given.

40 Weeks

I must admit I didn't think I would find myself pregnant at this point. I am so looking forward to holding our new little baby in my arms. I love babies, the smell, holding, feeding, sleeping. The last 2 weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions for me. There were some days that I felt that I could do anything. I had so much energy. Then there were other days that I just didn't think I would make it another minute. Truly, I feel great physically, all things considered. Sure, I have aches and pains and exhaustion, but all in all, I am doing great. Funny how hard it is to wait. Most people I meet seem confused by the fact that I am this far along. The next question they ask is, "Will you induce?" No, we don't have plans to induce unless there was a medical need for it. The younger kids are confused as to why we have been counting the days and now Baby Jack is not here. It's fun. Today I go to see our midwife. This weekend we have a birthday party planned for George and Lily. All of the Shankle family will be here and lots of friends. Could make for some excitement.