Bouncing Boy

Irish Critter Goes To Chicago

Hey there, hi there, hello there! I haven’t posted pictures in a really long time. What can I say? Raising baby is basically three full-time jobs, so time is pretty short. The good news is that we have been taking lots and lots of pictures. On top of everything, we took Critter to Chicago for three weeks to visit friends and family. So, all the pictures that were pre-trip but not posted are in the next posting (back-dated September 21). Here are the shots from our trip.

Of course, John Patrick with his Mom and Dad.

Here’s Critter hanging out with Abo. One consistent factor with these two is that John Patrick couldn’t help but smile and laugh at Abo.

OK, this is pretty neat. Here we see John Patrick with Aba. Now, have a look at the next one:

Here we see John Albert (my brother) with Aba way back when. Casey and I were blown away at how much John Patrick looks like my brother John did when he was a baby.

Speaking of John Cranes, here they all are together for the first time.

I had to post this just because Aba didn’t want her picture taken with her hair in clips and the look on Critter’s face is priceless!

Here we see John Patrick getting to know his Aunt Judy and Cousin Philip.

The Cousins seemed to get along pretty well. Philip is almost two years old and was simply fascinated by the baby, so it was quite amusing to watch the two in action.

My oldest brother Mike came into town and was able to meet his newest nephew as well.

Mike’s oldest daughter Alicia ended up holding John Patrick a lot while she was there. It seems that my son has a way with the pretty girls. Good boy!

Here we see all seven of Abo and Aba’s grandchildren. They have been taking these “on the stairs” shots for a while now – basically every time a new grandchild comes along. Neat stuff.

While in Chicago, I began to teach Critter the ins and outs of being a Bears fan. The number one rule is to always cheer for the team. Apparently, the number two rule is to be prepared for lots of disappointment.

Looks like John Patrick has chosen his favorite player!

Any of the blogger friends that come to this site should recognize the name Jim V. Some of you might know that Jim and I have been close friends since the seventh grade. Of course, John Patrick wanted to meet him!

Critter was also very pleased to meet Jim’s lovely wife Lisa. Hey Lisa: the dinner was fabulous! I’m still stuffed!

I don’t have enough words for Jim and Lisa’s daughter, Rebecca. Oh my cuteness! She and I got along great and John Patrick seemed to get a kick out of her too. Must be that pretty girl thing. Good boy!

Did I happen to mention that Critter seems to have a way with the ladies? Here he is schmoozing my good friend Amy. Somehow, my very good friend Steve (Amy’s husband) managed to avoid the “with the baby” photo. We’ll get you next time!

John Patrick was fascinated with Dylan – probably because he had the chance to watch him play the piano. Amazing stuff.

Here’s John with my good friend Jason – two peas in a pod!

Watch it there, Critter – that’s Jason’s wife and he’s much bigger than you!

We all had such a lovely visit with Jason and Jen. (Once again) hey Jen: the dinner was incredible! I’m still stuffed!

Side-note: if you didn’t gather it already, Casey and I ate like royalty on this trip.

We were able to do a little sightseeing while in Chicago. Here’s the family taking in a nice day at Navy Pier.

Of course, we had to ride the giant Ferris Wheel!

Critter could have done without it.

So, there you have it! We had a really great time in the Windy City. John Patrick was able to meet a whole bunch of people and traveled a lot. Luckily for Mom and Dad (and all the other passengers), he slept the entire time on the flight out and back. It seemed like he grew right in front of our eyes while we were there and made lots of progress in his growth.

Thanks to Abo and Aba for a great three weeks! Thanks to all of our friends who took great pains to make our visit special. Now that the three weeks of travel are over, it’s time for a really big long nap.

Swimming and Smiling

Hello again! I have back-dated this post for September, since that was when I originally prepared these shots for posting but never got the time.

When we last left off, Critter had recently come home and was getting used to his new environment. Here we see him taking a little snooze on Grandma.

It didn’t take Casey very long to figure out that wearing her hair long around the baby poses some slight logistical problems...

Ouch! He’s really strong, you know!

Meanwhile, the eggs on top of the bar hatched and the babies flourished, and eventually flew off. Thanks for the mess!

On August 6, John Patrick was able to enjoy his first swim in the pool.

Well, lightly using the term “enjoy”.

Since he was enjoying himself so much, we decided to give him his first full-on bath afterwards.

“Whew! That was a lot of crying – even for me!”

It was right around this time that Critter started smiling at us, which was a kind relief from the usual racket he was making previously.

So, we figured we’d get him right to work answering the phones when telemarketers call.

After his first encounter with the pool, which he wasn’t too happy about, we thought we would try again. This time he enjoyed himself quite a bit.

It seems that he likes the night swimming as well!

When Critter isn’t swimming or yanking hair, he likes to just hang out on the back patio. It’s so crazy, but he can be crying like mad inside, but he calms down instantly when he is taken outside.

The thinking man.

Here’s the picture we used for his birth announcement. I just love it! Great smile, and in true Irish form he has his dukes up and is ready for pugilism.

New Photos By Request

Bad Daddy! My apologies for the delay in posting more pictures – we have been trying to adjust to our new schedule of not sleeping longer than 30 minutes at a time. I think it is kind-of funny that most of the pictures of John Patrick seem to be of him sleeping. Anyway, here are some more photos of the little guy.

Here’s Gene (a.k.a. Papa) with his grandson.

Here’s John (a.k.a. Abo) with his grandson.

John Patrick says, “Enough of this hospital! Take me home!” Here he is sleeping through his first car ride.

So, when we get home from the hospital, we noticed that there are some other new parents in the neighborhood. Specifically, right on top of our bar. Thanks for all of the poop, birdies.

Well, here’s JP with his Momma giving the impression that he sleeps a lot.

He’s a pretty good faker when the camera comes around. Seriously though, when he does sleep, there’s very little you can do to wake him. He pretty much sleeps very deep like his Dad.

“Don’t you just want to eat him up?”

So, he’s had his first checkup and is doing very well. He’s gaining weight and is perfectly healthy. He was just circumcised last week, so he’s been understandably irritable the past several days, but he’s healing up very nicely. Casey and I have both noticed that he is extremely alert and strong for being so new. From his first day he has been able to lift his head up and we pretty much can’t get him to keep his arms (and fists) to himself. The poor guy is his own worst enemy sometimes: he gets to fussing which gets his arms going and before you know it – POW! – hits himself right in the face. Anyway, back to the photos:

Daddy’s thumb against Mr. Fussypants’ foot.

Here’s Uncle Paul meeting his nephew for the first time.

John Patrick pretending to be the Pope. Dominus Frobiscum.

This is our friend Dennis who was nice enough to drop by and meet our bundle of joy.

This is Dennis’ wife Judy getting a wee-bit of the fussy treatment.

Dennis and Judy are valued members of our Pub Trivia team and live pretty close by to us. Dennis plays guitar and sings too, so he and I were playing a little when they came over. John Patrick was enjoying the music quite a bit, looking over to the side of the room Dennis was on when he played and all the way over to the other side of the room when I played.

So, that’s all for now. Coming soon after clearance from the doctor, I’ll have baby’s first splash in the pool. He’s not quite ready yet, but I guarantee that he’ll be a good swimmer before he can walk. Anyway, here he is helping me work today:

Our little Irish Critter-Bear.