happy fall!

Handsome already... Jack turned 2 months old yesterday. I can hardly believe how sweet this boy is! Lately he has taken to smiling constantly (as long as he is fed and rested) and chattering incessantly with John & I. I really need to capture his personality on video and get it up here so you all can see baby Jack Jack in motion! Below are a bunch of super cute photos of Jack's last couple of weeks.




Such a happy little man.




So cute before church in one of my favorite jackets on him! He was just about ready to nod off in this photo... not cranky, just serious about his droopy eyes. He and I slept quite well through our Relief Society lesson. I'm sure it was very good, but as it was our first sunday back at all 3 meetings I couldn't have expected any different from myself.




Here we are after church. He was fed and I was well rested. :)




Ready to go out car hunting.




Working from home. I love this arrangement! I can have conference calls while feeding Jack and none's the wiser. :) I always made fun of people with bluetooth headsets for their phones... thought they were more like schizophrenics with imaginary friends rather than multi-tasking types. And now I have joined their ranks! It's amazing how much easier these Star Trek-like earpieces make my days.




Big brown eyes. Jack in tummy time working his push ups.




And... our little family.

Jack's blessing weekend

So much joy. I realize that isn't exactly a complete sentence, but verbs seem to water down how we feel about this Jack boy. Really, I can't put into words how great his blessing weekend was. We had family come in from northern and southern California just for the occasion. Everyone's trip in was a pretty quick turnaround, but we loved having you there with us. We really missed the rest of our family scattered across the country, but we know you were there in spirit anyway and we love you.

John gave Jack a beautiful blessing. I am increasingly more grateful for the man I chose to marry. He is such a good father and has done so much during the first part of Jack's life. Jack was an angel baby for the blessing and we are so glad that he loved his little hat! We certainly were glad that he kept his "boy noises" to himself while John, Grandpa Boothe, Tou Ta (Grandpa Luangrath), Ty Malay, Greg, Ron, Chris, and Jeff were in the circle. Thanks again to everyone who was there.

We came back and had a quick lunch so the Boothe group from Cali could make their way south. Meh & Poh stayed until Monday afternoon. We miss everyone so much especially those who are so far away. Thank goodness for skype! For all of you, here are our favorite photos of the day...

Our boy Jack

Jack turned six weeks old October 2nd. At once time seems to be going by so fast yet thankfully so slowly. Here's one of my favorite photos... the boy with big brown eyes. It's hard to believe that Jack is getting so big already and is doing so much! I feel so honored to be his mommy and couldn't imagine being happier! So here is a bit of catch up for everyone...



I have such a great mom! Post c-section, Mom offered to stay with us for 2 weeks helping with the baby while John studied for his DAT and I recuperated. She is absolutely amazing. I gained a stronger testimony for the power of prayer and service... though she continued her cancer treatments while she was here, she had boundless energy and I couldn't have done it without her. We love you!



Here's our diaper-clad boy on his two-week visit to the pediatrician. Jack weighed in at 9 pounds 4 ounces and still had his umbilical cord... it fell off later that day. Check out Jack's kick! I felt that from week 17 on during pregnancy. We think he'll be a great swimmer someday.



Sweet baby {and sleepy mommy} at three weeks old. I am so glad we found this rocking chair! Perfect condition, perfect size, great starting workout for the quads... all for only $35 on craigslist.


I love this. We went to check on the baby in his cradle and found that Jack had turned onto his side and was holding to the bumper pad. This is one of his many positions he likes to sleep in.


Post-bath cuddliness... Jack loves his baths. {and the cocoons his Daddy likes to put him in}


Grandma-great with a squealing Jack. Despite his new-found volume {still nothing compared to the baby downstairs from us}, I love his Jack-the-jungle-cub roar. He likes to let us know he is here.



Showing off his nightcap.


Kisses for Daddy.

At long last, here is a slew of photos for you to see what we Salt Lake City Luangraths been up to for the past couple of weeks. I've got photos here ranging from just before we went in on August 21st, to Jack's one-week old birthday photo.



John & I just before we went into the hospital on the morning of August 21st.



Here I am getting prepped and ready to go for Jack's dramatic entrance into this world.



Just after coming out of the O.R. Needless to say, I was pumped full of IV fluids and had just had a lovely dose of oxygen to get me breathing normally again. That wouldn't be the first time I would need it. It took them roughly 5 hours to get me stabilized due to my reaction to the spinal block. I don't remember much of this as they were pumping me full of other drugs to stop the nausea and subsequent side effects of that... good thing, because my mom fondly refers to part of these 5 hours as "the episode." Apparently I scared a lot of people that day... and it wasn't even Halloween! Luckily, baby Jack was perfectly healthy. Look at the next photo of our handsome boy.



Presenting... Jack Chansathit Luangrath. 8 pounds 4 ounces and 20 inches of pure joy.



Me and our boy the day after he was born. With the nasty drugs out of me and the good ones in... I was feeling pretty great considering I was sawed in half the day before. Oh yeah, and the original plan of a 4" incision went out the window since he came out "jack" knifed bottoms up... I now have a lovely 9" smiley face on my tummy. :) We love finding the humor in everything.



My sweet husband John and our boy. John was there every second of the 5 days in the hospital helping me with literally everything. I couldn't have done this without him and feel so blessed to have such an amazing husband.



Our first family photo. So happy!



Awww... angel baby Jack. He is the sweetest baby and so good!



Another great moment with our boy. We only got to see him for 30 minutes every three hours the first few days of his life. He was under the bright lights in the nursery trying to get his bilirubin count down... jaundice. He's doing great now!



Jack in his chariot, ready to go home.



I can't express how great it felt getting out of the hospital! I was so ready to enjoy the great outdoors again... even if it was just the walk from our car up the stairs to our apartment. 98 degrees and a slow stroll up the stairs. :)



Home at last.



Jack's first bath. Clearly he already loves the camera! I got to watch and hold his binkie... not too much that I get to do for a few weeks yet.



Jack... a little of me and a little of John. He is just perfect!



Daddy's little boy. I've got to frame this one!



Here are those straight legs and cute little feet that were wedged in my ribs for so many weeks. Long torso and dark brown curly hair.



Happy Birthday Jack! Here he is at one week old. He is already holding up his head, experimenting with his voice cooing at his animals, and he even cracks a non-colicky smile every now and again. Love him!


We are so ecstatic to have this sweet little boy in our family. He's even sleeping better through the night... sleeps 2 hours, eats, sleeps 2, eats... we are learning so much!

Happy Birthday Jack!!!!

Hello all!!! Man, are we so excited. We are proud to present to you, the newest addition to our family, baby Jack Chansathit Luangrath!!!!!

Melissa delivered the baby on Thursday, August 21st, at 12:14 pm via cesarean. It seems Jack was fooling everyone by pretending his head was his bottom, so we thought he was head down. But, he was head up, so we had to go in there and get him out. I thought he didn't want to come out because he was a momma's boy and wanted to hang out some more. And since I thought his bottom was up, I would joke that he was mooning us. It turns out he was just saying "hi". The funny thing is Jack knew how to get out by pushing, but he was pushing up, rather than down.

So, out came Jack, at 8 lbs 4 oz, and 20 inches long! He's a mighty fine looking baby. He doesn't like to cry much, when he does, you know it. I'm here just to update our blog so all of our friends and family can see some photos.

So, without further ado, heeeeeeeeere's Jack!!!!


They put some ointment on his eyes to prevent blindness.


Proud parents.


Welcome to our family Jack!!!!