than in the arms of your grandmother. Jack shares a sleepy moment on a Sunday evening with his Gram.

A few days after Anne and I got home from the hospital we noticed that a house right behind us had put the exact same “it’s a boy” sign in their yard from the same hospital as ours. We wondered if we had been at Baptist Hospital during the same time. Maybe Jack and this boy were even in the nursery together.

When Anne and I would take walks in our neighbor we would deliberately walk slow past their house in case they came out but we never met them. This past week, I was standing with Jack in our driveway and a couple walked by with a stroller. We started to talk and I discovered this was the couple from the next street. We thought it was funny that we had both recently had babies at the same hospital. I then asked them when their boy was born and they said April 22.

“Really! That is when our boy was born,” I said.

We talked a little bit more and then they continued their walk. Yesterday afternoon, my mom and anne’s parents and the Horch family took a walk in our neighborhood. As we approached the other couple’s house we noticed them outside and stopped for a chat. This time we got a chance for the two boys to officially meet. Their boy Henry was sitting in the exact same carrier as Jack’s. This made for a fun first picture as both dads brought the carriers together.

We hope Jack and Henry get a chance to get to know each other. Every boy needs a best friend in the neighborhood. Be forewarned neighborhood. Jack and Henry are here and there are many adventures to be had.

With The Colonel in town this weekend, Jack can’t just sleep in and hang out like he normally would. The morning is a time for getting in shape. So grandpa put Jack through a rigorous workout to see if he is just strong or Army strong.

Jack has met all of his grandparents except one:  The Colonel.

Anne’s dad is a retired colonel in the United States Army. He is a West Point graduate and a veteran of Viet Nam where he earned a purple heart, silver star and a bronze star. Anne’s mom (Grammy) and the Colonel (also known simply as Grandpa) will be visiting this weekend.

I’ve been trying to warn Jack that his nursery better be in order. The Colonel will probably want to inspect his crib with a white glove and make sure his onesies are crisply starched and ironed. I also told Jack that he will want to be on his best behavior. The Colonel doesn’t want to see any of this crying and whining. And definitely no pooping. You can’t win a war when you are pooping.

Jack is a little nervous. Will he pass inspection?

I don’t think our son has anything to worry about. In reality, when The Colonel sees his little grandson I think he is going to just pick him up, weep like grandpas do and hold him close the entire weekend. Because as our family knows, when it comes to grandchildren, The Colonel is just one big softy.

Because I know this is a family-friendly blog I have limited any stories I have about poo and pee to a minimum. But yesterday I experienced the biggest poo yet.

It was morning and Jack was peacefully sitting in his carrier randomly starring around the living room. I had just changed his diaper less than 30 minutes earlier and all seemed right with the world. As I sat on the couch watching my son, Jack let out a long toot/gurgling sound. He didn’t immediately cry so I just let him be. And then less than a minute later another gurgling sound erupted from our little boy. He still didn’t respond so again I just let him be. But then….

He must have realized he was carrying something a little extra down in the diaper because he suddenly started to cry and cry and cry. I picked him up and instantly knew (or smelled) that we had a problem.

I took him over to the changing table and as I began to unsnap his onesie there was little doubt I was going to find something unlike anything I had experienced. As I opened up the diaper, I found a poo that was the poo of all poos. Not only was it all over him, it was all over his onesie and even the blanket he was wrapped him.

This was the first great male bonding moment between father and son. I congratulated him on this great achievement. He seemed to be pleased. I quickly cleaned him up, put a new, clean diaper on him and then put a new, fresh onesie on him.

We then went upstairs and Jack enthusiasticly told his sleepy mom about his great accomplishment. She seemed excited (and probably because she wasn’t the one who had change it).

I’m proud of you, Jack. I’m proud of you.

Jack has started a new sleeping habit and it is one we are trying to break. Like any new parents, we are always looking for ways to get our son to quiet down and sleep. Over the past month we have found that Jack loves sleeping on our chest. He will literally sleep there for hours. The good part is that it is always fun to have your little baby sleeping on your chest. The bad part is that you are stuck in one spot for a long time.

Recently, we have noticed that not only does he enjoy this spot but now it is the only spot he will sleep. He will be crying and you pick him up and put him on your chest and he quickly falls to sleep. You place him in his carrier or the pack ‘n play or even crib and he just cries. You put him on your chest and he is out in a second.

We know he is comfortable in these other positions but now he is refusing to sleep there. This seems to be his first trait of being finicky which you often see in babies. For example, You see little kids who grow up and they will only eat certain things making dinner time difficult. So with this new sleeping pattern, Anne and I going to try to wean Jack off this one position and make sure he will sleep everywhere.

We know it won’t be easy because we know he will get fussy anywhere else but developing good sleeping habits starts now. We could just let him keep this pattern but it just seems like it would eventually be awkward to have a 18-year old boy sleeping on your chest.