The Great Christmas Post

We had such a great Christmas and sure hope you all did too!

We'll start with Christmas Eve... We finally filled up the advent birdhouse and made it to the big white dove! Must mean Santa is on his way!


So we dressed up in our finest duds...



and accessories! Every Christmas Eve we head to Uncle Harold's for a feast and we all show up decked out in flashing Rudolph noses and antlers or Santa hats! Granny wears it well!



Jack didn't think it was so much fun...



But once we got to Uncle Harold's and got out of the fancy clothes, he had a good time!



He's studying Grams' nose here...wondering what in the world it's all about!



And studying Uncle Aaron here, wondering what he's all about!



Before we knew it, it was time to head home! But Christmas morning brought more fun!



Auntie Kari, Uncle Sean and Maggie sent goodies that Jack got to open first! Look at that concentration!



It was worth all the hard work though! He found a book that he loves inside!!



Then it was off to Grams and Gramps' house for...MORE presents and fun! These weren't his but by this point, he thought they were ALL his!



See all the presents in this picture? ALL for Jack. He and Gramps were already working on some too!



After all that, he still had a little energy left to help Daddy open his!



After a LONG nap, he was up again playing with all of his new toys!



These cars and trucks and helicopters might have been his favorite!



It was a most wonderful Christmas Day!



Friday it was off to Manassas to see Grandpa and Great Grandma and Great Grandpa! Uncle Alan was also there and Aunt Jo Ann, cousins Mandy, Richard, Lexie, and Dylan all came over too! it was so great to see everyone and for the little ones to meet!

Dylan tickled Jack...



and then Mandy taught Jack how to play with the VSmile! She had all 3 kids on top of her playing electronic games! It MUST be Christmas!


Then Dylan taught Grandma how to play!



"It's much more comfy playing while snuggled up under a big Spider Man blanket though Grandma!"



Jack showed everyone how he can pull himself up..."it takes so much effort!"



"But I can do it!!"



Then he and Grandpa checked out the sales papers to see what good deals they could find!



Grandpa brought Jack this great frog that he followed around for a good while!



and a new Elmo book that they read together!



Full of smiles! "Christmas is fun!"



The next morning it was time to go. Time to head home and get back into our routine. But not before some hugs from Great Grandpa! Thanks so much for having us and we can't wait to get back to see you!



I think Jack was a bit overwhelmed by everything this year. Next year I'm sure he'll be more excited. He was a lot of fun, but just not sure what it was all about. We missed out on one of my favorite traditions - the Hailey Christmas Eve gathering, but hope we can make it to that next year. Jack was tuckered out by the time we left Uncle Harold's and we just thought it might be asking for trouble trying to get him to cooperate through another room full of people he didn't know. It was so nice to get to see everyone (except the O'Donnells :(!) and to enjoy Christmas as a family. We are really looking forward to all the fun the New Year will bring!

It was only a matter of time

Since the tree went up, Jack has been completely unimpressed. He didn't look at it, bother it, or even notice it. Until this morning! I'm not sure what happened, but he's been fascinated by it and taking the ornaments off.









Hopefully he won't pull the whole thing over before it's time to take it down!

Christmas with Grandma

Grandma leaves town tomorrow to go see Emory and Ellie so we got to have Christmas with her tonight! I think Jack was a bit overwhelmed by it all! So much paper, so many new toys!









I think this caterpillar was the hit! You push on the top and it rolls away. He crawled after it over and over.



I can tell it's going to be such a fun Christmas! Thanks Grandma for all of our great gifts!

Santa!

We went to see Santa today! We tried the Children's Museum and the Legendary Santa but the wait was 3.5 hours! So off to the mall with us...where there was a 15 or 20 minute wait tops. Jack was not so sure about the whole thing. He never fussed but you could tell he was wondering what in the world we were doing. Regency had a Polar Express theme with lots of fun stuff to do while you waited. Here we are in the snow globe...



And here's Jack with Santa! Looking a bit stunned, but not fussing!



We didn't get to hear what he told Santa he wanted, so I guess it will be a surprise to all!

The elves...

There aren't really words that can do this justice! Just check it out. Thanks to Grams and Gramps for making the video!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Forward

Check him out!

Weekend happenings - part 1

We've had another busy weekend but so full of fun! And we needed it...I got laid-off last Thursday and while that's all going to be ok, it sure made for a lousy week! But the weekend made everything feel SO much better. Nothing like a big dose of family and friends to put everything back in perspective. I'm so thankful for all of the love and support and blessings in my life. So thankful!!

Friday night Dillyn came to play! YAH! It was the first time the cousins have gotten to spend the night together, so it was really special and I just loved having both of them! I remember so well when Dillyn was a baby and I can hardly believe she's 11. It just reminded me how fast this all really goes and how I need to be sure to soak it all up. She'll be off to college (Virginia Tech of course!) before I know it!



Dillyn brought Jack his very first Christmas present and as you might have guessed, the paper was the real hit!



We spent the evening with Grams and Gramps (aka Dixie and Merlin) and had a great time! Grams bought Jack a Santa hat made for babies and it doesn't come close to fitting over his big head!



So we tried to get a picture using an adult Santa hat, and it was a bit too big...but still very cute!



Dillyn played us a tune on the piano and Jack tried to help...



Saturday we spent some time with Grandma celebrating her birthday! She brought out lots of fun toys for Jack and he said thanks by helping her open her presents!



Then Grandma and her boys looked at old pictures of Richmond and learned all about how things used to be!



Grandma also took Jack for a wagon ride, which he really enjoyed! It was such a nice relaxing day.



When we got home, Jack had a present from Mandi and Grace! The CUTEST lion mittens ever!!



He wasn't so sure what to think about them though...



And it's only Sunday morning - we still have a whole day of fun ahead. Stay tuned...

Happy birthday Grandma and Grandpa!

Hope that you both have wonderful days! We love you...



By the way, this wasn't a photo shoot drape - he and Kenny were playing peekaboo (or rather "Where's Jack?") while putting clean sheets on the bed. Jack (and Kenny too!) thought it was GREAT fun!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

Today we finally got around to decorating! We brought everything up from the basement this morning and got started just before Jack's morning nap. He slept for an hour and a half or so and when we brought him down, the tree was up, decorated and lit! He wasn't quite sure what to make of it...





Here's a few of our favorite ornaments. My very favorite of course, is the one in the top left corner!



And, I'm sure Jack would say his very favorite Christmas decoration is this bear that he got from the LaPrades before he was even born that recites the Night Before Christmas. He LOVES it!








We've also been working on filling up the advent birdhouse that Grams and Gramps sent us! The countdown is on...just 19 more days!

9 months old!

Another month older. I had no idea it would go this fast. I almost wish there was a pause button, but then again, watching him learn and explore is so exciting and fulfilling that I'd probably not be able to keep it all paused for very long. This month things definitely changed! He became so mobile and wiggly and curious and actually quite nosey!

He's 19 lbs 2 ounces (just below 50th percentile), 28.5 inches long (just above 50th percentile), and his head is still big at 19" (95th percentile).



He's still crawling backwards but he pulls up on everything he can and much prefers standing to sitting or crawling. He's learned how to get the toy he wants from the toy basket! After a few months of hating the Exersaucer, he has tolerated it much better this month.

He's eating more table food than baby food. His most favorite treat is a graham cracker, although he still loves his cheerios. He isn't excited at all about having a bottle and often fights it pretty hard (pushing us away or throwing the bottle as far as he can). We tried switching to regular formula this month and it went ok for a few days, which is better than it has gone in the past. The doctor thinks it's not the milk as much as his acid reflux, so we're back on Zantac and Alimentum but have plans to introduce yogurt soon and see how that goes. Then maybe we can try regular formula again. Either way, Dr. Schweiker says he'll be on whole milk at a year rather than rice or soy milk so that's good news!

He makes a lot of sounds - da and ba are still the most prevalent though sometimes you get a ma, pa, ga, ra, la or ta. He's become more interested in books this month, although he gets the most pleasure from turning the pages!

He consistently sleeps from 7:30 PM until 6:30 AM unless there's something going on, like a cold or a tooth or something bothering him. The napping really improved this month. Two good naps at 9 and 1 are pretty much required if the evenings are to be tolerable. However, this month was also the end of the wanting to be rocked phase, much to my dismay. Jack prefers to put himself to sleep and in fact, if there's ANYTHING else to do, he isn't going to go to sleep. It's certainly easier to just put him to bed awake, but I really miss our snuggle time in the rocker listening to lullabies.

He's much more independent in general. He wants to feed himself and figure it all out himself. If you try and help and he's not interested, he'll just push your hands away. He's rather stubborn in that regard, but always sure he knows what he wants! But so it goes...they grow up and want to be more independent, and I know that's a very good thing. While I miss my tiny guy, I sure do love this bigger guy so full of personality! We learn more and more about each other every single day and it's just all so overwhelmingly wonderful!



Thanks doodlebug for being such a joy...