Eight Months!

Dear Jack,

You were eight months old on Saturday!

I might be a bit biased, but I believe you are just the cutest thing I've ever seen.  You are so curious these days, and you have some of the funniest facial expressions.  Your Mac and Babs always said that whatever I was thinking came across in my facial expressions, and I think you are going to be the same way.  You are reaching for everything!  If it's within your reach, you want it, and it goes right in your mouth.  You are chewing on everything too, which leads us to believe that you are teething, although still no sign of a tooth.  

You are jabbering a lot!  The other day, when you were jumping in your Johnny-Jump-Up, I leaned down to pick you up, and you looked up at me, smiled and said, "Mama"!  Oh my goodness, my heart just melted!!!  I'm pretty sure you weren't addressing me as "Mama", although I'd kinda like to think that you were, and it was precious nonetheless :)  You've started to jabber something that sounds like "dadada", but not "Dada" yet.  We get a lot of "bababa" and "mmmmamama".  You are getting louder too!  You love to give high-pitched little squeals and shreaks, especially while jumping in the Jump-Up.

You are still nursing and eating solid foods about twice a day.  Your favorites are still the fruits, but you are starting to like some of the veggies too.  We gave you a steamed carrot the other day and tore it into tiny pieces, which you really liked.  I've tried a few homemade baby food recipes, like applesauce and blueberry banana yogurt, which were both a hit.  I have been trying to get you to pick up Puffs with your fingers, but you still haven't mastered that skill yet, nor do you like Puffs yet.  I imagine you will soon!  I have also tried to get you to drink out of a sippy cup and hold it yourself, but it ain't happenin'.  You just end up getting soaked.   You do love water!  We've found that out recently with all the hot temps!

You STILL have not slept through the night . . . Come on, Jack, Mommy is tired!!!  I hate even saying it, but you still wake up anywhere between one and three times during the night.  Needless to say, we are going through a lot of coffee these days!

You are sitting up very well and doing a little scooting too!  You can't get very far yet, but I can tell that crawling is right around the corner.  You can pull up on your knees and rock back and forth and also pull yourself just a little bit on your tummy.

You are still wearing size 3 diapers and 9 and 12 month size clothing.  You are close to 18 lbs. now if not 18 already.  Your little thighs are so chubby!  I just love it.  Last month I started using the cloth diapers that I had intended on using ever since you were born!  So far, so good!  Hopefully I can keep up with the extra laundry . . . next month's post will tell all :)

You still love playing peek-a-boo and being tickled.  You also still love it when someone jumps out and scares you or throws you into the air.  We recently took you over to Mac and Babs house to swim in the pool and you DID NOT like it.  At all.  The loud splashing was too much to handle and you lost it!  Pitiful crying and screaming ensued, and we all felt horrible.  Oh, well.  You'll love it one day, and I'm sure we'll have to bribe you to get you out of the pool!  You do love splashing in the sink though when you get a bath, so maybe you're warming up to the water a bit.

Happy 8th month to our little Jack Little!  We love you so!        

Seven Months!

Dear Jack,

You are seven months and three and a half weeks old!  Or in other words - almost eight months.  Poor neglected seven month post . . .  I've seriously had this on my "To Do" list for the past month and just have not gotten around to it until now.  

 Jack Man, Stinker, Little Man, and Buddy are just a few of the names we've had for you lately.  You are growing, growing, growing!  I feel like I have to stop everyday and take a good long look at you, because the next day you'll look different.  You are growing up, My Jack!

Now, on to the stats!  At your last doctors appointment, you weighed 17 lbs. 2.5 oz., you were 27" long, and had a head circumference of 17.5".  You are still wearing size 3 diapers and 9 month clothing.  You are wearing a lot of 12 month stuff too, but only because Mommy wants to get her money's worth.  They're still a little big :)  

Jack Little at seven months . . . what can I say?  Your sweet little personality shows itself more and more everyday and what a joy it is to watch.  You have the sweetest, most gentile disposition - always smiling, always laughing, and always observing things around you.  I think you are going to be a lot like your Mommy and Daddy were when they were younger - a little shy and timid, just wanting to watch and take it all in before joining in.

  You love to be thrown into the air, you love for someone to hide and then jump out at you, you love to play hide-and-seek, and you love to be tickled.  You LOVE to jump in the Johnny Jump-Up.  That's like your new favorite activity.  Your normal toys have taken a backseat in your mind to some more standard everyday household items such as . . . well, anything and everything.  If it's within your reach, you want to grab it and put it in your mouth.  Even a pair of women's underwear from the lingerie department at Belk made it into your mouth.  True story.  Grabbed 'em when I wasn't looking.  Yuck.  Moving on.

You are sitting up so well these days, I know it's only a matter of time before you start crawling.  

(Insert sobbing here.)

Your hair still sticks straight up, and we love it!

Mommy is still feeding you pureed baby food a few days a week, but mostly you are still nursing.  You love all of the fruits - apples, bananas, pears, etc. - but still aren't too sure about the veggies.  Your little appetite seems to have slowed down a bit.  You don't nurse nearly as long as you used to.  I tried recently to cut up a banana into small pieces to see if you would grab some and put it in your mouth, however you weren't quite sure about that gooey texture on your hands or in your mouth.

Jack Little, you are the light of our lives, and we grow fonder of you everyday!

*Pics. to come*

Phone Pics: Beaver Creek, Colorado

Mummi and Doc took us on an awesome vacation to Beaver Creek, Colorado back in December of 2011! Here are just a few pics from the trip! The most memorable part of the trip for me was getting to have Brett and Sarabeth there! Mummi, Doc, Brett, and Sarabeth had done an excellent job at keeping their coming a secret. They were able to completely surprise me and Jonathan! It was great, and we had so much fun :)

Phone Pics: Lexington, Virginia

It's funny to me now to think back to how scared and unsure I was when I found out we were moving to Virginia. I had never lived outside the state of Alabama, and while I always dreamt about doing so someday, it wasn't until it was my actual reality that I had to come face to face with how I really felt about it, mostly fear and sadness mixed with a little excitement.

Now that we've gone through the experience, I can say without a doubt that it was a time in our lives that I wouldn't trade for anything. We were just two young newlyweds in a gorgeous little historic Virginia town livin' on love and student loans (and my measly, little Enterprise salary)! It was awesome, and I look back at these pictures with such fondness.

Phone Pics: Meeting Henry

I'm going to have to do a series of "Phone Pics" posts, because I gotta lot of 'em! I've been meaning to put these up for a while but just hadn't gotten around to it. Now I will say that a lot of these are pretty old. Like over a year and a half old...Oh well! I never said I was good at this blogging stuff!

Ok, so here we are meeting our sweet nephew, Henry, for the first time! I'm pretty sure that these pictures are on the post I put up after he was born, but lets be honest, you really can't see that sweet face too many times. I can't believe that Henry is going on two years old and Ben and Laura are about to add another sweet little boy to their family. Where does the time go?

My First Mother's Day

We celebrated my very first Mother's Day this past weekend, and it was wonderful! We got to spend the entire weekend as a family, which doesn't happen a lot these days. We had Saturday brunch at Over Easy in Mountain Brook, did a little furniture shopping, and then went to a beautiful wedding reception for my friend, Carly, Saturday night! We went to worship services on Sunday and ate lunch at this somewhat new meat and three restaurant in Homewood called Johnny's with several of our closest friends and family. The weekend could not have been any better!

I am blessed beyond measure to have such a wonderfully caring mother and also to be the mother of a beautiful, sweet, and healthy little boy. God is good, and I am thankful.