He just played too hard!

I was trying to keep him awake and happy until we went for a w-a-l-k (have to spell it, or else Maggie gets too excited and then dissappointed when she can't go...) but apparently he couldn't hold on any longer. I was working with my back to him and all of a sudden I realized I wasn't hearing any noises from him. When I went to investigate, he had put himself to sleep in his chair, which he hasn't done in AGES! I love how his little hand has to go over his eyes. When I went to put him in his bed, he let out one whine of protest, rolled over to his tummy and kept sleeping. Being a baby is such hard work. :)

quite a silly adventure...

(sorry the pictures are so out of whack, I don't know yet how to rearrange them...)
we decided to take a whirlwind trip back to Nashville, leaving yesterday when Daddy got off work (an hour LATE!) spending the night and coming back this morning before Daddy had to be at work. We are just so excited that Pops and Bertie are back in town, we wanted to welcome them back as soon as we could!!

Since we left so late we had to stop for dinner at Taco bell and while we were driving thru Daddy's unopened can of Dr. Pepper rolled out of its holder, onto the floorboard and exploded. We've never seen a coke can do that before...once we got that cleaned up, we were on our way...

Along the way Jack decided he was hungry, but since it's not safe to nurse in the car, daddy had a brilliant idea, and handed Jack his new phone. Its one of those newfangled ones that you can download CDs to. Jack loves holding the phone while its playing and feeling the vibrations. He forgot all about being hungry...for a while...

We finally got to Nashville, and got to have a nice, late-night visit with Bertie. Jack stayed up and stayed cheerful as long as he could.

The next morning we were able to go to the hospital and Mommie and Daddy visited with Pops while Bertie got some more fun time with her grandbaby. We are hoping that Pops will be in a regular-ish room soon that babies can visit. Jack and Pops haven't gotten to see a whole lot of each other at all in about 4 months....that's a long time in the life of a 6 month old!

We had to make it a quick visit since Daddy had to be back at work at 1 (almost 2 hours away)

On the way home Maggie snoozed and I got a picture of it. She is a really great traveler too. Maybe that's where Jack learned his good traveling skills from...

We ended up being in the car an extra hour than initially planned since we had to take Daddy to work instead of just going straight home, so Mommie had to feed Jack his squash in the car. THAT was amusing. I think squash ended up just about EVERYWHERE in the back seat, including all over Mommie. "SAY IT, don't SPRAY IT, Baby Jack!!!" As soon as I opened up the jar of food in the closed up car Daddy exclaimed "whoohooo, that stinks, I'd almost rather smell a stinky diaper than that stuff".....I told him just to wait, the diaper part comes later, and you mommy's can attest to how delightful "squash-y diapers" are!

We got Daddy to work on time, and all got back in one piece, and we're already making plans to make a another, more leisurely trip, back to Nashville soon. Pops and Bertie will barely get a chance to miss us before we show up again! :)

they're baaaack

I just got a text from Bertie..."We're back".... in Tennessee that is! Praise Jesus! Thank you everyone for all your prayers! The Lord is answering the prayers of the faithful! We know there is still a LOONG road ahead, but it is such a victory to have him stable enough to be back home in Nashville....we can't wait to go see them soon! Keep praying for them as they get him settled into a new routine and as Roberta has to face going back to work in the coming weeks....and for all the time we'll be spending on the road making up for lost time with Pops and Bertie!

Nursery Art

Auntie Bethany created some Nursery Art for Baby Jack. Since his nursery is Transportation themed, we chose the verse to say that no matter where you go (or how you get there) God is watching out for you. I just love the details she included in the painting, she even wrote his name on the boat! If you want any more information about some Personalized Art for your home, please visit her website : www.myspace.com/lubbadubbadesigns

THANKS Auntie Bethany!! We Love it!

ride 'em cowboy!

Maggie decided to be a good sport and let Jack ride on her back. I still can't believe she allowed it...usually she skitters away. I guess his bib inspired him, it says "Mommy's little cowboy" in honor of his Texas heritage. (He was, after all, born over Texas soil, even if it was in Tennessee)

my two joshuas

awwww....

Look at how big I am!

Just within the past week has he been putting more effort into standing, maybe his 6 month old knees are finally strong enough to support his 12 month old size girth. He used to just straighten out one leg at a time to stand on, and I called him a little flamingo. We call the 2nd picture his surfing pose. He's gearing up for Florida in a few months!!

but I'm sooo thirsty...

I brought along a baby bottle of water, but Jack insisted on drinking out of the big boy water bottle instead. So we figured anything that dribbled down his front would serve to keep him cool on the outside too....

our nature hike

we went on a nature hike to Burgess Falls State Park today. It was so beautiful. Mommie and Jack came here a few weeks ago with Aunt Bev and Kitty (only we tried to take the stroller that day...bad idea...and didn't bring the "bundle o' joy" so Mommie and Aunt Kitty had to carry Jack on the "moderately rugged" trail) Today was much easier, at least for Mommie. I included the last picture, just because I thought it was funny...I got a mini tripod for our camera and apparently it is a little too "mini" since Daddy tried to use it, and it almost chopped off our heads. :) This was a very fun nature hike.

Our First trip to Burgess Falls

These are from our first venture to Burgess Falls. Mommie's Aunt Beverly took these pictures. Thank Goodness Aunt Kitty was there to help carry Jack on part of the trail as you can see in the 1st picture. A 20 pound baby gets heavy on a "moderately rugged" trail! :) He was just mesmerized by the sound of the water. It was his first nature hike! With all the lovely outdoorsy nature areas around here, hopefully it won't be his last nature hike!

a nice stroll

The weather was just lovely today, so we took a stroll up to town and around our neighborhood. It ended up being about an hour and probably close to 3 miles. I decided to try Jack in the stroller like a "big boy" (not in his car seat attached to the stroller, he was just sitting in the stroller itself) We've gone this way a few times with daddy's encouragement, but I'm just not sure I'm ready for him to be big enough to sit in the big boy stroller.....he looks pretty comfy though, right? I like being able to see him and to close him up if it's too sunny etc. He seemed to enjoy it and even took a little nap. These pictures were taken at the end of our walk after he woke up. I love how he has his feet propped up.

He's also learned how to pop the passy back in by himself...even turning it correctly and everything...right about the time we were thinking about trying to "wean" him away from it....I even saw him trying to put it in with his eyes closed while he was trying to put himself to sleep in his crib today. I guess all the sitting up is wearing him out, he took 2 LOOOONG naps today....I sure hope he sleeps tonight too....he's been doing SO well at night, but shhhh, don't tell him I told you, he might change his mind. :)

belly-laughs

I would give ANYTHING if we could've caught this on film...usually when Jack giggles it's because we are being silly with him or tickling him etc. On Sunday at Mzee and Granny Ruthie's house Jack caught sight of their (humongous) dog Macy. He's used to Maggie, so he wasn't afraid, quite the opposite. When Josh would sit him on the floor to get a good look at Macy, Jack would just start giggling at the sight of her. This lasted off and on for about 10-15 minutes. It was so funny to watch his face and see the look of delight when she would give him some attention, and to see her ears perk up when he would start giggling or squealing. She wasn't entirely sure what to make of this shrieky creature, but she eventually warmed up to him and licked his toes. It was so adorable! We've never heard spontaneous giggles before, we've always had to work very hard for them!! Of ocurse it's the dogs that get the most reaction out of him!!

weeble-wobble

He's getting the hang of it. Thank goodness for the boppy pillow in the back! Sorry for the shaky camera work.

funny faces

more pics from our fun outside. I just love these facial expressions!

Fun with Daddy!

We decided to celebrate Father's day early since we were heading into "town" on Sunday. We went to eat Thai food (yummy!) to satisfy a craving Daddy was having...then we decided to be brave and take Jack to the movie theatre to see the new "Indiana Jones" flick. He did SO WELL! He got a little hungry around the time of the big (loud) battle scene, so I sat in the aisle and fed him some cereal. He's a very loud, boisterous eater, so the sounds of the movie covered up any noises that might have disturbed people. Only downside was that I missed most of that exciting part of the movie....oh well. We tried to keep him facing away from the movie most of the time so he wouldn't get too overstimulated, and that worked for most of the movie. There was a time when he was facing the screen in Daddy's lap, and his eyes got as big as saucers and I don't think he blinked for a full minute! He even slept through part of it!It was a successful experiment. We'll see how he does next time.

fun with bubbles

I bought some bubbles for Jack, but when we played with them the other day, he had more fun watching Maggie play with them and watching me with the camera. Afterwards we went for a walk to the DQ in town and got blizzards. Fun day!

Father's Day

Daddy may be getting a belated Father's Day gift from his parents....I don't think Bertie will mind my saying this since she mentioned it on her blog....there is a CHANCE Pops and Bertie might be flying back to TN NEXT WEEK!! Tuesday or Wednesday is the rumor flying around now...yipee!! We'll keep you updated, you just keep on praying!!! Also, we're hoping to get to visit our with our S.S. class on Sunday when we're in town celebrating Dad's day with the fam...maybe we'll see some of you too! Yeah for Dads!

update on our house....

well, still a source of major prayer and praise...we see the Lord working in many ways when it comes to our step of faith to move closer to Daddy's job before our house sold....even though it STILL hasn't sold! We have been able to find a nice and affordable duplex that we've been living in for the past several months. When funds were running short to pay for 2 places at once, we were able to sell a truck that was given to us for the amount of 1 house payment, and then our IRS rebate check was the amount of another house payment!! We had about a gazillion showings on the townhome, and one offer early on that ended up falling through. We've dropped the price twice...We've had 3 VERY disappointing open houses. After the last open house our realtor mentioned some things we could do to spruce up the place, including repainting the kitchen. Begrudgingly we agreed although we were not looking forward to the whirlwind trip it would take to drive in and get it painted in one day and get back home...and my mom and little brother stepped up to paint it as a bday gift to me! Yipee! What an AWESOME gift! Just today after about a week or more of no showings, I got 3 calls within an hour and a half about showings this weekend....3 showings within 3 days....with a partially painted kitchen. Get on your knees people and start praying!! :) We're open to taking it off the market within the next few months (when the $$ runs out) and trying to rent it instead, but being so far away, that would be quite a stretch! I don't enjoy the idea of being a landlord from and hour and a half away!We'd much rather just sell it! So...if you wouldn't mind keeping our house situation on your prayer list (and my anxiety level as well!) we'd just so appreciate it....and if you happen to know anyone wanting a super townhome in Bellevue for a GREAT price (the lowest in the neighborhood!) let us know!

I'll keep you updated...When it finally happens you'll see a blog entry in ALL CAPS I'm sure!!!

put him in a pickle jar...

I guess I'm assuming you know what this "southernism" means. It means that I want to keep him just as he is, and not change any more...(oh well for that)...yes, that's my baby acting like a big boy. He's now sitting up for a few minutes at a time, albeit, quite wobbly. That's why the boppy pillow is around him, so he doesn't conk his head when he webbles and wobbles. You can tell he's using his legs quite a bit to stay balanced. It was very hard to get a picture of this, since everytime we get out the camera now he wants to eat it, so I appeased him with the red camera case. :) Maybe we need to get him his own baby shiny camera..or remote control...or cell phone...he's such a high tech baby...he wants whatever we are using at the time to go straight to his mouth. He reminds me of a little puppy. We also started green beans (on my birthday) and he seemed to like them too, didn't even register that he noticed a new taste, just knew he wanted MORE. Mealtime is still very fun, although he's definitely learned what it means to sit in the chair with his bib on. If I am taking too long to get the meal started, he's sure to register his complaint with the management! I think his next food will either be oatmeal cereal (BORING) or carrots or peas (eeew!)...I'll let you know how it goes!

buddies

Last week we were invited over for a baby/mommy playdate with Corbin and his Mommy. Jack and Corbin were born only 4 days apart, and are both above average size for their ages. It's really fun to hang out with them. Both boys are going through similar developmental stages, so the mommys get to compare notes, and it's really fun to visit. The boys don't really seem to get the idea of "playing" together, but the Mommy's make up for it with all our talking and visiting. The boys pretty much look at each other...as you can tell. :) Interestingly enough, Auntie Raychie had in mind to introduce us to a few couples here that she thought we would get along with, but she never had a chance....then we discovered via her blog, that Corbin's mommy and daddy were one of those couples! Even though Rachel couldn't hook us up, the Lord found a way for us to meet! Pretty cool! We didn't even discover the Rachel/Jeff connection until we had been hanging out for about a month already! :) They also go to the church we've been visiting and the Life group Bible Study meets at Corbin's house, so we got to try that out last night. (There's also another little boy, Hayden, who is a month older than Jack whose parents lead the life group! How fun to have all these friends for Jack to (eventually) interact with!) What a fun and friendly, welcoming group of people. Hopefully we'll get to visit with them some more!

Happy Birthday Mommie

This morning Jack and Daddy took me to IHOP for a Birthday Breakfast before Daddy had to go to work. We tried to take a cute picture of us together, but couldn't get a good one of me and the baby together...so just this once, since it was my birthday, I chose to publish a fairly good picture of me....He was much more interested in grabbing the camera and eating it, as you can tell!! Jack is letting his bib do all the talking about who was his favorite parent today....

It was a nice quiet day at home with lots of phone calls and birthday greetings. Thank you for all the calls, cards and emails. You truly made me feel special. Tonight we went to a bible study at a friend's house for the first time, and they sang to me too, even though it was the first time they had ever met me. I thought that was sweet. :)

Some of the funnier messages and calls yesterday....My dad called and had to clarify if I am turning 29 or 30 this year...when I told him 29 he said "phew..I would just be devastated if it was 30" .....so I guess we'll just save that trauma for next year. And of course, no birthday would've been complete without Steve singing a Happy Birthday Message as only he can (family, you know what I'm talking about...), and then also a message from John singing his signature "Happy Birthday to Jews" rendition of the song. I also got a call from all the way up in Baltimore where Roberta AND Ken both got to wish me a Happy Birthday. Those are some voices I don't get to hear very often. What a special day!! Thanks everyone! I appreciated ALL the warm wishes.

Happy 6 months Baby Jack

Well, we went in for his 6 month check up and vaccines today..he did quite well...here are his stats: Length 27.5 inches...85th %, Weight 19 pounds 14 ounces...90th%....can't remember his head circumference. (THANK GOODNESS his weight gain has leveled out! It's giving my back a chance to catch up!) Dr. C. thought everything was fine, that we are on track as far as solid foods and developmental milestones. Something interesting he mentioned after asking about family history (and the look of shock when I told him about the 2 grandads who had heart attacks in their mid-40s) was that of course Mommie and Daddy need to be sure to take care of ourselves, and also that we could have Jack's cholesterol checked as a young child-by age 5- and perhaps we could see if he has any unhealthy tendencies that early...interesting, and a bit concerning that it starts that early in life. Our next well baby check is in 3 months. Praise God for healthy babies (even if they decide to stay awake for 2 hours at night even after a week of sleeping through the night.... :) I guess he was anticipating the events of today.

caught on film!!!

well...kinda...I guess these cameras don't use film anymore do they? This is Jack trying to take a sip of Daddy's smoothie. Just prior to this picture being snapped Jack was making his approach with his mouth open wide, tongue sticking out saying "aaaahhhhhh" He's so funny!

I purchased the book "Super Baby Foods" and in it they suggest letting the baby have some water after eating a meal of solid foods, so we're getting to use the sippy cup! I got one of those huge plastic-y bibs with the catch-all pocket at the bottom, and after each meal there is a little puddle of water in the pocket that didn't make it into Jack's mouth (or at least didn't stay in Jack's mouth) I think he's getting a few sips in...but he still ends up pretty much soaked. With this warm weather, I figure it helps keep him a little cool, so we go outside to the swing, and his clothes are dry again in no time.

We started squash this week! This kid loves to eat! I really can't get it in fast enough...but we'll see if he's singing the same tune when we start green beans next week! I also bought one of those meshy food gadgets and put a piece of banana in it just to see what he would do... by the time he was done with it, it no longer resembled banana!

I wanna say something too!!

We visited Daddy at work on Monday. Jack wanted to help Daddy with his patient charting. We decided that wasn't a good idea, but I promised him he could say something on the blog instead...here goes:

mnhj hjvyuuvve b essda--p'jkh kn09809

he told me that means i love you and thanks for visiting our blog

The grilling experience

On Memorial Day we tried to grill on the itsy-bitsy little charcoal grill I found at Kroger. It looks like our big black kettle grill (which was still in Nashville) had a baby teeny-tiny baby grill! It started raining and we weren't done with cooking our kebabs, so we had to bring them in to finish under the broiler.

Back in Nashville I had a bad habit of sometimes getting impatient and subsequently burning certain foods on the stove (quesadillas, pancakes, grilled cheese) which would set off the (entirely too sensitive) smoke alarms. This would always freak Maggie out and she would run and hide. Now whenever she hears anything sizzling, or smells even the slightest bit of smoke, she still hides...my reputation is still intact, 3 months later!

Well, while under the broiler the skewers were smoking and Maggie was not a happy camper. She couldn't figure out which room to hide in to get away from the smoke (btw the alarms never went off...is that good or bad?)

We went back to Nashville this past weekend and we were able to put the grill in the trunk to bring with us. Awwww aren't the daddy grill and baby grill cute?

sleep walking

we went out on a walk today since it was so pretty when daddy got home. Maggie got to go too and she was in heaven! It was pretty close to his bedtime, so Jack was lulled to sleep by the end of the walk in his "bundle o' joy". (That's not the real name of this carrier, but if you are fans of the "get fuzzy" comic strip like we are..you'll understand the reference) I just thought this was a sweet picture of him snuggled up with his daddy. Notice how wet the carrier is around his mouth...he decided he wanted to chew on it during our walk instead of the passy.

super baby!

Josh was putting his college cheerleading skills to work while playing with Jack this morning. (Not hard to do, since Jack only weighs a little less than those itty-bitty girls Josh threw around during his cheerleading days ;)

Sippy Cup

we ventured to walmart today. He was very cooperative until the very end and he was ready to GO! Given his fascination with our cups lately, I decided to get him one of his own to see how he does. He seems to really like it! It has a soft silicone spout, so I think it feels like his passy or bottles, so he doesn't mind chewing on it. I put a little water in it, and at first he made a very confused/repulsed face, but then he LOVED it. I had to wrestle it away from him b/c I didn't want him to fill up on water. I'm still deciding if I want him to get hooked on juice yet. He's getting to be such a big boy.

chit-chatting with Daddy

Josh and Jack enjoying some qt. I was in the kitchen and heard the ruckus and decided to investigate with the camera.

An Anniversary Present from Baby Jack

What a thoughtful son. He decided as a gift to his Mommie and Daddy, he would sleep ALL NIGHT LONG without waking us up at all!! How sweet. I last fed him at 7:00 and he fell asleep, and he woke me up at 5:15 this morning (granted, I wouldn't mind if those hours shifted a little later so that I didn't have to get up that early, but after that much sleep, who can complain?)
At least I THINK he slept all night....I woke up at 3 am (force of habit, probably) and checked on him and he was quite peaceful, and then at 5:15 I opened my eyes to the monitor lit up light a Christmas tree yet silent (ooops!! someone turned down the volume at some point...honestly not sure who to blame) so I'm not sure if he woke up, but if he did, he obviously put himself back to sleep without waking up the whole house.....yipee!

Happy (early) 7th Anniversary Mommie and Daddy

We celebrated our Anniversary a day early b/c of Josh's work schedule. Jack went with us on a nice late lunch/early dinner date to Outback Steakhouse (with a gift certificate!) We had a nice time and he was quite charming. We're trying to ease back on the passy use lately (NOT cut it out all together...but just not to pop it in all the time instead of figuring out other alternatives to pacify him) we were doing pretty well entertaining him at the restaurant, although he was chattering pretty loud at one point...I didn't realize how loud until I got up to go to the bathroom and I could hear his exclamations all the way to the bathroom. When I got back, I could tell by the silence that Daddy needed to quiet him down a bit (which I was going to suggest when I got back, he just read my mind!) :) So before I even got back to the table, I could tell the passy was back in. After dinner we went to BAM! (Books a million...I just like that they call themselves BAM!) while we were there another crazy storm blew through and knocked out the power to the store, and they kicked everyone out. What an adventure. I guess the Lord knew I was stalling getting back to my untidy house since I didn't want to clean. I took his hint and straightened up when we got home.

Happy Anniversary Joshua (Sr.), my love!

I love you even more now than I did 7 years ago!

Thank you for being such a wonderful friend, provider, daddy, and husband!

using a cup

Jack has become very interested in using cups. Whenever we are holding him or near him while drinking out of a cup, he tries to grab it away and put his lips up to it and chew on the rim. I don't know if he sees us doing it and wants to try it too, or if it's just something else for him to chew on. After several tries, I got a plastic cup with a little bit of water and put it up to his lips and let him try to "drink". He tried, but all but a few drops ran down his front and what did get into his mouth make him cough and sputter. Sunday morning we were drinking some smoothies and Jack kept grabbing Josh's mug by the handle and putting it up to his lips. I went to get an empty plastic cup for him to hold and chew on, thinking that would be good enough for him....WRONG! I tried to put some toys to rattle around in his cup, all to no avail.... He wanted DADDY'S cup. He kept reaching out for it, no matter how many times we tried to distract him. (I LOVE that he's figured out that his hands are good for more than chewing on constantly....he now knows that they can be used to bring other stuff to his mouth to chew on!!We have to be diligent with what we give him, but it sure makes entertaining him easier these days!) Finally Josh would "share" his drink by taking a sip of his own, then letting Jack chew on the cup for a moment, then starting the process over again. We managed not to spill any on anyone and it kept him happy. I think it may be time to let him have his own sippy cup to practice with, before letting him drink completely on his own. (I would try to get a picture of this...but like I've lamented before, he doesn't perform, so we'll see!)