Fun Fall Festivities

Over the past few weeks we have enjoyed some wonderful fall outings! We went to a pumpkin patch, a fall festival and a costume party with Jack's play group. Enjoy the pictures!

Jack's first time on a pony

Enjoying the fall festival from dad's comfy arms.

About to go on our first hay ride!

Pumpkin patch fun!

Jack's and his friends at the playgroup party.

Jack's first Trick or Treat!

Our happy little guy!

Our big boy is 8 months old

New York- part 2

Hanging out with Great Grandma and Grandpa Champlin in NY

My Grandparents, Jackson and Me

Jackson with his Great Aunt Kathy and Great Uncle Joe

Family lunch at the local maple farm's restaurant, so yummy!

Playing on Great Grandma's lap

New York part 1

We survived our first family vacation!

This past week Daniel, Jackson and I took a trip to New York state to visit my father's side of the family. More specifically, we went to visit my grandparents and my aunt and uncle. Danny and I had been twice since we've been married and love going up there. The weather is nice (usually) and it's just so different from Texas. It was on our trip last year that we suspected I was pregnant with Jack. Looks like we were right!

Anyway, to say I was nervous in the days and weeks before the trip would be an understatement. I was weight down buy all the logistics concerning the trip; Do I pack diapers and food or buy them there? How much should I pack for the plane? How many changes of clothes should I bring, how many toys, how many book? And on and on...through many sleepless nights. Then I got into research mode, asking advice from all friends who have traveled with babies and doing much googling. After all that I felt a little better but still not mentally or emotionally prepared for what I had built up in my mind as what would be the most exhausting week of my life. Then I prayed, a lot. I prayed that we would have safe travel, that our luggage would not get lost, that Jack would do ok on the plane and so on and so on.

God truly answerd our prayers on this trip. We had a great time and Jack was the most amazing traveler. He never cried once on the plane rides. Got fussy only when tired or hungry and kept his cool with two flight delays on our return home. He blew our minds, we never expected him to do so well! People all around us remarked about how happy he was and what a wonderful flier he turned out to be. We were truly blessed. I think between the two of us I was the more fussy due to being airsick and tired ; ).

So we are home now and more or less back on our regular schedule. Jack did have a few night wakings while in New York where he had to be nursed or rocked back to sleep. He was teething and I also think he was a little freaked out when he woke in the middle of the night and was not in his crib. So becuase of that little hiccup he is still waking up alot earlier than normal and we are slowly getting him back into the routine of sleeping till 6:30/7:00. We had a good time but returning from out trip really made us appreciate that there's no place like home. Even Jack seemed genuinely excited to his toys and his room, it was adorable.

Check back soon for pictures!

Big Boy Bath

Tonight was Jack's first time to sit up like a big boy for a bath!
He loved it and I loved not bending over to wash him in the actual bathtub : ). I know we will have to transition to the actual bathroom for bath time soon so I'm enjoying the ease of washing the kiddo at waist height for right now.

This and that, photos from this past week

happy after a nap!

Ready to go for a ride

Playing in the front yard

Reading a good book

Jack has really started babbling this week. His favorite things to say or shout is "mamama", "thethethe" which we think sounds like dada and "Hi". Jack also waved bye for the first time this week to our wonderful neighbor Shelia! It was adorable. He hasn't made any progress toward crawling yet and seems to be content to shout and babble while sitting up and playing. Oh! Jack's first tooth has finally broken through, but we still don''t have a picture of it.

7 months young

Jack is now 7 months old and getting cuter everyday. Nothing too exciting has happened over the past month. We have had lots of play dates and outings with the mom's group I joined. It's a group for first time mommies with young babies and Jack and I both enjoy the time out of the house when we get together.

We spent a great deal of time trying to put some weight on my string bean baby this month and it worked. Jack put on a pound and a half and his doctor was really pleased with the weight gain. Jack is now in the 25th percentile for weight in his age group. We did this by adding an extra nursing a day and feeding him more solids. He eats every last drop at every meal and even asks (grunts) for more at times. He is such a big eater but I'm trying not to over feed him or set up any bad eating habits for the future. He may just be like his dad, high metabolism combined with a big appetite. Which translates in to me being one cooking mama! I feel like I'm constantly making this kid baby food. Right now his favorites are avocado mixed with bananas, yogurt mixed with fruit and carrots mixed with apples. Yum!

We (and I do mean we) had our first and second colds this month. I guess being social has it's drawbacks but everyone is on the mend and almost back to normal. Jack's bottom teeth are about to come through any day now. Daniel and I can see the whites through the gum when Jack takes a break from his constant gnawing on plastic objects. Check back soon for teeth pictures : )