I Want to Love Him Until He Pops; Or How Do I Love Thee....

I honestly didn't think it would get much cooler than that cake smashing on his birthday....but even that surreal moment has been LAPPED by the 1000s of moments since then.  

I think about it a lot -- what I love most about him.  

Is it that he shrugs his shoulders when I ask him a question?  

What about when he shakes his head "no" because that's his favorite word? (Or maybe he likes to tell me "no" to everything?)

Maybe it's that what he lacks in mobility, he makes up for in his expansive vocabulary (and by "expansive," I totally mean he's up to 8 words - genius! - ...and none of them start with F, which makes me Mother of the Year).

Or, it could be his tenacious love of hats and sunglasses (and the Yankees)....like his Daddy:

  

Channeling his southern roots....and a total party animal at Loudon's 7th Birthday Party!

 As you can see, we face forward now in our big boy car seat.  Since he's all "big" and all "boy" -- that infant car seat wasn't cutting it.  His poor legs were crawling up the back seat, which posed particularly interesting when Lucky was riding along with us and wanted to pester Jack in the back seat.  (I swear between Jack, Lucky and Matt - I actually have THREE children)

Quite possibly....it's the fact that he will try with ALL his might to push Lucky out of the way if he's hindering the walker or blocking a toy.  And if that doesn't work -- he will yell until Lucky obliges.  He will ALSO run Lucky RIGHT over with his lawn mower.  Lucky has adapted well though - he's much quicker to his feet these days. :)

I think what I love the most though is that Jack is the perfect combination of Matthew and I.  He's totally laid back like Matthew but a rule follower and cautious like me.  He is a lover, not a fighter -- which makes him more like Matt in that regard.  And, Jack has never met a person he didn't like -- again, making him more Matt than me (but at least I can admit it).  Jack DID give a few people in TJMaxx the "one eyebrow raise" look once -- which made me break out into cheers, because "dirty looks" - that's all me.  A couple of recent examples: 

  

And, while he hasn't met a PERSON he didn't like -- he did meet a few characters from Sesame Street that he wasn't all that interested in....  From his perspective, who the hell is ok with a gigantic blue furball that only eats cookies?!  Not Jack.

Jack:  "Where the hell is mom?"

 On the other hand, an eight foot tall bird with socks on -- now that, we can get into:

Another thing I love about this kid....he goes with the flow.  Like, waiting for the action to start at Busch Gardens:

Or, he is excited to hang in 30 degree weather for a couple of hours while riding around in a snow tube:

Or go swimming for over an hour with nothing but gusto!

 

Or, he can chill in his recliner catching up on Sesame Street on his iPad.  (Oh, do not judge me!  Of COURSE he watches TV.  I do all SORTS of things the experts tell me not to, but I'm the expert on Jack -- so he gets to watch Sesame Street and Criminal Minds.  Ok, not the last one - but I had you there for a second.)

He can also eat himself silly into a coma at Cracker Barrel, like everyone else.

Or, just chill and watch some golf with Daddy on a lazy Sunday:

I have desperately tried to let him be a baby for as long as he wants to be a baby....because I'm not at all interested in forcing the growing up (and away!) part, but the kid needed a hair cut -- so a hair cut we got:

 

Honestly?  I'm still riding high on the fact that his first word wasn't "fuck"....and, some days, you just gotta take the wins where you can get them.

(And, yes, I really wrote the word out....it's gonna be ok.  The internet police have been notified)

Until next time....Mr. Smiles is off to his next adventure to Richmond in April for Ashley's wedding (and more quality time with Meme and Granddaddy M!)

Parenthood: The Amazing Journey That No One Can Prepare You For. Like? Not Even Remotely.

As I sit here....at 9pm on Dec 23...and I think about where we were this time LAST year.  I was in surgery...an unexpected c-section that brought on anxiety...

 (I was in the middle of a normal work day!)

...panic 

(what if they actually let us leave with this newborn?!)

....and, excitement.

In the end, we spent Christmas 2011 in the hospital with that sweet 6lb baby -- and found ourselves dazed, confused and immensely happy and thankful for a healthy baby boy with 10 fingers and 10 toes.

Nowadays, it's all about sleeping with one eye on the monitor, not letting him slip in the bath tub (as he tries to climb in by himself now!), feeding him all the right stuff (but not too much sugar), car seat recalls, cute Christmas cards, taking enough pictures, figuring out how to "make my eyes pop" and what color lip gloss to wear, not letting the dog roll on top of him, the right shoes (wait.  he needs SHOES now??), documenting everything, participating in everything (what do you mean the "mommy and me" group meets on Tuesdays at 9:30 am, people?  I have a JOB.), swim lessons, losing weight, keeping in shape, car seat recalls, poop consistency (why does it smell like "THAT"??)....and how much Sesame Street is TOO much Sesame Street?

I read somewhere that being a mom is like trying to knit on a rollercoaster...and that didn't include trying to have a successful career on top of it all.  For me?  It's like trying to SCRAPBOOK on a roller coaster.  There's a lot of tiny pieces of paper, glue, SCISSORS, pictures, brads, tape, stickers, ribbon, buttons and embellishments....and it's all flying around while I try to nail it down on the page.

Then.  I think of these families in CT.  These mommas who don't have their babies anymore....and I stop.  I stop worrying - even if just for today - about all of it and I just enjoy Jack.  Because if you've met him, then you know that he's just plain cool.

He laughs a lot.

He's sensitive.

He doesn't like pain.
(Like when a teething terrorist took over his body during the first week of December?  Yeah.  We don't talk about it.)

He loves his lawn mower walker.

He loves to throw the ball.

He loves to out smart you in "peak a boo."

He loves his Daddy's hats.

He likes to pat Lucky on the head.

He loves cords.

He loves to eat.

He loves to sleep.
(until 10 am some mornings!)

If he's awake, rest assured - he's happy and he's smiling.

In the last month of his first year, he continued his travels from Springfield, IL .... to Tampa, Honduras, Belize and Mexico.  As suspected, he LOVED cruising, but mostly loved meeting all the new people every day.  He was the talk of the ship ("the baby with the hat") with his "cruising fedora" and "constant smile" -- I could only assume that he'd be driving that ship by the time we got back to the port in Tampa.

He didn't like facing me in the stroller.  He needed to see the people.

He traded in his fedora and rattle for a sombrero and maraca!

Steadying himself in Mexico.

As you probably suspected, I've been planning his first birthday party for a while.  But, only in my mind.  I didn't actually MOVE on any of it until after Thanksgiving -- with less than a month to go.  This is one of those moments where I beat myself up for underestimating the task at hand.

Here's how it all went down....

 

 

  

 

I only managed to cry once during the song.

(confession:  I had already cried once in the morning)

We didn't do everything right in his first year.  Some of those experts that I read about would have scoffed at our version of sleep training....and especially gasped at all the times I let him sleep on my chest in the recliner.  They would have been dumbfounded by my lack of wiping everything down all the time in frantic germ annihilating mode.  Those experts wouldn't have liked whiskey on the gums for teething either, but it worked.

We laughed a lot, we (I) cried a lot, we learned a lot and we had fun anyway.

And, he survived.

A whole year.

Mission Accomplished.

Gobble, Gobble...Eat Till You Wobble....Literally.

This little fella is O.V.E.R. being held.  He wants down.  He wants to be independent, and, well - he is.  He doesn't want to be bothered when he's in the middle of something (what could he be in the middle of??) He wants to walk everywhere, but he can't walk without holding on to something, which means you're going with him.  He's a bit of a wobbler, but he's in good company. 

Did I mention that he doesn't want to be held?

Did I mention that he has a TURKEY HAT?!

It was a big month though....even without Thanksgiving!  Jack experienced his first Halloween - as a LumberJACK.  Yes, we are those cheeseball parents that have come up with 1000 different ideas that incorporate the name JACK into the costume.  It's going to be a fun few years until Jack figures this out and decides he wants to be a Ninja Turtle or Teletubby or whatever.  Until then, he's what we want him to be for one day a year:

  

He also FINALLY got a few teeth.  I know, it's hard to believe....since I've been complaining about "teething" since he was 6 months old.  LOL!  And, he just now got his first 3 teeth -- and I can actually see them.  Unlike when the doctor - at his 6 month appt - said "oh yeah - there they are...coming right in!" 

Um, doc?  Where??

Anywho, I did A LOT of research - and it turns out that there's never been a case where a child was born sans teeth.  The doctor kept telling me that they were in there, but I didn't believe him.  I mean what does he know?  He's so young he might as well be 12.  So, yes, people - I did the research, because LORD knows that if it CAN happen...it will happen to my child.  

Am I right?

Turns out?  Our lovely, super sweet and smart pediatrician was right.  They ARE there.

In other news, we flew somewhere with Jack.  Surprised?  I think not. 

We visited the Pensacola fam for Claire's wedding and Jaime's baby shower.  Of course, Jack visited with all the Grandparents (Granddaddy B, GGMama and Meme shown here)

 

And Jaime's "baby's" too:

In making our Christmas cards, we found LOVE in Philadelphia:

(did you puke a little?)

In the "not wanting to be held" department, Jack is still in charge.  He crawls and cruises and plunders.  Have we discussed how nosey he is??  He gets it honest from me....and he ALWAYS needs to know what is going on, what everyone is doing, where they are going and what new stuff has arrived in the toy basket.

Who's happier than this guy, playing all by himself with his wooden spoon?

With all that plundering...he did find his head:

...which is good news.  We are working on the tummy, but every question we ask him ends the same way -- with his hands on his head.  Go figure.

Thanksgiving Day was a joy with little Jack.  There's nothing more that we are thankful than this little guy right here....complete with SMILE and BOWTIE, his signature accessories.

You guys know how much Jack likes to eat.  This was his reaction when we told him what Thanksgiving Day entailed:

    

After giving THANKS and feasting on some great food, Jack hung with the family: 

Aunt DJ and the sales papers.

Granddaddy M and Sesame Street

Meme and playtime in the living room

While in Springfield, we hung out with the Lincolns.  Did you know that Abe Lincoln didn't discipline his children and was known for having "wild" boys?  Do you think this is an omen?

Us and The Lincolns.  We go way back.

A little history lesson from Aunt DJ.

Sadly, I can tell you that the word "no" is already being introduced to Jack.  He thinks it's hysterical.  As such, we try to distract....but he's learning.  And his newest face is one of mortification when we say "no" to something.  He has me wrapped around his finger doesn't he?  This is bad.  Very, very bad.

 Next month, we'll cruise through December...and his first birthday party!!  Can you even believe he made it a year with US as parents?  I didn't even smother him today trying to smooch his face off!!