Jackson's First Birthday

For Jack's first birthday he had a party at school on the actual day - well not a party really but an extra special snack where he got to wear a hat and we all sang happy birthday to him.

Then on the weekend after, we had a party for him at the house. We had a fantastic turnout - about 25 people I think - all crammed into our little house. But it was lots of fun and included all those we love so who can complain?

I can't believe how fast this year has gone by.....I still vividly remember bringing Jack home and those first few months with him. They were the toughest I think I've ever had but so worth the effort. To see how he is thriving today makes all those sleepless nights seem like a minor price to pay in exchange.

He started crawling around 9 months and basically full-fledged walking the day before his party. And now there is no looking back. After less than a week of walking he wants to just run everywhere and is frustrated that he doesn't yet have the coordination to do so. I see having this little boy involved in lots of activities in my future. His energy is seemingly bottomless as is his curiosity and interest in learning how things work.

I look at this milestone with not only pride but a little nostalgia. We will never experience all of the firsts of this past year with him again but I know the future holds lots of new firsts to look forward to.

It is definitely true what they say - the days are long but the years are short.

2010 Holidays

I can’t believe how long it’s been since I lasted updated this! Well the holidays were all a blur but I think Jackson enjoyed them for the most part. We took Jack to his first boat parade in Fells Point where we waited outside for an hour for the boats to come by us. The wait in the cold didn't seem to affect Jack though!

We also went to ROcky Ridge with mom-mom and pop-pop to walk through some Christmas lights. I think he was still a bit young for this but overall seemed to have a good time (although you wouldn't know it looking at this picture....)

Thanksgiving – both Jack and Mike were sick several days beforehand which did not make for a very happy mommy. But both recovered by turkey day and were able to enjoy it – well, some more than others……

There was still a lot of stranger anxiety going on at Thanksgiving and Jack wouldn’t let anyone except his cousin Sharon (aka the baby whisperer) near him. Oh yeah…and he let the dogs that were there lick his face.

Christmas – again both Jack and Mike didn’t feel well – Jack actually ended up having a severe ear infection so that made part of the Christmas break not so great. Yeah….Jack’s school closes for a week and a half at Christmas so we were “enjoying” him nonstop for that time.

On Christmas day we went to cousin Sheila’s house and had a really nice time. Food was great and Jack was MUCH better with everyone – after the initial drama of being in a new place surrounded by new people after just waking up from a nap. Being the only kid there was great as he was the center of attention (which he LOVES). We sang nursery rhymes to make him laugh and dance and everyone played with his toys with him. He also got to help Aunt Grace play Santa which lasted for about 10 minutes. Yup – that’s about right. At least he let her hold him whereas on his visit to Santa, daddy had to be in the picture too!

I think the present he liked best was his new Mickey Mouse armchair. He holds his remote and climbs in and out of it ALL THE TIME. He is already becoming a typical man – grunting while pointing the remote at the tv. Other awesome presents he got were a dancing Mickey Mouse, a Mickey mouse car that he can ride in, a busy box, a wagon of blocks, some “tools”, clothes, puzzles and lots lots more. It looks like the toy section of Toys R Us at our house……

Zoey got a stocking as well and seemed to enjoy her presents. This is her 5th Christmas with us :)

All in all I think this year of firsts has been great and we are looking forward to many more. Can’t wait to see what 2011 brings!

Jack's First Halloween!

While we didn’t actually go trick-or treating this year, (I didn't want to be that mother pilfering candy from neighbors who know perfectly well the baby isn't going to eat it!) Jack still spent two days in his costume! For his first Halloween, we decided to dress him up as SuperMan since he’s got that dark hair and big blue eyes!

Saturday we decided to take some pics of him in his costume which resulted in his falling off the step and scraping up his nose. Nice……

Then, because our options are somewhat limited since he’s only 9 months old, Jack and I went with our friends Krystal and Blake to Toys R Us to see the “Halloween Parade”. While the parade sucked, Jack was excited to meet Geoffrey the Giraffe and giggled the entire time we were getting pics taken with him.

Sunday, which was the actual day of Halloween, Jack again got in his costume, intending to surprise mom-mom and pop-pop by opening the door in his costume with his candy bucket but instead WE got the surprise, when they showed up wearing Mickey Mouse costumes!!! **It would probably help to mention here that Jack LOVES Mickey Mouse, hence the costumes** While I stood by laughing uncontrollably, Jack burst into tears and took awhile to warm up to the whole thing. Ultimately, he was a trooper though, and let us take his picture while being held by one of the Mickey’s.

Overall, I’d have to say that Jack’s 1^st Halloween was a success. While he was only mildly enthusiastic about flying,

he was very excited to fight crime on his smurf-mobile (with his cape billowing out behind him).....

Jack's First Baseball Game

Jack attended his first baseball game on Saturday, September 25^th and was such a good boy! Saturday morning we played in the hotel pool for a bit before setting out for YANKEE STADIUM to see his daddy’s favorite team battle the Red Sox. Traffic to the stadium was horrible – an hour trip turned into 2 ½ hours by the time we parked – but Jack was a trooper despite the fact that he was congested. Once we arrived we walked around the stadium for a bit before finding out seats, which were awesome! Unfortunately, the way the Yankees played the game was not. We left at the top of the 9^th inning and I think the final score had the Red Sox winning 7 to 3. Booo……

Aside from the game, Jack spent the time being entertained by the tipsy grandmas behind us who kept saying they wanted to take him home (their daughters later apologized to us). Everyone complimented him on how well he was behaving. There was so much for him to look at that he never got bored!

All in all a fun time was had by all and we got some great pics to remember the day by. Take note Jack, if you still haven’t returned to the stadium by the time you are able to read this, there’s a good reason why: $$ But never fear we will be sure to take you to as many Orioles games as you want….those tickets are much more in our price range!!!

J

York Fair 2010

Several weekends ago we took Jack to the York Fair with mom-mom and pop-pop. We had so much fun watching him take everything in. I love seeing the world through his eyes.

While there, he experienced a couple of “firsts” so I wanted to be sure to document it for future reference. He won his first prize at the duck pond – he really seems to like ducks so the fact that there was a tub full of them ripe for the picking for $2 seemed like a bargain to us. He won the little plush ducky he is hanging onto in this pic. Then, I decided I wanted to try to win him something as well but the only game I am even mediocre at is the one where you throw the darts at the balloons and if you pop them you win a prize. I got three chances, and of the 3, I managed to hit one. I was pretty pleased with myself that it wasn’t a total wash until I turned around and saw that the popping balloon had made Jack cry. Go figure.

Next, we went to check out the horses. Jack is still too little to actually “ride” a horse but we did take this picture of him where you can kind of make out the horses in the background. That was the best we could do without having to pay $5 for a picture on a pony. When did the fair get so expensive?

After the horses, we went to check out the roosters, ducks, bunnies and baby chicks. The roosters made Jack cry when they did their rooster calls so we quickly moved onto the bunnies. I was definitely more excited about the bunnies than Jack was. He wasn’t really impressed. I was surprised to see him perk up as we walked by the cages with the ducks. He started kicking his arms and feet with excitement when he got to watch a duck ruffle its feathers and do duck things (I am NOT a fan of any type of billed or beaked creature)…..Then on our way out of this area we saw the baby chicks. He wasn’t sure about them at first but then seemed to get really excited as he watched them moving around. It was fun to watch!

Then we got on the carousel. This was interesting and it took him a bit to figure out if he liked it or not but in the end he seemed to have decided it was fun.

We closed the day with watching the pig races. By the time they actually raced he had passed out but I thought it was funny to see!

Overall, I think a good time was had by all and I look forward to sharing these memories with Jack as he gets older.

OBX 2010 and Hurricane Earl

I’ve decided that Jack is destined to do something great in this life of his. Why, you ask? Because with his arrival he brought huge snowstorms, one of the hottest summers on record and a hurricane to the Outer Banks while we were on vacation there. I just hope that he chooses to use his powers for good instead of evil…….

But I digress…… this post is supposed to be about Jack’s first vacation! The few days that we did have in the Outer Banks were a lot of fun. We took him to the beach, which he loved – for about 45 minutes. Then he got tired and got sand in his eyes and hair and passed out for about half an hour. After he awoke from his nap, we packed up from the beach and went to the pool instead which was a lot cleaner for all of us.

There were 2 pools where we were staying – a big boy pool and a baby pool. We started Jack out in the baby pool in his raft. The baby pool had a fountain in the middle of it which he LOVED. This child has no fear. He was able to touch the bottom of the baby pool in his raft and kept running in and out of the fountain and laughing hysterically even as he got so much water in his face he couldn’t see. After about 20 minutes of this we realized that he was scraping up his feet on the rough bottom of the pool so we opted to go to the big boy pool where Mike and I pulled him around. Yes, once again, we are the parents of the year (his pinky toe still has a boo boo that is healing).

Another day we went to the four wheel drive beach to see some of Jack’s cousins that happened to be down there the same time we were. This was the day before the hurricane hit so the water was rough but really warm and the weather was perfect! He really enjoyed getting his toes dipped in the water and feeling the wind in his hair. The drive up and down the beach was pretty rough though and I had to sit in the back and hold his head so he didn’t get whiplash while we were navigating the beach terrain and trying not to get stuck in the sand. Did I mention he actually fell asleep while all of this was going on? I, on the other hand, just got carsick in the back....

Then, just like that, our trip was over. We woke up early on Thursday morning and were told to evacuate and we headed back to Maryland. While the storm ended up not being nearly as strong as predicted, it was better to be safe than sorry. We spent the rest of vaca getting stuff done around the house and just spending some precious time with our little man.

Someone once said that “the days are long but the years are short” and I couldn’tagree more. I am soaking up as much of this fleeting baby time as possible in the hopes that I will be able to relive these precious moments for many years to come.