Splish, Splash

On Sunday, we joined some friends, The Sheldons, at their neighborhood pool. It was Jack's first trip into the water. The pool was a little cool, so I didn't think he would like it, but the water temperature didn't seem to phase him much. He started out in his boat, but he mostly just wanted to gnaw on the side of it.

Josh took him out of the boat and just held him, which he seemed to prefer. For a while he even kicked his little chubby legs. He liked splashing in the water. I'm glad that he likes the water. We're planning on another pool trip tomorrow. After wearing ourselves out at the pool, we headed back to the Sheldons for a yummy dinner.

The kids really enjoyed entertaining Jack, especially Amy. She wanted to help do everything. She even fed Jack, which he loved. I guess her funny faces and sweet smile were humorous, because he pretty much laughed the entire time he was eating. It was so cute, and funny! Thanks for a great time, Sheldons!

Day Trip to Athens

On Saturday, we spent the day in Athens with family and friends. The day kicked off with a visit at Papa's house (Jack's great grandfather) where we were able to catch up with Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Bill after their trip to Fripp Island. They filled us in on all the great seafood they ate and how nice the beach was. I look forward to taking Jack to the beach soon. Jack was once again fascinated by Aunt Elizabeth. Maybe it's her funny glasses or the way she talks, but he spent a long time studying her and getting to know her better.

For lunch, we picked up some pork, ribs and stew from our favorite barbeque place, Fresh Air. It was delicious! We took the meat and all the fixings to my parents house to share. Jack played with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Emily and Jonathan. Later my friends Stacie and Terri arrived to play with Jack. We all watched the UGA baseball game. Stacie and Terri enjoyed entertaining Jack with his dancing and singing duck, an Easter gift from his grandparents. It is quite a comical little toy.

Later, Stacie put Jack's hair into a pony tail. Although, I think he looked more like Pebbles from the Flinstones because it just stuck straight up. He was a pretty good sport about it. Hopefully, he'll laugh at this picture one day rather than hate us for it! (By the way, we're on naptime # 2 for today and this one is not going so well!) If I had nothing to do but take a nap at 2:30 everyday, I'd love it. For some reason, Jack doesn't feel the same way despite the fact that he is so tired he can't see straight or behave pleasantly.

Saturday night, everyone gathered at my grandparent's house to celebrate Grandaddy's birthday with a fish fry. It was a typical large crowd minus a few main members. Jack enjoyed sitting with his grandad, who did all sorts of typical grandad stuff like letting him drink from is sweet tea. He seemed to really like it...no surprise there!

Jack also had a chance to be entertained by his many cousins. He enjoyed getting to know "Jon Jon" (or Jonathan). They enjoyed the swing together. Jack's last stop of the evening before we packed up and headed home was a rest on Mimi's lap (his great grandmother). Mimi has so much preparation to host so many people at her house that she rarely gets to relax and enjoy much of it. Thanks for all you do and did to make it a great birthday party for Grandaddy. Happy 88th Birthday, Grandaddy!

On a Roll

After a busy week at VBS, we joined several families from our Sunday School class for dinner and bowling on Friday night. It was a lot of fun. The young kids were so fun to watch. They were really into the bowling. Jack was a mere observer, but he enjoyed the outing too. Haleigh and Madeline enjoyed entertaining "Jack Jack" as Haleigh calls him. After bowling we tried out a new barbeque place in front of Old Clarkesville Mill. Soque Smokehouse, I think. It was pretty good, but Josh (of course) didn't care for the sauce! Here are a few pictures from the evening.

Aloha, VBS!

What a week last week was! With VBS at church, it was quite busy...so, I'm hoping you'll all forgive me for my absence in posting and ignore the fact that the next few posts are all done in quick succession. It's naptime, I gotta get as much done as possible (some of you know what I mean). I'd like to point out at this moment, however, my house is a complete wreck after a week plus of complete neglect and I'm choosing to fill you all in on our life rather than clean up...don't you feel special! LOL...here's a shot after bath time one night last week.

Everyday last week began bright and early for me and Jack. After getting ready and having breakfast, we would stop by Josh's office and pick up Tinsley and Emily, his co-worker Regina's daughters. They came with us each day to VBS. I think they really enjoyed it. The theme was Outrigger Island, so everything and everyone was decked out with leis, hula skirts and flip flops. It was a fun, but exhausting week. I'm very thankful for the wonderful care Jack receives in the nursery at church, but he got spoiled this week. I don't think he was put down for 3+ hours each day. Needless to say, I'm paying the price this week getting him back to reality!

On Tuesday afternoon, we celebrated Regina's birthday. The girls and I picked up a cake, balloon and flowers. We all ate at Johnny's for lunch. Tinsley and Emily had been eager to hold Jack, so they got their chance at lunch that day.


On Wednesday evening, we dined at Pueblo's with some friends. It was a nice treat during a busy week. As usual, Jack enjoyed being entertained by the older little ones around. The big kids usually like entertaining him, so it works out. Tate even wanted to hold Jack. Here are a couple of pictures of him being entertained by Tate and Brit. He was also eager to explore Tate's face. Jack has grown into quite a curious little guy, which is neat to watch.

Father's Day

Well, we've been up to a lot since my last post, which I'm hoping explains why it's been so long since my last post. I'm hoping you'll all forgive me. We'll begin with Father's Day weekend. We set out on Saturday to visit Jack's Grandmommy and Grandaddy in Rome. We arrived for a pretty late lunch at the Chick-fil-A dwarf house...yum! Josh can't wait to introduce Jack to barbeque, and I can't wait for him to taste his first waffle fry and chicken nugget. He did sample a little of the menu. He tasted a few pickles, which he liked.

We spent the afternoon catching up. Sean showed Jack how to play with his old Barney laptop. He loved it. We were happy that he found something so entertaining, but it is quite a loud toy, which maybe one reason everyone was so quick to part with it and send it home with us! Here he is enjoying every second of it.

Saturday evening we went to Olive Garden for dinner, which is one of Grandmommy's favorites. We ate so much! I think I had about a dozen breadsticks! Despite that, Josh's sister Kristy thought we should make fruit pizzas! She really wanted to make one for her fiance, Jeff for father's day. She had already made the sugar cookies and cream cheese spread. So, we started spreading and placing our fruit when there was a bit of a cream cheese incident! I'm still not completely sure how, but somehow I ended up with cream cheese in my hair, which was pretty hilarious! Thanks, Kristy!

On Sunday, we went to church with Josh's folks. There were quite a few folks who hadn't met Jack and were excited to see him. Others were just excited to see him again, like Mrs. Christine. She introduced Jack to her dad, who we all call Grandad. Grandad's name is also Jackson, which is pretty neat. After church we had a visit from the Reichels, who had a gift for Jack. It was a really neat flatware set for a child and made of real stainless. The set included a baby spoon, toddler spoon and fork and child's spoon, fork and knife. Afterwards, we went to lunch at a place that served family-style home cooking. They had the best homemade chicken fingers and the best sweet potato casserole I've had in a long time. Josh and I kept going on and on about it. Jack was so worn out he fell asleep on Josh's leg! Once we returned home, we ate again! This time red velvet cake from Sweet Sensations.

After departing from Rome, we went through Kennesaw to visit Ben, Wendy and B.J. Josh and Ben watched the U.S. Open while B.J., Wendy and I played with Jack. After Jack had his dinner we set out for Ted's Montana Grill, which was quite tasty. Ben and I both wanted to have steak and salmon, so he ordered one and I ordered the other! Since Josh had to work all day Monday and then in the ER Monday night and Jack and I were headed to the first day of VBS, it was not so fun getting home so late. It was worth it for a really great weekend.

Before I conclude my Father's Day recap, I'd like to recognize some great fathers. First, my heavenly Father. He's blessed me and my family with so much and over the last year has shown me how much I can and should trust in Him. Secondly, my earthly father. What a great leader he is for our family. Also, Josh's father. I'm thankful to have such wonderful in-laws. Lastly, Jack's father and my hubby, Josh. If you only knew how much I have enjoyed being witness to your journey so far as a father. Jack is so blessed to have you as his dad. Thanks, fathers! (Here's Josh lending his knee to Jack for a nap.)

Making New Friends

Now completely enthralled with the world around him, Jack is making new friends each day. Hands down his favorites are other children. He laughs and is so entertained by kids that sing to him, dance for him, make funny faces or sounds. Our friends, Tim & Joni have a 4-year-old named Drew. Jack is so entertained by Drew, and Drew pretty much enjoys Jack too. So, it's a win-win! Here's a picture of them at a birthday party earlier this week.


Since there is a Wednesday Night supper hiatus at church during the summer months, most of us ladies decided we should all meet up occasionally on Wednesday nights to keep from having to cook! What a great idea, right? Well, this week several of us met up for Japanese...yum! As you can tell Jack was again entertained by the other kids. Here's Drew & Tate giving him a show.


It's so hard to believe that we have now lived in our new community for a year! So much has happened in that short time. Josh and I are so blessed to have found a community, a church family and great friends in our new area. It's so neat to think about how God placed us here. With me staying home with Jack I thought it would be difficult making new friends, but we've been blessed with a fabulous Sunday School class, and I've been blessed to meet many other great ladies through the MOPS ministry. This week at our church softball game, we snapped this photo. There are two other recent first-time moms in my Sunday School at church. Both with boys! Isn't it neat how God works? Here is me, Jack, Andrea & Andrew and Amy & Hudson.

A rare shot...

Unless you are a stranger to my blog, you know that mostly I blog about my little one, Jack. You also probably know that he has crazy hair that generally has a mind of its own. Well, tonight after his bath Jack still had a little bit of energy to get out and was playing in his exercauser. I kept thinking he looks so different...what is different about him? Then, it hit me...his hair was actually laying flat from being combed after his bath. So, here are a few rare shots of our little wild hair man. I guess he's still pretty handsome with normal hair! Oh, and just in case you forgot here's a picture of him on a normal day, which happened to be just about an hour or so before these other were taken.

Just Sittin' Around

Aren't Sunday afternoons just the best for naps and sittin' around? After church and lunch this week Jack went down for a nap and so did Josh. He had been up late admitting and up early rounding, so he had a very good excuse. I had a few things to take care of around the house, but also wanted to read the paper...another great Sunday afternoon activity. Well, little Jack decided he didn't want to miss any of the activities and decided on a very brief half hour nap. He then proceeded to show off his sitting up skills!

He's been getting very close to sitting up for a few weeks, but always needed a little support. Well, on Sunday he debuted the no hands look. He sometimes still uses a hand for support, but is getting pretty good at his new skill. I'm not sure why, but he seems to do better in no clothes! J/K...I know he has so many clothes, but it has been so hot the last couple of days that he wakes from his nap all sweaty. So, he shed his church clothes and we waited until just before evening church to get him dressed again. I promise he normally wears clothes!!

Jack and I managed to get in some play time between his sitting up show off times. Here he is giving kisses and cheesing with mommy. What a cutie!

Playdates

This week has been a busy and exciting week. Jack is still earnestly working to figure out his cup and tried cereal puffs yesterday. He liked them for the most part, but had a little trouble when one scratched his throat a little. It looks like he is miserable in this photo, but he wasn't unhappy the whole time, I promise.

We also had a couple of get togethers that turned into sort of playdates. On Wednesday evening we had the Yorks over for dinner. They have a two-month old named Andrew. It was neat to watch the two discovering each other. Jack did a lot more looking with his hands and Andrew was more content to observe with his eyes only. Hopefully, Jack didn't scare him off and they will come back! I managed to get a few great shots of the duo while Jack was trying to grab Andrew's face.

On Thursday, Jack and I drove to Braselton for lunch to meet an old friend of mine from high school, Rebecca. She has a two-month old as well, but hers is a little girl! Evelyn Grace is very cute and was very well-behaved. We had fun catching up and ended up talking mostly about babies and motherhood...go figure! Anyway, I totally forgot to take pictures so we definitely have to do it again soon. We kept joking that this was their first date! Ha, ha! (Sarah, don't tell Mallory!)

This is harder than it looks, guys!

So, with the six-month mark comes the introduction of the cup. After a couple of purchases, I think I found one Jack is interested in. Although, we may have to put Coca-cola in it for him to drink out of it. Of course, I'm just kidding! We've tried it with water and some seriously diluted apple juice and he's finally starting to get the hang of it.

We began by just playing with it empty. Today while Josh and I were eating lunch he was sitting in his high chair. I've been trying to teach him to keep his hands down while he's in the high chair. If they come up, I put them back by his sides before continuing with eating. So, we gave him the cup to play with and just sat there trying to get it in his mouth without his hands...like bobbing for apples. I was so proud that he knew to keep his hands down, but at the same time felt kind of bad that he didn't think he could use them! So, Josh showed him.

He really got the hang of it this evening and I managed to snap a few pictures. We'll continue to work on it, but I guess it's harder than it looks!

The Adventure of the Runaway Sodas

So, Saturday evening we attended a MOPS family cook-out for our outgoing and incoming Steering Team Members and their families. It was great to meet the husbands of so many of the great moms I have worked with and will continue to work with. We were responsible for bringing drinks. The expectation was for around 50 people, so we had about 9 two-liter drinks and a gallon of lemonade. The party was at the Thurmond's house, who live up in the Highlands neighborhood. As we arrived, I carried Jack, his bag and the lemonade and Josh tried to get the two liters, but some of his bags broke and the drinks went rolling. It was so hard to contain my laughter, but hopefully you can imagine the humor in the situation (unfortunately, I didn't have any hands available to photograph it). Although, it's probably good I couldn't photograph...that might have sent Josh over the edge. He didn't find it as funny as I! He finally took my suggestion and loaded them into Jack's stroller and proceeded down the hill. Once we arrived Josh noticed he had a seersucker short twin, Sarah!

Anyway, we enjoyed getting to know some of the other families and having dinner with them. Jack enjoyed flirting with the only girl there, Mallory, who is almost a year old. I guess he likes older women. Here's a cute picture of them getting to know each other. Mallory was so cute. She kept her eyes on Jack while we ate...probably to make sure he didn't steal her dinner! We look forward to watching these two growing to be good friends.