Random Pics

"Where's Jackson?" He will play this game for hours....He has been eating crackers. Check out those hands.

Want some, Mama?

10 Months Old

The day after Christmas, Jackson turned 10 months old. He is turning into my little boy! He is crawling all over the place, and is pulling up on everything that stands still. He is saying dada, mama, nana (interchangable for Nana, Nandee, and banana), no no, and dog. His personality has really started to develop this month. He has started fake coughing, laughing, and crying. My favorite is his fake laugh. Blake and I will start laughing about something, and he starts cracking up, too. He also loves to play peek a boo, and for us to chase him around the house. He is now wearing 9-12 month clothes. I believe he weighs around 19 pounds, and is probably about 30 inches long. He still isn't a great napper, and we are still having some sleep issues at night that we are working through. Sigh. I can not believe that we will be celebrating his first birthday next month. I feel as if he just got here, but certainly don't remember what life was like without him!

Sweet Home Alabama....

well, not really, because Alabama is not mine nor Blake's home, but I can't help but have that tune in my head every time we cross the state line! The day after Christmas, we headed to Bama to visit my mom's side of the family, as we do each year on the 26th of December. Our trek to Leighton was a bit more eventful that we would have liked, but we made it to our destination safe and sound.

I will preface my story by saying that Blake, Jackson and me left our house on Friday afternoon (the 26th) around 3:00. Blake pulled the car out of the garage, and put the car back in park, and grabbed my hand, and asked the Lord to protect our trip and to get us all to our destination safely. He always does this before we travel, and I am so glad that the Lord is faithful to hear our prayers!!

We left our house, and headed towards downtown. I had received two Starbucks (my favorite) gift cards for Christmas. Blake asked me if I would like to stop at the Starbucks at the Read House and grab a drink for the road. I decided no (which is unlike me)...but then at the last minute, I asked Blake to stop at the exit, and I went into the Read House and grabbed myself a Decaf Peppermint Mocha Twist. I was out of the car for about 5 or so minutes. We got back on the road, and about 10 minutes later, all of the cars in front of us started slamming on their brakes, and a police car came across the median and went to an accident that had just happened about 5 minutes ahead of us. As we approached the accident, it was very obvious that is was serious accident, involving multiple cars. I praise God that he protected our family, and we prayed for the people and families that were effected by this horrible accident. I couldn't help but think...what would have happened if I hadn't stopped for my cup of coffee?

About an hour later....it had gotten really dark, and a bit foggy as the drive continued. Blake commented that he was always cautious during this part of the trip, because he worried about deer running out in front of our car....within about 2 minutes, some large animal ran out in front of our car, and unfortunately we hit a large dog with our car. Blake felt horrible, and pulled off on the side of the road to inspect the damage. We now have a cracked bumper, a bit of white paint missing, and 1 less fog light on our car.

Needless to say, we were very glad to get to Leighton, Alabama!

We spent Friday night with my Aunt Sherry and James. On Saturday morning, Aunt Sherry fixed an awesome breakfast, and we got to spend some great time with them. On Saturday night, we had our Christmas with my mom's side of the family, and played Greedy Santa. My grandmother walked away with the 5 pound peppermint stick that is creatively disguised each year as the gag gift. We spent the night with Sean and Erika (my cousins) on Saturday night. Blake performed his infamous and oh so accurate pencil/needle test to predict the gender of Erika and Sean's soon to be arrival (baby girl). I made him do the test on me again, just for kicks. Boy, girl, boy. We will see what happens!

On Sunday morning, Aunt Sherry fixed another yummy breakfast, and we headed to Huntsville with Sean and Erika. We went to a new mall, Stonesbridge, and it was a lot of fun. We ate at PF Changs, and then headed home. We had a great time.

Sean and Erika practicing!

The oh so accurate pencil test...

Jackson and Lincoln (do we notice a theme with the great grandchildren??)

He just looks mischeivious here!

Christmas Day

Jackson's first Christmas was so much fun. Thankfully, he and Blake were both feeling better, and thankfully I did not get sick! Blake and I both woke up around 6:00 on Christmas morning and exchanged gifts with one another. My favorite gift from Blake and Jackson was a Willow Tree figurine of a family of three. Last year, he gave me the figurine that was "great with child," so I thought that this year's gift was really special. Santa gave Jackson three Christmas gifts: a Cruise and Crawl Musical Jungle, and stacker, and a block shape sorter. He seems to like the Musical Jungle best. It is in our living room, and it keeps him pretty occupied. We spent some time at home, just the three of us, and then headed to my parents' house to spend time with them. We exchanged gifts with my mom, dad, brother, and soon to be sister in law, and enjoyed a yummy breakfast with them. After breakfast, Jackson and I went to my old bedroom, and took a LONG nap.

Around 2:00, we headed to Blake's grandmother's for lunch, and a gift exchange. That evening, we headed to Blake's parents house and exchanged gifts. We also played a game, "Imaginiff." It is a very fun game to play, and quite hilarious to play with a group of people that you know really well!

It was a busy day, but lots of fun. I didn't feel quite as rushed this year, and felt like I spent quality time with our little family and our big families. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends to celebrate the birth of our Savior with.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was a little different this year. Evidently we are a highly contagious bunch, because before New Year's Eve, my Dad, both of Blake's parents, and both of our brothers, all became sick with the stomach virus...so we changed our agenda a bit.

We woke on Christmas Eve morning and hung around the house for most of the morning. Later in the afternoon, we went to the mall and walked around. We usually go to a Christmas Eve service with my parents, but my dad was sick, but Blake, Jackson, and I went the candlelight service anyway. We didn't get to have the Christmas Eve party at my parents house, either. Hopefully next year we will get to do that again. We did go to the fire hall to visit Brad, and read the Christmas story there. Brad read it this year, and some of the other firefighters listened, too. We also opened up our Christmas PJs at the fire hall. Later that night, Donnie and Darla stopped by our house, and Donnie helped Blake put one of Jackson's toys together.

Jackson left Chex Mix, Oreo truffles, and orange juice out for Santa, but Lady ate them. Jackson also placed Santa's special key on the front door knob, since we don't have a fire place.

Christmas, Take 1

On December 23 (Christmas Eve Eve), we have our Christmas with the Freeman's. We had finger foods and taco soup for dinner, and then all the of the kiddos opened their gifts. The adults played Greedy Santa. Blake and I teamed up, along with Brad and Lydia, and we all took great gifts back to our respective residences. Blake received a nice roadside emergency kit, and I took home two really nice photo albums. Donnie and Darla somehow ended up with dual prayer books. Blake also took the annual family photo....it's pretty hard to get that many people looking at the camera, with eyes opened, and smiles on everyone's face!

Santa Pics

Blake and I planned to take Jackson to see Santa for the first time this morning. We got him all dressed up, and got to the mall around 10:15 or so, hoping the line wouldn't be too long. There was no wait, fortunately, and I got Mr. Jackson out of his stroller and approached Mr. Claus. Jackson did NOT want to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas!! Poor little thing screamed and cried. He was yelling "DAAAAAAAAAADAAAAAAAAAAAA!" He would turn around and look at Santa, only to cry a little louder. Blake had our camera taking some pictures as well, but the camera started acting all crazy, and I don't think they actually took. The 5 x 7 photo I have of my boy screaming while he visits Santa for the first time is priceless. I love it!

On a side note, I called Dr. Wiley's office (again) to question why my son has been throwing up his dinner every night since Wednesday, and I wanted to make sure they didn't think he was contagious or anything (I do not want to make anyone sick, I would feel so bad). He seems to think he is having acid reflux, possibly caused by the stomach virus, and he called him in a prescription to CVS. So far, so good. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get the straps on the high chair clean that cannot go in the washing machine, I would really appreciate it!