Old Fashioned Sunday/35th Anniversary

This past Sunday our church celebrated its 35th Anniversary with an Old Fashioned Sunday. It's always a good day filled with worship, friends, preaching, fun, and of course, lots of good food! Mom and Andrew and Hannah came to it this year. It was just a little chilly outside but was perfect for our tent service.



We had a full hour of singing and special music before the preaching. Jorge and JJ sang "The Old Story Will Never Grow Old" again this year. I'm so proud of my boy. He is braver than I ever was. He has no fear and I pray he stays that way. I'm thankful he loves to sing!

After the services we dug in to all of the yummy food, painted pumpkins, played games and the guys had a horseshoe contest. The afternoon was full of food and fun. And we all went home exhausted. Which is the sign of a good time!

11 Months

Jack Jack,

Today you are an unbelievable 11 months old. It is literally mind-boggling to me that you are only weeks way from being 1 year old. Which reminds me...I need to get started planning your birthday party! Anywho, this has been an active month for you. So much has happened. The biggest milestone is that you started walking! On October 15th you took your first steps and you haven't stopped! You're getting better and better every day. I have a feeling you'll be running sooner than later. 


Your first words were Bye Bye and just recently you started saying Uh Oh.  I'm hoping that you'll say Momma soon.  You've been jabbering a lot lately so I'm thinking you'll probably be a talker like your big brother.


You had a slow start with food but now you love it!  You'll eat just about anything as long as it's not mushed.  I'm guessing you have a sensitivity to texture.  You also figured out how to use the sippy cup.  And if one of us is eating something you fuss until we share with you.  You've become quite a demanding little fellow! The spit up shows up occasionally but we're mostly done with it.  Hallelujah!


You are still sleeping in bed with me and you are still a horrible sleeper.  Unfortunately.  You wake up multiple times a night and require nursing in order to go back to sleep.  And sometimes that doesn't work.  There have been many days that I'm convinced your whole goal in life is to keep me from sleeping!  If that's the case, you're doing a fine job!  Next month though is Thanksgiving break and the goal of the whole week will be to get you in your own bed.  I have to admit that I will miss waking up to your sweet smile and jibber jabber in the mornings.


You are still in size 4 diapers and are wearing 12 month clothes.  You're still a bit of a chunk but I think you're leaning out a little bit.  That makes me sad.  I love all the rolls and fat baby dimples.


You and your big brother are still best buddies although I think JJ is starting to realize that you can get into his things easier now.  I love to watch him with you.  He is so sweet and loving to you and always calls you buddy.  I'm sure you get dozens of hugs and kisses from him daily.  I pray you two will always be close.
 

You are growing too quickly little man.  You'll be all grown up before we know it.  And I don't even want to think about that.

Comparison

I was looking through old photos the other day when I had the idea to find some pictures of JJ when he was 10 months old so I could compare him to Jack at 10 months old. There definitely are similarities between the two. They both have contagious smiles, curious personalities and are so full of fun and laughter.


I am so in love with my boys and am beyond thankful that God has blessed me with them.

The Month of September

September was a pretty good month for our family (other than the fact that I turned 35. Blah). JJ made it through a month of Kindergarten (and I made it through a month of teaching!), he got his first suit (which was a VERY big deal), we attended the state fair (I have never seen so many, um, interesting people in one place in my life), and we found out what my brother and sister-in-law's baby is going to be (yay!). 
JJ had been asking for a suit for quite some time.  I had been hesitant to get one because I didn't want to spend a lot of money on something he may barely wear.  Twice a year I go to the Just Between Friends consignment sale and stock up on clothes for the boys.  To my surprise I found a black suit on sale for $7!  I knew immediately that I had to get it and couldn't wait to show it to JJ.  To say that he was excited about it is an understatement.  The boy has worn the suit coat every single Sunday  since then. 


It has been a couple of years since we've gone to the state fair.  We talked about going this year but hadn't made any certain plans.  A friend of ours offered 4 tickets to Jorge to get us in the fair and the Disney on Ice show.  We originally had a date night planned but we couldn't say no to that so we accepted his offer and made a family day of it.  Since we had 4 tickets we decided to ask Mom to join us. We started off the day at the barn.  We saw everything from Clydesdale horses to baby chicks and baby pigs.

We wandered around a couple buildings looking at the booths for a bit before deciding to hit the car show.  We went on a Saturday so it was crazy, to say the least, and there were thousands of people.  Which, by the way, made for some great people-watching.  My husband was one of the interesting ones in this case... 

Jack did pretty good through the whole thing.  He just sat back and took everything in.  Not much else he could do, I guess.  :)

JJ wanted to play a game so we let him choose one.  I think he picked one that he knew he could win.  Smart kid. ;)

It was a fun and exhausting day.  And worth giving up our date night for!

Andrew and Hannah's gender reveal party was so fun and cute!  Everyone had to pin on their shirt which gender they thought the baby was.  I was team pink.

The party was 10:00 in the morning so instead of cake they did filled donuts. The color of the filling would reveal the baby's gender. Such a cute idea!
It's a boy!  I'm going to have a little nephew!  I'm so excited that my boys will have a boy cousin to grow up with but I'm thinking it's about time this family added a girl to it.  Hmm.  ;)

8 Months Old

My sweet jumping Jack,
Today you are 8 months old but I'm not sure how that's possible since you were just born a few weeks ago. Goodness how quickly you've grown! How sad and exciting it is.

This past month you crawled for the first time and started pulling yourself up on anything and everything. You've become very adventurous in your crawling and have explored many different areas of the house. You especially love your big brothers bedroom. So many fun things to get into!


Your 2 bottom teeth came in about a month ago and 1 top tooth came in just recently. We're beginning to see 3 more top teeth coming in and 1 on the bottom left. Pretty soon you'll have a mouth full! You're such a good teether. You never drool and don't fuss much.


We are still nursing every 2-3 hours. You're not interested in food. You'll eat puffs and that's about it; although, you did eat a few bites of salmon patty and zucchini at Grandma's house last night. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you'll start eating soon!

I think we're almost done with spitting up!! I am so incredibly excited about this! Basically from day one you've spit up constantly. It's usually so much that I wonder how on earth you're gaining any weight. The last couple weeks have slowed way down as far as spitting up is concerned. It still happens but not nearly as much!

You still sleep next to me at night but I think we're going to have to put you in your crib soon. :(. For all our sanity. I don't sleep much because you like to nurse allll night long so I think it's time to make the transition. Nap time is spent holding you in the rocking chair. Putting you down isn't even an option. You pop your eyes open as soon as I move and you refuse to go back to sleep until I sit down and nurse you.


I haven't weighed you in a while but you're in a size 4 diaper and are wearing mostly 9 month clothes and a few 12 months. I would guess you're 20 lbs. or so. What a big boy you are! I love my chunky monkey.


You have become a happier baby. I love your toothy little grin. It melts my heart! Outings are so much easier now. You will sit in the cart like a big boy and just watch as momma shops. You've also learned to tolerate the car seat - thank goodness!


I adore watching you and your big brother together. He is such a big help to me. It makes me wonder how I did it without an older sibling to help when he was a baby. He loves you so much and loves to hug and kiss on you constantly. Just the other day he said, "Momma, even though my brother fusses and cries I'm still glad I have a brother!". Me too, JJ, me too.

A Year Without My Dad

It's so hard to even know where to start. So many feelings and emotions have been running through me the last few days.  The same ones that I've felt for a year now.  They're just a bit stronger and it's because the day I've been dreading is here.  The 1 year anniversary of my Daddy going to heaven.  One year.  I know I've said it a dozen times but it doesn't seem possible.  I can't grasp the idea that he's actually gone let alone that he's been gone a year.  I remember thinking last year at this time that 1 year was so far away and I couldn't even think about life without my Dad for a year.  And now, I'm living it.  It's my new normal, sadly.  I believe the thing that keeps me sane is knowing that I'll see my Daddy again some day.  Without that I can't even imagine where I'd be.  Such a hopeless, depressing state that would be.
The sadness and grief is still very real to me and I miss him more now than ever.  It's an ache that comes from deep inside and is one that cannot be "fixed".  It leaves a gaping, empty hole inside.  Unless you've felt it, you have no idea.  I had no idea until a year ago.  I've learned to live with my new normal and it's actually pretty close to what life was like before losing my Dad but now there's the hole.  And the days where it punches you in the stomach and you're right back to the unbearable grief that leaves you crumpled on the floor, wishing for just a little more time with him.  I'm guessing that I will live with that for the rest of my life and in a way I'm glad.  I don't like feeling sad and being overwhelmed with grief but I never want it to go away because it shows that I haven't forgotten.  I pray I never forget.
One year ago from this very moment I was watching my Daddy take his last breaths.  I'm so thankful that I was there with him when he went home to Jesus.  I will never forget those last precious moments I had with him. 

Graduation

Last night JJ graduated from Pre-K. It doesn't seem possible that his first year of school is almost over. I remember walking him into school down that long hallway to his classroom feeling so proud yet so sad at the same time. I was excited to see my baby growing up and becoming independent but I wasn't quite ready to let him go. But I did let him go and my sweet boy made it without me. He marched right in and embraced this new part of his life.

Next week is his last week as a preschooler and before we know it he'll be in kindergarten. We started the year with a 4 year old and a few months away from meeting his baby brother and we're ending the year with a 5 year old and an almost 6 month old. My how quickly life flies.