Sunday, April 25, 2010

Happy 1st Birthday Jack Attack!!

I cannot believe that it has been a year since Jack was born. It went by WAY faster that I thought it would. It's crazy how fast he has grown and how much he has learned in just a year. It is such a blessing to be his parents and to watch him everyday as he continues to grow and develop. Here are LOTS of pictures from Jack's 1st birthday weekend!!

Friday morning before work and before breakfast, I attempted the Sock Monkey pics.
Do you like Jack's birthday shirt? I ordered it from cafepress.com.
This is the best I could get. We were pressed for time.
After breakfast we tried the Sock Monkey pics in his new Radio Flyer wagon that we gave him for his birthday.
He didn't want anything to do with him this morning.

These pics are actually from the night before when John and I gave Jack his wagon. Since John had to work on Friday, we gave it to him early.
Jack LOVES his Daddy and his wagon!
Friday after work, we met Grandaddy, Nana, Aunt Holly, and Tyler at the house. We went to dinner, then came back home, where Jack got his birthday gift from his Grandaddy and Nana. That's right! Jack got his first Harley! He LOVES it!!
No worries! He does have a helmet too! (Notice Jack pointing-- that's what he is doing most of the time these days)
After his present, we decided it was time for Jack to have his cake!
There is no doubt about it... Jack is our child!! He LOVES cake!!
He did not hesitate one bit! He dove right in and started chowing down.
Time to wash it down!
The end product. FYI-he did not eat all of it. He played with most of it.
Saturday morning, we woke up and started getting the house ready for Jack's birthday party. As you can see, we went with a Dr. Seuss theme.


Jack with his Great Aunt Sara
Jack and his cousin Joshua
Jack's loot.
Getting ready to open presents.
Jack's gift from his GREAT GREAT Grandmother, Gam.
Jack and Daddy opening presents.
This is my favorite pic from the whole weekend. Isn't he just the cutest thing?!?!?
Playing with his new fire truck.
Jack's cake
Singing "Happy Birthday"
Cake #2
"I know exactly what to do!"
Notice: he only uses his left hand to eat his cake. (He still goes back and forth most of the time-- not sure what he will be)

The end product

Jack and Grandaddy having a chat.
Thank you to our family who came to share the memories of Jack's first birthday! Everyone was so helpful! We are truly blessed and loved.

What Jack is up to these days:
  • Pointing at everything still (even more than before)
  • Talking more and more
  • Still cruising-- he will walk as long as he is holding on to something or someone.
  • We believe he can walk independently... but he just doesn't have the desire. He has taken a couple of steps, but after that he just squats down and starts to crawl.
  • Speaking of crawling... he is FAST!
  • When crawling, he loves to drive his toys (whether they have wheels or not, he is scooting them across the floor in one hand)
  • Loves being outside... another sign he is our kiddo. :) We are excited about all of Jack's new "outside" toys!!
  • Trying to climb on things... John discovered that Jack can climb on the fireplace. DAREDEVIL!!
  • Likes stacking objects or putting his toys inside other toys, buckets, Rubbermaid containers, etc.
  • Plays independently (however, this weekend, he had LOTS of playmates)
  • Still sucks on his two fingers (middle and ring) on his left hand (mostly when he is sleepy/tired/upset) Not sure HOW we break him of that or WHEN we should try.
  • Eating like a CHAMP! He can be pretty picky... but here are some of the things he will eat on a regular basis... grilled cheese, turkey and cheese sandwiches, pancakes, blueberry muffins, grilled chicken, green beans, baked beans, avocados, cheese, watermelon, cantelope, strawberries, bananas, yogurt, graham crackers, nutri-grain bars, dried fruit, crunchies... (I'm sure there is more, but this is all that comes to mind at the moment).
  • Jack has been drinking whole milk for about a week now. He made the switch with no problems. (just a little constipation after a few days-- nothing a little bit of prunes can't take care of :) )
Now we get to experience the life of parenthood with a toddler!!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

On the Hunt for Bluebonnets

It's the time of the year here in Texas when the Bluebonnets bloom. John was working yesterday, so I recruited GG to come with us to find some Bluebonnets. Several people told me just to drive up Hwy 290 and I'll find some, but I'm just not comfortable stopping on the side of the highway and putting my child out on the side of the road to take some pics. So I googled some place where Bluebonnets had been sighted. Of course 290 popped up, but so did Washington on the Brazos State Park. So we headed that way. It really isn't far from us at all. Jack napped on the way there, so he was good to go when we got there.

Of course Jack sees a beautiful blue flower and wants to grab it.
PLEEEEASE can I have one?

How about this yellow flower?
No thanks! I want the blue one?






Here we are on the trail. It really is a neat little park.
We let Jack play in the dirt. He was LOVING it!
We will definitely be going back there. I can't wait til Jack can actually run around and enjoy it more!

Another Busy Weekend

Last weekend was a pretty busy weekend. On Saturday, we headed over to Grandpa and GG's house again. John helped Grandpa put together his new grill! After that we celebrated Grandpa's birthday with some yummy Annie's and GG's chocolate cake! After eating, we were all pretty full, so Jack and Grandpa just relaxed together.

After that we headed out to see some friends we hadn't seen in a while. I didn't take any pictures. OOPS! But Jack did get lots of attention from the ladies. Of course, he just wanted to play with the dogs the whole time.

On Sunday, we got up SUPER early because I had signed up for another half marathon. John and Jack are both troopers. We got up around 4:00 to get ready and drive to Clear Lake for Angie's Half Crazy Half Marathon. It's a pretty small race with around 1600 participants. It was such a big difference from the Houston Aramco Half . I hope to run Angie's again in the future.

Apparently when I am running, I am pretty boring. :) Here is Jack crashed out during the race. (sorry.. for some reason I was not able to rotate the pics)
Just finished!
I SEE MY FAMILY!!!
I ran this half in 1 hour 56 minutes. Just over a minute slower than I finished the Houston Aramco. I am very happy with my time though. I did not train as much for this half as I did the first one. With a sinus infection, a stomach virus, and at times, just plain laziness, I did not run as much as I had wanted to. Now... should I run another one? Or just stick to 10K's and 5K's for a while?