New Camera - can you tell the difference?!!!

 Goofing around before bedtime.

 Messy eater!

 "How big are you Jack" - "Soooo Big!!!"

 Jack and Papa

 Jack sharing his paci with Papa

 Hello camera!

 Monthly picture was taken a bit late due to a forgetful mom...

 Chasing Daddy in the walker - watch out!!

New tracksuit from Great Grandma & Grandpa

More photos from Jack's 9 month shoot

Brrr it's cold out here!

Momma's boy

Christmas 2010

The last two weeks have flown by!  We celebrated Christmas with Gigi and the Braun side of the family on Thursday night.  Then Ben spent the night with us and drove back to Kirksville with us on Friday.  

Christmas with Gigi in St. Louis on 12.23

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We went to Christmas Eve service with my Grandparents.   And even though Jack, Terry and I spent the majority of the service in the back of the church we still had a nice time.  We had homemade soup and cookies (a Gordon tradition) at Grandma & Grandpa's house after church.  Christmas morning we woke up about 8 am at my parents to open presents.  Jack got the cutest painted table and chairs along with a couple musical instruments from Papa and Grammy.  I had the best Christmas because I got a new fancy camera (note: none of the pictures below are from it).  I plan on taking a class to really figure out how to use it.  Terry and my two oldest brothers drove back to St. Louis on Sunday while Jack and I staying in K-ville until Wednesday.     

 Christmas with Grammy, Papa and Great Grandma & Grandpa

12.24-12.29

*I have some really great pics of Jack and Papa but they're on the new camera and haven't been downloaded yet.

Smile if you've been naughty!

Christmas morning with all his loot.

Christmas afternoon at Great Grandma & Grandpa's house

Love when we get a good picture of the 3 of us!

Jack & Grammy

Jack and Great Grandma (aka the baby whisperer...she can seriously stop any baby from crying)

Jack & Great Grandpa 

Jack and his buddy Ben - these two are going to get in a lot of trouble together in a few years.

Jack's beautiful painted wood table from Papa & Grammy

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Then on Friday night, Terry and I spent the night at the Hyatt and went to their New Year's Eve bash with our neighbors.  We had a lot of fun!  Jack stayed the night with Grandpa and Nana.  On New Year's Day we all went to Gigi's for her annual Open House.  Then we went back to Grandpa & Nana's house for the Tonsing Christmas.  Fun times but I'm glad the holiday chaos is over :)

Christmas with Grandpa & Nana 

1.1.11

Jack loved his singing stocking!

Jack & Daddy goofing around...

Jack and Grandpa

Yeah another pic of the 3 of us.  I plan on zooming in and framing this one!

Jack and Nana

Playing with Uncle Jason

I'm excited for Christmas!!!

Jack meets Santa & visits Aunt CC!!

The last 2 weeks have flown by!  The first set of pictures is from two weekends ago when Jack met Santa.  Recap - Friday night, Jack and I went over to my friend/neighbor Shannon's house for a Stella & Dot party.  For those of you not familiar, Stella & Dot is a jewelry line and much to my surprise the stuff was pretty cute.  I'm not really the Partylite/Pampered Chef/Thirty-One type of party going gal - to be honest I hate those parties.  BUT as a friend and neighbor I made an exception... plus the fact Shannon is a great hostess and she made me a wonderful cocktail concoction of champagne and French soda (fabulous!).  Saturday I spent the day running errands and picking up a couple of Christmas presents.  Saturday night we took Jack to visit Santa.  As you can see from the pictures below he was petrified!  Sunday, I took Jack and Caroline over to Grandma's house to decorate for the holidays.  Jack didn't really help but Caroline did a wonderful job of placing all the ornaments right next to each other on the tree.  I'm not sure Grandma will ask us to help next year :)

My adorable 'candy cane' outfit! 

Aren't you from my favorite book "If you give a moose a muffin..."? (thanks Grammy!)

Who is this scary guy!!! & why is he holding me???

Still not that happy but at least I'm in Momma's arms.

I'm totally 'done' with this Christmas party.

Let's go Dad...I know you drove.

Yeah!  I'm home. Do you like my tree? (Notice how no ornaments are within my reach)

Random picture of my living room - do you like the new print above the couch?

This past weekend Jack and I visited with my best friend Colleen aka Aunt CC in Atlanta.

Having fun with Momma at Aunt CC's house!

Playing with Harley (who ADORED Jack).

Attempt 1 for a picture with CC

Attempt 2 (open your eyes Jack!)

Attempt 20 - obviously this is not going to work...

We had a wonderful time visiting with Colleen, Bill, Harley and even got to spend some time with CC's family (thanks Momma McNitt for the yummy potato soup!)  However the last leg of our trip was pretty rough because I came down with the stomach flu and then our flight was delayed 4 hours yesterday coming home!! Nothing like being in an airport for 5 hours alone with a 9 month old. 

BUT I only get to see my best friend twice a year therefore it was totally worth it!

I love you Colleen!

Jack's 9 month stats (including lots of pics!)

Tuesday I took Jack to the pediatrician for his 9 month check-up.  His stats included: 28.5" height (75%), 18 lbs & 2.75 oz (10-20%), 46 cm head circumference (50-60%). She said developmentally he is beyond the charts (brilliant!!) okay I may be exaggerating a bit but she was EXTREMELY impressed that he could already say "mama & dada", wave and clap by just asking him to (she did not even make the gestures), pull himself up, but mostly by his extreme friendliness and curiosity.  He did not want me to hold him (which is unusual right now because he's a BIG momma's boy).  He crawled around on the floor for awhile examining everything, eventually pulled himself up on Dr. Dorfman and wanted her to hold him so he could play with her stethoscope.  It was hilarious!  He LOVED all of her gadgets.  The best was when she turned off the lights to look in his eyes with her 'flashlight' and he started laughing.  She was highly amused.  He only had to get one shot and he didn't even cry!  The only advice I was given when we left was to completely stop the baby food and only give him 'people' food now.  I told her I would when I used up the cabinet full of jar food at home. That stuff is expensive!  Last night Terry and I took him to Cracker Barrel (my guilty pleasure) and he devoured green beans, carrots and cooked apples.  It was funny to watch because neither of us were sure how much he truly ate after I picked him up to leave and looked down at the highchair covered in food.  Oh well at least he enjoyed himself!

On to the pictures my wonderful and talented friend, Lissy Early, took for Jack's 9 month shoot/Christmas card. www.missprissiness.wordpress.com (her blog/website)