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)

Thanksgiving Weekend

We spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Cary, IL with Terry's family.  This is the 3rd year that I've attended the big Saul family Thanksgiving and it truly is a highlight during the holiday season.  We LOVE this trip and look forward to it every year.  This year was even more special because Amy (Terry's 1st cousin) and I had our babies 2 days apart in February.  Last year we were the big pregnant women who everyone doted on...this year no one cared about us - it was ALL about Jack and Presley.  Thank you so much Saul Family for hosting/entertaining us!!!  Can't wait for next year :)

Happy Turkey Day 2010!

Too much turkey...

Jack & Presley

Presley like to sit on the game rather than play with it - ha!!

This is Jack's "what are you doing?" face

This was the favorite toy of the weekend.

My goofy son - he blinks 9 times out of 10 when the flash goes off.

Car ride home.

Decorating the Christmas tree last night.

Jack was a BIG help...

This one is out of order but Jack was "in love" with Poly.  She carried him around all weekend, pushed him on this car and even put him down for a nap!! She is going to make one excellent Mom when that time comes :)

Weekend in pictures

Just because I love bath pictures!

Since paper is on Jack's top 10 list - he also loves to read magazines.

A toothbrush is also on his top toy list.

Jack LOVES the tree!

I wish I could have captured his expression when we turned on the lights.  Priceless!

Look who's 9 months old!

A little late posting this...

Jack watched Uncle Andrew compete at State in Cross Country!

Jack & Papa hanging out after the meet.

We drove 2 hours (each way) to watch Uncle Andrew run for 18 minutes!

Long drive - totally worth it!! Congratulations Andrew on making it to State your first year running Cross Country!!

We're so proud of you!

Watch Jack Crawl!

Seriously I don't know why I can't upload a video properly!!! But this is the best it's going to get...I hate my pc.

Enjoy!  If you can't hear it towards the middle I start to ask him to do his "tricks" aka waving, clapping, clucking his tongue, etc.  He's such a little ham!