Pics to follow up from Christmas!

I don't think I could have done a better job describing our Christmas weekend with the boys than Chris did in a previous post. It was just so special to have our little Cole here us this year, and I think Jack "got" Christmas this year. He would walk around the house singing Happy Birthday to Jesus. We had a wonderful time spending time with our family.

Dinner at Famous Dave's after Christmas Eve service with Grandpa Wayne and Grandma Vicki

The tree Christmas morning

Jack tearing into his kitchen from Santa (he likes to cook like daddy)

Our first Christmas as a family of 4

Cole and Tessa with their new drums

All the Great Grandkids for Christmas!

Kyleigh sledding ...... Jack shoveling the yard

Karissa playing in Chris' truck ...... Keaton having fun!

3 Sisters

Grandma making juice in the 'washing machine'

Jack was so tired from playing in the snow he fell asleep at the dinner table

Keaton and Jack worn out from a busy weekend!

4 Months Old

My baby turned 4 months old on Christmas Eve. He has been doing so many new things this month. He truly is our little Christmas miracle. It was last Christmas Eve that we found out we were pregnant with Cole. The day was full of excitement and shock as we tried to figure out how we should tell our families. We took Jack and headed up to Babies r us to see if we could find a Big Brother shirt to wrap up and give grandma and grandpa. That evening as we all got together for Christmas Eve service it was all we could do to keep our little secret until the next morning. So the following day just as we were finishing opening up presents, Jack took his little box over to grandma and everyone was so excited. Chris told his parents Christmas morning by calling them and telling them what I got him for Christmas! And at Grandma Marge and Grandpa Ronnie's Christmas Grandma Vicki had gotten and ornament with all the great-grand children's names on it, and we just added baby Lacy to that to share with everyone. Then at our last Christmas who-ha Jack wore his big brother shirt to tell Grandma Helen and all the family. Soooo.......a year later and her is our little man. I think he really enjoyed the Christmas weekend, with cousins around to watch and new toys to play with.

4 month stats: 15lbs. 9oz. 26 inches long

Things I want to remember at 4 months are:
-how he is full of smiles and laughs now
-how he goes to bed on his own without us bouncing him to sleep
-how he started eating cereal and pears and LOVES it!
-how he really knows his mommy now and sometimes cries when he sees her and she doesn't pick him up
-how he is reaching for toys and trying to hold them
-how he always watching big brother and daddy play
-how he loves to snuggle with his really soft blankies right in his face
-how cute he is when he is jumping in his jumparoo

-how when you get really excited you fake cough!

Battle Scars

As we tucked Jack into bed tonight I stared down at him as I always do. Alissa was getting something on the dresser and Jack looked right into my eyes. What I saw in his face wrapped up the entire weekend.

I got home early on Wednesday and did not return to work until Monday. It snowed the entire weekend launching white frozen flakes down to earth every minute of the day from Wednesday until Sunday morning. Jack's cousins came into town and stayed the whole weekend. We traveled and did Christmas in several spots opening presents, playing with gifts and friends.

Jack has shoveled, sledded, fallen, ran, opened presents (...and not just his), played, ate, played some more, jumped, ran x 4, watched movies, spotted new tractors, thrown snowballs, talked on the phone, wished merry Christmas, ran x 6, rode in the van, NOT napped, up at 5:30 AM every morning, discovered, hurt himself, conversed, negotiated, ran x 8, jumped x 5, still up at 5...this time 5:15, invented, de-clothed, bathed, brushed, braved wind chill and battled until it was all over.

At dinner Sunday night he sat next to me with all the family at the table staring into his own abyss. Until he fell asleep while eating a chicken nugget. He litterally asked for a nap. That is how you live life. As I saw his face tonight, all 5 inches of it's diameter, I noticed the scratches, the wind burn on his cheeks, the exhaustin in his eyes, the messed up hair and the scars from the weekend. It was all I could do not to laugh. So I smiled. He gave me one back. So full his wind burnt cheeks puckered up and his final grin of the weekend was from ear to ear. Did Jack win the day? He won the weekend!

Random things...

Jackson, I love you dearly, but I am thinking a straight jacket might fit you well. It doesn't matter if you wearing pj's or clothes, they all come off...ALL the time. You can run out of the room for 2 minutes and come back in naked. (thanfully you keep your diaper about 75% of the time.) Today after I laid you down for your nap, I heard you shouting for something, so I came back up to check on you, and there you were laying in your bed with no clothes on. :)

Cole you are like a little smile box lately. I love it. Today when I was taking pictures you were hilarious, then I rolled you onto your tummy and "bleh" here comes the spit up, all over your Christmas blankie. But you just kept on smiling.

Starting Food

About a week ago I started Cole on rice cereal. He started waking some in the night and just really seemed hungry at night time. At first he didn't care for it so much. But then I added some pears to it and he really started to enjoy it. Well, I ran out of pears the other day and had to substitute with peaches...I think can you tell how well he liked the peaches from the picture.

Beautiful Boys

No words can describe how much I love these 2 little guys.

Shared photo book from Alissa

This is obviously not done...but here's what I have so far!

Click here to view this photo book larger

First Day in the Snow!

I was so happy to be able to play in the snow with Jackson for the first time this year. He woke up last Monday and saw the snow covering the ground, and could hardly contain himself, he was so excited. As soon as we got Cole laid down for his morning nap, I bundled Jack all up and we headed out. He was most fascinated with walking around the yard watching his footprints. Then he would turn around and walk backwards so he could see his footprints better. Loved it! Then just as we did all summer with he dirt, Jack found his digger and starting digging snow! Every day since then, Jack has been asking to go play in the snow, but it's been too cold. Can't wait for another good snowfall to go play outside.

My little Reindeer

Cole, you are such a joy to me. I love being your mommy!

Little Boys and Underpants

I woke up energetic this morning, with a list of to do's a mile long. Really my goal, get pj's washed for the boys and get dishes done. Anything else would be a bonus. Cole was sleeping in late and I thought I would have a few minutes to myself to get a shower. Not a nice long relaxing shower, a 2-3 min tops, quick wash my body and not worry about my hair kind of shower. So 3 minutes later, I go down to see what Jack is up to, and I come into the downstairs bathroom to find him standing at the sink, plug down, water running over the sink and flooding the floor. Seriously...in 3 minutes all that! Well, as I continued with laundry, Jack walks into the BR with his snow boots on that he played in yesterday, then heads upstairs, in that 2 minute span before I follow him, he has stripped all clothes off including his diaper and is standing in the stairs with only his boots on asking for underpants! Gotta love that boy.

It is no secret that I love food. My kids know this, my wife, family, friends, 2nd and 3rd tier acquaintances and anyone that can see my facebook posts understand that food is a passion. There are behaviors that kids become and are not taught. Last night we visited one of our favorite food establishments and I remembered that I love getting a side of cheese to dip my fries in. I have forgotten to order this the last couple of times and end up mooching off of my Father-In-Law.

Oh my how good the cheese is. The process for dipping is to dip the fry in the cheese first (very liberally) and then move to the ketchup...which by the way is not found in the "way too small, used to get mouth wash served in the 3rd grade" paper cups. The ketchup, Heinz, is poured on to a very open area so as not to get it on my fingers.

Anyway, I get up from my chair to go get something and find my Son has taken over my real estate. He is dipping my fries into the cheese, and not ashamed of it. He must have felt so at home. I move him over to his chair only after moving the cheese there first. Where the cheese is...Jack is. Let's fast foward to the end of dinner. We are cleaning up the table and throwing things in the garbage. We naturally picked up the cheese and put it in the bag to throw away.

Jack began to cry as though he saw his dog shot in front of him. We couldn't quite make out what was wrong until we heard the word "Cheeeeeeese!" He obviously was not done and Grandma pulled the cheese back out and gave it to him. We are in a hurry at this point. Cole is crying, Tessa is crying, the parnets are very anxious because the kids are crying in a very busy restaurant. So Jack is reunited with his cheese only to find out that we will be throwing it away before we leave. That did not go over too well. I am standing at the trash can dumping our garbage into it and I scan the table to make sure we have everything. I see Jack, with his right index finger, taking swipes at the cheese. No fries or ketchup, just fingers. He is maximizing his efforts in a last chance to get cheese before it goes into the trash can.

I think to myself, 'This is my kid.'

Happy Birthday Kyleigh!

After a quick decision yesterday, Jack, Cole and I were off with my parents to come down to Rolla, MO. My oldest niece Kyleigh is turning 8 today!!! I can't believe it. Probably neither can her parents. I remember the day Kyleigh was born. Lisa and I had spent the night at the Schoolfield's cause her parents were in town visiting (this was when we were in college). Her dad came and woke us up and said baby was on its way. Not really sure how he got the call. Maybe my dad called him or had called the Schoolfields house. So I got ready and headed to Rolla to meet them at the hospital. She was a beautiful baby. Today we are having a Fancy Nancy birthday party. I decorated the dining room with hot pink streamers, and she had pink and purple boas to put all around. In the words of my 2 year old "It's gonna be fun!"

Thanksgiving

It was my baby's first Thanksgiving. We had a great evening. Our family has practically doubled in great grandkids since last thanksgiving. Jack and Nathan spent thier evening playing with the pool table balls, and the babies took turns napping. But at one point we did have them all awake for a quick pic. We sure missed having Kyle, Amy and the kiddos home.

Bedtime

Jack has always been really good about going to bed at night. Sleeps well, as long as he has his water and blankies. Lately our bedtime routine has been that while I am attending to Cole, Chris will take Jack up, pray, and tuck him in, then he comes to get Cole, and I got pray and say goodnight. Last night as Chris was getting Jack in bed, Jack sits up in bed. Not being defiant, but kind of dropping over with his arms resting on his legs and his cocked to one side and says, "I don't want to sleep, I already took one last night!" He says these things so cute you almost want to let him get out of bed...but then you remember that you have a childless date with the couch for a few minutes of R&R. At the end of my part of the bedtime routine, I always tell Jack sweet dreams as I walk to his door and he replies with "sweet dreams, you too mommy."

Santa Clause?

I bet there are a lot of parents who have memories made at McDonalds. As we ventured back to Chicago form Kansas City we stopped off at McDonalds for lunch. We picked this for 2 reasons: Convenience and the McRib is BACK BABY! We sat near the window that was closer to the construction next door. A Skid Steer was working away building a new KFC. Jack and his tractors. As we watched the building being built a pickup truck pulled up and parked.
The door opens and out comes and older gentleman with a belly and a pretty heavy white beard. Jack points out the window directly at the old man and yealls, "Santa Clause!" The excitement in his voice. He immediately identified this character (just some retiree getting lunch) from what I don't know. But one thing is for sure...this Christmas is going to be fun.

3 Months

My sweet baby, I can't believe that you are already 3 months old. You are forever changing and developing your unique personality every day. Things to remember when you were 3 months are:

-how you have this half laugh half cry thing
-how you love your blue swing out in the garage
-how when something really intrigues you, you stare at it and start cooing
-your smile that goes from ear to ear
-how you love to suck on your fists, but just can't seem to get that thumb in there
-how strong your little legs are and that you can stand up in my lap
-how chubby your little thighs are
-that you love it when daddy plays his guitar
-how nobody can quite calm you down like mommy can!

Goodbye KC, Hello Home!

Chris's family all lives in KC, so a couple times a year we make the trip down to visit. This past weekend was the first time was had been down since Cole was born. We were quite nervous about driving with Cole since he usually likes to cry, no scream, the whole time we are in the car. But both kiddos did very well on our trip down and back. We had a great time seeing lots of friends and family. Grandma Joyce took Jack to the santa land at Bass pro. He loved driving all the remote control race cars and trucks that they has set up all around. He even crashed the monster truck so hard it broke the rear wheels right off! Grandma Joyce even got Cole to fall asleep.



Of course Chick-fil-a was on the to do list for KC. They had, for a limited time only, peppermint chocolate chip shake! YUMMY! I am now in love with peppermint ice cream, sorry babe! :)
Friday night we got to visit with the Booz's (that a long o). The Booz family helped out the night that Chris and I got engaged and always makes time for a visit when we are in town. The guys were jammin' on the guitars, and Jack got to play drums with D.J. for the first time. He loved it so much, he pretty much ran back and forth to the drums all night. It was awesome, he actually had some rhythm.


Sunday we went to watch Chris run the Gobbler Grind marathon. Jack is such a good spectator. He claps and cheers on the runners and gets daddy's water ready to had to him. The runners always smile when they see him standing on the side. It really was adorable. Thanks to Grandpa Gerald for driving us around so we could see daddy about 8 or 9 times on the trail. Much more relaxing that Chicago marathons where you can only see his about 3 times and I think I am more exhausted from walking all around then Chris is from running!


Most of all Jack had a great time playing with his cousins, and loving on his grandpas and grandmas, as did Cole!



But as nice as it was to visit, it was wonderful to wake up my own bed this morning, know that the kids got a good nights rest, and not have to put them in the car today!