Jack was a part of our church's Vacation Bible School this year! He missed the end because he got a cold, but he had fun while he was there! Each night he brought home a little craft he "made" including a paper surf board with his little footprints on it. He also brought home an ornament with sand inside & stickers of the nativity scene on the outside. Our sweet children's director even specially made him a shirt since the official shirt didn't come in his size. It was so sweet & really warmed my heart that she went above & beyond to include little Jack. The whole experience reminded me how blessed we are to belong to a church who believes even the youngest ones can learn about Jesus' love. I didn't get a great picture of him, but here's one that shows off his cute shirt! (I had to hold on to him since he was standing on a chair!) Thanks again to Lesa & the whole children's council, our church family, & all Jack's sweet teachers & helpers!

This is How I Roll!

Today was the perfect family day! Jack 'slept in' until 7:30, ate, and fell asleep again for a while. He woke up a little later & played while I made breakfast. After that we woke up Daddy & got ready for the day. We ended up running some errands, then grabbing sandwiches & going to the Botanic Gardens. We ate our lunch & walked around enjoying the perfect weather. After that we decided to make use of our zoo passes & stop by for an hour or so. Last time we went to the MOLA & Texas Wild areas, so this time we headed for the primates, elephants, giraffes, etc. Jack was more alert this time & actually looked at the animals. :) We stopped by John's parents house to water their plants & check on the pool (they're traveling around Australia & New Zealand right now!) then headed home. Jack spent the evening on his blanket & rolled over 3 times in a row (back to front). So exciting! We'd been waiting for him to make it all the way over for a while now & my mom told us he did it Thursday while we were at work, but it was even cooler to see it first hand. Way to go, Baby Jack! We love you so much. Here are some random pics since we didn't take any zoo or garden pics today. Check out the rolls on those thighs! Right before he rolled over for us!

Lunch with Daddy & friends on Friday.

I almost missed it.

This morning I was actually running early for church! I pulled into the parking lot a full 35 minutes before I needed to be there & saw that Jack was asleep in his carseat. I wanted to give him a few more minutes of sleep, so I decided to take advantage of the moment & finish off the Starbucks giftcard John gave me for Christmas. I went through the drive thru & when I got my drink, I saw this:

At first I thought, "That's weird. Usually they try to at least make it look pretty", but a second later as I turned it around, I saw what I was meant to see: a smile. It's a small thing, but it made my morning. Plus it makes a great point for what God's been teaching me lately.

At the first of the year I decided to be more intentional about looking for/recognizing God's work in my life. Specifically the gifts He gives daily (from the simplest, to the most extravagant). His gifts are so easy to miss sometimes & I think by missing them I am really missing out on so many blessings He is pouring out on me each day. God has used this to change my focus & my attitude, & that is yet another thing I am thankful for!

On a related note, church was awesome this morning. First, I learned about an amazing ministry I didn't even know we had: The Methodist Mission Home. Then we were blessed with an awesome sermon on 1 Corinthians 13. You'll have to check it out on the church website once John gets it posted!

Fall Recap

I missed a couple of holidays, so here's a recap:

Halloween:

Trunk or Treat: Thanksgiving:

Oh wait, This is literally the only picture we took.

We SHOULD have taken the following pictures:

The turkey BEFORE we devoured it. It was my first time to cook a turkey on my own. Although, I did Skype Mom to make sure I had it positioned right in the pan before I put it in the oven!

My dad carving the turkey with me standing by 'supervising' (meaning stealing little pieces like some sort of scavenger).

The whole family (My parents & brother, & John's parents) at the expanded dining room table which was covered with food, flowers, and Mimi's china.

Little Jack in his rocking chair sleeping through his first Thanksgiving meal.

Matt passed out on the couch. ;o)

Pie. Lots and lots of pie provided by Grandpa M. Yum.

Not only did I forget to take pictures, we also forgot to go around the table & say what we were thankful for this year! Other than that it was a wonderful time with family, & the food was delicious!! I will make a point of taking pictures on Christmas...more than just the turkey carcass.

11 days old

Here's what's been going on:

• Eat, Sleep, Pee & poo - we've got about a 3 hour cycle going with these activities & it repeats 24/7. John has names this item "The Poop Snake" we've emptied the diaper genie twice so far...
• Other activities Jack seems to like: hanging out in his swing, going for walks with Mommy, Daddy, & Lucy, cuddling, trying to catch his hands/fingers as they fly by his mouth (he's only been successful at getting a thumb in once, but often sucks on his fist or random fingers).
• Jack doesn't cry often, but makes fussy noises when he needs/wants something.
• He stays awake a little more now & spends the time looking around & attempting to gain control of his hands.
• He is very verbal & makes tons of different sounds & noises.
• He picks up his head a lot when you hold him over your shoulder or put him on his tummy.
• He has a love/hate relationship with being swaddled - either he calms down & sleeps awesome b/c he's not bonking himself in the face with those crazy hands, or he's grunting & stretching trying to break free. It's kind of funny & after a few days we started calling him Houdini because he seems to have the ability to escape any form of swaddle if he so desires.
• He seems to have an every-other-night thing going with sleeping in 3 hour chunks between feedings, or keeping us up all night (last night was the latter). As you can see, even Lucy is worn out today!
• His umbilical 'stump' fell off & scared me to death before I realized what happened.
• We're still getting settled & getting used to being a little family.
• We're grateful for all the love, support, & food we've received from family & friends!

First 2 days

I'm officially back to work! I feel something like that old cell phone you replaced because it wouldn't hold a charge anymore. Even though I rest as much as possible, I just run out of energy much faster than normal. Other than that, things are going well! Yesterday was full of meetings & I'm thankful for my loving & patient school family who put up with this big ol' preggie lady (& my sarcasm). I'm hoping I didn't scare any of the new staff members who don't know me yet... It was a good day, but I'm pretty sure our motto this year will say something about "The family that sweats together..." I'd like to send a special thank you to August in Texas for providing the insane temperatures! Needless to say, when I got home I was pretty wiped, BUT Lucy was having some sort of allergic reaction, so I had to take her to the vet. Apparently something triggered her immune system & she is now on the doggie version of cortisone & prescription strength benedryl. Side effects: increase in thirst & increase in urination. Um...yeah...so, John & I are having to schedule her pee breaks (i.e. one of us letting her out) throughout the day. Oh well, good thing we love her so much! Today we had the chance to work in our classrooms all day. My wonderful mom spent the whole day helping me out & John came for the afternoon to help move big stuff, staple things that are too high for me to reach, & set up my work station for me. It was amazing how much we got done & it made me feel ready for the new year. There's no way I could have done even half of that without them - I am SO grateful for their help! Other than that, I'm trying to keep my feet up tonight because my ankles are angry about this whole work thing. They are GIANT & just plain freakish looking. I started to take a picture, but had second thoughts - I hope you're not TOO disappointed.

Thank you, BES!

My BES family gave us a baby shower this week & as always I felt incredibly loved & supported by my sweet coworkers! Here's the cake! I'm pretty sure it's the coolest cake I've ever seen! :)

Punch! There may have been some jokes about the ducks drowning...but I think they all made it.A diaper 'cake' made by my teammate! Adorable! :)Baby clothes! I like this one because it has little monsters on it who seem to be destroying a city, or at least cars & stuff. I find that amusing. Oh yeah, I almost forgot my favorite moment: Some of the other outfits had long pants with snaps for diaper changing. John's reaction when he noticed the snaps: "Ha ha! That one has tear-away pants!" Did I mention he's never changed a diaper before? ;o)

Lastly, I already posted a pic of the room decor & bedding we picked out, but thanks to the generosity of everyone at school, we were able to go home & order the bedding & many of the other items in this picture. Our little man is going to have such a cool room - I can't wait to get started - in fact that's on the agenda for next week!Thank you again to my BES family! I am so thankful to go to work every day with such a kind & caring staff - you guys rock!