Where does the time go?

It has been entirely too long since my last post and my little boy is already 3 years old.  Where does the time go? Time goes by too quickly once you become an adult and it goes at hyperspeed when you work full time and have a child.  I'm so thankful that I was blessed with the opportunity to stay home with Jake for almost all of the first two years of his life.  Don't get me wrong... I absolutely love my job but there is nothing like spending precious moments with your little one.  Trip was out of town one day last week and I woke Jake up to get him ready for school.  He looked up at me all sleepy and said "hold me Mama" so of course I sat down on the bed and he climbed up in my lap and snuggled in tight against me.  He looked up at me with those beautiful blue eyes and said "Don't go to work Mama.  Let's stay home and you can hold me all day... if you want to.". 

We have had a quite few weeks weather wise but since we had already received over 5 feet of snow this winter we were probably due for a break.  But because it was so snowy and so cold from December through mid-February there was a lot of inside time and Jake picked up every illness that passed through his childcare group.  He had a virus that mimicked the flu with a very high fever that lasted over a week then he got an ear infection followed by a stomach bug and finally a plain old yucky cold.  Everyone tells me that if he gets all this stuff now he'll be better off once he gets to kindergarten so hopefully that's true because I would hate to think that he'll have to go through all of this again.  I even had a teacher tell me that you can tell which kindergartners were never in childcare because they are sick all the time once they start school.

Jake had his 3-year check up last month and he was 24.5 lbs and 35.5 inches tall.  It is so hard to believe that it has already been three years!  I remember "labor day" like it was yesterday and I hope that I will always be able to recall every little detail.  Our Valentine baby had fun making valentine's for his friends this year and he was really excited about his birthday.  He couldn't wait to be 3 so that he would be a "big" boy.  We've started potty training in earnest and he's doing great.  Everyone told me that boys are later and slower to learn than girls so we haven't rushed him but he seems to be ready now so I guess we'll change our last diaper soon which is a little bittersweet.  It's great to watch them grow and develop but it's still a little sad when those "lasts" occur.

Jake is VERY excited for us to find our next house and he has some very specific requirements... a big yard and a dog.  When Trip told him that it looked like someone was going to buy our old house he said let's go get a new house with a yard right now so I can get a dog.  We're not going to rush into anything unless we happen upon "the" one so it may be a few months before we get that yard and that dog but we've assured our little man that we will indeed make that happen soon.

Last night it was just the two of us and Jake wanted to dance so I put a toddler dance mix on called Crazy Frog and the two of us danced wildly and giggled uncontrollably for the longest time.  I love my life!  I'm very blessed to be Jake's mama and Trip's wife.  We have great family that loves and supports us.  We both have really good jobs..  We have an amazing little boy who is all that we could have every hoped for and so much more.  We have accepted an offer on our house and as long as everything goes well we should be mortgage free and ready to officially begin the search for our next home by the end of this month.  Thanks be to God for blessings too numerous to count.  I'm eternally grateful!

Enjoy all the pictures and videos (including one inspired by the Grammy Awards) and please forgive me for the extended period between posts but sometimes you just have to dance with your little boy.

 Too cold to play in the snow so let's paint.

 A snow day picnic with Mama...

 

Taking a little rest after playing in my jump pile.

Mama's drive to work...

 

Mama likes this picture...

and this one...

 

Happy 35-Month B-Day to Me!

I'm a real firefighter!

Mama said that this was my version of a drive-in movie...

whatever that is...

We had fun at this belated Christmas gathering...

I love to go to the park!

Catch me Daddy...

We made Valentine's Day treat bags for my friends at school...

Decorating these Valentine's is serious business!

Look what a great job I did...

Let me help you clean that up Mama...

Mama made birthday cupcakes for me to take to school.

I love birthday presents!

Happy Birthday to Me... Happy Birthday to Me!

Yep.. this big boy is 3 years old today!

 

 I'm Mama & Daddy's little Valentine... literally!

 I better help Mama get this place cleaned up for my birthday party.

Making my birthday cake took more than one brain.

Wonder when I can open these...

Let's get this show on the road.  

There are presents to open.

 

 My cousin Abbie likes to help me do things.

 

 It is so fun to have so much of my family here!

I'm pretty sure that cake is next!

 Eat fast everyone so we can get cake!

 

Smile for the camera Mama!

 Grandma & Grandpa came all the way from Maryland!

 Uncle Russell & Aunt Kristi are just crazy about me!

 I decided that cake can wait until after presents...

Here's what teenagers do at a toddler's birthday party...

 This card is hilarious!

 My hard hat is too small for you Uncle Russell...

 Mama made this for me and when I saw it I said...

"Yea Mama... that's a good firetruck".

 Let me help you light the candles Daddy...

I better taste test this ...

Yummy!

It's good Grandpa... have some...

Thanks for partying with me Mamaw & Papaw.

Let's build this together Grandpa...

Hey Guys... I want to help build the firefighter stool

that Mamaw & Papaw gave me for my birthday.

Look how tall this makes me Daddy...

Grandma did you see my firetruck balloon?

Dancing makes us happy!

 

My new stool works great!

I'll always be your baby Mama!

 

One happy family!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

We had a wonderful Christmas filled with good food, wonderful family and of course our precious little boy.  We had a visit from Grandma, Uncle Paul, Jennifer, Carley, Nolan and Johnathan right before Christmas.  It was entirely to short but it was really nice to have everyone together at least for a brief visit.  We don't get to see that part of our family nearly often enough so we appreciate every moment no matter how fleeting.  Jake really enjoyed playing with his Grandma and keeps asking when she can come back to his house.  He also became quite smitten with his very beautiful cousin, Carley.  We made her a nice bed on the couch in our family room and Jake had to get up and go back in there three times to tell her that he loved her before he could go to sleep.  Trip asked Jake what his favorite thing about the visit was and he quickly said Grandma... a brief pause followed then he said and Carley, too.

We spent Christmas Eve at Mamaw & Papaw's house with them, Uncle Russell, Aunt Kristi, Gage, Katie and Abbie and enjoyed way to much good food.  Jake's Aunt Kristi found "the" perfect gift for him and my brother was so excited to give it to him that he could hardly wait until we began opening gifts.  They got Jake a ride-on excavator and he was thrilled.  He opened several other gifts first because we knew that gift was going to steal the show once it was brought into the room.  Someone would ask him what he thought every gift was going to be and every single time he would say... "I think it's a CAT excavator" and then suddenly it was an excavator and the smile on his face was bright enough to light up the night.  We spent the night at Mamaw & Papaw's which Jake thought was awesome and we woke up Christmas morning to light snow falling.  We were getting ready to start making a big Christmas morning breakfast when it became very clear that if we didn't leave immediately that we wouldn't be getting home for several days.  We hated to miss our traditional family breakfast but we packed up as quickly as possible and slowly made our way back up the mountain.  It really was best that we made our way home when we did because the roads were getting bad and the snow hasn't stopped falling since it began Christmas morning.  We're approaching another foot (yep... this snow event should put us just over 3 feet for the month of December) but it sure was beautiful to have a white Christmas. 

Santa had visited our house while we were away and Jake was so excited once he saw that he had left him a new race track, several cars and a stockings stuffed full of goodies.  It was so fun to see his reaction this year!  One of the things that Santa left in his stocking was a real Appalachian football jersey and he literally jumped up and down and squealed with delight when he pulled it out.  He put it on immediately and has been wearing it ever since.  I'm not sure how I'll ever convince him to wear anything else.  After he spent some time enjoying his Santa stuff we let him open his gifts from us.  Once of his gifts from us was his very own digital camera.  It is by V-Tech and it's made specifically for toddlers.  It comes with a memory card just like any digital camera and it holds 400 pictures.  He has already taken a ton of shots.  He was taking pictures over and over last night sitting beside of me on the couch and I asked what he was taking so many pictures of and he said... "your knee, Mama".  A few minutes ago I heard him say ... "smile at me Daddy" so I'm pretty sure that he has his camera out again. 

Today we got outside and played in the beautiful fresh fallen snow.  It was only 17 degrees so we didn't stay out long but Jake had fun sledding and wanted Daddy to go faster and faster when they were going down the hill.  It has been really nice to be tucked safely in our nice warm house watching the snow fall and playing with our little boy without worrying about work, errands or other obligations. It has been a nice break after all the hustle and bustle leading up to Christmas and I think we're all much more relaxed after a couple of nice lazy days at home together.

We've had an amazing Christmas together and I feel so grateful for all the blessings in our lives especially our precious child who asked if Jesus was going to get some cake on his birthday.  I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas too and are looking forward to what the new year will hold.

Jake's Christmas Concert

Go faster, Daddy!

Let's do it again, Daddy!

My fire fighter goggles make me look like a skier.

Ready... set.... sled!

I think this might be more fire fighter stuff...

Look at me, Mama!  I'm a fire fighter.

I love this tent and tunnel that Laura and Thomas got for me!

Look at this football player, Mama!

How did Santa know that I like Osh Kosh socks?

Look Daddy... Santa got me a new Thomas toothbrush!

Wow!  Santa really did come!

Mama... can I sleep with my new excavator?

Mama... this might hurt a little bit...

This is the best gift ever!

I got a real, working crane too!

This is Mama's side of our family...

And... this is Daddy's side of our family...

I'm a happy boy!

Daddy and Carley...

Me and Grandma...

Mama and Carley...

Daddy... can we read this new book tonight?

I like to wear Daddy's old hat and pretend that it is a helmet...

We wish you a Merry Christmas...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

This has been the fastest holiday season ever for me.  I think it has something to do with being involved from a retail perspective.  Jake is really excited about Christmas this year.  He loves all the decorations and lights.  He's starting to understand the idea of Santa and he's singing all kinds of Christmas carols.  You won't be shocked to hear that he is really loving the whole idea of presents too.  I can not wait to see his little face on Christmas morning this year. 

Getting the Christmas tree up this year was quite the adventure.  When we moved into this rental house I didn't think that we would be here at Christmas.  I guess I was overly optimistic about how quickly we would get our house on the market in Asheville and how quickly it would sell.  That being the case... I didn't stage the Christmas decorations in our storage room so I had to turn it upside down and stand on my head trying to find them after Thanksgiving.  Jake "helped" me dig everything out and then he "helped" me put the ornaments on the tree.  He has redecorated the bottom half of the tree several times too.  Luckily only two ornaments have been causalities of his redecorating. 

Jake is quite the little helper and he has even been shoveling snow with his Daddy.  I have to get some pictures to share at some point or maybe a video would be even better because it is adorable.  We've already had almost two feet of snow this year and it isn't even officially winter yet so there has been plenty of snow to shovel and when Jake comes back inside from helping his Daddy shovel he'll say ... "Mama... we did some real hard work out there!". 

We've enjoyed a few holiday activities already including Jake's daycare party.  It was fun to get to know the other families better and to watch the kids give a little Christmas program.  Jake had so much fun that he keeps asking if we can go to another party.  Last night we did some Christmas shopping and drove Jake through a really pretty Christmas light display at on of the nice resorts up here and he loved it.  This morning we went to the Christmas parade downtown before doing some more Christmas shopping and tomorrow we're finishing up our shopping then going to see Santa.  I'm hoping that we'll be able to get a good Santa photo but we'll have to wait and see.  He's very excited but he's a little leery of new people right now so it could go either way.  I have to add that I'm blessed to have Trip as a husband because he's been a trooper tagging along for the shopping and wrangling Jake to keep him out of trouble while I checked things off our list.  I sometimes see Mom's out trying to shop with their kids in tow and I have no idea how they do it which is just another reason that I'm thankful for my husband.

Jake's Grandma is coming later this week along with his Uncle Paul and his family and we're all looking forward to seeing them but Jake is especially excited that his Grandma is coming.  In fact... we have a countdown going as you'll see in one of the videos below.

I have to share one more thing and then I'll be back sometime following Christmas for my next update.  Today I said ... "I love you Jake" and he said... "I love you Mama... I love you always and always".  He is truly a gift and having my own child has made me even further understand the sacrifice that our Lord made for us.  On Christmas and every day I'll be thinking about how he gave his only son for us and I'll be thanking him for that amazing gift as well as the one he gave Trip and I almost 3 years ago.

I hope you and your families have a very Merry Christmas!

This Christmas parade is really cool Daddy!

Grandma is coming...

Happy 34-Month B-Day to Me!

These are my buddies and my teacher from school...

Mama... I think this one will look good right here...

Here's a preview of part of our Christmas card...

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas....

I'm painting Mama!

Message from Santa

Jake received a very special message from Santa tonight and I thought it would be fun to share it so follow the link below to see what Santa had to say...

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/guest/IS4aiPIA58-7v7mE5CPFWQ

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have so many blessings to be grateful for and Jake is at the very top of the list.  We've had a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by family and entirely too much food.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to see all of our loved ones today so Jake made a little something special for those that couldn't be with us...