Crawling... Crawling... Crawling...

Yep... it's official... we have a crawler. He's now constantly in motion, into everything and keeping Mama and Daddy smiling all the time. We've started baby proofing (outlet covers, cabinet locks, etc.) and will be ordering gates for the stairs soon too. Jake's 6th tooth just popped through today and I'm also very happy to report that he's now saying Mama... yippppeeee! It's still a tough word for him but he's getting better every day. He's been saying Dada for about 2 1/2 months but he's also now saying cat, duck, truck and Grover (his new best friend) and participating with his reading videos like clapping when they show the word "clap" and waving when the word "hi" comes on the screen. Jake has learned to sign for milk so he let's me know when he wants milk now which is so cute. When you ask him what the ceiling fan does he waves in a circular motion because we've told him it goes round and round. Jake is also pulling himself up in his crib and by holding onto his truck as well as the ottoman so he might move on to walking sooner rather than later.

As you'll see below, we took Jake for a walk one evening recently. He LOVES to be outside and he loves cold weather so he was very relaxed and fell fast asleep. He fell so fast asleep that we were able to pick him up out of the stroller, carry him inside and lay him down in his pack 'n play for a nice long nap. Jake normally sleeps very lightly and wakes up immediately when he's moved so we were very surprised.

Jake will be one in just 10 days and we're going to have a little Winnie the Pooh party for him. I promise to post more pictures after his party and possibly more video if he really digs into his on personal smash cupcake.

I'm including lots of new pictures in the post and a few new videos too.

Look at me Mama!  I'm standing up again.

I'm so glad that Papaw is feeling better.

I've got to hurry and see what's in here before
Mama gets back over here.

Wow that walk made me tired.

Shoot, I fell asleep before I finished my snack.

Daddy's boy.

I see you, Mama.

Did you see that Mama?  I just pulled myself up.

I'm really going places now!

I'm getting tired from all of this crawling.

Now I can go get my truck all by myself.

Daddy, it's so funny when you sneeze!

Let me show you how to build that shelf, Daddy.

Go faster Daddy... go faster!

I love this truck!

Read this one to me, Daddy.

Hey was that the cat that just went by?

Let's do it again, Mama.

11 Months Old!

We can't believe that Jake will be one next month! This year has flown by but its truly been the best year of our lives.

Jake is enjoying his new toys from Christmas and learning new things every day. He's moved on to a straw cup now so I've packed away his sippy cups. He not only points at the light when you ask him to now but also the ceiling fans and the door. He loves playing peak-a-boo so we play every night before bed and his wonderful laugh is the best way to end our day. Santa brought Jake a Busy Ball Popper for Christmas and he was terrified of it... BAD SANTA. Well... he has overcome his fear and its now one of his absolute favorite toys ever. He now giggles, claps and reaches out to catch the balls as they pop out. He also loves to ride his big Tonka truck and will happily stay on it as long as Daddy and Mama are willing to push him around. He also loves a really great gift that Trip's Aunt Lynne got him for Christmas. It's a drum and inside the drum are drumsticks, bells, a tambourine, maracas and a xylophone (all shaped like various insects). He has a new FAVORITE book... "I Love You Through and Through" and he wants us to read it to him several times a day. He likes to hold the book himself. turn the pages and point at the words like we do when we read it to him. It's the cutest thing... especially when he's doing it and he doesn't know we're watching. As most of you know I'm blessed to be able to stay home with Jake right now and I love this time that I am getting to spend with him but admittedly I think I have him a little spoiled which has delayed his mobility so I've been working on that with him since Christmas and yesterday we got some army crawling so we're headed in the right direction. He loves to stand and will take a few steps while holding our hands. He's trying to pull himself up and he has sat up from laying on his tummy plus he rolls all over to get whatever he wants (especially the balls from the Busy Ball Popper).

While Daddy was in the hospital here in Asheville, Mama stayed with us and since we lost our guest rooms to the nursery and Trip's home office we had to improvise. We pulled a mattress and box springs up from the basement into Jake's nursery temporarily so we had to push his crib up against the windows and he loves it because he can pull himself up and look outside. We aren't going to leave it that way but we're letting him enjoy it for a little while and have included a couple of pictures below.

The 11 month birthday photo shoot went much better this month. I gave him an O-ball to hold which distracted him from the sign until the end and as you'll see he just had to get it down.

We're done so I can take this down now, right?

I'm 11 Months Old!

Daddy, you are so funny!

I'm in toy heaven!  When does Santa come again?

Mama, have you seen what the neighbors are doing?

Hey... is that a red-breasted woodpecker?

I'm such a big boy!

I love this book so much!

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year...

We were hoping for lots of great family Christmas pictures to share but things didn't work out exactly as we had planned so we are just sharing lots of wonderful pictures of Jake opening gifts and enjoying his first Christmas. We've also uploaded a couple of new videos of Jake for everyone to enjoy. One is opening a gift and the other is showing us how smart he is already :)

We were in Maryland visiting with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Paul and cousins; Carley and Nolan when I received a call that my Daddy was having a heart attack. Needless to say we left Grandma's house very abruptly to get back home. That was the longest 8 hour drive ever but we finally made it to the hospital. Daddy made it through the surgery very well and the doctor's have been very pleased with his recovery. He is home now and we are so grateful for all the support we have received from our family and friends. I know that all of the prayers that went up on Daddy's behalf made all the difference in the world and I appreciate it more than I can express.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to make it to the annual Christmas Eve dinner at Aunt Doris & Uncles Don's this year. We missed seeing everyone but we'll hope to get together very soon. We spent a nice, quite Christmas day at Mamaw and Papaw's house with Uncle Russell, Aunt Kristi and cousins; Gage, Katie and Abbie. My cousin Jeff and his wife Katherine came by for a visit and so did my cousin Ken, his wife Trish and their daughter Laura.

On Saturday we took Jake to visit my Aunt Jean and Uncle Everett along with their children (my cousins) Kenny and Christie... and Christie's girls... Emily and Sara. We had a really nice breakfast together and everyone spent time catching up and playing with Jake.

All things considered... we had a wonderful first Christmas with our little boy. He is the best gift we've ever gotten and we thank God for him every day.

We hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas and we wish you all a very Happy New Year!

This might be my favorite gift!
It's a vibrating teether and if feels sooooo good!

I'm such a handsome boy!  At least that's what
Mama tells me all the time.

I love my special stocking from Doh Doh!

Santa was very good to me!

Mamaw let me get this ornament off of her tree all by myself.
It's Santa and he plays music.  I love it!

Opening all those presents made me so tired.

Mama's sweet baby boy.

Whoa... is this what I think it is?

I thought we could listen to this CD next so I came over
and got it out all by myself.

I have how many more to open?

This is so much fun!

I love tearing off the paper.

Grandma made me a new hat and it's
black and gold for Appalachian.

I love these jingle bells off of our tree.

I've been a very good boy, Santa.

My very first Christmas present!

A shot from my Christmas card photoshoot.

And another....

And the winning shot is....

10 Months Old

Jake is jabbering all the time now and its wonderful. His repertoire of "words" now includes da da, ga ga, goo goo and kkkaaa (which apparently means cat because he says that one whenever Circles comes into view). He is also smiling, giggling and laughing at all kinds of things. Its impossible to have a bad day with him around!

As you can see below... its getting more and more challenging to take the monthly birthday photo with our signs. Jake has discovered that the sign is there and he wants to get it despite our very best efforts to preoccupy him while we get "the" shot. We took about 30 pictures to get a usable shot this time and had to move the sign out of reach as well.

Christmas pictures to come soon. We took several to choose from for our Christmas card and we're still hoping to visit Santa too.

I'm a 10 Months Old!

Maybe I can reach the second sign from this angle.

Now let me see what this thing says.

Got it!

Pointing at my Winnie the Pooh book.

Riding Clifford makes me laugh.

Hi Mama!