Will the real Jack please stand up?

Sorry about the title, I guess it says something about my generation. Not that I was ever a fan of Eminem. Anyways, here's a great video that I thought could not possibly wait. I'm sure Amanda will have a great rebuttal later. Have a great day!

A walk in the park...

A few weeks ago we took advantage of the beautiful weather and had a picnic on campus. Like I've said in previous posts Jack LOVES being outside. On this day we put him in his new adorable overalls (Thank you, Aunt Heather and Uncle Dave) and enjoyed the beautiful Abilene day. Lately, Kris and I have been talking about not being such paranoid parents and just letting Jack experience things. Jack's played outside many times but I've always tried to keep him on the nice and clean blanket. It may not seem like a big deal to some that I just let him crawl around on the grass (video below) but it was difficult for me at first. When I put him on the grass and let him take off the thought did go through my head "oh no, what if he crawls on a sharp stick or something bites him" and then I thought to myself, "really, Amanda". I really need to stop being so paranoid. You can read articles and books about parenting all day long but it's hard to know when to let your baby try new and different things. Anyways, by the sixth kid I'll have it figured out or, we'll stop at three and I'll never figure out this parenting thing:)
On another note, we heard back from Tittle/Luther and just like everyone else they aren't hiring because it's just too risky to take on a new person. BUT, today Kris went to another place and had a really good conversation with the owner. I'll keep you posted. We know the Lord is our provider and he'll continue to take care of us, so we're not too stressed about this period in our lives.

Enjoy...
Let me say a couple of things about this video. 1.Jack is so well trained at staying on the blanket that it took a while to coax him off of it. 2.I barely have enough time to blog so there's no editing in the videos, which means it's a little long. and 3. Jack's so BIG! 4. Mom, enjoy this video and know that we miss you!!

Time to breathe

As usual work has kept me extremely busy lately. Jack is quickly approaching 1o months and life is flying by us. Kris is getting ready to graduate. I'm so proud of him, he's worked so hard for so long. I'm counting down the days/months/years till I get to stay home with Jack. Just to update everybody Kris had an interview with Tittle/Luther (an architecture firm here in town)..so keep that in your prayers.

Here are a few things Jack is doing at 9 months and 3 weeks...

• he says "daadaa" and "daad" all of the time.
• he loves to be outside
• he's been pulling up on things for a while, but lately he's started to let go and try to stand on his own
• he's "cruising" a lot more
• he loves giving Mama and Dada kisses

Some of his favorite foods right now are:

• yogurt
• bananas
• peaches
• well, everything!!! The only thing we tried that we will never try again is...Prunes. I don't know why I thought it would be a good idea to let him eat 4 oz of pureed Prunes. You can imagine why he won't be eating that again.

Enjoy these pics. I know we have enjoyed the memories behind every picture!

Jack really likes going on walks with Mommy and Daddy! He LOVES the feeling of the wind and HATES the sun in his face.
His favorite place to play is under the table. I promise we never let him play with the cords. It's the cord to the xbox. Wouldn't it be a shame if Jack accidentally knocked it over one day:)
His favorite game is when we chase him under and around the table. Kris and I have both found ourselves crawling under the table at some point.


I'll leave you with this one of my two boys. Jack absolutely loves his daddy and can't get enough of him.

Pig Pen is 9 months

Officially today Jack turned 9 months. I cannot believe how fast this whole first year seems to go by. It seems like he just got used to crawling and pulling up on things and then all of a sudden he decides to go right into try standing on his own. I know that might seem shocking but really it's not as big as I have lead on. Although I am proud for his efforts it is pretty scary. First, sometimes he will stand up on his exer-saucer and he will be playing with a toy and he gets so excited that he doesn't realize he lets go for a couple of seconds at a time. Granted it's for about 2 seconds, but yesterday he did pull up on my knee and he purposely let go for about 2 seconds but this time me and Amanda knew he knew what he was doing.

We can tell when he grows because he's grumpy that day and naps for longer periods. It's usually at the beginning of the month and it's funny when you know your child's growing patterns. Another new thing that he's been able to do is sit outside when its warmer. He loves the wind and always shrugs up his shoulders like it tickles him. It's also a great chance for him to try out his summer hat which looks like a sombrero which is great. I'm sure he'll hate us in the future but its just too cute.

Jack with his summertime sombrero

I'm sure your wondering what the title of this post means. Well the other day after his bath we dried Jack's head and he looked a little like this.

Totally Jack minus the dirt cloud.

I think the resemblance speaks for itself.

Finally just some pictures to show how much he's grown.

His new favorite thing. Sticks.


Happy after eating his favorite yogurt and bananas.



I'm pretty lucky to have these two.