A Day in the Life of the Birthday Boy!

As you know we have the big birthday Fiesta coming up this weekend, so Christian and I were excited to have Jack all to ourselves on his actual birthday last Friday. We just wanted to be together as a family and celebrate Jack's 1st year!! I tried to take pictures throughout the day so Jack could look back and see how he spent his first birthday. Here's a little photo timeline of July 16, 2010...

Rise and Shine Birthday Boy!! Jack was in a super good mood that morning - he must have known it was a special day. I'm loving his 80s rocker hair...


Breakfast (forgot to take a pic) was followed by a his traditional birthday photo shoot. Isn't that the cutest t-shirt...

Jack's birthday lunch was all his faves - grilled cheese, veggies and strawberries...

Stuffing his face, as usual...

Getting ready to go to dinner. Jack loves to drive my car...

At dinner with dad at Jack's favorite restaurant, La Parilla. Well, it's actually OUR favorite restaurant because it's really loud and there are tons of kids. So nobody cares when Jack throws Gold Fish all over the floor and screams...

First time in a booster seat! Again, stuffing his face...

Finally a cute photo of Jack & Jill...

After dinner we treated Jack to his very own ice cream scoop from Baskin Robbins (mom's fave!) We didn't want to get him chocolate because he'd be bouncing off the walls so we got him strawberry. I don't think he liked it because he only took a few bites.....

That's some cold ice cream mom...

Opening some presents from mom and dad. Jack got some golf clubs, a musical bongo, a car city, a big slide and an electric Yamaha bike. It's worth noting that dad picked out the bike and Jack is petrified of it. But I have a feeling once he gets the hang of it he'll never want to get off of it...

Playing with his new toys...

Tickle time with mom! Mom has learned that Jack is a wild man so playing has to be rough. No cuddling allowed...

Exactly 8:21 pm...the time Jack was born.! I had to make sure I was holding him just like I was one year ago....

Some giggles with dad...

Time to wind down and read some books before bed...

All tuckered out and sleeping peacefully. A sweet end to a perfect day....

Until next year...

I'm 1 Year Old Today!

Happy 1st Birthday Jack Christian David!!! Mommy and daddy love you so much!!

As I'm putting together Jack's 1 year blog, I start to look back at all of his pictures and videos from the past 12 months. Looking at them brings up so many emotions - the craziness of those first few weeks, the joy of his first smile, the exhaustion of the late nights, the laughter at his silliness, the pride in his first words and steps. The time goes by way too quickly so it's awesome to go back and feel those emotions again. I wish I could literally step into those videos and relive those times all over again!

Sometimes I look at Jack and I can't believe he's my son. Not in my wildest dreams could I have dreamt up what an amazing child he would become. I seriously love him more with each passing day. But along the way I've often doubted my mothering skills and wondered if I was doing a good job. But when I look at Jack now at 1 year old and he's such a happy, smart, affectionate, inquisitive and funny kid. And I have no doubt that Christian and I have so far raised a pretty fabulous child.

Christian and I know how truly blessed we are. Jack brings us a joy that we had never known before and we just love him more than words can even describe. Our one wish is that he knows just how much we love and adore him. We can't believe we get to be his parents forever and we are so excited about all the fun that awaits us. With Jack, life is always an adventure, so we can only imagine what lies ahead. So one year down and many, many more to go!!

Here's a little photo montage of our precious Jack's first year of life...

Rain Man

The other day Jack really wanted to go outside but it was pouring rain. So we opened the door to show him the rain, thinking he wouldn't want any part of it....oh how wrong we were! Our little water baby bolted outside...and we let him. I couldn't decided if we were being liberal parents who are letting their child explore the world or terrible parents who let their child go outside in the rain, barefoot and bottomless. Well, he loved it, so I'm taking the liberal stance on this one. So try not to judge....but you CAN definitely judge us on letting him walk around with no pants. How white trash is that?! I'm loving this picture though - how ridiculously cute does he look with that finger in his mouth with the sheepish grin. It's like he's thinking..."should I or shouldn't I?" I love this kid!

Check him out....

And I just had to put this one in too because it sounds like he says "Oh S**t!"

July 4th - Part 2

Happy 4th of July!! Growing up in Cali, I never thought I would say the words...we spent July 4th in Alabama!! But at least now I can cross it off my list. Jack has already been to 5 states in his short little life.

After our fun-filled day in Historic Norcross, we were pooped. But we rallied and managed to get out of the house bright and early the next morning - July 4th! - and hit the road for The Renaissance Ross Bridge Resort in Hoover, Alabama. We made sure to have all of Jack's favorites on hand to make the car ride as smooth as possible. It helped that we had turned his car seat around so overall it was a pretty smooth ride. But regardless of how much we planned it still took us nearly 4 hours to get there...Jack didn't sleep much so as you can imagine, lots of stops were made!

But with the one hour time change in our favor we arrived around lunchtime and immediately hit the pool. The place was already packed which Jack loved. Our little Senator was in rare form and quickly made friends with everyone around him...young, old, male, female. I have to say, everybody we met was very friendly. It seemed like everyone was in the best of moods - I guess relaxing by the pool will do that to you. After a few hours we hit the room for much needed naps followed by dinner in the clubhouse. We ditched the diets and opted for fried chicken, ribs, mashed potatoes and mac n cheese! Grilled cheese and sweet potato fries for Jack, of course.

The next morning we hit the pool again for a short swim - Jack was really tired from the day before so we only stayed for about an hour. I so wish we could have stayed longer and next time we definitely will. The drive home was not bad at all...Jack slept the entire way and I never made Christian stop to pee so we made it home in just over 2 hours. It was an awesome end to an awesome weekend. Jack's first July 4th was definitely a memorable one. Here are some pics from the trip...

The first thing Jack wanted to do was explore the balcony. Thank goodness for that extra safe railing.

Chris and Little Chris. Jack has really started to look more and more like his daddy. The glimpses of me are all but gone. He's just left with my crooked teeth and big feet.

Immediately to the pool! We spent about 3 hours swimming and playing in the water. Jack made friends with all the kids around him. It was precious until he tried to steal toys from his buddy Alfie from England.

A rare pic with mommy! It's worth noting that this is Jack's 3rd swim suit...and not by choice. About half way to the resort I realized I had forgotten his board shorts and swim diapers. We feared that there would be no stores in rural Alabama, but believe it or not we came across a very nice Old Navy and Target right next to each other...there is civilization there!

We figured since he loved the slide at the park so much that we could take him on the water slide. He had mixed emotions - he never once smiled but he wanted to go on it over and over. Check out dad's biceps! You really do get a good work out hoisting a 30 pound baby over your head.

I love this pic except that Jack has his eyes closed. Seconds after we shot this Jack barfed all over himself. We fed him too many gold fish to keep him happy at dinner so it was bright orange. Yummo!

Our resort was really beautiful!

Great pool! We'd definitely go back again.

There was a bagpiper who played every night. He was so sweet. Jack loved to watch him from afar, but obviously, not close up!

Jack and Daddy cruising down the water slide!

5th Word!

It's been fun trying to figure out "Jack Speak." For a few days he's be constantly saying "mum, mum" when he wants something. At first I thought he was asking only me for something but then he also said it to Christian. So we realized he was asking for "more." And now that he knows it gets results, he says it ALL the time...mum mum goldfish, mum mum juice, mum mum laps around the house on his bike!

So for the record he's up to five words, said in this order):
Da (dad)
Ma (mom)
Ba (ball)
Bup (up)
Mum (more)

I'll be excited when he starts saying words that we won't have to provide translations for!

July 4th - Part 1

My little family enjoying the July 4th festivities...if only Jack would cooperate with us on these group photos, especially when I have everyone dressed in color-coordinated outfits!

As Jack's first July 4th approached we were torn on how to celebrate it - watch the fireworks at Lenox...go to the lake...stay home...drive to the beach....what's a family with no family to do? I'd been eyeing this resort in Alabama since last year but we just weren't sure if Jack was ready for a road trip (he hates being in the car). But when July 1st arrived and we still hadn't made a decision, I decided to just go for it. So I booked us at the Renaissance Ross Bridge for July 4th (this will be blog part 2). Unfortunately, July 3rd was already booked....arg, I waited too long!! But it worked out just fine because we found some fun right in our backyard.

So on Saturday, we joined our fellow townsmen at the Historic Norcross Independence Day Celebration. Our quaint little downtown is just a few minutes from our house and they had such a great party set up with food, booths, pony rides, music, etc. It was very family friendly so it was perfect for us. Our friends Matt, Kate and their son Grant joined us for the day. We always have such fun with them, especially now that Jack and Grant can play together. I adore Grant - he's such a sweet and happy little guy!

We basked in the 82 degree sunny day, which felt like paradise after suffering through 2 weeks of 95+ degrees. We ate pizza and then walked around checking it all out. I thought we'd relax on the lawn for a bit but once the boys found the park it was all over. Jack and Grant played for over an hour straight. Jack must have gone down the slide 40 times. But they had a blast and it was cute to watch. By 8:00pm the boys were exhausted so we packed up and headed home. I have to say, I do miss watching fireworks so I'll be excited when they kids are old enough to stay awake for them. But I can't complain, we had a really great day! It felt very July 4th-ish and that's exactly what I wanted!

Our patriotic buddy in his Red, White and Blue outfit before we hit the park.

After dinner Senator Jack David hit the pavement to work the crowd. There were tons of local politicians there trying to get us to wear their buttons - it was actually kind of annoying. But Jack was the cutest one - I would VOTE FOR JACK any day.

Jack loved the Choo-Choo Train. But, when the real train rode by and honked it's horn, Jack was freaked out.

Kate and me hanging with our boys! They are both big boys and we always have so much fun when we get them together. Grant was my first "buddy."

The beautiful Pearch Family!

The little boys loved this slide and we pretty much played on it for about an hour. This was Jack's first time on a real slide and he was obsessed.

Not to be outdone by the babies, the Big Boys joined in the fun...even though they obviously didn't fit!

As usual, we tuckered him out. Notice something new....his car seat is front facing!! He loves his new view.

Here are Jack & Grant having a little fun on the slide!