15

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for the extraordinary outpouring of support and "go girl"s I received from people after my last post.  I know I was a bit...okay A LOT hostile, but it is because someone(s) screwed me over in. a. big. BIG. way.  I refuse to divulge names or private details to ANYONE in the sake of anonymity and discretion, but I did want those involved to hear my side of the story and how badly they made me feel.  And well, I'm not one to shut up about it, or anything for that matter when it comes to screwing someone over.  I feel better venting about things...do you ever feel that way? Sometimes, it's just nice to lay things out on the table and like I said, I'm over being fake and I'm over fake people. Thus, I spoke my personal truth but now we're moving on...Okay?!?  Everybody good?!?  Great!  Thank you again though, it's nice to know I have such caring and supportive readers!  

Beautiful Babe :)

Now, onto the purpose of this post which is the most important purpose of all...

My sweet not-so-little anymore angel baby TODDLER is now 15 months OLD!  Yes, WOWZA!  Like, I cannot believe that 15 months ago that big ol' set of lungs made his grand (and VERY loud) entrance into the world.  Into our world.  And my oh my what a ray of sunshine he is!  Seriously, the absolute JOY of our lives.  He is so happy, so charismatic, so full of life, and just so much fun.  I absolutely LOVE this stage...well, except for the walking and being into everything stuff.  Holy moly is he ever into everything and into CLIMBING.  Kid climbs everything and absolutely EVERYTHING is his business...or so he thinks. Nothing is off limits to him.  And he is one determined little booger.  

Thumbsucker M.D.

Anyway, this isn't going to be one of those long monthly posts like I previously did before he turned 1...I just wanted to update you on some things Jack Thomas.  He went to the doctor today and well, his stats...

WEIGHT: 23lbs (25th%)

HEIGHT: 32 1/2" (85th%) *while he may still be skinny, he's grown over 2" since his first birthday!
HEAD: 48 1/2" (85th%)

Story of our lives...well, his life - he's long and lean, per usual!  They kept talking about how long his legs are, which of course we've always known...just like his Daddy's.  He was also the usual clown/ social butterfly of the doctor's office, showing off all his tricks and even handing out kisses and hugs...even to the nurse who had just given him two shots!  Such a lover.  Love my little social lovebuggerfly :)

sweet, sweet baby blue eyes :)

He wears all 12 and 12-18 month clothes.  Boy's feet are growing like a weed, though...I swear we went from a 3 to 5 and beyond in like a few weeks.  He's had his first 'Melos (Jordans) for a while, but now he has his own Sperry's, Nikes (AirMax, running shoes, and sandals), CHOOZE (click there to see them, they're awesome! He has the guitar ones - don't worry I didn't pay that hefty pricetag, I got them brand new with tags at a secondhand store for only $17.  Lucky me!), Chucks, Rainbow sandals, Wallabies (during winter, just like Daddy's), and Crocs for pool/ beach wear (a gift from NanNan and BigBob after their recent trip to Florida). 

FOOD: We are transitioning into full-time table food but he still gets at least one meal of baby food a day as we make the move. It's easier to give him that when we're on the go and especially at the pool.  His favorite table foods are green beans, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Reese's Puff's cereals, chicken nuggets, waffles, french fries, bananas, pizza, crackers, watermelon, baby crunchies and Puffs, and yogurt.  He's gotten not so big on breads like he used to be, so if we have hamburgers, I'll cut one up for him but not give the bun.  He basically tries anything and kid loves him some water!  Like, seriously.  It is INSANE.  

LOVES/ LIKES:

• climbing 
• sleeping with his fan on
• Reese's Puffs cereal
• Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal
• rubber ducks
• swinging
• mimicking sounds and words you make/ say
• playing "get you"
• playing/ being outside
• his bouncing Tigger
• swinging at NanNan and BigBob's
• playing with his golf clubs
• singing/ jammin' while we eat dinner
• singing/ jammin' in the car
• talking and jib jabbering...NON-STOP (that, I'm afraid, he got from the Banker side...ha!)
• showing off his tricks (winking, kissing, giving "bear hugs", showing his tongue and nose, and telling us what Daddy says and what a lion says)
• drinking water
• being out and about amongst the people (he IS a people person!)
• playing with balls (kid has a GREAT arm)
• loving on people (so sweet!)
• dancing...like seriously LOVES it
• music
• watching Jeopardy for some strange reason?  That's like the only TV he watches...ha!
• taking baths
• seeing family: his NanNan, BigBob, Prissy, Shawnee, Mamaw, Papaw, JilliBean, Spence-a-roo, Aunt Sis, Uncle Joe, Aunt Beth, and Uncle Kody, etc.

WORDS: Mama/ Mommy; DadDad/ Daddy; NanNan; PopPop; Mam (Mamaw); Pap (Papaw); ball; yes; and his personal favorite: NO (of which he says to EVERYTHING...literally).

other notes/ tricks:
He's seriously such a little ball of constant energy and sweetness.  Jack can mimic much of what you say and do.  If I ask him to say something, he'll most definitely try, decipherable or not and he'll have full on conversations with you, complete with head movements.  He answers 'yes' or 'no' with correct head movements to coincide ("no" being his favorite) and always looks and answers to his name when addressed/ called.  He blows some serious tummy bubbles and will love and love and love on you.  If I ask him to go get me a duck, he'll go get me a duck.  If I ask him where his Chuggington Train is, he'll go straight to it.  If you tell him, "No" he'll stick out his bottom lip and it'll quiver so preciously...but don't worry, this Mama isn't swayed!  If we tell him it's time to go bye-bye, he'll wave and then head towards the door and walk straight to the car door and try to get in his seat; if we tell him it's night-night time, he'll climb right up the stairs and get ready for that ritual. He'll jump from the side of the pool to someone waiting to catch him and will let me hold his hands as he kicks in the pool.  He seems to be ALWAYS exploring and learning which is fascinating to watch. We are working hard on all of the animal sounds and his body parts.  So far, we have the lion, what daddy says and where his eyes, tongue, and nose are.  He almost has down duck, cow, and dog sounds; as well as what Jackie's booty says.  :)  He is a creature of habit and you best not be breaking it!  He's very, very silly and loves that he is and that we recognize that.  All in all, our boy is growing and he's growing fast!  I cannot believe how lucky we are to have such a blessing for our family.  He is undoubtedly, the light of our lives.

What's coming up for us:

Jack's first trip to the BEACH!  (July 8th - 13th)

NanNan's 61st Birthday (July 14th)

Aunt Sis's 35th Birthday (July 25th)

Mommy and Daddy's 5th Wedding Anniversary (July 26th)

Uncle Roo's visit! (August 2013)

Daddy's 31st (August 5th)

Mamaw's 60th (August 13th)

NanNan and BigBob's 40th Wedding Anniversary (August 18th)

Cousin Ellen's Wedding in S.C. (August 17th-20th)

Aunt Beth's and Uncle Cheeks's birthdays (Sept. 10th)

"Gooooood morning, Mommmmmmy!!!!!"

his favorite pastime - throwing ALLLLL of his toys into the big pool

yup, you caught me, Mommy

I spy with my little eye...
"Oh haaaaaaiiiiii!"

the "wink" for Mamaw's good morning text

I wish I was always this happy about being up so early to start the day!

HAPPY DAY, MOMMY!!!!!

our little fishy, fishy 

12 months for Jackbaby!

Yup, it's official...our boy is now ONE YEAR OLD! WOWZA!!!  We have a tiny toddlerite running around here and B and I are beyond amazed at the precious person that stands before us.  He is so cute, so animated, so sweet, so loving, so curious, so adventurous, so vivacious, so spunky, so charismatic, so silly, and just so amazing!  Each day, I find about 100 whole new reasons why I love him...so there's at least over 365,000 + reasons  why I love this kid and I'm going to go through each and every one of them right now...

Just kidding.

Let's update you on our boy...(can't believe this is our last monthly update!)
and P.S., He had his appointment today (4/4) and this was the toughest one yet since he got some heavy shots that he wasn't too keen on. Don't worry thought, before hand, he was he usual chatty, flirty self!

JACK ROBERT THOMAS - 12 MONTHS 

WEIGHT: 21 lbs, 8 oz. (29th %)

HEIGHT: 31 in. (80th %)

HEAD: 48 cm (91st %)

so again, as we've always heard, our boy is long long looonnnng and  very very verrrrrry lean... and apparently has a large head!  Ha!  He must need it to hold all that knowledge he is rapidly gaining and processing :)

He got a clean bill of health and said he is developing well!  Our only thing we need to do is get our boy fully off the bottle.

CLOTHES: all 12 months.  Some 12-18 months all due to length.  I feel like all of a sudden, he's just grown out of all these precious clothes that he's barely gotten to wear!

DIAPERS: Huggies, Size 3 still

WALKING: Jackman takes anywhere from 2-8 steps at a time before falling gently to his hands and knees and starts crawling.  We assume that he has figured out that he can get where he needs to go already just by crawling and goes back to old faithful.  We also assume that boy is a bit lazy in that department because he most definitely has the motions and is taking step after step...just not full time at this juncture.

COMMUNICATING/ UNDERSTANDING/ COGNIZANCE: This month, we've seen the biggest change in his communicative skills.  He mimics sounds and watches your mouth as you speak, moving his at the same time.  Jack will also look you square in the eye and have a full on conversation with you...but you only get a few words here and there that you understand.  It's so precious because it's obvious that his brain is working and he absolutely knows what he is saying and is trying to talk with us, but the full words aren't forming just yet.  If you ask him to say something, he will attempt to repeat it back to you.  He can even mimic the sounds of the alarms on the new firetruck he got from Mamaw and Papaw's Easter bunny.  His decipherable words are: "No" (not loving this one); "Yea"; "Mom-Mom"; "Dad-Dad"; "GO!"; "Nan" (NanNan); "Maam" (Mamaw); "Pap" (Papaw); and "Hiiiiii!" (our favorite because he pops up and says it and it's just precious!).

Jack can also mimic your movements.  He sticks out his tongue at you, puts his arms up in a strong-man muscle motion, gives fives and knuckle bumps, waves bye-bye, grabs faces to kiss, and simply does what you do if you ask him and show it to him first.  We are also seeing that he is able to recognize the similarities of things...for example: he has this octopus peek-a-shoe hide the ball thingy.  Well, he knows that balls go in the top and drop to the bottom he must locate the ball under a shoe...so, he'll take balls from anywhere and drop them in the octopus.  Since the balls are not all made to fit in it, he'll remove the shoe covering or dump them all out (by turning it upside down) to retrieve what he put in there.  Thus, we see that he recognizes the round shape of balls and knows where they go and he also has problem solving skills for getting them out.  It's really neat to see!

DANCING: Jackman loves to dance...no wait, he love, love, LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVES to dance with a capital L-O-V-E!!!!  Anytime and I emphasize...A.N.Y.T.I.M.E. he hears a hint of music, he begins bumping his booty and moving to the beat.  It is seriously so precious and we adore his excitement and of course think it is so amazing that he recognizes the music, loves it, and responds accordingly...and every single time!

SLEEPING: through the night every night as usual and our boy is a walking, talking alarm clock...and a creature of habit and routine.  He wake up EVERY morning between 6:30 and 7:30, without fail.  Weekends, he makes it until 7:30 or 8, but that's it.  I give him milk just before bedtime and he pushes the bottle away when he's done and reaches for his crib to go "night-night".  I don't have to rock him or anything - he just goes straight to bed and puts himself to sleep.

PERSONALITY: He's just a ham and little sweetpea, love buggy!  We are certainly blessed with a precious boy who is a teeny lover.  Jackbaby loves giving kisses and gets excited to see anyone of familiarity.  If he hasn't met your before or it's been a while since he's seen you, he'll be shy and worrisome at first but warms up fast and then he's on you like white on rice.  He LOVES being silly and being the center of attention...hmmmmm...wonder where he gets THAT from?!?

FIRSTS/ ACTIVITIES/ NEW THINGS: Jack has now taken to climbing.  Boy LOVES to climb!  He also loves exploring new places and new things and gets into anything.  He had his first experience of UK not making the NCAA tournament; first NCAA tournament experience in general (he was born within 12 hours of UK winning their 8 national title, at our request...she wanted him to come that night of the championship game and we UNregretfully declined THAT notion!), first Easter church service, first new car purchase with Daddy, first family celebration of a promotion, and first time trying NanNan's infamous green beans (he LOVED them - good thing too...those things are legendary!).

seriously...did this entirely on his own. Daredevil.

TEETH: 3!  His newest one?  A fang.  Yes, his lateral incisor is the newest addition to his collection.  It's so funny looking!  We found out at the doc that he is actually getting at least 4 in the top all at once and this is just the one that happened to pop through first.  Poor little buddy :(

EATING/ FOOD: Jackman is fully on 2% milk now which means NO MORE FORMULA!!!!  WAAAHOOOOO!!!!  That saves us at least $40 a week!  Whew!  He still prefers it heated, though and we're not off the bottle yet...boooooo. Doc says he need not have much milk anymore either so he is not dependent upon it and doesn't become malnourished since cow's milk doesn't have all the nutrients of formula. We know he's not as he only has 2 bottles a day and then prefers water to drink the rest of the time...which she said is TERRIFIC!  Jack will eat absolutely ANYTHING that we adults eat which we love!  Kid EATS. ALL. THE. TIME.  He IS our VERRRRRRY hungry caterpillar INDEED!  He certainly does not care yet to try new things and will keep at it...IF it's adult food, even if he's not sure about it (well, real food we mean...NOT baby food) and it's not textured baby food.  He WILL NOT eat the textured baby food like chicken veggies and stars and what not...but if it's regular food?  Oh, he is ALLLLLL about that.  Eats anything and I do mean anything!  His favorite?  Key Lime Pie flavor or varying flavors of Greek and regular yogurt!

FAVORITE TOYS: his barn, rubber duckies, balls, and his basketball goal.  He also loves climbing on our couches or on Mommy and Daddy, roughhousing with Cousin Shawnee or Daddy, playing "get you", and climbing on the bottom of this storage cabinet we have.

WHAT'S COMING UP ON OUR SCHEDULE:

Jackbaby's FIRST Birthday PARTY!!!! (April 6th)

Aunt Beefy's Birthday (April 6th)

Mommy and Daddy to Daddy's USBank auction event (April 20th)

Mommy's Spring Break over :(  (April 8th)

Amy and Jason's wedding - Jackbaby staying with fam (May 11th)

Mother's Day (May 12th)

Mommy's last day of school (May 21st)

Aunt Prissy's high school graduation (May 21st)

SUMMMMMMERRRRR!!!!!!

Papaw's Birthday (June 15th)

Father's Day (June 16th)

Uncle Roo's Birthday (June 24th)

FAMILY BEACH TRIP!!!  (July 2013)

NanNan's Birthday (July 14th)

Aunt Sis's Birthday (July 25th)

Mommy and Daddy's 5th wedding anniversary (July 26th)

Daddy's Birthday (August 5th)

Mamaw's Birthday (August 13th)

NanNan and Poppy's 40th wedding anniversary (August 18th)

Aunt Prissy off to college...wahhhhh!!! (August 2013)

**These are all we have scheduled so far...I'm sure plenty of dates will fill in in-between!  And don't worry, I'll still be here with updates about our family...blogging away...this is just our last monthly update about the Toots man.

10 months for Jackbaby!

football leggings on for the Super Bowl!!!  

Our boy is only 2 months away from his first HUGE milestone of his life...ahhhh!!!  And Mommy has yet to begin the preparations for the big celebration...double AHHHH!!! Anyway, yes, here we are...one Mr. Jack Robert Thomas is 10 months old as of Sunday, February 3rd, 2013.  Holy moly...he's a geezer!  Sorry to be tardy for the monthly posting party, we've had a rough past week and thus, this has kind of fell towards the back burner.  Jackie, when you're reading this later in life, please know how sorry we are to not be on time with your monthly update.  Also (and on a lighter note), Mommy somehow (and I have absolutely NO IDEA HOW) I lost the 10 month owl sticker for your onesie...whooooopsie!  P.S., It is exponentially harder to get pictures of our little rambunctious cutie these days so these are the best I could get.  Enjoy nonetheless...  :)))))))

Now, with that said, let's begin...

  JACK ROBERT THOMAS - 10 MONTHS

WEIGHT: 20.2 lbs (from our scale - no doctor's visit this month)

HEIGHT: 31.5" (again, this is from our measuring)

HEAD: 47.5 cm

CLOTHES: mostly 9 months and some 12 months, depending on the brand.  If we go up to 12 months, it's because we need it for length in his legs.

PERSONALITY: Jack is quite the little silly monster; such a funny little jokester!  He has such a sunny disposition on life and loves to approach situations with a light-hearted spirit and fun attitude.  However, that cannot go without saying that within the past month, our little buddy has gotten a wee-bit shy :(  No bueno!  Jackman has ALWAYS (and I do mean ALWAYS) been the first kid in the pool type of guy, never intimidated or scared by others and would interact/ flirt with anyone, at anytime, and any place... Not so much any more.  Now, we come across someone new or someone he has not seen in a while and he goes into full on death con 5/ firepower cling-on grip to one of us and will snub the other person.  I know everyone says babies go through these stages and this shyness routine is most definitely one of them, but it must be reiterated that it is not a stage that I am loving too much.  I want my social butterfly back...the charmer, the flirt, the entertainer, the comedian, etc.  I know it too will soon pass, but I just get so upset when I talk up how funny and easy going he is and then he is white knuckling the back of my shirt.  Oh well, what can ya do, I guess!  He still is SUCH a sweetie and listens to things we ask him to do.  For instance, when I tell him, "No" he stops what he's doing; when I ask him to go find something, HE DOES; when I tell him, "I'm gonna get you!" he'll go sprinting across the floor!  If we tell him, "hello" or "bye-bye", he'll wave!  When I ask for a kiss, he gives one!  It is crazy that we have a real little person!

FIRSTS/ ACTIVITIES/ NEW THINGS: He had his first SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!!!!  Yay, his Mommy is super pumped that the Ravens won!!!  He's also been standing up by himself for extended periods of time (no walking yet, but he certainly has the standing thing down); had TWO snow days with Mommy...yay!!!   Picking up food and eating it by himself; eating adult food (there is seriously not one thing that he dislikes...he will eat absolutely ANYTHING that an adult is eating - he's a VULTURE!); Gives high fives, knuckle bumps, and kisses on command; chases you; gets in and out of cabinets, taking the stuff out in them while he's at it; singing in the car with Poppy (he LOOOOOVES that!); walking with his "walker".

DIAPERS: Huggies, Size 3.

SLEEP: through the night every night again...YAY!  I do not even have to rock him to sleep anymore.  He gets his bath or we read, then he has a bottle and goes down for the night.  During the day, he has two naps: one in the morning and one in the afternoon.  On the weekends, I love nothing more than putting him in bed with me and we take a nap together.  He is the best cuddler, HANDS DOWN!  Love, love, looooooooove!

TEETH: He has his 2 bottom teeth and yowza, they are razor sharp, so WATCH OUT!  We are not sure, but we think he is on the cusp of getting two more teeth on the bottom.

EATING/ FOOD:  We are cutting way back on his bottle consumption as the means for his nutrition because we need to be fully on real milk in a sippy cup (and off the bottle) by the time he hits 1 year of age.  He now gets 7 - 8oz. of formula when he wakes up.  Then, an hour to an hour and a half later, he gets rice or oatmeal cereal mixed with a full jar of a fruit.  Around lunchtime (11 or 12), he gets a full meat mixture mixed with half a a veggie and a full jar of fruit.  Midday, he gets another 7 - 8oz. of formula and then at dinner, he gets the rest of the veggies mixed with another meat mixture and another full serving of fruit.  At bedtime, he gets his last 8oz. of formula.  In between each of his meals, he'll get some juice, Puffs, yogurt, and bites of ANY food we are eating because the kid is seriously a vulture...he. eats. anything.  REAL TALK.

UNDERSTANDING/ COGNIZANCE: As I said before, there is so much he understands...it's CcRrAaZzYy!!!!  If we ask him to get his football...he gets his football.  If we ask for a kiss, he gives a kiss!  When someone leave or enters a room, he waves "hello" or "bye-bye".  He knows how to make all of his toys work and understands the cause & effects of all the buttons.  If I tell him, "I'm gonna get him", he'll sprint across the room away from me, giggling all the way, it's precious! When it's bath time, I cannot get his clothes off of him fast enough before he is sprinting to meet Daddy in his bathroom to get in the tub.  When he wakes up, he'll wave or stare at his camera monitor like he knows we are watching him.  I have this bullhorn that I bought for fun with my students and it somehow made its way back here to our house...well, he knows how to turn it on and will scream his incoherent ramblings through it constantly...it's hilarious.  There's a lot more he does, but the funniest to us is that he does not like when B has on a hat or I'm wearing my glasses.  He likes you to look "normal" to him....so if one of us is wearing a hat or glasses, he will take them off!!!  Hilarious, yes?!?

FAVORITE TOY(s): his barnyard...he LOVES it!  He also loves his basketball goal, his "Ballapalooza", the bullhorn, and crawling on Mommy and Daddy.

WHAT'S COMING UP ON OUR SCHEDULE:

Valentine's Day - Feb. 14th 

Poppy's Birthday - Feb 15th

President's Day (a day off with Mommy and Daddy - YAY!) - Feb. 18th 

and some more pics of our little sweetie being well, a super sweetie...