Jack is getting so big, so quickly! He is learning so much each day...this week, he is standing alone. I know that walking is the next step, literally!

After we got back from Mississippi, shortly after Thanksgiving, Jack FINALLY cut his top two teeth. I say FINALLY because they had been giving him grief for over a month and once they broke through, I knew why...they are huge! So, now he can actually bite and boy does he, he will grab a hold of your leg or shoulder before you know it and chomp down.

I wanted to share these two videos, one is of him throwing the ball with Pete and the other of him standing alone. In the first video, we got this "clutch ball" from a very nice lady that I met at the Shakerag festival that I did with Kutesy Kisses. Her name is Mrs. Judy. She makes these balls specifically for babies so that they can easily pick them up, put them in their mouth, and play with them rather than not being able to hold an actual round ball. They are inexpensive and durable, if you have any babies in your life that you think might like it. Her email address is Ptcscarves@bellsouth.net . She has some patterns, but she will customize with any fabric you want.

The second video is of Jack standing alone. Monday was the first day that I had seen him do this so I tried my hardest to get it on video for Pete to see when he got home from work. Since Monday, it has happened more often and for longer periods of time. I just know he will be walking before Christmas!

Happy Holidays Guys! I miss everyone so much during this magical time of the year. The Christmas lights are so warm and cozy and people are always more friendly during the season. Anyway, hope all is well!

P.S. Don't forget about Kutesy Kisses for your holiday gifts. Check out my website http://kutesykisses.web.officelive.com for any last minute personalized gifts. I ship and there is still time to get a few more orders in.

At the Park

We have been having such great weather lately that Pete and I thought it would be a great time to get Jack to the park. We waited until later in the day on Friday so that Clayton and Ben could go with us. Clayton ran into a kid that he goes to school with, so he was off running around playing with him and three other boys, and Ben hung around with me and Pete while Jack explored all over. He especially liked the swings and slide. We had a great time and the pictures are below to prove it!

Jack Dancing

We just bought Jack this stand and play, and one of the modes is a "music mode." How he knows how to dance, I don't know, but it is so cute!

My little monkey!

We had some photos done of Jack in his first halloween costume, check them out!

http://web.sendtoprint.net/proofbook/login.asp
Event ID: monkeyman

Disney World

Although Jack went with to Disney in October, I definitely wouldn’t consider this “Jack’s first Disney trip.” This trip was for Mac, Ben, and Clayton and they had a great time. We rode every ride, twice even three times, we had ice cream, we did a luau and so much more.

After the first day at the Magic Kingdom, fighting the crowds and the heat, we realized that the best place for Jack was at the hotel where he could stay cool and keep some sort of nap routine. So, we split up...Pete and I took Mac, Ben, and Clayton to the parks while Jack stayed at the hotel with my Mom and Malcolm, and he was a much happier baby because of it. Jack didn't miss out on everything though, he had breakfast with Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, he cooled down in the fountains at Epcot, he had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, he even got to ride It's a Small World and Pirates of the Caribbean.

As warm and crowed as Disney usually is, I was however, reminded of how special it is and how wonderful it is to see it, for the first time, through a child’s eyes. We can’t wait until we are able to take Jack for his “First Visit” and we have plenty of time to save because we have decided that we will wait until Jack is at least 44 inches tall so that he can ride most of the rides.
Also, he started shaking when Tigger approached him, so we definitely have to work on that before we go back!

A Thanks to Jack for my NATURALLY curly hair!

That's right, you heard me...Naturally curly. My hair has always been as straight as a board, until just recently when it air dries I get these wavy curls. I love it and the only explanation seems to be a change in hormones from having Jack.

Jack's two new discoveries!

So, Jack is moving around so quickly that I can hardly keep up with him. His little mind is growing just as fast as his little knees are moving and it is just amazing to me how quickly he picks up on things and remembers where they are. His latest discoveries are the washing machine and the refrigerator.

We have one of those front loading washing machines and each time it is going, he crawls right over to it and just stands there watching all of the clothes spin around. As for the refrigerator, the bottom two shelves have always been designated for koozies and as soon as he discovered them, there's no holding him back. He crawls right over to it and plays until I force him out because I'm worried about the food getting too warm. Now, his toy box is filled with nothing but koozies, he's like a little squirrel hoarding his nuts for the winter, lol!

Take a look at what Jack is holding...and where he is heading. This was NOT staged, lol!

Jack laughing at Uncle Best Friend

Most of the time, Clayton doesn't have to do anything to make Jack laugh, just them being in the room together initiates laughter. Maybe it's that Clayton is closer to his size than the rest of us, maybe because Jack can sense his innocence, not sure, but what I do know is that Jack ALWAYS laughs when his Uncle Best Friend is around!

Jack is stylin' with his new shoes!

Happy 7-Month Birthday to Jack!

Check out my two new toofers!

Jack in the Window

It seems like once Jack learned to crawl, he quickly picked up on standing. So, I guess before we know it, he will be walking also. Time to really baby proof the house!

He has always had a fascination for Grace and now that he can get up on his knees and/or stand, he especially likes to mess with her while she is in the window. On the day in the video below, she did a little messing of her own, too cute!

Sick Baby

We have been so blessed thus far to have had a healthy baby but I knew at some point in time it would catch up to us. Last week, I had to pick up Clayton from school because he was running a fever and I did my best to keep him quarantined from everyone, especially Jack, to be sure that he didn't pass it around. But it was too late, whatever was making him sick

had already hit lil' Jack.

He woke up from his afternoon nap running a 103.8 fever. Whoa! Right out of the gate, first sickness I've had to encounter and he's at the extreme. So, I start to freak out, pick up the phone to call the doctor and of course it's 5:10 pm and they're is closed. So, I call mom immediately in a panic and as always, she calms me down and knows just what to do...a cool bath to drop his fever quickly and Tylenol to maintain it. With this being Jack's first real sickness, it also meant that this was the first time I really needed to keep accurate track of his fever, so no more chickening out and using the paddle for under his arm, I had to use the other thermometer...that's right, you moms out there know which one I'm talking about. This was very difficult for me, it felt like a violation of his rights, enough said!

After a few days, his fever dropped and all that was left was a runny nose and the sweetest little baby cough that you've ever heard. Everything is just so small at this age, their sneezes, their coughs, their yawns...so small and cute. However, it only took a bit for the cuteness to wear off and the runny nose to go away, and all that is left now is this terrible (not so cute) baby cough, that sounds too painful to put into words. The worst part is, since Jack is a widdle biddy baby, he doesn't know how to cover his mouth when he coughs, so guess who gets the spraying...that's right, ME! I woke up this morning with a stuffed up nose, wonder where that came from???

6 Month Doctor's Visit

Just got home from Jack's 6 month doctor's appointment. He had another round of immunizations, it just kills me every time! He did so great with the Doctor. He sat quietly in my lap the whole time and just listened to what Doctor Roberts had to say. 18 lbs 3 ounces now and 28 inches tall. He is in the 91 percentile for his height, guess he's going to be a tall little guy. We go back again at 9 months.

In addition to crawling, his back and neck are getting so strong. We went for a walk this evening and he rode in the stroller without his car seat for the first time. Also, we gave a restaurant highchair a try this weekend and he proved ready for it. He sat like a big boy, growing everyday. In fact, he is growing so quickly that we had to move his crib mattress down to the bottom level because he has started standing up. He just started crawling, it's like he just isn't satisfied with one milestone, he has to be pushing for the next.

6-Month Milestones

Jack's 6 month birthday was this past Saturday and he celebrated in the biggest way possible, by knocking out 2 of his major milestones. He is fully crawling AND he finally cut his first tooth, on the right side of his bottom gum. It's amazing to me to see how he has progressed from rocking back and forth, to understanding how crawling works and then to make his body do it. We went ahead and put out the cabinet braces so now he can scoot all through the house safely.

Kutesy Kisses is now on Facebook!

So, for those of you who are holding me accountable for my "unemployment plan," you should be very proud. Not only have I managed to finish 3 paintings for the Shakerag Arts and Crafts Festival, I have also set up a Business Page for Kutesy Kisses on Facebook. You might notice the new Fan Reel to the left of the blog, if you are on Facebook, check it out. It has all of the pieces that I have done for other folks plus pricing and other information. Keep me in mind as the holidays approach!

Jack's Visit with Grandad

My dad, David, came up to visit over the weekend, it was great to see him and I know that he really enjoyed seeing Jack. With Pete working most of the weekends now, it had been almost two months since the last time we were able to get to Mississippi to visit. It took Jack a little time to warm back up to dad, spending most of the first few hours just staring at him, almost like he was studying him, but once he warmed up it was all smiles and giggles from there.

During most of his visit we were sprawled out on the play mat and as I mentioned before, Jack is very close to crawling, so most of the evening was spent working on his technique. He is able to get on his hands and knees now and scoot his little knees towards his hands but he hasn't quite gotten the movement of the hands yet, which leaves him doing this cute little move that Pete and I call the "Humpty Dance." This move consists of what looks like Jack revving up to crawl, but never actually crawling. Anyway, Jack was just adamant that he would spend all of his time doing that while Grandad was here and Grandad even attempted to teach Jack to crawl before he left, but Jack wasn't quite ready. Soon though, and it's all down hill from there!

Am I Becoming a Housewife???

In some sort of distorted way, now that Jack is in a little nap routine, I feel proud when I am able to clean, do the dishes, and finish up the laundry. These are the things that give me a since of accomplishment now, not bringing a large Soccer group to play and visit in Peachtree City, or sending out a great E-Blast to promote a weekend event here, but changing diapers, doing laundry, etc. Ironic how only the third week into my unemployment, my to-do lists have changed drastically already. So, I have started to ask myself..."Am I becoming a housewife?"

In addition to spending time with Jack, I also get to spend time after school with Clayton and Ben. They are both usually fairly easy in the afternoons, BUT last week was a little different. Jack and I met Clayton at the bus stop and as I was making him a peanut butter sandwich (with every inch of crust cut off, or he refuses to eat it) he had to take a break to go the bathroom. After just a few minutes, I hear "Sissy," "Yes baby," I answered. Quickly, he responded "I clogged up the toilet!" All I could think was "Shit!!" literally. There I am standing with a half made peanut butter sandwich, Jack crying in the front room because I had put him down long enough to get Clayton situated, and now I have to unclog the toilet. Hmm...now I'm facing a dilemma, which comes first...the shitty toilet about to overflow, the crying baby in the front room, or finishing the peanut butter sandwich??? After just a few seconds of deliberation, I put down the knife caked with peanut butter, put my eyes on Jack really quick to be sure he was okay and ran off to the shitty toilet. As I'm plunging and plunging and as long as it was taking me to unclog this toilet, the only question I could ask was "could this possibly be the biggest turd known to man, lodged sideways?" Best of all, while I am working on the toilet, Clayton is standing in the hallway with his pants down around his ankles and butt exposed for anyone who had the misfortune to approach our front door during this madness, and finally, after a few minutes of struggling to get everything situated, I couldn't help but laugh a little to myself, and ask, "was this some sort of crazy housewife initiation?"

Jack and Mom Time!

Since I have been home again with Jack, we have been having so much fun together, mostly spending time on our play mat (aka a blanket with EVERY single one of his toys spread out). The play mat helps him spread out and move all over. He is so close and I am so scared of what new dynamic crawling will bring and mean for our household, but it makes me very proud to see him growing up.

Grace was laying at the end of our play mat and I think that really got Jack moving. You'll see in the video below how Jack is trying to crawl towards Grace but at the end, I think he just gave up and got smart...he started pulling Grace towards him, it cracked me up!

P.S. Will someone please tell me how I am supposed to lay my child down for a nap when he is sreaming at me through his bumper...I know it looks like a smile...but it's a full blown scream.

Movie Night at "The Avenues"

We packed up our picnic lunch and ice chests and Ben popped the popcorn and we were off on the golf cart headed to movie night at The Avenues. It was rather warm, so Jack passed out almost immediately, but we tried to stay cool in the shade. We got there early enough to get a spot on front row and threw our blanket out to mark it BUT we had some time to kill so we played in the bubbles, threw the ball around, and listened to the steel drums. The movie started a little later than I thought, but Jack hung in there and was quite the trooper. He just rolled all over our quilt and played with Uncle Best Friend (Clayton) and Uncle Ben Wild Rice (Ben). They are so good with him. Every time Clayton sees him, he just pats his head and says, "Hi Jack" and when I'm not looking, Ben will just creep up behind me and quietly smile at Jack.

We had so much fun that I was looking forward to doing it again, but when I looked...it was the last one of the summer, bummer! Guess we'll just have to wait until next year.

Jumping Jackaroo!

Jack is getting so big now that he is moving away from his swing and play mat. Now that he is strong enough to hold his head up, he definitely doesn't want to be laying down any more than he has to. He is so close to being ready to crawl , just a little bit stronger and we will be eating his dust.

This is a Baby Einstein Jumper and he LOVES it! It didn't come with very many toys but we had enough to add on. That was a minor detail though, his favorite part is being able to stand and bounce.

Jack's remote...

I believe that Jack is in full swing of his teething and all of you moms know exactly what that means...everything in the mouth, and I mean EVERYTHING! So, despite the 15 stuffed animals, numerous baby toys and all those liquid things that you're supposed to put in the refrigerator, of course Jack only likes the television remote. And we're not talking just a normal remote, it's the remote to our new 46 inch flat screen TV so there is no way Pete is letting little Jack chew on that sucker, lol. So, in efforts to "pull a fast one" on Jack, Pete pulled out an old remote that is similar. This way, he can slobber ALL over it, BUT I have a feeling that he doesn't like it quite as much. Don't worry though, nobody has to know about what happens while dad is at work. :)

P.S. Look closely at Jack's shirt, the puddle at the bottom of the remote is proof to exactly how much slobber we're talking.

Last Day...

Well, my employment with the Peachtree City Tourism Association has officially bitten the dust. That's right, I am now just another statistic standing in the unemployment line, and you better believe that I will be holding my hand out for unemployment just like all those other folks. I have a baby now, nothing is below me. Besides, I've been paying taxes all along to help those other folks when they needed it, so it's my turn now. Looking on the bright side of this "lay off," I will be at home with Jack while I am searching for a new opportunity.

So, while I'm searching for a new job, I have a few things planned. I will go ahead and list them below so that at the end of this cycle, you all can hold me accountable.

The "Unemployment" Plan:
1. Paint: Get Kutesy Kisses back up and running so that maybe, I can have a little supplemental income.
2. Scrapbook: I have pictures printed already of Jack from day 1 but I just haven't gotten them into a scrapbook.
3. Search for a new job: Let me clarify, when I say "job," I don't just mean something to pay the bills. I am looking for the next big opportunity...the next big step in my career. Don't get me wrong, if I search and search, and nothing comes up, then yes, I will swallow my pride and do what is best for my family. So, I wont be running right out to McDonald's before taking some time to do some looking.
5. Research for a good business opportunity: I want to start researching opportunities for me to "work from home" or a business of my own that I can just throw Jack on my hip and go.
4. Savor every moment with Jack: Fourth and most important...I plan to savor every moment I have with Jack. It was so hard for me to go back to work and leave him at home. I am looking at this as more of a "second chance" than a burden so I plan to take full advantage of it.

So, now that you guys know the plan, I'm enlisting your help to keep me in line. I'm also enlisting all of you to keep the three of us in your thoughts while we go through this transition. I can tell that it is taking a toll on me already. There is so much uncertainty running through my mind and I know it is reflected in my attitude lately. Oh well, I guess it's nothing a few cooold Bud Lights by the pool can't fix. But don't worry, turning into a raging alcoholic is not part of my plan!

Night out as a "Faaaamily"

It's been a while since we have been out to eat as a "faaaamily" but it didn't take long for us all to remember how nice it is. We loaded up on both golf carts and headed to Pizza hut. Of course, as always, it was a race to get there. Usually, Pete and I will win but we have a slight disadvantage now...my bobblehead Jack. He isn't quite up for the high speed, aggressive and offensive driving that keeps Gramps in our dust, in fact the golf cart usually puts him right to sleep. So we had to take it easy and let the other golf cart win, and boy, Clayton and Ben sure didn't let us forget it. Don't worry, as Jack gets older, the race is BACK on!!!

Bouncy, Bouncy, Bouncy...

Every time we open a new toy, it just reminds me how quickly Jack is growing. This weekend we opened his doorway bouncer suitable for children ages 4 months and up. I never dreamed he would be ready to use it, I thought that his head and neck wouldn't be strong enough to withstand the bouncing, but I was wrong, he loves it! I think this is also one of Pete's favorites...it came assembled already.

False Alarm!

After seeing Jack tug on his ear last night and this morning, I went ahead and made an appointment to see the doctor today. I thought for sure it was the beginning of an ear infection. My mom tells me all the time that I was the QUEEN of ear infections when I was a baby.

Aside from tugging on his ear, Jack really didn't show any other signs of being sick, no fever, no runny nose, etc. but I wanted to catch it before it got worse. He was so sweet, he flirted with every one of the nurses this morning and even the doctor. They all commented on how sweet and how quiet of a baby he was.

After looking at both ears and even feeling around for a possible toofer (tooth), she gave us her stamp of approval..."100% okay." So, false alarm, no ear infections here. Just a reminder that I have the world's most PERFECT child!

MOOO!

What a wonderful thing...Cow Appreciation Day! This was our first year to participate in the Chick Fil-A annual cow appreciation day and boy it sure paid off. 3 sandwhich meals, 2 nugget meals, and full bellies later, our $30 dollars was still in tact. That's right, it was all FREE, every last bit of it as long as you looked like a cow. What could be any better than free??? Well, I suppose the quality time we spent together as a family painting t-shirts with black spots was the only thing that could be better than free food, and the cute visors we did added the perfect finishing touches. Ben and Clayton had a GREAT time and so did we. We can't wait for next year!

http://www.cowappreciationday.com/