Jack's 1st Birthday

OK so I know this has taken me WAY longer than I originally anticipated but I've finally found some time to get to know my new computer.....my first MAC!!!  I'm so excited because I've wanted one for so long and I'm loving everything about it so far :) 
So......My baby turned ONE and we went to all lengths to make sure a good time was had by all who came to celebrate! To start things off we had 10 of Johnny's family members staying with us for the long weekend.  And I must say for having that many people under one roof all at once it really wasn't as hectic as I would have thought.  Everyone helped with everything and the kids played all over the place so nobody was usually all in the same room at the same time.  It was really nice to have everyone together from that side of the family since we don't see each other all that often and are RARELY all together at the same time.  Company started coming in on Friday for the long weekend and continued until Saturday (party day).
Besides having torrential downpours the night before and morning of.....I'd say the party was a HUGE success!  YES I was stressing out immensly and my stomach was in knots for most of the morning....  But I had 70+ people due at my house at 2pm, so can you blame me??!!  At that point all I could do was throw in the towel and just decide that at this point it is what it is and everything will just have to work out!!!!.......EEEK!!

So as you can probably guess we had a couple different celebrations for his birthday...his actually bday fell on a Monday so we had a small get-together with grandparents and great grandparents that night for cake....as you can see in the pics above he had a blast!

The pics below are from his BIG party!...

"Max's" boat as our beer cooler!

4 generations!

One more week of Baby turns into One Last Day!

Only one more week has now turned into one last day of my little sweet baby Jack before he turns ONE and will from then on (for a while at least) be considered a "toddler".  Where did my sweet little baby who for the longest time only wanted his Momma (and I secretly loved it and wouldn't have it any other way) go??  It really brings a several tears to my eye when I think of how extremely and so unfairly fast this past year has gone.  So many memories made and firsts witnessed.  Each day I would look at him and decide that "this" was my favorite time with him, he only became more and more fun as the days went by, and I can only hope that the fun continues as it has been.   He's perfect in every single way and I wouldn't change a single thing about this past year.  His little personality is so precious and I've cherished watching it develop and grow into his own.  He's such a curious little George getting into everything, keeping me on my toes for sure!  He is now copying everything I do and I seriously can't get enough of it......its too stinkin cute!  He winks (which is adorable and I WISH I could capture it in a picture), he sticks out his tongue, everything is "uh-oh" or "ooooo".  He's now walking and getting better and better at it each and every day....his little waddle kills me and I could watch it for days!  He sneaks up behind me when I'm on the ground doing something (usually cleaning up a mess) and pats me on the back and hugs me the entire time......melts my heart <3  He just crawls or walks over to me just to give me a hug and put his head on my shoulder for a minute and then is on his way to do something else.  He gives the best open mouth kisses EVER.  I can't get over the looks he gives me when he's about to do something he knows is naughty as if he is waiting for me to come after him and then he giggles because he thinks its a game.  His endless games of peek-a-boo are hilarious.....he loves it and is constantly peeking from behind or from around something to get me to laugh.  Oh and even though he keeps me up night after night and sometimes I feel as though I will never know what its like to sleep through and entire night again.....I don't even care (well in the moment I might care a little).  If he's in our bed because its 4am and I know he'll be up for the day two hours later at 6am, and he wakes up and looks over at me and smiles because he doesn't have to cry for me to come get him, and then rolls over and hugs me after doing a big stretch....it just doesn't get any better than that!

On Sunday we were downstairs reading books and playing with toys while Daddy ran some errands, Jack looked up at me and I said "say ma ma" and in the sweetest littlest voice he looked at me and said "ma ma" and then "ma ma ma ma" and smiled and got all excited because I got all excited.........I couldn't believe it and was so super excited because this kid NEVER says it!  He has said it a couple of times but not in a very long time and I try seriously every day to get him to say it.  I have to admit that I got a little teary eyed because it was just the cutest thing ever and I will NEVER forget that moment and the look on his tiny face.  

I am so proud to be this little guy's momma, he makes it so easy to love him.  All he wants is love and in return he gives it back even greater.   My little Jack is seriously the best and I for the life of me can't even remember what life was like without him.  He has turned our lives upside down and inside and out....but.....only for the better.  Johnny and I love him to pieces and are so very proud to call him ours. 

Summer Time Life - the past few weeks!

Soooo I took a little hiatus from blogging.  Mainly to avoid frustration from my computer not allowing me to upload any pics to my blog!!!  I'm pretty sure its on its last leg so I don't want to push it.  So I gave up, threw in the the towel, and said to hell with it!!  Yep, that was my attitude.  BUT then I missed it and know that I'll kick myself later on in life for not keeping up with the Jack updates....knowing full well that I'll want to look back and see what life was like during the summer of 2013.....so its time to get back at it!!

These days I'm in full on BIRTHDAY mode, I mean when did first birthdays get to be such a big HUGE deal???  I'm pretty sure Pinterest is the root of all of this birthday madness :)  Pinterest is taking over my life....just kidding.....sort of!  Too many good ideas that in my mind are easy and I think "no problem" until I set out to do them and then quickly find myself thinking "what the hell was I thinking"??!!  So I've  settled on a Where the Wild Things are theme and will somehow work that into a raging backyard bash, and I say that because with 85 people invited so far it better be nothing less!  Yes that's right, I said 85 people.....my anxiety is already through the roof, and every time I think about it I get this feeling in the pit of my stomach reminding me of how unprepared for this I am.  Actually I'm pretty on the ball, I've been making to-do lists for weeks now and slowly checking things off....its going to be GREAT.    The craziness in my house right now is actually all of the home improvement projects we are forcing ourselves to get done before the big day.  Right now (and for about a week now) I have NO counters.  The new ones are supposed to be getting installed this weekend (FINGERS CROSSED).  However can I tell you how incredibly difficult and inconvenient it is not having any counter space with a baby??!!  NOT fun!  Needless to say this is when owning a restaurant comes in really handy :)

In Jack news all I can say is....where has my little baby gone???  He's such a little man now, in the past few weeks he has gotten taller, taken his first steps, has really developed quite a little temper at times, and is learning how to seriously use his lungs to the max!! 
He took his first step on Father's Day, he didn't really know he was doing it though....I was coaxing him with a spoonful of whipped cream :)  Then he went for like a week without doing it again and then one day he decided that he was going to walk across the room to Daddy from Mommy.  He JUST began taking a few steps here and there on his own yesterday though.  I caught him walking from the middle of the kitchen to the pantry and then he took a few steps towards me while I was on the other side of the room.  So its only a matter of time now until he's running all over the place.

Chubby thighs & Daddy's little helper

Jack is now eating mostly everything we eat.  I'm trying to decrease the amount of actual baby food I buy now but its still so convenient especially when we're on the go all day to throw a yogurt pack or smoothy in my bag, love those things and boy do they come in handy!!  Even better since he can hold and suck on on it, feeding,  himself.....so self sufficient now! 

Look at this baseball tummy, and such a big boy standing all on his own!
 

Helping Grandpa & Daddy fix the sink...

A little pool time with Mom!

First cupcake, and he LOVED every bite...look at that smile

Turned 11 Months and this time getting a decent photo of him with the chalkboard was nearly impossible!  He just doesn't stop moving!

Went to the beach in Canada, the water was so warm and low that he could just sit and splash around!!

Playing the piano with Uncle Chris while Mommy gets some work done downstairs

Peek-a-boo I see you!  Such a curious George 

Loves seeing himself in the camera on my phone...

Only Monday!

The weekend feels so close yet is SO far away!  It's only Monday and this is how I feel already......today was an incredibly busy day for Jack and I.  We had to be at the business early to drop off a huge order of supplies this morning.  We are preparing for a the largest catering event yet (tomorrow) and I want everything to be PERFECT!  After hanging out with the gang and waiting for my grandparents to arrive who just got back in town from being snowbirds in Florida, I decided to give them a call and go to their place instead.  At that point Jack as getting restless and customers were starting to come in and I didn't want him making a scene.  So needless to say we ended up spending the ENTIRE afternoon at my grams!  Jack got to play with his cousin Declan which was super cute to see them interacting with each other.  Each took their turn using the other as a shoulder to lean (stomp) on in attempts to sturdy themselves when standing up....too cute!  After eating an obscene amount of puffs (most of which were off the floor) both boys got cranky and overtired so we headed out.  Stopped back at the business on the way home to check in and feed him really quickly since he woke up and wasn't having his car seat at that moment.  Headed home to meet Daddy and then I headed back to the business to close up shop and get things ready for the next day.....PHEW!  That was  a lot, I'm exhausted and can't wait to crawl into my comfy bed :)

One year ago today was my baby shower!!!  Seriously how scary is it how fast this past year has gone by!!!! It was SUPER hot that day as well.  We had just moved into our house, literally 3 weeks prior and did a CRAZY amount of work in preparation for family coming and staying with us for my shower.  I thought we were going to kill each other! 

HERE is my baby shower post from a year ago.  

 

 

It's ridiculously HOT today.....90degrees hot to be exact!!!!  I couldn't believe it, I had to take a pic and Instagram it as proof.

I found him using the diaper bag as a stepping stool so he could reach better....such a smarty pants!!  A couple weeks ago I caught him standing on top of my breast pump trying to pull magazines off of the bedside table!!!  How do they learn this stuff?!

Sunday shopping with me at Target, seriously how thrilled does this kid look!!  Hahaha

It's Been TOO Long!

FINALLY able to blog again!!  I did a stupid thing about 2 weeks ago, I was closing the top of my desk and accidentally sliced into the power cord that charges my computer.....ugh!  So I've been chomping at the bit because all of this stuff has happened and I haven't been able to document it in my blog.  So for starters we now have hardwood floors in just about all of the downstairs now!!  YAY it looks AMAZING and I LOVE them :)  I'm going to do an entire separate post on them though as I took a million pics and feel its best to keep them all together in one post.
In Jack news the past two weeks have been so much fun.  My baby is 10 months old today for starters.  Last night while giving him a bath I was thinking about how fast this past 10 months has literally flown by.  Its just not fair.  I could stare at him all day and it still wouldn't be enough.  I sort of got teary-eyed (I'm a big sap) because my own life has changed so much since he came into it.  He is now THE most important part of my life and I love him so much it hurts, seriously!  .......OK sentimental moment over.....

This is my MOST favorite face of all time <3

He is now crawling, like officially on his knees crawling all over the place.....and doing it really FAST!  I'm still adjusting to how quickly he can now move.  It happened on May 8th where he crawled across the room, stopping and going, for the first time.  He was SO proud of himself because he would get all excited each time he did it, he knew he was doing something new and great!  Before this he was doing a mean army crawl, he was seriously a champ at it so I knew crawling was right around the corner.  Thank God to, because his shirts were filthy by the end of the day.

On May 5th he said "momma" for the first time!  It was more like momamamamama but that was enough for me!!!  He still doesn't say it that much, baba is his favorite for sure!

April 25th we had to lower the crib because he started pulling himself up which was adorable....only thing is that he couldn't get himself back down.  I think he can but once he's up he just wants out at that  point.  We lowered it down 2 notches and then realized after about a week that it needed to go down to the very bottom because he is tall and was making both of us very nervous!  I need to get one of those crib rail pad thingys (or whatever they are called) because he gnaws on the crib rail and I don't want it all chewed up......
     Speaking of teeth, he's got 6 now!  4 on top and 2 on the bottom.  Everything is just progressing WAY too quick for me, he's getting too big too fast.

Games - It just amazes me that a baby "just knows" how to play games.  Last week I started to chase him and say "I'm going to get you" over and over and he turned around and started to crawl away from me at top speed and was laughing and giggling uncontrollably!!!  How did he know that was how the game was played....we'd never done that before....I'm choosing to believe that I MUST have the smartest baby around :)
He also has started playing peek-a-boo with me rather than the other way around.  It's flippin ADORABLE to watch him hide his little face behind something and then peek out around it in hopes that I'll scream PEEK-A-BOO !  I just love him <3

Mother's Day was a bust, for me at least.  I guess my husband didn't get the memo that one's FIRST mothers day EVER is supposed to be special (at least it was to me).  I didn't expect much, a card and a happy mothers day first thing would have made my day.  I did get a donut and some cookies later that day when he went to pick up dessert to take to my mother's for dinner.  Most importantly though I did spend the entire day with Jack which is what the day is all about regardless so in the end it was a success ;) AND that afternoon was very nice at mom's with her and my grandmother....always good to get together and get some group pictures.

My first Mother's Day :)

All the Mommas on Mothers Day :)

Grandma & Jack

........Just because this face CRACKS me up!