Jacob's Birthday Party

Our very good friends and Jacob's "God Parents" in every since of the word hosted Jacob's party at their house this past Saturday. The weather turn out to be very nice but a little to cool to get in the pool for most of us. We had a great turn out and enjoyed hamburgers, hot dogs, cupcakes, cakes, pinatas, swimming and to top it all off Alabama football.



On the way down to Phenix City we turned his car seat around to face forward. I love to be able to turn around and see what he is doing and play with him.


I had to wake him up from his nap so the party could start. My Mom found his Birthday shirt. I thought it was too cute and went with the color scheme.

Jake playing with Shelby... his future girlfriend

Opening presents

He started climbing up this gift and thought it was just so funny. Everyone started laughing and he started clapping...HamHis cake turned out great, Thank you Granny. Chocolate cake, strawberry filing and cream cheese icing with marshmallow elephants. His cupcakes were confetti with marshmallow hiding inside

Pinatas time...The 1st pinata was an elephant for the smaller kids and then a #1 pinata for the older kids.Jacob and his cousin Donovan who also has a birthday this week too. We will be going to Montgomery this weekend for his birthday party.

At the end of the night when the game was on we took all the balloons down and let Jacob go to town. He had such a good time and was worn out by the end of the night.

To Shane & Mandy: There are not enough thank yous for letting us have Jacob's 1st Birthday Party at your house. We are so grateful for your friendship and all your hospitality.

To Jacob,
I know you won't remember any of your 1st birthday but you had a good time and everyone enjoyed seeing you. You are so loved.

Happy 1st Birthday

To my Jacob,
You will never understand just how much you are loved and just how many people love you. I am so proud to call myself your mother and will cherish that title forever. You are and will forever be my greatest accomplishment. Even thought I am saddened by this milestone (for all selfish reasons of course) I'm so glad you are a happy and healthy little boy. I hope that through out your life you find happiness in everything you do. I look forward to the rest of our journey together as mother and son. I love you always!
Mom

Jake,
Over the past year I have watched you grow from a helpless baby to a little boy. I will never be able to put into words how grateful and proud I am to be your daddy. I see you grow and change right before my eyes on a daily basis. I can't wait to see what new boundary you are going to try to cross or conquer tomorrow. You are not afraid of anything. I love you more than you will ever know and I am so thankful that you are my son. I hope that you will be as happy to be my son as I am to be your father. May everything you do bring you happiness. Happy Birthday, Chipmunk!!!! I love you.
Daddy

Approaching birthday & SEC football

One of the saddest days in my life in fast approaching… Jacob turns 1 September 12th. Tear. He is no longer my baby any more he is officially a toddler and I could not be having more difficulty coming to grips with this fact. My number one issue with all this turning 1 stuff is that as he becomes more and more independent he no longer relies on Mommy as much any more. This is just my first taste of what is to come in the future with every age and stage he will become less and less dependent upon Mommy and Daddy and one day leave us for good. To my Mom I am sorry I ever grew up, I now know just how painful that must have been. Gratifying and painful at the same time.

Okay enough about my sorrow on to what Jacob has been up to these days

*He is walking every where (crawling is for babies)
*He eats whatever we put in front of him i.e. chicken, steak, all veggies, all fruits, etc.
*He gets one formula bottle a night
*He gets whole milk, juice or water in his sippy cup through out the day
*He is about 25lbs
*He is wearing 12-month cloths
*He is in size 4 diapers
*He still loves Mickey Mouse Club House
*He has started dancing a little
*He likes when Granny rocks him to sleep
*He thinks Daddy is funny when he makes weird noises
*He has started saying bye bye and waving
*Has said thank you, love you, and sorry
*He likes to play chase with Dixie
*He still loves to be outside
*He loves to be read to when he is in the mood to listen
*If it stands still he will climb it
*He thinks it is funny to turn the TV on and off
*He still loves his baths
*He has started showing his temper or likes/dislikes
*He is interested in who is walking through the front door next
*He has started to favor certain people i.e. in the middle of the night it is Mama or when Mama gets on to him he wants Granny
*He has nine teeth

We are leaving town this coming Thursday to celebrate his birthday with family and friends In Phenix City on Saturday. Jason's Mom also has a birthday Sunday the day after Jake's so we'll celebrate her day as well while we are in town.

Tonight is the 1st Alabama game of the season and I'm thinking about all the future games I get to watch with my two football players and I'm so looking forward to seeing Jacob one day in his jersey and helmet that weights more than his whole body.

ROLL TIDE ROLL!

Nashville

I know I'm a week late in posting our trip to Nashville but here it is. The drive to Nashville is always so pretty. We got to my Tommy & Erin's house right when dinner was ready. Great timing... Yeah us! Tommy cooked this great pasta dish, It was very yummy. I need to get that recipe. Jacob also sustained another injury. We brought his pack n' play with us but my Mom insisted he sleep with her. (Jason & I both warned her it was a bad idea) As soon as she put him on the bed he crawled across it and over he went hitting the night stand on the way down giving him a purple eye.

Uncle Tommy swinging Jacob in the hammock. Tommy sat out in that heat for I don't know how long while Jacob took a nap.

Anywho, I must say I was impressed by Tommy's cooking, actually I was impressed by Erin's cooking too...She cooked us made to order omelets Saturday morning. They were both great host and great cooks. Saturday we of course headed to Music Row and saw the "Nashville" sites. Jason hasn't been to Nashville since the Wild Horse Saloon was being built. On the way down town we drove by Vince Gill and Amy Grant's house, I didn't take a picture. I kinda think it's rude. Their at home for Christ sake...leave em alone. He does have a putting green in his front yard which I found very odd but whatever.

I tried to get my mom a new boyfriend. He was so nice & cute. He gave us his parking pass that still had time on it so we didn't have to pay to park.

Erin, Tommy, Jacob, Jason & Mom @ the Rymen

Mom & her brother Tommy

We walked around saw the Rymen Auditorium, went in a few shops and then walked into the Wild Horse Saloon for a drink, Jake in tow. We had no idea but the CMT reality show "Can you Duet" was having their final rehearsal before the finale show that night live at the WHS. Jacob got his picture taken with Meghan Linsey from the group Steel Magnolia who later won the competition along with her partner Joshua Jones.

Jacob & Meghan Linsey

Jacob having a drink & dancing @ the Wild Horse Saloon with Aunt Erin

We ate dinner at this cute little restaurant in the Village and went home to watch Can you Duet. We all wanted to know if Jacob's new girlfriend was gonna win. Sunday we hung around the house a while before packing up and heading home.

Jacob & Uncle Tommy

To Tommy and Erin thank you again for the invitation, you have a lovely home and we look forward to visiting again.

This past weekend we did a little house cleaning and grocery shopping, not much to write home about. I went through all party supplies one last time to write down all that I still need. I don't need much, most of what is left is stuff that will need to be done last minute i.e. food, balloons and cake. Jake turned 11 months old last Wednesday. I have tried to ignore this fact because it is really such a heart break. It has gone by too fast. My best advise....Don't blink.

We don't have much planned for this week work, school for Jason and house work. Does anyone know how to get spit up out of carpet? This weekend we will be going to Phenix City to see Ray, Jason's parents and friends. It will be the last time we go down before Jacob's 1st birthday party. Tear.

Invite Child Services

In less than a week I have burnt my child with my curling iron and let him fall off the couch. Saturday he was playing with the cord while I was getting ready and I picked him up to move him and his arm touch the hot iron. He didn't even flinch. Tough guy. When I first noticed it I though it was a bug bite so I put some Benadryl cream on it and then some of the redness went away and I realized it was a burn. Luckily his Nana had an aloe plant. (Note to self: get an aloe plant) It obviously hurt me more than it did him. I thought how could I have let this happen. I burnt my baby's tender skin. My Mother's ever so comforting comment was "I'm glad it wasn't me that hurt him 1st". Thanks for making me feel better Mom.

Then came his head injury, I was lying on the couch and he was crawling all over the place and when I looked over it was to late I tried to grab him but missed. He went over the arm of the couch onto the hard wood and came up bleeding.

War wounds

On to more fun news and my way to distracted myself from physically hurting my baby, me and mom have made Jake's invitations for his birthday party. I looked every where for some reasonably priced invitations and didn't find anything that I liked or was willing to pay for. The theme for the party will be elephants and the color scheme is Caribbean Blue and Kiwi Green . Let me back up for a moment, I guess I should start with the back story on the elephant theme...For my 1st birthday my mom made me a cake with pink icing and elephants made from marshmallows circling the top of the cake. She made me this same cake on all my more "important" birthday's i.e. 13th, 16th, 18th and 21st. So to continue the tradition Mom will be making a cake with blue icing and marshmallow elephants. To change it up for my baby boy a bit we are going to try to make our own marshmallow elephants so we can make them green to go with the color scheme of the party. I will post a picture of what my cake looked like when I can hunt it down. This birthday business is bitter sweet I'm excited about the fact that we made it through the 1st year and we are all still alive, and I'm sad for the fact that he is no longer my little baby. Tear.

We are off to Nashville this weekend to visit my Mom's brother Tommy and his wife Erin. I haven't been to Nashville since their wedding in 2006 I believe and it has been a long time since Jason has been so it should be a great time.

I leave you tonight with these oh so cute pictures of Jake's 1st corn on the cob.

He's got a mouth like his Granny...HA!

Notice the corn up his nose? What am I going to do with this boy?

Walking hair

It all started when I got off work today, I went and had my hair cut. It's been a while and I desperately needed a hair cut. I took off about 4 inches and had layers cut in. I love it. Jason says he likes it but I know he doesn't like short hair on women. It's the whole "girls are supposed to look like girls" thing. I say the less upkeep the better. It will now take me 10-15 minutes to do my hair instead of the 45 minutes it normally takes. I'll post pictures later.

When I got home Jason had already left for school, I walked in and me and my mom started talking about my cut and then something small caught my eye moving across the living room. It was my baby boy "walking" toward me...He took seven steps to me. I picked him up and cried. Of course we tried to get him to do it again and again but to no avail. This is only the beginning. My baby is growing up too fast for my comfort. After all it is all about me. As soon as I can get it on video I'll post it. It's just hard to catch him right now.

I have also started to really think about plans for Jake's 1st Birthday. Tear. Luckily it falls on a Saturday and our friends Shane and Mandy have graciously agreed to let us host the party at their house. That is where all of our friends are and Jason's parents. It's easier to just have us go down there. They also have a pool so the kids have something to do. 1st Birthday parties are for adults anyway. More to come on the party.

It's a zoo

To get out of the house this past weekend we ventured to the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve. We have been to the Atlanta Zoo and I was unimpressed.

The majority of the animals at Chestatee are rescues from private owners, theme parks or locations with not so great living conditions. It was hot but we all had a good time.

Ray feeding & petting his 1st Zebra


My little Monkey