Good Morning!

We have no idea what time Kylie and Jake wake up each morning - but we assume it's between 6am-7am. Kylie knows to stay in her room until her clock says seven-zero-zero and she cheerfully enters our room each morning (our human alarm clock) and let's us know it's time to get up. I usually check the monitor and Jake is playing in his crib as well. Kylie and I (or Kylie and Daddy) will go downstairs and get Jake a sippy cup of milk. Heaven forbid we bring him downstairs BEFORE his milk is ready - TROUBLE!

So, this is the scene every morning while Kylie enjoys a pre-breakfast snack and Jake has his milk.

And..... Jake is walking! He's been taking a couple steps here and there, but on Valentine's Day something clicked and he walked all the way across the room! Video to follow soon! ;)

One Year Young...

One day I asked Kylie "what kind of party should we have for Jake?" She said, "since he's a boy, we should do a dinosaur party!" And there you have it - Dinosaur party it is!

I spent all morning with Kylie, she helped me do the dinosaur sandwiches and wrap the presents she picked out for Jake (a snack bowl and a farm animal book). She proudly announced to Jake "it's your number one birthday today!" when Jake woke up from his morning nap. She wore her party hat for most of the morning (and was VERY disappointed that the other attendees did not wear theirs). All said and done, she did GREAT and she was SO excited about the big day. So, why am I starting the whole story with Kylie when it's Jake's first birthday? Because in hindsight, I can see how truly challenging it is for her when she's NOT the star of the show. After the million questions and constant nagging of the morning (Can we do this NOW? Can we make that NOW? Can we eat cake NOW? When are they gonna be here???????), I felt very much on edge when our guests arrived (we kept it small, just family and the Monroe's). It was hard to really enjoy Jake's big celebration while trying to keep Kylie in check. And, by the end, I felt like I failed miserably. Kylie cut her finger (on a monkey she says????) and then I hurt her foot when I lifted her from the chair in the kitchen - which started a bad crying spell right before the cake. At which time I snapped at Jeff for wanting to give Jake his cake while I was consoling Kylie. Uggghhhh!

I have had the afternoon to reflect, and peek at some of the pictures. It reminded me of how truly beautiful my Kylie-Bear is and how grateful I am for her loving (and boisterous) personality. I have forgiven myself for getting frustrated and losing my cool - and Jeff forgave me too ;) And, since Jake seemed to have a fantastic time in spite of it all - I guess it was a great SUCCESS!

Before the party.......

This is how it is all the time. Kylie hugging (smothering, holding, grabbing) Jake, and Jake trying to escape....

Ahhhh, bliss....... hee-hee!

Kylie's first birthday.....she barely had any interest in the cake.

The Jakester's first birthday - WATCH OUT CAKE!

One Year Stats:

23 lbs (55%)

30 inches (55%)

46 cm (head) 45%

He has only grown 1/2 inch and gained .7 lbs in three months. Maybe he's stabilizing! ;)

We didn't have a "mini" dinosaur cake for Jake to eat (our cake lady forgot), but considering how well he destroyed the piece we gave him - I guess it's just as well! He also liked to share with Daddy.

Did I mention that he LOVED his cake?

Poor cake.....

He cried when we took it away, and started picking up the crumbs from his pants to keep eating! He also loved all his presents from his Aunts, Uncles and Cousins - and especially his Winnie the Pooh ride-on-toy from Nana. We served him a jelly/cream cheese dinosaur sandwich for lunch, which he devoured. I was so stressed about wanting his little party to be perfect and not wanting him to feel slighted someday because we didn't do a HUGE first birthday like we did for Kylie. But, his party was perfect in it's very own way, and I got lots of snuggles from my little man - what more can a mommy ask for?

Finally a xmas tree....

Our Christmas tree shopping was a wee bit late this year due to many social engagements - but it was fun none the less. Kylie had asked us SO many times - "Can we get a xmas tree for our house?" The weather warmed up and we made our way up to the tree lot by Big Lots where we've gone every year since Jeff and I got married. Although, I think they raised their prices this year - or we just got a bigger tree.... :)

You can click on the picture to see it better.

Gingerbread Houses with the Loomis'

We've often said that we are sooooo lucky to have such wonderful neighbors - and this particular tradition makes me feel especially lucky. I will admit I'm not the most "domestic" when it comes to arts/crafts, baking, and other fun kid activities. BUT, the Loomis family (right across the street) just happen to be the most awesomest Gingerbread House makers in all the land! AND for the third year now, we have been included in this wonderful family tradition that they have enjoyed forever. They make everything from scratch, including the frosting, and they have tons of fun candies and treats to decorate with.

Last year Kylie's house crumbled beneath the pressure of Mommy trying to stick a red licorice stick to the top. Cole was able to fix it, but Kylie was so traumatized by the event, she even asked this year if her house was going to collapse again. :( There are so many little things that she remembers - it's pretty amazing.

Sweet Danny Boy. Kylie talks about him ALL the time. I think it's a crush...

Jack was plugging his ears for a while - telling us many, many times to "Make the dog stop barking." Eventually he gave up and joined in the fun.

Of course, we all wanted to plug our ears for a while. Poor Jake wanted to touch everything, grab everything and DESTROY everything. Daddy tried to contain him for a while, but ended up taking him home for his nap.

Trevor, Rhi-Rhi, Lorraine and Cole - the Gingerbread House Masters!

The Kikster and Kylie had some cuddle time on the chair.

The whole gang!

As you can see, Kylie's house made it through the decorating process without being destroyed. I made sure not to touch it! ;)

THANK YOU to the Loomis Family for having us. It is something we look forward to (and are already looking forward to next year!).

Tequila!!!!

I'll keep this short and sweet.....

I got to have three whole days by myself (with three of my oldest and dearest girlfriends) in a beautiful place. Thank you to my AWESOME husband for letting me go.

This was the view from our room:

This was the view of us the first night...... :)

Love and miss you guys!

Daddy's Birthday

The token spice cake, the birthday song, and a big squeeze from his number one gal! Wait, am I supposed to be his number one gal?

The big THREE-SEVEN for Daddy! Can't wait to celebrate MANY, MANY more!

Thanksgiving

We have so much to be grateful for, but most of all our family & friends. Personally, coming from a VERY small family, I feel so lucky to have Jeff's family close by and some of my dearest friends living right in my neighborhood. Since Laurie & Scott were out of town, we spent Thanksgiving with the Dekel's and the Elko's - and it was a marvelous time! Maybe a little too marvelous according to my husband, who was a bit annoyed with me for imbibing too much wine before dinner..... Not sure how that happened??? Here's our attempt at a family photo (thanks to Chris)!

I don't know what I will do when Kylie stops giving me big, huge hugs.

Click on this picture to get a better look. Jake's first Thanksgiving dinner - and it was probably the first time we let him completely eat a meal on his own. Doesn't he just look like the happiest guy on the planet?? I think I need to buy Cynthia a new chair because he totally destroyed it with the sweet potatoes.... :(

And this is how Jake felt about going night-night while the party was still happening!

It really was an awesome time. Kiki even made little place cards for each of the kids - so sweet. Thank goodness for great friends!

Family Portrait Session

Just wanted to share some fav's from our family portrait session back in September. My friend (and fellow photog) Christy Hall took these for us and I did some family shots for her as well. Since it's the busy season for both of us, we took our time in getting them edited, etc.

We went with an "urban" style session - rather than the traditional park setting. FUN!

Santa Claus is coming to town.....

.....and he always comes to the Shoppe of Vinings on the second Saturday of November! Mommy is there to take pictures of Santa with all of the little girls and boys.

This was Jake's first visit - and he was a little skeptical, but no tears...

This was Kylie's third picture with Santa. She refused to sit with Santa last year, but this year she told him exactly what she wanted for Christmas: A Cinderella dress and a monster toy. That's it - plain and simple.

Can he really be that big??? He just doesn't look like a 9.5 month old to me.

Nana and Aunt Laurie came for the big day too!

Jakester / Milestones

Jake's 9 month stats:

22 lbs 3 oz (75%)

29 inches (80%)

Head Circumference 45 cm (45%) I keep telling Jeff we have this huge toddler infant with a baby head.... He gets mad when I say that.

It already seems like so long ago - but Jake started holding his own bottle right around 9 months old. Of course, he could hold it himself before that, but it seemed to be a "bother" so he just let us hold it. :)

He really loves to feed himself and we've been trying lots of different foods - but he's a CARB LOVER so far. Hmmmm, reminds me of Jack (cracker anyone??).

We see this face a lot. Jake loves to do the motorboat. I can hear it right now in my head - a very HIGH pitched motorboat too. He also loves to squeal (much to Jeff's delight).

He's always on the move - all the toys in his mouth. He can reach the top of the shelves in the playroom - so not much is beyond his grasp.

I'm still in awe of the great relationship that Kylie and Jake have. He adores her, and she loves him right back. Of course there is the occasional "Jake's ruining my paper!!!", etc, etc, but, for the most part, it's sweet. This picture she drew says it all. She drew herself first - then she told me she was drawing her "hugging Jake". Awwwww!

He follows his big sister everywhere and wants to play with everything she has. He even scribbles on the Magnadoodle and loves to play with the music sticks. I find myself wondering if he's really smart or if he is just seeing everything so much earlier than Kylie did. He is constantly trying to get into all of the cupboards, the fridge, and the dishwasher. He's very persistent and does not give up after just one try. He has successfully put his hands into the toilet 2 or 3 times (something Kylie NEVER did) and he makes a mad dash for any open door in the house. He doesn't like to be cuddled and he does the "alligator death roll" when we try to change his diaper. This kid has an agenda for sure!

But, as Misty says, it's so hard to be mad at him because he is always smiling at you - even when he knows he's in trouble! ;)

Dress up anyone?

(Yes, I'm back-dating my blog posts to accommodate my EXTREME lateness, but I hope to be caught up in a couple weeks).....

So, Kylie has been REALLY into dress up recently - she especially loves Kiki's Cinderella dress (more on that at Christmas time).

She likes to include her friends and her brother. Anna loves to play along - but she's really more of an exhibitionist (if you know what I mean). Jake would rather eat the dress-up materials than wear them - but Kylie doesn't seem to mind.

This was an outfit of her own invention. I REALLY love the oversized blue rubber band that she uses as the headband. I had to sneak it into the garbage one day just to ged rid of it (I kept finding it on the floor and in Jake's mouth). She could totally go to Woodstock right?

The month of November has been (okay WAS) beautiful in Atlanta. We got tons of outside time - and Kylie started wearing her helmet (after a HUGE standoff with Mom & Dad). We haven't convinced her to give up her little red scooter/bike for a big girl pedal bike because she says she likes to go "REALLY FAST". Apparently she cannot go REALLY FAST on a pedal bike..... hmmmm. The Kylie/Kyle love affair continues.....

We took Kylie to her first hockey game. Of course, this was after Aunt Laurie took her to Disney on Ice, so she kept asking "when are the princesses coming out?" But, she was happy to be with her friends and eat lots of junk anyway! :)

Stay tuned for a "Jakester" update (9 month stats). Sorry Nana, you'll be waiting a little while 'til I get to the Christmas posts.