See Jack {early-mid May}

This is an ongoing series of videos that I am sharing so that our extended family can keep up with how Jack is growing and changing in these early years.

See Jack in the driver's seat. This is arguably his favorite thing to do.

{early May}

See Jack play with the seesaw at the park. 
He is one-and-a-half and already learning about levers.

{early May}

See Jack practice mastering pedaling his tricyle... and then get distracted.

{early May}

See Jack watch TV. I'm not sure how to describe what he is doing, but he has a thing with laying back on the couch and climbing up the coffee table with his feet.

{early May}

See Jack pop a toddler-size wheelie on his little rolling horse.

{mid May}


See Jack practice stacking his Legos for the first time. 
Just to be clear, he only does it with 2 Legos, but it is still a first.
{mid May}

Bittersweet -- The First Goodbye

Over the years I have learned the importance of surrounding yourself with groups of people that will fulfill different needs in your life. For me this includes being a part of a life group (or small group) at a church, participating in group exercise and having a couple of close girlfriends to confide in about life.

When we first moved to Hollywood, Alabama, I really only had one friend. She was the wife of one of Daniel's coworkers. We bonded through working out at the local rec center and we both took our first step towards running – I ran my first 5K with her and then we went on to train for a half marathon together. Sadly, she moved away just over a year ago. 

Working out was one of the few things that kept me sane when I first moved to Hollywood. It kept me from being lonely. It got me out of the house on a daily basis. And it helped me survive my first pregnancy – I even did a 60-minute kickboxing class the day I went into labor.

After Jack came along, I had a hard time getting back into the workout routine. Jack's naptimes and feedings seemed to always fall about the time my workouts would be, so I kind of dropped out of the group workout scene. This made me sad because I had trained with Desiree (of Inspired by Desire) and did Yoga with all of the retired ladies at the rec center for 1.5 years.

After 10 months of trying to jog when it wasn't too hot, I finally made it down to the Core Fitness studio in Scottsboro. Without daytime childcare, I really felt like I could only make it to evening classes when Daniel was available to hang out with Jack (they normally went to the park to walk or ride bikes). For the last 8 months, I have really enjoyed getting pushed to work hard by Betina. She really cares for her students and is not afraid to make you do tough things (which I appreciate). I would rather run two miles than do Zumba so I like it when she does things like make us do 50 burpees in class. I am not afraid to push myself.

One of the things I will be sad to leave (due to our impending move) is my weekly workouts. They are distraction from when life is crazy or for when I just need some time to myself. I know I will join a new gym wherever we move, but I have been really blessed by the women in Scottsboro, Alabama that I have been able to work out with over the last 3 years. Any time I have a "last experience" it always makes me a little sad. I can now check the "first goodbye" off of my list. Tonight was sad, but I have a feeling that when the time comes, the other goodbyes are going to be much harder.

Father's Day 2013

If you ever want to experience pure joy, then let a toddler to do something they have never done before. Especially if that something involves water.

After a lunch with friends at Cantina Laredo at Bridge Street, we wandered over to the fountain so that Jack could have a little fun in the water.

Never mind that we didn't have swimming trunks or a change of clothes.

Jack had a blast playing in the water and trying to drink from the spray.

And our friends had the chance to experience a little joy that a toddler can bring.

It is hard to believe that Jack has been around long enough for this to be our second father's day. This little guy blesses us tremendously each and every day. 

I am proud of Daniel for being such a good dad who is willing to do the not-so-fun things like change Jack's diapers, even on Father's Day.

I am also thankful for my dad and my father-in-law for being such great dads (and grandpas)!

We like to move it, move it.

Not really, but in order for Daniel to stay employed, a move is in our near future...

If you live in the Tennessee Valley (anywhere from Knoxville down to the Huntsville area), you may have seen the news about Bellefonte on Wednesday.

"The Tennessee Valley Authority said [Wednesday], it will slow down work at the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant site near Scottsboro, cut 400 positions, and reassess the need for the plant's completion."

So how does this affect us? Here is the scoop from our perspective. Those affected by the cuts were given the following options: 1) stay at Bellefonte (they will be keeping some people onsite); 2) go to another TVA site; or 3) retire. In most cases the only option is really #2, so Daniel (and many of the others) are going to Watts Bar for the time being. 

The last two days have been a flourish of phone calls and decisions about our future being made on the fly. To be honest, the news was not completely unexpected, but it is still a lot to process. We knew there would be a big announcement on Wednesday and that the changes could be swift, but we are still wrapping our minds around the fact that Daniel will start his training next week and then will go to Watts Bar the week after that.

We have a house to sell and are sad at the possibility of leaving all of the friends we have made. We were just starting to feel settled and now we will be starting over. Again. We know that moving on is the right thing at this time, but it is still sad and a little unsettling. Long-term, Daniel has some time to decide where he wants to be within the TVA organization (location and career-wise). Given the circumstance, it is actually a really good opportunity for him to find something he enjoys doing. And with a company this large, he can always move on to working somewhere else, doing something different if he has the mind to do so.

Mostly, we are incredibly grateful that Daniel still has a job and that TVA is taking care of a lot of the details. In 2009, we weren't so lucky when Daniel went through a layoff with another company, and subsequent 12 months of unemployment which led to us living apart for 5 months. That was a really stressful period in our lives. This time around should be a much easier transition, but that doesn't make it easy.

As soon as we can, we will get our house on the market and start the process of finding a new, temporary residence in Tennessee (most likely somewhere between Chattanooga and Knoxville). We aren't sure where we will be long term, so we are going to take our time making decisions like buying a new house. Please keep us in your prayers as we make this transition.

See Jack {early May}

This is an ongoing series of videos that I am sharing so that our extended family can keep up with how Jack is growing and changing in these early years.

See Jack having fun at the park.

This was one of his first times to go down the slide unassisted. He now can do this with ease.

{early May}

See Jack have fun with a couple of boxes.

He just needs a steering wheel and he would be content all day long.

{early May}


See Jack flip through one of our old photo albums, looking for pictures of his daddy.
{early May}


See Jack play on the furniture. This is a habit we are trying to break. 
Thankfully he has only fallen off twice.
{early May}


See Jack use a fork. More like, see me try to persuade Jack to use the fork for the camera. He has been using utensils for a couple of months. Trying to catch it on camera is not so easy.
{early May}


See Jack climb into his jumper. And get stuck.
{early May}

Jack is 19 Months

Jack is now closer to 2 years old than 1 year. Crazy.

A few things I want to remember from the past month...

Jack finally figured out how to climb out through our doggy door on the porch. Thankfully it is just a game to him and he hasn't tried to escape down the stairs into the yard yet.

We have a kiddie pool set up on the non-screened end of our porch (we haven't added water yet) and he enjoys having some autonomy to wander to the other end of the porch to play.

Jack has also become quite the helper this month. While transferring laundry from the washer to the dryer, I hand Jack the wet clothes and he is delighted to put them in the dryer.

While he loves spending time with his Daddy (especially in the garage), it is sweet that he wants to be where I am, too, helping me when he can.

Our cars continue to be a favorite pastime for our little guy. He will sit in the cars for up to 30 minutes at a time and gets very upset when we take him inside. He insists on having the keys in hand and wants to push all of the levers and buttons.

Words and Phrases: I think we can officially claim that Jack has his first phrase down. It goes like this: "Uh-Oh. Where? Fo (his word for Sophie)?" Or sometimes this: "Uh-Oh. Where? Truck (or tractor)?" Or "Uh-Oh. Where? Daddy?" It is his way of 1) realizing something (or someone) is missing and 2) asking where that thing is. He uses a variation of this phrase all the time. It is so precious.

Other new words include: uh-oh, where, one, bike, fruit, hay, bottle, milk (was ma), snack, daddy (used to be dada), dog, bird, read, choo-choo, potty, chair, up, down, more, all done, and outside (he has graduated from saying "side" to denote both inside and outside). I believe he currently has about 60+ words in his growing vocabulary. He is also starting to get names down. They are a bit awkward but this past weekend he really tried to say Izzy, Levi, Emily and Grammy. He doesn't quite have them, but he is close.

Really, at this point Jack has become a little parrot and will repeat almost anything we say. You can read about other words in his vocabulary here and here.

Teeth: Jack cut his first molars – two on top and one on the bottom. He is now up to 9 teeth.

Firsts: This month we took Jack on his first bike ride...

and to his first concert. He loved both experiences.

He also attended his first Princess Party. Though he did not dress as a princess (as can be seen by the Ghostbusters t-shirt he was wearing).

 

Jack also experienced his first time playing with the water hose. He was beside himself with excitement when we sprayed him while Daniel washed our cars. It continues to amaze me how the joy that Jack has from each new experience is so contagious. I never thought I would have so much fun running through the spray of a garden hose at age 32.

Height and Weight: Jack had a growth spurt this month and can now reach the handles on all of our doors. He has not yet mastered turning them to open a door, but he can grasp them and pull a door shut behind him. I believe that it is time to start tracking his measurements on a door frame. I have no idea how much he weighs, but I am carrying him around less as he is pretty chunky.

We are so very blessed to have this little guy in our lives.

Princess Birthday Party

We like to tease my sister for the over-the-top birthdays she throws for her kids. She still throws a good party, but she is learning to scale back {a little} with the decorations and food and is figuring out how to get her party to do list {which was 8 pages long} done well before the day of the party.

As a family member that tries to support her party endeavors – being available to help with decorations and food, I can appreciate that she has improved vastly in this area. 

The first year I helped, I think we were up to close to midnight blowing up balloons and sewing streamers together.

This year the party was contained to the bonus room, but she made all of the grownups help with hanging streamers from the ceiling to form a tent-like feeling in the room. 

It was much easier than previous years, but still took some effort on behalf of everyone {especially the males in our family since they are tall... they also grumble the most}.

Anyways, the party was a big hit {I didn't expect anything less}.

The biggest project that Angela and her husband completed was a huge castle that they made out of boxes. 

The girls attending the party loved it {as did the two 1.5 year old boys who were running around}.

As usual, Angela hit a home run with her cake – this year making the ubiquitous "barbie" cake from a Belle barbie doll. The little girls loved it.

Besides playing in the homemade castle, the girls made crafts in the form of coloring crowns and making bracelets.

They also had a tea party – complete with Grammy's tea sets from Hong Kong.

Finally the cake. It was delicious. The little boys were happy to walk around and scavenge food {and cake} from the plates the little girls left in the wake of their playing.

Once again, great job little sister on your excellent party throwing skills! I will be relying on your help come November when a certain little boy turns 2!

I think that if my sister ever quits her job of delivering babies for a living, she could probably make decent money as a party planner for kids birthdays. 

Past Birthday Parties: Finding Nemo (age 2) | My Little Pony (age 3)