Christmas recap

We always have quite a busy Christmas season and this year was no exception.  Between family celebrations, traditions Paul and I have started together, and now traditions with Jack, we keep a pretty packed December calendar.  Here's a recap of our pre-Christmas celebrations:

Of course we had to visit Santa's reindeer

Then we took a trip over the river and through the woods with my mom and Norm to have Christmas in Yakima with my brother and his family.

It's always quite entertaining to get all three kids to sit still (and smile at the same time if we're lucky).  God bless Cohen for smiling the entire time, even while Emmery's finger is up his nose.

Jack wasn't a fan of pumpkin pie, but absolutely LOVED feeding it to Ya Ya!

Next on the agenda was a tradition that Paul and I started while we were dating.  Each year we pick a different park (or beach) to watch the Christmas Ships and this year we bundled up and headed over to the Kirkland waterfront.  Afterwards we went out to an Irish pub for dinner and our non-meat-eating-kid ate almost a whole plate of chicken fingers!  He surprises us ever day :)

In addition to these events we also celebrated with our PEPS friends, went to Gymboree (Daddy came too, hooray!), put together and delivered a food basket to the YMCA, drove to some beautiful Christmas lights, made cookies, and spent quality time together just the three of us.  What a magical Christmas season!

14 months old

When Jack was born we called him our "little man" and now he's really beginning to look like it!  Here is an update of our 14 month old little man:

• He's wearing size 18-24 month clothes and a size 5 1/2 shoe
• He's talking and says "garga" (garbage), dadda, "eeeeease" (please), cheese, YaYa, car and can make animal noises for a lion, tiger, elephant, cat, cow, fish and turkey.
• I stopped using sign language with him months ago but he recently started using the signs for "more", "all done" and "milk" - apparently he was paying attention when I was trying to teach him and just wasn't ready to use them yet :)
• Jack is kind of obsessed with garbage and the garbage truck.  When he finds garbage on the ground he immediately wants to throw it away (I'm definitely not going to stand in the way of this new skill), points out every garbage can we pass, saying "garga" and stands glued to the sliding glass door watching the garbage truck when it comes down the ally.  
• His newest "tricks" include stomping his feet, covering his mouth when he coughs, and splashing in puddles (daddy taught him that one).  He can also point to his belly, ears, tongue, teeth, head, and feet. 
• He has become a slightly more picky eater than he used to be but still eats well and likes bananas, oranges, graham crackers, pasta, bell peppers, hummus, eggs, yogurt, cheese, frozen peas and carrots (yes, he prefers them frozen) and is always willing to try whatever we (especially Paul) is eating.
• He sleeps like a champ, taking 1 nap a day with bedtime at 6:00pm, sleeping through the night and usually waking up around 7:00am.
• Most importantly he's happy, healthy and a constant source of joy and entertainment! 

Penguins!

Jack's favorite part of the zoo is the penguins.  I don't think his favorite animal is a penguin, but the exhibit allows him to see the birds up close, swimming through the water and I'm pretty sure he could stay and watch them for hours!  This particular morning we showed up as they were being fed so there weren't as many in the water but Jack was still quite entertained.

Stopping for a quick snack with Sean before heading on to see more of the zoo

Jack's first haircut

Jack's hair was beginning to look rather "mullet-ish" so we decided it was finally time for his first haircut.  Paul and I were in agreement that we wanted to do it at home rather than take him to a salon.  I remember looking at pictures in my baby book of my first haircut - I was eating spaghetti in my highchair and Dave was doing the trimming - and I wanted that memory for Jack, too. 

Here are the before pictures:

During:

And after:

Paul did most of the cutting, but I got in a few snips too (I was so grateful that Paul wanted to do it because I was a little scared I'd accidentally cut his ear or something).  The next night we evened it out with the clippers which proved to be far easier than using scissors.  What a great memory we made!

BFFs

Whether they like it or not, Cameron and Jack are best friends and will be forever.  Laura and I are, so our kids have to be too, right?  Yep, that's the way it will be. 

With busy lives and jobs, we definitely don't hang out enough but I love the times when we do.  I can't wait till the boys actually play together - right now they just play next to each other except when Cameron is eating snack, then Jack follows him around and eats what he drops.  :) 

Family time

Apparently we've had a busy month because I haven't posted anything since Halloween, Oops!

Dad and Charlene came up for a visit.  They brought my nephew Cole over one night and Jack immediately took a liking to him (which is odd because he is usually in full "stranger danger" mode with new people).  It was so cute to see him hug Cole! Grandpa even got a hug too :)

Then story time with Grandma before bed...

It was so good to spend some time with Dad and Charlene, I can't wait until Jack is old enough to remember them better in between visits.

Halloween

What did Jack dress up as for Halloween?  Well his first social function was a PEPS party and he was a giraffe.  This is our attempt at a group photo.  I'm pretty sure Jack thought we were going to leave him as soon as we set him down, hence the crying.  All the other kids were pretty concerned, what good friends!

Yes, he did calm down as soon as he realized that we were staying at the party with him.  It also helped that there were lots of toys to distract him, including a slide - yes, it's meant for toy cars but Jack was positive it was for him.

The next event on Jack's social calendar was his cousin Maddie's party.  Thanks to his cousin Cohen, he got to dress up as a turtle (good thing because everyone knows you can't wear the same costume twice).