Jack Henry

To my sweet Jack Henry,

You may look at this blog/journal and wonder where all the posts are about your first  8 months of life.  To be honest, we have been busy!  You and your brother are quite the handful and combined with moving, remodeling/building a house and moving again your life so far has been a whirlwind.  And not to mention you are a terrible sleeper which has caused your momma to be exhausted most of the time.  But what you must know is that you are loved.  You have been loved since the moment we found out we were pregnant and you are loved more than you will ever comprehend.  You are such an amazing gift and we love that you are our son and that you complete our family.  You have the sweetest smile that lights up your face and everyone around you.  You also have the most adorable little laugh, that happens most when Will is around.  The most awesome thing to watch as your mom is how you and your brother interact.  You two have loved each other since the moment you laid eyes on one another and I pray you are life long friends.

So here it is...me trying to get writing again.  Next up I am going to try and start from the beginning...

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Stationery Card

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Merry Christmas!

This was our absolute favorite Christmas of all time!  We had so much fun sharing the excitement and joy of the Christmas holidays with you little man!

On Christmas Eve we started a couple new traditions.  We woke up and mommy made a special breakfast with French toast, bacon, fruit and hash browns, it was delicious.  And then we played for a while as a family and you took a little morning nap.  We then watched the movie the Polar Express, which you didn't really get or were you into but daddy watched it for the first time and loved it.  We can't wait for you to watch the movie and read the book so you can learn all about the magic of Christmas.  You and mommy also spent lots of time in the kitchen making cookies to leave for Santa.  Santa loves peanut butter cookies with m&ms on top and that is exactly what we made and left out for him.  Lastly, we gave you a bath and put you in some Christmas pajamas and read you 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.  We read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas last year in the NICU and it was so wonderful to read you the poem while we were snuggled together as a family in our own home. 

 

Christmas morning was very exciting as well!   We woke up and Santa had placed your gifts next to the Christmas tree!  Santa brought you a water table and mom and dad bought you blocks, A Charlie Brown Christmas  book, flash cards (which soon became your absolute favorite) and some new clothes. We even let you play with your water table in the kitchen, on top of a tarp to see how you liked it.  After we opened presents we went to Grandma and Grandpa Lowe's for Christmas breakfast and more gifts!  You were one very spoiled little boy.  We had to wait one more week to celebrate with the Bennett side of the family but you got more gifts and had fun playing with your cousins Anna and Isaaac.  Can't wait for Christmas next year! 

You are not very excited about Christmas morning! haha

Now you are starting to get happy...

Water table Santa brought you!

Walking around your water table

So many presents to open!

1st Year Check Up! (12/20/2013)

For your first year check up you weighed in at 18 pounds and 15 ounces (15th percentile) you are 28.35 inches long (4th percentile) and your head is 18 inches in circumference (29th percentile).  This puts you somewhere around the 10th percentile in total. 

The doctor was very pleased with your size and your development and saw no real delays as the result of being born at 33 weeks.  This was sooo great to hear as mommy and daddy are sometimes worried about this just because you were born so early and there can be so many delays as a result.  To say that we are beyond thankful for how healthy you are is an understatement.  It is a bonus that you are the cutest and happiest baby in the world :-). 

Right now you haven't quite started walking but you are so very close.  You will take a couple steps here and there but you haven't quite worked up the courage to full on walk.  You are a very physical little boy though and your gross motor skills and fine motor skills are all average to above average.  Your verbal skills are a little below average but this is not atypical for boys.  You don't quite say mommy and daddy yet but you are working on it and we hope to hear both words frequently and soon. 

Happy 1st Birthday!

Happy 1st Birthday Little Man!!  Mommy and Daddy love you more than words and we are so excited to celebrate the 1st of many birthdays with you!  

Today was truly all about you!  We started the day by going to downtown Detroit to meet Santa for the first time and to have lunch with Daddy and our friends John and Veronica and their daughter Evelyn.  You weren't too sure about Santa.  You didn't cry but you also weren't super happy about sitting in a strangers lap.  Next year is going to be a much more interesting experience when you have more 'stranger' anxiety, you haven't developed this yet and are fairly chill around everyone so I'm not surprised you just let Santa hold you.  

After lunch we walked around the Ren Cen a little bit and visited with some of daddy's friends.  You were getting pretty sleepy though so we went home so you could get in a nap before your birthday party! 

You had such a great time at your birthday party!  We had family over for pizza and cake and you loved seeing everyone. You did a cake smash in front of the whole family but you really weren't that into it.  You got a little messy as you will see in the pictures below, but nothing too crazy.   We did of course still have to give you a quick bath afterwards to clean you up before opening presents.  Your favorite activity on your birthday was opening presents!  You enjoyed the wrapping paper and the gifts and you also liked watching your cousins Anna and Isaac running around you and playing with toys.  

Mommy and Daddy bought you a lawn mower that has little balls that pop when you push it, a blue car that you can ride in while we push you, some flash cards to learn your first words, and a play remote control that makes sounds and sings when you push buttons (since you love the TV remote control so much). You also got so many gifts from your aunts and uncles and grandma and grandpas and great grandma and great grandpa.  You received lincoln logs, a soccer ball, a rocking horse that is a dog, a couple learning games and a little workbench that makes noises.  You also received a few different outfits with an adidas jumpsuit being one of our new favorites. 

Overall, I think you really enjoyed your first birthday and mommy and daddy loved celebrating this major milestone with you!  Can't wait for next year!  

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Little Man Mustache Bash

Will,
On December 7th we had a big first birthday party with all of our family and friends stopping by to celebrate you!  The theme was 'Little Man' since you have been our little man since the day you were born at a small 4 pounds 6 ounces.  The Little Man theme was emphasized with mustaches...why mustaches? because they are so hip right now and you little man are hip :-)  There were about 45 people who came to the party and you did a great job of smiling and playing with both adults and kids!  In lieu of gifts for you, since you already have so many toys, we asked friends and family to bring a Toy for Tots.  I can't believe how many toys we collected! It is pretty awesome and something we may do again in the future.