December Photo Journal Journey

It's a photo journey...Bring a snack, it may take awhile!!!

That grin says it all! He's pulling up onto EVERYTHING now and we are rewarded with this smile with every triumph that he makes! Happy 10 month birthday, Captain Eddie! (so nicknamed for holding the world record in Army Crawling cuteness and efficiency...he's quick!)
Clearly pulling up onto everything has its downside at times...(check out those bruises!!!) Luckily Eddison is like his big brother and doesn't dwell on his injuries... There are far better things to do with his time! Like...eating a Santa hat!

Eddie and Jack watching for monsters in the backyard. For the record - Jack did see one, but was able to scare it away by blowing a raspberry on the window. Apparently it's a guaranteed technique for monster removal.

It amazes me how in certain lights (this pic was taken in indirect sunlight through the shades) Eddison's hair can look so red! In reality it's a strawberry blondish color - just like Justin's was as a baby/kid. I'm hoping it will eventually turn into the color that it appears to be in this next picture! My great-grandma had beautiful red hair and I'm crossing my fingers that the gene will be passed on to at least one of our children! SO cute! Plus - now that his hair is actually growing quite rapidly we're happy to report that he's getting the same beautiful (okay, handsome) curls that Jackson has.

Always happy to be in the tub! Isn't he turning into such a little boy?! Where does the time go?!

I love this picture! Eddison has the best facial expressions!

This one just melts my heart... Eddie is truly such a sweetheart! We are so excited for his very first Christmas!
Here's Jackson yelling, "CHEESE!" for the camera... He immediately took the hat off afterwards and this was the best shot I could get. I have a 1/50 ratio with this kid... Meaning - out of 50 pictures I usually only get one that turns out! (Which is why I'd LOVE, LOVE, LOVE a Nikkon D40!!!)

Last Saturday our ward had a 'Breakfast with Santa' activity. We got to the church around 8 a.m., had pancakes (Eddie ate an ENTIRE pancake... We are SO in trouble with this kid becomes a teenager! He's already eating us ALL under the table! LOL!!) and then our Bishop came in dressed as Santa Claus. In reality he could not look any LESS like the big guy! He was swimming in his suit and as far as I'm aware Santa doesn't have a distinctive southern accent, but the kids didn't seem to mind...(well - most of them anyway! More on that later!)

Justin and Eddie catching up with Wayne and Brandon at the Santa Breakfast... I just love seeing daddy's holding their babies! (Brandon doesn't seem to be enjoying the Christmas music they had playing :-)!

Wilde Boys = TROUBLE!!! It had gone quiet....TOO quiet... I stopped my sewing and went to peak in the playroom where Jackson had been entertaining his constant captive audience of one, Eddie. The first words I heard were, "Chocolate, Eddie!" coming from behind the little swing. At this Eddie turned around to face me and I saw the 'Chocolate', which was really my bronzer, ALL over his face. Jackson had apparently discovered where I keep my make-up case. "Jackson! What did you do to Eddie?!" I said in my best 'angry mom' voice (which was hard since I wanted to laugh SO badly!!!) A sheepish Jackson came out from behind the swing and I saw that Eddie was not the only one with a bronzer-beard. At this I could no longer hold back the laughter and instead ran to get the camera. Oh, my boys!! I have a feeling this is merely the beginning with these two!

Caption:

Jackson: "Now look, I can explain everything..."
Eddison: "For the record I'd like to point out that I clearly had no say in the events that transpired..."

Here is the tattered quilt I made my dad for Christmas. I can only post a picture of his present since all of the other gifts I made are for people who see this blog. (Yes - my dad lives in the stone age and does not have a computer.) Anyway - this was my very first quilt! I picked fabrics that reminded me of my dad and our late beloved Sarah Dog - a wiener dog/chihuahua mix. She was the BEST dog in the world! She lived an amazing life free from fences, gates, and leashes. Her home was in the mountains with my dad...she absolutely adored my dad! She was actually a Father's Day gift from my sisters and I to my dad about 15 years ago, but we all loved her dearly. It's been a little over a year since Sarah passed away, but we all still miss her very much. Especially my dad - who I heard cry for the first time when he called to tell me she had gone.

So that's the history behind the quilt. I named it, 'Baby Dog' and hope it will remind him of Sarah as much as it did for me while I was making it!

A couple of my friends, Tiffany Scienski and Nellie Johnston, and I recently started a small pre-Joy School group we call the Sprouts. Every Thursday one of us has ALL of the kids while the other two get to go do WHATEVER they want for three hours - 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 a.m. We just rotate weeks and so far it has been SPLENDID!! Meanwhile, the mommy who is in charge of the Sprouts for that Thursday watches them play, feeds them lunch, and does some sort of activity with them (like Joy School). For the very first Sprout Day, Nellie had the kids and they finger painted baked (salt, flour, water mixture) Christmas ornaments. They are SO cute and Jack's are decorating out tree right now!

I had the Sprouts on the second week. We made red, green, and white construction paper

'Countdown to Christmas' chains. This following picture is from my Sprout Day - just after lunch. (I had made homemade pepperoni pizza and should have gone easier on the sauce... Look at those faces! LOL!!) Jackson's paper chain is still on our tree... I just LOVE his decor!

Tiffany had the Sprouts this past week and she made cute little Gingerbread Huts with them...They turned out SO cute!

So far Jack and Eddie are the only 'Official' boy Sprouts, but Tyler (5 months) - Riley's little brother - will be joining them just as soon as he drops a morning feeding! We're also hoping to convince some more of our friends to get involved...I say the more the merrier!

Another BIG update! Eddie had his follow-up visit with the neurologist last Friday. His head is on the same growth curve, which is great! (It means it is no longer growing/swelling with fluid or that his body is able to drain it better. Either way = GREAT!) For now we continue to keep an eye on everything and then we go back again in three months for another follow-up. We decided not to have a CT scan done since he's looking and doing great (and because the doctor gave us an option :-)! Mommy intuition tells me that he's just fine and that we'll just keep doing the follow-up visits until he has grown out of his condition. (Remember, on average kids with BEHI usually outgrow it by their 2nd or 3rd birthday.) We think Eddie will definitely be on the shorter end of that time frame! This picture is from the doctor's office where he flirted shamelessly with the nurse...(what else is new?!)

We thought it was funny when she bent down to pick him up and exclaimed, "Wow! You're deceptively tiny!" (As if he has a choice! LOL!!) I must admit that his bean makes him look like he should weigh more than he does...but duh...that's why we're there in the first place! LOL!!

Back to the Santa Breakfast. Here's Eddie...so NOT loving the (skinny) Big Guy! I think the Bishop may have made a new record for how many babies and little kids he made cry! I know BOTH of my boys did! (All we had to do was ASK Jack if he wanted to sit on Santa's lap and he started crying and saying, "No Santa Closet!!!" (He calls Santa Claus, 'Santa Closet,'. Last names are still pretty abstract to him and when I said, 'Claus,' he immediately connected it with 'Closet'...one of his fave places to hide!) So funny!! :-)
Finally - a pic of buddies Jack and Riley - who both stopped crying once we got outside and away from Santa! It has been so much fun watching these two (and all of his other friends!) grow up together! Out of the 'original 5' of us (still living in North Carolina) who were all pregnant together for the first time, 4 of us have either had a second baby or are pregnant with a second baby. Here are the stats (and I can't wait to see them continue to grow!!!):

Jessica - Jackson (06/2005), Eddison (02/2007)

Tiffany - Arwen (09/2005)

Nellie - Riley (10/2005), Tyler (07/2007)

Audrey - Noah (01/2006), Alexandra (due 01/2008)

Julie - Katelyn (01/2006), Baby Boy (due late April/early May/2008)

Well - if you made it this far you deserve a medal! ;-) Have a great Christmas! BTW - I FINALLY mailed our cards this morning...hopefully everyone will get them by Christmas!
Love to all!