Fall Fun

We're only a little over a month into fall and have already had so much fun!

We celebrated Jack's first birthday the first weekend of the month. Jack had a great birthday weekend that started with Lake Tobias and ended with a perfect party with friends and family.

Lake Tobias
We had such an awesome day here. The park itself is so clean. I was really impressed. We had wonderful weather and took the safari after we made our way around the park. Jack loved the llamas and goats in the petting zoo. He also had a great time seeing all the animals close up on the safari. Even Joe and I had a great time seeing all the animals, especially on the safari. I can't wait to go back next year.

Feeding the goats with Dad.

A beautiful Elk.


Some zedonk friends we met along the way.

All tuckered out and ready to head home

First Birthday fun!
Its been an amazing journey watching this tiny baby grow into a little boy. I'm extremely blessed to be his mother.

The day started out with balloons in bed! :)

Then it was off to the party for cupcakes, treats, decorations, friends, family and our first birthday cake.

Yummy Cupcakes

Yummy Treats

Cute Decorations

Then it was time for cake . .

Lots of cake! :)

He also had fun at home opening all his gifts.
What a lucky little boy.

Even More Fall Fun
Jack and I went to the Halloween parade in our neighborhood this year. It was nice seeing our neighbors out and Jack had a great time. He loved the fire trucks and the marching bands the best.

Trying to get another look at the fire trucks.

We had a ball on the horse drawn hay ride at Ashcombe and also enjoyed picking out pumpkins at Strite's Orchard with Nan and Pop. Mommy and Daddy carved our pumpkins but Jack enjoyed playing with the pumpkin's tops. He did not however like pumpkins guts one bit.






We also took Jack trick or treating for his first time this year. He dressed as a lion and rode around in his car with Mom and Dad for about an hour before heading back to his post at home handing out candy to all the kids with Lucy.

Roaaar!

Last but not least Jack took his very first steps from Daddy to Mommy right before bed time on October 23rd, 2010 at 12 months 3 weeks. He's still working on mastering his craft but takes more and more unassisted steps every day. He's was a pro at cruising around with his favorite birthday gift from Grandma and Pop . . his trusty dinosaur . . . right from the start.

The face cracks me up.

And that's all just the month of October!

Even though this will be Jack's second holiday season we're so excited since he'll be so much more interactive this year. Looking forward to the rest of the season . . Happy Fall!

I wake up to this every morning . .

Life is in fact quite good.

My Son the Grunge Rock Fan

In the early days of Jack's life we were so fortunate to have our amazing Daddy home with us for a couple of weeks. Once those weeks were over I'll admit the fussy evenings weren't much fun. Usually the swing was my savior when nursing didn't prove to comfort him quite long enough. I vividly remember one night being at my wits end. He was fed. He was dry. He had napped. I tried everything. Even the damn Five S's weren't doing crap to help this kid. Sorry Dr. Karp. He just wanted to cry and/or torment his poor sleep deprived mother.

That night I discovered the one tried and true thing to calm Jack's cries. Nirvana. That's right, my son, the grunge rock fan. Here is video we shot one especially fussy night back when Jack was 6 and a half months.

To this day he still calms down a couple cords into this song. Who knew Kurt Cobain would be my savior?

Perfect Gifts

Let me start by saying I have some pretty amazing friends. They surprised me with perfect gifts for my birthday a couple weeks ago. Two gifts I hadn't even known existed but were absolutely perfect.

The first one was a camera strap slip cover for my Nikon DSLR. What a cute idea! I'd never heard of etsy seller, HappySnapz by Jen, but I'm so glad Charlene had because I love my cover. It looks and fits great on my camera. Thank you Charlene!


I also finally got to play around with my second gift tonight. A Professor Kobre's Light scoop. What an awesome addition to my camera! Thank you so much Christina!

How it works: The light scoop is a mirror that sits on the top of the camera reflecting the light from the pop up flash onto the wall or ceiling creating lighting that is far more appealing for portrait picture taking.

Camera with Lightscoop

.

Reflection on ceiling

The Results: Please ignore the hair Jack managed to steal from my head and stuff in his mouth without my noticing.
Without Lightscoop	With Lightscoop

I still have some playing around to do with the camera settings but so far I'm loving the results.

.	We love our Feet	.

Our New Favorite Toy

Jack has been practicing sitting up more in the past week or two. Yesterday we had a fun playing in the laundry basket. He had a ball and it was perfect for grasping the sides so he could practice sitting up "all by himself".

And just like that we had our fill and play time was over.

5 Month Update

Jack is 5 months old this past week. Time is just flying by! Jack had an eventful month and has been learning a lot of new things.

Nothing brightens my day like Jack's laugh.

At the beginning of the month we bundled up and enjoyed all the snow . . even if it was just for a brief photo op.

Jack started enjoying more time playing with lots of new toys.

Playing in the bouncer.

He really loves the exersaucer.

Jack continued to bond with his new buddy Sophie. He also started handling objects with both hands at one time.

And we also continued to hone our bubble blowing skills.

Bubbles.

Lots and lots of bubbles.

Sometime over the last month Jack became really ticklish and loves to giggle when tickled.

I love this picture.

We celebrated my 29th Birthday together on February 26th.

Snuggling in bed with Mommy the morning of my birthday.

At the end of the month we took our first trip out to Western PA to visit family with Jack.

Snoozing on our way to Monessen, PA.

We started Rice cereal this past week. He seems to be really enjoying it. We're slowing figuring out where to add this into his daily routine and look forward to adding some fruit and veggies soon.

Jack kept wanting to get his hands involved.

Til Next time . .