Daddy Turns 30!

On August 3rd, Andy turned 30.  It is so hard to believe that he's 30 because when we first started dating, he was just 18!  I am so thankful for the man that God prepared for me and the blessing that he is to me and Jack.  He is a wonderful father who fears the Lord and loves his family.  Just a few pics from that night...Happy Birthday Daddy!

The best picture that I could get of a very busy Jack. :)

A Visit With Great Friends

July 22, 2010

We were so excited to finally get to meet John Thomas Applebaum!  John Thomas was appropriately born on Memorial Day (since his daddy's in the Army) and to say that was I anxious to meet him is an understatement.  I was dying to see him and his mommy, Ashley,  who is one of my best friends from childhood.  I loaded Jack up and we made the trip to Huntsville and spent the day with JT and his mommy.  We had the best time!!! It was amazing to see how our lives have changed and how we both have soooo much to be thankful for!  ***By the way, John Thomas was so soft and squishy and he smelled so good!  I could have eaten him up!

Isn't he just the cutest, fattest thing you've ever seen?

Our sweet boys, 13 months apart.

The boys were over the photo session, but we had to get 1 more...

Jack's First Haircut

July 7, 2010

Jack was born with a lot of really dark, almost black, hair.  I LOVED it because I really didn't want him to have red hair.  I have always wished that my hair was another color and I just really wanted my baby to have another color hair.  I know that I would've thought he was perfect either way, but God must've understood my heart.  :) After just a little bit, Jack's dark hair all fell out and we had a bald baby...and that was really sweet too.  I loved that soft head!!  When his hair started growing back, it was much lighter and wasn't red, but not quite blonde either.  I guess we'll call it brownish.  It's perfect and he's perfect and he grew the most beautiful curls.  I loved them and swore I'd never cut them until people kept telling me how beautiful "she" was.  I mean it got really bad...Andy was embarrassed and I even started getting embarrassed.  So, I sucked it up and made the appointment.  I almost cancelled it several times, but I didn't and that was a major accomplishment for me!  Mrs. Lesa Prater, my beautician, was going to do the honors.  Lesa is a lifelong friend who was there for all the proms and was there on my wedding day, so who better to do the job?  I was very nervous, but Mrs. Lesa pulled out her suckers and her Smarties and she did it!  I think she did an awesome job!  There were only a few tears and most of them were from Jack.

What a special treat!  Jack hardly ever gets a sucker...I think that did the trick!

You can see the apprehension on both Lesa's and Jack's face!  I don't know who was scared more!

What a sweet big boy hair cut!  *sniff*

    

At this point we've had our second and third haircuts.  I'm sad to report that they didn't go quite as well.  The second haircut was nearly a disaster and ended with Jack in a headlock so that Lesa could cut that little "ducktail" off the back.  I never thought we'd get him back in there again.  The third haircut went a little better.  I took a hint from Darby about using ice cream to console an unhappy toddler during a haircut.  Thank the Lord it worked!  After a minute of two of terrible crying, he sat still and got a great haircut!  Maybe #4 will be easier, if not, I don't know what trick I'll use!

Lots of Catching Up to Do!

I have SO MUCH catching up to do!!! I have a million pictures on my camera and I can't count the times I've been doing laundry or some other chore, but in my head I was just "blogging" away.  The problem is that life happens, there IS laundry, dishes, housework, etc. to do and by the time I can blog, I just want to lie on the couch.  I am forgetting so much and as bad as I am at keeping up a blog, I'm even worse at keeping a baby book.  Sooo, I'm going to weed through my pictures and pick the very best ones.  Try to tell the most important stories and remember as much as I can.  :( I'm sad with myself for not keeping up with it better.  Maybe someday I'll have better Internet and more time. I'm sure one of those will be true.

Summer 2010

Summer...What can I say?  It has been the rest that I very much needed from school.  I have been blessed to be able to spend so much time with my beautiful baby little boy.  We have gotten really attached to each other and I'm afraid the transition back to school is going to be very difficult. Along with the literal strides that he has made with his walking, now considered a gallop, he has made tremendous growth in his talking.  We like to refer to his language as "Jackonese".  It's really funny to hear his interpretation of words that he hears and to hear that nice southern draw come out.  He can say a lot of words and will attempt most any new word if the mood is right.  Some of the Jackonese that we have heard this summer is: ga-ga (grapes) which also closely resembles gone-gone, na-na (banana), go-gu (yogurt), nanna (granna), paw (grandpa), pawpaw, momo (mamaw), ma-e (Maggee), co-co (Courtney), ba-uh (bear), bo-bo (hippo), dye-dye (bye-bye), namen (amen), dog, momma, dadda, baby, owside (outside), whassat? (what's that), whosat (who's that?), and cah (car).  It's been such a fun time to watch him grow and change and experience new things for the first time.  How does that song go?  "These are the best days of my life..."

It's summer and some idiot still has this on his window!

Father's Day 2010

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Jack's first trip to the beach- he really liked it!

My sweet family!

Happy Father's Day Grandpa!
PawPaw wasn't here, but we love him too and are thankful for all the Godly men in Jack's life.

First trip in the ocean!

First four wheeler ride with Uncle Wayne and Harlee, Griffin, and Jake.

Chilaxin' in his pool at home!

The beach was fun, but most of our summer was spent doing things like this.

Jack's First Birthday Party...Finally!

My sweet baby turned a year old on April 27th.  I cannot believe that it has already been a year!  I am so sad at how fast it has gone by and yet so excited to see what fun times we'll have raising our little baby boy.  We didn't get to have the party until this weekend due to the tornado and sickness.  It turned out to be a beautiful day filled with precious family and friends.  Jack LOVED getting to be outside and play with the other kids.  So, without further ado, Jack's First Birthday party...

  He thinks he might just have a bite.

We had blue snot for a couple of days...

                                          

                                         

After cake...paper, it helps clean the palate.

                

Jack's fun new Radio Flyer push toy...it was a big hit. 

                                     

April 24, 2010

I've had this written for weeks...just had to wait for the pictures...

The tornado's path directly behind my parents' house.

God showed his amazing power and grace this weekend in Albertville.  An F3 tornado touched down in our town and caused major devastation.  As I was surveying the damage at my parents' house, I was in awe of how powerful our Lord is.   It's amazing to me how He can control the wind and guide its direction.  All praise and honor is owed to Him for his amazing protection of my family.  Honestly, the way the damage is, it's as if he placed his hand over my parents', grandparents', and aunt and uncle's house. Almost as amazing, was the outpouring of love from neighbors, church family, and complete strangers.  At one point during the day, all you could hear was the buzz of chainsaws and tractors running.  My heart was so filled with love and I thought, "Lord you did this to show us what love is..."  Although there was total loss in parts of our city, not one life was taken.  That...is how great my God is!

The beautiful oak tree that was in my Grandparents' front yard.

A storage building in Mom & Dad's backyard.  It used to sit where the ground is bare.

Another one of my parents' storage buildings was destroyed.  Amazingly, Dad's new lawn mower is left unharmed.