Christmas Parties

Tuesday night we had our monthly ADPi Girls Dinner. Kelly flew in from Switzerland just for the occassion as she couldn't stand to go another month without seeing all of us in person. :) Kelly hosted at her mom's house and made an extremely tasty dinner. Since Kelly hadn't visited Nashville since the summer she asked us to bring the babies. Unfortunately, Allison and J-Rae's kiddos didn't make the dinner but Claire, Andrea, and I all brought our bundles of joy for a few minutes and then their dads shuttled them off to bed so all the ladies could enjoy some quality girl time. As always, we had a fantastic time!

Allison, Claire with Tyler, Andrea with Ainsley, Me with Jacob, Kelly, Paige with Baby Menge due Feb 5th and J-Rae

On Friday Allison and her girls, Sydney and Caitlin, had a Christmas party. This was Jacob's first Christmas party and we had a fantastic time!

Sydney, Eli, and Jacob - Maybe we have a future doctor on our hands??

Lucy and Jacob Caitlin and Evey (Sydney & Caitlin's cousin)

Jacob is Walking!

Jacob completely let loose today and began walking everywhere! Here is he is in action!

Jacob's First Thanksgiving, First Steps, and First Christmas Tree

We spent Thanksgiving at home this year and it marked the first time my parents, brother, and I had all been in Franklin for Thanksgiving. Although I've had many wonderful Thanksgivings over the years traveling to visit family, it was really nice to celebrate at home. Jimmy's dad flew in from Raliegh to spent the holiday with us which was great. Unfortunately, my camera battery died and I misplaced my camera battery charger so there are very few pictures of Thanksgiving and not a single one of GrandDad Porter. (Yes, you would think that surely my parents, Jimmy's dad, or my brother would have a working camera but you'd be wrong.....)

Having fun with Nana's fluorescent bendy straw

Jacob playing with David and I's little horse

In other news, our little guy is taking several steps on his own! It really is the cutest thing because he is so proud of himself. Of course, we give him loads of encouragement and praise and he loves every minute of it. We know it won't be long before he is walking everywhere.

Jacob is babbling Da-da but he is using it indiscriminately. He's not saying Ma-ma (sniffle, sniffle) unless he is really upset. It is every mother's dream; Jacob says Da-da when he's happy and Ma-ma when he's mad. Lovely....

As you would expect, Jacob loves our Christmas tree and lighted garland. I've had to move all of the ornaments out of his reach but he actually has been really good around the tree. Here's a picture of Jacob and I when we picked out our tree. He definitely did not understand why Jimmy and I were so excited about this occassion.

This past weekend we had a Christmas Progressive Dinner with five other couples from our neighborhood. We had such a wonderful time and it was a great way to usher in the Christmas season!

David, Jeff, Ken, Rory, Jimmy, JoeMary, Brooke, Shelly, Lanesia, Misty, Kristin

Trip to Georgia

We trekked down to Georgia last weekend to visit my mom's side of the family and for the UGA-Auburn game. While Jacob and I didn't make it to the game, we did tailgate at my Uncle Bob and Aunt Pat's RV so we could visit with some family and friends. Jacob's favorite part of the tailgate was looking at all of the food! He definitely has Goss genes!!

Lindsey and Jacob checking out all the goodies

Jared, Lindsey, Jacob, Jimmy, Robbie, and Kristen

After a few hours of tailgating it was time to head back to Nanny's. Here is Jacob having dinner and telling Aunt Pam all about his day.

Jacob had a hard time deciding which was more interesting - his book or Nanny!

Jacob really enjoyed being around his cousins but I, unfortunately, was unable to get any good pictures as they are all on the move! Here is one where you can at least see part of the faces of three of them!

Nick, Alyssa, and Jacob

Jacob's First Halloween

Jacob had a great first Halloween! Here are some pictures from the big day.

Jacob and I before Jimmy carved our pumpkin

Jacob wasn't sure what to think of the hollowed out pumpkin.

After the pumpkin was carved it was time to get Jacob dressed in his teddy bear costume!

Nana and Pa weren't about to miss Jacob's first Halloween! Here they are with our little bear.

Off to "Trick-or-Treat"! We visited two of our neighbors so they could see Jacob all dressed up.

Anniversary Trip to NYC

Jimmy and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary with a 3 day trip to NYC. We had such a wonderful time! Jacob stayed behind with my parents and although it was tough to leave him (yes, there were tears from me, of course) it was really nice to have some"just us" time.

We were psyched to be upgraded to the "Ambassador's Suite" because of Jimmy's Marriott status. This was our view.

Saturday night we went to dinner and saw "Wicked". It was fabulous! Ironically, my cousin, Kerry, and her husband, Jay, who live in Boston, were in NYC for the weekend to celebrate Kerry's 30th. They also saw Wicked at the same showing so we met up for drinks afterwards. We couldn't believe our luck and it was so fun to see them!

We spent Sunday eating fabulous food (it was one of my Top 5 Food Days of all time) and walking around Central Park. It was such a beautiful fall day.

We had a drink at Tavern on the Green and got Jimmy's picture with the gigantic gorilla.

Here we are at Times Square on Sunday night.

On Monday we did one of those "hop on, hop off" tours and had lunch in Little Italy. After lunch, I, of course, had to have dessert. We found this great place that had chocolate covered cannolis - YUM!

Visit from Atlantans

The past couple of weeks have been really fun! We've had play dates with Miss Amy and Maddie and Miss Nicole and Abigail, celebrated my dad's birthday with dinner at Sperry's (and left Jacob with a non-Nana babysitter for the first time), had our 5th anniversary which we will be celebrating this weekend, gone to Kindermusik, had Jacob's 9 month pediatrician appointment, visited with Laura and baby Lila, had a weekend visit from the Stanleys, and had our neighborhood chili cookoff. Unfortunately I didn't take as many pictures as I should have but I at least got a couple of pictures of the Atlantans and Jacob bundled up for the chili cookoff.

Jacob and I visited with Laura and Lila at Laura's mom's house. I was so excited to meet Lila!

Here's a closeup of precious Lila!

Anne Marie, Brad, and Ryan came to stay with us last weekend for the UGA-Vandy game. Once again, the men trotted off to the football game on Saturday leaving the women happily home with the children. We all had a great weekend together and Ryan and Jacob continued to be enamored with each other and each other's toys!

Jacob loved Ryan's trucks! Ryan, Jacob, and Brad playing together

The boys did much better this trip with bath time and we were actually able to snap a few pics!
Jacob bundled up for the chili cookoff

Jacob is 9 Months Old!

I can hardly believe that 9 months have passed since our precious Jacob was born. Oh my goodness I love this baby boy! We had his 9 month pediatrician appointment and I was excited to hear that Jacob still appears to be in great health. Jacob weighed in at 18lbs, 15 oz and measured 27 1/2 inches. He is now in the 25th percentile in both height and weight.

Jacob is cruising and crawling everywhere but his favorite place to cruise is under and around the kitchen chairs and table. He think he's such a big guy and he is so fun to watch!

He loves using his push walker although I monitor him like a hawk with that thing. He starts going way too fast for my comfort level!
Jacob also loves his basket of books. He spends a lot of time standing and sitting by the basket pulling out all of the books and looking at them. I love how captivated he can be! His favorite books are "Quack, Quack", "Nighty Night" (because of Big Bird on the front), and anything with Elmo.

Both day and night, Jacob loves standing at our back door and looking outside. He's also so much fun in the bath but all onlookers will get wet. He LOVES to splash!

Some of his other favorite things at the moment are his jumperoo, musical table, balls, clock faces, our fall wreath, and his elephant crib mirror. The crib mirror has a pull that produces funny noises, music, and a mouse to go around and around. He loves playing with it before and after sleep and sometimes even in the middle of the night. It totally cracks us up!

Jacob is such a happy baby and has the most precious laugh! He loves to be bounced, lifted up and down, twirled around, and have his neck and belly kissed. I just can't get enough of his giggles and squeals! I am truly enjoying every day with my sweet Jacob and am so thankful that I am able to be a stay-at-home mom. It is definitely the best job I've ever had and ever will!

Weekend in Atlanta

We went to Atlanta this weekend to visit friends and had a wonderful time! Brad and Jimmy went to the UGA-LSU game on Saturday while Anne Marie and I spent the day at her house with our boys. This was the first time Jacob and Ryan had met and they were really cute together. Anne Marie and I tried and tried to get a good picture of them together but it was near impossible to get a squirmy baby and toddler to sit still, look at the camera, and smile at the same time! Here's the best picture of the two of them I took.
On Sunday we visited Jen and Tyler and their new twin baby girls, Elle and Kate. It was so exciting to see all of them and Elle and Kate are just precious! It is so amazing to think of all that Jen and I have experienced together since middle school and now we are both mommies! Here we are with our kiddos.

The Proud Parents! Jen holding Elle and Tyler holding Kate

Jacob is Crawling!

For the past week or so Jacob has been moving in circles, backwards and making slight movements forward but today it all came together! Since I've gotten burned in the past on his milestones (no, he still hasn't said Mama again - we obviously made that up....) I wanted to make sure he crawled multiple times to multiple places before I proclaimed it to the world.

The whole scene is actually quite hilarious, not because of his form, but because he is really not enjoying himself. At this point, Jacob sees crawling as his way to get to me so he can then push/pull up, take my fingers, and walk. I video taped him crawling and it is so funny because I am screaming "Yay!!!!!" and being all excited and Jacob is whining the entire time. Hopefully, he'll start finding the joy in crawling soon!

The Bumper is Back

I've discovered the purpose of a bumper pad. It is a paci keeper. Without a bumper pad pacis end up in all sorts of places- under the crib, behind the crib, wedged under the crib mirror, across the room, etc. It really is quite amazing that Jacob can start with 4 pacifiers in the bed with him at 7:30pm and at 2:00am they have all mysteriously disappeared. This mommy is tired of going on paci treasure hunts in the middle of the night so the bumper pad has been welcomed back into the crib.

My parents kept Jacob on Friday night while Jimmy and I celebrated Jimmy's 31st birthday and my poor mother had the same problem. At midnight Jacob woke up because he couldn't find his paci in the crib. My mom searched and searched and ended up having to pull the crib out from the wall where she finally found the paci. After all the ruckus Jacob thought it was play time and my poor mother was up for 2 hours with him in the middle of the night. She assures me that he was being really cute and sweet but regardless she gets major brownie points for that one. She is such a great Nana! Needless to say I'll be reattaching the bumper pad at her house as well.

I'm a little concerned that Jacob is going to use the bumper pad as a springboard to escape the crib but I'm going to take my chances for now. Plus, the crib does look so much cuter with it on anyway. :)

Jacob playing in his crib after a nap

Yay! A paci for each hand!

Go Dawgs, Vols and Tigers!

On Saturday, we had our neighbors over to watch football and have dinner. The kids were all decked out in their respective SEC gear. Needless to say Jacob wasn't in the mood to have his picture taken. I'd like to think it's because he was upset he was in red and not orange....

Lexi Kate and Sam for the Vols, Aidan for the Tigers, and Jacob for the Dawgs

Jacob likes Tennessee girls!

Jacob cheered up once he had his UGA toy and UT football