Eight Months Old

Jax,
Well baby boy, you are now a baby on the move!  I can't believe how mobile you have become in the last month.  You worked and worked for that first crawl forward and once you had it mastered you never looked back.  I love watching the satisfaction on your face when you see something you want and you just go get it.  You have this determination and independence that I believe will serve you well when you get older.  However, while you might be able to do many things on your own, that doesn't mean you want to be on your own!  You still get upset if anyone leaves you for more than a second and always want an audience to watch you play.  I wonder where you get that from. :) 

We are having fun trying to keep up with you these days.  You don't sit still for very long and we can forgot about you staying on your back for diaper and clothing changes.  A soon as we put you down you roll over and take off.  Changing you is becoming a two person job.

Your favorite game is our own version of peek a boo.  You love "Where's Daddy" and love when daddy comes out from whatever object he was hiding behind.  You just laugh and laugh.  You also love to be tickled and start laughing in anticipation sometimes.  Currently our favorite song is Itsy Bitsy Spider.  Even if you are upset, this song will usually put you in a good mood.

You are still rocking the awesome sleep schedule that you developed last month.  You sleep 12 hours a night and take 3 hour long naps a day.  Bedtimes and naptimes are so peaceful now and we love the quiet moments we share before you go to sleep each night. You still are hesitant when it comes to food, though we are making progress.  You happily eat many pureed foods now but seem shocked if we try to give you anything chunkier.  We laugh at some of the faces you make.  When you finally decide you want more table food  you will be ready though because you have two teeth and more on the way!     

This month you experienced your first Christmas and made a wonderful holiday season even better.  It was so special having you experiencing it all for the first time. 

Son we love you so much, Mommy and Daddy

We took our monthly photo shoot to the airport this month as we were heading out of town.  Jax is a pro at photo shoots now so he doesn't get distracted by the crowded airport. :)

    

Can we hurry up please, I have a  flight to catch!

 Love this kid.

24 Hours of a Christmas Story

I always loved when there was a marathon of "A Christmas Story" on TV Christmas day.  Sometimes I watched it over and over.  Well now Christmas is so full of family gatherings I feel like I am in my own marathon!  We had so much fun but good grief we were tired by the end of the day!

We started with Christmas morning at our house.  Growing up I was always woke up in my own bed on Christmas morning and it was important to Jasper and I that our kids get to do the same.  We love having a relaxed morning in our pjs opening gifts and being together as a family.     

After a wonderful Christmas morning at our house, we headed over to Mikey and Meme's to celebrate with them and open presents over there.  We decided Jax got to stay in his pjs all day.  :)

They were pretty excited to see him.  

I think Jax started to get the hang of this "presents" thing.

"Awww, thanks for the gift Uncle Kevin!"

Jax's ornaments were a big hit here as well. 

After a little while, Jax decided to let me finish opening the presents.  

We were getting close to his next nap time. 

One thing I love about Christmas with Jasper's parents is that it was filled with toys long before kids came along.  Jasper's dad always has helicopters and remote controlled cars on Christmas for everyone to play with.  The helicopters this year were pretty cool and below is what happened when they got a little too close to the tree.    

Jax was entertained by the them though. 

After Christmas over there, we came home so Jax could take a big nap.  I then started getting ready for our new tradition, dinner at our house!  We had a big brunch for dinner and I had lots of food to make! 

After Jax woke up, my parents were able to keep him entertained as I finished preparing dinner.  Jax had fallen asleep before we did stockings on Christmas Eve so he got to open his on Christmas.

A donkey teether!  Who knew that with all the plastic blinking toys, 

the wooden teether would be what Jax loved.

Reading the Christmas story.

The table, all set and ready for dinner.  

I finally got to use the Spode Christmas dishes Jasper's mom had given me!

 

I found this picture on my camera after everyone left.  

I really wish my parents and Jasper's parents got along better. :)

Family picture time!

This is what Jax's play room looked like Christmas night.  I now understand why parents without playrooms end up removing their dining room furniture to make room for everything.  He has so many toys now!

By the end of the night we were all pretty exhausted.  It was wonderful though getting to spend the day together with our families.  At the end of the day we decided that the rest of the dishes could wait.  It was time to relax, and maybe watch the end of "A Christmas Story."

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning came in our house and it didn't disappoint.  There is something magical about experiencing Christmas with your child.  Sure Jax isn't old enough to understand that it is Christmas morning, but I do believe he can feel and respond to the excitement and pure joy we had as we walked him down to see what Santa had left under our tree.

Jax was able to check out all of his new toys at his own pace. 

I found myself hugging him tightly all morning, 

almost trying to squeeze every last moment out to enjoy. 

We loved watching Jax explore his new toys, trying to figure out for himself what each one was.

 

Happy baby opening up his stocking for the first time!

While so many toys have lights and sounds these days, I find myself loving the simple ones the most.  I bought Jax a book called "Tickle Monster" while we were in Florida.  It came with "monster hands" with holes for your finger tips so that you can tickle your child while you read the story.  While reading him the book I was able to get the fully belly laughs from him that I treasure.  

We had a wonderful morning as our little family of three.  I watched Jax play and would look over at my husband who had the same goofy childlike grin on his face that I did.  My eyes teared up a few times because I was just so happy.  It was the perfect Christmas morning, the one we had always imagined and I loved every last minute of it. 

Twas the Night before Christmas

I have to say, I LOVE our holiday traditions.  The first Christmas that Jasper and I were together, we were actually already engaged.  We were so lucky that we were able to pretty seamlessly merge our family holiday traditions and not miss anything.  We were also lucky that we never seems bombarded by so many family obligations that we couldn't breathe and actually enjoy the celebrations.  Christmas Eve is always the same for us with Jasper's mom's family getting together in the late morning and us doing Christmas with my parents and brother in the evening after going to the Christmas Eve church service. 

We have laughed many times at how completely different our families are when it comes to holiday celebrations.  Jasper's family is big.  Their celebrations are filled with lots of laughter, kids, wine, more laughing and, well, more wine.  Jax gets startled pretty easily and we weren't sure how he would do with these functions but he must have a lot of Heavrin in him because he did great and I honestly barely saw him while we were there!  Of course with so many people in our house it can be a little chaotic and I didn't get a single picture!  If I even attempted they would probably be mostly of a blur as someone walked across as I was taking a picture so instead of photographing, I stuck to enjoying. :)

We headed down to my parents so Jax could grab a quick nap before the church service.  While jax wasn't fussy during the service he was "vocal" and I opted to spend some of the service in the nursery so we wouldn't distract others.  After the service it was back to Madre and Papa Bears for Christmas!  Jax loved all the presents under the tree.  I wonder if any had his name on them? 

Looks like we found one!

He is really on the move these days.

After seeing these pictures I have decided that Jax is no longer allowed to wear shirts and pants, it will be onesies until he is two.  He looks WAY too grown up for my liking.  Seriously, where did this big boy come from?

Jax decided he had enough of being in my lap and crawled over to Papa Bear.

Trying out one of his new toys!

Mom loved her frame with both grandfathers in their sheriff uniforms along side Jax in his sheriff costume. 

After Jax's presents were done he was changed and ready for bed.  It was too far past his bedtime for him to stay up for dinner with the adults. 

 Maybe next year.

Before bed, however, Jax had one last present for everyone.  

We made ornaments for all the family members with Jax's hand print on them. 

I think they were a big hit.

After Jax went to sleep we had a wonderful dinner and finished opening up the rest of our presents. It was a wonderful evening and Jasper and I could have stayed late into the night.  We had a sleeping baby that had to be taken home to put in his crib though.  We needed to make sure he was there on Christmas morning to see what Santa had brought!

Speaking of Santa, Jasper and I were just about to go to bed when we heard Santa come in our house.  Since we were still up he asked if we could give him a hand with all of Jax's presents because it is a very busy night for him of course. :)  So Jasper and I stayed up late to assemble all of Santa's presents.   

Luckily, the elves included instructions for some of the toys.  These things can be complicated!

We were exhausted by the end and ready to get a little sleep ourselves before the big day!

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!