Picky Picky

Being a parent just gets greater (and harder) every day. We love to see how much Jackson is learning and to enjoy his new skills.  His is making large strides in his physical development, running, climbing and becoming a master organizer/stacker of objects. With that comes the frustration of not having lots of words to help us understand what he wants to do or needs help with.  This leads to some tantrums, usually during dinner time, where he is frustrated and I can't do anything to figure it out.  He is running around the house and neighborhood which has lead to his fair share of falls, but he continues to get up and keep moving after most of them. A few have required a bear hug from mom (while I check for blood on his head) until long after he has stopped crying.  He loves to climb, figuring out how to move objects to serve as steps to get onto the couch, and how to climb up my legs and torso to sit on my shoulders and reach high shelves. What a crazy boo! 

As with many boys, he is slower to talk, so I was really excited when I came home and Jonathan said, "Hey Jackson, can you say 'ma ma'?". Wow! Jonathan had taught J to say mom!!! This was going to be great. I leaned in and smiled really big at Jackson, waiting for his words to come. He turned to look and me and said, "Da da da da". Man...we see who the favorite parent is :) 

Jackson learned to point this month. He also learned where his nose is. Put the two together and what do you get?

 Picky Picky!

Aside from the boogers, it's actually really exciting to see him point to noses in books and on his stuffed animals. We love seeing his little brain make connections. 

He also really loves stuffed animals now too. I have fond memories of my little brother being surrounded by stuffed animals on his bed, in his room, in the car. He had names for all of them and just loved caring for them. I think it is so sweet for a little boy to care for his animals and can't wait to help Jackson name all of his! 

J loves to help out around the house and is always moving so I thought it would be a good idea to put him to work.  For each meal time, he comes to the kitchen to get his bib and tray and carries them to the highchair in the dining room. For bath time, he climbs upstairs, helps to take his socks and shirt off and I hand him the washcloth and towel and he walks into the bathroom (where he proceeds to try to throw himself over the edge of the tub).  Jonathan and I think it's very important that Jackson be part of this family and that means pitching in where you are able to.  It's great that he is at the age where he loves to put toys back into containers and we can call it "Fun Clean Up Time!"  

playing with my wooden duck from childhood

 We are so lucky to spend so much quality time with the Byrne Grandparents. They babysit him while Jonathan catches up on sleep pre/post night shifts, come out to our house for dinner and watch him while I run errands.  Jackson lights up when he sees them! Beth has taught him all about vacuuming and sweeping the garage. Our little cleaner!

playing with his Matchbox collection

 Now that he is a much better walker, we often stroll around the neighborhood in the afternoons and look at mulch, cats and leaves scattered in front yards  Jackson has protested the BOB jogger recently, much to my dismay, so we have chosen walking over running.  The walks don't quite qualify as cardio exercise of any sort for me, but the quality time with J man is priceless. I love when he reaches up to hold my hand.  We enjoy having a park one block from our house and take advantage of the swings, slide and collecting gumballs.

 Isn't this bomber jacket precious? These are the perks of getting hand-me-downs from really stylish friends...my son looks like a fashion model and I didn't have to do any of the shopping! 

slowly learning how to throw to Lincoln

Finally, we have been sharing a cold between the three of us (I'm sure all of you know how that goes!), so we have been feeling pretty icky for several weeks. However, we rallied to celebrate Ellie's first birthday party on Saturday. This was a birthday bash that rivaled that of Sofi's back in November. These girls know how to throw a great sha-bang!  We enjoyed some adult drinks, chocolate cake, bubbles, goldfish and a photo booth! What a cute idea and a great take home.  Ellie also sent everyone home with a balloon that said, "Thanks for being my friend". Balloons, bubbles and boxes are the best toys.

Ally, Kaitlin and me

Kaitlin and Evan (2 months), first time with both boys out of joggers/car seats!

Sharing

As we begin the New Year, we have so much to reflect on and be grateful for and so much to look forward to. We rejoice in good health, 6 1/2 years of marriage, an amazing 14 month-old son, supportive friends, loving families, a new sister-in-law, the amazing life of our Nana, weddings, new babies and new jobs.  We are grateful that Jackson has learned to share his snacks with friends like Lizzy Kay Sabin...

 ...and for early (approx 5 months old) piano lessons with my piano teacher, who just send me an enlarged version of this picture for Christmas.

We hope you have a Happy New Year! Stay tuned for more adventures of J-Man in 2013!!

McKay Christmas

From VA Beach on Monday morning we moved onto Springfield for the McKay Family Christmas celebration. We enjoyed several days with my parents, grandpa, Matt and Chase and some of my aunts, uncles and cousins. It was so good to see everyone and get such a long visit with grandpa, Matt and Chase since they are so far away.  

Here is J, creeping up the stairs to check out his gifts! Actually, he was more concerned with breakfast and a nap first.

our second Christmas as a family of 3

Talking about life with Pop Pop

Studying the candy bowl...must be my child

Looking outside at his first real snow! 

He was spoiled beyond belief by both families but by far, Jackson's favorite gifts were the books from Matt and Chase. Based on his attention span and apparent dislike of reading early in life, I am so grateful that we have managed to raise a boy who loves reading. We have already torn through each book several times each day that we have been home!

We are so lucky to have such amazing families for Jackson to know and love like we do.

cuddle time with dad 

cousin Hana

Cousin Libby

enjoying precious moments with Great Grandpa

Some of the McKay cousins: Hana, Libby, Sandra

McKay kids and spouses

Chase and J playing with magnets

aren't smocked clothes the cutest?

these guys are too silly!!

Christmas Time Is Here

We started our Christmas festivities with a Speasmaker/Byrne brunch on the 23rd at Beth and Matt's house. The whole gang was here again this year (Joel and Caroline, Dan and Jill, Leya and Brock with Max and the whole Byrne crew). We devoured a delicious brunch prepared by Beth and enjoyed catching up and playing with the little boys.  Both Max and Jackson did well with all the attention! It didn't hurt that Jackson napped from 9-11:15 and missed most of the commotion! Jill got the boys coordinating hats which we managed to get on them but snapping a successful picture was  quite the task! 

Then we had the Byrne Family Christmas on Christmas Eve morning since we were leaving town that afternoon. Jackson had no idea what to do with the wrapping paper, boxes or toys, but he happily bounced from lap to lap, toy to toy and enjoyed all of the activity.  JB and I were proudly sporting our Surf Hatteras sweatshirts (the most comfortable sweatshirts ever) and we got one for Matt to enjoy. Ross should think about hiring us to do some marketing :)

 Jackson got a lot of mileage out of many of JB's old toys, including this old pretzel tin filled with legos.  I can't believe that he is old enough to manipulate legos and start to build with them. our little boy is growing up and I can't wait to build things with him! He took some of the legos that are shaped like brushes and started to comb his hair :)

 Another favorite toy was a 6 pack of root beer...the simple things in life

playing with Granddad

 What a special day with special people!

I just like to smile, smiling's my favorite

We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup. 

We Byrnes like to stick with our holiday traditions, hosting our 4th annual Elf and Sugar cookies night!  As the title of the post states, we love to smile and have surrounded ourselves with friends who love to do the same. This year, we were joined by the McNabbs, Sabins, Koertens and Langas, all who have children.  At one point there were three kids asleep in pack n plays upstairs. Magical. We rolled, cut and decorated two batches of sugar cookies (recipe courtesy of Brady Bullock's mom for our wedding), and then ate the large majority of them.  I took the rest to a cookie swap at church later that week (it was like having little elves to do my work!)  We then meandered into the living room to laugh at Will Ferrel's Elf, a movie that really helps to put us in the holiday spirit!  

Katie does some freestyle cutting

Laura and Brooke, Amber and Cara

Ally and Lizzie Kay

Here is Jackson earlier in the night, enjoying his rocking chair. With a 6:00 bedtime, he misses out on most of the fun but there are many more years for him to participate!  

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and hope you can spend some time reflecting on the meaning of Christmas.  

Luke 2:9-14

9And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 10And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 

14“Glory to God in the highest, 

and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

The Dubinskis are in town!

Several weeks ago we had an impromptu visit from Aunt Dwyn and Uncle Kenny, who live in Massachusetts.  We love how much they care for Jackson and it's always fun to see them! 

They brought the sweetest hand-carved whale bank for little J to save his pennies and some local honey which has been delicious on homemade bread from Val. They also transported a Christmas gift from Great Grammy Byrne, whom Jackson is eager to meet. She gave him a pint sized Cracker Barrel rocking chair with personal message carved underneath. He immediately started playing in it and now can get in and out of it like an old pro. He occasionally wants to stand and rock, or to sit up there with 25 toys but most of the time he's relatively safe in it. We're excited for the warm weather when we can enjoy our chairs on the front porch!

Aunt Dwyn, Granddad Byrne and Jackson

he loves his new rocker

quality time with the Dubinskis

In other news, Jackson is quite the dare-devil, sustaining two busted lips this week. He has decided he wants to run but doesn't quite have the coordination or realize when the edge of the rug is going to present a problem. He has had a runny nose and cough for about 4 weeks now and we are just about over it. He sleeps pretty well and he's happy most of the time but there is just so much snot. I guess a part of motherhood is having those tissue-less moments at Costco, Walmart or the park where you use whatever you can find to somewhat wipe your kid's nose.  Fun.

He loves the Christmas decorations and stands near the tree each morning waiting for us to light it. Yes, we are fake-tree people, but we do have a tree skirt so you can't see the metal 'tree trunk' anymore! We were up early one morning this week so we went for a run and looked at Christmas lights at 6am. Non-traditional, but a very fun way to start the day!

 One of the perks of having friends who are moms is that we all share memberships to various locations in Hampton Roads. We bring friends to the zoo and last week Blair and Summer took us to the aquarium. Jonathan and I had a great time looking at sharks, neon coral and the octopus.  Jackson had trouble understanding the concept of fish in tanks but he really loved reaching for the sting rays and hermit crabs. He tried to take one home with him but the sweet grandmotherly volunteers asked us to reign in our child  :) 

 Sometimes you just have to stop and enjoy some chubby thighs

 And finally, Jackson had his first haircut on December 9th and looks so handsome! He sat on my lap and we both had drapes on us (that lasted about 2 minutes) to protect us from the surprisingly-large amount of hair that she cut off. He spent the whole time trying to look at the stylist and grab her scissors and comb so the cut is a little rough around the ears but overall it's a great first hair cut and no one has called him a girl since then :)  

We're back!!

It's been a while! Because Jackson is such a photogenic baby, I've reached my capacity for picture storage and have been sorting out other options. I'll continue blogging here for the time being. 

We spent Thanksgiving at the Byrne's house, enjoying a fun day of family and friends. The highlight was meeting Max, the newest addition to the Byrne/Speasmaker holiday gatherings. He is the cutest little guy (well, second to Jackson, as we are quite partial to our little man) and was so well behaved the whole night! It's fun to see all of our friends become parents and get to be in the lives of their children from such an early age. 

Grandmother takes a break from all the cooking

enjoying snuggle time with Granddad

Catching up with Lou

 Then it was our fourth (?) annual Friends Thanksgiving in Hatteras! We managed to make it down there (courtesy of the Dozier's amazing Ford truck...I am not into cars/trucks, but this was an awesome machine) during low tide in a 4WD vehicle. It was pretty sad to see the destruction that Sandy brought, especially since it was picture perfect for our trip this October. The first year of our trip there was one baby and now we have 6 and twins on the way! My, how things have changed, for the better. We are so grateful for Ross and Hannah's generosity to share their beach house, for Caroline's bacon stuffing, football, walks on the beach, fishbowl, and for a weekend of doing nothing with amazing friends.

Jackson and Susu learn to share

Reading Brown Bear for the 35, 000 time that day :)