Thanksgiving!

Another weekend of firsts! We celebrated your first Thanksgiving! Even though you didn't have any turkey you still had a great time visiting Daddy's family. On Wednesday we packed up the car and headed west, west Tennessee that is! That's right you had your very first trip to Ripley, where Daddy grew up! You even slept in your Daddy's old bedroom! Speaking of Daddy, you are lovin him right now! When you see him first thing in the mornings (usually on the weekends because we are still sleeping when poor Daddy heads off to work!) you just smile and smile! You and Daddy's favorite spot together is on the sofa watching ESPN. This has become your Saturday morning routine and you love it! So anyway we headed off for a big Thanksgiving celebration at your KK and Grandaddy's, even Ryan was there! KK and Grandaddy had so much fun with both of the "boys" being there! Here you are with Grandaddy and Ryan (I think you are trying to get Ryan's attention!)



On Thanksgiving morning we woke up to one of Mommy's most favorite things: the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!! We had so much fun watching all the big balloons and floats in our jammies of course!





That evening we all went to your Great Aunt Pam's and Great Uncle Rob's house for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner! Here you are in your turkey bib!



And this is you all tuckered out from the day's festivities!



Here is a picture of the whole group



Mommy is so thankful for you baby boy!!

All You Want for Christmas Is Your Two Front Teeth

And they are a coming!! We have entered into the treacherous land of teething my love! Oh my goodness you have not been a happy camper! You have two precious teeth coming in and they are throwing us all for a loop! Your hands and fingers have become your new best friends. You are constantly chewing on them for some relief!

In your bouncy seat...


Getting ready to go outside...


Eating your cereal...


In the bathtub...


You are trying so hard to be a trooper, sometimes when you are really fussy and hurting you will just stop and smile at Mommy! Melts my heart baby boy! Hopefully these silly old teeth will be here soon and the rest of the teething want be so bad...hopefully!

Books, Books, and More Books!

Well my love a very special thing happened this week, you went to the library for the very first time!!! It was soooo exciting for Mommy because you see not only does Mommy L-O-V-E the library but I used to be a children's librarian before you became my life's work (that was for you Cookie!) Mommy has been waiting for the day we would pack up the stroller and head to one of the best places on Earth! All morning Mommy talked to you about the library and all the wonderful things we would see and do there. Mommy also talked about using our quiet voice in the library, when Mommy would practice her quiet voice you thought it was hilarious and would just squeal and do your very funny high pitch laugh, Mommy will be honest I was a bit nervous about your quiet voice! But when we got there you were asleep! So Mommy pushed you in your stroller around a bit just taking in the sites, Mommy went ahead and picked out her books first and then we headed to the children's section! So exciting! Here are some pictures of you asleep in the children's section, this one is taken in front of the section that has some of Mommy's favorite children's authors.




And here you are in front of OPAC (that is online public access catalog where we can find all of our books, Mommy was looking up Thanksgiving books!)



We had so much fun at the library! Mommy can't wait until you are old enough for story time! But for now we will have story time together at our house with all our new library books!



Then to cap off our literary adventure Poppy brought you your first book back from New York City!! Mommy was so excited because Poppy used to always bring me a book back from the big city and now the tradition continues with you! You were very excited about reading with Poppy! You listened for the whole story, and it was a lengthy Dr. Seuss tale! So fun!



Mommy is so excited about all the wonderful books we will read together! There is nothing better than a good book my love, oh the wonderful and interesting places we can travel to through a book!!

Your first cereal!

Oh my goodness you are such a big boy! You ate your first bites of cereal tonight! And you loved it!! You were not quite sure about the whole swallowing thing, but you thought the whole thing was just hilarious! Here's a video capturing the first bites! Mommy loves your sweet laugh! And yes, that is a big old scratch under your eye, those crazy fingernails!

First Halloween!

So Mommy realizes that our posts are a bit out of order but that's okay! Last weekend you celebrated your first Halloween! Mimi and Mommy were so excited about your costume (we bought it ages ago!)...you were a duck!! And the cutest duck anyone has ever seen, although only Mommy, Mimi, Poppy, MawMaw and PawPaw saw you in your costume! You see, you did not care so much for the duck! But boy were you cute!








You also had a super duper cute pumpkin outfit that you didn't mind wearing!







We had a big weekend planned but unfortunatley you were sick for the very first time in your life! Those silly old shots (which Mommy knows are good for you but hates them too!) gave you an upset tummy! It was very traumatic for Mommy but thankfully the very nice nurse at your doctor's office gave Mommy good advice about how to help you feel better. We all just gave you a lot of lovin that night! Even Mimi and Poppy came over to help. You also experienced pedilight for the first time and let me tell you my friend you loved it!! Orange flavors are your new favorite thing! It was a rough night but we made it through! So Pumpkinfest will just have to wait until next year! But at least you were back in pretty good spirits on actual Halloween day. The gang all came over to our house for Titans and Trick or Treating! You were just in awe of the big kids! We all went trick or treating but you slept through most of it! Everyone thought you were very cute though, even all of Mommy's kids from school. Thanks to Miss Nicole here are some pictures...





The big kids love to tickle your toes!! Can't wait for next year when you can eat some candy!!

First trip to the polls!

Today was a big day...your first trip to the polls! That's right even though you cannot vote yet Mommy took you to the polls while she voted! It was very exciting for Mommy because Mommy feels very strongly about the wonderful privilege we Americans have in exercising our right to vote. Let me start at the beginning. You see Mimi and Poppy have always taught Mommy and Uncle Pook the importance of being an active voice in our government and how voting is the most important way for our voice to be heard. Mommy's love and passion for politics started back in 1992 when a man from Hope, Arkansas was running for president. Mommy was involved for the whole process, first we went to the caucus, then Mimi and Poppy took Mommy and Uncle Pook to a big rally where we saw President Clinton (he wasn't president quite yet but was on his way!)and then on a cool fall night in Forest Park (this is one of Mommy's most favorite places in St. Louis we will go there together soon!)Mommy, Uncle Pook, Mimi and Poppy all watched the presidential debates live on big giant screens. It was so exciting! Mommy was hooked! I couldn't wait for the day to cast my own vote! Ever since then Mommy can't wait for an election year and all the exciting hoopla that surrounds it! Just a couple of years ago Mommy marched in support of our president and was even on TV! That's right Mommy was on Hardball with Chris Matthews and let me tell you my friend how excited Mimi was! Mimi hearts Chris Matthews and all things MSNBC! What a wonderful country to live in where everyone has a voice in who their leaders are and are encouraged to show their support without fear! Here is a picture of Mommy at the rally!




Now at this point Mommy must mention that you live in a divided household, it doesn't mean Mommy and Daddy don't love each other it's just that we made an agreement a long time ago not to discuss politics! It really stems back to the 2000 election (we will discuss Florida, hanging chads, and the Supreme Court at a later time!) So off we went today to cast our votes! Now our candidates may not win but we still did the most imporant thing, we voted! Just think one day you could be President my love! And when they show the video montage of your life on CNN they can show these pictures from your first trip to the polls! Mommy is so profoundly grateful for our freedom and our beautiful democratic process and I know you will be too! Be proud to be an American baby boy!