A Whirlwind Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone! The last two weeks have just flown by. On December 18th we got on a plane to fly to Utah to spend Christmas with our families. Last year we were "stuck" in Houston because I was due to have Jace in just a few weeks. On the plane ride there, Jace was very curious about the man next to us. The first time the man looked at him he practically jumped into his arms. Fortunately he was very nice, but unfortunately he didn't speak much English so quite possibly he didn't want Jace all over him as much as he seemed to not mind. I took a picture because it was too funny to watch Jace stare at him. He loved his mustache. When the man dosed off during the flight Jace would look over at him and stare as if he was waiting for him to wake up to play again. My least favorite part was when Jace kept sticking his fingers in the man's mouth. I am such a germ-a-phobe!

The first few days were spent visiting with all our many families. We stayed with J's mom which was fun because his sister Melissa and her family were there too. Jace loved Nana Chris's kitties. In fact, a few days before Christmas he officially said his first word. He's been giving us the regular "Da da" and "Ma ma" but he started following the kitties and pointing at pictures of kitties and saying "tchitty". We know what he means! On the same day he decided to venture out and take a few steps toward Grandma Brown (my step-dad's mother). He did it again back and forth to my brother-in-law Tyler that night. So his first word and first step came on the same day, December 22nd.

Another fun part about our trip was seeing the newest members of our families. My second oldest sister had her third baby the day we got there. She named him Thomas Russel and he is so beautiful. Another sister Emily has a little 4 Month old named Sam. Jace could not help but to put his fingers in his mouth over and over again.

We were able to go to lunch with Grandma Lowe. Jace was good the entire time so we were able to have a nice visit.
Both J and I have two families so that makes a total of four families to make time for while we visit. That means lots of food, lots of presents, and lots and lots of stimulation for Jace. Here he is caring nothing about the present but trying his darndest to tear the wrapping paper in shreds....a favorite activity of his.

This evening in particular, Jace was exhausted. I went in to check on him before going to bed myself and found him asleep on his stuffed Turtle. We all need pillows.

Finally, it was Christmas Morning!!!!!!! It was quite the day. Jace was slightly overwhelmed to say the least. He had fun with all his new toys and was so spoiled by everyone. We were worried on how we were going to get everything back to Houston. He was more intersted in his cousin Belle's toy pony though. Or maybe just the pony's big box.
What next?????
The noise and excitement of the morning is wearing on him as you can see in this picture. Notice his cute reindeer bib that my friend Stephanie helped me find.
Soon after I put Jace down for his morning nap, J started feeing fluish. He tried to brush it off but it kept getting worse. I left him home at his mom's and Jace and I went over to my Mom's for Christmas day there. I wasn't in much better shape though. We had all been battling sore throats and coughs all week and my voice was fading fast. Jace seemed to be feeling okay except for all the kids either mauled him or pushed him out of the way. Here is my neice Kaitlyn taking care of Jace for me which she did all evening. I appreciated it but Jace was confused and frustrated. That night I stayed at my parents because I didn't was Jace and I close to JJ while he battled the flu.
My attempt to keep Jace germ free was in vain. Two days after Christmas he was extremely fussy. I have never seen him so uncomfortable and cranky. He was unconsolable and would not eat, drink, or sleep. We finally took him into an Instacare and he was quickly diagnosed with strep throat. Niether J nor I had that bad of throats so we didn't think it was a possiblity but many of our family members have been diagnosed with it too. This picture was taken in the waiting room. Jace was so tired but didn't want to lay his head on J's shoulder so he fell asleep on J's face instead.
When we got home from the doctor he was really tired and wanted mommy to hold him but he couldn't get comfortable. Finally he found a soft blanket on Nana's couch and he just laid there so relaxed. I almost brought the blanket home with us.
The next day after we took him to the doctor, the 28th of December we headed home. Jace was an absolute jewel on the airplane ride home. He dosed off during take off which was so unlike him but we did have quite the early flight. Once his woke up he ate, played, looked out the window, and peeked at the people behind us.
As for next year......J and I don't know if we are up for another Christmas like this one. Obviously our bodies just can't handle the cold anymore. J had the flu, a sore throat, a sinus and chest cold, and lost his voice. I had a cough and cold, lost my voice and had a sore throat too. And Jace got strep. Thanksgiving may be our Holiday to visit next year. It was wonderful to see everyone though.

"Leaf" Me Alone

I have really missed the Utah Fall weather this year. I know it is December and snowy there but here in Houston it is still Autumn if you ask me. The leaves around our house are pitiful. They are only about 1 inch long and hardly allow for picture worthy piles. However just up the street at Oyster Creek Park I found some normal sized leaves that would suffice to my re-creating a Utah Fall for Jace. My friend Becky and her little Eli came along for the fun. At first Jace was cautious of his surroundings but soon enjoyed the new experience. See his upper teeth.
Surprisingly he only tried to eat a few of them.
The majority of his time was spent looking around intently at the leaves in front of him, taking his time to decide which one he was going to grab, then he would reach and get it. He is very methodical. Just as he does with any paper or magazine given to him, he began ripping the leaves in small pieces and placing them to the side. I don't know if he is just organized about his paper shredding or may be showing some early signs of OCD.
Eli on the other hand had nothing to do with the leave shredding, but tried to eat every leaf he could. This is my absolute favorite picture of the event. He is such a happy baby.
If I tried to make Jace do anything so I could get some fun pictures he would whine at me, but as long as he was 'left alone', he had a great time. What an independent little soul he is! I love this picture because he always sits like this on his knees. It makes him look so Big.

No Explanation Needed!

Fun at the Park

The last few days I have been taking Jace to the park. He has had a cold, a cough, and not felt very good. I haven't wanted to have him around other kids so we stayed in the house most of last week. The park was our outlet. He would stay there for hours playing in the wood chips. He picks handfuls up, looks at them as if he has discovered something incredible, and then drops the handful as he realizes there is more below to grab. We took Annie with us to the park Sunday too. She and Jace love the swings. Can't you tell by their faces. Okay so only Jace loved it but little Annie just looked so cute swinging side by side.

Funny Days

I never imagined feeling the feelings I do as a mother. I have always been a worrier but boy has it increased to a different level. My instinct to protect him from everything is extreme. I love him so much and nothing is sweeter than knowing he is happy.
I also never imagined how fun it is to play with him and laugh with him (and sometimes laugh at him). The older he gets, the more his does that makes me laugh. He loves to put whatever he is playing with in his mouth and crawl around. Whether it be a sock, a paper, or a toy, he is getting very good at entertaining himself.
This picture makes me laugh because you can tell by his expression he is just humoring me by sitting there. Daddy found a nylon sock in the laundry and put it on his head. It makes me want to buy him a hat for Utah.
This face is priceless. For a few weeks now if Jace doesn't get what he wants when he wants it he throws a tantrum. In this picture he is wanting the camera and I was taking pictures of him while he was reaching for it. "Ooohh Oooooh Ooooohhhhh". I don't know what to do when he does this so I just laugh. Then he looks at me like, "Why aren't you taking me serious." Any advice?

First Visit from Papa Ken

For Thanksgiving this year, JJ's Dad came to visit us. Every time we see him we are all usually in Utah with the whole family so it was fun to have one on one time with him. He was so darling with Jace the whole time. Jace especially loved his visit with Papa because Papa would share his food with him. Here is Papa feeding Jace his morning yogurt, I think Jace ate most of it and left Papa with nothing.

Saturday, we were going to take Papa out for Seafood but we were all still stuffed from the leftovers so we decided to take him to the next best thing. The Dessert Gallery! It was super tasty. Here is a 3-Generation Picture. As you can tell, Jace will not sit still for anything. He wants to get down and explore everything. Taking his picture is not as easy as it used to be.
While we were all eating out desserts, Jace was entertained by Papa making funny noises at him. Papa was his favorite.
Thanksgiving was wonderful with Papa Ken here and we are so grateful he spent it with us. We are also so grateful for our beautiful baby Jace. He brings us so much happiness.

The Dog Food Dash

Anytime Jace is in the kitchen, he is always eyeing the far corner because that is where our little dog Annie's food is. When I see him heading that direction, I say, "No Jace, come here please" and he obeys. However, the moment I turn my back, Jace makes a mad dash toward her bowls. The other day I went to the other room and when I came back this is what I found. I think I was only gone about 20 seconds, he is such a sly little guy.

I don't want Jace to think playing in little Annie's food is okay because first he may try to eat it and choke and second I don't want to clean that up everyday. So after taking a video of his exploration, I became Mean Mom and took the bowls away from him and cleaned up his fun. He was so so sad.

Still Crawling

Jace has been crawling now for almost two months. I've promised our families I'd put a video of it on many times, so I have finally remembered to do it. He is fast and getting faster by the day.

This is a video with Jace's new toy he walks behind. When we first got it last week he could barely walk at all without us holding on to him and to the walker but as you can see he is quickly getting the hang of it. We are not only proud of him but he is proud of himself as well. (P.S. His foot is not broken or falling off, his pajamas are too big.)

The Holyoaks

When we moved to Houston three years ago, we immediately
met some wonderful friends. Many of them still live near, others we have lost touch with, and some others have moved away but we try hard to keep in contact with. This past weekend we had made plans to meet up the Matt and Diana Holyoak in Arlington,TX. They moved from Houston to Seattle over a year ago where Matt began his work as a laywer. Diana is originally from Arlington, so she was in town visiting family. Her and I were very close while they were here and still try to talk on the phone as much as we can. I miss her being close. We have both since had babies and it was so fun to see eachother again and meet eachothers babies. Jace stared at pretty little Audrey for such a long time. I love when you can not see eachother for a long time and then when you do conversations begins right were it left off. We had fun talking over breakfast and then went shopping. Diana is a blast to shop with. Both babies made out quite well.


In the last picture, I thought I knew exactly what Jace was going to do when he saw Audrey's pretty pink bow. Instead in put his arm up as if to pull it off her head, stared for a minute longer, than started patting her oh so gentley. Pat, Pat, Pat... It was so sweet. I hope to see them again soon and am grateful they allowed us to steal some of their time while on vacation.

The Sweetest Pumpkin of All

Fall in Houston is wonderful. Even though we miss out on the beautiful Utah mountains and leaves, we have been blessed to have incredible weather the past few months. Nothing means FALL to me more than pumpkins. I wish we could keep them longer than a few days without them molding in our humidity here. A few weeks ago I received an email with the cutest pumpkin picture so I had to attempt to re-create it. It was an emotional experience for Jace. At times he was happy (when mom was embaressing herself by dancing around in front of the neighbors just to make him smile).......

At times he was oh so sad.....(why would mom and dad make me sit in this wet and slimy pumpkin?)
...and at times he looked as if he was actually enjoying the experience.
We tried everything to make him happy. He thought the little pumpkins were....interesting!
Daddy holding his little pumpkin boy.
We all look forward to enjoying the rest of this season. Jace may even get to try some tasty pumpkin pie instead of the pumpkin he snacked on while sucking on what was in front of him.

A Lot of Monkeying Around

Happy Halloween! Our little guy's costume couldn't have been more fitting. Jace has turned into a climber the last month or so. Whether he is climbing/pulling up on chairs, tables, dogs (yes he climbs up on Annie and dog friend Duchess when they are in arms length), or mom...he is without a doubt climbing on something. Another monkey trait he has taken on is his extreme love of bananas. Don't you dare show him a banana without feeding it to him. Our Halloween night consisted of getting dressed up, trick-or-treating with some ward friends Tyler, Baby Joel and Avery, and then hitting the Boo-Bash at the ward. His costume was commented on by everyone. Jace didn't even try to take off his hat like I thought he would. Success! The only part Jace didn't care for was the trick-or-treating through that dark halls of the ward building. He was scared and confused about the spooky lights. I kind of was too. J and I look forward to next year when he understands a little more about the joys of Candy. Until then, we'll enjoy it for him.

Learning to Share so Early!

Jace had his friend Ashley over this week to play. He was in his jumper and she was playing with one of his toys. The minute he spotted her playing with it he started to vocalize his opinion about it. I put him on the ground to see what he wanted. He immediately crawled over to where Ashley was playing and this is what happened.
Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting