Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween from Jackson!!!

aka "Smokey Manning"

{the story of Jack}

On this day (October 28th) last year, I got some pretty amazing news...

I found out I was PREGNANT!!!!

It is completely fitting (& crazy) that the Shutterfly book I just made arrived TODAY. 

Click here to view this photo book larger

We just read Jack's "story" to him. :)

I'm really happy with how it turned out!

Physical Therapy

Pretty early on, we realized that Jackson let his little head fall towards his right shoulder all the time. Liiiiiike... really bad. Please see the picture below.

We never really knew why he tended to do that, but at one point Mamaw mentioned to Mom that it may have been because his position dropped about 6 weeks before he was born and kinda got stuck a certain way. We can guess that he was basically like that (above) inside my tummy for over a month. 

So at his 2 month appointment, we asked Jack's doctor if there was anything I could be doing to help correct it. She said that it wasn't anything too serious, but she recommended that we go to physical therapy once or twice to learn some specific neck exercises I could do with him. 

When I was working with him on tummy time, it was really hard for him to hold his head up since one side of his neck seemed to be stronger than the other. So, if you remember my complete surprise when he lifted his head up on my video 2 weeks ago - it really was a real surprise! 

We had our second physical therapy appointment last Friday and by Becca (the PT) just moving his hands underneath his chin (rather than just letting whatever happen happen, like I was doing), he immediately starting holding his head up STRAIGHT! Look at this!!

What a PROUD mommy moment for me! And we learned several things that we can be doing with him to continue to help him grow and learn. I don't know how many more times we will go to physical therapy, but I'm definitely glad to know a few extra tips and tricks to help him along. 

Last weekend I got this shot of Jack looking at Dash... 

I'm crazy about my little boys!

Damron Family Reunion 2011

On October 15th, Jack and I went to the Damron Family Reunion in Whitwell, while Jason was out of town in Boise, ID with Granddaddy Lawhorn & Great Uncle Carroll Lee. We sure missed him, but we had a great time!

what a big 'ol boy!

with Aunt Jess

with Great Uncle Bob and Great Grandmother Cox

all the cousins (I think?)

a picture of everyone taking pictures

Mommy and Jack

my FAVORITE picture of the day - Jack with Uncle Hunter! Smiling like he just got a lollypop!

Patricia and I went with Hunter and Elizabeth to Ketner's Mill and walked around. Dumb me - I forgot to bring Jackson's stroller so we all traded off carrying him in his carseat (since he was sound asleep). Now everyone knows that I'm one tough cookie - Jack plus his carseat = 25lbs!

On our way back, we stopped at the cabin. It was so beautiful! I can't wait to go back there in a few weeks or so and take some pictures of the changing colors!

P.S. Sorry for the lack of posts this week! I haven't forgotten about you all! Thanks for sticking with me and caring about what's going on with our little family!

Jackson's Tummy Time Success

After telling Patricia that Jack still hated tummy time and wouldn't lift his head up like that, I decided to give him a chance to prove me wrong... and OH DID HE!  

Please note my obvious surprise. :)

I love this kid.

Mr. Roly Poly

The past few days, Jack has been rolling on to his side a whole lot more. It will be ANY TIME NOW when he rolls completely over!

Because Mr. Roly Poly has been living up to that name lately, we realized that it was time to move his crib mattress down so that we could put the bumpers up. It's so fun to finally have them in there! 

Gigglin' Guy

After several weeks of NOT laughing when Mommy tried crazy and goofy things to try to GET him to laugh... Jack finally started some giggles this past weekend! 

Friday night we (Jack & I) had a date night with Vanessa and at the very beginning of the night she said, "Oh, he's gonna laugh tonight - I can feel it!" (or something to that extent) :) 

Patricia had dropped by and the three of us (4 with little man) were in Jackson's room while I changed his diaper. I was just talking to him and all of a sudden he giggled! The first I'd heard in weeks! It was AWESOME - and Vanessa and Patricia heard it too! 

Then Saturday morning when Samantha came over, he laughed for her too, so she grabbed my video camera and took this awesome video. Jack's first documented laughs!

Visit with Sam & Kim

On Saturday Samantha came by to hang out and see how much Jackson has grown since the last time she saw him. It was so wonderful to spend time with her and catch up. Well, she was on her way to meet Kim for lunch and see her and baby Evan (who is 3 weeks older than Jack). Sooooo... I asked if I could crash and we ended up having lunch at my house! 

Here are the two little cuties and their mommies.

The last time we saw each other we looked like THIS:

I can't believe our sweet boys are here! :)

Samantha and Mister Evan

Are they not ADORABLE??

So cute.

And even matching carseats. :)

I'm so glad I got to spend time with Samantha, Kim, and Evan!!

Workin' Woman Again

Last Monday was my first day back at work since I had Jackson. The Lord has blessed me so much and given me the opportunity to only work 2 days a week, which is really going to be the perfect combination of staying up to date at work and being home with the little guy.

This picture was taken Thursday morning before his very first day at daycare. Can you tell it was early? :)

Nursery Reveal - AGAIN!!

It's been a while since I showed you what the nursery looks like right now - EXACTLY 4 months, as a matter of fact.

When I did the BIG NURSERY REVEAL, you may (or may not) have noticed that I left out pictures of the wall where the changing table is... it just wasn't anything worth showing and I knew I wanted to do something different! So now I'm finally DONE with the nursery and I couldn't wait to show you.

Just for a refresher, this is what these two walls looked like when the nursery was a "clean slate". 

And NOW!! (Complete with baby in the bed.) We were using my old brown dresser as a changing table for Jackson, but it really wasn't wide enough for us to feel comfortable about it. So we went back to Children's Fair (where we got his crib) and bought the matching changing table. I am so happy we did - I love the way it completes the room (and it's much safer)!

My plans for the nursery showed you how I wanted to do a focal wall of frames above the changing table, and I finally did!

(sign from Rachel Turner, blue picture with Bible verse from Cara, 

Sofie the giraffe from Samantha, little wooden boy from Paula, 

baby booties made by Lynda Walker)

I saw this idea on Pinterest and really wanted to make it with

 Jackson's crib fabric! I LOVE how it turned out. 

We moved Jason's little blue dresser (from when he was a kid) into Jack's room and it works perfectly! We didn't even have to paint it! I also reworked the bookshelf and really like the way it looks now. And MAN OH MAN, I can't wait until little mister starts using his Bumbo chair. :)

So what do you think? Do you like the new changing table, 

nicknacks above it, and the little blue dresser? 

His room finally feels finished!!

{pssst! with Little Brother on the way, check out this "last look" at the nursery!}

Wordless Wednesday +1

A Shopping Dream

Friday I had to do a little Hamilton Place shopping and decided to stop in the Limited to see if I could find some new tops for work. I started in the clearance section, as always, and found the red top (in the picture below) with ruffle-y flowers for $15 and the turquoise sleeveless top with ruffles for $10. I was ready to be done AND THEN the sales person said that all regular price tops were B1G1 free... so, ya know, I had to at least check it out.

There are some days when everything you try on looks "eh" or "not so much", which has literally been my last 10 shopping trips (pre, during, & post pregnancy), however - this was NOT one of those days. Everything looked really cute and I felt GREAT in them! 

So I picked up the orange long sleeve sweater, the teal top & cami, the blue wrap sweater, and a white cami. I loved them all. I went to check out and spent about $120 for all of it. 

THEN I was turning around to leave and Jason's Aunt Cindy was there! We talked for a minute and she asked if I had used a coupon - then she gave me her extra one which was $50 off if you spend $150. Sooooooo... I found the black open cardigan and black cami. :)

 If I had to pay full price for all the items I got, I would have spent over $300!! BUT with the B1G1 free tops and the $50 off from Cindy I only paid $140 (so I saved more than I spent)!! 

Ah-mazing. First major shopping day I've had in a 

looooooooong time and DEFINITELY the best.

We Went to the Vols Game

Jason and I went to the Tennessee game last Saturday and left Mr. Man with Mimi, Poppy, and Uncle Nick. I missed him sooooo much while we were gone, so I had to get him a souvenir. :)

A jersey - JUST LIKE DADDY!!

I hate that this turned out a little blurry, but isn't this a cute picture of Jack with his Poppy? 

"You root for Alabama, Poppy?"

"That's okay - I still love you!"

Watching football can get pretty exhausting....

(this is officially one of my favorite pictures EVER)

Little tiny eyelashes...

Growing baby hands...

The most precious Vols fan in all the land.