BIG ONE ZERO!

Koen turned 10 on December 12!  We celebrated his birthday with a few of his friends at the Dallas Karting Complex.  If you haven't been out there, I highly recommend it!  The guys (young and old) loved it!  We enjoyed pizza, cake and racing and ended up staying way past our allotted time!

The best part, was that Koen decided not to have family and friends bring gifts, but instead, canned foods for Helping Hands.  We couldn't have been more proud watching his excitement grow each day to see how many cans he would collect.  His goal was 100 cans, and we can say that he met and exceeded that goal!  We delivered 152 cans to Helping Hands the next day! It is amazing that a ten year old "kid" has such a huge heart for helping and serving others.

Koen, 

We are blessed to be your parents. You are a great example to everyone around you.  You are smart, handsome, loving and caring - that is just a short list of the wonderful qualities you possess.  We love you so much and are very, very proud of you!

Daddy and Alisha
 

10 months!

Wow!  The months seem to be going more and more quickly.  It is true what everyone says, savor every moment because they pass much too fast!

 John Thomas, 

You, sir, are a ham!  Each day you show us something new, and where I was once very good at making notes and keeping up with everything, now it is hard to just keep up with you!!  We wouldn't trade one second of having you at the center of our world, there is no greater joy than seeing your smile light up a room!

Here are some of the things you have been doing this month:

• We brought down some of Koen's toys for you to play with and your favorite is a large metal Tonka truck.  You push it around and within minutes were making car noises with your mouth!  It may have been one of your Daddy's proudest moments!  
• You must be very observant of Lainey, because you have started carrying things around in your mouth, just like she does!  We laugh, every time!
• Just a few days after you turned 9 months, you stood for the first time without support (11/9/12) now you let go of everything and stand for long periods of time!
• You will do "touchdown" on command and do it over and over again because we praise you so much!  Another proud Daddy and Brother moment!
• Each time we pray before we eat, you smile the sweetest smile the whole time! It warms my heart every time!
• Anytime we laugh, even if it isn't at you, you copy us and laugh hysterically.  It is definitely one of the best sounds I have ever heard!
• Lainey has become one of your best friends and you will go around and pick up her toys, she even plays tug of war with you sometimes.  (you also try to get us to play with you when you have toys in your mouth!)
• You started shaking your head "no" possibly because you've heard it a lot more this month! :)
• We took your pacifier away except for in your crib and carseat, you are doing great!  We do keep it in the diaper bag for public outings in case not everyone around appreciates your meltdowns!
• You celebrated your first Thanksgiving and it had a whole new meaning for Mama and Daddy this year!  You enjoyed the food, and family, naturally!
• A BIG development is that two days before you turned 10 months, you got your very first tooth!!  It is the bottom left.  It wasn't too bad, just a couple of days of fussiness and restlessness. 
  

Eating:
He is getting much better about the mess he leaves when eating!  There is less and less scattered around the seat and him!  He started loving blue berries this month, but still goes crazy about bananas! We are still doing 4-5 milk feedings a day, some days he drinks a lot of milk and other days he "snacks" on his milk. 

Sleep:
It is hard to think that just a few months ago we were getting up once at night for a feeding!  He is still sleeping 10-11 hours at night, some nights we get really lucky and we will get 12!  His morning nap is consistent, going down around 9:30 and usually sleeping an hour and a half to two hours.  Afternoon naps are a little inconsistent, ideally he goes back down around 2:00 and sleeps for another hour and a half or two hours but sometimes he goes down for an hour then takes another really late afternoon nap around 4:30.  I am hoping it is just teething and that nap will become consistent again.

 Toys: 
This month toys have become exciting again. He likes to carry them around and show them to you.  He has developed an attachment to what Koen refers to as his, "ratty old star" which is a pretty sad silky star that came on one of his pool toys.  He will find that thing in a basket of toys and carry it around for hours!

Stats:

I am not sure of his stats, but I can say his belly is definitely getting bigger :) he has one pair of jeans that fit! 

Clothes:
He hasn't gone up a size in clothes, still in 9-12 month and 12 month, but as I mentioned above, any pants that are not stretchy do not fit!  We have one pair of 12-18 month jeans that fit and I just roll up the legs so they aren't too long :)  He is still in size 4 diapers.

We certainly can't imagine our lives without you in it, John Thomas!  You are a bright spot in every day!  Love, Mama and Daddy

North Carolina Thanksgiving

We traveled to spend Thanksgiving with my side of the family in NC, since they agreed to come to Texas for John Thomas' first Christmas! The entire trip was wonderful, we spent lots of time with family and friends and Kris and I were able to get some much needed rest!  We basically hand over John Thomas when we land and I only take care of him when it is time for him to nurse!  Such a joy seeing how crazy they are over him!

John Thomas spent lots of time playing with his new toys! 

 Kris and my Dad spent a lot of time just like this, watching football!

 Part of our little family before dinner!

 Mimi and Pa Hall with John Thomas

Some of the amazing food! I feel like we ate, and ate, and ate!

 John Thomas enjoyed his food (as always) in an antique Baby Butler I bought for him the last time we were in town.  It was missing the seat, and my dad, who can make and do literally ANYTHING, built a seat for it!

 We celebrated Thanksgiving again at my Mimi's house on Sunday after church, and John Thomas got to try his first taste of Mimi's pickles.  He loves them just as much as his brother!  John Thomas is using a Baby Butler here also, one that my Grandmother used for all her kids!  It is over 50 years old!  She told me that she bought it for $65.00 from a traveling sales man and at the time they only made $1.50 an hour and she didn't know how they would ever pay for it!  I think she got her money's worth out of it!  It has been through three of her kids, 4 grandchildren, 4 great grandchildren and countless others that she has cared for over the years!

My mom and some of her best friends with their grandbabies!  These are some very proud and hip grandmothers! 

We always look forward to spending time in North Carolina and can't wait to go back in the Spring!

First Half Marathon

After I had John Thomas, it was on my bucket list to run a 5K.  I completed that and kept running.  Not really sure of how long I would continue but kept with it and, on November 11, I ran my first half!

I am so blessed to have a great group of women (and a couple of gentlemen :)) that I run with a few times a week. My friend, Jill and I signed up together and completed it right before a huge rain!

Unfortunately, I did not have my camera set up correctly and all the pictures Kris took were overexposed.  So I only have a few that Jill took with her phone.  

Pre and Post Race!