8 Months Old

Our little Jack turned 8 months old last Tuesday (I know, this update is a bit late, oops) and had a busy week of it!

He is getting so good at sitting up on his own and is trying to get into the crawling position...


He had plenty of play time with Daddy, while I was busy preparing for some big events at church...


And even began his music career with a few strums on my guitar...


He had a friend over to play...


Got lots of cuddles from his Nana...



And even got a new winter hat to stay toasty this COLD November...(we thought this was appropriate since he suffered his first illness of his short little life, last weekend: an ear infection, poor guy!)


Happy 8 months little Boy!

The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers...

Halloween. My least favorite holiday of the year. In fact, usually, I mostly ignore it all together. Now that we have a child, Andre and I have been discussing what we will and will not allow him to do on Halloween. Should we allow dressing up, trick or treating, parties? Or is this acknowledging a holiday that represents a whole lot of nasty stuff?

Apparently, the talks are ongoing as you can see from these delightful photos of our child all dressed up in a Halloween costume. Oh well, hopefully by next year, we will know our own minds on this subject! (Really, this was me unable to resist the oh so appropriate costume for our bouncy boy and an invitation to a party at my sister's. Geesh, where is my strength of character?!!)

Tigger

Tigger and Pooh

The cousins were Tigger, Pooh and Piglet

Jack and Nana

Us with our little Tigger

Traditions

I'm an "Occasion" kind of girl. There is no occasion too small to celebrate and make special, in my books. Perhaps it's because I'm sentimental.

The Dear Husbie, on the other hand, is not. At ALL. Case in point, he doesn't see the need to keep my wedding dress, he gave away his Russian Special Forces beret and pins, and he really doesn't mind if he gets no presents on his birthday. (I will say, however, that he is very good about making my special occasions special and has been known to spoil me dreadfully!) But, I digress.

My point is, that I have worked very hard to get him to come around to my way of thinking (!) and realize that there ARE certain things worth keeping and certain occasions worth making important. In the spirit of "Occasions" we have agreed to try and establish some traditions for our family. One of these is going to the pumpkin patch each year. Neither of us grew up with Fall Festivals/Pumpkin Patching/Halloween, so it's something new for us too.

And today was the day. Unfortunately, Jack developed a cold last night and had a pretty miserable time of it. But he woke up fever free and seemed more himself today, so we bundled him up and took him out anyway. It was a gorgeous day and we had great fun at the farm with Mum who is in town at the moment and Ness, Sean and the girls and our friend Pip.

Us, Mum, Ness & Sean and the kiddos

Nana and the Grands

Mum and Pip on the hay-ride

Michaela was thrilled with her baby pumpkins

Family photo (I think Jack needs some baby sunglasses!)

The Cousin Twins

Jack did lots of new things today, like sitting among the pumpkins...

Visiting the goats, turkeys and piglets at the petting zoo...

And riding the tractor

Poor little guy was all tired out on the ride home

Happy pumpkin patching, Jack Boy and thanks for "occasion-ing and tradition-ing" with me, Husbie!

Thank Heaven for Little Girls

Today, I and a bunch of friends had such a fun morning celebrating Megan, who is about to have her third baby, a girl (after two boys). We ate lots of goodies, enjoyed oohing and aahing over all the gorgeous girly presents and spent time chatting. So happy for you Meg and can't wait to meet Little Girl!

Pip, Megan and me

Baby bumps are good "tables"!!

An excuse to decorate with flowers is always fun

The three baby bumps present:
Katie (due early Jan.), Pip (due late November), and Megan (due early December)

Newsworthy

Jack discovered newspaper for the first time today. He seemed particularly taken with the sports section (a portent of things to come?!) and ended up getting a good scrub down in the bath after being covered in newsprint. Here's to many more enjoyable evenings reading the newspaper Jack Boy!

Bestest Buds

Best friends are wonderful things. Treasured and comfortable and good for the soul. If you know me, you know I have a best friend, who lives far far away in Aussie land and who is all these things for me.



We were both born in October 1979, "met" that Christmas and have been fast friends ever since.



And today is HER BIRTHDAY!!



Kirsty, here's to you girlfriend...



...to your thoughtfulness, faithful heart, and teachable, strong spirit.



You are one of the most beautiful people I know.



I love and admire you always and hope you've had a WONDERFUL birthday!

School Lunch

This week the posts have been a bit thin on the ground due to general busyness. Since I have photos from today, I'll document our picnic :)

Jack and I headed out to enjoy the beautiful weather and visit Aunty Rachel at the school where she works. We met up with Vanessa and her girls too and we all had great fun eating lunch together and then showing off the babies at school :). It's amazing how proud (and terribly old) one feels to have high-schoolers oohing and aahing over one's child!

The Cousin Twins

Ness and Rach with the kiddos

Jack getting cuddles from his aunty

Visiting Aunty Rachel in her classroom

Hard to get all of them looking at the same time!

It's such a lovely day and I'm tempted to go and read outside while Jack naps. I think I'll be lazy instead and have a little shut-eye on the couch. Going to school wore me out!