Smokin'

Yesterday we did a little smokin'. Rob has recently purchased a smoker to smoke ribs, boston butts, etc. He decided to try it out and he smoked some ribs.

The smoker

The wood and coals

He trimmed the fat and then put his special rub on them and let them sit while he started the fire.

waiting to be put on the smoker

on the smoker

Allie helped keep and eye on things!

He has this computer thing called the bbq guru that hooks to the smoker and gets it and keeps it at the right temperature the whole time. Once he got it to the correct temp he put them on for about 2hrs. then took them off, wrapped them in tin foil with a little apple juice and put them back on the smoker for 2 more hours. After the 2hrs was up he took them off, unwrapped them and sauced them up and then put them back on for about 20 min. to get the sauce good and carmalized.

Jack and Pop watching Rob sauce up the ribs

All sauced up

They are ready!!

Pop (Rob's dad) came in town and visited and got to enjoy a wonderful lunch with us. While we were waiting on the ribs to get ready, Pop and Jack enjoyed some play time. We love when Pop comes to town!!

This was Rob's first attempt at smoking ribs and it was a success. They were delicious. We had homemade mac and cheese, baked beans and rolls with our ribs. It was all very good, I think next time he is going to try smoking a boston butt!!  We had such a wonderful Saturday!

I'm going to leave you with another picture of our precious boy. The weekends go by way too fast!

He loves these rings!

sweet boy!

My Precious Valentine!!

I get to spend my Valentine's with 2  precious boys this year. My son and my husband! I am one lucky girl!!

A few cute pictures

A few cute pictures during his 4 month photo shoot.

they are checking each other out

uh oh, i fell over!

I love my hands!

Just hanging out!! He love being the baby bjorn!

pretty eyes!

 I meant to post this picture a long time ago but I forgot, so i'll post it now bc it's so cute!!

first day of daycare. MaeMae gave me my cute hat!

Four Months!

I can't believe that our baby boy is 4 months old. Jack turned 4 months on Friday Jan. 27th. Time is going by so fast and I look forward to each stage, but I want it to slow down a little. My baby is growing and changing so fast.

He is holding his head up much better these days and enjoys sitting in his bumbo for a few minutes at a time.

At daycare they put him in an exersaucer and he loves it. I think he likes being able to sit up and look at everything. He likes checking everyone and everything out. He is trying to sit up. When I put him in his car seat before I strap him in he trys to sit up and whenever I put him in the corner of the couch or in his glider he always trys to sit up. He is getting better at grabbing for toys.
We put him in his jumperoo that his MaeMae and Papa gave him this past weekend for the first time. He isn't long enough to reach the floor so we have to put a book under his feet. He wasn't quite sure what to do so he just sat there and looked around. I'm sure it won't take him long to figure out how to jump and once he does I think he will go to town.

He smiles at us all the time now and talks to us, it melts my heart.

My favorite time is when I go in his room in the mornings to get him up and he just smiles and laughs. I love it! His laughs are so funny, Rob and I crack up every time. He is generally a very happy baby. The only times he really gets upset and mad is when he is tired or hungry. I love having a happy baby. He is sleeping through the night. Our routine is get home from daycare, Rob and I eat dinner while Jack hangs out in his swing our bouncy seat. Then it's bath time and like I said in my previous post, he loves bath time. After bath time we get lotioned up and dressed and then it's time for his last bottle. He is in bed by 7 or 7:30 every night. We usually have to get up once or twice just to put a paci back in, but he doesn't wake up until about 6:30 the next morning. It's wonderful. It is so nice not having to get up for those middle of the night feedings, especially since I'm back at work.

I took him to the doctor for his 4 month check up yesterday. Here are his stats:
14.5lbs (45%) and 24.5 inches long (45%)

At the doctors office before he got his shots!

So he's about right in the middle for his weight and height. The doctor was happy with his growth. I'm so happy we have a growing boy. The doc said we can start feeding him rice cereal, so that should be interesting..haha. He also said that Jack was teething. I figured he was because he chews and sucks on his hands all the time and is drooling a lot more. Poor baby had to get 3 shots. He did not like those at all but did good with them. He screamed but as soon as I picked him up and loved on him, he was fine.
He is so much fun now. I miss being with him all day every day. I look so forward to the weekends now bc they are spent with my baby. We are enjoying and cherishing every day with our little guy. It is so amazing to watch this little guy change and learn new things. He is the light of our lives!!
                                  

One Year Ago!

One year ago January 25, 2011 we heard the news we had been waiting a long time to hear. We were PREGNANT! When the nurse called me that afternoon and told me that I was pregnant, it was music to my ears, I couldn't believe it. I was at work and she called around 1:00 in the afternoon. I didn't call Rob right away because I wanted to tell him in person. I was waiting until he got off at 3 and met him at the house. I walked in holding a bib that said "I love my Daddy", something I had been holding on to ever since we started trying to get pregnant just hoping one day I would be able to give it to him. We were thrilled and couldn't believe it, we both had tears of joy in our eyes. That was one of the BEST days of my/our life.

I didn't call and tell my family right away. I really wanted to tell them in person. So January 27, 2011 I headed to Birmingham. My mom was in Birmingham that weekend and my sisters live there so I knew it was the perfect time to tell them our good news. I had told them that I was coming up there bc I had to see the doctor to get bloodwork done and that after I did that I was going to go by Anna's to see her and the twins and that I would love to see everybody. I left Troy early that morning and got to Anna's. We sat around and talked, I was dying to tell her but wanted to wait until everybody was together then my mom and my grandmother Mimi came over. Then Sara went and got lunch and came over. We were all sitting around,  and then I told mom that there was this pretty picture I had taken the other day on my camera that I wanted her to see. I handed her the camera and it was a picture of my pregnancy test. She cried, Anna screamed, and Sara just wanted to see the picture...haha. I captured all of this on video. Before I handed mom the camera I pretended to be videoing baby Cole jumping in his jumperoo then I ever so carefully placed the camera in a corner hoping it was facing everybody to get everyone's reactions. I never posted this video but thought I would share it with ya'll. It brings tears to my eyes every time I watch it. I am so glad I was able to capture this special moment on video. I will cherish this for years to come.

I can't believe it was one year ago that we found out that we were expecting our little miracle. All the shots and drs. appointments were so worth it. He has changed our lives and we feel so blessed to be a part of his as his parents. It is truly an honor. We love our little guy so much words can't even begin to describe it!

Bath Time!!

Our sweet boy LOVES bath time! Our routine every night starts off with a bath and he loves it. Here are a few pictures during our favorite time.

 

Mama and Jack

Daddy and Jack



he loves to look at himself in the mirror, sweet boy!







Clean Boy!!







Christmas 2011

I guess it's about time that I did a post on Jack's first Christmas. We had a wonderful Christmas, a little hectic but wonderful. We always travel for Christmas, we go to Auburn first to be with my dad's side of the family and then we head to Birmingham to be with my mom's side of the family. Jack is good riding in the car, he usually will fall right asleep so that part wasn't bad. All of our Christmas festivities are at night, well that is when Jack is usually his fussiest. He also got off his schedule a little bit so that made for an unhappy baby and unhappy parents. Other than being a little fussy at night, he was great.
We had a good time in Auburn with my dad's side, not everyone could be there but we had a good time. Jack was of course the center of attention since he was the only baby.

In his Christmas pj's

Jack with his Great Aunt Molly

Christmas morning wore me out!

Christmas Day we headed to Birmingham. We got to Anna's house and let all the babies open their presents from MaeMae and Papa! Then we headed over to my Aunt Ty's house to have Christmas with the Howell's. It was crazy, this year we had 6 babies all under the age of 2. It was fun and for Christmases to come as all of our kids get older, Christmas is going to be lots of fun. It's neat that we all have our children fairly close together.

Our first Christmas as a family of 3!

Sweet Cole loved getting in Jack's car seat! Love him!!

Me and sweet George. He is one week older than Jack!

Scott and Jack

 We had such a great Christmas with both sides of our family.

We really enjoyed our first Christmas as a family of 3. It is going to be so much fun to watch Jack grow and start getting excited about Christmas. As you can see from my picture below, he got plenty of presents and he had no idea what he got...haha. We are so blessed with such a wonderful family!

loved hanging our 3 stockings this year

These were all the pictures I was able to get. Having a baby in your arms at all times makes it hard to take lots of pictures. My mom got plenty for all of us.
Jack had a wonderful first Christmas!! We couldn't have been more blessed this Christmas and we look forward to many more!