Catchin a little Airrrrr....

Everytime I think of Air Jordan shoes I immediately have a mental picture of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air.. rockin his wack hair and beat box with some black high top sneakers, ya heard... lol. Jon has mentioned a few times that he would love K to have a pair of baby Jordans... (humming the theme song to Fresh Prince as I type). So Gramma said she wanted to take us shopping for K's birthday and somehow...just SOMEHOW Kellen ended up with his very first pair of Jordans.. Baby J's for baby K, as I like to call it. They were THE shoe when Jon was growing up playing basketball and sports... and apparently they are still the deal, as the 19 year old sales guy seemed rather impressed that our 11 month old was getting him some Jordans... Of course as Kellen's momma I'm just happy that he has a nice pair of tennis shoes, but his dad is totally thrilled. ha .. and he said to tell you that Kellen's jump shot has already improved :)

Jordan, you still tha man!

11 month milestone...quirky quirky

11 month baby quirks... quirky quirky

There isnt enough room on this screen to fully express how CRAZY my son is about remote controls.

I hear of how babies just looove key chains, cell phones, and remote controls, but I'm telling you this has GOT to be taking it to a whole nother level.

He can spot them from a mile away and will dart after them with a fury. If its up high enough that he cant get to it he will stand under wherever it is and give you a sad look and a whimper just like a puppy would. He also has watched Jaxson, his five year old brother play the wii many times and he will fight to get one of the wii remotes and will set right by Jaxson and 'play' the wii. Like wii sports, Jaxson will be playing tennis or bowling and Kellen will watch the screen and then move the remote all around in the air, and I think he really believes he is playing the game... it's wild! This is a pic from my phone of him playing the wii

In fact, I get lots of his baby quirks captured on my phone, every time we go for a car ride he starts out with shoes and socks on.. about a good 10 minutes into the ride he manages to be barefoot and either playing with his feet or chewing on his socks!  

 He has also discovered the kitchen cabinets like most babies do.. This particular one is his favorite apparently. I'm guessing because he can drag out all the pots and pans and then bang them on the kitchen tile.. LOUDLY......     sigh

There is something intriguing about being under the kitchen table... For a little person less than 2 feet tall it must seem like a jungle gym under there !!

Also notice the sock in hand.. not only takes them off in the car but at home as well. then he carries them around the house chewing on them. we find socks about everywhere.. the best is this evening when I was setting there with him during his bath I looked down and saw 2 blue socks just floating around in the water among the water toys... I have no idea how. ha

I love that he has all these silly quirks and a fun personality... It keeps this parenting thing so entertaining and awesome. There is so much love in his eyes and though I had NO clue going into this what I was doing, it makes me feel like I must be doing something right.

say it aint so...we have a walker!

Yes oh yes... he is officially walkin a blue streak... and only 20 days shy of his FIRST birthday. My mom says I was walking everywhere by nine months old and I think Jon's mom says it was 10 months for him. K has technically been taking steps for a month, but the steps are now actually getting him somewhere. We are very proud gloating parents as you can hear in the video. I mean this is a HUGE happening in parent-land 

:)  

In the middle of all this, Jesus had a birthday...

Happy birthday to Jesus! There is no limit of presents under a tree that would be the equivalent to the gift God has given us.. Eternal life! Getcha some... It's been a blessed holiday season for us... time with family, good food, moments with our kiddos, a multitude of gifts... did I already mention the great food ? oh and my glorious anxiety issues ofcourse.. they only ruined about half of what I tried to do this holiday season :) This was my favorite Christmas for one reason only... it was Kellen's very first Christmas! He was adorable on every level. Now next year he will be romping around everywhere walking, so the tree might actually be a danger zone but this year he didnt bother any of them at all. Just sets in front of them and looks with me and claps his hands in approval.. ha.. if I say 'wheres the Christmas tree?' he will turn and look right at it and point. precious! Though he has been sick for the past few days he has been happy and joyful through it all. Jaxson got to spend the holiday with us this year also, so that was an added treat.. Jon said several times to me on various occassions, 'we are now the parents and no longer the kids waiting for Santa.' It was a fun realization for both of us that we have changed roles in the Santa saga and we're responsible for making sure all the 'kid fun' of Christmas is awesome for them, just like our parents made it for us.. pressure cooker! :) It was sweet watching him get everything ready for the boys, him and Jaxson set out 2 cookies and a glass of milk for Santa, and then before they got up he went and turned on the tree, ate the cookies, chased them down with milk, and made sure everything was ready for their big morning. Infact, im really not sure who was more excited him or jax.. close call :) Jaxson was the first one up, he came in our room to get us... we let Kellen sleep and let Jax go see what Santa had brought...I am proud of us. Rather then get caught up in trying to have 50 gifts for them under the tree we kept it simple... Jaxson was appreciative of all his gifts and seemed pleased, and Kellen is 10 months old.. he could have cared less about the presents he only wanted to tear off pieces of paper and eat it! And with coffee in hand I couldnt help but set back and take in the sweetness of our little family moments...

Holly Jolly Holiday Season!!

What a wonderful time of year! My child's first holiday season, how exciting it was for both of us! And lots and lots to do with family!
Jaxson got here Wednesday night and it was off to Pops and Mimi's house for some baking cookies and going to the square to look at lights..

 Jax was hamming it up and loving the lights of the ozarks, and Kellen was taken by the 2 guys playing the bongos and singing carols... and well us adults we just froze!

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A few weeks back we had taken Kellen to see Santa one day while out shopping. He did fine, sat on his lap, smiled, looked at him and smiled.. no issues.

but Thursday with his cousins was another story.. he was NOT liking the big man with the crazy white beard!! (Jaxson sure looks handsome though! He got right up on Santa's lap and started giving him his list of wants...ha

Santa saw this crew coming and said, um, this will work best if I get out of the line of fire and stand behind the chair !!

Pictures with Santa, lunch at Red Lobster, and the movie Tangled were all on the days agenda...When these 5 get together its a boy party!!! (Kellen's first movie by the way, he slept through almost all of it.)

cute cute movie!
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And more sugar cookies!! Gramma came over and the boys got to bake again...

Little dough for little fingers...

It was short lived as you can imagine the only thing he wanted to do was eat it !!

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It is our yearly tradition to celebrate Christmas eve with my family, either at my parents house or my brothers house... This year Jon and I took on the challenge of hosting the 'bidding game', which is a gift game my mom started for us a few years back... Of course we tweaked the rules a little and added some 'swap' cards and S.O.L. cards... have to keep it entertaining! After my 3 year old niece went to see Tangled a month ago she went home, found the scissors and decided to cut her hair.. when Angie came in and asked what she had done she told her , 'i'm cutting my hair like Repunzel'.   MERCY and guess what we happened to have already bought her for Christmas ??? the Repunzel wig!

He's checking it out... seeing if its cool enough to bipass chewing on the paper for...

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Christmas day was breakfast at Gramma's...

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Keep seeing posts of various trees with frillz and glits, but I think my mother-n-law takes the cake for having some really neat classy trees...

Those are all gifts !!

Its the most wonderful time of the year!  

In the Christmas spirit.

Boy Tree!!

A friend of mine was telling me she wanted to do something special for her kids so they would cherish and have fond memories of Christmas traditions at their home. She decided to collect various nutt crackers... another friend collects the little villages of people they sell during the holidays.. Well this kids tree is one of the many traditions I want to have for our kiddos. For a couple years now we have put up a tree in Jaxson's room and dubbed  it the 'boy tree'. Each year we will add fun new ornaments to it until some day it is a huge tree filled with adorable keep sake ornaments from year after year.. My hope is that they look forward to seeing this tree every year and take a few minutes to look at the ornaments that are on it and remember when they made them or got them.

Our friend Lisa gave us this ornament last year, so perfect..

The difference one year makes is incredible! Last year Jon and I enjoyed a quiet kidless Christmas morning  while sipping coffee and enjoying each others company. We opened gifts and talked and laughed about how next year we would have a baby crawling around everywhere as well as Jaxson's year to spend Christmas with us.. so lets recap, one year we have a kidless Christmas holiday and the next year we have a family of FOUR !! Well, this is that next year !! We now have the adorably spunky baby crawling around almost walking, and we will have our five year old here as well.. Makes me smile just thinking of how chaotic but enjoyable it will all be. Totally worth it.  Maybe its the family mode that has kicked in with me or maybe its the getting older part, not sure.. but i am sooooo loving all things Christmas! Fantsy boxes, wrapping gifts, ornaments, decorations, baking cookies, looking at lights, candles that smell like cinnamon something, taping cards to the door to see how many I can collect, even Christmas cd's, bring em! My sons first Christmas, woot. here's hoping for SNOW !  

Baby quirks at the 10 month milestone!

Unless they've changed things,  the 10 month mark is only two months away from being ONE year old!

This little gift from God is at his 10 month milestone.. with 6 teeth and more on the way he is eating almost everything we eat for dinner. He says momma and dada plainly and sounds out first letters for several other things including dog (da), red (re), you get the picture.. Loves refried beans off the fajita plate (go figure) and eats organic baby crackers and cookies with ease.. the entire thing goes in all at once! Pops and Mimi have a 'talking fish' named Bubba Bass on the wall in the living room (its Arkansas, this kind of thing is fairly common)... Anyways, Kellen LOVES it. He has his Pops wrapped around his finger and he will get him to pick him up as soon as he sees him and will point to the fish and say xxss... we're all guessing that means fish, ha. Bubba sings two songs, 'Don't worry be happy' and 'Take me to the River' and K will stand on the side of the chair and dance and smile and clap... HOOT 

we are over a week into teaching him to go straight to sleep at bed time and for most naps, and not waking up in the middle of the night for a bottle. It took me pretty much two nights of him crying for 30 minutes or so.. but each night he cried less and less until finally he is smiling at me and then going to sleep. Typing that out and then reading it, it sounds like it would be such an easy ordeal, but its actually very high stress, no joke. Hearing your child cry is horrible for a mom, and knowing they want you to hold them and comfort them but youre trying to teach them its okay to learn to fall asleep on their own.... awful. My sister-in-law gave me the book on teaching the Ferber method.. supposedly it works wonders and will help the mom get some good sleep as well as the baby.. so far so good! Of course like everything else I am only following the jest of the idea and tweaking it with my own input and way of doing things.. ha. --In the past few weeks he's starting to cuddle and give hugs. He is a remarkably sweet baby anyways, but this is just precious. He is saying hi to everyone and will wave and say bye bye.. I continue to be in complete aww of this child.