OMG, like, is Brad & Patsy ever going to update Jack's blog? Did they put him up for adoption? What's their deal? The answers to those questions are as follows; yes, no, and we're busy. And, by busy, we mean that we've been on the road all winter, and when we're home we're trekking through the Triangle trying to find clothes that will fit Jack's belly (see picture). No seriously, that thing is out of control. What seems to have been 3 months of not blogging has actually been about 1.5 months, but don't worry, Jack's continuing to add to his list of "Things To Do Before I'm 1" rapidly!
Let's see, where did we leave off last time? Oh yeah, Santa Claus. Jack was gearing up for Christmas. His Christmas card was complete, his wish-list had been mailed and he was counting down those final few days until his first Christmas. Well, Santa didn't disappoint! We didn't think it was possible for a child <1 to receive so many gifts on their first Christmas. It literally looked like Leap Frog threw up under our tree. Don't know much about Leap Frog? Google! The good news is Jack should know his ABC's and the colors Red, Blue, Green & Yellow by his 1st birthday because every single toy that now resides in our home recites the ABC's and those colors over and over and over and over and over again. Thank you, Leap Frog! Oh yeah, did I mention that many of them have a switch to recite those phrases in Spanish? ¡Ellos hacer! Here's the play-by-play of Christmas day:
Santa snacked on Mommy's delicious brownies.
Meet Tad. Jack's new "Leap Frog" friend!
A Sample of Jack's Collection
Jack was pretty stoked!
Someone felt left out this year!
Exhausted!Jack received an unexpected surprise the day after Christmas which included a visit by Uncle Clayton, Aunt Jessica, and Creepy Mr. Peter. As you can tell, Jack better listen to Coach Clayton! If not, The Coach could simply crush him with one squeeze. Clayton was on the East Coast scoping out some local talent for the Stanford Cardinal's football team and he thought he should start evaluating the upcoming talent early.
Coach Clayton & his #1 ProspectHere's a summary of Jack's First New Year's Party....it happened without him because he was sleeping!
January 5th, 2009 was a landmark date for Jack. No, it's not his birthday. No, he didn't win the lottery. Better yet, it was Day 1 of swim lessons for Jack at the local gym. Calling it swim lessons could be a stretch because he mainly lets Daddy drag him through the water and he splashes Daddy in the face. However, he's definitely become 10 times more comfortable over the past 4-5 weeks in the indoor pool and is even starting to try and blow bubbles in the water. Now, we just have to keep him from doing that without drinking the chlorine.
"Check out my bathing suit!"
"Mommy, look at me....I'm swimming!"Pack'm up, it's time for a New Year's Road Trip! In early January, January 10th to be exact, Jack & Daddy loaded up the car and headed South. OK, by "loaded up" we mean grabbing the diaper bag, and by "South" we mean to Fayetteville to see some family. This gave Mommy a chance to go to the salon and Daddy and Jack a chance to rock out in the car. If memory serves correct, the playlist included some Pearl Jam (duh!), Pepper, Sublime, and Billy Joel. The funniest part of the day was Jack's interaction with his Great Grandma Snipes. During their meeting they were battling for bragging rights for who had the coolest hat and the most teeth. They broke even!!! Great Grandma took home the victory for the coolest noggin' warmer and well, Jack has two teeth!
"Seriously, Great Grandma? That's it?
I win, I have two teeth, yahooooo! You really should have brushed more!"News Flash: The Triangle Received 7 inches of Snow on Election Day. Jack was pretty amazed at this totally awesome experience because so many things happened on this day. First, it's his first snow, duh! Second, this was his first of many school cancellations due to snow in NC. Third, Jack was a part of history when President Obama took office. This was a triple-dose of "heck yeah!"
"Dad, is your razor broken?"After many months of preparation, Jack and his friend, Thomas, were ready to head up to Aunt Sherri & Uncle John's mountain house for some cool mountain air, warm fires, and a chance to relax and get away from it all. Luckily, they were gracious enough to allow the adults to take in some snowboarding and skiing at Sugar Mountain. The breakdown: 1 mountain house, 4 days, 10 adults, 2 babies, 2 blow up beds, 3 mountains (our mountain, one named Sugar and the other named Grandfather), 1 pair of 1970's skis, 1 pair of jeans to ski in, 1 Liquor Luge, 10 Homemade Shirts, 1 mullet and loads of laughs. As you can tell by the pictures we weren't bored!
"Hey Bo, you seen my bottle...of milk?"
Daddy's Secret Weapon!
"Hi, I'm Thomas. Yikes, I forgot my lift ticket!""We're the red & white from State and we know we are the best...." Ok, Ok, we'll stop right there. We know that NC State is far from the best at any sport known to man. However, we thought it was important to introduce Jack to the NC State Tradition and favorite past time we know as the "rebuilding years," or what the rest of the country knows better as LOSING! What better game to introduce him to this common Wolfpack theme than the UNC vs. NC State Basketball game at the RBC Center. We're not sure how much of the game he could really see considering we were perched in the last row of the highest level. However, Jack, Mommy & Daddy know that we had those Tar-holes up until tip-off and it was down hill after that!
"Excuse me, Mr. Hansbrough?
Why are you dressed like a Smurf?"Rounding out this journey was a quick trip down to the coast this past weekend to visit Uncle Brian, Aunt Heather, and baby Shannon in Wilmington. By now, you should have noticed that we call everyone Uncle & Aunt because everyone's like family, so what could it hurt? This was not only Jack's first trip to Wilmington outside of Mommy's belly but he also experienced his first boat trip on Uncle Brian's Sundancer. We're thinking between the swim lessons, the boat trip, the countless trips to the coast, the constant exposure to Jimmy Buffett, Jack Johnson & Bob Marley, and our love for the beach, that he's destined to be a Pirate Under 40.
"Ha, ha, ha....did you hear that?
Uncle Brian, said I could drive this baby!"What's next? Well, we've got a few trips lined up for the coast already, maybe one more trip to the mountains, and Jack's 1st Birthday. We're thinking a big blowout where the kids can play and eat cake and the adults can enjoy a nice frosty beverage. This should bring everyone together in April. We've also got to come up with a way to get Mommy in a few more photos. It looks like she's going to have to get wild & crazy with Jack in the next month for our next blog post.
Until next time, find your shorts, grab your beach towels, slice your limes & ice down your Coronas, and slide on your shades.....Summer's almost here!!!
As always, we're just a few months behind on our posts. Actually, Brad's a few months behind on posts, but he's been pretty busy. The last time we left off Jack was getting bigger, Daddy was getting older, and Mommy was trying to keep the house from falling apart. So, what's changed? Jack's still getting bigger, finally up and not as much out. Mommy is the one who got older. And, Daddy started his own photography business. So, I'd say we're still the same old crazy Matthews family. Here's a recap:
