As for my back, he popped me something like six times. One of my legs was a 1/2 inch higher than the other due to a hip misalignment. Then, I had some lower back misalignments too. To top it off, my neck was a complete mess. He asked me if I got headaches often and just put up with them. I told him I attributed them to stress, but it was my neck in misalignment. So, I’m very sore, but the sharp pain and hurting is gone! It was immediate! So, I’ll be taking Advil and using my ice pack to deal with the soreness and let my back heal. I’m free to lift Jack tomorrow, so that will be nice. Sean was so wonderful in helping me out during all of this. He came home early yesterday and took off work today to manage Jack for me while I got my treatment. Thank you, honey! He takes such good care of me!!!

Mommy Lesson of the Day: You’re not invincible, as much as your child thinks you are! Bend your knees when lifting!

His newest thing is to mimic sounds. He loves to laugh when other people are laughing, and his little fake laugh is hilarious. He will smack his lips and try to click his tongue when he sees you doing it. It’s very cute! He likes to snack on his Gerber Puffs. His pincher grasp is really starting to develop, and he is getting them into his mouth easily now. He has tried eating other finger foods but tends to choke on them easily, so we have just been sticking to the Puffs for right now. He is still enjoying his stage 2 baby foods. Last month, we introduced meats, and he only likes chicken and turkey. He eats four jars of baby food a day. Lately, he has been extra hungry, so I think he may be going through another growth spurt. Lastly in the food department, we have introduced the sippy cup to Jack. He drinks his apple juice only out of the sippy now. Sometimes he will hold it on his own, but he mostly needs me to hold it for him to drink out of it right now. We’re working on that!

Jack doesn’t have his next check-up until January, but he was 21.5 pounds a few weeks ago. He is wearing size 12 month or 12-18 month clothes and an infant size 4 shoe. He is very tall for his age; most people think he is over a year old. He is still in a size 4 diaper, and we hope he stays in that size for a little while - ha. He has eight teeth now - four on top and four on bottom - and is working on his ninth tooth now. Here are a few pictures of Jack at 8 months old:

Next, I introduced Jack to a Christmas tree and let him touch one (a real one) for the very first time.

Once we got our tree, the guys asked us if we wanted them to trim off the bottom branches. Not even thinking, they bought out the chainsaw, and Jack was terrified. He screamed so shrill and loud that it broke our heart! We saw this look of complete terror in his face, and I immediately took off for the car to get him away from the loud noise. He was so upset! For the next 15 minutes, Jack was just kind of in a daze. I kept touching his leg, telling him it was okay, and trying to get him to laugh and forget about it. But he would just stare at me like, “What did you do to me?!” Here is the specific look I got:

We felt horrible! We didn’t want his first Christmas tree experience to be a bad experience, and I’m hoping he forgot about it. Sean is afraid he is going to have Chainsaw Monster nightmares. Thankfully, Mommy got him to snap out of it just before we got home from our trip. Here is Jack and Daddy with the Christmas tree on the top of the car when we got home.

We’ll get more pictures once the tree is decorated. Right now, we are letting the branches settle, so we can hang the lights! This is so exciting! We’ve never been this excited about Christmas!

Last weekend, we had an early Thanksgiving with my mom and dad in North Carolina. Today, we will drive up to Gainesville to spend Thanksgiving with Sean’s mom (”Ama”). She is going to have a house full, so I’m sure it will be a lot of fun and that everyone will love seeing Jack. Ama hasn’t been able to spend a lot of time with Jack. She has been really busy this year. So, it’s always a special treat for Jack to spend some quality time with his Ama.

My mom and dad were not able to get away this Thanksgiving. They are feeling a little bit lonely up in NC by themselves and not getting to share it with family this year. So, we want you to know we love you, are thinking of you today, and hope you find something fun to do together!

Happy Birthday, Sean/Dada! We love you!!!!!!!!!!!!

We got there on Thursday night, and Jack slept great in the Pack ‘n Play. He didn’t do well at all the last time we visited, so Sean and I were relieved that he was comfortable in it. On Friday, we went shopping and ate out for Sean’s birthday lunch. Our lunch was very yummy!!!!!!! And of course, Jack got new clothes from both us and the grandparents. It was super cold though! The wind would just cut right through you. Since he had an ear infection, I bundled him up as much as possible while we were walking to and from the mall. He didn’t seem to mind.

John and Megan drove up on Friday night and stayed in a hotel. Mom and dad have a cute two-bedroom house with one bathroom, but you can imagine how tight that gets with all of us there. Mom had everything decorated for Christmas. Jack had his very own “kiddie” tree in the living room with a train around the bottom. He really liked that train! The funniest Christmas decorations were everyone’s stockings lined up at the fireplace, and then Jack’s stocking on the end, which was three times larger than everyone’s stocking! Hahaha. Can you say spoiled much?!

For Thanksgiving dinner, dad fried a turkey while mom prepared all the scrumptious side dishes. Jack enjoyed his sweet potato Gerber puffs while we all chowed down on dinner. He tried the mashed potatoes but didn’t care much for them at all! He was gagging and choking on it, and it wasn’t even hardly a taste. Crazy kid! Least to say, he stuck to his baby snacks for the rest of the dinner.

We wrapped up our visit on Sunday at dad’s church. Dad and I sang a duet for the first time in a LONG time, and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. We sang “Remember Me” by Mark Shultz. It went perfectly with dad’s sermon, too. Dad challenged us to really be thankful during Thanksgiving and to just take the time to be still, get on our knees and truly thank God for what He has done for us. It was a really special time, especially with my son sitting right beside me. I couldn’t help but have tears running down my face as I bowed my head before my Lord and Savior and just said THANK YOU for such an amazing blessing! I’m thankful for many other things too, but especially for my son on his first Thanksgiving!

We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families this holiday. Take the time to get on your knees this week and thank God for what He has done for you. Stay tuned for my “Thankful List” on Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!