kisses!

So Jack has learned to "kiss". I'm going to call it that because if it's not kissing, then I'm afraid I might have a cannibal on my hands. Just sayin...

lately...

It's officially spring in Seattle and while it is usually gloomy at this time of year, we have had a surprising amount of sunshine (thank goodness!). The cherry blossoms are in full bloom and Jack, Raleigh, and I have been walking Greenlake like it's our job. We live in such a beautiful place and when the sun is out, I can hardly get enough of it.

Jack turned 7 months on Saturday and is growing like a weed...both in width & height :). He sits up, rolls all around, and can "scoot" himself around the living room floor but has yet to crawl. We are in the process of pushing through those two bottom teeth so his toothless grin will soon be no more. I sound like a broken record, but parents aren't kidding when they say their kids grow up way too fast.

Some fun things that have happened since I wrote:

• Jack met his cousin, Luc (on the Abdallah side of Matt's family)
• Erin & Bennett stayed the night with us and Bennett took Jack to the park for his first swinging extravaganza.
• I went to Austin and left Jack for three nights which resulted in a horrible cold and ear infection. Worst weekend ever to be away! Grandma Julie and Matt took very good care of him though... (ok, this isn't a fun happening but Austin was!)

We have some visitors coming within these next weeks...my brother, the Haagensons, and Maria! Then, Jack and I will fly to South Dakota to visit my grandma for a week. I'm excited to show him my old stomping grounds...Storybook Land & Twist Cone. That's about it for all of the excitement in Aberdeen!

Luc entertaining Jack. Such a cute little munchkin!

Bath time has become super fun in the last few months. Look how long this hair is!

At our ped's office. Jack loves him some mirror time... such a narcissist.

My little brother, Joey, on the left. Jack on the right. Look alike?

RB loves her some Baby J!

Shopping is so much more fun in the front seat!

After naptime. Dad calls this his sleep vest and I often hear him saying "Wow, pal, what a nice vest you have!" I don't know why he thinks sleepsacks are hilarious? Men...

eating, rolling, & mama's leavin!

Our sweet little nugget is almost SIX months. As always...where does the time go?! Halfway to a year? whaaaaat? I realized yesterday that Jack has lived in Seattle for as long as he had lived in Charleston. Crazy talk. Once the holidays were over, we finally had a chance to just relax and settle into our apartment. I'm quickly realizing how challenging it is to have a baby, a dog, and two grown adults in a tiny apartment but not trying to wish this time away as it is also nice and easy to keep clean :) Jack hasn't reached too many "milestones" quite yet unless massive weight gain counts as a milestone. I used to think that I would be anxious for him to crawl or be mobile but as I look around at my non-babyproofed house, I find myself wishing differently. He can now roll over like a champ, has started eating solid foods other than oatmeal (and LOVES them), and talks and talks. He must get that from his dad because no one else runs their mouth in this house... oh wait...

Jack's favorite things at 5.5 months include: smiling, laughing (watch below), rolling, chewing on everything, drooling, watching RB and pulling on her ears when she gets close enough, watching Sesame Street while mommy drinks coffee each morning, and jumping in his bouncer (also watch below...although this was slightly after he turned 4 months when he couldn't touch the ground quite yet :)).

Our nights are...well...not restful these days. I always bragged about Jack being the best sleeper. Foot.In.Mouth. He has been regressing and thinks that waking up approximately every two hours is super fun for the past week or so. Teething? Separation Anxiety? Overtired? WHO KNOWS but it's not funny to his mama or daddy. Lots of coffee being brewed in this house as of lately. Any of you mamas out there have this problem at this age?

As for other news, I will be leaving this sweet baby for the first time next Friday. I'm meeting my friend, Brianne, in Austin, Texas for a photography workshop. I have a mixture of emotions about this. Excitement, dread, nervousness, sadness....sensing a pattern? I know it will be fine. Grandma Jules is coming to stay with Matt for the weekend and Jack will be in the best of hands but I just might be an emotional wreck. I should probably just apologize in advance to all of the other workshop attendees for my inability to talk or think about anything other than my child. Not to mention, my frozen breastmilk will be floating amongst the food in the fridge in the beautiful, Texan home we'll all be sharing. Good times! :)

Well, that's all that's new in the life of this Waller family! Just enjoying the Seattle sunshine rain and looking forward to spring and summer!

and we have an eater!

I'm totally aware that this blog is completely boring now. I'm infamous for changing my backgrounds on a daily basis so the blog is currently getting a professional makeover so I can leave it forever! Well, maybe not forever but ya know. Stay tuned for that!

In other news, I now have an eater! Judging by the size of my little (big) man's thighs, you know that he isn't missing any meals! He has been watching us eat, staring at every bite that goes into our mouths, and has also seemed hungrier (more hungry?) than ever before. At his 4 month appointment, the ped gave us the go ahead to start cereal so we started feeding Jack oatmeal on Monday. Turns out he loves it and can't get enough! It is hilarious to watch him dive into his spoon and "chew" his food...you can't feed him fast enough. He gets angry in between bites because it takes just 1 second too long for me to scoop up another bite and get it into his mouth. See below:

So, at 4 months and 1 week, we started oatmeal and in just a few more weeks, we'll add in some fruits and veggies. I can't wait! I love watching him eat...it's the highlight of my day.

Jack's 1st Christmas

I heard a few wise words recently and obviously didn't take them to heart. So I will repeat and you must listen if you know what's good for you... "Advice for taking an 800 mile road trip with a baby? Don't do it". We used to just throw a few outfits in a duffel, grab a Starbucks, and hit the road for 12 hours to get home to Billings. We most likely would stop to go pee two or three times, fuel up, and grab a candy bar. Well...things are a little different. The car was PACKED was baby must haves (crazy how these tiny humans require so many large items), Christmas presents, a carseat, a dog, and 2 adults. Matt's new co-pilot is now a canine that actually really sucks at keeping Matt entertained and I have been moved to the back seat. I spent my 800 miles singing Christmas songs, shaking rattles, making ridiculous faces and noises, and changing poopy diapers. Goodnight, we have arrived.

Once we made it to Montana, it was of course mad chaos and just a few hours of sleep here and there but as always, it was so good to be home. I should be grateful that we were able to drive back home this year instead of spending a horrendous amount of money on two plane tickets to get home from Charleston. Glass half full, eh?

Jack woke up late on Christmas morning, I even tried to wake him up in my excitement of his first Christmas morning. Santa had come and filled our stockings and still Jack was less than impressed. Must not be my child...

****One last important message...for those of you who do not understand the graphic on Jack's onesie on our Christmas card, WHO ARE YOU? Go watch A Christmas Story right now and you will understand! Seriously, I don't care if Christmas is over. After you watch the movie, you will then understand that I am not a crazy mom who dresses her 4 month old in inappropriate clothing.

Jack must hate pictures as much as his daddy does :)

all ready for Christmas Eve service!

bad photo...Erin has better ones but so good to see you Mr. Bennett!

Jack biting his great granny!

Jared, Matt, and our munchkins!

Jenny and I in our colored pants!

a peaceful moment in our roadtrip :)

Moose Mugs on Christmas morning!

Life as we knew it...

What a whirlwind the past five weeks have been for our tiny family. It all started in September when Matt was invited to interview for two jobs. One in Denver and one in Seattle and neither one with Boeing. We flew to Denver at the end of September and Matt participated in an interview with Children's Hospital of Colorado and then he flew alone to Seattle in October to interview with Seattle Children's Hospital. Matt has had an interest in healthcare for as long as I have known him. In high school, he often entertained the idea of going to med school but he wasn't convinced that he wanted to be a doctor and didn't enjoy academia THAT much. Well, upon his graduation as an Industrial Engineer, he went to work for Boeing. Boeing is an amazing company to work for and certainly nothing to complain about but he just felt that he wasn't passionate about airplanes. This is a difficult situation to be in in this economy because while he was incredibly grateful for this job that he had been blessed with, he felt as though he was being called to something different. After lots of prayer and patience, he decided to pursue lean process improvement in healthcare (similar to what he did with Boeing, just in a hospital setting). Well, the doors were opened for him at both Denver and Seattle and we sat in Charleston with a hard decision to make. Do we move to Seattle, Denver, or stay in Charleston? Don't get me wrong, we loved Charleston. Who can complain about the beach, sunshine, and southern hospitality? We have been blessed with some amazing friendships and there was no real reason to leave the area other than it was pretty far away from our families (minus my dad) and a lot of our friends out west. This was fine when it was just Matt and I but adding a little munchkin to the mix certainly changes your perspective on distance for multiple reasons. It was a hard decision but we ultimately decided to move to Seattle and now Matt works for Seattle Children's Hospital as a Lean Process Improvement Consultant.

So, that is what we have been doing for the past five weeks. We packed up our tiny home in Charleston and Matt, Raleigh, and my stepdad, Mike, drove across the country in a Uhaul & one car while Jack and I flew and met them here in Seattle. It is surreal to me that just two weeks ago (on Thanksgiving Day), we said goodbye to our southern home and moved back to the Pacific Northwest just 15 months after saying goodbye to it.

This was a bittersweet move but we are excited to be back! While it was hard to say goodbye see-you-later to our friends in Charleston, we were welcomed back by so many people that we love and city that we have missed so much. Sure, it has been constantly raining and gloomy since we've arrived but honestly, I welcome it. I miss snuggling up with hot coffee on a gloomy day and wearing my rainboots and scarves without working up a sweat :) It helps that it is the Christmas season and the cold makes it really feel like Christmas unlike last year when we had our windows open because it was 70 degrees outside. For those of you who know me, you know that I'm obsessed with the holidays and will squeeze every ounce of celebration out of Christmas from the day after Thanksgiving through New Year's Day so last year was difficult for me. I was on winter break with no one to make cookies with and then we left for the UK on Christmas Eve (not complaining about that part).

So that's the story morning glory! We now live in Seattle, Matt now works for a hospital, and our sweet boy Jack is now 3.5 months old. Lots of change and blessing for us all!

And of course, a photo of the cutest thing ever...

oh his way to meet Santa @ Nordstrom this past weekend. Total cuteness pics of that to come!

Jack's 1st Halloween

It is taking everything in me not to change my blog background to something Christmas related but I'll refrain for a few more weeks... :)

I cannot for the life of me remember what we did last Halloween so if anyone knows where we were, please tell me! Seriously, no idea. This Halloween was quite memorable although as it was Jack's first! Sadly, he didn't dress up in a costume but rather, just a cute onesie and wore Halloween pj's to bed on Halloween Eve & last night too. I'm lame, I know. I just figured he would be dressed up for about the amount of time it would take for me to snap a photo and bam, out of it. So...I'll start costume planning for next year...

I do like Halloween but don't usually have a strong desire to dress up. Yesterday though, I found myself wishing we had costumes! Maybe it's because I'm a mom now and want these holidays to be special for my kiddos. My mom dressed up a lot throughout the years and that was always fun. She is always so festive and creative, I want to re-create that for my munchkins. Although Jack will have absolutely no memory of what happened yesterday, I did bake pumpkin cupcakes and we ate Papa Murphy's jack-o-lantern pizza for dinner. We ended the night with a pumpkin candle burning, drinking a cold Red Hoptober and of course, watching Hocus Pocus...only the best Halloween movie ever. I talked to Dad yesterday and he had already watched it twice. Love my parents' love for holidays! We had about a thousand trick-or-treaters, not really but you get the picture. Part of buying candy to hand out is enjoying the leftovers and now there are NONE. Next year, I'm going to stop answering the door when there is 1/4 of the candy left because that's how I roll.

November 1st is always a great day because it means it's officially the HOLIDAYS! I set up this stack of movies on the DVD player this morning...

These will continuously be playing over and over until New Year's Day probably. Sorry in advance, husband. I will one day convince Matt that he also wants to be festive, but he's just not THAT into celebrating any holiday really...what's up with that? I mean, he doesn't hate it, but he also doesn't get that excited. He better figure it out real quick now that he has to start playing Santa this year! Now for some Halloween cuteness: