Our Family Blog

Before Jaeger was born, Craig’s mom gave us a very sweet sweater that she had been saving for her future grandchildren. It was Craig’s when he was a baby and she had saved it for 25 years.

Here is Jaeger wearing it at his baby dedication, he was 7 months old.

Now Jadyn is wearing it at 8 months, it fits great!

I love seeing the pictures of the kids next to each other! I wish we had one of Craig wearing the sweater too! He would have been much younger when it fit him. According to his baby book (which Barb also gave to us with the sweater) at only FOUR months old he was just a couple ounces away from 19 lbs! Both Jaeger and Jadyn were/are at around 17 lbs at 7/8 months.

So glad that Barb had the insight to save this sweater all those years ago! She had it packed tight in a ziplock bag so it is still in great shape. Thank you Barb!

It’s amazing the simple things that bring pleasure to children. Here are a few of the things that have made our children happy over the weekend.

Three binks.

Construction paper train tracks, kept him busy for hours (and he has a real set).

I have been trying to get a video of Jadyn crawling but it has been a little difficult. Everytime I bring out the camera, she freezes. So here are a few of the clips I came up with. It was so sweet when she realized she could crawl across the hallway into Jaeg’s room, she was so proud of her new discovery! She does the classic crawl when she’s not in a hurry but she still moves much quicker while doing the mermaid crawl so I think we’ll still see that for awhile.

Jaeg was very much in need of a haircut (I don’t think it’s been cut since summer!)

Yesterday afternoon I cut his hair. We have a very good system in place…we play a movie on a portable DVD player in the kids bathroom. Works beautifully! It’s a treat for Jaeg and when the haircut is over, he goes straight to the tub with his movie still playing (this is the only time this is allowed). Much easier than trying to keep him looking straight, we used to end up having to buzz most of his hair off since it would be cut so unevenly.

Jadyn waits patiently in the hallway while brother gets his hair cut. I tell her that it might be a little while longer before I get to cut her hair. She just grins happily back at me.

After his bath, Jaeg goes to the mirror to check out his new look. He knows he looks good!

But he had better make sure his hair looks good from every possible angle…

We rented Disney’s “Earth” on Halloween thinking that Jaeger would really like seeing all the wild animals. It was a great movie to watch together as a family. We really appreciated that any animal attacks weren’t graphic or drawn out. There were far more friendly and beautiful scenes.

Craig & I both held our breath when this scene came up and watched for Jaeg’s reaction.

He just looked over at us and said “He loves him, they are best friends!”

We just smiled back at him and agreed.

Craig is home from Georgia! While there, he was able to spend a little time at a couple beaches.

He also brought us each back some Georgia apparrel (mine were pajamas). The kids were really excited to see their Dad so it was difficult to get a picture of them together.

Miss Jadyn Rae is now 8 months old! She has recently started singing when she hears music (very cute!) She is really turning into a speedy crawler, although her crawling might still be classified as scooting (Craig refers to her as the mermaid).

I gave Jaeger a small suitcase and told him to fill it with things he would need for a week at Grandma & Grandpa’s. Here are a few of the favorite things he selected.

a coaster
Jadyn’s shoes
books and toys for himself and Jadyn
our TV remote
a parenting magazine for me (subtle hint?)
small scrub brush
an old family picture
a Thomas dvd case with an old Steven Curtis Chapman cd inside

It’s so sweet that he thought of his mom and sister while packing!

Our holiday stretched into the whole weekend. My cousin Jackie had invited us to come visit her office on Friday. Jaeg was very excited to go visit her (he is quite a fan of Jackie’s!). She took him around to all the different offices and helped steer him clear of the scarier displays. She had a special toy waiting for each of the kids to take home along with all their loot. She also let Jaeg hit all the elevator buttons (you can see why Jaeg is a devoted fan, huh?).

Thanks for the wonderful afternoon Jackie!

Saturday we dressed up the kids and went to an event held at one of the local churches. It was a huge walk-through trick or treating event. We went with our good friends, here is a picture of Jaeg with his buddy Max.

We finally carved the pumpkin on Sunday. Jaeg gave very specific instructions to Craig on how the face should look.

Jadyn snuggles up to her Daddy during a football game.

Jaeg has become self-sufficient. He reaches into the refridgerator for something to eat if he’s hungry. His top choices are applesauce and yogurt. I’ve learned to run for the kitchen when I hear the door open or snack time may include condiments as well.

The kids wait patiently in the cart while Craig and I try to decide on new blinds for our new windows. Far too many options. Jadyn is content to chew on her toys while Jaeg enjoys a snack of goldfish and raisins with his pet tiger, Cinci.

Cinci gets tired of waiting for us to make up our minds and threatens to jump out of the cart.

Our crawler gets stuck under the slide again and squeals until we come to her rescue.

Jaeg hit another potty training goal and is rewarded with a small water color paint set.

That’s all for today. We are getting things ready for a big week away starting Monday. Craig has to go to Georgia for training and so the kids and I are heading up to spend a week with Grandpa Jim and Grandma Nancy in Malta.