3 months!

I'll never forget the day Jack turned 3 months, because we woke up that morning to a blanket of snow which was unusual for December 14th.

Jack is charming as ever now. I am really falling in love with this little boy lately. When I go to get him in the morning, he has a full body wriggle and smiles as soon as he sees my face or Paul's face. I first heard a real giggle on his 3 month birthday and he is starting to purposefully reach for objects.


We love you Jack!

Back at it...

I ran my first race since having Jack on Saturday, Dec 11th. It felt great to be back at it again!

KIPP Academy

Neighborhood groups are our church's version of the "small group". Ours has the privilege of meeting at KIPP Academy in East Nashville once a week for fun times with some of the students. KIPP is a charter school where the kids attend school from 7-5 each day and go on some Saturdays as well. The teachers are truly amazing people. We get to play games during an open gym time and then do one on one reading afterwards. The kids are NUTS at the end of a long school day, so open gym helps to work out some of the "crazies" before reading. Each year, the program has been tweaked a bit but has stayed the same for the most part. It's a blessing to get to know these kids and their parents that we may not have the chance to know otherwise. Here's a picture of our last meeting of 2010 at our house around the fire pit. I'm really thankful for these friends who teach me so much about serving, leadership, and how to really live in a community. Plus, they're really fun!

NOLL GIRLS ARE THE BEST!

This photo is from this summer, but I came across it and wanted to post it because it makes me so happy. Don't you just want to squeeze these little girls?? Sara-Beth was one of my closest friends in college and now lives with her husband Eric and three little girls in FL while they are in seminary. I sure wish I saw them more. They came for a short visit at the end of June while Eric was in Nashville for a conference. It was SO FUN and waaaay to short. Again soon, please?

SHUTTERFLY PROMO

I don't need a reason to love Shutterfly any more than I already do, but here's one. They are now offering 50 free Christmas photo cards for bloggers who write a post about their experiences with Shutterfly. I have never sent out Christmas cards before and wasn't planning on it this year either, but this promotion has given me the inspiration I need to get it done. I think. It depends on whether I can convince Paul to wear the matching PJs I got us for a family photo. Kidding. But anyway, talking about Shutterfly is easy for me since I am an avid user of their services and website. I have always posted my photos to Shutterfly's website and now that we have Jack, I post about a million pictures a month. The site is incredibly easy to navigate and the options for organizing pictures is an ultimate time saver. I always send my photo albums to family and because it is so easy, they are probably sick of all the email invitations they receive to view photos of Jack. This year, several of our Christmas gifts to family are coming from Shutterfly. I applied one of my favorite Jack photos to a large photo canvas and also made a few photo gift mugs for family members to take with them to work. Of course all the photos I used are of Jack, but Champ will certainly be included in our Christmas photo. The photo above is one of my favorites... maybe we will use that one. Check out their promotion here.

Things I love about Jack Roper:

1. When he smiles it starts small and then suddenly erupts into a huge, open mouthed smile with the right side of his upper lip a little higher than the left side.

2. When he poops, he makes an amazing sound of high pitched grunting that is quite prolonged.

3. He sucks down his Vitamin D drops like it's candy... I have always told my patients to be prepared for rejection because their babies won't like the taste. HA!

4. When we clap his hands together, he smiles so big every time.

5. He snores so loud I can hear it all the way across the house.

6. Jack started sleeping 6 hours at night at 6 weeks and has been sleeping about 10 hour stretches at night for the past two weeks.

7. When he smiles, I see his Dad's face.

8. He is on the verge of finding his laugh. Every once in a while, I get a little chuckle that is 1/2 cry and 1/2 laugh.

9. He is hilarious at feeding time. Extreme frustration and impatience and the sounds that go with those emotions.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving in Nashville. Mom, Dad, Rob and Laura all came down for the weekend.
We celebrated Laura's 20th birthday with some eggplant parm and chocolate cake.
Paul stoked up the fire pit our last night together

Meeting Aunt Laura for the first time. Roasting by the fire in the marshmallow suit.
Snuggling with his namesake
Get me out of this clown suit!
Meeting Uncle Robbie for the first time!
Watching star wars together.
We had a great time, but said many times how much we missed Mark, Jenn, and Anna Kate. Can't wait for Christmas!!

Boxing with Dad

Entertaining our guests over Thanksgiving!

Jack had his two month well check this week. Stats as follows: 14lbs (95th percentile), 24 in (80th percentile), and head circumference 95th percentile. No, I have not been feeding him sausage.
Shots were as awful as I anticipated. I will definitely have more compassion on my patients (and our nurses who have to give those shots all day long!).

FULL ON

Thumb sucker. I will often find him like this in the mornings now when he is waking up. As much as I was hoping he wouldn't find that thumb, it is so darn cute.

Still my biggest buddy.

Champy is still my pal. He's so great about being patient when I have my hands full and waiting for his turn to play. We get a run together most days as well as walks and trips to the park for frisbee time! He seems to be noticing Jack a little more lately... sniffing, licking, almost sitting on him from time to time.

Play date

We enjoyed a visit from Heather and Wyatt. Hard to tell from their respective sizes, but Wyatt is 3 weeks older than Jack. He is such a squeezable little man! It's fun having friends who are enjoying and experiencing similar things with their babies.

You may have noticed that Paul is sporting a dirty 'stache. It's for charity (go to www.rightinthemoustache.com). Anyway, can't pass up an opportunity to exploit the child. Poor kid. But honestly, he's gotta learn how to roll if he's gonna be a Roper.

sweet boy

I love this picture. Even though it's blurry and cut off, it makes me so happy.

LOVE

clean

love the bare bum. you seem to like bathing, jack-man.

zzz

I have to back up a little. This is a photo from when Jack was about a month old and started sleeping 4-5 hour stretches. And then, as if on cue, he slept from 9pm to 6am on the day he turned two months old and has been doing that for the past week. Go get 'em tiger.

A Visit from Gigi & Papa

Gigi and Papa have been here for the past three days. We have so enjoyed their company. Plus they are great babysitters, yard tenders, make great food! Is there anything as precious as seeing your parents love on your child?
Thats Papa wearing Paul's chuck taylors

strong

6 weeks

quack

"I said I wanted to be a Ninja!"
Still humiliated...
But too bad, because you're the cutest duck ever. We love that Mary, Sarah, and Thomas have all worn this costume too! A new family tradition?
Hopefully E ends up liking younger men.

The Snuggly "Jack" Blanket

My dear friend, Amy made this super soft blanket for you. So many people love you already, Jack. We are blessed.

Already?!

Like Mother Like Son?

Future Nittany Lion?

It's hard to get excited about those Nitts, the way they've been playing this season, huh Jack?

3 weeks!

Sewanee

When you were two weeks, we took a trip up to Sewanee. The soccer teams of your Dad's Jr. and Sr. years of college were the most successful in school history, so they were invited up for an alum game to play the existing Sewanee team (they won, 3-0!) and banquet honoring the players. Gigi & Papa were here that weekend to relive the glory days as well.