Happy Birthday Jackson!!

Well, at 10:53 AM Jackson was officially 1! I still can't believe it. We had a busy week leading up to the big day including meeting Santa and his 1 year photo shoot. I thought for this post I would just show the pictures of the actual day and catch up with the rest next week. I can remember last year how excited Greg and I were to meet our little man. We had no idea how much joy one little person could bring to our lives. He has been such a blessing, and we couldn't imagine our lives without him. There are so many memories that I will cherish from this last year...the first time he smiled, the first time he giggled, the first time he said dada and mama, the first time he crawled, and finally when he walked. I feel so blessed that I was able to be with him for each of those amazing milestones. I thought I would look back and pick a few of may favorite pictures and end with the pictures of Jackson getting his first taste cake.

                                                     Jackson all snuggled up sleeping in his crib for the first time. It is hard to believe that he was ever that small.

He was so animated with his smiles even at 3 months old. I love this picture because not only does he have a great smile, but it is also the time when he was losing his dark newborn hair and his blonde hair was coming in.

This was one of the first times Jackson really giggled. Greg gave him a carrot and kept saying "What's up Doc?". He thought it was hilarious!

This picture depicts not only how proud he was of himself that he could sit up by himself, but also the massive amount of drooling we had to deal with when he was cutting his first tooth.

This was our trip to Florida when Jackson really started to love being in the water.

I just love this picture of him.

My little man. So much personality at 1 year. I know we have some amazing years ahead of us with him and I look forward to each and every one of them.

Is this for me?

Mmmmmmmmm. Delicious!

Mom, you have been holding out on me!!

Okay, I have had enough. Saturday is Jackson's big birthday party at Southern Prep. We are so excited that Aunt Sarah and Uncle Mike are flying in from Indiana and Noni and Granddaddy and driving in from Charleston. It should be a lot of fun!!

Trip to North Carolina!

This week we made a trip to Wilmington, NC to celebrate Kemper's baptism. Greg was honored to be Kemper's godfather and we had such a great time! Jackson has become quite the seasoned traveler and was perfect on both plane rides. He also did pretty good in the sleep department as well. Here is Jackson as we were waiting to board the plane. He was very excited!

Since there were some empty seats, Jackson decided he needed to take advantage and stretch out in his own chair.

The happy family, Charmaine, Mike, and Kemper, right before the baptism.

The star of the weekend getting baptized. Kemper did great and didn't mind a bit when the water went all over her face!

Jackson running around the church during the baptismal proceedings. Luckily it was just a baptismal service and not an entire mass!

The proud Godparents!

Family shot at the beautiful church.

Who put that baby in a basket?

Jackson and Kemper checking eachother out. They were a little shy, but it was their first date!

The proud mommy.
Thanks so much Mike and Charmaine for having us over and including us in your special weekend. We can't wait to see you guys again soon!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Noni and Grandaddy came in to help us celebrate. It started off with the gobble job and ended with a delicious dinner at Aunt Kiera and Uncle Brad's house. Here we are right before the meal.

Jackson loves his granddaddy!!

My two favorite boys!

Jackson and Mary winding down the evening by "watching" a little Mickey Mouse Club. It is not easy to get pictures of them together because one is always on the move!

Walking in the Marietta square.

Yes ladies....he is all mine :) Daddy being funny at the antique store.

This is Jackson's latest favorite thing to do. Whenever we go to the store he loves to push the cart. It takes a lot longer to do anything, but he sure does like it!

Jackson picking out the family Christmas tree. So much fun!!

Jackson got a new nickname this weekend courtesy of his Uncle Brad....the kissing bandit. He loves to give people kisses! Particularly Uncle Brad. Unfortunately those kisses are a little wet.

We tried to get a good picture of everyone but unfortunately Jackson did not want to be in the wagon any longer.

Jackson laughing at this daddy.

Jackson loves to play ball! He gets very excited as he picks it up and throws it.

Daddy was watching the Falcons game during dinner and Jackson got very excited when daddy did.

Touchdown!!!

We had to go to the mall to get a tuxedo for his daddy. Jackson is definately a Nesmith. All he wanted to do was play with the cars!

Walking around the mall. We are so excited for the Christmas holiday and can't wait to celebrate our second Christmas with our little man! We have a wonderful weekend planned with a visit to North Carolina. Jackson's future wife, Kemper, is going to be baptized!! We can't wait to meet her.

11 months!

In one short month we will be celebrating Jackson's first birthday. This year has flown by. Jackson has been such a blessing to our family and has brought more joy to our lives than I could have ever thought possible. Jackson favorite thing right now is reading. He loves to bring the books to us and gets very excited when we start reading. His favorite books are the Karen Katz flap books. Unfortunately he loves them a little too much and rips off all the flaps! We have also progressed in the walking department. He will now stand up on his own and just start walking. He will walk about 4 feet and then realizes he is walking and plops down. He still would much rather crawl, but I don't think it will be long before crawling is a a thing of the past. He also started to learn to go down the stairs backwards. We are still practicing this new trick with mommy or daddy close by his side. Jackson also loves to jump. Whether it be in a bounce house, a trampoline,  or on the bed it is just so much fun! Today at Southern Prep he actually stood up on the trampoline and started jumping. He was so proud of himself! We go to Southern Prep each week and Jackson loves it, so we have decided to have his birthday party there. You can actually go to southernprep.com and check it out. Here are some pics of the week. The first pic is blurry but I had to include it because it was the first time he went in one of the cars at the grocery store. He loved to turn the wheel and made shopping a lot easier!

Jackson is so funny and loves to make me laugh. This is during breakfast. We will have to save table manners for another time.

He thought it was so fun to be able to eat from the table instead of his tray. Eating has become a challenge as he no longer wants mommy to feed him. I think we have officially retired the baby food and moved on to all finger foods.

He kept doing different things until I would start laughing.

Jackson's friends from Florida, Annie and Sarah, came to visit. Unfortunately my camera wasn't working so I didn't get to get any pictures :( They gave him his first birthday present, which is a Handy Manny tool bench. Jackson loves it! Thanks Annie and Sarah!

Walking is so much fun! It is so funny to watch him wobble along.

Walking in our bedroom in his little man outfit.

I was trying to get a good picture for Jackson's birthday invitations, so I dressed him up and sat him on our couch in our bedroom. It was hard to snap a shot because all he wanted to do was climb all over the pillows. Daddy will be very happy because he says nobody ever sits on that couch!

See you next week! We are so excited to celebrate our first Thanksgiving with our little turkey!

Halloween and Fall Fun!

Jackson is now 10 1/2 months and he has had his first Halloween! We started the festivities at the Georgia Aquarium. This is the first time Jackson has been there and he really enjoyed looking at all the fish. Mommy then carved some pumpkins before we were off to the neighborhood parade and costume contest. Jackson actually won again for cutest baby! So much fun! We then went over to our friend Laura's house and Jackson was able to play with some of his friends. We ended the evening back at home, and Jackson trick or treated at our neighbor's Bruce and Holly. It was so much fun! As far as new tricks up Jackson's sleeve, he has always been mezmerized by Daddy's blackberry, but now he will actually put it up to his ear as if he is listening. Also, every morning when he wakes up, I come into the room singing "You are my sunshine" and sit on the chair. His favorite game is then to hand me his blanket through the crib slats. After he hands me the blanket, I will toss it back into the crib and he will scramble around to pick it up and the game starts all over again. On another note, we have sadly retired the monkey costume. He sure did get a lot of use out of it!

Jackson watching the fist swim by at the aquarium.

Jackson loved to stand up and watch the fish swim by.

After Jackson claimed his prize for cutest baby!

Daddy was so proud of his little monkey!

I have never seen a cuter dog, monkey, ladybug, Minnie Mouse, or ducky!

Happy Halloween!

A scary monster!!

At this point in the night, Jackson did not want to cooperate with the pictures!

Fall has arrived! Jackson loves to play with all the leaves in his yard.

His favorite spot...hanging on the tree.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!