Happy Halloween!

Jackson had a fabulous time trick or treating for the first time. He quickly learned how to pick out his "treat" and put it in his pumpkin basket. He thoroughly enjoyed himself and waved "bye bye" to each house as we left. Jackson even got to see his buddies Alexander and Evan along the way. When we got home, he enjoyed playing with all of his candy and handing out more to our trick-or-treaters. We had a blast watching Jackson take it all in this year. He really seemed to enjoy himself!

More Anniversary

We always try and follow the traditional gifts for each anniversary. It is fun getting creative in trying to find ideas that fit with the theme. The traditional gifts for the 4th anniversary are fruit and flowers. Justin got me a dozen gorgeous roses and a dozen dark chocolate covered strawberries from edible arrangements (my favorite!). I made Justin caramel and chocolate apples, got him some pumpkin ale, and godiva chocolate. Just to make sure that I covered all of my bases, I also got him a small card that pops up flowers.

On our actual anniversary, we went to Woodlands for lunch while Jackson was at mothers morning out. It was delicious and the chef sent out a special dessert wishing us a Happy Anniversary. This weekend, Jackson spent time with his Grandma while we went out to dinner at Oak Steakhouse. Let me just say, I had THE BEST steak of my life there. I still can't get hover how wonderful the food was. It is probably my new favorite restaurant in all of Charleston. We had several courses of wonderful food, complementary champagne, and more beautiful desserts wishing us a Happy Anniversary. What a great anniversary it was!

4th Wedding Anniversary

On October 28th, 2010, Justin and I will have officially been married for FOUR years. I can't help but think back on how it all began. Warning-This is a LONG story, but I want Jackson to know this one day.

Meri (my best friend, maid of honor, etc) was my college roommate and went to high school with Justin. I had heard a little bit about him from Meri, but I actually met him when he and his friend Andy came to visit our apartment one day in 2002. Both of us were in serious relationships at the time, but we struck up a friendship. I remember Meri asking me what I thought about Justin later that day and my exact words were that he was "very hot", but that I would NEVER date him. He came across extremely cocky at the time, but I could still tell that he was a nice guy. Long story short, a couple of years went by where we would hang out with our group of friends, and although we remained strictly friends, it was obvious there was more there. I remember one day we drove to Edisto for the day with Meri and Andy and split a ham and pineapple pizza. Still-we were only friends. I really think everyone else saw it before we did. As time went on, we started hanging out more and more together. At this point we both single (for the most part! :) We were both dating people, but nothing serious. One night our group of friends ended up meeting up for breakfast after a late night out and me and Justin hung out talking for awhile. The next day, something changed.

The next part of the story changes depending on who is telling the story. Justin's version is always more dramatic than mine and makes me look like a lush. He thinks he remembers the night better, but I remember it clearly. Here is what happened. I started the night out early with my friends Ashley and Lauren. We hit up King St. Grill and as I mentioned, the celebration was in full force. Later that evening, we walked across the street to what used to be The Warehouse (now it is a store called Biton) on King Street for a concert by Will Hogue. We ran into Justin. My friend Ashley thought he was gorgeous and basically said "If you don't date him, I will!". As the night went on, I noticed that Justin was there and on a date with someone. I remember thinking to myself "Exactly WHAT does he think he is doing?". Up to this point, I had not seet him with another girl in a long time and it sort of jarred me to see it. I really did feel angry at him. So, what is a girl to do but make a complete fool of herself, right?

And that is exactly what I did. I came sauntering up to him while he was talking to the girl. I (boldly) interruped them and stepped right smack in between them and gave Justin a big hug. His version includes the part where one of my hands ended up on his butt. You can choose who to believe! Ok, I admit, that part is true. HA! And since I hope Jackson will be reading this one day, I will censor the next part. Basically I asked him what he was doing with her. Not in a mean or angry way, but in a "Come on, seriously? Why are you wasting your time" type of way. I told him he needed to drop this chick that he was with and be with me. This was completely out of character for me. As you can imagine, Justin was blindsided and in an awkward place. He said that he had no idea that I felt that way and it was news to him. At this point, he somehow summoned Andy to come to the bar and intervene. Andy offered to drive me home, as the night was coming to an end and I clearly needed to go home anyway (!) The poor girl that was with Justin that night was pretty ticked off. (FYI I think she knew better than to say anything to me. If you know me, you know I NEVER go down like a punk! haha) Anyway, Andy drove me home. This part of the story is where I accidently leave my credit card at the bar, so Andy has to drive me back. You know its a bad night when you leave your card at the bar!

So I get home and my phone rings. It is Justin. He says "Are you feeling ok?" and I say I am fine. Then he says "Are you going to be wierd about this tomorrow?". I can only say "Yes.". He then suggests that we meet up the next day for lunch. In a nutshell: We do. It goes amazingly well. We are inseperable pretty much from that day on-so much so that our close friends start calling us "Jamber". And there you have it. That was in 2004.

Now here we are: happily married for 4 years. Our wedding was a perfect fall day and all that I imagined it would be. I can't say enough about what a wonderful husband and father Justin is. He is everything and more that I ever dreamed of and although he drives me CRAZY sometimes, I love him more and more every day. There is no doubt that I lucked out with one of the good ones. No, one of the great ones! But most importantly, not only is he a wonderful husband, but he is a wonderful father and that makes me love him even more. His family is his first priority and he shows that every single day. What a lucky girl I am! Happy anniversary sweetie!! LOVE!

The first picture of us as a couple:

Yes, that is who you think it is. No, despite his appearance, this is not a wax figure! :)

Engaged at the Biltmore on New Years Eve.

October 28, 2006

An afternoon out

Justin and I were recently asked to be part of a photo shoot for a local fine dining restaurant. Basically, all we had to do was get dressed up, show up and get our photos taken while "dining" in the restaurant. Of course we jumped at the chance! My mom babysat Jackson and we headed downtown. The restaurant was all set up for the shoot and they fed us delicious appetizers/drinks. We were there with two other couples, but we were photographed individually. We were supposed to be the "young" couple. The photographer had us sit at our (beautifully set) table and gave us direction for the pictures. My longtime friend Ginny was there to make me smile naturally for the photos by reminding me of the time back in high school when we ended up in court together where I was accused of being racist in front of the WHOLE courtroom (story for another time!). Anyway, I hope the pictures come out well. We dont know which photos will make the final cut or if we will be on the website/new ads, but it was a lot of fun! It was nice to get dressed up and get out for a few hours. Jackson did great while we were gone and played the whole time. The restaurant is called Circa 1886 and it is part of the Wentworth Mansion. Justin and I will be back for dinner very soon! Here are a few pictures before we left. Jackson started fussing while these were being taken, so we picked him up so that he could be in the photo. What a ham!

Trip to Grandma's House in NC

Last weekend we took a last minute trip to Hayesville, NC to see Justin's mom and Carl. We left on a Saturday and came back on Monday (short trip), but we made good use of our time there. On Saturday we hit the road and headed toward NC. We stopped in Clemson for lunch at Wild Wing. Once we got to Hayesville, we let Jackson run around a little bit and then we went to a neighbors house so that they could show us a really cool recreation of an old gas station that the neighbors did. Here is a picture-

The next day we took a drive to see a waterfall and we walked down to a mountain creek. We could've stayed there all day. It was really beautiful! Next we went to a fall festival in Georgia and it was a lot of fun. Jackson enjoyed walking around and all of the little old ladies loved him and commented on how cute he was. I have to agree! The next morning Justin's mom made us her legendary biscuits and gravy and we hit the road. On the way home we called my Grandparents in Columbia and met them for lunch. Jackson kept smiling at them the whole time. It was really cute. I am glad we were able to meet up with them for a bit! It was a quick trip, but we had a great time!!

14 months

These months just seem to be flying by!! Here we go. At 14 months:

-Jackson has found his love of the outdoors. This kid loves to go outside and run free. He will just stand at our front door and grab the doorknob (yes, he can reach it now!) and try to yank it open. He wont budge from our foyer until one of us takes him out. He loves to walk everywhere on his own now, but he understands (so far) that he must hold our hand most of the time. His teacher at mother's morning out says that all he wants to do is play outside the whole time and run around with the big boys and girls. He comes home all sweaty and with dirt under his fingernails like a little boy should!

-Speaking of mothers morning out, Jackson has his first "girlfriend" there! Every time we drop him off, this little 2 year old girl (an older woman-ha!)comes running at full speed toward him. Jackson always gives her a big smile and cocks his head to the side as if he is flirting. A few days ago when Justin dropped him off, the little girl came running up to Jackson and gave him a big hug. Justin said that Jackson wasnt quite sure what to do but he stood there with a big grin on his face. Justin said it was pretty much the cutest thing he had ever seen. I wish I had been there for that!

-Jackson's vocabulary is expanding daily. He has all kinds of words that he is saying now, but some of my favorites: boat, eieio (as in "old MacDonald had a farm..."), doh (window, door), toes, toys, eat, ear, and moon

-He is also getting great at pointing out things in his books when I ask him where they are. The other day while reading "Goodnight Moon", I asked him where most of the objects in the book were and he pointed right to them. I was shocked. I always point them out when we read, but I never knew it was sinking in. They really are like sponges!

-He is learning more and more of his independance and is asserting it daily. When things don't go his way, he lashes out in one of two very different ways: # 1) He either bites, throws his toy, or hits (rarely). OR # 2) he calmly lays down wherever he is and gives me a dirty look until I make him laugh. On occasion, he has been known to stomp around in a circle while fussing. It is so hard for me and Justin not to laugh when he is throwing a fit. By the way, biting or hitting always calls for an immediate time out, and he is learning that time out is no fun. We have the pack and play set up in our dining room, which serves as time out and we put him there for a little over a minute each time. He does not appreciate being left alone in there at all.

-I know I write about this every time and it is probably boring to everyone but me, but I do want to record this. Sleep as a whole has gotten better. He is waking less during the night, which has allowed me to drop a feeding or two. Basically he sleeps from 7:30-1, then nurses, and sleeps from 1:05-5 AM. At 5 AM I put him in bed with us and then he buries his head into Justin and his feet into me and sleeps until about 7 AM. He wakes up in bed with us every morning and he is usually a big snuggle bunny when he wakes up. Occasionally we still have a night where he wakes more than usual, but those nights are few and far between.

-YES I am still nursing him. I can't even believe it myself, but I want weaning to be a gradual process and so we are sloooowly getting there. I am still nursing about 5-6 times a day. Sometimes more, sometimes less depending on his sleep schedule. Overall, the fact that I have been able to drop some feedings has been encouraging. As for food, we are making slow progress with him accepting new foods, but we will get there soon. The same goes for whole milk. He seems to be taking a little more each day.

-He continues to become more sociable with everyone and is hard pressed to meet a stranger these days. He loves to smile, wave, give big slobbery kisses, and "talk" to anyone that will pay him attention. He has begun smiling and squinting his eyes again at people when he gets shy. He had stopped for awhile, but it is back now in full force. He even has been doing it to me lately. He knows he's cute.

-I dont know if I mentioned this before, but THE BEST $10 that I ever spent was on a Fisher Price CD of children's songs. This CD is like baby crack and has been our saving grace on long car trips. It starts out with "If youre happy and you know it". Justin and I can sing you all 27 songs by heart....ha! No, seriously we are SO tired of hearing it, but Jackson absolutely loves it. No matter what, he gets a huge smile every time he hears the opening of the song. Now he has learned how to request that his songs be played in the car. Starting about a week ago, He began to point to the radio and say "oaf" over and over again until we put his CD on. Then he becomes one happy boy. He loves to fall asleep to the CD on long car rides. We have tried playing other music for him, but he insists on his CD. I wonder how long it will last. Justin and I resorted to making up our own lyrics to some of the songs just to entertain ourselves and keep us from going crazy! Those lyrics arent the most kiddie-friendly, though!

I will leave you with a series of pictures from a recent playtime where he got mad at me for not letting him leave our yard. He decided to lay down right beside our driveway...Check him out-We love this little boy so much!

Giving mommy the stink eye-Justin thinks this is when he looks most like me. Go figure!
Get outta my face mommy!

Trying not to smile

There it is! He can't stay mad for long :)