weekend recap

I have gotten very spoiled by this mini vacation and I can't wait for Christmas break (3 more weeks)! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving on Thursday, and we enjoyed some more time with family and friends to finish off the holiday weekend. We slept in on Friday and stayed far far away from Black Friday madness! Jason went hunting out of town so Bryce and I hung out at home and got some Christmas decorating done. I don't have any pictures to show for our lazy day.

We got up on Saturday and went to Starbucks for a breakfast treat (for me) before Bryce's morning nap. After he napped, MeMaw and PawPaw picked us up to take us to Culpeper to meet up with Daddy and to have another family Thanksgiving. Here he is dressed and ready to go, shoes and all (they didn't even make it all the way to the car, ha!).

This next picture is really a picture of nothing, but I just think Bryce looks like such a big boy!

Bryce is really enjoying getting to eat real food. He tried cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, turkey, and macaroni and cheese.

Jason was very upset that I let Bryce grab the ornament just to get this picture. He said, "How is he ever going to learn "NO" if you let him grab it?". I just needed a picture to show you what we will be dealing with ALL month. He gets SO mad when you tell him "NO" and take him away from the tree!

We went grocery shopping today and bought Bryce a variety of big boy foods. When we got home, I gave him YoBaby yogurt and Cheerios for breakfast. He enjoyed it all.

He is doing a great job picking up food and getting it into his mouth.

He is also learning how to work the sippy cup. Doctor suggested no juice, so we're just sticking to water.

Tonight we had the Hanging of the Greens service at church. We got to take Bryce up to put an angel ornament on the tree! I have looked forward to taking him up there since before he was born! I'm so excited that the Christmas season is here and I can't wait to show Bryce the true meaning of Christmas!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

1st Thanksgiving

Bryce had a wonderful 1st Thanksgiving!

We visited with my Dad's side of the family in Murfreesboro, NC. We had a great time visiting with family and showing Bryce off (many were meeting him for the first time). He was a great traveler today and he impressed everyone with his wonderful behavior! When we went for Bryce's 9 month check-up on Tuesday, the doctor gave us the green light for table food. Here is Bryce enjoying a Thanksgiving staple, sweet potatoes. He also had some turkey, cranberries, lima beans, and some pound cake. All the food he ate probably didn't equal one of my bites of food, ha! But he enjoyed the new textures and tastes.

He was so well behaved at the table. I was surprised we didn't get moved to the kids table this year, but we still got to sit at the grown-up table.

He's never eaten off of a fork before!

I took Bryce to play the piano when he got bored at the table.

Here is a sample of his latest work. It will be available on c.d. next week! He He!

Ta Da!

We came through Suffolk on the way home from NC and visited with Nana & Pappy and Nanny and Poppy. We picked up Macy since she had been staying with them and then we headed to Jason's Grandma's house for another delicious meal. We had a full day, but a fun day! We are enjoying celebrating all of Bryce's firsts (whether it be milestones he reaches or holidays we get to celebrate). We are so thankful for the joy he brings to our life everyday. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

the accident

Unfortunately, Jason found himself in his first (and hopefully last) car accident today. Luckily he was not hurt and he was driving a company car (and it wasn't his fault)!

Here is a picture of the car after they towed it back to his work. He was not excited about telling the company that he (well the guy behind him) wrecked the brand new 2009 company car.

A tanker truck can really do some damage to the rear end of a car!

A tanker truck slammed into the back of him and pushed him into the car in front of him.

Pieces of the car laying on the James River Bridge.

Cars were stopped on the bridge and Jason had to come to a quick stop. He stopped in time and didn't hit the car in front of him until the tanker truck behind him didn't stop in time and slammed into him, pushing him into the car in front of him. He said only his knee hit the dashboard. Of course as the night goes on, he says that his neck and his forearm are hurting. I am thankful that this accident had a happy ending!

9 months

Our 9 month old boy

20 lbs 4 oz (60%)

27.5 in (50%)

What else are you up to?

• you respond to your name
• you are starting to crawl on all fours
• you can go from your belly to a sitting position
• wave "hi" and "bye" (sometimes)
• you can't stand wearing socks
• you know what a ball is and you try to say ball whenever you see one
• you can give five (only down low)
• you are starting to make some sounds (ma, da, ba, ga, pa)

Say cheese!

What a happy boy!

This is where you can find Bryce most days! (Thanks Chase)

This picture was suppose to come before the last one so you can see him pulling up to the table. Such a sweet expression on his face.

Mommy and Bryce

not your typical sunday

Today started off with what I thought would be a typical Sunday with some holiday festivities mixed in. Bryce wore his Thanksgiving shirt today since we were going to the Thanksgiving service at church tonight (so we thought). However, we ended up in the ER at about 4:00 because my heart thought it would be a great time for SVT to rear its ugly head again. I was certain I would be home in time to bake cookies, go to church for the service (and show off this cute little boy in his festive shirt), and help the fellowship committee serve dessert. WRONG! Even though this bout of SVT was no where near as severe as the last time, I forgot how long the emergency room process is (and that's with being taken right back since we know people in high places. Thanks, Aimee!) Needless to say, today didn't turn out quite as planned, but we did get a few festive things done around the house before chaos broke out.

I put up one of the two big trees before we went to church this morning. Bryce was mesmerized by the Christmas tree lights he was seeing for the first time. Yay for Bryce's first Christmas this year! It's hard to tell, but he is touching a light. It should be fun keeping him away from it all month!

I was able to get the tree decorated this afternoon after church before my SVT broke out. Bryce enjoyed holding onto an ornament while he watched Paw Paw picking up leaves in the yard. Thank you so much!! It needed it very badly!

Macy also enjoyed watching Paw Paw suck up the leaves! Thank goodness he was here. We were able to leave Bryce with him and race to the hospital that is luckily 15 seconds away.

I was very excited when I walked in from the hospital and saw my blue and white snowman tree twinkling away! A great ending to a not so typical day!

crawling

I don't want to give away everything I'm going to tell you on Wednesday about what Bryce has accomplished in the last month, but look who is starting to crawl on his hands and knees.

He has been crawling on his belly for quite some time, but now he is finally getting up on all fours. He still reverts back to his belly because it seems to be faster for him, but we're making progress!!

chunky monkey

This boy loves to eat!

Yes, his arm is ALL the way in!

He's fishing around for just the right one....I mean ten!

Wondering how he is going to get them all in his mouth.

Oh, like that!

**Don't worry! I usually only let him have one at a time, and I was in control of the situation the whole time.

jump jump

Is that a happy face, or what?

Jason was off today, so he and Bryce got to play inside A LOT since the hurricane didn't allow for much outdoor fun. We just recently started using the Johnny Jump Up again. Bryce was never happy in it for very long and he would swing his head around and bang it on the door frame. Now that he knows how to move a little more, he LOVES it. He learned very quickly how to jump! He gets so excited when he does it and these are just a few pictures of his reaction.

Jason said Bryce was great today and didn't cry a bit! As I write this, Bryce is fussing away in his bed after being asleep for 2.5 hours. He drooled about as much today as the amount of water that dripped from our ceiling thanks to the hurricane. I'm thinking maybe finally teeth. We just went in and gave Bryce some Tylenol and loaded his gum up with Orajel. May be a false alarm, but at least maybe the Tylenol will make him sleep!

dog food

Bryce had his first (and probably not last) taste of dog food today! I have convinced myself that I'm not a terrible mother and it was bound to happen sometime, right?!?

I was talking to Nanny on the phone today when my cell phone battery started to beep. Bryce was playing nicely in his room so I ran across the hall to plug my phone in. While I was doing that, Macy took a big mouthful of food and spit it out in the hallway and started eating it. It looked like fun to Bryce so he crawled into the hall to check it out. I guess it looked a lot like his puffs to him, so he gave it a try. However, I was in another room as all of this was happening and just happened to hear the two in the hallway and realized what might be going on. I left Nanny and the phone dangling to run and check on Bryce. I was relieved to only find a piece of food in Bryce's hand. So I thought, ha! I checked his mouth and sure enough he was hiding a piece of dog food in between his cheek and gum. Thankfully dog food doesn't dissolve as easily as a puff so I don't think he actually swallowed any dog food!

These are pictures I took to recreate the scene because I thought this was a very blog worthy memory!

Here is Bryce checking it out.

And he's going in.

And it's in his hand.

You didn't really think I would let him eat it just to relive the memory, did you? Here he is sharing his puffs with Macy this time. A much better snack for the two to share, rather than dog food!

water fun

It's not very easy getting a picture of Bryce now that he is on the move. Guess that's why my blogging hasn't been up to par recently.

Bryce doesn't enjoy playing in the exersaucer while I fix dinner so I let him crawl around on the floor. The only downfall to that is he loves to play in Macy's water bowl and I never can seem to remember to pick it up. Tonight after dinner I decided to let him play in his own bowl of water.

He enjoyed it!