You Did It!!

Congratulations to everyone for making it the full 8 days sans Jace!! Only a few disgruntled comments were heard and understandably so--we would miss Jace too if we couldn't see him for 8 days! On to our week----oh what a week!
Jace's week started with preparations for Santa's big arrival. He and Mommy decided to make Santa some cookies to make sure we were in good with the big guy.

It must have worked because we were treated very well this Christmas! Of course no Christmas is complete without your very own pair of SANTA SLIPPERS!

Jace spent Christmas Eve at his Uncle Keith and Aunt Darcy's house. You can see how spoiled he was.......Jace is the little guy in the sea of presents!

Another shot of the little man on Christmas Eve---yes, he loves chewing on his booger sucker.

After a good round of spoiling with Daddy's side of the fam, there's nothing like heading to Mommy's side for the same! Christmas morning Jace woke up only to find Santa had remembered him! Grandma F. had even remembered to put out a stocking for Jacer! Santa filled it with many of Jace's favorites--cheese crackers, and zwieback toast! Oh Santa!

One of Jace's gifts was this COOL rocking horse! Jace loves to pet him and dance while he sings!

Also on Christmas morning, Jace's buddy Preston stopped by with more presents!! Jace received a very cool tricycle--among other things. Thanks P--it was great to see you!

After a long day of playing, Jace decided to spend Christmas night at his cousins Emma and Abby's house.

Jace and Abby catching up on the happenings of the day

Jace also got to sit at the big kid table---for a minute. He thought he was pretty hot stuff! He seems pretty intent on listening to his cool older cousin Jarrett.

The rest of the week, Jace got to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa No (the grandparents formerly known as F.). Yes, there is a story behind the name change. Grandma F. was feeling a little bad about having to tell Jace 'no' so much. He does love getting in to everything. By about day #2, Jace took it upon himself to say 'no' when he was doing something he wasn't supposed to. He would go over to the steps, look at Grandma and shake his head 'no'. He would grab at something breakable, look up, and shake his head 'no'. He even got so good that he would start to pull on Uncle Reggie's fur (the dog), and look at Reggie, and shake his head 'no'. By the end of the week, Jace would just look at Grandma and shake his head 'no'. She is now (lovingly) referred to as Grandma No.
Grandma trying to make it up to Jace--she even let him play with her glasses at one point so he wouldn't have to hear 'no' again!


Jace isn't one to stay down and out for long. As soon as the Christmas festivities wrapped up, he decided it was again time TO PARTY! He has his first (of 2) birthday parties on Friday night. You are all probably waiting for some cute little pictures of naked Jace smearing frosting all over himself. Maybe a shot of little 1-year-old Jace punching his fist into a cake? Nope.
Mommy spent many hours mixing, baking, frosting, and perfecting little Jace's cake only to have him firmly deny any part of it at his party! What a bummer! In Jace's defence--he was running a temperature and wasn't in to doing much of anything on his big night. He did have a great time though and was so glad he had friends and family with him to celebrate. He even finally got to meet Mommy's old buddy Julie. He thought she was pretty cool. He also has to give a big shout out to his fabulous Aunts Kay and Debbie for all of their work putting his blog together into an awesome book! He is anxiously awaiting the next 18-20 years of blogs being compiled!!

Jace and Mommy at his first, first b-day party!

Some of Jace's new duds he received for his b-day

Jace livening up a little after his party---as lively as possible with a thumb stuck in your mouth!


As many of you know, the BIG day is Friday! Jace will be celebrating with Mommy and Daddy both off work, as well as Aunt Erin in town. Saturday will be party #2--does this kid every stop??
Of course many more pictures to come........

Do not Panic.........

Just a note to all of our loyal blog readers.....do not panic in the coming days if you are Jace-free for a while. We are heading to Grandma and Grandpa's for about a week and may not be able to upload pictures there. This is a test.......can you really go a week without seeing our sweet boy?
A few updates before we leave........
First, Mommy decided to try and get Jace off the bottle over the course of her 15 DAYS OFF!! Yay! Anyway today was day #1 and Jace did excellent. He only had a bottle in the morning! What a trooper! He drank several ounces of milk from his sippy cup and had some water as well.

Second.....the countdown is really on until Jace turns 1! Mr. Party Pants is having 2 birthday parties for this special year but has already been spoiled via the United States Postal Service. Our poor mailman is probably sick of delivering packages! Among the presents (one which we were given permission to open immediately) was Jace's giant Santa from Great Aunt Rita. He thought it was pretty cool......and then there was Ozzy. Ozzy thought it was even cooler! They take turns.....sort of.


And third.......drumroll please...................Jace took 2--count em---2 STEPS today! Turns out we can put the wheelchair on hold---he does have viable legs! Now keep in mind these were very literally 'baby steps' but Mommy couldn't have been prouder! She is sure there is only more fun waiting in the coming days!

And finally, a few pictures to keep your hearts warm and cozy!




Merry Christmas!!

Jacer Racer goes to the Doctor

Jace visited the doctor today rather unexpectedly. He had been a huge pill all weekend at night---getting up around 11 times during the night on Friday just wanting to be held!! Saturday was a little better but Sunday night went even further downhill. Jace seemed to be tugging at his ear a little now and then as well. The weird part was that he was fine during the day for the most part. Mommy figured it was teething so she decided to go to work this morning. But mid-morning, Lori, Jace's awesome daycare lady called to say he had a low temp. Mommy figured what the heck, and took him to the doctor. Sure enough, he had a slight ear infection. Sorry Jace for the impatience at 3 am. Anyhoo, the trip to the doctor allowed Mommy to find out if she could switch Jace to milk a smidge early. The kid has been refusing his bottle for almost a month now. Apparently he thinks he is too grown up for that baby bottle. The doctor said it was fine and we could stop his formula cold turkey. Mommy, on the other hand, has to live with Jace and if he decides he does want a bottle in the next few weeks you can bet he will be getting one! He tried his milk for the first time tonight and he did pretty well--almost to the point of chugging for a minute! :)

Go, Go, Go!! Chug, Chug, Chug!!

This picture was included just to show how much Jace's Ozzylick (as we like to call it) is NOT getting any better. It just kind of swirls around to a point. Oh well--don't the females love cowlicks??

And this picture was included just to show how much of a cheeseball Jace is. Nice teeth dude.

The BFF's just hangin' out talking. Ozzy is becoming more fond of Jace as Jace has started to feed Ozzy from the table. Ozzy just stands right under Jace's highchair and waits for falling debris or the occasional handout from Jace. Tonight during supper Jace wanted to give Ozzy a piece of hamburger so he looked at me and said Woof?? (translation: Where is Ozzy so I can give him this piece of meat?)


That appears to be all the Jaceness we have for now. We finally decided on a camcorder and already have mucho videos to share but there seems to be a connection problem with Mommy's laptop. Not to worry--we will get it resolved soon hopefully. Aunt Erin tears into town tomorrow so Jace is ready for some fun.......and presents. :)

Weeeeeeee!!!

Jace would like to send a huge thanks to Aunt Alisa, Uncle Eric, and Cuz's Mavi, and Keenan. He received the most wonderful slide in the mail the other day and he loves it!! He goes down it several hundred times a day! When he gets to the bottom he turns around and says 'yeah'!!


In other Jace happenings, it appears his 'daycare relationship' is moving to a new level. It was reported to Mommy and Daddy last week that Jace was patting his friend April on the head when all of the sudden he leaned in and planted a wet one on her head! This week has been more of the same kissy kissy stuff. Today when Daddy picked Jace up he was informed that Jace was flirting pretty hard core all day long. Mommy knew there would come a time when another female would be the center of Jace's attention.....she just didn't know it would come BEFORE his first birthday. Oh kids these days!!

Santa Baby

Jace was finally able to meet Jolly Old Saint Nick this weekend. Although Santa was jolly, Jace did not quite feel the same. He did just as Mommy predicted..... sat on his lap, grabbed his beard, gave him a once over, and wanted down. It was around 5:30 after all so Jace had one thing on his mind---bed. We did get several cute pictures however.....for a fee of course. Mommy made Daddy stand in the background and get one with our camera though.

Who are you and why are you holding me??

Mommy has been quite proud of Jace's uninterest in the Chrismtas tree. He was uninterested anyway until......the presents started appearing. Once Mommy started putting those beautiful packages under there Jace could no longer contain himself. Yes, he is definitely Mommy's child. No matter how much Mommy begs though Daddy will not let Jace open a present early. Boo.
Jace has a sparkly snowman book and whenever he reads it or looks at the tree he says oowww (Wow). Very funny.

Jace has gained some new hobby's as of late--there is more to him than constant chatter. He now loves to pull the toilet paper as far as he can before he gets buried. Not so funny.

Jace loves to hear his own voice, but there is one thing (and maybe only one thing) he loves more.....eating. Mommy no longer has just one mooch (Ozzy) drooling at her feet.....Jace has joined in now too!! They both stand there and wait for handouts. As you can see this thrills Mommy.

No Jace isn't working on his calf muscles, he's peering as high as possible. Now whether this particular time he's hunting for the remote or Mommy's cell phone is unknown. He is quite the little helper though. He brings Mommy the phone and puts it to her ear. He even brought her a kleenex the other day and put it up to her nose--what a considerate young man!

Another new hobby is taking off his socks. Of course this is the funniest thing ever.....to Jace. He tries to put them back on sometimes--he does this by laying them on top of his feet. :)

It was inevitable with all that hair that Mommy would get the urge to see Mrs. Jace. Isn't she a pretty little thing?


We aren't sure why Jace is fighting the walking thing so much. He can stand if he doesn't realize he's doing it. Once he remembers, he sits down. He even walks on his knees behind his push toys. Oh Jacer.
One thing he is definitely not fighting is vocalizing. From the moment he gets up until he goes to bed, there is rarely a quiet moment. Of course this is mostly babbling but he is really starting to imitate. He will give pretty much any word a try at least once. His newest is Ozzy---it comes out a little bit like ahhhahhh. A great new word since Jace and Ozzy are BFF's!

That's all for now. Until next time..............

Baby J is 11 months today!!

Happy 11 months Jace! It's hard to believe in only a month you will be turning one! Mommy has loved every minute of the last 11 months! You are the most amazing little guy she has ever known and she loves you oodles and oodles!

O Christmas Tree

What a feat!!!! Mommy has succesfully assembled the Christmas Tree............. Pause for dramatization.............................

Ta Da!!!

Being stuck inside due to unsettling amounts of ice on the ground left nothing for Jace and Mommy to do but get in the Christmas spirit! And that we did! We decorated the entire house (thanks in large part to Aunt Rita), put up the Christmas Tree (thanks to Aunt Kay), and made Christmas cookies (thanks to Mommy's lack of willpower).

Jace is LOVING his new daycare. So are we.....today he took a 2 1/2 hour nap and a 1 hour nap!! He is doing so well! He gets excited whenever we get there in the morning. He even has a great new friend. Her name is April and she is 8 months old. From what we've been told, April is the boss in the relationship but as long as that's ok with Jace, Mommy is fine with it too.
Loving Daycare!

When Mommy was a little booger like Jace, she used to take everything out of the cupboards and climb in.
Like Mother, Like Son.

And this was Ozzy's day. He has it rough--notice he has the remote as well--and Jace thought he was boss!

Our Stuffed Little Turkey

Yes our little turkey is indeed stuffed! He has been stuffing his face since Wednesday night! He has amazed many over the course of 5 days with his ability to put it away! Jace's 1st Thanksgiving weekend began on Wednesday night at Gma and Gpa F.'s. Of course he had to have his first taste of KC chicken. Did he like it?? Of course! Thanksgiving Day was also a hit with little Jacer. He filled his belly with turkey and all the fixins! He even liked the cranberry sauce!!

Mmmm....yummy


Do I look full???? NEVER!


Friday morning Mommy and Aunt Erin decided it would be fun to check out the crowds and go shopping. Of course Jace slept late that morning which meant a later start than expected. Then Mommy's car got mad and started shouting 'STOP'...'Break Default'. After finally getting word that the car was indeed ok, the crew finally made it to B-town. Worst decision ever. Mommy will NEVER go shopping on Black Friday again. Jace was even less enthused.

Booooring!!!


STILL Boooooooring!!

This picture was captured shortly after the clerk in one store decided to take Jace's thumb out of his mouth and pop it in her own! Mommy was so flabbergasted she couldn't even say a word. Jace was not fazed and promptly inserted it BACK IN HIS OWN MOUTH!! Ewwwww. Once again......Never again on Black Friday.

Friday evening Jace got together with his cousins and watched the lighted X-mas parade. He enjoyed about 1/2 of it before Mommy and Daddy thought it was a smidge too cold.


Friday night was a bit of a milestone for Mommy. Her first night out on the town in 2 years. Yes, you read right....2 years. Mommy had only 3 rules for the night....1. No liquor 2. No shots 3. No dancing

This is Mommy taking it easy (breaking rule #2) at around 9:30.

As you may have guesssed rules 1 and 3 were broken in subsequent hours. Mommy also would like to include a transcript from her and Aunt Erin's conversations leading up to a hellish Saturday morning.

Friday night 9:30 pm
Aunt Erin: It's ok...I'll get up with Jace in the morning. Go ahead and have fun.
Mommy: Are you sure?
Aunt Erin: Of course!

Saturday morning 11:00 am
Aunt Erin: (rubbing her eyes and yawning as she stretches and gets up) Good morning! I have the perfect cure for a hangover! Sleep as long as you possibly can!
Mommy: (turning slightly green after being awake since 5:00 am) What happened to getting up with Jace?

Sunday Jace got to celebrate yet again at Nana and Papa Cooks. And once again, he ate like a champ! Mommy even had to have dessert just for him! The things she does for her boy!


Hanging with the boys watching football.


And almost last but not least, Jace now has a total of four teeth with another one right on their tail. 2 broke through on top this weekend and another is so close you can almost brush it!

And really last but not least, Jace started his new daycare today. He did wonderful!! Mommy was so worried but only called once. Jace even managed to take 2 naps--one of which was a whole hour! Way to go Jace!! Mommy couldn't be more proud of her little man!!

515 1/2 Franklin.......and a few additions

Jace got to go to Des Moines with Mommy this weekend to meet up with some old college buddies. Oh how times have changed!! There were several additions to the reunion this time. Mikey D is one of Jace's new dudes. Mikey is 2 months old and belongs to Karla, Mommy's old roommate. Jace also was able to meet Courtney, who belongs to Amy, Mommy's other good friend from college. Courtney is 5 months old and was showing some interest in the older, opposite sex. That's not to say that Mikey D. won't give Jace a run for his money in the future. For now however it appears that Courtney is attracted to men that crawl--or maybe it's the hair? Of course Aunt Mia and Aunt Chrissy were also in attendence to liven things up. Mommy and Jace always have such a good time when everybody gets together--we really wish we lived closer!

Jace and Courtney.........Jace liked patting her on the head. He got a few tugs in on her hair as well! Daddy is going to have to have a talk with him about how to properly flirt!


Jace and Mia.......Jace found Mia and Chrissy quite entertaining. He surely loved the discussion of the good old days--when our only worry was a stick man in underwear, or having a beach party in our living room. Of course maybe someday Jace can record corny phone messages for hours on end as well.


Jace got to know Mike, Mikey D's Daddy, as well. He decided to take a load off and talk a little football with Mike.


Please note that the next pose was done soley by Courtney's Mommy. Jace does look good in pink though. Real men wear pink. Boo yeah!


Could it be the next generation of Panthers???


We can't wait to we see everyone again! Until then we'll live in our memories of Franklin Street!!
And a special note the the 515 1/2 Frankliners---as I wrote this I heard 867-5309 in my head--only it went 266-6976!! :) I'll never forget that number!

Movin' on Up

We have found a new daycare! We think Jace is going to do very well there. On Mondays he will be there by himself with just one other little boy there for 3 hours in the morning. The rest of the week Jace will be with 2 little girls--one 7 months, and one 3 years old. Wednesdays will still be 'Jace and Daddy days' at home. Jace was able to spend time at his new daycare a couple days this week with Daddy. Daddy was home with Jace Wed. and Fri. so they spent some time playing with his new friends and he really seemed to enjoy himself. There is also a big dog there which Jace LOVES!
And in other news......

We have been working on the sippy cup. Jace could care less what is in it so the switch to milk should be a breeze. The problem arises when Jace actually has to DRINK out of it. He would much rather turn it upside down and watch a steady stream of liquid drench his drawers. Mommy decided to stand firm on this one. No laughing when Jace is intentionally being naughty. Jace is not sure what to think of this new found strictness. He has decided the best response is to ignore Mommy. When Jace intentionally dumps out his sippy cup, Mommy immediately takes it away. Jace then proceeds to turn until he can't see her anymore and stay there pouting for several minutes. Oh it is rough being Jace!

Jace received this little car from Papa Cook when he was just an itty bitty little dude. He loves it now. We shuttle him around the living room on it and he thinks he is king of the world!

Jace is becoming quite the smarty pants. He is getting very good at taking the rings off his ringy toy thingy and stacking them back on. He also is getting good with his baby signs. He will sign 'more' indepentently when it is a really yummy food. Jace is also imitating like a mad man! His favorite sound at the moment is /b/. Therefore we have been playing with tons of books, blocks, toy bugs.....you get the idea.

Thursday night was the tree lighting parade downtown. Mommy saw a sign saying that there was free hot chocolate and cookies so of course no amount of cold and wind was going to stop us. Two of her favorite words in one offer---chocolate and free! Jace was bundled up like a bug in a rug but did well and enjoyed the lights and the music. He is a dancer--and yes Mommy is holding off on teaching him any of her rather infamous moves!

Our little marshmallow

Daddy and Jace---ready for Jace's very 1st Christmas!!!!


That's all for now---Jace and Mommy are headed to Des Moines this weekend for an official 515 1/2 Franklin reunion!