Stay Jolly

'Tis the season to be jolly . . .

And the only thing that was un-jolly about our Roanoke Christmas weekend was that it had to come to an end.

This Thursday-Monday marked the beginning of Christmas festivities for the Heaths--kicked off with a wonderful roadtrip to my beloved Roanoke, Virginia to celebrate with Justin and my families ... as well as a daytrip to Chilhowie, Virginia on Sunday to celebrate Christmas with Justin's dad, aunts and uncles, and his beautiful Mammaw.

Despite blustery winter weather on Thursday we hit the road around lunchtime headed South.  Jackson was so excited to see both of his grannies at once--so we set off into the snow.

On Friday we took a trip to Valley View Mall to shop for this growing boy.  Everything we bought was size 12-18 months...and they fit!  This little peanut is quickly becoming a chunk, and this was the very first time I have actually had to buy him clothes out of need.  It was fun to shop guilt-free that way, too!  It helped that we were able to take advantage of the pre-Christmas sales this time of year.  That night we had dinner with his Aunt Nancy and Uncle David.  Jax gave Nancy a run-for-it at dinner, but I don't think she minded.  She was a big hit!

On Saturday, Granny Tori did some last minute shopping at Toys-R-Us, and then she and I spent the afternoon cooking "Christmas Dinner" together.  I learned how to make a spiral ham, sweet potato casserole, green beans, corn, and rolls.  I think next year I am making it my goal to host either Thanksgiving or Christmas at our house--so this year was a practice run--a dress rehearsal of sorts.  He might not have any teeth, but Jackson sure enjoyed Granny Tori's home cookin'.

After dinner, it was present time!  Don't think for one second that this little stinker didn't know what was going on.  He probably won't remember this as his first Christmas, but he still had fun in the moment.

Boy ... did he get spoiled!

 

Seriously ... between this weekend and the things that Santa just might bring, I think this kids will have every age appropriate toy on the planet.  After dinner and opening gifts, we had some fun family time relaxing by the Christmas tree and playing our new Kinect for XBox 360 (thankfully there are no photographs of this--only video--for which I will later kill Jackson's father--cough, cough--right Marney?).

It was such a fabulous night ...

... that we all rested well ...

Until Sunday morning rolled around, and we headed further south to Chilhowie ... another 2 hours on the road that were well worth it.  There, we ate a delicious lunch prepared by Justin's sweet Mammaw.  She also showed me how to make her famous sausage balls.  I, being a very novice cook, turned her "by memory" recipe into a written approximation, although the cook-time remains "until they are brown."  I think I know what she means.  *smile*  After lunch, we enjoyed one another (as well as Mammaws singing hymns and playing the piano by ear) and Jackson opened a few more presents from his family.

Jackson especially got a kick out of his big cousin, Gabe--who was so well mannered and patient with him.

Sunday evening we returned to Roanoke for Mexican food with my Uncle David and Aunt Mary.  Naturally, Taco enjoyed that meal too.  By the looks of him, you can tell he enjoys most all means, right?

But Monday morning came oh-too-soon, and it was time to return to "Northern Virginia" once again (but not for long!).  We are so thankful and blessed for such wonderful family with whom to spend this beautiful holiday season!

Stay jolly everyone! 

Cuppie

I am such a big boy!

Check out my cuppie!



Ho Ho Humbug!

On Friday night we went to the Warrenton Christmas festival--it was a bit disappointing.



We were expecting a Roanoke-esque "Dickens of a Christmas" with roasted chestnuts, horse-drawn carriages, funnel cakes, carolers, and Christmas crafts lining the streets.

What we actually got was this:

Ba-Humbug!

There was nothing there!  My friend, Jill, from work warned me about this, but I decided to check it out anyways.  It left much to be desired.  We had Jackson all bundled up, and we were hoping there would be lots of music and lights for him to enjoy.

Nope.

There were bag-pipers, a horse drawn hayride, and a live nativity in one corner of the street.  But, everything was really lackluster...and that was it!  No food, no chestnuts, no carolers, no crafts, no nothing.  The rest of the town was literally empty. 

Ba-Humbug!

We needed a jolly "Ho-Ho-Ho" when we got ho-ho-home, so we made our own Santa Claus.

A Desitin-beard Santa.

Oh well, you live and you learn.

Next time I'll take Jill's word for it!

Big News

I think the time has finally come to make the grand announcement.  You see, the truth is, I've been avoiding you readers.  I haven't wanted to tell you our big secret...then have it fall apart at the seams...and have to un-tell you.  I suppose there is still a small chance that could happen, but, since it's small, I guess it's safe to go ahead and spill the beans.  Have I wetted your whistle with enough anticipation yet???

We're Moving!

Yes, you read that correctly.  We're about 99% sure that we're moving for real.  Those of you who talk to me regularly certainly understand why I have waited until now to "shout out loud" our big news.  Selling our current home has been a huge UNACCEPTABLY ENORMOUS challenge.  We listed our place in August of this year with a terrible real estate agent ... and after 3.5 offers fell apart during negotiation ... we fired him (only to receive an explosively angry email about it).  We then found a wonderful new agent who had us fully ratified under contract within 13 days of taking over our home sale.  Then began the circus act of jumping through hoops...home inspection...radon tests...HOA documents...appraisals...underwriting.  That's not to mention to countless times we traveled over an hour to what will be our new hometown to look at houses (bless our agent there)...and the hoops on that end--same things--home inspection...radon tests...appraisals...underwriting.  Oh, and trust me, it has not been smooth sailing through those hoops either.  But, God is great!  After 4 months of having doors slam in our faces...he is opening windows now.  The gears are turning in a positive direction ... and today we received the wonderful news that "the show must go on!"  As long as we make it to settlement, it looks like we are on our way!  Thank you Jesus for your answered prayers and to all those friends and family members who have been praying along with us!

Why?  That's your next question, right?  There are two reasons actually.  The first reason is to reduce expenses to allow us to take our family in the direction we want and need to go.  As some of you know, Northern Virginia is an extremely expensive place to own property.  We knew that too, but a lot has changed since we originally purchased our home.  Namely, Jackson.  And ... I really want to be able to be a "stay-at-home-mommy" with him and any other children the Lord may bless our family with.  Additionally, this move will allow Justin to further his career as well as be able to be an involved Daddy.  It really is the best of both worlds in that respect.

The second reason, is because I (sorry) hate Northern Virginia.  Don't get me wrong...there are some fun things to do, and parts of it are really pretty.  It's not a "bad" place to live by any means.  But...it's not for me.  I'm a Roanoke girl through and through...and I miss the dickens out of the true South!  That being said, I haven't found Northern Virginia to be a very easy atmosphere to make friends, a church family, get involved in my community, etc ...  There is a very distinct "culture" up here that you have to experience to understand.  A culture that places high value on things that I really don't value much at all.  And...the longer we lived here...the more I began to recognize in myself a desire to relocate to a place with a "smalltown" feel.  I want to raise our children in a town with festivals, smiling faces, Friday night highscool football games, and campfires (sure...chivalry and curteous drivers will be nice too).  I want Jackson to have a distinct image of his "hometown" like I do one day instead of just saying "I'm from NOVA" (thus lumping together everything Northeast of Culpepper to the Maryland state line).  And while I can't bring him Roanoke, I'll do the best I can.

So ... we're sacrificing a little (mostly our sanity over the last 5 months) and gaining a whole lot.  Honestly, I cannot wait!  Stay tuned for more updates and eventually, photos.

Thanks for keeping us in your prayers during this time of transition!

The Big Man Himself

Today I met the "big man" himself.

And I liked him ...

well ...

mostly I liked his jingle bells ...

7 Months Old!

Today, Jackson Scott is 7 months old!

I seriously cannot believe that we are now well into the second half of his first year.  Last night I was watching some home videos of his first week home, and he has changed so much.  He used to be so squishy and wrinkly just swaddled sungly in a blanket, and now he's such a big boy.  We did our crude at-home estimations of Jackson's measurements this morning, and he weighs 19 pounds 8 ounces and is 27.75 inches long.

As you can see, it's getting a little more difficult to take those super-photogenic smiling photographs of this growing boy--he has a mind of his own.

Goes well with the mohawk, don't you think?  Only at this age could you sport a mohawk while wearing Peter Rabbit and still look so cool.

Jackson has had another big month.  He now wears size 6-9 months and has graduated from his baby carrier to a rear-facing stationary carseat.  Don't be fooled, though, he still hates it and protests by screaming everytime we buckle him in.  Thus, the self-named "torture chamber" lives on.  He loves to play now, too, and has become content entertaining himself for short periods of time.  He likes his activity mat and his exercise bouncer--especially the bouncer which he now goes to town making it light up and play music.  His favorite toys are My Pal Scout and his Sing-a-Ma-Jigs, Clyde and Claudette.  He just lights up when he seems them.  His GranGran also bought him a set of jingle bells at Cracker Barrell that he loves to shake.  Naturally, Jax is also really enjoying the Christmas tree and the lights on the stairway this month.  He has also really started to notice Maggie Mae.  Actually, she can become quite a distraction when he is sitting in his highchair at mealtimes.  He likes to grab her beard too, to which we are trying to teach him "gentle, gentle" when he pets her.  So far, she's been being gentle with him also.  Every night after his bath, he has a blast watching Mommy and Daddy dance and sing to the Little People CD.  His favorite song is "Little Red Wagon."  If anyone has seen this through the nursery window...please ignore how ridiculous I look!  Thank you.

Jax takes a 6 ounce bottle every 3 hours, except at 10 a.m.--when he will only take 2 ounces.  Weird, I know.  He eats three containers of baby food and a bowl of cereal each day as well.  We've tried Gerber yogurt melts and puffs, but he gags until he vomits with these--yes, literally vomits.  However, he likes french fries, refried beans, and bubble tea "table food" so far.  I think he doesn't like the texture of the Gerber foods sitting on his tongue.  The others are either mushy, or--in the case of the fries--he can control putting it in his mouth.  Apparently, that makes all the difference.

Jackson is a pro at putting himself to sleep in his own crib now.  When we made the decision to do "sleep boot camp" and kick him out of our bedroom, I thought it was going to be a fight...but he literally likes being put to bed awake and falling to sleep on his own--from day one.  We are very blessed!  He typically goes down about 9pm and sleeps until 8am.  Not too shabby, right.  But--I have to give Justin a little credit for putting a paci in his mouth at least once a night when he wakes up fussing on the baby monitor.  Overall, though, Jax has made a lot of progress with his sleeping habits this month.

Life around the Heath house is busy, busy, busy right now...but we are looking forward to Jackson's first Christmas in only a couple weeks!

Then again...with a sweet face like this around the house...we look forward to just about everything!

Happy 7-months, Big Boy!

Bean-Oh!

It is only fitting that Jackson's first real table food was refried beans at our favorite Mexican restaurant in Haymarket, Virginia.  We eat there all the time, and all of the workers call him "Amigo" when we walk in.  It's kinda sad actually.  But, what can I say, Mexican has always been my favorite, and I gave birth to the one-and-only Jacko-Taco.

Bean-oh!

He liked them!

Photo Opportunities

The Taco-nator turned 6 months on November 5th, and shortly thereafter, we went to Roanoke for his 6-month photo shoot with Beth Simmons who also did his newborn photographs.  What am amazing job she did of capturing our boy's expressions and sweet personality!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, anyone got any ideas on how I'm supposed to choose which ones to buy?  And...drum roll please...these are just my some of my favorites...there are 51 images to choose from!

Beth also took some special Christmas photographs of Jackson and our family.

They are so wonderful too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes.

How do we choose?