Just a Pic

I don't think you have any idea how much I love this picture. 

Happy Thanksgiving, Y'all!

We had a really wonderful Thanksgiving Day. 

It started, of course, with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Well, at least, that's how it started for me. Jeremy was grilling turkeys, and Jones was napping during most of it, so, as I watched, I addressed Christmas cards and texted my dad about how bad this year's parade was. 

Speaking of bad, do NOT get me started on this re-make of The Sound of Music. Carrie Underwood should be ashamed of herself.

As soon as the Parade was over, and the nap was finished, and the turkeys were cooked, we headed to celebration numero uno at cousin Amy's new house, which is just beautiful. There, Jones matched me calorie for calorie before we headed to Greenville for dinner with the Stultz and Conley families. It was a quick visit to South Carolina, though. By 6:30, we'd headed back to Canton for the nite and had Jones home in time for bed.

Needless to say, Jones ate his fill. When I was making his plate at Amy's, I realized I was filling it as if it were for me! He ate every bite and followed it up two hours later, eating dressing and mashed potatoes (with a glass of Happy Cow Chocolate Milk) at Mom and Daddy's. 

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from a wonderful day with our wonderful families.  We have so much to be thankful for - not the least of which is the fact that my Aunt Ethel crocheted Freddie Bear a blankie in Kentucky blue! She made one for Jones in Tarheel colors, so I'm thrilled to be able to balance that out with a big blue blankie for Second Son.  That's not pictured below, but I'm sure there will be pictures a'plenty of it very soon.

Until then, enjoy these!

Jones goes to the dentist.

Before Jones was even born, his daddy and I discussed his first trip to the dentist. I know. I know, but you know what they say: "When expecting your baby, don't forget to do the important things - pick an outfit for bringing him home, a church to bring him home to, and a dentist to see him just after he turns a year old." Done. Done. ANNNND, after today, done. Jeremy was sweetly insistent in all of our discussions that we take our kids to see his childhood dentist, if it was okay with me.

It was okay with me. I don't have a childhood dentist. I mean, I went to the dentist, but because we moved around a lot, I saw a smorgasboard of them, most notably Dr. Camak, whom I remember really liking (spectacular sticker selection), and Dr. Straup, who gave away vouchers for free fries from the next door Burger King and whom I remember giving me so much Novocain that I very nearly bit my own jaw off without being any the wiser. That to say, it's been our plan from before the beginning to take Jones to see "Dr. Bill" Chambers, just like his daddy did all those years ago. I'd like to say that Jones did great. And for most of the exam he did, but when the hygienist (Kim) and Dr. Bill took turns taking a look inside his mouth, Jones made it perfectly clear how unhappy he was with the arrangement. Either he was unhappy with that OR with the blanket of Tarheel paraphernalia that covered the walls of the exam room.

Regardless of the reason why, he screamed like a child possessed each time they put him in the exam chair. I had to hold his hands to constrain him, which really broke my picture-taking stride. With the exception of those two brief exams, though, he did do really well. Both Kim and Dr. Bill were thrilled to see Jeremy - as I knew they would be - and blown away by how much Jones looks like his daddy.  If I've heard that once in the last thirteen months, I've heard it 9,876 times.

Here's what I didn't know going into our 8:30 appointment: I didn't know that Dr. Bill had played for the Tarheels in the early 1970s. Had I known, I'd NEVER have answered "What do you want to be when you grow up?" on Jones's Get-to-Know-You Form with "a Kentucky Wildcat basketball player." I was just being silly when I wrote that, but as soon as I walked into the cerulean-hued room, I instantly felt like I'd unwittingly thrown down some sort of smack talk gauntlet. 

Should make for an interesting 18 years!

Go, CATS?!?

a Weekend Away

Earlier this year, Jeremy and I started talking about our need to leave Jones with the Pressleys for a weekend before Freddie's born. We really just wanted to get Jones used to staying over there, so that, when the baby comes, he won't flip out ... not that I think that he will, but since I'm not so sure how I'LL react to be away from HIM, time away was an important part of my prepping-for-Freddie process.

We decided a trip to Tuscaloosa for the Alabama / LSU football game was the perfect time for our trial run. This was our weekend. Because I didn't think I could do TWO nites away from my Love Bug, we dropped him off first thing Saturday morning, met my parents in Greenville, and headed to Alabama for what we'd thought would be the biggest game of the year. Little did we know that Auburn would come out of nowhere to challenge the Tide late in the season.

Anyway, I don't know what I was worried about. I hadn't fed Jones breakfast when we dropped him off, so Nan's first order of business was to fill his belly. Maybe it was just the fact that she was feeding him, but Jeremy and I left to Jones sitting in his high chair, waving and saying a very loud, "BYE!"

Don't act so sad, Son.

To be honest, I did better than I thought I would, too. We called several times to check in, but he did great, and I - not gonna lie here - thoroughly enjoyed sleeping from 9 Saturday nite until 9:30 Sunday morning. There were just a few little anecdotes Mrs. Pressley told us when we got home, though, that I wanted to always remember:

1) She taught him "patty-cake," while we were gone. How have I not done this before?! Some mama I am! It is the cutest thing ever. He'll clap his hands and say, "ca-cake" and then "roll-it-up," just like he's supposed to.

2) She said that, several times over the course of his stay, he pulled out a little photo book I made when Jeremy and I found out we were expecting Jones. It's got a picture of the two of us on the cover. Apparently, Jones would drop it on the floor and rest his face on his fists, while he stared at it. Whether he recognized Mama and Daddy, I don't know, but it sure did make my heart smile to hear this story and pretend that he did!

When we got home, he was still down for his afternoon nap. As soon as he woke up, Pop brought him into the den, and he smiled a thousand smiles to see us - again, he's a pretty smile-y kid, so there's probably no correlation between seeing us and the cheshire-cat grins, but in my mind, he was smiling with happiness that, for all the fun he had with Nan and Pop, he was happy to see his mama and daddy.

I know his mama and daddy sure were happy to see HIM!

Thomas Frederick Pressley

Here's my little Freddie Bear. 

When we saw Jones's 4-D ultrasound, I thought he looked like an old, Jewish comedian. When I saw Freddie's, I thought he looked like Jones in a Donald Duck hat.  Though there's not much common ground in those two comparisons, there's definitely a family resemblance in their two photos, I think.

Freddie's ultrasound was done at 31 weeks. He's 68th%-tile in his body size so far - Jones was 67th at this same point - but his head is in the > than 95th %-tile. We're going back on December 4th to be sure all is well in there.

Please pray that Freddie will be as perfect, healthy, and handsome as his wonderful big brother!

Wishlist

Earlier this week, my dad emailed me, asking for Jones's Christmas wishlist. My favorite one-year-old and I haven't exactly discussed it, but I'm assuming he'd like an iPhone for Christmas, because this is his response every time I take mine away from him. 

Seriously.

Every. Single. Time.