Stolen Moments

Jack has been sleeping through the night regularly for at least six weeks now so those rare instances when he does wake up during the night really rock my whole world... well, okay, maybe they just mess with my energy level a little, but they make it no fun when that alarm rings the next morning! (I know, I'm spoiled.)

Last night was one of those nights for me. I was up late preparing for a big presentation I had to give at work today. When I finally wrapped things up and decided to hit the sack, it was 11:30. I decided to creep into Jack's room to check on him before crawling into my own cozy bed.

Guess what I found?

A little man, whose wide blue eyes were dreamily staring at the brand new night light on the wall across from his crib. Of course, he spotted me immediately and flashed his irresistible grin, delighted to see that I was also awake, and making it virtually impossible for me not to pick him up. Needless to say, we spent the next hour cuddling and cooing with our bundle of joy until he was finally ready to sleep again.

This day that followed may have started a little sluggishly and felt a little long, but that extra hour with my boy was totally worth it! Those stolen middle-of-the-night-moments bring with them the biggest grins, the loudest giggles and the cuddliest of cuddles.

(Although tonight the night light has been removed from Jack's room and I'll be hitting the sack a little earlier!)

Grandparent's Day

I'm so behind on blogging. There are several posts that I have intended to write but haven't yet put out there into the cyber world- the most important of those being our celebration on Grandparent's Day two weeks ago. We had (Grand)mommy Sue, (Grand)daddy Dan, and Great Grandma Harvella over for dinner. We also invited Aunt Judy, Uncle Chuck, Cousin Fay, Sister Lauren, and Boyfriend Adam, since we couldn't very well hog all the grandparents on their special day! Here are pictures of Jack with each of his grandparents:

And here's Lauren with her Grandma:

Mommy Sue's Birthday Brunch

Today is Mommy Sue's birthday and we celebrated by having a tasty brunch at Lauren and Adam's new apartment.

Jack is helping Mommy Sue open her presents!

Jack is helping Mommy Sue eat her presents!

Jack, chilling on the couch with his giraffe.

Five Months

Sorry for being a blog neglector. I hope you'll accept these pictures of Jack as retribution. Today it has been 5 months since he changed our world....

He's such a delight!

Good Morning!

How could it not be a great day when this is what greets you first thing in the morning?!
I'm a lucky mommy!

Balloon Festival... Again

We made it to the Balloon Festival twice this year! We figured that since Jack is always up bright and early anyway, we might as well take advantage of it. So, on Sunday we went with Daddy Dan (an early bird like Jack!) to watch the balloons take off, and we got some great pictures...

Welcome to the World,
Kyle Victor Knoth!

Many Faces of Jack

September Brunch Bunch

Balloon Festival

Becca, Perry, Simon, and Lukas came down from Denver bright and early on Saturday morning so we could go to the Balloon Festival before Brunch Bunch!

Reading a Favorite

The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, a children's book about a bull who would rather sit and smell the flowers than fight in the bull fights in Madrid, has always been one of my favorites!

Busy, Busy, Busy

We've had a lot of fun with Jack these past couple of weeks-
hanging out with buddies, Chase and Analeyna,
miniature golfing with the young adults,
having pizza with Kelly, Tim, Evan, and Elise,
the balloon festival (twice!),
and much more...

A Recurring Theme

Where has this week gone? I had grand plans of writing one book review every day this week so I could finally get caught up, but after Sunday I must have lost my momentum!

This evening as I watched Jackson roll all over the living room floor, I thought about how quickly time is passing. I know everybody said that it would go fast, but I never realized it would be this fast. The moments with Jack are precious and I want to capture as much as possible of this time with him. Even though the days at work are busy, it's been so much harder to leave Jack every morning than I thought it would be. I think this is because I know I am going to wake up one morning and he won't be a baby anymore and I will have spent far too much of his babyhood at my job. My chest hurts just thinking about it. I need more time with him.

The house is coming along. I know I need to take pictures of the rooms as we finish them (or, more accurately, as they become livable, finishing them will be a long process). I will take pictures... when I have the time!

Nathan had to make a tough decision this week. A good college friend is getting married in St. Louis and Nathan really wanted to attend but when push came to shove, so many obstacles stood in the way, not the least of which was time. He will be sad to miss the celebration.

I'm seeing a recurring theme. Anybody out there have any time they could spare? We should could use a little extra.

But, I'm sure many of you are facing the same challenges.