My 1st Election

With a new baby there is a lot of "firsts"! Today we embarked on another one as Bo and I headed to the polls for early voting! Which is great by the way if your state has it, I highly recommend it. Anyway he pretty much took the opportunity to flirt with the 14 month old little girl behind us, but once we got up to cast our vote he was all politics! Of course he couldn't understand why Elmo, Barney, or Big Bird weren't on the ballot. We hope everyone gets out to vote this year to help protect our country!

57 Days!

I'm sure most people don't want to know that this is how long we have until Christmas but...it's true!!! I know you're thinking...Casey, we haven't even had Halloween yet! Well, I'm the annoying person who LOVES Christmas. My tree goes up the weekend after Thanksgiving, the Christmas music starts for an entire month, I start to bake Christmas cookies and any other sweet thing I can find, watching old Christmas movies...I love it!

This year is even more exciting...it's Bo's 1st Christmas! I realize that to him it's just going to be fun to play with paper that makes a lot of noise, but this is something I've dreamed about since I knew I wanted to be a mommy! Christmas with a little one...the innocence that comes with Santa Clause, making ornaments out of construction paper and decorating the tree, watching Rudolph and Frosty the Snowman, leaving cookies out on Christmas Eve for Santa and waking the next morning to see that he ate them all, going for car rides at night to see Christmas lights, hot chocolate and marshmallows, staying up late on Christmas Eve with Jarrod to get things put together, because of course Santa brings everything already assembled, seeing Bo's face on Christmas Day when he sees everything under the tree (I realize we have a few years before this), but everything that comes with Christmas is just so wonderful to me.

I've had people asking about what to get Bo. Since we are scattered all over the place I have started a "wish list" for him online. I wasn't crazy about this idea, because I feel like I'm asking for gifts for my child, but...since none of our family is around us it's hard to know what he likes and is into. If you would like me to send you this info let me know. I'm adding things every so often when I come across something I think he might like. Get ready it'll be here before you know it!

Free Entertainment

So one day last week while I was trying to fix dinner Bo decided to go through one of the cabinets. Luckily he chose the one that had mostly tupperware in it! Guess I have to reorganize things so he can have his own "play cabinet". He had so much fun pulling everything out and I was able to get dinner finished! He also decided to help with laundry one day! He's such a good helper!

You can always tell when Jarrod gives him a bath the night before because he wakes up with what little hair he has sticking straight up on his head!

See what I mean!

My new favorite thing...

I've been meaning to post this for a while now, but I wasn't able to get a good picture to show you. My friend Ashley has a necklace with her daughter's name on it. As soon as I saw it I had to have it. She was kind enough to send me the information so I could order one. It came a few weeks ago and I wear it every day. I think it's so unique and when people ask what it is they love it!

I'm constantly trying to learn things with my camera (again, thanks to Ashley). The picture isn't great, but at least you can get the idea!

9 Months Old

Where does the time go? Everyone said it would go by fast, but I never dreamed this fast! I see newborns now and look at Bo thinking...you were that small just 9 months ago!! We went for his checkup and everything looked great! His stats are...

Weight: 22lbs 3 oz (80th percentile)

Height: 29 in (75th percentile)

Head Circumference: 44.7 cm (45th percentile)

We saw the nurse practioner, Erin, who I love. The only concern she had was he's not saying ma ma, da da, ba ba, ga ga yet. However, he did "talk" the entire visit so that let her know that speech is there so she wasn't too terribly concerned. He will repeat sounds that we make so that is a good sign. I have to laugh because as she was doing his exam he kept grabbing at the stethoscope, squirmed the entire time, made it very hard on her. When she went to look at his ears he hated it and made it extremely hard on her by squirming, kicking, shaking his head, screaming, etc... THEN she decided to check out his teeth...haha! I had explained to her that he won't let anyone in there. So she laid him back with his head in my lap and his feet in hers. He was kicking her so hard, shaking his head, clenching his mouth shut. She had to practically lay on his legs to get a look. By the end she was like "You're not kidding...he's feisty!" She even said..."I've never had a 9 month old like this". Then she politely said "He may begin to throw tantrums for you." I just laughed and said...You think??? Yea, we're already there. I know my parents are loving this entry right now because it is totally ME!! He is such a sweet, sweet baby, but he knows what he wants and what he doesn't. By the end of the visit she made the comment...he's so busy moving and shaking that he hasn't taken the time to try to learn how to speak and that it'll come, not to worry.

His new trick is pulling up and man has he mastered that! He pulls up on everything! He loves other children, especially older ones. We are getting him more and more into table food, which Erin thought was great. He's doing great, just keeping us VERY BUSY!!!

I like to help daddy around the house.

Our little monkey...

I like to pull up on the ottoman...

in my crib (especially at bed and nap time)...

at the window...every morning Maddie and I watch everyone going to work...(yes, I know the outlet needs plugs)

Every morning...

I also like to play in the closet with daddy's hats.

Hey my head shrunk!

I really love it when daddy pushes me on the swing!

Congratulations!!!

Last week my brother graduated from the Mississippi State Fire Academy! Unfortunately the batteries in the camera died at the ceremony so we don't have any pictures. I'm hoping we are able to get some.

Jarrod, Bo, and I just wanted to let my brother know how proud we are of him! Hearing the things that these young men had to complete in order to graduate is just amazing. In his class they had people drop out and on two occassions ambulances had to be called for other guys who had complications while training. Firemen are such heros in this country and I'm proud to know my brother is one of them. Bo also thinks it's the coolest thing ever to have an uncle who is a fireman!! He's ready to go see the firetruck and blast the sirens! Congratulations Barney, we love you!

BeBe and BoBo

My mom came to town last week and it was such a fabulous time! Unfortunately my dad wasn't able to make this trip due to work and he was missed so much. Here's the thing with my mom...she wants to do it all and not in a pushy, taking over kind of way...in a wonderful way!! Diapers, breakfast, lunch, dinner, bottles, putting to bed, bathtime, playing down on the floor, taking him for walks, pushing him on the swing outside, if it's part of his day she wants to do it and I LOVE that!! Not only do I get a huge break, but she is developing such a wonderful bond with Bo and you could truly see that her entire visit!

We did so many fun things while she was here. First thing we did was shopping. Some of the children's stores were having huge sales and she loves to buy him clothes. I think we got his entire fall/winter wardrobe! She loves to do it and we are so, so grateful! Not knowing Jarrod's job situation with the sale of his company we are trying to be conservative with money so THANK YOU mom, you don't know just how much we appreciate it! She also bought him a few new books and then while we were at Target...I look up and those two were checking out the toy aisle! That's what grandparents are for!

Some of my new clothes

I LOVE my new puppy!

Saturday morning we got up and headed to Sweetberry Farms. It is the cutest place I've ever seen. It's a great pumpkin patch! It had all types of pumpkins, I didn't even know there were so many different kinds. They had a "stuff your own scare crow", face painting, goats and chickens for the kids to feed, paint your own pumpkin (yes we did this), homemade jams to buy...it was so much fun! So back to the paint your own pumpkin...I was going to "paint" while Bo held on to the brush with me...I know you're all laughing right now. So, the brush quickly went all over his face so that ended that activity real fast. Mom had an idea to paint his foot and make a footprint...turned out adorable!

His "painted" pumpkin!

The rest of her time we just hung out around the house, watched football, she kept Bo so Jarrod and I could go to dinner one night, and we also had a playdate with RJ. Also, on Sunday we went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant and Bo had a tortilla, some mexican rice, refried beans, and chicken...he loved it!

Mmm I love Mexican food!

At Jungle Java for our playdate with RJ.

Giving Kisses!!!

We had a wonderful time with her here. I can definitely say I got spoiled having someone here to help and take care of Bo. I just wanted her to relax and have fun and I think it was a success! We miss you tons!

MOM

I just HAVE to post this! Today at MOPS they were telling us about a Christian music group for kids, the group is called Go Fish. As many moms out there know, kids music can drive you crazy after about the 50th time of listening to it. This music is loved by kids and it won't make the parents nuts. I'm excited because Bo loves music, especially if it has a great beat! This is something when he gets older I don't have to worry about him listening to. I came across this video of the Mom song and just had to share it with you!! I love the words to this song because oh how true they are...and yes I know who Elmo's fish is! Make sure you go to the bottom of my page and stop the music on my player.

I just had to post this because I KNOW it's true!! I constantly keep my mother laughing when I call to tell her new things that Bo has done...the good, the bad, and the ugly! She sees so much of my personality in him so she is always getting a good chuckle!

We are getting ready for her visit this week. Unfortunatley my dad has to stay back home for work. We will definitely miss him. Mom is so excited she started packing this weekend (she doesn't get here until Thursday)! It'll be so good to see her, but her visits are even better now because it's so wonderful to watch her with Bo!

Our Musical Prodigy

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Bath Time Fun!

I've yet to see a baby that didn't like bath time and Bo is no exception. Here's a little clip from last night.

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He did it!

For months now I have been working with Bo on feeding himself finger foods. Everyday I put food on his tray for him to "play" with hopes that one day he would decide to put it in his mouth. What I couldn't understand is how everything...leaves, papers, toys, remotes, shoes, etc...all made their way into his little mouth, but you give him something to eat and he had no desire to eat it. He would pick it up, squeeze it, drop it on the floor, put it on his head, anything but in the mouth. Yesterday during his lunch I put some cheese on his tray. I was actually sitting in front of him reading something when out of the corner of my eye I saw his arm move and when I looked up I noticed he was chewing. It took me a minute, but I realized he had put the food in his mouth. So what do I do...run get the camera of course. This was HUGE!!!! It just goes to show that little ones are all on their own time! A lot of it fell out of his mouth or got stuck on his hand but he's getting it!

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