It's all so very exciting and finally happening. Chris is staying in GA for a few more days until his course in AL starts. Jake is staying at my wonderful, I would say "Saintly", in laws for the next 10 days or so until I get to AL. My mom is coming to CA to drive with me across the country, an adventure I'm looking forward to, spending mother-daughter time together for a few days. It's all coming together and could not be done without the fantastic family and friends we have in our life. I am so very grateful and know Chris is too.
Christmas was also wonderful. We flew home to GA on Dec. 21st and got to spend a few weeks. Jake enjoys getting into everything at Grammy and Grandy's house, and they had lots of musical little toys for him to test out. He needed them all to be going at the same time. He found a favorite ornament on the tree on Christmas morning and wouldn't let go of it. We had expected him to be more enthusiastic about the paper and boxes than his toys on Christmas morning, but didn't expect him to lose all interest to a silly ornament. He tends to become interested in small objects he can hold easily in his hand, which I think, is pretty common for young children, my kid sea to take it to the extreme. Jake got a hold of a small brand muffin at the dinner table the other night and wouldn't let go of it and we couldn't pry it all out of his hand. He ended up taking a bath with a muffin in his hand. It finally disintegrated into the water and there were wonderful little floaties a all over the tub...awesome.
Jake also enjoyed "feeding" holly berries to the ducks on the pond in front of Grammy and Grandy's house. We spend hours throwing stuff into the pond, but it was worth it to see his vocabulary grow. He has developed a number of new words and refined many he already knew. It is amazing to be able to actually see your kid learn. Some new words (sounds like): duck (duck), Uncle Jeff (Uncle Duck), water (waden), muffin (muttin), open door (opi-duck), and many more. He say more clearly: all gone, open it, sit down daddy, mommy run, and many more. Now I'm just rambling, but everyone is sleeping and I'm killing time.
Chris and I got to spend an evening in Atlanta while Grandma and Grandpa kept Jake. We went to the CNN center and toured the World of Coca-Cola.
We also ventured over to Columbus to visit with SSG Dam, Pam, and baby Paige. We drove by our old house and drove around Ft. Benning.
Aside from the trip to Atlanta and Columbs, we stayed in Griffin. In Griffin we got to see a number of friends. Nick and Alaina Granade graciously hosted the annual "Class of 2000 Holiday Photo Shoot" before Christmas. Elic and Sandyn Colwell had us over on New Year's Eve (where we burned the night oil until 8pm). Mark and Courtney Tatum had us over for dinner after the new year. Randy and Belinda Shaw had us over for dinner so we were able to see Marc and David. We were also honored to see a number of family friends who stopped over at the Baldwin New Year's reception yesterday. Overall, a great holiday or friends and family.
We also got to spend lots of time with Uncle Jeff and Great Aunt Carolyn (Cacky) over the holidays.
And to wrap up the lengthy blog notes this morning, one of the most exciting things to happen this holiday season was becoming an Aunt! On Decmber 20th, Cassadee Kae was born in Pierre, SD. Dylan and Cindy have a precious baby girl and I can't wait to get home to SD to meet her.
