Jasper brings new meaning to the phrase, "INTO EVERYTHING."

Happy summer everyone! Hope everyone is staying cool during these hot summer months! Speaking of summer, it's flying by! Jasper will be one year old next month! With that said, we have a lot to catch up on!

Uncle George came in town in early June and it was his and Jasper's first visit to the aquarium. Jasper managed to stay awake almost the entire time while we toured the place. We especially all had fun feeding the parakeets.

 

We celebrated Father's Day last month. It was a very relaxing day... for Jeremy. I cooked and cleaned, and cleaned some more, and even changed all of the dirty diapers. (Jeremy did the same for me on Mother's Day, so it was only fair.) But by the end of the day, I was exhausted. We had Mike, Joy, Dad and Cindy over for hamburgers and hot dogs, and other than a few "charred" burgers, we all had a very nice lunch. Jasper, of course, provided the entertainment with his giggles, crawling and babbling.

We have some news (No, I'm not pregnant). Jasper took his first step! We were visiting Kelly and the Genevay's the night of June 19th. I was chatting it up with Mr. G when all of a sudden, Jasper walked from the couch to the coffee table. It was literally one step, but hey, that counts!! Since then, we've seen him take 2 and 3 steps here and there.

We have some more news. We are happy to report that Jasper finally cut his first tooth on the 4th of July! He'll be enjoying steak from Crazy Johnnie's in no time!

Now, I suppose it's time I explain the title of this blog. Well, there's really not much to explain, other than, he is LITERALLY getting into everything. If you don't believe me, just scroll down and take a look at our little pumpkin caught in the act, on several occasions. Needless to say, he keeps us up and moving ALL OF THE TIME.

This is before our maintenance man (aka Grandpa) helped us out by installing those kid-proof cabinet stopper things. We had temporarily ghetto-rigged some of the cabinets with rubber bands. But as you can see, the bands weren't quite cutting it. 

So we had this extra box lying around and Jasper decided to make it his new toy. The only problem is that he got himself stuck upside down in it. I walk in the living room after hearing a few whimpers,and I find him like this, waving his legs back and forth. Like any good mom, I got him out, but not before getting a few pictures first.

OMG. He LOVES Callie's dog bowl. I don't know what to make of it. You'd think I had ice cream in that bowl with the way he goes after it every day. Did I mention he does this EVERY DAY?? Poor Callie. Jasper already takes all of the attention away from Callie. Now, he's taking her food too! Oh, and in case you're wondering, he loves splashing his hands in the water bowl. What a wet mess!

Some of you may have seen this one on Facebook. Jasper is continuously exploring our house, especially those tight, hard to reach places like behind the couch. After taking this picture, I realized that I probably need to dust behind the couch more often. But then again, I guess that's what Jasper is there for. Oh, and this is another one of those times where I had to help him out, but of course, I had to get the picture first. 

You know that expression, "This is why we can't have nice things?" Well, it all makes perfect sense to me now. Babies, especially this baby, touches and plays with everything in his path. Anything in our house below three feet is susceptible to the baby we now refer to as "Jasper the Disaster." So when you come to our house, don't be surprised if you see things stacked up on tables, shelves and tops of the couches.

Like everything else in our house, Jasper has also discovered adult food. He wants to eat whatever we eat. I think it started with snoballs. But you can't blame him? Southern food is pretty amazing. After all, any southerner knows that anywhere else, people eat to live. But we live to eat!... Jasper didn't get to Daddy's hamburger, but he did enjoy some baked potato soup.

I'd like to say something sweet, like "Look at Jasper helping me with the dishes." But that would be a lie. It's more like, "Look at Jasper climbing on the dishwasher door and reaching for the knives while I try to load the dishwasher but can't because he pulls everything out that I put in!" That's right people, here comes trouble.

Well thanks for taking the time to catch up on how our little pumpkin is growing and changing. He's a handful, but we wouldn't have it any other way. He is still smiling and laughing a lot. And every day, he surprises and amazes us with his expressions and actions. I'll leave you with one more picture from the 4th of July at Granny's house. Jasper will be swimming like a fish in no time! Happy summer, and we love you!

Jasper on the move in May!

Well, it's Memorial Day Weekend and we have no plans. At this moment, Daddy and Jasper are snoozing it up on the couch while I sit in my robe watching Criminal Minds reruns. Life is good. Speaking of life, it's time I catch you up on ours.

In my last update, I mentioned that I was job searching. I'm happy to report that my unemployment lasted a short three weeks. I started working at Sher Garner Law Firm the week of my birthday. I'm their HR Coordinator. The job involves much more than HR-type responsibilities and it keeps me super busy. The biggest perk of the job is that Jeremy is right across the street. We carpool every day and usually get lunch together on Fridays. Sweet!!!

Jasper is enjoying his new daycare. He's at Metairie Ridge Presbyterian on Codifer, super close to Dad's house. The ladies at daycare are always telling us how well-adjusted, happy and advanced he is. Ha, we say, tell us something we don't know!

Jasper is nine months and a few weeks old. On his last visit to Dr. Culbertson (in Mid-May), he weighed 20.5 lbs, putting him in the 50th percentile, and was 29 inches long, putting him in the 80-90th percentile. Looks like he's taking after the Brunken side when it comes to height! He has perfected speed-crawling and is pulling up on furniture all the time now. Still no teeth, but I'm sure they'll arrive soon. He babbles a lot, throwing in ma-ma, ba-ba, da-da, here and there. But we're not quite sure if he actually knows what he's saying. Now that he's crawling all over the place, he gets into everything he can get his hands on. There was mud on the stroller wheel. I caught him just as he was putting a bunch of mud in his mouth. I thought, Whew! Just in time! Then I realized he had already taken two or three other bites. His mouth was black. Just awesome.

Then there was the dishwasher incident. I left the dishwasher open for a few seconds, literally seconds! I walked back in the kitchen, and of all the utensils to choose from Jasper was waving around the steak knife. Double awesome.

Finally, Jasper has a strange obsession with Callie's dog food. We're trying to correct him whenever he goes to the bowl, but we're not very good at it. We say, "No!" He then turns and looks up, laughs in our faces and grabs another piece of Callie's food. It's not going well.

I've picked out some favorite pics from the last few months. Enjoy!

 

Jasper and Dad enjoying their long weekend together.

 

Jasper and Callie goofing off together.

 

Jasper is sporting Daddy's LSU t-shirt from when he was a baby. Also, thanks to Cici, Jasper now has his own remote to play with. Daddy is so grateful.

 

Jeremy and I at a friend's wedding in May.

 

Jasper cruisin' around the living room.

 

Jasper enjoying icing at Daddy's birthday celebration.

 

This is the look we got from Jasper as we sang to Jeremy.

 

Grandpa and Jasper. 

 

PawPaw babysitting Jasper.

 

Granny and Jasper at Easter.

 

Jasper with a mouthful of whipped cream at Lakeview Grocery.

 

Brad and WB with Granny and Jasper at Brandi's Graduation Party.

 

Playing around by the pool!

 

Grammie and Jasper just after bath time.

 

Jasper LOVES snoballs, just like Mom!

Just look at that face! Oh, the cuteness!!

Let's catch up!

I know, I know, I've fallen behind on my blog updates, and I'm sure you're all desperately dying to know the details of our lives. Well the suspense is over!

Where do I begin? Let's back up a bit. First, I want to recognize the passing of my cousin, Rudy Munstereifel. Cousin Red passed away on February 18th, just before Mardi Gras. He was only 70 years old, but what a good legacy he's leaving behind. Talk about three wonderful kids, two adorable grand kids, and a true partner, Mary. I haven't kept in touch like I should, but I'm always thinking of you all. And I hope that time is making it a little easier to move forward.





Jasper went to see Daddy and PawPaw in Druids the Wednesday before Mardi Gras. This was officially his first parade, and he had a blast. Granny, Aunt Carol and Aunt Debbie made sure to keep him dry, (It was pouring!?!) while Dad and PawPaw threw him all kinds of good stuff! Aunt Aimee came with us and Uncle George met us out there too. Jasper wasn't the only one celebrating his first Mardi Gras parade...





We skipped out on Mardi Gras Weekend this year to enjoy a seven-day cruise with Mom, Carol, Debbie and a few other friends. It was Jasper and my first cruise. He made the age cut-off by only six days, so I'm pretty sure that he was the youngest passenger on board. The trip was beautiful, as we traveled to Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Jamaica. Jeremy and I swam with dolphins and climbed up the Dunn's River Falls, while Jasper shopped with the girls and had ice cream for the first time with Granny. Here are just a few pictures from the trip...









Somewhere between February and March, Jasper started sitting up on his own and he has perfected his "army crawl." I guess Jeremy and I will need to start vacuuming more, either that or just attach a swiffer on Jasper's belly. Anyway, he has fought off two ear infections in three weeks and what can I say? He's a champ. He is the love of our lives and I love coming home to him every day. Speaking of coming home, I've been spending more time "at home." Some of you know that I lost my job a few weeks ago. After requesting a transfer and being denied twice, I had a feeling that I wouldn't be there much longer. The good news is that I don't have to work for that guy ever again, and more importantly, I've been getting in some quality time with my pumpkin. If you're wondering I've already been on several interviews and I have a few prospects. Please keep your fingers and toes crossed that something works out for me. As always, thanks for the support.

Moving on to some happier conversation... Drea and Ella came by with some baby chickies last weekend. Here are a few pictures of cousins, Jasper and Ella playing outside with the chickies. I also attached Jasper's Easter photo. Enjoy!








Y'all have a great Easter. We love you.

We survived the holidays and Jasper is unstoppable!!

Hello and Happy New Year! We hope you all had a wonderful holiday. Ours was extra special this year. From putting up the Christmas tree to visiting plenty family, Jasper enjoyed every bit! It's actually pretty cool watching him react to new things like Christmas lights. In fact, we've noticed that in the past month he has really started catching on. He discovered Callie about a month ago. He now smiles and laughs at her all the time, especially when she licks him in the face.

He has grown a lot! At his last appointment in December he was 26.5 inches long. He's now jumping in his bouncer like a kangaroo! He loves that thing. He has good control over his head now, and he's slowly starting to sit on his own. He hunches over a lot and tends to fall over like he's drunk, but he's getting there. He has also discovered his feet. In fact, just the other day, I watched him suck his foot, pull off his sock in the process, and proceed to chew on his sock. I'm telling you, the kid is a child sensation.

At four months and four weeks, the websites talk about how baby is beginning to catch on to what we're saying when we talk to him. His verbal and cognitive skills are developing and he likes games like peek-a-boo. His hearing and vision are developing well too. He definitely knows his name and turns when we say it. The sites also mention the beginnings of separation anxiety. In other words, when baby goes to someone other than Mom or Dad, he cries. Well let's just say that this is not an issue for Jasper! He loves everyone equally and is more than happy to go to anyone willing to play with him, ESPECIALLY grandparents. He's a social butterfly, just like Mom and Dad. And you can bet, based on how much he already "talks," he's going to be coming home from school in a few years with notes from his teacher for talking too much.

Let's see ... what else? Oh, Jasper has started solid foods. Now this may not be all that exciting to you, but let me just tell you, it's really fun to watch him eat. He cries in between giving him the food and getting more onto the spoon. Yup, he likes food that much. I experimented with making my own baby food, and it's going really well. I estimated the amount of money I save by doing this (with sweet potatoes), and it's basically saving me 40 cents per ounce! Umm, in case you're not catching on, that's A LOT!!! I bet Grandpa is smiling right now as he reads this... Anyway, the baby food thing is going really well. Most of it goes in his mouth and stays there. And as long as we have wipes nearby, things don't get too messy. And when they do, we have Callie to clean up after him.

Overall, this parenting thing is pretty awesome. We were blessed with an easy baby that sleeps about eleven hours a night. He's generally very happy and it doesn't hurt that he's really cute too.

As for Jeremy and me, we've been keeping busy. For Christmas, Granny paid for us to both attend our exercise boot camp, Camp Sweat. Our first class together was last night and we came home sweaty and exhausted. We hope to both be about 30 lbs. lighter by the Summer. We're going on a cruise, though, in February. So I'm thinking we'll need to starve ourselves this month if we don't want to embarass ourselves in bathing suits! Too bad we're both OBSESSED with food. I better change the subject. This is making me hungry...

My job hasn't been the same since I got back from maternity leave. My resposibilites changed and it has not been going well. But I recently put in for a departmental transfer after talking with the Engineering Director. It turns out he wants me to go work for him, so I'm really hoping that works out. Who'd have thought, former Party Planner working in the Engineering Department?? I guess I'll just go with it. I really like the company anyway, so it would be great if things worked out.

Well, I think I've caught you up on most "Jasper happenings," along with some lagniappe. Looking forward to Jasper's first Mardi Gras. Too bad he's too small for one of those kids' ladders. I know Jeremy will be ready to use him as a means of catching more beads at the P-rades.

Hope you enjoy the pictures. Have a great January! We love you!



Bathtime


First attempts at baby food


Christmas Eve with Cece


Just hanging out, waiting for the sheets to dry...


Dad and Jasper


Mom and Jasper


First Christmas