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

A few new firsts for Jasper

Well, HELLO! It's been a while! Happy Halloween, Happy Thanksgiving, and Merry Christmas! Hope everyone is having a great December, and "HOW BOUT DEM TIGAHS!?!"

Jasper celebrated his first Halloween by dressing up as a Sweet Potato flavored Hubig's Pie. In fact, the entire family dressed up, even Callie! Our neighborhood had a big block party on Halloween night and Jasper won his first costume contest. Only three months old and already a winner! As Jeremy would say, "That's my boy!" Grandpa, CeCe, Grammie, and even my good friend George (from work) all came over for Jasper's first Halloween, and it was a lot of fun.



Let's see, what else has been going on?... Since the Christening, LSU has defeated Auburn, Alabama, Western Kentucky, Ole Miss, Arkansas and Georgia. Jeremy and I were fortunate enough to get Carol and Debbie's tickets for the Western Kentucky game and the Munstereifels' tickets for the Arkansas game. Man, it is so much fun watching LSU win! Thanks to our families again for the tickets!


Granny, Carol and Debbie just got back from three (very long) weeks in Italy. Jasper missed them so much! We took pictures of him just about every day and sent them by text so that Granny could get her "Jasper fix." From what I understand, she basically confiscated Aunt Debbie's phone, showing off her grandson to everyone on the bus, along with complete strangers just walking by. Needless to say, she missed us a lot. I think that's the longest I've ever gone not talking to Mom. It was torture!


I started one of those exercise boot camps the first week of November. It's called Camp Sweat and it's owned by a girl that I went to high school with. I've lost about 7 lbs. so far, and about two inches in my waist. Once I can really see a difference, I'll have to put up some before and after pictures. Only 40 more lbs. to go! Ugh, just shoot me.

Jasper went to his first Poboy Festival. I have a new understanding of strollers. All those years, I'd get so mad at people with their stinking baby strollers as they'd come up behind me and hit me in the back of the ankles. I am now one of those people. I made Jeremy walk in front of the stroller as we forced our way thru the crowd, so that I didn't hit too many people. Instead, I managed to hit the back of Jeremy's ankles, only about 37 times. I'm sure he appreciated that. Have I mentioned that he's an AWESOME dad?!? Anyway, we have a friend that works on Oak St., so we spent about four hours just sitting on the front porch people watching. Jasper loved it. No poboys for Jasper this year, but next year, it's on!


We spent Turkey Day visiting with Grandpa and CeCe first, then Nanny and family in Mandeville, and finally Grammie and PawPaw, Justin, Ruth and Granny that night, at Morning Call. Jasper had some powdered sugar for the first time and he loved it. EVERYONE took turns holding Jasper throughout the day. Thank goodness he likes people, because we basically played "Pass the Baby" all day. On Sunday, we had a second Thanksgiving, with the Starr family at our house. I cooked and cooked and cooked, and fortunately, everything turned out pretty well! Well, I had to make two batches of pralines and I burned my finger, but at least a few pralines in the second batch came out good. It's all sugar anyway! I just licked up the whole first batch when they wouldn't harden. Yes, all of it. Don't judge! Anyway, it was a very nice day. Thanks to PawPaw for bringing the turkey and Granny for bringing the ham. Even Nanan and Uncle Timmy came in from Baton Rouge to be with us. We were so happy to visit with them!







Last weekend, Jeremy, Jasper and I met up with Nanny-Kira, Cindy, Peyton and Makenzie at Chapelle's Breakfast with Santa. Jasper took his first pictures with Santa. He didn't smile, but at least he didn't cry, which is more than I can say for Makenzie. I won't go into detail, but as you can see below, Santa is not Makenzie's favorite person. Either way, we love being with the Gervais/Mares group. They're always a good time!




And here we are, already into the second week of December. Jasper is going to be four months old on the 12th. I'll send updates of height and weight once we visit the doctor on the 14th. He is still sleeping really well, allowing Mom and Dad to get plenty rest. And he's such a happy baby. It's so easy to make him smile and laugh. We're really looking forward to celebrating his first Christmas with as many of you as possible. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year to all of you. We love you.