Here are all our Christmas happenings so far.
Elijah and Chad picked out a beautiful Frasier Fir tree and we all had so much fun decorating it! Chad actually helped this year
Elijah even did a little dance Click on the link below.

A Christmas Jig from Chad Jarnagin on Vimeo.

We took our annual family trip out to the Opryland Hotel to see the lights. It gets more and more fun each year because the kids are so excited to see all the lights and decorations.

He loves decorations and is so careful w/ them!

Our sweet girls!

The Pope himself blessed our meal

He loves his Marmee and Papa!

Elijah is running all over the house and talking like crazy! He can say, “Bye-bye, Dada”, “nana”, “monkey”, “touchdown”(w/ the hand motions), “stinky”, “open”, “wow” and “night-night”. He will repeat things you say too, so be careful!

We found out that Baby J 2 is a little BOY!! We have a first name, but we are still working on his middle name. We’ll keep you posted! He is movin’ and shakin’ and growing like crazy!

More updates soon! Merry Christmas!

since Elijah started walking. Let’s see, his cousin turned 1, his appetite has totally changed , he has had his 1st trip to the beach and oh yeah, we are having a new baby! Um yeah. End of April and Elijah will almost be 21 months. We are excited b/c we wanted our kids to be close in age. Let the chaos begin! It is fun though b/c our family has had a new baby every Christmas for the last 4 years and next year will be no exception!

As far as our trip to the beach, my sweet parents took us so we could visit my Nanny on the Mississippi coast and have a little vacation. My uncle gave us their condo in Perdido Key, FL for the week and we had so much fun! Elijah absolutely LOVED the beach! He loved the sand, the waves, the seagulls. He loved the sand so much he kept throwing it on his head, which made for some fun showers after. And of course there are about to be a few pictures to follow

Discovering sand

A boy and his shovel

He filled this bowl by hand over and over and loved dumping it out!

First feel of the water. He kept sticking his tummy way out, I guess to balance, but it was hilarious!!

gettin ready for the next wave

Elijah and Mama

He loved every minute of it!

This face says it all!

All tuckered out, he fell asleep eating his pasta! Poor thing

because he has decided to start walking!! Wahhhh!

is my sweet nephew Micah!! He is so tiny and sweet!! We just love him already

Me and Audrey holding Micah in the hospital

Two weeks old on Brianna's 3rd B-day

All 5 cousins in the wagon! I was a little nervous about this arrangement

and hugged Elijah so tight that he protested, but I couldn’t help myself. Why, Lord? Why was I born into safety and privilege when so many aren’t safe even as small children? How on earth did I get set apart and blessed? Because it is we, the safe and privileged who can do something about this. If not us, then who? Who??? It MUST be us! http://www.love146.org

was a blast! Many of Elijah’s closest friends came to help celebrate his 1st birthday. We picnic’d, swam and watched as Elijah turned into a little blue icing Smurf.

He wasn't sure about it at first.

But once he tasted it...

that cake didn't have a prayer!

My little Smurf! Can you tell he enjoyed it?

One party down, one more to go!!

12 months ago I was in a hospital waiting to meet my son. It was a long day that included lots of tears and confusion, but in the end I had a perfect 9lb 6oz baby boy. He melted my heart immediately. Truthfully my heart melted the day I saw those 2 blue lines and I dared to hope that the thing I had prayed for for so long was coming true. My heart melted when the dr. confirmed it. My heart melted when the ultrasound technician told us “It’s a boy.” My heart melted when I heard his fast, little heart beat.

The Father, in His grace and mercy, has given me the privilege of being mother to this amazing little man. This little man who loves to give me repeated kisses. This little man who loves music so much he has to move whenever he hears a song. This little man who flirts and charms his way into everyone’s hearts. This little man who is finding his voice, sometimes very loudly. This little man who is becoming independent, which breaks my heart a little.

So one year has gone by. So this is just the beginning. I have had him all to myself. I rocked him. I carried him. I nursed him. Now I have to share him with all the things he is discovering, like friends, and words, and walking, and toys. Oh my dearest, Mama loves you so! Happy 1st birthday, Elijah!

to have such talented friends! I have wanted to have Elijah painted and fortunately our sweet friend Josh Cassidy, who is this incredibly talented artist, has found a new medium – the iPhone So here is what he does:
It is truly AMAZING! Moms and Dads, $50 will get this done for you too and it is something I will treasure!!

My baby LOVES music!

do lots of things!!
~crawl… very fast
~throw his toys really far, much to Rufus’s dismay
~stand up in his crib
~jabber constantly, dada, nana, mama, baba, ha, yaya
~take a big boy bath in the tub
~go to a MLB baseball game and last the whole 9 innings w/ a rain delay
~eat a LOT
~click his tongue
~dance
~wave bye-bye
~charm the pants off every lady at the grocery store
~fake cry to get attention or food
~clap, although this is also how he signs “more”
~give big, wet, sloppy kisses
~turn the volume up on his CD player
~change his CD player to radio and change stations
~flip though pics on Chad’s iphone

and he has 8 teeth!!! I just cannot believe he is 10 months old!!