Early Christmas visit from G&G Swanee!

Grandma & Grandpa Swanee came for an early Christmas visit at the beginning of December...(Can you tell I've been busy since I'm just getting around to posting the pics!) We had sooo much fun! They babysat one night so Joe and I could enjoy a date night to the movies! Yeah! Mom and I spent much of the time trying to get our Christmas shopping done so dad got to hang out with Jensen quite a bit! I think they enjoyed their time together:)

Looking forward to the wonderful gatherings with family over the next few weeks! We continue to count our blessings everyday...And we're so excited for Jensen's first Christmas!

Christmas shopping with dad!

Jensen's first Christmas book....He likes it..Can you tell?

Our little Santa!

Jensen loves his sippy cup & pears!

Here are a few short videos of Jensen. He has recently learned how to drink from his sippy cup - He's still learning how to tip it up to make the water actually come out. He gets so excited when he gets water! He also enjoys eating his pears.....he can't get them in his mouth quick enough!

Happy Thanksgiving!

So much to be thankful for....and we celebrated today! It was a beautiful Thanksgiving Day! We spent the day with Julie, Marc, Katie, Josslynn, Bob, Krysten and Kylie Grace. We ate awesome food and enjoyed our time with family!

Jensen is 8 months old!

Hard to believe Jensen is 8 months old....I feel like I say that every month, but it's just amazing how quickly time has gone by! And he is definitely Mr. Personality!
We're starting to see the beginning signs of crawling....He pushes up with his arms and scooches backwards, but we haven't seen much action with the knees yet. And as you can probably guess, eating continues to be one of his favorite activities of the day.....Hmmmm, sound like anyone else you know??? I believe Joe had a shirt when he was a baby that said "EAT"....I think that would be quite appropriate for Jensen too! He loves to feed himself so we've started giving him peas, lentils, small pieces of cheese, bread and bananas, etc. that he can pick up and put in his mouth.
Joe's football season is over and it's been fun to have him around a little more the past few weeks to share in the fun of feeding, bathing, walks, etc. Just can't get enough of Jensen's little smile - We feel so blessed everday!

Fun at school!

We are so lucky that we've found such a great school for Jensen! We all love it there so much!! The teachers are so wonderful to him and he's made some good friends - Here he is with his little buddy that is just 2 weeks younger!
Now that Joe is done with football, we've enjoyed going together to pick up Jensen. During football season, Joe always had the hard job or dropping him off in the morning and I had the fun job of walking in to see his smiling face to pick him up in the afternoon. Now we either go together or Joe will go by himself to get him! We're so glad we've found such an amazing place for him to hang out a few days a week:)

An early visit with Santa!

Jensen promised Santa he had been a good boy when he met him for the first time on Saturday! We were a little nervous about how Jensen might react to the big man in a red suit with a white beard....but he LOVED him and had the biggest smile on his face the entire time! He must have a lot of toys on his Christmas list because he was definitely trying to win Santa over with that smile:) It was the cutest thing ever!!

Beautiful Fall Weekend

What an absolutely beautiful fall day! We did some house chores, raked the leaves in the backyard as Jensen enjoyed his swing, took a walk over to the school to let Bailey run, watched some football and just enjoyed the perfect fall day together! We were able to snap some great pictures of Jensen....Here are just a few of my favorites!

Trip to Auburn

We celebrated at Lori & Brannon's shower in Auburn on Saturday! Jensen enjoyed his first tailgate and playing with all the other kids.

Giggles & Sounds

What a little personality Jensen is developing! Here is what's going on with him developmentally - In the past week or so, he's started saying "da da da da"....Not quite associating it with his daddy yet, but so fun to hear him say it! We're working on the ma ma ma ma:) He loves sitting on the couch & bed and playing with the remote controls. He has so much fun and often lets out a little shrill of excitement! He has learned to feed himself puffs and small pieces of banana. Ahhhh, the everday things in his life that make us smile and melt our hearts!!

Jensen's first Halloween

Jensen was a dinosaur for his first Halloween! We had a very rainy Halloween so our night consisted of dressing the kids in their costumes and sitting them on the couch for a photo session. Jensen & Elle weren't sure what to think of us crazy adults who were making quite a production in attempts to get some great photos! Despite the weather, we had a great Halloween!

Could it get any cuter?

Here are some recent pictures of Jensen at school!
He has a little girlfriend....is this not the CUTEST thing ever??? Enough said:)

Around the house!

A rainy & lazy morning at the Gerda household!

Bath time has definitely turned into playtime!

For the love of FOOTBALL!

Jensen has been enjoying two of his Christmas gifts from last year! He's sporting his Penn State Tee from Uncle Scotty and Uncle Leigh made sure he had a manly football to go with:) As you can see, Jensen is getting ready for his football days!

Jensen is 7 months old!

Our monthly photo shoots are becoming a little more challenging....Jensen loves grabbing the paper and crumpling it up!! So here are two different pictures....One I tried to do by myself and resulted in a paper wad and the second one when Joe was here to help me distract Jensen so he wouldn't try and grab at the paper the entire time!
We had Jensen's 6 month dr. visit on October 1st. He weighed in at 19.0lbs (75th percentile) and measured 28 3/4" (97th percentile). Dr. said everything looked great!
I had to take Jensen to the dr again on October 23rd...Turns out he has a double ear infection, poor little guy! He weighed 19.5lbs - so he had gained about a 1/2 pound in 3 weeks! We started him on an antibiotic, he took a few extra naps and he's nearly back to normal! He slept through the night for the first time in a week last night- Yeah!

Attempt #2

Attempt #1

Cousin Elle's Special Day

We were able to share in a very special day for Elle...We went to a wonderful baby dedication ceremony at their church! It was a great experience for the entire family! We were so happy to be a part of the day and support the Barfield family! We love you guys!

Jensen congratulates his big cousin Elle with a giant kiss! Sooooo cute!

Movin' & Shakin'

Jensen is a busy little man! He's completely sitting up on his own, rolling all over the place, putting every toy into his mouth and eating lots of fun foods! He goes to school 2 days a week and we absolutely love it! He loves the other kids, his teachers and all the great activities!


Jensen's first 5K on Saturday.....Bailey, Jensen & I partipcated in a 5K for Make a Wish....A beautiful way to start our morning!

Bundled up for the 5K

Lovin' Mom & Dad!

Just can't get enough of our little guy!

Seagrove Beach

Cara and I were feeling a little brave so we packed up Jensen & Elle and took off for Seagrove Beach! By 2:00am, when we had been in the car for nearly 7 hours, we were rethinking our decision!?!? After a good night sleep and a special beach cocktail the next day, we were reenergized:)

Our visit with Grandma and Grandpa Swanee was well worth the drive! We spent 2 1/2 days at the beach- relaxing, swimming, eating and enjoying as much family time as we could squeeze in....The kids loved it and so did we! We had our first Early Bird Special dinner and did some serious catching up on sleep! Let's do it again SOON!

Bestest cousins!

Beach time with Grandpa Swanee!

Life is good!

"Let's build a sandcastle!"

Love you!