Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014!

2013 has been a big year for the Moran family.  Some of the highlights include:

• Jackson turning 2
• Finding out that Jackson was going to be a big brother
• Finding out that Mini Moran #2 is a boy
• Jackson's first trips to the Seattle Aquarium, the Blueberry Farm, Fox Hollow Farm, Cougar Mountain Zoo, Dairy Queen, Denver, and Newport Beach
• Seeing Jackson dance and sing at his first school pageant
• Kelsey and Mark's wedding
• Corey and I celebrating our 5th anniversary in Maui, where we were married
• Jackson's first swimming lesson, and getting over his fear of water
• Jackson's first hip hop class
• Corey getting his dream car (a Tesla Model S)
• Jackson learning the ABCs and to spell his name
• Jackson learning to count to 30+
• Jackson getting over much of his shyness (though he can still be shy, we've definitely seen vast improvement)
• Jackson moving into his big boy room
• Celebrating the birth of new babies within our circle of friends, including Henry Shawver, Ellie Gossett, and Hadley Reeder

We hope you all had a wonderful 2013 and wish you a fabulous 2014!

Christmas 2013

Christmas has come and gone, all of our decorations are put away and the lights have been taken down from our house, but I wanted to do a quick post about our eventful holiday activities over the last few weeks.

It started with picking out our Christmas tree at Trinity Tree Farm.  We love it there, and even though it was only 11 degrees the morning we went, it was sunny and Jackson had a great time helping pick the tree, and then thoroughly enjoyed climbing on some rocks he came across (such a boy).

Next up was the HMG holiday party at the Westin, while Gramma Joan watched Jackson.  He kept busy by decorating his first gingerbread house that she brought over, while we mingled with Corey's co-workers and took part in a gift exchange. It's always so great to catch up with the HMG'ers, since I don't get to see many of them very often.

 

Jackson helped me make sugar cookies this year, and it was his first time decorating them, which he loved.  He may have only decorated a few (since I was worried he'd start licking them and we planned to give some to a few of our neighbors), but those few were amazing, and delicious.

 

Last weekend, my family came over and we celebrated Christmas (round 1) together with gifts and a yummy dinner.  It was so fun to watch Jackson not only get excited to open gifts but to also play with them this year.  His favorite gift by far was a kid's CD player my parents gave him - he spent at least an hour putting CDs in, dancing and taking the CDs out while we all opened our presents.  He didn't even want to move on to his next presents - "not yet, I'm busy" is what he'd say each time we tried to get him to move on to the next gift.  We finally got him to open his other gifts, which included his own kitchen, but he still kept going back to the CD player.  It was in constant use all weekend (I think we heard the Chicken Dance alone at least 100 times), and has continued to be a bit hit since then. 

Earlier this week, after Jackson's haircut at Bellevue Square (first time not having to sit in my lap since he was a baby!), we hit up Snowflake Lane.  Jackson loved the lollipops they handed out, and the drummer boy that we had a great view of, which was his favorite part last year as well.  

On Christmas Eve, Joan and Elliott came over for our Moran family Secret Santa gift exchange (round 2), and we were each spoiled and enjoyed watching Jackson open his next round of presents including a race track, adorable big boy outfit, and new additions to his kitchen.

On Christmas day, we spent a quiet morning at home (round 3) - just the three of us - and Jackson opened his presents from Santa and from us.  The present we were most excited to give him was a work bench, and he's spent a lot of time putting together and taking apart a toy airplane Gramma Joan gave him earlier this year.  The cutest part is when he uses the (fake) vacuum attached to the side of the work bench to clean up when he's all done. 

Christmas afternoon, we headed to Joan's with Consuelo and Elliott for Christmas dinner and to open stockings (round 4 - whew!).  Again, we were all spoiled both a delicious dinner, as well as stocking stuffers.

 

Corey and I didn't get each other any presents this year, considering he bought his dream car a few months ago, and we just got a new bedroom set (finally bought a king size bed, which we love!), but we did decide that a nice dinner out at Daniel's Broiler would be a great way to sneak in what may possibly be our last date night before Mini Moran #2 arrives. So over this past weekend, Joan watched Jackson and we headed out on date night. We ate way too much of course, but had a fabulous time together.

 

You can sense a theme --- yummy food and being spoiled with way too many presents --- and we thoroughly enjoyed all the family time we were able to sneak in over the past week. And as Jackson's last holiday season as an "only child", I'd say he had a great time.

 

We hope you all enjoyed a wonderful holiday as well!

 

Trinity Tree Farm

 

 

 

Joan picked the gingerbread house kit up from Trader Joes - such a cute house!

 

HMG holiday party

 

Decorating cookies is serious business

 







Christmas Round 1

 

The infamous CD player, which HE can control

 

 

 

Waiting for Snowflake Lane to begin

 

 

 
 
 

Christmas Round 3

 

 

Christmas Round 4

 



The Countdown is On!

With less than a month to go before Mini Moran #2's anticipated arrival, it's time to place your bets! Feel free to leave your guesses on the following in the comments, and we'll see who is closest once #2 decides to join us.

1. Birth date
2. Time
3. Weight
4. Length

Keep in mind, my due date is January 24, and in case it helps, Jackson was five days late, was 8 lbs 4 oz and was 20.5" long.

Snow!

We woke up to the first snowfall of the year yesterday and even though it was less than an inch of snow, school was delayed and then ultimately cancelled for Jackson, so I worked from home.  While it meant a lot of Dora watching for Jackson while I worked, we both decided a little fresh air after lunch would be fun, so we bundled up and headed outside.

Jackson hadn't ever really experienced snow.  It snowed his first year, but he was too little to enjoy it, and last year I think it snowed one day but turned to rain (and thus slush) before we even left the house for school.

We decided to build a snowman, which he named Frosty the Snowman ("just like in Dora Mixed Up Seasons!", which is one of his favorite Dora episodes).  The snow was perfect for snowman building, so it didn't take us long.

After that, we decided to do some writing in the snow, and until it started raining, our driveway was full of all kinds of names (Jackson, Mom, Dad, Auntie Sara, Gramma, Grampa, Kelsey, and so on).  I'm sure our neighbors got some laughs out of our driveway and snowman.

Can't wait for #2 to get here, and to see both boys get to enjoy the snow together in the years to come.

Unfortunately Frosty the Snowman didn't live long. After an evening of rain, he was pretty much a tipped over snowball. Poor J - he asked me to go out and "pick him up". If only I could, Jackson, if only I could.

Elvis the Elf

Though the actual elf is a tad creepy looking, I loved the concept of Elf on the Shelf and thought Jackson would as well, so I purchased the set (book & elf) on Amazon last month. On December 1, Elvis (as Jackson named him) made his first appearance at our house, and has been stopping by each morning since.

While I don't think Jackson fully understands the whole concept (i.e. that the elf appears each day to essentially keep an eye on you and report back to Santa), he does like to find out what Elvis is up to each morning. The best part though, is that he doesn't enjoy Elvis' funny situations for long - he wants to quickly put his toys or whatever props Elvis is using, back in order. He'll stop and say "that silly Elvis!", and then quickly pick Elvis up, hand him over to us (he can't seem to remember that he isn't supposed to touch Elvis, at least according to the story) and ask us to put Elvis back on the counter (which is where he sits all day) so we can go back to our normal routine.

Here are a few of my favorite Elvis situations.

It's been fun coming up with a new spot to put Elvis each night before we go to bed, but we are definitely not as creative and crafty as some of the posts I've seen on Facebook or Pinterest. I figure we have a few years before we need to kick things up a notch.

Seeing Santa

Jackson's visit to see Santa this year went MUCH more smoothly than last year.

To avoid crowds and waiting in line, we just headed over to the Santa we'd heard was located near the Issaquah Target, rather than the U Village Santa as in years past, and he did not disappoint. We didn't have to wait more than five minutes, the Santa was very friendly, and Jackson hopped right up onto his lap, all posed and ready for his picture.

He and Santa had a brief chat, including discussing what he wanted for Christmas ("toys" (new ones, as he clarified for me earlier) and "books" (library books, as he told me several days ago)) and that Jackson was soon going to be a big brother to a littler brother. 

He scored a yummy candy cane, and we were on our way.  I'd say this year was definitely a Santa Success.

And for reference, here's last year's photo

J-A-C-K-S-O-N

Corey recently taught Jackson to spell his name and it is one of the cutest things. J is so proud of himself (rightly so!) each time he does it.

Family Photos

We don't get many opportunities to take photos with all three of us in them, so we decided a maternity shoot would be the perfect way to capture the growing bump (like we did before Jackson was born), but also score some shots of us as a family of three.

Our friend Jen recently started her own photography business and was willing to head out in the rain to capture some photos a few weeks back.  The forecast for the day we planned on had been decent all week, but of course, that morning, it started pouring.  Luckily Jen is a trooper and was willing to shoot rain or shine, and Jackson was a better subject than we could have imagined - he smiled on command and was happy throughout the (cold, wet) shoot, with only a few snack bribes.

Jen caught some amazing shots and we are so happy with the results.  Here are some of my favorites.

Thanks again, Jen!

Caspar Babypants

We'd heard great things about Caspar Babypants, but hadn't experienced him in person.  I noticed that he would be at Top Pot in Bellevue last one morning last weekend, and knowing how much Jackson loves music and dancing, we thought it would be a fun family activity.

As we'd hoped, Jackson loved the music, which he enjoyed from Corey's shoulders (it was a full house) and enjoyed the interactive parts where kids are asked to sing along and interact with certain songs.

So glad we took him and hope that we can go to more shows in the future.

 

Big Boy Room

In preparation for Baby #2, we officially moved Jackson to his "Big Boy Room" on Wednesday evening, which includes a big boy bed! 

To help prepare him for the move, we talked a lot about the room change, and that he'd be in a big boy bed, and would have to stay in it until we came and got him in the morning, but we weren't sure how he'd actually handle things when the room change actually took effect.

He loved his crib and never once tried to actually climb out of it.  During his 45-60 minutes of settling in before sleep at night (he's just like his daddy; I on the other hand fall asleep the second my head hits the pillow), he'd just lay there or roll around.  When he woke up, he'd often just lay or sit there, talking or singing.  He never stood and shook the sides of the crib or anything, so I was hoping for the best with his bed but of course didn't truly know what to expect, especially since he's been able to open doors since around the time he started walking.

But after 4 nights in his new space, I'm happy to announce he hasn't gotten out of bed once!

The only rough patch Jackson experienced was the first night, when he fell out of bed.  We heard a thud around midnight and looked at the monitor to see him on the ground.  He had managed to roll out of his bed, land on his face, and keep sleeping.  He didn't wake up even when Corey picked him up and put him back in bed, and said he didn't remember falling out of it when we asked him about it. 

Corey quickly put a bunch of extra pillows on the floor to protect him if he fell again, and made a midnight purchase of a bed rail on Amazon, which arrived yesterday.  Luckily J had no more spills before we receive the rail.  The funny thing is I had brought up the idea of a rail to Corey earlier and he mentioned something along the lines of, "nah, your body knows when it is about to fall, and he'll catch himself before he actually falls out".  Guess he better listen to his wifey next time, eh?  (I'm not normally right, so I have to milk this one for all it's worth.)

I hope Jackson continues to like his room, and stay in his bed all of course, even when Baby Brother takes over his old room.

Converting our old office into the Big Boy room.

 

 

Final product, complete with a big boy!

 

Ta da!  Hard to believe this is the same room that housed our computers, Corey's sneaker collection and a lot of office related junk.

 

Corey's midnight Facebook update, after our middle-of-the-night Amazon purchase.