Sweetest sounds a mommy has ever heard

I'm sitting in the recliner in the living room with the TV on mute... so I can listen to Jonathan singing Jesus Loves Banks as he rocks Banks to sleep. I think he has sung it 14 times now, and for the longest time Banks sang along with him..."da da da da da da da." Now, on verse number 15, Banks seems to be quieting down so he must almost be asleep. It's actually bringing a few tears to my eyes! I love them both so much! I am blessed!

And the winners are...

Funniest costume... Banks!

2nd place overall... Parker!

Banks and Parker both won in the costume contest in the neighborhood Halloween party! Evan and I were both so proud of our little ones! Banks stole the show when it was his turn to walk across the runway... his daddy put him down and let him crawl across, and Banks stopped in the middle to clap for himself! And Parker was the cutest golfer you've ever seen in his argyle golf pants!
Banks's first trophy! I hope it's the first of many in his lifetime!

Mommy's monkey!

Trick or Treat!

Pumpkin Carving

Banks and his daddy carved a pumpkin tonight! I didn't realize how much Banks would really enjoy it, but he loved it! I wasn't even going to carve a pumpkin this year, but Jonathan really wanted to carve one with him and I thought, why not? I'm so glad we did! Mostly, he loved feeling the pumpkin guts in his hands and squishing it around. The funniest thing, though, was that every time Jonathan would pull out a handful of pumpkin guts, Banks would pick it back up and put it back inside the pumpkin! I laughed so hard! I guess he has just learned to do that with his toys... by putting the ball through the hole in the train. So, he thought we were playing the same game with the pumpkin! Funny baby!

9 months

Banks had his 9 month appointment yesterday, and here are his stats:

18 lbs 8 ounces
28 inches long
18.5 inches around his head

I was so proud of how big my baby is getting! His weight is great - he went from the 25th percentile to the 35th... so we're moving on up! He's still in the 75th percentile for height. Looks like he got the tall/thin jeans from his daddy! Um, and his head is in the 95th percentile! My baby has a big ol' head! Mom - tell Lorraine! He got his build from his daddy but his head is an Eaves! We'll just say he needed room for all of those brains!

Here are a few pictures at 9 months. The first one is not a great picture, but you can really see his teeth so I posted it anyway...

Daddy did his hair tonight after the bath...

Dear Banks,

I can't believe you get to be more fun with every day that passes! You are becoming so social, and it makes me so happy to see you learn and explore the world around you. I love your laugh - it's the sweetest sound in my world. And when you smile, your entire face lights up with it! My favorite times with you are in the morning when we get to snuggle before going to school, and at night when I rock you to sleep. Those are the only times you are still enough to cuddle, so I try to cherish those moments!

Here's what you are doing at 9 months...

- You are a champion crawler! You are into everything, and I feel like I just chase you around the house! Literally, sometimes we do chase you around the island in the kitchen! Round and round... And your sweet little knees stay red from rubbing the floor as you crawl.

- You are pulling up on anything and everything that is stable enough to support you! When I walk into your room in the morning, sometimes you are already standing in your crib waiting for me. I'm not ready for you to walk though... so you can crawl and pull up all you want, but do not take steps! Stay my baby for a little longer!

- You have said "bye-bye" several times with very appropriate timing. So, I'm declaring bye-bye your first word. You spend the majority of your time saying da-da-da-da-da (and sometimes ma-ma-ma)... but we aren't sure yet that there is any comprehension.

- You love to click your tongue (all day long!). I'm not sure where you learned that trick...

- You blow kisses! It sounds a lot like you are making Indian noises...

- You give mommy kisses (but not daddy).

- You gag when you don't like the food we give you, even though you aren't choking at all.

- Bath time is still one of the high points of your day. Even when you aren't dirty, you get a bath most nights because we simply can't deprive you of that joy in life!

- Every morning, I let you sit with Callie while I finish getting ready. She is such a good babysitter! She lets you pet her and touch her nose, and you giggle!

- You have 6 teeth...four on top and two on the bottom.

- Your favorite foods are bananas, yogurt, puffs, cheerios and goldfish.

- You love to paint at school! Several times a week I pick you up with paint all over your arms and legs, and sometimes in your hair! I love your little masterpieces!

I love you so much, sweet boy! You have really turned into the happiest baby, and I'm so thankful that God blessed us by allowing us to be your parents!

All our love,
Mommy and Daddy

Family Tailgate

Even though the Tigers lost (again), we had a great time in Clemson this weekend! Jonathan and I got to spend great time with family as well as some really good friends from College!

Blair, Tim, Brandon, Erin, Ben, Melissa, J and me

I love that Peyton and Banks wore their overalls (well, Banks wore them until he had a little accident requiring a costume change...)!

Melanie, Erin, Peyton, Meg, Beth, Banks and me

My new sister!

I never had a sister before I got married. So, I was pretty pumped when I married Jonathan and Jessi was a part of the package! She's been a great sister, and a wonderful aunt to Banks! Now, I'm very happy to say I have 2 sisters! Here's a picture of Ben and Melissa from the wedding (many thanks to Melissa for sending me a picture because I didn't have ANY of the two of them!). Wasn't she a beautiful bride? And I have no doubts that she will also be an amazing aunt to Banks!

Hug Your Family

I debated about whether or not to blog about this, but decided finally that I would... because this blog has become something of a journal for me and it helps me remember things. And I thought this was worth remembering, because through it I learned that you never know how fast your life could change and you should make sure your loved ones know how severely they are loved.

Chris is a bank manager on John's Island, and this week his bank was robbed. The robber held Chris at gunpoint, and then the tellers. The picture I googled online came from the surveillance camera, and actually showed him holding the gun up at one of the tellers. He got away with a lot of money, but no one was hurt.

Chris is doing well now, but it just makes you realize how life could change in an instant. God is so good! I wish I could hug him right now... but we are many miles apart!

So... may you go home tonight and hug your family and tell them how much you love them!!

Baby Parade!

Today Banks's class had a mini-parade at school to celebrate the fair! They dressed the babies up and paraded them for the parents. The preschoolers also watched and cheered the babies on! This is just one more reason why I love Banks's school... they do things for the parents and keep the parents involved! It's very very family oriented.

When I got there, I saw that they dressed Banks up as a policeman and painted his face! I guess that made him a clown policeman. He was too cute... but as you can see from the pictures, he was a little cranky. The parade happened during his naptime!

The Fair is in town!

The fair is in town! OK, for those of you not in Statesboro allow me to explain. The fair is an awfully big deal here. They don't have a Christmas parade here - but they have a "Fair Parade"! I mean, talk about priorities! I never actually went to the parade before this year, but I thought Banks would like it so we went, and sat with our friends Kennedy and Drew! Banks loved it! He sat sweetly in our laps and took it all in!

After the parade, we went to the fair so Banks could see all of the lights. As tired as he was, he really enjoyed seeing it all and was a champ even though it got late! Unfortunately, the area where the animals are located lost power so they didn't have any lights... so Banks didn't get to see the animals. Overall, I'd say he still enjoyed the fair!

It's almost Halloween!

Well, we had a rainy weekend but that did not stop us from going and picking out our perfect pumpkin! Banks needed a pumpkin! As you can see, he saw the pumpkin as just another good toy to pull up on. I took some video of Banks pulling up this weekend because I just needed to be able to remember it. I'll post some of it this week sometime for memory's sake. I also took a lot of video of him crawling because I feel like he'll be walking any day now and then my little crawler will be gone! I'm not ready for that!

Banks started cruising on Friday (10/10/08) and I feel like walking will be close behind. What happened the first time he cruised? He fell and busted his mouth of course! I got a call at school saying he had fallen and cut his mouth, but that the bleeding had stopped. His bottom teeth cut into his palette and it just bled a lot because that's what mouth wounds do. No worries - he was fine less than an hour later and pulling up on things again!

Mommy's Busybody

Ben and Melissa's Wedding

I have a lot of pictures from the wedding, but no pictures of the bride and groom! Isn't that terrible! Well, in my defense, all of these pictures were taken while the professional photographer was taking pictures so Ben and Melissa were tied up with her. I then sent my camera home with mom so I wouldn't lose it. Enjoy some fun pictures from the beautiful wedding!

Rehearsal Dinner

I just thought I would share a few fun pictures from the rehearsal dinner! I have lots of pictures from the wedding too, but I'm too tired to post them tonight!

4 teeth at one time

Poor baby is cutting 4 teeth at one time! All four on the top. You can see 3 really well in this picture. He's being a champ about them though! Only a little crying, and mostly that is just happening when he's tired!

My little pumpkin

The family made it back from the wedding safe and sound, but it wasn't without a little adventure. I met Jonathan and Banks in Greer on Wednesday night and we all went to bed pretty quickly after arriving. All is well, right? We wake up on Thursday morning and Jonathan leaps out of the bed and starts getting dressed. I'm thinking... it's 7 am... what's the rush?

Jonathan: I have something to tell you that is going to make you really mad.
Sarah: What?!
Jonathan: Ok, but I'm going to fix it right now...
Sarah: Seriously, what?!
Jonathan: I left Banks's suitcase at home.

So off we went on Thursday morning to buy Banks clothes for the rest of the week. He had NOTHING! No pajamas, no bibs, no clothes, nothing to wear to the WEDDING that we came for! Nothing! Needless to say, Banks has a new winter wardrobe. We also have a new blue outfit from Strasburg's that is exactly like the one left at home... yes, we have 2 now.

As we drove back to the house Thursday morning, Jonathan looked at me and said "I made an expensive mistake, didn't I?" Yes, sweetheart, you did... but I love you anyway!

Below are some pictures in the one outfit I randomly had in the car!