Williams' Wall: Jackson's First Birthday!

Our little guy is ONE today! I can't believe how fast this year has gone. I never knew I could love someone so much, besides Troy, and have so much fun everyday! We are SO incredibly thankful for Jack and all the love and smiles he brings everyday. What a precious blessing!

Last Tuesday we headed back to Minneapolis for 5 days to visit family and throw Jack his first birthday party. It was wonderful spending time with each of our families. We spent Wednesday and Thursday with Troy's parents, Trent, Sara, Bella, Grandma Williams and Marilyn. Bella and Jack had a wonderful time together chasing each other up the stairs, jumping on the bed, and tormenting Mocha (the dog)! They also got to dress up in their Halloween costumes and "trick or treat" at Marilyn's house...super cute!

Friday we headed to my parent's house and spent the majority of the day preparing for Jack's birthday party. We also got to head up to Northwestern College and have our family pictures taken by my friend Karen. Jack did pretty well...and I can't wait to see the pictures!

Saturday we had Jack's Thomas the Train themed birthday party. There were about 30 people there...so needless to say it was a bit hectic! I think Jack loved every minute of it though! The balloons were the biggest hit...he was absolutely giddy around them, as were many of the other kids there! We are so thankful for all of our friends and family who came to help celebrate. We miss everyone so much and this was a great way to see a lot of people while we were in town! Jack also loved it when everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to him and soaked up all the attention as everyone watched him attempt to eat a cupcake. He liked clapping his sticky, frosting filled fingers together much more than eating the cupcake though! After the party we had a wedding to attend but in between the wedding and reception my parents and Troy and I were able to meet up with George, Kathy and Jack at Perkins to hang out. Jack got a balloon there as well and was hilarious...shaking it and hitting it and bobbing up and down while laughing the entire time! It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen him do! He is such a joy!

Sunday we spent another day at my parent's house. Along with my parents, we got to spend time with Amy, Amy's boyfriend Isaac and my Grandma Anderson. It was great to see everyone. Jack stole the show that day by dressing up as Spiderman once again and "trick or treating" at Nana and Papa's house. We also had some bubbles that we gave each kid in their goody bag and we blew bubbles with Jack for the first time. It was hilarious! He loved the bubbles so much!! We got some pretty cute pictures and video during it and I'm so glad because he was so excited and it was just so cute!!

Today, Monday, is his actual birthday but unfortunately Troy had school for most of the day so we didn't celebrate too much. I did take him to his favorite park, which he loved, and we tried to give him another cupcake but instead of eating it himself he wanted to feed it to Troy and me. It was pretty cute...but the clean up wasn't! He went right into the bath and there was a blue trail from his chair to the bathtub! Thank goodness the blue washes out! Tomorrow Troy has the day off so we are going to do something fun...stay tuned for pictures from that!

Here are a few new fun facts about Jack from this past month:

Trains! We can see the Metra train outside our window and about 10 times a day Jack will hear the train coming, drop whatever he is doing and crawl to the window to watch the train go by!
Walking! Although not much yet, he did take his first steps on 10/13 and since than has taken up to 8 steps at a time. He still is very independent about it and doesn't really want us to force it on him so I'm sure he will just take off one day soon and not look back...
Smoothies! Troy loves fruit smoothies in the morning and gave Jack a sip one day. Since than Jack recognizes what I'm making right away and gets super excited and lets us know he wants some for himself!
"All Done" We started using sign language for "all done" right when Jack started eating. Now he not only tells us when he wants to be done eating but he tells us when he is all done with everything...like when he doesn't want to sit in his car seat anymore or be wrapped up and dried off in his towel anymore. He has taken it to a whole new level that we don't necessarily always like! But it's still pretty cute!
Trucks! He has started pushing his trucks around the house. It's funny because we never really taught him that...must just be something ingrained in little boys!
Toilet paper! He has discovered it and thinks it's so fun to not only unroll it when no one is looking but then shreds it and leaves it on the floor...
"Dog" Another word of his...he has several stuffed animals that are dogs and so he points to them several times a day and says "dog" and then this week when we were around Mocha the dog, Jack got to practice even more. It's so fun to see him develop and learn!

Enjoy the pictures below!

Troy and Jack aka Spiderman!