Another Trip to the Irondale Cafe

After church this past Sunday we headed back to the Irondale Cafe for lunch with Sherbo and Papa. The food there is so great, but Jack's favorite part has to be the "choo choos" out front! We got to see 3 trains go by while we were there and Jack loved it. He even sang his "ABCs" for one train as it went by! :-)

Not sure what he's doing or saying here, but I thought the picture was hilarious! :-)

2 Year Check-up

Jack had his 2 year check-up last week, and everything went well! The doctor was very impressed with his height, weight, speech, and other developments, and no shots were needed! Yay! We won't need to get shots again until 4 years old (except for flu), thank goodness!

His weight was 32 lbs, height was 35.5 inches, and head circumference was 20.5 inches. He is in the 75th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for height. In comparison with his birth and 1 year check-up, at birth he weighed 7 lbs 12 oz, 19 3/4 inches long, and his head circumference was 14 inches. At his 1 year check-up, he weighed 24 lbs 3 oz, was 31 inches long, and his head circumference was 19 1/4 inches. He's a growing boy!

Here are a few pictures to show how much he's grown and changed in just 2 years! I don't have one at the doctor for this last check-up, but I found a cute one that will work! :-)

We are so proud of our growing boy and he impresses us with new words and actions everyday! I feel there is way too much to type out, but he's talking so much and saying sentences, and getting smarter everyday! I am his mother, so I feel he's the smartest boy ever, but I really am impressed with how well he learns and how much he loves to learn! He loves reading, doing puzzles, but most of all he loves playing! He definitely has gotten so much use out of every toy, especially his sports and musical ones. He loves anything that has a ball and anything that plays music! He's already so well-rounded and we have so much fun with him everyday.

I've been so blessed to be at home with him most everyday and watch him play and see how much he loves life! :-) He gets to wake up everyday and play with everything he loves! We are so glad to see how happy he is, and we are more and more proud of him everyday! More updates to come in the near future!

Baby Abby!

Jack's new cousin Abigail Lucille Parrish was born last Thursday, July 14th at 8:30 am! She weighed 7 lbs, 2 oz and was perfect! She and mama are both doing great, too! We were so glad we could be there for her birth! She was so tiny and so beautiful and we were so glad to finally meet her! She is the brand new daughter of Uncle Jim and Aunt Deena, and the sweet baby sister of Blakely!

Brooke, Jake, and Jack killing time Thursday morning waiting on Abby to be born!

Giving Blakely her big sister gifts before meeting Abby.

There she is!

Blakely got to come play and spend the night with us Friday night and she and Jack had the best time!

Jack's even an expert on taking care of the baby doll now! Maybe it will be good practice for him for when he's a big brother one day! :-)

We are so happy for the Parrish family and their new bundle of joy! God is so good! :-)

4th of July Beach Trip!

Another beach trip for the Branch family! We were lucky enough to go back to the beach this past weekend for the 4th of July with Kurt's family! We stayed at the Phoenix West again in Orange Beach and we were there for 5 nights! We had gorgeous weather each day and enjoyed watching Jack fall in love all over again with the ocean, pool, slide, and lazy river! :-)

The first day we started out at the beach and watched Jack build "castles" with his shovel and buckets, then of course he played some football with the boys, then went in the ocean to watch the waves go "boosh!"

Wading in the water with Uncle Trevor

Boosh! Boosh!

Chillin' with his ice cold water next to Cousin Josh and Uncle Con Con

Taking time out of his playing to love on Uncle Clay and Uncle Con Con

When Jack had gotten bored of the ocean and sand, we headed up to the pool area. They have a huge pool with a walk-in entrance, plus a baby pool, and once Jack realized the baby pool was there, he wanted to go there the most! He could stand up in it so I guess he just felt more in control. His water Elmo had fun swimming in it, too!

He also took a lap or two around the lazy river with Poppy and Con Con!

Back in the condo having fun with Ashley and Clay!

We went out to dinner Friday night to celebrate Granna's birthday! We ate at Island Thyme near the Zeke's Marina and it was very good! Before we left we got a couple pictures of our family, plus sweet Jack, including one of him posing! He started this new thing of lying on the floor posing for everyone! Too funny!

Saturday morning Jack woke up asking for "Con Con, Ashley", so we got them to come in our room so they could all play together! Too bad Con Con and Jack were still tired and wanted to go back "night night"!

Time to go back outside and enjoy the beach! That morning there happened to be a huge puddle near our chairs, so Jack and Poppy enjoyed sitting in it and playing. After it dried up, Jack built castles then begged Daddy to go back "boosh!" It was so funny to hear him keep asking for that!

Back to the lazy river and slide!

Sweet boy asleep Saturday night! He looked so sweet with his knees up and his feet crossed that I had to take a picture!

On Sunday we started out at the pool instead of the beach. Jack and mommy played a while in the big pool with buckets and our water Elmo, then other kids joined in on the fun, too!

Sunday night was the night for family pictures in our khaki and white! This was the first time for the Bass/Branch clan to attempt family pictures, and I'd say it was a success! I didn't get a picture of the whole family, but hopefully we can get one from Auntie Em soon to add to the post later.

Em monogrammed hats for all us girls! So cute!

Happy 4th of July! Jack enjoyed his Independence Day breakfast in the chair in the living room by himself that morning. He seemed pretty content so we let him! :-)

Frisbee with Daddy and Con Con

Chillin on the balcony with Daddy reflecting on the day...

Putt-Putt! We took Jack to his first Putt-Putt experience and he loved it! He finally got a chance to use his golf skills he's worked on at home for over a year!

Here we are at Hazel's after eating their awesome breakfast buffet on our way back home! Jack still felt patriotic so he grabbed a flag out front and waved it for a while! :-) He then took a little nap on the way home. I guess being a beach bum is hard work! Thanks so much to Granna and Poppy for the awesome beach trip! We had a great time and really appreciate them taking us! We love y'all!