This past Christmas was the first that we sent out Christmas cards. I was a little too busy to handle this task on my own, so Jack pitched in a chubby hand to help out. For those of you who are not on our card list, below is a copy of our year-in-review newsletter:
Greetings from Virginia Beach! My mom wasn’t going to write a newsletter this year, but I told her 2008 was just too exciting to pass over, so I volunteered:In February, my parents found out that they would be celebrating this Christmas as a family of three! I got to spend the next nine months with my mom, we went for a lot of walks on the beach, we traveled home several times to visit family in PA, and we even flew down to Key West to visit friends. At night, I’d do a little dance in her belly just so Dad could feel me kick. After a few weeks of sickness, I decided to take it easy on my mom and she thought being pregnant was pretty cool. I didn’t want her to like it too much so towards the end I packed on the pounds and threw in some swollen ankles so she would be more than ready for me to arrive. And then I broke her water a week before my due date just for fun! Twenty-three hours later, at 1:39am on October 12, I entered my parents’ world and it hasn’t been the same since! They named me Jack Lawrence, after my Great Grandpa Lawrence Tillman, who I get to meet in a few weeks. At 8 lbs 14 oz and 21 inches long, my parents were very thankful for a big, healthy baby and a great labor and delivery!
I’ve been with my mom for her last two semesters of grad school, and just this week I got to sit on her lap as she typed up her final project. Now I can call her “Mommy, M.Ed.” and next spring I get to watch her don the funny hat and get her diploma. This summer my mom switched jobs at Regent so she could work from home and spend the day with me. We have lots of fun together talking to students on the phone. Sometimes I feel left out so I make her hold me while she types emails with one hand. And other times, when she thinks I’m sleeping and is on the phone, I surprise her by letting out a wail and making her students wonder what’s going on! I think the first few weeks of my life were a bit of a challenge for my mom, but we’re beginning to work better together as a team. I try to be very good and quiet when I go down to sleep, and I only wake her up once a night now just so she knows I love her and I’m thinking about her even in my dreams.
My dad has also been busy; he’s halfway through his graduate program studying Terrorism & Homeland Defense and International Relations at Regent University. Dad has been teaching me a lot about the topic of terrorism. Dad has also been teaching me about my Constitutional rights, more specifically, my Second Amendment right to bear arms and has even showed me how to field strip a 9mm handgun. My mom wasn’t too happy about that. Dad got a new job in the Coast Guard this summer and now he’s home every night and doesn’t have to work weekends. Dad was also selected for Lieutenant this fall and will put his new rank on in May. I love hanging out with him in his easy chair and he was very happy that I arrived just in time to watch the college football season, and cheer on my Uncle Jared’s school – Penn State. Dad is still trying to talk mom into getting a dog this spring since I foiled those plans this past year. He promised we would all go on lots of walks together, so I’m looking forward to not being the “new guy” anymore!
Well my mom says it’s time to get my diaper changed, and I can’t argue with that. It’s tough being two months old! I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas and blessed New Year. I can’t wait to meet everyone when we come home to visit!
Love, Jack
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