The Junior League of Nashville had its first Tis the Season Shopping sale at the Factory in Franklin. Thane and I headed down Franklin Road to see check it out.

The event was very well organized and beautiful and worth the price of admission, although I miss our tradition of Showhouse, so I hope we go back to that next year.

Once there, we had a special visit from Santa! This was one of the best Santas I have seen and he was very nice. The line to see him was super short, so no waiting like at the mall. I called Jay and he headed down with camera in tow. While we were waiting for him, Thane and I saw Rachel et al at the pottery store, making their Christmas plate. Carter was being a cutie and Sarah was adorable and asleep in her stroller.

When Jay arrived, we got into the very short line to wait for Santa. Thane was asleep in line but woke up at the very end, just in time to get into Santa’s arms.

After the shoot, Santa and I had a little chat. He guessed Thane to be 7 months old. We chatted for a bit and he gave me some guidelines for next year:

1. Show him this year’s photo often to show how he did so great last year
2. Talk to him about seeing Santa
3. Pass by Santa in the mall and point him out whenever you can

Apparently, next year may be a tough year for visiting Santa, and who would not believe the man with the beard himself??

Unbeknownst to Santa, a different Christmas caper had arrived on the scene….the Grinch!

We headed back home and took some naps, it had been a long day. When we woke up, Thane and I went for a brief swim and then back home for some dinner. Plus, daddy got a ton of studying done. Last week had been a long training week and he has his first test of the series next week so he needed to get some review.

Thane has taken a keen interest in standing these days…more so than anything else. Sitting is ok and we can do it while propped against something or in a tripod position but his upper body muscles still are not there. He loves to hold on to things lately though and actually stand. Usually it is just me or daddy but yeterday I put him against the coffee table to see if that would interest him. It sure did! I was able to snap a few shots before he started tumbling over.

And here are some other cute pics of him yesterday…

And not to forget the other “babies” of the house…here is a cute one of Bailey from yesterday, using our clean clothes as a launching pad!

Things are pretty crazy around the Hansen House so it has been hard to catch our breath to blog. In brief recap, Jay and I are working a ton and stretched pretty thin. I have been on a project since early October and have literally been stuck in a room with 10 people for that whole time and when we leave the room, we are generally on the phone with each other until about 2 am 2-3 times per week. It is an awesome project, but we eat, sleep, and breathe it. Ian, of Kirk Family fame, is on that project with me. Jay, on the other hand, has been dropping off and picking up Thane almost every day. But he has been in crash course training…last week it was ITIL, this coming week Veritas Clustering, and for the last 2 weeks and the next 2.5 months, he is in SQL 2005 training almost every night from 6-10:30 pm. It is sheer insanity…I don’t know how he is keeping it all straight.

Friday night, we got a babysitter and went out to celebrate my Halloween win at Nick & Rudy’s. Dinner was amazing. The piano bar created just the right ambiance. We started with a bottle of Mondavi Pinot Noir and for an app we had Oysters Rockefeller and Jay ordered a mushroom/ale soup. We then got the Tableside Caesar Salad, where they make the salad in a huge wooden bowl right at your table (I want that bowl!), followed by our main courses…I got the Beef Tenderloin with Asparagus and Hollandaise sauce and Jay ordered the Chilean Seabass. Both were melt in your mouth amazing. As if all of that was not enough, we got this molten chocolate souflee and tiramisu and coffee for dessert. I think I just gained ten pounds typing this, let alone eating it! It was a phenomenal dinner.

Saturday we went to the Vandy vs UK game. We were only in the stands a short time, our seats were in the nosebleed section and we were sitting near some prett obnoxious UK fans (sorry Terry & Joann). I have to say, the whole game was rather chippy, on and off the field. Vandy played well, we were neck and neck most of the time but we still wound up with a loss. Doesn’t Thane look like quite the little Vandy fan, even down to wearing a preppy little football sweater???

After we left the game we headed to Cheesecake Factory. They had heaters, so we sat outside and enjoyed a warm coffee, some comfort food at its finest, and a slice of cheesecake. We then tooled around the mall and got another great towel from Pottery Barn Kids. I love this towel..it is the second one we have now. No other towel is this big or this great of a fabric. This one is a puppy, we have a blue fish, too.

John and Trisha called and met us at the mall. They had not eaten dinner yet and we had not seen them in forever and a day so we headed to La Paz with them and chatted while they ate. I enjoyed a very refreshing Sangria.

Today we finished the mound of laundry we had. While “expert folder” Jay was sorting through the clothes, I fed Thane on the bedroom floor next to him so we could talk. Jay started teaching Thane to hold his bottle this weekend and we were making good advances pretty quickly. This morning he managed to hold the bottle all by himself!!! We had to “direct” it a few times but he was definitely taking charge.

It was off to yet another restaurant after that to watch the Steelers game. While there, we saw our other Steelers parents there…Presley’s mom and dad. Presley is 4 months old and was very interested in the older man Thane. Thane, being a boy, preferred to watch the game. I did get confirmation that (apparently) something I have been doing paid off (which I discovered Jay thought I was insane for but went along with it anyway!). Every night, I reverse Thane’s direction in bed…one night his head is toward the closet, the next it is by the window. I heard this helped prevent flat spots. Presley’s mom commented that Thane did not have a bald, which Presley did. I really think it is the alternating.

On other food news….Thane is now at several different foods and has some definite likes and dislikes…here they are in order of him trying them…

Rice cereal: No good
Oatmeal: I can deal
Sweet Potatoes: LOVE ‘EM
Peas: They’re ok
Squash: Yuck!
Mexican Refried Beans: Yum! (But, wow, my mom and dad are daring giving me beans for dinner!!!)
Mashed Potatoes: Eeew!
Beef gravy: I am definitely not a vegetarian!
Carrots: Yummy stuff!

Thane seems to be going through a growth spurt. He is eating every 90 minutes or so, which is why we are trying to introduce the foods so he can realize, that it is in fact…FOOD. We’ll keep you updated.