11 months

Oh my goodness is 11 months fun! I think the word for this age is curious! Jackson is no longer content to sit around all the time he wants to MOVE! I think I always knew he would be like this. Even when he was "sitting still" he was never actually still. He used to kick his legs continuously even when he couldn't roll over.

Now, he is using those legs to get himself all over the house and into everything! He knows the word No and what he is not supposed to touch. I really try to only use this for things that are actually a safety hazard (such as cords/ electrical sockets which just happen to be his favorite play toy!) He will stop and look at me when I say no, then smile, then go back to doing exactly what he was doing! YIKES the toddler years may be trying! 

Other than that we are just constantly on the go. Jackson is sitting himself up! He actually started over Thanksgiving when we were in Dallas. It totally startled me to put him down for a nap in his crib, turn on the humidifier then turn around and he was sitting up! About a week later he learned he could pull himself up in the crib and elsewhere. So we have lowered the crib and baby proofed the house! Now he is pulling up on everything. . . mainly the dog food bowls! They are his new favorite toy : / so I am working on figuring out how to baby proof the dog bowls....

Between his first flight and all the new milestones we have also had two top teeth come in, so we've gone from 1 tooth at 8 months to 4 at 11 months! Phew! Thank goodness he sleeps through them, but if only I could get him to eat when his teeth hurt. 

I really love this age- yes it is more tiring and yes I have to watch everything he is doing (lest he end up trying to eat the dog food... oops that happened!) but its SO fun to watch him explore and be able to move and get to what he wants. Watching him in front of the Christmas tree is so fun, and I've put lots of fun bows on the presents and he will sit there for a long time inspecting them all :)

Christmas at this age is perfect! Old enough to get involved in some things but not quite old enough to throw temper tantrums :) 

Stats:

30.5 inches long

20 lbs 1 oz (yay for putting on some weight)

4 teeth

LOVES:
Sam
clapping
Dada
throwing toys
crawling everywhere
pulling up
dog bowls
Christmas presents
books
LAUGHING! sometimes I swear he just laughs for no reason, just to laugh

Merry Christmas!!

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas! 

Cold weather

We have been inside a lot with all this cold weather and our days have been pretty funny. Just had to share this collage as it pretty much summed up our day last week

Jackson has found the dog food bowls and really LOVES to play with the water and eat the food. .. AWESOME

Sam's got rice in his hair from sitting underneath the high chair for EVERY meal

playing in our hat indoors because its so cold

Even Sam wanted a blanket! (He laid like this for a good 30-45 minutes!) 

And jackson working on his pulling up skills/ eat my boot skills- both are progressing nicely! 

I think we move through every room in the house now just to avoid cabin fever. We've been getting out more but for a few days there it was just TOO COLD! 

Hope you are staying toasty wherever you may be :) 

Jackson meets Santa

Well, if I'm being honest this is actually attempt #3. . . yes, I'm THAT mom.
I just really want to get a smiling picture (or I mean if he is going to cry I'll take that too) but these blank stares aren't fun at all!

So we went to Bering's, our local get it all store for pictures last weekend and I think we got a few winners

LOVE- wish it weren't just on my iPhone :(

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Christmas decor!

I don't have many new Christmas decorations but they have all been a little rearranged this year. Mostly  for the breakable or dangerous things to avoid little hands. I haven't taken many pictures of my decor because well, I've been taking pictures of my baby (who's barely a baby anymore!!)  :)

But this is probably my new favorite decoration

And its about as simple as it comes. It is a strand of 100 multi color lights stuffed into my big glass vase, but I can't stop looking at it!

Oh and I can't stop looking at this either- how cute is he?

He LOVES looking out the windows at our christmas lights

Do you have any new holiday decor you are loving? 

Thanksgiving

So clearly a little late as well but I felt like it was important to mention Thanksgiving because it was Jackson's first flight and he and I did it alone!! I was so nervous, not so much about the flight but the whole getting through security/ airport with a baby and keeping him entertained. But he really did great.
We had a bit of a rough take off because it was pouring when we left and he looked pretty terrified. He just let me cradle him and sing (quietly) to him the whole take off (while eating a bottle to keep his ears open). After we got up in the air he really did great! he was super happy and talking to the guy sitting next to us. He was a little antsy towards the end but I think it went well!

Thank goodness as flight #2 is coming up too and it's a bit longer. I really wanted to go on this flight as a test flight so I would know what to expect. We celebrated in Dallas with my family and it was so fun. Flew by so fast between cooking and nap times and other family events.

Our first flight together

Waiting on our slightly delayed plane

Checking out the wine list at dinner. . .

And testing his choice. ..well the glass at least (sweet baby Jackson consumed no alcohol in the tasting of this picture)

P cutting my turkey! It's the first time I've ever made the Thanksgiving turkey and I think it turned out pretty well! 

cousins sharing toys :) 

 While we were in Dallas we celebrated Christmas with my family too since we won't see them until after Christmas and I didn't think we would have time to get back up in such a short Christmas season!

Jackson's 1st experience with Santa went well- no big smiles but no crying either! 

checking out all the trees lit up

My nephew enjoying his gift from me and Uncle P

Jackson working on some of his presents 

10 months

Sorry for the lack of posts lately- we've been traveling and celebrating Thanksgiving and now I'm just relishing Jackson's first Christmas. . . and trying to smoosh all the fun stuff into these 3 weeks!

But before I completely forget, or get too far behind, Jackson turned 10 months old in November.
Ten months has been a pretty marked difference from 9 months. If the word for 9 months was content the word for 10 is crawling!

Jackson still army crawls but he GETS AROUND! He is no longer content to just sit for very long. The only problem now is that he crawls everywhere but still hasn't quite figured out how to sit himself back up when he gets where he wants to be. It has created a lot of frustration for him. He can physically  sit himself up he just doesn't really understand how he's doing it so he can't just sit up when he wants to. He is SOO close though, I can just tell.

He is still so happy and easy going which has been amazing! And even with top tooth #1 coming in right at 10 months sleeps through the night every night. Jackson apparently doesn't like to let anything get in the way of his sleep. He will cry and whine about his teeth hurting during the day, he won't eat but he always sleeps! It is a blessing truly because mommy needs her sleep!
Now if only I could get him to eat so he would gain a little more weight it would be great!

 Probably my favorite shot- so indicative of his personality- inspecting everything carefully

And then of course testing it out :) 

Stats:
29.75" long
18 lbs 6 oz
2.5 teeth (#3 is about to come in)

Favorite things:
SAM! Hands down, his favorite thing
waving, but not just with one hand, he likes to go with the double wave and its hysterical
inspecting mom and dad's faces- mainly lips and noses
musical toys
lights/ fans- he is mesmerized
his reflection! Jackson has not met a mirror he didn't like :)

Dallas trip

A few weeks ago we took a trip to Dallas to see family and go to the State Fair of Texas. I grew up in Dallas so the State Fair was just a given. We went every year and I am pretty much obsessed! So we had to take Jackson, although technically, not his first time, it was the first time he could really see and experience it! 

Last year at the State Fair, 22 weeks pregnant, and this was just days before Big Tex burned down due to an electrical glitch :( 

This year! My how a year changes things :) 

Tried to offer a corny dog- not for real folks just to take a pic but he was not a fan- it was too hot :( Maybe next year!

No fried foods for Jackson so he ate the guide instead 

Our attempt at a picture with the new Big Tex. . . FAIL! My photographer, ahem, didn't quite get the picture I was hoping for, but I still love him anyways!

While we were in town we also went to the Arboretum for their pumpkin display which is AMAZING! If you are close by I definitely recommend checking it out. We were extra brave crazy and decided to try to get pictures of Jackson with his two cousins (16 months and 6 weeks). It was comical to say the least

eating mulch. .. that he threw up on himself and dad about 5 minutes later! 

outraged at the blatant pumpkin stealing! 

but someone else is pretty excited about it! But still we were doing pretty well with 2 kids. . . then we tried to add the 3rd

And this is what you get. Baby completely content and happy, Jackson wanting to eat mulch and just look confused as to why he's here and big toddler playing with sticks and accidentally poking himself in the eye with it. . .hence his poor red eye! haha we were a mess by the end of it but we made it and have some cute and funny pictures as a consolation! 

Hope you are having a great fall as we near towards Thanksgiving! 

9 months

9 months, just a smidge late ;)

Jackson,
Hi sweet boy! I feel l should ask you how you are feeling because we have been sick a lot this month. Both of us. It hasn't been fun at all but I do relish your sweet cuddles when you don't feel well. You are still pretty cuddly and love being held but you have defintiely become much more independent this month. You started army crawling and it is so fun to watch you explore. You love to find the absolute tiniest spec of dirt or dog food, inspect it and try to eat it :) You are also learning some boundaries, like what things we shouldn't pull on (the dog's bucket of toys) because they will fall on you and hurt. It took just one time for you to learn that. I told dad we were going to have to move them (and probably still will) but you know not to pull it over anymore! It's amazing how fast your brain works. And while you are definitely crawling when you want something, you still like to sit and observe. I read in a book that some babies are crawlers and some are observers. While you crawl when you really want to, you are usually content to play with the toys you've got or observe everything. Content is probably the word I use most to describe your personality. And happy! Oh my goodness are you happy. Your giggles send me over the moon. These days Sam is probably what has you laughing and smiling most often! I hope you are always this happy and content. Your spirit is contagious. It's amazing to me all the people you can get to smile and laugh with you! We have had more conversations with random people at restaurants, in grocery stores and just walking around about what a happy baby you are :) I can't believe we are closing in on the 1 year mark! It has gone so fast, I'm just trying to take it all in before you are a walking/ talking/ independent toddler! Lots of love, mom!

Favorite things:
SAM!! You love to watch him and try to crawl to him to touch his paws. You have also taken to looking out the patio door windows with him :)
waving
clapping for yourself! Especially after you eat something
mommy- you've been having a little mommy separation anxiety but I don't mind :)
jumperoo
moving constantly, even before you could crawl
mirrors- love to look at yourself still! (And you love seeing pictures of yourself too!!)

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from my super Jack!!!

No trick or treating for  Jackson this year but that doesn't mean he can't have a fun costume right?!?!

Pumpkin Patch

Please indulge me and let me show you pictures of the cutest baby boy EVER in the pumpkins last week! Our church has a BIG blowout pumpkin patch so we went to take pictures. When we went there were actually not many pumpkins and I was thinking, man they are going to run out early this year! Then the next week they replenished. . . . with 1900 new pumpkins! So, um, not the best timing but the weather was perfect so I jumped at the opportunity :)

I die at the cuteness! It was so fun, and there was lots of pumpkin "patting" and grass eating as we went so these are clearly picked through, but I love them. 

 Then we went home and tried to get Sam in on the fun. . . didn't last for long though!

Love that face :) 

Happy Fall to you!