Jackson

It seems we have a break in the "terrible two's". Jackson had been an absolute terror with lots of tantrums, no eating, screaming and whining all the time and never wanted to do anything but watch Diego on the ipad and have his binky. Anything else caused a screaming fit and a grumpy boy. But in the last 10 days, that little guy has become his baby-self again. Fun, laid back, happy, smiley and cute as ever. He melts my heart. I think a lot of this change has come because he has finally started to talk. So he can tell us what he wants and express himself. And his voice and pronunciation is SO DANG CUTE! I also love, love, love the fact that he likes to poop in the toilet (potty training here we come!) and he hasn't asked for his binky outside of his crib for three days now. It is awesome.
He still loves Diego, but doesn't throw a screaming tantrum when I say no. (But he does have a huge fit when we try to get him dressed int he morning. He sure loves his sleepers).
He still doesn't eat much, but is doing better. His staples are applesauce, lara bars, noodles, fresh juice and occasionally a pb and honey sandwich. I'm hoping we will grow out of this stage too and start eating more.
He loves trains, fish, and dogs right now.
He loves to try to jump off everything.
I love his excitement when he hears a train coming behind our house.
My favorite word from him right now is how he very articulately pronounces, "Yes" to things. I love it!
He gets so excited to play with Jake and Little Forrest. Most of the time that is the only way I can get him to get dressed.
He loves to follow little Forrest around. He does everything Forrest does. Very cute, but a bit scary if this continues until teenage years.
He loves to snuggle and give me kisses (it does my heart a lot of good)
I love how he dances when he turns on the music from the keyboard.
Livy and he are such good buddies and love to "read" together in his room or play train together.
I can't get enough of his chubby cheeks!

hiding toys

Ben and Brooke used to play a little game with Jackson where they would hide toys in their hand and then drop it down the front of his shirt. He LOVES it! And often times he comes up to me with a small toy and grins and laughs and puts it down the front of his shirt. Well this morning when he was getting in the bath, we found 6 pet shops in the legs of his sleepers. He had been hiding toys. I guess he was playing the game by himself. It was so funny!

Ball

Jackson said his FIRST WORD today. He is exactly one week shy of 18 months old. I pointed to the ball he was trying to get while we were sitting on the floor in his room. He went over and picked it up and said "Bal". It was so cute, and I was so happy. Deep down i have been a little worried that he isn't saying words yet. But he was so clear and cute about it. Oh man, i love that little boy. It was so fun to play this morning. After I got home from exercising, we had about 45 minutes before brooke and livy woke up. It was so fun to play together and have some one on one time with him.

Jackson, you are the cutest!

Favorite things

A few of Jackson's favorite things right now are:

pushing the stools around to the counter by the sink.

pushing the little chairs to make a line and block the entry way to the kitchen.

CEREAL. Dry or with milk. He even loves to just carry around the box.

closing drawers. Often time Livy leaves the kids dishes drawer open, and jackson always walks over to close it.

sitting on his changing table and putting on socks and shoes.

bobbing his head to music.

slides and swings!

climbing.

drawing.

smiling.

eating.

loving and cuddling.

BOOKS!

the wiggles

blankets wrapped around him.

getting chased.

First hair cut

Jackson got his first hair cut today. (at 14 months) He loved it. Pretty much the total opposite reaction than livys experience. He is so darn cute. I didnt think he could get any cuter. But he did! (pictures courtesy of ben's iphone-gotta love that phone!)

Music to My Ears

Hallelujah! Jackson is really BABBLING. I know it doesn't sound like much, but i am really grateful that he has started making some sort of sounds besides rasberries and crying and a few mmmmms here and there. Deep down I always knew he would be fine, but sometimes i still worried. And he started crawling last week and stands on his own for about 10 seconds. Hooray!

Jackson at 5 months

Last Monday, February 22nd, Jackson had his first bit of rice cereal. (Wow, I actually recorded something. Man, I am bad at keeping a baby book of their "firsts" for my kids.) He absolutely LOVED it! I had been thinking I would wait until about 5 1/2-6 months, just because it is so messy. And it is so much easier to just nurse. But I was having to put a lot of effort and brain thought into making sure I was drinking enough, pumping after I nursed, and drinking mother's milk tea, because lets face it, this kid eats a TON. And I am not a natural milk machine like some people. And since Jackson was grabbing at everything at the table and staring dreamily at every one's food when it went from their plate to their mouth, we thought it was time. He was a totally "neat eater". When Ben fed him there was no mess! Hallelujah! And he ate every single drop! So now he is on his first step toward solid food. Good, because I don't have to nurse as much. Bad, because it is a bit harder and takes more time to prepare, feed, and clean...but he loves it!
On Saturday, February 27th, his exact five month birthday, he rolled all the way over! (Again mixed emotions.) Hurray, he did it! Watch out, he is mobile soon! He is starting to sit up also and he loves to reach for toys.
He is still the most drooly kid ever. And the HAPPIEST, most smiley, laid back baby!
Today when I was watching Nate and Mckay for a little bit, McKay kept making faces at Jackson while he was in his excersaucer and he kept standing up and jumping and laughing his belly laugh. It was so cute- and Jack, Brooke adn the kids loved watching it and kept egging it on because it was so cute!
He loves, loves, loves the exersaucer. He likes to sit on the counter in the Bumbo and watch me work in the kitchen. He smiles everytime the girls go near him and even smiles when they get in his face...i don't know how long that will last, because pretty soon he is going to start punching them in the face because they get so dang close and make such loud noises...but for now, we will take the giggles and smiles from it.
The girls still fight over who gets to hold Jackson when they wake up and if Livy is crying, almost always in the middle of mid tear and scream she says, "I hold datin!!" (I hold Jackson) And 99% of the time if I let her hold him, she stops crying.
Thanks Jackson for being the best little baby boy anyone could ask for!!

odds and ends

Brooke said to me yesterday as she was trying to push the chest out of the way to build a fort, "Mom, I am trying with all of my might to move this, do you think you could you give me a little help?" as she is grunting and trying so hard...(she sounded so grown up, I just started laughing.)
Brooke has been practicing rollerblading. She is so good at trying. She hasn't cried yet from the many falls, she just keep laughing about them! She is really determined to learn how to do it. I love it. She loves riding her bike! She can't get enough of any art project. She is constantly taking pictures and printing out pictures and then making them into art projects.

Jackson is pretty much out of his size 3 diapers already. I am mushing him into them. I still have another package. He is a drooling baby!! I have to go buy some bibs. He is always wet from drool. He absolutely loves to suck on his hands. He is hands down, the best baby EVER! I think he only cried, maybe 5 times the entire 8 days we were in Mexico. He is wearing 12 month clothes and they fit him. There is no extra room. (He is only 4 months and 2 weeks). He loves his sisters, and his sisters can't get enough of him still. When we got home, they kept fighting over who got to hold him. Brooke still asks to hold him every five minutes and gets so excited with this huge smile and big eyes when I ask her to watch him while I put Livy to sleep for her nap. I love how she braggs to everyone about how he makes noises or laughs, or is almost sitting up. It makes my heart jump to see how much she loves him.

I am trying the potty training thing again. Into it 2 days and have had 5 accidents. Not too bad. Except for the fact that she doesn't care if she is poopy or wet....AHHH! This could be a long haul. Livy loves babies right now. She loves riding her bike. And has recently taken up running out of the house to ride her bike in the front, or run down the street. And it doesn't help that she can unlock the door. She keeps me on my toes. She has the best hugs and the cutest voice. She loves balls, play-do, babies, coloring, her doggy blanket that Donna gave her and doing things she knows she is not supposed to and then smiling at me about it. She ALWAYS wants to hold Jackson or have him sit right next to her. Her favorite book right now is Go, Dog Go.

Jackson

Jackson almost rolled over all the way today. He also started whistling/slobbering/rasberrying with his mouth. It is so cute and funny, and totally wet and slobbery. He also loves, loves, loves to eat his hands. He sucks on his hands, bites on his hands, and is constantly looking at them. He is giggling so much and is so ticklish. Such a happy, easy going baby!! And what a great sleeper (compared to the girls).

Jackson

He is a beast. i bought some new white onesies last week. I washed them and went to put one on today. IT WAS TOO SMALL. They are 3-6 months. He is 2 months and one week!! Ahhh!

Last night he started sucking his thumb. Ben and I were getting ready for bed and we hear this really loud sucking noise from him. He had been sucking on his hands lately. But after a few minutes, it was still really loud. So I went in and put his binky in, and his thumb was totally, all the way in his mouth. It was actually really cute! But i was never a thumb sucker, and neither were my two girls, so I am not sure if I want to stop this before he starts really liking it, or if it would be nice to have a natural plug! I don't know if the convenience now is worth the breaking of the habit later....

He is laughing and giggling a ton. He is so cute! And such a good baby!

Two weeks old

Jackson is 2 1/2 weeks old. I took him to the doctor on monday (at 2 weeks) and he weighs 12lbs. 5 oz. He is sleeping pretty good. He had some really bad nights over the weekend. But he is back on track to being a good sleeper (at least I hope so). I am determined to have a good sleeper this time around. I am starting to adapt the Babywise philosophy a bit. But some of it is a little too rigid for me. But I am really trying hard to keep to a feed/waketime/naptime schedule. Hopefully we will see good results for sleeping. He is so big, he could be sleeping through the night already!!!