Photo Shoot

This afternoon, Jackson and I were in Babies R Us and the woman from Kiddie Kandids (the in-house photo studio) approached me. She explained that she was training one of her employees and they needed a model. Did we have time to help her out. At first I said no because I thought it sounded like too much trouble. But, then I thought about it and decided it would be a fun opportunity (plus, my mom and Josh would have killed me for turning down a free photo shoot). They sat Jackson in three poses. He was the perfect little model! The only problem was his hands kept shooting back into his mouth. The girl was quick though and got some good shots as soon as we got his hands out of the way. At the end, I got to pick the shot of each pose I liked best and then they printed us a free one to take home! Definitely a good use of 20 mins :)

P.S. Please notice the shiny slobber on his chins!

Chatty Charlie

Stories and Bathtime

Pre-bath story with Mommy

Bath happiness

All clean and snuggly listening to Daddy's story

Jackson's First Haircut!

Pre-haircut: The front

Pre-haircut: The back

Getting situated

First haircut!

Post-haircut: The back

Post-haircut: The front

Matching Smith-men haircuts

Bedtime!

We have a bedtime routine! WOO HOO!!! While we were home for Christmas, I started thinking about how it might be time to get Jackson on some sort of schedule for bedtime. But, we still didn't have a regular time that he went to bed for the night. I finally decided that the routine was more important than the time. I was able to tell when his last bottle of the evening would be so I decided after that feeding, I would get him changed, read him a story, and put him to bed. The first time I tried it there was also a bath involved. It worked beautifully!

When we got home, Josh got involved and it continued to work well. I have read several pieces (and heard from a few friends) that the earlier you put your baby to bed, the longer they will sleep. That makes no sense, but we decided to test it out. The other night Jackson went to bed around 9:30. That night he was up after four hours, three hours, two hours. He had been sleeping at least five hours straight. So, we decided the next night we would try putting him down around 8:30. He started rubbing his eyes and acting tired around 8:00 so we went ahead and put him down then. He slept for NINE hours! I couldn't believe it! The next night we were out with friends and he got to bed a touch later, but he still slept for six hours. He went down at 8:00 again tonight, so we'll see how it goes!

We don't have much of a nap schedule during the day. I'm trying to track when he does nap to see if there is any rhyme or reason. I'm not as worried about getting that figured out. I'm guessing once we get bedtime established, the nap stuff will follow soon after...

Today's Activity

Today Jackson spent the day growing another chin!

I Love Southwest! (aka MDW to IAD)

Jackson and I had a VERY successful flight home from Midway in Chicago to Dulles in Virginia. I was only slightly nervous about this experience, but it went off without a hitch. My mom came into the airport with me to help me maneuver the suitcase and stroller.

Security was great since Midway has a Family line. There was a very nice gentleman behind us who helped scootch all of our stuff along (the stroller, car seat, and two bins of stuff). I had to declare the two bottles I brought and they got tested, but they passed. Let me note at this time that Jackson was awake at this point.

After changing Jackson's diaper I started walking around with him hoping he would fall asleep. No such luck. The attendant at the gate tagged the car seat and stroller. I asked her if there was any chance of me keeping the car seat with me on the plane. She said to ask the flight attendant on the plane. I got myself a sandwich and as I was eating it, realized we had some "pants action" (as my mom likes to call it). We were getting close to boarding time, so I made my second trip to the bathroom changing station. We hadn't been situated at the gate for a full minute when there was more pants action! Yikes! I seriously considered not changing the diaper because I wanted to board in a timely fashion. I made a Good Mom decision and raced back to the changing station for the fastest diaper change yet. Little did I know I had no reason to hurry.

With my still awake baby boy I boarded the plane with the other families and after half the plane had boarded! I started to get nervous about taking the car seat aboard, but went for it. The flight attendant welcoming everyone said he didn't think there was room, but to go ahead and sit with it and he'd come take it if necessary. I got Jackson all settled (in a window seat, no less) and he was SO happy! Maybe he'll be a pilot?

A super nice woman sat next to us and as we waited to start down the runway, Jackson finally dozed off! As soon as we started to lift into the air, however, his eyes opened and he remained awake for the ENTIRE flight!!! Now, he was super happy, just awake! I couldn't believe it! He had some of a bottle and got out of his seat for a bit to be burped, but otherwise, he happily looked around and smiled the hugest smiles at me. There didn't seem to be any trouble with his ears--phew!

Josh met us right outside baggage claim and even after the more than half hour long car ride home, my traveling buddy was STILL awake! Yes, he did sleep quite well that night :)

Happy 2009!

HA HA HA! Yes, Jackson was just as happy as he looks in this picture! Just before midnight struck, I decided to make him a hat (Paxton has a matching one, but he wasn't nearly as eager to wear his) and Jackson LOVED it! He was so happy sitting up by himself, smiling away :)