My Sweet Boy

Well, today was quite the day! It consisted of very little sleeping time, but it wasn't as bad as that might sound... Jackson woke up pretty early and seemed ready for a nap by about 7:30! Due to a poorly timed new-diaper-need, that nap didn't happen :( Jackson did play quite nicely by himself so I could take a shower. That was considerate of him :) On the way to Target, he did fall asleep. But, I had planned ahead and was quite happy to sit in the car with him reading my book while he slept for a little while. After Target we hit the Post Office (sold out except for one sheet of the new shelter pet stamps that went on sale this morning!) and the grocery store for 2/$10 rotisserie chicken day! Since we only needed that one item, I decided to let Jackson walk into the store holding my hand. He LOVED it and did such a good job! I think he could tell when our hands were getting sweaty because he readjusted periodically. LOL After Giant, we went to Noodles and Co. for lunch so I could redeem my birthday coupon--I LOVE the free food that comes within a couple weeks of my birthday! Yum!

While that was all a lovely morning, another poorly timed diaper issue prevented the afternoon nap :( Ugh! We took Pax for a walk, so at least that was chill time... When we came home Jackson had a snack and then was walking around with his sippy. He was dribbling milk so I handed him a paper towel. Sure enough, he started to wipe up his spills! Gee, I wonder where he gets that from? LOL We picked up Mary Jo and James to go to Moe's for free burrito night supporting a charity raising money to fight juvenile diabetes. Jackson screamed like I haven't heard in a loooong time for a large part of the drive. Poor guy was super tired! He did really well at Moe's, although he was definitely punchy! He fussed for a few minutes when we got back in the car, but then he was out like a light for that last half of the drive! Phew!

On a related note to Jackson cleaning up his dribbles, he also likes to help put away his booster tray, bib, the toys in the tub, his shoes, and pretty much anything else he finds. He can't clean up all of his toys yet, but he seems to get the hang of it if I start in on them. His Shoe Spot is his little blue chair and he knows to sit in it for me to put on or take off his shoes. It is so stinking cute! This afternoon he went and got his own shoes--a matching pair!--before we left to get Mary Jo and James! They were even the sandals he wore this morning! Maybe it was just luck, but I think he knew what he was doing :)

The below pictures are Jackson in action pointing to his:

Tummy (very seriously),

toes,and belly again (in a much more gregarious fashion!).

This was just silly :)

Our bedtime routine has two new additions. The first is that after we finish reading a few stories, I turn Jackson towards me for one last cuddle. During this he has started putting his finger to his lips and saying, "Shhh!" He is so cute when he does it! He learned it from the little old lady saying hush in Goodnight Moon, but has carried it over to naps and bedtime! Then, while I carry him to his crib, he wraps his little arms around my neck and squeezes for a goodnight hug! I pretty much melt every time he does it. He's going to stay this sweet forever, right???

Award Wallet

I love reading through the magazines that get delivered each month because there are usually some very helpful tips in there! Since most of the magazines I get now (ok, all of them) are parenting/child related, the tips definitely are geared to making my life easier! My favorite thing I found in this past month's batch was a blurb about Award Wallet. I know that we have signed up for pretty much every frequent flyer/traveler/shopper program there is! Well, the ones we use anyway! We aren't loyal to one airline or hotel so we have found ourselves with quite the collection of numbers and passwords. Award Wallet lets you create a profile and then enter all of your programs! It keeps track of your miles and points and even lets you know when any are about to expire. We are working on planning some summer vacations and this will definitely be helpful as we try to see where we have the most points already! Happy flying/traveling/shopping :)

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Evanston Getaway Continued

Yesterday morning Kim drove to Evanston to spend some time with Jackson and me! She came over and played with Jackson and then we went to lunch and did some shopping.

Jackson started warming up to Kim when she showed him her iPhone. Then she got silly with him and played with him. They were good friends by the end of the day :)

After hanging out with Kim, Jackson took a nap, and then it was time to play with Grandpa! They watched the Blackhawks game together and Jackson learned some new "tricks" on his little stool. He liked standing on it and then crawling up to Grandpa :)

Mimi got plenty of hugs once she came home, too!

Jackson's new favorite made-up game was pretend falling down on the ground and then waiting for someone to help him up! He thought this was hilarious! He was also pretty darn cute doing it :)

Jackson also thought it was funny to try on Mimi's glasses!

How fun is this? I started babysitting for Katie (and her three siblings) when she was five! Now she is our go-to sitter when we are in town with Jackson!

Did I mention that Jackson LOVED Katie! He wanted her to carry him and gave her hugs right after she got there :)

This morning Jackson and I went with Mimi to the Chicago Botanic Garden. It was supposed to be a yucky, rainy day all day, but the morning was really nice! We had such a good time walking around the garden and looking at the pretty flowers and plants! Jackson loved the birds and the statue of a bird we saw! LOL He also liked pointing out the airplanes up above... My favorite things were all of the tulips! Those are my favorite flower and they were just gorgeous!

A Boy, A Car, and A Haircut

Sunday was haircut day for the boys in the house! Both Jackson and Josh got to choose a tv show and a snack while I cut his hair! What a great mommy/wife ;) Above, is a before picture of Jackson, and below are some after pictures. These pictures also feature Jackson's new Cozy Coupe car! He LOVES it! He likes getting in and out of the side because he gets to open and close the little door. We haven't taken the car outside yet, but Jackson seems quite happy tooling around the living room!

Evanston Getaway

Jackson and I arrived in Chicago last night, and I must say that Jackson was a pretty awesome traveling buddy! I had booked the latest flight Southwest had from DC to Chicago, hoping that a certain someone would sleep. No such luck :( But, as a consolation, Jackson was such a good boy! The flight was about 40 seats short of full so we got lucky and had a whole row to ourselves in the back. Jackson sat on my lap through take-off with his little face plastered to the window watching everything going on with the big airplanes! I think he was in heaven! Once we got into the air, he was quite happy for most of the flight sitting in a seat all by himself! He's such a big boy! He liked playing with the seatbelt parts and pulling the pamphlets and magazines out of the seatback in front of him. He was so happy looking at books and checking out the airplane, that I got to take out my book and read too! By the time we had about half an hour left, the fact that we were over three hours PAST bedtime started to sink in and Jackson curled up on the seat with his blanket, sweatshirt pillow, and pacis and had some quiet time. He never did fall asleep (until his head hit the carseat in the car), but he was SOOO good! I was quite proud of my traveling partner :) Grandpa picked us up and we immediately went to Big Herms for a nightcap aka: milkshake!

This morning we headed out to meet Auntie Kelly and her two-month old daughter, Ryleigh! We were SO excited to meet her! Jackson was hooked as soon as he saw the awesomely huge wheels on Ryleigh's stroller! He held on to her stroller the whole way to Starbucks as we walked through the mall!

Kisses for Ryleigh!

He didn't seem jealous at all while I held Ryleigh and gave her her bottle. He was just anxious to "play" with her! He was so gentle and liked touching her hands and feet.

Auntie Dana enjoys her snuggle time :)

Who's this pretty girl?

I sat her on his stroller tray so they could get a good look at each other and Jackson immediately reached out his arms to hold her!

I let him "help" hold her and he was so gentle! He kept patting her back like he was burping her! It was too funny! I eventually kind of sat her in the stroller with Jackson and he had his arm around her and was just happy as could be to have a seat mate!

After hanging out with the Tadelman girls, we headed over to Nan's place to play for a little while. She was prepared and had a super cute lift-the-flap puppy book for Jackson! He liked it just a little bit... )

Enjoying time in a big boy chair in the dining room!

Testing out Nan's newly re-done balcony!

Nan got lots of hugs and kisses!

Nan introduced Jackson to chocolate Cheerios (and Mommy)! He was checking to make sure Mimi didn't try to steal any of his snack :)

There aren't any pictures, but Jackson ate a HUGE dinner when we met Grandpa at Lou Malnati's for dinner! He polished off half a box of mac and cheese, a package of ravioli, a few bites of chicken, and a pretty decent sized bowl of strawberries! He was still looking around for more food after that too! He really did feel quite heavy when I picked him up after dinner! I wonder where he is putting all of that...

A Belated Easter Post

Perhaps you remember Jackson's love of anything deeley-bobber... I was quite excited when I found these bunny ears in the dollar bin at Target. Score! I was ready for Easter way in advance! When Jackson pulled them out of his Easter basket, however, he was not very excited :( He put them on once to test them out, then let Grandpa try them on, but then he didn't want anything to do with them! Like, he wouldn't go near the part of the room where they were! What a nut! My mom and I wrangled him into getting this picture, because of course we needed them on for a good Easter picture :) But, don't be fooled: he was NOT excited!

Jackson LOVES getting mail! He was quite excited with the cards from his two Virginia great-grandmas! Gramma sent him a sweet card with a little spending money. We went shopping and picked out this cool Fridge Farm by LeapFrog. It is super cute and sings an only-slight-annoying song ;) There are five different animals, cut in half. You can mix and match animals and the farm sings about whichever animals halves are chosen. Right now we have a duck-cow on the fridge :)

Meemaw sent a package with another cute card, these adorable jammies, and a new summer outfit! We (Mommy) loves new clothes! Josh was especially jealous of these striped pants :) Meemaw said she would keep a lookout for ones in his size!

Happy Nights!

I LOVE these Fisher Price Happy Nights nighttime diapers!!! They have saved me many loads of laundry! I had posted a status on Facebook a few months ago asking if anyone had any tips for keeping babies dry at night. Jackson was waking up SOAKED every morning! Not only did that create a lot of laundry, but I just felt so bad for him--what a crummy way to wake up. A few people suggested using one size larger diapers at night, others suggested special nighttime diapers. I went with the one size larger idea first. I really do try to spend wisely on most baby items (I think Josh would argue with that in the clothing department, but I have to have one weakness!), and the idea of buying special overnight diapers did not appeal to me. What if we had a bunch left over once he went into a new size? Then the diapers I had left would go to waste. So, I went out and bought a pack of size 5 Target diapers. They pretty much took care of the problem. However, a good friend gave me one of her Fisher Price Happy Nights diapers to try and I was hooked as soon as I saw the cute design on the front! LOL No, seriously, they just felt sturdier. Jackson was totally dry in the morning! The packages are pretty small, so I've gotten over my fear that we will waste tons of diapers when Jackson grows a size. It is so nice putting Jackson to bed knowing that he is wearing a diaper that will keep him dry for 12+ hours! The only downside is that I can only find these at Babies R Us, and I just don't go there that frequently anymore. I just buy a few packs at a time.

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Lots of Playdates--Young and Old!

Isn't this THE most AMAZING picture ever??? Our cousin, Kerry, took it while we hung out with her Friday morning in Leesburg! I love everything about this picture :) Of course, Jackson was pointing out another airplane. Funny how being so close to Dulles there were so many planes... ;) Anyways, we met Kerry on our way to meet Sarah and Maddie at the outlet mall in Leesburg. We found a little neighborhood playground for Jackson to check out while we hung out.

Jackson really did love this slide! Kerry and I both had the same amazement at how little kids can do the same thing over and over and over... It makes me so happy to watch Jackson do things like this, though! He really understands that it's a fun activity, that he likes it, and that he knows what to do to do it again! He's such a big boy!

This captures the portion of the morning when playing in the parking lot became more exciting than playing on the equipment... This also might have been when Jackson spotted a big, friendly doggie walking by. His owner was nice enough to stop, and even sit down with us, so Jackson could meet Tucker. Jackson was so sweet with Tucker! He sat down with him and just ruffled his thick fur with his chubby little hand. Tucker seemed quite content to take a break in the shade and to be loved on :) I love encountering nice people!

After spending some time with Kerry, Jackson and I were off to meet Sarah and Maddie for lunch and some shopping. Since we didn't buy anything, technically you could say we met for walking around... Look at these sweet faces? They were so excited to see each other and were quite content to hang out in their strollers so their mamas could shop and chat :)

Maybe they knew they would be rewarded with ice cream?

Saturday afternoon we met up with the Mullens and James got to show Jackson his neighborhood playground! The first stop was the swings. The boys (young and old, as you can see) had a great time! Jackson and Josh played the usual game of Josh-pushes-Jackson-and-Jackson-pretend-kicks-Daddy-so-he-pretends-to-fall-backwards. It was a winner!

The slide was a big hit with Jackson and James! Especially because there were some really big steps to climb up on the way to the top!

After Five Guys dinner, there was some serious playing to be had. First, there was an opportunity to play with fun Tupperware (which has it's OWN cabinet in Mary Jo and Mark's newly organized kitchen!).

This table is perfect for crawling under and then popping up and out of!

I'm not quite sure what was going on here, but I think bedtime soon followed...

Jackson and James are quite a team on the firetruck at our house and now the racecar at James's house! Usually Jackson pushes James around, but James was pretty excited to push Jackson around this time! They did many, many laps on the Kitchen-Dining Room-Living Room track :)

An 18-Month Old Well Baby!

I took Jackson for his 18 month well-baby check-up on Wednesday afternoon, and he did awesome! He was such a champ, that I rewarded him with a dinner date at Panera with Mommy :) Will anyone believe that he picked that particular dining establishment? LOL Anyways, Jackson made it through the entire appointment (having his measurements taken, getting checked out, and shots) without a paci!!! I couldn't believe it! I have only done the H1N1 shot on my own--Josh has been there for all of the others. Jackson did fantastically! He definitely let out a few sad howls, but once the nurse was finished, he sat up, whimpered a couple of times, and resumed eating his snack. Phew! Jackson definitely checked out as a well-baby :D We could not be more thankful for that! I think his rough week last week was due to teething :( Those silly teeth just affect everything!

We saw Dr. Kernan this time, and I must say she is our favorite. She was the one who checked Jackson out for the first three days we were in the hospital when he was born, and we just clicked. I have tried to request our well-baby check-ups to be with her so that we have a solid relationship with at least one of the doctors in the practice. We really like them all, so when we have to slip in at the last minute for a sick baby appointment, there are no worries. But, since there are so many docs, we want to make sure that we feel comfortable. Anyways, she was not concerned at all that Jackson does not have a rolling vocabulary yet. She said she is not a word-counter. Instead, she is concerned with is social interactions: does he mimic us, point to things, and just generally initiate interactions. He definitely does those things! Whew! We also talked about his eating habits and she did not seem worried one bit. She said that fruits and veggies have the same important stuff in them, so the fact that Jackson shovels in fruit is just fine. She said that veggies definitely have stronger tastes and it's totally normal for him to favor fruit. It is also not unusual for him to be uninterested in meat. Overall, I was so happy with how our appointment went! The only thing I forgot was to have her really look in his mouth and check out his teeth. I was hoping to find out if one (or more) tooth (teeth) had come in last week, and if she saw any more on their way. Oh well. Our next appointment won't be until October when Jackson turns two! I'm sure we will have a really fun next six months, but I hope they creep along!


Jackson's 18 month stats are:
***Height: 32.5 in (50th %ile)
***Weight: 24 lbs 13.9 oz (between 25th and 50th %ile)
***Head circumference: 19.5 in (90th %ile) Ahhh..that head. It grows at it's own rate, according to the doctor :)

Doesn't he look like a little magician?

The magician moonlights as a fireman :)