Baby! (Not Ours!)

Jackson LOVES babies these days :) It is really sweet! We really feel as if we are one of two or three other couples NOT pregnant with our second (or third!) baby! It's amazing all of the stages of life: first you hear about your friend's new boyfriend or girlfriend. Then you hear about an engagement. Then you hear about pregnancy! Then there is a second pregnancy, and a third... Time is FLYING! When did we all become grown-ups??? Anyways, Jackson has been super cute with my pregnant friends and some of the new babies.

A girlfriend that I actually knew from Evanston moved here with her husband, and they had a baby girl this summer. Jackson has come with me to visit Rebecca and Baby Eloise a few times. Most recently we met at the Natonal Zoo and Jackson liked peeking in on Eloise :)

When we were in Virginia Beach with the Buerstattes, Jackson started to notice Brandi's pregnant tummy. Then, we hung out with the Bascoms (barely 24 hours before Baby Brodie made his arrival!), and Jackson pointed to Sarah's belly and said, "Baby!" He did take it a step further and point to my belly and say, "Baby!" I quickly corrected him that there's no baby here! LOL Jackson made a big sister card for Maddie at the beginning of the week and a picture for Baby Brodie. He went around all day saying, "Baby!" SOOO cute!

I got to go meet Mr. Brodie yesterday, but Jackson will have to wait until after Thanksgiving :)

Stuffed Friends!

As silly as it sounds I have been making a concerted effort for most of Jackson's life to get him attached to some stuffed animal(s)! He LOVES his pacifiers, which is fine, but a stuffed animal or two or a blanket would probably be better. Today I was taking Jackson upstairs to play in his crib for a little quiet time when he ran over to the mess of toys on the floor and grabbed these two guys: a purple bunny named Heather (she came with that name!) (she also is missing all facial features thanks to Jackson's big furry brother) and a yellow ducky. He played with them in his crib and when it was time to come back downstairs he clutched them in his arm all the way down! It was so cute watching him grasp them however he could so he could hold on to the railing and his friends!

The new friends came in the car with us to the library and on the way home Jackson took a brief snooze with each friend on a side of his head. SO CUTE! After lunch, Jackson found his friends again and we had the following photo shoot:

Snuggles for Ducky!

Contemplating a kiss for Ducky...

Kisses for Heather!

A sweet boy and his new friends :)

Summer Days in Evanston, Take Three

Thursday was a nice laid back day. I started the day out with a run and after breakfast, Jackson and I took Pax for a nice, long walk. It was SO much nicer out today! While that all was lovely, the time between about 10:30-2:00 was a bit rough :( Jackson got tired super early so we bypassed lunch (since the act of sitting to eat lunch was apparently devastating...), and laid Jackson down really early at 11:30. He went right down, but only slept for an hour! He seemed pretty upset to be awake, actually. But for some reason or another, he couldn't get back to sleep. We took Pax for another walk and that at least was a nice calm activity! I had planned to take Jackson to Nan's pool for a little swim and then we were bringing Nan back to Mimi and Bampa's house for dinner. I decided to still go with that plan, and Mom and Josh went on with their plan to go play par three golf. I am so glad I took Jackson to the pool! He had the best time! He was so excited to sit on the edge of the pool and "jump" into my arms! He even liked going under water and even asked for that again and again! I was especially pleased when I told him we would do five more jumps before leaving. I counted very clearly after each jump and after the last one I told him we were all done and we were going to get ready to go. He walked right up the stairs and let me get him dried off and dressed without any sort of fight! Go Jax!

Jackson seemed quite pleased to have Nan at "his" house to play with! He gave her plenty of kisses and hugs, which was fine with her!

She even helped Jackson eat his dinner--phew!

Another possible struggle avoided! After dinner, Jackson put some of his trucks in his wagon and pulled them around. Then, he remembered he could sit in the wagon! Of course, Nan was a willing participant to pull Jackson in his wagon! He LOVED this! He loved it even more when he put all of his trucks in the wagon WITH him!

Dad was the last one to get home and Jackson exclaimed, "Bampa!" as soon as Dad walked in! It was really cute, but got even cuter when Jackson walked into the kitchen with a piece of popcorn and handed it to Bampa! It was so adorable! I love that he is thinking of sharing on his own :) Of course Jackson figured out how much attention this little trick got him, so he kept offering chips and popcorn to us all! It definitely did not get old :) Pax made out pretty well too!

My three boys!

Passing out popcorn.

Pre-bedtime wrestling!

Four generations :)

A Weekend with Mimi

We are having a great time with Mimi here! Yesterday Jackson wore his super cute new outfit Mimi bought him! It is overalls with a matching onesie and socks all themed around monsters rocking out :) He had a great time lounging in his new chair!


The Mullens came over for dinner last night and we had Pork Wellington, macaroni and cheese, and chocolate banana pudding! Here is Jackson helping Daddy make the pudding:
I think we might need some vanilla. I'll carry it around for a while just in case...

Jackson discovered the joy of playing with the recycling this morning :) I just love this picture of his feet kicked back under him.

Jackson spent some time showing Mimi how much he loves kissing Paxton with the bear puppet!

I love this look and had to post this! He was SO thirsty before bed tonight! Usually I can get him changed into his pjs before we sit down to snuggle with some milk and stories. He just wanted to drink tonight. I got as far as changing his shirt, and then he just wanted to hang out on his changing table!

One of the fantastic books we found at TJ Maxx the other day was this Elmo puppy book. It is a lift-the-flap book, and the flaps are bigger to make it easier for little fingers to lift them. I like that and Jackson loves kissing the puppies on each page! It is just too funny!

Haircut and Hugs

I was quite proud of myself for the strategy I used to cut Jackson's hair last night. I brought his booster seat down to the family room and sat him in it in front of "Max and Ruby." I also brought down a stash of honey wheat pretzels. As long as he was noshing on a pretzel, he didn't seem to mind so much! Phew! The buzzing of the clippers got a little loud towards the end, and that seemed to bother him. Otherwise it was quite a success!

Jackson loves giving hugs and kisses! He especially loves giving them to James. James is not such a willing participant. He puts up with it for a bit, but then he turns to Jackson like, "Dude! Seriously! Enough!" Hmmm... What if Jackson ends up liking James more than James likes Jackson??? These are the things I spend time worrying about...

Two random cutes:

Jackson likes to pretend pump lotion onto his hand while he's sitting on his changing table. Then he rubs his hands together like I do after lotioning him up after his bath :)

This afternoon I was holding Jackson while taking a sip from my water bottle. He reached for a sip, so I shared. Then he had another sip, then me, then him, etc. He seemed to think it was a very fun sharing game :)

End of the Week Randomness

Someone had a Facebook status the other day explaining that it was a good thing her kid was cute because it saved his life sometimes. I cannot think of a truer statement ;) We have definitely been having some crabby days, but there has been a lot of cuteness infused in there :) I was pleased to read on Facebook statuses that Wednesday seemed to be an off day for everyone! Phew! My child really hasn't been replaced with a cranky stand-in. I was trying to rent him out to his Auntie Em, but she said she didn't do overnights. I don't blame her... We are working on Jackson's sleep schedules and while I know it will take a little time, I really wish it would just fix itself instantly! Poof!

Let's see...cuteness: Yesterday morning I was getting things together to start breakfast and look down to find Jackson sitting IN the bottom drawer! He was so proud of himself! He did it a few more times during the day, but got very upset when I explained he couldn't sit in any drawers higher than the bottom one. (Cause #804 of a meltdown yesterday afternoon.)


James has been having a hard time watching Mark leave in the mornings, but we have found that a ride on the firetruck makes everything better! I had just taken him on a lap through the dining room (with Jackson "chasing" us) and stopped in the living room. Jackson came over and put a reassuring hand on James's shoulder. Then he leaned in for a kiss! So sweet! He spent a good fifteen minutes pushing James around on the firetruck, and I caught other kiss attempts during the morning. What a good friend!

The look on Jackson's face when he realizes I plan to carry both he and James downstairs is priceless! He LOVES that! I usually pick up James first and then Jackson hops on to my shoulder. As soon as he can tell it's coming, he gets a huge smile on his face, and his arms shoot up at high as they can reach :)

Jackson has started grabbing the burp cloth off of the side of the glider while we are reading stories before bed/nap and using it to wipe his mouth or the book after he finishes his milk! It is too funny! He sprays milk sometimes when he takes the straw out of his mouth and I usually try to wipe the spots off of the book before it has a chance to get sticky. He's being so helpful!

On an unrelated note, Jackson always seems to have one outfit that cannot stay clean! When he was really teeny it was his Bears onesie. If I dressed him in that, it was only a matter of time before we had an emergency diaper and outfit change on our hands. There have been a couple of others at different stages. The current culprit is a really cute layered shirt with basketballs on the sleeves and a big basketball on the shirt and it says "Swish." Really cute. He wore it for the first time last week and that's when he threw up all over himself. He was wearing it today until he decided he was finished with this whole bib thing during meals and got lunch all over himself. Poor shirt :(

Just a typical morning:

Winter Break: Part 3: Chapter 4

We have had such a nice day so far! The weather is pretty yucky, so we just stayed in. Jackson woke up for the first time at 5:20am and I decided if I'm really trying to get him back on track, I'm really doing it! Anything before 6am is not an option. So, he cried himself back to sleep (it took a pretty long time!). He got up again just before 7--much better! Since he had gotten up a little later than usual, he didn't go down for his nap until a touch later. It also took him a long time to settle down. He wasn't up from his nap until 11, and that pushed back his afternoon nap. Phew! Other than having a hard time getting to and staying asleep, Jackson has been so happy to play with his toys and his puppy! I came upstairs after throwing in some laundry and found him situated in James' car seat! He spent a good portion of the afternoon in it! He realized he could reach right into his toy basket--smart cookie! The first time I saw him, he had his laptop out and was dancing to "B-I-N-G-O." Then he had his Elmo remote and then his truck. Such a funny guys! My mom gave him a bear puppet/book and he has been kissing it all day. It is so stinking cute to hear him make kissing sounds! He also takes it over to Pax and gives Pax kisses from the bear. What a sweet boy :)

Won't You Be My Kissaroo?

Two frequent reads around here are Won't You Be My Hugaroo? and Won't You Be My Kissaroo? I recently started kissing Jackson after each page's description of a kiss. He has started turning his face towards mine to get his kiss :) He even does it during other books! We checked out Kiss Kiss! from the library and I do the same thing. He LOVES it! We can't get over what a sweet nature he has!

Moose Man Mutterings and Musings

I am so excited with Jackson's new pajamas! One of the hardest things in this whole getting older thing was realizing he was too big for this season's cute footie pajamas. Luckily, Walmart's run big and we were just able to fit into this pair of pjs!

Jackson has been testing out his words a lot lately! Lucky for us, his favorites are "mamamamama" and "dadadadadada!" He is definitely saying them more intentionally now and we love hearing those words :) While I was sleeping in on Saturday, Josh was in the kitchen with Jackson when his grandma walked in. She announced that she was going to go take a shower and she and Josh both heard Jackson say, "Okay!" I'll believe them!

Another sweet Meemaw moment was that same morning when she was sitting in her recliner. Her hand was dangling over the side and Jackson crawled over and laid his head in her hand! Needless to say she LOVED it!

One of my favorite new things is that when I take the tray off of Jackson's booster, he reaches out with both hands and grabs my shirt. I'm not sure if he's just super anxious to get out, or really wants to be with me. I'm going with the latter ;)

I am happy to report that Jackson is still a cuddler whenever he can slow down enough! He likes to be fed in his room and as soon as I sit down in the glider with him on my lap, he turns his head towards me and just cuddles up. I hope that lasts forever!

Puppy Love

We are so lucky that Pax has accepted Jackson into our pact from the very beginning. But, I have noticed recently the two of them noticing each other more. It is so stinking cute! Pax will usually come down to the family room whenever Jackson is on his playmat and lie down right by him and watch him wiggle around. He has also found the Exersaucer is the perfect height for licking his little friend. Pax is very patient about letting Jackson touch his face and fur. I don't think Jackson has tried to pull any whiskers, but I hope Pax would be patient then too and understand Jackson was just exploring... Yesterday, I was trying to feed Jackson some cereal while he sat in his Bumbo, and he heard Pax's tags jingle as he got off the couch. You could hear him start paying attention to what Pax was doing and as soon as Pax started walking around within view, it was all Jackson could do to stay in his seat as his eyes followed every move Pax made! SO CUTE! Just now, Paxton tried to cuddle Jackson while Jackson was on his play mat. He lied down near him and slowly rolled onto his side. Unfortunately, Jackson's arm was under him so Jackson got this look on his face like, "Why can't I move my arm?!" He wiggled just enough that Pax moved :( A few minutes later I could tell Pax wanted to try it again. While I am sad that Pax isn't interested in cuddling us grown-ups, it will be super sweet if he and Jackson get in some cuddles. In fact, when Pax spent a night at a family friend's house, he came back accompanied by the report that he snuggled their daughter! I was quite jealous! Right now, Pax is lying by Jackson's feet and letting Jackson's little feet kick him and he wiggles around :) What a good sport!

Stories and Bathtime

Pre-bath story with Mommy

Bath happiness

All clean and snuggly listening to Daddy's story