steps

i'm a proud mama...jackson just took a couple steps all by himself! two times, he took two steps! it's just really fun to watch him learn and grow and do new things. in just a couple of weeks, we'll be celebrating his 1st birthday and maybe by then he'll be taking even more steps! (however, i'll be happy if he's walking well by the end of november when his baby brother will be born...which, by the way is less than 90 days away!)

another tooth

jackson's 4th tooth finally made it's appearance on thursday. i know, not necessarily very exciting news, but i want to post it so i remember for his baby book. deal with it!

nature

we've had some neat sunsets recently...this is one i got a picture of last week. i think it kinda looks like a fire.
we've been having lots of rain the last few days (which i've really enjoyed) and last evening, as the rain stopped and the sun came out, we saw the most amazing rainbow. the picture doesn't do it justice...

jackson's new house

eric brought a big cardboard box home last friday to make a house for jackson. he got to work on it after jackson went to bed on sunday night. he left it out in the living room as a surprise for jackson on monday morning. he told me not to show it to jackson, but to wait and see what he'd do. it didn't take him long to find his new house...and he loved it!

this is him looking through the window
even daddy can fit inside...aren't they cute?!

100 days to go!

only 100 more days until my due date. here's to hoping carter decides to not make it too much longer than that...CHEERS!

sleeping, part II

it's been just over a week since we've allowed jackson the pleasure of learning to fall asleep on his own. IT'S BEEN GREAT! he's now sleeping from 7pm to 7am each night (it's been that way for the last 6 or 7 nights) without needed any assistance from mom or dad! his naps started out a little rockier...he kept waking up after just 30 minutes. we tried letting him cry to see if he'd fall back asleep, we tried holding him to get him back to sleep, we tried a little of both and he kept waking up. i tried to stay patient knowing it had only been a few days, and what do you know?...he's started getting past that 30 minute mark and has been taking 1 1/2 hour naps twice a day for the last few days! i can't tell you how much less stress there is in the woods' house. i was starting to get kinda worried thinking about how i was going to deal with rocking jackson to sleep for his naps (and often once or twice during his naps cause he would wake up a lot) and at night while dealing with a newborn. i'm sooooo happy we read healthy sleep habits, happy child by marc weissbluth. i highly recommend it to anyone with kids or anyone planning to have kids.
oh, yeah...he also cries very little or not at all when we put him down now!

helping?

jackson decided he'd help me with the laundry this morning. he doesn't know how to fold clothes yet, so he thought it'd be helpful to pull the basket off the couch. it ended up on his head!

thanks to help from his mom, he finally got the basket off his head.

look mom...no hands

i think i mentioned that jackson's been learning to stand on his own...i got this picture the other day. he'll only do it if he has something in his hands...i think that he concentrates in it rather than the fact he's standing. this week he's also taken a step between furniture a few times. he'll let go of the chair and take a step to the couch, then hold on again. there's something exciting about the fact that he'll be walking soon, but i also realize that means even more chasing!

sleeping

so my friend sent me this book. after reading most the parts that applied to babies of jackson's age, i realized jackson really needs to get more sleep and better sleep. one thing i really like about this book is that he doesn't say here's how you get your baby to sleep and if you don't do it this way, you're a bad mom. he does, however, recommend some ways of helping your child get the best quality sleep...namely helping him learn to fall asleep on his own. we knew it would mean some crying. i knew i'd have to wait until the weekend when eric would be home for emotional support. last night was our first attempt. while we were listening to jackson cry i told eric, "i'm sure this is going to be one of those things where we look back in a few days and say...'we should have done this sooner.'" and i think i'm right. within 25 minutes jackson was sound asleep and slept for 9 hours straight. i fed him, put him back down, and then he slept until 6:45am. then it was time for his 1st nap. eric was huckleberry picking this morning so i was on my own. i fed jackson his bottle and prayed that he would fall asleep quickly. he cried for 13 minutes and slept for 1 1/2 hours. already he's been sleeping better than he has in a few weeks...and it's just our 1st day!!! i knew it worked for other babies and other families, i just wasn't sure it'd work for us. i'm so glad we're headed down this road. especially with another one coming in a few months. (who's name, by the way, we've settled on...carter gregory. carter is from the movie the bucket list and gregory is eric's dad's name.)
so...here's to better sleep for all of us. at least for a few more months! :)

standing

over the last couple weeks, jackson has been practicing standing unassisted. although it's usually only for a second or two, he's getting there. and yesterday he stood for at least 10 seconds while he was focusing on something else. pretty soon he'll be taking steps, then running, then going to school, then getting married...okay i'll stop there and just enjoy today :)

company

my aunt carolyn and uncle ron stayed at our place last monday for the night on their way to montana. it was fun to get to spend some time with them and jackson really enjoyed having them around. we took them for a walk on the boardwalk and then eric bbq'd some chicken for dinner. they stayed in our "guest house" (our new camper) and then were on their way. although it was a short trip, we enjoyed having them here. one highlight was uncle ron doing the dishes after dinner and breakfast. what an awesome guy!

jackson with his great-aunt carolyn
uncle ron and eric chatting

family fun night

last sunday evening we had family fun night at eric's oma and opa's. here are some cute pictures:

jackson with his opa
our niece, lauren, looking at pictures with her great oma & opa
eric's brother and sister with our nephew, daniel
aren't we cute?! me and my mom-in-law
jackson with his cousin, paige

our brother-in-law, darrin, with his daughter

1st haircut

last saturday jackson had his first haircut. he didn't have lots of hair to be cut, but our main purpose was to get rid of his baby mullet. after he was born he lost all of his hair except this little strip in the back that looked like a little mullet (or a mustache). and as his hair started growing back his mullet just kept growing longer. it got to the point that we couldn't handle it anymore...so we took him to a kids' haircutting place. he got to sit on a purple and white zebra, watch a baby einstein video, play with toys and have a sucker! with all these distractions he did really well. i was surprised at what a difference it made. he's lookin' sharp now! they even gave us a little certificate with a bit of his hair commemorating his 1st haircut!

before...you can kinda see his baby mullet in this picture
playing with toys on the purple & white zebra
he even sat really still while she used the clippers...the sucker helped, i'm sure!
after
no more mullet!