shadows

jackson and i were playing on the floor this morning. he was looking at something, but i couldn't figure out what it was at first. then i realized he was looking at the shadow of my hand. i started to move my hand around and it was so cute to watch him try to grab it's shadow.

jackson has a new cousin!

eric's sister, emily, and her family have a new addition. paige renee was born at 11:44am on march, 28th. she weighed 7 pounds 8 ounces and was 19" long. the labor and delivery went very well and mom and baby are doing great.

paige renee:

auntie nell holding paige for the 1st time:
jackson with his new cousin:
mommy and baby:

spring snow

in a previous post, i was complaining about the snow we were getting on the 1st day of spring. i guess i spoke too soon. the next day we got even more snow. and today, march 29th, we have at least 6 INCHES. 6 INCHES OF SNOW AT THE END OF MARCH!!!! it's ridiculous!

this is a picture of the snow on the 1st day of spring...the snow on the ground is left over from the winter. so no accumulation this day.

this is a picture from the second day of spring. as you can see we got a good 2-3 inches. luckily it all melted within a day or two.
and here's today. i took this picture about an hour ago and it's still snowing. there's probably an extra inch or two more than you see here! needless to say, i am SO ready for the sun.

money, money, money...money

for christmas jackson's great-oma and opa got him a counting money jar with about $20 in it. it's really cool...as you put money in it, it keeps track of the total amount. it can tell if you're putting in a dime, nickel, penny, etc. eric and i decided (kinda jokingly, kinda seriously) that it will be jackson's college fund. he's up to $42.78. we figured if we continue at this rate (not counting interest rate, cause when it gets full we'll open a savings account for him) he'll have just under $4,000. i guess that's not too bad, but certainly won't cover much if he plans on going to a private school.

what a mess!

jackson used to sleep with a baby positioner to help keep him on his side. recently, we've stopped using it (partly due to the fact that eric read something about it not being safe once babies can roll and partly because we thought he might sleep better if he had more freedom to move). it's been working just fine...and i think he is sleeping better. one problem i've noticed is that because he can move freely, he ends up on his tummy a lot. i'm not worried about him being on his tummy, it's just that it seems to cause his diapers to leak through way more than before. this morning was the worst. i went in to feed him at 5:45am and noticed he was soaking wet. i was hoping he'd go back to sleep after eating, so i didn't want to change him, but i knew i had to. so i kept the lights really dim and began getting him into a dry diaper and pj's. after i got the new diaper on i felt something weird on his tummy. you know how diapers have that stuff in them that turns to some sort of gel-like substance once it gets wet? well it exploded out the top of the diaper and was caked on this tummy! gross!! i was able to get it mostly cleaned off and what was the biggest surprise to me was that after he ate, he went back to sleep with no problem and slept until after 8am!!! we're going to have to figure something out so this doesn't continue to happen. what a mess!

a little grumpy...

first of all jackson decided that 5am would be a good time to be awake this morning. i tried putting him back to sleep for 45 minutes only to lay him down and have him wake up all happy. so, we get up (not like i hadn't been awake since 3am for no apparent reason). i put him in his exersaucer so i could kind of relax. he was happy. then he coughed and gagged a little. then, he barfed all over the exersaucer. great! he's had a bit of a cold, so i'm hoping he just kinda gagged on something and that he's not getting more sick.
i figured jackson wouldn't be awake long before he was ready for a nap, and i was right. around 6:45 he was back in bed. so, i lay down to try to get some sleep. yeah, right! jackson's not been napping well the last few days and this morning was no exception. i had to help him get back to sleep several times during his 1 1/2 nap. so...no sleep for mommy.
then, i caught a glimpse of something between the blinds so i open them up and sure enough...it's SNOWING! IT'S SPRING NOW!!! WHY IS IT SNOWING?!!! not happy about this. (it has since stopped snowing, but i'm still going to complain about it).
i guess that's all that's making me grumpy so far (but it's only 9:30am...i'm sure i'll come up with other things before the day is through).
here's hoping for a better day...or maybe a better attitude! :)

6 months

jackson had his 1/2 birthday on march 10th. even though i've heard it a million times, i still can't believe how fast it goes.
yesterday was his 6 month doctor's appointment. he's a big boy. he weighs 20 lbs 5.5 ounces and is 28 1/2 inches. (that's 90% for weight and 95% for height.) he's not in the high percentiles all around...his head size is 42.5 cm...that's just 10% :)