new food

jackson loves pickles. eric gave him a taste of one awhile ago thinking jackson would make that funny sour face, instead he wanted more. his cousin, kiah, loved pickles when she was little too...

sleepy swing

we found a new way to put jackson to sleep. he was getting a little fussy the other day, so eric took him outside to swing for a bit. a few minutes of swinging and he was fast asleep. it was close enough to bedtime that eric decided to get him out, put on his pj's and put him back in the swing so he would fall asleep again. don't worry he didn't sleep there all night...daddy did move him to his crib.

fat lip

jackson got his first fat lip last monday. although it wasn't very bad, he was pretty upset about it. daddy knew just what to do...a nice lime otter pop was the cure!

high waters

because of all the snow we got this winter and the fact that it stayed really cold for so long the snow didn't start melting at a nice slow pace. instead we got super warm temperatures for 3 or 4 days and the snow started melting like crazy. here are some "flood" pictures from lake coeur d'alene.

i guess you don't want to sit on that bench...

this "no jumping" is at the top of about 20 stairs that go into the lake...maybe it'd be okay to jump now
eric liked that this arrow is pointing you right into the flooded lake (and it's under water)
and then there's this guy who decided to drive through the HUGE puddle. this is his 2nd attempt. his 1st attempt caused his truck to stall and it took a couple minutes for him to get it started again. so what does he do?...back up through the puddle and try again. BRILLIANT!

foods jackson likes: avocado, sweet potato, apples, pears, bananas, oatmeal, rice cereal, prunes, chicken w/apples.
foods jackson doesn't like: green beans, peas, and carrots (although he will eat some carrots if he's really hungry)
what jackson doesn't know he's eating: green beans, peas, and carrots. last week or so i was thinking of ways to get him to eat more veggies. since sweet potatoes are orange and carrots are orange i tried mixing them (of course less carrots and more sweet potato...we wouldn't want him to catch on!) and he did great. then i thought, how do i get him to eat the green ones...he won't even touch them by themselves. eric said try mixing them with his avocado. success! it's nice to know he's getting at least some veggies in his diet.

another thing about eating. jackson's catching on to the routine when it's time to eat. i put him in his highchair, i get the bib and he leans forward so i can velcro it behind his head. then i get the tray and he lifts his hands so i can attach it to the highchair. my boy is brilliant!

a new "word"

a couple of days ago we noticed jackson was "saying" ma-ma-ma. although i know that he doesn't know what he's saying, i wasn't very thrilled about when he said it. if he got really mad or was crying...that's when we'd hear him say (or more accurately whine) ma-ma. this morning, however, i heard him saying it while happy and playing. i'm just glad my name won't just be associated with bad moods :)

here are a couple more cute pictures. the 1st is of my brother michael. he's about the same age in this picture as jackson is now.

it seems like michael has a better idea how to play with this toy. understandable, though, since kids these days have no idea what this toy actually is anyway.

i was looking at pictures this morning and ran across these 2. like mommy, like son. the 1st is me (notice i had an actual toy box!)

jackson seems to have way more toys than i did...and i had to share with my twin sister.

swing

while at baby's R us last weekend, we found something we knew jackson couldn't live without...a swing! he had seemed to enjoy the swings at the city park, so we thought he needed one on our little front porch.

mother's day

i know i'm a little late in blogging about mother's day...better late then never. the friday before mother's day jackson was pretty crabby, so when eric got home from work and could tell i was at the end of my rope, he took jackson downtown for a walk and then took him shopping. they ended up getting food to cook me breakfast and a fantastic card. (both of which i got early...the card i got friday night and breakfast was cooked for me on saturday. eric knew he wouldn't have enough time before church on sunday. i didn't mind getting my gifts early...i'm not good with surprises, especially if i know one's coming.) anyway...the card was the cutest i've ever seen. not necessarily because of what it said, but because eric let jackson hold it in the store to keep him occupied and this is what it looked like when i opened it...

just a little bit chewed on! a special touch from my son!
the inside...i love that eric traced jackson's hand...so cute!

no more tv

eric and i watch a lot of tv...too much tv. (i'll admit that i watch more than him, since i'm home all day.) we decided we should watch less tv. so, for the summer we're keeping the tv off. we only get reception with the rabbit ears, so we put them away. yesterday afternoon is when we started, so it's been about 24 hours and so far so good :). we have decided to keep the dvd player out to watch movies here and there. wish us luck (especially me)...i'm hoping not to feel too deprived! :) (luckily the office season finale was last week)

sitting

jackson's been sitting for probably over a month now...but i don't think i've mentioned it on the blog yet. and just last saturday he got into the sitting position by himself for the first time. oh, my...what a big boy!

we like the park

we went to the park again last night. with the nice weather, it's hard to stay away. this time we had our weekly 'family fun night' at the part. (each saturday eric's family [his parents, siblings and nephew and niece] get together for dinner and hang out time.) we bbq'd hotdogs, had chips, soda, vicky's yummy potato salad and lots of fun.

jackson's cousin, lauren, loves giving him kisses
daniel's enjoying the grape soda
this is lauren showing us her "trick"
tanta beth and j-hub...look how strong he's getting!

jackson even took a little dip in the lake

we went to the park last night with some friends and their kids. it was a beautiful day. jackson had fun with our friends' 2 year old son, william. it's SO nice to have nice, sunny, warm weather.

today we're going to babys r us to get a baby gate. jackson's been on the move big time. he's turning into quite a climber. today he pulled himself up onto his feet! the basket i'm using to block the bathroom/bedrooms isn't going to cut it anymore. it's time to make sure we have everything baby proofed.

look what i can do...and say!

jackson's started doing some new things recently
1. a few days ago he started "talking" a lot. he says such things as: da-da-da, ba-ba-ba, ta-ta-ta, ka-ka-ka. no ma-ma-ma yet...he must be saving the best for last :)
2. yesterday he pulled himself up on his knees. i can tell he's been trying to do it for awhile now, and he finally succeeded. today it was funny to watch him try to do it again. he wasn't successful, but it was fun to watch him try.
3. and today he crawled for real! he's still usually doing his worm maneuver, but has crawled a few different times.

what a big boy!

we've got our baby back!

so, i mentioned that jackson was teething awhile ago and that it was pretty miserable for all involved. well, he started acting better...but that was only for a few days. i'm not sure what happened after that (maybe he got kinda sick from the effects of teething, maybe he just happened to get a bug right after teething-i'm not sure) but we had another week from down under. thankfully, starting last saturday jackson started sleeping better again, eating better again, was fun again, and just WAY more pleasant to be around. this has lasted now for 5 days and hopefully it'll last for many more. the only bummer is that he started sounding a little congested last night. PLEASE don't get sick little man...we're having too much fun :)

fun at the park

eric, jackson and i have been driving to downtown coeur d'alene a lot recently to go for walks and enjoy the outdoors. (also to give jackson something to do so he doesn't go stir crazy...the afternoons/evenings can get long.) on monday we played in the park for a bit. jackson got to swing, go down a slide and go through the fort like play area with his daddy. here are some pictures.

no, no...

so, i was lying on the couch this morning while jackson played contentedly with some toys. (i know i don't need to explain why i was letting jackson play while i was being lazy, but i feel like complaining just a little...i was lying on the couch because i was exhausted. you see jackson decided he would wake up at 3am and stay that way until 4:45am. then, eric's alarm starts going off at 5am, so needless to say i needed to be relaxing on the couch this morning.)
okay, back to the story. while i was sorta paying attention, sorta not i noticed jackson heading toward the bathroom. i said "jackson" in that cute loving way and he looked back with a knowing grin. as soon as i stood up to get him he turned around and darted toward the bathroom door giggling. silly boy...it seems as though he's learning right and wrong and wants to push the envelope. i guess we'll have to start using those 2, 2 letter word...no, no!

we interupt this broadcast to bring you breaking news...

...we're having another baby!!! i'll answer the question that many of you are thinking (and some afraid to ask)...yes, we planned to have them close together...we do know where babies come from :). baby #2 will be born sometime at the end of november/beginning of december(hopefully end of november)-making the little tykes about 15 months apart. we're really excited and looking forward to finding out if jackson's going to have a brother or sister. we got to have an ultrasound on thursday to see our little one (and i mean little at just over about 1" from head to rear). here's some of the better pictures...

(above) this is a side profile...big head, small abdomen (and you can kinda see the legs dangling down)
this is a close up of the face. can you see the eyes and nose?
this one kinda looks like the last...but it's zoomed back out and it's the baby's head with an arm and hand resting on the head.

we got to see and hear the strong heartbeat and even saw baby move around some. what a miracle!

teething update

i never meant to freak any mom's out about teething. so, amy...here's some good news:
it seems as though jackson may be experiencing a respite from the horrible teething monster. he had an almost normal night's sleep last night as well as a 2 good naps yesterday! he doesn't seem to be running a fever and, other than the fact that he was just throwing a fit for about an hour, he's been in a good mood and fun to be around. so, don't worry mothers of babies that haven't gotten teeth yet...it definitely won't last forever.

tongue

jackson started sticking out his tongue yesterday. it's really cute. don't you agree? :)

toys!

the other day i decided to dump out jackson's toy basket and let him play with all his toys at once.

he still insisted on worming his way to where the toy basket was because i had left behind one toy (apparently that's the one he wanted to play with!)
he eventually realized that i had dumped out the toy basket and decided it'd be more fun to play with all the toys. it kept him busy for quite some time.

i still HATE teething!

i thought the night before last was bad...i should've known it'd get worse. even though jackson's 2nd tooth popped through yesterday, he still had an extremely rough night. before we put him to bed i thought i'd take his temp...102.3. poor tyke! we gave him more tylenol (i hate having to give him so much of that) and he slept for 1/2 hour chunks from 7:30pm until 1am. yuck! he slept a little better after that, but not great. and his first nap this morning was a whole 30 minutes. it seems so long ago that i was complaining about how he only took 30-45 minute naps. once he started sleeping better, i didn't think about him reverting to sleeping so poorly. i know that this too shall pass (just in time for him to get more teeth, huh?!)
on a more positive note...i finally got to bake my friendship bread. yummy! i think i'll go have a slice.

i HATE teething!

jackson's 2nd tooth is trying to make an appearance. this one's been worse than the last. very bad sleeping. lots of whining. very bad sleeping. fever. very bad sleeping. i guess the part that's hardest for me is that he's just sleeping so poorly. (you didn't already pick that up did you?) :) and a big problem with that is i'm also a very bad sleeper. if i have to get up to help the boy, it could take me an hour or 2 to get back to sleep. and by then, there's a good chance i'll be getting up again to help the boy. this reminds me of a few months ago when he slept so poorly all the time. i guess i can try to be thankful that i know this is because of a tooth and hopefully after it pops through we'll get a few good nights and days of sleeping before another tooth wants a turn. there's always something...isn't there?!

some cute pictures

trying to figure out how to crawl (he's still working on that)

jackson's birth was announced in the George Fox Journal (that's where i went to college). they sent him this cute 'future bruin' t-shirt and a $500 gift certificate for tuition (that won't cover much, but it's the thought that counts, right?)

jackson found his toy basket for the first time.

eric got jackson ready for a bath and then was getting the tub filled. jackson was in the living room and heard the water and as fast as his little bare buns could go, he found his way to daddy and the bath...it was super cute!

how cute are they?!

sweet dreams

i was holding jackson after he woke up during his nap and he fell back asleep (yeah!). before i put him back in his crib he started giggling...in his sleep! he did it a couple times and it was so precious. he must have been having a good dream :)