How does my hair look?

Here is a video of Jacks brushing his hair for the first time....silly boy.

Another Month Older....

This sweet boy is 10 months old...two more months and we will be celebrating his first birthday. Breaks this mama's heart. I can't believe how quickly his birthday is approaching. I really, really need time to slow down.

Jackson, you are such a little delight. You are a happy, energetic, curious, fearless, determined, social and smart little boy. You go, go, go every minute that you are awake. You always want to move and crawl. You play well but also like to explore and check things out. You love soaking up new environments and I absolutely love watching you learn! You enjoy copying mommy and daddy and smile/laugh nearly all of the time. You are also very social and love to smile at others whether at the grocery store, play dates, restaurants, etc. We are so blessed to have such a happy baby. You truly have an amazing personality! You continue to grow like a weed. That is no surprise though - we all expected you to be one tall little boy!

Here is an update on the past month:

• Security object - you carried a plastic red hammer with you everywhere for most of the month. I truly mean everywhere - grocery store, church, bed, while eating, while crawling, out to dinner, on a walk, etc....photos to evidence this below. 
• Pulling up/Standing - you continue to pull up some and are standing better when holding on to a table or toy. We ended up hiding the red hammer a week ago and you've been trying to pull up more. You never tried when that thing was around because you would not drop it!
• Stairs - you've climbed the stairs twice (both times to splash in Cooper's water bowl that we thought we placed out of your reach). We finally got a gate put up so that we do not have any accidents. 
• Opening & closing doors - you love to open and close doors and cabinets. Sometimes you even shut me out of your room silly boy. 
• Throwing - you continue to throw objects, usually a ball, and chase it then throw it again. It is so cute and you can keep yourself entertained like this for a while. 
• Copying - you are copying more actions. Two of my favorites are drinking from a cup and brushing your hair. You have a set of nesting cups that I pretend to drink from then you take the cup and inhale then exhaled loudly as if you are making the same sound that I do. So cute! I also brush your hair after a bath and you take the brush when I am done and rub your head with it (sometimes it is more of a bang!). I've caught you "brushing" your hair with other objects too.
• Playtime - you love to knock over stacks (such as blocks or your nesting cups). You also seem to love chaos. Everytime I organize the toys or put smaller objects back with the bigger toy they belong to, you crawl behind me and throw all of the pieces out again. Another favorite of yours is to pull all of the books off of the shelf in your room. Mommy is learning to let go and accept the messes. I love that you play so hard!
• Social interaction - you definitely seem much more interested in older kids. You really enjoy your two cousins and like to follow them around and play with them. You are also intrigued by smaller babies but mostly prefer to do your own thing when around other babies your age.
• Separation anxiety - I believe this developed last month, but you definitely have a little separation anxiety from mommy. It is mostly just in our own home - you want me to be by your side most of the time. Thankfully, this has improved a little in the last week or so. You also do fine during church in the nursery. Although this is flattering and I love that you love me, fingers crossed this stage does not last too long
• Food - you continue to nurse four times a day and eat 3 meals. We've increased your food amount some. You seem to keep eating as long as food is in front of you and enjoy everything. New foods this month include kiwi, nectarines, and peanut butter. You are eating more finger foods, mostly soft fruit or bread products. We will continue to work on this.
• Sleep - you've stretched out your bed time over the past couple of weeks and are staying up closer till 8:00. You were waking up earlier with the sun but are sleeping until around 6:45 or 7:00 now. 
• Naps - You continue to take two naps for about an hour or so each. 
• Teeth - you have two upper teeth that are ready to cut through. However, the speed that yours come in, I'm not sure if they will be all the way through by next month's update! 
• Favorites - red hammer, nesting/stacking cups, balls (including a mini basketball - yay!!, and mommy's socks (gross, I know!!).  

We continue to have a lot of fun together. We try to get out and go for a walk each day and schedule play dates with friends. You seem just as happy and healthy as ever. I'm thankful for each and every day spent with your smiling face! 

Pictures from the last month:

I can never resist a sleeping pic. :)

This was the start of the red hammer..

Cheese!

Just chasing Max...

A little basketball anyone?

Yum, red hammer! 

Red hammer while I'm eating...

and reading good night stores...

and going on a walk...

and drinking a bottle....

The laundry is so fascinating...can't wait till he can help! 

How did he get so big? More red hammer...

Red hammer while I play...

and chew on teething toys...

Beach time! No hammer...

Say what?!?! This face cracks me up! 

and red hammer while he sleeps....you get the picture! 

Yummy, pancakes! 

Checking out his toys.

The boys waiting for daddy to come home. 

Happy 10 months to the sweetest, happiest boy I know! We love you!! 

First Beach Trip!

Jackson went to the beach for the first time. We joined Granddaddy, Grammy, Candace, Jeff, and Caroline at Myrtle Beach for 5 days. Overall the trip was a lot of fun, but there were a few minor mishaps at the end of the trip: Mike forgetting his bag in the parking garage, Jackson had a couple rough nights of sleep, and I had a pretty severe reaction to some sort of insect bite. Thankfully all of these issues have since been resolved and the majority of the trip was great! Jacks absolutely loved the sand and the water. He crawled around all over the beach, stopping to pick up tiny pieces of shells or taste a handful of sand. He also enjoys splashing in the water and kicking his feet in the waves. I am really glad that he enjoyed the beach but had a hard time watching him get so dirty. Each time we went out to the beach he got covered from head to toe in sand and also covered me in it! It was totally worth it though. Jackson also had a fun time playing with his cousin Caroline. He is really into bigger kids right now and she did a good job interacting with him. Love those two kiddos!

Most of the pictures that I took on the trip were at the beach or in the pool. Here are a few:

First time in the sand!

Now splashing in the waves for the first time. 

With my boy after dinner one night.

Mikey, Caroline, and Jacks in the big pool.

Now in the baby pool. 

My sweet boys looking handsome as always. 

Trying to catch the fountain. 

Just relaxing and playing on the beach...

Sweet Caroline! 

Family shot!

It was a good trip full of firsts for this boy....he sure does love the outdoors. We look forward to getting him in the pool and to the beach more this summer. For now, we are going to enjoy another week at home before a few days in TN followed by a weekend in Charleston.

First Father's Day

Sorry this is a little late, but we've been without a computer for a few days. It is a long story - I'll just say that someone accidentally left HIS bag at the beach (with the computer in it!). Luckily it was found and returned safely to us.  :)

Anyway, I wanted to write a quick little Father's Day post. This was Mike's first Father's Day. We drove back from the beach that morning. The afternoon was a little stressful due to the bag fiasco. However, we had a nice rest of the afternoon/evening together as a family. Mike opened his presents, played with Jackson, and then we went on a walk and grabbed dinner and ice cream. It was fairly low-key but I just love spending time together as a family!

Mike has really shown to be such a great father in these past ten months. I always had confidence that he would be, but I had not seen him around babies a lot. As with any first time parent, you never really know what to expect until you're there. Well, I can truly say that Mike has learned so much about babies and parenting since Jacks was born. I've seen him grow not only as a father, but as a husband and person too. I love watching the two of them together. They are both so happy and enjoy their time crawling around, playing, and being silly. I love seeing how Jackson lights up when Mike returns home from work - we watch through the front door and when he sees daddy pull up a big grin spreads across his face and his arms and legs start kicking and waving. Such a sweet sight. He really adores his daddy! Not only have I enjoyed seeing these precious moments between father and son, I've also enjoyed watching Mike's priorities shift as our family dynamic changed. His family is the most important thing to him and he works so hard to take care of and protect me and Jackson. This allows me to stay home and raise our sweet boy. I am forever grateful for this!

I love you Mike and Jackson loves you too! Happy Father's Day to one amazing daddy!

9 Months

*Sorry this post is so late...I wrote it last week but did not get all of the way finished to post it. Enjoy! 

Little man, you turned nine months last week. Time continues to fly by. We will be celebrating your birthday in less than three months now! Tear....Even though that makes me incredibly sad, this past month has been a lot of fun. Jackson, you are turning into such a silly little boy. You love to play, especially at meal time - always blowing bubbles or shaking your head when we try to give you a bite. You are on the move constantly! You hate to sit still and think it is your job to chase poor Max around. You make funny faces, try to imitate sounds and actions that others do, and smile ALL of the time! I could not ask for a happier little boy. 

Here is an update on milestones and other development over the last month:

• Crawling – you are so fast! On hard surfaces you do more of a scoot with one knee in crawling position while pushing with your other foot. This must feel better and you can get to your destination much quicker! 
• Standing up – you continue to try very hard to do so, you've accomplished it a time or two and push to your knees a lot. 
• Nodding/Shaking head – you recently started nodding and shaking your head. Sometimes you try both at the same time and look like a little bobble head! 
•  Reaching for people – you've started reaching for people other than mommy.
• Waving – you are waving hi and bye now! You get upset though if I wave good bye to you.
• Sounds – you are still mostly making “da” and “ba” sounds but sometimes the “mmm” sound comes out, especially when eating. 
• Facial expressions – you've adopted several new facial expressions. One is scrunching your nose, another is an Elvis face, sometimes you look confused, and you also have a new smile where you scrunch your face up. They are all too funny!
•  Banging objects – this is your absolute favorite thing to do! You've been banging toys together or on the table for a while, but you discovered that toys are much louder on hardwood floors now and crawl around banging hard plastic toys.
• Fetch – you also play a version of fetch with yourself. You will toss an object in front of yourself and crawl after it, over and over and over.
•   Emotions – you continue to cry when other babies make loud noises. I think most of the time you are due for a nap, so let’s hope you are just tired and that you will still be social little guy. 
• Feeding – we've dropped a nursing session and are down to four times a day. You continue to eat three meals and thoroughly enjoy them. We are practicing more on self-feeding and trying more finger foods. Some new foods this month include eggs, pancakes, fish, and beef.
• Sleep – your night time sleep has been off, but I believe this is due to not being in your own crib.
•  Naps – as for naps, you are currently taking two decent naps. Both your morning nap and afternoon nap have been approximately 1-1.5 hours lately. You've hardly napped this long since you were born!
• Teeth – your second bottom tooth finally cut through! Hopefully your upper teeth will move a little faster. 

And of course some pictures to cap off the post:

Posing with Cooper during play time!

Jackson was really into this toy for most of the month. He loves to push all of the animals down.

Here he is in action, chasing Max.

Just watching for daddy to come home.  Too cute. 

This NEVER happens anymore. He always naps in his crib. We just happened to be at Mike's office with some friends and he got tired early and fell asleep on me. It did not last long but I enjoyed it while it did last!

Happy boy hard at play. 

Just getting packed up for the big trip!

With cousin Kylie in the hotel in VA. 

With the grad, Auntie Abbs! 

Mother's day. Love my boy more than anything. 

First time in the pool! He just loves water! This ledge was perfect too because he could crawl around in the shallow water. 

Happy 9 months happy boy! We love you so much!