The Doty Daily

Moving Rooms

2010-10-27T11:36:00.001-07:00

Lego's Anyone...

2010-10-27T11:34:00.000-07:00

10/4 Good Buddy

2010-10-27T11:31:00.001-07:00

My new playground...Daddy's car

2010-10-27T11:28:00.001-07:00

Diggers...

2010-10-27T11:13:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for bed

2010-10-27T11:08:00.000-07:00

First Day of School

2010-10-27T11:02:00.001-07:00

Wanting to play in the rain...

2010-10-27T11:01:00.000-07:00

September Fun

2010-10-27T10:46:00.000-07:00

Tennis!

2010-10-20T10:54:00.000-07:00

Breakfast with Friends

2010-10-20T10:48:00.000-07:00

One morning, I went to get Jackson out of his crib and he insisted that I first take each of his many animals. He wanted them all to eat breakfast with him. So, I arranged them all on his tray while I got breakfast going. We then feed the animals and gave them milk and water. Once they were taken care of, he let me move them to the kitchen island so he could eat. That animal ensemble consists of two giraffes, a duck, a horse, and three dogs. It has grown to include a small bear lovie and a large bear wearing pajamas. They all get good night hugs and kisses.

Vacation - Pictures from Seattle

2010-10-18T14:29:00.001-07:00

Vacation - Scenes from Nature

2010-10-18T14:20:00.000-07:00

Vacation - Playing in the "Jumper Room"

2010-10-18T14:17:00.001-07:00

Vacation - playing on the back porch

2010-10-18T14:10:00.001-07:00

Vacation - Playing with the big toys

2010-10-18T14:05:00.001-07:00

Vacation pictures from the River House

2010-10-18T13:58:00.003-07:00

More Vacation Pictures from the zoo

2010-10-18T13:54:00.000-07:00

Playing Catch-Up

2010-10-18T11:25:00.000-07:00

We are the worst bloggers ever. Between two full jobs, a house, a toddler, a dog, a cat, and too many volunteering commitments, by the time we fall on the couch at night for a few minutes of relaxation before bed, the last thing we can contemplate is updating the blog. I've been working on transferring to a Shutterfly site because it is a lot quicker and easier to upload photos there. But, then the task of bringing all the pictures up to date just overwhelms me. Since our last post on July 26, we have been really busy. Jackson is now 19 months and this is really the best age yet. He's definitely exhausting in that he tests limits, throws tantrums, and is always on the verge of some death-defying feet that just makes my heart skip a beat. But, he's also hilarious and cuddly and funny and just the most fun. Here's a quick run down of our activities since our last update:

(1) We took a fabulous 10 day family vacation to Washington State where we spent time with my brother, his wife, and their 3 kids and then with Robert's family at his aunt and uncle's beautiful river house. Jackson was in awe of his older cousins and spent his time chasing after Ian and Nicholas and learning lacrosse and soccer from them. In Spokane, he was absolutely mesmerized by the tractor, big trucks, and diggers at work at the river house. He would wake in the night crying and calling out "digger! digger! no, no, no..." I suspect dreaming of me having to drag him away from the diggers so we could eat, rest, do something else.

(2) Jackson started a mother's day out program at a church pre-school. He goes just two days a week, from 9 - 12. It's the pre-school my brother and I went to and that my mom taught at for over 20 years. It is a wonderful program - so loving and nurturing. I have re-connected with friends I grew up with whose children now go there. A good friend's little boy is in Jackson's class too, so that has been really fun. We organized a play date at the school playground for the kids in the class in advance of the first day of school so they kids could meet each other and be familiar with the school. Jackson is learning so much at school. The first weeks were a tough transition - he's always had a hard time separating from Mama, Mimi, and Blanca. He cried and cried at drop off. But by the 2nd or 3rd week, he started to get tearful at drop off and asked for his dog lovie and his "be be" (pacifier). I gave them to him and said, "Jackson, have a great day!" He looked at me, took out the bebe, gulped a deep breath, and said, through tears, " Grrreeeaaaat Daaaaay" as he walked in crying. It was adorable and heartbreaking. But, he is so happy now. He runs into the room without a glance back. He talks about his teachers and calls them just by their last names ("Baker" and "Wong") and he says his friends' names. The other night during dinner I asked Jackson about his friend Hunter at school and his eyes lit up and he said "Hunter! Dino shirt!" It turns out that Hunter did wear a t-shirt with a dinosaur on it that day. He says "School! Friends. Nice. Teachers." (We talk about being "nice" a lot as he has a tendency to be rough). He comes home singing "Twinkle, twinkle star, wonder, are" doing little star burst hand signals and has also started singing "Row, row, row boat. Stream. " It's adorable and amazing to see his language develop so quickly. They do art projects and play outside and last week the fire truck paid a visit to the school. It's been really good for him. I, being the joiner who can't say no, have ended up as Jackson's "room mother," co-chair of entertainment for the upcoming book far, and in charge of decorations/centerpieces for parents' night dinner. All this translates to me doing things like spending non-billable time at the office calling magicians and puppeteers to nail down an act for the Book Fair. I had to break the news to my mom that she'd be "helping" me make centerpieces come January.

(3) We moved Jackson's room from the small middle bedroom to the much larger front room that had been our guestroom. It's been so nice to have more space - we were able to bring over Ian and Nicholas's old toys that had been stored in Mimi's house. Jackson is now obsessed with Thomas the Train, and we have the boys' old train table and lots of trains. It amazes me that Jackson knows them all by name - even some I had no idea of. he points and says "Thomas, " "James," "Cranky Crane," "Percy," "Mavis," "Harvey...." Robert also ripped out the old back deck with the help of some very kind friends and has been building a beautiful new deck. Next up is putting together the huge play structure passed down from Ian and Nicholas! It's in a million pieces in the yard with bags of bolts in the garage. Robert says it is the largest Tetris game ever played. He needs to create a deep fall space for it to be built on, so this project will take some time. But, I know Jackson will really love it - it has a slide, rock climbing wall, fort, sandbox, swings, monkey bars. Jackson loves all this construction - he insists on watching them work and yells out "Saw! Hammer! Guys working! Help Daddy, help Daddy!" We spend a lot of time on weekends looking for construction sites, diggers, garbage trucks, cranes, and the like.

Other than the above, life continues as usual. Jackson is still in music class, which he absolutely loves. Sometimes Robert and I both take him, and other times we take turns taking him so the other one of us can relax or get something done. Sometimes Robert takes him to a class and a half when I accidentally tell him class starts at 10:00 instead of 10:30 ;-) Oops. We generally make a morning of it, doing music class and then lunch out. Jackson's preference is "Chick A Lay". I realized I might have taken him there a few too many times when I pulled up at the drive through Starbuck's and he called out from the backseat, "Nuggets, please!!" He loves all the instruments in music class and just dances like a crazy man. His favorite song is a jazzed up version of "Mary Had a Little Lamb," where they shake little colorful eggs that have some kind of beads in them. We play the song in the car and he starts doing the hand gestures in his car seat. It's a riot.

Jackson's main obsession is sports. He is obsessed with balls - soccer, football, tennis, bouncy balls, basketball, whatever. He watches football on TV very intensely shouting "BAM! Hit! Guy, run, fast, fast, ball! Ball! Ball!" He carries his toddler football everywhere, insisting on holding it through dinner (which has led to some battles, I have to admit. I should have just let him do it, but once I said "no" I had to hold my ground in the face of a total and complete meltdown... so not fun). He also loves to run around with his lacrosse stick, holding and flinging the ball around. In the house, if Daddy or Mimi are left in charge... He's pretty good, actually. He was so enthralled with people playing tennis at the park - he stood stock still watching for a good 15 minutes, after which they gave him their tennis ball - that we got him a small racket. he carries it and a tennis ball around a lot, swatting at the ball and trying to bounce the ball on the racket.

He also loves to read and the minute we sit down to read bedtime books he says "One More!" He loves different books at different times and is quick to dismiss a book - I hold it up and he says "Nope!" until I get one he wants, in which case he nods and says "Okay." He loves his children's Bible and somehow knows all the names - he calls out Noah, and Joseph, and David and Goliath. One night while we were reading about baby Moses being found by Pharaoh's wife in the bulrushes, he looked at Pharaoh's wife with her dark page boy hair cut and exclaimed, "Dora!" Finally, he insists on kisses and hugs before anyone can leave him. He shouts after Blanca, "Wait! Blanca! Kiss! Kiss!" when she leaves. He demands kisses for himself and all his stuffed animals at bedtime (this includes a large bear, a small bear, a giraffe, a big dog lovie, one or two small dog lovies, and a duck) and then, just when you're closing the door, a round of hugs for everyone too.

So, I am going to start posting some pictures in the hopes of slowly getting caught up. They may be out of order and incomplete, but it's a start.

Mischief

2010-07-26T20:15:00.001-07:00

Grandpa's Here!!!

2010-07-26T20:11:00.000-07:00

Robert's dad came to town over Father's Day Weekend and Jackson had a great time with him. Jackson warmed up right away and enjoyed showing off for his Grandpa. They read books and played with toys.

Jackson's 1st Big Haircut

2010-07-26T19:54:00.000-07:00

Ummm, feeling a little nervous about this. Whenever Jackson gets nervous he immediately calls out for his "dog" and "bebe" (pacifier). He's a total addict.

These pictures are a bit dated, but I wanted to go ahead and get fully caught up on this blog. I tell you, keeping up with blogging is way harder than I thought it would be. We take so many pictures that it is hard to get organized and cull through them. And, of course, we are both really busy with work, taking care of Jackson, and doing all the other stuff we have to to keep our lives moving forward. I generally work as hard as I can all day, dash out at 5:00 so I can hang with Jackson and Robert, and then after the baby's in bed I'm back to work, from the couch. In short, we don't have much time for blogging. When I do finally sit down to get caught up, the task is overwhelming and I am completely out of funny, interesting things to say. We took Jackson for his first real haircut a couple of months ago. I adored his baby curls, but had to admit it was getting ridiculously long. When I would get his hair wet in the bath, it was basically shoulder length! So, off we went to Kids Kuts. He was pretty brave, but not happy about the whole experience. I was a bit emotional about it too, truth be told. They gave us a certificate and a little bag of his baby curls. So, without further ado, here's the big haircut!

New Braunfels (July 4th Weekend)

2010-07-12T13:03:00.000-07:00

Styling in April

2010-07-12T12:58:00.001-07:00

Helpig fix the jeep

2010-07-12T12:53:00.000-07:00

Relaxing after all that yard work (May)

2010-07-12T12:51:00.001-07:00

Helping Dad Water the Lawn (May)

2010-07-12T12:47:00.000-07:00

Playing at the Playground (April)

2010-07-12T12:39:00.000-07:00

'I RULE THIS PLAYGROUND!'

Taking a break with mommy.

"Hello Everybody."

Happy First Birthday, Jackson!!!

2010-04-04T18:40:00.000-07:00

Jackson's first Birthday couldn't have been any better. We had perfect spring weather all weekend! We took off work on Friday for his actualy Birthday and Robert's parents came to town. We all took Jackson to the Children's Museum and to ride the train at the Zoo. We returned home for fajitas with Robert's family - his mom and dad, plus his sisters and Jackson's cousin Cooper, who surprised us with a visit from the East Coast! Blanca brought Jackson hist first Birthday cake, which he loved. All in all, a fantastic day! On Saturday, we had a backyard Birthday party with family and good friends. Aunt Beth came from New Braunfels, and Aunt Carolyn arrived from Lubbock. We made sliders and hot dogs and enjoyed watching the kids play with beach balls, bubbles, and a mimi trampoline.

More of Mimi's House

2010-03-25T20:33:00.001-07:00

We moved in with Mimi and Bear for a couple of weeks while we had work done on our house. It was stressful to move out of our home. But, it was really nice to have so much help! It was so great knowing that while we were bathing Jackson and settling him into bed, someone was downstairs cooking a delicious dinner! And, it was so fun to be able to settle him into bed and then both head out for a run or to grab dinner with friends!

Mimi's House!!!

2010-03-25T20:23:00.000-07:00

Oh, man, there is nothing better than stairs. I could climb them all day. And on Mondays and Wednesdays, I get to! Mimi and I play "stair ball" where I sit on the single step part of the landing right before you head up the rest of the stairs and Mimi sits at the top of the long staircase and we throw balls back and forth. I also like to hurl the balls down the stairs. So much fun.

So cute. Such trouble.

2010-03-25T20:21:00.001-07:00

What did I do?!

First Haircut

2010-03-25T20:18:00.000-07:00

While in Lubbock for Christmas, we decided to get Jackson a little trim. He endured the haircut like a champ, so long as we let him hold a plastic roller or comb.

SNOW in Lubbock!!!

2010-03-25T20:13:00.001-07:00

Mommy was SUPER excited to have a white Christmas! Jackson was less enthusiastic, as you can tell from his facial expressions when I had him taste and touch the snow.

Spending time with Great Gram

2010-03-25T20:11:00.001-07:00

More Christmas in Lubbock

2010-03-25T20:07:00.000-07:00

Christmas in Lubbock

2010-03-25T19:33:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Christmas in Lubbock with family. It was cold, cold, cold - we even had snow! Jackson behaved really well throguhout our travels and had a fantastic time with his Gram, Grandpa, Aunt Morgen, Great Aunt Carolyn, and Great Gram and Great Great Aunt Ruth!

First Christmas!

2010-03-25T19:23:00.000-07:00

We celebrated our first Christmas with Jackson, a few days early, before we headed off to Lubbock. Jackson enjoyed the new toys, though he didn't really know what was going on.

The Zoo!

2010-01-26T19:37:00.001-08:00

We took Jackson to the Zoo last Fall and he quite enjoyed it, especially the train!

St. Pauls' Childrens' Candlelight Service

2010-01-26T19:29:00.000-08:00

We took Jackson to an afternoon Children's Christmas Candlelight Service at St. Paul's Methodist. It was a beautiful service. The nativity was just precious, including the dozen or so Wisemen, including some adorable little Wise women. It turns out the children could play whatever role they wanted. Jackson was in awe of the music and all the children. He bounced up and down on our laps and just smiled and laughed. After, we caught a few (hundred) pictures of him in his red snowman sweater.

Even More Family Photos

2010-01-26T19:22:00.000-08:00

More Family Photos

2010-01-26T19:19:00.001-08:00

New Braunfels Photo Shoot

2010-01-26T19:13:00.000-08:00

My wonderful and talented Aunt Beth took our family photos during Thanksgiving in New Braunfels. Trying to get good photos with a baby is quite an adventure!

Back to Blogging...

2010-01-26T19:00:00.000-08:00

It's funny. I check my friends' blogs on a daily basis and am disappointed if they have not posted something. And yet, it has been months since I posted a thing on the Doty Daily. We have been busy, busy, busy! Life with a 10 month old is wonderful. Jackson is funny and active. He sleeps from 7:30 - 7:00 and takes good daytime naps. He is doing his darndest to walk - so far he's up to maybe 7 steps. He's still shaky, but getting so much more confident. It's an amazing sight. He's gotten alot more vocal - he babbles constantly. I think he says "nana" for banana. He says "Dada" pretty regularly and "mom mom mom" which I will go ahead and assume is in reference to me. He loves to roll a ball back and forth and can throw a ball at us. He understands more and more everyday and it is such a joy to see the wheels turning in his head. I can tell him to go get a ball and he will do it! We had a very special first Christmas in Lubbock with the Doty family. We spent New Year's at home. 2010 has started off with a bang - work is super busy for both of us. We are eternally thankful for Mimi and Blanca, who love and care for Jackson while we're away. Mimi has also been making the most delicious food for Jackson. I wish we ate as well as he does! She makes him a variety of chicken/veggie dishes; couscous with Chicken, leeks and carrots; lamb with rosemary and sweet potatoes; wonderful rolled oats with pear, apples, and prunes; brown rice; etc... He loves it all, as well as grapes, bananas, and avocados. He's turned into a great eater!

I will attempt to get caught up with some photos taken since our last post.

A few good photos

2009-12-02T20:13:00.001-08:00

Our little boy is growing up so fast!

The Park

2009-12-02T20:09:00.000-08:00

We've begun taking Jackson to our local parks. He likes swinging pretty well, though not for long. Mostly, he enjoys watching the big kids play.

Happy Halloween!

2009-12-02T19:56:00.000-08:00

Jackson has quite the social calendar! He was invited to two costume parties on Halloween - his friend Olivia's first Birthday and his play group's Halloween party! We planned for him to be a puppy. But, he wore his puppy costume for a grand total of maybe 3 minutes. We just carried it from party to party and explained that he preferred not to wear it. These pictures capture a bit of his reaction to the furry suit.

Rubber ducky you're the one...

2009-12-02T19:50:00.000-08:00

Jackson has graduated to the real bath tub. We bought this rubber duck tub to make the transition and he loves it! When you squeeze the bill, the duck quacks. He has bathe din the actual tub, with a bath mat down, but the duck is a little easier for us. He can splash and play without slipping and falling. He'll probably grow out of it soon. He already insists on standing up, reaching for the duck's bill, reaching for the faucet and handles, etc...

Swinging!

2009-12-02T19:49:00.001-08:00

Pumpkin Patch

2009-12-02T19:45:00.000-08:00

We took Jackson to a pumpkin patch and had a great time letting him explore.

Yes, it's been awhile...

2009-12-02T19:24:00.000-08:00

I know, I know. We haven't posted a thing since mid October. Those of you with little ones understand. Keeping up with one VERY active 8 month old, two full time jobs, a house, a cat, and a dog has left us with little time for blogging! We'll try to get somewhat caught up here.

These are photos of Jackson just doing what he does best - goofing around. He loves pulling up on everything - he pulls up on dining room chairs, trash cans, suitcases etc... and moves them around. He loves to close doors. Here, he's pulled up on the french doors to the den and is looking through them.

Happy Baby

2009-10-16T11:43:00.000-07:00

Carrots everywhere!!! Jackson took to carrots pretty quickly. He is getting better about eating, though he still grabs the spoon and tends to fling food everywhere. We had some trouble getting him to eat. Here's our successful formula: fun music in the background, Mom and Dad exclaiming and clapping at every bite, and Dad dancing, marching, and singing. It's a production, but it works and we all have a good laugh.

This is Jackson's new "cheese" grin.

Laughing at Dad's routine no doubt.

We have been so lucky to have Mimi churning out the homemade, organic baby food. I really wanted to try my hand at making Jackson's food and even bought a book and baby storeage trays for freezing individual servings. But, life is so hectic and I can't seem to find the time. Mimi to the rescue! She has made apples, yams, and carrots so far. Our next food is avocado. Then we may try peas. Mimi has very high standards for food prep (as any of you who have eaten her cooking know). She researched and talked to the produce manager at Whole Foods and Central Market. Which is why we now know Ambrosia apples are the sweetes, best apples for baby food (not the bland, tasteless Red Delicious apples I bought) and Japanese yams are the sweetest, most healthy yams. So now you know.

Hi there. Just chilling out on the floor, contemplating my next move.

Outta My Way!

2009-10-16T11:42:00.000-07:00

Just a sampling of a day in the life of Jackson - always on the move!

Little Rascal

2009-10-16T11:39:00.000-07:00

The picture is blurry, but I couldn't resist posting. Jackson is just such a sweet little boy. Busy, but still cuddly.

2009-10-16T11:31:00.000-07:00

Yes, the exersaucer is fun enough, but I really hate being contained.

First taste of organic Japanese yams. Why Japanese yams you ask? Because Mimi has done her research and she says they are the healthiest, sweetest yams.

Jackson has come around and actually like them now. Thanks, Mimi, for making such delicious and nutricious baby food! Jackson has now tried pears, apples, yams, and carrots. Up next - avocado!

Trying on Jackson's Halloween costume (yes, the tags and hanger are still on - we needed to give it a test run before committing to it). He was not impressed. He cried and crawled away from me as quick as he could with his little puppy tail just wagging away. So cute. He'll wear this for maybe 10 minutes on Halloween, if it isn't too hot. Jackson has been invited to two parties that day! His social life is better than mine. His friend Olivia is having a costume party for her 1st Birthday and then his play group is having a costume party (complete with beer for the dads so they don't die from lack of football on a Saturday afternoon).

So much to see and do

2009-10-16T11:26:00.001-07:00

As you can see, Jackson is into EVERYTHING these days. He is so busy, so full of energy, and so curious about the world around him. He is constantly moving. He crawls so fast and pulls up on everything. Yesterday he climbed in his toy basket (pictured above) to reach the coffee table. We are having so much fun with him!

Jackson & Mom

2009-09-17T19:01:00.000-07:00

Perpetual Motion

2009-09-17T18:59:00.001-07:00

Yea' my cousins are in town

2009-09-17T18:58:00.001-07:00

And now we're standing

2009-09-17T18:55:00.000-07:00

I Love Bath Time!!!

2009-09-17T10:32:00.000-07:00

2009-09-17T10:31:00.000-07:00

The first solid food - rice cereal

2009-09-17T10:28:00.000-07:00

And we're crawling!

2009-09-17T10:27:00.001-07:00

Hanging out in the swing...one last time

2009-09-17T10:25:00.000-07:00

Big Gulp

2009-09-17T10:23:00.000-07:00

Outside with mom

2009-09-17T10:21:00.001-07:00

First foray into crawling

2009-09-16T19:46:00.001-07:00

2009-09-16T19:40:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends and Family,
Sorry it has taken us a little bit of time to update our post, but as you can imagine, Jackson is keeping us very busy. Jackson has 2 teeth, is crawling, is sitting, is pulling himself up, is eating solid food (rice cereal), and has just figured out how to climb stairs. I think I've covered all the major topics to get you caught up (although Becca may remember more), so without further adieu here are some new photos.

Hanging out in Mom and Dad's Bed

2009-08-06T18:49:00.001-07:00

Practicing sitting

2009-08-06T18:43:00.001-07:00

Jackson is 5 months old now and growing so fast! He is rolling over from his back to his tummy like a champ, though he needs to work on rolling from tummy to back. He is waking up alot at night, stranded on his tummy, confused as to how he ended up that way and how to fix it. He now sleeps with wedges to keep him from rolling. He is also working on sitting up. He much prefers standing.

Color Explosion!

2009-08-06T18:19:00.001-07:00

Scrub-a-dub-dub, cute baby in the tub!

2009-08-06T18:11:00.001-07:00

It's hard to believe how big Jackson has gotten, especially when I compare these bath tub pictures to older ones. He still enjoys the bath, but he squirms alot more and grabs on to anything he can - shampoo bottle, wash cloth, faucet etc...

What is wrong with my parents?

2009-07-05T14:12:00.000-07:00

Seriously, why do my parents get such a kick out of dressing me up? Sunglasses and pajamas??? Whatever makes 'em happy...

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-05T14:07:00.001-07:00

It is miserably hot in Houston. We are hanging in there, counting the days until summer ends and dreaming of October. When the heat index is 114 it is hard to do anything but sit inside, especially with a 4 month old. We bought a plastic pool and our July 4th festivities included a quick dip. It took as long to get him ready - sunscreen, swim diaper, SPF 50 swimsuit, hat - as it did to enjoy the pool. But, he seemed to enjoy it.

Baby J is getting so big

2009-07-05T14:01:00.001-07:00

Yo, peace out to my peeps.

Cruisin'

Woa -check out those lights and sounds...

Jackson is so over just laying on the floor playing with his little gym. He needs to be up, looking around, kicking his legs. So....we tried out his jumperoo and were excited to find that he can finally support himself enough to play in it!

Pajamas

2009-07-05T13:57:00.000-07:00

I love these pj's. The hat is just for show - it is 95 degrees at 9 pm in Houston. But, again, Jackson is a good sport while mom plays dress up.

Bathtime fun!

2009-07-05T13:52:00.001-07:00

Bathtime is one of Jackson's favorite times. As we were getting the bath ready, I came across this robe and slipper set in his closet. So....we decided to play dress up. Jackson is very accomodating of his mom's whims.

Baptism Weekend

2009-07-05T13:33:00.001-07:00

Spending time with Aunt Morgen

With the grandparents

Three generations of Doty men

Daddy's Family

Our little family

We had a very special first Father's Day weekend. Jackson was baptised on Father's Day at the church where we were married, and also where my parents were married. Jackson was wonderful for the baptism. He was awake and alert, just taking it all in. Of course, after his part of the church service was done, he was ready to make some noise, so I took him out of the service. We had a great weekend - all the family was in. We celebrated the approaching arrival of Jackson's cousin with a baby shower for Robert's sister, who is due in October. We're so excited Jackson will have a boy cousin only 6 months younger than him! Family get togethers should be wild! We had a big family dinner Saturday night and a post-baptism brunch Sunday. Then, all three of us passed out for 3 hours! (We are learning through this blog that we need to take more complete photos - we somehow missed getting photos of mom's brother and sister-in-law and Jackson's three cousins. We're learning...)

General cuteness

2009-07-05T13:28:00.001-07:00

Tummy time!

This face expresses Jackson's feelings about tummy time.

Jackson MUCH prefers walking to laying down, which makes for alot of work for us!

He loves to just stomp and kick his little legs.

New Braunfels

2009-07-05T11:30:00.000-07:00

Hanging out with the cousins on a lazy Sunday morning after a weekend of partying...

Grayson apparently playing "bag lady"

Such a sweet little face

Checking out the newspaper with Aunt Kakie. Gotta find the good deals.

With the successful Lubbock trip under our belts, we headed to New Braunfels to see mom's side of the family. We always get together in the summer for "Bethfest" - a celebration of Aunt Beth's birthday that now includes all summer birthdays. It was a different weekend for us this year in that we missed alot of the festivities - a trip to the river, late night horseshoe competitions and other craziness - due to the bbay's schedule. But, Jackson did great! He slept all the way there and all the way home. And, he slept through the late night crowd coming in and out of the house for snacks (wish I could sleep as well as Jackson can).

Visiting Family

2009-05-28T19:28:00.000-07:00

The sisters

Hello Mr. Moose

Relaxing after another fabulous dinner by chef LeRoy.

Jackson and his GG. Such a great visit.

I love this photo - Jackson and his GG

Center of attention!

Kisses from "Grantie" (great aunt) Brenda!

Talking to Grandad and GG.

Performing for the family - everyone was around the bed watching Jackson's every move. He didn't disappoint ;-)

Stretching out on GG's (great grandmother's) bed after a long flight.

Ready for Bed in Cowboy PJ's

2009-05-28T19:27:00.001-07:00

Bath time!

2009-05-28T19:22:00.001-07:00

I just adore these photos. Jackson is such a chub-a-lub. He really enjoys bathtime.

Visiting with Grandma

2009-05-28T19:20:00.001-07:00

First Airplane Trip

2009-05-28T19:16:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we headed to see Robert's family. We were a little nervous about how J would do travelling. I'm happy to report he was an angel - these photos accurately depict the entire trip. He slept the whole way! Yay! On the way home, he only cried after we had landed and sat at the gate for awhile waiting for the crew to let us off. I didn't blame him at all. The whole trip was wonderful.

Daddy Joins in on "Baby Wearing"!

2009-05-28T19:13:00.001-07:00

Sometimes nightime is fussy time and the only thing that helps is a neighborhood walk. It puts him right to sleep. I usually wear the Bjorn, but last week Robert decided to check it out. It was good Daddy/Baby bonding. Jackson fell right to sleep. Now that we are in full-fledged summer, our evening strolls involve the stroller and a large mosquito net to protect J. I love the Bjorn for grocery shopping, though.

A Day in the Life

2009-05-28T19:06:00.001-07:00

Just some random pictures I took while Jackson and I were hanging out. He adores his floor gym and is getting pretty good at hitting the animals and toys hanging above him. Occasionally he even manages to grab hold of one, but I am not sure that's intentional.

First Pool Party!

2009-05-28T18:53:00.000-07:00

While on maternity leave, I have discovered a whole different world - one where people throw parties at 10 am on a Wednesday!!! Who knew??? Jackson and I were invited to a pool party at his friend Maggie's. Maggie is 10 months old and the other babies at the party were a year old, so Jackson was definitely out of his league. They were all splashing around in the shallow end. The pool was great - it had a large section that was 8 inches deep. I was really excited to see his reaction to the pool. He LOVES his bath after all. So, I suited him up in his SPF 50 swimsuit and sun hat (thanks, Mimi!) and headed out. Alas, it was a rare cool morning and when I put his toes in the water he howled. So, we stayed in the shaded and he napped for most of the party. Oh well, it was fun to get out. We'll try the pool again soon.

Jackson meets McKenzie

2009-05-28T17:53:00.000-07:00

Jackson met his cousins when they came to Mimi and Bear's for a visit. The boys weren't too interested in Jackson (Nicholas noted that his feet were very small), but McKenzie was quite taken with "Baby Jackson." She insisted on holding him and was pretty careful. We got a preview of life to come with a little boy when Ian (7 years old) somehow managed to hit himself really hard with an aluminum bat, busting open his forehead and requiring stitches. Robert and I watched the other kids so my parents could run Ian to the ER. I'm sure sweet Jackson will never scare us like that, right?

Big Smile

2009-04-29T14:22:00.000-07:00

Smiling!!!

2009-04-29T14:18:00.000-07:00

We finally managed to capture some smiles!

2009-04-29T14:12:00.001-07:00

Jackson gets more alert every day! These photos were taken in the middle of week 6. He has continued to gain weight and as of the end of his 6th week he weighs 13 pounds! He is starting to smile and coo.
Peek a boo!

The beginning of a smile...and showing off his ample double chin. Sadly this is only cute on infants...

Chillin'

2009-04-29T13:57:00.000-07:00

So, 6 week olds don't really do that much. As adorable as he is, Jackson mostly confines his activities to nursing, sleeping, going to the bathroom, and occasionally smiling or cooing. Sometimes we have to get creative to pass the day. A pair of baby sunglasses from Target did the trick of amusing us for a while.

Chilling with dad (4-23-09)

2009-04-23T15:59:00.000-07:00

I feel so clean...thanks mom

2009-04-23T15:56:00.000-07:00

Go Wahoos

2009-04-23T15:54:00.001-07:00

J's First Easter

2009-04-23T15:30:00.000-07:00

Soakin up the sun in the backyard

2009-04-23T15:23:00.000-07:00

More Fun Outside

2009-04-09T10:49:00.000-07:00

Checking out the yard up close.

So sweet.

Just relaxing after a hard day.

A hint of a smile?