A Weekend of Firsts: Rice Cereal and Swimming!

Jackson had a very adventurous weekend! We thought we would try some rice cereal at night to see if that would help him start sleeping through the night. It was very messy, but so fun to try. I went with the directions on the box for babys first try and it was really runny so it didn't help him sleep through the night. He did really well eating off the spoon though, he ate quite a bit. We will keep trying!

We both had to hold his hands down. He kept trying to get the bowl and then he would stick his hand in his mouth and we had to pull it out and shove the spoon in there. Then he would grab the spoon and not let go. It was a lot of effort trying to hold him down. He is a strong boy. He was making us laugh so hard.

I had to move the bowl so Jackson couldn't grab it so I put it on the counter. Next thing I know it was all over me and the counter. Jackson had kicked it over with his foot. Little Stinker!

Our fun friends Ryan and Amber invited us to go swimming with them at Amber's parents house. The water was so warm and perfect for Jackson. It was his first time and he loved it. It took him a while before he learned that he could splash in the water. He just chilled while we held him, but once he realized he could, he splashed the rest of the time. It was so fun to watch him play in the water. Our little guy is getting so big. I wish he would just freeze where he is now and not get any bigger.

Jackson loved watching Logan and Luke play in the water. They made him smile.

Even though we had woken Jackson up from his nap to go swimming and he didn't eat until an hour later then he usually does, he was still a happy boy. We have been so blessed with a good baby.

Harry Potter

My brother Tim and his wife Ashli have been to most of the midnight shows when the Harry Potter movies would come out. CJ and I went to the sixth one and we swore we would never do it again. We got home around 3:30 am and then had to get up for work. Not fun. So when Tim called to see if we wanted to go to the last Harry Potter, the last midnight show that he was going to go to, we HAD to see how it all ends, the last big hoop la, of course we were going to say no! For some reason we decided to go. It was probably the last midnight show we will ever go to, so why not? We hung out at my mom's until 11:45 pm and then left. My mom was nice enough to let us all have a sleepover and to watch the little ones while we went to the movie. We got home close to 3 and poor CJ had to get up and go to work, but he didn't have the 30 minute drive so that was nice. Little Jackson slept in late that morning so I was able to catch up on some sleep. It was actually a lot of fun and I am glad that we went. Life just wouldn't be that exciting unless you do crazy stuff like this, right?

Ashli's nephew had a death eater mask, wand and Harry glasses so we all took turns playing with them. CJ just had so much fun casting spells on Wyatt.

Jackson really just wanted to eat the glasses, he didn't really like them on his face.

STUPIFY!

Ashli always makes a yummy treat for the midnight shows. This time she made butter beer. It tasted like butterscotch. It was too bad. Ashli said the butter beer at Universals in Florida was much better, but I thought she did a great job making it.

Cheers!

5 Months Old

My Baby is growing way too fast. I always have to add a ton of pictures because he is just so stinkin' cute and makes the cutest faces.

Weight: 15 1/2 lbs.

Height: 25 3/4 in.

At five months, Jackson is sitting up pretty good. He leans forward a little sometimes and can usually sit for a while before he falls over. He gets excited when he is sitting up and able to look around.

He holds onto things a lot better. If you hold it out for him, he will grab it from you. He reaches for whatever you have in your hand now, it makes it a lot more difficult to do things while holding him.

He still doesn't sleep through the night. He has been waking up an extra feeding again. He goes to sleep around 9:30 pm and wakes up between 1-2 and 4-5 and then is up at 8. This past week I have been trying to get him back to sleep in the night without feeding him. When I hear him stirring I hurry and give him his binki and he usually falls back to sleep. He takes awesome naps though so I can still catch up on my sleep. He takes a nap at 10 for 1 1/2-2 hours and then again at 1 for the same length of time. He will fall asleep later in the day, but that isn't a set nap time.

Jackson is in 6-9 month clothes and even wears some 12 month clothes. He is getting pretty chunky and I can't do up some of his 6 month pants because they are too tight. He is in size 3 diapers. He has been for about three weeks now. When I could hear him talking in the morning, I would go into his room and pick him up only to find that he had pooped all the way up his back and his sheet was soaked. After finding these lovely surprises multiple times and having poop up to his arm pits almost every time he was going poop during the day, I decided to save the rest of the two diapers and just move on to the threes. I am very happy I did. He now only as about three onsies that are not stained yellow.

We are borrowing this toy saucer from our neighbors and Jackson really likes it. He will sit in it for quite a while before he gets upset. He is slowly learning how to play with all the toys on it. There are about two things that he plays with now.

Jackson loves to stand up, he would rather do that then sit. He loves to bounce up and down also. He will do that forever. You will sit him down on your lap and he will straighten his body so you can pull him up to stand.

Jackson loves his Daddy. When CJ gets home from work and starts talking, Jackson will turn his head all over the place until he finds his Dad. It is so cute. If he is not facing him, he will keep turning his head to see CJ. Even if I am trying to get Jackson to eat and he hears his Dad, he will stop eating and find him. He will hang his head upside down to see CJ and sit like that forever.

Hanging his head upside down has become a new thing that Jackson really likes to do. He will be lounging on my lap and hang his head down. I will start to tickle his face and he loves it. He just hangs out like that until I pull him up. I keep thinking all the blood is rushing to his head, this can't be good to do this so I pull him up and then he goes right back down.

Jackson has rolled over multiple times, but now when we put him on his stomach he is happy for a minute and then gets mad. He won't roll over, he just lays there until I roll him over. Usually after that he is fine. He will only roll over when he is laying happily on his tummy.

Friends

Natalie Wall, Allison Dame, Sara Howarth, Debbie Perkins and me

I have to just brag about how awesome my friends are. We have stayed in touch since High School and every time we get together it is as if no time has gone by at all. We pick up right where we left off. On Saturday we had a BBQ at Debbie's house. I wanted to get a picture of everyone, but didn't pull out the camera until only the girls were left. Minus Sarah Karl, we missed her. Natalie and Bretton live in Mississippi now and are here for a month so we had to get together before they left us again.

In high school we would get together every single weekend, there were six of us girls and five boys. We had so much fun just hanging out. And now some are married, some have kids and we still love seeing each other. The girls get together at least six times a year for birthdays and we usually get together with the boys once a year. I really think that if we weren't together every weekend in high school we wouldn't get together still. I love it though and am so grateful that I have the friends I do.

Zoo...Again, 4th of July, Toesies, and Sitting up!

We went to the zoo again! This time with Holly, Tyler, Brooke and Jacob! The kids had such an awesome time and so did we! Things are always more enjoyable when it is free. We will go many more times this Summer. This time we were able to see Zuri. She is cute and fun to watch.

Tyler, Holly, Brooke and Jacob taking a ride on the train

My Little Angel sleeping. Looking at all the animals must really wear him out.

For the 4th of July we hung out all day. We had been at a family reunion for my family all weekend in Star Valley, Wy so it was nice to just relax. We sat outside for a while and our little guy sat up! We were so excited. I sat him up and he stayed like that for quite a while. I was so shocked that he sat up that long. Needless to say, we are proud parents! Jackson is getting so big and we can't believe it.


Jackson and I just hanging out and enjoying the warm weather

Our neighbors Dad bought $300 worth of fireworks so we and all our neighbors headed to the circle to watch as they were lit off. They were awesome! I thought for sure someones house was going to catch on fire. They had aerial ones that made me a little nervous, but no harm came to anyone or anything. It was a very fun night hanging out with our fun neighbors. I love our street, we have so much fun together.



Jackson discovered his toes on July 3! It is so fun to watch him hold on to them. I was wondering when he was going to notice he had feet he could play with. I love his big grin!

We went for a walk and Jackson stayed awake the entire time and then as soon as we came into the house he decided to fall asleep. I love my Little Chunks!

4 Months

I can't believe how big my Jackson is getting. He is changing and getting more fun everyday. He had his 4 month check up on Friday. His stats are:

Weight: 15 lbs. 6 oz.

Height: 25 1/2 in.

Head: 41.9 cm

He is growing great and getting even bigger cheeks and thighs! My Father likes to call me a Jersey Cow. I guess that is a true statement since I produce milk and my baby is getting fat off of it. That is what you get when your Dad grew up on a farm.

Jackson is doing a great job holding up his head. He pretty much has that down. He will follow me around the room when I get up. He will stretch his neck as far as it will go to see me. I love it! He loves to sit in his bumbo chair. I will put him on the counter while I do the dishes and he loves being up high with me.

He has rolled over from his stomach to his back 4 times. The first time we were at Aunt Holly's house. I was so excited that he did it twice in a row, but so sad that I didn't have my camera or the video camera for his first time. CJ and I were able to record it later though.

Jackson is really good at spitting. If you do it to him, he does it back. It is so cute. Even if you are about a foot away from him, you can feel the wetness from it. He does it all day long, along with his jibber jabbering. He loves to talk and squeal all day.

He is getting good at grabbing and holding onto toys now and he will put those straight in his mouth. He just loves to eat all things.

He slobbers a TON! Since he eats his hands all the time, he constantly has slobber all over his hands and his shirt. We had thought he was teething because I could see two white spots on his lower gum, but nothing has happened so far.

Jackson has been a little stinker though and loves to suck on his thumb. He will really suck on any finger he can get in his mouth. Sometimes it is two, sometimes even three fingers in there at once. The thumb is his main choice though. I will take his thumb out of his mouth and put in the binki. He spits the binki right out and in goes the thumb. I had laid him down for bed and he was fussing and then it was quiet so I went to check on him and this is how I had found him. I think it is absolutely adorable now, but I just don't want him to do it when he gets older. Not sure how that will work out. When he goes to sleep he likes his binki, or thumb, but he has to have something to hold on to. Usually it is his blanket, you put that in his sweet little hands and he dozes off within minutes. He is such a GOOD baby!

Jackson loves to stand on your lap and jump up and down. He is not too fond of sitting, he would rather move around. We tried putting him in the jumper and he wasn't so sure about it at first, but after a while he started moving his legs and decided it wasn't that bad. He liked it for a while and then got upset. We will have to keep trying it. Once he gets used to it, I think he will love it.

Jackson has very distinct eyebrows, at least that is what I have been told. He is very expressive with them and you don't have to see the rest of his face to see if he is smiling or sad, those sweet brows tell it all! He gets it from his Grandpa Johnson. It is a good thing we named him after him, it was meant to be.

We love nap time. Sometimes I like to just sit and hold him instead of laying him down. I know I can't do anything productive while I hold him, but one day he will be to big for me to do this so I have to do it now while I can.