Mothers Day Out!!!

Soo this is the week we have been waiting for, dreading, excited about, longing for, curious about and well...just ready to have happen. We started Mothers Day Out. I signed him up in the spring for this year and I have been really looking forward to it, but at the same time kinda sad about. One it means my little Jack attack is growing up, and two, Ill be by myself for two days without my buddy. Also, I was (a smidge bit) worried about how he would handle the transition. Well, turns out, my child was MADE for school!

We had Meet the Teacher on the 26th and the class was packed! 12 kiddos total for those two AMAZING and WONDERFUL teachers to shepherd! Mostly boys too..yoikes! I love love LOVE his teachers and was so excited to see that on Tuesdays they have music class with Mrs. Barb and on Thursdays he will do arts and crafts! Each month has a theme and certain colors they will be working on. (Good luck with that bc every color is 'blue" to Jack!)

His first day was Tuesday the 31st. Taylor took the day off so we could have a date day while Jack was in school, and also to make sure I was able to keep it all together emotionally. Here are a few pictures of Jack that morning on our way out the door....

Hey we are all going to school!!!!

Dad, lets go to school!!!

Wait...you mean Im going BY MYSELF???

Only if I can take my ball...

And into the school......

And in the classroom, where Mrs. Bridgette came in to snuggle her buddies Jackson and Carter and to make sure they were happy! (Mrs. Bridgette is our nursery director and she is the BEST!)

HE DID GREAT!!! He didnt cry or anything when we dropped him off and guess what?? I didnt either!! I think I was too excited about having my hubs all to myself that day! Tay and I had a great day, we caught a movie, ate lunch, and got some shopping for the wedding craze coming up. When we picked him up he zoomed past dad and ran straight into the arms of his momma. I might say THAT is the BEST part of him being gone. I love the Hello's! Here is his sheet from that first day:

The napping is the only issue we still have, he sleeps but only for an hour to an hour and 15 or so. That doesn't make for a fun evening on Tuesday and Thursdays but oh well! Early bedtime is fine by me!

Since being in school Jackson's vocabulary has really surged forward. He literally talks ALL the time now. We love it! In fact during bath time the other night with dad, he stood up in the tub (frowned upon in this house) looked at dad and said "My Dadda" and went in for a super sweet and wet hug. Dad melted on the spot!

Visit to Cami and Papa J's

This weekend we went to visit Cami and Papa J. I unfortunately don't have any pictures from this fabulous weekend bc I was too busy playing and having fun too! We had a yummy dinner of fish tacos Friday night and Saturday morning Cami and Papa J took us all to their tennis club pool. It had a GREAT kiddie pool. Problem: Jackson decided it was not only hilarious but also SO much fun to just dunk and dive in the water. The water that he could not swim in. Yes. It was fun for him, but I had about 18 panic attacks. This kid is DEFINITELY getting swimming lessons for next summer. He has NO fear and wants NOTHING to do with being put in a floaty or being held onto. This was all much to the amusement of his grandparents and cousin Madi. Mom and dad however were WORN out and needed a nap ASAP. Apparently Jack did too bc we hadn't even backed out of our parking spot at the pool and he was OUT. He had a blast and we cant wait to use that pool again when it warms up next summer.

We love visiting them, Jackson really enjoys throwing golf balls (and dog toys..whoops) into their lake from their back patio (which is gorgeous and sooo relaxing). They call it their outdoor living room, and it is! Jack also loves to chase after Sammy the toy poodle and throw the ball for him and Dixie. He also reeeallllyy wants to figure out a way to get that bird, Snappy T in his hands, but he has to grow a few more feet first so he can reach the cage!

The best part was Cami bought Jackson some fall clothes that were much needed AND appreciated! We love you guys!!!

This week Jackson has been really into throwing his toys over the baby gate onto the stairs...see.....

He drags one of his totes of toys over to the destination point and tosses each one in. Loves it.

In this one he is showing me all his toys. Very proud of this.

So to discourage this we, gulp, took it down completely. We are teaching him to not go up the stairs AT ALL without one of us. He got into pretty big trouble a couple of times, but hasnt done it in the months since! Whew!

Lordy, its been awhile :/

Weekend of August 14, 2010

We took a trip up to my moms, which I think we have maybe decided she should be called Glam-ma. Cute huh. Fits her I think. Anyhoots, we had a wonderful visit and enjoyed our time as always. I went with mom and Sonorah to Becca's wedding shower in Big Sandy, it was so sweet and I just get so excited when people get married. It is such an amazing time in your life. Anyways the fun part was my moms best friend Angie that I never see came down with her daughter Holly to visit with mom and us. Her son Cole, had just left for the Army. So she was needing some love :) The scary thing is, I used to babysit for Cole and Holly when Holly was Jacksons age. Talk about making me feel old. And scared bc if its gone by this fast for some other kiddo, how much faster is it going to go for us with Jack Jack. AGHHH. Im hyperventilating just thinking of it all.

I just love this face he is making. Too funny.

Pa was nice enough to let Jackson have a taste of some Mayhaw Jelly with his biscuits. Lets just say it was such a hit that the next morning, Jack (after eating a huge breakfast already) saw Pa having a biscuit on the couch and he climbed himself up there, snuggled up all sleuth like, and reached in for the biscuit and jelly when James was least expecting it. I think its safe to say the kid likes jelly on his biscuits.

We were in the kitchen and Jackson and Dixie came in and spent some time snuggling on the floor. It was so super cute. I love that these two truly are best friends already. Would it be weird to have her cloned? Dont answer that.

Anybody else's kids bite on the feet of their lovey? Weird.

We had such a good time this weekend that on Sunday while we were waiting for Becca to come by and visit he just couldnt stay up any longer and crashed on my shoulder. Poor buddy. Ignore my scary/crazy eyes. I look like freak huh? Yikes.

And last but not least, we will leave you with new tricks Jack has learned:

Balancing on the ball..I think he might be trying to kick a leg up too :)

And channeling the seals from the zoo. He's good huh?

You should see him leap through a flaming ring and swallow knives.

Kidding, so please don't call CPS.

Happy 16 Months and Whats Been Going On!

Jackson you are 16 Months OLD!!!

Where has the time gone? Here you were a year ago:

My little guy, you are turning into quite a verbal, funny, temperamental person.

AND I LOVE EVERY SECOND OF IT!!!

You are:

~Working through a cold as we speak (bleh).

~You weigh 24.8 lbs

~You eat any and everything. STILL! I gave you chicken salad sandwiches last week and you gobbled those up.

~You are drinking your milk plain now too, still make it flavored every once in a while though, just bc I love you! :)

~Talking a mile a minute. You repeat ALOT of sounds and words we say. Its funny and cute. The other morning you said what sounded like "What do you.. babble babble babble". It was so funny and your dad and I just looked at each other like "did he just say what I think he did?"

~You are really starting to get the hang of directing your lawn mower around and trains too. You know how to put them on the track and turn them on.

~You play with lots of cars, trucks, planes, anything that moves or goes vroom. You make the sound a car makes as you drive them around. Soooo funny.

~We have started putting you in time out, not sure that you quite grasp the concept but hopefully you will soon. Or you just start not needing it altogether! HA!

~You have started to mildly hit and bite (if you can, that is, you do most of the time, stop yourself before you do it, but the thought is still there). The one time you bit me, well, it didnt end so well for you. You got very upset. Ill leave it at that.

Your just growing and learning every day, and I cannot wait to see how much more you will learn being in a classroom setting at MDO.

LOVE YOU BUDDY!!!

The last few weeks have just zoomed past so quickly. I cant believe that in just another few short weeks Jackson will be headed into Mothers Day Out. :( and :) . Mixed emotions on that one. So excited for him, but sad for me. Im gonna miss my buddy those two days a week!

A few weeks ago we spent the night in Galveston with Grandma and Pa, Aunt Nora and her BFF Megan. We met them at the Rainforest Cafe and I think that is now where we will go ANYTIME we are meeting friends for dinner. Jackson was mesmorized to say the least. Every time it rained he would stare at the rain dripping on the perimeter of the room, he STARED at the fish forEVER and everytime a monkey caught his eye he would say "ooh ooh aah aah". Funny kiddo. It was nice for Taylor and I to not have to roll out our circus tricks to entertain the kid at lunch. We spent most of the time out at the pool, where my mom (grandma) showed off how much cooler she was to play with in the water than his own parents. Jackson wanted to play with grandma more than mom or dad :( Oh well, Ill be okay, pride wasnt too damaged! LOL. We did hit up the beach for just a little bit, Jackson was interested in the wet sand sucking his feet down, and really interested in trying to make the sand go down his little water toy. Not so much luck on that one.

We had a great dinner that night at Fisherman's Wharf,

until Jackson decided he would much rather be outside playing on the deck than hanging out inside with all the adults. Sigh. What made it fun (HA) was that our nursery director from church, Bridgette was in the same room we were upstairs and we said hi and all that stuff and when I came back into the room from a little outside walking with Jackson, Jackson screamed, LOUDLY, and EVERYONE in the room (like 5 large families, including someone we actually KNEW) turned and stared. She laughed. I turned red, and sweated, Taylor scooted down in his chair like "who, me? With that screaming, obviously needs to be spanked more, child? Nope, not me. Dont know 'em." It was lovely. The rest of the family was MIA also, so I just clamped my hand over his mouth and yes, I took him back outside. GASP. Whatever, dont judge. He HAD been there 2 hours. And I was sweating. And red. And alone. So alone in that moment. We had a blast and maybe we can do a family get away with grandma again soon.

She can take over Jackson in the pool and anywhere else all she wants!! LOL.

Lets see, we had some playdates and lunch with some friends Can I say how much I HEART Chick Fil A, BIG? They are the best place to take a kiddo for lunch. So accommodating. We also had a fabulous dinner at Nick and Jennifers and Taylor and Nick got to see their boys really playing for the first time. These two dads dont really get to see that interaction too much bc they arent around for the playdates so it was so cute to see how excited and funny they thought it was. It helps that Bryson and Jackson play so well and are so super darn cute together. Jennifer is supposed to send me some pics she took, but she is in Jamaica right now. (Just for being able to go there on vacation, I may not be her friend when she gets back. LOL) By the way HUGE thanks to Jenn and Lori for watching Jack while I went to the doctor.

Last weekend we wanted to do something kinda fun but didnt want to leave the house (ever have those days?) So we filled up the splash pad, dog everyone pool, and water table and we had a nice few hours outside. No need for a swim suit, just swim diaper and sunglasses and lots of sunscreen. Oh yes, this picture WILL be used in the future as bait/ammo/whatever I need it for.

Then, I made my momma proud. Taylor and I bathed both the dog and Jack outside with the water hose. It was awesome and so super quick. Plus I might add that an extra set of hands (Jack Jacks) to help scrub the doggie was nice too. Dixie L-O-V-E-D it. Too bad for Bosco, he missed out on the bath. Im sure he was crushed.

Speaking of Bosco, he likes to curl up in baskets.

But see, no where is safe anymore in this house except places of high altitudes. So he jumped in a laundry basket to get away from the stalker, aka, Jackson, and Jack decided well, Ill push him around instead.

Dont let Bosco fool you, he loved it. I mean, it took him like 5 minutes before he decided to jump out AND the only reason he jumped out is that Jackson went in for the touch/pat/hit/abuse.

That is love for the B cat. On a sweet note, Jackson did walk up to Bosco, who was all cutely curled up, on the sofa and he put his head on Boscos and just softley pet him. Bosco didnt move. Again, I think there is some real love happening here. Ahh, happy wife, happy animals, happy kid, happy hubs, happy life! We are taking a trip to the big T, Tyler that is, tomorrow. Hope everyone enjoys their last few weekends of summer!

A Tribute To A Small Angel.

I have been following the Caring Bridge blog of a little boy named Walker. Walker is one month older than Jackson. I choose to follow their blog bc his parents are examples of Gods work. In everything they do and say, they do it through HIS glory and in HIS name. Walker was diagnosed with a Malignant Rhabdoid Tumor on September 11, 2009. He fought a long and hard battle with the terrible disease that took over his body and this morning, he is sitting on Gods lap. My heart is breaking for his family. I cannot even imagine how they feel, knowing I have Jackson and how much I love him. How much it would hurt to loose him. They have their faith to lean on, and I am inspired by their steadfast devotion to Christ. In the past year I feel like I have gotten to know Walker and his family (though they don't even know I exist!) I always left reading their blog with a renewed faithfulness in our Savior. I was going to post today about Jackson being 16 months old, but instead, please take some time and visit Walkers site. Sign their guest book and send them a message of Gods love. Keep them in your prayers. Then hold your little ones if you have them, or call your big ones if they are gone and tell them you love them.

Isaiah 40:18-31
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Matthew 5:4

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.