The Party

Since I have a completely different view of the party that we threw for Jackson than some people I really have nothing to say on this. Considering it was my childs first birthday and I would have liked to have blogged about it first but the priveledge was taken from me and completely slammed so anything that I would have to blog about on the matter would just seem like a frosted over version of someone elses truth. Thanks for ruining a beautiful memory for me. I would post pics but it is hard to see anyone through the clouds of cigarette smoke and piles of beer and wine cans (as far as I was aware before this there was no such thing as wine cans, but alas I am a moron so what do I know).

Big Brother and Little Brother

Greg is such a big help and wanted to feed Jackson his dinner one night so we let him. I think Greg was a little apprehensive because he thinks baby food is gross and he didn't want Jackson to associate something gross with his big brother.
Jackson looks like he is enjoying himself so therefore there is no reason for Greg to worry that Jackson will not like him because of the food.

Between bites of food Jackson enjoyed nibbling on his toes.

Here he is ready for another yummy bite!

Not sure what grossed Greg out here but the look on his face sure is funny! -Sorry for the fuzziness. I imagine I was laughing too hard when I snapped the picture!-

Back to his toes!

Looks to me like he has thoroughly enjoyed his dinner -and I'm sure he was looking for more! Ha ha ha!

Note the carrots on his toes. I will reitterate that he is a much neater eater these days, and we have even convinced Greg that baby food is not all that gross.

May I Just Brag For A Moment??

Second semester in a row and Greg is on High Honor Roll! Last night I took him out for a hot date. (Something that we have been doing since he was an infant but haven't been able to do, just the two of us, since Jackson was born). We were celebrating his achievement and just spending some quality time together. I am so proud of him and grateful that I have such an amazing son. Awesome job Greg! Keep up the great work!

Do you remember fall?

It feels like it was a long time ago but it really wasn't. We headed out to rake up the leaves on the very last day that it was nice enough to do that. John had to work that afternoon/evening but he helped get us started. We all headed out to get the leaves raked into a pile and then loaded in to the back of Johns pick up truck (which thankfully we have big enough yards so we were able to just drive it into the backyard). Once the bed of the truck was full we would drive it down to the leaf drop off not too far away. For the first load, Greg and I went and left John and Jackson behind. Apparently it was break time.
Shortly after our first load was dropped John had to head off to work so Greg, Jackson, and I were left to finish up. Thankfully we were almost done with the backyard but we still had the front and side yards to do. We also thought it would be nice to rake the neighbors front yard. The three of us took a couple more loads from the backyard to the drop off and then decided to make a race out of doing the two front yards. I took our front yard and Greg took Neighbor Lady and Bruce's front yard. We were both doing really well (other than being distracted trying to get Jackson to nap in the truck... Don't worry, we were right there and the doors were all open so I think we spent more time with him than we did on the lawns) but we were racing against the clock since the drop off closed at 3! We hurriedly raked across the lawns making piles alongside the truck, and then loading those piles in to the back. Finally it was just getting too late so we had to jump in and get it down to the drop off... I have to say that it was first time taking the leaves to the drop off and it is fun. We would climb into the bed of the truck and use the rakes or our legs to shuttle the leaves out of the back. At one point Greg asked if he could jump off the back into the pile. Sure! He disappeared!! There were so many leaves that he went right under them as if he had just dropped into a pool. That was pretty funny! After that day the temperature dropped and the snow started to fall... Atleast there wasn't that much left to get up so it'll have to wait until spring. The good news is that it can act as a blanket for the gardens over the winter and might even serve as compost. Here are my boys taking a time out during our grueling raking schedule to relax!

Greg kind of looks like he is thinking that Jackson isn't doing his fair share of the work. I know that's not what he's thinking, but makes me laugh when I see the look on his face.

"Is it OK if I just lie here and eat my hand?? I'm practicing rolling over and it's hard work!"

Greg is taking a much deserved break.... But what is this warm wriggly creature climbing up my side??

Oh, it's just my brother! -Aren't they cute?!?! I love that they love eachother so much!

Jackson and Daddy

Jackson gets to spend time with his daddy every morning. Daddy got a new job when Jackson was just 5 days old and now works 8 straight 10 hour days from 1:30pm till midnight (and that is if he gets out on time) Wednesday to Wednesday and then has 6 days off. Days off just means that he isn't working at the hospital. He has another job that he works on his off days which means that this Friday hw will be working that job from 10-6. I often joke on Tuesday night

that I will see him the following Thursday.

Jackson and Daddy enjoy their time together and make sure to take pictures to send to Mommy on her work e-mail so that she knows what they are doing and to take a little bit of the sadness from missing this little guy away. Now Mommy has a new job where she won't have e-mail to check but she will get to be around for some of their morning time which will be nice. This is one of the pictures that I received one morning. Seeing that face really helps me make it through the day.

And The Winner Is....

Not Jackson. :(

We entered Jackson into the "Meet the Babies of 2010" contest in our local newspaper. Then you had to go in and vote through your facebook account to vote for the cutest baby of the year. For whatever reason it would not allow me or Greg to vote, so I can only imagine that other people had problems too. It was pretty much a popularity contest since there were a lot of other babies that I thought were cuter than the winners or the runners up including Jackson, but I am biased. Anyway, we weren't looking for a win. We just wanted to get our cutie into the paper so if you'd like to check it out go to http://www.meetthebabies.democratandchronicle.com/. I think he on page 18 or something. It goes in alphabetical order (but I found some discrepancies in their order). Enjoy!

What a big boy!

When Jackson went to his 4 month check up in early November his doctor suggested that we start feeding him food. (Yes it is early considering they discourage starting food until your baby is 6 months old, but please refer back to the "big guy" comments from the doctor in a previous post). So we started with cereal and then added in vegetables one at a time. These are early pics from Jackson starting on food.... In his defense I will say that he is a much neater eater nowadays.
Needless to say it was bathtime after his meal.

Here he really wanted to take the camera away from me so that I could feed him faster.

What?? There is no more?? I ate it all?? Oh no!