MckLinky Blog Hop - Funny Video

MckLinky Blog Hop

Week of August 24th

Where there's a will, there's a way!

Not even concrete will stop him!

But it will give him his first scrapes...

Ah oh! He sees the camera now!

Here he comes...

Can't get enough of my boys!

When did my baby become a toddler??

I will be gone again this weekend, back home to visit with family. Paul will be out with his friends on saturday night and my plans fell through so it will be an evening with my parents and the baby!

Speaking of the Baby Man - he has lots to show you all!!

Not only his he exploring the whole world from all fours, but he's walking along furniture too!

And has begun to give kisses...

Jackson greets me after naptime by standing in the crib, banging on the rails and yelling blasphemy until I go get him.

Sometimes, he doesn't think it's funny that Momma likes to capture his moments...

His tastes for foods have certainly blown past the baby food variety. He prefers adult foods now but will tolerate some purees that Momma has made and wants to use up!
He likes to bit off more than he can chew. I didn't give him this whole piece. I placed little pieces in front of him and the whole piece off the side. Well, I seemed to have underestimated his reaching abilities.

How Big Is Baby Man?

It was amazing when he started imitating us, but now he's answering the questions.

He might be bit confused as to think that "HI" is related to the "SO BIG" motion because he doesn't do one with the other... that's our fault! Last night at dinner - I was working the "So Big" with him while Paul wanted him to learn "HI" first... :) He was getting both teaching from either side of the dinner table. So now we have a child who thinks the two motions are one in the same :)

Is there something on my face, Mama?
Ode to Cheerios!!

9 Month Photos / What the Baby Man is up to

Jackson has been exploring the house from his knees. He follows us out of one room and into another. His cruising speed has definitely kicked into high gear. His poor little knees are getting sores because the skin hasn't toughened up at this point. Jax will not pull himself up to a stand position if he is holding our hands. However, not pulling up on furniture yet. He enjoys throwing his toys and crawling to retrieve them only to throw them once again. Our new naptime routine is no longer a song (sad for me), because he was no longer tolerating it. Once we walk into his nursery and I turn out the light, he knows a nap is coming and starts to fuss and wiggle in my arms. So now when we sit in the rocking chair, I have replaced my beautiful lullabyes with tickling. Baby Man immediately starts giggling and laughing. Of course, if you know my son - that right hand goes right to the mouth when he laughs hard. This new naptime routine gets him smiling and happy when I lay him down. I hand him his musical seahorse and he will talk to it for alittle while and then go to sleep. Now nice!

We took Jackson for his 9 month photos today. Q Tip was doing wonderful as we arrived at the appointment on time. We were ready to wait to about 20 mins because Saturdays at Sears Portrait Studios is always busy. What we hadn't anticipated was waiting 60 mins! That's right - we waited a full hour. They were clearly under staffed and not one person came out to tell us that they were running behind. In the meantime, Jax is getting cranky and irritable. Being the Super Mom that I am :), I had planned for set backs like this and had packed his lunch with us. I was planning on giving it to him if the selection portion of our appt. ran late... not expecting to give it to him BEFORE the photos! It did settle him a bit and finally, we went in for the photos. He did really well and we got some adorable shots of him. Jackson is so flexible and we are so lucky to have a happy easy going baby. And many people don't let us forget that :)

While we were there in thw waiting area - Jackson was watching two boys playing in the kids center. One of the boys had to go with his mom to get his photos taken. The remaining boy waved as they left and said "Bye Bye" 2 or 3 times. And all of a sudden, Jackson says "Bye Bye". It was clear as day! Paul and I both looked at each other stunned and said "Did you hear that?" at the same time. Then I asked the couple to next us "Did YOU hear that?" I wanted to make I wasn't making it something it wasn't. They nodded and smiled. We told them it was the first we heard anything other than "Mama or Dada". Of course, we couldn't get him to say "Bye Bye" again :)

These photos are not the best of quality because

I borrowed them from the online ordering page shh...!

Say "Mama"

Jackson is not even 9 months and already repeating "Mama"! Needless to say, I am ecstatic!


This is alittle long (1:25 min) but he says Mama right away!




This is a shorter clip of him, but more adorable!

I Spy with my Little Eye...

....An Unhappy Baby

Can you find him??

This is what happens when your baby can only scoot backwards, but hasn't quite figured out how to move fowards... they wiggle themselves under a bookcase shelf!

Join us in our laughter today

If you need more of that - click here

Jackson's Almost Crawling....

Two posts in one day - aren't you lucky!

I just wanted to share a few new videos of Jackson because his development in the past few weeks has just blown us away. From 3-6 months, his milestones were more intellectual and mental (or so it seemed). But since 6.5 months to the present, it all seems physical. He has cut his first tooth and we just noticed yesterday that the other bottom tooth is right beneath the surface. If this new arrival serves like the previous one, within the week it should break through. He has master sitting up and has been playing the majority of his time in this position. He started pushing himself up from his tummy and has been tolerating it for much longer. Then, in a matter of what seems like minutes, he started lifting onto his knees. And now he's rocking back and forth on his hands and knees - days away from crawling! His spitting up as decreased dramatically , even though this particular video disproves that statement! Get a load of this video. It's a bit long, but I couldn't stop recording when my son was laughing so hard at his daddy.



Yes, that was our naughty defiant cat lapping up Paul's spaghetti sauce.


This next video below shows more of his hands and knees position - trying to figure out what is supposed to come next :)

What's That, Jackson??

you might want to stop the music from the reel at the bottom of the right hand sidebar, if it's distracting.

My brother and his wife, Brian and Emily, have invited us to go spend a weekend in July with them in Door Co. Emily's family owns a cottage right in Sister Bay. We are very excited and when Jackson heard the news - he just couldn't stop talking about it...

Weekend Events

Jackson and I said goodbye to our close friends on Friday. Crystal and Maddi (along with her husband) moved to Madison on Saturday. It is a great move for them to be closer to family and friends. They moved to Appleton orginially from Madison. We were real sad to see them go. Crystal and I take the kids to the park, out to lunch and shopping at least once a week. Of course we will continue to talk to each other, but our visits will be fewer. The babies grow so fast so we will have to be sure to share photos as often as possible!



We had a quick and eventful weekend. I had participated in the neighbor's rummage sale on Friday and Saturday mornings. Friday was great for sale as far as weather goes - but leave it to WI weather to drop from 70s on Friday to chilly winds and low 50s on Saturday. Unfortuantely, that kept a good amount of the rummagers away.

I cashed in on Paul's birthday gift for me on Saturday afternoon. A luxurious 3.5 hour retreat to the spa. I received a hour facial (I believe I felt asleep near the end at one point) then a 1 hour and 15 min full body hot stone massage. I am passing along my recommendations for this treatment people! So relaxing and soothing - then I spent 15 minutes in the Hyrdo Bed. This contraption looked like a huge tanning bed but was actually a steaming, showering massaging magic machine! My head was out of the bed and so the therapist continued to give me a head and face massage while my body was treated to ultimate relaxation. Holy Cow - did Paul ever hit it right this time!!

On Sunday, we headed to Jackson, WI for my cousin's confirmation. We were able to visit my family, first time since Christmas. [photo of my cousin Jessi and Jax] She goes to UW-Oshkosh and loves to babysit Jax for us! The weather was a bit chilly again, but definitely bearable this time. Jax did really well being away from home the majority of day. He's asleep in his crib for the night now, dreaming of squeaky toys and pears :)

Homemade Baby Stew

So, we attempted sweet potatoes today and the Baby Man wasn't having it! It has taken him awhile to get accustomed to eating cereal, so I have been taking it slow. I just upped his meals to twice a day (1 tbs. cereal each). He just doesn't seem too interested in it yet. I have read that you are only suppose to introduce solids as a supplement to breastmilk so I have let Jackson nurse until he's done and I suppose he just isn't hungry anymore after that. Who knew? Thought for sure he'd have his father's appetite :) I guess I was alittle more excited to start experimenting with solids because I have decided to make all of Jackson's food at home. (Beside rice, oatmeal and barley cereal) I am purchasing those organic because I don't have a desire to grind and process grains... I bought two sweet potatoes and steamed them (found out afterwords that baking would have been a better option.) I pureed them with my magic bullet and froze them into ice cube trays. Each cube is a perfect serving size and if everything goes as planned - it's pretty simple and much cheaper! The book I have become obsessed with is Super Baby Food by: Ruth Yaron. It explains everything about a baby's nutritional needs and how create a balanced diet with homemade foods. I have really been looking forward to starting. So, I have a freezer full of frozen sweet potato cubes... waiting for Jackson to be ready for them :) We'll take it slowly.

My parents came for a visit last weekend which was a lot of fun. My Mom and Dad spent the afternoon catching up with Jackson before busting out the Chevelle and driving that (along with a new stash of breastmilk to store in their deep freezer) back to West Bend. The photo above is my stockpile - pretty damn proud of it! We also got a wonderful visit from the Dietrich's on Sunday. It is always great to see the kids together and snap several photos of them. Ella kept the party alive while the boys took turns drooling, spitting up, rolling over and playing under the play gym. We really miss being closer to everyone. Hopefully, this summer will allow us to meet more people our age with young kids. Can not WAIT for spring!! (Allison has resumed her blog, you can find the link in my list below Jax's videos.)

Jackson is still sleeping soundly through the night. Wakes up babbling to himself in the morning and waits patiently until I go get him. He's happier than ever and loves story books and his play gym. He is squealing all the time and puts EVERYTHING in his mouth. We are still battling the spits and so far - no teeth yet. The drool factory has been working overtime, so those teeth will probably cut through soon!

Have a Happy Easter! And enjoy the time with your families.