Taylored Life

4th of July

2009-07-05T20:40:00.002-05:00

Sorry for not posting last weekend. It turned out to be an overwhelming weekend. My mom was in town, which was a saving grace because she was able to keep Jackson while we signed all the paperwork to put in an offer for a new house, which was accepted! She was also able to help us pack some things to be put into storage so we could get our house ready to sell, and she kept Jackson while Ross took me to the ER for one of the worst migraines I've ever had!

This weekend was a little less stressful and a lot of fun. We made our way to Leakey, TX to visit with family. While we were there we participated in the Leakey 4th of July parade. Ross, Jackson, and I were crowd control for the Frio Spring Lodges' Float, which was a huge roller. Crowd control was needed because the float was not only throwing beads and candy but also popsicles! They were a huge hit on such a hot day, but we didn't want anyone to get squashed just for a popsicle! Here are some pictures of everyone getting ready for the parade. I don't have any of the actual action, but there are a bunch in the album.

Here are Ross and Jackson ready to go!

This is Ross' 1st cousin once removed, Dick, that owns the lodges and drove the roller.

After the parade, we made our way back to the Stepladder Ranch where Ross' Dad, John; a family friend, Buz; and Dick smoked some cabrito. Here are the guys enjoying the shade.

Aunt Leslie and Uncle Philip introduced Jackson to Noel, and then Jackson got to go on his first horse ride!

Then he had fun playing outside in the dirt. It was a great day!

Many thanks to Leslie and Philip for hosting us!

We hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July!

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-21T18:45:00.002-05:00

It's been another busy week. Aside from my photography class, there were lots of good things going on this week. We had painters at our house this week, which means the garage is officially done, and we are very happy with it! We also found out Jackson will be changing day cares next week. We are excited about the change, but once again sad to be leaving the teachers behind. Hopefully this will be the last change until he goes off to school though.

Saturday was our busiest day this week. We managed to get our yard work done before it got too hot. Jackson had fun lounging around in his PJs with Bailey while Ross was working.

Then we took Bailey and Jackson to Bay Area Park for a picnic and some play time. Bailey had a blast in the dog park. Her favorite friend was this sweet little 10 week old puppy that loved playing in the fountain.

Jackson had a great time on the swings and rocking on the horse before enjoying his first real picnic at the park. Here are a few pictures of the fun.

Saturday evening our friends, Katie and Jason, had a house warming party in Katy, TX. We had a great time catching up with some friends we haven't seen recently, while Jackson had fun hanging out with his favorite sitter, Ms. Heather.

Ross' 2nd Father's Day was...just as difficult as the first. Last year we were adjusting to a brand new baby. This year, Jackson decided not to nap, which made for a long, fussy day. Overall, it was still great though. We had a good, manly breakfast this morning followed by church and a little house hunting since Jackson wouldn't sleep. Of course we rounded out the day like any other celebration with a dinner at Lupe Tortilla!

Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there!

Photography Class #2

2009-06-18T19:46:00.003-05:00

I had my second photography class yesterday evening at Houston Center of Photography, and I've had fun playing around a little today with the settings on our camera. Here's one of the better shots from today. There are more in the album.

Happy 1st Birthday Jackson

2009-06-14T12:14:00.007-05:00

Friday was Jackson's 1st birthday, and he has had a great birthday week filled with several firsts. Monday Jackson had his first taste of whole milk. We're combining it with his formula this week, and he seems to love it. Tuesday Jackson started letting go and taking a few steps on his own at day care. When I arrived to pick him up, his teacher ran to grab him, stood him in front of me, and let go. He wobbled his way over to me with the biggest grin. I was filled with very mixed emotions! Wednesday I gave Jackson his very first hair cut, so he has less of the "faux-hawk" look as I like to call it. I followed him all around the house to get it done, but he did pretty well. He even took the comb from me at one point and tried to comb his own hair. It was very cute!

Friday was lots of fun as well. We started the day by visiting Jackson's old day care teachers. They were so excited to see him...one of them even cried, which was very sweet. You could tell how much they loved him. From there we went to the mall for a special birthday treat. While Jackson was taking his nap, Ross got home from his week-long trip to Canada. He was so excited to see Dada when he woke up! Bailey had a vet appointment that afternoon, so we made it a family outing. Jackson got LOTS of attention from everyone there once they found out it was his birthday. I think it even helped us get in a little sooner. :-) We ended the day with an early dinner at Lupe Tortilla with our friends, the Montpools. Their three adorable kids played with Jackson keeping him laughing and smiling the entire evening. By the time we got home Jackson was ready to crash. It was such a wonderful day!

Yesterday we took Bailey to the new dog park where she got to run around with a pack of beagles. They were all much younger than Bailey, and it showed. She had more fun watching them run around in circles than joining them in the fun. Jackson got to play at the park too. He had a great time swinging and rocking on a horse. That afternoon we went to a birthday party for Jackson's friend, Chase, from day care. Jackson and Chase actually share a birthday, so it was a special celebration. They had all kinds of fun activities including moon walks and a ball pit. Jackson was in heaven!

Today we went to church as usual, and then spent the afternoon running errands. When we got home we all spent some time lounging in the baby pool in the backyard. Jackson had a great time splashing around and putting grass in the pool. Our friend Heather then came over to watch Jackson so Ross and I could have an evening out. We stumbled upon a restaurant called La Tapa Tapa, which turned out to be one of the best places we've been in Clear Lake!

It's been an amazing year with Jackson. Ross and I really can't remember what life was like before he got here, but at the same time this year just flew by. We have been so blessed to have such a healthy, happy baby boy and to be surrounded by such loving friends and family. It's amazing to see how much he's changed in such a short time. Here are my favorite photos from each month of his life so far.

The Good and The Bad

2009-06-07T20:38:00.002-05:00

It's been another good week at the Taylor household...for the most part. We had some plumbing problems with our kitchen sink that started the day of the crawfish boil. The disposal decided to quit, and in the process of replacing it, Ross discovered a leak on the other side of the sink that wasn't going to be easy to fix. Fortunately, Ross knows his limits and decided to call a plumber for that one! We now have a fully operational and draining disposal and sink! We also got a quote from a painter for the garage, so we're making progress there too!

I took a photography class from Houston Center of Photography this week, which I really enjoyed. I'm hoping to be able to learn how to really use our camera. I'm excited to now understand the simple stuff like shutter speed, ISO, and aperture. I see a whole new world opening up with this knowledge. Hopefully I can retain and apply it!

Saturday was a full, but extremely fun day! It started with breakfast with a friend from work, Melissa. I really enjoyed getting to know her better and am excited to have another girlfriend at work...no offense guys. From there we went to the Chili Cookoff hosted by Johnson Space Center. We met up with more friends from work and made our way to the cookoff in support of Stephen and Sara who were part of the competition this year.

We had a great time wandering around eating lots of chili. Of course, Stephen's was the best in our opinion. :-) Here are a few action shots of the fun.

It was a HOT summer day, so we were excited to spend the late afternoon and early evening celebrating our friend Emma's b-day and introducing Jackson to a real swimming pool. Jackson loved the pool and even went to bed at their house so we could continue the celebration. I didn't want to miss out on the fun, so we didn't get very many pics. You can see what we got in the album.

Today has actually been a rough day. Jackson is in the process of dropping his morning nap at day care. We didn't try it yesterday because he seemed really tired. However, this morning was a different story, so we decided to give it a try. He was a grump all day, which is not at all normal for Jackson, so I'm wondering if he's really ready to give up that nap.

We ended the day with a little scare. Jackson coughed up a little blood after going to bed tonight. He'd been asleep for almost an hour when he started fussing, which is not unusual. We typically let him cry for a few minutes to see if he settles back down, but tonight he got himself pretty worked up. When I went in to check on him, he made a sound like he was about to throw up, and when I looked in his crib, there were little spots of blood! I talked to the on-call pediatrician, and no one is too concerned at this point. I'm just supposed to keep an eye on him tonight and check him out in the morning since he's sleeping so well right now. Please say a prayer for him!

Jackson's 1st Birthday Party

2009-06-01T15:20:00.003-05:00

Sunday we celebrated Jackson’s 1st birthday with a smaller group of family and friends at a nearby park. His birthday is actually June 12th, but we wanted as much family as possible to be able to celebrate with us. Since everyone was already here for the crawfish boil, it was perfect timing!

The party had an animal theme focused on monkeys since JD is our silly little monkey.

Balloons are one of Jackson's favorite toys these days, and since this park didn’t have swings or anything appropriate for Jackson’s age, I came up with the idea to fill his baby pool with balloons like a ball pit. It was a great idea…it made the rest of the park look really festive since the wind quickly blew them away. :-) We managed to keep a few of them in the pool though, and Jackson really enjoyed it.

He also enjoyed his first taste of cake, so I guess he has his dad's looks and his mom's taste! It was a very cute process. The little smash cake had curled ribbon on it, which he carefully removed and handed to me before poking the cake to decide if it was edible. It didn't take long for him to get the hang of it though!

Jackson loved being the center of attention. There are more pics of him hanging out with friends and family in the album. He got so many wonderful gifts, and it really meant the world to us to have everyone there to celebrate this milestone with us. We are so thankful for all of our friends and family!

The Perfect Equation

2009-06-01T15:13:00.003-05:00

188 pounds of crawfish + 72 cobs of corn + 20 pounds of potatoes + 10 pounds of mushrooms + 10 loaves of bread + friends and family = an awesome crawfish boil (in my opinion)!

Ross’ sister and brother-in-law came in Thursday night followed by all of our parents and my grandparents on Friday. We enjoyed a relaxing dinner with the Taylor family Friday night, and then we all got busy Saturday morning preparing for TWO parties, the crawfish boil and Jackson's 1st Birthday!

We had a great time hanging out with everyone at the crawfish boil on Saturday. Unfortunately, we forgot to pull out our camera until almost everyone was gone, but we managed to get a few pictures. Jackson liked petting the crawfish, but he’s not yet a fan of eating them…we’ll keep working on that!

Part 2 of the weekend (b-day party) is coming soon...

Our Week...

2009-05-25T20:52:00.003-05:00

This week started off a little rough, but ended well. On Monday Jackson was sent home from daycare with a low fever, so Ross took him to the doctor on Tuesday where we found out he has bronchiolitis again. He's now taking 3 meds for it, an antibiotic and 2 breathing treatments, which both have to be given twice a day. Honestly though, I think I dislike the nebulizer for the breathing treatments more than Jackson does. He's doing pretty well with them so far. As long as we can keep him entertained, he really doesn't even notice it.

Late Tuesday night our friends from our life group, Pam and Brian, had their baby, Jace, and I got to hold him Wednesday after work. He is absolutely adorable!

Towards the end of the week we got to spend some time with our friends Jenny and Brandon. I honestly can't remember the last time I laughed as hard as I did that night. We always have so much fun hanging out with them. If only our schedules didn't make it so hard for us to get together...we literally planned this dinner over a month ago.

The weekend has been fun too. We had dinner with our friends Bekah and Jeff Friday night. Saturday and Sunday we spent all day cleaning up and running errands for the parties next weekend, and Ross finished the fences!!! (Yes, one of them has been down since Ike...we were one of those people.) Sunday night, our wonderful friend, Heather, babysat so Ross and I could have a nice dinner out. Today we did lots of yardwork and more cleaning, but we ended the day by grilling out with our friends, Emma and Chris, and their daughter, Clara.

Throughout the weekend I tried to capture a few pics of Jackson doing his favorite things since I never got an 11 month post out there. Here he is closing the doors to one of his favorite toys.

Here he's hugging a bear, but not just any bear. This is the bear that I had as a baby. My dad even did a sketch of me holding this bear, so it's really sweet to me...

Jackson also loves turning the pages of books, playing with them, and being read to.

Now that Jackson has mastered crawling, he's decided to check things out from a different perspective...like his exersaucer. He seems to like crawling through obstacles...maybe he likes a challenge.

Of course, he also loves Bailey, and we just think he's the cutest little guy ever!

There are more pics from this weekend in the album too.

CAT Gear

2009-05-17T09:05:00.003-05:00

For Aunt Leslie and Uncle Philip...there are a few more in the album too.

Hoarse but Smiling

2009-05-16T20:16:00.002-05:00

Have you ever heard a hoarse baby try to cry? It's pretty sad, but it's also pretty funny when he laughs. Jackson woke up without much of a voice this morning, and it just got worse throughout the day. He's also been drooling a lot lately, so we think he may be working on his 7th tooth. The combination of these things has made for a somewhat fussy baby. I say somewhat because he still smiles most of the time.

Today was Clara's 2nd birthday party, which was at The Little Gym. It was a lot of fun. The Little Gym was another one of those great places where Jackson could play without having to worry too much about what he got into. Clara looked adorable running around in her pink tutu, and all of the kids seemed to have a blast. Jackson had so much fun he passed out on the way home. It was a great way to end the day!

Of course, when he got home, he was happy to eat before crashing for the night.

Fun Weekend

2009-05-10T20:13:00.003-05:00

Just a quick post to let everyone know we had a fun weekend in Louisiana. We were there for advisory board meetings at LA Tech, and got to spend some quality time with our friends, Heath and Barbara, and their son, Carter. We also got to wish both of our mom's a Happy Mother's Day in person and let them spend a little time with Jackson. Here are a few of my favorite pics from the weekend. There are more in the album.

Carter as Superman.

Me and Carter hanging out.

Jackson "riding" the tricycle.

Jackson and Carter playing on the slides at the park.

Other pics from the park.

I hope everyone had a great weekend and a Happy Mother's Day!

Ready, Set, Go!

2009-05-03T21:08:00.003-05:00

In the last two weeks Jackson has been on the go. Not only is he an expert crawler now, but he's pulling up on anything and everything. He also knows exactly what he's not supposed to get into, and goes straight for it! He's definitely keeping us on our toes. His favorite things to get into are the candles by the fire place (see pic below), the electronics by the TV, and of course, Bailey's dog bowls...they're twice the fun because they make noise when hitting the floor and have water to splash.

He's really starting to figure out toys too. He's great at opening and closing things, and he's started putting objects in things and pushing buttons to get a specific response. His train provides lots of entertainment with the seat that opens and closes, levers to push and pull, and being able to ride or push it. He has a blast with everything he does!

There are several more pics of Jackson playing and having fun today in the album.

This weekend had it's ups and downs. Yesterday was fun and relaxing for me and Jackson. While Ross spent the entire day rebuilding our patio cover, which looks great, Jackson and I went to the park with our friends Emma and Clara. Then Jackson and I hung out in the backyard with Ross. Jackson got a baby pool to play in, but it was a little too cold still to be in it. Instead, Jackson had fun leaning over the edge, splashing the water and putting things in the pool.

Today wasn't as relaxing...Jackson decided he didn't need a nap today, which was a first for us. He's refused naps at daycare before, but never at home...it made for a long day. I say that, but he was still very happy overall. All of the pics in this post were taken today, so you can tell he didn't struggle with it too much. It was just around the times he was supposed to be sleeping that were difficult.

Change of Plans

2009-04-19T19:09:00.004-05:00

Our plans quickly changed this weekend when we got over 5.3 inches of rain on Saturday! Ross was planning to work on our patio cover, and we were all planning to go to a pool party. With our street looking like this, we decided none of that was in the cards for this weekend. After all, you can normally see the curb and sidewalks!

We spent all day Saturday trapped inside, so we decided to do something fun today. We went to the Children's Museum! Jackson had a blast. They recently opened their new toddler area, and Jackson loved it! Unlike our house where he's told "no-no" fairly often, everything here was fair game. They had everything from little doors to open and close to slides and balls and blocks and cars both little and big! There are more pics in the album, but here are few favorites from the day.

Celebrate Good Times!

2009-04-12T19:48:00.003-05:00

We had a whirl wind of fun this weekend. We celebrated our friend Carter's 2nd b-day on Saturday, which was the main reason for a trip to Shreveport and Ruston, LA. We didn't make it through the entire party because Jackson needed a nap, but everyone was having a great time, which you can tell from the pictures in the album. Carter and his parents, Barbara and Heath, are basically family. We love every moment we get to spend with them! Here's a pic with Barbara from the party.

We also got to visit with all of our grandparents this weekend, which is a rare treat. We mostly see them around Christmas and Thanksgiving, so Easter weekend was a bonus! Ross' grandparents and Uncle Alan were enjoying some Easter festivities when we arrived. There was a woman playing the piano and leading the group in song. All of the ladies had on beautiful Easter bonnets.

We don't have any pictures from the visit with my dad's parents, but we definitely enjoyed the visit!

My mom's parents had a fish fry Saturday evening, and it was delicious!!! My cousin Stephanie and her family were also in town this weekend, so all of the boys had fun playing outside. Andrew and Jackson are about a week apart in age, so they had fun digging through a bucket of toys while Adam found Easter eggs.

There are a lot more pics in the album from this weekend, but I'll leave you with a few of my favorites.

Jackson with my parents, Nana and Pop.

Ross' Grandmother

Jackson's 2nd cousin, Andrew.

Last, but certainly not least, my grandmother and Jackson!

Oh yeah...Jackson's 10 months old now! I can't believe it!

Things That Make Me Smile

2009-04-09T20:45:00.003-05:00

We went back to the doctor today, and Jackson is doing much better! He was still very happy while he was sick, but I did notice a pretty big change in his energy level. Today he seemed like his normal self and was ready to check out the world! He has discovered that doors swing open and closed and that lots of things make great noises when you hit them, especially a cup on the side of the bathtub.

Jackson has been having fun chasing Bailey up and down the hallway, and Bailey is starting to enjoy it too.

Most of the time Jackson would prefer to walk, but he's getting really good at the army crawl and has even started getting on his knees from time to time. He can get just about anywhere now!

Watching Ross and Jackson play together is by far my favorite thing to see these days. It almost always results in laughter. You can almost hear it in these pictures!

There's just no better way to start and end my day than to see these smiling faces!

Rational Sentiment

2009-04-06T21:58:00.003-05:00

I've been wanting to talk more about politics, finance, and current events but I haven't really felt like this was the place to do it. This blog is intended to be the story of our lives and the couple of posts I have made related to politics have felt awkward in this context. As such, I have decided to launch a new blog called Rational Sentiment where I can freely express my opinions on the latest events while hopefully maintaining some level of rationality. I don't know if anyone will end up reading the blog, but it should be fun nonetheless. If you are interested, head on over and you can subscribe to the RSS feed, as well. I hope to post there relatively frequently and maybe spur some civilized conversation.

Pneumonia!

2009-04-05T14:04:00.004-05:00

Jackson has it. He was sent home from daycare on Thursday with a 102 fever. Thursday night it was 103 and Friday morning, 104! Tylenol helped to get it down a bit but I went ahead and took him to the doctor. We hadn't seen any other major symptoms and the doctor wasn't sure what the cause might be but she said that at his age, they want to find the cause for such a high fever.

So, 4 hours later, Jackson and I had been to the lab for them to take blood and the hospital for chest x-rays. They took blood from his arm using a tourniquet and needle like with adults. and the x-rays required a device that held him still and his arms above his head. Clearly, these where not pleasant experiences for either of us. Anyway, the x-rays showed pneumonia so we are now administering antibiotics and dealing with difficult eating and sleeping. Please, keep Jackson in your prayers and hopefully he will be better soon.

In other news, I finished the garage construction this morning and will be moving on to the patio cover and gates soon.

Garage Project

2009-03-29T20:13:00.004-05:00

Everyone will be happy to know Jackson is drinking well again! Thursday he drank only from a sippy cup at home, but Friday he took the bottle again. He even did well at day care, and he's done well all weekend!

We spent the weekend redoing the siding on our garage with the help of a bunch of great friends. Thank you so much Andrew, Todd, Jeff, Eric, and Zack! Many thanks to the wives (and one fiance) who let their husbands help, kept me company, and helped watch the kiddos. It was a lot of work for two days, but the majority of the work is done.

The bottom of our garage was rotting away, so we decided to replace the siding with Hardie Plank. We originally planned on just paying someone to do it for us, but after receiving a quote for $8000, Ross decided he could take care of it.

It was a learning process for everyone invloved, but they did a great job. The first step was demolition. I think the guys had a little fun with this one. After a very short time, this is what our garage looked like.

The next step involved stapling roofing felt around the studs. This part was done very quickly.

Putting up the Hardie Plank proved to be a challenge, but one they successfully completed today. If you didn't know, you can't simply cut Hardie board with a saw, these guys had to score and break each piece. I think there are expensive tools out there to make this easier, but they didn't have one! By the end of the day Saturday, the guys had completed the Hardie Plank on one of the walls of the garage. Impressive progress for a single day! We did have one minor injury towards the end of the day, but luckily it didn't require a trip to the ER! Here are a few pictures from Saturday.

While Jackson and Quin took a nap, Bekah and I helped a little. Mostly with clean up though.

Jackson and Quin spent almost the entire day together playing, and at one point I think there were 6 little ones running around our living room. They seemed to have a blast for the most part.

Today Andrew and his son Nathan (almost 5) came back over and helped finish the job. Nathan helped me take care of Jackson. He was a great entertainer. He could really make Jackson laugh. Later in the day Rhea came over with more entertainers and more help! A family friend of theirs, Zack, helped finish off the Hardie Plank while Rhea and I took the kids to the park down the street. When we returned it was Elena's turn to make Jackson laugh. This time we managed to get a picture.

By the end of day two, this is what our garage looks like.

We have a little more work to do, but the hardest part is now done. We just need to put in a few final nails and put up the trim. Then we'll be on to the next project...our patio cover or fence!

Broken

2009-03-25T20:43:00.002-05:00

Has it ever happened to you? When your husband goes out of town something inevitably breaks. It's certainly happened to me before. This time, however, it's our son! He's been refusing to drink since Monday morning. Since he's still drinking from a bottle, we thought something might be causing him pain while sucking. We thought he might have an ear infection, sore throat, or be in pain from teething...wrong, wrong, and wrong again. I took him to the doctor Tuesday afternoon to make sure.

That afternoon I was finally able to get him to drink a little from a sippy cup, which brought us both great relief since I was getting worried about dehydration. It also made me laugh because we've been trying to get Jackson to take an interest in the sippy cup or a regular cup for months. This morning he refused the bottle again, but very eagerly drank from the sippy cup. I thought that was good news, so I happily went to work today feeling a lot less worried about our precious baby boy.

When I picked him up this afternoon, he'd refused even the sippy cup all day. The weird thing is that he continues to eat his solids and sleep well for the most part. Of course, I tried the sippy cup again at home, and sure enough, he refused it! He would push it away and just cry. Once I was able to sneak a little into his mouth though, he was all about that sippy cup. I just don't get it! Even the doctor said she's never seen a baby do this before without any evident cause.

Needless to say, I'm ready for Ross to come home tomorrow in hopes that will fix everything. :-)

Dream Boys

2009-03-22T12:21:00.004-05:00

It's been a great weekend. I took off of work on Friday and left Jackson at day care so I could get some work done on the house. What I thought was going to take me all weekend, I managed to almost finish on Friday! I sanded and painted our bathroom cabinets, added knobs and pulls to the drawers and doors (with Ross' help), and finished planting new flowers in the yard. I was in such a good mood by the end of the day because I felt like I'd finally made some progress. I've been wanting to paint the bathroom cabinets for a couple of years now. I don't know what took me so long! When I finally stopped for a few minutes and checked my work email, I got some great news that a coworker got certified...this was an even bigger deal than normal because there was a painful process to go along with it.

Then a toy we'd ordered for Jackson arrived, and he absolutely loves it! It's a play n' ride train. Jackson started walking (cruising really) a couple of weeks ago, so we decided to find a toy he could push around to help him out. He's got all of the levers and buttons figured out, and he has a great time pushing it around. When he sits on it, his feet don't quite reach the ground yet, so we push him. If we stop, he rocks back and forth urging us to keep going!

We had our life group Friday night too, which was a blast. Ross and I decided we were being called to step down from leadership for a while a couple of months ago, and a new couple that recently moved to Texas decided to step up. I think it's going to be great!

Yesterday Jackson and I spent some time hanging out in the yard with Bailey while Ross gathered supplies to put new siding on our garage and rebuild our patio cover next weekend. It was such a beautiful day, and I couldn't resist taking some pics of Jackson playing with the grass and flowers. There are several more in the album.

Yesterday evening we made our way to Kingwood to catch up with a couple of my sorority sisters, their husbands, and their kiddos. I love these girls! We only see each other once or twice a year, but they will always hold a special place in my heart! Tammy and Kammy were both ahead of me at LA Tech, but I often felt closer to them than some of my pledge sisters. Their husbands and kiddos are great too! Here's a picture of the girls and the future Kay-Dee dream boys, Bryan, Jackson, and Mason.

New Pictures

2009-03-14T16:27:00.002-05:00

We have a few new pictures of Jackson in the album now, so take a look. Here are a couple from today!

9 Months Old!

2009-03-12T19:43:00.005-05:00

Wow, has it really been 9 months? This month in particular has flown by. Jackson has been through a lot and changed so much this month. Aside from getting sick twice this month, he's working on his 6th tooth and crawling. All of these things have produced tears and whining.

For the most part, he's still a very happy baby. He's just ready to be mobile! He doesn't ever want to stay still, and he's already walking anywhere you'll let him go while holding on to something...usually mom or dad's fingers. He seems to enjoy falling over like a board, which is not the best way to fall, but how do you stop him from doing something that brings him so much joy? His favorite game right now is "chasing" Bailey, which involves walking towards Bailey, Bailey running to the other side of a chair or table, and JD walking around the chair to simply start the process all over again. He LOVES this game. It always gets a good laugh.

Jackson also enjoys playing the piano...banging the keys of a real piano is apparently much more fun than those on his toys.

His coordination in general has gotten much better. He's working hard on that pincer grasp. He has officially fed himself a cracker, but he doesn't do it very often. He's eating 3 meals a day and having 4 9-oz bottles a day. It's no wonder he's moving up the weight scale quickly. He has his 9 month appointment tomorrow, so we'll see just how much he's grown then!

Jackson continues to sleep really well. He's doing much better at the new day care with his naps, and he's still sleeping 12 hours every night. His evening routine now involves dinner, immediately followed by a bath, which he loves. In the tub he has fun practicing drinking from a cup and then having his little teeth brushed.

Sorry...no new pics today. It's been a busy week, so we'll try to get some posted this weekend. In the mean time we'll leave you with the 3 songs that almost unfailingly calm Jackson down or make him smile. They are 'Amazing Grace', 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game', and a Taylor original, 'The Pants Dance' to the tune of 'The Hokey Pokey'...

You put your right leg in.
You put your left leg in,
and you shake it all about.

You do the pants dance
to get your pants on,
cause that's what it's all about.

You do the paaaaannts dance.
You do the paaaaannts dance,
Cause that's what it's all about!

Dedication

2009-03-01T21:17:00.002-06:00

This weekend Ross and I, along with our family and friends, dedicated to raise Jackson according to God's will by living our lives as an example for him and teaching him about God's word and love. This was an important event for all of us, not because we weren't dedicated to doing this before, but because it is an opportunity to come together and publicly make this commitment to God and Jackson. It's also our way of letting everyone know that we are depending on everyone that's a part of Jackson's life to also set that example. We certainly can't raise this precious boy on our own!

We had a great weekend. My cousin, Meg, flew in on Friday, and we had a fun, relaxing girls' day. Saturday we spent most of the day cooking and baking to prepare for the festivities on Sunday, and that evening we had all of our family and friends that were in from out of town over for dinner. Sunday morning everyone joined us at the church for the dedication and service. Jackson's godparents, Barbara and Heath, along with Ross' parents, my parents, and Meg joined us on stage for the dedication. Several of our close friends also came to show their support and make the commitment along side us.

Jackson was an angel this morning. While Pastor Randy was holding him and talking to everyone about what the dedication meant, Jackson laid his head on Randy's shoulder...it was definitely an "awwww" moment.

Afterward, everyone came to our house for brunch. We're hoping someone else got more pictures there because we didn't really pull out our camera until everyone was gone. We did get some fun shots with my parents and Meg though, and we are so thankful to Chris for taking the pictures during the dedication. Here are a few of the pics. The rest are in the album.

Austin Weekend

2009-02-22T21:23:00.003-06:00

We went to Austin this weekend for Sara's baby shower. Sara was one of a group of girls that I was very close to when we lived in Austin, so I was excited to be able to make it for the celebration of the baby they're expecting in just a couple of months! The entire weekend was a blast, which you can see for yourself by checking out the album. We got to catch up with a lot of our friends and finally introduce all of the new kiddos that have arrived in the last year. With so many of them it was almost overwhelming at times, but we had so much fun hanging out and being down right silly as you can see here. The pictures really say it all!

8 Months Old

2009-02-16T18:16:00.004-06:00

We're a few days behind on Jackson's 8 month old post. It's amazing how quickly they change! In the last month Jackson has started pulling up if you provide him something easy to hold. He's always loved standing, so this new ability brings him so much joy. He's finally realized that rolling doesn't just get him off of his stomach. He'll now roll to get to an object. He also reaches for us a lot now and lets us know when he wants to be held by doing this.

Jackson has now moved up to eating 3 meals with solid foods every day, as well as eating the stage 2 foods. He has also decided that he can "help" us feed him. He will grab the spoon and shove it into his mouth, so meal times have gotten much messier! Click here for a video of it.

He is still very easily entertained and loves to laugh at even the simplest of things. By the end of the day or when it's time for a nap, he typically just gets louder, but this is one of his tell-tale signs that it's time for sleep.

Jackson also got two new teeth this week! He got both of his lateral incisors on his 8 month b-day. His day care teachers think the front top teeth will be next, but they haven't broken through yet.

Our first Valentine's Day as parents made us feel like teenagers again...our friends, Todd and Heather, kept Jackson that evening, and Ross and I went to the mall. We took advantage of having babysitters to cross a few things off of our to do list. The mall was filled with teenagers walking hand-in-hand and texting as they talked, so we followed their lead and laughed at ourselves. It was fun, and we really appreciated the opportunity!