Happy Halloween!

Our little dragon.

Several of J's school friends - Gray (Tootsie Roll), Kai (who's starting school this week), and Maggie (bumble bee).

My co-workers' kiddos --- Adam (Superman), Wes (skeleton) and Liam (shark).

Jackson's first Halloween was an absolute blast!  We had a super busy, but very fun, day and he was such a cute (and very scary) dragon.

It kicked off at daycare with the infant room's 'First Harvest Festival' which consisted of costume wearing, pumpkin decorating and lots of photo opps.  Grandma Joan was able to join Corey and I for the celebration. 

After leaving daycare, we headed to Corey's work to enjoy a delicious Halloween potluck (I always seem to get invited to the office on days where they have yummy food lined up!) and mingle with his co-workers a bit before heading to my work.  My co-workers Stacy and Stephanie brought their munchkins in at the same time we stopped by so it was quite the zoo but so much fun.

I truly think J is an extrovert - he slept only a few minutes in the car between his morning nap ending at 10:30 and us arriving back home at 3 but was such a great mood and seemed to be really enjoying himself at my work, being around lots of other people. Once we got home, he went right to playing by himself for an HOUR (he normally only lasts 15-20 minutes), happily bouncing around and babbling in his Exersaucer while I caught up on some work. 

\Tonight, we met up with Auntie Sara to walk around Market and see all the cute kids and dogs in costume, and of course, we had to dress J up as a dragon one last time before retiring the costume. 

Can't wait to see what costume we come up with next year to top the dragon!

Stats Are In

Jackson and I went to his six month check-up today and it was confirmed that he is one big, healthy kid!

He weighed in at a whopping 20 lbs, 14.5 oz (give or take a few ounces, considering he'd just finished a bottle) and was 29" in length.  This puts him in the 90th and 99th percentile, respectively.  Not only is it impressive that he grew two inches in length in as many months, but he's now the average height of an ELEVEN month old.  It's no wonder his pants seem to keep shrinking.  His head is getting a bit bigger and measured 44.5 cm (90th percentile) - if I didn't know better, I'd think it was because of all that hair that continues to grow and fill out.

He was very happy throughout our time there and did great.  He did have a bit too much fun with the paper they lay on the table, so I ended up moving him to my lap to hang out while we waited for the doctor.  J had to get an oral and four shots and he did great.  He didn't even realize they'd given him the first shot but for the next three he screamed; however, as soon as I picked him up, he calmed down and even smiled at the nurse who had done the damage.

The doctor was very pleased with all of Jackson's progress in the last two months and said he's extremely healthy and is totally on track developmentally.  He was even super impressed with how stable and strong Jackson was when sitting. 

Hooray for big boys!

6 Months

I know I say this every month, but I truly cannot believe another month has gone by and that baby J is six months old - halfway to his first birthday. WOW!

Every month continues to get more and more fun as he becomes more social and can interact more with us.

His six month check-up isn't until Wednesday, so no height and weight updates to share; however, here are a few of the key notables from the past month.

Jackson...

• Is quite the little sitter.  I love sitting him down with some toys and just watching him play.
• Can (sometimes) roll over.
• Was a great sleeper this past month.  Most nights he was in bed between 7:45 and 8 p.m., and slept until 6:30 or 6:45 a.m.
• Is enjoying solids more and more each day.  He especially likes fruit, carrots and sweet potatoes.
• Has been taking at least one long nap (1.5-2 hours) almost every day.
• Is no longer swaddled with either arm in when sleeping.
• Loves to be outside.
• Loves to laugh (see video below).
• Is constantly "talking"....while playing, when waking up in the a.m., when in the car.
• Loves bath time and being able to splash.
• Seems to like sleeping on his tummy occasionally.
• Has officially outgrown his swing (he tries to push himself out of it, and the shifting of his weight and change in balance makes the swing stop swinging).  Hilarious.
• Has almost outgrown his bouncer.
• Typically only takes three naps per day now --- around 8:30 a.m., around 12 or 12:30 p.m. and around 4 or 5 p.m.
• Continues to drink five bottles per day, each between 7 and 9 oz.
• Continues to drool like there's no tomorrow --- we have to change him at least 3+ times / day.
• Likes being out and about.  In the evenings, he's tired and it typically tends to be his fussy time but on Friday night, we went out to Azteca and he had a blast.  He sat in a high chair for the first time and loved smacking the table and trying to eat the placemats, napkins and plastic container our waiter brought him.  He also loved looking at the little boy seated near us.  He didn't fuss one time the entire time we were there.  Apparently, we have a social butterfly on our hands.

Looking forward to the next month!

(Sorry for the bad video skills --- I was laughing and making faces to get Jackson to laugh, and wasn't paying much attention to the camera.)

Five Fall Goals

I was tagged by my friend Natalie to do a blog post on five of my goals for fall.  Seems like it should be easy, but I had the hardest time coming up with five goals to accomplish over the next couple months - I guess I've been too caught up in the moment lately to plan ahead.  After much thought and deliberation, here are my goals:

1.  Partake in some girlie pampering.  I'd kill for a mani, pedi, brow wax and massage right now.  Seriously.  The last time I had any of those professionally done was over six months ago...or 'pre-J'.  I've had a gift card to get a mani/pedi in my purse nearly six months and I think it's just about burned a hole in my wallet.

2.  Set aside more time for reading. I enjoyed reading a few good girlie books that Natalie loaned me recently and just started reading Water for Elephants.  I'd love to finish that and read The Help so I can see both movies.  (And, I really should have already finished Water for Elephants, considering a bunch of us started a book club and our first date is tomorrow and this book was up first.  Oops.) 

3.  Tone up.  I've got about five of the ~40 pounds I gained during pregnancy left to lose and LOTS of toning up to do, so I joined the Fitness 19 that recently opened right below us.  In addition to my gym membership, I signed up for a personal training package and this was my first full week of my new work out regimen.  It feels so good to get back into working out, aside from the extreme soreness I'm feeling from the leg workout I did yesterday.  I've been waddling around all day like I did when I was nine months pregnant and have to sit down and stand up VERY slowly. Hope I feel less sore before tomorrow morning's appointment!

4.  Family day.  We've been so busy lately and have had so many plans and commitments every weekend, we haven't had much time to relax and enjoy time together as a family, just the three of us.  Don't get me wrong - it's all been very fun, it's just that it doesn't help life feel any less hectic.  I'd love to have a whole weekend day with no plans - no chores and no commitments allowed.  With fall officially arriving in Seattle, and lots of football on tap, I'm sure the boys won't mind spending a day at home, in sweats and cuddling on the couch together.

5.  Plan a tropical vacation.  I'm kind of cheating, because we actually just finished planning our Hawaiian vacation for February, but it was something we'd been talking about for ages, so it's a big accomplishment and something we've been looking forward to for a long time.  The last time we enjoyed any truly hot weather was in Vegas last summer, so we can't wait to pack up and head to Kona in February with my mom and dad.  It'll be Jackson's first plane trip and first tropical vacation and we are so looking forward to a week in paradise.

And now, let's see if my friend Jen at A is for Adalyn is willing to share her five goals for fall...

Family Photos

There have been less than a handful of times we've had the opportunity to have family photos taken, and never more than a few photos at a given time, so we were thrilled to meet up with the Shawvers over the weekend to swap family photo sessions.  We decided on Discovery Park as the backdrop and crossed our fingers for a nice, Fall day and boy, were we lucky!  A gloomy, cool morning turned out to be a fabulously sunny Fall afternoon, which helped make the shoot a success.

It was great to see the Shawvers since it had been nearly three months since we saw them last at Seabrook, which is a long time considering how quickly the munchkins change.  We had so much fun catching up while trying to keep Jackson entertained and happy during the Shawvers' shoot --- he may have been a bit loud and obnoxious for poor, sweet Addy, who had just woken up from a nap and wasn't in the mood for his antics.

Jen got some fabulous shots of our family (thanks for your photog skills, Jen!) and both Corey and Jen snagged some super cute pics of the two babes together.  I've included a few of my favorite photos from the day below.  You see all Corey's photos and Jen's photos from the day on Flickr.

 Looks like this cute couple is on a date!

Hmm...I guess we better teach J that hitting girls isn't okay, especially while on a date. 

The Shawver fam - Kevin, Addy and Jen 

Love, love, LOVE his cheeks!

J either had a stick or grass in his hand at this point - having never played in the grass before, he was having a ball touching and grabbing it.

J's outfit made him seem like such a big boy. 

My [super cute and charming] boys.

Things I Love

There are a million things I love about our little man; however, here are my current very favorite things in regards to life with Jackson.

I love...

• The way he babbles to himself (rather than crying) when he wakes up in the morning until we go in to get him up.
• The huge smile and excited leg kicking he does when we go into his room to get him up in the morning.  Or, on the mornings we end up having to wake him, the big smile he has when he first sees us, and the big stretches he does when we take his sleep sack off.
• The fact that he's been sleeping from 8 p.m. until at least 6 or 6:30 a.m. 
• The way anything his hands come even remotely close to makes its way into his mouth.  And if it's not quite within his reach, you can bet he'll be reaching as far as possible to get whatever it is (my purse, car keys, ties on my shirt, necklaces, etc) into his hands and subsequently into his mouth.
• The huge smile he gets when he first notices me after I get to daycare and say hi to him.
• The way he moans and groans while falling asleep in the stroller or car.
• Sitting him on the floor to play with toys while we eat dinner...
• ...And how cute and little he looks while doing so.
• The way he likes to blow raspberries.  But not the way he occasionally does it while eating solids. (Makes for an even bigger mess!)
• The look on his face with the first bit of every solid food meal --- he still gets this shocked look as if to say "What on EARTH are you feeding me?!?".
• All of his fall clothes - he looks like such a big boy in his "back-to-school" clothes.
• Hearing the daily report of all the fun things Jackson enjoyed at daycare.  Today, he went on another field trip to the Seattle Center to watch the fountains, played with rattles, worked on his mosaic art project, and enjoyed nursery rhymes / story time.
• The big smiles and giggles he saves especially for playing fetch with Roxy.
• This picture of Jackson in his superhero cape.  There's just something about such a little body being covered by a cape.

New Trick

I've been trying to get Jackson to roll over by "helping" him roll from tummy to back and back to tummy. 

Over the last few days, I have been able to roll him just to his side and he does the rest of the roll on his own. Then one time yesterday, he did a complete roll from his back to his tummy all on his own but Corey wasn't there to witness it and Jackson wouldn't do it again, so I thought I had to have been mistaken and I thought I must have helped him without realzing it. 

However, after a few assists tonight, I coaxed him all the way from his back to his tummy with Sofie. Check out his newest trick below!

Firsts

Last week was a big week, with Jackson experiencing lots of firsts, including his first:

• Cold.  Poor kiddo got the cold I had the week before, which left him extra sleepy and congested.  Corey and I both worked from home on Tuesday (thinking we could tag team and work easier) to keep an eye on him in case he got a fever or his cold got worse, but he was actually in one of his best moods ever.  This was likely due to the fact that  he got lots of extra sleep --- he went to bed at 6:30 p.m. the night before and woke up at 7:30 a.m. and still wanted to take 5.5-hours of naps throughout the day, including two, 2-hour naps.  Happy to report that his cold seems about 90% better.
• Three-hour nap.  Between continuing to recover from his cold, and because one of the louder baby girls (Maggie) wasn't at daycare, J took a 3-hour nap on Friday morning.  His longest nap prior to this was somewhere between 2 and 2.5 hours.  (Maggie and J are both light sleepers but she's also very vocal and somewhat loud, which often wakes J up from naps at daycare.  This sometimes cases him to start crying, when then causes her to start crying --- sounds like these two really feed off of each other.  I'm sure their teachers just love when this happens.)
• Art project.  The letter of the week at daycare last week was 'C' and the kiddos got to "color" in a 'C' printed out on a piece of paper.  This consisted of putting the kids in high chairs, giving them Crayons and letting them go to town.  The result?  A completely un-colored 'C' with a few very faint Crayon dots around it.  Adorable.  I'd include a photo of J's masterpiece; however, it's still at daycare as they hang up the kids' artwork for a few weeks before we get to bring it home.
• Field trip.  Technically, this happened the week before last, but it was worth mentioning.  J and his baby friends got to go to the Seattle Center to watch the fountains and he loved it.  He even had the opportunity to go back two more times last week, and loved it just as much each time.  What can I say?  The kid loves to be outdoors.
• Sitting experience.  J has been working on sitting up quite a bit lately, but last week, we could actually see him improve so much each day.  It was amazing to watch.  About a week and a half ago, he could only balance for a few seconds at a time (and even did a face plant when I was reaching for a toy --- oops) but last week, he learned how to balance so much better and can now actually sit for as long as we let him.  If Roxy runs at him, causing him to get excited, he'll kick his legs and swing his arms, which causes him to tip over occasionally, but still I think we can safely say this kiddo is a "sitter".

Jackson is truly growing so fast, right before our eyes and it's amazing to watch.  He gets more and more fun every day and we have so much fun just watching and interacting with him each night when we get home.

Poor J was so stuffy and congested last week.  Not only did he need lots of extra sleep, he got lots of extra cuddles from mom and dad.

I was cuddling with J and he fell asleep just sitting on my lap, which is something he never does.  He normally needs to be swaddled and in his crib (or anything moving --- carseat, stroller) to fall asleep.  His cold really knocked him out!

Hooray for big boys who can sit and play!