- sunshine - After a week of soggy, wet, rainy days (which is very unusual for this area from what I hear) I really appreciate the 300+ days of sunshine we usually get. I know those of you in Florida would be very glad to have some of our wet weather, though.
- eBay and Ross stores - I have gotten so many great deals at these places lately. My being a stay-at-home Mom puts us on kind of a tight budget, and I really appreciate that I can still find nice things at great prices (with a little bit of searching) on eBay and at Ross. I really prefer TJ Maxx to Ross, but we only have Ross here.
- my hubby - I know he belongs with the obvious ones above, but I am so thankful for him. Besides being so great to me and Jackson, he is so smart about finances and real estate stuff (things that I am pretty dumb about). We're closing on our house on Friday and I have had to do nothing to get ready for that and Phil has done a whole lot. I really appreciate him and don't know what I would do without him!
- our bed - I actually will be thankful for this tomorrow (when it arrives with the rest of our household goods). A month on an air mattress has really demolished my back. I can barely bend over without holding on to something! I cannot wait to finally sleep in comfort and wake up feeling good again.
- kisses from my baby boy - J will now give me kisses and I absolutely love it. I say, "Give Mommy a kiss" and he lunges at me with his mouth open and tongue out. This gets my face all wet and slobbery, but I love it!
- book club/Mom's night out - The wives here get together at least once a month for this. We had one last night and it was a lot of fun. It's more about having some wine and chatting with friends than having in-depth discussions about a book, which is more fun anyway! It's so great to get out by myself sometimes and socialize with lady friends.
- iTunes - I have to be careful not to spend too much money on this. I can get sucked in very easily and get lost in the world of downloading songs. I love that you no longer have to buy a whole CD just to get one song that you like. What a great invention!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Things I'm thankful for today....
...besides the obvious ones like family, friends, health, Jesus, etc. :
Water Baby!
Our swim lesson at the YMCA last night went really well! Actually, you can't really call it a lesson - it was mostly just hanging out in the pool and letting Jackson get used to the water. We were a bit nervous about how J would do, as the lesson was in the evening right around his bedtime, but he was really happy. The water was pretty warm, but the building could have been a little warmer - he was shivering by the time we were done. Phil and I don't have our swim suits with us yet (Jackson is wearing a Wal-Mart special suit), so we both had to wear gym shorts and I wore a sports bra and tank top, too. Here we are before the lesson:
Some of these pictures came out a little dark (I didn't bring our best camera to the pool), but I think you can see from his face that he was a little bit nervous at first:
But then a few seconds later he was back to his old gummy-grinning self!
The instructor grabbed him and bobbed around in the water with him before Phil had a chance to get in there with him first and that scared him a bit. I had to get in the water to help calm him down after that. I think he would have been fine if Phil had been able to ease him in himself.
He loved spinning around in the water. He would even stick his face in the water and try to slurp it up. I had to do some back-whacking after he gulped a bit too much! It didn't seem to bother him, though.
Some of these pictures came out a little dark (I didn't bring our best camera to the pool), but I think you can see from his face that he was a little bit nervous at first:
But then a few seconds later he was back to his old gummy-grinning self!
The instructor grabbed him and bobbed around in the water with him before Phil had a chance to get in there with him first and that scared him a bit. I had to get in the water to help calm him down after that. I think he would have been fine if Phil had been able to ease him in himself.
He loved spinning around in the water. He would even stick his face in the water and try to slurp it up. I had to do some back-whacking after he gulped a bit too much! It didn't seem to bother him, though.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Finally at Home...
Here are a few pictures from our new house. We haven't taken too many because we don't have all of our household goods yet (those come on Thursday) and things are pretty messy. We absolutely love it, though, and are SO happy to finally be somewhat moved in. We feel very blessed! :)
Here is Jackson in the bathtub. We tried to spell out "Hi Grandy", but couldn't find our "D", and "Hi Nana" wouldn't work because we only have one "N". Oh, well.
Here is Phil in our new kitchen. Please excuse the mess! :)
Jackson woke up with the craziest hair this morning and I just had to get a picture before I fixed it. Yes, I know he needs a haircut, Becky! We're going to take care of that when the clippers come on Thursday. :)
He loves to crawl around and explore the house. He especially likes to chase after the dogs. Here he is roaming down the hallway...
Here is Jackson in the bathtub. We tried to spell out "Hi Grandy", but couldn't find our "D", and "Hi Nana" wouldn't work because we only have one "N". Oh, well.
Here is Phil in our new kitchen. Please excuse the mess! :)
Jackson woke up with the craziest hair this morning and I just had to get a picture before I fixed it. Yes, I know he needs a haircut, Becky! We're going to take care of that when the clippers come on Thursday. :)
He loves to crawl around and explore the house. He especially likes to chase after the dogs. Here he is roaming down the hallway...
First Tooth
Jackson finally got his first tooth at 10 months old! You can see it pretty well in these pictures. It has poked its way through the gums, but seems to have stopped there. It doesn't seem to be growing /moving up/whatever you call it for a tooth very quickly. No sign of any other teeth yet, either. You can click on these pictures to see them close up.
Gums and Grins
Jackson is all about giving us this huge, gummy grin lately. It is the greatest! Again, that's water on the shirt - he's learning to drink from a cup. :)
I thought these pictures were so funny! It looks just like he's giving Heidi a massage. You can almost hear her telling him, "A little to the left, please...ooohh - that's the spot."
Here are the dogs outside enjoying the sunshine. It's a good thing they did, because the past two days have been rainy, cloudy, and cold.
Jackson is up from his nap now and we're going to take a trip to Home Depot. Will post pics from our first night in the new house later this afternoon.
I thought these pictures were so funny! It looks just like he's giving Heidi a massage. You can almost hear her telling him, "A little to the left, please...ooohh - that's the spot."
Here are the dogs outside enjoying the sunshine. It's a good thing they did, because the past two days have been rainy, cloudy, and cold.
Jackson is up from his nap now and we're going to take a trip to Home Depot. Will post pics from our first night in the new house later this afternoon.
Sushi!
Phil and I wanted to eat out on Thursday and were going to go with Mexican food, but Phil had the great idea to find a sushi place since we hadn't had sushi in such a long time. One might think that finding a good sushi restaurant in our tiny town would be difficult (and that maybe you wouldn't really want to eat sushi from a place in this town), but we actually found a GREAT place! I am really big on atmosphere when it comes to restaurants and this place had a great atmosphere and even better food. We will definitely be visiting it again, preferably without Jackson next time. He was pretty good while we were eating, but the restaurant is kind of fancy and he is really into yelling right now. Not screaming because he's upset all the time - sometimes it's just happy yelling to hear his own voice. Anyway, baby yelling didn't mesh well with the ambiance of this place. We gave him some sushi rice to munch on while we were there (and look at those yummy tuna rolls!!):
Most of the rice stuck to his fingers, but he liked it.
That wet stuff on his shirt is water, not drool. :)
He was a sticky mess when we left there!
Most of the rice stuck to his fingers, but he liked it.
That wet stuff on his shirt is water, not drool. :)
He was a sticky mess when we left there!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Two more days...and counting...
...until we move into our new house! We're still waiting for the appraisal to come through, but our builder agreed to let us move in this Friday since we have to be out of our rental house on Saturday. We were hoping to be able to close by Friday, but now we're hoping for May 30th. The house is pretty much finished - the painters have to come in and touch-up a few places and a cleaning crew has to come through, but other than that the inside is finished. It looks great! The yard still has to be hydroseeded, but that can be done after we're in there. The builder (who is such a nice man) gave us the keys to the front door, and we've been going by every day to check it out. It is so hard to leave once we're there! There are a lot of great things about the house, but one of our favorites is the central vacuum system. It is SO neat! Dog hair is the absolute BANE of my existence, and I think it's going to be so much easier for me to keep up with it now. I love that the vac blows all of the dirt, dust, and hair outside. YAHOO!! We do wish we had a bigger backyard, but we couldn't have everything we wanted right now. The inside of the house makes up for the backyard anyway. I'll post some pictures when we move in on Friday.
Sunday Dinners
Phil, Jackson, and I have been eating almost every Sunday dinner with my grandparents and my Uncle Dave. It's so nice to get together with family and visit and share a meal together every week. Right now we've been going over to my grandparents' house to eat, but hopefully next week when we have all of our household goods we can start having everyone over to our house for dinner. This past Sunday evening was just beautiful, so Jackson and Gramps went outside for some after-dinner swinging. My grandparents have a beautiful backyard and Jackson loves being out there, especially on the swing with Gramps.
After a few minutes of swinging, the thumb went in the mouth and someone started to get drowsy! It was a little past his bedtime at this point.
Jackson gets more and more active every day. He's started pulling himself up on almost everything and he's been falling over and bumping his head on things a bit more. I've figured out that when this happens I have to just look at him out of the corner of my eye to make sure he's okay and try not to make eye contact with him. If he sees me looking at him he will cry for sure, but if not, he's usually fine. He has this habit of crying whenever he sees me (if I've been gone for a little bit). He's great when other people watch him if I'm not there, but as soon as I come in the room he cries for me! I figure I'd rather have him cry for me when he sees me than cry for me when I'm not there.
After a few minutes of swinging, the thumb went in the mouth and someone started to get drowsy! It was a little past his bedtime at this point.
Jackson gets more and more active every day. He's started pulling himself up on almost everything and he's been falling over and bumping his head on things a bit more. I've figured out that when this happens I have to just look at him out of the corner of my eye to make sure he's okay and try not to make eye contact with him. If he sees me looking at him he will cry for sure, but if not, he's usually fine. He has this habit of crying whenever he sees me (if I've been gone for a little bit). He's great when other people watch him if I'm not there, but as soon as I come in the room he cries for me! I figure I'd rather have him cry for me when he sees me than cry for me when I'm not there.
Friday, May 16, 2008
"Whoa..."
That is Jackson's new favorite expression. He puckers up his lips and says what sounds like "whoa." It's really cute! It took me a little while to catch him doing this on film, but I eventually got it.
Since he's crawling all over the place nowadays he eventually ends up crawling over to one or both of the dogs. I am still a little nervous whenever he does this, but both dogs have been really good about letting him touch, pat, pull, poke, etc. I really think they like him- even grumpy old Heidi. Whenever we get home and I let them out of their cage they will run over to Jackson and put their noses in his face with their tails wagging like crazy - like they are so happy to see him. Here's J squeezing Heidi's jowls...
... and grabbing Hank's paw (notice how Hank is spilling out of Heidi's small bed):
I wanted to post this picture mainly for Charlene and Chris. They got Jackson this little steering wheel toy that makes all kinds of car noises. In the picture his right hand is on a little stick shift and his left hand is on the steering wheel. If he pushes the stick shift forward it makes an acceleration sound, and if he pulls it back it makes the sound of brakes screeching. It cracks us up now because he will sit there just like he is in this picture and push and pull on the stick shift really fast, so we hear "accelerate, screech, accelerate, screech" over and over and over. He really loves this toy.
And speaking of "whoa"... I got ready to go on a jog today with Hank and Jackson around 12:30 in the afternoon (which I thought would be totally fine, considering that we're in Oregon), and as soon as I stepped outside I said "Whoa!" myself. It was really hot (90 degrees)! I got a little confused and almost forgot where I was! For a second I was having terrible flashbacks of suffocating in the stifling Florida heat. I almost stayed home because of that, but I figured there might be a good breeze on the trail. There did turn out to be a decent breeze and we made it to our turn-around point in good shape, but on the way back I noticed that Hank was running slower than usual and when we stopped at an intersection he lifted up one of his paws. I checked it for a sticker or something and then felt the pavement and realized how hot it was. I think his paws were burning! I felt really bad, but there was nothing I could do - we had to get back to the car, and there was no way I was carrying him! I tried to get him to run alongside me in the grass, but he wouldn't have that (he has a phobia of walking on grass - weird, I know). We managed to make it back in one piece and he's fine now. I forget that we're pretty high up here and that the sun is really intense. Oops - poor Hank!
Since he's crawling all over the place nowadays he eventually ends up crawling over to one or both of the dogs. I am still a little nervous whenever he does this, but both dogs have been really good about letting him touch, pat, pull, poke, etc. I really think they like him- even grumpy old Heidi. Whenever we get home and I let them out of their cage they will run over to Jackson and put their noses in his face with their tails wagging like crazy - like they are so happy to see him. Here's J squeezing Heidi's jowls...
... and grabbing Hank's paw (notice how Hank is spilling out of Heidi's small bed):
I wanted to post this picture mainly for Charlene and Chris. They got Jackson this little steering wheel toy that makes all kinds of car noises. In the picture his right hand is on a little stick shift and his left hand is on the steering wheel. If he pushes the stick shift forward it makes an acceleration sound, and if he pulls it back it makes the sound of brakes screeching. It cracks us up now because he will sit there just like he is in this picture and push and pull on the stick shift really fast, so we hear "accelerate, screech, accelerate, screech" over and over and over. He really loves this toy.
And speaking of "whoa"... I got ready to go on a jog today with Hank and Jackson around 12:30 in the afternoon (which I thought would be totally fine, considering that we're in Oregon), and as soon as I stepped outside I said "Whoa!" myself. It was really hot (90 degrees)! I got a little confused and almost forgot where I was! For a second I was having terrible flashbacks of suffocating in the stifling Florida heat. I almost stayed home because of that, but I figured there might be a good breeze on the trail. There did turn out to be a decent breeze and we made it to our turn-around point in good shape, but on the way back I noticed that Hank was running slower than usual and when we stopped at an intersection he lifted up one of his paws. I checked it for a sticker or something and then felt the pavement and realized how hot it was. I think his paws were burning! I felt really bad, but there was nothing I could do - we had to get back to the car, and there was no way I was carrying him! I tried to get him to run alongside me in the grass, but he wouldn't have that (he has a phobia of walking on grass - weird, I know). We managed to make it back in one piece and he's fine now. I forget that we're pretty high up here and that the sun is really intense. Oops - poor Hank!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Hooray for Garage Sales!
My friend, Andrea, mentioned in her blog that she found some great toys for her twin boys at a garage sale. I thought that was a great idea, especially since kids' toys can be pretty expensive. Phil and I were driving around looking at houses last Saturday and I spotted this dump truck at a garage sale. I got it for $2.25! It was marked $3 and Phil told me to offer them $2 with the extra quarter as my bargaining chip. I didn't quite understand that and just offered $2.25 from the start. He says I need practice with bargaining! Jackson's feet can't touch the ground yet, but he likes to sit on it and climb on it. The steering wheel turns the wheels and everything!
The metal rod that connects the red bucket to the back of the truck is missing, but when we replace that Jackson will be able to tip the bucket back and dump out whatever he put in it. I think he'll love that.
I think I'm hooked now. I'm going to go scout out some other garage sales this weekend. :)
The metal rod that connects the red bucket to the back of the truck is missing, but when we replace that Jackson will be able to tip the bucket back and dump out whatever he put in it. I think he'll love that.
I think I'm hooked now. I'm going to go scout out some other garage sales this weekend. :)
Mother's Day
Just wanted to share some cute pictures from Mother's Day. I had a very nice day. Phil got Jackson up in the morning so I could sleep in a little bit and then we all went to church together. Some friends of ours that are regular attendees of the church invited us to meet them there. Phil and I really liked it, and Jackson must have, too. He was in the nursery for an hour and a half and did not fuss the entire time! That is a first for him - hopefully it wasn't just a Mother's Day fluke and he will be good again this Sunday. After church we all went to brunch at a nice restaurant in town. I totally stuffed myself with eggs benedict and french toast. When we got home, Jackson helped me open my cards.
He really liked the gift card from Nana Charlene and Papa Swoop:
My sister, Becky, sent me the sweetest book about a mother and her son. It made me tear up a little!
I am so blessed to be the mother of this sweet baby boy!!
He really liked the gift card from Nana Charlene and Papa Swoop:
My sister, Becky, sent me the sweetest book about a mother and her son. It made me tear up a little!
I am so blessed to be the mother of this sweet baby boy!!
Moving...Again!
We have been moving around so much lately and are getting to be quite good at it! We moved into the Best Western when we first got here, then moved into a rental house, then just last weekend moved into my grandparents' house for a few days while they were out of town, and then today moved back into our rental house. Hopefully next week we will be moving for the last time (for a while) as we get settled in our new house. The driveway was poured yesterday and the inside is almost finished. We are so excited to be in there! We go over to check it out almost every day.
The weather has been just gorgeous here the past few days. It is cool in the morning, warms up really nicely during the day, and cools down again in the evening. The sun has been out every day and there has been a nice breeze - we absolutely love it! Heidi goes out in the grass and just conks out there for a while. She loves laying in the grass when it has been warmed by the sun.
Jackson is getting his first tooth right now. He was quite grumpy the past two days, but seems to be feeling better today. The tooth is just poking through his gums. I can feel its sharp edges when I rub my finger on his gums (when he'll actually let me). He went on an eating/nursing strike yesterday and would not eat anything or nurse hardly at all. I was worried, but today he is back to normal. I tried to get a picture of the tooth, but this is all I got:
He is crawling all over the place and is starting to move very fast! I think we're going to have to invest in a baby gate to keep him in one area. Right now I've just been creating a barricade with things we have around the house (chairs, boxes, etc.). He is so much fun right now and has us laughing all the time.
The weather has been just gorgeous here the past few days. It is cool in the morning, warms up really nicely during the day, and cools down again in the evening. The sun has been out every day and there has been a nice breeze - we absolutely love it! Heidi goes out in the grass and just conks out there for a while. She loves laying in the grass when it has been warmed by the sun.
Jackson is getting his first tooth right now. He was quite grumpy the past two days, but seems to be feeling better today. The tooth is just poking through his gums. I can feel its sharp edges when I rub my finger on his gums (when he'll actually let me). He went on an eating/nursing strike yesterday and would not eat anything or nurse hardly at all. I was worried, but today he is back to normal. I tried to get a picture of the tooth, but this is all I got:
He is crawling all over the place and is starting to move very fast! I think we're going to have to invest in a baby gate to keep him in one area. Right now I've just been creating a barricade with things we have around the house (chairs, boxes, etc.). He is so much fun right now and has us laughing all the time.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Hello!
I've decided to try something new and start this blog. I have several friends who have blogs and I love reading them, so I thought it might be fun to start one for our family. I also thought it would be a good way to share our adventures as we start our life here on the west coast and record Jackson's activities as he begins his second year of life.
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