Random Happenings

Jackson has learned how to pull himself up to standing in his crib. Almost every time I go in to get him from a nap he's standing up with a big satisfied smile on his face. I love it!


Here's a short video from right after he woke up from his second nap today. So cute - I hope it plays!



Just playing in his room....


Guess what I had for dinner....**ding, ding,ding!!** ...first time eating pasta with tomato sauce!


Here are a couple pics from Gramps' 81st birthday (2 days late). We had Grammy, Gramps, and Dave over for dinner and chocolate cake. I made a cake using a recipe from my favorite Food Network chef- Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa). She uses really rich ingredients, so I thought it was pretty good. G & G took half of the cake home and we kept the other half. Actually, I should say I kept the other half. It was gone two days later!! I have no willpower when it comes to chocolate cake or brownies. In fact, Phil just asked me a few minutes ago, "Hey - is there any of that cake left?" I laughed and said, "What do you think???!!"

Be Still My Heart...

...it's pounding right now, and not because Phil gave me a kiss or something. I was sitting here "gonking away" (that's Phil lingo for "working on the computer") when I heard a crash from the bedroom/hallway area. Immediately following the crash came Jackson cries. I rushed down to his room with a thousand terrible scenarios running through my head: the crib fell apart; the bookcase fell over; he fell out of the crib, etc. Turns out a picture had fallen off the wall and the crash had woken him up. I'm thanking Jesus that nothing fell on him and that the crib wasn't filled with broken glass or anything. But, needless to say, I was really scared and my hands are still shaking a little! I picked J up and held him for a bit, but when I put him back in the crib he cried again, so I nursed him for a few minutes and that did the trick. He fell right back to sleep when I put him down. Of course, this would only happen tonight when Phil is still at work night flying. It is so crazy how things like this seem to only happen when hubby is gone. And the really weird thing is this: As I was nursing Jackson before bed tonight I was looking up at the navy blue fitted sheet and black shower curtain that we have tacked and taped up to cover his window (he is very particular about sleep and has to have it dark in the room for naps and night sleep - it looks very ghetto, but we do what we have to do - a custom blackout blind is on order), and I noticed that it was sagging a bit in the middle. I was thinking about what I would do if that were to fall down while he was sleeping (I'm a very worst-case scenario kind of girl) and kind of ran through in my mind what my best options would be to handle that if it happened. And then a few hours later this picture-falling thing happens for real!! Maybe I'm starting to become psychic or something. :)

"Jackson, come here, please!"

I usually let J roam around in the great room while I'm doing things in there, since we have it pretty well baby-proofed and I can keep my eye on him. Sometimes, though, he takes to wandering out of the great room and down the hallway. I watch him round the corner and then say, "Jackson, come here, please!" and this is what I see a few seconds later. It is the cutest thing (you can click on the picture to see it bigger).

He usually comes back...

...but sometimes I do have to chase after him and scoop him up.

Fun Times

Jackson has been taking really good naps in his crib lately, as you can see from this picture of him just waking up. He must be happy to have a real bed to sleep in again. I love the crazy hair (this was pre-haircut)...


Here are more swimming pictures. This one is after just getting into the water with Dad...note the shocked look on his face!


Learning to hold onto the wall...


Love those chunky baby feet!!


Here's Phil making J's feet splash the water...obviously a big hit with him!!


Jackson is happy as a clam right now if I let him roam around the house. He's getting really good at crawling and moves pretty quickly. I have to really keep an eye on him. Fortunately, he's so cute that I can barely keep my eyes off of him! :)


Here's J's new trick...crawling on hands and feet. It's pretty funny to watch.


Look out, Hank!


This is what happens when Mom looks away for two seconds. Yes, I know it looks very dangerous - I rescued him right after taking the picture!


Phil gave J a much-needed haircut on Saturday. At first I was a bit shocked b/c he took quite a lot off, but J looks so adorable - much more like a little boy. He's obviously inherited Mom's love of looking in the mirror...

Long Time No Blog...

I know I haven't posted in a few days and I've actually really missed my computer! We've been really busy with unpacking and moving in. Actually, even now I really should be doing some organizing, but I have to take a break and clear my head for a little bit. I think I only have two more boxes to open and then that's it! WHEW!! Although there are some boxes out in the garage that belong in the house, I think. We sure did accumulate a lot of stuff in Panama City!

Our move went pretty well - nothing was damaged too badly, except for a lamp that broke in half and one of my wine barrel planters that completely fell apart. The movers that we had were the worst group we've had yet, though. They were such complainers! Apparently our couch is the heaviest they've had in 20 years and there was so much huffing and puffing going on in here that I thought the house was going to blow over. We have a bookcase that Phil's dad made a while ago and you would have thought it was made of lead the way these two guys huffed and puffed and strained and complained about it. Phil and I moved the same bookcase across the house last night and it wasn't even that heavy!! I picked up the one end and said, "You have GOT to be kidding me!!" I wished those men could have been here to see how effortlessly we moved that bookcase. They were very also annoyed that the packers in PC had only packed two or three pictures per picture box. Apparently the correct way to do it would have been to stuff as many pictures as possible in one box to avoid having to carry too many boxes into the house. Doesn't matter if the pictures break - it's whatever's easiest for the movers, I guess!!! Our packers and movers in PC were really great this time, so I guess we were due to have some lousy ones on this end. Oh, well, it's over!!

Jackson is doing well and has been really good throughout this whole ordeal. I guess he's getting used to his bedroom b/c he has finally started sleeping in a little bit again. When we first moved into the house he was waking up around 5:45 every morning. The past two mornings he's slept in until around 7:00, which is MUCH better for me! The dogs have been pretty good, too. We're very anxious for our grass to grow so that we can start letting them out in the yard to go to the bathroom and lay around. They're going a big stir crazy in the house. We're trying to teach them to stay out of the kitchen in this house, but it's not working too well. Hank seems to be getting it a little bit, but Heidi doesn't even try to remember. She makes me CRAZY!! I'll yell at her to get out of the kitchen and she doesn't even try to hurry - she just saunters out the long way instead of turning around and going back out the way she came in. AAGGGHH! She is very sweet to J though, so I try to be nice to her. I tried to upload a video of J giving Heidi a massage, but I think the file is too big.

Phil and I had a really fun and eventful weekend. He had a naming for the student pilots on Friday night and I went out with some of the wives to see the Sex and the City movie and eat dinner. The movie was SO great!! I really loved it. My grandparents kindly came over to watch Jackson and put him to bed so that Phil and I could spend the evening out. On Saturday we unpacked all day and then I went to a friend's house for another wives get-together that night. Phil stayed home with Jackson and one of his friends came over for a bit. On Sunday we got to take a trip to "town" (the nearest kind-of-big city) to drop one of my friends off at the airport. I told Phil that I felt like Laura Ingalls getting to load up in the wagon with Pa to take their monthly trip to town. Woo-Hoo! My grandparents came over again to watch J so that we could make the most of the trip there. After dropping my friend off, we ate breakfast together (in peace!), then went all over town to various stores like Target, Costco, Pier 1, etc. It was a great day! We are so appreciative of my grandparents being so willing to take care of Jackson so that we can get out and do things on our own. Not that we don't love being with him- it's just nice to get out by ourselves every now and then. Thanks, Gramps and Grammy!

Have to get back to the house now....I'll take some pictures and post them a little later.