Christmas Celebration

We've had three days of Christmas here in our household. Thursday after I got home from work, we opened our family presents. Jackson has absolutely no clue, and it was hilarious! Friday we went to Wes' sister's house and had the Rankin Christmas over there. Three boys between the ages of 1 and 6 running around! Then Saturday, the Harveys came in and we celebrated Christmas with my parents. Whew - it's been a whirlwind the past few days.

The best part to Jackson was running around :) He doesn't understand anything about opening presents, and he was much more interested in running around with his presents or even old toys he's had for ages.



Opening a present with him took a good 10 minutes for each one because he would run off and play in the middle of each one, lol.


Again, the best part is definitely the paper!!!


***Notice number 3 on the Christmas list: Baby brother!!

Santa brought Jackson a slide. He ran around the room for 10 minutes before he even approached it, lol. His favorite thing to do is climb up the slide backwards.



At Tara and Mike's, Jackson decided he needed a break from opening this present, so he just laid down on it for a minute or so!

Reading a book with Pops

The three fishermen pose in their new hats! Now we'll be able to spot them from a mile away when we're at the beach :) But they won't get sunburnt necks!

Christmas was great this year. Thanks to everyone for the great times!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Hope everyone is having a very Merry Christmas. I know we've been away from the blog for a while, but things have been so busy! Wes and Jackson went away for the weekend, and I thought I would be able to get up a post or two, but I ended up working the whole time :( Literally all day and night Saturday, so needless to say, I spent Sunday recovering. I'm at work again today, but we'll have lots of new pics to post after I get home and we let Jackson open his presents! Then he will get to do it all over again tomorrow with the Rankin Christmas, and again on Saturday with the Harvey Christmas...he's not going to know what to do, lol! Hope everyone is having a great day :D

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Elves are Back

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Oh yeah...Gene Chizik??? What is Jacobs thinking??? Anyone?

Christmas Fun

What could be more fun than having presents to open under the tree? Sitting on them and playing, of course :) Jackson has loved to sit on his big present and swing his legs since we put it out. He's such a climber! If there's anything that he can climb up on and sit on, he will...at least he's not standing on it and jumping off - yet!



We have ornaments on the bottom half of the tree that he can take off and play with that won't break. Each day he pulls all of them off and at night we put them back on the tree. Sometimes he actually will put them on the tree himself, like he's doing below, but usually not, lol.

Scared of Santa

One day Jackson will probably kill me for this post, but I just have to share with everyone. Jackson was always very outgoing as a baby. Nine months came, and he never cared if Wes and I left him with a babysitter, 12 months came, and still not a peep. This was great because it made leaving him with someone or taking him to daycare so easy. Well, it all changed last month. Suddenly Jackson has developed parental attachment. The first time he cried when I left him at day care, it broke my heart :( Well, the other night we were out and we saw Santa at the toy store. We decided to go ahead and get their picture while we were there and there was no line. Well, the second that Wes let go of Jackson, he wailed!!! And didn't stop until we picked him back up. The he stood there and checked out Santa for a full minute. Then he ran off to play with a toy. At first I hated this picture because I wanted a "cute" one with Jackson and Santa, and I was kind of upset at the photographer and Santa and his wife because they all laughed and said I would love this picture. Well, by the next day I was over it and now I crack up when I see it. So without further ado - here's Jackson and Santa 2008:

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

We have spent most of the day finishing up the Christmas decorations. The boxes are finally put up - yea! They've been out since Monday and it's taken all week to get things out. Not that there's that much, because a lot I didn't put out because of Jackson, but it's been too busy this week to work more than an hour a night on it. In fact, the bottom half of the tree is practically bare. I only have ornaments down there that Jackson can pick off and plop back on the tree, so it looks kinda funny, but there was no way I was skipping the tree. Jackson is mesmerized by the lights and loves to stare at it. One of my favorite things to put up each year is our Auburn tree. Yep, you know you're a fan when, lol. The tree has all kinds of AU ornaments we've accumulated over the years, and the rest of the table top has Auburn Santas or other figurines. Here it is:


And I have to throw in a quick "Go Gators!!!" What a game that was :)

While Wes and I put out the decorations, Jackson found a new toy - an empty box. It's so funny to me how the simplest things amuse children :D He climbed in and out, although it was much harder for him to get out, of the box for at least 30 minutes, several times today, until we threw it outside. So maybe we can just wrap up a few empty boxes for him for his Christmas presents, haha.


Caught in the act!

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone's having a great Thanksgiving! We have changed things up a bit this year and are spending Thanksgiving at the beach :) My parents have come down to spend the weekend with us. The weather has been awesome and we spend about an hour walking on the beach today with Jackson.

I know it's been ages since I posted, but y'all know how things are!!! Here are a few pictures from the AU/GA game.

Everyone gets in the Thanksgiving spirit on the Plains!


This was truly the perfect day for football! Sunny and temps in the low 60s :)


My brother was able to spend the day in Auburn with us, and it's always great to see him



Right before we left and headed back to B'ham, there was this rainbow outside. Hopefully we can find the pot of gold at the end of it!

Last Friday we had a few people over and we fried a turkey, since we knew we would have to roast one down here at the beach, and I've been craving fried turkey for weeks!!! We've still been taking Jackson outside whenever we can to let him get fresh air and run off some of that energy, and this day was no exception. He loves to be pushed around in his little car (and it's good exercise for us to push him up and down the hills).

Jackson and I bundled up for just a bit and stood outside with Wes while he fried the turkey. Amazingly enough, Jackson kept his toboggan on his head!

This was us this morning...Jackson was starting to get tired - as evidenced by the thumb. He wasn't really into trying the turkey today. We'll see what he does tomorrow, as his taste buds seem to change daily.

As I said before, we spent about an hour on the beach today. This morning it was warm enough that Wes and I were in shorts and a tshirt, but in the afternoon, we all threw on a sweatshirt. Jackson has always loved the beach, and even though he couldn't get in the water, he still had a blast playing and running around in the sand.

Granddad and Grandma with Jackson

Wes and Jackson at the beach this afternoon

Playing in the sand. Hopefully the weather will stay this nice the rest of the weekend and the rain will hold off so that we can spend more time on the beach. I'm surprised at the amount of people who are down here. Mainly snowbirds, but there are families down here too. Enjoy the rest of your long weekends!!!

Welcome Back Dad!!!

Yesterday my dad got home from his trip to Alaska visiting family. He, mom and NM made a visit by the house to hang out and so dad could see Jackson since he hasn't seen him in a month. It was great to have them over, and Jackson loves getting to visit with everyone! He will walk from person to person getting all the attention there is and loving every second of it :D

Jackson getting some Granddad love

Dancing...a daily activity in our house these days!

With Uncle Noel

Other than that, we've been pretty crazy around here, surprise, surprise. I was out of town for 4 days last week for the AANA Fall Assembly in St. Petersburg. It was a great trip and great meeting, but I missed my guys! I'm finally looking pregnant - and having mixed feelings about that for sure. All of the sudden in the past week, I've had a major growth spurt, started to swell, and transitioned into the prego clothes.....what a week! Less than 19 weeks til D-day, so I'm over halfway there though (gotta keep looking at the positive, right).

This was our hotel in St. Pete

This was the beach. The weather was beautiful - in the 60s most of the day, which was perfect for me to take a stroll Thursday. Also, all the places we went and ate supper at were within walking distance.

The bay, which was a short 20 yards away - made me miss my fishing rod!!!

Jackson's running everywhere instead of walking these days and learning to say more words. He loves going to playschool each week and is the "greeter" and social butterfly there ;) He's learned to brush his teeth by himself (after we scrub them well first) and his hair (kinda). He's growing so fast and getting so tall!!!

Wes has almost made it through another quarter of school, just about 4 more weeks. We are ready to go to Auburn on Saturday and maybe we can pull off a miracle and win...we'll see.

Hope everyone has a good weekend. I'm on call and hoping I don't have to work too hard ;)

Did you vote today???

Although I very much dread what is inevitably coming, I hope everyone voted...



Here are some pictures of the little man from the past weekend. Wes was tied up with the Arkansas St/AL game (sorry Tyler's team lost!), so I packed up Jackson and we went to Mandeville to visit Uncle Noel and Aunt Joey. Joanna's sister and her daughter were also in town, and it was great to see them. It was the first time we had seen the baby, and Jackson did very good with her. He wasn't rough with her and didn't seem to care when I was holding her - but he may have been to busy running around to really care (big surprise there, I know)!



We got down there Friday night and went to a Halloween party held at some of Mr. Mike's friends' house, where they set up a "haunted" house for the kids to go through each year. I even took J through it before the other kids showed up - he wasn't really interested, but doesn't know yet that it was "scary."



Saturday morning was spent relaxing, then Noel Mark took pictures of Jackson, which hopefully I will get soon (ahem). He's so hard to snap these days because he'll never stay still more than a second or two, but I know he's got some good ones! It was hard to get him to smile because he was starting to get tired, but oh well. Then we came back to the house and watched the Auburn game - nothing to say there. Jackson's learned to do "touchdown," but he won't get to practice it too much while cheering for our team. Joanna's family came over for supper, and Jackson got sooooo overstimulated it was hard to get him to sleep. He cried for a little while :( And his mouth hurts him pretty bad right now b/c he's cutting all four molars (OUCH) plus another tooth. His gums look pretty white too, so I'm sure more are not far behind. Poor little guy!!!



Here's some pictures of our little pumpkin at the party.






He loves looking at the water when we are at the waterfront!




This is how long the hat part of the outfit stays on...not even long enough to set it on and step back to take the picture, lol.




Trying to convince him to stand still...

Biting his fingers in anticipation of the Auburn game

We've taught Jackson to do an Indian war cry and it's now one of his favorite things. He's also clapping really well, and dancing to music. It's adorable to watch!

I'm on call tomorrow and off for a conference after that, but I'll try to get some video of Jackson doing all these new things up soon :)

It's a BOY!!!

I know I promised these pictures last night, but it just didn't happen - sorry! We went out to eat to celebrate our news and by the time we got home and Jackson bathed, and down, well, y'all know how that goes. It was too late for me to get this done because I was tired and ready to go to bed too! But, for those who don't know yet - we're having a baby BOY!!! Jackson is going to have a brother :) Everything looked great with the baby and he's measuring right on schedule at 18 1/2 weeks. Here's a few pictures from the ultrasound. I know it's hard to see and the quality once they got scanned and cropped but it's what we got so far :)

Here's his face and his arm up by it



Here's his foot...

And his leg - which was kicking the black spot next to it - which is my bladder and was very funny to Wes, but not so much to me.

And his little face - now I can't wait to see his 4D pics, but that won't be for about 10 more weeks.

And here's the money shot - his goods are hanging down right under the word BOY. Again, sorry it's kinda hard to see, but it's there!!!

We are so excited to be having a boy and can't wait for him to be here and meet his big brother Jackson :)

The Past Week in Review

We've had a really busy past week. Last week we took Jackson to the doctor for his 12 month checkup. He is doing great! He's ahead of schedule for both motor and verbal. He now weighs 19 pounds and 6 ounces, which is in the 10th percentile (so he's skinny) and he's 30 1/2 inches tall, which is about 65th percentile (so he's a little tall). He's stayed on the same growth curve that he's been on, so we aren't worried about his weight...and if you've ever seen how much the child runs around, you know why he's like that ;) He also had to get 4 shots, and we hated it for him, but he only cried for about 15 seconds. We will take him back in another 3 months.

The rest of the week flew by for me because I was on call Wednesday, then spent Thursday getting ready for our ALANA Fall Meeting. It started with a dinner Thursday night for the new students, the full days for me Friday, Saturday, and most of Sunday. I was exhausted when it was over, but it was a good meeting.

Wes and Jackson spent some quality time together and some time outside when it wasn't too cold.


Today Jackson got a Halloween card from Uncle Noel and Aunt Joey. He liked feeling the felt on the outside of it...and really enjoyed playing with the envelope that it came in, lol.




Looking up at the camera


Wes and Jackson Saturday night before we went out to eat.




We've had to pull out the winter clothes! And it's gone from fall to winter in about 2 weeks here in Alabama - it's supposed to be in the 30s tomorrow morning!!!




Stopping for a brief moment to smile :)

Playing at the Park

This afternoon was so nice outside, so we decided to take Jackson to the park to play. Once we get him out of the car, it takes several minutes for him to make his way to the park area because he has to stop and pick up a rock. All the toys in the world could be out there and he would still play with the rocks first.




Walking on the trail


His favorite thing to do is go down the slide! He will go down it over and over. Sometimes he tries to climb back up it once he reaches the bottom. There are two slides at this park, so we go back and forth between the two.


He's still not sure what to think of the tires, and there's usually nasty leaves and stuff inside, so we don't let him play with them too much.


This is one of my favorite pictures because it shows what Jackson does best - run around! Half the time when we call him he comes running to us, and the other half he does this - runs the other way :)


On the see-saw


And after all the fun, what better way to wind down than to swing with Daddy!


It's so nice to have a park in our neighborhood to take Jackson to and we try to do it a couple of times a week. He's so much fun to watch when he's running around playing!!!