Overserved

Someone was overserved during the Christmas festivities...

Jackson's First Christmas

Jackson had a wonderful first Christmas, filled with lots of family and fun. We traveled to San Antonio for just a couple days and then headed back home on Christmas day. Jackson wasn't really sure what to do with any of the gifts when they were still wrapped, but he's had tons of fun playing with them now that they are open and put together! Here's a few pics from the Christmas celebrations:

A family photo in front of the tree:
Auntie Mal Mal, Jackson and Me:
Jackson playing on his Retro Rocket:
Jackson & Diana:
Jackson hearing stories from Granddad:
Jackson excited about his toys:

6 Month Photo Session

Here are some of my favorites from our 6 month photo session with Chunky Monkey Photography. As you can see, I had a very difficult time picking out my favorites, so maybe I should say...here's a selection of photos from Jackson's photo session!

100% Boy

I just received the photos from Jackson's 6-month photo session. Heather from Chunky Monkey Photography did such an amazing job capturing a ton of beautiful photos of Jackson. I haven't had a chance to really look through all of them yet to pick out my favs; don't worry, I will be posting those on here soon!

But in the meantime I had to post this one photo...during one of our breaks we were sitting on the sidewalk talking and Jackson tumbled face first into the landscaping and dirt. We both expected he would be screaming at any second, but instead he was laughing and loving it. Here's the photo she snapped as I picked him up:

7 Months Old

Jackson turned 7 months old yesterday. We celebrated with a trip to the vet for Maggie and Tiger to get their annual check-up and shots! ;-) Here's a picture of Jackson as he tried to "play" with Tiger:

And here is Maggie as she tried to plan her escape route (she hates the vet!)

But back to Jackson and his 7 month update...I weighed him yesterday and he now weighs 22 pounds. Still a big boy, but it appears that his crazy growth rate has slowed a little. As mentioned in an earlier post, he is rolling around like crazy. In fact, just now he rolled across the living room so that he could examine his Exersaucer and the zillion toys that are being stored over there. The other big update is that he got his first tooth last Tuesday. It is one of the bottom ones, and it appears that the other bottom one will break through pretty quickly. We have moved on to 2nd foods in the baby food department and he absolutely loves just about everything we have fed him so far. Right now he is eating a jar of veggies at lunch and a jar of fruit at dinner. We have tried one of the meats, but I don't think he is quite ready for it. Granted, it looked and smelled like cat food, so I'm pretty sure I would spit it out too! He's still a great night-time sleeper (not such a great napper, at least at school when there is so much action going on all the time). And, just like me and Scott, he is NOT a morning person. He would prefer to sleep in a little later than we have to get him up each weekday and thankfully sleeps in a little for us on the weekends. Let's hope he continues these wonderful sleeping habits!!

Here's one final picture form the vet's office, if you look very close you can see his little tooth coming in!

On the Move

Over Thanksgiving weekend Jackson finally mastered the rollover. He had rolled a number of times before in both directions, but those rolls typically happened by accident. Then one evening over Thanksgiving weekend he finally figured out how to get everything going in the right direction at once. Since then he has been rolling non-stop. He uses it to get to a toy or something else in the room he wants to inspect (like the diaper pail...random!) Tonight he was rolling around like crazy so I went to grab the camera to try to capture it, well by the time I returned and had it ready he was less interested in showing off his skills. But I did capture a couple rolls.

At about the same time as he started rolling, he decided that it would be fun to start scooting backwards. So if he's not rolling, he's typically on his belly moving backwards! And the latest movement...in the last few days he has really expressed the desire to crawl. His legs aren't strong enough yet, which can cause him some frustration, but he keeps trying.

Our Little Bear

I snapped this photo last week after our tour of ICE! I couldn't resist taking a picture of him wearing his bear jacket:

And the term "bear" is pretty accurate right now! He has been a handful the last few days. I think it is a combo of trying to get him back on his normal schedule, possibly a little under the weather, and potentially teething (but these "teething" symptoms have been around for quite some time...) Either way, we are ready to have our easy-going little monkey back!

ICE!

After Jackson's photo session this afternoon we decided to take a walk through ICE! If you are in the area, you should check this out. It's a little pricey, but it is pretty cool to see. When you arrive they give you a parka to keep you warm, this is key as the temps inside are 7 degrees. The smallest parka they had was really big for Jackson, but I didn't want to risk him getting cold (in fact, with the parka and his jacket underneath, he was super toasty). He was NOT a fan of the parka, as you can see as I was trying to get it on him

You have to keep your camera secured inside your parka, otherwise your battery will freeze. Well, this makes things difficult if you want to snap a picture and you are carrying a baby. I tried to get a couple pics of Jackson next to the ice, but he was completely unwilling to sit with the parka on (I probably wouldn't want to either!), so I only snapped a couple. And this doesn't do the place justice. Everything was made of ice, everything. Pretty neat!

Seriously??

Snow. In Texas. In early December. I know, it is nothing compared to the amount of snow we would have seen already if we were still up north, but I am still surprised.
Jackson has his 6 months photos scheduled for today. The plan was to do some fabulous outdoor photos, obviously the snow (and chilly temps) makes that impossible. So we are headed indoors, hopefully they still turn out fabulous.

And for those friends who don't live here and don't know much about the wonderful Texas weather...this snow will be melted in an hour. :-)

All Smiles at School

Here is a pic from Jackson at school today:

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have been blessed with a house full of family this Thanksgiving. Jackson has loved all of the attention from the grandparents!! We snapped a few photos in front of the Christmas tree yesterday while Jackson was playing on the floor:



Then my stepdad took a few great photos of Jackson today:




I took this last one, Jackson was very wiped out and had definitely had enough of the paparazzi:

Park Photos

I took some photos of Jackson this afternoon at the park. It was a beautiful day but he didn't have much patience for my camera so I only got a few. Here are some favs:

Happy Half Birthday Jackson!

Jackson is 6 months old today. I cannot believe how quickly the past 6 month have flown by! Yesterday we were at the hospital visiting baby Ella and I hardly remember Jackson as a newborn, he never seemed that tiny. Crazy!!!

Jackson's doctor appointment went well this morning. Thankfully, Jackson has slowed down a little bit on the growth charts...he weighs 19 pounds 10 ounces (90%). He remained consistent in the height department at 27 inches (75-90%). Overall Dr G gave him an A+ (I always wonder how the conversation goes if you don't get an A+ on the "report card"...). Dr G instructed us to start working with him on crawling. Really? I'm not in a hurry for him to start crawling, I'm perfectly content with him just being able to sit at this point. At the end of the appointment, Jackson received 4 vaccinations. He cried louder and longer this time, not fun. Fortunately, he fell asleep in the car on the way to school, but then was very unhappy when I had to wake him up to take him inside. We are hoping that he doesn't have the same bad reaction to the shots as he did 2 months ago, that was the worst I have ever seen him.

Here are a couple pics from the appointment. He was thoroughly entertained with the paper!

Shaving Cream!

Jackson's school just sent me this photo from earlier today. They are exploring the texture of shaving cream and Jackson is having a ball! Who knew shaving cream could be so fun!?!

Welcome Ella Caroline Thompson!

We are so excited to welcome Baby Ella! She arrived on Tuesday, November 10th at 9:47 AM weighing 7 pounds 8 ounces and 20 inches long. Congrats to Catherine, Brad and big sister Amelia! Jackson can't wait to meet his new girlfriend!

A Few Random Pics

Here are some quick pics that we took over the weekend. Nothing special, just some fun ones to share...

Diana gave Jackson a soft stuffed soccer ball awhile back, it has recently become one of his favorite toys. He loves to pick it up and try to find a way to shove it in his mouth or bury his face in it in his attempt to see what it tastes like. Can't say that I really understand the baby stage where they are fascinated with chewing on everything.

In this one, we are throwing the ball up in the air. He is highly entertaining watching it move.

Jackson had a few unexplained crying fits on Sunday, we caught this picture in the midst of one. The dramatic look on his face made me smile.

And finally a family pic from Halloween that I recently received:

Peas Please

We started Jackson on baby food late last week! His first experience was with peas and I was incredibly impressed. After he got over the first strange taste, he actually seemed to like it! These pictures are his first and second bites:


After three very successful nights of peas, we moved on to carrots last night. He LOVED them!

Big Boy Car Seat

Jackson has graduated to the big boy car seat! He was about to outgrow the infant car seat, almost exceeding both the weight and height limits. But more importantly, I could no longer lift the infant seat with him in it...way too heavy! So we bought two new seats (same seat, just different fabrics) and installed them yesterday. Here is Jackson on his way to school this morning: