Jackson is walking!

This weekend Jackson made huge progress with his walking. He is now walking more than he is crawling, and of course we got it on video!

Josh also was able to put together his picnic table on Saturday, and Jackson was so excited! Now we are ready for summer outside!

Have a great week!

Movin' on up

Since when did my child turn into a mountain goat???

First he was standing on his bus...

Then he used his music table to get up on the radiator to look out the window...




And later he interrupted a diaper change to use his rocket as a balance beam.



Oh boy... :o)

Old McDonald

Jackson has been "talking" up a storm lately, and for days will repeat the same sounds. His latest sound went perfectly well with Old McDonald. We caught it on tape the other day during dinner (chili night...what a mess that was!)



...and the next night as well...



What a ham!

Busy Spring

The last two weekends have been a flurry of activity at our house. Much like the plants and flowers awakening from a long winter, we have found new energy and have been working hard to spruce up our house.

Last weekend, we switched rooms in the house, moving Josh's office to the downstairs bedroom and our guest room is now upstairs, where I still have my desk. This works so much better, allowing Josh to have all of his work papers and supplies in one area that we can completely close off from our inquisitive little boy. We also got a good portion of our yard in order, pulling weeds, removing branches and putting down new mulch. It looks so pretty now that the tulips are popping up.

Our dishwasher quit on us last week, which was a huge obstacle for me. I immediately mandated that we use paper plates and disposable utensils, but even with that the dishes overwhelmed me. I understand I probably sound a little spoiled, since I know many people who don't have dishwashers, but I have found they are a necessity with a toddler at home. Our new dishwasher arrived midweek, and Josh installed it all by himself!

At the same time as our dishwasher issue, we were offered a free washer & dryer. Those are the perks of knowing a great real estate agent! Our washer and dryer worked fine, but we couldn't afford to replace another appliance if they happened to break down, so we said yes right away to the upgrade. So, for a few days last week, we had a broken dishwasher, washer, dryer and about 8 bags of branches and lawn debris on our porch. Classy!

Jackson has been enjoying the spring as well. He likes to watch Josh work in the yard and check out out all of the progress. Pretty soon, he will be at Josh's heels offering to "help." We are convinced he will start walking any minute. He takes up to 3 steps at a time, which is so cute! I'll have to get it on video for everyone. And he has increased his climbing skills...earlier this morning I found him on top of the dining room table. I have no idea how to deal with this...we really need to bolt everything to the walls, because I think every piece of furniture is a challenge that he must conquer.

We also started a new music class on Fridays. He absolutely loves it! While most of the other children sit in their parents lap, Jackson likes to sit in the middle of the circle and then visit with everyone. During the last class, he went around the room giving all of the little girls hugs...what a flirt!

I'm excited about all of the new things happening here, and I think this spells out good things for the upcoming summer. Oh, and we found the shoe we lost on Easter at the zoo! Its been a good week!

Happy Easter!

It was a beautiful day in Colorado yesterday and we had a small celebration with just the three of us.

We took Jackson to the zoo in the morning, where we watched the polar bears do an Easter egg hunt.


Jackson loved watching the seals and the orangutans too!


Before we left, we took Jackson on his first carousel ride, which he enjoyed overall. There was a brief moment in the middle of the ride where I was worried it was going downhill, but thanks to his daddy, there was no major meltdown and he had fun!




The only downside to the zoo was the missing shoe. Jackson lost it somewhere between the seals and the primate house. That teaches me for buying him fancy expensive shoes. Hopefully they will turn up in lost and found!

Later that afternoon, Jackson got to check out his Easter basket. He started out slowly and eventually he found the stuffing, which turned out to be more fun than than the actual gifts.






I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Where have we been?

I can't believe its almost been a month since I last posted. Is anyone still reading? Well, hang in there with me. I promise my posts will be more frequent.

In the past few weeks it has been a bit crazy in our house, and I have had little time to get to a computer for blogging and uploading photos. As soon as Jackson turned 1, he had a huge developmental surge that resulted in many sleepless nights, nap issues and a mommy who wasn't prepared for it all. If you were to look on my nightstand, you would see a stack of books like "The Mighty Toddler" and "How to Tell Your Toddler No." This is a whole new world from babyhood.

One moment he will be absorbed in an activity, like when I gave him some homemade maracas...

And the next moment the diaper bag is completely emptied all over the floor.



Now, I'm sure this isn't news to all of the parents out there, but for me it was a shock and took some getting used to.

On the bright side, he is more alert, aware and involved than ever before. He is clapping, high-fiving and throwing his arms up in the air for "SO BIG" all the time. His words now include Dada, Mama and Baba (bottle) but he is not really consistent with any of them. Mostly a lot of talking that we can't understand.

Jackson is certainly on the move now, too. He does what I call the gorilla crawl, which instead of using his knees he moves on all fours - hands and feet. Its pretty funny to watch! Jackson is also standing on his own for longer periods of time and has taken a total of two steps in a row! The other day I found him sitting on top of the coffee table, so now I have to watch out for anything he can climb on.


During all of this, Sophie tore her ACL which required surgery and now we are going through her recovery period which will take up to 8 weeks. She can't go up and down stairs and must be on the leash even in the back yard. Its been challenging to protect her knee while all Jackson wants to do in climb on her, use her as balance, and give her cuddles in the only way he knows how (which is not very gentle).

We have found that once Sophie no longer needs to be in a crate, it will make the perfect "fort" for Jackson. He absolutely loves it!

So the past month for me has been an adjustment. I now realize that I shouldn't get too comfortable with one stage, because the next stage is right around the corner...