Our Sock Monkey

I decided to take Jackson with me into the guest bedroom while I folded laundry and cleaned up. Jackson had other plans... Apparently our boy loves socks. If you look carefully, he has a sock in his hand in every picture. He doesn't even drop it while he's playing...

Our Super Bowl Sunday

Superbowl Sunday is a great day to go somewhere that is normally very crowded. Saturday's weather was amazing, so we planned on going to the zoo. It was seconds away from raining all day, so we opted for the Children's Museum. Each time we go Jackson is more and more mobile, which creates an all new experience. The place wasn't very busy, which was nice. I think we should return every Super Bowl Sunday.







Oh yeah - and we had wings. Yummmm.

Happy 9.5 Month Birthday

Jackson - Tomorrow is your 9.5 mo birthday. We're sad to say that we didn't get to post on your 9 mo birthday, but we did talk about it and have talked about it many times over the past two weeks. The past month and a half have brought about crazy amounts of change.

You now have six teeth that have broken through, four on the top and two on the bottom. We think you have at least one on the bottom that is about to break through.

You got your first bite. And your second bite. We think it was Aly, but we have no hard evidence. Mommy got the call while she was on duty after school. They didn't know when it happened because they said you never cried or acted upset. You have your first big bruise and bump, too. It also happened at daycare. It's starting to heal, so the bruise is starting to look worse.

You now crawl exclusively on your knees (no more army crawl) and you are constantly pulling yourself up on furniture so you can walk around. If we hold your hands you can walk and run across the room. The more excited you are about whatever you are walking towards, the faster you walk. You love to crawl places you aren't supposed to go. You turn and look at us with a smile and take off. You think this is a game. When we call your name, you turn and look, then take off again laughing.

One of Mommy's favorite things ever is that you can give hugs. You will put your hand on the back of our shoulder and pat it. It is the cutest thing ever.

You continue to say Mama and Ba (bottle?) and Pup (in a whisper). We don't know if you really know what you are saying, but it seems so. You can hold a whole conversation with yourself, too.

You have started eating table food. You like pretty much anything. This morning you had a little bit of potato, french toast, yogurt, and pancake. You continue to love your solids more than your formula. Oh yeah, Mommy stopped nursing you about two weeks ago. She was running low on milk, but she still loves to hold you while you have your bottles.

Sometimes we can't do anything to entertain you and other times it's so easy. For a while you thought sneezes were the funniest thing ever. You would laugh and laugh and laugh. You think it's funny when we put something of yours in our mouth. This week it's your blocks. You are still crazy about your leap frog music table Santa brought you for Christmas and the music mirror that Aunt Penny, Uncle Stephen, William and Neil gave you for Christmas.

You went on your first flight. Your were awesome the whole time. You made about five noises on the way home, but that was it. Everyone doted on you during the trip. You made friends with the card player two rows back. We're not sure if it was his red shirt, cards or smile. You also left Texas for the first time.

You splash in the bathtub and will not stay on your back on the changing table. Sometimes we can distract you by giving you a diaper to wave around while we change you. Lucky for you, we give you a clean one.

You are still the highlight of our days and the center of our lives. You make our family complete. We look forward to our new adventures together as you begin to explore more of the world. We love you.

Trip to Colorado

It was cold in Houston last weekend. In fact, I believe it was freezing one night. In order to escape the cold weather, we flew to Colorado, where it was actually warmer than Houston.

It was Jackson's first trip outside of Texas. We had planned to drive up last summer. Noelle has never been to Colorado in the summer and Rob loves it. But, around the time we were supposed to go, Jackson was just settling into a good routine. We decided to put it off. We found an good deal on Southwest (who still doesn't charge for bags! 2 free!).

Here is Jackson getting super-excited about our trip. His first flight.

Jackson loved the dogs - Punky and Shasta

On our first day there, we drove to Boulder to meet up with our friend Dave. He took us on a pretty walk on our way to lunch.
We went to lunch at The Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse. It was supercool looking. Unfortunately, we spent too much time in the men's room, though. Jackson had his biggest blow-out ever. We're talking head to toes. On our way to the bathroom, people at tables actually made comments. Once we got there, we hid in the big stall since Noelle was invading private man space. It literally took us about 20 mins to get Jackson clean and changed. Once we finished that, we had to stay in there another 10 minutes waiting for a chance for Noelle to escape without surprising a man at the urinal. Cool ceiling, though!

This is the view that Brad and Elizabeth have leaving their neighborhood everyday. This picture does not do it justice. It's so breathtaking in real life.

While we were there, Brad and Elizabeth took us to an outdoor mall. We ate at Noodles & Company. It's a chain that's not in Texas. All dishes involve noodles. Rob and I both enjoyed the Stroganoff.
After lunch the boys and girls split up and reunited at the Creperie. While the boys had Jackson out and about, they found these shades at the Baby Gap. I love the fact that the clerk told them that after buying them, they would never be allowed to take Jackson shopping again.

Happy boy.
Watch out Brad. Jackson spent a lot of time flirting with Elizabeth.Elizabeth is in the internship year of her residency. Therefore, she worked a lot.Brad and Jackson having fun.
Brad is having breakfast with his cat.
Here is Brad making one of the best steak dinners we've ever had. He cooked it in a different way than we'd had before and it was amazing.On our last day, before the airport we stopped at a state park near the Calvin household.

There was a frozen lake.Rob tried to figure out if it was frozen enough to walk on.

Sun on the lake.

So pretty. Again, pictures just don't do it justice.

Here is a man drilling a hole to go fishing.

Rob was an ice skater in a previous life.

And so was Noelle.

Oh yeah, and if anyone is looking for a birthday present for Rob, here's an idea. We got to play this in CO. You can have up to 4 people play at the same time. It was fun.

Reynolds Visit

Yes - this post is 2 weeks overdue. But, we are going to try to catch up on them this weekend!

The Reynolds came into town for a 4 day weekend the night of the Community Open House. I can't believe they were here for 4 days because it sure didn't feel like they were here more than a day! As always the kids were supercute and sweet. - not that Shannon and Joe weren't. ;) We also got the see both Mr. and Mrs. George over the course of the weekend, which was nice. We have so many pics from the weekend, but most of them are not of Jackson. I see his cuteness all the time, but I have limited time to catch the other cuties on film. Well...on memory card... During their visit Kristen, Kingsley, Bethany and Violet came over for a playdate.

Rob and Travis

Will - here comes a smile!

Travis - look at those eyes!!

Violet on the swing

Emily on the swing

Kings and Em doing the superman

The state of the world....so depressing

This pic is bizarre. It looks like V is in front of a blue pool that is glass on one side.

Kingsley's cute profile

The Reynolds are still kids at heart

Em gets air!

Maddie's future is so bright she has to wear shades!

Maddie on the slide

Violet on the monkey bars

Rob and Bethany and their monkeys

Kings on the swing

Emily loves her doll. She took her out when we went to the trampoline. My mom made a blanket for the girls' dolls. When I asked Em about her favorite part of the weekend, she told me it was getting the blanket for her doll.

I love this girl.

Cutie.

Em even took her doll for a jump.

More blue eyes.