Can't Touch This

Where does the time go?

Week 43...


Quickly gave way to 10 months!


We had a couple of sleepless nights this week due to emerging teeth, but so far nothing new has come in. It can't be far off - I mean, look at all that drool!

I think we are ALL hoping for it to happen soon and quickly and then leave us alone for a while! Whilst I don't like the lack of sleep, I am grateful for the time I get to spend holding and rocking Jackson to sleep. It is about the only time I get to hold him and rock him nowadays. He is WAY too busy for that during the day. There are so many things with which to play, so many things to explore, so many things to put in his mouth, so many things at which to point and so many milestones to accomplish. The most I get is a quick cuddle in between activities. And I'll take it - at least he remembers me!

This week we went to the park and played on the swings:


And we went down the slide (obviously I didn't get any pictures of that... how irresponsible would that be to let my baby go down the slide ALONE?!) But I did get a picture of Jackson's favorite park toy - the Purple Kangaroo:

He LOVED that thing. He could make it wiggle and bounce. He would stand up and sit down and wiggle and talk to it...



We also got a new shopping cart cover. He has been trying to teeth on the bars lately (ew) and grab things off the shelf for entertainment (oops). So this provides a nice distraction as it has toys attached while keeping him from eating germs.



This week Jackson started cruising around the coffee table... perhaps his most favorite place to play. And for what was he cruising? A Coke Zero. No, Jackson! Stay away from the aspartame!



And as Jackson has been getting into everything, we have been saying "no" a lot. He knows not to touch Daddy's guitar. So he just sits there and looks at it. What a good boy!


Luckily the weather has been a bit cooler. At least until today - it is nasty humid and hot. Blech! We hope it goes back to the coolness soon as we are moving house on Friday. I am so not excited...haven't started packing at all...better get on that soon, I guess. I am fully expecting Jackson to need an adjustment period to get used to the new digs. Hopefully it won't coincide with the teething... we could have one out of sorts baby!

Jackson did a fantastic job swimming this week. He continues to get more independent in the water.

He also spent some QT with Daddy. What happens when you leave Daddy and Jackson alone at snack time?

You get wheat puffs on your head!

And the two have a game they like to play...



New foods this week: Hmmm...I don't think I gave him anything new... but we finally got to the point where we are liking cheese! They say it takes 10 - 15 tries for a baby to accept a food. They aren't lying! His favorite dish remains as Cottage Pie with Kumera Mash. Most anything else I have to mix with applesauce to get him to happily chow down. Whatever works!

Well, the cute one is talking to Kleptosaurus Rex (his favorite toy) and making him ROAR (AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR)! I had better take time from my busy blogging and contemplations of packing to give him a quick cuddle lest he think I forget him :)

From our half naked house to yours...or something...

L.O.V.E.

Week 42 here in Oz was a STINKER! And by stinker I mean constant humidity and heat and horribleness. We must have all taken at least 2 showers a day. YUCK!


But week 42 also brought some good things! For example, a tooth! Jackson, as of today, has tooth number five. It is on the bottom left side if you are looking at him. He has been drooling a lot, but otherwise showed no typical teething signs. I was surprised when I caught sight of the little toothie-peg this morning!

We had the opportunity to meet up with David's family today for lunch. A good time was had by all. Everybody made it - Neville (David's dad), Marie (David's stepmom), Allison (David's sister), Peter (Allison's husband), Jordan (nephew) and his fiance May, Callum (other nephew), Jon and his girlfriend Chloe, Jess and her boyfriend Rory, and Peter's sister Jenny and her husband.






Jackson was the life of the party and entertained everyone with his bouncing. He especially liked to bounce on his Aunty Allison.



Jackson crawls everywhere now... and I mean everywhere. He knows his way around the house and loves to go exploring. His new favorite spots are:

Under the table:


And in the cupboard underneath the drawers in his closet. I usually keep the doors to his closet closed. I forgot one morning and then he went quiet. When he goes quiet you had better look for him quick because it means he is in to something he shouldn't be. This was just too cute though:



His new favorite activities include:

Playing in the trash (Nice):


Playing Peekaboo:


Reading (I know this isn't really new, but he likes to read his books - his current favorite is the Little Polar Bear book with the finger puppet - thanks Nana!):


And pressing buttons on the printer (he knows how to turn it off and on):



If we tell him no or take something away from him, he cries. We can't help but laugh... it is so darn cute!

I like to think he was crying in this picture because Nana didn't answer her phone when we tried to call. But I think it was probably because I wouldn't let him press the buttons on the printer. Hm. Mean mommy.

He talks lots. Not as much as Myles... Jackson is more of a studier. He isn't afraid of new things... but will study them until he thinks he's got it figured out and then be crazy. I think this is good... though I suspect he will be a late walker because of it. Crawling is just too efficient. I am definitely willing to be proven wrong though. Here is one of the conversations we had this week:


Swimming went well this week. He played with another little boy most of the time. He didn't want me to hold onto him while he was swimming with his floaties on. I think I was cramping his style.

We went to lunch with Bianca and Julian this week. We were going to go see a movie, but decided against it at the last minute and just did lunch instead. I don't think Jackson would sit through a movie anymore. There is just too much crawling to do!

New foods this week: beef (he had a cottage pie with kumera mash and LOVED it...in the cottage pie was beef, celery, whole peas, etc topped with sweet potato); and we tried the mango again this time mixed with rice and bananas and it was a hit. He loves loves LOVES custard. He wouldn't have anything to do with his dinner tonight, but he sure did eat half my custard and peaches dessert!

Speaking of my dessert, I have been counting calories since being back from Christmas as my mom and I have a deal to each lose 25lbs by Disney World. So far I've lost 14.5lbs. I kind of blew the diet today, but it's the first slack day I've had so I figured it wouldn't hurt. I'd still like to lose another 19lbs... then I'd be back at my pre-pregnancy weight. I cleaned out my closet and drawers this week... got rid of a lot of stuff. But kept my pre-pregnancy jeans. I hope I fit back into them some day. I can't believe how skinny I was! They won't fit around my knees now!

Two other bits of random news:
1. We have officially booked a ticket to the States for June 14! Yay! Let the countdown begin!
2. We are moving house at the end of February. The landlord's daughter is coming back and wants to move in here. Inconvenient, but we're moving to a cheaper place so at least we'll save some money. And the new place has an airconditioned family room and an orange tree in the back.

Thanks for reading about our full week here! We love you! Happy Valentines Day!

Personality

Oh, the many faces of week 41!

Silly:


Mad:


Cheeky:


Happy:


And we've discovered some new places to play!
The bookcase:


The laundry basket:


And we even got some new toys!
A bowl full of cookie cutters:


An old magazine (but apparently he was just too tired to sit up and tear it apart. He loves to eat paper - I can't tell you how many times this week I have had to stick my finger in his mouth and retrieve paper... wouldn't want a repeat of the price tag incident):


A new walker toy thing (he hasn't figured out how to walk yet... just stand):


Mommy got something new, too! Something new and shiny!

It's Jackson's birthstone (diamonds). And it's stackable. So if we have any more children, I can just keep on a-stackin'. On the inside it's engraved: Jackson 20-04-2009.

Jackson has been sleeping a lot better this week. He was consistently waking up at 3:30 to eat. Until I realized that I wasn't feeding him enough dinner. So we added a cube to his dinner, and voila. Sleeping through. He woke up twice last night - but both times he put himself back to sleep without me having to get up. And when he wakes up in the morning, he doesn't make a sound. He just sits up and plays with his toys until we go in to get him. What a good little guy!

Jackson LOVES to point at things. He points at things he wants, at things he likes, at people he knows, and any random object that catches his fancy. He points at me when he eats (solids and during nursing sessions). He points at the pictures on our fireplace mantle when he wants to look at them. He points at the baby in the mirror. His finger points.


Jackson has started imitating what we do. This includes rolling his tongue, making kissing noises, and roaring (inspired by Kleptosaurus Rex):


New foods this week: Cottage Cheese...EPIC FAIL...you should have seen his face...it was like I fed him worms! I tried twice. I got the same reaction both times. Now he doesn't trust me to put something nice in his mouth. So I'll try that again at a later date and go back to our trusted anything mixed with apples. Hey! There's an idea... maybe I'll mix it with apples. He'll eat anything if it's mixed with apples! We also tried Apricot Chicken with whole pieces of rice, sweet potato fries, and blueberries (smooshed up and mixed with bananas and custard). I also forgot to mention that a couple of weeks ago when we went to Bianca and Jon's for dinner, we had Lemon Meringue Pie for dessert. We thought it would be funny to give the babies a little taste of the lemon bit to see their faces. Julian made a horrible sour face. Jackson not only didn't make a face, but clamored for more! That's my boy!

We are still liking and excelling at swimming. Jackson closes his mouth really tight when he swims so he doesn't get any water in there. Clever boy.

This next week brings much of the same: swimming, playing, etc... and a little variety: big brother Jon moves in, a movie with Bianca and Julian, and a get together with Grandad, Marie, Auntie Allison and Uncle Peter.

Have a good weekend! Go Colts!