Meet the printer repairman

Jackson employs Mommy-style of fixing things. First, bang it with your left hand. Then with your right. Then finish it off with a two-hand slap.

First Baseball Card

Jackson received his first pack of baseball cards from Grandma Honey (by way of Great Uncle Brian's new store). How appropriate that the top card was Cole Hammels of the Phillies!

Throwback Thursday

Hanging at Honey's on April 29, 2010

The million dollar question

DOES JACKSON EVER WEAR CLOTHES?

Not really! Here we justify:

• It's been a hot, hot summer. And we only have air conditioners in our old row home that work very hard to make it cool, but well, it's not like having good old central air.
• He's a drool monster and just ends up soaking the front of his shirt anyway.
• Changing his diaper is a nightmare these days, because he's got places to go, people to see and cannot possibly sit still even if it means he won't have to haul around a 5 lb wet diaper anymore. So, to have to change a diaper and then put clothes back on him is pretty much out of the question.
• Mrs. T, our delightful neighbor, says that kids aren't meant to wear clothes. And what she says, goes. In fact, I'm not suppose to be calling him "Jack." His name is Jackson after all.
• Have you seen his moobies? He is pretty darn proud of them and so are we!

Jackson's buddies

I'm sure you're all wondering what Jackson's arch nemesis Kyle looks like. Well, here he is, sitting in the diaper box, looking pretty darn cute (and minus the snot nose). And there is Mackenzie, Jackson's little girlfriend that has a raspberry on her right cheek as well. Jackson #2 is sitting on Miss Amy's lap. They are quite the little gang! Can you imagine managing all 4 of these lovelies yourself?

Phirst Philadelphia Union game

We had a busy day on Saturday that included going to the new Philadelphia Union soccer stadium in glorious Chester, PA and then up to Philly to meet up with Nick for dinner. We totally lucked out with tickets - as we were walking up to the box office, a guy came up to us and gave us the 2 extras that he had. Seats weren't too shabby either!

Prunes + Exercauser = Clean up in aisle 5

Jackson had prunes for the first (and last) time today. I bought them in the vein of "let's try everything once" and found out that once is enough as far as prunes go. I didn't realize that they would be an almost immediate laxative. So, it made total sense to me to put him in his exercauser after lunch. Then, I heard the grunting. I looked at him and said "are you pooping?" and then I looked down and saw this......

Needless to say, he went straight into the shower and that poor Exercauser will never be the same.

6 month check-up

Today was Jackson's 6 month check-up. Some notable quotes:

"Are you sure he's not 9 months old?"

"I'm getting tired just watching him."

"My daughter weighed this much when she was 15 months old."

"Normally we tell you to start thinking about baby-proofing around this time, but you must start doing it immediately."

"No tv until the age of 2" (Which is hilarious to Adam and me because the kid is totally into watching tv already)

Jackson just ignored them and proceeded to do his favorite thing.......tear paper to shreds.

Grandma Porter comes to visit

Last week Grandma Porter got on a plane for the first time in a long time to come see Jackson (and apparently mommy too) while daddy was in CA. Vacation time it was not. Grandma painted, spackled, fixed, cleaned, and painted some more. Oh yeah, she also got to hang with Jackson, go to Longwood Gardens, see Auntie JoJo and go shopping. She also tended to sicky poo Jackson who had a cold. Guess who took the cold back to WI with her? We can't wait for Grandma (and Granpa) to visit again soon!

Ruh-Roh!

Last night Adam was commenting how Jackson doesn't really crawl out of one particular area. Well, that comment jinxed us. The next thing we knew, he found the stairs. Not only had he found the stairs, but he also found a way to pull himself up on his feet! We had lots of fun last night watching him do this. What wasn't so fun was finding him at 2 am, crying, standing up in his crib. We shall be lowering the mattress in his crib this weekend. Let the baby proofing begin!

Throwback Thursday

Just call me Jackson.....Pollock

Here are some of Jackson's masterpieces from daycare.

6 month update

Weight: 21 lbs 3 oz (95th percentile)

Length: 29.25 inches (off the charts)

Visitors: Auntie Andra came for a weekend while Daddy was in NYC. Grandma Porter left yesterday after being here for 5 nights while Daddy was in California. Daddy is going to Italy in October for work.....who wants to come visit?

Sleeping patterns: Still going to sleep between 9 and 9:30, but is now consistently waking up at 3 am, sitting up in his crib and crying until mommy caves and feeds him. Last night I decided there wasn't going to be a 3 am feeding. So, I let him cry it out until he feel asleep about half an hour later. After another 30 minutes he was awake and crying again, so to perserve my own sanity, he got to eat.

My Likes: Practicing my crawling skillzzzzz. Playing on the floor by myself with my toys, the remote control and any magazines I can get my hands on. I like the bathtub because I pretend it's my own mini hottub.

My Dislikes: When mommy takes things away from me, especially any sort of paper product.

Other milestones: Crawling! I've also been making these cat-like groaning sounds, which crack mommy and daddy up. We also used a baby toothbrush for the first time today!

Trips: We went down to Fairfax, VA to meet Aunt Sharon, Uncle Bob, Kimmie, Neil, Melissa, Jordan and Peter. The next night we went to Woodbridge to meet Aunt Milly and Jocelyn, Bella and Ruby.

Looking forward to in the next month: G-mommy Kate coming to visit next week when she is here on business. Uncle Aaron and Aunt Jamie coming to visit for Labor Day. Going to Chicago the weekend of Sept 11 to visit all of Chicago peeps!

As a side note, I can't believe that my "little" newborn is already 6 months old....half a year! It seems like yesterday that we emerged from the blizzard to bring him home. And here we sit in 95 degree heat - so much change in so little time. I can imagine that time is only going to go by even more quickly from here on out.

Crawling novice

Over the past week, Jackson has figured out how to get his knees underneath him and is starting to actually crawl (versus just put himself across the floor commando style). He doesn't go very far before he resorts to falling to his belly and pulling, but every day he crawls a bit further.

Surfing the computer and daddy's leg

This is apparently the new way to hold your child while you're trying to get something done on the computer.

Throwback Thursday

Outtakes from Cousins weekend

Here are some very serious shots from this weekend.....

More (normal) pics from the weekend here.

Cousins, cousins and more cousins

We took a little road trip to Virgina to meet up with some cousins this weekend.

On Friday night, we surprised Aunt Sharon and Uncle Bob (Adam's father's sister and her husband) at their home in Fairfax, VA. Adam's cousin, Neil and his wife Melissa and their boys Jordan and Peter were in town visiting from Napa. Cousin Kimmy was also in town to surprise her parents from Arizona! It was a great visit, as I had never met Aunt Sharon and Uncle Bob and it's been over a year since I've seen everyone else. Of course this was Jackson's first time meeting everyone as well. To top it off, we learned that Peter and Jackson share a birthday! Jack has some big shoes to follow in, as Mr. Peter is quite the kid.

Then on Saturday we headed to Woodbridge so Jackson could meet Aunt Milly and his cousins Jocelyn, Bella and Ruby. Uncle Jason was in CA for school, so we'll have to see him next time. We had a nice afternoon hanging out with them and then took Bella and Jocelyn back to the hotel with us to go swimming.