School dayz

Jackson poses with his teachers and classmates (Miss Kim, Miss, Kaitlyn, Colin, Sophie) for his first school picture! That is some magic the photographer worked to get all 3 babies to look at the camera.

Thanksgiving (and an early Christmas)

Grandma and Grandpa Porter arrived on Monday for a 2 week visit. This included us all heading down to DC on Thursday morning to spend Thanksgiving with Jason, Milly, Jocelyn, Bella and Ruby. Since we were all together, we figured we might as celebrate an early Christmas as well. We had a great time and so did Jackson - he loved exploring the big house, climbing the stairs, playing with his new toys, eating turkey, mashed potatoes and cranberries and always having a set of hands to hold him.

Grandma and mommy made these turkey cupcakes on Wednesday. Let's just say that didn't quite look the same on Thursday when we got to DC.

Grandpa carving the bacon crusted 30 pound turkey

Grandma and Jackson climbing stairs

Jackson checking out his stack of presents

Uncle Jason and Jackson unwrapping his new push truck

Aunt Milly and Ruby looking FAB-U-LOUS after Ruby smeared herself with make-up

Jackson testing out his new Christmas jammies

Jackson up to no good

Jackson riding his new truck

Ruby painting Uncle Adam's toenails

The cousins!

Throwback Thursday

Throwback to when Jackson was 4.5 months old and trying rice cereal for the first time.

A Visit to the Stuarts in Cleveland

We headed to Cleveland this past weekend to visit Ian and Kate, Adam's friends from grad school, and their almost two year old - Adam! We had a nice time hanging out and watching the boys "play" (or ignore) with each other. I'm pretty sure Jackson would have loved to have just stayed there because they have so many great toys! We also got a nice glimpse into what life will be like in about a year, including walking, talking, watching Dora, going down slides head first, playing with "choo choos" and eating lots of bananas.

This little clip shows Jackson and Adam "dancing" together. Shake your head, clap your hands, raise your leg, bend your body - it's the way the cool kids dance these days!

The only downside to our trip was getting to our car at the remote airport parking lot and realizing we had lost our car and house keys. Thankfully our landlord was able to get into our house and run an extra set up to the airport, but not exactly the way we wanted to end our nice weekend! Jackson was a champ though and dealt with the ordeal much better than mommy did.

9 month update

Weight: 23.5 lbs (90th percentile)

Length: 29.25 inches (90th percentile)

Visitors: Grandma Honey and Jenna came to visit in the past month. Jenna came while daddy was in Italy. We hung out, played and went shopping in Philly.

Sleeping patterns: I generally have been sleeping really well at night. However, the past 3 nights I've been waking the entire house up around 12:30 for some attention. My pediatrician says that I have developed object permanence, so when I wake up, I cry for my mommy and daddy because I know they are somewhere near by.

My Likes: I love to walk behind my little truck all by myself. Sometimes I fall, but I'm actually pretty good at it and always look at mommy and daddy with a big smile on my face because I'm so proud of myself.

My Dislikes: I still HATE having my diaper changed. I really don't like my big boy car seat either.

Other milestones: I've been shaking my head a lot and clapping my hands. I went to my first baby swim class and have also started music class. I'm really good in all of my classes and would best be characterized as an "observer." Tonight I climbed up the stairs to reach a plastic bag.

Trips: We leave on Friday for a weekend in Cleveland to visit Ian and Kate Stuart and their son Adam who is 2 years old. He's going to show me the ropes on what it takes to be a toddler! I have it on good word that I may also be in Aruba for my first birthday. Woo hoo!

Looking forward to in the next month: Grandma and Grandpa Porter coming to visit for two weeks over Thanksgiving and celebrating Grandma's 60th birthday with her. We are also going to Aunt Milly and Uncle Jason's new house for Thanksgiving.

Anything for a plastic bag

Tonight Adam and I were talking and when I turned and looked, Jackson had crawled up one stair. He has only done this one other time and it was a long time ago. He had a goal in sight though - a plastic Target bag - that he just had to get his hands on. So, I stuck the bag higher to see if he would go up, and well, let's just say we need to get some baby gates.

This is how we roll at Target

Instructions for making shopping at Target easy with a 9 month old
1. Put a big Christmas plastic bin in your cart
2. Put said 9 month old in the bin
3. Fill bin with lots of different things they like to put in their mouths and ruin (e.g. Pink Post-It Notes)
4. Open up unpurchased snacks and feed them to 9 month old so they leave the Post It Notes alone
5. Put too small hunting hat on head
6. Laugh at how foolish he looks
7. Snap picture

Clap clap clap

We love to shake our head, but this is the first time I've seen him clap!