I love succulents. Mostly because they are pretty and I can keep them alive. I picked some up at a local greenhouse last week. It was fun. I carried Jackson in the Baby Bjorn and almost broke my back! This boy is heavy and I haven’t carried him around with it in months! He wanted to touch all the plants we passed by. I let him feel a couple leaves and he laughed. We only spent a ten minutes there, but it was fun going somewhere new with him.

I saw a photo of succulents with moss planted around it, so you can’t see dirt. I really wanted to try it. We have some outside, but I didn’t really want to deal with living moss, so I used fake stuff from Michaels. I think they turned out so pretty. The one in the glass jar is my favorite.

I finally picked up my camera today. It’s been a while. I don’t know why I haven’t been taking photos. Well, I do, but I’m over it now. It felt good to be creative today.

Jackson rarely just relaxes like this. I thought it deserved a photo and a post. I love my guys.

It’s 3am. Jackson woke up half an hour ago. He cried for me to come rescue him. I walked into his dark room and as soon as he saw me, went to stand up, but it took a couple tries. He finally got up and grabbed his monkey blanket with both hands and worked it over his head. He stood there looking at me with his blanket around his neck. Waiting for his Mommy to pick him up.

Jackson started waking up once or twice a night pretty regularly this past month. It doesn’t take much for him to go back to sleep, but he needs to be comforted a little before he can. I started picking him up and rocking him in his chair for a while before putting him back down. I knew I shouldn’t have done it every time, but he’s just so cuddly and warm. And I’m tired. We stopped nursing a month ago and I miss the bonding, so any cuddling he wants to give, I’ll take it! Anyway, I know it’s my fault and he expects to that now. It won’t be too hard to break it, but I just haven’t tried. Remember it’s 3am.

What makes me give in is that monkey blanket. A couple weeks ago it was pretty cool in his room when I went to pick him up, so I would take his blanket and wrap it around his back before picking him up. Now whenever I go in there he reaches for his blanket and wraps it around the back of his neck, walks toward me, and gives me this look. How could I resist picking him up after that!? He will even wrap it around his back sometimes when I put him down for a nap. I will watch him through the crack in the door and he will be standing there waiting for me. Blanket ready. It makes my heart melt.

Okay, I’m going back to sleep now…

Wow, I haven’t posted in a while. I was doing pretty good at keeping up! Oh, well. I’m back and want to start posting random (random? I only post about Jackson! ) things again. I have been taking photos everyday, but I don’t know if I have kept up my 365. I don’t think I have even imported photos in the last three weeks. I hope they are all there, I was enjoying it.

It’s been busy and totally not busy these last couple months. I just haven’t felt like getting on the computer much.

Anyway, this is totally a boring post. Hopefully I will have time to sort through things and post more soon!

Jackson is 11 months old today!

Jack got another tooth this month. Teething disrupted him sleeping through the night. He started waking up a couple times a night while he was in pain. After the tooth popped up, he continued waking up. The last couple weeks he wakes up and won’t fall asleep for hours. He stares around and barely blinks while Tim or I rock him to sleep. Once he is asleep we slowly walk to his crib, gently set him down, his eyes shoot open, he sits up…and cries. Poor thing. Poor me. Hehe. It has been a little frustrating, but it’s starting to get better. I am changing his naps around and offering more snacks, so hopefully he will be more tired and full to be able to sleep better.

A fun thing he started this month was screaming. Loud, long, painful to my ears screaming. So much fun. It is fun at home, but in a store. Oh man. Crazy fun. People stare. I get embarrassed. I try everything I can to distract him. I finally decided to not care what other people think and just try to help Jackson calm down. Luckily he hasn’t been screaming all day and night like he was a few weeks ago.

Jackson has been pointing for a while and now he points directly at things that he wants or things that he is interested in. He loves to point at the ceiling fan and talk about it. He will point at his books in his room to get us to walk over to them. He points at the frames all over the house. He points at the fun things in books. He points and talks.

He likes to touch his eyelashes and this month he discovered that everyone else has them, too. So, be careful when you are holding him. He is good at not poking his own eyeball, but he isn’t so careful with other eyeballs.

Jackson is getting really good at cruising along the couch or other ledges. He took a step towards me last week, but he isn’t interested in walking while you hold his hands. He is still bouncing on his bum to get places or in excitement.

I taught him to play peek-a-boo. He holds a blanket over his face then quickly brings it down and looks for you. He has this sweet smile and watches as we say “PEEK-A-BOO”. I know I have it recorded, but I can’t find it, so here are some pictures…

This kids loves books, cars, and his bud, Scout. I set up a few books in a shelf and every morning he pulls himself up and throws them down to the floor and spends a while looking at them. He is a total boy with his cars. He makes the car noise and runs them into everything. His little green stuffed dog is turning into his favorite toy. It talks, sings, plays music, and even says his name. Jackson presses the buttons and laughs at what he does. He pulled him all over this morning, it was sooooo cute.

Little things that Jackson does that I LOVE.

1. He always falls asleep on top of his blanket. He plays around in his crib and then falls on top of his blanket a bunch of times until he is comfortable. You can see little pieces of it sticking out under his tummy.

2. Kisses. I say “Mama kiss” and make a kissy noise and then he usually turns, opens his mouth, tilts his head, and gives me a little kiss. Or he sticks out his tongue and get a slobbery mess of a kiss. Either way it’s adorable.

3. When I pick him up after he wakes up from a nap or walk downstairs he holds on so tight.

4. He quickly crawls over and lays his head down on me with his arms tucked under his head or rests them down at his sides. I hug him all the time and now he hugs me back.

5. He started touching his eyelashes while he nursed around 6 months. He runs his little finger back and forth over his lashes. In the past few weeks he has started doing it when he is tired. It’s like a comfort thing. And just recently he discovered that Tim and I have eyelashes, too. He smiles as he tries to get close enough to get our lashes. I usually hold his arm while he does, I don’t really want him to poke my eye.

Just five? No, I love so many more things, but those are some of my favorites right now.

Jackson is 10 months! Almost 11 months!…..this is so late…He will be 11 months…………tomorrow.

I probably should have  just hit ‘publish’ a while ago.

This boy is so active. He crawls and hops all over the house and is getting into everything! He just started letting go of the couch or table and stands by himself for a few seconds. He started dancing recently. He shakes him little bum to the music – it’s adorable!

Jackson got three teeth this month! We had a hard week of teething and three teeth popped up. He loves eating with his new little chompers. His favorite foods right now are bananas, bread, and cheese. Jackson figured out his sippy cup fast and loves to drink water from it.

Jackson really enjoys taking walks and being outside. He especially loves playing at the park and watching the other kids play.

Banana and toast for Jackson. Toast and coffee for me.