Random Cuteness

Jackson is a busy little boy these days and is constantly entertaining us and leading us to thank God for our amazing blessings. Here are a few pictures of his adventures.

Here he is taking a ride around the house on daddy's shoulder.

Here he is playing with his highchair which I had to take apart and clean the other day since the little mister is quite messy with his meals.

And here's the little man all fresh and clean after his bath. He absolutely loves his baths! He likes to chew on his foam letters and drink the water. So silly.

Jackson's baptism

Jackson was baptised on November 7 at Epiphany of the Lord Catholic Church in OKC. It was a very special day, and he was very well-behaved. When the priest presented him to the congregation to welcome and everyone started clapping, Jackson followed suit and applauded as well. Then he clapped for himself again as we were returning to our seats. It was really funny. A lady even came up afterwards and told us it was the best baptism she'd ever seen.

Jackson had his 9-month well baby checkup last Friday, and he did great. He is now 20lbs and 28 inches long! He’s getting so big. He changes so fast and his newest tricks include pulling up and crawling like a pro, saying dog (sometimes minus the ‘g’), making what we call his turkey gobbler noise with his finger and his lips, and eating all kinds of solid foods. Jackson loves to be outside and go on walks and loves to watch the dogs as well as crawl all over whoever is playing with him on the floor; he’s definitely a boy! His favorite toys include his basic little rattle and all manner of balls, but he also loves rubber spatulas and the coasters. His sleeping is getting better all the time. You might recall that he started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks, and that lasted until he was 4 months and then abruptly stopped, but this month he has been doing pretty well with some nice long stretches and even several full nights so I think we’re seeing some real progress. Mommy definitely appreciates that.

I’ve posted some pictures of him playing with the water during a bath in the sink. He’s fascinated by water, and also still likes to give things investigatory bites like a little shark. :)

First Hair Cut!

Jackson got his first hair cut today! He was getting quite shaggy with his hair almost in his eyes in front, hanging over his ears and starting to creep down the back of his neck. I waited as long as I could but finally broke down. He was very good for the lady, and I must say he is looking very handsome!

Here he is before...

And here's the sweet guy out to lunch with Mommy and Gran and his new cute do!

cute little guy

These pictures were just too cute, I had to do a quick post. Jackson is a man on the move these days! He is constantly exploring. It makes it very hard for mom and dad to be lazy! Jackson is so much fun and such a happy little guy. He loves the simplest things, like rubber spatulas and empty kleenex boxes. The other day he literally played with a ribbon attached to a balloon for over an hour, including hanging onto it while he ate dinner and taking it on our walk. He just never let go! We feel so blessed that we have him! It makes the fact that he is not sleeping well at all a little easier to handle. :)

August 2010 Update

Well since I missed Jackson's 6 month update, here goes. He is now 8 months old! I have no idea how much he weighs, but I'm sure he's closing in on 20lbs and is getting very long. He's just about to outgrown his infant car seat. We just can't believe how fast the time is flying by. We fall more in love with that kiddo every single day; we are truly truly blessed to have had him entrusted to us. Jackson has been a busy little boy the past few months. He has mastered sitting up; has pulled himself up a couple of times; says da-da-da, ba-ba-ba, and a host of other little noises all the time; he's clapping and starting to wave; and as of one week ago is an official crawler! He's also loving his solid food and is interested in anything that we're eating. He particularly loves his puffs and his cheerios. His favorite toys are anything that makes noise and the dogs' toys. Interestingly, the dogs seem to know that his toys are off limits, but Jackson finds their toys extremely intriguing. Jackson has really developed into an extremely happy little fellow. It's very easy to make him smile and laugh. He's so funny because sometimes he gets scared when Lexi barks or when one of us sneezes and it startles him, but I can growl really loud right in his face, and he just laughs his head off, thinks it's hilarious!

I posted the video of him crawling for one of the first times as well as a rare picture of him with his mommy (and Lexi) and a family picture taken the day before the 7-year anniversary of mommy and daddy. Eric and I were discussing the past seven years that we've been together and realized that we have really accomplished a lot. One or both of us has been in school almost the entire time (Eric will graduate with his master's in December), I've left two different jobs, we've bought a car and a house, and most recently became parents. There's been a lot of learning and growing, but most of all we both agree that we wouldn't trade each other for anything and fully intend to continue annoying each other for many years to come! :)

Lake Trip

We went to Fort Gibson Lake last weekend. It was Jackson Cole’s first lake trip and first time on Grandpa’s boat. He disliked the life jacket at first, but once the boat started up, he really enjoyed the wind blowing in his face and all the new sights. We had a good time, and it was nice to get away. Jackson got some good playtime with his cousin Eli, who is very sweet to Jackson and likes to retrieve toys that are out of Jackson’s reach. Jackson finds Eli very amusing.

Jackson's tummy skills

These three pictures were taken in March, May, and June respectively. You can see in the first one, it took so much effort just to hold his little head up. Then in the second picture, he's clearly got the whole tummy thing mastered, and by the third picture he's showing off, "look mom, no hands!" We just can't believe how fast he's growing up; it's definitely bittersweet. Stay tuned for an update from his 6-month well baby check-up!

Memorial Day

This is pretty delinquent, but better late than never! For Memorial Day we traveled to Robber's Cave Park to attend Eric's family reunion. Jackson did pretty well for the 3 hour car ride and of course showed off his sweet little personality the entire time we were there. We did have to make a quick stop on the way there and the way back to give little man a rest from the car seat, but other than that, it was a very nice trip.

Cousin Addison's 2nd Birthday

Last week cousin Addison Paige turned two! Jackson and Mommy traveled to Enid to help celebrate. We enjoyed cake and ice cream at Addison's house and even captured a pretty cute picture of the cousins. I can tell you that Addison was sweet enough to give Jackson a kiss, but mommy was too slow with the camera and missed it. Addison seems to think that Jackson is fairly interesting and tolerates him as long as he's not attempting to play with her toys. Jackson thinks that Addison is pretty funny. It was a great weekend, and it was very nice for mommy's family to get some good quality time with the little man who is just growing up before our very eyes!

Father's Day

Eric's first father's day was last Sunday, and we had a wonderful day. Eric was greeted in bed with a sweet baby boy and cards from mommy, Jackson, and the dogs. :) Later we enjoyed a nice father's day breakfast and then headed to Midwest City to spend the day with Mimi, Grandpa, Aunt LeAnn, Uncle Ryan, and cousin Eli. Jackson had his second swimming experience, and this one went much better than the first. His first dip was on Memorial Day, and it was just far too cold for a baby boy, but the water has warmed considerably over the last month, and Jackson floated around for awhile happily splashing and being incredibly adorable.

Correction!

Jackson had to go to the doctor this week for his chronic snotty nose and cough, and he actually weighs 16lbs, 3oz! I think he had his foot hanging off the scale or something at his 4-month check-up. And let me tell you, I can tell when I’m carrying him in that car seat; Momma needs to lift weights a little more regularly! By the way, he’s fine, just a little cold, and it actually seems to be getting a little bit better finally.

Getting so big!

Well, Jackson Cole has been very busy over the last month or so. His latest tricks include: rolling over both ways, eating cereal, holding onto his toys really well, grabbing his feet, and pooping through his diaper on a regular basis! (That last one isn’t so much of a trick, as a real headache; any advice on how to keep the poo inside the diaper would really save me a lot of hassle having to scrub clothes every night.) At his last doctor’s appointment, he was given a clean bill of health. He is now 15lbs and 25 inches long, once again in the 90th percentile for his length. He is talking and laughing all the time and is so much fun to be around. He’s been going to the daycare just down the street from my office for a little over a month now, and that’s going really well, other than the fact that he doesn’t take very long naps there. Since he’s so close, I walk down to visit him at lunch almost every day, and I absolutely love getting to see him.

This week Jackson got to meet more family that he hasn't met before, and all concluded that he is very sweet and very cute! Grandpa Hunter came to have lunch with us last week, and we paid a visit to Uncle Mike and Aunt Cheryl Hunter on Saturday. It was so good to see everyone! We wish we could see our family all the time, but we recognize that we're just blessed to have such a wonderful family to begin with.

Last Sunday was my first Mother’s Day, and we had a wonderful weekend. We spent Saturday with my family in Edmond and got the first ever picture of Jackson with his cousin Addison, neither was very interested in sitting still or looking at the camera. Then Sunday, we went to church with Daddy’s parents and gave mommy her present, a video set to music with pictures of Jackson’s first few weeks with us. Jackson and Daddy, really just Daddy, worked very hard on it, and Mommy absolutely loved it!

All is well with us these days. I’m really enjoying my job, and Eric just finished up with finals. He’ll be doing an internship with the Department of Health this summer in addition to his job. Then he just has one more class to take in the fall, and he’ll be done with school – woo hoo! We need lots of prayers that he finds a really good job where he can put all his hard work to good use.

Easter

We traveled to Enid for Easter with mommy's family last Saturday & Sunday, and Mr. J-Cole was extremely well-behaved. He slept most of the way there and back in the car. He's also figured out how to grab his toys and chew on them so he now has a way to entertain himself in his car seat. Last week he started sort of batting at his toys, and by the end of the week he was grabbing them and pulling them to his mouth. Now he's an old pro. It's just so crazy how fast he changes!

Three Months Old Already

Jackson Cole turned 3 months on March 23! We haven’t been back to the doctor so I don’t know how much he weighs, but he has certainly gotten heavier and longer as he no longer fits into his 3 month clothes, and we’ve moved onto 3-6 month. It seems like he changes every single day. His latest tricks include: much longer louder and more frequent cooing and giggling; trying to pull himself to a sitting position while holding onto our fingers; sleeping through the night (thank you!); looking for mommy and daddy when he hears our voices; and holding his chest up when doing tummy time. He hasn’t quite discovered his hands yet, but it seems imminent. He has also officially declared himself a thumb sucker, which is actually nice because he’s able to put himself back to sleep if he wakes up at night most of the time.

Eric and I have adjusted to parenthood fairly smoothly and fall in love with our little man more every day. We are just in awe of God’s amazing blessings in our lives. Going back to work has not been easy at all, but I’m starting to get used to it, and I just try to soak up as much time with him on the weekends as I possibly can. As most of you are aware, Eric and I have two fur-babies, Lexi & Beau. Lexi, the spoiled rotten cocker spaniel, has adjusted surprisingly well. She’s pretty disinterested in Jackson, with the exception of the occasional face sniff/lick. Beau, the sweet easygoing rescue, has assumed his position as almighty protector of Jackson. When we first brought him home, Beau would not leave his/my side, and he watched nervously anytime someone other than Eric or I held him. He has relaxed a little but still likes to follow us around the house, and he’s also very good about giving Jackson lots of kisses on his head and hands.

The pictures are of Jackson in his sweater vest all handsome and ready for church; of he and I when we went on our first official walk around the neighborhood; and of he and Daddy watching football. Enjoy!

Two Month Stats

Jackson Cole had his two-month check-up yesterday and received a clean bill of health. He now weighs 12lbs, 12oz and is 24 inches long! He is in the 90th percentile for height so hopefully he'll be a tall guy. It's so hard to believe that he's already two months old! I can't believe how fast the time has flown by. He gets more and more fun every day. He is smiling a lot and making lots of adorable little cooing noises. He's also trying to figure out if he's going to be a binky baby like his momma or a thumb-sucker. It seems whenever he loses his binky, he finds his thumb.

I start back to work full time on Monday, which I'm feeling okay about. I did two half days last week to kind of ease myself into it, and I'm glad I did. It wasn't as hard to be away from him as I had anticipated, but I was definitely sad to leave him and super excited to pick him up. I know it will be good for him to be away from me a little bit. That's about all the news for now. Enjoy the pictures!

2/6/2010 Update and Pictures

Well, as everyone already knows Jackson Cole was born on December 23, 2009 weighing in at 8lbs, 1oz, 21.25 inches long. At his one month check up he weighed a whopping 10lbs, 8oz, and 22.5 inches long! He's a growing boy who definitely is a good eater. He seems to be really healthy and happy, other than a pretty gassy tummy that upsets him frequently. We're figuring out how to deal with that though; mommy, daddy, and baby are all learning together. Speaking of Daddy, he is now working full time and attending school, but he still finds time to fit in some snuggles with his little man. Mommy will be going back to work around March 1, and I have mixed emotions about that. I just love spending time with my little man and watching him grow, but I kind of miss my work life and friends too. I know I'll get used to it, but I'm pretty anxious about it right now. However, I know that our little booger bear (that's what we call him) will be well taken care of by his Mimi, Eric's mom, and we definitely appreciate how blessed we are that she is able to watch him for us, as opposed to scary daycare!

We're really excited to be able to share news and pictures on this blog with our friends and family, and I will definitely try to keep it updated, but I make no promises. :) Thanks to Robin for designing it for us! I've posted a progression of photos so that you can see how he's changed over the last 6 weeks. The pictures are in reverse order as I am new to this whole blogging thing. I'll get it figured out! Stay tuned...

Welcome to our blog!

Hello family and friends! We are excited to have a place to share pictures and updates about Jackson and our little family! Please check back soon for new posts and pictures.