A Day At The Reservoir

Wordless Monday - I'll let Jackson's adorable pics do the talking!

BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!

Celebrating a birthday as a mother for the first time would be bountiful plenty, but having the opportunity to dedicate our lives to raising Jackson in a Christian home, AND spending it with our closest family, now that is just out of this world! It is all more than I could ever ask for! How great is this family picture? It is going in a frame for sure.

My side of the family - Uncle Buster, Munchkin, Big-R, Matt, J-Man, me, Paw, and Gran!!! I LOVE THEM!!
Are Gran and Paw not the cutest great grand parents EVER?? Can you tell where I get my height from? Not this side of the family, but I did get my Gran's skin!! And I can only pray that I look as good as she does when I am 82 and be as fabulous. Yup, you read that right, she is 82. Looks GREAT doesn't she? And Paw is 80, I married a younger man just like she did!
Matt's side of the family or I as refer to them - the gene stomppers. Since their genes stopped my families genes and we now have a Matt clone!! And I couldn't be any happier with that. Aunt Anna, Matt, J-Man, me, She-She, and Gran Dan. Another great picture!
Then just our little family. My cup runneth over.
Jackson would look at the program and get so excited when he saw his picture in it. I am really worried this kid thinks too much of himself. And it is all our fault since we tell him every day he is the most handsome kid ever!
So sweet!
Look at that face!

Uncle Buster and Big -R playing with the J-Man!

There was a lady from the church taking pictures close-up of our dedication and I hope to get them soon b/c Jackson was being a mess. While we were huddled together praying, Anna said he was peeking between us smiling at everyone. What a mess!

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Psalm 23:5

Fratty Friday

Like I mentioned last week Jackson is skipping class and heading out to Sardis on this beautiful Fratty Friday! Fishing shirt and plaid short, I have two words for you Frat Star!!!My friend Amy gave me this outfit before Jackson was born and I have been dying to put it on him! How cute is he?? And check out those shoes!! Our friend Andy and Elna gave him those. They complete the outfit!
So chewing on a rubber duck is not all that fratty unless you are a pledge I guess, but the photo was too cute not to post.

More Swimming Lessons

I signed Jackson up to continue swimming lessons through the summer so expect many more swimming videos!! Matt got in the pool with him for the first time and they were so cute togther! Enjoy.

Matt and Jackson @ Swimming Lessons

Matt and Jackson @ Swimming Lessons Part II

Who's that Baby in the Mirror?

Keeping It Real Wednesday

This is as real as it gets people. In 8 short months we have gone from this........

To this.....

And from this......

To this........ (I think Matt looks older!! HA HA! And I still look like a spring chicken! Even bigger laugh!!)

Isn't God amazing!!! WOW! Is all I can say! Happy Hump Day!

Video Tuesday

We have an opinionated man on the move. Not only is he moving now, but he shakes his head yes and no. One of the videos needs to be rotated, but you tube doesn't have that feature. Sorry. You'll get the picture though.

Do you want more food?

Crawling Off the Changing Table

J-MAN!

HELLOOOOOOO everyone!!!! How cute is this kid? We were geared up and ready for a warm and sunny Saturday!This may be my new favorite picture!! Look at that happy face and two tiny teeth!

Family Dedication

Jackson is being dedicated at church on Thursday, February 24 at 6:30 at Pinelake. If you can be there please come! I wish it was on a weekend, but Pinelake only does 2 dedications a year and they are on Thursdays. They have started doing "Family" dedication rather than "Baby" dedication to help hold the parents accountable. Matt and I attended a class for 3 weeks and it will end with the dedication. We really enjoyed it and learned a lot that we never thought about. Like letting your child hear you pray for them. All parents pray for their children, but few let the child hear their prayers. Any way, I am super excited and just pray that Matt and I can be great examples for Jackson. No pressure or anything, we're only the biggest influence in his life.

And I couldn't post without pictures or I get complaints. So here are a few good ones of our little mover and shaker! Look at that SWEET FACE!!
I put him down on his pallet to the right of the picture and when I came around the counter I saw he had moved. He crawled over by the chair and then sat up. What was really funny is when he scooted on his bottom to the coffee table and laid on the dog bed. I didn't get a picture of that b/c I was too busy running over to get him off of it. When he laid down on it Knox looked at me like "Wait a minute! I can't get on his pallet, but he can get on mine? I don't think so!"

Fratty Friday

We ran out of time this morning, but we got a few good pictures! He was more interested in the dogs than he was me!See...... He is wanting to pet Knox, but Knox is too busy hunting squirrels!
After we had our photo shoot I realized I should have put him in his swim trunks and said he was skipping class and going to Sardis since it is going to be such a beautiful day. Oh well maybe in another post. But today he is going to be a good boy and head to class in his Fratty outfit THEN go to Sardis. He'll be like his Daddy today and his Mama another day.

Happy Friday! We can't wait to see you tonight Aunt Corey!

8 Months Old

Jackson was 8 months old yesterday and I cannot believe it! He is such a blessing and keeps us laughing!So what is he up to at 8 months old?

Charming the ladies - everywhere we go he is smiling at people, mainly women! Lord help us.

Getting into everything - he can crawl, but has not ventured too far yet. He scoots, army crawls, and crawls with one leg. He uses all his crawling variations to get where he wants to be.
He can pick-up small puffs and put them in his mouth.

There are not really any foods he won't eat other than green apples. He does not like the sour taste, he'll pucker his face up and refuse to eat any more.

He is still on his 5:30, 9:30, 1:30, 5:30, and 7:30 schedule of 7oz of milk and a fruit or veggie at 9:30, 1:30, and 5:30 feedings, but with more snacks in between like juice, Mum-Mums and Puffs. We are about to introduce proteins like cheese and meat! Oh MAN!

He loves to play on the floor as you can tell. And when we walk by the nursery at church he is always on the floor playing and having the best time while the other babies are crying. He's just perfect! Not really, but don't tell his grandmothers that.

He still loves swimming lessons and we have started to dunk his face under water. He doesn't cry when we do it, but it's not his favorite thing either.

He doesn't sleep through the night much, but all we have to do is get him out of his bed and put him in ours and he's good to go. We get sleep this way, but have created a bad habit!! Matt and I both are bad about it, but he's such a cuddle bug.
He can go from laying down to sitting up and vis versa on his own.

He dances when you sing to him - He'll move his head with the beat and move his arms and legs.

He can say da-da, but no ma-ma yet. We're working on it.

He will mimic you coughing with a fake cough of his own. It's hysterical!

He loves his Baby Einstein sign language DVD in the morning. I am not sure how we are going to let him watch it when only one of us is at home with him though. We leave him just sitting on the bed when one of us can watch him while the other person is in the shower and when only one of us are there we put him in his bouncer chair on the bed. But yesterday morning I got out of the shower to find him laying on his back with the chair on top of him. He didn't seem to mind though, he was just laying there watching TV. It scared me so much I didn't even get a picture of it.
I couldn't tell you the last time we put him in the tub. He takes showers with us! It is so much faster and I feel like he gets so much cleaner. He holds on to you for dear life, but doesn't seem to mind it.

He still only cries when he is hungry or sleepy. Except for the other night when he did this screaming thing because he could not see with his hood on.

He still loves his Jeep walker, and heads straight for the oven in it. Go figure?

Well that's about it other than being the cutest baby ever! We love you J-Man and thank God for you EVERY day!

Keeping It Real Wednesday

Sunday was so beautiful we took a stroll through the neighborhood! Matt and I had our shades on so we figured J-Man would want his too. What a looker!! Matt too this picture. He is quite the photographer. And this one shows off his two little teeth! I don't know what I'll do if we ever have a girl since it won't be cute to dress her in crazy patterns and get ups. That is what I love about dressing J-Man, whatever goes.

And then the family pic. I love when we have an opportunity to take a picutre of all three of us. I LOVE my little family. I am blessed beyond belief. Happy Wednesday!

This and That

Matt took a video on his phone last night for Video Tuesday, but it didn't download? I'll check on that tonight, but I knew I could not go 2 solid days without pictures of Jackson or we'd have mutiny on our hands. So being resourceful like all moms I remembered these pictures I had on my phone from last Sunday. Please forgive the blurriness, but there were taken on a phone and not my mammoth camera. This is Jackson sitting at the bar while Matt and I were juning around. He looks so big mainly because he is, but I thought he was being too cute not to capture the moment.
I got a little artsy on this picture. What can I say.
He was drinking a little juice and eating a few puff and telling me all about his day in the church nursery. He hit on a few ladies and played on the floor a bit. It is so hard being Jackson Miller!

Too Big for His Britches

I am going to warn those of you that are occasional readers of this blog that what I am about to talk about is really for my benefit of keeping up with Jackson's life and may not be suitable for the squeamish. Wednesday, February 2 at 7:30 p.m. was the last time Jackson nursed. I have been in a state of mourning ever since. We woke up Thursday morning and he refused to let me feed him. I thought maybe he wasn't hungry and then I realized we were talking about my child who is forever hungry. So I heated him up a bottle and he drank it up. By Friday night I was in tears and feeling rejected. This has been going on now for a week and a half. I still try at least once a day to no avail, but he turns his head and pushes away. My comedian of a husband says that maybe the other babies at day care started making fun of him and calling him a "titty baby." Funny. But this is just another step towards becoming a big boy, but at 7 and a half months I was just not ready. I planned on nursing him until he was a year old. I still have plenty of milk in the freezer to last until the is a year old since I was a dairy cow in a previous life, but the bond of feeding him is now just a memory. I am better with it now since I know he will still be getting the best from my frozen milk, but it still stinks. I guess he will be like Matt and me and always be grown up even as a toddler, but both of our mothers were able to nurse us until we were 12 months old. Sigh. I am done throwing my pity party now back to work!

Baby It's Cold Outside

On Thursday night we took Anna out for her birthday (2 days late) and we wanted to make sure the little man stayed warm.......When we got in the car he started crying a cry we had never heard before. It sounded like he was hurt. Anna was in the back with him so I handed her a bottle, that didn't work. Next we tried a Mum-Mum, that didn't work either. I told her to make sure his seat belt was not too tight, not that either. Finally I said take his hood and tobaggan off. BINGO! He couldn't see with that hood on. I think that is the first time we have put a hood on him and he couldn't look around like he loves to do and buddy he let us know about it! He's such a little stinker.

He's a Crawler

Last night Jackson started to put it all together and crawl. He still has a hard time because the floors are so slick, but he now knows how to get from point A to point B. Today he crawled over to the dogs' toys and wanted to play with them. It has only just begun. Check him out in the two videos below.

Crawling Part I

Crawling Part II

Dance Dance Dance

Jackson has started to dance when we sing to him, but of course he wouldn't do it when we put him on camera. He will bobble his head up and down to the beat! He can already pick up beats, but we are not sure where he gets that from since neither Matt nor I can. And for those of you that have seen us dance know that all too well! Please forgive my singing.

Fratty Friday

Matt took the pictures this morning since he was still home! He has been leaving at 7:00 with us rather than 5:30 these last several weeks and we are LOVING it! We get to have a little family time in the morning and he is a huge help in getting the little man out the door! He has was on his plastic surgery rotation and now he is on family medicine. I vote he does one of the two because I could get use to this life style!! But instead he like orthopedic surgery...... We'll survive though. Jackson says hello to all his Fratty Friday Peeps!

We have him all bundled up since it was 17 degrees when we left the house this morning. Those are fleece footed PJ's under his fratty overalls and duck boots! Fratty on the outside, warm on the inside.

He knows his duck boots are the bomb!!

So serious!

So tonight Jackson's Gran Dan and She She are coming to see him and he is SUPER excited!! He has not seen them since Christmas. Happy Friday!

Who Needs Toys

Who needs toys when you can just pull all the DVD's out of the entertainment center? We've reached that era. The grabbing everything I can get my little hands on era! My obsessive compulsive disorder is about to be tested to the max! Say a prayer for me!