Number Five

Some bunny got a new toof! Tooth #5 came in yesterday, in a big way, which explains a lot. Ha. This new shiner is on the top left, so now there are three big guys up on top and two bunny teeth on the bottom.

Jackson is not as graceful of a teether as Lucca, needless to say we will be very happy when all his chompers are in!

But looking at this sweet face, you would never guess otherwise, right?

"mom, why am I wearing overalls?"

-- Jackson, 10 months

10 Months!

Happy 10 months! Daddy is working late, sister is singing in her crib and I am rocking your sweet self because you are sick :(

Can't even believe you are almost 1. Lucca thinks you should have a dinosaur birthday party...we'll see...

At just barely 10 months, you are standing and "cruising" all around. Walking is just around the corner. Unreal.

You say...
Hi Dada
Mama
Ball
Book
Woof woof
Duck
Moo
All done ("ah duh")
Blueberry ("Boo-bah") YOUR FAV
Na-na (banana)
Again (after "the Itsy Bitsy Spider, went up the spout again", you say "again" every single time)
Yes (learned this yesterday from Daddy!)
Up
And all the Gaga's and goo-goo's you can imagine :)

You don't eat baby food anymore. Like at all. Your favorite foods are blueberries, bananas, squash, peas, applesauce, sweet potatoes, beans and anything else we let you get your hands on! Spaghetti, quinoa, cheese...anything.

You are so easy going & happy. You are VERY sensitive. If I tell you NO, like when you are playing with a cord, you pout your bottom lip out as far as it can go and give me the business! You get so sad, but the face you make is so dang cute. Til the tears come.

Our game is "snuggle" and when I say snuggle, you give me a big ol hug and smile, then you let go and we do it over and over again. Love my Jackson snuggles.

Everyone says you look like your Dad, but I do see a but of myself in you too. Mostly your nose + lips.

You are an active dude. You want to do everything your sister does. You stare and smile at her all the day long in complete adoration. You guys play chase, which Lucca has called "Monster" where she will chase you, you will chase her, and you guys laugh and laugh. She does not laugh however, when you knock over her block towers and steal her toys, which happens all the living long day.

10 months means you've officially lived on the outside of me longer than inside. Crazy! I still nurse you, and I'm trying to wean you, but you have rejected the bottle this week. I think you know what's happening and you are boycotting. I'm so happy I've been able to nurse this long. (*If I had a soap box, it would be about nursing your child!!!) We will stop just short of 12 months because of my Paris trip.

Sleep? We won't discuss your sleep habits until they are improved. Ugh.

I love you sweet Jackson. You are my best boy. Happy 10 months you little charmer.

Every piece of Jackson is completely lovable, but his thighs? OUT OF THIS WORLD.

I just love looking at the squishiest legs on the planet and thinking about their future as long, skinny sticks, just like Daddy's.

Love my chubby baby.

9 months!

Yippee! 9 months of enjoying our most healthy, happy & hilarious little guy.

SO much is happening and changing in our day to day as you grow bigger, stronger and more capable of being independent. You are crawling everywhere, and quickly! Lucca is starting to realize her stuff is no longer safe...block towers are getting knocked over left and right, her books are being chewed on, dollies are being smothered, and hair is being pulled. You are exploring your world and loving it. Lucca on the other hand is wondering what in the world happened to our "sweet, tiny baby" as she refers to Jackson.

At your 9 month appointment, you continued to top the charts...at 90% for weight and 95% for length. You are no feather. Our big dude. You will be bigger than your sister in no time. You loved your doctor. Waving and smiling at him the whole time. Then the nurse came in who gave you a shot and your feelings quickly turned to anger. Amazing that you even felt that little poke on your chubby thighs.

You have officially boycotted all pureed baby food. I think it was a taste of Christmas dinner that caused this. You figured out we are eating much better food than your pureed fruits & veggies. This is kind of fun, you are eating a lot of what we are eating. You only have 2 teeth still, but you manage to chew all kinds of food you are offered...broccoli, eggs, spaghetti, pancakes :) If you got to choose, you would live on bananas and sweet potatoes alone. And mommy's milk, of course.

We love loving you. I cannot even imagine if our family was still just 3. Seems so long ago & distant to me. You have completed our family and give us such great joy. It really is amazing, no matter how hard & long & tiring our days can be, your Daddy and I go to bed each night so happy. And thankful. And feeling more blessed each day.

<3

Ah, baby milestones. They never get old. Not even with kid #2. It's just so dang exciting to watch my babies learn and grow.

Jackson has been on the verge of crawling for a couple months, but would never actually go forward. He would rock, go backwards, go to the sitting position, back to crawling position, back to sitting position....but wouldn't take the plunge. We thought he for sure would start crawling over Christmas, but he didn't.

Until today. Daddy's first day back at work after 2 whole weeks off and little buddy decided to crawl. He's my guy. Lucca first crawled with Rustin, and this guy held out for only me :) Actually, it was me, Lucca and my mom friends who got to see this guy finally prove that he knows how to crawl.

Good work, big Stone. We are proud of you. Now we need to go purchase baby gates. Fun!

New Years Day

January 1st has always been a special day in my family...it was my Grandpa Jack Masters birthday. Many people in my family celebrate him by eating sauerkraut on this day, just as he would be doing if he were still with us. If I could stand the stuff, I would do the same. As I get older and learn more about the great man my grandfather was, it makes me even more proud to have my little guy named after him.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa. Hope we are able to carry on your big personality and humor and sensitivity and love through our own sweet Jack.

8 months

My baby boy turned 8 months old yesterday!

You welcomed eight months with two shiny bottom teeth, a belly laugh that can make everyone smile, a big appetite, a sweet backwards crawl/scoot that takes you places quickly and a whole lotta chatter... Mama, Dadda, baa-baa, oh's & ah's.

Lucca is your favorite person on the planet. You like watching her every move, and if I say "Where's Lucca?" you will turn your head all around looking for her. Too cute.

Tubby time is your favorite, followed by (not-surprisingly) mealtime. We haven't found a food you dislike, but we have noticed you get most excited about bananas, carrots and sweet potatoes.

You are a cool dude, stopped everywhere we go by women who want to discuss your insane eyelashes. And then you smile at them and they can't stand it and next thing you know we are having a full on conversation about what a stud you are.

Amazing. We are thankful for these 8 months of getting to know you, our strong, healthy, happy boy. We have so much love for you, sweet Jackson Stone.

XO,
Mommy

Milestones

Although the blog has been less of a priority around here lately (slightly busy!), I do want to write down a few very important milestones from the past week so I don't forget them!

Seven months old has been pretty wild...

Your 1st (and 2nd) tooth popped through, ON THANKSGIVING, just in time for turkey and sweet potato souffle. Impeccable timing.

You are standing! You aren't crawling yet, but love to stand, barely holding onto a pinky and sometimes even letting go! You are proud of yourself and have a huge grin every time you let go. And then you start dancing.

"Mama!!!" finally! You've been saying Dada for quite some time, but just yesterday you said MAMA and melted my big ol heart <3

Waving! Mimi taught you how to wave over Thanksgiving. Today I saw you do the backwards wave, at yourself, for the first time. Cuuute.

Jackson, you are the happiest dude. These milestones have been awesome and we are celebrating with you every step of the way. You make us so proud, so happy, so very very thankful.

SLEEP

Jackson's life so far in a nutshell:

First 2 months, slept so much it freaked us out and we used to WAKE HIM UP to feed him. We were worried about how long he would sleep without eating. Funny right? Have you seen the size of this dude? We clearly had nothing to worry about.

Months 3-6...I'm not sure we slept for longer than 3 hours at any given time without Jackson waking up. Maybe a few times we would get 4 hours out of him. We kept thinking/hoping/praying he would figure it out and that a full night's sleep would be around the corner.

Finally last week, we decided to give sleep training a go. And THANK GOD WE DID. (We were scarred from Lucca's sleep training days and were hesitant to go there with Jackson). But after a night of rocking and rocking Jackson and having him wake up each time we set him down, we were willing to let him cry. Fifteen minutes in the middle of the night was all it took for this guy to cry before realizing we weren't coming back in to rock him to sleep. He hasn't cried like that since, not even for 5 minutes actually. And he's SLEEPING!!! He's been waking up once each night for a feeding and going right back to sleep, no problem.

We are thankful. So very, very thankful. Anyone who knows us knows we like our sleep around here :)