531 days

I know that I need to come up with more witty titles to these posts. But if you are reading this then you know us. I am form follows function and well Mary can be more...wordy. We have been just as busy as always. But we have taken plenty of pictures. And without much further ado (i.e. delay), here they are: October 18th as we picked out our pumpkins, October 24th around the house and then in Seattle, October 25th and 26th are good portion of our trip to Seattle for the weekend (just FYI: Jackson liked visiting the Market, a got some special treats), then on Monday and Tuesday we raked leaves ( will it ever stop) and Jackson "helped", then on Wednesday we carved the pumpkins. I have some pictures from tonight and I will get some more tomorrow at little gym. I hope to get those put up tomorrow or early next week either way this should help.

Now 522 days

I know that it has been over two months since the last post on the blog. But I will try to play catch up on what we have been doing in the meanwhile. First of all we have been taking pictures, we have just had a hard time uploading them to the "intertubes" but as you can see from the following seven posts that we are not complete shut ins (although a weekend of that might not be too bad). So, as they say, "previously on our show....", well we sold the Eugene house, closed on the Portland house, had the electrical redone, bought some new appliances (Fridge, washer, dryer, TV ( the old one we inherited from my parents back in 2000). We finally got a mover that was not a flake and got our stuff. We did have a week of indoor urban camping in our house. But we love this place, it is bigger than Eugene, and we got rid of some excess on the way out of town. Jackson has his own room and we have an office back ( where I am now), we are trying not to add to much new clutter. We have also convinced my parents to come out for Thanksgiving ( I am very excited), my brother is coming down from Seattle, but my sister and her fiancé can't make it over from NC (darn short holiday week, we will miss them). We have been unpacking as fast as we can, we have been doing at least two boxes a day. Jackson has been getting plenty of walks with our close park. The dogs however have not been getting the same number of field trips, but they do have the huge (relative to the condo) back yard. We (Mary has) have been doing lots of yard work raking leaves, moving plants, planting shrubs and what not. This last week week went to little gym (no pictures, sorry) he had a blast, and we changed the locks on the house, (oohh, yeah we got a new front door as well, it is like the one we got in Eugene before.). So basically we have decided to do the fixing at the beginning of ownership. There is no reason we should not be able to enjoy the nice house as well.

Oh, you don't care about that, you just want pictures of the boy, oh well then here they are: August 26th (Jackson exploring the new house), September 7th (Jackson just being cute at the condo), September 12th (a messy boy and finding the dog door), September 16th (Jackson and the giant peach), September 21st (busy week: Bebo, finding long lost toys, sniffing Rosemary in the garden and leaning to buckle), September 24 (helping with yard work) and October 12th (exploring the Portland Nursery for Apple tasting). We have some from this last week but I have to save something for the November post (kidding). But as always we have the age progression series (meant to be weekly but is, on average about every 6 days) of the weekly update. We will try to be better but it is not easy.

Jackson 453 days old

It has been a fun couple weeks since our last post. This last week the Day care was on break so Gram and Bebo came down to spend time with Jackson. He loved it. Last weekend we went to Ikea ( a surprisingly fun experience, despite the parking looking like Disney World) and we got Jackson his own little tunnel. He loves it. It is so fun to watch him and hear him laugh. We have some pictures from the last week. The 11th, the 14th and from the 16th, as well as the "weekly update" of him. This next week will be very busy as Mary goes to Denver for work for the week. I will have to play single parent for the week. Mary better enjoy the quite she gets. I may be too over loaded this week to get a new post up, but we will see.

Upto 440 days

Every time we work on the post, which we do know is far between, we can't help but see and think how much he has changed since the last post (let alone since the beginning). We have been busy in Portland. We have made an offer on a house, that has been accepted. Here you can see us visiting the outside of the house This coupled the soon closing of our house in Eugene will make August a very busy month. But for now a recap of the past few weeks. Two weeks ago Gram and Bebo came down for a visit. It was an action packed weekend. We showed off the house (see above), we went down town for the Beer Festival. The theory was to try lots of beer and get out side, instead it was like a bad frat kegger just with better beer, if you could stand the "lines" ( and I use that word very, very loosely). The three beers we tried we great, but the hour it took to get them made this a less than fun part of the day. We have a better plan for next year. But we did go play in the fountain, and boy did he ever have fun. This last weekend was busy as well. Jackson got his first real hair cut. He would have done much better had not just hit his head on a counter. But it looks good. Then on Sunday we went to the beach. He did real well, the water was cold, but he had fun. We have updated the "weekly pictures" as well, which is what sparked the comment about how much he has changed. I am not sure what we are doing next weekend, other than the Farmers Market. But we will keep all y'all posted.

update

For the weekends of June Mary and Jackson were down in Eugene and then on Friday I would drive down from Portland to work on house projects. We had been busy then. And we are still busy. But now there is less driving. It is nice for us to be back together in the same location. We have had a busy week with Jackson in day care and Mary back at work. Our days have been long. But now getting to why you have really come to the blog. Pictures: Jackson eating blueberrys, House work on June 15th, Jackson playing in an almost empty house, Jackson playing in Portland, our July 4th weekend, the house that is now finished and staged down in Eugene, and then Jackson playing in Portland during July 8th and 9th. We have also updated the "weekly" photos. I need to fix the dates. But it is still great to look at how much he has changed in the past year.

It has been so long

I know that it has been quite a while since there has been an update here. But for this short late time I will just give the short version now. We have moved up to Portland (Oregon). I have been at new job for the last four weeks. Mary had been in Eugene for the last few weeks in Eugene. She has been able to transfer her position to the Portland office. She, Jackson and the dogs have been up here for the last week. Mary starts her new job on Monday, and Jackson starts a new day care then as well. But since I have been quite busy I do have some pictures from the last month before we left Eugene. Here are some pictures: April 27th at home, April 29th at home, May 12th at home, May 14th at home, May 15th at home, May 17th with Birth to Three, and finally for this update May 17th with his Birthday cupcake. We have some more pictures that we will get up soon.

Walking

This is the beginning of the end. Jackson has been walking for the past two weeks with help. He holds hands and then down to one had. For the past few days he has been standing and practicing his balance. He has done a few steps for Mary before, maybe 5, but by the end it was more of a dive than a walk. Then last night he put the pieces together and has begun to walk more and with more confidence. Here we have a short video of a very proud little walker. As I said this is now the beginning of the end. He will almost never stop now. This summer soccer and then this fall someone is getting ice skates.