Christmas (and 7 Months)

It has been a busy week for us. We have lots of pictures and some updates from our Christmas. Pictures: December 20th (around the house), December 22nd (my family's Christmas gathering), December 24th (around the house) and December 24th (Christmas Eve at home). From a few of the pictures you can see Jackson's two new teeth that are coming in. They are sharp. These pictures have been added to the weekly update as well. Updates: Jackson is starting to crawl, or more correctly rocking hands and knees, he is getting there soon. He has been eating a lot of solid food (toast and now some Cheerios). It is so much fun to see him change and grow and do new things everyday. He has gotten much better about tummy time and he can roll him self over basically at will. Today he rolled over three times to get near Mary as she was on the floor. Videos: Eating round 1 and round 2, unwrapping presents 1 and part 2, playing with his music box and playing with his drum. We did not travel North for the big Christmas gathering this year. We went for Thanksgiving and did not have the energy to do it again so soon. This was a very different Christmas for us, with just us at home. The less amount of driving sure helped with the stress. Tomorrow it is back to work.

More pictures

We have some more pictures from the week to post. Some from today of just around the house: him talking on the phone with his Nana and then "eating" at the table. Yesterday we went to pick out our Christmas tree. The Santa picture is from last week, but there was a theme so they all went together. Some from around the house on the 14th. We also have some pictures from last weeks "Birth to Three" class as well as our outside party. Jackson took bath this week and his hair was picture worthy.

Teething and then some...

Jackson had a rough week. He now has two teeth and did not at all enjoy getting that second one. We did some fun things anyway, though, like visit Santa and get a Christmas tree (a separate post soon to come here it is), try a bagel, go to a Birth to Three holiday party, and touch a star. This is the last week with Jackson's Gram here, so she's been taking some pictures as well. In January Jackson starts day care. It's a nice facility just a few blocks from our house and Jackson already has a couple friends there from our Birth to Three group. We have also updated and changed the format of the week by week pictures. By the way he is 207 days old. It sure is fun.

Tooth!

Last night we had another milestone. Jackson is beginning to cut his first tooth. We can feel it but it's still hard to see. He has been teething more and drooling a lot. We also have a new version of the week by week photos.

Jackson 198 Days

Jackson is now 198 days old. He is doing well. We have been busy the past few weeks and will mostly likely still be very busy through the end of the year as we tie up loose ends. We have some pictures from the last week. As you can see in picture 8 I got too close to the subject and was attacked. He is much more deliberate with his movements and he is getting faster when he lunges for things. He goes for glasses. Gram has seen this first hand as well. I have tiny smuges and prints on mine as well, I have cleaned up the camera for other pics. This week has the comparison pictures. But this time I would like some feed back on which of the two layouts people like [same pictures on both]: The original layout, or the new layout design. There may be other options in the future.

Jackson 188 days

Jackson is very observant, we have been repeating his sounds back to him. Kind of communicating. Then last week when he was hungry (guess one out of three) he was making "mmmmmmm" sounds. Like what Mary does when she feeds him cereal or puree. I can't say that he made the connection, but he sure did eat when we fed him after the verbal cue. He is also beginning to turn to his name. Then this evening he copied me as I stuck out my tongue at him. He as learned this trick and for the past hour, when he sees me, sticks out his tongue. You can tell that he is so proud of himself as well. Mary took some pictures of us playing "monkey see, monkey do." And this we have updated the week by week postings as well.

More Hummingbirds

This weekend we had more hummingbirds show up. I was very sure that I saw a second bird, Mary said she believed me, but her tone was less than convincing. We posted those pictures from last week, where the bird is not the flashy, but I thought that I saw some red on its head. Then today I got some pictures of the second bird, while Jackson and I typed this morning. Then later, I though I saw another bird that was different. Once again Mary says she believes me. But then this afternoon, she saw all three at once as well. It seems that the second bird, with the red head is the dominate male and very protective of his feeding area. He was chasing away the two other birds. ( bird one: small and green with gray chest, no red patches. Bird two: dominate male with red head, definately larger. And bird three: similar to one, but with red circles on is cheeks) We now think that we have a male, female and something else of the Anna's species, still the broad tailed is a possibility for the original. Then this evening we saw three birds on the feeder (odd I know) then then dominate male scared them all away. Therefore we have at least four birds. So I went to the store and purchased another feeder, that we put up on the other side of the yard. Hopefully this will allow for some kind of harmony in the clan.