Happy Birthday Jeremy!

Well, I'm sort of cheating and posting this late, but I wanted to make sure I got it up here. My older brother Jeremy's birthday was the 28th and I wanted to wish him a happy birthday. Let me tell you some of the reasons why I love Jeremy. First, he's my brother- plain and simple. But he's easy to love because he's just a funny, real guy. He does silly things like give everyone little nicknames- he likes to call me Trixie for some reason. And he always gave Lindsay (my sister) and my significant others nicknames too. Sometimes they were nicer than others depending on how he felt about said significant others....But Jeremy gets along great with Todd and John so the nicknames are nicer: Toddler and San Juan. Anyway, he's a great brother and friend and a very wise man. Jeremy walked me down the aisle at my wedding which was very special for me and he wrote me the sweetest letter on my wedding day with some words of advice that I will never forget. He also loves his niece and nephews and was so excited to meet Jackson for the first time at Thanksgiving, which is the picture here. I hope your birthday was great Jer, and I'm sad we couldn't all be together to celebrate with you. Please move to St. Louis. I love you!

6 month checkup

Jackson had his 6 month check up today and he's doing great! Developmentally he's right on track and even a bit ahead of the game- he's so advanced! He's still just a little tyke- only 10th percentile for height and weight. But he must be super duper smart though because his head circumference is 75th percentile! Todd and I always joke about how it seems like whenever Jackson rolls over, his head goes first and then his body follows, but now I see why. I'm amazed his little body can hold that thing up! I love his big head! So we've hit the mark where we will be starting solid foods here as soon as we come back from Florida. Quite the adventure. Hopefully he'll eat anything like his Dad and not be picky like his mom. I'll keep you all posted on how it goes. This might be my last post for a little while. I don't know if I'll have access to a computer much on my trip, but I'll see what I can do. Lots of pictures of our trip to come!

Happy Anniversary John & Lindsay!

Another anniversary shout-out to my sis Lindsay and her husband John! Three years ago today they tied the knot. Two kids later, and they are busier and happier than ever. This picture was taken at Thanksgiving, about a month before Shepherd made his appearance. Hope you guys get to celebrate sans kids sometime. I miss being around you both so much so I'm very eager to see you this weekend.

Sorry to all blogger readers that I've been a little lax lately in my posting. I have a couple of excuses. First, I've sort of run out of things to blog about since nothing too exciting has been going on and I haven't taken any cute pictures of Jackson lately. Second, I've been a bit busy getting ready for the upcoming STL/Florida trip. We leave on Saturday so I've been trying to get ready a little at a time so that I don't forget anything. I think I have about 30 lists going of things to remember. But the good news is, there will be lots of things to write about soon with the upcoming trip, so look for a bunch more posts in the near future.

Happy Anniversary Tim & Lizzie!

Technically, the post is a day late...oops! For those of you who don't know, Tim and Lizzie (heretofore referred to as T&L) are my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, but Lizzie and I were friends before we were SIL's, so that's kinda fun for us! I will always remember their wedding because that's where I met Todd for the first time. He was so handsome in his tux...yummy! Anyway, this is about T&L. They are such fun family and we are eagerly awaiting the birth of their first baby- a little girl! Hope you guys had a good day and Happy Anniversary!

Retail Therapy

After a LOT of long cold days, today was a balmy 65 degrees and it felt heavenly. And to make the day even more perfect, I got to go shopping all day-BY MYSELF! No husband to rush me from store to store, no child to haul in and out of dressing rooms, no other people to have to meet up with or coordinate schedules with. It was amazing! I had forgotten how much of a luxury that really is. In my single days, I would shop by myself a couple times a week sometimes. Once Todd and I got married, our outings out of small town Orange City would usually consist of hitting a mall for a little while so that I could get my fix, but even though Todd tolerated being there, I never really felt I could give shopping the full attention I desired to because he would be waiting on a bench outside the store for me. And now that Jackson is here, well, shopping is a whole new story. I used to shop because it was a relaxing, entertaining thing for me. But with a baby, as many of you know, it is neither relaxing nor entertaining. So as I drove away from the house this morning in my little car (not the mini van I normally drive these days), I was able to turn the radio up and put the windows down and I felt so happy! Freedom for the whole day! I shopped for about 6 hours and I could have kept going, but I ran out of money. Sad. My goal for the day was to buy a few spring things so that I had something to wear for the upcoming Florida trip. I was having such a good time that it didn't even bother me that all of the clothes I was buying were a size bigger than they were before I had a baby. I managed to find some cute clothes that I thought looked halfway decent and I came home feeling refreshed and renewed. Praise the Lord!

One of those days...

Trying to sing his little heart out!

J has started this new thing where he likes to suck on his bottom lip. It's totally cute. I think he looks like a little old man in this picture!

I had to post some cute pictures of Jackson today because there were a few moments (actually more like a few hours) throughout the day where I was thinking that he was not so cute. For some reason, he decided he did not need any naps today. NONE. I, however, did not agree so I continued to try to put him down for naps every time he got fussy (which was often, due to lack of naps.....vicious cycle). Needless to say, he never went to sleep, and is currently sitting in my lap squirming away, trying to help me type, and then trying to bite my nose when I push the keyboard out of his reach. Oh, how quickly I have learned to multi-task. fcg hgmn That was Jackson typing. Obviously I spoke too soon about my multi-tasking skills. Bed time for all of us will come a little earlier tonight, as long as the little man cooperates. Really not too much new here, except that today was a wonderful warm day. Unfortunately, there was so much snow last week that we still really couldn't go outside to enjoy the warm weather because it was so wet and slushy. Duty calls- final meltdown has just commenced and one persons bedtime is here!

Help!

To any of my STL friends that have boys...if you've been reading the blog, you probably know of my upcoming trip to Florida. I have a dilemma. Jackson is still in 3-6 month clothes, but I don't have any summery clothes for him. I hate the thought of buying him a bunch of summer clothes in the 3-6 month size since by the time he would be able to wear them here, they would be too small for him. And 6-12 month stuff would definitely be too big right now. So if anyone has any spring/summer boy clothes in 3-6 month sizes and would like to let us borrow them for a week or so, I would be eternally grateful! I promise to return them clean and spit-up free and I'll take lots of pictures of Jackson in the cute outfits that we borrow. We will be getting to STL on Saturday the 24th and we don't leave for Florida until Monday, so I can come get them anytime before Monday afternoon and then we get home on Friday and will return them before we leave. Feel free to e-mail me, or just leave a comment on this post. Thanks!

Jackson's new trick!

Jackson and I were playing on the floor last night and I noticed he was almost sitting up by himself, so I backed up and let him do it on his own for a bit and he's almost got it! He still is very wobbly, but he can sit up for a minute or so on his own as long as he doesn't start leaning too far to one side! He still does a face plant every now and then, but he's getting stronger!

Happy Birthday Todd!

Well, yesterday was Todd's 32nd birthday...another year older, another year wiser. We didn't get to do anything too exciting due to all the snow, but we did enjoy a few fun treats. Thursday night I surprised Todd with a late night candlelight floor picnic with our favorite "special occasion" champagne and chocolate covered strawberries (picture above). And last night we met some friends for dinner and then they watched Jackson for a couple hours so we could go to a movie. I can't tell you how much fun going to a movie is now! Totally one of those things you take for granted until you have a kid! Todd's birthday always marks another special occasion for us- the anniversary of our engagement. Todd proposed to me the day before his 30th birthday. We always joke that he didn't want to hit 30 without a wife in sight, so he proposed with just a few hours to spare. So these last couple of days have been a fun time to celebrate Todd's birth and the "birth" of us. I love you Toddy Poddy!

Blizzard!

We got over 18" of snow today and it's still coming down! Thankfully, Todd was off so we just bummed around the house and decided to kill time by doing a puzzle. It really was beautiful outside. The first picture is the view down our street and the second is the front of our house. I'm glad I'm not the one to have to shovel!