Rollin' on Hallowin'

I cannot believe how many people have asked we're going to torture Jackson for Halloween (i.e. what we will dress him up as). I'm fairly certain the question popped up even more than the sleeping question. Luckily we have MANY options. None of which are quite as torturous as what this parent decided to do: (photo found here)

So we'll start with what we have. My dear friend Clara gave us this cute Santa Suit, which was a potential.


We could have gone with the happy thug


Or the ADORABLE make shift pumpkin:


BUT, we decided to use one of the amazing outfits my friend Jyoti sent Jackson straight from India. It was beautiful, light, and had no head gear (of which Jackson was especially grateful).



Our ward (church congregation) had a lovely Halloween party last Friday, where we got to try out Jackson's outfit. We decided to all dress up--with a slight theme. We ended up being a religiously tolerant middle eastern family. Thank you Jyoti for supplying more than half of clothing!


And just as a bonus, Jackson has finally advanced to rolling over stage!!! At nearly 6 months, we figured it was about time. He now will roll right off his tummy as soon as he's placed on it.

10/9 - first successful (no aid) roll over

This video is from yesterday evening. Enjoy!

Playing Ball

Back when I was still preggo, Mark made well over 500 comments on the athletic abilities of our future child. "NFL kicker of the year," he would say after I would comment on a jab from prenatal Jackson. "Star of the soccer team," "6 months. That's when we'll start ball practice." I was surprised this past week when ball practice actually did begin. Mark got his first taste of playing ball with Jackson. Maybe it's just me, but I think Jackson is more inclined to find the NFL an amusing spectator sport, rather than something he'll take on at a professional level.




In fact, looking at his current skill level, I think this next video gives a better representation of what he could go into.



... ballet :)

Chew, Taste and Swallow...

We have officiallyreached the, I'm curious what everything tastes like stage. Tongue is out, and everything else in: fingers, newspaper, plastic straws, toys, and a little bit of food.

Jackson's menu currently expands daily, but a few favorites include:

iced teething toys


garden fresh cucumbers, apples and pears (just to suck on)

and...

dun, dun, dun...


a teeny bit of cereal mixed with a whole lot of baby milk (the most ridiculous proportion--it's like 1 part cereal: 12 parts milk)---think drinking water with a miniature spoon.


Jackson much preferred my interesting sounds and faces


to actually eating the goop.

The majority of it definitely ends up on his face

but, at least he gave me a thumbs up.

(Yes, the thumb was actually on the way into his mouth also).

"I can't put my arms down"

We went from practicing our rolling in these lovely summer light footsies---(can you believe he's that close to rolling over, and he still won't go all the way over!)...

to doubling up on these cute thicker pj's...

to... winter.

I think the rolling practice just got moved to daytime, as we're now sporting


1 onesie, 1 normal footsie, & 1 fuzzy footsie. Every night I hear Randy's voice coming out of Jackson's mouth saying, "I can't put my arms down!"


Lest you forget where that classic line comes from, feel free to view the scene here. I look very similar to the mother when I get Jackson dressed for the night.

Do not get me wrong. I DO NOT miss our humid sauna weather, but it was a dramatic leap to go from 90 degrees, to 50 in one day. We haven't got up the gumption to turn our radiator beast of a heating system on, so that means lots of clothing at night.

(Somehow his little fingers are STILL cold in the morning!)