It's bathtime!

Well, Jackson had his first "big boy" bath last week. When he was super little, he took baths in a plastic tub; once he could sit up, he graduated to the kitchen sink. That is consequently my first choice--easy on the back. But he was getting cramped, so we decided to give the big tub a try. Boy, did he think that was a great idea! Here are some pictures that Jack is bound to rip to shreds someday. :)

Mmm....turtle....

(excuse the red eyes.....)

What having a 10-month-old keeps you from....

Bloggies! I realized today that I neglected to continue in last year's blog awards for my blog friends. Shoot! I'm going to blame being a mom and being preoccupied. But check out last year's and reminisce with me! (For some reason, I can't link to the individual post. If you care enough, click on "December 2005" and it should be the first post listed).

Time for bed.

Dreams

So, I had a really bizarre dream this morning. Here it is, as written to Ashley, who was the other main character in the story:

The beginning was an episode of 24 and I was flying in a plane with Bill Buchanan (one of the main characters). We ended up picking up who we thought to be a terrorist. She was actually on the good side, but she made us almost crash the plane in Maple Grove. Except, as you headed east in Maple Grove, instead of hitting Osseo, there were a bunch of mountains. After landing/semi-crashing the plane, I headed to my parents' house, which was actually at the Gap. And you were there! You came over for dinner and you were eating salad when I walked in. You asked me if you could have more dressing. My dad said that there was more "sausage dressing" in the fridge, but the thought of that almost made you throw up. So I cam back in with "Lite Italian" and it already had croutons in the bottle. After giving you the dressing, I decided to take Jack and my brother to go climb the aforementioned mountains. But we got halfway up and had to stop because they had painted the mountains and they were slippery. Then I came back to the house (aka Gap) and soon after, I woke up.

Anyone wanna take this one? I think it means that I was simply not sleeping deeply enough. :)

Ten months

Dear Jackson,

You're smarter than a monkey! A friend of ours told us a while ago (when his son was your age) that when a baby reaches the 10-month mark, he is officially smarter than a monkey. Oh, we're so proud of you!

Yes, you are ten months old. Just a couple months until you're a year--it's so weird to think of it that way. You are continuing to develop quite the little personality. You love to laugh and talk to us in your own little language. We can't wait until you are saying actual words and we can really have a conversation!

We're working on your sleep, which isn't really improving. You've had some tears the last couple of nights, but you are starting to sleep longer periods since I'm not nursing you overnight anymore. Maybe once you get the idea that I'm not an all-night snack bar, you'll stop bothering to wake up at 2:30! In other eating-related news, it's always a great accomplishment to get you to keep down your food. You've had the same cold on and off since about October, and you get pretty full of gunk, and sometimes it makes you puke. Such a bummer!

We celebrated your first Christmas last month. How exciting! When it came to opening gifts, you were really more interested in eating the bits of paper you could pry from the packages. All the more to make you gag! You got lots of fun things. Mostly clothes from Grandma, Mimi, and Poppa. Uncle John painted a cute little rocking chair for you, and you love sitting in it. And of course, lots of little toys that are exciting simply because they are new! We also got you a sled, and even though we've had some snow, we haven't had a chance to use it yet. It will be so exciting when we can!

You had your 9-month pictures taken last week (even though it was closer to 10 months....). You were a little stinker! The photographer would get you to smile, and then when he got back into position with his camera, you would give him a very serious look. I think we got some cute shots, though. Now that you're more mobile, you gave me quite the workout for the half hour we were in there. Up. Down. Crawl away. Roll over. Up. Down. Up. Crawl. Good thing you're cute!

Sometimes when you are crawling around at home, you'll put your head down on the carpet like you're going to sleep. It's super cute. You've also done it to Ruby while she's in her little cat bed. It's adorable! And it's a good thing she's so nice, because you tend to pull her fur and push down on her belly sometimes. You know she's your friend!

We're so excited about how independent you're becoming. Soon you'll be walking around all over the place! You're growing up so quickly, and we just love that we get to be a part of it! You are just too much fun. Keep up the giggles, the quirky expressions, the sweet snuggles, and the priceless cooing.

I love you to the moon and back!

Love,
Mom

A challenge to bloggers

I have spent the last hour looking at my blog. I started in the beginning (February of 2005!) and followed it until the present. It was great fun! Quite the stroll down memory lane. My challenge to you is to do the same! It's really fun! And really a time-waster, so be careful. I started when Jack was awake, and he was contently crawling around the living room, testing the edibility of various objects. Yum. He's been asleep for a half hour now, and I should really take a shower or do something productive before he wakes up!

In other news, Jack doesn't sleep. Every morning I wake up thinking, "I don't know how much longer I can do this." But what other choice do I have? I have to do this! It's wearing on me, though. I always feel ready for a nap. And I never get one, unfortunately. :) So, if anyone has wisdom for me in this arena, I'm willing to try anything! Honestly, getting him to sleep for more than an hour at a time at night will be an improvement. He's almost 10 months, for crying out loud! At least he's a precious little guy. :)

A couple of cute pictures....

Happy Friday before a long weekend! Here's my cute almost-10-month-old boy!

What a tired face. I think the black and white makes it even more tired-looking.


The man with Lucy, who more or less tolerates him.

Hope all is well out there in blogland. :)

Beautiful child

For Adrienne, whose precious Noah gets to meet Jesus this afternoon.

beautiful child right from the moment you were born
you overtook my heart my world
my beautiful child

tender and sweet both in your crying and your sleep
you radiate a sense of hope
you're beautiful

And I have seen the most amazing sights
in my travels on the earth
misty seas and amber harbor lights
and other things of matchless worth

but next to you all of the beauty seems so plain
you would think I'd never seen a beautiful thing

And I have seen the most amazing sights
in my travels on the earth
seven sacred pools on starry nights
and other things of matchless worth

but next to you all of the beauty seems so plain
you would think i'd never seen a beautiful thing

I have seen the most amazing sights
in my travels on the earth
moonlight sleeping on the canyon heights
and other things of matchless worth

but next to you all of the beauty seems so plain
you would think i'd never seen a beautiful thing

sara groves

"I think I would have liked that man"

I said this to my mom the other day in reference to former president Gerald Ford. I remember feeling the same way about Reagan when he died. I was not alive during Ford's administration, and I was eight years old when Reagan left office. So during Reagan's funeral two and a half years ago and during Ford's right now, I feel like I am learning so much about these men. These are surely men who would have had my vote. :) And Ford's situation in particular just can't be beat. This poor guy wasn't elected anything, and all of a sudden he's in charge of a country that is a mess! No thanks! Anyway, television today is bound to be filled with more memories of this former president, and I'm glad I'm still "on vacation" and able to watch it.

Jack at Christmas

Here are some photos from last week.


Here is Jack is his first chair gift. My brother-in-law sanded and painted this for him, and he loves it! It's pretty cute.


In transit. Since both of our families are in town, we do a lot of driving Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. What a trouper!


Chair gift #2. We got him a great chair from Pottery Barn Kids. He promptly climbed onto it, stood against the back, and fell right over. But he's learning to sit. And we're learning to put it against things so the falling over can't happen. He's also sporting his "Hugh Hefner pajamas" in this photo. They are little man pajamas, and they're super cute. But the first time he wore them, Dan put them on him and brought him out to me with the top button undone. I said, "Daniel! He looks like Hugh Hefner!"

More soon. We're getting bad at taking pictures, so hang in there with us. :)

Happy New Year!

New Year's Day is always a weird day. It tends to sneak up on me. It's as if I've had "resolutions" in my head for a few weeks, and all of a sudden, they need to be implemented. Nothing big this year. Just the standard "rid the house of leftover Christmas junk food," "get more organized," "get the 9-month-old to sleep through the night." Maybe that last one should be Jackson's resolution. "I resolve to finally let my parents have a full night's sleep." Oh, someday. Last night in particular was a battle. We went out (with him) at around 7:00 (his usual bedtime) and didn't get home until 10:00. He did remarkably well while we were out, but getting to bed three hours late somehow sent a memo to the rest of his body to wake up every hour (or 45 minutes on a couple of occasions) until 7:30. Seriously, I just have to keep telling myself "This, too, shall pass." We still marvel at what a delightful child he is when he's awake. He's more than making up for it, I guess.

Well, that was a tangent if I've ever had one. No other big news. I promise to post more pictures soon. We have a new computer, and I have yet to download pictures onto it. I'm sure it's no harder than it was on the old computer, but it gives me an excuse for falling behind. :)

Happy 2007, everyone!