I don't want to grow up!

Jackson is growing up so fast. I remember last year at this time I thought Boneyard Bob would never come. Now he is almost 8 months old and being more and more independent. He still can't crawl yet but he is getting closer and closer everyday. He actually prefers holding onto our hands and walking more than getting around on his own. I have a feeling he will go directly from crawling to walking. He is talking more than ever and is always trying to go go go. We hold him and he just wants to be on the move. His new favorite toy is the standing fans at Grandma and Grandpa Stoker's house. I don't know what it is about them but he is just enthrawlled by the fan and always wants to go and see it. He is getting really good with his hands now too which is fun. He can usually pick up cherrios all by himself and put them in his mouth. His favorite snack is toast strips though. I don't know what it is about them but he just gobbles up that toast. It is amazing what kids learn and how quickly they can pick up on things.

On sad aspect is that he has also been rejecting his jumper lately. I am hoping it is only because he has been held so much this past week by all the family members so he doesn't like being stuck in it right now. I really like it so I hope he is not permenentaly rejecting it.

It has finally started to cool off here so I can dress him in warmer clothes which is fun. I am really excited about putting up the Christmas tree. I know he will like the lights and I am sure he will want to pull off all the ornaments and put them in his mouth. I guess I will have to make sure only ribbon hanging plastic ones are on the bottom.

Thanksgiving is a day to be Thankful

Well Thanksgiving week is over and I am pretty sad actually. I say week because the fam was here all week and we did activities everyday and had so much fun. I am really sad to see everyone go. Brandon even noticed that I was sad, and I just realized that I love holidays and spending time with the ones we love. Not that everyone else doesn't love that but I think that since I became a mom I have been a lot more sensitive about people leaving. Every time family comes whether it is my mom or Brandon's sisters or grandparents, when they leave I get a little teary-eyed. Having a baby is making me soft (haha). Anyways, more about our week. We went disc golfing which was really fun and for those of you who don't know what disc golfing is well it is like golf but instead of using golf balls and clubs you use freesbies or discs. I only sent one over the fence but thanks to Justin we got it back. We also played lots of ping pong, wallyball, football, soccer, wiffle ball, and whatever other game you can think of. It was nice having everyone see Jackson again. He is getting so big so fast and Grandpa Stoker and Brianna hadn't even met him yet. I was just a fun week and I am sad that it had to end but at least Brandon is still around to cheer me up. What a great husband!!

5 things I am the most thankful for this year:
-my husband that loves and supports me
-my son who is growing up healthy and happy
-our families that are so close (if not geographically at least close in heart)
-my mom for all the new mother advise
-my job, I can teach and work from home so I can raise Jack

Cookies anyone?

There is something about this time of year when all the goodies come out that you just can't resist trying a sweet or two. . .or in my case 10. Just a few bits can really make a difference though. So I decided that I am only going to choose one sweet to try and leave the rest be. Here are the best and worst sweets of the holidays:

Best Sweets (lowest in calories or fat)

• Pumpkin Pie: at least you are eating a vegetable right?
• Apple Pie (without top crust): fruits are always nice to add to your diet
• Apple Cider

Worst Sweets

• Pecan pie
• Cheesecake
• Eggnog
• Fruit cake
• Fudge

This is the last time I let Missy babysit. . .just kidding. I gave him the half oreo. I know sugar is not good for babies but how can you resist a face like that?

The Happiest Place on Earth

Many of you know that a few weeks ago we decided to take a break from studying and the baby and go to Disneyland with Brandon's parents. Don't worry we didn't leave Jackson alone. . . Grandma Miller was happy to come out and spend some one on one time with the boy. Although I think by the end of those 3 days she was thinking "what did I get myself into" and she was happy to be going back to Seattle. I really do love Disneyland. We left on Wed morning and got there around 3:00pm (the time change worked out nice). I have never seen it so empty there. Most of the rides we could just walk onto and if we had to wait it was maybe 5 minutes which is the time it took to get to the ride (some of those rides have a pretty elaborate setup). We stayed until it closed and spent most of the time in California Adventure which I thought was awesome because I had never been there before. The next day we went early and it was still pretty empty. It was fun to see how much they have changed that place. The new Finding Nemo submarine ride and autotopia were a big change. We also spent a lot of time going to shows or other attractions that I wasn't interested in when I was a kid. The tortilla factory was really fun. . .nothing beats a fresh tortilla. By the end of the 3rd day I think we had been on every major ride at least 3 times and I have to admit I could have gone on them about 10 more each but everyone was getting a little worn out. . .or at least our feet were. We spent all day there on Thursday and Friday and I think we did everything that Disneyland had to offer; including eating a corn dog which I had been craving ever since I was pregnant. And let me tell you it was just as tasty as I had remembered. All and all we had a great time but I was excited to get home and see Jack.

Top 10 Things to do at Disneyland
1. Ride California Screaming
2. Ride the Tower of Terror
3. Get soaked on the Grizzly Mountain ride
4. Get soaked and take a picture on Splash mountain
5. Score over 100,000 points on the Toy Story shooting game (NEW!!)
6. Eat a corndog
7. Ride Space Mountain until your brain is a little loose
8. Eat at the Saloon in Adventure Land and watch the show
9. Pretend you are a Pirate on the Pirate's Lair (formerly Tom Sauwer's Island)
10. Watch the disney parades

Where have we been?

(I think this first picture is so cute! This is him saying, "mom do you really have to take soo many pictures of me?")


I know I know, I haven't posted in a while but we have been super busy around here. Brandon is still studying for the GMAT, I am still teaching online, and I am taking a class online for my certification. Plus Jackson is a crazy man and takes up a lot of our time so. . . here is a short update. Jack is over 7 months now and not crawling yet. He is very close though. Right now he gets up on his hands and knees and does that rocking thing babies do right before they take the first "steps" towards crawling that is. He also has 5 teeth now and likes to bite things like my face or sometimes my neck when I think he is giving me kisses. I'm not sure what to do about that. How do you teach a baby not to bite? (haha)

He really has the rolling over thing down though. If he wants something he just rolls himself over to it. I am actually surprised he isn't crawling yet because when we brought him home from the hospital he was already rolling from side to side so I thought he was going to be an over-achiever. He has been standing on things since he was 5 weeks old (hence the thunder thighs), so maybe he will just skip the crawling and go straight to walking. Who knows? Other than that he is doing great. Still sleeping through the night, starting to eat finger foods, very observant of everything going on around him, and he has the best gut laugh I have ever heard. He still loves his jumper too. He really can get that thing rocking and he laughs at himself when he gets going. I am just sad most of you can't see him in person.



We put him in his new car seat and let me tell you he loves it! I think he feels like it is his own thrown or something. It is really soft and comfy and he can see better so he really likes that. One funny thing that I have noticed him doing lately is getting startled. He used to like to be scared a little but now he gets really worried and scared. Not so much that he cries but he definitely jumps in certain situations like when I turn on the faucet in the bathtub or when we go through the car wash. My favorite is when Brandon turns on the garbage disposal because it is really load and Brandon pretends like the noise is coming from him (opening his mouth and turning it on). Jack does not know what to make of that. And he still makes his funny faces. He is a great little boy and we love him so much.

Pumpkin Carving

I thought I had picked the perfect pumpkin for my carving this year. Turns out it was the perfect size but it was SUPER thick. Brandon and I have a deal where he gets the honors of carving out all the guts and I get to do the fun part. He gave up on getting ride of the insides because the more he scraped the more pumpkin guts appeared. Finally we just gave up and started carving. I love those carving books because they have such cute ideas but they never turn out like the picture. . .even for a talented carver like myself. I think next year I will just stick to my own creative intuition and create a design myself. Everyone's pumpkins turned out great but my favorite was Missy's Harry Potter pumpkin. Maybe next year I will have to figure out a way to make Dumbledore.

Happy Halloween!

There is something about children that make holidays exciting, even when they are just little babies. I think I was more excited about Halloween so I could dress Jackson up than he was about wearing his costume. I looked all over for the perfect costume and I finally found one that I fell in love it, however it was way too expensive. So after talking with Diane (Brandon's mom) we decided we could make the same costume for Jack ourselves. Now I am not the best at sewing. Actually the only thing I can make is skirts and lovesacks. But I decided to be ambitious and make my son's costume. After all the furry mess, the cutting, the stitching, and gluing. . .I think it was a total success. He even let a a little lion roar to let me know that he liked it. If only it wasn't so hot in AZ, he might have been able to wear it longer. Here is the finished product with his cute little face looking out at me.



Jackson loves Halloween because he gets to play with the candy. He is not interested in eating it so much as he is playing with the wrapers.