Annnnddd Cruisin'...

Here is the boy cruising along the couch ottomans, these video updates are mostly for my grandparents/parents who cannot believe Jackson's learned to do so much recently. As for the rest of y'all please bare with us as we post sooooooo many videos of the cub.

Newest bait: puffy apple bites (aka organic cheerios). He doesn't enjoy eating them, but he sure LOVES going after them!

Incidentally, I found one in his hand about 2 hrs after shooting the video. Gross huh? Guess he was saving it for a midnight snack?

Crawler

Remember when I said the boy started doing something new pretty much daily now? Well today he's decided its fine time to crawl. We thought he would skip this milestone all together but as it turns out we were just going about it the wrong way.

Apparently his momma, daddy or any of his amazing toys would not make him crawl. The only thing that would? His brother's tennis ball. Yuck. Whatever works though right? (and it seems to work EVERY time).

Oh! and you'll catch him saying his latest catch phrase, 'uh oh' (well a strange rendition anyways). He has no idea what this means but he says it ALL THE TIME.

Teeth!

No explanation needed right?! The boy FINALLY cut some teeth and we are thrilled! It seemed like it was never going to happen and at one point I asked Jack, "What if he never gets teeth? I guess we'll have to drill in some veneers or something" but no veneers needed here!

Gotta say, months 6-8 were pretty uneventful as far as milestones go and now all of a sudden he has teeth, he can get into the sitting position, he is pulling himself up to standing and now he's even starting to coast along (at snail speed mind you) our couch ottomans! Fun times ahead.

Oh and because we are pretty adamant about good hygiene around here we've started brushing those pearly whites and he seems to enjoy it. Please disregard my messy self and only focus on the gordo...

Santa Fe

This past week Jack was asked to give a speech in El Paso at a continuing legal education seminar. Since his speech was on a Thursday he thought it would be fun to visit Santa Fe during the weekend since it is a short drive from El Paso and he had never been there before. Never one to say no to a vacay, my parents, the boy and myself happily obliged and hit the road early Friday morning.

Once there we toured the town stopping at various art galleries, admiring amazing turquoise pieces and indulging in unbelievable Southwestern cuisine. I'm fairly certain the cub enjoyed himself as he stayed quiet in his stroller only opening his mouth to eat some fruit and veggies. Until the next day...

Saturday we were up bright and early and decided to begin our day by showing Jack the beautiful churches in Santa Fe. We first went to St. Francis Basilica where the former archbishop, Jean Baptiste Lamy is laid to rest.

***Side note***Did you know that a church earns the title 'Basilica' only if there is a body laid to rest underneath it? I've been to churches all over the world and only now learned this! Crazy huh?

After a lovely visit to the Basilica we went on to tour the Loretto Chapel. The Loretto Chapel is famed because of it's spiral staircase which was built by an unknown carpenter said to be St. Joseph himself. The staircase is truly a work of art and a miracle because it was built without the use of nails or any kind of modern support system and was completed in only 3 months.

The Loretto Chapel holds a special place in my heart because the sisters of Loretto also founded my high school, Loretto Academy in El Paso.

Jackson was still very attentive and well behaved at this locale as well. In fact, he was good up until we decided to take a bus tour and then...well...

He got kicked off the tour! He was causing all kinds of mischief in the backseat and was diverting attention away from the tour guide so while he didn't really get kicked off he might as well have have because my poor dad had to get off the bus with him at one point so as to let the guide finish what he was saying.

I'm really glad Jack got to hear/listen/understand what the guide said during the tour because the rest of us were too flustered to recognize what was going on and Jack ended up recapping the entire tour to us at lunch.

Clearly the cub didn't care one way or another...

After a crazy tourtastrophe we decided happy hour couldn't come soon enough and grabbed a few drinks on the patio of our hotel.

All in all we had a lovely time in Santa Fe. The boy has never experienced those kinds of sights, smells and weather!!! It was an amazing 50 degrees at night and never got over 70 during the day!

While he was a bit of a punk during some of our stay you can't stay mad at this face for too long anyways...

8 Months!!!

I know, I know late yet again! To tide y'all over though recent stats:

weight: 21 lbs

height: 29''

AND...on his 8 month birthday he has taught himself how to go from lying down to sitting. Good job gordo!!!

Are you ready for some football?!?!

Jackson sure is! His auntie Regina gave him this onesie to celebrate the 2011 football season. Jack says the cub will wear it every time the Cowboys play for good luck. Based on Sunday's game though Jackson isn't exactly the Cowboys' 'lucky charm'. That's ok, he'll just be our lucky charm :)

Contemplative

The Boys Club

Recently it's been brought to my attention that I don't have many friends. That's right, Jack and my mom sat me down for an intervention and told me that I needed to make more friends. Specifically friends with kids. Oh, and that live in the same city as I do, and preferably in Jackson's age group.

I instead chose to ignore their sentiments and go on with my life until...my mom came home from Target with a phone number from some nice couple she met that had a "pretty-enough-for-Jackson" kid he could play with.

That definitely made me feel like a bad parent so the following week I signed up Jackson for all kinds of schools/classes. I even went so far as to check out a lot of the elementary schools in the area (guided tours and all!) and of course got the strangest looks when they asked me "Which one of your kids do you want to sign up for Pre-k?" and pointed to my 7 month old.

One of the classes I signed him up for is a tumbling course. Our first class was today and it went great! It just so happens that all the kids in his class (so far anyways) are boys AND they were all born within weeks of each other. DOUBLE SCORE!! Here are the boys below enjoying some floor time:

Jackson seemed to get along the best with a boy named Bennett...by get along I mean they stared at each other the longest.

After a while though, Gordo seemed more interested in the balls and the handkerchiefs. That's Pierce in the background wondering why he was abandoned by his new amigo.

The coolest thing by far this gym had to offer were the swings that hung from the ceiling....the boys definitely enjoyed that the most. Here they are staring at each other while swinging:

and J thinking it was HILARIOUS!

As it turns out these boys will all be coming to the course for the same amount of time so they'll get to see a lot of each other. Also?! I met another friend in the woman's bathroom at Nordstroms! She has a son that is 2 months younger than Jackson and seemed very nice. I told her that Jack and my mom would be so proud of me for getting a number/making a friend....hopefully I didn't creep her out too much and she actually decides to call me next week. Look at me go!

Momma's boy

As loyal followers of this blog know, this past weekend I spent my first night away from the boy at a bachelorette party for my dearest friend, Angie. It was a blast, but I missed my boys like mad!

Not that I had any doubt in Jack's ability to take care of our cub--its the rest of the world I tend to worry about. We've gotten to a point in Jackson's development where he has a bit of stranger anxiety so I feel extra bad leaving him without the ability to be comforted. I know, I know, he is turning into a bit of a momma's boy but I can't help it!

The party was a great success and I'm fairly certain EVERYONE had a good time. Saturday we rented a boat out on Lake Travis and that night we went to a phenomenal dinner and then hit the town. Oh! And do you know who we happened to run into? Adam Levine....lead singer of Maroon 5 for those of you out of the loop (mom and dad).

After a great night out with the girls we slept in (until 8:30!!! NEVER happens anymore), ordered room service and then hit the hotel pool. My sweet Angie, Kate and Megan knew I missed Jackson so they told me I could call Jack and invite them up to our pool cabana. YESSSSS!

While waiting for the boys to come up I happened to run into another celebrity...David Robinson! Nicest guy EVER--and whats more Jack, Jackson and our friend Kyle got to see him as well.

The look on the boy's face when he saw me was priceless. I think he thought he wasn't going to see me anymore because he was sooooo happy to see me and I of course to see him!

We spent the rest of the afternoon swimming in the hotel pool and lounging with our friends. Jackson did NOT want to leave the hotel, (as seen below) he dug himself into the lobby couches and was playing with all the pillows. This kid lovveesssss luxury and really, can you blame him?

Thank you to all my friends for all of your love and support and especially to Angie--your weekend was truly EPIC dear friend. CANNOT WAIT for the wedding!!!!

Jackson & Caroline

Caroline Elizabeth Froehlich is the daughter of our dear friends Scott and Heather. Caroline was born exactly one day before Jackson which makes them birthday buds and best friends for life.

Caroline lives in New Hampshire with her parents so we don't get to see her too often. When we found out they were in town and wanted to hang out we of course jumped at the chance as we missed them terribly!

While Jackson was a little apprehensive at first he slowly eased into playing with Ms. Caroline. You can see him starting to get the hang of things. The girl is an absolute pro at playing with others so when she roared at Jackson and took his toy away, the cub freaked out and started crying. It was hilarious!

Soon after playing we decided to all get in the pool for some splash time. I only wish I had taken pictures of the two babies in the pool because they were laughing, splashing and....HOLDING HANDS!!! It was TOO sweet!

We had a blast hanging out with Caroline (her mom & dad too) I really wish they lived here but I know they'll be back soon enough!