Picnic with Doggie

Tuesday was Jackson's 18 month check-up which included 2 shots and an iron test that involved drawing blood from his toe. It was a rough 2 hours at the doctor, and he yelled the entire time. I think he has figured out what happens each time we go there.
Anyway, he was still a little upset with me yesterday, so I was hoping for some sunshine so we could go to the zoo. Instead, it rained all day. So we decided to have an indoor picnic and Jackson absolutely loved it. He even laid down in protest when I tried to clean up the "picnic blanket", so we ended up leaving it out all day. I'm not sure why having a blanket spread out in the living room is so fun, although I suppose I do remember sitting on one when I was younger and pretending to be Jasmine on a flying carpet.
Of course, Doggie joined us for the picnic. Jackson got this dog for Christmas from my mom and he has really become attached. We named him Doggie to avoid any confusion, since Jackson is just starting to learn animal names. Jackson packs Doggie around the house and feeds him and shares his milk with him.

He makes sure Doggie gets lots of affection too. Sometimes I get jealous and have to remind Jackson that mommies need hugs and kisses too, which usually results in him letting me give Doggie a hug.

Oh Toyota

This is more details than you need, but seriously, last week was crazy. Feel free to skim-read.

What a week! My computer broke, my car broke, and I had to give a talk in church.

The talk was my fault. Last Monday I received a phone call from a Seattle number that I didn't recognize and my mind was screaming "don't answer, don't answer!"... but for some reason my finger pushed the talk button. And so I had to give a talk. Rookie mistake. Never answer on a Sunday (or Monday, apparently) if you don't know the number. It will always be a talk or a nursery calling.

My computer stopped working last week. It was in barely-functional mode for days. Last night we almost ordered a new one, but decided to watch for a really good deal. Today, it miraculously works fine again. I'm nervous.

And finally, we have been cautious about our Camry because of all the fuss in the news lately, but last week the Pocatello dealer called and said that the media was "making mountains out of molehills" and not to worry because our car was most likely not affected and we didn't need to take further action, so we didn't. Saturday, the accelarator stuck and Tyler hit a car. No damage was done (another miracle), but we called Toyota pretty upset. Today they took the Camry and gave us a loaner Yaris for the week while they wait for parts. The Yaris doesn't even fit Jackson's carseat correctly it's so tiny, and also, all manual locks, so I have to climb over the front seat to unlock the back door everytime I load Jackson. That doesn't work so well with a toddler. I don't know if we will continue to be Toyota loyalists after this. My faith has been shaken. But I guess it could have been worse. The computer could have completely shut down and lost all my files. Instead, it somehow fixed itself. The car accident could have been a lot more serious. And the talk actually went pretty well. Not to mention that my little brother comes home from Canada in a little over a week, and Tyler's brother is already home. We get to see him this Saturday!

I suppose life is still good.

And I think Jackson can tell I'm a little strung out, because he's been extra snuggly lately. I look dumb in this picture, but I like how Jackson is just chilling in my lap. What a stud.

He Doesn't Need Me Anymore

Yesterday we watched the playoffs and Jackson has been on a football kick ever since. He's been running around the house carrying the ball from room to room and screaming, and I'm expected to clap every few minutes.

So we went outside and played catch together. After a few minutes, I was apparently being too boring, so he showed me where I needed to sit and then proceeded to play catch with himself, as shown in the video below. Every time I tried to get up and play with him, he grabbed my hand, escorted me back to my seat, and gestured for me to sit down. I always knew at some point I would become a mere spectator in his life, but I didn't think it would be this soon.

A List of Cuteness

1. Like Father, Like Son
This is my cute little boy wearing my glasses. For those of you who have seen pictures of Tyler in his youth, he used to wear the thickest, biggest glasses I've ever seen on a child, and this picture kind of reminded me of that. Hopefully Jackson ends up with my eye sight. I only use the glasses if I'm spending hours proofreading on the computer, which I've been doing a lot of lately.

2. So You Think You Can Dance?
Lately, Jackson and I have been having dance time. Our current favorite is the Glee Soundtracks. We just blast music and dance around. You should see this kid move. He's hilarious! He has all of these really grown-up moves, probably from watching The Ellen Show with me. I wish I had video to post, but he DOES NOT perform for the camera, and apparently I'm not that sneaky.

3. Finding the Nemo Distraction
How often is it okay to let your kids watch TV? I really try to limit it, but Jackson loves Finding Nemo. He asks for it by name (Neem) several times a day, which I try not to allow too often. But is it really that bad? It guarantees me 100 minutes of uninterrupted accomplishments. Also, if I try to be sneaky and put in a different movie, he protestes "Neem... Neem... Neem!" until I change it. And he makes really concerned faces when bad things happen in the movie, and claps when happy things happen. Just look at how entranced he is. So a Disney movie every few days really isn't that bad, right? I went through a phase of watching Little Mermaid at least 3 times a day every day, and I turned out just fine, right?

4. Kiss it Better
Jackson has learned that owies are magically fixed by a mommy kiss. He bonks his head A LOT, and everytime he runs to me, says owie, and points to it. Then I hold his face and kiss it better. The other day, he fell over and hit his head again. He ran over to me in the usual way, saying owie and pointing, but when I got down to kiss it better, he beat me to it. Instead he grabbed my face, kissed my forehead, and then smiled and walked away happy. All better I guess!

5. Opening Presents
Jackson has been missing Christmas. He really enjoyed all the presents. In fact, after we got home from Idaho he ran to the Christmas tree to look for more presents, and was pretty disappointed that there were none. (Mental note for next year... save one present for when we come back to Seattle). So the other day I let him unwrap all of my nursery singing time props. I wrapped up dominos and put the names of songs on them to help the kids choose songs to sing in December. This kept him busy for quite a while, until he realized that every present was the same boring thing.



6. Join Me Please
Jackson is learning words and getting very good at communicating his wishes. Today while he was eating lunch, I was sitting at the desk typing away. He started saying "Mommy" and when I looked, he pointed to the chair right next to his high chair, while shrugging his shoulders and doing a cheesy little come-join-me smile. I responded so quickly that he's done it several times since. He'll be playing with toys and he'll pat the ground next to him, indicating that I'm supposed to sit and play with him, which I always do. I can't resist this kid!


7. Not a Jackson Thing... Sorry
And finally, my cute Tyler. The other night he stopped at the grocery store because I needed cream cheese. Then he showed up on our porch, knocked until I answered, and presented me with these. I'm always slightly annoyed when people post silly things like pictures of flowers and brag about how cute their husbands are, but when it's me it suddenly seems sweet. At least I can admit that I'm a hypocrite.

Snoqualmie Falls & Big Buh-uhs (Bubbles)

We woke up this morning and saw beautiful sunshine coming in our windows, so we packed up a picnic and headed to Snoqualmie Falls. It was beautiful. We did a little hike that went down to the bottom.

It was a little windy at the viewing area.

Jackson really enjoyed being able to run around so much. He loves being outdoors. Today was a dream for him, although he's pretty exhausted tonight.

This is my favorite. The smile and the sunshine... perfect!

This was our little lunch spot. We had to sneak off the trail a little ways to enjoy some space to ourselves, but it was fun to sit on a big rock right by the water and enjoy our sandwiches.

Jackson seemed a little nervous about the water. He kept trying to lean further away from it.

We also took a "short-cut" straight up the hill to get away from the people and the crowded trail. It was kind of fun and incredibly beautiful. Look at the amazing roots. Can't you tell how excited the boys are?

He's pointing to his smile.

I love all of the ferns everywhere.

Then we came home and decided to have a bubble party. Some of the bubbles were bigger than Jackson. My favorite part was Jackson saying "Buh-uhs... Buh-uhs!"

In between Jackson's hands and Tyler's head was a big bubble. It popped right before I took the picture, but I love how excited Jackson is.


And here are the videos. Jackson is more fun in the first one, but the second one has the biggest bubble.

My Big Boy & the Crying Squirrel

Jackson really wants to be a big boy. For example, he really likes to drink out of my glass or use my water bottle. Even if I put whatever I am drinking in a sippie cup, he still wants to drink mine instead. The other day he was really chugging from my water bottle and I was trying to help him realize that he had it tipped too far, but he didn't care. He wanted to do it his way, which is why I didn't feel as guilty when I grabbed the camera before I grabbed the towel.

Also, this is kind of random, but have you ever heard the sound a squirrel makes? Jackson and I were eating breakfast and heard a really weird animal sound on our back porch. I took this video. This squirrel sounds like a really obnoxious, whiney baby. Weird. If the video was better quality, you can actually see his mouth moving each time he makes the sound. He must be sick of the rain too.

A New Kitchen

For Christmas, I feel like a got a brand new kitchen. Tyler (with the help of our Christmas money from the grandparents, thanks!) got me a fancy pot & pan set, new knives, and nylon spatula, whisk, and tongs to go with new pans. I also got the most fantastic cookbook, The Gathering of Friends Volume 2. The authors of the cookbook must have my exact same taste, because lots of the recipes use my favorite cooking ingredients, which are green onions, cinnamon, and semi-unique cheeses. I have spent the entire week cooking, which has actually been really fun. So far we have tried Gorgonzola Crusted Steak, Toasted Cinnamon Crisps, the most amazing almond cheddar tuna melts I have ever tasted, and frozen sparkling limeade. Tonight we are making Asiago Potato Soup and Feta Cheese Toast.

I'm not blogging about this to brag about my cooking abilities. I'm really not that great at it. I'm just bragging about the cookbook. I would absolutely recommend it. They have pictures of every single recipe and I would say about 80% of the recipes are things I would actually make on a regular basis. They are not quick-fix meals, but also not so complicated that they are impossible to replicate. The directions are fairly easy to follow and the meals actually come out looking like the pictures, which Tyler was thrilled about. The other night he said something like, "This actually looks like the picture. I am loving this new Martha Stewart thing you have going on." I would like to be clear, I don't want to be anything like Martha Stewart. Anyway, happy cooking!

You can go to their website for a few sample recipes, although I don't think they posted their best recipes. And if any of you need a cooking assistant, Jackson is wonderful. You can borrow him for the evening.

And sorry for the long-winded posts lately. I promise to go back to cute picture posting soon :)

Universe 1, Jamie 0

Yesterday, the universe was against me and it won. I finally had my house clean and decided it was time to stock the fridge after our long vacation. I got Jackson fed and ready early so I could make the drive to Winco. It's about 20-25 minutes in nice weather, but worth it when I'm getting a lot. Groceries are so expensive here! About 5 minutes into the drive it starts really raining hard, so I slow down a bit because I'm scared of hydroplaining when the roads are covered in puddles. I had several near accidents, one in particular when a car passed me and splashed a sheet of water on my windshield so that I had about 5 seconds of zero visibility on the freeway! I was really shaken up and kept feeling like I should turn around and go home, but at that point I was halfway there and I reasoned that it would be more dangerous to try to get off the freeway and turn around.

I finally made it to Winco and thought the worst of it was over. I could just hang out there for a few hours until the rain calmed down a bit. I went to get Jackson out of the back of the car and noticed that he had spit up a little. That's weird. Toddlers don't spit up. And then it came, the entire breakfast, covering him and the car seat. Jackson hates to be messy. He freaks out if he gets a little crayon on one of his fingers, so he started crying. And its still pouring rain, and I'm trapped 45 minutes (with the rain and traffic) from my home. So I climbed in the back and changed him into the spare pajamas from his diaper bag, which were size 12 months, and did not fit. Then I let him climb around in the front seat while I cleaned everything up with a few baby wipes (the pacakage was almost empty) and an empty grocery sack.

Jackson wouldn't get back in his car seat because it was wet and wet is yucky to him. So I decided to just get my groceries anyway. One little girl asked her mom why the baby was still in pajamas. I didn't hear her exact response, but I could tell by the dissaproving look on her face that it was something about how some mommys don't love their kids enough to get them dressed. (I tend to assume the worst) Then, as I was checking out, some lady started unloading her groceries right behind mine even though I still had a full cart, so there was no room to unload my groceries, so I had to hand each item to the cashier, while the conveyer belt sat filled with the lady behind me's gorceries. Why are people always rude at the perfectly wrong times?

The drive home was just as scary, but we finally made it. Then it took me over an hour to figure out how to disassemble Jackson's carseat to clean it, only to find that the seat cover can't go in the washing machine anyway, so it will all have to be hand-cleaned. Plus, do you know how many tiny crevices and parts there are on a toddler car seat. If you've ever had to take one apart, they are not really cleaning friendly. It took all day to clean and then all night to put back together. Not to mention how smelly our apartment was. Thank you lemon blossom Sol-U-Mel. What will I do when you run out?

On the bright side, at least I had those tiny little pajamas with me. I almost forgot his diaper bag but ran in to grab it at the last second. And at least we didn't get in a car accident. And at least I have some cute Christmas pictures to show. Sorry for the long rant. Just one of those days.

*We left our camera at my parents house most of the break, so we don't have as many pictures as I thought. If any of the Boyds or Hawkins have any more pictures, email them my way.

No kid likes Santa at this age.

Although, Jackson's cousin Madden seems to be doing just fine with him.

Jackson didn't like his snow mobile ride. He preferred a plastic sled pulled by Grandma.

He was spoiled with attention the whole time. He's having a little trouble adjusting now that he's stuck back home with just me. He keeps following me around the house and trying to do entertaining things to make me laugh.

"These are not my shoes."

-Michael Scott

Merry Seattle Christmas

Yesterday was our Seattle Christmas. We had a big breakfast, did some babysitting, enjoyed a crab leg dinner, opened presents, and watched movies. Today is the packing and cleaning day, and tonight we are headed home for the real Christmas!

These are the twins that we were babysitting.

Jackson has a lot of fun with them.

Jackson's favorite present so far is his new train set.

Thanks again, Costco, for your Christmas genious.

Can you see the joy on his face?

Garden D'Lights

There is a botanical garden near where we live that does a free Christmas light display. We went this week and it was amazing. You walk along a little path and they have a bunch of different scenes and sculptures made entirely out of Christmas lights. So fun!

Just Like Mom

When I grow up, I want to be just like my mom, especially around the holidays. My mom is really good at Christmas. I use all of her recipes and decorate our house the same way she does. I copied her countdown calendar, and Jackson and I even enjoy Amy Grant Christmas music because that's what my mom always plays. She taught me everything I need to know about baking holiday goodies, and I'm pretty sure she learned it all from my Grandma, so in honor of them, I've been teaching Jackson. He seemed completely facinated when I explained to him the secrets of perfect toffee. And he was a very good little helper when it came time to deliver the treats to all of our friends.

Here he is all bundled up. He has his own gloves that fit, but he likes my fuzzy gloves better.

And here he is pouting because I won't let him hold the camera. Don't you just almost want to give in.

And this is what Tyler did while we delivered goodies. I guess finals have been pretty exhausting.

Chocolate

We've been very busy getting ready for Christmas, so here's a picture to hold over the grandparents until I have time to put up more. Jackson has been enjoying all of the Christmas goodies, and is very good at helping me with my baking (i.e. emptying the entire tupperware cupboard and stacking slippery bowls under my feet while I try to cook) He also occassionally insists on drinking out of the grown-up water bottles instead of his boring sippie cups, which is why his shirt is soaked.

Nutritional Project

Here is my project for this week. I am always paranoid about nutrition for Jackson, which is silly because he's a very healthy little eater for the most part, but Tyler and I are meat and carb lovers (we're working on it), so I worried about Jackson being more balanced than us. I never really know how much Jackson is supposed to be eating, if he's eating too much or not enough. So last week I got a nutrition chart from the State of Washington Health and Nutrition Department. It gave me guidelines for toddlers 18 months - 3 years. I decided to make a handy little chart for my fridge. That way, when I'm making dinner and can't remember what Jackson had for breakfast, I can see what he still needs to eat. I know that posting pictures of dorky projects like this is really lame blogging, but I put the chart on a "The Office" magnet board so that it's not quite so lame, right? I know that lots of my friends have kids in this same age range, so if anyone wants the actual nutritional information (or if anyone wants me to make them a handy little fridge checklist*) let me know :)

*The black writing is permanent marker, and then I fill in the squares with dry erase marker so that each night I can erase the blue squares but don't have to re-write any of the actual information.

Thanksgiving

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving weekend. This was the first time doing it on our own, and we missed our families, but also enjoyed having time to ourselves. Wednesday Tyler finished class around noon, so we took the bus downtown and finished our Christmas shopping.

Did you know that 90% of Americans have turkey on Thanksgiving? This year, we were in the 10%. Neither of us really love turkey and I didn't want to waste all of the leftovers, so we had honey-glazed ham and coconut shrimp instead. It was delicious and might be a new Seattle tradition.

Jackson has a new friend named Alaina. She is adorable and such a little sweetheart. Her family lives right across the parking lot, so we have lots of babysitting trades, and her parents are from Idaho so we all get along really well. We had them over for a game night this weekend and it was a blast.

Friday we took Jackson to the zoo. He loves the zoo. It's cute how excited he gets about all of the animals. Our favorites this trip were the giraffes that we saw really up close and the baby snow leapords that did some good wrestling for us.

The boys also rode the carousel at the zoo. Jackson seemed a little nervous about it, but Tyler had fun.

Then on Saturday, we went to the Apple Cup and watched the Huskies play our big rival, Washington State, in football. It was a shut out, 30-0. Jackson was so excited, he was cheering and clapping and jumping around the entire game. I think he could feel the excitement of the crowd.