Foot Bath

In the early days of my pregnancy with Jackson, Tyler was convinced we were having a girl. One time, he even talked to my belly and said "How is my little princess today?" And I said "Be careful what you say." Which is why I blame Tyler when Jackson does something girly (like crying about the dirt in the carpet). A few days ago, Jackson told me he had an owie on his foot. After carefully inspecting for slivers, spider bites, and cuts, I determined nothing was really wrong, but he wouldn't stop crying about it. So I made him a warm foot bath and soaked his feet. This solved the problem, although I'm worried it will become a nightly routine. Maybe I should bust out my old Sun Valley foot spa products and give him a pedicure :)

I will admit that Jackson helps me get ready in the morning, and he even has his own make-up brush that he pats on his eyelids while I get ready. And then there's that one time he tried to put one of my bras on... but I promise he likes to throw a football too :)

Night at the Space Needle

Friday night was a fundraising event for dental students and alumni. We decided it was a great chance to finally go to the top of the space needle, so we went. It was a blast. We went with 2 other couples and enjoyed Shirley Temples all night, and the view was amazing.

The view This was our group. We had a lot of fun together and for dinner we found the most fantastic teriyaki in Seattle. It's our new favorite.

Idaho, Valentine's Day, Family Photos

We spent a great week in Idaho and are still waiting for things to settle again. This week was filled with unpacking, cleaning, getting ready for tonight's event (more info after), and watching a lot of Lost. Somehow, Tyler and I got hooked on this show way after it was a hit. We're currently in the middle of season 3, so don't spoil it for us, but we've spent a little too much time on it this week. Next week I'm vowing to get back to normal life.

Even though we went to Idaho to see our brothers come home from their missions, somehow I didn't get any photos of either of them. In fact, I hardly got photos of anything, which probably means we were having too much fun to take them. Here's what we did get.

Jackson playing Rockband with my sister, although he just spotted the camera and put down the guitar to chase me for it.

The drums were his favorite. There's a video at the bottom of this post.

Checking the candy bowl. It was empty, thank goodness. He ate enough goodies last week to last him a lifetime.

Happy Valentine's Day. After receiving his presents, he learned a new word... "Pez!" We also got family photos taken with all of Tyler's family. I'm not sure about how the rights work yet, so I'll just post a link to the pictures for now.

Uncle Khecki

And by the way, tomorrow is the day. Jackson and Kevin will finally meet, and I will finally have my little brother back where I can call him anytime I want :) I'm sure he's thrilled for that.

Funny, Mostly Appropriate Quotes

Last night, my sisters, my mom, and I made sugar cookies so that my sister, Lindsay, could use them to tell a boy "yes" to the dance he asked her to. We waited until pretty late to get started, so we were up late and a little loopy, but we had a blast and laughed the whole night. Here's some of the best quotes of the night. We're not as mean as we sound. It's all in good fun. And it's not 100% G-rated. Just a warning. Whitney (my youngest sister): Lindsay, are you going to put a note with the cookies so that he knows they're cookies and that he can eat them? Lindsay (my other sister, the one going to the dance): I don't know what kind of idiot would look at these and not realize they were cookies. Me (to Whitney): Probably the same kind of idiot that would ask Lindsay to the dance. We better include a note. (I'm not mean. We were just joking and she paid me back later. See below.) Whitney (my youngest sister) dropped her special heart cookie on the floor and it broke. Mom: Come on Whitney. Just pick your broken heart up off the floor. (Corny, but for some reason we laughed really hard. The timing was too perfect.) Lindsay tried to make a multi-colored cookie with a smiley face that didn't turn out too well. Me: It was a nice idea, but the execution was a little shoddy. Lindsay: Funny... that's what mom and dad say about you. And finally, the night before we had watched The Bachelor and our brother-in-law-in-law (sort of) made a comment about how one of the girls was a "ho". My youngest sister, Whitney, is so sweet and innocent and must have been thinking about that comment because out of the blue she says "So, a ho is basically a prosecutor, right?"

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?