Spring Flowers

Jackson has so much personality!  Today we were able to meet daddy for lunch and Jackson made friends with every single person that walked through the door.  He spots them the moment they walk in and he follows them with his stare until they acknowledge his little self!  He is everyone's favorite in the nursery at church.  I recently got to go to the women's retreat at church and all the nursery workers were there; when they saw me, it was Jackson this and Jackson that.  They tell us he is the most chill and happy baby and just plays with his toys and watches all the other babies.  There are two little girls that he has regular play dates with and he just lets them hug on him and he just grins and flashes his pretty blue eyes. Can anyone say, "Lady's Man!?!" On a less fun note, his other new thing is to bite mommy with his 6 little teeth when nursing. Mommy will scold him and not a moment later, you see this cheeky little smile form as his eyes twinkle with mischief!  We may have our hands full with this little one...

He loves to be outside and is super observant of everything around him! Several of these pictures allow little glimpses into his big personality:

Jackson loves flowers and his doggie, Boosie!  Today he got to spend an hour playing outside with both of these things.  He enjoyed wiggling his toes in the dirt, pushing to a stand off the step and trying to feed himself, and Boosie, the flowers.  They both decided that flowers don't taste very good and are much better for smelling and looking at.

Mr. Wiggles!

It's official!  Jackson wants to be everywhere and do everything!!  He is surprising us everyday with something new; rolling a new direction, turning in circles, pushing to a stand, reaching out farther, etc.  This is very exciting, but also sad for Mommy and Daddy...there are times he doesn't want to be held and will wiggle until he gets down off our laps.  And if we resist and keep him in our laps, he is not above throwing a tantrum to communicate that he is not happy with us at the moment.  He has also knocked down the video monitor on his crib on multiply occasions as he likes to kick both legs against the crib/mattress to hear the thump, thump!  I think we are about to have our hands full!!!

Look Ma, No Hands!!

Jackson is a decent little eater, too.  He eats 3 full meals a day of fruit, grains, fruit, grains, fruit, dairy and if we are lucky, veggies (meaning only peas) and protein (meaning only beans).  He is a lover of all fruits, but has had some trouble expanding his pallet beyond much else.  The following pictures were the result of one tired little boy eating his black beans which he doesn't care for too much.  Normally, we can walk away from the table with basically a clean face, but when fatigue causes you to rub your eyes in between every bite, we were not as lucky...  

Hot, Cold, Hot, Cold

The weather in South Carolina is constantly fluctuating and you never know what the next week is going to hold.  On Friday, we spent the day and evening in shorts and t-shirts as it was in the 80's.  Jackson had his first taste of watermelon and seriously prefers eating it off the rind to munching on little, bit-sized pieces.

Then just two days later we get hours of snow falling in our yard.  Jackson is just getting over a virus, so we didn't spend but a minute outside, but he enjoyed watching the snow fall from the window.

8 Months Old

Jackson made 8 months yesterday!  He is turning into quite the little boy, full of smiles and giggle and ...this just in...protesting.  He has learned to protest by grunting and hyperventilating (of sorts, only for a few seconds).  Mostly, He will do this if it's meal time and we take too long to get the spoon to his mouth or taking too long when putting his eczema lotion on, especially on his face.  I don't think he is aware of the fact that he can move around yet.  He will scoot/crawl backwards, but only gets more frustrated when the distance to wherever he is trying to go, gets farther.  His new favorite food is peaches and he is obsessed with glasses, earrings and hats!!

Jackson loves to be outside!  He can kill hours just looking around outside and taking in some fresh air.  The front step to our house is the perfect height for sitting around right now.