California for (a late) Christmas, Part 1

All of my siblings were in California for Christmas this year, so we made the long trip out with Jackson to see everyone.  We rented a beach house along the central coast, just south of Santa Cruz, for the majority of the time we were there.  Jackson got to spend some great time with his four girl cousins!

Getting held by cousin Hannah

Auntie LeeAnn knows how to help me relax!

Grandma and Grandpa!!

Chillin' with Cousin Olivia

Helping Auntie Juliana with her phone

We had a few nice days to spend down by the water.  Jackson couldn't really play with all the sand toys without trying to eat everything, so he just enjoyed watching all of his cousins play for hours in the sand.

Rice Cereal...YUM!?!?

We noticed that Jackson was needing to eat much more frequently, so we figured it was time to start introducing food.  We decided to start with rice cereal.  It was the most mild flavor and we could make it a very liquid-like consistency that could be easily swallowed.  Surprisingly he didn't really make many facial expressions.

First Bite!!  Yummy!

He became obsessed with trying to hold the spoon himself!

He has now tried rice and oatmeal cereal, along with bananas and avocados.  The only thing he really isn't fond about is the oatmeal cereal.  He thinks it's a good idea to gag instead of swallow when he eats oatmeal.  I'm not sure if its the flavor or the texture.  Oh dear!

Christmas

Christmas Day was very quiet around our house.  Bryan had worked Christmas Eve and the days directly following, so we just relaxed on Christmas, waiting to celebrate all the festivities on a later date with family.  Jackson did get to open all the wonderful presents that people had mailed from afar. Although all the new sounds and lights on his toys were very enthralling, his favorite part was sticking each new piece of paper and toy in his mouth!!   

   
The rest of the day he spent chilling and exploring all his new toys!

New Adventures

Jackson has been changing so fast and growing up so quickly as he learns so many new things!!  He has suddenly taken a huge interest in eating and drinking.  He watches us so carefully and makes chewing motions with his mouth as if he's practicing the gesture.  He also grabs our plates, tries to grab the food off the plate and wants to drink from our cups.  We were able to take some pictures of his new interests when we stopped in at Starbucks while out Christmas shopping.

Jump! Jump! Jumping in his new favorite!  

Just a few random pictures...

Sleep Training

I apologize for not posting in a few weeks.  Jackson has been battling with Slap Cheek aka Fifths Disease for the past few weeks and is just getting past the yucky rash.  Thankfully his sweet, silky skin is almost back to normal!!  

One of the things that we have been working on with Jackson is getting him to sleep more independently.  He's slept in his own crib since he was a week old, but we always rocked him to sleep for night time and naps.  Our goal is that we could lay him in his crib awake and that he would put himself to sleep.  First, we tried this at bedtime and it was remarkably easier than we anticipated.  Once he was going to sleep consistently on his own at night, we tried doing the same thing at nap time.  The first attempt took 2.5 hours of screaming and a whole lot of self-control from Mommy.  I also learned very quickly that when Mommy goes into his room to calm him down, the moment he sees me, he understands that he should just scream louder.  I thought girls were supposed to be the manipulators!?!  Thankfully, when he wakes up from his nap, all is forgiven and he is so excited to see me!

Screaming his lungs out!

Intermission from screaming to practice his new words/sounds

Daddy seemed to have the magic touch and consistently gets him down with just 5 or 10 minutes of crying.  It has been about two weeks of doing this and his response varies dramatically.  Jackson takes 4 naps a day, and the majority of those still take about 10 minutes of crying for him to fall asleep.  Every couple times, he goes immediately to sleep and on occasion has screamed for a couple hours.  Our goal in the new year is to wean him off night feedings, as well.  

Success!!

Everything is better after a nap!!

5 Months Old

Jackson made 5 months old today!!  He is growing up so fast and his bright little personality is starting to really shine through.  I feel like he changes diaper size every three weeks, but growing just means he is a healthy little boys.  He has made a few advancements: he can pick up things with decent accuracy and bring them to his mouth, he responds to his name and turns to acknowledge sounds, reaches out to "pet" Boosie, gives juicy, open-mouthed kisses, rolls from tummy to back and can sit up by himself for short periods of time.  

We had to move his bathtub to the big boy bath tub as he has discovered splashing and will often kick half the water out of the tub and all over mommy!

Daddy got Jackson a jumper and he is slowly learning how to use it!

First time sitting like a big boy in a shopping cart!

Please forgive the abundance of pictures you are about to see, but there were too many good ones to pick a few!

He loves touching the Christmas Tree

Watching the fire in the fireplace

Mid- Roll Over

His favorite part was eating the lights! Haha