Washington DC, Day 2

We started off our second day with an early brunch with Mommy's good friend, Laura, just off Capitol Hill!!  She had never met Jackson and we had a lovely time together with great fellowship and yummy food!  Then we headed a few blocks over to the National Air and Space Museum to meet up with Daddy's good friend, Lindsey.  She had also never met Jackson and we had a great time catching up and reminiscing about old times together.  This will be a really fun place to go back to with Jackson one day...all the airplanes and spacesuits!!

US Capitol

Jackson also got some quality time with Uncle Joshie and he quite enjoyed the view from being carried around.  Uncle Josh didn't mind hauling the 20 pound little man around as we walked from monument to monument!  Jackson found Josh's collar and zipper particularly fun to chew on as he tested out the strength and might of his two little teeth!!

Washington Monument

World War II Monument

Lincoln Monument

Korean War Memorial

Vietnam War Memorial

White House

Jackson was a trooper.  He had few and short naps throughout the day and stayed up well past his bedtime for the second night in a row.  By the end of dinner, he was on the verge of a complete meltdown.  I think he was fast asleep before we even left the parking garage!  

Washington DC, Day 1

Uncle Joshie was back on the East Coast for a work conference this past weekend and the three of us were able to head up to the DC area for a visit.  Although Jackson is too little to really appreciate the sights, he sure loved having all the extra attention from family, friends and random strangers!!  

We were on our own for the first day and it was cold, so we spent the majority of the day in museums.  We visited the National Gallery of Art, Modern Art Museum, Sculpture Garden, Holocaust Museum, and finished with the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial.  Jackson got lots of quality stroller time and made friends with all the museum docents.  I think he made each of their days!  He even was declared a future artist by a local who was painting in the one of the galleries.  

Around mid-day we stopped for a local lunch of lobster and crab rolls.  Jackson would have gladly partook of such yummy seafood, but he had to settle for one of his own favorites, peas!

You can't see Jackson in this picture as he has fallen fast asleep in his stroller as the long day wore on and yet we were still out and about even though it was his bedtime.  

  

Playtime

Jackson is getting better and better at playing with his toys!  He still primarily plays with things by putting them in his mouth, but he is also starting to turn them around, switch from hand to hand, throw, drop and tug at toys.  

The weather has been nice lately and Jackson has really enjoyed getting to play outside while Mommy does yard work.  When outside, he will be content for two hours without needing any reassurance from Mom outside of being able to glance up and see her on the other side of the screened porch every once in a while.  He changes his attention from his toys, to watching the birds fly, the leaves waver in the wind or his favorite, watching Boosie run around the yard.    

There is a string that is attached to his dump truck toy and he loves to pass the string back and forth between his fingers and then to stick the string behind his teeth like a piece of floss and lightly tug on it.    

7 Months Old

It is difficult to wrap our minds around the fact that our sweet little one is already 7 months old!!  It has been such a sweet couple months with him learning so many new things and showing his little personality as he gains the ability to move and communicate better with us.  He laughs and smiles much more frequently, but has also learned to grunt and yell on the other end of the spectrum.  Sometimes he yells just to make noise and other times he yells in protest.  He also makes distinct sounds like "g's," "m's" and "d's."  

He still does not move around of his own volition, but is starting to get frustrated when he's on his stomach and can't move towards something when he wants to.  The doctor says that he is definitely strong enough to crawl, scoot, stand, etc but gaining the right coordination or simply realizing that he can move, has yet to propel our little one forward.    He has grown in his ability to grab and hold onto things.  He especially likes to grab hats, glasses, jewelry and doggie ears.

  

He wavers on sleeping through the night and his willingness to eat solid food, but we know those things will consistently come with time.  We are just so very thankful that our little fellow is almost always in good spirits!!