Weekend

What a fun weekend we just had. Jay was home Thursday night as usual and then Friday we spent running around and being productive. Lots of errands but for some reason errands with the three of us are really fun:) Saturday we went to see cousin Ashley at work at Uncle Julio's and had a really yummy brunch. Then Saturday night we went to the "Barbecue with the Brits" at the Hirst house. Damian's family is in town from the UK and so they had a dinner to celebrate. The food was delicious (think home made tiramisu and trifle) and the company was great. It was the first time some of us that were at the wedding got to see Damian's family and we definitely enjoyed it. Adrienne even made a really yummy special chicken burger for Jax and Ellie only Jackson was on a food strike and refused to eat it. Thanks so much to Adrienne for making it though! We ended up putting Jackson down at the Hirsts so we could stay later than 6:30. We have done this plenty of times and he does really well just going back to sleep at home. Not last night. . .
We got home around 11:40 p.m. and he didn't got to sleep until almost 3, yes 3:00 a.m. He cried in his bed forever and then we moved him to our bed. It was a mess that ended with Jackson having me to sing "lullaby" to him, Lennon, Mia, Sissy and Papa. So, after the long version of the song he finally went to sleep. Jay was a super champ and got up with Jackson all 3 days this weekend. I need to think of a really good fathers day gift for him!
Then today after church (and a nap) we went to Nana and Papa's house to hang by the pool and ended up staying for dinner. It was a great day and the weekend was also really nice despite the few extra hours of "family time" Jax gave us last night:)
On another note (and mostly for my memory. . .feel free to skip this part) Jax has been using the potty on and off since he was 17 months. He had gotten to where he would only use diapers while he slept and then while the Francis family was here he barely used the potty at all. Then a few days before they left he wanted to go in the potty again. I have not encouraged this (b/c I think he's too young) but he tells us every time he has to go and so we're just seeing what happens. The great part is that we are saving lots of money on diapers because he hardly ever goes in them these days.


Adrienne being the perfect hostess, can you even tell she's pregnant?



This was the first time we had been able to see Natalie's sweet (and tiny) baby Molly.



All of the men hanging by the grill.



The lighting isn't great on this one but Jackson loves Ellie's play room.



A very excited Ellie.

Calm and Collected

I've been complaining a little lately about Jackson's new wake up time of 6:30 or 7ish. I was getting so used to 8:30 and the losing of 1-2 hours is killing me. Yes, I'm a huge baby. Anyway, he has also been extra energetic lately (and for some of you who don't think "extra" is possible with Jax, it is). But tonight after a really fun evening of playing and swimming he was the lucky recipient of 45 minutes laying in the hall bathroom with pillows all around us while the tornado sirens were going off. Typically when the sirens go off I don't freak out but tonight when Jay called and I could hear the weather man say that there was a tornado "off of 75 and parker" I decided to be safe rather than sorry. Poor little Jackson just laid there. . .under blankets with out so much as a squeak the entire time. He was holding the flashlight and looking at books and being the calmest I have ever seen him. Sadly, I think it was because he was so scared but it was amazing that he could be so great under pressure:) Finally when I was talking to Jay on the cell phone Jackson did talk to him and then put his head on my chest and say "ok mama, ok." So, while I hate that Jax had to be scared. . .or up 45 minutes past his bedtime, it was interesting to see him act in such a different manner. Also he insisted on taking all of the books we read into his crib with him this evening. Maybe he'll spend a few hours in the morning reading them:)

Some cute pictures of Jackson from tonight. . .I thought these really showed his sweet and funny personality.

Jackson Coloring

Jackson loves to color. Why would he want to either sit on the sofa or on the floor when he can lay across the sofa and coffee table! This is the only way he will color. Funny little dude!

Talking to Daddy

Jackson loves talking to his daddy on the phone!

Jack and Luke

On Friday our good friends Matt and Joanie came over with their 8 month old son, Luke. They are thinking of moving and we are really hoping they end up in Plano! It was so nice to see them and the boys were so cute together. Unfortunately Jackson had a pretty tough few hours in the afternoon but Luke was a champ. Jackson even spilled water all over Luke at lunch and the poor little guy just hung in there. . .and with no nap!

Isn't Luke adorable?



Jackson is showing Luke where his eyes are in this shot. Luckily he didn't poke him!



Jackson LOVED Luke and kept asking to hold him.



They are so cute together!

Meeting Baby Myles!

Last week we finally got to meet baby Myles Matthews. Jackson adored him (as expected) and I got baby fever from holding sweet little Myles:)

New Phrases. . .and stuff

Jackson is talking like mad these days. He will basically repeat anything we say. My memory is not great these days but here are a few phrases from the last month or so:

Make Bread and Butter

No Kidding

Oh Man

Oh no not that (last week he said this when he climbed on top of his play kitchen and it toppled over)

Awesome

please buy that (sometimes with the word "now" at the end)

Jackson buy that (Lennon taught Jackson the value of commerce and buying things:)

Pray now

Amen

Jesus (gaga taught him the sign for Jesus as well)

Jackson play playground

Sit down

Stand up

All Right

I need that

Bunnies outside

Dogs outside (basically any animal and outside)

Ride bicycle outside

Eat eggies and mok (milk)

Jackson hungry

Jus jerking your chain (after I told Jay I was just jerking his chain Jax has started saying it. He has no idea what it means or when to say it but it's still funny)

Poor little guy

I love and then any relative or friend

Jackson baby bottle (he says this when he wants to feed a baby a bottle)

He has always said "mmmmmmm" for snuggle but I'm not sure if I have put it on the blog.

His happiest times are when Jay and I are both with him. He lays in bed and says "momma dada mmmmmmm" several times and then says momma and waits for me to say yes and then says dada and waits for the yes and then grabs our faces and snuggles the 3 of us together.

go bye bye dada (he wants to go with jay everywhere)

See Ellie/Baby(Cora)/Meme Enin computer (each morning when he wakes up he wants to
check those 3 blogs and have me read to him and look at the pictures.

Another funny thing he started doing last month is saying "dada, dada, dada. . .JAY!" so if Jay doens't answer fast enough Jax drops the dada and uses his name. While the Francis kids were here he would also try "Uncle Jay."

Dare Devil

Jackson is such a dare devil these days. Actually, I can't really act like it's new. Last night Gaga came over and Jackson was doing his usual jumping off of the coffee table either onto us or onto the floor to belly flop. He started doing this weird thing where he would shake his arms and move his shoulders and his body back and forth. He was dancing for sure but in the strangest way. Then he started jumping off of the coffee table again. Again never with any warning but this time he was jumping BACKWARDS. Yes, backwards. That is my son whom I adore and who makes my blood pressure rise a little each day.
Anyway, part of our bedtime routine is to watch 5 minutes of the Presidents Day episode of the Ellen show. Jackson loves the dancing and the talent on that particular episode. Anyway, as soon as we turned it on we realized that the shoulder thing he was doing was the Ellen dance. It was hysterical and he started doing it agian as soon as it came on the TV.
Today he was doing his jumping again but this time off of the stool in the front yard. I was doing my best to catch him as he randomly catapulted towards me but he was getting very frustrated. He then laid down on the concrete and let me know he was upset b/c he wanted to belly flop like he does inside the house. Dear Lord-please let this precious child not do so many things that can permanently damage his body!


Here is Jackson not appreciating me bringing him in after saying no to the concrete diving.



At first he was not excited about me putting pillows on the floor for him to jump into.



Those dimples get this little guy out of a lot of trouble.




Here's an action shot of Jackson mid jump:)

Lunch at Papa's Office

Last week we also had lunch at Papa's office. This picture shows how crazy it is to take kids to lunch during nap time:) It was fun though, thanks Papa!