Videos of a cute boy

 Jackson is exploring a lot of new things lately. He turned 6 months on Saturday, and he's so much fun! Here are a few Jackson videos, click on the title to go to the link.

Jack and the mysterious microwave -Jackson has a fascination with our microwave. He can't quite figure it out!
Smiles in his sleep -Sometime he smiles and giggles in his sleep. Turn up the volume and listen closely for the giggling. Also, fast forward-Nothing really happens until 2:15.
About to eat his first solids- Getting read to eat peas for the first time
Peas please! First time eating peas... not too bad!
First encounter with dogs - We went to the Gannaways for the weekend (Winter term is over!),  And had a fun weekend. They have 3 dogs, and Jackson met them. I think Jackson enjoyed having the peas licked off his face!

We're headed to DC for the summer on Saturday, and we can't wait!!!

$15 baby decor

I'm FINALLY posting some pictures of Jackson's room... it's taken me long enough (6 months...)!
So a long time ago when I was searching how I wanted to decorate Jackson's room, I was looking at all of the cute crib sets. I found that most of them were $50+ dollars, and the ones I really liked, over $75. I then decided I would make everything for Jackson's room so that it would be less expensive (besides, it just feels GOOD to be thrifty!). I ended up making all of this for under $15.
Here are a few things I did to decorate:

Curtains- I just got a queen size sheet for $5 at walmart to make this curtain. I used the extra material for the crib skirt and the fabric behind the "J". Then I bought some fun fabric at the store (on sale) and cut out circles and ironed them on.

I bought a box of buttons at the store and hot glued them onto the fabric. The fabric is just on a piece of cardboard, and I bought the ribbon for 50% off, and I also used it for the banner. 

So apparently I'm not so good at taking pictures. This says "boy". 

Hard to see, but here's the bed skirt with matching round pieces of fabric. The bed skirt has a fold down the middle, I think this looks a lot cuter in person. I also thought about making a crib bumper, but then I've read so much about SIDS and the recommendation to not have bumpers to prevent SIDS, so I became the over scared (or maybe just super safe) parent and decided not to do one. But I've read that they're not super hard to do!

These are cut-out circles of fun paper (using someone's Cricut), then I just sewed them together, spacing them apart randomly.

For the banner in the back, I just cut out triangles of the fabric I used to do the circles and hot glued them to the back of the ribbon, then hot glued buttons on the ends on top of where I nailed the ribbon to the wall. The mobile was made by an old roommate and given to me for a baby shower gift (Thanks, Erin! :) ).

Finished product!

The kid that likes to play with everything except his toys

Every day with this little guy just keeps getting better. Jackson doesn't stop exploring and observing things! He grabs or reaches for everything in sight, then inevitably sticks it right into his mouth. He has also taken a total lack of interest in most of his toys, but has found great joy and interest in the randomest of objects... tinfoil wrappers, paper, small hand-held bags, plates, lotion bottles, etc. When they're too big to put in his mouth, he spends at least 5 minutes attempting to stick some part of the object in his mouth by turning it around several times, but to no avail.  He has also been rolling in every direction...sometimes I watch him and think that he doesn't even realize he's doing it-- he'll just keep playing with the object in his hand as he does it. It is so hilarious to watch. This stage is a blast, and he has us laughing more than ever!

Here are a few videos for your entertainment:
Jackson's First Solids
Food Face Plant
More Giggles

Jackson and I also had a fun week last week! We went to Oregon to surprise my mom for her 60th Birthday. My mom had no idea, so naturally, it was perfect. I have to describe it to you because if you know my mom, the imagery will be perfect. My mom, dad, and some family friends were out to dinner, and my brother and I (and Jackson), came from Portland to Eugene to surprise them at dinner. My dad had strategically placed my mom's seat facing away from the door entrance, and my brother and I came up from behind her, held Jackson exactly where she would turn, then I tapped her on the shoulder. She turned and FLIPPED. She was so excited. She grabbed Jackson and started talking to him and playing with him, then 5 minutes later I got a hug (we can tell who she REALLY wanted to see...haha). It was a great surprise, and a fun trip!

I put Jackson in an "I love Grandma" shirt. 10 points for me!

Jackson has a 'Harley Davidson' onesie and he's showing it off on my dad's bike!

Wasssup.

Jackson has been LOVING hanging out in this carrier (by the way, I haven't figured out how to rotate these pictures in this blog, so if anyone knows how, let me know!)

Spring Blossoms! (Again, if you rotate your computer, this is an awesome picture... :) )

LOVE THIS KID.

Happy 5 months to our Jack!

5 months cute. I feel like Jackson has been in our lives a lot longer than 5 months, although at the same time, it's amazing he's 5 months old. His eyes are bluer, his hair is coming in more (although from any photograph he looks completely bald, but we celebrate the small progress...), and he recently has taken a great fancy to music and the childish songs I sing to him (heads shoulders knees and toes, Old McDonald, Monkeys in the tree, etc). I can now get him to laugh or smile nearly any time. He LOVES being outside, although he constantly sneezes when the sun is in his eyes. He is so happy. He barely gets cranky and when he is cranky, it's so cute. I love him.
We recently discovered he loves balloons. Clink on the link for the video, to see his new found discovery:

Jackson and the Balloons

Thrilled About Life

I decided this age (4 1/2 months) is my favorite age of Jackson's life so far. Of course I realize he's only lived 4+ months, and there are so many more good memories to come, but I have to say, it's a blast being Jackson's mom right now. These days he's SO observant...he looks around and observes everything like he's a detective, I can get him to giggle and smile almost regularly, he hates tummy time LESS (that's a lot of progress), AND he's been sleeping 9 to 9 1/2 hours regularly at night. LOVING THIS.

We're also looking forward to some exciting things this summer. We're counting down the weeks until the end of the semester (6 weeks) because we're heading to DC for an internship that Grant has with the American Action Forum. He's excited to focus on research and take a break from school for the summer. And of course we're thrilled to be going back to our mission area and spend some good quality time exploring DC.  I think Jackson's excited too, because he's just been pure happy lately. Life is beautiful.

Of course I can't help but put some pictures of Jackson up:

 

"Who me? Oh I was just holding this for you, mom, not eating it.

Mais, oui oui, j'adore le pain Francais!"

 Jack in his new Bumbo seat!

He looks like such a chub in this picture, but he's the most adorable sleeper.

He's a good smiler.

He likes computers already.

Here's the most recent video of Jack. Kind of funny:

Jackson attempting the Bouncer

What's So Funny?

It's amazing how much a baby can change, almost without you realizing it. At the four month check-up Jackson was 14 lbs. More than twice his body weight at birth...and I'm starting to feel the heaviness when I carry him, especially the car carrier (that's now almost solely reserved for Grant, because he's becoming such a [cute] chunk!).

We LOVE  how much Jackson laughs now. The laugh of a baby is one of the purest, happiest sounds. How I love it! Here's one of my all-time favorite videos of Jackson laughing...really for no reason known to us (actually I'm sure Grant would like to claim it's because he is so funny :) ):

What's So Funny?

Happy 4 months, Jackson!

Our Jackson is getting so big. I can't believe we have a 4-month old baby! He smiles, giggles, sticks his tongue out, reaches for & grabs things, almost rolls over, and absolutely abhors tummy time. He's also a good sleeper, but is learning (to our demise) how to get out of his swaddle... waking himself up as he does so, making his previous 7hr 30min - 8hr night sleeps into 6hr - 6hr 30min night sleeps (although we'll go in and re-swaddle him, and in a few minutes he's back to sleep. But I do say we'd prefer to sleep without the interruptions...). We might have to ditch the swaddle here soon.

Last weekend my mom was here for a couple days, and this weekend, half the Gannaways visited (Trish, Tanner, Lee). I think Jackson has enjoyed hanging out with everyone. Jackson's good at stealing the show. Here are a few fun videos/pictures we captured of him.  My brother Nate has "claimed" to be the favorite uncle...up until this point. I think this is pretty much proof that he has lost the title. Here's to you, Tanner & Lee!

Click on the following titles, and it will take you to the video:

Jackson loves Uncle Tanner
Love for Uncle Lee
Happy Jack

A few pictures:

 Jackson is now less apprehensive about Bath time!

 He has become obsessed with putting his arms in the air and just holding them there. It looks like he's cheering for someone, so we inevitably start singing the BYU fight song...

Almost big enough to go on the shoulders!