Friday, January 28, 2011

The Waiting Game!

So this week my little family accomplished two huge milestones. The first is that we applied for our first real job! Ike and I are both graduating in April and we have started our job hunt for next fall! We applied for a job in the tiny town of Fullerton, Nebraska. If you had asked me two months ago if I would consider living in Nebraska, I probably would have said no. But when we saw this job and did some research on the town I just fell in love with it. I am really trying to not get my hopes up though because who knows if we will get it. I think this will probably be the first of many jobs we apply for. Right now all we can do is wait to hear back from them. Hopefully we will hear sooner rather than later.

The second major milestone we reached this week was....WE BOUGHT OUR FIRST VACUUM CLEANER!! Yes, it is kind of sad that we have been married almost three years and have never bought a vacuum but now that we have one I know that we can never live without one again!!! I think the novelty will wear off sometime in the next few weeks but for right now I feel like a ten year old who just got the coolest toy ever for Christmas.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

The Remote

So its funny what kids will attach themselves to. Jackson has always liked getting into things he isn't supposed to but lately I have noticed he has a weird attachment to our remote control for our TV. He carries it around and has even gone to bed with it a few times. I think this is funny because I try really hard to not have the TV on while Jackson is awake so he doesn't see me or Ike use it that much. For some reason though, he really loves it.

Best Friends.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

I wish I was awesome at everything!!!

So I see other people do these awesome things and I want to do them too. I wonder is it better to be really good at one thing or just OK at fifty things??? Anyway I am slowly trying to be good at lots of things. This weekend I made one of those crocheted headbands everyone is wearing for my sister for her birthday. I learned to crochet a few months ago and after watching about an hours worth of YouTube videos I learned how to do flowers. Here is the end product!

So Christmas...

I realized this morning that I never really talked about Christmas. This probably didn't seem really weird to anyone else because I didn't really talk about any thing in 2010. But in light of me trying to be better at blogging in general I think I should talk about it because it was a major event. Jackson's first Christmas!

I made Jackson a Christmas Stocking and hopefully before next Christmas I will make them for Ike and me as well. His looks a lot like the kind I had growing up that my Grandma gave us. My mom wouldn't let me keep it when I moved out because she wanted the complete set. Crazy.

We really didn't get Jackson much for Christmas because so many other family members were getting him things and when a kid is less than one he really doesn't need that much. He already has way too many toys.

Oh Christmas Tree!

Ike the ultimate Boston Sports fan got a new Patriots T-shirt!

The last time I made a turkey I successfully gave myself the worst food poisoning I had ever had. Luckily, this year, we were all fine!

Overall it really was a great Christmas! Jackson's first and only one we will spend in our little apartment!

Friday, January 14, 2011

Gentle is as gentle does...

So I am really trying to teach Jackson to understand the word "gentle". I watch a friend of mine's baby twice a week and Jackson gets so excited by the fact that there is another baby around that he tends to overreact a bit.

Doing great. Nice and gentle.

Still Good!

...Not Quite.

We still have a little ways to go with that before he gets the hang of it. I do think it is good that he is around another baby twice a week. I want him to socialize more. I have a feeling he is going to be one of those kids in nursery who tackles other children and has to be sent back to his mother.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

So Stylish!

So Jackson had his first real haircut a few days ago.

Hist bangs were getting way too long so I decided to just give him a trim. He really did not like the experience but he looked cute when he was done.



The next day I ended up just going over his whole head with clippers, which surprisingly, he thought were really fun. Now I know, ditch the scissors and use the clippers next time.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

You're older than you've ever been and now you're getting older and now you're older still..

So every day Jackson does something new that makes me realize how fast he is growing up. Two days ago Ike and I were wondering out loud when he would start to pick up food and feed himself. He could pick up things with his whole hand but not with just his fingers. Yesterday out of the blue he reached over to some banana crunchy puffs that spilled on the carpet and just started picking them up and eating them. He must have eaten close to thirty in a row. It was awesome. It is so cold right now. Even though we keep our thermos set at 70 degrees all the time I feel freezing if I am not wearing a bathrobe around the house over my clothes. I may look frumpy but I feel warm. On Mondays and Wednesdays I watch a friend of mine's baby while she and her husband are in class. I realized this past Monday that the next skill I need to try to teach Jackson is to be gentle. He is about twice the size of the other baby and a hundred times more excited to see him. He likes to crawl as fast as he can toward him and kind of tackle him with a hug. Jackson is in seventh heaven but I think it will give the other kid a heart attack if I don't figure out how to calm him down. He really loves being around other kids. I wish we could start looking for jobs right now. But we have to wait a little bit while Ike gets his Student Teaching underway. I guess what I should say is, "I wish we could start applying for jobs right now." because I sure do a lot of looking.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Happy New Year!

Can't believe 2010 is over and done! Christmas and New Year's were busy but great. Christmas was nice because we did absolutely nothing...except eat a huge turkey and watch movies. It was so nice. Jackson has changed so much in these past nine months. Every day I see him do something new and I realize that I really need to get on the ball about teaching him things because he is learning so fast! Ike is student teaching, which is awesome for two reasons: 1. He is getting valuable teaching experience that will no doubt help him find a job. 2. He looks so nice every day! Teacher clothes = cute clothes. So now that I am almost a full time mom I thought I would have tons of time on my hands...wrong. Jackson keeps me so busy! He moves so fast and always wants to play. I have found That I have three hours during the day ( during his naps) that I can get things done for myself. I have realized that I can't do everything but If I can do a few things every day I feel good about myself:

1. Take a shower! This is sort of pathetic that I have to put this on a list to do it but you would be surprised how fast this one gets bumped to the back of the list when you have a million other things to do.

2. Work out for 30 minutes! So I think like 99% of other new moms I am really missing my old pre-baby body. But, even if I am not totally happy with what I have at least I am doing something so I can't beat myself up too much! I have these Susan Powter videos from the 90's that are actually really awesome and I do one a day while Jackson takes his 1pm nap. Dorky, yes. But chunky, hopefully not for much longer!

3. Clean one thing! So maybe I will have time throughout the day to clean more than one thing but even if I only clean one thing I know that I accomplished that thing and I feel good! Today I re-organized the pots and pans cupboard and yesterday I cleaned the key board on our computer.

4. Play with Jackson! I never regret playing with him and he is so cute it is hard not to enjoy singing patty cake over and over for an hour.

So there are lots of other things I do that make me feel good like trying to get my scriptures read, saying prayers, putting on makeup, doing something nice for Ike, going on a walk, sewing, etc. But I really try to get those four things done every day and when I do I feel like I have really had a productive day! Lets make it through the next three months, OK? life is usy busy busy but sooooooooooooooooooo good.



Mom with Jackson: Less than a week old.



All of us on Ike's Birthday (Dec.26th). Jackson is 8 months old!