Twelve months

The time has come…  last year at this time we were welcoming a precious baby girl into our family!! A whole year has flown by and Belle just celebrated her first birthday! Holy buckets.



Dear Belle,

Over the past twelve months, you have changed our lives (beyond the sleepless nights and the amount of pink that has invaded our house). You have wrapped Daddy around your finger, melted my heart, and become besties with your big brother. I am so grateful for the precious little girl that God has blessed us with—YOU!!

You are quite the little walker these days… and you definitely don’t need my help. If I try to hold your hand, you go crazy.  You’re still a little bit wobbly, but you do okay when you fall down. You can even get up by yourself in the middle of the floor instead of crawling to a piece of furniture and grabbing it to pull yourself up!

Girl, you love to make noise. You like to scream, squeal, babble—anything that makes a noise. And it’s generally loud. You say “dada” a lot. You’re first word that you always use in context is “Uh oh” and it is soooo cute! Sometimes you don’t even open your mouth to say it! Daddy taught you how to say “Hi” this week and that is super sweet as well!

And while on the topic of speaking, you started signing this week too! You can sign “more” when you want another bite. We haven’t worked on other words very much, but I expect you to pick up on them soon.
You’ve gotten another tooth on bottom, so you’re up to five teeth total. You eat whatever we eat for dinner. You’re favorite food is—well, it’s not a certain food. It’s just anything that comes out of a chip bag. I am so not kidding. Even if I hand you a chip off my plate, if it didn’t come out of the bag it is worthless to you! I have even put fruits and veggies in a chip bag so you would be excited to eat! We’ve made the switch to milk instead of formula and we’re exploring different milk options to make sure we avoid lactose.

Needless to say, I feel I must mention that you are pretty strong-willed, opinionated, determined… whatever word you’d like to choose. Please refer to the above pictures: the one with the drill—yeah, you wouldn’t cooperate without the drill. The one with the scowl, that’s your “I’m not happy with you” face. Do you see the attitude!? You are rather sensitive and a bit dramatic at times. I know you’re one, but I am amazed at how little girls are so different from little boys.

You love stuffed animals and you sleep with certain ones every night. Your favorite is pink ruff-ruff {a gift from friends}, but it’s looking a bit dingy and because it has a music box in it, I can’t wash it. So we are transitioning to a sock monkey you got for Christmas. You have started sleeping through the night more consistently. Only once or twice a week do you wake up in the middle of the night. You totally prefer to sleep in your own bed {me too, I can’t blame you} but you are quite ridiculous about when it comes to sleeping in a pack and play at my parents house.

But even so, you are still such a happy baby. Totally cute and super sweet!! You give the best kisses, even when they are wet and sloppy or if it’s just your forehead making it’s way to my lips. I love it all! We love you more than we can ever express into words and it is so much fun to watch your personality bloom!

The messy eater phase—but you’re just so darn cute! Look at that smile! {and the little ponytail that sticks up on top!}

You love the water, both at the pool or in the bath! It’s a great
cure for a cranky baby.

Last week at Jackson’s doctor appointment, you walked right over to the sucker basket and helped yourself! I let you have it after you worked so hard at pulling that off! You were definitely proud of yourself.

I love this picture from the park. You totally love to walk around and climb and play! When did you get so big!?

Belle, you bring so much joy into our lives and into the lives of everyone you meet. I pray that you never lose your radiant smile and positive energy. Sometimes I wonder how I am going to keep up with you, but I would never, ever want to change you! I am so blessed to be your mommy and I hope you will always know that. You make the world a better place; we love you. –Mom and Dad

{First birthday party pictures coming soon!}

One Year Stats:
Weight: 20 pounds - 29 percentile

Height: 28.5 inches - 27 percentile

It's Pool Time

The City of Belton just built a brand new pool! It opened yesterday and so my sister Ashley and I took the kids! It was so much fun. 

Jackson splashed Ashley and she was all like, "what did you do that for?" Uhm... you're in the water!!! You're bound to get wet sometime!

Belle and I hung out for a little bit before getting in. She's anticipating the fun!

This is her new way of sitting in the stroller... slouched with feet up! She never puts them down.

Jackson loved the play thing in the middle of the kids cove and going down the slide

but he didn't really like the process of getting to the play set... he walked the entire way covering his eyes, sometimes running into things. Humorous.

And he loved the fountains too, of course.

Aunt Ashley took Jackson for several rides around the lazy river.

Jackson ended up being too short to reach the rope to climb across, but Ashley did it. 

Time for Belle to enjoy some water fun!

First, we went on the lazy river together

And then she played in these super cool little seats! They are perfect for pre-walkers!

I mean, look at the girl... she is totally just chillin'.

And this is how far we have to travel to enjoy some of this pool fun... this view is from our front window.

My housing location just got THAT much more awesome (especially since I still live on a side road, so it's still calm and quiet). Be jealous.

Loose Ends

We are having a great time down in Springfield visiting friends and going cool places. The best part is that we still have two days ahead of fun before we head home!! I didn't bring my card reader to upload pictures of what we've been up to over the past weekend, but I have some loose ends to cover from last week!

Jackson had his first sleep-over on Thursday night. Elizabeth had to travel that night and I volunteered to keep Chacey. I took them to the community center that night (we all know swimming makes kiddos tired!) and they had a super fun time. They were both asleep by 8:30 and were so excited to see each other first thing in the morning.

I took Jackson to get another haircut. It seems like I just took him in for his last hair cut, but I guess that's how it works with little boys. I told her that I wanted it pretty short so it wouldn't be in need of another haircut in just a few weeks. She did a great job. I'm still adjusting to his hair being so short, though. It makes him look too grown up! You'll get a good look at it when I put the pictures up from our mini vacation.

We went to Sports Cuts and he loved that football was on TV... and all of the attention the ladies were giving him!!

Jackson had his 2 year well-baby check up on Friday. I am SO excited to be back at Jackson's original doctor (we had to chose a new pediatrician when his hospital system dropped our previous insurance). Jackson was pretty funny throughout the appointment. He sat really still when Dr. Munger came into the room and just eyed him up and down for the longest time. He eventually warmed up to him and called him Papa.

Jackson has continued to impress me so much with his level of understanding. I explained to him on our trip there about what would the doctor would be doing. And while we waited for the doctor after the nurse came in, I showed him what the doctor would use to look in his ears. He was completely compliant throughout the entire appointment! Even when he got his flu shot, he just looked annoyed but went right back to looking at his book. He is completely healthy!

Height: 34 inches (50% percentile)

Weight: 31 pounds (80% percentile)

Down at the lake

We were invited to the lake this weekend by some awesome friends. Here's a recap:

The beautiful sunset view from the boat

Chillin' in the boat, eating lots of junk food!!

Taking some time to jump out of the boat for a swim in the middle of the lake!

And Julie had tons-o-fun tubing for the first time

Jackson got to spend some quality time with his Grandma and Grandpa while I had a wonderful relaxing weekend with friends. Not only did we enjoy the water, but we stayed up late watching movies, eating wonderful food cooked by HanNah, and cracked ourselves up at the dinner table. Julie even got herself her very first American boyfriend... of the completely smitten five-year-old type. Boy, does he have it bad!!

Summer is almost over... school starts in one week! If only someone would tell the sun to give it a rest. We have a forecast with 100 degree temps in the forecast all week. UGH!

 

Work, play, and the list

We spent a lot of today getting stuff done around the house. Derek got up early and mowed- Jackson helped. He also cleaned out the gutters, which are less than six months old and already had little sprouts growing in them. Ugh. This evening we cleared out several boxes and organized some of the stuff we still haven't unpacked.

Jackson had a playdate with his friend Kate yesterday. He was less interested in sitting and playing with her than he was in running around into the neighbors yard. Oh well. Isn't her little strawberry swimsuit just so cute? Someday I will have my own little dress-up doll daughter, fingers crossed!

I've been working on the list. The Power of Attorney is put together and ready for us to sign and the will is almost done too (we just have to sit down and make our 'picks'). I put a call into the lawyer whose office was down the hall from when I worked with my dad and it literally took maybe five minutes. And he offered to do it at no cost. What a blessing! So I've crossed out two things on the list, but we've now decided to try to finish the basement before Derek leaves, too-- two steps forward, one (major) step back. At least it's progress!

Do you have your tickets yet?

... to the gun show?

Look at this kid show off his muscles (if you can take your focus off that big belly). Okay, well maybe he's just scratching his head, but that doesn't make for humorous picture captions.

The January Pool

Last winter, Derek and I were on a routine trip to Walmart when I happened to see some cool summer stuff on major clearance. Derek questioned, probably even mocked just a little, the fact that I wanted to purchase a pool in the midst of the worst winter the midwest has seen in years. But now that we have an awesome little pool sitting in our driveway that is now selling for $30 (we payed a whoppin' $3!), he thinks it's pretty cool.

Jackson helped fill it up with water.

He's got a deer in the headlight look on his face-- but it was the only pic I had of him actually looking at me. Little stinker.

The pool came with 4 inflatable butterflies that velcro onto the palm trees. How handy! I love that the pool has a top to help keep the sun out, but it still allows enough sun through to help warm up the water. Needless to say, Jackson loves his pool. He's played in it now four times in the past three days- and once, he even climbed in his regular clothes. He refuses to sit in the water, but he likes to splash water everywhere. I'd say it's a pretty good investment for only a couple dollars!!

It's July... already?!?

Jackson has grown in leaps and bounds this past month. He is now crawling, pulling up, and feeding himself! He started saying Da-da right around Father's Day- perfect timing! In fact, Jackson has turned in to quite a Daddy's boy. When Derek is home, he wants to be with him and he doesn't want much to do with me!

A couple of months ago, I wrote about a time Jackson got into the cookie container and was most excited to find napkins and didn't even touch the cookies. Well, he found a cookie and managed to eat the whole thing, while smashing chocolate chips into the carpet and all over his new, white shirt. I'll be sure to add a picture once I find the cord to upload them to my computer. He was a MESS! But, he was happy.

Jackson has been swimming several times and he still loves splashing and kicking in the water. We went to a Royals game in the middle of June. We lost, but seeing the new stadium was cool. Plus, I got a really cute, pink (with rhinestones) Royals hat.

Our 3rd Anniversary was June 10th and to celebrate, Jackson's little cousin was born. Jackson was pretty intrigued by little baby Gabe when we went down to visit. He loves looking at babies and older kids. It's so crazy to think back to the time when Jackson was brand new and teeny-tiny. It wasn't even that long ago and now he is a babbling, crawling, busy little man!

One weekend in June, Jackson spent the night with my mom while Derek I went down to the lake with friends. My mom loves having Jackson spend the night and Derek and I had wonderful conversation on the drive. It was such an amazing weekend. It was relaxing and fun, despite being achy for a week from skiing.

At the end of May, we put an offer on a house in Belton and the contract was accepted in the beginning of June. This house is in dire need of TLC, but we are very excited about having a house of our own! We got an excelent deal on the house. It was a HUD foreclosure and has some pretty big issues to fix, but it's all do-able. We will close on the 17th of July, but we won't be able to move in right away. There is just too much to do. I am hoping that everything will be finished by October, but we definitely plan on moving in as soon as its liveable. Some of the work to be done: removing mold (which has gotten worse since we bid on the house), fix the crack in foundation, new siding, major plumbing work, grouding all electrical outlets, new cabinet doors, new widows... just to name a few. Call if you are extra eager to help! :)

We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. On Friday, we went to my parents and Derek's parents joined us that evening. We had a good time all hanging out together. It is SUCH a blessing to have our families close by and that they not only get along, but enjoy the others company. Derek and I were FINALLY able to go Transformers on Saturday. I swear we were the last to see it. Pretty good, thought I still like the first one better. Saturday evening, we grilled at Derek's parent's place and ended up watching the neighbors fireworks from the roof-- it's a great view up there! We finished out the weekend over at a friends house on Sunday evening. Fellowship with friends is such an enjoyable time!!

Videos and Pictures

We've had a lot of fun lately, so we've taken lots of pictures. I've even uploaded a few videos so you can see just how much he has grown! This past week, Jackson crossed over into his seventh month. I can just hardly believe it!

On Memorial Day weekend, Derek and I spent some time up at my parents house and we really enjoyed ourselves. The company is nice plus the food is always wonderful! And randomly, an old friend happened to be driving through the city, and she stopped by and we had a wonderful time visiting! What a surprise! Last weekend was also Jackson's first time swimming-- and he loved it! He splashed and kicked and was just so happy to be in the water- even when he got water in his eyes. I think we have a young Michael Phelps on our hands.

More swimming pictures

I'm still working part time hours at the daycare at church and Jackson has a little friend named Keliko who is one month younger. Both of these boys are so easy going and I really enjoy taking care of these fellas while I'm at work. Plus they are so super cute and give out lots of smiles.

Jackson and Kel

Going for a walk- Jackson was real concerned about missing
what was going on up front!

More Pictures: The most recent pictures are at the end of the album

Derek and I had our Sunday School kids over on Friday night for a game night party and everyone really had a good time. They played Apples to Apples, Spoons, some games on the Wii, and we had a Sorry! tournament. Click Here are some pictures from the party.

Now for the videos:

We had to lower the mattress in Jackson's crib when he started to pull up!

Jackson and his toy



Jackson LOVES to play with Mia and
she is so patient to let him get away with it!



Aunt Laura really had Jackson laughing!