Four

Last year I did a survey right after Jackson turned 3. Now that he's 4, it's time to revisit the survey and learn about his favorite things right now!

{click on the photo to enlarge so you can read his responses}

You can probably tell that he was a little preoccupied with his new Optimus Prime and Bumble Bee toys. They watched us for the interview.

But this isn't a new love for Optimus and Bumble Bee just because he's excited about his new birthday presents. Before he had the "official" characters, these were Optimus Prime and Bumble Bee. And yes, he did sleep with these guys. 

• His favorite animal being a tiger surprised me as he often pretends to be a dog and is known for sniffing, licking, and eating out of a bowl on the floor. I'm not even joking. 
• The first five times that I asked Jackson what his favorite food/snack/drink-- he replied, "poop" every time and laughed ridiculously. 
• Julie is his best friend. Every time he makes a pretend call with a play phone, he calls her to talk about his day.
• When Jackson said that he loved only Daddy, he did add that "I even love myself." Eventually he came around to finding SOMETHING that he can appreciate about me. 
• Jackson's favorite movies are not only Cars and Cars 2... he went on to say that Cars 3 and Cars 4 are his favorite even though I've tried to explain that those movies don't exist. Pixar, if you're reading this, please make a new Cars movie soon. 
• VBS music-- oh yes. He got a CD of the songs from VBS this summer. He listens to it as he falls asleep and he listens to it while he plays. Every single day. And there are only 7 songs on the CD. I have heard each one about nine million times.
• He wants to grow up to be a firefighter so he can be a helper. And then he wants to be a Daddy like Derek. This was like his answer last year too! I guess this means that Jackson thinks Derek is doing a pretty good job! :)

Papa Johne made us a measuring chart! It's not mounted to my wall yet, but fortunately my library checkouts and my textbooks measured to exactly 6 inches! I never noticed that Jackson was getting so tall! I looked up last years stats and marked them on the chart as well. He grew about 4-5 inches this year.

Jackson thinks he is really big stuff now that he's four. And he even knows he's growing up so fast. Today he said, "I'm starting not to be a kid anymore!" He's like four, going on 18 I guess!! Slow down buddy! :) 

First Words

I haven’t done a milestone post on Belle for a long time! I keep meaning to, but I never get it from my mind to my computer. And now, she’s grown so much that it’s too overwhelming to break it down into a specifics, but it basically comes down to this: she’s progressing normally. {If that doesn’t shout, “second child neglect” I don’t know what does. Sorry Belle!}

Belle has turned into quite the little chatterbox. {I really don’t know where she gets it!} Not only does she just babble incessantly, but she has several words that she uses that have meaning.

• Daddy {da-DEEEE}
• Na-nee {that’s me!}
• Uh-oh {uh-ooooooh}
• All done
• Up
• Shoes {choos}
• Dee-Dee {Baby, which can refer to baby doll or her sock monkey}
• Papa
• Hi-ya
• Pop Pop Pop {when we play with bubbles}
• Thank You {Tank too}
• No {which can be either “no” or “nose”}
• Aggh {some sort of roaring sound that she uses for all animals}
• Cheese {whenever she sees me with my camera}
• Night, night {Ni-Ni}

Those words, she uses on her own. These next words are words that she can say when ask and she feels like cooperating.

• Mama {she can say Mama, but she just doesn’t call me Mama}
• Drink {dink}
• More {mo}
• Aunt Laura {Wa Wa}
• Aunt Ashley {A-she}

She can actually say any word she wants, in terms of ability. She’ll repeat things sometimes that are crystal clear and then she won’t ever say it again. She likes to talk when you are talking. So when I stop to let her talk, she’ll talk. And then when I talk again, she joins in. And it keeps going that way.
This is a clip of what it’s like when Belle wants to talk while you’re talking. "{We were playing Catchphrase}. This clip is 7 seconds… but this is what I hear, like all day.  Noisy girl!

Isn’t this girl such a cutie!?

Three

Jackson has been three now for almost a month. I'm so glad I finally got around to doing an interview. This was so much fun to do. I am a few weeks late on getting this done, but I’m pretty sure the answers would have been the same. The actual interview process was interesting. I opened a package of smarties and gave him one piece for every answer he gave me, but it was still quite challenging!



Aren’t some of his answers just so sweet!? When I asked him what made him happy and he said, “You make me happy, Mommy” he actually leaned over and patted my leg. Swoon! Then when he answered that he loves that I hug him, he gave me a big hug too. And then all the answers about his daddy, those are just so sweet! I hope he grows up like his daddy, too!

*The what makes you sad question took a couple of tries. This is the answer I got when I first asked: “My toes don’t make me sad. They are stuck! It’s hard to take my toes off!” all said while he is pulling on his toes actually trying to take them off. Where/how he comes up with stuff is soooo beyond me.
I am really looking forward to keeping up with this each year!

Here are a few pictures of our favorite little fella.

{Source}

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We sure do the little guy. He definitely keeps us busy, but he always makes us laugh! Here are a few more Jackson-isms:

• He introduces himself, “I’m dude, babe, and Jackson and I’m 3” but he says it so fast no one has any idea what he’s said. Dude, Babe, and Jackson are the three nickname he deems acceptable.
• He pronounces the “k” sound like “ch” as in ‘ch-itchen’ and ‘ch-etsup’ and he does it with the K in his name so it still sounds like “Jackshon”.
• He uses adjectives to differentiate things in humorous ways. “can you pass the tooty-mustard” {because sometimes it makes that sound when you first try to use it}. “Are we going to the bumpy church” {the church where we attend MOPS has a speed bump in the parking lot.
• He will NOT let you get away with calling our van a car. As Derek and I simply cannot grasp this idea, we often say things like “I think his jacket is in the car” and Jackson will interrupt, “It’s not a car, it’s a VA-AA-N!”. It was pretty bad when Jackson had to correct us three times the other morning as we were loading up for church. Why can’t we learn?
• He will say “open” to the automatic doors at Target when we leave. And he say's “thank you” when we pass by. Ohmigoodnes, it’s hilarious. Especially when sometimes he stands in front of the non-automatic door shouting, “OPEN!!!” and it doesn’t' work.
• He pronounces ‘hamburger’ as ‘hang-a-ber’. It’s the only word besides “Santa” that he has ever outright mispronounced consistently, regardless of correction. It’s kind of cute.

Thee year old stats:

38 pounds-- 94 percentile
37 3/4 inches-- 59 percentile

Nine months

Belle turned nine months yesterday!! She just gets more and more fun as time goes by and I just love her to pieces!! 

Dearest Belle,
You're nine months old!! You're such a big girl and SO full of personality. You are just the happiest little thing. You are way determined and don't give into my distractions very well. I think it's safe to say that you are strong willed and opinionated, but it suits you. I love watching you grow and getting to know you better each and every day.

You are wearing 6-9 month clothes, but I did unpack your 12 month clothes just because I wanted to switch up your wardrobe a little bit. The outfits are a little big, but just oh-so-cute. I just know there will be a day when I get no say in the clothing that you wear and so I am determined to play dress up with you as much as I want while I can. You started wearing size 3 diapers this month too.

Things that you like to do: crawl everywhere, stand {holding on whatever you can find to support you}, stick out your tongue, squeal, put everything in your mouth, and anything Jackson is doing.

Jackson is your favorite person. It is so much fun to watch you two play together! You get so excited when he comes in with me to get you out of your crib and you just love when you get to play on Jackson's bed after he wakes up from nap. You love to destroy his train tracks play trains with Jackson and any toy that he might be interested in at the moment. {I foresee the moment when we're on vacation and I want you to get a pretty little pick umbrella with your name on it as your souvenir, but you insist on getting a coon-skin hat and a cap gun. It happened to some other little girl I know and it drove her mother crazy. I wouldn't recommend it. Don't ask Grammy about it, K? And PS, this why I'm taking advantage to dressing you up now.}

You've been saying Dada for the longest time now and this month, you've started to say Mama and it is SO CUTE! Your little mouth is just so cute when you move your lips. I am a bit disappointed that Dada is your happy sound and Mama is often used when you're fussy. That's not cool.

Did I mention that you're a little strong willed? Well, this month you've decided that you no longer need to eat any food that comes from a utensil that I may be using to feed you. Nope, you only want to eat food that you can pick up and put in your mouth yourself. And you go totally out of your way to make sure the spoon doesn't get shoved in-- you close your mouth so tight and you squirm in your highchair and hid your face in the corner by the tray so there is no even trying. You turkey. What am I supposed to do with the cabinet full of baby food that you won't eat!? And you're appetite is just about half of what it was last month. Totally stressed me out for awhile, but you're cheeks are still chubby so I guess you're just fine.

Sleeping hasn't gone super well this month. This month was kind of a long month, really. With teething, flu shots, stomach bugs, the time change-- sleeping just wasn't as smooth as it has been in the past. Waking up multiple times a night, fighting naps... it's been rough, but we're back in a groove and you're back to sleeping better. You go to bed around 8-8:30 and generally you get up around 6am, but if I give you a bottle, you'll play and go back to sleep until around 8am.

You spent a decent amount of time being sick this month and you weren't your typical easy-going, always happy little self. But really, it made me realize what a great baby you are most all of the time! I knew you felt crummy and that made me sad for you, but I enjoyed the cuddling, because that is just something you never really do!! You even fell asleep while I held you for the FIRST time. I didn't want to ever put you down, but eventually I did. However, when you fell asleep on Daddy, he just held you so still for two hours. You've kinda got a hold on him. And me. And Grandma, Grandpa, Grammy, Papa... you're just so sweet that everyone just loves you so much.

Some pictures from this month:

{I may or may not have bribed you with an oreo so you'd be continent sitting in your high chair for longer so I could clean!}

Finally captured the classic pose- you lay like this often. It's only cute because you're a baby-- not when you're older. 

I can't believe I don't have a picture of you standing up! You love to stand up on anything you can, even if it's the chair that some other patron is using in the doctor's office waiting room! The good news {for me} is that you haven't shown a big interest in walking yet. I'm totally okay if you want to wait awhile! 

You're our little princess, Belle! We love you lots and lots.

Love, Mommy and Daddy

Nine month stats: 

• weight: 18.9 pounds (40%)
• height: 27.5 inches (47%)
• head circumference: 18 inches (91%)

Six Months!

I know I say this every month, but I really can't believe Belle is already 6 months old! She is seriously the happiest baby you've ever met (I've seen her smile while crying at times!). Also, the squirmiest. And definitely the cutest!

Dear Belle,

First off, I have to say that I love your name. I don't know exactly what it is, but I just love it. And people say such sweet things when I tell them your name! A guy at the store actually said, "how charming!" once... and it took all my restraint not to say, "I know, isn't it!?!?" Ha. Sometimes, okay often, you get called Bella-- which is NOT your name, but I try not to get all crazy about it. I should have seen it coming; Isabella was the number one name last year for little girls. Oh well! I still love your name!

I spent an entire week without you this month. It was miserable without you! I missed you and your happy smile so much. Grammy took good care of you.

Seriously, you are the happiest. baby. ever!!!! Look at this smile!

This month has been a big month for you. You started sleeping through the night 100% of the time. Yay!!! Also, you figured out baby food really wasn't that bad and actually started opening your mouth to eat! That has made meal times *so* much easier. You're starting to sit up for longer periods of time, but you haven't mastered it completely because you just WILL NOT hold still. And that leads us to your biggest milestone-- you started crawling! You are one ambitious little girl, I must say. (watch the video here)

You enjoy sitting in high chairs (and carts) when we go places! Look at you!!

You're going to sleep routine has become pretty easy over this past month. We can just put you down, unswaddled, and you will play until you sleep! Super easy. You love to cuddle with Pink Ruff-Ruff (a gift from a friend) and I have found you on more than on occasion with your head covered whether it be with Pink Ruff-Ruff, the bumper pad, your clothes... weird, but cute. You are very good at playing in your crib after you wake up and you are simply delightful when we come get you out. 

cuddling with and covered by pink ruff-ruff!

 Your schedule goes something like this: 

Awake: 8ish, 6 oz bottle
Nap: 9:30ish
Awake: 10:30-11ish, play/run errands
Lunch: another 6 oz bottle, baby food- yum!
Nap: 12:30-1:30ish
Awake: 3-4ish, another bottle, play!
Quick Nap: between 5-6ish, about 30 minutes
Awake: Playtime with daddy, bottle, baby food dinner!
Bedtime: between 8-9ish

Other tidbits: People tell me all of the time that you look just like me, even Daddy. You do have his chin, but I guess the rest is all me. You entertain yourself, and us, with your tongue (watch video here). It is just about as wiggly as your body. You jibber-jabber all of the time. (My parents would probably agree to saying that is just like me as well). And your happy sounds are very loud and high pitched. We love when you're happy, but we don't love the sounds. You really aren't much of a giggle-er. Sometimes you let out a little chuckle, but even as I continue to flail about in the same fashion that triggered the first laugh, you keep your amusement to yourself. But it does make the times you do let out some giggles that much more precious!

You chew on everything, but no teeth yet.

You have the ability, but outright refuse to hold your bottle.

And you love to swing! (outside anyway; not a fan of the baby swing)

You helped Aunt Laura move into her college dorm last week.

Belle, you are so much fun right now! Daddy loves coming home to play with you. You are super easy going and just so happy all of the time. I'm having so much fun watching you get bigger each and every day. We love you so much sweetie!