Yes, I know it has been over a month. . . .

So it has been a busy month. The day after I posted last, my dad fell through the roof of a barn. He ended up with several broken ribs and they found a mass on his kidney when they were checking his injuries. Apparently masses in this location on the kidney are cancerous 90% of the time so he is scheduled for surgery on the 17th. That is IF he gets over the pneumonia that he developed after his fall. Ugh. Oh and the day he fell would have been my brother's 32nd birthday. Now, I believe that the fall happened so we could find this mass before it got out of hand, and I believe Phillip held Dad up on the rafter and kept him from falling the other 20 feet to the concrete floor below. If you don't mind, though, say a few prayers for him next Monday morning.

We went down to see Mom and Dad the weekend of the 11th. The 11th is Mom's birthday and we wanted to see Dad (considering he had just had a four day visit to the hospital). We were supposed to go to Hanover's Homecoming on Saturday, but we were exhausted so we just headed home instead.

The next weekend was my 10 year class reunion. . .wow, I am getting old. It was also my 29th birthday. . . I can't believe I will be 30 next year. . scary. Anyway, the reunion was really fun. I got to see a lot of people that I have not seen for years. We had a lot of fun . . .not quite as much fun as some people . . but we probably felt better the next day than they did. :) It was really great to see everyone, and it made me miss being in Harrison County again. .

Okay, now on to the stuff that you came here for. . pictures of Jackson. :)

Our little cowboy. . . visiting Mom and Dad on Mom's birthday weekend. I can't believe how much Hunter looks like Phillip. . . more and more everyday.
Here he is with some major "bed head" and isn't he just adorable. . .

Jackson and I have both been sick this month . . . he was sick from Wednesday before Halloween until Saturday so we did not get many pics of him in his costume. . . here are the few that we were able to get. . .He was a little monster. We were able to get him out to go trick or treating for a few minutes but then he screamed for a couple hours. . .finally fell asleep . . .and woke up screaming again at about 11:30. I was so scared. . . we couldn't figure out what was wrong and I was super close to calling Dr. Forkin . . .then, I thought, "let's try Mylicon." It calmed him right down. . . oh I can't wait until he can tell us what hurts. :) The first one is during the day on Halloween. . . he has a shirt on that says "Don't Make Me Scare You." You can tell by looking at him that he doesn't really feel well.


Kurt has been just dying to see Jackson in his camo pants and orange vest. . . He even wants us to have some of his first birthday pictures taken in it. . . Well, we broke it out the other day and I have to say, he was too precious. Hunting season starts Saturday so I'm sure we'll be breaking it out again next weekend. Here's just a quick peek. . look at him standing up . . .he walks around like a champ . . as long as he's holding on to something. . .just not confident enough yet to let go.
And Finally. . . sorry this has been so long. . .On Monday, October 27th, Hunter was officially adopted by my parents. It has been way too long, but it is a relief that all the craziness and endless court dates, etc. are finally over. Hopefully, that poor boy doesn't have to deal with any more heartache for a long time. In the meantime, we are all ecstatic!! This has been a long time coming. . .

Just Because

Just because I think my son is adorable. . .

A Night Away From Mom and Dad

Jackson spent his first night away from us on Saturday. I was really worried about it, but it was actually not that bad. Kurt and I went to Nippers with Heather, Chris, and Sarah so we decided to let Jackson stay with his Grammy. We had a lot of fun, which kept our minds off of it, but boy did we miss him. We were both very happy to see him on Sunday morning. He, on the other hand, did not seem like it even phased him. :)

A Good Weekend

What a beautiful weekend! Kurt, Jackson, & I went to the soccer games at WEBO on Saturday and then hung out at home for the rest of the afternoon. Jackson and Wrigley have really become good buddies lately, but I think Wrigley is becoming possessive of HIS toys. Because of this, I think Jackson is extra interested in Wrigley's toys. . . probably just because we say no no that's Wrigleys over and over again. Anyway, they played a friendly game of keep away in the driveway on Saturday. It all started with Jackson grabbing Wrigley's toy.
And then . . .he taunted Wrigley with it.
Wrigley would grab it out of his hand and then when Jackson did not seem interested anymore, he would let his guard down. . . just in time for Jackson to grab it back.
Of course, then, Wrigley would go after it again. In this picture, Jackson turned around and pointed at us like, "come on people, he just took MY toy . . aren't you going to do anything about it??" It was really cute.
And in the end, Wrigley won. For once, he won!!

Oh the Fun is just beginning

Oh my . . . I don't know if I am ready for this. Tonight after school Jackson stood on his own for a few seconds. It was really exciting . .and Kurt was even here to see it. THEN, we went over to hang out with Dani & the kids (our neighbors) and I turned around to see Jackson CRAWLING UP THE STAIRS. He was a pro. I swear he looked like he had been doing it for days, and he made it all the way to the 5th stair with no help. Emmy and Ty were at the top of the stairs saying, "come on Jackson, you can do it." It was really cute, but man are we in for trouble. Looks like we might be going to buy another gate tomorrow. . .

Just out for a Saturday drive

A four hour drive . . . where Jackson threw his toys on the floor repeatedly. . .and screamed until we picked them up. He's pretty spoiled now that we have been car pooling to work each day. On most days, there is someone in the back seat with him to keep him entertained so he has learned to just scream until he gets what he wants. . . Boy was that fun!!
Anyway, our trip was to St. Louis (or close to it) to see Annie, Abby, Scott, and the new Miss Olivia. Olivia is just as beautiful as her big sister, who by the way looks like a mini Andrea. We had a really nice time visiting with everyone. Annie had a pretty full house so we did not stay long, but it was nice to see Annie. We live so far apart and I miss her A LOT. It is still so strange to think that both of my best friends have TWO girls now. We are really growing up . . . hee hee.
Abby took a little while to warm up to Jackson, but she had a lot going on . . . and after a while they were good buds!
While I wish that I lived closer to Annie and Sarah and their girls, I realize that it's not going to happen anytime soon. . . and I cherish the times I get to spend with them . . and I look forward to the times that our kids get to play together. BUT . . .I also realize that while the distance sucks, it doesn't matter how far apart we are. I have two of the best friends a girl could ask for and whether we are four minutes or four hours away, they will always be my best friends and I am grateful for that. :)

It's been way too long. . .

It has been way too long since my last post. Jackson has been busy learning all sorts of new tricks and keeping me busy chasing after him so I have not really had much energy to do anything after he goes to bed (including adding to the blog). Jackson is "talking" more than ever. He just jabbers all the time, and we love it. He has recently started pointing at things. . .all the time. Sometimes, it is easy to tell what he is pointing at but sometimes I have NO idea what he is pointing at or why. Oh well. . it's fun . .and super cute. . so I just talk about whatever is in the general direction of his finger pointing. He is getting closer to walking every day. He has started cruising pretty easily and this weekend he was standing while barely holding onto the couch with one hand.
He's also been helping with chores around the house. This usually consists of him opening drawers while I am washing dishes or crawling under my legs while I am loading or unloading the dishwasher, but on occasion he really tries to help. . . and it is too too cute. Kurt and I were cleaning the house last Sunday when we got home from our visit with Annie (while I will talk about later) and I walked around the corner to find Jackson helping Kurt sort the laundry. It was too cute.
Life just gets more and more fun everyday. I find myself looking at him when he sleeps and wondering how in the world there are mothers out there who can give up their babies. He is such a miracle and blessing from God. We are truly blessed and we are reminded of this with every smile, kiss, or sweet hug that Jackson gives us.