Christmas was so great---we will get our pictures on here soon---just you wait and see!!!

Its not easy to keep up with the blog some days, and Jackson is always doing something new (even if its small). Just a week or so ago, we started putting him in his jumper (I'll get pictures of that up sometime). Its a stationary play set and the seat can turn 360 degrees, so he can play with all the different toys. At first, he couldn't really reach his feet to the floor--even on the lowest level. But now, he can TOTALLY reach and has turned himself all the way around!  He loves the frog toy and while in the bouncer, Jackson has tried to eat the caterpillars on the seat cover. Now THAT is funny to see--he leans forward and tries to get those caterpillars. Ha! I hope I can catch him doing it on camera sometime.

We are all looking forward to Christmas vacation--Erick will have two weeks off, which he is really looking forward to. Who wouldn't?

These pictures are from November 22 when Jackson was blessed in church. What a cutie!! Jackson isn't a big fan of taking pictures, as you can see...The "lovely" picture of me is after Jackson leaked out his diaper. Somehow he missed the pants, and it just dripped down his leg and into the grass. In the final picture he almost looks sheepish....like he's saying, "Oops, I just peed...."

Ha!! 

Been a while, but that's only because Jackson's becoming more of a handful! Just a few weekends ago, Erick woke up, peeked at Jackson and he was on his belly (when we had put him to bed on his back, like we're supposed to) and Erick semi-freaked. Later that day, he rolled over a bunch of times (most of the time his arm would get stuck under neath and he'd just roll right back over). So, yea. He's rolling. How exciting! Now that he's way better at rolling, he will turn to his side or on to his stomach when we put him in bed...even if he's really out. Its just the cutest thing.

As you can see in the second picture, Jackson's been trying Baby foods...and really enjoying it! That picture is from his first time eating baby food. Pretty messy. Especially because Erick was the one feeding Jack. He's had carrots, sweet potatoes, pears, peas, squash and a banana/pear/mango medly. Yum!

Ahh, the joys of being a parent. 

Well, its been a bit since the last posting...I'm still working on the movie of Jackson's slurping noise...but its so exciting!! This past Saturday, Jackson starting rolling over! When Erick and I woke up, Jackson was on his belly in his crib. Erick was like, "Did you turn him over?!" Of course I hadn't. Later that day, we saw him roll from his back to his tummy and back a BUNCH of times. It was one of the Cutest things...He does this really awkward looking twisting/back arching move and then he turns onto his belly...and   he kinda bumps his head and one of his arms gets stuck underneath. And if he's not able to get his hand out to hold him self up, he'll roll right back over. The very next day, he got it to where his arm doesn't get stuck any more and his rolls are way smoother, with out the slight head bumps.  What a strong boy!

We had a doctors appointment Monday, and Jackson weighs 14 pounds, 6.7 ounces. He's 26 inches long and, apparently has a very large noggin. His doctor says that Jackson is a very healthy baby. Plus, he's way super cute. Probably the cutest baby ever...and I swear, I'm not biased. He's been trying all sorts of baby foods--squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, and pears. He's tried some cream of wheat too. He totally loves it all. He eats it up super fast. And he already tries to grab the spoon. Cute.

Of course, it all worked out---the job thing. :) Funny how its easy to worry about those kinds of things, but then you realize...you don't need to!

Jackson's asleep again.......but I really don't have much to say.

What about a story? I think I could tell one...

Well, Jackson used to hate his baths. The first one he had, he cried almost the whole time. And the next few baths after that, he cried a good part of the time too. But these days, Jackson does amazingly well. He stays nice and still (usually) and his bath takes maybe ten minutes.

He LOVES to suck on his hands/fingers/thumbs, all the time and not just in the bath...I'm sure you noticed in some of the more recent pix that he's pretty much always got his hands right by his face, if not already in his mouth.

When in the bath, he's realised that his hands are especially tasty and he makes the funniest slurping sounds. Maybe I'll give him a bath tomorrow with Erick around, so we can try to catch that on video...Trust me, its super cute.

That's not really a story, is it? 

I know this post will show up minutes after the last one, but really there was a lull in between the two...

Am I an ultimate jerk for emailing my withdrawl for that job? Cause that's what I did. I emailed. No phone call. Didn't use a great excuse either, just an "accepted another offer" line. I feel lame.

But happy about my decision. We do need some more income, but my son needs me more. Just like Erick (and Tim Gunn!) says, we'll make it work. Its far more important that I'm here, to take care of Jackson's needs....and try to fix the explosion that is our messy apartment!!

Yea, good luck with that.

So, Jackson really wanted me to hold him....and so, typing was not happening. But, he just fell asleep, so....there you go.

The past few weeks have been kinda rough--Erick's working at his old high school as a teacher's aide and he's been enjoying the work. But, he isn't making as much as we'd hoped, so things are a bit tight. We've got a few students, but ideally, we need like five more to have a better amount of money in between bills. Doesn't everyone feel like they need more money than they have, though? I mean, even if Erick had a full time--regular teaching, not aide--job, I can't help but think that we'd still be feeling pinched.

Well, anyways. So, Erick's been picking up extra work where he can--volunteering for detentions, announcing girls BB games, chaperoning dances (all sound so fun right?...well, the announcing thing probably will be really fun) Well, Erick's job is only a 10 month gig, so we were worried about making things work come summer. And then Erick opted to have his pay checks spread out over 12 months instead of just the 10...which is fine and all, but that leaves us with less now (which is important because now we don't have to worry about setting aside money for the summer) and that changes how we'd originally set up our finances...SO we could REALLY use a few more students.

When Erick got his first check after we'd set up the 12 month thing, our health insurance came out for the first time too...So, Erick being Erick (no offense, Honey), freaked a bit and said "How can we possibly make it?!" Well, heck, I don't know!

So I started looking for a job---which is CRAZY because I don't want to work AND I just want to stay home and take care of Jackson. And, like always, there's basically nothing out there. But I did find one job that I (stupidly) applied for. I say stupidly because its in Crown Point, and as anyone who lives where we do would know...that's a bit of a commute to make for a part time job. Well, they called me and told me more--they will for sure pay me 9.25/hour (lame!) and after 90 days, if things are going well, will pay me 9.50 (still lame!). BUT since I've worked in a similar position before, when I interview, they may decide to pay me more. But how much more, probably not enough to make a 30 minute commute worthwhile. PLUS having to be away from Jackson 20-25 hours a week, probably like 4 or 5 days. NOT COOL. And I KNOW they'll have me work Saturdays. Doubly Lame!! Well, after taking their customer service thingy, they wanted me to come in and I said sure.

WHY DID I SAY SURE???!?!?!!! What the heck!

So now, I'm stuck. I, obviously, don't want to work a day job and I'd really rather just stay home with Jackson. But I feel bad about committing to an interview and then just canceling. Erick tells me don't worry about it, but its hard to think that someone will think I'm a jerk for going through all this and just ducking out (I say "all this" like I've really suffered...ha!)

To make it easier on myself, I've been trying to think of ways that I could duck out and not seem like such a jerk. Here's some of my ideas:

1-I've accepted another offer
2-My husband's being transferred
3-My husband's being promoted, unexpectedly

Well, those are it....but Erick thinks that I should just call and cancel, that they don't need a good reason for me to not interview. That's valid enough, right?

These two pictures were taken a few weeks ago....Erick and I had Matt, Ali and Greg over for dinner (yay, pulled pork!) and the Bears game. (Jackson, sadly, doesn't have any Bears gear for his size now...we have a couple for next year though!!) Well, anyways. Ali was holding Jack and he was really paying attention to the game, as usual. After the, like, million-th flag-on-a-play, Erick decided to take some golf balls, rubber bands and yellow napkins (from my Golden Birthday celebration) to make some flags to throw...Erick, Matt and Greg then proceeded to throw flags at each other...and then after they'd had their fill of that, I gave one to Jackson. How cute it was when he just held on to it!! For like, two minutes!

Then, he tossed.

Good eye, Kid. Good eye.

Erick and I were watching a football game....can't remember if it was PSU or Bears, but whoever we were watching, the three pictures of Jackson and Erick are their celebration dance after a touch down. Not Sure who's more excited, Erick or Jackson....so hard to tell.

Jackson really does get into watching the game--sometimes he will get fussy if you turn him away while a game is on. But, he only seems to care about football. He never paid much attention to baseball....and we haven't really started watching basketball, so I don't know if he'd really care about that. We'll have to try it sometime.

Its pretty great that Jackson likes football---Erick really enjoys it...I mean, how fun is it that Erick's favorite game is the one TV show that Jackson enjoys? Too bad football season won't last forever.

I tried watching Sesame Street with Jack, and he just did not seem to care...granted, when we turned the show on, it was some bizarre Elmo world sketch....not very interesting.

Actually, quite annoying.


I need to get a hold of the old shows somehow. I still remember certain episodes... Like, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 !! Come on, you know how that song goes.

Almost forgot to mention the top-most pic...Doesn't Jackson look like he's floating? But he's really laying on my lap. Cool right? I think he looks so fun in this picture...

"Darth Blue-hood"...haha

Here's some more recent pics...Three of Jackson hanging out on the bed next to Dad and the other is Jackson looking SUPER thrilled about having his picture taken.

The kid is SO smart and no matter what, if you try to take a picture of him, he will not smile... he'll stare at you and give a straight face... and sometimes, he will look away or keep his hands in front of his face. What a funny guy. But, I've found that if he's properly distracted, you can capture some super great smiles....I mean, just look at the bottom pic! Great smile.

Here's a few pics of Jackson---(bottom) cuddling with Dad in the Bears fleece, (middle) chillin' on the bed in super awesome PSU gear, and (top) Jackson at his FIRST football game!!

Jackson actually did REALLY well at the football game. It was just starting to get cool outside, so we were able to stay for a good portion of the game. Erick works with the band and so he was already at the game when Jackson, Grandma Susan and I got there. We met up with Grandma Pam and as we were walking towards the stadium, we saw the kids--and Erick--getting ready for the game...and half time. So we all watched Erick for awhile and then he saw us. And of course, had to introduce Jack to the kids and faculty. :)

Finally in the game, we sat by Ali and her cheerleaders and "watched" the game. You know, Jackson really did not mind the noise from the crowd or when the band played pep tunes... He seemed really interested in the drums and percussion--and was looking for where that sound was coming from.

These pictures are from Jackson's first days out of the hospital. He looks so tiny!! He wore the cute little cow onesie home from the hospital, so the bottom two pictures are from when he was just 3 days old. So sweet!! And the top picture is Grandpa Kleven, Erick and Baby Jackson.

The first drive home, Erick was extremely nervous and drove like 10 miles an hour (I swear, he did)...plus I was still extremely sore and tired. Duh. So when we arrived home, it was a relief. We were looking forward to a good nights sleep.

I know, all you parents are laughing. We slept hardly at all. This was Jackson's worst night so far. He would not sleep for more than 2 hours and so we were up practically the whole night. But it was fine.

After this first rough night, Jackson slept pretty well....ranging from 2-4 hours at a time, which is pretty good for a brand new baby. Erick and I took turns getting up with him and that helped a bit with getting something resembling sleep.

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Starting with the picture closest to the text (#6), you see me with Jackson...I think this was our first picture. Erick, apparently, was super sweet and would not let anyone else hold Jackson until I could hold him. I feel bad that it took me so long to wake up, but when I finally did wake up, I was so groggy. I remember opening my eyes in recovery and everything was especially blurry. Oh, I realized my glasses were off. It felt like forever before I could concentrate on anything-- even though the nurses (or doctors or whoever they were) kept asking me questions. Finally, I was released and I remember seeing Erick and other family members as I was wheeled into our room. Erick then came in with Jackson and placed him in my arms. Holding my son for the first time, even as groggy as I was, has to be one of the most special moments I've ever had in my life. I immediately loved him and memorized his sweet little face. After, honestly I don't know how long, family came in and finally had a chance to hold our little Baby.

The other pictures I have here are:
5--My mom, so Grandma Susan holding her first grandson, for the first time.
4--Another picture of Jackson, not long after he was cleaned and everything.
3--Erick's mom, Grandma Pam holding her first grandson, for the first time.
2--My lovely sister Mia, holding her nephew.
1--This picture, in which I look so amazing (not) is, I think, the first time I fed Jackson.