Happy 1/2 Year Jaxson!

My Jaxson Cole:

Today, baby boy, you turn 6 months old. The past 6 months have been such a change in pace/routine for me and your Daddy, but we wouldn’t have it any other way! We love you so much and will always be by your side! You are such a blessing to our lives!

What you are doing at 6 months:
- Still trying to crawl- you can get up on your hands and knees and rock back and forth
- You like to bang your toys on the table/floor/other toys - I think you even embarrassed Daddy last night when you were banging your rattle on the table at Blackhorse :)
- You also like to bang your hands on the floor and use your feet to kick things
- You love to put things in your mouth i.e. toes, fingers, toys, paci backwards, other people’s fingers
- You love to watch people talk and feel of their faces
- This morning you played with Moma’s hair while you had your bottle…precious…
- 7 ounces every 3 hours with a fruit and vegetable at supper time- you have even started grabbing my hand to put the spoon in your mouth…patience son…
- You are sitting up better and better every day
- You still sing yourself to sleep in the carseat
- Your Daddy says you enjoy watching baseball on television and Sports Center in the mornings
- You enjoy sleeping in a diaper only and will kick the blanket off no matter how many times I get up at night to put it back over you
- You grab for things much more often now i.e. last night at Blackhorse you tried to grab my plate, napkin, forks, glass, straw….before, that stuff didn’t really interest you.
- You love looking in the mirror or looking at pictures of yourself.

*Jaxson has his 6 month check-up tomorrow with Dr. Kahn. I hope that his congestion has all cleared up and it’s not in his chest anymore. He still has a little bit of a cough but appears fine and has been eating well. I will post his stats tomorrow along with a picture :) His 6 month pictures have been scheduled for August 7, 2010 and April Allen will be taking them!

"A" for Effort!

Jaxson can crawl scoot backwards now. He can also do the plank! :)

Daddy trying to help

Okay...GO!

And We're Up...

well almost...we're sitting! I just can't get enough of this kid and those kissy cheeks!! The curled toes keep him from tipping over...it really helps...try it :) I cannot believe that he will be 6 months old in 9 days!

Fun in Nana & Papa's Pool...

Jaxson has been swimming floating in Nana and Papa Shaff's pool this summer! He loves to splash in the water - horrible pics of Mommy but too funny not to post!

He's got his gear on!

He was happy as long as he had his shades on!

Nana & Papa Shaff with Jaxson

Wawa and PawPaw with Jaxson

At the end of the day...still smiling!

Why PawPaw's aren't allowed to feed...

Because Mommy has to clean up!

Summer on the Water…

Summer is definitely our family’s favorite time of year and we love being in the water! Jaxson has been in the Cumberland River and Tennessee River this year so far. He was there last year too he just didn’t get to enjoy it like he can this year :) I finally decided to try wakeboarding this year, didn’t have the “I’m pregnant” excuse and Emmett is trying to master his wakeboarding tricks. It won’t be long and we will be pulling Jaxson behind the boat (there also won’t be any other boats within 200 feet of him!)

Jaxson driving his, I mean, Daddy's boat...

Aunt Megs & Chris, 4th of July weekend

Napping after a long day on the water...

Hanging with PawPaw

07.15.2010 Update

Two blog updates in 1 day!

While I’m in the blogging mood, I guess I should update on other things Mr. Jaxson is doing. His hand-eye coordination is getting better every day! He has mastered taking the paci out, chewing it, turning it around and putting it back in. He will even sling it, pick it up and put it back in his mouth. All toys still go to his mouth. Recently I bought him a vibrating teether and he likes to chew on that. He is still trying to crawl. He can push up on his arms, getting his chest off the ground and he can get up on his knees but these two skills haven’t been put together yet. He loves playing on the floor and “talking”. Last night he “talked” for about an hour straight- it was mostly a low pitched scream or growl. He loves to ride in the stroller around the neighborhood- it usually puts him to sleep. When he was smaller he loved to be wrapped up and really warm- now he constantly kicks the blankets off. He eats 1 vegetable jar and 1 fruit jar of baby food for dinner that is followed by his 6 oz bottle. He doesn’t eat a lot of cereal. I’ve been giving him a cereal bottle late at night trying to help him sleep later-hasn’t really helped. He still loves for someone to talk to him. He loves- loves his bouncy seat and can be crying and jumping at the same time! He gets really excited when he sees his bottle and can spot the paci from across the room. He loves to watch the ceiling fan and has recently started to stare at things- I think he’s really starting to notice some details now. Last night while sitting in the exosaucer, he was taking his hand and feeling of all the toys and running his fingers along the ridges and creases of things. He likes to pat his legs, pull hair, splash in the bath tub or pool and sing himself to sleep in the carseat. He still wears 3-6 month clothes, loves his sunglasses, doesn’t mind having a hat on his head and never wears shoes :)

 Singing himself to sleep in carseat

(my truck may have "cheaper" tires on it but someone loves the humming)

Picture is blurry- will have to upload better one later

Giggle Fits & Blow-outs!

It’s usually very quiet around our house until about 6:00 a.m. through the week. However, this past week Jaxson has had his bedtimes confused and has been going to sleep around 7:00 p.m. and then wanting to get up around 4:00 a.m. to eat. I blame it on the medication he’s on- he’s had bronchitis for about a week so he’s taking a liquid albuterol, antibiotic and a steroid. Well this morning he didn’t start tossing, turning and kicking in the bed until around 5 a.m. (he woke up around midnight so I put him in our bed, bad habit-yes, help everyone sleep-yes). I decided to drag out of bed, get his bottle ready, change him and just plan on staying up instead of our usual routine-feed him in bed and hope he falls back to sleep so we can catch a few more minutes of sleep too! My chunky-monkey ate 7 ounces this morning and was ready to play. I started getting ready around 5:45 and was excited about all of the extra time I might have to get some things done. Around 6:15, Emmett comes into the bedroom holding Jaxson about 2 feet away from him…Jaxson had something brownish/reddish smeared all over his legs and feet and it wasn’t chocolate pudding!! Apparently while sitting in the exosaucer he had a nasty bowel movement and the pamper didn’t quite stand a chance. It took us a few minutes to decide what to do first, but Jaxson didn’t really seem bothered by the smeared stinky-ness. After a bath, taking the exosaucer outside and hosing it down and throwing everything he had touched into the laundry, Emmett laid him on our bedroom floor to hang out for a little while. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned our dogs very often on the blog, but we joke and say that we have 1 good dog and 1 bad dog. Nash is still in the “puppy” stage and is a little bit wilder (snatched 2 pacifiers and discreetly chewed them) than Gunner (5 years old). Nash still likes to play and act crazy while Gunner would rather lie around and sleep. Nash grabbed his toy elephant and began playing with it- slinging it all over the place and chasing after it. This sent Jaxson into the biggest giggle fit I think I’ve ever heard out of him. He had so much fun watching Nash and Gunner fight over the toy and chase after it. There have been many times over the past 5 months that we’ve thought, “why in the world did we decide to get another dog?!” It’s definitely hard trying to take care of two dogs and a baby but after hearing our little man have a complete giggle fit over them this morning- it’s all worth it! I just know that Jaxson is going to love playing with Gunner and Nash and they will be such an important memory of his childhood!

These pictures say so much about their relationships- Nash is very nosy and so is Jaxson so they will be a perfect-trouble match. Gunner isn't really impressed yet and just knows that someone else stole his thunder :)

GOD Bless the U.S.A.!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend! We spent our time at the river on Friday & Saturday and by the pool  on Sunday. Much much family time...Jaxson was completely spoiled by Monday! We watched a fireworks show in Clarksville Saturday night and Mr. Jaxson slept through the whole thing.

He is getting to be such a big boy- still learning/trying to crawl!

Other Changes: Emmett has decided to take another job that will hopefully lead to more career opportunities. He is excited about the change and we are excited for him! Good Luck Daddy, we love you!