House pics . . . for Kerry!

Jackson's nursery and Jackson's bathroom

So, here is the most important room in the house! It definitely took the longest to decorate since it is the only room we painted. We could have left it the neutral shade that it was but our little guy deserved his blue nursery. So, we painted his room for the second time (and he is only 5 months old)! He also has an attached bathroom and I found the cutest jungle towels for it. I also got monkey hooks for the shower curtain but you can't see them in he pics.

Master bedroom (and Maggie) and Master bathroom

The living room, dining room, and foyer

The kitchen and breakfast area

Russell's office (aka the "Man Room")

Kind of a mess and not the best pics but I was trying to get the house pics posted. I will vouch for Russell on this one, it is usually not so messy!

Guest bedrooms and bathroom

Crazy boy!

You can't take your eyes off this boy for a minute! He is so active. He can't sit still. I walked away for two seconds and I returned to see him like this! He loves to roll over. I guess he was trying it out in his bouncy. Crazy boy!

Happy 5 months!

Yesterday was Jackson's 5 month birthday! Here are a few pics. I can't believe he will be 1/2 year soon!

Cleaning and organizing the new house has been keeping me very busy. I'll post new house pics soon!

Moving Update

I just wanted to give everyone a quick moving update. Things went really well. I can't think of anything that was lost or broken, yet. The movers unpacked most of the boxes. Some boxes were holiday decorations and things to go in the attic and it was easier to leave those in boxes for storage purposes. Nevertheless, the unpacking went smoothly but the organizing and decorating is taking much longer than our last move. Having the little guy added more stuff than I realized.

Speaking of Jackson, he is doing really well. He is sleeping like a champ. I guess having his own bed is making a huge difference. He is sleeping for about 11 hours at night. He got to a point where he was waking up at 2:30 but he only did that the first night at the new house. Perhaps all the moving is exhausting him as much as it is exhausting Russell and I. Jackson has had a few milestones since we have moved. He started waling in his walker. It is slow but he can do it. He is also eating like a pro (no surprise there)! Finally, he and Russell went for their first jog in the jogging stroller. I have been taking pics of everything and I will post them later.

Speaking of pics, I thought of one thing we did lose in the move - my cable cord to download my pics! Not to worry, we ordered one on Sunday so it should be here soon. My old cord will probably show up once the new one arrives!

Mimi and Poppy are flying in tomorrow to help with the house and to see Jackson so I will post pictures after that. That's all for now!

Pictures of pictures

I got the pics of Jackson and I framed and I thought they turned out so well. Since most people won't see them, I decided to put them on the blog. They don't look big but the top picture is a 10 x 13 and the bottom are two 8 x 10s. Now, I just need Poppy to get to Lubbock so he can hang them up!

Yeah Meryl!

I am so excited that my good friend Meryl finally broke down and started her family blog. Check out the McLendon's site. The link is on the right!

Move-in Day

Keep your fingers crossed for us. Today is the big day!

Jackson's new vices

Jackson loves to pull my hair and he is starting to stick out his tongue. Isn't he funny?!?

Russell's first attempt at feeding Jackson

So, the first video of Jackson eating was a little better but it was too large to download. Here is the first time Russell attempted to feed Jackson. As you can tell, he needed a few pointers but they quickly got the hang of it!

Horseshoe Bay, Fredericksburg . . . and a little Luckenbach?

Good food (and a special anniversary cake)

The wineries in the Texas Hill Country

Hanging around the hotel

The German Pub

Luckenbach

Finally, poolside . . .

Pictures of Jackson's first bites

We took the cutest video of his first bites but it is too big to download. We will have to take a shorter video for the blog. For now, you can see pics. As you can see, he had no problems with the rice cereal! He had been waiting for his turn to try some real food!

Welcome to the World Eliza Claire

Today our friends, Rachel and Spencer, had their baby girl. Eliza Claire weighed 7 pounds and 15 ounces and was 19 inches long. Luckily, we got to see Rachel and Spencer this past weekend in Victoria. We are so excited for you guys and we can't wait for Jackson and Eliza Claire to meet! Also, great job on getting pics out so quickly! We can't wait to see more!

First adult only trip

Today, Russell and I leave for our first trip since Jackson was born. Russell surprised me with this getaway several weeks ago as a 4 year anniversary trip. He scheduled us to go away for three nights! I definitely have mixed feelings. I am so excited to get away. We are going to Horseshoe Bay which is where we went for our second anniversary. But, I am sad to leave my little guy! I haven't left him for one night much less three! I know he will be well taken care of by Mimi and Poppy but I don't want him to think his Mommy left him. The trip will give me a chance to catch some rays (and some zzzs) and I know it will make me a better mommy to get a little break. I guess all parents go through this. Hopefully I can relax and enjoy the weekend. It helps that we will only be an hour from Austin. We'll see!

Labor Day Weekend

Don't you wish every weekend was Labor Day weekend? We had a great weekend. On Saturday we went to visit friends in Victoria. On Sunday we went to Zilker Park for a hike and then we went to dinner at Russell's favorite Mexican restaurant, Chuy's. On Monday, we went to Lake Travis.

On Monday night we had another baby first . . . Jackson's first bites! Yes, we finally gave him cereal. I was going to try to wait until he was closer to 6 months old since he is on breastmilk but he has been waking up during the night for about a week. I gave it about a week to diagnose the reason for his middle of the night wake-ups. (I thought it could be because he is now rolling over.) The cereal worked! He slept from 9 until almost 6:30! Mystery solved!

Saturday in Victoria

Smooching Vern Watching football

Our first house

Sunday at the park

Enjoying a hike Watching all the people

Taking in the sights

Playing with my daddy while eating at Chuy's