Eleven Months

Jackson is growing so fast! Less than a month until he will be a year old. I can hardly believe how fast it's gone. He is a little ball of energy. Sometimes it wears me out just to watch him. He wakes up in the morning and is ready to play first thing. Some days he only takes one nap (but he is much more pleasant with two.)

He still loves walking with help. He has been able to balance himself on his feet by himself a couple times, once for over 10 seconds! It won't be long until he is walking. It is so cute when he wears his shoes and we help him walk. He picks his feet up super high and then stomps them back down. He has such a big grin as he walks along.

Jackson doesn't like the grass, typical of any little one. He loves watching us blow bubbles and trying to pop them. Any time we are outside he is happy. He loves going out on walks and being anywhere other than the house. We get out and about as much as we can. We've been to the zoo a lot too, thanks to Mom and Dad Pond's absolutely amazing gift of a season pass to the zoo.

Our little Mister loves finger foods. Some of his favorites are goldfish crackers, Ritz crackers, marshmallows, oyster crackers, Lucky Charms (marshmallows first), and graham crackers. He also enjoys Cheerios and other Gerber snacks (except the toddler cookies...he won't touch those with a 10-foot pole). Whenever we have cake and ice cream or cookies, he just HAS to have a bite. Or two. Or three. He also loves French Fries (and we were told by his pediatrician to give some to him to fatten the skinny little dude up!) He also loves to eat yogurt, pasta, and really whatever else we'll give him that's not in the form of baby food.

He's just barely grown into size 3 diapers, and 9-12 month clothes. He could eat all day long, but he is ALWAYS on the move. He was blessed with a high metabolism.

He loves to splash in the bath. Or the sink. When we take him to wash his hands he has to take time to splash in the sink. He's figured out how to flush the toilet and unroll the toilet paper from the roll. He is so mischevious and gets into everything.

He loves to make faces. He has a certain face that he pulls if he does something that he knows he isn't supposed to do, like "Oh...Mommy just busted me." He's also got a really cheesy grin, and he likes to scrunch his face up into a sour look. It is so funny to watch.

We love our little dude!

We Did It!

The day that we've been waiting for has come and gone. The past several months has been crazy, and a little stressful as Jeff has been going to school full time, and working around 15 hours a week. It is a blessing that I have been able to stay home with Jackson. We were very grateful that we had been able to put half of my teaching salary into savings, because that is ultimately what saved us through our very limited finances over the past 8 months since we stopped getting those paychecks.

Jeff has graduated with his Bachelor's Degree in Communications from the University of Utah! Graduation stuff was Thursday and Friday. We were getting ready on Thursday to go to Commencement and Jeff walked into the bathroom in his cap and gown while I was putting on my makeup and I almost started bawling right there. I am so proud of him.

Thursday evening, Jeff's mom and I were there for Commencement, then his parents took us to dinner afterwards. On Friday, both of our parents and Jeff's sister and her family were all there with us for his Convocation. We went out for a late lunch/ early dinner afterwards. We also celebrated with his whole family last night at his parents' house.

Our plans now include enjoying more time as a family, getting out and doing things outside, and looking for a new job for Jeff that will allow him to put to use what he has learned in school.

We feel so blessed, and know that everything will work out for the best. We just have to keep the faith :)