Halloween

Jackson endured his 2nd Halloween - this one as a vampire with his matching twin vampire brother, Bodhi. We started off the holiday the weekend before at the pumpkin patch with Mozzie and Opa, selecting the perfect pumpkin...or just sitting on them and admiring a piece of straw. Regardless, it felt like fall.

Halloween day was pretty warm, so we went on a nice fall hike with our friends Dave and Jo, and their daughter Lauren who was born 1 week after Jackson. After skipping his nap, we carted a very tired vampire to Chevy Chase to trick-or-treat with cousins Dylan and Daisy (and the impending cousin, whom we are affectionately calling either Lily, Tulip, or Violet until Eric and Eve announce her real name). Jackson was a little overwhelmed, but seems to be attached to holding things, perhaps his retriever brother is rubbing off on him. So as you can tell, he felt better clutching a Snickers. Just like Papa.

Afterwards we handed out candy in our neighborhood and visited with Henry, the cowboy. It rained and was cold, but we had fun anyway.

Caught in the act - leave us alone with our candy, mom.

Jackson is really up to a lot these days - he took his first steps last weekend, which was so exciting (and he was holding Bo's leash). And he is now cruising on all the furniture and pushing his train all over the living room, down the sidewalk - he's really flirting with walking and we're so proud of him. He's also learned the sign for 'more', he's standing on his own, and says bye-bye, mama, dada, and bobo, and carries on full conversations with the contents of the refridgerator. We can't tell whether he is trying to liberate the butter and leftovers or eat them. All in all, we cannot complain; he remains an enormously laid back kid - as evidenced by his laughing through the 3.5 hours we waited for his H1N1 vaccine - we'll take it. Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Brotherly Love

Jackson has a big brother - Bodhi - and a brother to play with daily - Henry, his nanny mate. Lately Jackson and both brothers are up to trouble at every turn. Here's a video of his real brother Bo tickling him with his tail, and another of just another day of fun when Jackson sat on his tractor, Henry started pushing it, and Kevin happened to be there with the video camera. Check out Jackson's face on the tractor; he doesn't seem to realize that he's moving!

Fall Fun...

We have definitely been slacking here for a few months - correlated with how much Jackson is on the move! September brought a much-needed but rather spontaneous vacation to Bermuda to end the summer before Kevin started his job. We had tried to plan something for 3 months, and wound up just doing it a mere 2 weeks out - and took Jackson. We kept trying to explain that he was the luckiest 13 month old in Bermuda, but he didn't really get it. We had a great time - lounged by the pool (well, lounging is confined to a 45 minute attention span, but we'll take it), swam in the ocean, played in the sand, and explored the town. Our hotel had views of the harbor and the beach, and everyone was really friendly. All in all - we can't wait to go back! And even better- Kevin is loving his job, so coming home happy :)

October brought some real Fall weekends, beginning with a long-standing Loudoun tradition of the Waterford Fair, which Jamie, TJ and their kids came home for. It was a warm day and Jackson seemed to enjoy the guys playing old school instruments, the hayrides, and getting on a tractor for the first time.

My family all went to a lakehouse for Columbus Day weekend, so it was great to have the cousins together just a week later. Jackson loved watching everything his big cousin Chambers did, and Kav is the happiest baby - he just cooed the whole weekend. After 3 weekends travelling, we were happy to be home and resting up, though it did involve a week of crying it out to get Jackson back on schedule - but all's well that ends well ;)

Fun After One...

We've been having a lot of fun with Jackson, and he's developing quite the little personality. Here are some shots from the past month, along with 2 videos that simply crack us up! We caught Jackson in a moment of sweet adoration of his Opa, and peaceful playtime with bodhi. This is followed by a video of him extremely proud of himself that he can manipulate his music table to play his favorite song (must watch with the sound to see his expression when Kevin calls him out), and finally - a video that we're sure to pull out at his rehearsal dinner or when he becomes a rock star: Jackson headbanging at 1 year. We think he's tossing his hair back and forth, and he and Kevin get into a McDreamy and Baby McDreamy toss-off!

Jackson is crawling!

As you surely have surmised from earlier posts, Jackson is a big boy. So he has not done too much in the crawling department, and we suspect he might also have low muscle tone, which means he just wasn't strong enough to haul around those tree trunk thighs. He was doing commando crawling over the past few weeks, but not able to get that tummy off the floor. All of that changed the afternoon of September 2nd. Here's the the play-by-play, inspired by Kevin as he completes his fantasy football draft next to me while I type:

2 pm - Jennie gets call from nanny that Jackson just crawled 4 steps
2:15 pm - Jennie arrives home to see for herself, doubtful
2:17 pm - Jennie and Gigi are cheering a bewildered Jackson for crawling about 10 feet, who doesn't get what all the fuss is about. Gigi is praising God. Jennie is doing her own endzone dance, which involves a lot of kissing Jackson, who is performing a combination of hugging and squirming to get away and crawl some more.
5:30 pm - Kevin arrives home and witnesses the kid crawl all the way across the room - touchdown!

By popular demand, here's the instant replay. You can see the interference from Bodhi in the beginning, who clearly wanted a piece of the action and some credit for being a good cheerleader, or at least for helping inspire our little MVP.

Score: Jackson: 1, Parents' free time hereafter: 0. But we'll take it!

The Big One!

Jackson got to celebrate his big 1st birthday not once, not twice, but 3 times to satisfy fans on the south, west, and right in our own backyard. We started the birthday festivities in Virginia Beach with Kevin's mom's annual beach house trip to Sandbridge, where Jackson quickly won over the crowd of ladies with (as Cousin Johnny is quick to point out) a nice blend of Irish and Jewish charm. He loved hanging with RoRo and Gigi and all the girls!

Next, we were off to LA to celebrate with Zeidi and Nana in Santa Monica, and watch Uncle Mark get married. It was great to spend some time at the beach, walking the boardwalk, and then getting to see all of Kevin's old med school roomies and friends, who are now official doctors out in the world. A scary thought based on some of the weekend's activities:) But we had a great time and Mark and Lauren looked so happy - congrats guys!




And last but not least, the DC celebration - for what's a baby celebrity without 3 separate festivities, complete with wardrobe changes. For this version, we had Mozzie, Opa, Uncle Eric, Aunt Eve, Dylan, Daisy, and DC friends and neighbors. At the bottom is a shot of Jackson's friends from Stroller Strides, whom he's known from the very beginning - Connor (with Graeme) and Kinsley (with Jenny). Thanks to everyone for making his bday so special!

Boys Will Be Boys

I find it very funny that Jackson is LOVING trucks right now. Ever since he saw his cousin Carson drive a truck across the carpet while visiting Aunt Sarah, he cannot get enough of driving his toy car. And fish. And toy box top. And yesterday? Ah yes, it was a piece of cheese that he drove across his highchair. Guess it really is in the DNA! And no, he didn't stop to ask for directions.

And on the topic of boys, congrats to Aunt Sarah for having little Vance! We have been waiting for him for so long and are just thrilled that he's here safe and sound - not to mention healthy and huge and adorable:)