Christmas Train

Here are some pics from our first annual ride on the Woodland Christmas Train:

Jackson and Matt writing a letter to Santa

Storytime

Fred Claus, Santa's brother, leading Christmas Carols

Jackson was terrified of Santa, but we finally got a picture where he's not screaming!

Our token family photo

Our Little Pirate (and Friends)

Our latest MOMS Club of Davis field-trip was to Atria Covell Gardens Senior Living. We went during the residents' lunchtime, and walked our little guys around in their Halloween Costumes. I knew that at least some of the residents would be excited to see them, but ALL of the residents were excited to see them. They waved, smiled, and talked to the kids and asked us moms all about them.

More friends: Jack, Jackson, and Colin

I can't believe how difficult it is to get 3 toddlers to hold still long enough for a picture!

Walking Update

Within the last week, Jackson finally started walking more than crawling. He used to crawl away as fast as he could, and laugh crazily, when he was doing something wrong and he saw me coming. Now he TRIES to run but hasn't quite gotten the hang of it, so he falls down and THEN tries crawling away as fast as he can, laughing crazily. What a character!

Pumpkin Patch #2

This morning, Jackson, Aunt Judy, the cousins, and I went with the Davis and Woodland MOMS Clubs to the Impossible Acres Pumpkin Patch. Wow! We were so impressed! There were all kinds of baby animals that we could pick up and/or pet, tractor rides, a maze and a tunnel made of hay bales, a large picnic area, AND PUMPKINS.

 

Snack time:

 

Jackson and Elena

Elena Facciotti is another child we met at Manor Pool. Her mom, Elizabeth, recently hosted a potluck lunch for the moms in MOMS Club of Davis, which is where I took these pictures.

 

Pumpkin Patch #1

Today the fam headed to Uncle Ray's Pumpkin Patch with Aunt Judy and the cousins to get in the Halloween spirit and pick out some pumpkins.

Jackson found The Great Pumpkin and gave it some love (he's very into giving love right now, which I love).

 

Jackson took a little time out to greet his fans.

Jackson's New Talent

Jackson's latest talent is removing the child-safety plugs from the electrical outlets. First he tries with his fingers, and if he can't get it he uses his teeth. He's lightening quick at it too. I'm hoping it will become an Olympic sport someday, because he'll bring home the gold. (Seriously, everything else is an Olympic sport, why not this?)

Sooo, I'm off to Home Depot tomorrow to (spend a ton of money on and hopefully) find plugs he can't remove.

Boring Dinner?

It looks like he was saving some beef stew in his shirt for later, so I don't think it was my cooking that put him to sleep.

Our Little Picasso

Title: Untitled Drawing #1

Artist: Jackson Medeiros

Medium: MagnaDoodle

Price: NS

Jackson's Latest Feat

Jackson's latest feat is taking off his own diaper. I decided not to include a photo for this post.
:-)

Jackson and Mason

This is a picture of Jackson with one of the boys we've hung out with at Manor Pool this summer:

I think years from now it will be cute to show Jackson and his friends pictures of themselves playing together as babies. It will also be interesting to see who he is still friends with years from now.

Out With the Old, In With the New

After several years of longing for a new truck (silver, 4 door, short bed), Matt's wish finally came true! We donated his old, non-smog-test-passing truck to The Salvation Army; traded in our sports car; and got Matt his truck.

The sportscar had originally been for me, but wasn't practical for me once we had Jackson. So Matt has been driving it for the last year and a half, bless his soul, filled to the brim with blueprints and construction samples. For the line of work he's in, a truck is the way to go.

OLD:

NEW:

Jackson likes the new truck too!

Mommy Is Chopped Liver Today

As usual, I was awakened by Jackson before the crack of dawn this morning. As usual, I got him up, fed him, changed his diaper, and got him ready for the day. Yet, when it was time for Daddy to go to work, Jackson cried and carried on like he was losing his best friend. Then, as usual, I took care of Jackson all day, then fed him, changed him into his pajamas, and put him to bed.

For some reason, he woke up at 11:30 PM, which is UNusual these days. I got out of bed, fed him and changed him, cuddled him, then tried to put him back to bed, where he cried and carried on. Then I gave him some baby Motrin, thinking that maybe his teeth hurt, and tried to put him back to bed, where he cried and carried on again. 

Finally, Matt asked (from bed) if I wanted to just bring him into our bed. Since I'd tried everything else I could think of, I took him up on the offer and put Jackson in our bed . . . where he immediately shifted himself so his head was tucked comfortably under Matt's chin, and his feet were digging into my side, and he fell right to sleep.

Great. So NOW it's after 12:30 AM, and Matt and Jackson are blissfully snoozing away, and I'm wide awake and killing time on the computer until I get sleepy again!

However, I'm consoling myself with the fact that when Jackson grows up and wins a Pulitzer and/or Nobel Peace Prize (or Grammy, Oscar, or Emmy--I'm not picky!) the first person he'll thank is his mother. :-)

Judi and Jackson Go Biking

Here in TreeHuggerVille (aka Davis), A LOT of people use bicycles as a mode of transportation. It's no big deal to see tandem bikes or large groups of adult/kids biking around town together--they are EVERYWHERE. All the roads have a bike lane and there are lots of greenbelt/bike trails here. In fact, when we moved to Davis, some friends told us that we had to have bikes and a dog in order to live here (I haven't checked the laws, but there are enough bikes and dogs around that it might be true).

Now that Jackson is a year old, he's old enough to ride in a bike trailer (which all of the "in" parents have here). We took our first test ride to the gym, with me on my bike and him in the bike trailer that his grammy (my mom) bought for us. The trailer even has a compartment behind the seat where I can fit two large bags of groceries.

He enjoyed riding in the trailer, especially over bumpy parts of the road, except when his helmet slid down over his eyes. I guess I need to do a few more adjustments on his helmet, and then it should be smooth sailing!

Jackson's First Visit to the Dentist

Jackson was obviously terrified when the dentist tried to look in his mouth. He sobbed so hard he could hardly breath. We had to wait for over an hour for him to calm down and . . . oh wait, that was ME when I was a kid!

Jackson's first dentist appointment was AWESOME! I wish there were dentist offices around like his when I was younger! We waited to see the dentist in the "game room", where there were two full-size video game machines, lots of toys, and a children's movie playing.

We saw the dentist, Dr. Mandelaris, in a big room, where there were about 10 exam chairs lined up in a row. Several of them had kids laying in them happily getting their teeth worked on, while they wore sunglasses and headphones, and watched a movie that played on tvs in the ceiling above each chair. The entire rest of the ceiling was filled with model airplanes. Jackson smiled and had a great time while we were there. When we left, they sent two new toothbrushes,

a rubber fish, and photos with us.

His teeth look great, and Dr. Mandelaris said not to worry about Jackson chewing on EVERYTHING. He doesn't need to go back until all of his baby teeth are in, at 2 1/2 - 3 years old. I wonder if they'd mind if we just went there to play? :-)

California State Fair

Today, Jackson, my mom, and I went to the California State Fair. I was so happy to see the funny-looking rabbits and chickens, whose absence had dampened my joy at the Solano County Fair.

 
Jackson had a great time looking at all the people and sights. He happily chilled out in his stroller with his feet up on the tray, and a bottle in his mouth the majority of the time. It was in the high 90s today, so Jackson drank several bottles, and every once in a while I sprayed us all down with my fan/mister--a MUST at outdoor events here in the summer.

 

We (okay, I) ate lots of fattening fair food, walked our legs off, and had a great time.

Mommy's Little Helper, Continued . . .

Here's Jackson "helping" Gram E push the cart at Costco:

And here is a progression of photos in which Jackson "helps" me make dinner:

 We had to stop for tickles and giggles before we could finish making dinner.

More First Birthday Photos . . .

 

 

 

 

Jackson's First Birthday Party

Since Jackson's birthday is September 2, and his cousin Ashley's birthday is September 3, we decided it would be easier for us to combine their birthday party's into one, and boy, are we glad we did. Our relatives only had to come to one little kid party, and we were able to combine resources to make it a blow out! We had a jump house, a slip'n slide, 2 wading pools, an inflatable waterpark for infants (which the bigger kids loved too), a water table, sand box, and LOTS of food! (Note to self: Blow up the slip'n slide accessories and the inflatable waterpark the day before the party, do NOT start 1/2 an hour before the party!)

Once everything was up and running, everyone had a great time, and there was something for kids of all ages to do. My sister-in-law, Judy, and I got compliment after compliment about how great it all was. It was very satisfying to see all of our hard work pay off, but now I totally understand why parents throw birthday parties at places like Chuck E. Cheese!

Here's a great example of what a huge difference there is between a one year old and a two year old. 2 year old Ashley ate her birthday cake like a dainty, little princess, and well, you've already seen the picture of 1 year old Jackson eating his cake like a savage. :-)

They each got their own super fancy cupcake, so that people wouldn't have to eat cake that 2 toddlers spit on when they tried to blow out their candles. Jackson's was a Finding Nemo cupcake, and Ashley's was a princess.

Here are more pics of the birthday fun: