We're Stayin' in Reno

We found out this morning that Larry was matched at the Reno VA. I have to admit I was relieved that we would not have to sell our house in this horrible market and most likely take a loss. I will not have to find a new job and of course be back on night shift and we also won't have to struggle to get Jackson into a good daycare. Now we can move on with our lives because we know where we are going to be living and that we don't have to start all over somewhere new. So all you friends and family in Washington, don't fret, we are happy and will still visit you as much as we can. All you friends and "family" in Reno, you're stuck with us for at least another year.

Jackson's First Haircut

Jackson's hair has been growing into a little mullet recently so we decided it was time to get him his first haircut. We found a place in town that specializes in children's haircuts and so we took him in today. The place was full of theme park type decor and lots of colors and music. They had a chair that had a seat belt and little man drape. The stylist turned on a little cartoon and handed us some bubbles for a bit of distraction. Jackson cried immediately when we put him in the chair but calmed down once we gave him the car keys and started blowing the bubbles, that is as long as the stylist stayed out of his range of vision. They gave us a lock of his hair and a first haircut certificate and then once Jack was done they had him put his "token" into a treasure machine that popped out a little plastic dino toy. It was a great experience for his parents and only a few tears for Jack. Here are some pics of the event.

Notice the bubbles!

The stylist was able to follow his head and did not seem to mind that he was a wiggle worm.

The stylist made him a little faux hawk!

Check me out! Jack stared at himself in the mirror.

Okay, I'm over it now.

One happy, cute baby with his little good boy prize.

Jackson Walks

Jackson has been standing up on his own and sometimes taking a few steps but last night he stood up and was walking across the room. All of a sudden he is a walker! Today we have caught him walking several times and he is becoming quite the pro.



A few pictures we wanted to share:

Jackson being silly. He does this every once in a while and this is the first time we've caught it on camera.

Jackson's first art project from daycare. We aren't sure how much he contributed but we thought it was pretty cute and it made us laugh, so we wanted to share it.

Larry Matched!!!

We found out yesterday that Larry matched with an internship program, we just don't know where yet. He will find out on Monday where. The way they contact you is by e-mail in the morning by 7am but you can check earlier and it may be up. So Larry got up at 4:15am and checked his e-mail but had not recieved one yet so he went back to bed. Sometime in the morning before my alarm went off Larry came over to me and told me he matched and I sleepily congratulated him and hugged him with one arm, then promptly fell back asleep. Then my alarm goes off and I get up and jump in the shower. Half way through my shower Larry scares me by all of a sudden showing up and letting me know that he matched! I again congratualated him and did a little half hearted happy dance. Larry gave me a funny look and said that I wasn't as excited as he thought I would be. I then told him that I already knew because he had told me earlier. Larry then informed me that he got up with me and had just opened a new e-mail that had never been opened and had just found out. He then told me that he too thought that he had already found out because he had a very vivid dream that he had matched. Weird. I think we must have been having similar dreams and that he was talking in his sleep which was leading me to believe he had already found out. I got major goosebumps in the shower when we were figuring this all out. Anyway, we'll let you all know on Monday where we will be living for at least another year. Keep your fingers crossed for somewhere good!

New Pictures of Jackson

Busy Boy

Classic sick boy picture: Snotty nose, crusty ear and Motrin in hand

What do I do with this thing?

Okay, how does it look?

Update

We have been busy in our house recently with everyone going through various illnesses. Larry had a horrible range of symptoms I'm sure he would like kept private! Jackson's had a cold for a week that turned into a horrible ear infection. The left ear ruptured less than an hour before I got him to the doctor so we had to do 7 days of ear drops and are finishing up 10 days of Amoxicillin. The Amoxicillin then led to Jack's first ever diaper rash. Wow that is a horrible thing but it too is clearing up nicely thanks to some diaper free time and Butt Paste. Funny story about the diaper free time. We had him without a diaper and his onsie open. We were watching him play when all of a sudden he was looking down and trying to figure out what was getting his legs wet. He was totally confused and even though we had to clean it up we thought it was pretty cute. I then put a diaper on him with the bottom cut out for a vent hole. This was very cute until he had diarrhea. Oops. That was then end of our diaper free trial. I didn't really get too sick, just a tickle in my throat and a stuffy nose for a few days. Must be good girl genes.

Jackson is sure becoming quite the character. While changing him today, I was carefully wiping him, trying not to hurt his little red spots, when all of a sudden he tooted. I of course jumped and then giggled and for the first time I saw him giggle about tooting too. Then he did it again and laughed without me laughing. I would think that we shouldn't encourage this behavior but I think he's too far gone at this point. He's one of us! Another new thing that he is doing that we are encouraging is practicing walking. He'll stand up on his own and every once in a while take a few steps. He's really good at walking while holding someones hands. He's sleeping through the night most nights now. From 8:30ish to 7:30ish. That has been really nice. At his 12 month check-up the doctor told us to stop feeding him at night and to just lay him back down and tell him it's night time. I thought he was crazy but it totally worked. I did not realize how tired I was before but now I'm loving my sleep. I think that's all that's new these days. I'll try and post some cute pics we took recently.

Welcome

For those of you who have been following Jack's first year, we decided to move our website to this page. For those of you that are new, this website is a way to keep those of you who don't live near us updated on our lives and Jackson's new adventures. We hope you enjoy our stories and leave us a message to say hello!