6 Months

Jackson is half a year old! 6 months!

I love this age. He is getting to be so much fun.

Jackson was being a little stinker when I was trying to take his 6 month photo. He kept rolling over and eating the blocks.

Proof:

He finally cooperated though.



Here are some interesting facts about 6 month old Jackson:

--He can finally roll from his tummy to his back! I thought this day would never come. He is now mobile and can roll across the room. He has bonked his head a couple times on the entertainment center. Poor baby.

--He is trying to army crawl. He uses his head instead of his arms to move.

--He LOVES bath time and gets really excited for it. He splish splashes and giggles so much, I am soaked by the end of his bath.

--He has eaten rice cereal, apples, and bananas. He loved the baby apple food so much he wouldn't stop eating it and gave himself a stomachache.

--He is a world class traveler. He went to Georgia AND Washington this month. He did really well flying.

--He can sit up for awhile now before he topples over.

--Everytime I lay him in his crib to sleep, he will immediately turn onto his belly. He loves it and sleeps better that way.

For a 6 month celebration,  we took him to the zoo! He enjoyed people watching more than he liked looking at the animals. Although, he did LOVE the black and white lemurs.

He watched them for about 10 minutes.

He thought they were really funny.

 One was especially acrobatic and would leap from branch to branch and even hang onto the glass next to us. Jackson laughed and laughed. Here is a video we took.

He's our cute little primate.

Ode to Utah

I never thought I would call Utah my home. I don't know when it happened, but sometime in the last 6 years, this state has buried itself in a tiny spot in my heart. As our airplane was landing yesterday, I was thinking about how much I enjoyed living in Utah. I am probably only saying this because we had such a mild winter this year, but I am a little sad to be leaving soon.

Weird, right? Who am I?

Maybe it's because I met so many great friends here.
I graduated here.
I met my husband here.
I gave birth to my first child here.
I built my first snowman here (Okay. Not nearly as sentimental.)

Change is hard for me, and we have some major ones coming up. It doesn't help that we don't know where we're going. With some prayer and spiritual guidance that will hopefully change soon.

All in all, thank you Utah for providing me with a great last 6 years.
And thank you readers for letting me ramble.

Con"Grad"s Ryan!

Well, my hubby is a cute college graduate. See!

And did I ever tell you he can fly?

That's one of the things they teach you in Environmental Science. Neat, huh?

 I am super excited for him to have the summer off--no all-nighters, lots of family time, fun summer outings. I'm still working part-time, but that's life.

I'm proud of Ryan. His hard work has paid off. It's weird to think that we no longer have ties to BYU. Well, until this one heads out there in 18 years.

We are teaching him young about the joy of Cosmo, Jimmer, and BYU football. Go Cougars!

5 Months

Baby Boy is 5 months old!

To celebrate his 5 month-iversary, we hopped on an airplane and went to Georgia! Jackson did really well, and we were more than grateful to have a whole row to ourselves! One flight attendant was overly "helpful" (aka somewhat annoying.)

Flight Attendant: Is your mommy force-feeding you? Tell her to quit it!

Flight Attendant: Maybe mommy shouldn't bounce you so much. You might vomit all over her.

Flight attendant: Oh you're happy now? What happened? Did you get rid of your gas bubble? I know what happened. You filled your diaper! Your mommy should check!

Flight attendant: Didn't your mommy bring you tummy medicine? She should give it to you!

Flight Attendant: When your mommy sits down, you're not going to be very happy. You're just going to have to deal with it.

Jackson: My mommy is going to punch you in the face!

...Oh wait. That last part didn't really happen. The funny thing was, Jackson only cried for about 5 minutes and then he was happy/slept the rest of the time.

Crazy lady.

5 months facts!
--Jackson can roll over from his back to tummy both ways now. Still hasn't figured out how to roll from tummy to back though. (He's done it twice, but by accident we think).

--His hair is growing in lighter.

--He graduated to size 3 diapers and 9 month clothes.

--Loves to play in an exersaucer.

--Still has stomach problems occasionally.

--Grabs his bottle and puts it in his mouth. He can't keep it there though and sometimes his hand gets in the way!

--Sucks on his fingers and toes.

--Is a little squirmy worm. We always find him in various places/positions in his crib.

--Prefers to sleep on his side and sometimes tries to sleep on his belly. If we catch him, we won't let him sleep on his belly since he can't roll back over.

--Is one happy smiley boy!

Yummy in My Tummy

Jackson is not a thumb sucker. He is a a pointer/middle finger sucker. Or maybe he's just teething...either way, he thinks his fingers are extra tasty!

Mmm yummy!

Mmm yummy!

--

And just because, here are some other pictures:

Glamour shot!

Smiles!

Watching the prophet

And who can resist a boy in overalls?

I am old and Other Such Ramblings

I am old.

It's weird, when I was little, I used to think 12 year olds were old.
And then I thought 16 was sooo far away.
Missionaries were always ancient.
College was in the future.
I would get married...some day.
Being a mom? You have to be old and responsible to do that.

Now I think 12/16 year old and missionaries look like babies.
I am a married college graduate.
And I have a baby boy.

Where did the time go?

Now that I am so old and mature...(and naturally Ryan is as well. I mean, he IS a year and a half older than me.) we get to make adult decisions, like where we are going to move this summer! Yes we have options. It's nice to have options sometimes, but it makes it that much harder to decide.

Did you know Ryan got into 9 different law schools. That is a lot. We could move to Florida, Colorado, Virginia, Ohio, Washington, Oregon, Georgia, Texas, etc. We have pretty much narrowed it down to 2 different states.

Washington or Georgia.

So the real questions are:

Bugs or Rain?
Hot humidity or cloudy skies?
Chick-Fil-A or...Starbucks?
East or West?
Democrats or Republicans?
Vampires or hill billies?

As you can see, we are taking this really seriously. I read Twilight. Those vamps in Seattle are ruthless. Ryan is probably rolling his eyes at me right now. He thinks I am crazy. I am. (Only at 1 in the morning though.)

Grumbly Grumbles

Dear Immunizations and Head Cold,

We hate you for making our little boy really sick. Immunizations, we will unfortunately see you in 2 months, but head cold, you stay away! And we mean it!

Go find someone else to torment,
The Stephens

--

On a side note: We have survived one of the worst weeks ever! Luckily, we have turned a corner. Why hello, sleep and sanity, we have missed you!

Jackson's 4 Month Stats:

Weight: 17.6 lbs (90th percentile)
Height: 26.5 inches (91st percentile)
Head Circumference: 43.5 cm (79th percentile)

He is a proportional little boy!