Five Months

Jackson is five months old! Where does the time go??

He is a man on the move now with his back-scoot maneuver. He can cross the room before you know it. At his 4 month check-up he was in the 95th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for height, so he's still "thriving" to say the least. Last night he had some peas with his dinner - first solids beside cereal and to no one's surprise, they were a hit.







Caroline started school last week and loves it. I think her favorite part is that they have a class pet, a guinea pig named Rocky. My favorite thing is her impression of him shivering with fear in his purple plastic castle within his cage. If I were a guinea pig facing 15 3-year olds, I'd be shivering in my castle too!

We've been spending our afternoons outdoors mainly in an effort to occupy Caroline since we've given up the nap. I know I've mentioned the nap ditch before, but this time it's officially happening. After several 9:30 bedtimes post-nap, I've thrown in the towel and we're happily back to a 7 p.m. bedtime. But boy, are we all exhausted at 7 p.m.!

We traveled to San Francisco earlier this month and had a great time. On the horizon is Jackson's baptism in a few weeks, so the grandparents will be coming in for that soon. Now we just have to hope Mr. Pudgy can fit into the baptismal gown....

Recent happenings

Well I've been terrible about keeping up with the blog, but here's the run down of our late summer...

We had lots of visitors in June & July - mostly by the grandparents but also Josh's Aunt Pam & Uncle Andy and my Aunt Jan & Uncle Mike. I think Jackson has spent half of his life at the beach so far, between going at least once a week here at home (plus extra visits with guests) and then spending two weeks on the Gulf Coast in August, he is quite the beach baby. But it fits him, he continues to be a very laid back kid.



Caroline loved her month of preschool (a warm-up for the fall) and then had a blast spending two weeks at the beach. We had a great week in Destin with the McDowell's - having all the kids together was a hoot!



Our week with my family in Seagrove was really special too. I can't remember the last time I've seen my parents and sister at the same time since she's lived overseas. I wish her husband, Steve, could have been able to be there, but we had margaritas in his honor everyday!



Jackson continues to thrive. He rolled over for the first time at the beach with my parents and has also started eating some solid food which is a big hit. I won't have his 4 month stats until his appointment Sept. 10th, but he's been pretty much in the 95th percentile for height and weight so far.



We are off to San Francisco for an extended Labor Day weekend soon - Josh will attend the hand surgery meeting and then we'll visit with my family in the bay area with Mom for a few extra days. Should be fun!

First Day of Preschool

Caroline started preschool today!
Her new school has a summer program for the 3 year olds to participate in and get used to the school before the fall.
She had a great time and there were no tears, by either of us! Several of the other kids seemed to have a hard time with mom or dad leaving, but Caroline is Miss Independent and barely looked up from what she was doing to say goodbye to me (although I did get an enthusiastic response at noon when I picked her up).
Her teacher said she had a nice time and enjoyed dancing during music time (big surprise there!). Here are a few pictures from the first exploratory moments when we first arrived.

bath time

So round, squishy and happy.....

So sweet!

This picture is actually from last weekend when Jackson turned 6 weeks old. He is such a cuddler and so sweet and plump, I just had to post it!

Caroline has been enjoying a lot of outside time in the backyard since we haven't been going out quite as much as usual (because I'm still getting the hang of this going out with two kids thing!). Fortunately, our little yard is a perfect play place for a three year old. Here she is doing a little sidewalk chalk on the patio.

Jackson is smiling!

Whew!
These past weeks have flown by... busy, busy. Jackson is growing like a weed and has started really smiling at us - so sweet! Caroline gets a big laugh when he smiles for her.
We think he's about 12 pounds now but we won't get an official weigh in again until his 2 month checkup. He is noticeably heavier, fills out his 3 month sized clothes and I always get comments when we're out like "how many months is your baby?" - he's just huge! Such a difference from Caroline who is still a string bean.

the last few weeks

The last three weeks have flown by! Josh was home with us for a week and we enjoyed some family time.


















Jackson is growing like a little weed. His weight was up just over 9 pounds and he had grown two inches by his two week check up! He continues to plump up and is becoming chubalicious - the double chin is in full effect. His personality continues to be very chill and he rarely fusses or cries but is very chatty as far as babies go (lots of coos).

Caroline started t-ball and has had two "games" with her team, the Green Frogs. It has become a family affair, although Jackson usually sleeps through the whole thing. She is still taking swim lessons and is doing great with those. She has taken pretty well to becoming a big sister - she's very sweet and caring with Jackson, she asks to hold him all the time and likes to be a part of diaper changing and baths for him - overall, she's quite the helper. We are so proud of her!

The little man is here!

Jackson Kenneth Moss made his entrance on Saturday night, April 25th, at 9:37 p.m. at Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton. He was 7 lbs, 12 oz and 19" long. We got home yesterday and are both doing great. The picture above is from Sunday morning. Jackson is sporting the hat knitted by ladies from the Red Cross for military babies.

Caroline is very excited about him and loves to hold him. She's already a great helper!

New McDowell baby boy!

We are so excited to hear that Jack & Charlie have a new baby brother, Hank! He was born last night and from the picture mail Chip sent us, he is adorable (as would be expected!). Now we're even more anxious for our own little man to get here so Hank will have a new playmate. Congratulations Andrea & Chip!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! Caroline had a good experience with the Easter Bunny last week ... our first positive mall meet-and-greet with a holiday figure. I think we're finally past being horrified by them!

Quick return trip to Disney

We used our last day of our 3-day passes to Disneyland on Sunday for a quick day trip. It did not disappoint. Here's the proof!

Easter Fun

Caroline's playgroup had a big Easter party this morning with games, crafts and an egg hunt. It was a beautiful day and the kids had a blast. I was skeptical of how an egg relay race would go with a bunch of preschool/toddlers, but Caroline seemed to get the gist of it and had fun. The egg "hunt" was a hoot since the eggs were basically scattered in the grass and you practically had to avoid stepping on them and they made bunny shoe covers to hop along with them.

Girls' Morning

Caroline and I visited the Carlsbad Flower Fields this morning after swim lessons. I didn't think this would be something Josh would be too interested in, so we had ourselves a little girls' outing to enjoy the beautiful day. The pictures don't do it justice. It is just beautiful, set on a hillside overlooking the ocean. We took a wagon ride through the flower fields, enjoyed some fresh squeezed lemonade and played on the playground after walking through the gardens.

Back from Disney

Whew... what a weekend! We had a blast at Disneyland. I think we covered all the ground riding everything one can ride when they are under 40" tall. A lot of things were just as we remembered when we went as kids (Dumbo, the tea cups, it's a small world), but there was a bunch of new stuff too. Here are a few pictures....



Dumbo was clearly a favorite - she had to ride that more than once. Other favorites included the Mad Hatter's tea cup ride and also the lady bug ride (from A Bug's Life). When we went to Toon Town, Caroline got to meet Mickey Mouse and also Minney and Pluto. We caught the end of Mary Poppins and Bert singing a number on main street, but didn't get to meet them (which caused a few distressing moments - that would have probably been the highlight if we could have pulled that off). We had street sightings of the Mad Hatter, Goofey and the evil witch from Snow White (a little too scary for a photo op!).

We're off to Disneyland!

Tomorrow we are taking Caroline to Disneyland for the weekend. We decided to do something really fun with her before baby brother arrives, so we have 3-day passes and we're making a weekend out of it (who says you can't stay in a hotel an hour away from home?!?). I'm not sure who is more excited, Caroline or us. Loving the Disney years!

Birthdays and such...

Josh's birthday was last week. Mimi and Pappy were here for a visit at the time so they took a quick family photo of us behind the delicious but simple cake I made for him (I think I've made the same cake for him every year for 10 years, come to think of it).
As always, my mom wanted a pic of the girls. We did a little self-timed thing so it really should be cropped, but in case you want to see my ever expanding waistline... here it is. It's actually not so bad from the front view, but he's all in front and my profile these days is ridiculous. Six weeks and change to go!

Visit to the Firehouse

This was actually from a couple of weeks ago but I just got the pictures from one of the other moms who actually thought to bring her camera (unlike me!). With fires being so prevalent here, you can imagine that firemen are all the rage with the kids... superheroes in the flesh. Our playgroup visited our local firehouse to meet the firemen, see all the engines and get a tour of the firehouse.

Swimming

Caroline has been taking swim lessons since the beginning of the year and is really making progress. One great thing about living at the coast is they really know how to do swim schools here. She has been going to Murray Callan Swim School in San Marcos and loves her teacher, Marcie. She takes lessons with one of her good buddies, Mikey, and his mom took some great pictures of them recently during their lesson.

I'm 3!

Happy 3rd Birthday to Caroline!


She had a great day today. This morning we had our playgroup Valentine exchange party at a playground and finished our day with an evening at Chuck E. Cheese's (her first time to go). She has been very excited to tell everyone that she's 3 now and enjoyed getting lots of birthday cards in the mail over the last few days.

Here are a few pictures from the day: a little girl talk on the slide with friend, Sophia, and livin' it up at Chuck E. Cheese's with Dad.

Happy Birthday to our little Valentine!