Sorry we are tardy this week :)

As some of you pointed out to me...I am late in posting my weekly blog update. I was impressed that people actually noticed :) Poor Jackson has had a rough week. He is teething and got a cold that resulted in a double ear infection! And poor Walt got poison ivy around his eyes. One eye was almost swollen shut. Needless to say, the whole family is lacking sleep and as a result I am tardy :)

-

As a random side note, it seems my posts keep getting longer & longer. I apologize. In the future, I might try to keep it shorter...wait, who am I kidding? You can always skim or skip over pics / posts! I guess since I don't have much of a social outlet here yet, this is my way of filling that gap! Sorry! Just start praying that God blesses me with some friendships here and then maybe the blogs will get more concise :)

-

Jackson had his 6 month pictures taken. The pictures did not go well. That was the first day he started not feeling well and he was not happy with the photographer taking his picture and wanted me to hold him. Needless to say, it made the photographer's job quite challenging. Here is a picture of him in his sweet outfit.

Jackson loves being outside! Here are a ton of pictures of one of our play times outside.
Sweet face (even though he isn't looking at camera)

Here he is scrunching up his nose...he does this a lot :)

Any and all things go in his mouth since he is teething!

Cute grin!

Sweet boy...I think his little hand is so sweet

Crazy boy!

Full view - "Mom, what are you doing?"

Relaxing...not really, it only looks like he is! Jackson doesn't do much relaxing! He is a very active little boy!

Jackson has started getting up on his hands and knees and rocking on a regular basis. He REALLY wants to be mobil! He also REALLY wants to be able to pull up! Once he figures these things out, our lives will be forever changed!

"I'm hot stuff"

Last picture in the indoor pool :)

We actually moved the pool outside this week. Apparently, Jackson prefers the indoor pool :) In retrospect, I now know that he was getting sick so I am hoping that he will like it better once he is feeling better! Notice that there are not any pictures of him IN the pool.

-

"Hey mom, I would rather play with your camera."

I know this is off centered and his eyes are almost closed, but I still thought it was a cute picture!

"Me, get in the pool? You must have me confused with someone else!"

"Why is there water in the pool. That isn't right."

Super cute bathing suit outfit that Nonni got

To date, Jackson has not had a "lovey". We have decided to try to introduce a "lovey" to see if that is something that Jackson would be interested in and so that he would have something that provided him with comfort since he doesn't use a pacifier and since he doesn't really suck his thumb. Obviously when he gets older he will choose his own, but until then we have chosen a monkey / blanket thing. We chose it because it will be easy to take around, but also because he seems to like blanket type things...so we will see. Here he is with "Dougie". Yes, Walt & I named the monkey! We weren't super original. It is a "Douglas" stuffed animal...hence the name :)

He can't decide which finger he likes best :)

As Jackson's hair is growing out, it is becoming clearer that it has a bit of curl to it. I tried to capture it on camera, but this picture doesn't quite do it justice. Needless to say, his hair is out of control. He probably needs a haircut, but I think we are still both scarred from the last experience :)

Since Jackson hasn't been feeling well, his sleeping has definitely been affected. In this picture, it is way past his bed time. See the attached video to capture the true essence of his state!

Jackson on his hands & knees

Jackson was up past his bed time and he was in rare form!

Jackson loves this toy! He loves the balls and pushing the lever that releases the balls and plays music. He is getting better at picking up the balls.

A few things about Jackson:

* Jackson has really started being affectionate. It melts my heart! He loves giving kisses and he has started "hugging" (aka letting us hug him and laying his head on our shoulder). Sometimes he will wrap his arms around my neck, too...LOVE IT!

* Jackson loves books! He also loves taking some of his smaller toys that he no longer really plays with out of a plastic bin. Now...if only he knew how to put them back :) He also loves tags! He loves the way it feels on his fingers and sticking them in his mouth.

* Jackson is very good at expressing concern or making an inquisitive expression...as evidenced by his 6 month photo shoot with the photographer!

* Jackson has recently started talking more, but still doesn't talk a lot. Guess he is a boy through & through :)

Prayer Requests:

1) Please pray that Jackson's ear infection will fully heal before our trip to Texas

2) Please pray for our trip for Texas. Jackson and I will be gone a long time...a little over 2 weeks. Travelling is always challenging with a little one...especially when the trip is that long.

3) This is a long story that I am going to try to make short...Jackson has had some tremors / convulsing that the doctor wants to check out to be on the safe side. So we will see a neurologist and have an EEG scheduled this Thursday at 9AM Charlotte time. Please pray for the EEG and that Jackson handles the procedure well. In addition, please pray that if there is anything to be found, that God would guide the doctor and the people reviewing the EEG.

4) Sleep training is obviously on hold

5) Eating - hopefully "slow & steady will win the race" for us :)