And So It Begins...

So the new baby has decided to go ahead and just get this sibling rivalry thing started already. Why wait? Poor Jack is sick with an ear infection and cold, so he's considerably crankier than usual. I was rocking him and rocking him this afternoon, trying to get him to sleep, but the poor child was just miserable. He was crying and fidgeting trying to get comfortable on my lap, which seems to be disappearing by the day. He seems to think my belly is just a big uncomfortable pillow he can headbutt into shape. As he was fidgeting in my lap, trying to find a good position, the baby kicked him right in the back, the hardest kick I've felt so far. Jack turned around and looked at me with big, huge eyes, and I couldn't help but laugh. To the baby's credit, it worked. He stopped crying for a good 20 minutes, and positioned himself off to the side as well. Jack seems to be taking it well, though. He was trying very hard this evening to share his trucks with the baby. He rolls them over my belly saying "Here Baby. Play toys." Hopefully, we'll eventually get that on camera. I'd like to have something to remind him that, at one time, he actually did want to share with the baby.

Painting with Madi

My Aunt Kelley likes to do fun projects. When I was there on Sunday, we all got to paint a big M. It was pink. I love pink! I had a lot of fun. We had to take our clothes off so that we didn't get paint all over them, which was a good idea because Madi and I were covered in pink when we were done. We were so dirty we got to take a bath! Madi has lots of fun toys in her bathtub. She even gets to paint in the bath. I only have crayons in my tub. I get to spend the night there this Saturday, and I hope we paint again. My mommy doesn't let me paint at our house.

Jackson Fun Basketball Game

This morning, Mommy and Daddy got me up and dressed pretty early. We went to Daddy's school and saw a Basketball Game! I had so much fun. I got to eat a doughnut! And Uncle Lukey was even there! I got to have a pom pom to shake whenever the ball went into the hoop, although we weren't supposed to shake them for the blue guys. Just the gray guys. There were lots of ESPN TV cameras there, too. Daddy held me up high so I could be on the tv, but I don't know if they saw me or not. It was still fun. And since the the tv cameras were there, there were lots of times when the pretty girls came out and danced and jumped around. They were fun to watch. They went way up high in the air, and then fell down. "Jackson fun basketball game."

Game score: Niagara 76, Drexel 69

Daddy Painted My Room Green

So Mommy and I went to see my Nona and Papa for the weekend. I was sad that Daddy didn't come. But when we got back, I found out what he was up to. He painted my room green! And the ceiling is blue. Mommy says that Nona is going to come visit, and she is going to paint, too. And once Nona paints, I'm going to get a big boy bed and lots of new stuff. I like the green. I like to show it off when people come over. Mommy says its called Almost Aloe. And I think the ceiling is the same color as the bathroom - Galactica. I can't wait for the rest of my room to be done.

The Wrong Question

Daddy woke me up bright and early Saturday morning (what time are the Wonder Pets on? 9am?) with this cute photo he had just taken. He had walked in to the living room to find Jack sitting in this pot watching Ming-Ming. My groggy question was "Why is he sitting that close to the tv?" His response was "You don't want to know why he's sitting in a pot?" I was probably getting there.

It's A Baby!

We had an ultrasound today, and it is definitely a baby. Singular. It has a heartbeat and all its parts, and we couldn't be happier! And to add to the excitement, the tech said my due date was actually closer to April 30 than May 7. I don't know if my midwife will change my due date, but at least I know to be prepared sooner rather than later. As long as I can avoid the April 20 trap, we'll be all set.

Thanks, Wonder Pets!

As annoying as I find those Wonder Pets to be, I think I owe them a big "Thank You." They have accomplished what his parents and mass quantities of various dipping sauces could not. The child asks for (and actually eats!) celery-plain. If its good enough for Ming Ming, its good enough for him. Thank you, Wonder Pets!

King of the Forest

At the library on Wednesday we made these funny leaf crowns. I love mine! It has these funny leaf antenna and lots of tissue paper "leaves" glued to it that I crumpled up and stuck on all by myself. I feel like I'm King of the Forest when I wear it.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

Since Jack's fishing pole, also known as my camera cord, seems to be "hiding," I'm going to talk a little bit more about our train ride. After Jack posted yesterday, we were going through the pictures again, and he wanted to stop at this one, taken while a clown sang Happy Birthday to his Grandpa. He hasn't stopped talking about it since. "Clown. Happy Birthday, Grandpa! On the train." Over and over and over again. It was a mighty amusing rendition of "Happy Birthday to You!" so I'm not too surprised that he remembers it. It is starting to look like this may have been the highlight, though. And it seems to have dethroned "Fish broke up, jump, fall in water" as the favorite story to tell. I need to be more careful what I wish for.

Train Ride

Sunday was my Grandpa's birthday. He likes trains as much as I do, so we all went on a train ride across Cayuga Lake. It was a lot of fun. There was a clown on the train that sang Happy Birthday to Grandpa, and lots of other people were wearing costumes, too.

When the train stopped, we got to eat donuts and drink cider.

I got a bag with lots of candy and toys in it, and me, Madelyn, and her friend Aidan got to play outside with Mommy and Daddy while everyone else went in a Haunted House. Haunted Houses are too scary, and I didn't want to go inside. Afterwards, we got back on the train and I got to watch out the window the whole way back to Waterloo. It was so much fun and I didn't want to get off the train when we got back. Mommy promised we'd go again sometime, though. I hope we go again soon.

Happy Halloween!

Saturday night was Halloween. I was a Jack-O-Lantern! My mommy made my costume all by herself. Halloween was a lot of fun. We went to visit Auntie Em and the fast orange car (vroom! vroom!), my Poppy, Grandma, Uncle Carlo, and a bunch of other people, too. We walked up to their house, rang the doorbell, and then when they opened the door I said "Trick or Treat!" I didn't even know some of them, but they all gave me candy! I love candy! I would eat candy all day every day if mommy would let me. It was a lot of fun, but a little spooky, too. It was very dark, and there were horse people and monkeys walking around outside. Mommy, Daddy, and Nona didn't seem too worried, but you had to be careful because monsters would pop out at you and skeletons would do little dances. Halloween is a scary night, but I'll do just about anything for candy.

Sunday in Letchworth Park

Mommy, Daddy, Nona, Papa, and I all went to Letchworth State Park on Sunday. I had lots and lots of fun. We saw 3 big waterfalls: Lower, Middle, and Upper Falls. We also saw lots of pretty colors on the trees, and even in the air. Mommy called it a rainbow. It was really big and really bright, but it wasn't raining out. I got to ride on Papa's shoulders and pick leaves off tress, and I also helped Nona find acorns that were still wearing their hats. And the best part was that we got to eat ice cream on the walk back to the car. Oh, and from Inspiration Point we could see a choo choo drive over Upper Falls. That was really cool. The choo choo was up high. Choo choos and waterfalls are 2 of my favorite things!

Halloween Spooktacular

On Saturday, Mommy took me to the Niagara Power Project for their Halloween Spooktacular.

I wore my raincoat and rainboots as a costume and was a really cute bee. I had lots of fun there. I got to play with Lillian, Greydan, and Morgan. There were lots of fun games to play. I even won some! We played ring toss, and a bunch of games where I had to throw beanbags and stuffed animals at things. I'm really good at those games! And the best part was all the candy. I love candy! I got sweettarts and starbursts and a big lolly pop. I was having so much fun right up until the end. That's when Mommy ruined it. There was a haunted house, and I didn't really want to go in, but all my friends were and Mommy said it would be ok, so I believed her, but it wasn't. There were so many scary lights! They flashed on and off really fast, and it was really dark in there even with the scary lights. We got half way through, and I just couldn't take it anymore. I started screaming for Mommy to get me out, but we couldn't move very fast. She kept telling me it was ok and that it was just kids being silly, but I don't know what she was talking about. I didn't see any kids. Just scary lights. I hope we don't have to go in any more haunted houses for a while.

Fish broke off, jump, fall water.

The Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday of Columbus Day weekend, we took Jack up to Lorton Lake to see the salmon run. His Daddy had taken him up 3 weeks prior and he has been telling the same 2 stories ever since. Those 2 stories go as follows: Fish broke off, jump, fall water. The first being that he was watching a fisherman trying to land a fish, but it broke off. The second is that, at the fish hatchery, they were jumping up ladders but some of them fell back down into the water. Jack really likes the fish, so we thought bringing him up could get us a few new stories. "Guy fall in, cold brrr," is the only new story we came away with. (In case you can't guess, a guy fell into the river while he was trying to land a fish in a net. It was very cold.) It really was very cold all weekend. Jack didn't care, though. His Grandpa took him on a golf cart ride, he got to see fishies, his daddy took him fishing in a boat (without a hook, though, poor kid!), and he got to "caw" off the island at Uncle Brian (which he's still doing.) Oh, and there were donuts. The child loves donuts! He started asking for them Monday morning. We didn't buy any until Monday night with the intention of eating them for breakfast Tuesday morning. He didn't sleep very well at all Monday night, and I'm fairly certain it was because we denied him his beloved donuts.
Jack had really wanted to tell this story himself, but I was afraid "Fish broke off, jump, fall water, guy fall in, cold brrrrr" would be a little too cryptic.

Pumpkinville

Today we went to a place called Pumpkinville way down in Ellicottville with Uncle Brian and Aunt Cara. It was a lot of fun. There were sooo many pumpkins there! Mommy and Daddy even let me pick some to bring home. They had lots of other fun stuff there, too. They had those big people cut outs with the holes where your face can go. I didn't really get it at first, but then Daddy showed me how it works.
They also had a giant corn maze. It was so muddy! I fell down and got very, very dirty. I also found lots of corn. I really like corn, but Mommy wouldn't let me keep them. She said they were for the cows and birdies to eat, not little boys like me. My favorite part, though, was hot pumpkin donuts and apple cider. Mmmm, they were sooo tasty! They were covered in cinnamon sugar, and I didn't even care that I was eating them with my muddy hands. A guy was playing good music on a guitar, and I was so happy. I think everyone should go to Pumpkinville!

Leaf Diving

Yesterday, Daddy raked up all the pretty leaves in our front yard. They come in so many colors. There's red, yellow, orange, and brown. Some of them even have lots of colors on the SAME leaf! My favorite part, though, was jumping in them. Daddy was trying to use my wagon to bring them all to the back yard, but I decided that it was much more fun to jump into the leaves from it. It was more like leaf diving than jumping, and it was really fun.

Picking Applesauce Off Trees

Since it wasn't raining this morning, Mommy and Daddy decided we should go pick applesauce off trees. We went to a place called Blackman Homestead Farm, and picked lots and lots of apples. There were lots of different kinds. Sometimes they were way up high, and sometimes I could reach them by myself, like these Red Delicious.

Mommy says she is going to make an apple crisp, butI really hope she makes applesauce. When we were all done picking apples, I got to make friends with a baby goat. But then it started raining and we had to go home. It was a lot of fun. I can't wait to go pumpkin picking in a few weeks!

Happy Birthday Super Jackson!

I'm sorry I haven't blogged in a while. Now that I have TWO aunts that live far away, I have to be better about it. Mommy and me have been very busy, though. Look at my T-shirt. I'm going to be a big brother! I'm not really sure what that means, except that Mommy is very sleepy and that I'm not allowed to jump on her belly anymore. Anyway... I just had a birthday. It was lots of fun. I turned 2 years old. For my birthday, all I wanted was a bike, blue. And guess what I got. A bike blue! Then, my Uncle Lukey came over and played with me during the day. And then, my friends Greydan and Lillian came over to play. We got to have cake! I love cake! Mommy decorated it herself. It didn't look as nice as the one my Nona made for me, but she tried hard. I also got lots and lots of presents. I even got train tracks for my Thomas the Tank Engine trains. One of my favorite presents, though, was the cape my Nona gave me. I think it was actually one of my uncle's when they were little. It is red with blue, and I get to be Super Jackson when I wear it. I like to wear it when I ride my new bike. Mommy even let me wear it to go see Dr. Ferguson. I got to be Super Jackson when I got my flu shot, and it didn't hurt Super Jackson nearly as much. I like to play Super Jackson. My birthday was a fun day, and I can't wait to do it again.

The Bee Picnic

So today I came out just in time to discover that Jackson had "set the table" for all his little bee friends, whoever they might be. "A plate! A plate!" was his joyful exclamation when he saw me. His Nona bought him this little bumble bee raincoat and matching boots set, and the child has hardly taken it off in 2 days. He especially likes the boots. He can even put them on all by himself (thank god!) He really is my little "bitty bee."

The Tale of the Tricksy Hobbit

Once, not so long ago, in a land not so far away, a Hobbit was locked out of the tower and away from his Daddy by an evil Troll. His Daddy was up in the tower painting his office (finally!), and the evil troll (Mommy) was blocking the stairs with her rather ample ass in an effort to prevent the Hobbit from turning a nice shade of Vanilla Brandy. This was a problem, and the Hobbit needed a plan. He decided this was the moment. He ran off while the evil Troll was otherwise engaged in a conversation with the Daddy, and returned triumphantly holding the plastic piece for the refrigerator lock that the evil Troll was, up until this point, unaware that he could remove. In her shock, she abandoned her post and ran to the now unlocked refigerator to see if it truly was, in fact, said refrigerator lock. Not only was it indeed the refrigerator lock, but she arrived at the refrigerator just in time to hear the peals of laughter ringing down from the upper floor as the Hobbit finally reached his Daddy.





Hobbit 1: Evil Troll 0.





PS... We're back.

1 more week

Hi All,
Sorry we have been MIA for the last month or so. We will be getting our internet hooked up on 8/17, and then we will share all our wonderful adventures with you. I just wanted to let you know that we are all ok, and have been ALL OVER the place. You'll hear from us soon.

Amy and Jackson

4th of July

Sadly, this is the only picture my mommy remembered to take all 4th of July weekend. We went to Lorton Lake with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Kelley, Maddie, Great Grandma, G.G., and Uncle David. Uncle Greg and Steph were there for a little while, too. 4th of July is Grandma's birthday, so everyone throws a big party for her and sets off lots of fireworks. At least, that's what she told me. It was lots of fun. We got to go to the beach and play with a dump truck, and then I got to pick out a ball and turtle choo choo to take home. It was really cold and windy, though, so we didn't stay too long. After my nap, Uncle Greg and Stephanie were there and we had dinner. Then, we got to see lots and lots of fireworks. There were so many colors and they were so noisy. They said, "Boom! Pshhh! Roar!" I really liked them. And then we got to eat cake that tasted like pudding. It was the best day!

The next day was a much nicer day, and Maddie and I played outside in our little house. Aunt Kelley even let us eat our lunch out there. That is what this picture is of. We had red applesauce, and it was tasty. I finally got to go out on the boat, but then it was time to go home. I was sad, but Mommy says we'll try to go back after everything has slowed down. I'm not really sure what that means, but I hope it means we can go back.

Jack -And A Whole Lot More- In The Box

As you may or may not be aware, we are gearing up for another move. Technically, this will be our 4th in 2 years. With any luck, it will be our last for quite some time. This is the first move, however, where Jack is somewhat aware of what is going on. In an effort to distract him from the boxes we were trying to pack, we set up a particularly large one for him to use as a fort. In typical toddler fashion, he opted to copy Mommy and Daddy instead.

He carefully put every toy that we've left out for him to play with inside his box, taking special care to move books out of the way when the big ball didn't quite fit all the way to the back. And every so often, he would try to back in, just to be sure he still fit. I'm not sure if he was trying to use it as a fort, but with every last toy that he owns inside it with him, or if he's afraid that since we aren't packing his toys that we are going to leave them-and him!- behind. Either way, it was really adorable.

Papa's Choo Choo

This is me and my Uncle Joe Joe playing in the back of my Papa's choo choo (or truck, if you don't speak Jack). I like Papa's choo choo. It is blue, my favorite color.

Cherry Festival at Cobblestone Farm Winery

On Saturday, me, Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma all went down to Cobblestone Farm Winery to their Cherry Festival. It was lots and lots of fun. I ate soooo many cherries. I even got to pick some! The best part, though, was spitting out the pit. I'm usually not supposed to spit stuff out, but this time I was allowed. It was a little tricky, though. You have to get just the right part - the little stone in the middle. Sometimes, it is hard to find.

After we picked cherries, there was a band playing music and we got to dance. When I first heard the band, I was still in the cherry orchard and they were singing Wild Cherry's "Play that Funky Music (White Boy)." I just HAD to dance. Mommy and Daddy did finally convince me to leave the orchard, but I ran straight for the stage. We did lots more dancing, and Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma had some juice but I was allowed to have any. I didn't think it was very nice of them to not share. They said it wasn't very good anyway, though, so I guess I'll forgive them. All in all, it was a really fun afternoon. I hope to get to do it again sometime.

Blue Oyster Cult

Every summer, the town of Lewiston (which is technically where we live) puts on a series of free concerts at the Artpark called Tuesdays in the Park. Last night's concert featured Blue Oyster Cult. We all had a great time, Jack especially. Who knew he was so into hard rock and heavy metal? He even had the head banging down!

(A note about the video: I forgot that my camera only takes horizontal video and won't turn it vertical. So I'm sorry about that. Also, the clip cuts out rather abruptly to protect the eyes of the faint-hearted from a nasty-looking fall. Don't worry, it looked worse than it was. He's fine.)

Lamp for Sale

Baby-shaped lamp, good cond. Less than 2 yrs old. $10/bo. Pick up only. No returns.

;)

Syracuse Balloon Festival

Yesterday, me, Mommy, Daddy, and my Uncle Joe Joe went to the Syracuse Balloon Festival. It was way far away from my house. It was lots of fun, though. When we got there, my Aunt Mimi was there! Mommy said we were visiting her at her work. We walked around for a while and there was a beach with lots of sand for me to dig in and throw around. Then, we went to play on a blanket and listen to music. We even got to eat Pizze Fritte, but it was very hot and hot things are scary. After a while, though, it wasn't so hot anymore. So, I had lots and lots of bites. It was so yummy! After that, we went over to see the very best part: The Hot Air Balloons! Hot Air Balloons are just really, really big balloons. I love balloons. They were my favorite part. They were so big and so pretty, and I really loved the way they just took off up into the air. There were so many of them, too! They were so much fun to watch. My Aunt Mimi says that her, Nona, and Papa all got to ride in one way up the air. I don't know if I would have liked that. But watching from the ground was nice.
On the way back to Nona and Papa's house, Mommy and Daddy wanted to stop for dinner. We went to a place called Doug's Fish Fry in Skaneateles, which Mommy says has the best fish fry of anywhere on Earth. The fish was pretty tasty, but my favorite part was the choo choo. There was a choo choo train that went on a track all along the ceiling. It was so cool! It even went through the walls. And every so often, it made a real train whistle noise. I couldn't believe it! It sounded very real, but it didn't really sound like it was coming from the train. I never really figured that out. (It was actually the elderly gentleman sitting behind him making the noise- but only when he wasn't looking!) It was a great day, though. I think everyone should go look at really big balloons sometime.

Me and my Auntie La

This is a recent picture of me and my Auntie La. She put me in that nice, canvas Ithaca Bakery bag and swung me back and forth way up high in the air. I think it made Mommy a little nervous, but I fit inside the bag so perfectly and it was so much fun. I love my Auntie La!