Week 34: September 29-October 5

Mason:
- I *may* have walked away from a boiling pot of milk/pasta this week... to the point where I completely ruined the pot and burnt dinner.  The next night, while cooking, Mason asked me: "Mommy, is dinner burning down right now?"
- has graduated to standing to pee.  Sometimes, quite proudly, he even "holds his junk".  Though, he has a tendency to point it straight instead of down :-/

Jackson:

- I'm thinking that maybe he is making the "ba" sound for "ma".  If I say "ma ma ma" a lot then he'll start to say "ba".  They really aren't that different with your mouth if you think about it!  ;)

- he also enjoys clicking his tongue and smacking his lips

- he is quite the ropy poly!!  He can squirm his way from one side of the room to the other by a combination of arching his back and rolling.

- He is very interested in food.  If it's on my plate, he tries to put his hands in it!

- He has discovered the fun of dropping things out of high chair and exerciser.  He'll look over the edge, dangle the toy, and then DROP!

Sassy got to wear Jackson while Mason and I did gymnastics

We had our first music class (Musikgarten) this week.  It is by the same lady who created Kindermusik which I did with Mason when he was little.  This seems to be more singing and rhythm with less hands on instruments and such to play with.

Jackson seemed to LOVE it, smiling and flapping his arms the whole time. 

Mason was kind of timid, opting to sit and watch a few of the activities.

When asked what his favorite part of class was afterwards, he responded "leaving the room".  Ha!

But on the other side of that room is the Children's Museum with a big truck he can "drive" so I can't really blame him!

Pops and Pops Jr.

Jim took some pix of Mason at his school for me to put on his calendar.

Jim had Mason dressed all dapper one morning, and I couldn't let Jackson be outdone!

The boys and I introduced S&P to "the muffin man store" before they had to leave.  We sure enjoyed their visit and will miss them!!

Cost effective Halloween decor / toddler entertainment

Peak a boo!!

Sunday was Family Farm Tour Day.  

We went to 2 different farms with friends.  

First, an alpaca farm with Eleanor

Alpaca bros

Then to another farm I can't remember the name of, that had tons of great kid activities!

Like a BIG tractor!!!

Jackson seems pretty proud to be part of the action!

And PONY RIDES!!

And a TRACTOR RIDE!

We stopped and got off the tractor to check out some tomato plants, but Mason decided to use that time to just drive the whole tractor trailer (with the driver's permission).

And make and race your own vegetable car!

Here's some examples of that Roly Poly I was talking about!

Sass and Jim worked on the boys bedrooms a bit more

Mason got his old letters repainted and put up, as well as layer one of curtains (I'm told there is a valence in the works), a bed skirt, and some fun pillows.

Jackson got letters painted, the mirror painted, curtains hemmed to fit, and I had ordered that bedskirt for the queen bed.

I love the view while sitting in his room nursing him.  The patterns are so fun together!

Here's Mason's completed calendar.  At least draft 1, which is holding up better than I thought.  I ended up just printing pictures on regular paper, mostly because I couldn't find our picture paper and knew this project would never get done if I didn't just make it work.  

I think this calendar is helping a lot!  We move the arrow over every night at bed time so he knows what is coming up the next day.  It is a little bit of work on my part to think ahead about activities that I can find pictures for (such as the farm picture on Sunday)

Making a Nursery - Take TWO

Well, here is where Jackson slept the first 6.5 months of his life

And here is the room that will be converted into his nursery!

Jim had a little celebration as the rocking chair was moved out of our closet.

(He was actually home by himself, moved the rocking chair by himself, played the music and made the video, and posted it to our photo stream - I was cracking up!)

Jim and Mason did some manly work...

We were able to color match some paint to the crib, and Jim sprayed the dressers

And over Labor Day weekend, THIS came together!!

There is still more to be done: 

I really love this comforter Jim found on sale at Macy's, and then I happened upon a SUPER sale (they were $60 down to $6) on the bedsheets that have blue and green stripes (you can kind of see it in the pillows)

But we still need a bed skirt and curtains,

maybe some more green accents (we're thinking about repainting the gray baskets to green on the little blue table near the dresser)

and probably a new mirror,

but it's coming together pretty nicely!

And I am SUPER impressed with how great all of the painting turned out!

I've finally framed the picture that Erica had made for us.  The colors are perfect!  Now we need to get some nails in the walls and get some more decor!  Jim also sprayed some letters to spell "Jackson" in the navy blue, then we decided to color match a green paint as well and alternate the letters.  So more to come in the future!

I really love sitting in this room, rocking Jackson to bed.  Jackson seems to really enjoy music, so we listen to a sleepy time mix on Pandora that I have been enjoying as well.  But two things that I think we REALLY did right with our second nursery are having a queen size bed and a very comfortable rocking chair in there!!