6 MONTHS

So I have definitely neglected the photo department lately, but I will make up for it next week when Jack will have his 6 month photo shoot which I am totally excited for. Tomorrow I'll add some pictures. But Jackson is officially 6 months old and here are his stats:
20.5 lbs. (92%)
28.75" (99%)
and Head: 18.6" (folks, that is over the 100%!)

He is a crazy ball of energy and would love nothing more that to be standing upright and bouncing. He is a pro at rolling over and can scoot backwards quite well. When he tries to crawl forward he ends up swimming by kicking his legs and smacking his hands against the floor. He is still a MAJOR puker so he is not getting better with age. He loves to bounce in the johnny jumper which usually results in a lot of projectile puke. He has started on baby food but doesn't care much for it and after about half a jar he is done. He is in love with Porter and thinks everything he does is hilarious. He is such a giggler but still is totally bi-polar to the extreme. His little laugh is my favorite thing. He has sprouted two bottom front teeth and is apparently working on the next set. He loves his walker and could play in it for hours. His all time favorite thing in the entire world is PAPER. Yes, he loves how it looks, sounds, and would love to taste it as well. We love our little butterball and cannot believe it has already been 6 months. As for the statistics above, I now have to go buy a completely new wardrobe because instead of being 3 months off season of Porter, he is more like 6 months different. The child is wearing 12-18 month clothes now!

On the Porter Potty Training front: 3 days, no accidents, and finally after a bit of worry, a movement. We are quite happy on this front. Although, this child has most definitely inherited my childhood temper tantrums and after reading a few child rearing books, I am still at a loss of how to handle it. Unfortunately for me, the tantrum is usually directed at me and always at least once during the tantrum he informs me that he doesn't like me and wants me to go away. It's been tough to develop a thicker skin and not take it so personally because 10 minutes later he will be telling me how much he loves me but I do have to admit it has made me cry a time or two. How my mom handled this and how I survived childhood are still a mystery to me.

The Mac Died

Well, for all you mac users, just in case you were wondering, when your computer screen goes blank and then the screen flashes with a folder with a question mark in it, that basically means your hard drive is shot! Lucky for me I had just recently transferred all my photos to my external hard drive. Unlucky for me, I had spent a few hours photoshopping some pictures for work and spent hours on a letter to Porter that I have been writing him about his life, both gone! Hopefully they can possibly be recovered but so far Trent has had no luck. Oh yeah, another lucky for me, Trent is a Mac genius! So luckily the mac itself will still be of use to me. He happened to have an extra mac hard drive lying around (who has that?) and has installed it into my computer and reinstalled everything (even a pirated copy of photoshop as I no longer have my discs, yikes!). And all it cost me? A pizza! I guess I must jinx things like when I dreamt that Tom would loose his job. I was just saying that my mac was probably going to die soon and that there was no way I would be able to replace it. And of course, the next week it was gone! Sad day, but at least there is an upside, right?

On a different note, Porter has successfully completed day one of Operation Potty Training with a 5 for 5 record and no accidents! We even went to the grocery store and visited my mom's house. He is now in bed so here we go!!

Catching Up Again

Our "Rocket Ship"

Hanging Out with Josh and McKay

Pony Rides at Thanksgiving Point (yes as a pirate)

HAPPY BABY

As a side note, let me just tell you what a bad morning sounds like. The boys both had horrible nights last night as Porter has developed this new awful habit of wandering into our room at all hours of the night because he wants his daddy and he knows he doesn't get very much time with him. So already I was out of sorts from 3 nights of this. I then proceeded to take the garbage out. I have had to start locking the kids in the house so that Porter doesn't wander after me. Well as luck would have it the keys in my hand snagged on to the garbage bag as I threw it in the dumpster. Yes, I indeed had to jump into the dumpster (freshley showered and dressed) to get them out. I then proceeded to take the kids to the dog park so Miko could run around. Well, lucky us, the black dog was there that inappropriately mounts dogs so we didn't get to go in. We came home to the next door neighbors having their carpets cleaned which for some reason the company sounds like a jack hammer which continued for some time! (they were here last night too! For the love!) But we survived the morning and now the kids are napping on my bed next to me while I award myself with a quick break from working. So never mind the morning, its been a good day!

Lessons

I hate being humbled by your children. Last week I took Porter to the park. He is in this pirate phase right now and insists that he wear his pirate hat, patch, and belt everywhere and he runs around screaming argh! When we pulled up to the park, I recommended that he take his hat off because it is kind of weird. He said to me quite matter of factly, "It's ok to be weird mommy. It's not a big deal!"

Last week we were at my mom's house and she was watching my brother's dog for him. He was being quite overbearing and needy (he is a golden) and so she finally let him out to run around. He never leaves the yard. About an hour later she realized we hadn't let Dodger back in. We called for him and looked all around the yard but there was no trace whatsoever. She jumped in her car to go look for him while Porter and I stood at the window on the look out. I asked Porter if he remembered what his books told him about losing things. He told me we should pray about it. We said a prayer and immediately looked up to see Dodger bounding up the stairs towards us. (thank you for the perfect teaching moment for a 2 year old that needs immediate results!) I tried to call my mom to tell her but she wasn't answering her phone. Porter proceeded to inform me that we needed to pray to find "mana" and immediately said a prayer, "Heavenly Father, please find mana and bless her to get home safe and be ok; name of Jesus Christ amen." I love that little boy!