Canada trip- Picture overload!

Jackson and I were able to fly home to Canada for about a week and a half at the start of the month. It was such a wonderful time. Though we didnt do anything overly exciting, we enjoyed spending time making cookies, and nuts and bolts, talking with family and friends, and doing all those christmas traditions, like putting up the tree at my parents. Jackson had a blast.He calls my mom "mama" and dad is "papa". He even tries to says my sisters name, kerri ("a-ee"). And he bawled when any one had to leave. So here come the pictures...

Jackson and mama making short-bread cookies

Getting art lessons from his second-cousin Brianna

Jackson's first real experience with snow came when he went to help grandpa shovel the sidewalks.

Opening a present from grandma Burrows

Playing cars on his new playmat, with grandpa Burrows

Jackson got to hang out with Brody one morning before we left, and i got to see Kaleigh! Love that lady and her cute little man. I am determined that Jackson and Brody will be best buds when we eventually go back to Canada.

Haning with aunt Kerri, uncle Bryn and great uncle Mo

Helping grandpa decide which ornament to put up next

Opening an early christmas present with grandma schaalje

and a sneak peek...

my 18 weeks pregnant tummy!

The proof :)

Yup, it's definitely a girl :)

Our ultrasound wasnt as clear as I'd hoped and we really didnt get any good pictures printed off other than the clearly female shot. But i'll post the picture of her feet and also the one of her face

(feet)

(her face is at the left and belly on the right- it's looking straight at her. You can see her eye sockets really well)

Baby is a...

GIRL!!!!

Looks like I'll be checking out a lot more accessories like this in the near future :)

Pregnant? Yes, Yes I am!

In the past week we have finally announced that I AM PREGNANT! And we are absolutely thrilled about it! We feel so blessed that things have worked out so far, for us to be having (and affording) another american baby. I am currently 17 weeks along, which is almost 4 months. And with baby's cooperation, we will be finding out the gender on December 15th. For those of you thinking you've been left out of the knowledge loop, please dont feel that way. No one other than Bryan and I knew until i told my parents on Dec 2nd when we flew in to see them. I have been feeling great. In fact, possibly even better than with Jackson, and he was an easy pregnancy. What can I complain about? If I had to find something I'd say it's that i still have head aches this time, i'm more tired, and instead of being boiling hot, i am an icecube! But as for nausea- count me out!  and that annoying acne i had with jackman, no where in sight (so far). Again, i feel very blessed that everything is going so well. I'm even starting to feel baby move! Though it isnt even every day right now. I've been wondering how many people still read my blog, so i guess this anouncement will give me a good idea. I'll put pictures up soon from our Canada trip.

Christmas tree

We decided to put up our christmas tree last night. Normally it doesnt make its appearance till the month of december has actually arrived. But because Jackson and I are going home to canada for a week and a half on thursday, i wanted to put it up so we can enjoy our christmas decorations longer. Jackson was actually not a very big fan of the tree and ended up playing mostly with the tissue paper wrapping up our ornaments. But that's ok. He has found our byu football ornament and keeps wanting to take it off to play with. Luckily that's the only one he's really bothering.

I am so excited for christmas. Santa will be bringing some really awesome presents for jackson. And he will be able to understand what is going on so much more this year. This will be our first christmas by ourselves and i am kind of excited for it. And after christmas we'll go visit bryan's sister and her family for a few days.  I also feel very lucky that jackson and I get to go home for a little time during the christmas season. It'll probably be the last time we fly back till 4th year beacuse it will be so expensive from now on... having to pay for 2 plane tickets even for just me and jackman. Hope everyone enjoyed thanksgiving and is feeling the christmas spirit!

The Holland's Photos

I am so excited that i was asked to take some family pictures for our friends the Hollands. I love their family. They are so much fun- and obviously very good-looking. These are the youngest kids I've worked with so far. It was a bit of an adventure, but in the end we got some good shots with everyone smiling an/or looking at the camara. I hope they liked the pictures. I am really excited to be developing my love for photography. Here's a sample of a few of the shots we took.

Our Halloween

This year we carved pumpkins the Thursday before halloween. They werent as intricate as usual, but come on- we had to watch the office at 9. So we didn't have a lot of time :) Our friends, the Bakers (see shirleys maternity shots in previous post) came over for the event. Mine is the skeleton on the left and bryans is the face on the far right. He actually put braces on it too! (think maybe he's gonna be a dentist?) You cant see the braces really in this picture though. Jackson had a small pumpkin that i wanted to let him finger paint, but i didnt get the paint in time so it didnt happen. He went to bed shortly after we started carving anyway... way to many sharp things floating around for him to grab.

Jackson was Horton, from Horton Hear a Who. And yes, he is holding a clover with a speck on it. The clover was bryan's idea- Brilliant! It made the costume so much more fun. And jackson did actually carry it around for the entire trunk-or-treat.

How cute is this little elephant?

"the loot" from the trunk-or-treat... mommy and daddy may help him eat it :)

Hope everyone else had an awesome halloween! We sure did!

Shirley's Maternity Photos

I had the priveledge of taking some maternity photos for one of my awesome friends out here in Indy. She is one of the most gorgeous people I know, and taking her pictures was such a treat for me. I am glad they turned out good. I'm curious how other people like them. So feel free to leave some comments on how to improve, or on what i did well.

The Pumpkin Patch

Bryan had an extra long weekend (fall break) this past week. And on Monday we headed off to Brown County with some friends here in Indy. We first stopped at a pumpkin patch and corn maze. We picked a pumpkin for each of us. Jackson got a little one that he loved carrying around.

The boys werent too happy at first...

But once they saw the pumpkins they calmed down. (they are looking at the pumpkins)

Jackson pushed Liam over to the corn maze.

Here's jackson with his little pumpkin.

Family shot at the pumpkin place. So much fun. I promise jackson liked it even if he sint smiling in a picture.

After the pumpkin patch we headed into town. I cant remember what the town is actually called but it is one of the cutest places i have ever seen. There are lots of fun little shops. We got some delicious fudge before we left. And had lunch at a yummy place called the trolly cart. So so good.

eating lunch :)

The drive home was gorgeous. The trees are beautiful! We were going to go into the state park and get a better look and go for a walk, but jackson fell asleep in the car and we did not want a grouchy baby on a peaceful walk. So we went home. But it was an awesome day, and thanks to our friends for planning everything out for the day. We had a blast.

growing-up check-up

Jackson had his 18 month check-up today and to be quite honest i was shocked at how big he is getting. i'd guessed hed be  between 24-26 lbs, but thought it would be much closer to the 24 lb mark as he seriously doesnt eat anything. His typical day consists of a handful of fruit and half a package of instant oatmeal for breakfast and then he eating pretty much stops. He'll have some more fruit at some point, but only a few bites of lunch and dinner and maybe some crackers. Thank goodness he now likes milk because i know that adds some much needed calories to his diet. So after that long explanation of why i was surprised the verdict on his weight was 25 lbs 6 oz (around the 50th percentile) and height was 33 inches (around the 70th percentile). So i was shocked he weighted that much because he doesnt eat and i am really surprised he's in the 70th percentile for height because he's always been a bit under the 50th. Maybe he will stop being a size behind in the pant department now.
Jackson also got 4 immunizations. It should have only been 3 but for some reason the dr he went to in utah didnt give the chicken-pox vaccine at 12 months. then 2 other normal ones and his flu shot. The poor guy was not happy with those needles. The good news? He is now caught up and wont need anything other than the flu shot yearly until he turns 4 or 5! woohoo! By that time we'll be back in Canada. Crazy to think.
Jackson was robbed a bit of a nap today, but with the help of tylenol and blue's clues he's recovering from his shots well.

18 months already!

Today my baby turns 18 months old. Can you believe he is a year and a half old already? I know i have a hard time believeing it. My baby isnt a baby anymore. In fact, he has been a little man for quite a while already. Jackson is such a wonderful guy. He cracks me up all the time. And amazes me with how much he is always learning.

 Jacksons words (most of which dont have the endings on them, but we certainly know he's saying them):

ma(mom and grandma)

da(dad)

pa(grandpa)

ba (ball)

baball(basketball)

Du(duck)

uh-oh

no!

ya

cooey (cookie)

eye

ose(nose and toes)
boo coo's (blue's clue's)

he also knows that a lion says "garr" a sheep says "baah" and that a cow says "moo"

I'm sure there are a few other words, but these are the daily ones that i can think of. Jacksons favorite thing to watch on TV is Blues Clues, but he also likes seseme street. And lucky for me he doesnt mind only a half our or less of TV/day. We have a wonderful friend who gave me tips to get Jackson to start liking reading with me more and it has worked wonderful. We can read for 30 minutes or more at a time. Mind you these are all lift-the flap books or animal ones. But there are stories and lots of things to learn.
I know Jackson understand pretty much anything coming out of my mouth. He follows directions very well. but has recently discovered the word "no". though he's been able to say it for a while, he is very vocal with it now. Yes, it is annoying, BUT he doesnt usually mean it. I asked if he wanted to play outside the other day and he yelled "NO!" and then went to the closet and brought me his shoes.

Bryan and I love this little guy so much and are extremely grateful he is ours forever. He is so well behaved  and simply a joy to have with us. We love you bud!

Corn

So Jackson LOVES corn on the cob. But apparently canned corn is gross and he wont touch it. Also, frozen peas are awesome- but dont try to get him to eat them cooked. What a silly man.

Just a random little blog. Have a nice day!