8 month wrap up

Jackson,

You are getting to be such a big boy. You learn new things everyday. I wanted to make a list for you of all the things you can do. I didn’t get to do it for your 8 month birthday, so I guess 8 1/2 months will have to work! The biggest thing you have learned is to CRAWL! This week especially, you are getting really good at crawling. You can pull up onto your knees and even up to standing sometimes. This is really making naps difficult because you like to show off your skill! You are still figuring out how to get back down so Mommy has to come help you. You can sit up by yourself. You are a master raspberry blower. You can say “Momma” and “Dadda”. I think you are starting to know that I am Momma. I left the room the other day and you cried and said “Mom-ma”. You used to say “dadda” more, but now you mostly say “momma”. I have been teaching you some signs. When you finish eating I sign “all done” and then say “hip hip hooray” and raise my arms and then your arms. Now when you are done eating you raise you’re little arms in the air and smile. When ever you hear “hooray” on the baby channel on TV you raise your arms and get really excited. Such a smart boy! You don’t quite have a pincer grasp, but you can pick up things with your whole hand. You love to feed yourself. You know your name is Jackson. You love to walk with me holding onto your arms. You take a few steps then stop and look up at me and smile and then walk some more. You love your Daddy so much. You get so excited when he comes home from work and can’t wait for him to hold you. You love your Grammy and Mimi. Whenever they come over you get excited. Grammy taught you to fake cough and you thing it’s hilarious. Whenever you see her you cough and start laughing. So silly! We all love you so much and are so proud of you!

Love you forever and ever!

Mommy

Greenleaf Hat

I was looking around on etsy on day and kept finding the cutest baby hats. Have you been on etsy before? They have all kinds of cute stuff. I decided that I could make Jackson a hat instead of paying for one. I know how to knit and crochet, but I usually get to bored and impatient to finish anything. I’m really proud that 1)I finished this hat 2) it fits Jackson and 3) it worked- it’s actually a hat and looks like its supposed to!

I used this pattern. Grammy bought us the yarn at a yarn shop hot she went to. It had a pattern on the label, but I thought it looked to girly. I’m really happy with how it turned out and it wasn’t too hard.

Here is Jackson modeling it. This is him throwing gangsta signs, trying to toughen up the look.

He’s not fooling anyone! He’s the cutest baby ever!

Since I knit this one, I want to try crocheting the next one. I found a really cute pattern for a little beanie with a brim.

Big boy chair

We finally got Jackson a highchair. I kept putting it off  because I couldn’t decide which one I wanted. And he still fit in the bumbo chair, so we just kept using that. Well, it has become increasingly difficult to feed Jackson in the bumbo. He likes to reach and grab everything he can get his little hands on. He also likes to hang over the sides and do backbends while sitting in it. All of which make feeding him nearly impossible. Not to mention unsafe. So, I finally just picked one. I decided on the Graco Classic Wood highchair. I bought this one on Albeebaby.com because they had the best price.

Here he is after eating his breakfast in it for the first time!

After seeing Jackson in his big boy highchair I realized how tiny he is. Maybe now we can get more food in him!

By the look on his face I would say he likes his new chair! He’s such a cutie pie!

I really like that you can take off the big tray and there is a small snack tray underneath. There is also a plastic tray that goes over the big tray that you can put in the dishwasher.

My little man is growing up!

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Last week I made these.

Oh. my. gosh! They were SO good! Great for fall gatherings!

I used this recipe. Mine were not as pretty, but that’s ok. (My pastry bag busted when I was trying to make the icing pretty. There was much cussing and yelling at my poor husband :( Sorry darlin! I love you!) The recipe makes a huge batch. I got 18 cupcakes just like it says.

Cute as a pumpkin

It’s been another crazy week in the Cash house. The short version is: Matthew is sick.  Which meant he couldn’t hold Jackson or take care of him.  Which meant I got to stay home with him this weekend. Yay!

The bad part was we had to miss our friend Courtney’s 1st birthday party. The other bad part is that Jackson was supposed to have a minor procedure done at the hospital this morning. We had to cancel it because they wouldn’t let him come after being exposed to Matthew.  So, we have to go in 4 weeks. (I’m not specifying the procedure because I’m sure Jackson would kill me if he knew one day that I had posted it on the internet!) But, you’ve probably heard me talk about it.

Since we could not go the Courtney’s party, we decided to go to the pumpkin patch. We went to Yahoo Farm. Jackson had so much fun. I’m so glad we went. Matthew took lots of great pictures. He is a much better photographer than I am. It’s hard to choose, but here are some of my favorites.

Jackson was too interested in the grass to look up at us.

Yahoo farm was really fun. They had chickens and turkeys and goats. Jackson tried to reach through the fence to grab them. But I didn’t want him to get pecked.  They had a corn maze and hayride that we didn’t do. Next year maybe when Jackson is older we will go to Cagle’s Farm. The best part was spending the day with my two boys. Since I started working weekends it’s been nearly impossible to spend time together as a family and do fun things. 

I’ll put more pictures on my facebook.  And check back this week. I have some fun, new posts planned!

Excuse my mess...

I'm working on changing the blog around a bit. Do you like the new look so far? I'm in love with fall colors right now! Still working on the header, sorry its blurry.

Aquarium

Today Jackson and I met Grammy in Jasper, then we drove to Chattanooga to see Mimi and Uncle Josh. We ate lunch at a yummy place called Aretha Frankenstein’s. They have HUGE pancakes! They are soo good. I should have taken a picture. Oops, I just now thought of that.

Then we went to the Tennessee Aquarium. Mimi has a membership and has been wanting to take Jackson. He didn’t sleep the whole trip in the car and passed out by time we got to the aquarium. I thought he was going to miss the whole thing.

Here he is asleep in front of the macaws. They were huge!

It’s a good thing Jackson was asleep, because the macaws were kissing!

There were lots of mana rays. These were pretty. They had yellow spots on them.

A big open tank had lots of mana rays that you could reach in and touch. I did NOT touch them!

Jackson finally woke up when we went to see the penguins.

Here are some more pics from our trip…

Me & Jackson in the shark cage

Sorry Uncle Joshy, I can’t figure out why its trying to cut you out!

We had lots of fun. This time we only went to the ocean side of the aquarium. Next time we will have to go to the river side too.

Oh!! I just thought of something funny! While we were standing in front of the big tank with lots of fish and sharks, this one shark swam by and pooped right in front of us! Then these fish swam up and started eating the poop! It was so gross!

Ok. That was our trip. Hope you had a good day too!