Cousin Evan!

Our nephew (and Jackson's first cousin), Evan William Koontz, was born on January 25 at 8:09 in the morning. He weighed 6 lbs. 11 oz, and was 19.5 in. long. You can tell by the pictures, he's absolutely beautiful! Unfortunately, his lungs are not fully developed, and he is in the NICU. Hopefully he'll get to go home at the end of the week. I haven't been able to hold just yet, since he's hooked up to so many machines, but I can't wait to cuddle him. I am absolutely in love with him!

Sweet, sleeping boy.
(They ran out of blue bunny blankets.)

My gorgeous, proud, sister, Rachael, with her
handsome little man.

Yeah! I'm so excited to be Evan's aunt!

Perfect little angel!

Christmas 2007

I thought it was about time to FINALLY post Christmas pictures. Thankfully, unlike last year, Jackson was healthy for Christmas. He was getting over Strep and a cold, but was quite the happy boy (AMEN!). He was certainly a lot more excited about opening his presents this year, though still needed some help. He would get so wrapped up playing with the toys he'd already opened, he would forget about all the others. I can't even begin to imagine how excited he'll be next year. Plus, we'll have baby Caleb too (not that he'll be very interested). We are so grateful for all the time we were able to spend with family for Christmas.

Our Christmas card picture.
(This was quite a feat this year.)

Thomas trains!

Yeah! A new Backyardigans book!

Playing with some of his new toys at his Scooby Doo table.

Dada helping Jackson open his Backyardigans bath toys!

Trying to ride on the Backyardigans pirate ship.
Silly boy!

Ready to open more presents at Grammy & Grandaddy's house.

He absolutely LOVED making the saxophone Santa play!

Playing Legos with Uncle Carl!


He was SO excited about his kitchen!
He LOVES to help cook.

Jackson & Dada all tuckered out.

Let it Snow!

This past Monday, we got our first snow that actually stayed around long enough to play in. This was Jackson's first time playing in the snow! We bundled up and headed out right after breakfast. I wanted to wait until Josh got home from work, so he could enjoy this "first" moment too, but was afraid all the snow would be melted by then (and it was). We had lots of FUN!

All bundled up and ready to go!

Waving bye-bye.

Precious!
(First time wearing mittens.)

Can we go outside already?

SNOW!!!

Even with all the snow, he just wanted to push his mower around the block.
Silly boy!

Checking on the fish in pond.

Needless to say, Jackson was NOT happy about having to come inside.
The pictures truly speak for themselves.

Cool Whip Art!

One evening, Jackson and I got a little stir crazy. I had done shaving cream art with kids in my days as a camp counselor, and decided to use some left over Cool Whip to do Cool Whip art with Jackson. He wasn't so sure what to think of Mommy plopping a bunch of Cool Whip on the kitchen table at first, but got the hang of it pretty quickly. I must say it added a lot of fun to our night. Josh was certainly shocked when he saw the pictures. What can I say?

Is it really okay to touch it?

Hmmmm. . . .what should I do with this?

Going in, face first.

Squishy!

YUMMY!!!!!

Are you sure I'm not gonna get in trouble for this?

Oooo. This is FUN!

Belly full of Cool Whip!

Time to get cleaned up!

The Littlest Engineer

Jackson and I went to the Army Corps' Christmas lunch on Dec. 19. Before lunch, Jackson decided to help Daddy with his work. A little engineer in training? We'll see. I think he was just excited to do "work" on the computer.

Shouldn't you be working?

Hard at work.

Opening a present from one of Daddy's co-workers.
Yeah! New books!
(Thanks, Annette!)

Now that I've worked up an appetite,
can we eat lunch?

Once we made it downstairs for the Christmas lunch, there was a little extra time before we actually ate. Jackson got a little ancey, so we gave him a spoon to play with. He ran straight to the dessert table, and started trying to put his spoon in all the yummy pies, cakes, etc. He was certainly the center of attention for a little while.

Latest & Greatest

Just thought I'd share some of the latest pictures of Jackson. He's really getting to be such a big boy. He's also turned into quite the little climber too. Watch out world!

Sitting in his booster seat at the table.
Jackson decided last week that he would much rather sit in a chair than in his highchair.
So far, he's doing a great job (even with spaghetti).

Giving baby brother Caleb some lovin'.
He's such a sweet boy. He loves to give Caleb lots of love.

Playing in the box that Caleb's bedding came in.
He played with this box for two days (until Daddy threw it away). He pretended it was his little fort and even wanted to eat his snack it it. He had a ball playing, and we had a ball watching him.

Halloween 2007

Well, I guess it's about time I posted some Halloween pictures, now that Thanksgiving has passed and Christmas is about a month away. Anyway, Jackson absolutely LOVED getting dressed up this year and didn't even mid wearing the hood for his lion costume (he hates wearing anything on his head). We went trick-or-treating at the Louisville Zoo & Trunker Treating at church (where people decorate the trunks and sometimes insides of their vehicles, and hand out candy in the parking lot) the weekend before Halloween. Jackson went to a few neighbors' houses on Halloween, though was more interested in sitting on the front porch and handing out candy to other kids. He was the cutest little lion I've ever seen!

On our way to the zoo. Half lion, half boy.

Not quite sure what to make of the giant, talking pumpkin.

Ready for trick-or-treating.

Attempting to eat a Twix, wrapper and all.

Showing Daddy where to cut the pumpkin.

Scooping out the yucky insides.

Cutest little lion ever!!!

18 Months!

I can't believe Jackson is 18 months old! That's a whole year and a half! Where has the time gone? Our little baby boy is certainly turning into a little boy. He is still very curious, understands most of what we say, and is quite a big helper. I took him for his 18 month well visit today, and here are his latest stats. He weighs 22 lbs. 7oz. (only 15th percentile---though he's getting over a stomach bug, so he's lost a bit of weight in the last week), 32 inches long (50th percentile), and his head circumference is 19 inches (60th percentile). He is developmentally on track (not that I thought otherwise), and now only goes back for well visits on his birthdays. This is quite a change from taking him in every couple of months, or every couple of weeks as an infant. It's so bittersweet to watch your little baby grow.

Jackson loves to read!
(As well as make a mess.)

He absolutely loves playing with the blocks his Aunt Rachael gave him.

Now how did this happen?
(The look on his face is because he can't figure out how to get back out.)

Always game for playing with the tupperware.

We're teaching him spelling at a very young age (just kidding).
What else would you expect from a mommy who's a teacher.


Making a masterpiece on his easel.
(He's also made a couple of masterpieces on the wall. Thank goodness for Goo Gone.)

Feeding himself oatmeal, his favorite breakfast.

Spaghetti! Yummy!
He tried using a fork, but found his fingers to be much better utensils.