bou-tang clan: January 2009

Sunday, January 25, 2009

for sara and wendy : update is complete

Phewww, so that wasn't too awful! I would have done this sooner but ... well, I blame it on traveling, dreading the massive photo downloads, and our computer catching a virus. I would like to especially thank Sara and Wendy for calling me out and motivating me to get my a** into gear. Without them there would be no Bou-tang Clan blog.

We absolutely love this photo of Aunt Wendy and Jackson (really she's a cousin but we call her our Aunt!). Jackson looks so content and happy with Wendy. We love you! PS check out my rattle socks from Grandma Jen! Jackson now loves his feet and notices them all the time. Thanks Grandma!

4 month appointment

There's that smile!

Even though we had 3 full weeks with our family the time flew by. Right as we walked through our front door in Columbus it was time for Jackson's 4 month checkup (Jan 7) with Dr. Thompson. Jackson's is doing awesome. He weighed in at 17lbs 6 oz. We were so surprised to see him fall in the 90th percentile for weight. Wow! As many of you may know measuring a babies length isn't an exact science. At 4 months Jackson measure 25 in long, putting him in the 50th percentile. At the time I measured him at 26 in but who's counting, right? When we go to our play groups the other children that weigh roughly the same as Jackson look a lot more .... well, girth-ier. Jackson is definitely long and lean.

Snuggling up with Mom after the round of 4 month shots. All in all, it wasn't too awful.

Silly boys!

Rolling like no other. I'm trying to figure out how to download video from our camera to the computer. In the meantime you will have to trust me on this one. Every time I put Jackson down to play he rolls right over from his back to his stomach. He loves it for a minute or so and then needs a change in position or a different game to play. Lately, I haven't gotten much done because of it. I'm really not complaining though; look at that face.

Jackson loves when Daddy reads "The Best Mouse Cookie."

back to K-town we go

Great Grandma Joyce held Jackson all night. She didn't want to give him up and Jackson clearly didn't mind at all.

Great Aunt Kim and Jackson getting acquainted for the first time.

Beautiful Aunt Rebecca - look at the smile! At first Becky was a bit shy but quickly warmed up to Jackson. He loved sleeping on all of his Aunts and misses it still!

Jackson (by far) had the most fun with Aunt Lucy. Look at that smile on his face! We wish we lived closer so that she could babysit Jackson. He loves her so much.

Ahhhh, Uncle Don and Jackson. I had to practically throw my child at Don so I could get this shot. Don, you know you liked it? and look at this photo ... picture perfect!

Aunt Lisa and cousins Patrick, Maureen, and Shannon visit!

Cousin Patrick and Jackson hang out.

Jackson loving on Grandma! What a perfect ending to a wonderful trip! Alright, Tony and I for the life of us can not find a picture of Molly or Frank with Jackson ... Mom, do you have any? Send them our way if you do.

MN family shots!

Great Grandma Helen. What a woman - going on 95! Immediately after getting off the plane and walking into my parents house, she said "give me the baby. I don't care if he's sleeping". Jackson warmed right up.

My Aunt Zan loves me!

Uncle Rubrick and Jackson. My cousin Rube loved the boys but quickly passed them off once the fussing began.

Uncle Jared loves babies, even fussy ones! Cheese!

Aunt Miranda and her favorite Jackson-boy.

Jackson loves receiving baby massage, especially from the skilled DPT candidate Miranda.

Jackson loves Aunt Carolyn because she is the coolest ever! Carolyn gave Jackson the best onesies this year. The list of onesies include - a "buy local ag" onesie, a "circus the mcgurkus" onesie, a "baby obama" onesie (post from the inauguration coming soon), and a"wu-tang clan" onesie. Thanks Aunt Carolyn!

Uncle Scott and Jackson celebrating Christmas in style with Santa hats.

Jackson meets his cuz, Conner

Conner was born exactly one month before Jackson. He is so cute and has the best expressions ever. He knows when to smile at the camera, which Jackson is learning how to do. Jackson seems to stop smiling once Mama or Dada brings out the bright, shiny camera. Jackson loved staring at Conner and Conner didn't seem to notice Jackson. Oh well, they were still really cute together.

Mama Zan (my sister) with Jackson and Mama Emma with Conner.

I love my nephew! Fly baby fly.

"Ho, ho, ho" says Grandpa. Oops, I mean Santa.

I love this series. Conner's like "get off me before I strangle you." We are awful to have put these boys through this.

Grandpa, Jackson, Conner, and Daddy Tony.

christmas in St. Paul

The second stop of our trip was to M-I-N-N-E ... SOTA, SOTA (okay really I'm not a gopher fan at all but wanted to make these updates somewhat interested and it is late at night --- I'm a huge badger fan, have been since I got my first t-shirt from my parents at age 5 -- GO BUCKY!). We had an equally great time in St. Paul as we did in Kaukauna. We bundled up J-man and took him to our local DQ (a.k.a Diary Queen for all you poor souls who don't know) to purchase a Christmas tree. Jackson didn't seem to enjoy the cold or being bundled ....

.... but he of course fell fast asleep in Daddy's arms on the walk over to DQ.

Grandpa Dan and Daddy taking home the perfect tree! Yum, I can still smell the fresh needles.

Decorating the tree with Grandma Jen.

Decorating was hard work so a nap was in order. We love Grandpa, he can put Jackson right to sleep.

More Donkey fun! Grandma taught Jackson to touch Donkey's nose.

Christmas Eve English-style with crackers and crowns! This ones for Sophie -- we missed you!

At the Keyser's we opened presents on Christmas morning -- it is a very long process that requires bathroom breaks, endless amounts of snacks, and coffee. Our precious boy slept in Daddy's arms for the whole thing.

Jackson made out like a bandit and promptly woke up right after the festivities were over. Go figure!

my friend first!

Our good friend Paul. He's really my friend first but who's paying attention (sorry readers inside joke and it is a stupid story so I won't waste the time). Jackson loved spending time with Paul and Nicole --- they are engaged and we simply cannot wait to go to there wedding!

Nicole and Jackson -- Nicole was so proud that Jackson successfully avoided spitting up on her.

Papke and Jackson!

Joe and Jackson getting cozy.

Kaukauna FUN!

Alright, Jackson's first trip on an airplane was uneventful. We were fortunate enough to have gotten tickets early in the morning. Jackson just slept and slept and slept. He is so precious, unfortunately Mom and Dad didn't capture any photos of the trip. We arrived in Kaukauna in one piece and we're so happy to see Grandma Chris and Grandpa Frank. Here are some fun photos of WISCO!

Our first night in WI, we went and watched Aunt Becky play hoops. Grandma Chris knitted the cutest Kaukauna Ghosts outfit for Jackson. Don't let this picture fool you - he loved the sweater (didn't really like the hat) but didn't quite know what to make of all the noise inside the gym. For those of you that follow hoops -- her team won!

Meeting Great Grandma Mary for the very first time. Oh course the little squirt was asleep! However, I still believe he was playing possum (take a closer look at this pic and let me know what y'all think).

We love to stare at faces, especially Grandma's!

We love Donkey! Donkey was given to Jackson by Ashley and Sue -- what a great gift! We love you guys!

its been awhile : updates are in order

Sorry folks but bare with us. We have a lot of catching up to do. Dec and Jan have been extremely busy with Tony finishing his first semester at OSU, traveling back home, and starting another semester. Prior to flying home (WI and MN) for 3 weeks Tony successfully finished his first semester of grad school. Jackson had a few visit from some friends. Mama's best friend, Ashley, from college visited along with her mother, Sue. It was really wonderful seeing them and catching up. Ash has recently moved to the outer DC area - new job, new home ... wonderful things are bound to happen for her.