And We Sealed it with a Kiss

This time 2 years and about 9 hours ago, we came together in front of God and everybody promising to be together forever...and we sealed it with a kiss :)

We both have such fond memories of our wedding. It was a great opportunity for each of us to celebrate and visit with friends that we don't get to see as often as we would like since we are spread out across the country. Most importantly, though, it was the day we committed to spend the rest of our lives together and begin building a life with our best friend.

So much has happened to us in the two short years we've been married. We've both finished degrees, we've moved three times (once to a whole new state now), we've come and gone from jobs, and our favorite is that we had Jackson! I definitely couldn't ask for a better person to do all of it with.

P.S. Right after our wedding it started pouring down rain...HARD! According to the hotel wedding planner, that means you'll be wealthy someday. We're waiting patiently for that to happen haha.

Who's that Guy in the Mirror

A second post in one day! After spilling my guts a little in the last post, I have to post some pictures of the cuteness that is Jack :). The closet doors in Jack's bedrooms are mirrors, and seeing as babies do not have a sense of self when looking at their reflection yet, I believe Jack is under the impression that he shares his room. When I get him out of bed in the morning we say good morning to "Other Jack," and he smiles really big and curls up against my shoulder like he's shy. Jack loves playing in his room, and here he is looking in the mirror to greet "Other Jack."
Jack gets stronger by the day and can sit up independently for longer periods of time. I still don't feel comfortable walking too far away from him since he gets a little wabbly at times, but overall he's really stable and can sit up for quite a while to play with his toys.

I believe I have mentioned before that Izzy is not Jack's biggest fan, but Jack loves, and I mean LOVES, Izzy. If he gets to touch her fur for even a millisecond he will smile really big, and he laughed the other day when she brushed passed him. Izzy is slowly but surely coming around. Yesterday she chewed her bone in front of him while he was sitting on his playmat. She'll even come sit next to us on the couch, which doesn't seem like much, but she hasn't sat on the couch with us since he was born pretty much. They'll be best friends as soon as Jack figures out how to throw a ball or starts dropping food. Jack already shows interest in her toys, and he tries to play tug-of-war with her rope.

This next picture is in my top 5 of favorite pictures of Jack. We were headed out for a walk on a cooler evening. I could just gag he's so cute!!!

A Few Lessons I'm Still Learning

Jonathan got me a Nook for Mother's Day, which has been great for the evenings after Jack goes to bed. I was looking for some devotional type books that I could read on a daily basis, and I came across a book that has been amazing. It's called "Changing Your World One Diaper at a Time" by Marla Taviano. It talks about the joys and struggles that come along with being a mother in the first year, and the importance of relying on God in your day to day life as a new mother. Overall it has been great in helping to overcome some of the feelings of inadequacy that I would think occasionally strike most moms. One of the things that has been most difficult for me is that I have come to realize just how much of a control freak I am. It's hard to admit, but yes...My name is Sarah, and I like to control things. The first step is admitting it, right?! This journey of becoming a mother and now being one has been a huge challenge for a control freak from the utopian ideas of what childbirth would be like to getting used to being on a more flexible, child-driven schedule. I am just not an overly flexible person, but I am quickly learning.

I was looking through my "birth plan" that we gave to the hospital staff when we showed up for my induction (not part of the plan right from the get go), and I had 17 bullet points I wanted them to follow. Well, guess what.... 0 out of 17 were followed, because unforeseen medical issues came into play causing a high risk birth that led to a c-section. This was definitely not what I had planned. Now that Jack is here safe and sound, you always imagine that you will be able to place your child on an amazing schedule that he follows to a T. When I do all the "right" things during the day and evening leading up to bedtime, but he wakes up at 3:30 a.m. or every 2-3 hours from rolling himself awake, I have to remember he's a BABY! He doesn't follow the schedule I outline in my Franklin Covey planner.

I say all this, because I have come to realize that I truly believe God has taught and is still teaching me a lot about letting go of my plans and finding true Joy in all that goes right. Proverbs 16:3 says, "To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue." I have to laugh now a little bit at my birth plan, because it's a wake up call that you can spend hours perfecting something on paper, but real life catches up with you. Also, on those few nights (because overall I am blessed to have an AMAZING sleeper and schedule follower) Jack cries and cries or wakes up in the middle of the night wanting to be snuggled, I am finding more joy in staring at and rocking this amazing little person who loves me so much. And one day he is not going to want me to cradle him in my arms, and I'll probably yearn for the times I got to love on my little baby.

One other thing I am beginning to learn from this book is finding peace with the fact that God kind of fills in the gaps in a sense for our inadequacies. It is very important to me that Jack knows God and that Jesus died on the cross for his sins. I want him to know that Jonathan and I also love him no matter what choices he makes, good or bad, and that we are able to provide him with the wisdom that comes along with life experience. Sometimes I feel like I don't know enough about the ins and outs of Christianity, and that I won't be the best teacher or example for him. But one verse this book mentioned gave me a lot of comfort..."He tends to his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heard; he gently leads those that have young." I have "young" now, or a young one I guess, and he will lead me and guide me in the journey of trying to raise an amazing, God-know and -loving little boy.

I get a little teary eyed thinking about the amazing gift and responsibility Jonathan and I have been given. We couldn't ask for a better and more rewarding challenge!

1 Samuel 1:27 "For this child I have prayed, and the Lord has granted me the desires of my heart."

6 Month Update

We had Jack's 6 month well-child check-up yesterday morning, and he is doing great! Here are the stats:

Weight: 15 lbs., 11 oz. (25th percentile)

Height: 26 1/2 inches (50th percentile)

Head Circumference: 17 1/3 inches (50th percentile)

So since his 4 month check-up, he has remained in the same weight percentile with steady growth of 1 lb. 10 oz. His height has gone down to average from the 75th percentile last time with a 1 inch growth. His head has gotten over an inch bigger. He was in the 30th percentile, and now he is in the 50th percentile. He's meeting all of the developmental milestones as he should be, so we're happy to have a healthy, growing boy. Here's Jack the morning of his appointment blissfully ignorant he was a short time away from shots.

Jack has been getting some practice with his beginner sippy cup. The pediatrician recommended equal parts water and apple juice for some #2 issues Jack has been having, so I decided it was a good time to let him give the sippy cup a try.
I also removed the arches from his plamat since he's not super interested in being on his back. Now he uses the playmat to commando crawl around in circles or inch forward to attempt to catch Izzy as well as to practice his sitting up skills.

Jack doesn't really pay too much attention to the tv when it's on, but he has found a strong interest in Spongebob Squarepants. It's on early in the morning when we first get up. Here he is watching it while I get my coffee.

This is a little bit of a belated update, but we decided to build a Crossfit gym in our garage. Jonathan and I used to be members of a Crossfit gym back the Denver area, but it is just way too expensive for memberships here in California. It's nice to have it in our garage, because we don't have to worry about our commute time, and it's easier for me to workout when Jonathan's away at work.
Here's Jack watching us warm-up for one of our workouts.

We still have a few more things we need to make it a complete gym, but it is working out really well for us so far.

I can't believe that Jack will be 6 months old tomorrow. The time has flown by so quickly! We have Jack's newborn pictures hanging all over our living room walls, and it feels like just yesterday we were in the hospital with our new 7 lb., 14 oz. baby. We're just trying to soak in every moment and new milestone, because it won't be long he's trying to crawl/run away from us instead of letting us cradle him.

The Delicious and the Disgusting

Jackson continues to check off new foods, and for the most part, he has liked what has been given to him. Brown rice cereal was a piece of cake, banana was pretty good, and we've blended those two together now. Jack has also experienced one of my personal favorites, pumpkin! He still gets a little shocked by the flavor, but he gobbles it all down.
He has, however, met his nemesis...the avocado!

When the flavor hit his mouth, he was stunned. Shock turned into loud crying and refusal to swallow it. I tried to spoon some cereal into his mouth to dull the taste so he could swallow, but it all just dripped out of his mouth. Jonathan ended up scooping the avocado out of his mouth with his finger and a paper towel since Jack just couldn't handle it :). I forget sometimes that when we eat avocado, it is in the form of guacamole with delicious onions, cilantro, and lime juice added!

I just wanted to include this picture of Jack with his new friend Sophie the giraffe. He loves her, but we have to protect Sophie from Izzy since she's a teething toy that squeaks. Izzy would swiftly rip Sophie's face off if given the opportunity.

And just another cute one of Jack while we're eating lunch at Whole Foods. He's a people watcher and big flirt with all the girls that come by. He'll just smile at people until they notice him and say hi.

We were going to head to the beach the other day, but a series of errands got in our way. Jack was all dressed and ready to go in his super cute outfit as an Easter gift from Auntie Amy.

The next day we actually made it to the beach. We found this state park/beach in Laguna Beach that was really nice and not overly crowded. Here's Jack sitting up unassisted in the sand. He got a little crabby from the sun shining in his face, but he had a good time for a little while running the sand through his fingers and toes. I'm excited to have a picture or two now with Jack in the vertical position instead of laying on his back. It's a good milestone for pictures!

Jonathan and I both put an app on our iPhone where you can play with the look of the picture you take and give it special effects. I know a bunch of people have had this on their phones for a while, but we've been having fun with it. This is one of my favorite pictures that Jonathan took of Jack and me:

Jack will be 6 months old next weekend, and he has his 6 month well child visit on Thursday of this coming week. So our next update will include his growth stats! I'm excited to see how much he has grown over the past two month. I know Jonathan and I have to take turns holding him, because our arms get sore.

Jackson's Newest Adventures

As I mentioned before, my parents visited over the Easter weekend. While they were here we got a rare shot of Jonathan and me together. We're going to have to approach strangers to take our picture when we're out, because I love having pictures of us. I just wish I would have thought to move the bottle away from Jack's face :).

I haven't gotten any pictures of my dad with Jack yet from the weekend, but here's my mom feeding Jack.

Jonathan and I are having a great time exposing Jack to some new things lately since he is getting increasingly interactive. He's much more involved in what we are doing and super curious. Jack is a water enthusiast, and he LOVES bath time. We tried to dip him into the pool by our condo a week or so ago, but the water was still too cold, and he cried the second his feet hit the water. He was initially excited to see what looked like a huge bath tub, but the temperature was a turn off. Next to the pool is a hot tub, and though he can't go all the way in, we dipped his feet in to let him splash around. We sat at the edge of the hot tub for a good 15 minutes while he kicked the water.

Jack likes to be involved in pretty much everything we do, and he does not want to be put down. He demands that he be held about 99% of the time. He really likes to get the grown-up, tall person perspective on things.

We have been trying to find new things to do here in Irvine other than going to the beach all the time. I know going to the beach sounds magical, but there's only so much you can do there day in and day out. Luckily, our friends Steve and Laurie Kerman from Colorado are originally from Irvine. Laurie told us about Irvine Regional Park, and we loved it! They have a mini train ride, pony rides, horses for the older folks, a petting zoo, bikes and mini boat rentals, and a ton of open space to enjoy. We took Jack to the petting zoo to see some goats. We didn't let him touch them (kind of gross), but he loved watching them and watching the older kids pet them.

We also introduced Jack to solid food for the first time yesterday. We were going to wait for the 6 month mark, but it's only two weeks away and Jonathan will be back at work again. We didn't want him to miss out on potential funny faces and messiness. We started Jack off with brown rice cereal, and he actually did really well. He made a little bit of a face, but he swallowed it and kept eating it. He only ate about 1/2 a tsp of food, but it was a good start. He had a little more rice cereal today, and we'll probably introduce a few veggies tomorrow. We took a video of the whole thing, but here's some pictures that we took.

And finally, I'm always trying to find new things to keep Jack interested and happy. He truly likes to be entertained and can't sit by himself. I laid him on his play mat and made him a little tent by putting a receiving blanket over the top. He thought it was hilarious and had fun pulling in down on top of him.

Developmentally, Jack pulls himself around with his hands while on his belly to get to things. He'll go around in a circle to watch something or grab a toy. He's been pushing his butt up in the air trying to get on his knees, and today he was on his stomach pushing himself forward with his feet. He stuck his butt up in the air balanced on his feet and pushed off the floor to propel forward a little. He also likes to grab things off the table and push them onto the ground. He's becoming way more mobile and quite the hand full. I think we're in for some long days of chasing Jack around pretty soon.