Colorado Trip...Round Two

I don't miss living in Colorado, but I sure do love to visit! We were absolutely blessed to be in our (second) favorite state for ten days. We had two weddings, one on Saturday the 21st, and one on Saturday the 28th. What a great way to have these bookends with wonderful times in between.

We started off in Colorado Springs, staying at the Broadmoor, where we were married almost 4 years to the date!

Ahh...I haven't laid by a pool in a long, long time. 

We also visited Aaron's folks. This boy is seriously blessed with some loving grandparents. 

Here is Jackson at Aaron's dad's house. He has become so interactive with toys and people. 

We then went up to Denver to spend time with my Nana and cousins at Lori's house. It was so wonderful to see the generations all together having an absolute blast. 

Kaylee holding Jackson. I just adore this photo. She's such a sweet little nanny! Although they're second cousins, I'm so excited that we are so close, that they will actually view each other as 1st cousins. Hopefully more babies will be coming soon. (Hint hint...you all know who you are!)

Jack has a new friend, by the way. His name is Ross. And he's a caterpillar. We're all jealous. It's his fav. 

Jackson went to his first theme park...Water World. He spent a lot of time with grammies, and we had so much fun!

I FINALLY got to meet Jessica's sweet little Jacob. While holding him it was astounding to me how little he was compared to Jack, and only 3 short months younger than him. It just makes you realize how fast this precious time is. 

I would say the person most excited to see sweet Jackson was his Aunt. I'm so sad that she doesn't live closer to see him on a more consistent basis. But, this boy will certainly know Auntie loves him. 

She, along with Aaron and my parents took Jack on his first hike up to Beaver Lake. I got to lay by the pool, sleep, and have a great workout. I can't tell you how wonderful and cherished that alone time was. 

Plus, I hate hiking. What can I say. 

I am so happy they had a good time. 

All in all, such a wonderful, and too short, trip.

Jackson got his 6 month shots today. Poor thing. I seriously don't feel like holding him down to endure that pain gets any easier. Especially now that he can seek comfort from me. Today was one of the first times I really felt like "mommy." He reached for me, and if he wasn't buried in my neck, he was crying. I let him lay there and just waited for the pain to subside. 

I would take away the pain if I could! 

Here's to the next six months sweet boy. We can't believe we ever lived a life without you!

The Last 6 months in Photos

Happy (belated) 6 months baby boy. 

I can't believe half of a year has already passed us by. 

You are our sunshine. 

3months vs 5months

I put these two side-by-side, and couldn't believe how much he's changed.

                     5 1/2 months                                                              3 1/2 months

Right before my eyes!

I feel like I can't even keep up with how many "firsts" we've encountered over the last few weeks! It's just been crazy.

I've heard from friends that once five months hit, the firsts just don't stop. Little man is growing to be a big boy!

Jackson loves to grab everything in sight now-a-days. Especially when he's eating. We joke that he needs a 5 foot radius around him of child proof items to pick up!

He especially loves $1.50 off coupons of baby food. Yummmm....

Speaking of baby food, this little man won't say no to anything I put in front of him, and for that I am grateful! He's graduated to three meals a day and eats all sorts of fruits and vegetables. Breast feeding has become more of snacks now, and right when he wakes up. This makes me so sad to know this phase is slowly weening. I am so blessed that I have been able to experience this with him. Although it was so hard when he was first born to get used to, I have not regretted it for one second. 

For the first weeks this little guy was eating foods, I pretty much insisted on being home when we fed him. One, because he needed a Bumbo, and two, well, look at that mess. Finally, I felt as if we were good to go outside of the house, and we had our first high chair experience at Cheesecake Factory with my parents. 

He did super awesome and really loved being a part of the group instead of stuck in his car seat. He could play with toys while we ate. It was wonderful to sit at a meal and actually eat without having to chow down quickly to take the baby back. 

Lately, it's been so hot here in SoCal. 80 degree days with no air conditioner can lead to this. 

He spends the majority of his days as "nakie baby."

I think he's alright with it. 

Any day he's going to start crawling, right? Ohhhh no. I hear that's a whole new ball game. 

I feel when we have number two these milestones won't astound me as much as they do with Jackson. It's amazing that just (almost) 6 short months ago, this little man was in my belly swimming around at less than 7 lbs. 

He's now sleeping through the night consistently! He is still tightly swaddled, but lays completely still until the morning, so I'm not complaining. I think in the next couple weeks we will transition one arm out and see how it rolls. 

He also is swaddled for nap time. I'm so so grateful for Kate, his day care provider two days a week. She showed me a great swaddling technique for naps while at home. Jack is on two 1.5 hour naps a day and goes down in about 5 minutes. I swear Kate's my angel! I'm so happy that "cry it out" has only been a resolution twice since he's been born. I have exhausted every other option I possibly can, and I am so happy that I have not had to resort to it. 

Our dear friends Lauren & Dave Miles came down from Valencia for Aaron's birthday this weekend. While Aaron and Dave went golfing, Lauren and I went to the pool at her hotel! I was so excited to bring little Jackson into the water for the first time. 

 

Stepping into the pool...Jack was very curious...

Ta-Da! A BIG bathtub!

We played around with him. Lauren laid him on his tummy so he could kick a bit and "swim" in the water. It was so adorable. He tried to grab the water as if it were a toy, it was so funny how he couldn't quite comprehend what it was. 

This exhausted him, and he quickly laid down for a nap and mommy was able to take a quick nap in the sun as well. SO grateful for any 10 minute nap I can take. 

I swear, every time I put this boy to sleep I wonder if I have loved him enough that day and cherished every second of his sweet little life as a 5 1/2 month old. I am so blessed. 

Aaron and I had our four year anniversary as well. We didn't do much on the day of because Aaron had class, and basically both of us forgot until the day before due to our busy schedules.

I came home from work to this. 

The little "XOX" package is a Sprinkles Red Velvet Cupcake. My man knows me too well. 

I ate my cupcake and enjoyed my flowers with the product of our love while Aaron was at class.

It's been...by far...the BEST four years of my entire life. 

God is so amazingly good, all the time.