We have a tooth!

This week our little man cut his first tooth! We have been checking his bottom gums for awhile to see if there are any teeth coming through, but lo and behold, his first tooth is a top one (just like his mommy)! It is so cute, and I guess I should expect the one next to it to pop through soon. He hasnt been too fussy lately, but earlier this week he woke up several times through the night for a few days, so maybe the teeth are to blame. He has been gnawing on everything in sight and his new tooth actually left quite a mark on Justin's hand. Although I am happy that he got a tooth, I am sad to see the beginning of the end of his gummy smile!!

Jackson has found a new game he likes to play. He loves for us to grab his hands so he can pull himself up to a standing position and walk around while still only holding our hands. He feels like such a big boy and will wait for us to clap and make over his big accomplishment. He wants to do it over and over again. Also, he is still thisclose to crawling, but he has discovered that rolling gets him anywhere he needs to go, so sometimes he gives up trying to crawl and just starts rolling. I have to really watch him when he gets rolling because he will get clear to the other side of the room in no time! He also has the backwards scooting down.

It seems like he has become even more vocal over the last week. The other day he was saying "aaah, hiiii, uuuugh alot so I started repeating every sound he made. He got so tickled over this and when he blew a raspberry at me and I blew one back, he let out the biggest laugh. So now he loves for us to go back and forth with me imitating every sound that he makes. He is using mostly vowell sounds, but we do get an occasional "ga, ma, or ba" in there. I think he will soon learn how to string them together.

Yesterday was such a beautiful day. The weather was perfect so we went out to lunch at Vickery's on Shem Creek and then to the new park under the Mt. P bridge. We went to the playground for the first time and put Jackson in a baby swing. At first he was a little unsure, but then he warmed up to it. Jackson also make a new friend, a baby named Sara. She is about a week older than Jackson. She was a cute little girl, but Jackson looked like a giant BEEFY baby next to her. We let the two babies sit face to face and it was just too cute. She grabbed Jackson's hands and his feet. Then when we stood them up, Jackson leaned in and tried to grab her face. He was fascinated with her and he even cracked a couple of smiles! I think he was showing off his standing skills :) We made plans to hang out with Sara again soon.

We have begun giving Jackson baby food twice a day now, and he seems to be getting more excited about it. We are introducing more new foods everyday. Also, we tried the peas again and we got much further this time than last time, although the end result was still Jackson gagging. We have green beans to try this week. Tonight he will try his first meat-chicken and rice. We have been buying Gerber organic foods, but we found Earth's Best at Babies R us/Target that offers much more of a variety in organic food, so we got all kinds of new things to try. I am excited to give him his first finger foods soon! We also started mixing his vitamin in with his baby food and he doesnt seem to notice...yeah! In the past he has taken his vitamin from the dropper just fine, but there were two occasions where he choked. One of those times he choked so bad that he vomited all over Justin. He has never choked on any other medicine, but he always makes a face with the vitamin. We have tried different flavores of tri-visol and now we are using poly-visol, which he hates even more. So the other night while reading the bottle it says you can mix it in with food, so I tried it and- voila-problem solved!

In an effort to not make this blog entirely about Jackson, Justin and I are doing great! We have jumped back on the healthier eating bandwagon again. We have always tried to eat very healthy and lowfat during the week, but during the weekend, all bets are off! Well, we still eat pretty healthy during the week, but lately every meal is followed by chocolate :) I am mostly to blame for this because ever since I had Jackson, I can't get enough sweets! Justin has always had a major weakness for chocolate. We decided to cut out the extra weekly chocolate and instead have stocked up on lots of fruits, frozen yogurt, and fat free chocolate/caramel fruit dip for dessert. We have both dropped about a pound or two each in the last two weeks. Even though I weigh less now than I have in years, I still need to tone up and I think I've lost a lot of muscle since I havent been dancing. I still have some areas I want to work on before the summer! Working out at the gym just isnt quite the same as dance! Plus I want to make sure I stay this weight even when I stop breastfeeding. I have GOT to find a good dance class here soon.

When we began dating in 2004, Justin gained about 20 lbs and I gained about 15 lbs. We were going out every night, living it up/partying, vacationing, and eating dessert with every meal. One day I saw a picture of myself from girls night with my college buddies and I thought "Who is the chubby chick in the photo" and it was ME! Talk about a wake up call. We both started feeling like we needed to really make a change. So Justin and I made a deal and cut out fast food, fattening desserts, and began cooking healthy meals 5 out of 7 days a week. We also started working out 4-5 times a week. Of course he dropped all the weight (and then some) in NO time, and I took a little bit longer, but by our wedding day I weighed just under what I did when I graduated college. Success! On our honeymoon, we ate like gluttons and I put on about 3 lbs...Those nasty 3 lbs that I never did get off! I am so happy to say that I have lost all my baby weight (all 47 lbs..yikes!), those pesky honeymoon 3 lbs, and then some and I plan to keep it off!! That is why we both want to start our healthy eating habits again now so that we stay that way.

One other thing that I have been meaning to mention-I had NO idea just how bad post-partum hair loss would be for me! Around 4 months pp, my hair started falling out in globs. It was really bad for awhile and I could see patches where it was getting really thin. It finally stopped falling out around 6 months pp and now it is growing back. You can see in the picture above how whispy/spiky it is growing in and I just can't wait for it to grow out. Most days I wear pony tails because it is still kinda thin. Gotta love it!

Other than that, both of our jobs are going really well! And I know what a blessing that is. Justin continues to make me laugh on a daily basis and he is still the funniest person I know. We are really enjoying this time in our lives with each other and Jackson and remembering to cherish every day!