Father's Day and Family Reunion in Indiana

Getting ready for the trip:


Ready to hit the open road:




Meeting Great-Grandpa for the first time:

I love the way they are looking at eachother here:

And here with Great Grandma:


Having fun with Nana

It takes a real man to ride a pink bike!
Hanging with Mommy in Indianapolis

Loves his Daddy

Watch that bracelet Michelle! :)

Three Generations: Steven Dale, Justin Dale, and Jackson Dale

It was great to see everyone!

I LOVE his face in this one!
Bright eyed in Indianapolis

Could they BE any cuter? I love Jackson's arm casually leaning on Daddy.

Before bath time in the hotel. I dont even think this picture looks like him. What a funny expression!
He's cool like that...
Having fun with mommy...what a silly picture!
Favorite.Picture.Ever. Got this picture while they were playing peek-a-boo under the covers!!

We're back from a great vacation to see family in Indiana! First off, Jackson did so well! We actually drove there and we were gone for a total of 7 days. In order to break up the trip a little bit, we started out by driving to Sevierville, TN for the first night, which is the perfect halfway point between home and Indiana. The trip took a little bit longer than anticipated because of several wrecks on the interstate and a portion of I-40 still closed down due to the rockslides. Jackson slept for 2 1/2 hours of the drive, which was wonderful! When he woke up, I moved to the back seat and we played with all of his toys. That kept him entertained for awhile. When he started to get just a little fussy while we were stuck on I-40, we pulled into a rest area located right in the middle of the mountians and spread out a blanket for him to stretch out and play on. That seemed to help. When we got to the hotel, we ordered take out and set up his pack and play and put him to bed. We were able to get suites for all of our hotel stays which was KEY in being able to put him down and still be able to watch TV, eat, and stay up without disturbing him.

The next morning we ate breakfast at the Applewood Farmhouse Grill in Pigeon Forge, which was delicious! Then we hit the open road bound for Indiana. It was supposed to take 5 hours, but we hit traffic again due to storms and wrecks. We still made decent time and arrived in the rockin town of Seymour IN that afternoon. We set up shop in the hotel again and ate dinner out at Chilis (our food options were limited!). The next day was Father's Day and Jackson gave Justin his gifts: A gift certificate for a massage, and a frame that said "Best Dad" with a photo of the two of them. Justin loves it and now has it sitting on his bedside table! Justin is an amazing dad to Jackson and Jackson really loves his daddy!! After opening Father's day gifts, we headed to North Vernon to see Justin's family. It was his grandparent's 58th (WOW!) anniversary and they have a family reunion every year. Jackson got to meet his great grandparents, several great aunts, cousins, and he got to see his Nana again. He really did well and I was so happy that stranger anxiety didn't come along for this trip! He is so funny though-He gave everyone his "squinty-eyed" smile at first and then after he warms up to them they would get the real smile. He did that to everyone this whole trip and it was so funny. He was charming everyone he came into contact with by giving that look! I don't know exactly what that look means, but do know that it is a happy face.

It was wonderful to be able to watch Jackson interact with his great grandparents. I wish I could tell his 10 1/2 month old self to soak in every moment that he has with them, but I know he wont understand it until many many years later. We did get some good pictures, though! What a special thing it is for Jackson to be able to meet and spend time with his family, especially those from that generation. I love that he has been able to meet almost 3 of his 4 sets of great grandparents. Jackson has been able to see both sets of my grandparents (minus my Grandad A) several times now and I am so thankful for that! Justins grandfather on his dad's side unfortunately passed away about a month ago. Justin's grandma on his dads side and my grandad on my dad's side have been gone for years. And on that note, I have been thinking a lot about my grandad Atchley lately and how it is just a darn shame that he is not here to see Jackson. When we were in Sevierville, I made sure to tell Jackson that this was where his great grandpa Atchley grew up. We were very close and I know he just would have loved Jackson to pieces. I think they would have had a really special relationship. He was just a wonderful man and I miss him all the time. I like to think that maybe he's already met Jackson, though! I also think hes probably a little proud of Jackson's strong will and stubborness, since that is surely a quality passed on from him (but in a good way!)

Anyway, back to our trip: I could tell how much Jackson's great grandparents love him and his great grandpa was so sweet by saying special prayers for Jackson while we were there. We had a great day visiting with everyone and Justin's Aunt Kathy made a delicious lunch for everyone. The next day we stopped back by their house before we headed to the outlet mall in Edinburgh. We ended up dropping some $$ on baby clothes for our very big trip in Feb (details to come later) but I did manage to buy a few shirts for myself. Then we got take out salads for dinner and ate them back at the hotel. The next day we stopped by Justin's grandparents again before setting out for Greenwood IN, which is where Justin grew up before moving to SC. We drove around and showed Jackson his daddy's old house and the street where he used to ride his bike. It is such a nice town, but Justin says it has really grown. We then headed to Indianapolis to meet Justin's Dad and Michelle and some family on his dad's side. We all went to dinner with many members of Justin's family on his dad's side and it was a great time. Jackson got to meet his third cousin Madison and she is such a cutie! They are a few months apart in age. Jackson did pretty well but started to get a little fussy, so we went back to the hotel and put him to bed. The next morning we ordered breakfast room service with Justin's dad and Michelle (we had adjoining rooms) and it was so nice for Jackson to get to spend some quality time with them! Jackson had a blast showing them all of his toys :) Then we headed out back to Justin's grandparents for a final visit and then drove to KY for the night. The next day we drove from KY to Asheville NC and spent some time in Asheville. I forgot was a beautiful city it is! We ended up eating dinner at The Fiddlin Pig, which is a bbq joint that has a live bluegrass band who performs during dinner. Jackson was a HIT with all of the waitresses there! Once the bluegrass music started, Jackson was digging it until the loud singing started. He started crying and I picked him up and danced a little with him until he calmed down. After that he was fine and by the end of the meal, he was smiling and pointing to the band. A couple of the band members saw him and started singing to him and becoming really animated for him, which he loved. It was a great place to go with him! I am so glad we stumbled upon that. The next day we hit the road back home for Charleston and he slept half the way there. Ahh, home sweet home.

It was really nice making the drive to IN this time, as we normally fly. We got to see so many gorgeous mountain views, farms, small towns, and cornfields. It was all very peaceful. Justin did a wonderful job driving us almost 2000 miles throughout the week. My big strong road warrior! HA! I am so glad we were able to make the trip and very happy at how well baby boy did during the trip. It feels good to be home, though. We had been planning this trip since before Jackson was born and I can't believe it's already gone and over. It was so much fun visiting family, but it was also a blast getting to spend so much quality time together with my boys!

Walking and Dancing...

with his walker, of course...I love this cutie pie so much!!

10 Month Update

Wow, we're officially in the double-digit months!! What a fun and exciting time this is to watch Jackson grow and learn new things! This month:

-Jackson has learned to wave hello, point to things, and dance!! Of course, you know I am most excited about him dancing! It is just SO cute. He will be walking along and pushing his toy that makes music and then he will stop, start clapping and then bending his knees in a little dance. I got a little video of it! He is also waving hello and pointing to things, but right now he mainly does it to the ceiling fan. Boy, does he have something to say to the ceiling fans in our house. If one catches his eye, he will get a very serious look about him and start pointing, waving, and "talking" to it. I wonder what he is saying?

-Speaking of walking, he is getting closer and closer every day. He loves to walk with the help of his toy, and once he gets going, he is fast! He will also stand without holding onto anything for long periods of time. The ladies at his MMO program are convinced that it will be walking any day now. When he is not practicing his walking, he is crawling like a wild man!! When he starts crawling toward something that he knows he is not supposed to touch and then sees me come after him, he will speed up his crawling to try and get there before I can get him. Smart little guy!!

-I think he definitely understands the word "No" now. He still kind of smirks at us when we say it to him, but now we are able to use it to stop him from getting into something that he shouldn't be. When we tell him no, he will inch closer and closer to whatever he's not supposed to get into until finally when we raise or voices a little more. Then he will laugh and crawl back toward us. This works most of the time.

-He LOVES his independent play, and gets very upset if you take him away from his toys before he is ready. He will take each toy out and play with it. He loves to carry his toys around the room and even tries to stand up while holding them. He will fuss if we pick him up before he's done and his newest way to let out his frustration is to let out a short scream and bite...that's right, we have a biter on our hands! This is not surprising to me since I was a big biter and used to get in trouble at daycare for it. We are really trying to curb this behavior now and let him know that it is not acceptable. When he does it I lay him on his back (so that he has to make eye contact with me) and tell him in a very stern voice-"No biting! That hurts mommy." He seems to get the message, so we'll see!

-His favorite new food is YoBaby Yogurt. He loves it! We are still slowly introducing new foods, although I know I need to get him to eat more chunkier foods. We tried peas and carrots, which he hated, and we also tried to give him a small piece of pancake out at breakfast one day. That was a big mistake b/c I guess he hated the texture and he started gagging. You can guess what happened after that...yuck! At least we were in a back booth and I hope that nobody saw it. We were fast on the clean up! Anyway, note to self-always introduce new foods at HOME! Jackson still loves his puffs, mum mum crackers, babyfood, cheese, and yogurt. I think I am going to try some deli meats or small pieces of chicken next. I also want to let him try some small pieces of fruit.

-His vocabulary is getting bigger by the day. He still calls most things "Alf" (does that qualify for a first word?) ha! :). His other favorites are fuh fuh, vuh vuh, ba ba (sounds SO much like dada, but it is baba), pa pa, ga ga...And he has starting saying muh muh every now and then, although It's hard to tell if we can count that as "mama". I am just waiting for him to look at either me or Justin and say "mama" and "dada". But I am still confused as to what counts as a first word...Is it the first time they babble and make a coherent word, or is it the first time they recognize something and say it's name?

-He has finally noticed our cat Annabelle and he loves to talk to her. He will see her and then point and yell "ALF" to her. He gets louder and louder as he gets more excited.

-This story is too cute not to tell: Jackson still loves when Justin and I go through all of the animals and do the sounds that they make. He seems to have a new favorite every day. Currently it is "A Snake says sssssssslither sssslither ssssslither" and "A rooster says cocka doodle dooooo". One night I was reading him his favorite bedtime story, Goodnight Moon. In the book, it starts out "In the great green room there was a telephone and a red balloon, and a cow jumping over the moon". When I read the cow part, I let out a big MOOOOOO after I read the line. He started laughing SO hard and just got so tickled that he honestly laughed throughout the whole rest of the story. He was still laughing when I got him all ready for bed. Then he settled down and I went to nurse him. He closed his eyes, and about a minute later they popped open and he let out the biggest laugh again! It was the cutest and sweetest thing!! He is over it now and I guess it's not near as funny anymore when I do it these days, but it was such a funny thing that night!

-Tooth number 5 is in and wreaked all kinds of havoc to his sleep schedule. For about a week he was up frequently through the night, but now he seems to have settled back in to waking only about twice a night. It makes it REALLY hard to wean him when he goes through periods of nightwaking. It is going to come to a point where I am just going to have to stop offering it up at night. We are getting closer and closer to my goal of breastfeeding for a year and-changes, they are a-coming. I really have such mixed feelings about weaning him. It will truly be a bittersweet time. Anyway, as for this week, we have gotten back in our routine, but I am sure that Tooth # 6 is right around the corner and will decide to pop in soon!

-One last thing, Jackson is doing really well in his MMO program. Most mornings he doesnt cry anymore when we drop him off or pick him up. Also, he is becoming more interactive with people when we take him out in public and loves to smile at everyone. He also will pick someone in a restaurant and stare them down until they look at him and interact with him. Anywhere we go, little old ladies absolutely love him. He is still experiencing some stranger anxiety, but it is very hit and miss. I really think it has to do with his mood that he's in. If he is awake from a good long nap, he seems to do much better than if he is cranky. I am sure that is true of all babies, though. At any rate, on any given day, Jackson is just so smily and happy that it reassures me that although Justin and I are learning as we go, we must be doing something right. I am so thankful for this precious little boy who makes every day better than the last! Happy 10 months sweet baby!

*pictures to come!

Cousins!

Memorial Day weekend was an exciting weekend for us! My big brother and his family decided to make a last minute trip to Charleston. This was Jackson's first time meeting his Uncle Allen, Aunt Becca, and cousins Emma, Olivia, and baby Caroline. We had so much fun spending time with them and I could tell that Jackson was really enjoying it to. The girls were so cute with Jackson and we even got some video of Olivia pushing him in his bouncy seat. I can't believe how much the twins have grown and their personalities are so cute. Caroline is just the sweetest baby and is so good! She was pretty much laid back the whole time and taking everything in. On Saturday we went to the aquarium and I didn't think Jackson would be too interested, but he really seemed to enjoy himself! We had a great time visiting with everyone and we also met my Dad and Grandma out for lunch on Sunday. It was so fun watching Jackson play with his cousins. Justin and I have always enjoyed our visits with Allen and Becca even before we all had babies, but now it is a different kind of fun :) We were sad to see them go home, especially since they are moving a little further way to TN soon. We will be sure to make a big effort to see them as often as possible.