Home Sweet Birmingham

 Before we left for Greenville I promised to make a trip back for a friend's birthday in August.  By the time four months rolled around without having seen everyone I was thrilled to get to see all my old friends for a weekend so Jackson and I packed up to stay at Pam's house.

Pam has two dogs, Carter the Weimeraner and Oli the Great Dane.  Carter is pretty much the equivalent of Grace and would prefer to ignore other dogs and small children altogether.  Oli hadn't been around a baby before and was very curious at first, but she was surprisingly very careful to be gentle around Jackson.  He pretty much drove them nuts chasing after them as soon as they would settle down in a good spot.  Oli has the biggest dog kennel you can buy.  I think a bear could use it.  Jackson thought it was a great game to get inside and play with Oli's toys.   
 
Poor Lancer the Cat did not fare as well as the dogs.  Jackson discovered that cat toys are even more fun with dog toys and kept dragging Lancer's things all around the den.  Lancer liked the baby before.  Not so much now that he isn't a blob. 

What is he doing to my toy???

 Maloree and Courtney came over to watch some Olympics.  Pretty sure Maloree is scared of babies, or maybe just the ones that are obsessed with her teeth.  Can't blame her there.

Maloree: Oh God... he's moving...

 Seeing as how it is Club Canada, it's okay to be nakey in the pool.  He must have learned that from his daddy. 

 

Dex was sitting on the side frowning at us.  We didn't realize Jackson was copying him until later. 

Fun Times as a Nine Month Old

Playing at our new pool

 The wolfpack is finally in the new house and we couldn't be happier!  Granted, there is a LOT to be done, but we have room to move around and Gracedog has a backyard so we are a much happier penguin family.

Jackson went to his 9 month appointment and measured in at 21.5lbs and 28" so he's in the 60th percentile for weight and 70th for height.  He got a terrible case of hives that we had a really hard time treating, but thankfully they are gone.  He looked like an ogre for about two weeks.  Never could figure out the trigger, but let's hope it doesn't happen again. 

Nice shades, bro

 Jackson loves his new room and his playroom.  The upstairs is totally baby proofed so he just crawls his little self down the hallway and starts playing as soon as he gets up in the mornings.  We scored some really great new toys older baby at the baby consignment sale.  His favorites are the cookie jar shape sorter and the stacking rings.  By far the best thing about our new neighborhood is the 2 mile walking path by the river.  We pretty much run every morning and Jackson waves to every single person and dog that we pass along the way.       

 Aunt Rachel was the first one to notice that he is using his left hand in all of his videos and pictures lately.  Once she mentioned it we started paying attention and sure enough 9 of 10 times he uses his left hand first.  He has gotten pretty good with his spoon and is learning the spork now.  We switched him over to a regular cup at meals.  He has no trouble picking it up and drinking, but the learning to tilt the cup "away" from his face before setting it down hasn't caught on yet.  Cousin Meredith (age 2) saw a video of him eating recently and was appalled at his skills... her assessment was "he's so messy" as she watched the video 5 times in a row.   

Guess who is a lefty?

Look at Zachary ready to help Jackson get up.  Such a sweetie!

We've spent a little more time with the mom's group so he's starting to make friends.  Jackson is always excited to see Zachary and Grant.  He is a big guy and doesn't realize how strong he is so he's a bit of a bully still, but the two of them are walking so at least they can get away for the time being.  Speaking of walking, he will take a step or two and sit down.  He's also a climber and we have found him on shelves, up the step ladder, and trying to push open the back screen door to get outside.  

His vocabulary is growing every day.  Right now there are about 25 words that he responds to.  He follows instructions for "turn off the light", "sit on your bottom", "arms up", and "wash hands".  It took him forever to call Matt "da-da" but he says that, "ma-ma", "dah" for Gracedog, and "hi".  His version of hi sounds like the most Southern accent on record.  It's more like "haaaaaiiiiii" with about four syllables of vowels.       

Introducing the Newest Tiny Finy

James Thomas Fine was born on July 19, 2012 weighing 8lbs 5 oz.  They gave him an extra week to make his appearance but he still wasn't ready, so after putting on her makeup and straightening her hair Rachel and my mom left for the hospital and she delivered him just a couple hours later.  Now that's the way to do it!

I planned to go down to help with Meredith after Rachel had the baby and the timing worked out well because since he was a week late Tom had to go back to work and she definitely needed another pair of hands.  Since they live in Orlando I don't get to see them nearly as much as any of us would like and I've really never gotten to "take care" of Meredith.  She turned two in March and is a walking, talking, bundle of curiosity.  We had so much fun.  Matt's mom made her a special little apron so she could help me in the kitchen.  She wore this to help with every single meal and also to help put away the dishes.

Since it's always nice to have a distraction I packed five new little activity toys for us to do each day.  She likes anything new, of course, but her favorites were the re-stickable fairy stickers and the tiny fishing pole.  Rachel even let her use play doh for the first time!  Meredith loves holding baby James and is very concerned about what he is doing and if he is okay.  She even checks on him in his bassinet.  We wore her out so much that she slept until 8:30 every morning and took a 2.5 hour nap every day.  Playing with Aunt Leah is hard work.

Our fishing pond

You can never have too many bubbles

 Grandma and Grandpa Wolford stayed at the new house with Jackson.  The two of them were busy bees and helped us get things situated since we'd only been in the house for two days when they arrived (and Matt was gone those days so he didn't know where anything was either).  From installing baby locks on all the cabinets, assembling furniture, cleaning shelves, organizing, and cooking gourmet meals for Jackson and Matt we can't possibly thank them enough.  I know they enjoyed spending time with their boys, but whew!    

Camping at Fairy Stone State Park, VA

Since we don't get to see our families as often as we would like, we planned a Wolford family camping trip for Father's Day.  We stayed at Fairy Stone State Park in southern Virginia, which was really nice.  We had enough tents to be able to stay in the Group Camping section, which is its own little area with its own bath house and picnic tables.  The park has some nice hiking, a big lake with a water playground, and a lot of other stuff to keep everyone entertained.  It is known for these little cross shaped stones, which legend has it are fairy tears. 

Grandma brought a gourmet spread.  My favorite was the cherry pie maker, which is a grilled cheese iron that you stick bread and pie filling inside and toast over the fire.  Delicious!! 

Jumping with Erik

Grace got to go with us on this camping trip since Grandma and Grandpa were there to dog sit while we did a hike.  Lane came too and the two of them had a blast roaming around. 
 











Jackson has his very own life jacket which matches Great Grandad's life jacket.  He did an excellent job paddling around the lake.  He will put his face down in the water all on his own then look around so proud of himself. 

Swimming with Dad

Lunch picnic!

Fun Times as an Eight Month Old

 Now that he is a professional crawler, things have gotten a little more interesting.  Poor Gracedog is no longer safe and neither are her bowls, which are Baby Magnets.  Jackson got into her bowl one day before I beat him over to close the door and managed to get a kibble in his little fist.  Minutes later I heard choking and of course he had put the lone kibble in his mouth.  Not even a week later I heard squeals of glee and discovered him splashing happily in the toilet.  I swear the minute you baby proof one thing he moves onto the next disaster!  

The bathtub is still his favorite place.  Turned out that Matt didn't know to make him sit on his bottom so he had a few days of wild man bathtub fun before Mama put the kabash on that.  Now he will start to crouch and look up and start to fake cry because he knows a stern "On Your Bottom" is coming.

Speaking of Dad, wrestling before bed is hugely popular.  Matt hides his head and Jackson crawls all over him just laughing like a little maniac.  He has no fear of falling or getting hurt yet.  He's learned to slide of the couch and even our big bed on his tummy and will just shoot over the edge without warning.  All boy. 

 I made my annual trip down to Grandad's for the Fourth of July Blueberry Picking.  Jackson rode the jet ski for the first time but was much more interested in watching Great Grandad ride it than doing it himself.  Grace didn't like Jackson on the jetski and even jumped off the dock after us, which is TOTALLY unheard of.  She wasn't happy until he was back on the dock again. 

 He still says "Matt", "Ma-Ma" and "Da Da" (but not to Matt directly).  There's not much he doesn't eat but mango is still topping the favorite category followed by watermelon.  He's easy to please.