Beach Time

 A very close friend of ours got married at the beach in September about an hour from my mom's house so we planned a trip for Jackson to come down and see everyone.  The last time we went he was barely three months old.  You may remember the disaster on the plane?  At least this trip Jackson was thoughtful enough to take care of it in the car on the way to the airport... nothing like a full outfit strip in the gas station parking lot on the way to catch a flight.

Although he went to the beach our first trip to FL, that was in Jan so I couldn't even stick his little feet in the water.  This trip a Tropical Storm decided to hit the same weekend but we managed to make it to the beach during a break in the rain.  Jackson absolutely loved it and wasn't scared of the waves a bit.  If he could have wriggled down into the water he would have!  

Holding hands :)

Sweet baby James with Uncle Matt

Reading with Nana

 My sister came over to my mom's for the weekend with Meredith and James.  Meredith remembers Jackson now and gets excited about seeing him.  Well she did until this trip when she realized that now he wants to play with her toys and be held by her Nana!  It was very cute to watch the two of them together and she is a big help bringing you anything you need for the baby and checking on James in his crib every so often.  One morning she woke up early so she and Jackson shared the ipad to watch Sesame Street together and I wish I had taken a picture of the two of them side by side but of course didn't think of it at the time. 

 Rachel and Tom have a 106lb Doberman named Chief.  He thinks he is a lap dog.  Really.  He will curl up on the couch next to you and edge over closer and closer until he's half on your lap.  The only thing you have to worry about from Chief is being licked to death or passing out from his shrimp breath.  Jackson is used to his dog wanting nothing to do with him so having Chief around made him very happy.  He even got a ride. 


 
  
 Since the weather was bad we let Jackson and Meredith play "at the beach" on the sand by the dock.  They don't know the difference and it's such a novelty Meredith could barely contain her excitement. 

We can't wait to go back and have Christmas in shorts!  As it should be. 

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. 

Fun Times as a Seven Month Old

Turns out that Greenville has a pretty nice Greek food festival.  They had a few carnival rides and this made Matt more excited than a 4 year old.  The ride operator told him if he could fit in the helicopter he could ride.  Even funnier was that another man saw him and hopped on thankful to have a partner in looking goofy so there were actually two grown men having the time of their lives on the Kids Kopter.

Someone finally got two teeth.  He has his very own whale toothbrush although he prefers chewing on Nana's. 

For Father's Day we took a trip over to a park in Simpsonville just a few minutes away.  Just so happens that it has a little train you can ride.  There are also two really nice playgrounds and tons of softball fields so Jackson got to watch some little leaguers in action.  Can't wait until he's old enough to play too.  Those little tiny uniforms are adorable.  You know, the reason boys play sports. 

Batten down the hatches..... HE'S MOBILE!  Naturally the weekend Matt took him to DC he started crawling and I missed it.  First thing he did at our apartment was crawl right over and stick his finger in the electrical socket.  Boys.  Seems like something new gets baby proofed every day.  Apparently crawling wasn't good enough because a week after he figured that out he started pulling up on anything he can get his hands on.  Now when he wakes up a little head is popped up over the crib smiling as you come into his room.  Here comes trouble!