Just a normal day

I don't have any exciting trip or event to blog about, but today was just a good day. It was a Wednesday which means Tyler was working (actually out of town for the day), but still, Jackson and I had a good time together. I was thinking about my first summer in Florida. Tyler and I were traveling like crazy but I had no job and no baby so I was pretty bored when Tyler wasn't around. My life is so much better with Jackson in it! We don't go on road trips across Florida as much, but I love my little daily routine with my buddy.

Jackson normally wakes up around 7:15, today he was right on schedule. I stayed up too late last night so it took me a while to pull myself out of bed when I heard him on the baby monitor. Another thing - Jackson normally wakes up happy and talking to himself. I don't have to hurry upstairs to get my crying baby. He's normally pretty happy when I walk in his room and sometimes even plays around in his crib for a while before he wants me to take him out.

One thing I'm not too in love with is how as soon as I pick him up out of his crib, he wants me to put him down. He squirms out of my arms so he can run to a toy, a book, and sometimes he runs right to the stairs. I always want him to hug me in the morning, snuggle with mom for a minute after the long night's sleep. But this busy body doesn't want to waste a single second of his day.

We normally go right downstairs and Jackson sits right on the couch and wants me to turn on the tv. At first I thought this was cute, but now I'm really hoping he's not a total tv junkie. But he does watch a couple shows in the morning while we eat breakfast. Normally Yo Gabba Gabba, Sesame Street, or Curious George. Today I think it was Gabba and George.

Most recently he's become obsessed with Life Cereal for breakfast. Some days he'll eat a banana too, but today he just wanted the cereal. He is starting to eat with a spoon, but most bites he digs right in with his hand as he holds the spoon with his other.

Between Breakfast and Lunch is where Jackson basically roams the house and/or plays with toys. Normally roams the house getting into different closets. Today he had fun exploring the guest bathroom cupboards, the closet under the stairs, and of course his favorite place - the bottom 2 shelves of the pantry. Somedays we'll get out of the house in the morning, but it's not an every day thing. Tuesday we'll go to play group, Thursday we go to the library but today was a Wednesday. I wasn't feeling motivated to leave the house with the 93 degree 80% humidity morning weather.

But today Jackson didn't get into much trouble. No falls, no huge tantrums, he plays with his mega block (legos) a lot and is now starting to really like playing with cars and trains. He will read the occasional book, but I feel like he's getting more and more uninterested in them sadly.

(before nap destruction)

Lunch today was grilled turkey/cheese sandwich with strawberries (i had leftover pasta) and Jackson was in bed by noon. He goes down for his naps so easily. I basically just lay him in his crib and he cuddles right up with his blanket (he still takes a binky) and I'm so grateful for that.

(clean-up during the nap)


Today during his nap a huge storm blew through and it rained hard for about an hour. Luckily he sleeps through the weather so it was perfect timing for the rain! Usually it will start raining right when he wakes up which basically ruins any afternoon outing plans. But since it rained early today I decided we should do something special when he woke up! Today he slept for about 3 hours (normally about 2 1/2 - 3 hr) and then we got ready to go on our afternoon adventure.

I decided to go to Disney's Animal Kingdom. We hadn't been in a while (aka a month) and he is so into animals that I thought it'd be fun. We got there at 3:45 and got to see the parade roll by. Normally we (aka Tyler) avoid parades because it's a good time to go on rides with a shorter wait, but we literally walked right into this one and it was perfect. Jackson didn't really know what to think at first but by the end he was clapping and moving to the music and pointing at the characters, and he even waved at Mickey.

Then we headed back to Africa for the Safari and Jungle Walk. We saw gorillas, elephants, lions, hippos, and rhinos. The highlights today were the giraffes running right next to our jeep and the cheetahs laying in the grass closer than I'd ever seen them. Jackson looks around with such intensity the whole time, pointing and saying "ooo" "oooh wow" and "was dat?" to everything he sees. We finished the afternoon off with the Festival of the Lion King Show, Jackson was moving to the music and clapping along and very intrigued with the huge robotic giraffe in our section.

We left the park at 6 and Jackson ate his dinner in the stroller/car on our way out/home. I stopped off at our church building on our way home to grab a couple things from the nursery closet (yes i am the new nursery leader in the ward) and Jackson had fun running around the building for a while. He has fun at Disney, but really likes his freedom to run around when he's out of there.

(pretty tired / out of it when we finally got home)

Then we got home, Jackson watched a Baby Einstein DVD and then we went upstairs for bed. He climbs up in the rocking chair with me as we read a few books together. He folds his arms when I tell him it's time for a prayer, and then immediately wants to go in his crib. He reaches for it wanting to go in. By 8:15 he's asleep and I love peeking at my precious sleeping baby.

I'm so grateful that I'm his mom and that we get to spend so much time together. Love that baby!