Jackson's Blessing

Memorial Day 2010 - most people were having barbecues and pool parties kicking off the summer, and we were blessing Jackson Tyler Jennings. Monday morning we left Arizona at 6 am and started the drive to Utah. We arrived in Provo at the Jennings' house about 12 hours later and had a family dinner, followed by Jackson's blessing in their home. This was the only day that all of our families could get together for the blessing, and Michael hadn't gone into the MTC yet. It was great to have everyone together, but we were a little tired after the long drive (please take that into consideration when looking at my family in all the photos - especially me, haha). Tyler drove one of the cars for the entire drive, yet still was able to give a beautiful blessing for our first-born son.

Jackson had his dad, both grandpas, great-grandpa, and 6 uncles bless him.


I love Tyler's expression in this picture, he was bringing Jackson upstairs after we got him all dressed for the blessing - looking down at his son, such a proud father!

4 Generation Photo

Jackson with his parents and grandparents.

My friends came for the event - Ross, Jill, Carly & Dave

Christensen family (after the long drive!)

Jennings siblings

Grandma, Mom and Aunt Paige

The new Jennings Family Photo

Arizona for Michael's Farewell

On May 26th Jackson took his first plane trip - from Orlando to Phoenix (4 1/2 hour flight!)


I was a little nervous about the flight, but he slept the entire flight! Just woke up to eat, then went right back to sleep. The people sitting in front of us didn't even know we had a baby until the end of the flight!

He finally met his uncles, Uncle Michael and Steven!

This is pretty much how the first few days went -- we all just stare at the perfect little guy!

Then he met his great-grandparents, Nana,

and Papa.

We had a big farewell get-together for my brother Michael. He's going to the Utica, New York Mission so we got a looong NY deli sub sandwich.

There was tons of food, but by the end of the party it was almost all gone.

The family all came out for Michael's farwell talk

Sunday night he was set apart as an elder, right after this last photo was taken! The next morning we all drove up to Utah together ...

May 24 - March 24 = 2 months old!

Life is good for the Jennings Family in Orlando! Last night was especially lovely, since the SUNS won, and we had our 2 1/2 hour emotional goodbye to our favorite TV show, LOST - we were happy with the finale (unlike some others I'm seeing via facebook statuses). Tyler has been busy with work, he's doing great things for his company, and Jackson & I have fun hanging out all day together! He's such a good little buddy!

One bad thing ... I can't get internet on my laptop anymore. I've been picking up signals here and there, but nothing too consistent, hence not too much surfing or blogging as of late. It is working for the moment, and since Jackson's asleep on the love sac, Tyler's out working - I better get typing while I have "very low" internet access instead of "no signal."

This week, we're getting ready to take our big trip out west - Arizona and Utah - for Jackson to meet the rest of his family and for us to say bye to my brother Michael, who goes on his mission next week. I'm so excited to introduce Jackson to the rest of his family - I've been telling him that he's got so many more people to meet, I hope he's ready!



Tyler and I are absolutely in love with Jackson, he is 2 months old today! He had his doctor's appointment this afternoon, I had been both looking forward to and dreading this for a long time.

Why Looking forward to it? So we could find out how much he weighs! Since he obviously looks older than the average 2 month old, I'd been asked my several people "how much does he weigh!?" and I had no answer, until today (stay tuned)

Why Dreading it? Because he had to get 4 shots :-( I don't handle it too well when he cries, so I made sure Tyler could come help out.

Here are some pictures I took before the doctor appointment, he was being such a happy guy!




(It might look like he's screaming - but this was actually taken mid-laugh)








LOVE THIS PIC!



Well as soon as we put him on the baby scale, Tyler and I both just laughed, he weighs 14 lb 6 oz (95th %) and is 23 1/2 inches long (80th %). I knew he was a big boy, but I was not expecting that! I didn't think I'd be the girl to put his stats on the blog, but its just crazy to me. He's been gaining almost a pound a week for the past 6 weeks, who does that?? No wonder he wears 3-6 month clothes!

Anyways, then came the shots - I was really scared for him, and expecting the worst. And when it came, he really did scream and cry hard as the nurse gave him the shots, it was so sad. But luckily she gave the shots to him really fast (done in less than 10 seconds), and as soon as she finished, I picked him up and he stopped crying! I was expecting him to keep crying but he stopped right away and fell asleep 10 minutes later in the car. He was so brave and Tyler and I were so proud of our little guy.

The doctor warned us that he'll be fussy for the rest of the day, well so far so good. Here are some pictures that I just took.






LOVE THIS PIC!





(And of course, right at the end of the video my battery died, I was going to say AND 23 1/2 inches long, love my Jacksy!)

It doesn't look like he just got shots does it? But he's got the band aids to prove it!

PS - Hopefully these pics get our families even MORE excited to see cute little (or should I say big) Jackson!

PPS - Wondering why he has so many outfit changes in one day? He can't contain himself in his diaper ...

Trip to the Beach!!

Last summer Tyler and I took several trips to beaches in Florida together, just the two of us. This week marked the end of that era. Jackson came with us on our first family trip to South Florida! And it wasn't just any trip, we stayed right on the beach at the Embassy Suites in Deerfield Beach, FL.

Here is Jackson and me on our balcony. We stayed on the 5th floor, overlooking the pool and Atlantic Ocean! We got lucky because Ty's company's travel agent was offering a discounted price at this hotel, so we were able to stay there instead of the typical Holiday Inn Express. It was so much nicer than what we'd gotten used to, but it was perfect to have another room with Jackson there.

Most of the trip consisted of me hangin out with Jackson while Tyler was working. We went down to the pool, took walks down the boardwalk, and went down to the beach.

Wednesday morning we were able to hang out with Tyler and Jackson experienced his first real beach day! Not bad for his 7 week birthday party...

Grandma Jennings got him this cute little swimsuit outfit, too bad he's already growing out of the top! His tummy is just too cute and big!

Tyler and I spent most of the time sitting right next to Jacksy so we could block the sun from the little guy. He's still too young to wear sunscreen, so we didn't want his precious little skin to burn!

Here's proof that he got in the Ocean!

Ty couldn't resist taking Jackson in the pool with him.


He was so good for the whole trip, we are so blessed to have such an easy going baby! He slept the whole drive back to Orlando - 3 hours!

He's so big that he's been wearing 0-3 month clothes for a month now, and now can fit in some of his 3-6 month outfits.


He loves his swing, but he just now realized that the swing has a mobile too, he is enthralled with the little fishies that spin around and around. Its fun that he's much more alert and smiley now :-)

Such a peaceful little guy, we're in love with him!

My baby is 6 weeks old!

Jackson is 6 weeks old today! Tyler has been in Las Vegas and Dallas (random combination, I know) for work since Sunday morning and is heading home from the airport now. We've missed him, and we're excited to be reunited!

This little boy has been pretty good since he's been gone (other than this morning when he refused to take a nap if i wasn't holding him). He's starting to get a little more interactive and smiley and is fitting snugly in his 0-3 month onesies :-)

Here are pictures from the past 3 days





He started sucking on his fingers this week.

He has grabbed that toy before and flung it around, probably not an intentional grab, but still impressive!





We tried out the Bumbo Chair today - he's still a little small, since he can't hold his head up all the way, but I think he liked it!



We are now in outfit #2 for the day, since the orange striped onesie now has brownish yellow smeared all across the back of it... But I think Jackson's daddy will like seeing him wearing this when he gets home.

He is ready to go hang out at BYU!