Happy Heart Day

We had such a fun Valentine's Day this year! I was lucky enough to have 2 Valentines this year :-) I'm so grateful for Tyler and Jackson in my life...

Jackson's gift to me this year was finally getting back in a good nighttime sleeping routine! For the past few nights he's sleeping for 10 hours, waking up to eat, then going back to sleep and sleeping in until around 8 am! I'm really liking this new schedule :-)

When he woke up I asked him if he knew what day it was .... this was his response:



He seemed to ask, "Ummm am i forgetting something"? Then I told him -- it's Valentine's Day!!

He was pretty excited.


The day started out with Tyler surprising me with my favorite chocolate doughnut to start the day and then we opened our cards and presents from Grammy. Jackson loves giving kisses to his new red monkey and loooooves reading books! We all got red/pink workout wear this year.




Then after Jackson's morning nap we all went to lunch at Houston's in Winter Park. Tyler was planning on going with some guys for work, but when they couldn't come it turned out to a nice little family lunch!


Jackson tried mango for the first time and loved it!



It was such a pretty day that we played around on the patio area for a while after we ate.




Probably the most eventful part of the day happened while we were skyping with Uncle Steven and Grammy. Jackson took his first steps!!!!!! He took about 6 or 7 steps a few different times during the conversations. We got it on our video camera, and now I just need to find the cord that connects the video camera to the computer ... hopefully we'll have a video of the walking up here in the next day! It's crazy how he just started walking all of a sudden. He also learned to crawl for the first time while skyping with them on Steven's birthday in December. So basically, Steven is good luck :-)


Last night we stayed home and made pizza with heart shaped pepperonis of course!



Jackson even got to try some!


It was a great day, and now we get to celebrate our anniversary tomorrow!

We've been "Swapped"

We love Tom and Ashley Swapp and had so much fun with them this past weekend! It was so much fun seeing our college buddies, reminiscing about the good old days (aka Tom and Tyler talking about their dating escapades), and taking Disney World by storm!

Tom had been working on assignment in Miami recently, so Tyler and he hatched a plan as to how to make a fun Disney weekend out of it. Tyler went down to work in Miami for a couple days last week and on Friday afternoon, picked up Tom, and they drove back up to Orlando together. On their way home, they picked up the lovely Ashley (or Jensen as Tyler calls her) from the Orlando airport and they all came back here and stayed with us for the weekend. Lovely plan.

When they got here Jackson was being a little shy for the first little while, but then he fell in love with the Swappies. He had no problem being held by them, playing around, and even gave them kisses. (PS now that they've left he is looking around the house for them, he keeps seeing the empty guest room with disappointment!)

We started off the weekend by heading to Downtown Disney for the night, did a little shopping, eating, and got them in the "Disney Mood." The next morning we started out early and got into the park as soon as it opened. And let me just say, it was probably the most effective day at Disney that's ever been executed. Tyler has gotten it down to a science as to how to maximize the most fun rides/shows with the limited time constraint (he was an Economics Major after all). After living here for almost 2 years now, Tyler's gotten pretty dang good at it! In one day we went to three parks (all except Epcot) and even came home for an afternoon nap!

I still need to get the pictures from Ty's iPhone and from Ashley, but for now -- here are the boys after riding the roller coaster!


For Disney enthusiasts, we started at Hollywood Studios: rode Toy Story Mania twice, did Backlot Tour, Tower of Terror, Rock'n Roller Coaster, Lights Motor Action Show, then went to Animal Kingdom, did the Safari, Jungle Trek, rode Everest. Then at night went to Magic Kingdom, Did Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Pirates, It's a Small World and watched the firework show. Oh and finished off the day at the Polynesian Resort with some Pineapple Dole Whip Ice Cream. And this was all with Jackson, mind you.

Not too shabby? I think Tom and Ashley were very impressed with the day, oh and the best part was our amazing timing. Literally 3 seconds after we left Animal Kingdom and got in our car, it started pouring rain. Like one of those out-of-nowhere Florida storms. We couldn't have timed it any better!

Sunday was much more chill - thanks to the fact that we don't go to church until 1 pm! We were able to sleep in (other than Tyler who watched Jackson, thanks!!) and lounge around recovering from our busy day. But then we got home from church and got dinner ready for the McKinnons to come over for a little Super Bowl Party/Dinner. It was a lot of fun, Tyler grilled some amazing steaks and of course I didn't take any pictures of the reunion and the budding relationship between Jackson and their little Violet. They gave each other several kisses, one of which she grabbed his cheeks and planted one right on the lips - hilarious!

We stayed up late Sunday night chatting, laughing and realizing we ate way too much good food this weekend! Then it all came to an end yesterday morning when they drove back down to Miami for another work week for Tom (and a nice pool lounging week for lucky Ashley). Tyler also went away for a couple days so its now just me and Jackson at the house. It got quiet really fast! We had such a good time this weekend though, and were sad to see it come to an end.

But the house won't be empty for too long, we have Jill and Brian Fillmore coming to town next week, then the Christensen clan in March, and Grandma and Grandpa Jennings in April!

(Jackson and his daddy cuddling in the bed before he left for work)


Next item of business - totally need a new car seat for Jackson. The little guy is totally outgrown his infant seat. I'm calling out to fellow moms -- what type of car seat do you have?? I'm overwhelmed with all the options!

Back to Reality

Has it really been almost 2 weeks since last time I updated? Wow, I am sorry to our family members who need their weekly Jackson pics! I have been back in Florida for 2 weeks and its been great just living life here at home and not getting ready for the next trip. Don't get me wrong, it was so much fun traveling during the holidays, but we were ready to get back to real life.

I've had a long to-do list since September that is finally getting some things checked off. It feels great seeing projects completed and our house getting more put-together. We didn't take any pictures with our digital camera this week, just snapped some quick ones with ipod and iphones, so here is a quick update through some low-quality (sorry)camera pics.

Jackson is turning into such a big boy!


It really freaks me out that he's turning one NEXT MONTH! Wow, I didn't even realize that until I typed it. Scary. But anyways, he's not a baby anymore and is telling me this by refusing to eat baby food anymore. No puffs either. Basically he eats are fruits and veggies all day, which isn't bad obviously, but he really won't eat bread or meat that much. He puts down grapes like its his job, seriously, I've been buying 2 bunches a week just for him. Blueberries, Bananas, Watermelon, and Pear are his other fruits of choice, then he'll eat corn, peas, carrots, asparagus, and broccoli. Such a healthy guy! He'll eat chicken occasionally, but won't eat deli meat.

As I'm saying all this I should attach a pic of him eating said fruit, but of course I don't have one. The only pics I have are of him eating things that are out of the ordinary for him.

He loves pasta (as long as there are plenty of veggies in it)





Oh and last night, I ordered my healthy little guy his first kids meal! Terrible mom? But at least it was Chick-Fil-A and I got him semi-healthier versions of chicken nuggets (which he actually ate) and waffle fries (which he spit out every time I tried to give him one - I'm tellin ya, he's healthy!) But the main event was that he loved the lemonade! Again, terrible mom? He's not really getting excited about the whole drinking from a sippy cup thing, I'm now thinking it's because we weren't giving him what he wanted - fresh squeezed lemonade. But seriously, we're also going to try a sippy cup with a straw instead of spout. But this 10-month old gets nursed for the majority of his "drinks" for now ... hopefully we can wean him in the next couple months?


On Saturday we bought Annual DisneyWorld Passes again and started the year off with some EPCOT fun! We rode SpaceShip Earth, saw the aquarium, and walked around all the different countries with Jackson.




Oh and now the show with Michael Jackson "Captain EO" is playing again, so we put on our 3D glasses and checked it out.


Back to that to-do-list ... we've crossed quite a few things off such as: installed our surround sound speakers, hung a bathroom cabinet, ordered blinds, set up our new computer, organized all our files, got our patio screen fixed after a crazy wind and rain storm blew part of it out! (see pic)



And we bought a dining room table that, as you can see, Jackson is pretty happy about!



Now we're ready to entertain our weekend guests, the Swapps (who should be arriving at our house with Tyler in about 30 minutes)! We're going to DisneyWorld tomorrow, then having the McKinnons over for a Super Bowl Dinner Party on Sunday. Excited for the weekend!

A day in the life of a ten-month-old

Hi, I'm an angry elf...



So Jackson woke up from his afternoon nap and I went in his room with my camera ready to snap some pictures of the happy 10 month old in his classic "lay in crib smiling" pose. It wasn't about to happen. I was greeted by this little guy who, when he naps for over 2 hours, it takes him a long time to wake up and be his normal smiley self. Normally after his 90 minute nap he's happy right away, but too much sleep isn't always good for this boy.

This was as good as happy as he ever looked (and you can't even see his face really)


**Note to self for next baby: don't have the monthly pose be of him/her lying down on his/her back. Jackson will not stay laying on his back for more than 3 seconds without trying to wiggle around (as is evidenced when I try to change his diaper). So instead of being able to compare him to this ... (2 months)


and this ... (5 months)



I just snapped a bunch of photos of what Jackson did this afternoon before bedtime.

Here he is playing with a puzzle (courtesy of the Sheffield family!)



Smiling, looking so innocent ... until ...


An hour or so later ...



He was very proud of himself!



I took this picture to show that Jackson always stops right in front of the stairs and has totally avoided them. I think he's luckily scared of them so I don't have to worry about anything yet... until ...



He crawled up all 16 stairs!


Sadly the memory storage on my camera ran out in the middle of the video, but today Jackson just started crawling up the stairs trying to reach my diaper bag that was about 3 stairs up. I was watching with amazement as he crawled like he had done it a thousand times! I kept moving it a few stairs up at a time until he got to the landing where I thought he would stop. Wrong again! He then turned (ignoring the bag) and went up the step on the landing in the video and then successfully crawled up all the stairs. I wish I could have captured the grin on his face when he got to the top and turned around to look at me. What a cutie, and what a big feat to tackle on his 10-month birthday!

He's still getting a hang of his new walker, he has fun with all it's little rattles and shakers and pulls himself up on the handle... until ...



Sometimes he forgets its on wheels and that when he starts walking ... he moves! I don't know if you can tell in this picture but he is totally nervous. As I was snapping the above picture he moved his foot and accidentally started going way faster than he wanted. Sad to say, this little guy ended up crying a few seconds later as he fell down :-(



One last photo of him awake, being silly on our bed.



And then I finally got the picture of him lying in his crib!!! (too bad he's asleep and now sleeps in an awkward side/booty in the air pose.



Oh well, it was a fun afternoon for my little buddy and me!

Home Sweet Home

It's January 24th and I'm just now at home feeling like I can get back to normal life. I guess that's pretty slow since Christmas Eve was one month ago today - dang time flies!! Ever since our trip to Puerto Rico in November, it's been non-stop madness for us. With one week in NY/Boston, 3 weeks with family for Christmas/New Years, and last week in Arizona we were living out of suitcases and porta-cribs more often than not. It was so much fun to be with our family and for Jackson to get to know his Grandparents and Aunts/Uncles better, but now it is just good to be home.

(He still just has his 2 cute little bottom teeth!)


Luckily we have such an easy-going little guy that he makes traveling a lot easier than one would expect with a crawling baby. He went on 11 flights in 3 months. And I must say, he's gotten pretty dang good at it. As soon as the plane takes off and gets up in the air, he falls asleep in my arms. Seriously, he never does this at home, but because of the loud constant noises of the engine and the motion, it rocks him to sleep. Which is lucky for us with the 4 hour flight! Since he normally naps for the first half of the flight, he is happy and well-rested for the second half, so we can normally keep him entertained. I think there was only one flight where he actually cried, so ya he's awesome.

(Oh and he loves getting into EVERYTHING now!)


One thing that wasn't so great was the nighttime sleeping situation. Jackson started sleeping through the night back when he was 4 months old and I thought I had it made. He really never had a bad night those first few months, but ever since then he's been getting into bad habits, waking up a couple times in the night while we're at home, and then several times while traveling. He's been worse the past couple months than he was the first 8 months of his life. It's just been so hard to get him back in a normal schedule when he's sleeping in the same hotel room or bedroom as me. "cry it out" is kinda hard when he's sleeping with several other people in the same area. But now that we're home I'm hoping he'll do better. Last night he just woke up once to eat, so hopefully we'll get back to normal soon!

Last week Tyler went to Northern California for his company's annual sales meeting and Jackson and I went back to Arizona to spend more time with my family. We actually did the same thing last year when Tyler had his meeting, except I went with my prego belly and had a baby shower - I'm glad I've upgraded to the real thing this year!

We went to the Scottsdale Railroad Park with Jackson on MLK Day which was a lot of fun - I went here when I was a little girl and even had my 3 year old birthday party here. It was fun to ride the train with little Jacksy this time. The trip was a little different because my whole family got the stomach flu for the last few days of our week. Jackson threw up for the first time in his life, but didn't show a single symptom otherwise. He was luckily happy and playful still while the rest of us were wiped out. My brother Steven and I got hit the worst, so he "got to" stay home from school last Tuesday. But I must say it would have been much worse if I was trying to take Jackson by myself with Tyler out of town.




The little guy is 10 months old TODAY and I can't believe how big he's getting. I'll take some pictures of the big guy when he wakes up from his nap and share some of his 10 month stats :-)

The Big Trip

Is it bad that it's January 12th and I'm still needing to blog about our Christmas / New Years' trip? We spent 3 weeks out west (half in Arizona, half in Utah) and now we've been back in Florida for 1 week and finally getting back to normal life. BUT, not for long though, I'm heading to Arizona tomorrow while Tyler's got his annual National Sales Meeting.

Anyways, we had an amazing time visiting our families for the holidays and the only hiccup was that I left my camera and video camera at home in Florida. That's right, I have no pictures of Jackson's first Christmas, awesome. Luckily we have some from camera phones and also there were several others who had cameras around and captured some of Jackson's moments ... while I'm thinking about it ...

Dear Kristi, Ashley, Alise, Troy, & Jamie --- Please send me your photos! I have no pics of Jackson in Utah! So please email them to me (raychee123@gmail.com) Also, please be on the look out for your mom's camera cord so she can send me the ones she took. Thanks

Love, Rachel


Ok, back to blogging ...

We had so much fun in Arizona getting ready for Christmas! We did our Christmas Shopping, Baking, Partying, and really got in the Christmas Spirit. My mom always decorates the house to the max, so it's so much fun being home for the holidays. The weather was great and Tyler went golfing 4 or 5 times, we played tennis, went on a hike and played around outside. We saw the Mesa Temple Lights, went to our favorite Arizona eateries, ate yummy christmas food and treats at home, went cosmic bowling and to the movies. I finally saw Harry Potter 7.1, and then Tangled and The Tourist. Tyler and I went out on a date to the Biltmore in Phoenix and enjoyed having willing and able babysitters for Jackson.




Speaking of ... Jackson had a very eventful first Christmas season! He had just learned to crawl the week before we headed out West, so he sharpened his skills while in Mesa. He can pull himself up on virtually any surface and while slow at first, now crawls crazy fast. Thanks to his grandpa, he also further developed his taste buds. He tried grapes, tomato, pears, cheese, roast beef, mashed potatoes, waffles, pizza crust, graham crackers, and he even snuck him a cinnamon roll on Christmas morning. Needless to say, he's not devouring through his baby food jars quite as fast as he used to... he'd prefer real food! Jackson also learned how to get from a laying down position to standing (I discovered this when he was supposed to be sleeping and I found him standing up holding on to the side of the porta-crib.) He really did not sleep great at nights, he decided to wake up every couple hours for basically the whole three weeks. But no one other than Tyler and me would have ever known since he was an angel during the days.



Christmas Morning has always been such a fun time in the Christensen Home, this year was our first one without my brother Michael though ... He's been on his mission for 7 months now, so it was his first Christmas away. But luckily, we were able to talk to him later that morning so that made it fun. We got an early start (before 7 am) opening our presents, and Jackson woke up and joined the party around 8. (His Christmas Present to us was a night of somewhat decent sleep!) Jackson got tons of cute clothes, books, and some fun toys. Nothing over-the-top since it all had to be packed in suitcases... I surprised Tyler and got my "read-aholic hubby" the Kindle! I wanted to get him something fun since he got me an early present of a new family desktop computer :-) I had never surprised him with something big like that, and I think he liked it!


I wish we could have squeezed a few more hours into Christmas morning because at around noon we had to head out to the airport to catch our flight to SLC. Jackson was an angel on the plane (fell asleep just after the plane took off) and the 75 minute flight went by in the blink of an eye compared to the 4 1/2 hour flight from Orlando. We were greeted at the airport by Tyler's dad and drove down to Orem for an afternoon meal at Tyler's grandparents' home. Later that night all of Tyler's siblings (except Troy who was in Cali with his new fiance) came over for some present opening fun!

When we got to the Jennings home the tree was loaded with presents, but Jamie quickly warned us, "it might look like a lot, but they're all for the grandkids!" And she was right, Jackson got totally spoiled by his grandparents with cute outfits, books, and toys! It was pretty cool having 2 Christmases this year!


After Christmas we spent the next week in Utah playing games, eating good food, drinking smoothies, and getting caught up with all of Tyler's siblings. While all of them had to work that week, there was normally always someone to hang out with Jackson and us. We were able to meet Travis and Alise's cute little girl Avery and Jackson was able to bond more with Reese. We also got to meet Tammy Dyer (soon to be Tammy Jennings) and were glad to welcome her to the family! Jackson went sledding for the first time, visited Papa and Nana up in SLC and we went to lunch and breakfasts with friends and cousins. It was a long trip but so much fun! When we live so far away from our family, we've got to make it worth it when we go out there!



Now that we're back home with just the 3 of us I'm sure Jackson's wondering what happened to everyone! He's now getting into EVERYTHING since he's crawling and it's normally just me here watching him. His favorite "trouble" spots are the cupboard under my bathroom sink, the tv stand, and the pantry. But it's also really fun to have him crawl to me when he wants to get picked up, and to watch him stop whatever he's doing and crawl toward his daddy's voice when Ty gets home from work.

2010 was such an amazing year for us, and we're excited to see what 2011 will bring!

Merry Christmas!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas! We spent 10 days in Arizona before Christmas and now we're in Utah for the next week. Jackson has been having fun getting to know his family better. He's been such a good boy and had a great first Christmas!

Here are some pictures from last week in Arizona