Category: Jackson - The Bartlett Family Blog

August re-cap.

9/5/2013

Looks like these big monthly blog posts are going to become a regular thing around here. Here's a little photo recap of our adventures last month... The kids love to play outside (as all kids do), and they love to roam around and play on the front steps and driveway, especially in the evenings when they get to wait for daddy to come home from work!

2013-09-05_0001

2013-09-05_0002

Riley is such a goofball all the time. The faces she makes when I am trying to take her picture are priceless.

2013-09-05_0003

Early in August we went to go and visit Jennie down in Long Beach. Just Riley and I went, leaving Jack at home with daddy! I have many more pictures from our time down there, but I am hoping to eventually put together a little video, so well see if that ever happens. :) There was lots of Aunt Jennie time, hanging out at the beach, and playing lots and lots of fetch with Penny!

2013-09-05_0005

Riley has been pretty good about naps/rest time lately, and when she wakes up from her nap, she goes and uses the potty, gets out of her (dry) pull-up and into her clothes, and then accessorizes before coming to see me. This is often what I see when she finally exits her room post-nap.

2013-09-05_0006

Jack and Riley's relationship has its ups and downs, but they do actually play well together sometimes. :) She loves to tickle him, and he loves to give her lots and lots of cuddles! Other things that are very popular these days? TRAINS, wrestling/jumping on daddy, dress-up, and more trains. And anything that involves being outside.

2013-09-05_0007

2013-09-05_0008

2013-09-05_0009

2013-09-05_0010

2013-09-05_0011

I love moments like these. Absolutely love them.

2013-09-05_0012

2013-09-05_0013

Jacky is so funny, he LOVES trains, but he gets so so mad if things don't go exactly like he wants... if the track breaks, or the train gets stuck, watch out, he will start throwing tracks and trains left and right!

2013-09-05_0014

I have finally edited Jackson's 18 month pictures too, so I should probably do his 18 month update before he turns 19 months in 2 days... Oops. Also coming up... my thoughts on Riley starting preschool!!

July recap (part 1)

8/11/2013

My poor neglected little blog. Seriously I need two more hours in every day to get all the things done I need to get done! Or to figure out how to function on less sleep, but I seriously don't think that is possible!!

So we will take few steps back and re-cap. I hate re-cap posts, but I also hate totally skipping over photos, and my sister wants a blog update NOW, so this is what we get. :)

Riley got a balance bike for her birthday, and we've slowly been practicing! She looks all big and grown up riding that thing, I can hardly believe it!

2013-08-11_0001

Jackson has become a WILD child. He climbs on everything. He is feisty! He knows what he wants and gets MAD when he doesn't get it. He bites! But, he's also super fun and cute and definitely keeps me on my toes all day long!!

2013-08-11_0002

And Jacky is definitely a daddy's boy, no question. He LOVES his daddy, and always has so much fun with him!

2013-08-11_0003

Gosh I need to blog more, I can hardly even remember what we did in July!! Jacky dd get pretty sick, poor little thing, he just wanted to be held at all times, with a fever of 104! I hate when the babies are sick :(

2013-08-11_0004

The second half of July was pretty fun, but of course, it's almost midnight, so those pictures will have to wait for another day. Hopefully another day this week, if I can squeeze it in!! And then maybe we will get to August and be all caught up!

Also... I want to be able to look back at these posts some day down the road and not have to calculate how old my children were... so for when that time comes, I'm going to start putting my kids' ages at the bottom of the posts. Just sittin' there, by themselves, like this:

Riley is 3 years old! Jackson is 17 months!

June catch-up!

7/1/2013

I have a 3 year post for Riley to do, birthday photos to share, and a 17 month update just around the corner for little Jacky Boy, but I thought I'd do a little June re-cap! Mark's mom has been in town, the kids have been having fun, and there are just so many pictures I haven't shared! So first... a typical evening in the Bartlett household:

2013-07-01_0001

The sand pit is always always a hit. And Jackson will play happily in it for about 10 minutes before he remembers that he likes to shove fistfuls of sand in his mouth, and then it's time to get out. But they pretty happily move on to the trampoline!

2013-07-01_0002

Jackson used to hate going on the trampoline with Riley because she would jump so high and he would get bounced around, and he wasn't a huge fan of that. Now he loves it! He runs around and she chases him and jumps and he bounces all around and thinks it's so funny!

2013-07-01_0003

2013-07-01_0004

Eventually, somehow, we manage to drag these outdoor babies inside for a bath... bath is a bit hit-or-miss every night. Some nights it goes off without a hitch, everyone is happy and nice to each other, other nights someone ends up crying... normally the battle is over washing a certain little girl's hair....

2013-07-01_0005

2013-07-01_0006

Oh also? I made this video of little 3 year old Riley, too late at night to figure out how to embed it: https://vimeo.com/68893324

Up next: our trips to the Berkeley Children's Museum and Six Flags!!!

Jackson 16 month update!

6/16/2013

A tiny bit late, but as always, better late than never! Jacky Boy is 16 months old and I think a lot has changed over the last month! He is a super happy, super funny little boy and I LOVE him so much!!

2013-06-16_0003

Let's go with the basics first... He weighs 25 pounds now, and wears 18-24 month clothes. He is a walking, climbing, jumping machine! He is super fast and tries to run everywhere. He LOVES playing chase with Riley, giggling the whole time. He is a climber, and will climb onto anything he can (couches, strollers, beds, chairs). He loves going up and down the stairs, and would do that over and over and over again. He loves jumping OFF of things as well, crazy little baby!!

2013-06-16_0004

He loves playing with anything on wheels that he can push- baby doll stroller, shopping cart, walker, large trucks... he loves to push things around and around and around. He loves all trucks and cars, and he loves his shape sorters, although gets very frustrated when he can't do it himself! He loves playing with stacking toys/rings and spinning tops! The toys below are two of his very favorite!!

2013-06-16_0002

He LOVES being outside, and would stay outside all day long. He loves anything involving water- pools, hose, water table, sprinklers, etc. He loves the sand pit, but has a tendency to eat the sand... a lot of sand. He loves trying to climb UP the slide, and he loves running around on the trampoline while Riley jumps and knocks him over. He thinks it is so funny to get bounced all over the place!

2013-06-16_0005

He is a feisty little thing, and is not afraid to let you know when he's not happy! He will throw things, scream, and sometimes throw himself on the floor. He is quick to try and bite Riley in self defense, and sometimes unprovoked as well. He is obsessed with eyes and will try and pinch ad gouge them if you aren't careful! He loves songs, and I swear he can hum to tune of a couple of different ones! He thinks his daddy is the BEST and funniest person EVER, and gets so excited to see him every single time.

2013-06-16_0006

He takes on big nap every day around 11, and goes to bed around 6:30 or 7. Some days he wakes up at 6, other days he will sleep until 8! He still loves his bottles, and drinks lots of rice milk during the day. He is an incredible eater, the kid eats a LOT! He loves all kinds of meat, and he will pretty much eat anything I make him!

2013-06-16_0007

Words... the kid can understand pretty much everything we say to him... he knows what all his toys are, listens to instructions, and overall has an excellent understanding of what we are saying to him. He doesn't have that many words to communicate back to us though. Currently he says: mama, dada, Riley (pronounced Ni-nee), dog, deer, more, all done, again, and I think that's it. He signs "all done" and "more" but only if we really ask him to, and I THINK he has started to sign "help". We have been horrible about doing signs with him, but I guess we should do it more since he doesn't have the language to tell us what he wants!

2013-06-16_0008

Jack LOVES trying to put everyone's shoes on, especially Riley's shoes. He also loves to try and put on her undies and gets so mad when he can't do it! He LOVES dogs, and he love love loves his grandpa. He loves going for walks, and if you tell him we're going for a walk he will go and climb right into the stroller. He loves looking for birds and laughs and laughs when he sees one. He LOVEs waiting for daddy to come home from work and helping him "drive" the car up the driveway!

2013-06-16_0009

He knows when the oven or microwave beeps that food comes out, and when someone gets water from the fridge that he gets to have a drink! He hates having his diaper changed, and he finally actually likes books! Only a handful, but that's better than none! He is such a little cutie and he is more and more fun every single day! He is still pretty mama obsessed, but I'm okay with that :) Mark is making me take him to get his hair cut pretty soon, which I am totally dreading but know it needs to happen!! His little blonde locks are getting too long!

Happy 16 months baby boy, you are getting too big way too fast!!

Jackson turns 15 months!

5/11/2013

Little Mister is now 15 months old! He is growing up wayyy too fast, and this last month has brought some big changes in our little man's life!

2013-05-11_0001

First, he is a full blown walker these days. No more crawling for him, he's pretty darn steady, and getting faster and faster daily. Crazy how he went from taking 3 or 4 steps for weeks to just all of sudden walking everywhere!! And he is definitely a SIGNIFICANTLY happier baby now that he is a walker, he loves being able to walk around everywhere and explore!

2013-05-11_0002

He has turned into a good sleeper these days (well, at last compared to the last year of his life!) For the last week, he's been going to bed around 7:30, waking up at midnight for a bottle (yessssss he still gets a nighttime bottle), and then sleeping until 8:30 in the morning. He takes a nap from about 12-3pm every day. Goes down easily, no crying, same routine every day. :) He sleeps with his paci and his blankie. He is blankie obsessed and will not go to sleep without it!

2013-05-11_0003

He has turned into quite the big baby! He eats and eats and eats, and I've been kind of slacking with his doctor appointments, so I have no idea how much he weighs, but it's a lot. He's in 18-24 month clothes, no idea what size shoes since we just started putting him in them since he just started walking! I get lots of comments about how big and "thick" he is....indeed. :)

2013-05-11_0004

He loves: sitting on Riley's white chair, climbing onto anything and everything (lately his fave thing to do is climb up into the double stroller), going down slides, going to the playground, and walking all around the kitchen. That might sounds like a weird thing to say, but while he was a crawling baby we didn't allow him in the kitchen because of his allergies. Now that he's walking and not on the floor so much, we let him come in the kitchen, and he is SO EXCITED about it! He also loves pushing around this little shopping cart we have, and gets so mad when it gets stuck!. Oh and I almost forgot, the kid LOVES the vacuum cleaner. He loves to sit and watch me vacuum and follow me around, not scared in the least!

2013-05-11_0005

He loves playing with water, especially running water (faucets, hoses, sprinklers, etc). He likes puzzles and playing with shape sorters and anything where he has to put small objects into something bigger. He doesn't have a ton of words, but his receptive language is pretty darn good these days. If we ask him where something is he will go to it or look at it, and he even follows some of the directions I give him! He is seeming older and older every single day! He loves all animals, especially dogs, birds, and cows. He laughs and laughs and laughs at Bailey, and loves to look at all the cows on the hills by our house.

2013-05-11_0006

He loves playing with crayons and pens, but mostly just putting them in and out of things, and chewing on them. He loves being chased by his daddy, and he's super ticklish. If you say "I'm gonna get you..." he takes off running and laughing! He loves climbing up the stairs, and can actually get down the whole flight of stairs by himself too.

2013-05-11_0007

He loves to play with Riley, and loves chasing her around and getting in to all of her things. :) He loves to have "tea parties" with her and do puzzles and knock down the towers she builds for him. He loves going for walks/runs in the stroller, and he is getting much much better with new people, even approaching and smiling at new people he's never met before, but still is NOT happy to be left at the gym daycare.

2013-05-11_0008

He is such a happy boy lately, and I'm sure I'm forgetting all kinds of things for this update. But HAPPY 15 MONTHS baby boy!!

Riley's 3rd year album

5/7/2013

Slowly chipping away at Riley's 3rd year album.... I like to have them completed and ordered and in my hands by her 3rd birthday, which means I better keep working! I'm actually not THAT far behind, surprisingly. I also realized I never shared the family photos we had done in February, so this will kill 2 birds with one stone. Although, since it's Riley's album, obviously these pictures are pretty heavily Riley-focused.

I'm at almost 100 pages... still over a month to go... it's gonna be a long book!!

My little fireman

5/6/2013

I am almost 100% caught up on editing photos for clients. Which means I will finally have some time to do some blogging, edit some of MY kids' photos, and work on Riley's 3rd year album!! Can you believe it, she turns 3 next month!! And Jackson turns 15 months tomorrow. My sweetest little mama's boy.

may5 (1 of 1)

14 months

4/14/2013

Little man is 14 months old!

Jack14months (1 of 10)

Okay, what he has been up to... He is dappling in the idea of walking, taking 6 or 7 steps here and there, but prefers to crawl. I am just waaaaaaiting not so patiently for him to be a full time walker. He's just not that interested in walking around! If you say "Jackson, stand up and walk!" he might humor you and stand up and take a few steps, and then he gets down and crawls. He is the fastest crawler though, and he can regular crawl and bear crawl equally fast. At this age Riley had been walking for 4 months, sooooo needless to say, he's a very different baby!

Jack14months (2 of 10)

Talking... he says mama, dada, hi, dog, duck, bay (for bailey) and he can "bark" like a dog, although it sounds more like rorororo, which Riley is sure to tell him NOOOO a dog says woof, not rorororo! He is starting to wave, and he claps like a madman, especially when I sing If you're happy and you know it.... He is a super loud babbling baby, so he has lots to say, just not the words to say it!

Jack14months (3 of 10)

The boy loves to be outside. He loves playing in the sand and in the water. He loves to swim! He especially loves any sort of running water, so hoses, faucets, water being poured from a bucket, etc... He LOVES animals. He gets all giggly and will crawl over to them as fast he can!!

Jack14months (4 of 10)

He's still super attached to me.... he will smile and flirt with strangers as long as I am RIGHT there... but if they get too close, or try and pick him up, he starts to WAIL. I tried to leave him at the daycare at the gym one time, and he completely freaked out, and could not be calmed. Poor guy. Needless to say I didn't get a workout in. :)

Jack14months (5 of 10)

He's really into grabbing people's faces (and eyes) and giving big slobbery kisses. He likes to be thrown up in the air, and he loooooves dancing to music. He loves it when his daddy tosses him on the couch and tickles him... He is super ticklish!!

Jack14months (6 of 10)

He loves to play with phones and remotes and things with buttons. He likes knocking down towers and taking things in and out of other things. He likes to idea of TV (as in, turning it on and off) but is not really super into the shows. He will watch bits of Mickey Mouse if Riley is watching (he especially loves the songs), and he loves this Vinko DVD (think tons of songs/nursery rhymes), but other than that.... not super interested. He's just starting to take a liking to books. And we have tried and tried and tried and he just would NOT sit to read with us. And now we've got about 5 or 6 books he likes, so we're getting somewhere!

Jack14months (7 of 10)

He has 4 teeth now (2 top, 2 bottom), and is in mostly 18 month clothes, I think he's around 23 pounds these days. He does this super cute thing when he's throwing a tantrum, he will put his head down and stick either a leg or arm up in the air, like he's doing some yoga headstand pose. He is a very tempermental baby, and will holler and cry and either arch is back or go all floppy fish on me when he doesn't get his way. He can be a bit tough to take on errands, but we try our best and move as quickly as possible! I can go through target in record time if need be!

Jack14months (8 of 10)

His favorite foods are: sausages, bananas, waffles, rice cakes, and sliced apples and oranges. He loooooooves his rice milk! I don't see us eliminating a bottle anytime soon... Riley was never really a bottle baby, but this little boy LOVES his bottle. He's alright with a sippy cup, but he prefers to take huge sips and then spit it out everywhere. Cute, huh?

Jack14months (9 of 10)

We've reached a pretty good place with his allergies... it's no longer this new thing we have to deal with, and we've found lots of stuff to feed him, and avoiding all of his allergy foods is not as challenging anymore. Still sad that we can't ever ever feed him anything from a restaurant, but we're adapting! As long as we bring special "treats" for him, and sort of isolate him from all other people and food, he's good to go.

Jack14months (10 of 10)

He loves going for walks/runs in the jogging stroller, riding in the car (as long as Vinko is on), and climbing up the stairs. He loves to play with Riley (as long as she's not hitting/kicking him!) He loves shoes, and will crawl over to anyone who happens to be putting shoes on. He loves crawling races and trying to climb up his mama's legs. He is (hopefully) starting to grow out of his super high maintenance needy phase, so let's keep our fingers crossed that it continues!!

Oh one more thing... he LOVES his grandpa... grandma too, but he has a special place in his heart from grandpa. Like, he gets so so so excited every time he sees grandpa and lunges for him and smiles and laughs. They are best buds! Happy 14 months baby boy!!

A little March re-cap.

4/5/2013

I get overwhelmed when I don't post for a while, and then I have so many photos to share, and I end up not sharing any of them. So I'm going to do a quick photo share from the last month, and then move on. Pretend I'm all caught up. :)

We started off the month with a little trip to Tahoe!! Kids loved it, although Jackson was a little bit too cold, but he sure looked cute!

March2 (1 of 1)

We had to stop at this ice cream shop where we took pictures of Riley almost 2 years ago!

March3 (1 of 1)

We have spent a LOT of time outside these days. It is where Jackson is happiest. Both kids are happiest outside, but Jackson especially.

March7 (1 of 1)

And when he's not outside? He staring longingly...

March21 (1 of 1)

Jackson has had a bit of a rough month... sickness, itchy skin, just overall irritable... he's not one to sit and play for more than a few minutes, and he's been super clingy and whiny. But I did have one day where he played in this huge cardboard box full of balls for a solid 20 minutes. It was awesome.

March21-2 (1 of 1)

But if all else fails, and cranky baby is super cranky, we go outside...

March23 (1 of 1)

March25 (1 of 1)

Riley and Jackson sometimes play really well together. They play with the same toys, share, make each other laugh... it's super cute... Other times... well, there are tears, we'll put it that way.

March29 (1 of 1)

March29-2 (1 of 1)

Little Mister has been practicing his walking... he's getting there! He's taken about 6 or 7 steps, but still prefers crawling to get places FAST.

March29-4 (1 of 1)

We did the whole Easter egg thing late at night after Jack was in bed. Riley loved it, of course. She loves any sort of art project, so dying eggs was no different. She made some FAB eggs!!

March29-3 (1 of 1)

And then there was Easter! It was pretty lame since our whole house was bogged down with the flu, but Ri still wore her "princess dress" and loved every minute of the Easter egg hunt, so it was a success as far as she's concerned!

March29-5 (1 of 1)

Riley picked out the pink bunny basket for Jack, and he froggy basket for herself. Love it. And no, Jackson never ever has matching socks on. We are lucky if he even has two socks on at all!!

March31 (1 of 1)

March31-2 (1 of 1)

Life with two... 13 months later.

3/17/2013

March7-29

March 13-2

While I do like sharing cute stories and pictures on this blog, one of the main reasons for this blog is to document my kids' lives, and to record things I probably won't remember 10 years down the road. Things my kids might wonder, things I might want to look back and read about, and lately I have not done a very good job of that!

Life lately has been... interesting. Riley is 2 years and 9 months, Jack is 13 months (approximately). Jackson has sort of turned into a crazy obsessed mama's boy... if I am anywhere in the vicinity, he wants to be with me... Or he wants me down on the floor sitting right next to him and playing with him. I can't even go get a drink or snack or use the bathroom without him crying and chasing after me. He gets in to EVERYTHING. He hates sitting in his high chair (unless being fed sausages). He throws big tantrums when he doesn't get what he wants. But the hardest thing is that when I'm home with him, he just does not want me out of his sight. I love that he loves me so much, but it makes the day pretty challenging!

March 13-3

March 13-4

And Riley? Well, I'm not sure what's happening with her, but she has been OFF the past week or so. She has had more meltdowns than ever before. She has started being MEAN to her brother. Hitting him, pushing him, kicking him, throwing toys at him. It's like all of a sudden she snapped and her patience with him ran out. I'm pretty sure this new aggression of hers and Jackson's super needy behavior are directly related. Jackson wants me with him constantly, and Riley has definitely noticed. Is this an excuse for her to hurt him? No. Of course not. But it's clear to me she's pretty unsettled lately. The crazy thing is, she will be so nice to him and give him hugs and kisses and share her toys and play right with him, and then all of sudden she will snap and lash out at him. At the moment I feel like I can't leave the two of them unattended even for a minute because she may really hurt him! This has NEVER been a problem up until now, so something funny is going on in that little mind of hers.

March7-13

Take this toy computer, for example.... most of the time Riley lets Jackson pay along with her... smash they keys, crawl on top of it, do whatever he wants. And then all of sudden she will just snap and shove him over and keep shoving him until I rescue him. No forms of discipline have really been working, there have only been two things that I've found to work... it seems that Riley needs to just let off some aggression sometimes, and her outlet happens to be her brother. One day I told her that if she felt mad, that she should take some of her foam blocks and smash them into the ground and yell "I'm soo mad!" instead of hitting or pushing. And she did it all day long! And then she was calm after she did it! I don't know if it's going to be a good long term solution, but we shall see!

March 15-4

Jackson is a crazy little monkey lately. With a temper! He LOVES to be outside. And he loves to climb up the stairs. If he can't do those things, he will throw a big old tantrum. He also loves putting things in and out of containers, and will do this for quite some time! And he ADORES swimming. He would live in the swimming pool if he could! But boy should you hear him scream when he has to get out!

March 16 (1 of 3)

We've started doing a few things with Riley lately that I'm really liking! I rearranged her drawers in her room so that her bottom drawer is full of options for her clothes for the day. She picks out her own undies, pants, skirts, tops, everything, and gets dressed by herself. She needs help getting her t-shirt on, but everything else she does by herself (including taking PJs off). She LOVES being able to go upstairs and get dressed all by herself! She has also decided she needs privacy when she's using the toilet. If I linger, she promptly tells me to leave her alone. :)

March7-10

One downside of her getting easily undressed by herself... she is frequently naked...

March7-31

March7-34

I am so so excited for this fabulous spring/summer weather that we've been getting. We could spend hours and hours outside. We're in the process of getting the backyard perfectly baby friendly... we've got a trampoline, slide, sandpit, Riley's veggie garden, a little kiddie table/bench, water table, outdoor rug for kids to play on, and pretty soon we're going to get a big shade. And Aunt Jennie may have bought Riley something huge and ridiculous (of the water toy/pool variety) so that will be making an appearance out there shortly!

rileyjump

Not sure if this moments before Jacky Boy got the big shove... I'm hoping not...

March 15-10

Gosh I look at this picture and her cute little fake cheesy smiley angel face and I just want to go and snuggle with her in bed. And I think how can she go from the most fun, silly, smart and happy little monkey to the screaming crying mess of tears that won't listen to me? The DRAMA of an almost 3 year old, I tell you.

March 15-12

We've got a lot on our plates at the moment in the Bartlett house, trying to balance new jobs, sick babies, crazy babies, and lack of sleep. But man there are some fun times!!! Can't wait until Aunt Jennie gets into town next weekend, and then.... DISNEYLAND soon after that!!! Riley's mind is going to be blown when we get to Disneyland. This guy will like it too, I'm sure. :)

March 16 (2 of 3)

March 16 (3 of 3)

The end of long jumbled post!