Trying to Beat the Heat

Summers in Texas {especially August} always make me wonder why we live here, and if it weren't for the fact that all of our family lives here, there's a good chance that we wouldn't.  Yesterday was a high of 104, and today was high of 101, so we pretty much spent the entire weekend doing all that we could to beat the heat.

We didn't really have much of anything planned on Saturday, but I knew it was going to be a good day when we woke up to this smiley face on the baby monitor.

He wasn't quite so smiley while eating his cereal that morning though.

We've recently started giving Jackson solid foods, and much to our surprise, he's not a big fan.  We've tried cereal, bananas, and avocado, but he's not a huge fan of any of it.  The pediatrician really wants him to have cereal two times a day though, so we force it down, and as you can see, it's not the most pleasant experience for any of us.

Thankfully, the smiles returned when we went in to wake Ben.

 "Good morning, Dada."

 "I love you."

 Rolling around on the bed, kicking his legs, and hold his feet -- Saturday mornings don't get any better than this!

Since Ben had been up almost 24 hours the day before, we decided to let him take a nap and spent the rest of the afternoon just rolling around and playing with his toys.  We even had a popsicle {a.k.a. an ice cube in his mesh feeder}.

After the ice cube was gone, I tried to sneak a piece of banana into it, but he wasn't having any of that.  It seemed like a good idea at the time, but apparently my baby is way too smart for that.  Jackson 1, Mom 0.

That afternoon, Holly and Nelson stopped by and brought a surprise for Jackson.

Seriously, this kid is so spoiled.  Whether it's Valentine's Day, Easter, or Dinosaur Day {I had no idea that day even existed before this year}, they always find an excuse to buy him a gift.  This time it was "Back to School" -- because every kid needs a new pair of shoes for back to school. ;)

Baby's 1st Nikes

This next picture kills me.  I mean, really -- chubbiness has never looked so good.

That evening after dinner {and after Jackson tried to keep cool by pulling over Ben's entire cup of ice cold water onto both him and Ben}, we took all 3 babies on a walk to the mailbox.

 Mr. GQ in his "Babyiators"

This morning, we went to church, and while we were packing up our things and loading up the car, Jackson played with his toys in the living room.  It's amazing how much better he's gotten at entertaining himself, but I'm not really sure there's much of a point of putting down a quilt anymore. ;)

A quick picture of me and my favorite guy {and his new kicks} before leaving for church.

After church, we headed up to Round Rock to see Ben's family and to swim.  We had a great time hanging out with everyone and spending time with Sam who is still on his 18-day leave from training.  And for fun{?}, we even did a few of his training exercises.  We swam the length of the pool and back with our ankles tied together and our hands behind our backs and then touched the bottom of the pool with our feet 10 times while still tied up.  Unfortunately, some of us weren't quite as successful as others, and needless to say, I don't think I'll be joining the Marine Corps anytime soon.

My 2 favorite Marines 

 Kyle & Matt

 Annika, Aunt Kim, Tiffany, & Deborah

Too busy chewing to smile for a picture

 Sam & Ben

 This boy LOVES drinking out of water bottles.

 And just one sip is NEVER enough.

Believe it or not, my baby actually has somewhat of a tan.  Just not compared to this side of the family. ;)  He also has the cutest swimsuit, shirt, and hat, but somehow always ends up in nothing but a diaper -- haha.

Dancing with Tiffany

Every night after Jackson's bath, Ben gets him dressed and then hands him to me so that I can feed him.  A couple of weeks ago, he started faking Jackson out like he is going to toss him to me, and Jackson thinks it's HILARIOUS.

Tonight, after putting Jackson to bed, we were eating cookies at the kitchen table and listening to him talk to himself on the monitor when we heard him say his first word -- "Dada."  We both looked at each other in amazement {and excitement!}, and then he did it again....and again and again.  As much as I would like to get rid of this 100+ degree heat, I really wish I could hit the "pause" button on life sometimes.  6 months really is such a great age!