Jackson's Birthday

Last weekend Jackson turned two.  It's hard to believe he is already two years old.  That also means that we have been in Alaska for just about two years, which is also crazy to think about.

Jackson is such a fun kid.  He is very dramatic and has extreme emotions, but I love that about him (most of the time).  He still loves music and singing.  He frequently sings along with Veggie Tales in the car.  I love hearing his sweet voice trying to mimic the words of the songs.  His favorite song to sing along to is "Allelu, Allelu" at the end of that song he shouts out "Praise Ye the Lord."  I love it!  He is obsessed with elephants right now.  His favorite thing to do is dump all his toys out into the middle of the room and run through them to scatter them around.  That is not my favorite thing.  We are teaching him to clean up, but we still end up cleaning up a lot of the toys.  He has a few chores he does around the house.  He puts his laundry in his basket (we have to tell him to do that one everyday).  He also feeds the dogs.  He remembers to do that one on his own.  I have to open the dog food container, but he can do the rest.  He is very shy in unfamiliar situations at first.  He takes after me, he has to sit back and observe before he will interact with people.  If someone tries to talk to him right when they see him, he gives them a dirty look.

I love his curly hair and big blue eyes, but most of all I love his sweet heart.  God has truly blessed Luke and I with our boys.  

Here are some more pictures from Jackson's birthday party.

Alaska Still Amazes Me!

We been in Alaska for almost two years now, and I am still amazed at the beauty of this place.  God is so creative!  It was a beautiful day, so after dinner we decided to take advantage of it.  We went to the beach here in Anchorage.  It is a little hike to get to the beach.  Luke carried Jackson in the hiking pack and I carried Brady in the Moby.  The boys did great!  Only in Alaska will you see a moose and bear scat on the way to the beach.  Then we saw some salmon running and a few seals while we were at the beach.  

What's even crazier about the salmon and seal is that I was at the same beach Tuesday morning and the tide was out so far you could barely even see the water.  It was all just mud flats.  There were bald eagles hanging out in the mud.  The tides in the Cook Inlet are very extreme, the hour we were there they came in at least ten feet if not more!

Here are some pictures:

You could see some silvers (salmon) running through right here.

You can always see an airplane in the sky in Alaska.

The seal poking its head out of the water.

I love these last two pictures!

More Family Came to Visit

My sister and my niece came to visit and meet Brady.  It was great having them here.  This was Melanie's first time in Alaska.  I think she liked it.  I know she liked the break from the hot weather they are having in Oklahoma.  

Jackson LOVED my niece.  She is getting so big!!!  She is almost as tall as me and now has bigger feet than my mom (her Nana).  It's hard not to still think of her as Jackson's age.  The first night after they got here, we put Jackson to bed.  After a while, he started crying and saying what I thought was "Mommy, mommy" so I went up to comfort him.  When I got in his room, he kept crying and saying it.  Well it turns out he was saying, "Monie, Monie" which is what he called Mollee.  He followed her around and tried to copy everything she did the whole time she was here.  Mollee was a huge help too! She is going to be a great babysitter in a few years.  She was good at taking care of Jackson.  Whenever we went to the park or a place to play, I never had to worry about Jackson because Mollee would follow him around and help him do things.  

We did a lot of fun things while they were here.  It was rainy the first few days, so we went to play at Bouning Bears.  It was Jackson's first time there and he seemed to like it.  We also went to the zoo.  It is a good little zoo.  There are animals unique to the cold weather.  There are some polar bears, brown and black bears, moose, a two humped camel (I forget the real name), and many other things.  We went to the beach here in Anchorage and took them to Girdwood to play at a cool park.  Mollee and Melanie also went to Seward where they went on a wildlife cruise.  They saw a few pods of orcas, which I was jealous of because I've not seen any orcas yet.  

Mollee helping Jackson play at Bouncing Bears

She was able to have some fun too!

Playing on the cool bouncing pillow.

Holding Brady - she was great with Brady!  I was impressed how well she handled him.  

Hanging out with Aunt Melanie

Melanie and I went to the store and left Luke with Brady and Jackson.  When we came home this is how I found him.  Luke set Brady down and went to get Jackson from his nap.  He said putting him on the floor is safer then leaving him on the couch.  I guess I have to agree.  

Big blue eyes

Hanging out downtown in our new ride

Checking out a puppy with daddy

a beautiful day in Anchorage

A Visit from Nana and Grandaddy

My mom and dad came to visit after Brady was born.  My mom was here for a month, which was wonderful!  She was so helpful to us.  After having a c-section, you are not supposed to lift more than 15 pounds for 6 weeks.  This is really hard to do when you have a toddler who weighs 28 pounds.  My mom came and took care of Jackson and all of us really!  It was wonderful!  I will never be able to thank her enough.  My dad came for a week.  It was fun to have them both around when Brady first came home.  Jackson LOVED spending time with them.  He is still asking where Nana and Grandaddy are.  

Two of their grandkids

Nana holding Brady.  She spent many hours doing this while she was here.

Brady is checking out his daddy.

Nana with all 3 of her grandkids

Introducing Our Newest Family Member...

Thursday, May 17th was a big day for us.  We got to welcome Brady into this world.  He has been such a blessing to us from the moment he was born.  He was 7 lbs 4oz and 20 1/2 inches long.  

Before you have your second child, it is hard to imagine how you could love another child as much as you love the first one.  Luke and I talked about this a lot before Brady was born.  From the moment he was born, I understood how it works.  Your love as a parent doesn't have to divide between the two boys.  It completely multiplies.  I could never love my two, precious boys more.  They are both special in their own ways.  

Jackson has a huge heart.  He is so loving to Brady.  He gets very concerned when he cries.  He tries to give him his pacifier.  He is constantly giving him toys and covering him with blankets.  The best part is when he says "baby Brady" in a sweet, loving voice.  He says it quietly and bends down to give him a kiss.  We are definitely going to have to teach him to be gentle with Brady.  He is like every other two year old boy.  He is rough and plays rough.  Jackson is still adjusting to sharing mom, but I think the biggest problem is that I can't lift Jackson up for couple more weeks.  He doesn't quite understand why I can't help him do things like I did last week.  

Brady is a sweet baby.  He loves to cuddle and be held.  I think he looks like Jackson when he was a newborn.  One funny thing about him is that he has peed on just about every doctor or nurse that has checked him (at least 5 different people if not more).  Apparently, he doesn't like them to mess with him.  He is known at Providence Hospital as the baby that pooped and hit the wall.  All the nurses that came in after that incident (if you want to know the whole story, you will have to ask me in person) would be laughing saying that they had heard about what happened.  I love holding him and watching him sleep.  

My heart is bursting with love for all my boys.  I'm looking forward to watching them grow!

Welcome Brady! (with Dr. Gibbs)

I finally got to see him.

First family picture minus Jackson

 Not a bad view from my hospital room

Check out all that hair

First family picture of four

Jackson meeting Brady with Nana

He is not to sure what to think

my boys

Nana and Brady

Brady and a proud Daddy

snuggling

He is already a pacifier baby.

Meeting Granddaddy