Roar Jackson's 4!

It's hard to believe my first born is already four years old.  Where has the time gone? I vividly remember driving to my daily doctor's appointments waiting to be told today is the day! 

Jackson has taught me so much about life and continues to be my pride and joy every day.  He is such a sweet, tender-hearted, little boy.  He's full of life and character that is out of this world.  We nicknamed him the negotiator because he is just that.  "No" is never an answer for him, he always has another option, "how 'bout...".

I love celebrating birthdays.  Since Jackson is old enough to really have friends this year, we decided to host a real birthday party for him.  We haven't had a big party since his first, we've celebrated his others with just family and a few close friends.

If you know Jackson, then you know that this kids absolutely loves dinosaurs.  He knows them all by name, but his favorite is the T-Rex.  Of course, when we asked Jackson what kind of party he wanted it was dinos all the way!

I found some cute invites and decoration from Oriental Trading and Party City.  I may have gone a little over board, but Jackson loved it all.  He was a little upset that his T-Rex pinata would have to be broken to get the candy out..let's just say it's a good thing he likes candy:)

We hosted the party at my mom's house.  They have a big backyard and a pool, so the set up works well! We had a DINO-mite party with swimming and a dinosaur fun jump.  The party was in the afternoon so the food was pretty simple.  We had little snacks and sandwiches, and beverages of course.

Even though Jackson's birthday isn't until June 9th, we always celebrate over Memorial Day weekend. It has worked out well since it's a long weekend so my dad and sister can make the trip down.  May is also a big birthday month for the family, so we have a lot of people to celebrate.  Not including Jackson, we have my sister and brother-in-law, my sister-in-law, my brother, the Brummett twins, my grandma, and maybe even more that I'm leaving off here! Stephanie and the girls were supposed to come as well, but a terrible virus kept them home for the weekend:( 

A large time was had by all little ones that made the party, and some of the adults too! It rained at the very end of the party, but Jackson certainly didn't let that ruin his fun.

Happy birthday my sweet boy, happy birthday!

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Daddy & Jackson

Now that Jackson is a little older, um 4-years to be exact, he's able to do "big boy" things with his Daddy.

They have their Saturday (and sometime Sunday too) tradition of going to get donuts.

They do laps around the neighborhood pond to pick up trash.  Jackson loves to "walk the pond"

They fish.

And they've made a few trips to Baton Rouge to watch some LSU Tiger baseball.

I feel like a lifetime has flashed before my eyes and I see many boys weekends of fishing, hunting and Tiger's in our future.  I guess that's why God blessed me with a little girl to stay home and shop with:)

Boys will be boys, and man do I love mine!

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Big Brother, Jackson

I always knew that Jackson would be an amazing big brother.  He has an extremely tender heart and has always adored his 'melia's.  I am pretty sure that Amelia will always hold a special place in Jackson's heart.  Maybe more so than Mattie, but only time will tell:)

Watching Jackson love and interact with "his baby" is nothing short of pure love and joy for me.  I always want to remember these times and special things.  And I may need to remind Jackson of a few of these when Mattie starts stealing his toys and using his dinos for teething rings:)

Big brother, Jackson:

You do not like it when I burp Mattie because you are convinced that I am hurting your baby.  You take my hand away and ask me not to "pap" her.

You call Mattie your baby.  And I truly believe that in your heart of hearts, you think she is your baby.

You cannot wait for her to have slumber parties in your room and you want her to sleep in your bed every night.

I cannot count the number of times or things I find in her crib.  I am pretty sure you visit her through out the night to give her a princess or stuffed animal.  And every time I remove said item from her crib, the next time I go in her room it is right back where you had it.  You started putting little treasures in her crib before she was even born.  The first was a Minnie Mouse princess crown that you brought home from school.  Mattie may have to wear it to high school graduation because you will not let me part with that crown.

I always call Mattie the prettiest girl...and you love to refer to her as the prettiest princess in the world.  You melt my heart when you lay down next to her and tell her that she's the prettiest princess in the world.

You have your moments when you show a bit of jealousy and want me to put the baby down and come play, but it's far less than one would expect of a 3.5-year-old.

For some reason, you absolutely cannot stand when she has her pacifier in her mouth and insist that she doesn't need it...until she starts crying and you can't hear your show and your pissed.

You love when Mattie makes the littlest of noises because you think she's talking to you.

Recently, you started to read to Mattie.

There's nothing sweeter than your little voice saying, "I love you, baby".

You love to give Mattie kisses and get borderline obsessed with getting in her face.

You make me so incredibly proud to be your mother, every single day.

I love you to the moon and back, big brother Jack!

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Big Boy Bed

Well the time has come - Jackson is officially a toddler and no long my baby boy.  I certainly wish that I was saying this because I had a baby growing in my uterus, but that is sadly not the case.

Instead of transitioning Jackson into a big boy bed to free up his crib, we had to make the conversion purely out of safety for our little monkey.  It all started Thursday night through the wee hours of the morning, said monkey climbed, jumped, and leaped out of his crib and waddled his way into our bedroom a total of four times.  While I'm sure this is just a residual affect of the three rounds of steroids he's been on this month, we decided it was probably time for a big boy bed anyway.

I cried like a baby when I had to pack up his crib bed skirt, and flashed back to putting him in his crib for the first time like it was yesterday.

We made sure to make a big deal out of Jackson's new bed and even let him help us put everything together.  However, when nap time came Jackson was completely frazzled by his "broken" bed and kept saying "uh oh" and refused to ever really nap.

Bedtime was about as unsuccessful as nap time and hasn't gotten much better.  My good little sleeper now finds his way to our room at least once an hour, on the hour.  He's even so nice as to close each door behind him.

Waking up to your toddler staring at you while you sleep is a little eerie, to say the least.  Needless to say, I'm a very sleepy momma today and have quickly been reminded what sleep deprivation is.  And for a second, I think twice about hoping for sleepless newborn nights again:)

I know this phase too shall pass - or I'm putting the crib rail back up and tenting Jackson in until he's 18!

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