Working on the Baby's Room

Well, back in December, Thomas and I painted the baby's room. It turned out beautifully. . . until we put all of the furniture and the bedding in the room. The pink was just. . . too pink. With the pink walls that were a little darker than I planned, the red tones of the furniture, and of course the bedding that does have a lot of pink in it, it was just too much. After lots of debate, we finally decided to put in wainscoting. That's when the adventure began. Thankfully, my mom and dad stepped up to help (bless you Mom and Dad -- I don't know what I would do without you)! To make a long story short, we ended up repainting the pink to a lighter shade first. Then the wainscoting started going up, and it did not go up easy. Thomas and my dad had one challenge after the other (the fun of having a 30 year old house). Then, I decided that the ceiling needed to be repainted, AND we have a popcorn ceiling -- not fun to paint. After the ceiling was painted, all of the woodwork needed to be painted. My wonderful father ended up spending days and days with us and made two different trips to finally get everything finished in the room. After everything was finished, I can't help but stop in the room just to gaze at it. It is absolutely beautiful!

The men worked on our horrible baseboards that homeowner after homeowner painted without cleaning first. Jackson of course was in the middle of everything! He wanted to be with the boys and help with Lauren's room too!

Papa J and Jackson scraping the baseboards.

Work in progress.

The finished product!! Of course, it doesn't photograph as pretty as it really is.

Look how sharp the crown molding looks!!

The wainscoting.

The furniture in place.

Stay tuned for the final pictures. . . .

Dad is bringing the changing table/bookshelf that he made tonight. Once we get that in the room, everything will be finished.

I do want to thank Thomas, Mom and Dad (Mama J and Papa J) for all of your help with the nursery. It seemed to take forever to put this nursery together! I think it was because we sewed EVERYTHING, we painted EVERYTHING and built several pieces of furniture for the room. The three of you went out of your way to help me put together my dream little girl's nursery. I appreciate you. Now to finish everything tonight. . .

Jackson's 3rd Birthday

Jackson turned 3 on December 30th. I can't believe that my baby is 3 years old!! For the past couple of months, Jackson has talked about Chucky Cheese. He has never been, but his friends at school keep talking about it. We promised Jackson that we would take him for his birthday. As his birthday neared, we started asking Jackson if he still wanted to go to Chucky Cheese. Suddenly, he started telling us that he didn't want to go. He wanted to wait until Lauren arrived and she can go with us. What a sweet boy! We FINALLY talked him into going and promised to take him again sometime with Lauren.

Jackson learning how to show he is three years old.

Daddy and Jackson play a driving game.

Mommy and Jackson.

Jackson kept playing this game, but he would leave after it was half way over. He would hand the hammer to either Thomas or I to finish hitting the moles!

Daddy and Jackson playing a game.

After Chucky Cheese, we went back home for a birthday cake. I made a simple cake for Jackson because he will get his Lightening McQueen cake for his birthday party.

Yummy!!

Christmas

Christmas this year was so much fun! Jackson was so excited about Santa Claus coming. He also really understood the Christmas story and had us read the Bible almost every night. He wanted to read about baby Jesus.

Monday before Christmas, we headed to my doctor and let Jackson listen to Lauren's heartbeat. The funny thing was that before we arrived at the doctor's office, Jackson asked us if Dr. Fong cooked. We told him to ask Dr. Fong. When Dr. Fong walked into the room, Jackson said, "Dr. Fong, do you cook?"! I bet Dr. Fong has never had that question in the examining room before!! After the very short doctor's visit, we headed to the mall to see Santa Claus. We got there just in time. The wait in line was only 30 minutes. Right after we got there, the line turned into a hour or two wait! (The wait in Dallas malls are A LOT longer than the wait at Post Oak mall in College Station where I grew up!) Well, as soon as Santa Claus started heading to his chair, Jackson watched him intently go down the escalator and walk towards the area. Just then, Jackson started screaming and begging us to please take him home. Thomas finally got him calmed down! We kept looking at each other and thinking that this was going to be a repeat from last year. Sure enough, we have ANOTHER Jackson screaming in Santa's lap! Oh well. Maybe next year we will get THE picture.

That afternoon, Jackson and I decorated a gingerbread house and made Oreo candy. It was fun!

Jackson decorating the gingerbread house.

Ta da!

Tuesday, we headed to College Station for Christmas with my family. Everyone arrived Christmas Eve (including my grandma).

Christmas Eve night, Jackson got to open some of his presents from my family.

He loved his doctor's costume from Mama J and Papa J. Of course, he was the center of attention. Next year is going to be really different with two children!

Jackson wanted to listen to Lauren's heartbeat.

Jackson listens to Uncle Jeffrey's heart.

Jackson tried on his cowboy costume and then passed out Christmas presents.

Christmas Eve, I received payback from my childhood of not wanting to go to bed! Jackson did not want to go to bed either! Mama J finally stepped in and helped get Jackson to sleep. Before he went to bed, we made sure and put out milk and cookies. We also put out carrots for the reindeer. Jackson also wanted to put out a bucket of water for the reindeer! I thought that was creative. I hadn't ever thought of giving the reindeer something to drink!!

Christmas morning came and Jackson work everyone up. He was so excited to see what Santa brought.

One of the first things that he noticed was his cane that he asked for. Yes, Jackson asked for a cane with Hershey kisses in it! He received one last year, and wanted another one this Christmas. The funny thing is that he still hasn't opened the cane! He never opened the cane from last year either!

Santa also brought Jackson a new train set. Too fun!

Jackson was also thrilled to get his "big firetruck" that he asked for.

Santa surprised Jackson with a scooter. Now he is set when we go see Thomas' family in Chase and his cousins Trey and Jena are riding their scooters and skateboards on the driveway!

Jackson also got his piggy bank that he asked Santa for. Jackson has wanted Santa to bring him a new piggy bank for a while. Jackson had accidentally broken his other piggy bank one day when a dollar bill fell out of the dryer when I was getting clothes out. Jackson has been diligent about saving his money so that he can go back to Mickey Mouse's house!

Santa also brought Jackson a digital camera so that he can take his own pictures of Lauren.

I think Jackson was a VERY good boy this year!! What a fun and memorable Christmas!!