How to Wrestle an Alligator. By Jay

How to Wrestle an Alligator. By Jay.
1st- Make sure you are dressed in colors that blend with your prey so he won't see you approaching. Luckily daddy dressed me in all stripes today.

2nd- Start with the alligator's mouth. Make sure it is pinned shut as you begin to tackle him.
3rd- Use your body weight to roll over onto the alligator so you can get some leverage on him.


4th- Use both hands to keep a good grip on him. Keep one eye on him at all times so he doesn't get the upper hand.
5th- Don't be afraid to be aggressive and yell a little.
6th- Sometimes it ain't pretty...it's like pulling teeth.
7th- To really tackle him you need to get him on his back where he can't go anywhere.
8th- When you finally take him- CELEBRATE. Some loud screaming is usually my celebration of choice.
Phew. That was a close one. Now I just now need to figure out if this is an alligator or a crocodile.

I wish I were a cowboy...

at least one day a year when I go to the Rodeo at the National Western Stock Show in Denver.
We showed Jay the horses.

Grandpa and Grandma were excited to see Jay again.

After a while he got tired and fell asleep.

It's a bummer Jay always wears bibs (because of his drool) because I found a cute flannel shirt in the closet that I got 2 years ago on clearance for $2...and it fit perfectly.

Too silly for a picture.

Happy Birthday Aunt Christine!

A little late:(
We love hanging out with you.

It's the weekend!

Every day when I get home from work I am so excited to play with Jay. Here we are sharing one of those moments.

Jay can sit

Jay has made so much progress in the last week. Last weekend he went from sitting for 10 seconds (average) and this weekend he has already stayed upright for 4 min. a few times! He also has been really eating carrots. We introduced green beans a few days ago (which seemed OK to him) and I tried mixing a little bit of apple juice in with the rice cereal to see if he would consider eating it. He did, but he still doesn't love it. Thanks for all the food advice- after making him attempt to eat baby food almost every day for 2 weeks it HAS gotten better.
Here are two picture of him sitting. I noticed his eyes were beautiful in the pictures SOC (straight out of camera) but I played around with them for about 5 min. to get them to pop.



How awesome is this sunset picture I took from our driveway! Pictures never do it justice, but the mountains always make it look extra glorious.

Wordless Wednesday...kind of.

4 generations: John II,III, IV, and V

The little man doing what he loves...eating his nuk gum brush.

Silly silly boy.

Jay's 5-6 month video

A bunch of other bloggers have written letters to their kids each month to share milestones. I decided to make a video of special moments (so when I feel like I have enough video clips to make a video I will post one:) The quality on my digital camera isn't that great, but you can still see Jay and that is what counts. Enjoy Jay 5-6 months. (It is cutting off some of the letters but I don't have time to figure it out tonight).

Food update

So I tried a lot harder this week to feed him baby food. Today it seemed like he got the "opening mouth and mommy shoving food in" part, but he still doesn't really eat it. We also tried setting Cheerios in front of him twice this week. Mostly he just played with them and threw them on the floor. When he did put it in his mouth he spit it right back out. Does it matter how much food I feed him or how long he is sitting there while we attempt to feed him? I have used 1 medium sized jar of carrots (pouring it out and combining it with oatmeal cereal) all week and he still hasn't finished it. We are normally giving up after 10-15 minutes because he looses interest. I've also let him play with his own silverware and he seems to enjoy that.

Is he supposed to be eating baby food?

When we first tried Jay eating some rice cereal at a little over 4 months he seemed to be receptive and to be getting some of it in his belly. We were feeding him rice cereal and a vegetable once or twice a week until Christmas (between 4-6 months). Then we stopped for a week. This last week we have been feeding him every other night and it has gone horribly. We usually give him rice cereal (which he doesn't really like) and carrots or sweet potatoes. He usually eats the first few bites- and prefers carrots over everything else, but then he gets fussy and closes his mouth, spits the food or squirms away. We feed him when he should be hungry (although most of the time it is between 5-7pm). I tried baby oatmeal today and he didn't seem to like that either. He is almost 6 1/2 months old. Should I give up and come back to it later? Should I keep trying even though he doesn't really eat much? What do you guys think?

He thinks his high chair is pretty cool though:

More pictures from our family time

Another rousing game of Peek-a-boo!

Jay took a bath in his bumbo in the bathtub one day and loved it.

John promised the kids that if they didn't touch the presents until he got there they could shave his beard off in a funny way. They were excited to see it happen.


Jay loved the tree so much. He got a bit spoiled when grandpa let him touch the top:)
This picture just cracks me up. I see so many little speech bubbles in my head for what they are saying:)
Jay got a new hat.

Happy New Year!

There are so many things I am thankful for this past year. A huge one is JAY, and our family who loves him so much.

Here are a few pictures from our time with John's parents and family.
Grandpa and Jay had a great time.

When we first got there it started snowing so John had to go back home and plow snow for 2 days. We went out and played in it before it got bad.


Jay's cousins J.T. and Camille were there. One day we built this awesome fort:)

Jay just chilled in it for a half hour sucking on toys:)

J.T. read Jay and Camille a book

Here was our family Christmas dinner (although you can't see Jack and Cherry in this one)

We tried to take family pictures outside but Jay screamed for the entire time (even after we warmed up)...so we all went to Starbucks. Here is John's sisters family. Jay enjoyed the Starbucks cup almost as much as I enjoy the coffee:)



This was one of the most fun things Jay did during our time. He learned how to go back and forth across the kitchen in this toy. I'm so proud of him.

That's all I have time for tonight, maybe I can post more tomorrow.

Jay's food habits

Jay likes carrots, but rice cereal he doesn't care for. I try to mix it in anyway.