Christa is 5 Months!!

Hello all! We've had a very busy and fun week! Where to start.... well, we had a great weekend in Rome. On Friday, I went against every motherly instinct I have (once I got permission from some of you) and drug my little baby daughter into 3 hours of 30 degree weather for a football game. Darlington made the second round of the playoffs, which was great, but sort of messed up my personal weekend plans. Long story short, I had to choose between Atlanta traffic on the busiest shopping day of the year, or frigid cold. I chose the cold.

Saturday we headed back to Atlanta so the guys could go to the GA/GA Tech game. Christa had her first Varsity experience (which was crazy crowded - whose idea was it to go to the one right next to the stadium???), but it was fun. The girls watched the game from Chas and Bethany's Atlanta condo, then all of the family went to the undisclosed location of the "Jackson Family Christmas Picture Taking Experience." I have a funny story about that, but I'm sworn to secrecy until the cards go out. For those of you who aren't familiar with this tradition, Cline's family does a themed card every year, complete with the perfect picture, a corresponding slogan, and an original signature from every member of the family on all 200 cards that are mailed. Creating this masterpiece is the highlight of my mother-in-law's year, and it's quite an experience to see how it all comes together. Friends of mine, if you'd like to be added to the Jackson Christmas Card list, e-mail me your address, and I'll see that you get one. We returned to Augusta late Sunday, and Christa's pretty much been sleeping since we got back. I think we wore her out, but she was a trooper, and we had a blast seeing all of the family.

Speaking of Christa, she perfected her rolling over skills yesterday. She doesn't get much floor time because she loves her bouncer, takes long naps, and we don't have a whole lot of floor for her to lay on. But when I placed her on a quilt trying to get a cute picture last night, she worked at the rolling over until she mastered it. She had a big smile on her face as I clapped and "yayed" for her new accomplishment. I was lucky to get it on video!

This weekend we're headed to Rome again to spend some time with my family. I suspect mom and I will squeeze in some Christmas shopping, and on Sunday we have our first appointment to see a house! I am so excited to start this process. Time is going by so fast - June will be here before we know it!

Well, I'd better wrap up, as this is getting long. This will likely be my post for the week unless something amazing happens in our family before tomorrow. I may add an official 5 month picture later today. Have a great weekend!

Houses and Tigers and Doctors, oh my!

Happy day after Halloween to everyone! All of you bloggers - I fully expect to see some cute Halloween pictures of your kiddos within the next couple of days. For those of you who don't blog - e-mail them to me. We had a very nice Halloween - one of the best I've had in years. We took Christa Trick-or-Treating with some friends who live in an actual neighborhood, and had a blast. Although Christa wasn't too into it - she got hot in her tiger costume and fussed at first, then went to sleep. We didn't get great pictures, but we captured the memory, so that will have to do (unless mommy sneaks the costume on her again when she's in a good mood and snaps a few belated shots :)

Besides Halloween, Cline and I have been busy researching houses on the market. We love this sweet yellow house next to my parents neighborhood, even though we've never actually seen it on the inside. I don't know if we'll end up getting that one, but we keep coming back to it over and over again for some reason. We're in the process of talking to a real estate agent and deciding whether to buy or build. We're trying not to do too much just yet as we have a good 4 to 5 months before we should try to close on something, but it's our first house and we're excited! I'm thoroughly confused about the different types of loans and who pays the Realtor commission and something about closing costs and taxes and arms and legs. We bought the book "House Buying for Dummies" (great tip, Ali), and it's been very helpful.

Christa also had her 4 month Dr. appointment this week. She weighed in at 11.5 pounds (15th percentile). This is only a pound more than at her 2 month appointment, but we're not worried about it. She only nurses for about 5 minutes and then seems content for a while. I've started offering her more a few minutes after she finishes, and she'll nurse for 10 or 15 more minutes, so I think we'll have no problem putting a little more weight on her, now that I know she's not getting quite enough. She's exactly 2 feet tall (50th percentile) and her head's still huge in the 95th percentile (gotta have lots of space for all that smartness)! She'll get her shots when we follow up in 2 weeks for the weight and a little stubborn eczema we're trying to clear up.

Have a great week!