Our Big Eater

Last night was Jackson's first feeding with a spoon! I was a little nervous about whether or not he was ready, but he loved it! He ate a lot more than I thought he would and didn't seem to protest the strange texture and flavor. The last picture is Matt taking him to the bath...
The video is a little grainy and the lighting is bad, but watch if you like. :)

Doing Nothing and Being Amazing

Here is Jackson doing absolutely nothing but drool and I am entranced with him. Please ignore the corny "Mom-Talk" in the background and enjoy the sweetness of this boy :)

Long Days... Even Longer Nights

Hello Dear Friends and Family. If I haven't called or emailed lately it's because I'm so dawg-on tired and can barely get through the day with enough clean laundry to change my socks in the morning. Jackson is going through another growth spurt- WHEN DO THESE STOP!?! And so he's up 3-4 times a night again. It's like having a newborn all over again, and I don't really miss that. He's been taking rice cereal before bed and still hungry in the middle of the night. He's getting so big and wearing 6 month size clothing now.
Matt is still working nights, 3:30pm-12:30am up in Great Lakes, which is about an hour from our place in the city. I work exactly the opposite schedule and can't seem to find enough time to do it all. Despite it all, Matt and I are really loving being a mommy and daddy. I asked him the other day, "What did we used to do before Jackson?" :) Now we are easily entertained by watching him for hours. We miss Seattle, especially with all the rain and flooding that's been happening here lately. I miss people knowing what to do with rain- the Midwest gets so confused and closes down every street you can imagine. Driving is rough and that makes everything difficult.
Here are some recent pics of J. We will try to post a video or two tomorrow. For now though, I'm off to bed. Hugs to all!

9-11, Seven Years Later

This is the my second year teaching Kindergarten where the kids were not alive during the 9-11 terrorists attacks on our country. I maintain that this is an important part of our countries history and each year I take extreme delicate precautions to introduce this peice of history to 5 year olds. I always begin by reading the story, Fireboat to my class and then explaining that this was a real story, and that it really happened. There are always some scared eyes and some confused, but this year I was really touched by the conversation that developed and thought I would share it with you.
"Mrs. Rife- why did those planes fly into those buildings?"
"Because, honey, some men made some bad choices."
"But, why?"
"Because they were angry."
"Who were they angry at?"
"Well, they were angry with America."
"Did they want to hurt us?"
"Yes they did."
"But why didn't they use their words?"
"I wish they'd just use their words to talk."
"Ya- using your words is better."
(this is when my eyes became teary because of the sweetness and sincerity in their voices)
"Were you sad when this happened Mrs. Rife?"
"Yes. I was sad to see so many people hurt and sad, but I touched by seeing America be a family. We looked to help one another after that horrible thing happened. We were nicer drivers and we had kind things to say. I was proud of America on that day."
"Well, I just wish it hadn't happened is all. Hopefully those men will use their words next time."
This was a memorable conversation. Thank you Room 13 for "keepin' it real" for me on this 9-11.

Walking In No Time

Jackson is starting to really push up when he's doing Tummy Time and I know that he's so close to crawling! I better Baby-Proof the house soon. Sunday he was ready for the Opening Seasoning Game with his Bears jersey on. Seriously- they don't get much cuter than that. He was dressed identical to his daddy too :)

A Glorious Weekend

I started back to work this week and it was a difficult start. Even though I had dropped Jackson off at daycare on and off for the past two weeks, Monday just seemed so "official" with me not being able to just be a mommy anymore. I cried in my car while the rest of the district started the institute day and then went in with red puffy eyes after my dad soothed me over the phone. I never knew I'd love being a mommy so much! The week got easier as the kids arrived and I hit the ground running! I have a wonderful group of kindergarten kiddos- again! and I really love my job- again! It's crazy how much more energy I have this fall since I'm not unexpectantly 6 weeks pregnant :)
Matt had Friday off of work and we both had Monday off, so it was a glorious three-day weekend for the Rife's! We were busy walking and enjoying the weather that is only here for a short bit longer. It was beautiful and 85 degrees all weekend with very little humidity. We were out at the lake and Starbucks and Sunday we made the treck up north to the Botanical Gardens for the day. Jackson is so long now that he sat in the stroller without his infant carrier because his little legs hang over the edge! He looked like such a big boy in his stroller. We packed a picnic and a bottle for Jackson and enjoyed God's creations. It was a marvelous time together and at one point I just hugged Matt with tears in my eyes and couldn't believe how wonderfully happy I felt. Life is so wonderful.
After the gardens we came home and barbecued kabobs and the three of us sat out on the deck together, enjoying the evening weather. We tried to get Sox to come out, but she's quite jumpy with all the city noise and kept to herself inside. We believe Jackson to be going through yet ANOTHER growth spurt, and so he is consuming several oz's of milk a day and sleeping several hours throughout the day- as well as still sleeping through the night with 10-12 hours. I was told not to tell other new parents that :) As the weekend came to an end, we made a trip to the mall together and bought Jackson a tiny pair of Puma tennis shoes. They are so adorable and I told Jackson that he now has better shoes than his mommy and daddy do. We are in big trouble if we keep this up! :)

Can You Spoil a 3 Month Old?

We were out running errands on Sunday and picked up a few things. We went to Costo and reminised about the days when we lived in a house, with room to store stuff, a garage, etc. By the time we left Costco we almost had to leave Jackson in the lot beacause there was no room for all of the stuff we bought! One of the things we bought was this huge monstrosity (as Dave calls it) for Jackson to play in. He's always trying to stand on us, so we thought he was ready. I still think he's ready, but he just can't reach the ground because he's so short. It's actually quite cute. We propped him up with blankets and a blow up bad and let him at it. He seemed to enjoy himself and we were thrilled.

In the Spirit of the Olympics... Enjoy! :)

A Very Happy Baby

I thought you all might enjoy a look into the life of Jackson. He is teething right now and still he is the happiest baby I know. He loves to play in his crib and talk to us. What a precious time.

Beer, Bugs & Boo

This weekend was the 2nd annual Beer Oympics that Matt and his work crew put together. It is exactly like it sounds. You would think we were back in college playing Beer Pong like it was going out of style :) Matt said that he had been practicing all year to bring home the gold like Michael Phelps. We held the event at John and Marsha's house, which is up north near base. There were huge trees around and I could hear the Cicadas, but they never really come around for anyone to see- right? WRONG-O! Anyone who knows me, knows how much I HATE bugs. Any kind of bug, they scare me to death. I have an absolute panic attack when it comes to insects and arachnids of any type. So, all night I kept swatting at mosquitoes and everything else that was flying around in the Midwest during August (there were a lot of bugs) only to have a CICADA fall down the back of my blouse! (I have included a picture in case you are unaware of how horrible these things are- oh and they're totally harmless) I was screaming and telling Matt that something was in my shirt. It was an empire waste that tied around my middle, so the little bugger was caught in a pocket of material between me and my shirt- AUGH!!!!!!!! I freaked out and darn near got naked trying to get that thing out of my shirt. I told Matt firmly that I would not be attending Beer Olympics next year- UGH.
Then we went and picked up Jackson from our friend Katie & Dan's house where he was sleeping soundly. Matt wanted to wake him up and play with him so bad :) Fortunatley, he listened to the reasonable one and let our little Boo sleep through the night without being interrupted. Later when we crawled into bed I asked what his favorite part of the day was and he said it was when we picked up Jackson. They were the sweetest words a mommy could ever hear- my heart melted. I really love this man.
This morning the three of us woke up and went for a long walk at the beach and got to see the Blue Angels practicing. Jackson only stayed awake long enough to get to Starbucks. It was such a wonderful morning and we felt so blessed.