pictures

New hair cut for me - cute boy forever
Super new hair cut for baby Christopher my nephew who is way too cute for his own good. - Angie however - not thinking its so super. Too short - too wispy and too grown up. I think it looks adorable and low and behold now the child can SEE! Oh I should mention - i cut it. I cut J's hair and figured hair is hair on a baby boy. Maybe not so - J's is thicker - and I heard on the grapevine that Angie is slightly distraught and is contemplating taking him into a 'real' hairdresser to fix my handy work which may be slightly uneven? Hmmmm The joys of being an Aunt! But seriously I think he does look adorable - what do others think?
back of new haircut.

"Aunty Christal heeelllllppp me - Fred is about to eat me!" (Pre hair cut photo)
Jackson and his new octopus friend - you put bath colours in its mouth and then coloured water comes out its tenticals - J loves it!
What happens to little people who get in the way of......
the colour queen aka KISS band groupie/snow white slayer.
We are the children of the excorsist. You really shouldn't gloat how lovely things are when all is quiet and the cousins are playing together so nice - as Angie and I were doing while enjoying the sun out back drinking a coke - we came in to find this - they had 'made up' their entire exposed skin - including toes. It was the best laugh I'd had in a while! Poor Ashlyn was upset we were laughing at her makeup - and we could only laugh harder as a dark purple/blue green tear rolled down from her eye.

Are you excited to come home Brad?

I can't taste anything. It has been two days. Yesterday and today. I am FREAKING out. why can't i taste anything? or smell anything?

I also have pregnancy rhinitis - basically congestion and can't breath - the only thing that helps - 20 minutes on the treadmill and a humidified room. It can last up to six weeks and I'm like week 4.

I am worried I have gained too much weight. I have a check up this Friday and am nervous to get on the scales. My belly looks like I'm 20 weeks. Hmmmmm.

I got a hair cut today - it is now shorter than Brads and Jackson''s. I wanted it short, and just let the girl "make it young looking" I think it suits me - BUT - it is a big change from the long locks I had just 5 weeks ago. It will be nice for the 'Summer of Pregnant Christal in AR'. Jackson did not recognize me when I picked him up from school. I asked him if mum's new hair cut was pretty or short. He said short. It will take a while to grow on both of us. I know Brad doesn't like the boy cut on me - but hair grows back - i've had it every length known to man - and now can look forward to growing it long again!

Bliss Bliss Bliss
Jackson has continued to sleep through the night in his room - I am not sure if he is actually on the bed - I have found him on the floor some nights. It is AMAZING to be woken up at 7 am by the sound of happy play. I tell him each morning how proud and happy mummy is, he really gets a kick out of that. Nap time is no longer needed - he just sleeps at night from 8 till 7. If he naps he is up till 9 or later and that just doesn't go over well for me - I need time at night to unwind. He has quiet time during the day and i put him in his room for an hour and tell him he is allowed to read or play quietly - he pretends to read - even more so since our night time story time is longer. - as in 4 times through one book long - mind you I am not allowed to actually hold the story book - just let him know 'what comes next'.

Hey everyone - thought I'd give some updates to everyone on Jackson. Oh and let my folks know the phone is not working - that I sent an e-mail but not sure you or Pearl received it. Brad is going to fix the line when he gets home tonight at 1am! Or maybe tomorrow before he jets off in the arvo to Phillidelphia

So in recent news Jackson has started day care which we call school. He loves it, but gets a bit upset when I drop him off. He just goes 3 half days a week and I really think the break for me is needed, and the entertainment/stimulation for him is good.

Jackson suprises me most days with his language skills. Lots of things are either "Delicious" or "So terrible and horrible" He will always use these words in a sentence - like " This is so delicious" or " mummy this bug is so horrible" or " look mummy I see a fly/ant/bug/" He is also fond of saying "Ohhh my goodness" or "Ohhh my God!" When i am driving he likes to tell me to "Be careful mummy" Hmmmm. He will often choose what he wants to eat/snack and if he doesn't like my choice will ask me "What else mum?" Plain stovetop oatmeal is the food of choice - so long as he gets to put the honey on top. But if he sees my cereal out - he wants that. He will eat blueberries till he gets the runns - i limit his intake.

He has great memory - A perfect example is Jackson saying most nights when in the bath "Jackson no poo poo in the bath or Nee Nee gets mad, Only poo poo in the potty, no poo poo on the floor or mummy has to clean up" This is seriously every word for word of what he will tell me. It is also all true - one night months ago he crapped in the bath for Joy - and she got mad, and I get mad when he craps on the floor. O.k so i know its partly my fault for letting him go without a nappy - but hey we are potty training so there are bound to be accidents. I want him to be potty trained over the summer.

To potty train I am just playing things by ear - he puts underwear on (he chooses a wiggles pair every time) and I ask him to remember if he needs to go wee wee he has to go in the potty. I started by sitting him on a small potty, but he has started to choose the big toilet like at school and when we are out in public loos - so he stands and tries to put his penis over the bowl which can sometimes be funnier than it sounds as he stands on tippy toes. He will not take himself to the potty, but rather wee his pants then come to me and say he had an accident. But he knows when he needs to pee as he holds himself. Having said this when he has no pants on he will run to use the little potty and come and tell me all excited that he used the potty. His problem is he can't pull down his pants quick enough - and forget it if he is wearing slacks or a belt. He will stay dry on outings to park/library and running erands, with undies on - so long as I take him potty before we go and once while out. He has no problems using a big toilet. I am wondering what my dear friend Anthea is doing with Kalen at this time??

Bed time is f^(*^*#ed up. It has been since we moved to the USA. It is my fault for not giving him boundries and for giving in to his pleas. It is also Brads fault - for bringing him to me whenever he can't get him to sleep - as in bringing him into our bed. He needs me to lay with him in his big bed until he falls asleep - this can be 5 minutes or 1 hour if the house is out of order with visitors or sickness or a late nap happened. Everyone knows how great I had it in OZ - he slept the night through and yes he had a dummy - but after the first couple of months he could find it on his own. Mind you if we changed his surroundings at all he wouldn't sleep unless held. After seeing how quickly Angie put her two kids to bed - I got the gumption to change things and took Angies suggestions and used them. I talked to J and explained mummy was not allowed to sleep with Jackson any more, that we could have 5 minutes snuggle time and then I would get up and leave his room for mummy time. Two nights ago when I first explained this he flung his head back, ran around me in circles crying "plllleeeeaassseee sleep with mummy" - but after only getting up 3 times he was silent and sleeping in his bed with Fred. I didnt' sleep - aparently I now have to change my sleep associations as well and it is darn hard! I was up all night and at 4 in the morning I was sure he would wake any moment and come in - I went out to see him and i kid you not he was on the floor of the lounge room sleeping like a dog! He did not come into my room until 7 am. - yes i left him on the floor. Bliss. Last night he only came out his room twice, then silence - turns out he must understand more than I give him credit for. But..... he came into my room and bed around 3 am - and I was too tired from being up with two blood noses and congestion (pregnancy and cold combination sucks) so he slept the rest of the night with me. I am just happy to start on getting the evening routine right - and not having to lay with him - but I must admit - I love 5 minute snuggle time. THANKYOU ANGIE - your suggestion of longer story time and talking to him about what will happen in advance were key.

J can now open almost every door in the house - and discovered the candy stash in Brad office - hmmmmm.

I am sure this post has bored many of you without kids, but at least I now have a record of bits of his life as my memory seems to get worse the more pregnant I become!

Well another week has gone by. My camera is out of action - i am lost without it. We just had the ATT U-verse guy install DVR! I am pretty impressed with it - for those back in OZ this means I can now record any TV show - up to 4 at once - and save it on the t.v to view later when I want! So no more fighting with Brad over evening TV - i can just watch what I want during the morning. Plus I love fastforwarding t.v!
Brad is away this week to Canada, thankfully I have Angie and the kids comming so I don't start talking to walls.

Sunday I minded 4 kids under 5 for 6 hours alone - willingly :) I was picturing fun art projects and kids playing non stop - and was right on all accounts - the home made play do made its appearance along with sparkles, glue and paint. However this was all from 12:30 till 3pm. After that - I was out of options and outside they all went. For the next 5 minutes all was quiet in the house - it was too cold outside to play for long and in they all trotted. Now before Brad left I said - please don't leave me pregnant and nauseous for like 6 hours. He came home from the game in 5 hours and 50 minutes :)
I wish I had pictures from our day with Jackson's cousins - it was a blast and wonderful to see all the young ones (minus Christopher) together. My camera seems to have had a meltdown so I can't show you all how each of them got to blow out the spaghetti "candles" on their play do "cup cakes".

In other news Jackson started "school" today! He is attending Colman's Children academy in Springdale. Well of course he screamed when I first left him, it was terrible and for a moment I almost walked in and got him and just went home again. But Brad convinced me to just let him go. The ladies said he did cry a lot . He was able to be settled/ distracted, but did not eat any of the food offered and became upset at lunch and cried again. I was not happy with the morning snack - sugar covered cereal and a sippy 1/2 full of watered down juice. Now we don't do that much processed sugar all day - let alone one meal. and Jackson's snacks are almost a full meal - an orange, a few crackers and a glass of milk or water. So I will bring his own fruit for snack time. which the superviser said was o.k and she encouraged me to bring anything that I thought he would like to eat if I don't think he will eat the food offered. They are also happy to help toilet train, and let him have his dummy sookie (paci and blanket) for nap time. and yes he actually napped. When it was time to get him I went with Ashlyn and he was so thrilled to see her he almost didnt' even notice me. He also bonded with Miss Kim and gave her a huge hug before leaving. Miss Kim said that Jackson is really intelligent - which was nice to hear even though I am sure they try to make every mother feel their child is special. I enjoyed the walk home as did Aslyn and Jackson - chatting away over this thing and that on the way home as they laid back in the pram (stroller).

Well tomorrow is another day.

Oh also today I had another baby scan - heard heartbeat! I can stop progesterone - so looks like we really are pregnant.