Random

I am seriously lacking in the Pete with Jackson photo department... gotta work on that. 

 This was Pete's birthday celebration. We had about 15 people over for a bbq. But when we asked people to bring "sides" they took that as "dessert"... so we had hamburgers and hot dogs, watermelon and about 6 desserts. No one minded though.

 We have people over from Pete's work about every other Sunday night. We have some regulars, but there's always a few new faces and we love getting to know everyone better. He works with some really fun people. And the boys love all the guests who give them a lot of attention.

The boys in a rare, still moment.

 Working on potty training Austin. Here he is with his otterpop reward (we have seriously tried every reward and consequence under the sun and he just doesn't care). However, I will say that we went out in public for the first time with underwear on today, and he hasn't had an accident yet. Whoop whoop. Why does this have to be so hard?

 He REALLY didn't want to go potty at this moment...

 You know it's bad when he would rather fall asleep by the toilet than just sit on it.

There's my little carseat pal...

6 weeks old

Jackson turned 6 weeks old on Monday. I feel like I have previously commented enough on his temperament and angelic-ness, but I did do a little photo shoot of Jackson to commemorate this milestone. So here ya go with a photo overload... Jackson Luke Dahlquist at 6 weeks old.

Even more of Jackson..

I promise I will resume taking pics of the other two boys as soon as humanly possible... but right now... it's all Jackson, all the time. They had their moment in the spotlight once too!

The other two

It's always funny how the other kids drop off the face of the earth when it comes to social media whenever a baby is born. But the baby is so much more compliant with pictures:) 

Anyway, I do have two other kids. 

Meet Austin... he loves swinging at the park. He could have you push him all day long. And the baby swings... the best! It's very hard to get him in and out of those seats, but he LOVES it!

We are currently struggling to potty train, as preschool is only a few weeks away. With Parker the issue was that it was a power struggle. Austin is just lazy. He literally doesn't care if he has an accident, as a dirty diaper, goes naked around the house... nothing. Hopefully peer pressure at school will whip him into shape. 

 And Parker... my crazy, determined, and fun-loving Parker. We were at Costco the other day and they had Halloween costumes out. He ran up to one of the tags and exclaimed, "Hey... it's me!" We thought he meant that's what he wanted to be, but he said, "NO, the kid on the tag looks just like me!"

 His doppelganger is a Halloween costume model. Hilarious.

Parker is very excited to start Kindergarten in two weeks. It's only half day here, so it's not too demanding, but he is really looking forward to making new friends and learning new things (about brains hopefully, he says). He will ride the school bus, so that will be thrilling as well. His school is only K-2nd grade, so he won't have to ride with any kids older than 8. Having a routine again will be good for all of us.

Putting on a happy face

Jackson at 5 1/2 weeks. He is starting to be much more engaging. 

This is Jackson at almost 6 weeks. He was on the verge of smiling. But he really vacillates between a scowl and a full-face smile. Every time I call Pete over to see his cute grin.. he's back to scowling!

Please disregard my annoying coaxing voice. Ugh. 

5 weeks old

I have been blogging from my phone and lo and behold... I just found out the posts never actually uploaded onto the blog. Lame. Sorry for the radio silence.

Going back to last week at 5 weeks old...

Jackson is really developing in his ability to make eye contact and in his attempts to communicate. And as much as I love a cuddly newborn, I'm also really glad we're almost to the 6 week mark. It's really hard to learn a new human, and I feel like at about 6 weeks is when a new comfort level sinks in with them. Jackson has been a precious addition with little fuss. He sleeps 3-5 hours at night and is almost always content in your arms. Sometimes he will take a pacifier (which the other boys detested!) and he sleeps through most outings in the carseat. I am feeling pretty comfortable taking the three kids places by myself, and Jackson has already unknowingly gone to place like the park, Busch Gardens, Chuck E Cheese, the movies, the trampoline park, the pool, the beach, and church. We just love this little guy sooo much!

Lookin' good in his house coat.

 I just want to eat up his little profile!

 Pete taking his paternity leave at 4 weeks old, was perfect because we really got to enjoy our time as a family instead of just functioning in a fog. On the first day, we went to Busch Gardens because military gets in free once a year. Sweet! It was our first time and we had a lot of fun for a few hours. Pete decided to revert back to his teenage-self and rode this crazy roller coaster.

 Waiting for daddy to ride that roller coast behind us...

 I liked the international theme of all the different areas.

 The boys had a lot of fun on the rides. They were pros by now given their extensive experience at the country fairs.

 I thought these swings looked so fun, so I convinced Parker to go with me. The whole time his eyes were wide as saucers and he's yelling, "This is my worst nightmare... I'm afraid of heights!" Whoops.

 This is what Jackson did the whole time, except waking up to eat once. Amazing. And don't worry, he sleeps best with his neck like this. It is probably how he slept in the womb, so it's his happy place.

 I can't believe I have three boys. My life is pretty great!

 While Parker does express some jealously in the form of needing attention every time I go to feed Jackson, or needing to be right by me while I'm feeding and then proceeding to sing, dance and chat as loud as possible, he is still the sweetest to his brother. Jackson is the most expressive when Parker is talking to him.

 Mr. Blue eyes. So glad is blood vessel rings are gone. This is a much better look.

 This is how he spends a majority of his life right now.