Rolls and Giggles

This last week has been wonderful. Someone once told me that their favorite age for their kids was four months. I can now understand why they would say that. Jackson turned four months old on Saturday and he has really been so much fun lately. He is all smiles and dimples. To me, there is nothing better in the world than when he looks at me and just grins. :-) It melts my heart. Dallin and I were also talking the other day about Jackson's development. I always expected his development to be more gradual. However, it seems like one morning he just wakes up and says, "I think I'm ready to smile today," or, "I think I'll roll over now." It's so funny. This last week, Jackson finally got the hang of rolling over. He's done it once before, but it was probably an accident. It's kind of funny how he does it. He uses the weight of his head to kind of flop over. It's cute though.

The other thing he just started is giggling. There have been a few other times when I thought he may have giggled. Now I'm sure. We were down at Dallin's parent's house over the weekend and Dallin really got him going. I tried to video some of the giggles, but Jackson was already pretty tired from all of the laughing. Who would have thought that laughing could take so much out of you. He was wiped out afterwards.

We were also able to spend some time with our families this weekend. First my mom came up to visit on Friday since she had the day off and "needed a Jackson fix." :-) It was a lot of fun to see her and spend some time together. Then, we spent Friday night and Saturday with Dallin's family. Dallin's sister, Lisa, and her husband, Andrew, were visiting from Louisiana. We had a lot of fun with his family and were all able to go to the temple together on Saturday thanks to an amazing Aunt and Uncle who watched the four grandkids. Then we had a great family dinner. The next day, we spent some more time with another Aunt and Uncle and a cousin who is working on her MPA at the U right now. It will be a lot of fun to spend more time with them and their little girl. Last, but not least, we were able to visit my brother and his wife before we left town. It was so much fun to chat with them. They are expecting a little baby next November and are excited that we will be closer. Jackson will get to know his first Bown cousin better this way. All in all, this weekend left me feeling so grateful for a wonderful family, both on the Bown and Koecher side. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by so many loving and supportive people. I couldn't ask for a better family. :-)

Here are a few other pictures. What can I say, I really like taking pictures of my little guy. :)

Jackson has also discovered his feet. He loves to grab them. Between his hands and his feet, he takes his toys with him wherever he goes.

Sleeping on Dad's shoulder.

The stylish little guy.

This is the face I usually get when I'm taking pictures of Jackson. The reason....he is camera shy! I have never heard of a little boy who is four months old who is camera shy, but Jackson is. He will be smiling and happy and as soon as I get a camera, or even the camera on my phone out, he will stare at it and make this 'deer in the headlights' face. As soon as the camera is gone, he continues with his smiling, happy faces. It is getting pretty difficult to catch any of his other cute faces. Don't worry though, I'll keep trying. :-)