The Whaleys

31 Week Ultrasound

2012-02-10T08:32:00.000-08:00

Last week we had our OB visit and an ultrasound to check on baby's size and my fluid level. Everything looked perfect! My fluid level was right on the nose of average and baby boy was measuring in the 45 percentile for size. My u/s tech estimated that if I go full term, we will have a 7 lb baby. Of course, that is just a guess. Also, he is head down and should stay that way, so that was great news.

I had really hoped for some great 3D shots of his face, but he wasn't having any of it. He kept his sweet face buried in my placenta and every now and the he would turn a little bit. When those moments came, he would put his hands and feet over his face! We tried over and over again, but we couldn't get a single good shot. I guess we will just have to wait until he is born to see him again. He was more than happy to show off his boy parts to us, though! That was by far the clearest photo that we got and he has his whole "tool kit" now (as the u/s tech calls it). There will definitely be no surprises about gender in the delivery room-this child is ALL boy!

We did see him drinking and at one point it appeared that he was sucking on his toes..ha! His heartrate was in the 130's and he was moving around a good bit. Overall, it was a great appt.

28-30 Weeks

2012-01-29T04:49:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I am 30 weeks...the countdown is officially on! We have been busy bees around here. Over the last few weeks we have started to get things ready for the baby. We also purchased Jackson's big boy bedding! It took FOREVER to find something because he is going to be using Justin's childhood furniture, which includes a queen size bed. We didn't realize it would be such a challenge to find toddler queen size bedding. Part of the problem was that most full/queen's were to small. We needed a true queen sizing. Here is what we found at PBK and we love it!

We weren't looking specifically for monkeys, but he loving Curious George right now, so it worked out great. We are most likely going to put up a few of the wall decals and we found a cute lampshade to match on etsy.com. We also rearranged the bedroom furniture to make the space bigger and hopefully we will start transitioning Jackson to his new room in a week or so. Then Justin will put the crib back together and we will get the nursery ready for baby boy.

We also upgraded our swing and bouncy seat to the new Fisher Price snuggabunny line, since they now have plug in options. With Jackson, we went through a ton of batteries! Let's see, we picked out a new infant car seat (we hated our old one and sold it immediately after Jackson outgrew it!) and it works with our existing stroller to make a travel system. We also purchased the matching double stroller for times when we need both boys in strollers. Here it is:

Other than that, we have so much of what we need already, which is really nice! My longtime good friends Camy and Ginny are throwing me a baby shower in a few weeks, and I am looking forward to it! Justin and I had a "day date" as we like to call it last week. I took off work and we made a registry at Babies R us and Target, ran some errands, and then had a wonderful lunch at Mustard Seed before picking up Jackson from preschool. It was a great day!

Now, on to this pregnancy....So far, things are looking really good! I am feeling good, other than getting a little more uncomfortable by the day. My heartburn has kicked it up a notch or two, so that has not been fun. It still seems better than it was with Jackson, though. My OB visits are happening every 2 weeks and the baby's heart rate is still hanging out in the 140's. Last week asked my OB if my fluid was low b/c it is crazy how much I feel this baby moving all of the time. She measured my fundal height and said I was measuring just about a 1/2 week behind, which is totally normal since the measurements aren't perfect. She asked if I would feel better getting another ultrasound and to get some cute 3D shots of the baby and OF COURSE I said yes! haha So I have an ultrasound scheduled on Thursday to see our sweet baby again. I can't wait to see how big he has gotten. As for me, I feel like a huge cow, but I am still doing well weight-gain wise. At 30 weeks, I am up 22 lbs. This is still about 5-6 lbs less than I was with Jackson at this time. Hopefully if things stay as is, I will only gain between 30-35 lbs...My OB thinks I am obsessing about my weight too much, but I just feel big. She said I am well within normal limits. The good news is that I know breastfeeding is going to take most of it off and then it is up to me to tone it all up! Thankfully I am not swollen yet and I am still able to wear my wedding rings just fine.

As for the way I am feeling, I am definitely starting to feel more excited as time goes on. I think it is finally sinking in that we are going to have a newborn in a couple of months. It has always seemed so far away to me, but I think getting things ready for baby is making it more real. When we were registering, I was looking at all of these teeny tiny baby clothes and diapers and I can't believe Jackson was that small. I know how fast it goes, so I am going to really try and enjoy the newborn phase this time around instead of being so nervous. All of my friends who have recently had 2nd babies have said that there are challenging moments with 2, but that they are much more laid back this time around. That is about it for now. I will update after Thursday's ultrasound and post some belly pictures soon. I haven't taken a single one in weeks!

Jackson updates!

2012-01-10T16:11:00.000-08:00

It has been awhile since I posted some updates about our sweet Jackson. This boy just melts my heart everyday! He continues to be extremely affectionate and clingy to both me and Justin. Now, he is able to verbalize his feelings, which makes it even better. He will say things like "I love you so much mommy and Daddy" or "I am so happy. Love you forever and ever". The other day I walked in the room and he said "Mommy, you so pretty". I think my heart doubled in size :) Justin says he told Jackson to say it, but I'll take it anyway!

We are talking more and more with Jackson about becoming a big brother and my mom got him a book about it. At first, Jackson refused to read it and threw it on the floor, but now he likes it. He knows there is a baby in mommy's tummy and he will love on my belly and lay his head on it. Sometimes, though, he says "Mommy, I no like baby brudder". I always tell him that he may not always like his baby brother, but he will always love him and he will be such a great big brother. I know there will be some normal jealousy issues once the baby is here, but both Justin and I will be sure to have lots of special time with our big boy too. My hope is that our boys become the best of friends one day.

Jackson is thriving in preschool. He has really come out of his shell there and enjoys going every day. He loves playing with cars with his friends, doing arts and crafts, and reading stories. He comes home at noon every day and tell us about his day. His teachers said his vocabulary has taken off and we have to agree! He talks non stop and I can't believe how great his memory is. Also, he has begun using the potty at school-yay! That is a step in the right direction.

Jackson is so full of life and energy and I love how excited he gets about things. He gets really excited go to the park, playground, and play in his new playroom. He says "Alright! and Come on!" Christmas this year was just so much fun. I can't believe how much he got into it this year. He is still talking about Rudolph, Santa, and elves. He loves when we get down on the floor and play toys with him. He gets the biggest smile and says "I love you mommy and daddy!". We are so thankful for such a happy child.

We finally converted our 3rd floor into a big playroom and it is wonderful! We reclaimed our living room-hooray! We still have a bin of toys/books/art supplies downstairs, but they are confined to a small area. Jackson is absolutely loving his new playroom and asks to go up there all of the time.

He is still way into cars and trains. He loves all of his little cars and spends a lot of time zooming them all around the floor. He also loves to rough house with Justin and chase him around. Every night before his bath, Jackson strips down naked and says "I wanna RUN!" and then proceeds to run all around the second floor like a wild banshee while Justin hides and jumps out at him. Jackson absolutely loves this game and laughs/screeches at the top of his lungs, BUT it gets him riled up before bath and bedtime. Ahh, I guess boys will be boys!

He is getting so bossy! He tries to demand what clothes/pajamas he wears, he wants to choose what plate he eats off of, and he tries to choose which car we drive on any given day. The worst is that he thinks he dictates where we drive to, so he pitches a FIT when when get on the interstate. We just ignore him as he cries "I wanna turn around!" and he finally calms down. If he wants us to go right, but we turn left, he will fuss. He will learn soon enough that he doesn't call the shots when it comes to that :)

The tantrums have decreased a bit for now, which has been nice. We still have the occasional nastiness, but nothing like the wild animal fits. He really does listen pretty well for the most part. He is spending much less time in time out, so hopefully that is a sign that time out is working well for us.

His new thing is "driving' with Daddy. When we get home, if he has been a good boy then Justin will let Jackson sit on his lap while he pulls the car into the garage. Jackson can turn the car on and off, turn on the windshied wipers, work the turn signal, and flash the lights. He also then wants to carry Justin's keys inside and ring the doorbell. Jackson loves this time with his Daddy!

I love this boy so much and everyday is an adventure with him. He has an awesome sense of humor and he is so much fun to be around. Now that he is talking so much, I love our little conversations. He is in such a sweet phase and we are relishing this time with him before baby boy # 2 rocks our world!

25-27 Weeks

2012-01-08T15:45:00.000-08:00

Well, here I am officially 27 weeks pregnant and into the 3RD Trimester! Wow, that is hard to believe! This baby boy should weigh about 2.5 lbs already. I can tell because I am definitely growing. He continues to move all of the time, which is a good thing. At my dr. appt last week, his heart rate was 140 bpm and I also took my glucose tolerance test for gestational diabetes. Good news-I passed with flying colors! My dr said everything looked great and my weight gain was much better for the month. I am up 17.5 lbs at 27 weeks. I got my weekly pregnancy updated email and it said I should have gained between 17-24 lbs by this time. Although I feel like a giant cow, I guess I am doing much better weight-gain wise (so far!) with this pregnancy. I remember with Jackson, I was always on the high end of my expected weight gain for each week. Lets not forget I was about 46 lbs (some due to excessive swelling!) when I was admitted to give birth to Jackson. I have gotten back to the gym a couple of times this month and have been trying to get some exercise in.

While transferring birthdays/important dates onto our new 2012 calendar, I realized that this baby is due on the day before Easter. He really is our little Easter bunny! We are hoping that he comes on 4/4 b/c that is our "dating" anniversary. We started dating on 4/4/04, so that number/date has always been special to us. Also, since Jackson was born on 8/8, it would be cool for this baby to be born on 4/4. We'll see! He continues to be a really active baby, and I think he knows Jackson's voice. I guess that makes sense because Jackson is always clung to me and he does occasional lay his head on my belly (the sweetest thing!). I am working on a blog post about Jackson updates next. Justin and I have begun collecting some items that we need for this baby. We had sold a couple of things that we wanted updated versions of when the next baby came (ie swing, carseat, etc). Also, we recently purchased a double stroller. We have started clearing out our guest bedroom in preparation to move Jackson over soon and begin putting the nursery back together. It is definitely starting to feel more real! I will try and take a belly picture soon to go with the next update.

We shall name him...

2011-12-21T18:09:00.000-08:00

a)Bryson
b)Jameson
c)Evan
d)Adam
e)none of the above

If you guessed "e", then you are right! These are all first names that I loved that Justin gave a big fat "no" to!

Some of Justin's suggestions that I said no to: Robert and Fletcher

We both liked Ethan and Jacob, but those names are two of the most popular names in the US, and we really want something more unique this time around. We just dont want any weird trendy-type names.

That being said, we are finally coming to some agreement on a first name. The name that we are settling on is not common-I dont think I know one person in real life who has this name. The problem is now that we have pretty much have a first name down, the middle name that we picked out doesn't work as well. SO its back to the drawing board for a middle name. My goal is for this baby's middle name to be one of my family names since Jackson is named after Justin's family.

That means that this baby still remains nameless! Also, we have decided to try and wait until the baby is born before revealing the name, which is driving our families crazy! :) We have never kept anything a surprise, so it will be nice if we can wait until he is born for the big reveal. Now if only we could agree on a middle name...

21-24 Weeks

2011-12-19T06:57:00.000-08:00

Sweet Feet:

24 Weeks:

23 Weeks

The past few weeks have been going well, and I can honestly say that this pregnancy is FLYING by! This baby boy is so active and it seems like he is more active than Jackson was. It is reassuring to feel him move so much, but sometimes the movements are so powerful that it wakes me up or keeps me up at night from the constant kicks/punches/movement. I wonder if that will translate to a more active or demanding baby once he is born? Jackson was so laid back for the first year and a half, so naturally this just might be my wild man! :)

I had my scan to try for a second look at his spine and everything looked perfect. As my ultrasound tech said, this baby gets an A++ so far. We didnt get any more good face shots, but the tech was able to witness this baby moving like crazy. She said he was a wild man, but that it was always a good thing to see an active baby. He is now head down, but as always, that could always change.

My heartburn has kicked up more, but it definitely seemed worse with Jackson than it does now. I can easily keep it at bay with a Tums and it doesnt wake me up a night like it did with Jackson. Hopefully it stays tolerable. These past few weeks, the weight has been piling on and I already feel like a whale. At my last OB visit, my doctor said I had gained 6-7 lbs since my last visit, and they look for me to gain more like 3-4 lbs a month. Oops! I blame the Holidays! :) She wasnt concerned b/c I am still well within normal limits. I was only up 13 lbs at my visit, which is still a good bit less than this time with Jackson. At 25 weeks pregnant with Jackson, I had put on 20 lbs. As long as I dont have any more months of extra weight gain, I will be on track to gain 25-30 lbs with this pregnancy. Here's hoping! Also, I have my gestational diabetes test scheduled for Jan 5th...who does that right after the Holidays? I hope I pass!

I am excited to reach the 24 week milestone-fetal viability! Although-I do want this baby to stay put for the long haul. We want a healthy full term baby and we need time to get things together. There is still so much to do to prepare for this boy's arrival.

Jackson's funny "boobies" story! aka Vampire baby strikes again

2011-11-25T10:52:00.000-08:00

This was too funny not to post. A week or so ago, Jackson walked up to me as I was sitting on the couch and lifted my shirt up over my belly. He then laid his head on it, which was so sweet. He definitely knows something is up and he says that there is a "baby brudder" in my belly. Anyway, then he proceeds to lift my shirt all the way up over my bra. I was wearing a Victoria's Secret push up bra and he climbs up on me and sticks his face in my cleavage and starts rubbing his face/head around! I was like "Justin-please look at what your child is doing". Justin walks over and says "what the?....YEAH THATS MY BOY!" and started laughing. Well, then Jackson gets tickled and starts laughing and says "BOOBIES!" and the proceeds to bite both sides of my bra with a wild look in his eyes. I have no idea where that came from because then he walked away! We got a good laugh over that one! What in the world was he thinking?

That night I was getting ready to take my shower when I noticed that my bra was kind of wet feeling. I looked down and I guess there was some gel or something in the bra that he punctured with his teeth, because both sides of it had slowly leaked gel/water all over it. I had to throw it away....and that was like a $50 bra!! Boo!

Haha. Thank goodness he is weaned from breastfeeding. Can you imagine what he would have done to me if I was still nursing him!? Ouch!

20 week anatomy scan

2011-11-25T10:41:00.000-08:00

Our favorite ultrasound tech did our scan and Jackson got to come with us. Jackson was a little uneasy at first as to why his mommy was laid on the table and having an ultrasound, but he held my hand for some of it. He kept asking if I was okay. Ahh my sweet boy!

As for the scan, it went perfectly! We got to see our precious new baby and he appears to be 100% healthy. It is truly amazing what you can see via ultrasound. We go to visualize all of the major organs and even the blood flow of the major vessels. We got several 3D "face shots" although, he was buried against the placenta for many of them. He continues to still be breech, although he has lots of time to spin around. We saw him drink amniotic fluid and saw his full bladder.

He measured 3 days ahead, so we just might have a March baby on our hands. They are not changing my due date just yet, though. He confirmed for us that he is still all boy several times and was not near as shy this time around. At 20 weeks, I am officially up 9.5 lbs, which is about 5 lbs less than I was with Jackson at 20 weeks...yeah!

We got to see his spine and visualize that it is fully enclosed, but due to his position, my tech could not get one picture that she needed, which was a cross section of his spine. She said that she can see that the spine looks perfect, but she just needed that one picture to check it off of her list. That means that I get another ultrasound at my appt on Tuesday. She said hopefully he will have moved and she can get the shot, as well as get some more pictures of his sweet face. Based on what we saw so far, he seems to resemble Jackson. It is still so early to tell, though! Check out the pictures of our hansome man!

Pregnancy-weeks 17-20

2011-11-25T10:25:00.000-08:00

Photo taken at 18 weeks

Oh geez, here we go trying to play catch up with this pregnancy. I can only say that my lack of blogging about it is surely revealing that I have much less time than I did before with Jackson. With my last pregnancy, despite working full time and finishing up grad school, I still had loads more time to focus on each new development with me and the baby. It is amazing how much work it is taking care of a rambunctious 2 year old! This time around, sometimes I forget which week of pregnancy that I am in and I find the weeks whizzing by! I have not been taking any pictures I keep forgetting. I am trying to remind myself to sit back and enjoy every minute of this pregnancy because I know how fast it goes by. By the time I have an hour or so to myself at night before bed, all I want to do is sit back and relax, not blog. I am trying to be better about this!

Lets see, weeks 17-20....well for starters, I am feeling movement every day. There is nothing so reassuring as feeling our sweet boy move and kick. Thats, right, I said BOY! I dont think that comes as as surprise to anyone, considering what we saw at our 13 week scan. My awesome OB let me have aquick scan at my 17.5 week appt b/c the office was super slow and I was complaining about wanting to know for sure and not wanting to wait until 20 weeks to find out. Baby boy was super shy and kept his legs crossed, but right before we were about to give up, he showed the goods. Yep, its definitely a boy! :) His heartrate has been great and my 2nd trimester screening for neural tube defects was negative-excellent news! This is surely the most fun part of pregnancy- I feel great, I am showing (but not super huge yet) and I have mild discomfort (round ligament pain, heartburn) Overall, there is nothing to complain about. Admittedly, it has taken me some time to get used to the idea of being a mommy to 2 boys (I was so sure this was a girl), but I am getting more and more excited about it as time goes on. Every day I think about how blessed we are to have been given not one, but TWO beautiful boys! Plus, I think it is really cool that Jackson will have a brother. I hope they grow to be very close.

Potty Training

2011-11-25T10:18:00.001-08:00

Gosh, I am terrible for not have written about this sooner. We are making great strides toward potty training! For a while we have been talking to Jackson about it, reading about it, and encouraging Jackson to sit on his potty. We have not been pushing it though, because I heard that may do more harm than good. One day a while back, Jackson said he needed to go pee pee in the potty, and he did it! Of course we had to do a big song and dance out of it (think "Look Who's Talking "pee pee in the pot-ty dance!) Jackson got a big kick out of it and has proceeded to go pee in the potty almost daily, athough it is usually just once a day. Then, on Justin's bday (11/13), Jackson gave him the best present of all by going poo poo in the potty for the first time ever. He is still pretty inconsistent, but it is wonderful to have forward progress and progress that has been led by Jackson. I am hoping that this trend continues. We will definitely start pushing him a little more once he reaches 2 1/2 yrs old. I am so hoping to have him potty trained, or at least somewhat potty trained by the time baby #2 gets here, even though I know he will most likely rergress some. Our plan (and hope) has always been to have only one baby in diapers at a time!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-25T10:14:00.001-08:00

We kept it low-key this year since we were just coming back from the cruise. We dressed Jackson up and took him to our church's fall festival where there were games, jump castles, and candy! We ran into a few of his friends and one of his teachers. Jackson's favorite part of the night was jumping like a wild man in the jump castle and getting a glow stick at the end of the night. We didnt have a single trick or treater during the time we were home, so the three of us had to finish the Kit Kats that we bought for them all by our selves :)

Disney Cruise

2011-11-20T15:10:00.000-08:00

We set sail on the Disney Magic from Oct 22-Oct 29th and had a fantastic time! Our ports of call were in the Eastern Caribbean: St Maarten, St. Thomas/St. John, and Castaway Cay, which is Disney's private island in the Bahamas. We had been anticipating this trip for some time! We pulled Jackson out of preschool the week prior to leaving to ensure that we would all be healthy and thankfully it worked! We left out of Port Canaveral and made a stop in St. Augustine on the way down. We have been wanting to get to St. Augustine for awhile, so it was nice to be able to spend a little bit of time there. The architecture is just beautiful and we had perfect weather for lunch/stroll around town before heading for Port Canaveral. When we arrived at the port, Jackson go VERY excited and wanted to get on "Mickey's boat" immediately. We didnt have to wait at all to board and when we got on board, they announced us and clapped as we boarded. Then they had a fun deck party with music,dancing, streamers, characters, etc.

The ship was great-Of course, Jackson LOVED all of the elevators and lights. There was a certain part of the ship that was designed to look like NYC at night and Jackson would go there and dance, run around, and just have a blast. We had to go see "the lights" at least once a day! Our room was great-we sprung for a balcony and it was a pretty spacious room. We ended up being seated with a family from Long Island who had a 2 year old and they couldnt have been more different from us...but we really got along great and had a great time at dinner every night. One thing we did was bring Jackson's portable DVD player to dinner at night and put in on for the last 30 minutes or so of our 2 hour dinner-It was a lifesaver and really allowed for us to enjoy all 4 courses every night.

The food ranged form pretty good to really good-definitely a few steps above typical cruise food. We really enjoyed our time spent on the ship. Here is a recap of our cruise:

Day 1 (day at sea): We had the breakfast buffet, swam in the pool, played in the kids playroom (it had a giant treehouse/slide), watched Disney movies, etc.

Day 2: (day at sea) We had breakfast, then put Jackson in the kids nursery and I had a facial, Justin had a hot stone massage, we had a great long nap, played in the pool again, and took Jackson to his very first movie theater experience to see Cars 2 at the theater on the ship. He did great and lasted about 1/3 through the movie before losing interest. I am glad we didnt spend $$ on the movie since he didnt stay for the whole thing! This was also the day that we had Halloween on the ship and dressed up and took Jackson trick or treating. There was also a fun Halloween deck party that we went to and danced with the characters. Jackson was Lightining McQueen from the movie "Cars", I was Snow White, and Justin was Mr. Incredible. Jusitin's costume was a hit-I think a lot of the kids thought he was a real Disney character. It was a lot of fun!

Day 3: St. Maarten: When we arrived, it was cloudy skies. We decided to go into the town to check it out and wait for the sun to arrive-big mistake! We got into the city and it began to downpour! We huddled in a dumpy shop until we decided to brave the monsoon and made our way back to the boat. Right about the time we made it back (10 mins or so), the rain quit and the beautiful sun came out. We got back on the ship and changed into bathing suits and headed out to the beach. We rented some chairs/umbrella and swam in the water for a while. We then ate at the Hard Rock Restaurant across the street and got some cool new T shirts before headed back to the boat. After naps, we went back into St. Maarten for some shopping and chocolate. It turned out to be a really beautiful day!

Day 4: St. Thomas/St. John: This was our favorite day. The weather was perfect and this was our favorite island. We were off the ship early and headed to the sky lift, which took us up to a wonderful overlook called Paradise Point. Jackson loved the skylift, as it was like a giant glass elevator. we took some photos and then did a little shopping before heading back to the ship to change into bathing suits. I had researched different beaches to try and we decided on Magens Bay. Wow, that was a great decision!! This beach was absolutely breathtaking and we got to see much of the island on the cab ride there. At the beach, it was still crystal clear water and amazing views. It rivaled some of the beautful beaches in Hawaii. We both agreed that it was the most beautiful Caribbean beach that we had been to. Jackson had a BLAST playing in the water. He is definitely a water baby. We had a wonderful beachside lunch and then headed back to the ship for naps. While me and Jackson were sleeping, Justin went back into town and did some shopping for souvenirs. We left port around 3 pm that day, and we witnessed several people who missed the boat and were left standing helpless as the boat pulled away. I felt so sorry for them!

Day 5: Day at Sea: We mainly spent the day relaxing. We went to the pool, splash pad, and played in the kids club with Jackson. I got fire and ice manicure at the spa, which was fantastic! We enjoyed a nice leisurely day on the boat.

Day 6:Castaway Cay, Bahamas: This day was our 5 year wedding anniversary! We had another beautiful morning and we set out bright and early to claim a spot on Disney's private island. We thought the island may be crowded, but it was not at all! It was so spread out and well organized. They had 2 family beaches and one private beach, along with water slides, splash pad, etc. We put our beach chairs in the water and let Jackson play. Then we took Jackson for a stroll to the splash pad and he had a ball. They had a beach bbq buffet for lunch, which was really fantastic. It was well organized and not busy/crowded at all. About this time, the skies turned cloudy so we took our sleeping boy back to the ship and laid him in the bed for naptime. That evening, we fed Jackson early and put him in the nursery so that we could have our upscale dinner at the special adults-only restaurant, Palo. I didnt have super high expectations for the restaurant since it was on a cruise ship, but it was Ah-mazing!! Our server was top notch and the food was out of this world. I would put his restauraunt up against any fine dining restaurant in Charleston and that is saying a lot! They really made our anniversary dinner so special and it was wonderful to have a much needed "date night' with Justin. My only regret is that we didnt eat at this restaurant more than once. Jackson did wonderfully in the nursery and was a happy boy when we picked him up.

Day 7: Back to reality-We had a nice breakfast with our new friends and then headed to disembark the ship. This was by far the easiest and most smooth process of all of the cruises that we have been on. We stepped out into Port Canaveral on a dismal and dreary day but we hit sunshine as we made our way back home. I think it's safe to say that we were all ready to come home and put our feet back on dry land. It took me about 2-3 days to adjust from the vertigo of the ship. We had such a wonderful vacation and enjoyed every minute of it!

Better late than never...

2011-11-19T18:24:00.000-08:00

I am slacking too much on this blog lately! I will be working on posting these soon:

-Jackson potty training update
-Disney Cruise/Halloween 2011
-Pregnancy wk 17-20
-20 wk anatomy scan
-Jackson's funny "boobies" story

More to come soon!!

15/16 weeks

2011-10-31T08:18:00.000-07:00

I missed a week in between, but life keeps me so busy these days! Also, week 16 was spent on a wonderful Disney cruise! (more on that later). This was a very special week for me, as I felt the baby move for the first time at the beginning of week 16. It has become more noticeable now and I am feeling it pretty consistently. Also, all of the nausea and most of the food aversions have disappeared, which was perfect timing for the cruise. I am starting to show a lot more now and am finally starting to tell more people about the pregnancy. I am actually about 17.5 weeks now, so I will work on that update later. Here is a belly shot that I took on the cruise since I realized that I hadn't taken any recent belly shots. This was taken at 16.5 weeks. He/she is growing!!

14 week belly shot

2011-10-12T17:42:00.000-07:00

This is the first belly shot that I have taken this pregnancy so far-I am already slacking!

BIG News!

2011-10-03T15:52:00.000-07:00

Jackson is going to be a big brother! I am currently 14 weeks pregnant with sweet baby #2.

Ah, where to start....Well, for starters this pregnancy has been a total 180 from my pregnancy with Jackson. We found out we were pregnant in July and we were a little surprised. We were going to officially start trying for a baby again in August, and while not a total surprise, it still took us a while to believe it! We were on the way home from church and decided to get a pregnancy test since I was a day or two late. Much to our shock and excitement, it was a blazing positive result! It still took a while to sink in.

This pregnancy has been SO different that my pregnancy with Jackson. I have had many more symptoms: cramping, fatigue, and nausea...the worst! Every afternoon/evening I get nauseated and by 10 PM, I have been miserable. The blessing in all of that is that Jackson is asleep then, so I can prop my feet up and relax in my misery. It has been pretty bad nausea with no vomiting, thankfully. Weeks 5-8 were awful, as I had nausea around the clock which peaked at night. These days it is definitely tapering off and getting better. I am hoping that it will be completely gone in a couple of weeks.

At 14 weeks, I have gained just under 2 lbs, but I am definitely starting to show in the last few days. Today I got my first "when are you due?" question from a complete stranger. I was wearing a maternity dress, which I think made the bump more obvious. I can't believe how much faster I am showing with #2. I have had the same food cravings that I did with Jackson, but more food aversions. I love: salty, mexican, breakfast food, etc. I hate: ribs, fish, tollhouse cookies, and french fry oil.

We have had scans at the exact same times in the pregnancy and compared to Jackson, the rates of the heartbeats have been identical with the exception of one scan, where they were one beat a part. Amazing! Baby # 2 is already adorable and appears to be very happy and healthy so far. We had our nuchal scan about a week and a half ago, which was amazing!! The baby was moving all around and was very active. He/She measured perfectly to the day and we got to the brain, spinal cord, heart, bladder, etc. The nuchal measurement was 1.7, which was wonderful news! I got my blood results back several days later which were 1 in over 10,000 for both downs syndrome and trisomy. This is a different lab than we had with Jackson, so instead of giving us the exact number, they only test up to 10,000. According to my u/s tech, she said the results were the best possible normal that you can get. This made us very happy!

Also, baby was NOT shy at all and gave us several shots between the legs. Our tech has been doing u/s for over 30 years and she and the dr said that they are 95% sure of the sex, although we won't know for sure until around the middle of November. I will post pictures and let you see for yourself!

Here are a bunch of photos of our sweet baby:

9.5 weeks

Almost 13 weeks:

We counted 5 fingers on each hand! Here is one of them:

Here are some helpful shots for gender guesses. This one can be used to test the "nub theory" (google it!)

Potty shot!! What could the arrow be pointing to? Innnnteresting!

Our tech was sure to let us know that what we are seeing is not the umbilical cord. ha! We are in love!

Dear Jackson,

2011-08-27T18:17:00.001-07:00

Have you been reading this blog? Because it wasn't 24 hours after I had written my last post about you not having tantrums when you showed me that you were fully capable! You were fighting naptime, so I held you to rock you and you let me know that you were not happy in the form of a full blown 2 year old tantrum. You were screaming, screeching, hitting yourself, hitting me, shoving your hands in your mouth, and kicking. It was almost like some wild animal had taken over my sweet boy! But then you finally gave in and fell into a deep peaceful sleep.

I knew it was just a matter of time before you had a true tantrum. You have been quite the firecracker this week, but I know it is just a phase. I know that you are frustrated and trying to find out how to deal with that frustration. Still, you have spent a lot of time in 'time out' this week, although at times you seem to enjoy it. I think you pretend to enjoy it just to spite us sometimes :) You must get that from your mommy!

Tonight on the way home from dinner and a stop at Toys R Us, you decided to have a fit during the car ride home. Boy, you were really screaming and angry that we left the store. You thought you'd really show mommy and daddy by pulling your socks off with your teeth (yes, with your teeth!). Only it backfired because mommy and daddy started laughing so hard at you that you got tickled yourself and started laughing. Then you proceeded to entertain us the whole rest of the way home by shoving your dirty sock in your mouth (you are such a boy!) and giving us the cutest belly laughs. See, that is how I know that underneath the moments of nastiness, you are still our sweet loving boy. We love you, our little wild animal!

2 years old!

2011-08-22T15:04:00.001-07:00

It is hard to believe it, but our sweet boy is 2 years old! It is amazing at how much he has changed in the past year. Here are Jackson's official 2 year stats:

Weight: 28.1 lbs-50th percentile

Height: 37 in-96th percentile

In his doctor's words, he is seemingly "perfect". We would have to agree!

At 2 years old, Jackson

-is sleeping in his bed all through the night about 75% of the time. He still has times every now and then when he wakes up once in the middle of the night, but he usually goes right back to sleep. He sleeps from about 8:30 pm-6:30 am and takes an hour and a half nap everyday from 1-2:30.

-has started 2 year old preschool. He goes to preschool at our church on MWF from 9-12 and then he still goes to MMO on T, Th from 9:30-1:30. Preschool has been an adjustment for him, as he is in a bigger class with new teachers and even though he is in the same room as his Sunday school, it is still a different crowd. He still cries when we drop him off, but the teachers say he doesnt cry for long. He has already done many new activities such as planting a seed, painting a picture, made a collage out of magazine pictures, and working on new puzzles. On Mondays, all classes of the preschool come together for chapel. The teachers say he is great and is the first one out the door and the last one in from the playground. I know there will be a day (hopefully soon) where he will walk in without crying. He is always happily playing when we pick him up.

-has still been good about trying new foods, but loves fruit (bananas, strawberries, grapes, and apples) above all else. We will be trying peanut butter soon. I am always looking for new things to fix him for lunch. When we go to a restaurant he opens up the menu and says really loud "Ice cream, poofs, cookies, chocolate cake!". The boy loves his chocolate! We have noticed he has been drinking less milk than before...not sure if it is just a phase or if he will dislike milk like me. Also, we still haven't given him juice and don't plan to for awhile.

-He had his second dental cleaning last week and everything looked great! The dentist said he has one last molar to come in and then he will have his full set of teeth. He still lets me brush his teeth for the most part, but he does go through phases where he fights me.

-He still has his little fits when he doesnt get his way, but nothing too bad. I am still waiting for the full on tantrum-I know it has to be coming. We still do time out with him, which seems to work well. One thing that I have learned-when he is overtired, he gives the wild animal screech when he cries. It is a dead givaway that he is waaay tired when he starts making those screams/screeches. He has also begun kicking his feet when he is mad/upset.

-He is stringing along more words and sentences. It gets easier every day to communicate with him. He still loves to count and we are currently working on colors. He is also starting to sing along to some songs that he hears often.

-His newest obession is cars. He loves racing his cars around and carries them everywhere. He even sleeps with some of them at night. He can point out a corvette and camaro (guess who taught him that?)

-He LOVES going to the playground and would stay for hours if he could. He loves the swings and slides. He woke up from his nap today and the first thing he said to me was "park, slide, wheee!". He also loves throwing and kicking a ball.

What can I say, these last two years have been nothing short of wonderful and Jackson brings so much happiness, joy, and laughter to our lives. He is surely the biggest blessing of our lives! I am so excited to watch him grow and we are sure to cherish every single moment with our boy!

***I probably won't do monthly updates anymore. I plan to just update as needed, when there is something that we will want to remember. That is, until I (hopefully) get pregnant again in the future. I will probably go back to regular updates then.

Jackson's 2nd Birthday Party!!

2011-08-14T15:50:00.000-07:00

We had his party at our local Little Gym on the Saturday before his actual birthday. Although it started pouring rain right before the party started, we still had a great party! Many of Jackson's buddies came: Liam, Brayden, Mia, Madeline, Eddie, Alexander, and Evan. Jackson was in a wonderful mood for the party and all of the kids seemed to have a blast! They ran around, sang songs, danced, played on the equipment, and played with the parachute, balls, bubbles, and bouncy air track. The party lasted an hour and a half, which went by so quickly. We had to bring the presents home and open them later because we ran out of time at the Gym. Jackson loved the balloons and (of course) the chocolate birthday cake. My good friend Lauren outdid herself as usual on the cake and it was amazing! The party was a Toy Story theme. It was a wonderful time and birthday boy had a blast!! Check out the pictures:

23 Months!

2011-07-28T15:29:00.001-07:00

This post is loooong overdue. Here we go- At 23 months:

-Jackson is totally obsessed with all things Toy Story! I even caught him talking about "Buzz and Woody" in his sleep one night. He loves for me to tell him the summary of Toy Story 3 at night for his bedtime story. He loves to fill in all of the parts and names of the characters when I tell him the story.

-He is starting to talk in complete sentences. Our favorite is "I love you Daddy and Mommy". He is constantly stringing new words together. He also loves to count to 10 and will start counting if he sees more than one of anything. Another thing he loves to do-he points out every cell phone antenna and every flag that we see when he is in the car. Also, he does great with his ABCs!

-He loves toy cars and zooming them all around our floor. He also loves letting his cars and action figures slide down his car ramps. He will do it and say "slide...Wheeee!"

-His eyes are slowly turning green. They are almost staring to look like green eyes instead of blue.

-Jackson is obsessed with playgrounds and also with Monkey Joes, which is a sort of gym with jump castles. He plays very rough and is really beginning to climb well. He also loves playing hide and go seek, which he calls "hide, boo". Another fun game he came up with is that he loves to look for the sunshine that peeks through our windows at dusk. He will beg us to take him upstairs so that he can find his special spot of sunshine. He yells "sunshine, sunshine" over and over.

-He is still doing well with sleeping in his own bed all night. He goes through times when he sleeps all night in his bed, and then other nights he will wake up once. If he does wake up, one of us puts him back and bed and sits next to his bed until he falls back asleep. Overall, he has done a great job of sleeping in his own bed. We still make a big deal out of him sleeping in his "big boy bed" and tell him how proud we are of him every morning.

-Potty training-well I guess you can say we are making small progress. We are not pushing him at all. We talk about it alot with him. Every morning when one of us goes to the bathroom, he will sit on his potty at the same time (fully clothed) and tell us "pee pee" or "poo poo". He also tells us every time that he goes poo in his diaper. We talk about how when he learns how to pee or poo in the potty like a big boy, he will be able to pick out his big boy underwear. I guess we will start more actively trying potty train him in the next few months.

-He is still eating well and has been pretty good about trying new things. He loves his daddy's famous grilled ribs, as well as his mommy's famous organic chocolate cake. I have noticed his appetite has increased slightly lately-I wonder if he is going through another growth spurt.

-He plays well with his friends at his MMO program and at church. As far as other children that he doesnt know, it just depends on the situation as to whether he is comfortable to play with them. If there are a bunch of rambunctious screaming kids, he avoids them but will sit back and watch them. He seems to avoid chaotic situations. I have noticed that he is more interested in older children and will try to imitate them. We are trying to teach him the concept of sharing, which seems to be going well. Overall, Jackson is a very friendly and playful child with others, but only if you are in his "circle of trust" :)

-He continues to be a very happy child. He has the best laugh and a wonderful sense of humor! Jackson LOVES playtime and rough housing with daddy. He is also extremely affectionate still and continues to be a huge snuggler with both of us-which we love!

Musical Boy!

2011-07-28T15:09:00.000-07:00

Jamming with Grandpa! Jackson got to "play" his first guitar during our trip to Indiana-his Grandpa's vintage 1976 Gibson Les Paul Guitar...nice! Also, Jackson LOVED the piano. He wanted to play over and over again during our trip!

4th of July Weekend in Indiana

2011-07-23T15:28:00.000-07:00

We decided to take a quick trip to South Bend to visit Justin's Dad and Stepmom. We booked our flight and chose not buy Jackson his own plane ticket b/c it was a quick flight. This is the last flight that we won't have to pay for him a ticket, since he is turning 2 soon. The flight there was interesting. We timed it so that Jackson would take his nap on the way there. The problem is that we were in the back of the plane next to the bathrooms. It seemed like as soon as we got him to sleep, the line to the bathroom started. There were at least 2 people waiting at all times. And it was a 1 1/2 hour flight-Seriously people- use the bathroom before getting on the plane!! Geez. With every person that went in the door would slam and Jackson would flinch. After about 45 minutes, Jackson woke up crying and was in that in-between stage of being awake and almost falling back asleep. He had almost drifted off when this creepy guy in line for the bathroom reached over tickled his foot. I am sure that man didnt realize that Jackson was almost back to sleep, but we were so annoyed! Also there was a child with a hacking cough in the row in front of us for the whole flight. Once Jackson was finally awake, he was cranky and fussing/crying. We were glad to get to South Bend.

Once we got the flight over with, the rest of the trip was great! We had so much fun visiting and Jackson really enjoyed all of the fun activities. Some of the highlights were: trips to the playground, trips to the mall, Jackson playing with the animals (especially Max, Koa, and Meer), Jackson playing guitar or "tar" as he calls it with papa, Jackson playing the piano, a trip to the AWESOME children's museum, and a fun trip to the zoo. I think the highlight of the trip was when Justin's dad gave Jackson a Buzz Lightyear (from Toy Story) action figure. He loves that thing!

Justin also had a great time catching a movie with his dad, and also being able to go with his dad to a really cool gig that his dad's band was playing at on Saturday night. We ate at some great restaurants as well. We left on Sunday so that we had a day to unpack and rest for the 4th of July. The plane ride back was a piece of cake, and Jackson was an angel the whole time! It was great to have our little traveler back to his happy self. :) We had so much fun...it was a great trip!

Stressful Week

2011-07-20T17:59:00.000-07:00

The past week has been one crazy ride! It started two Fridays ago when I went for my very first screening mammogram. Since my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer at a young age and since I have had a previous biopsy, they recommended that I get a mammogram at age 30. They wanted me to be done breastfeeding for at least 6 months and then get a mammogram before I get pregnant again. Well, I went ahead and scheduled it early (2 months after end of breastfeeding). The radiologist wasnt crazy about it, but agreed to go ahead and do the mammo now. I wasn't worried about it at all. In the past I have had several breast ultrasounds, a fine needle aspiration, and an excisional biopsy. Let's not forget the breast ultrasound that I got four days after giving birth because I was convinced I had breast cancer. Ahhh, gotta love hormones! Anyway, I guess I should have known that it wasn't going to be easy for me.

The radiologist read my screening mammogram and ordered a diagnostic mammo with several magnified views. Right then my worry started kicking in. By the time it was over, the radiologist gave me a category 3-probably benign result due to some microcalcifications in the left breast. She said to come back in for repeat 6 month mammogram. Well, that was not going to do for me. See, I'm not really a "wait and see" kind of patient. I guess you could call me demanding. The mamm tech called me "assertive" ha-my mom would be proud! The radiologist conferred with my surgeon and they decided to send me for a breast MRI. I went the following Wednesday. Gotta love this-My MRI was at 7 AM and then I drove straight to Columbia for two straight days of meetings. They called me later that day and said that the MRI would be ANOTHER category 3 (probably benign) because there were two areas of enhancement (not suspicious) on both sides that they wanted to ultrasound. I had been warned that breast MRI is like pandoras box because it is extremely sensitive. Fast forward to Friday-I went for my ultrasounds. One side looked good but the other was graded a Category 4-suspicious. That is pretty much when I got the daylights scared out of me. As a comparison, my mom got a category 4 result before she was diagnosed. So you can imagine that her anxiety level was through the roof. They went ahead and scheduled me that afternoon for a stereotactic biopsy (mammogram guided) on the left and then an ultrasound guided bx on the right. I think I was in a fog going home. After I got home, I found out that my long time dance teacher had passed away that morning. I just broke down crying from the stress of it all.

I went for both ultrasounds, which took about 2 1/2 hours. Before they started, they told me I had to stay very still and not move, but that at least I had a nice picture that I could look at to distract me. When I looked at the picture, it was a framed poster for my dance teacher's company's performance in Spoleto from 1984. It had his name in big bold letters. I told the nurses that I had danced for him for years and that he had passed away that morning and they were all so shocked. What are the odds that I was in that room and the staff told me to stare at that poster? Strange stuff, I say. The biopsies were tolerable, but then again I think I have a high threshold of pain. I could see how some women could really have problems with it.

At any rate, I was ok as I waited over the weekend with my results, but by the middle of Monday, I was a wreck. Also, Justin left Sun night for a meeting in NYC, so I was missing him and taking care of Jackson. By Tuesday, I think my (and my mom's!) anxiety level was sky high. Finally I got the results that were BENIGN! I definitely had a good relief, or destress cry as my mom says. They found benign calcifications and fibroadenoma, as well as changes due to lactation. Whew!

It's funny-I work for a CDC funded breast and cervical screening program through the American Cancer Society. I mainly work with providers, so I pretty much knew every one of my medical providers, from the rad tech to the surgical oncology nurses. I would say that I def got extra special attention. The radiologist took me back more than once to her office to show me my films, and show me different presentations that she has done to show what benign vs. suspicious films look like. She answered a TON of questions from me. The tech is a long time friend of mine from when I first started the job. The staff there really love the program that I work for and they were so nice-they kept me laughing and assured me that everything was going to be fine. One of my contacts at the hospital came and sat with me before the biopsy. I am really happy with the care I received. The only thing I would suggest is that if a patient has a family history of breast cancer and a history of past biopsies, then I think they should get to scoot the front of the line at pathology. Those 4 days of waiting were so hard, but even harder on my mom. Thank God everything turned out well! I will go back in 6 months for follow up imaging, which is standard procedure. Since I am considered high risk, I will always be a little crazy when it comes to these things. It feels good to have last week behind me!

Needless to say, I am way late on Jackson's 23 month update, as well as a post about our trip to Indiana over the 4th of July weekend. I will work on them soon!

Landscaping

2011-07-10T16:13:00.000-07:00

We wanted to spruce the yard up a little bit, so we hired a friend's landscape company to come in and make the yard look nicer. I wish I had taken before pictures, but the only "before" photos that I have are from when we first moved in around 2006 and after we did some do it yourself landscaping in 2007. Before we had the professional landscaping done, everything looked pretty much the same as the "before" photos below, but the bushes were obviously a little bigger. We transplanted the bushes in the front to the back and added some nicer plants/flowers to the front. We planted pink encore azaleas, lower red pedlam bushes, gardenias, shannon of the valley bushes, and yellow lantana. We are really happy with the way it has turned out. I need to take some updated "after" photos, because the flowers have really begun to bloom. We also sold of our lawn furniture in a yard sale, as it was beginning to look worn. We still need to get some new furniture. Also, I wish our tree would get some leaves at the top again! Check out the before and after photos:

BEFORE
2006 when we moved in:

2007 "do it yourself" landscaping:

AFTER

Father's Day 2011

2011-06-28T18:41:00.000-07:00

Justin had a great Father's Day from start to finish! Jackson, and Annabelle (the cat), and I really wanted to make the day special for Justin because he is just a wonderful father and so much appreciated. Seriously, Jackson is crazy about his daddy!

The day started with Justin getting to sleep in. Jackson woke up bright and early at 6 AM, so I took him downstairs and we worked on an art project for daddy. Then I made a nice breakfast and Justin came down several hour later. After breakfast, he opened his gifts. "Jackson" got him a card, Chaps lounge shorts, godiva chocolate, and a massage. I had made Justin and appt for the next day with his favorite massage therapist for an hour massage. Also, I told Justin that he ought to go see the new Green Lantern movie that night, which he did. He loved his gifts! Then we got ready and headed to church. Dr. Wren gave a great sermon on the importance of Fathers. The rest of the day we spent taking it easy and then we had a delicious dinner at Triangle Bar and Restaurant, finished with cake pops for dessert. Justin said it was a fantastic Father's day!

22 Months

2011-06-19T03:58:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to write this post for a couple of weeks, but I kept running out of time. Life seems to happen in fast-forward these days! At 22 months:

-Jackson is a talking machine. He is starting to string more words/syllables together. One thing that he says all the time is "zippedy-do-da". I am not sure where he got that from..maybe his MMO program? After he said it, I started singing the song and he loves it. He chimes in at the "my, oh, my" part and the "mister bluebird" part. He also seems to like singing more and more and he is also a champ at naming the artist of songs that come on. He amazes us all the time with it. He can instantly pick out a song by Bob Marley, Sarah McLachlan, Sting, Enya, Tom Petty, and Hootie (haha).

-He is definitely soaking up everything like a sponge. He loves doing his puzzles. He has a numbers puzzle (0-9) and he will say all of the numbers as he is putting them in the puzzle. He will start counting things spontaneously and pointing out letters of the alphabet on things as well. He still loves reading and pulling out ALL of his books. We are up to reading 3 nighttime stories now.

-He is starting to remember places. Once we visit a place a time or two, he will start pointing it out when we drive by. If it is a restaurant he will say "eat", or if we go by a place with an elevator, he will say "up, down". He knows hotels very well and will get extremely excited when we drive up to one. He will start jabbering like crazy and says "up, down, room".

-Jackson is definitely a water baby and is really enjoying this summer at the beach. He loves playing in the ocean, sand, and tidal pools. He is pretty fearless in the ocean and keeps trying to walk in deeper, so we really have to stay right on top of him. The other day we were in Hilton Head and there were jellyfish and starfish washing up everywhere on the beach, so needless to say we stayed in the tidal pools that day!

-He is really into Toy Story right now. He loves all things Woody and Buzz and his favorite is Toy Story 3. He has about 30 minutes right before bed where he watches Toy Story with Justin while I go for my evening run. He absolutely loves it and he has begun laughing at certain scenes (with the monkey) and really getting into it. We got him a stuffed Woody and Buzz and he carries them around everywhere.

-He is sleeping through the night in his own bed. I repeat, he is sleeping through the night in his own bed. And it only took almost two years-ha! Long story short he fell out of our bed one night a little over a week ago. He somehow wiggled his way down to the foot of our bed and slid out. I can only assume that he slid because our bed is three feet high and he didn't have a scratch, bruise, or mark on him. In fact, he didn't even cry. Still, Justin and I were SICK about it. We woke him up and made him walk around and talk for a while to be sure that he was ok, which he was perfectly fine. Still, I couldn't hardly go back to sleep after that. It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "things that go bump in the night" and we knew right then and there that it was past time for him to be in his own bed. We just felt so lucky b/c he could have really hurt himself. So after that, I began putting him back in his own bed every time he woke up. The first two nights were very trying and he got out of bed and repeatedly walked to our room over and over. It was rough for those 2 nights and then it started getting better. Every morning we would tell him how proud we were of him for sleeping in his big boy bed and we also talked about it before bed every night. We play this game where we "call" one of the following: woody, buzz, nana, grandma, aunt boo boo, Uncle A, Agent Oso, Mickey, etc and tell them what a big boy Jackson was for sleeping in his own bed. Jackson loves it! Now he is sleeping through the night in his own bed, although usually waking between 5-6AM...yikes! We do let him get in bed with us for the one last hour of sleep since we are usually in a light sleep. Thankfully he will sleep until 6:30 or 7 AM. The rule is that we don't let him in our bed if it is before 5 AM when the sun is about to come up. He has done really well and we are so proud of our big boy for transitioning so easily.

-He continues to eat ok, although he goes through phases where he loves things and then when he wont touch them. An example is mac and cheese. He is on a mac and cheese strike right now. He absolutely loves fruit and I think he would be happy eating only a fruit salad for every meal if we let him! He had a touch of bronchitis about a week ago that required putting him on his first antibiotic ever. At the doctors office, he was weighed and weighs 26.2 lbs. He has gone up in his weight percentile, but he is still extremely long and lean. He has to wear a belt to keep most of his pants on.

He loves the two bedtime stories that I tell him and demands them at naptime and nighttime. One is (of course) the story of our trip to Hawaii. He loves to fill in all of the parts and talk about the animals that we saw at the zoo and aquarium. He also loves to talk about the pineapple plantation visit and the fact that daddy ate pineapple ice cream. The other story that he LOVES is one that my mom used to tell me. It used to be called the story of "princess Amber", but now it is obviously the story of "prince Jackson". Basically prince Jackson loses his mommy and daddy on Sesame street and runs into many of the characters who help him eventually find his mommy and daddy at the ice cream shop. Jackson smiles during the whole story and I do all of the voices for the characters.

-He is still a pretty well behaved little guy. He does great out in public and at restaurants. We still get comments when we are out about how calm and well behaved he is. ha! He can be a little tornado at home. I don't think he's had a full blown tantrum just yet, but he has had little fits. He responds so well to time out and will go stand and say sorry to us when time is up. He still (lightly) bites and hits, although I can tell it's out of frustration and not necessarily anger. He is extremely affectionate still with me and Justin and loves to snuggle and give kisses. He has the cutest little shy smile when we are telling him how much we love him/are proud of him. What a sweetheart!

Girls night in Savannah and Gulf Shores trip

2011-05-29T18:33:00.001-07:00

I have been waiting on pictures from my girls night in Savannah before posting this, but it is taking too long, so here goes-

A few weeks ago we left for our week long trip to visit with family and celebrate Justin's graduation. We rented a beach house in Gulf Shores, AL. My mother-in-law drove down with us and we made a quick stop in Savannah for the night so that I could go to my good friend from college, Jenny O's bachelorette party. Fun story about Jenny O-she met her soon to be husband at my bachelorette party almost 5 years ago. We were all playing party games and one thing was that we had to find a guy in a bar to take of his shirt and propose to me. It just so happens that Jenny hit it of with the guy who was chosen (we affectionately named him "Cowboy Steve" and they were inseparable after that.

I am so excited that they are getting married, although sad that we are going to miss the wedding in Punta Cana, DR. Let me say it again: I am SICK that we are going to miss their beautiful wedding :( At any rate, It was such a treat to see many of my long lost BFF from college in Savannah. I sure do miss the old days in college where we all were pretty much inseparable all of the time. We were all on the dance team together and so we saw each other pretty much every day. Now we are all spread out across the U.S., so it is a rare treat to get together. And can I just say I LOVE how everyone is exactly the same when we get together. I hope that never changes! Even though life has taken us on different paths you can always count on the same personalities to click, the same ones to clash, and everyone to have a blast together. Although I do have to say, the night would have been even better if my girl Sara had been there. We had a great time and I was just so happy to be there. Plus I really needed a girls night. JennyO looked beautiful and we had a lot of fun. My girl Whitnei was hilarious and kept me laughing most of the night. I got in pretty late that night and only got about 4 hours of sleep that night. It was so worth it, though!

The next day was Mother's day and we headed out for FL. We stopped halfway and stayed over the night in Marianna FL. There was nothing too exciting there, but it was nice not to have to make the trip all in one day. The next day we arrived in Gulf Shores. A few hours later, Justin's sister Brooke, Adrian, Kaylan and Kendall showed up. It was SO nice to see them and get to spend time with family and our sweet nieces. Jackson didn't know what to think about Kaylan at first, but he was actually scared of Kendall...it was hilarious! I am not sure why. The best part was, sweet tiny Kendall was enthralled with him and every time she came near him he would run away. I can't wait to tell him about it one day when he is older! That afternoon we all headed out the pool. Jackson proceeded to rub his eye and get sunscreen in his eye, which made him VERY unhappy. He cried and cried-It was so sad to see him so upset. Finally we made it to the pool and he really seemed to enjoy it. That night we ordered takeout from a nearby restaurant and then crashed.

Throughout the rest of the week, we spent most mornings at the beach. We rented a tent for the kiddos to play under and we had beach toys galore. Jackson seemed to really like the sand and water, although we didn't go too far out in the gulf. The water was kind of rough most days. Once Kaylan ventured out with Adrian into the water, she didn't want to get out. Kendall on the other hand preferred to hang out inside. She wasn't too keen on the feeling of her feet in the sand. We had a couple of dinners at the house that were just so delicious! Adrian made a shrimp boil one night and then grilled out hamburgers and hot dogs another night and it was SO GOOD! We also ate at some fantastic seafood restaurants: Bahama Bobs Beachfront restaurant, The Hangout, and The Original Oyster House were a few of our favorites. One of my favorite parts of the vacation was our afternoon naps. After a morning at the beach and showers, it was just awesome to climb in bed with Jackson in between us and take a long nap. I have always been a huge fan of naps! One day after our nap we went to the zoo, which was fun. It was a small zoo, which was perfect size for us. Jackson seemed to enjoy feeding the goats. Another highlight for me on the trip was our evening walks on the beach with the whole fam as the sun was setting.

We had perfect weather, except for one afternoon right before we left when we got a crazy storm. The rain was coming down so hard and the wind was blowing it sideways. We went back down to the beach afterwards and our tent had completely bent-as in the metal poles were twisted and bent. I couldn't believe it! The people next to us completely lost their tent. Glad we were safe inside for that one! One funny part of the trip that I meant to mention earlier-the first day at the pool, we saw what we thought was a giant rat go scurrying by the pool. It really freaked us out and we got out soon after. The next day we saw a sign on the beach about the turtles and Alabama sand mice being federally protected in this area. Justin's mom was so funny-she kept saying " I can understand turtles, but RODENTS? You've got to be kidding me". Then me and Justin started calling the trip "Nights in Rodent-e", like the Nicholas Sparks book/movie. I guess you had to be there.

We had so much fun spending time with everyone and we were sad to go home. By the end of the trip Jackson was following Kaylan around and playing hide and seek with her. He was still leery of Kendall. I really wish we all lived closer together. Jackson also really warmed up to Aunt Boo Boo, Uncle A, and Nana, especially toward the end of the trip. I can't wait to see everyone again-hopefully soon! Here are a few photos:

My Mother's Day Flowers

Playing with Daddy on the Beach

Sweet Kaylan-she is getting so big!

Happiest baby ever!

Jackson in mid-tantrum. Also, theres nothing like spending a week in a bathing suit to make you feel horrible about your body. I am 3 lbs up from my pre-Jackson weight, 6 lbs up from wedding weight...unacceptable. I am working on it, though!

Gulf Shores Zoo-this tiger had it out for Justin. He kept acting agitated when Justin came around and kept spraying at us. Glad we were far enough out of the way not to get hit!

Enjoying his Firefly Sweet Tea:

Jackson thinks everything Uncle "A" does in hilarious!

He loves his Aunt Boo boo. He has been asking for her since our trip.

During one of our evening walks-please excuse the crazy hair

Kaylan was a little camera shy

Nana with all of her grands

This playground was amazing!

He would swing all day if it were up to him...

Can you find Kaylan in this picture?

Saying bye bye-giving Uncle A a high five

He sleeps like this all the time in the car now. Ah, to have the life of Jackson-It must be good!

It's done...

2011-05-27T18:35:00.000-07:00

Breastfeeding, that is!

I can't believe I did it for just short of two years. Well, a year and 10 months to be exact.

No wait, to be exact, it would be 655 days OR 1 year, 9 months, and 17 days!!

It is certainly bittersweet. You know, it's funny I never thought I would nurse Jackson for this long. I remember telling my OB and the nurses who delivered Jackson that I would do ANYTHING required to ensure that I would breastfeed him exclusively for 6 months and that I try my hardest to nurse him for a year. I would have pumped every hour if I had to, taken supplements, etc. You name it, I would have done it. Thankfully I didn't have to do any of that, but I was always concerned that I was making enough milk. HAHA! If I had only known that I would be doing it for almost two years. Three things I learned:

#1) Your supply is going to be JUST FINE if you don't get up in the middle of the night to pump. Jackson was only sleeping in 4-5 hour increments there for awhile and still I was getting up to pump every 3 hours or so. No wonder I was so tired! Talk about a walking zombie. I wish I had slept when Jackson did instead of being a milk supply nazi and sitting downstairs pumping at 2:30 every morning. I was sleeping in 2 hour increments. I remember one such night I had just pumped a bottle and was so tired that I spilled it all over the kitchen counter. I was so upset that I cried and then had a really hard time falling back asleep. As soon as I fell asleep, Jackson woke up. Go figure! I remember reading a card at Hallmark soon after that almost made me start crying right there in the store, but brought a smile to my face at the same time:

#2)The lactation consultant doesn't always know best. Although I am SO thankful for them! Mine was great at the hospital and I am forever grateful to her for helping me get the hang of it. Once I got home, I started worrying about my supply because I was only getting about 3-4 oz when I pumped. When I called her, she said she had another patient who was getting 8 oz every time and that maybe I should try pumping more/longer. The result of that conversation is that I started trying so hard to get more and you know what? It was a big ole fat waste of time. As a matter of fact, I don't think I ever pumped more than 4-5 oz except if it had been a long time in between feedings. I know she was trying to help, but by her comparing me to another patient, I set a standard for myself that I was never going to reach. I realized it soon and gave up trying to get more milk and pumping longer. And obviously I was worried for nothing because Jackson never ended up needing or having a single drop of formula.

#3)People will pat you on the back and tell you how wonderful it is that you are breastfeeding for about the first 9 months. After that, the comments go from "Good for you! That's great that you are nursing him" to "Oh, wow...you are still nursing? When do you plan on stopping? to "OH MY GOSH GIRL I cant believe you are still nursing! Are you going to be one of those crazy moms that nurses their baby until they are six?" It's funny the comments that I've gotten, but some have been very positive. By the way, Justin said this was totally me when we saw this movie. We got quite a laugh!

The weaning process was a long one for me, but it was very gentle. Thankfully it was done with minimal tears and although not happy about it, Jackson seems to have accepted it. I knew it was about time, but my most recent dr. visit made me realize that the time was now. I have had several appts with the breast surgeon, who does my clinical breast exams every six months and it has been a standing joke that by the next appt, I would be done breastfeeding. Of course, I never was. Given my family history of breast cancer and the fact that I have had a past biopsy, my surgeon wants me to get a baseline mammogram this year at age 30. Of course I can't have one if I am pregnant, so I have a window of opportunity between when I stop nursing and when we start trying to get pregnant again. That being said, I realized that I wanted to have some time in between the two, so I am all set to get my mammogram in July, which meant I needed to stop breastfeeding now. So it was a good time to stop.

But like I said, it is really bittersweet. Even though I had 2 bouts of mastitis, at least 15 or so plugged ducts and 2 nasty bites from my vampire baby- I would do it again in a heartbeat! It was all worth it and more!

Of course, like CLOCKWORK, Jackson has now decided that since he isn't getting the good stuff anymore, he is going to refuse to sleep in his own bed for nighttime AND for naps. I will rock him and he will be snoring and as soon as I lay him down in his bed, he pops his eyes open and cries. Then it takes FOREVER to get him back to sleep. Because of this, he has spent he last couple of nights in bed with us. He had gotten so good at sleeping in his own bed for most of the night and then just like that, it was over. We are giving it a few days to see if it is a phase, but I am afraid this may be a related to weaning him. Who knows? I am hoping that this is just a short phase!

Packing Heat

2011-05-20T18:38:00.000-07:00

"If I find you been creepin' 'round my back stairs...."

Thaaaat's right- It only took two years, but I finally fired my gun for the first time!

We decided to get a gun after I got pregnant b/c I wanted to have one in the house for protection in case Justin was out of town and I was home alone with the baby. We decided to buy a Walther P22. Once we bought the gun, it occured to me that I probably shouldnt go shoot it while pregnant and my OB said I should probably wait until after the baby was born because of how loud a gun range is. She also said that she had never had that question asked to her in all of her years of practice-haha, leave it to ME!

Anyway, in almost two years since Jackson was born, we never made time to go fire the gun until this week. We finally had a day when Jackson was at his MMO program and we both had an hour to get away from work. We brought my gun for me to shoot and Justin rented a 9 MM to try out because soon we are going to buy one more to add to our arsenal (ha). I was kinda nervous to shoot b/c I had only shot a 12 gauge and 20 gauge shotgun before, but that was years ago. It was my first time shooting a pistol. I did MUCH better than I thought I would. It really fun for both of us! Most importantly, I learned how to load the gun and empty the clip. I am looking forward to going back soon.

Justin really liked the 9 mm but I think he is going to try out a few different ones before we buy one. I also shot the 9 mm and it packs a much more powerful punch than my 22. Anyway, don't worry, we have the gun WAAAY out of reach from Jackson and the clip is stored separately, so it stays unloaded. Also, this weekend we are going to buy a lock box for it to add further protection. Safety first! :)

21 Months!

2011-05-18T17:57:00.001-07:00

Where's Jackson? Loves to ride his bike!

I am a little late on this update since we were on vacation last week. I can't believe that Jackson is just three months short of turning two. We put down the deposit for his 2nd birthday party. It is going to be at the Little Gym near our house. I am excited-I know he is going to love it! At 21 months:

-Jackson is jabbering up a storm. When he gets excited I have trouble understanding what he is saying. I wish I could figure it out. It is adorable! His favorite phrase is "what's this?" or "what is it?". He says that all the time. He still loves to read. I can tell he is really listening too. He has a book that has a school bus in it that I always point out. The other day we were sitting at a traffic light and he kept saying "school" over and over again. When I looked back, he was pointing at a bus next to us in traffic. Smart boy!

-His elevator obsession still runs strong. During our vacation last week, when we stayed in a hotel, we had to ride the elevator over and over. He gets extremely excited and will start stomping and dancing in the elevator. He also "helps" the doors close. The worst is getting him to leave the elevators when it is time to go. He cries and says "up and down" over and over on the car ride home.

-He loves Special Agent Oso on the Disney channel. He asks for "So" all the time. We let him watch one episode in the morning and one more after his nap. I don't know what it is about it, but he just loves that show. If he is crying, I will start singing the theme song and he will stop crying. Mickey has taken a backseat to Oso.

-He keeps going through periods of eating a ton of food and then not eating as much. I cut up a fruit salad for every meal and he loves it. He is still refusing most veggies, but his dr. says that is ok b/c he is getting what he needs from his vitamin. He has been doing great with eating chicken, and salmon but he is not a huge pasta fan. At dinner, sometimes I have to bribe him with ice cream. If I put the ice cream in front of him, he will eat whatever is on his plate!

-I think he has gotten taller. He just seems taller and bigger all of the sudden. He is also getting much more hair-finally! We are going to be getting haircut #2 very soon. I hope he doesn't cry this time!

-He is still so affectionate and sweet. He seems to be over his little nasty phase of being fussy and throwing fits...for now. I am sure it will come back soon. I am really enjoying this time with him. Tonight I was sitting on the couch reading a book and he came up behind me and put his arms around my neck and laid his head on my shoulder-it surely melted my heart! He is still very affectionate with Justin and when he is in bed with us, he is glued to Justin. Jackson is definitely a snuggler and I LOVE it!

-He is almost completely weaned. One last feeding to cut out, but my milk is almost gone. The end is near and it has been so much easier than I though and pretty stress free for both of us. More on that later...

-Church is going well, but he has begun to throw a fit as we walk in the nursery door. It is quite fun to walk past our pastor with a screaming child..haha, it's not that bad. The teachers say as soon as we leave, he stops crying almost immediately, so that makes me feel better. When we pick him up, he is always playing and having a good time. He'll get used to it soon-I hope!

-I wish I could remember all of the new stuff that he says and does, but honestly it is moving so fast these days. Jackson has the best sense of humor and we laugh every day with him. I just love to watch him and try to soak up every moment that we spend together. I love this boy so much!

Justin's Graduation

2011-05-02T19:05:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that two years flew by so quickly! This past week we traveled to Gainesville, FL for his graduation on Friday. Somehow on the way down we managed to dodge all of those devastating storms that hit the deep south a few days before. Justin's mom came with us and we were so proud to see Justin walk across the stage and graduate! Jackson was an angel during the graduation. As a matter of fact, he was great for the whole trip. His favorite part was riding the hotel elevators. He is serious about those elevators. He knows his way around the hotel really well since we have stayed there many times. He knew exactly where to go. The staff remembered him and couldnt get over how much he has grown and how cute he is (of course! ) Justin is so glad to be done with school and getting to enjoy his evenings and weekends again. He did pretty much all of his schoolwork when Jackson was napping or sleeping so that he could spend as much time as possible with his family during the day. What a great husband/father! He will take a semester off and has been asked to come back next semester as a teaching assistant. Way to go honey! What a wonderful accomplishment! Here are some pictures from his graduation:

Getting ready for Daddy's Graduation

Picture from the big screen because I was sitting too far away to get a good up close picture.

Where's Waldo?

Easter 2011

2011-04-24T18:40:00.001-07:00

We had a great day-Big breakfast at home, church, easter basket, nap, wagon ride, and Justin took his last final for grad school! Here are a few pictures:

Growing up

2011-04-22T18:30:00.000-07:00

Check out some of the changes that we've made over the last few months:

We converted his crib to a toddler bed, although I didn't feel that the guards that came with the crib were big enough. Instead, we bought a crib rail that is a little longer and he has done great with it. He can get in and out of his bed with ease now.

We put away his highchair and bought a booster seat, which he loves. He crawls up into it anytime he is hungry.

We bought his first potty! It looks great, huh? That's because it has never been used. As a matter of fact, he won't even sit on it yet. I think this sends us a clear message that he's not close to being ready for potty training. The good news is that he will tell us when he has gone "poo". He does a special little dance to let us know.

He got his first decent boo boo the other day while playing outside. He stepped up on our porch step and his foot slipped. He cried for a few seconds and then was fine. It wasn't until I checked his legs until I saw the blood. Thankfully it wasn't much! I think he was much more bothered by the band aid than by the cut itself. It is almost all healed now.

He loves to sit in his big boy rocking chair

He is already reading on a 1st grade level!

Nah, not really, but he is a champ at pointing out things in his books! :)

We finally hung the painting that we had made in Hawaii. I really love it!

And one more-just because he is SO ADORABLE!!

Impromptu trip to the dentist

2011-04-20T18:44:00.000-07:00

Today we took a quick trip to the dentist. We were just there about 2 months ago for Jackson's first cleaning and had a great visit. Jackson got a wonderful report on his teeth, which was a relief since I still nurse him to sleep at night. About a week ago I thought I noticed his front tooth looked a little "streaky". It looked like maybe a whitish looking streak but it was hard to tell. Then I started kinda obsessing over it. I already brush his teeth 3 times a day, but I kept trying to see the tooth in different lighting to see what it might be. I googled "tooth decay" and it didnt look like that at all, so I put a call into the dentist yesterday to see what he thought. They wanted us to bring him in so they could take a look.

Jackson was seen today by Justin's pediatric denist, which was great. He was a really nice guy. He got a good look under the lights and said it was definitely NOT tooth decay or enamel issues. He said most likely the tooth wasn't perfect white before and that I was just noticing a little discoloration (normal) for the first time. He said that it looked like there might be a very tiny bit of non cavity causing bacteria on the tooth which is what I might be seeing, but that it would resolve on it's own in a few weeks. He sees it daily on toddlers this age. He told me I could brush a little harder, but that it may not get it off. I was glad to hear that it will go away all on its own. He said there are absolutely no signs or concerns of decay or cavity. Jackson's little teeth looked great! He did remind me of the importance of brushing at night without nursing to sleep afterwards, which I totally need to bite the bullet and do. We are getting closer and closer every day to cutting out the bedtime feeding. This is going to sound a bit crazy, but this afternoon and evening I was looking at his teeth and I can barely see any discoloration at all. It looks pretty much all white to me now. Go figure. I was just so thankful to hear from the dentist that his teeth are still in tip top shape!

20 Months

2011-04-13T18:17:00.000-07:00

Eating frozen yogurt with Daddy.. He loves his tricycle

Smelling Daddy's coffee

Annoyed at Mommy for taking so many dang pictures!

We are creeping closer and closer to the twos! Another month has flown by. At 20 months:

-We think he may be getting his last (2nd) molars soon. He has been drooling a bunch and sticking his fingers in his mouth. I haven't seen them poking through yet, but it wouldn't surprise me to see them soon.

-Little man has been a handful the last week or so! I am not sure if maybe it is the teeth getting ready to pop through or if it is just a phase, but he has definitely been throwing more fits and testing us more often. He has started walking right out of time out with a smile on his face. We keep putting him back over and over until he finally gives up and whines the whole time. He also begs to go outside for a wagon ride and the second that we start heading home after the ride is over, he cries and throws a fit the whole time. I am quite sure the neighbors are wondering what we did with our sweet happy baby. The ultimate in fun, though, was last week when I picked him up from mothers morning out program. I guess he got mad that I was taking him home from his fun because as soon as I picked him up he smacked me as hard as he could right across the face....while the teachers were looking on! Talk about embarassing! I grabbed his hands and told him "no" and he kept trying to do it again. I think he was embarassed because his teachers were like "JACKSON what is this? You have never done this before" His teachers were shocked and said he has still never once had a fit with them and is extremely well behaved. I know he was overtired and ready for a nap, but I still couldnt believe my baby boy did that. He was over it as soon as we got in the car and was smiling by the time we got home. I guess he just saves the good stuff for mommy :/

-The sickies have made their way through our house the past few weeks. In our household, it's extremely predictable how it goes: Jackson gets a mild version, then mommy gets an even milder version, then daddy gets it last but usually gets a much more severe version. On one hand, it's good because we all get it one at a time. On the other hand, it sucks because it lingers as it hits us one at a time. We did take Jackson to the dr. for a lingering cough and he checked out fine. We did get him a decongestant, but no antibiotic was needed.

Despite sickness and toddler fits, we have had lots of wonderful things happening too!

-Jackson continues to amaze us every day with all that he is soaking up and learning. One of his favorite things to do is to curl up with one of us and read books. There are usually about 6 or 7 out at a time and we read them over and over to him. He loves to count to ten and do ABC's with us. He has begun picking out his nighttime stories. He will point to the ones that he wants to read each night. He has really gotten good at communicating with us what he wants/needs.

-He still LOVES music. His new favorite artist is Sting. He requests "Ting" at least twice a day. He loves to dance, spin around, stomp his feet, clap, and shake his head to the music. Sometimes he gets embarassed when he sees us watching and he will get a shy smile and stop dancing, so I try to watch without him knowing.

-Speaking of embarrassed, you know how babies this age usually hide when they have to poo? Not Jackson. Nope, he likes to do it right in front of you and then do a dance right afterward. Justin taught him how to do it and he thinks it is what you do when you take a poo now. True story, the other night in the mall he was having a blast running slightly ahead of us and then all of the sudden he stopped and squatted right in the middle of everyone and did his business right then and there. His whole face turned red. and then as soon as he was done, he started running agian. People stopped to look and Justin was like "what can I say, he has no shame" haha!

-He is slowly eating more and more. He is currently loving mashed potatoes, mac n cheese, scrambled eggs, bacon, and strawberries. I got him some earths best organic frozen mac n cheese for the nights when we are eating something that he wont eat. I heated it up the other day and he wanted nothing to do with it. The noodles were fun shaped noodles and not macaroni so he was skeptical. I tried bribing him by offering him a couple of spoonfuls of chocolate frozen yogurt (his FAVORITE) and so he finally ate several bites of the oddly shaped macaroni. Then the gagging started and I knew it was all over. Right about then he vomited right there at the kitchen table. Ahh gotta love it. I ended fixing him a whole new dinner (ham and cheese sandwich) and he ate it all up. Just another day in paradise ;)

-Although we do greatly limit his TV watching, his new fav show is Special Agent Oso on Disney. Also, he loves to curl up with Justin and watch "Top Gear", the BBC version. He will point to the TV and say "car" over and over. You know Justin loves this. Most of the time we have music playing instead of TV, but we do put the TV on for a bit in the morning and while I am cooking dinner.

-He is in LOVE with the story of our vacation to Hawaii. He asks us to tell him all about Hawaii several times throughout the day and he likes to interject all of the words he knows and what we did/saw. Sometimes he wakes up and the first thing he says is Hawaii. He's borderline obsessed. I don't know if he even remembers the trip, but he does love the story. If he is upset, it is the one thing that calms him down.

-He still loves all things daddy. He is still very affectionate with both of us, but he lights up whenever Justin walks in the room and he is constantly seeking Justin's approval. It is the sweetest thing. Me and Jackson still have our snuggle time in the evenings right before bed, though. Also, he loves playing "picnic" with me where we set up all of his stuffed animals and have lunch with his play food. Although we are starting to experience these "fun" little nasty fits (they are few and far between), Jackson is still our sweet and wonderful child. We couldn't ask for a more perfect little boy!

Updates...

2011-03-31T18:19:00.000-07:00

-We got a new car! Actually, Justin got a new company car. It is a fully loaded GMC Acadia and is silver with tan leather interior. Some of my favorite features: DVD (for long car trips only), double sunroofs, touchscreen navigation, bluetooth, 3rd row seating, etc. We picked it up tonight and it is awesome!! Can't wait to take in on our next roadtrip. Here are some photos:

-Speaking of our next roadtrip, it will be back to Gainesville for Justin's graduation. We can't believe that 2 years has flown by so fast. He graduates at the end of April and I am so proud of him! He has worked hard and it has paid off. In fact, his professors and program administrators have also taken notice of his hard work. He has been asked to join the University of Florida as a TA (teaching assistant) and it looks like he will start next semester. Way to go sweetie!

-We have put Jackson on the waiting list for a nearby preschool. It is hard to believe that he will be approaching 2 years old this summer! It will be a part time preschool (half day), but it will be great for him to begin a curriculum. We have been working on his ABCs and numbers and he is getting so good!

-We are finally getting back to church and are going to start going regularly. Nobody will be able to call us Creasters (Christmas and Easter-goers) anymore! :) ha! Jackson will be starting Sunday School. Basically the teachers play with him and relate the lesson to his play. It will be nice to be there as a family of three. I am embarrased to say that the last time we went was when I was pregnant. Dr. Wren might just keel over from shock when he sees us in the congregation! Seems like just yesterday we were doing our premarital counseling with him...where does the time go?

-The new bigger vehicle does not equal new baby on the way. Just want to put that out there! Seems like the new topic of conversation these days. I guess once your baby turns 1, people start looking to you to get pregnant again. Here's the thing-There are definitely times when I am all gung ho for # 2. But there are also times that I think how much I love being able to devote so much time soley to Jackson. We are really enjoying this time with our sweet boy. And dare I say, things are relatively easy with him right now since he can follow simple commands, feed himself, sleeping better, etc. I know a new baby would dramatically change what we have now. When that time (hopefully!) comes, I will welcome that blessing with open arms...but we are not quite ready yet...although that ticking clock in the back of my mind is getting a little louder as time goes on. But for now we are enjoying each beautiful day with Jackson. Writing this just made me think of the video below. Remember that show Ally McBeal? Instead of hearing a ticking clock she would see a dancing baby. I loved that show!

-This weekend is an epic weekend in Charleston. There are 4 big events: Cooper River Bridge Run, James Island Cajun Festival, Summerville Flowertown Festival, and Family Circle Cup tennis tournament. Who plans all of that in one weekend? I am looking forward to a fun weekend at the Flowertown Festival. More importantly, though-April 4th will be our SEVEN year anniverary of dating. We started dating 4/4/4 and it was a magical day! We actually went to the Cajun festival that day and had a great time. I always love this time of year because it reminds me when it all began. Fun times!

Jackson's 1st Haircut in pictures

2011-03-16T18:02:00.000-07:00

I don't think I like this....

Get me OUTTA here!!

Hey Lady-watch those scissors, will ya?

I'm still not too sure about this...

Boy, some snacks sure would be nice...Hey, what is that up there?

Sweet...a TV with a Disney movie playing! I'll sit here, but I'm not happy about it

Hey, this is not so bad after all!

Man, I am one handsome fella!

Success! Thank You Miss Kelly! So, uh, do you come here often? (Haha)

19 Months

2011-03-13T07:30:00.000-07:00

Vroom vrooom! But I don't wanna leave the playground! :(

Happy, Happy Boy!

Ready for school

Daddy's Shoes

Two peas in a pod! This child LOVES his daddy!

Fun in Gainesville, FL at the playground

Working the "mote"

Hanging with mama before heading to bed...

Another month has flown by! At 19 months:

-Jackson is a talking machine! He will repeat most things and he has a huge vocabulary already. It amazes me everyday the new words that he learns. He also loves to make animal noises, and his favorite is a monkey. If I mention a banana he will get really excited and start hollering like a monkey (ooh ooh ahh ahh) at the top of his lungs. This is really fun when we are in a quiet restaurant :)

-He loves to go play on the playground. He loves the slide and he always makes sure that one of us is watching so that we can make over him when he slides down. He also loves the swings and he will just laugh and laugh while on them. He recently started liking the merry-go-round. He is so independent and he wants to do everything on his own. He gives me small heart attacks at times because he will be on the jungle gym and will start walking backwards if he is distracted. He has fallen a few times, but thankfully not too far. He really enjoyes playing with other kids on the playground. I caught him recently trying to play "Boo!" with a little girl. He kept jumping out and saying "Boo" trying to scare her. She smiled at him and then ran away. haha!

-He will pretty much try any food that is put in front of him...except melons! He does not like any kind of melon so far. Who does that sound like? He is (finally) eating blueberries, strawberries, and grapes. I make him a fruit salad every day. He has started eating more chicken and scrambled eggs (not at the same time :) He had his first taste of fish and broccoli recently as well, which he seemed to like. Also, he is crazy about Mac and Cheese. We recently went to eat in Awendaw at SeeWee with his pediatrician, Dr. Drew. Jackson sat next to Dr. Drew and snuck bites of his mac n cheese until it was all gone! But, hey, it was SeeWee mac n cheese-can you blame him? :) He feeds himself completely now. I had been feeding him his yogurt for the most part, but the ladies at his MMO program said that he feeds himself there. When I heard that, I have him the spoon the next time he ate yogurt and he ate every bite by himself! He's not a baby anymore!

-He is responding very well to time out. When he does something that warrants a time out, we tell him to go to time out and he will walk to his time out spot in whichever room we are in. He will usually stand quietly and wait for us to tell him that he can come out. When he does, he walks up to either one of us and gives us a hug and says "sorry". That being said, sometimes when he is in time out, he will start dancing, playing "boo", doing other extremely cute things which makes us laugh at him. He knows he is being charming and he uses it. That is surely something that he gets from his daddy! For the most part, he is very well behaved...just a couple of seconds of nastiness here and there. He is still an angel at his MMO program. They said they have never once seen him pitch a fit about anything. I guess he saves that for us. Still, overall he is a happy go lucky guy! (for now, at least!)

-He is still obsessed with our boat. We keep it in our garage, so naturally he thinks that all garages hold boats. When we go for a wagon ride in our neighborhood, he points to every garage and yells "BOAT" really loud. He is also now obsessed with Annabelle. I finally let him pet her and she has been great with him. I was wary of letting her get too close after she semi attacked me during the altercation with the stray cat several months ago. She seems to really love Jackson and he is so happy following her around the yard. I just have to make sure that he doesnt step on her, because she might change her opinion after that!

-He is tall and skinny. People usually guess that he is two years old because he is really tall for his age. His eyes are still blue. Dr. Drew thinks he will probably be mostly blue eyed, although we all agreed that we think we see the slightest hint of a green sliver in his eyes. Dr. Drew's guess is that he will have blue/green eyes, more on the blue side. We'll see! He is getting his first haircut this coming week. I can't believe that he is 19 months old and never needed a haircut. It is getting kind of unruly now, so it is time. I will miss all of his curls!

-He is into stickers right now. I gave him some on the plane ride to Hawaii and he loved them. Now, he wants stickers all of the time. He loves to stick them all over himself and the house. He still loves to color, and he will try to color on the floor if I am not watching him closely. I wanna try fingerpaints soon. I imagine that will be fun! :P

-I am actively weaning him now. He is down to nursing 3 times a day. I am cutting the morning feeding out in a week or so. The plan is to be done for good in about 6 weeks. You know how well I stick to a weaning plan, though! I know I sound like a broken record, but for real though, I am feeling very serious about it now. Stay tuned.

We are loving every.single.minute with Jackson. He has such a wonderful sense of humor and he makes us laugh every day with something new that he does or says. I know I've said it before, but we are so lucky and blessed to be Jackson's parents!

Not The Mama!!

2011-02-23T18:47:00.000-08:00

Oh yes, this child is completely in a daddy phase. When he goes to sleep at night he asks for Daddy. When I put him in bed with us, he immediately snuggles as close as humanly possible to Justin and stays glued to his side all night. First thing in the morning, he wants-you guessed it-Daddy.

When did mommy become a second class citizen in the house? I am like the B side on a cassette tape (Hello 1980!) in my own household. As much as I miss being top dog, I really do love the fact that Jackson is so attached to his Daddy. And why wouldn't he be? Justin spends so much time with his baby boy and he is an amazing father to him. Don't you know Justin is EATING it up. He loves it!

At least I still get hugs and kisses, but only after Justin gets them first. Also, Jackson still gets upset if I leave the room, but as long as me and Justin are both in the room Jackson seems to prefer hanging with Daddy a little more. Oh well, I will let Justin have his glory. He deserves it. Maybe Jackson will swing back to a mommy phase soon. Either way, he knows he is loved so much by both parents and that is a wonderful thing!

**Okay, I realize baby Sinclair said "not the mama" to his Daddy as he was beating him over the head with a frying pan and that he was usually pretty mean to his dad, which is the opposite of what I am trying to say. It's just that the title seemed to fit perfectly for this post!

18 month stats

2011-02-23T18:37:00.000-08:00

Weight: 24.5 lbs- 29th percentile
Height: 35 inches-97th percentile
Head Circumference: 19 inches- 61st percentile

Jackson is long and lean! He didn't gain much weight from his last visit, but our pediatrician said that was perfectly fine. He has grown several inches and we think he had a big growth spurt in Hawaii. We had a great visit with Dr. Drew. Jackson got two shots but the DTaP vaccine seems to really bothering him this time. He was fine after the visit earlier today but tonight he has been saying "knee" over and over and pointing to the leg that got the DTaP shot. He is also limping from the soreness. We gave him a warm bath and Tylenol tonight, so hopefully he will feel better soon. I think it is the Tetanus part of that shot that is really getting him.

We're famous!

2011-02-22T18:14:00.000-08:00

Ok, well not really. Not really at all. BUT.....

A while back we got all dressed up and went to a local downtown restaurant, Circa 1886, for some drinks and appe-teasers while they took photos for their new revamped website. Well, the website is up and we are in one of the photos :) We didn't think we would end up in any of them since we had to leave halfway through the shoot to come home and put Jackson to bed. We saw the website today and the new pictures on the website are beautiful! Of course, we got a good laugh at ourselves. I am not sure why it's so funny to us but we both cracked up. Justin says the reason he is shown more than me (you can barely see me) in this photo is because I look 12 years old, but we all know the real reason is that he is so DANG good looking! :) Still, this was a lot of fun and I am glad we made the cut! Check us out!

http://circa1886.com/restaurant/overview

Hawaii!

2011-02-17T18:48:00.000-08:00

ABCs!!

2011-02-17T18:32:00.000-08:00

18 Months

2011-02-16T18:17:00.000-08:00

Kissing his pal, Pooh

Opening his Valentines Card...Notice the chocolate around his mouth. :)

Jackson is 18 months old!! A whole year and a half....where is the time going? I feel like a broken record, but we are just enjoying this age so much! Jackson is learning new things every day and we are constantly surprised and entertained by all that he does. At 18 months:

-Jackson is a talking machine! He can repeat most words and we are working on teaching him his ABCs. His new favorite word is Hawaii. I am constantly amazed at how quickly his vocabulary is picking up by the day. He also loves making all kind of animal noises. His current favorite is a monkey (go figure!). He will be sitting there and then all of the sudden go "Ooh ooh Ah Ah Ah!" Then I will say to Justin "Daddy, is there a monkey in here? I think I hear a monkey!" That gets Jackson really excited and he will keep doing it over and over again. He also loves to "blow" his nose (like Daddy) and smell flowers.

-His new favorite show is Special Agent Oso on the Disney channel. He still loves to read and his new favorite book is "Little Red Riding Hood". It is a really colorful book, and I think he likes the pictures a lot. He also still really loves his truck books. One thing he loves to do is point out momma and daddy in any book or magazine. Basically if he sees a man, he points and says "Dada", and if he sees a woman it is "mama". This is really funny when he gets ahold of a magazine. The other day I was reading People magazine and he saw a picture of Charlie Sheen and said "Dada". haha!

-He still loves to hide and pop out to scare us. He gets ALL excited and will start running around like a wild man while laughing. He also loves to run free. In Hawaii he got to do that a lot on the beach and around the resort, and I guess he got spoiled. He will still hold our hand, but he doesn't like it. When we let him go he will run as fast as he can and I can tell he thinks he is hot stuff.

-He is not biting or hitting at all anymore, which is great. If he throws a fit, it is not too severe at all. An occasional screech or cry is usually the worst of it. It mainly happens when we take him out of the bath at night. He is not happy about that, but he calms down really quickly. I am thankful that we are not in the throws of tantrums right now, but I know we have a long way to go before we see the worst of it. I heard the 3's are the worst! Time out is still completely effective when he does act out. He will walk to his "time out" spot in the room and stand there until we tell him to come out. He usually just looks at us and whines during his time there.

-He is completely off baby food now! Shortly after my last post he flat out started refusing it. He still loves his yogurt, though. He calls it "yo". This has been really convenient, especially when we went on our trip. I have found that some days he eats like a bird and other days he cleans his plate at every meal, so I know that is completely normal. Still, I am really trying to push some green veggies since he is not getting them via baby food anymore. Also, his yogurt is green bean and pear. Sounds nasty, but he loves it! He was really open to trying new foods in Hawaii. Some of his new foods: bacon, blueberries, loved Hawaiian french toast, broccoli, breakfast potatoes, rotisserie chicken (yay).

-He is still nursing 3-4 times a day, but only when he sleeps or wakes up in the night. This was KEY in helping him to adjust during our vacation. I think that was such a huge part of why the sleep transition/travel was so easy. He associates nursing with sleep, so he basically went to sleep at night/naptime whenever we wanted him to. Although I thought I would be done nursing at 18 months, Justin and I were so thankful that I still was for this reason. Yes, I plan on weaning him soon but I am taking it day by day at this point. No, I never thought I would be nursing him this long. Yes, I am really gonna miss that time with Jackson when we are done. No, I'm not going to be that girl that you see on the news who nurses her child until he's six ;).

-It may be time to convert his bed to a toddler bed. He can crawl out of his crib now. It doesn't really matter, though, because he sleeps a good portion of the night in our bed. He slept in our bed every night during vacation and he doesn't want to give it up. We sleep fine with him there, but it will have to stop soon. We just haven't made the effort yet to deal with that battle, and believe me, it will be a battle. He loves to snuggle with Justin and he will stay glued to his side all night. I don't know how Justin can sleep so well, but he does. Still, we know it shouldn't go on too much longer.

-He loves to sing "head, shoulder, knees and toes", although it comes out "nanana". We are teaching him to say please and thank you. He still really loves music and will dance and clap when it comes on. Also, he loves to color and put stickers everywhere. I love to watch him play independently and with others at Mother's morning out when I go to pick him up. He is always going up and down the slide over and over. He loves to interact with other kids.

-Jackson is simply the sweetest boy! We love that he is so affectionate, happy, loving, and attached to mommy and daddy...yet he is so stubborn, independent, and adventurous all at the same time. Also, he has THE GREATEST sense of humor and always finds something funny to laugh at. He is just the best!

Hawaii Photos

2011-02-13T19:32:00.000-08:00

Hawaii-Part 1

2011-02-13T19:20:00.000-08:00

We are back and it was a PERFECT trip from start to finish! I still can't believe that it is all over! Gosh, where to start....I guess I will go from start to finish. So, here goes.

Part 1-Oahu

We woke up bright and early at 5 am to catch our flight from Chas To ATL. Jackson woke up happy and ready to go, which was great! We got to ATL and then had a couple of hours before boarding to Honolulu. We just let Jackson run and run until he was exhausted. When it was time to board, Jackson was well worn out. He fell asleep very easily. Our flight was supposed to be 10 hours, but we caught a great tailwind and arrived just short of 9 hours. The flight went great! Jackson slept for 3 hours and the DVD player got us another couple of hours of relaxation. Otherwise,we were playing with him, reading, coloring, etc. He was great and traveled like a true champ. No breakdowns or crying...just a couple of seconds of fussiness here or there. We got to Honolulu and picked up our rental. We got an upgrade-a Chevy Traverse with a DVD player inside for Jackson to watch...score! This was key in allowing us to have nice happy car rides around the island. We made our way to the hotel-Marriott Resort and Spa in Waikiki. It was about 5:30 pm Hawaii time (10:30 pm SC time so waaay past Jacksons bedtime but he was happy as can be). We ordered room service and gave him a bath and we all crashed at 7 pm (midnight SC time). The next morning, we all woke up at 7 AM. I realized then that Jackson had only been up once to nurse the whole night and that I had gotten over 11 hours of sleep that night. Unheard of! We thought it was a fluke, but it continued throughout the whole trip! No interruptions in sleep or jet lag...it was a seamless transition for us all! Jackson would even nap for about 2-3 hrs every day and only wake once per night-heaven!! I got some of the best sleep I have had in years during our vacation.

Anyway, for our first day in Hawaii, we headed straight to the place we have been talking about eating breakfast at again since our last trip: Dukes Canoe Club at the Outrigger. We had the breakfast buffet and it was amazing! Jackson had his first taste of bacon there and gobbled it all up! Then we headed up the Haliewa and the North Shore. We had lunch at a local place called Kono's, which was delish! Next was a stop at Matsumotos for some shave ice. It did not disappoint and we got our traditional tshirts as well. We even got Jackson one. Then we headed back toward Waikiki to get Jackson back for a nap. After he woke up, we walked around Waikiki and did some shopping. We stopped at Hula Grill (owned by same people as Duke's) for dinner. I have to add this funny story. The whole time during our trip, Jackson was fascinated with the elevators. Everyone thought it was adorable how excited he was. At the hotel, this couple got on the elevator with us and we got into a conversation. Somehow we ended up telling them how one time a few months ago, we were in an elevator with my brother and his family and we were too busy talking that nobody pressed a button. All of the sudden we realized that we weren't moving and we felt like idiots. The other couple said they had never done that, but we all got a good laugh about it. Well, I guess we were tired after a long day, because after dinner at the Hula Grill, Justin and I took the elevator down and were talking and then realized that we hadn't moved because neither one of us pressed the button. HAha! We laughed about it the whole way back. I mean we had just told that couple about doing that and here we did it again. We felt like biscuits! Well, It was a great day! We had planned on the first few days being rough with the time change, but we were so glad to be able to do so much on our first full day in Hawaii!

The next morning we headed back to the North Shore for breakfast at Breaker's in Haliewa. Again, this is a restaurant we visited during our last trip. I had a fresh fruit parfait, Justin had some sort of Acai berry parfait and Jackson had pancakes...it was all so good! Then we made our way to the Dole Plantation because we thought that Jackson would enjoy the train ride. It was a little cheesy, but the views are so gorgeous. Jackson really seemed to enjoy it. When we got back, Justin headed inside for a famous "Dole Whip" while I had Jackson's name painted by a local artist who does Rainbow Art. It is really cool. I will have to take a picture and post it. I am so happy how it turned out. After that, Michelle's Dad and Frances met us at the Dole Plantation and they treated us to lunch at a nearby restaurant. They are so sweet and it was wonderful to see them again! I think they got a kick out of seeing Jackson. Afterwards we headed out for a drive around the island while Jackson napped. The North Shore waves were rockin and the surfers were truly a sight to see. They are so brave to get out in those ginormous waves! I had forgotten just how beautiful the North Shore of Hawaii is....just breathtaking. We wound our way around the island just taking in the gorgeous views around us and got back to the hotel just in time for the streets to close down due to a huge block party for the Pro Bowl. I forgot to mention that Honolulu was so busy during our stay due to the Pro Bowl happening the next day. We ended up walking to the Cheesecake Factory (another tradition) for a quick bite. We got some cake to go and headed back to the hotel. We were feeling really tired this night and delirious once we got back to the hotel. We couldn't stop laughing at everything. Another fun day!!

Day three we headed down to the hotel restaurant for the Breakfast buffet. It was good, but not as good as Dukes. We then walked to the Honolulu Zoo with Jackson. He enjoyed it ok, but I think he would have been just as happy running around in a large field. He just wanted to run free! He noticed the animals, but started to get fussy toward the end. I really enjoyed seeing the monkeys. They were wild when we were there! Since it was almost time for us to head to the airport for Maui, we wrapped it up and headed back to the hotel. We ate lunch at the airport and then took our very short flight to Maui. When we got to Maui, it was raining slightly but otherwise beautiful. I was surprised how different Maui was from Oahu. Oahu is bustling and crowded, but Maui is much less developed and a lot less people. We got our rental car and then headed for the Grand Wailea. WOW, what a treat it was to stay here. It is hands down the nicest resort that I have ever stayed at. We were greeted with fresh leis and our room was gorgeous. We checked in and then drove to a natural food store to pick up some organic fruit/meat/cheese for Jackson that we could put in the fridge. Then me and Jackson ordered room service while Justin had his welcome reception downstairs. Again, we slept like babies that night!

Stay tuned for pictures and Parts 2 and 3 to come soon....

Hawaii Part 2

2011-02-13T19:12:00.000-08:00

On our first day in Maui, Justin had a meeting that morning so he headed out and Jackson and I ordered some pancakes for breakfast. After we ate, we went out to explore the resort and check out all of the different pools. Jackson was so excited to see the pool and kept saying "wawa" over and over again, so I realized that it was time for us to get our bathing suits on and play in the pool/beach. We bought some sand toys and a baby float and went to the "baby beach", which was part of their huge pool system. It starts out a small beach with sand on the bottom and as you get deeper, you are led to the lazy river, rapids, slides, swim up bar, volcano, rope swing, water elevator, etc. Me and Jackson stayed in the lazy river, volcano area, and the adjoining pools. Needless to say, I got some great exercise swimming around while pushing Jackson in his float. He had a blast! We also walked down to the real beach and I let him run around in the sand. I waited to take him to the ocean until Justin could be there to witness Jackson's first time touching the Pacific. That afternoon, Justin was done with his meeting so we chilled a little bit in the room before heading to the Luau put on by his company. It was fantastic! Jackson and I got to meet all of Justin's coworkers and the food was wonderful! I was surprised by how many people brought their babies. There were lots of kids and the entertainment was cool. There were hulu dancers, fire dancers, etc. I wish I had taken my camera that night. We did get one photo from the night. Jackson was in the BEST mood all night. He was charming everyone by saying HAWAII all night, while giving a big smile. We had a classic Hawaiian feast and it was just a wonderful evening with the most amazing backdrop of a perfect Hawaiian sunset to go with it.

The next day was a free day for Justin, so we started out by having breakfast at the hotel restaurant, which was wonderful! Then we headed to the I'ao Valley. This valley is surrounded by the walls of the Pu'u Kukui Crater, which is the second tallest crater in Maui. A little history: This valley is the site of one of the most famous battles that occurred in 1790 and changed Hawaii history forever when King Kamehameha destroyed the Maui army in an effort to unite the Hawaiian islands. When we were there, parts of it felt like we were in the movie "Jurassic Park" with the giant cliffs surrounding us. It was so beautiful! Next we headed to the Maui Tropical Plantation and took the tram ride through the plantation. Halfway through, we got off for a coconut demonstration. Our guide taught us how to properly choose a coconut and demonstrated several tricks of how to get one open. Then we got to sample the fresh coconut. It was a great tour! We then stopped at Cafe O lei for lunch take out and went back to put Jackson down for a nap. Later that evening we drove to LaHaina for dinner. We met some really sweet people who had recommended a place called Kimo's for dinner. We had a wonderful view and ordered some excellent Opakapaka, which was the special that night. It is only available during the months of Dec-Feb, so we took advantage. Then we walked around the town before heading back to Wailea for the night.

Wednesday Justin had another meeting, so Jackson and I headed back to the baby pool and beach again. Jackson had so much fun playing in the sand and water. He napped like a champ that day because he was so worn out! When Justin came back from his meeting , I left to go shopping at our hotel shops. I bought a new dress and shoes to wear at the company dinner for that night. Then we all got ready and went to the dinner. This was another great night! The food was excellent (again!) and Jackson was so well behaved. This time I brought my camera and got some great photos. I really love the ones of Justin and Jackson in their Hawaiian shirts!

Thursday was another free day,so we all went out to the beach/pool together. Justin had a great time checking out the pool with us and did the rope swing several times! :) We also took Jackson down to the beach to stick his toes in the Pacific for the first time ever. Jackson loved the water and just watched it for awhile. We went to the baby beach and let Jackson splash around until he got tired. Then I wrapped him in a towel and gave him his snacks while Justin and I kicked our feet up and laid out with our tropical fruity drinks. It is really one of the highlights of the trip for me. It was a peaceful half hour where we all just chilled out and took it all in. Then we got some lunch and went in for a nap. For dinner that night, we went to Stella Blues Cafe in Kihei and it was an amazing meal!

Friday we woke up and did the breakfast buffet at the resort once again. Although everything was soooo good that we ate there, I have to say that my favorite was the Hawaiian sweet bread french toast....to die for! After breakfast we decided to attempt to drive to the top of the largest crater on Maui, Haleakala. It would be a drive to just over 10,000 feet. We decided to take the drive in hopes that Jackson would nap on the way there. We started on our way and stopped at Zippy's for lunch (had to have Zippy's at least once during our trip!). As we started getting closer to Haleakala, the altitude was definitely climbing. Our ears were popping the whole way up. Jackson was still awake and starting to get fussy. It is not like him not to fall asleep easily in the car, so we wondered if the altitude was bothering him. Then all of the sudden we reached the clouds and our visibility went to zero. I mean, it was difficult to see anything and we were on the crazy twists and turns on cliffs. I know it had to nerve wracking for Justin! As we got higher and higher, Jackson started to really cry...it was a painful cry and we still were in the thick of the clouds. We decided to turn around and just as we made it into Haleakala National Park (at 7,000 ft) Jackson passed out cold and the clouds parted. Wouldn't you know it! We still decided to turn around b/c the last 3,000 feet are nothing but sharp turns and I didn't want to press our luck. We know we'll be back one day and we can try it again then. It just wasn't worth it to chance it. So we headed down and back to the hotel. That night we went to the Shops at Wailea and then had dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise.

Next up-The road to Hana!

Hawaii-Part 3

2011-02-13T18:32:00.000-08:00

Saturday we woke up and decided to head to the surfing town of Paia, which is on the north shore of Maui. The concierge said it was a hippie town, but I don't think we realized how serious she was. We stopped at Maui Coffee roasters on the way for a light breakfast and then headed toward Paia. When we got there, we saw many hitchikers and tree hugging hippies. It was a neat town! We went to all of the shops and in one shop, the owner was definitly on some kind of drug. Still, she gave us the lowdown on where to go for lunch. We went find beach access to let Jackson play, but all we found was one access point with a ton of people sitting around playing guitar and smoking the wacky tabacky! ;) So instead of taking Jackson down there for a contact high, we let him run in a nearby field. He had a blast! Then we stopped at The Flatbread Company for lunch. They use all organic ingredients and cook in a wood fireplace. It was so good, but Jackson got fussy toward the end. We packed up and headed to Hana. Jackson fell asleep immediately and so Justin and I really got to enjoy the drive without too much distraction. The road to Hana is a 68 mile stretch of highway that is EXTREMELY windey and often goes to one lane. It takes about 2 1/2-3 hours just to get to Hana one way. There are many bridges and waterfalls along the way, but the views are simply breathtaking. You see black sand beaches, rainforest, and I even saw a mongoose! Since Jackson was sleeping, we werent able to get out and go exploring much but the drive in itself was enough. We made it withing 5 miles of the end and then we decided to go ahead and turn around. Jackson slept about half of the way back before waking up peacefully. We made a couple of stops along the way. One of which was Twin Falls, which we decided to hike to. We ended up passing right by it (nothing is marked) and then turned around and finally found it. I got so excited every time we saw a waterfall! Finally we drove back to the hotel and ate dinner at 808 cafe in Wailea. We had an excellent dinner in the terrace. I definitely recommend it!

Sunday was our last full day in Maui, so we had breakfast at Mala, the restaurant inside the Marriott Hotel and Spa. Then we drove to Mackena to the Maui Ocean Center so that Jackson could see all of the fish and run around. He was a WILD man inside the aquarium! I think he was so excited and he just kept running wild from tank to tank. We really had to run to keep up with him. We then grabbed lunch at the 808 deli and took it back to the room to eat. Jackson crashed and took a good long nap! Justin and I watched a little superbowl while Jackson napped. That night we went to a nearby restaurant, Pita Paradise for dinner. It was a cute boutique-y restaurant that served Greek Food. The owner is a fisherman and brings his catch to the restaurant every morning. They determine their menu on what he catches. The fish we ordered was literally caught less than 24 hours before we ate it. Everything was so good! We were sorry we didnt find the restaurant sooner. That night we had the most perfect sunset. It was our last sunset in Hawaii and was the most beautiful one of the whole trip. We were definitely sad to say goodbye.

Monday we had breakfast at Mala again because it was so convienient and then packed. We headed to the airport for our flight to LA. Jackson, once again, did great and once we boarded our flight from LAX to ATL, he passed out cold. He slept the whole night, although all but 2 hours were in my arms. Nothing says comfortable like holding a 30 lb child most of the night :) Neither Justin nor I got any sleep that night, but at least Jackson was getting some good shut-eye! We finally got into Charleston when Jackson woke up. Then we headed home to begin our life back in reality. Jackson took about 2-3 nights to fully adjust back to sleep, but it wasn't bad at all...just a few nights where he woke up for about 2-3 hours around 10 PM. Now we are back to normal.

Some highlights of the trip:

Jackson learned to say Hawaii out of nowhere. We landed in Hawaii and Justin said "It feels good to be back in Hawaii". All of the sudden, Jackson goes "HAWAII!" with a big grin on his face. We looked at eachother like "did he just say that?" but then he continued to say it constantly. Everyone we met just melted when Jackson said it to them. The locals really loved it. One night in Maui, Jackson said it in his sleep. He still says it every now and then. I swear, it is just the cutest thing ever!

If Jackson could tell you his favorite part, it would be the elevators. He was obsessed with the elevators everywhere we went and would get so excited. We had to take MANY rides for fun to keep him happy. All of the other hotel guests thought he was so adorable with how excited he was.

We were all healthy!! There is so much crud going around here in Charleston (croup, RSV, pneumonia) that we made the decision to pull Jackson out of Mothers Morning out a few weeks before our trip to try and prevent any sickness. We were also crazy with the anitbacterial gel (more so than usual! :) It all paid off and made our trip that much more enjoyable.

One major highlight was just all of us being there together. We were worried about how it would be traveling so far with Jackson, but he exceeded our expectations. Many people thought we were crazy for taking him, but we wouldn't have it any other way. Although Justin and I are pretty adventurous and there are things we would have like to have done (hikes/ziplines!!) that we werent able to do with him, nothing was more fun than having our sweet boy with us. We made so many fun memories as a family together and I know Jackson won't remember it, but me and Justin will. We hope to be back soon. It was a perfect vacation from start to finish!

30 Years

2011-01-19T17:58:00.000-08:00

Well I am officially the big 3-0! I had a wonderful birthday this year and rang in my 30's in style. I got to celebrate on the actual day of my birthday and then again last Saturday night. Justin had a little shindig on the 3rd floor of Southend Brewery. Lauren made the wonderful cake and Meri sent me some beautiful flowers. My mom gave me one of my favorite gifts of the night-a box filled with AWESOME inside jokes and the outfit that I came home from the hospital in. Unfortunately the photos from that night turned out crummy b/c my camera was on a funky setting. Most of them (including the group shots) are blurry, but I posted the few that came out well. :( Thank you to everyone for the sweet cards, gifts, phone calls, and messages wishing me a Happy Birthday. They all were so thoughtful and meant so much and I felt MUCH love this year on Jan 12th! It still feels very odd to be in my 30's now, but I am going to enjoy every day of it. On the actual day of my birthday, I woke up with this song in my head. I think it sums up my thoughts about turning 30 pretty well!

My Next Thirty Years by Tim McGraw

I think I’ll take a moment, to celebrate my age
The ending of an era and the turning of a page
Now it’s time to focus in on where I go from here
Lord have mercy on my next thirty years

Hey my next thirty years I’m gonna have some fun
Try to forget about all the crazy things I’ve done
Maybe now I’ve conquered all my adolescent fears
And I’ll do it better in my next thirty years

My next thirty years I’m gonna settle all the scores
Cry a little less, laugh a little more
Find a world of happiness without the hate and fear
Figure out just what I’m doing here
In my next thirty years

Oh my next thirty years, I’m gonna watch my weight
Eat a few more salads and not stay up so late
Drink a little lemonade and not so many beers
Maybe I’ll remember my next thirty years

My next thirty years will be the best years of my life
Raise a little family and hang out with my wife
Spend precious moments with the ones that I hold dear
Make up for lost time here, in my next thirty years
In my next thirty years

Video from 1st Visit to the Dentist

2011-01-18T18:00:00.000-08:00

First visit to the Dentist

2011-01-18T17:52:00.001-08:00

It went great! Jackson went to the same pediatric dentist that Justin grew up going to. We were shocked at how well Jackson did! He didn't cry once and grabbed the toothbrush at first right out of the hygenist's hands and started brushing his own teeth. Once he got a taste of Flouride, he wasn't too keen on doing it again, but he opened his mouth to let the hygenist finish. The dentist came in and took a good look at his teeth and said they are perfect! All he is missing are his second molars and then all of his baby teeth will be in! While we were there, Jackon proceeded to charm the whole room by giving lots of waves, smiles, and talking up a storm. All of the girls in the office couldn't get enough of him! We couldnt believe what a champ he was-we were bracing for the worst but it was a breeze. Here's hoping that his next 6 month cleaning goes as well!

17 Months

2011-01-17T17:27:00.001-08:00

I am a little late on this update, but here goes! I can't believe that our sweet boy is almost a year and a half old. He is just so much fun! At 17 months:

-He is learning new words every day. I can't remember all of them, but my current favorites are "quack quack", "banana", "truck", and "cool". He also loves to point to everything in the room and say "what dis?" or "what dat?". It is so cute! Also he is on a "dada" kick and loves to say it over and over. Another fun thing that he does is sing. I will sing a high pitched note like an opera singer and then he will do it. He loves to try and imitate anything that we say.

-Jackson has learned to turn around in circles. He lifts one of his arms up when he does it. After about 2-3 times around he starts getting dizzy and clumsy. I will try and upload a video soon! He is also still a dancing machine and boy can he really boogie!

-He never formed an attachment to the blankie or animal (Eeyore) in his crib. Sometimes I wish he would snuggle with a blankie or stuffed animal in hopes that he may sleep better, but no such luck. He does have two animals that are with his toys that he really loves. He has Pooh and Mr. Chompies. Every day he gets them out of his toy box and gives them a big hug and kisses. Sometimes he will lay down and put his head on them to give them love. It is the sweetest thing! He has been very affectionate lately.

-Jackson loves to "read". He is constantly bringing us books to read to him, but sometimes he will flip through the pages and "read" on his own. His favorite books are his Usborne touch and feel books. He is also really into the "Five Little Monkey" series. My mom just gave him a book of opposites and he loves that too. I think we counted 7 times that I had to read it too him today. He loves to make all of the animal noises in the books and point out different objects.

-He has been coloring a good bit over the last month or so. We got him some big sheets of paper and assorted jumbo crayons. He will pull out all of his crayons and sit still and color for about 10 minutes before he wants to start shredding the paper.

-He loves bathtime and now he pitches a big fit every time we get him out of the tub. He has figured out how to fill a cup up with water and pour it all over him, and he does it over and over. He also loves all of his bath toys and will play and splash.

-Speaking of pitching a fit, Mr Whaley has spent a little time in time out lately. He has been in a hitting phase. He doesnt hit hard, but he will get frustrated and lightly smack one of us on the arm or leg. Time out has been effective, and he is learning to "apologize" in his own way. When I get him out of time out, he will lay his head on my shoulder and say "Mama" in the sweetest voice you could ever imagine and then give me a big kiss. He is learning, but I know he is testing us. I don't know where he learned to hit. We have never even spanked him!

-Sleep is not really getting better which is frustrating. In fact, he has decided that he wants to be in the bed with us. We start him out in his crib for the 1st half of the night and then the 2nd part of the night he ends up in our bed or else he will keep waking up. I know this is not good, but once I lay him in our bed he is out! It is a bad habit, but since we are headed to Hawaii for two weeks where he will be in bed with us the whole time, now is not the time to try and break him of it. When we get back we are going to have a hard time relcaiming our bed, but we will do it. Justin's mom made me feel better the other day about Jackson's sleep. I was telling her that it is the one area where I kinda feel like a failure with him because he still isn't sleeping through the night. It seems like every blog I read, the child is sleeping straight through the night and then playing in the crib for awhile in the morning before the parent gets them up. His mom told me that Justin flat out did not sleep throught the night for the first 3 years of his life. He would wake every 2-3 hours. She said it got better around 15 months or so and then after a month it went right back and didnt change until he was 3. She said that the second Justin woke up he would cry and want to be picked up. (This describes Jackson to a T!) Justin's sister Brooke, however, slept through the night on her own at 6 weeks and would wake up and play in her crib. Justin's mom said she didnt do anything different with the two and that some babies are just not great sleepers. So maybe Jackson is just genetically predisposed not to sleep through the night for a few years? At any rate, we soldier on and as long as Jackson is happy and healthy, everything else is small potatoes. On the plus side, he is taking GREAT 2.5-3 hour naps during the day, so on the weekends I am getting some rockstar naps too!

-Jackson is almost completely off of baby food. I know he should have been off of baby food a long time ago, but I have been supplementing with it after he eats normal table foods. I am always worried that he is not eating enough, so I would offer baby food to fill him up. He is now rejecting it, which is great! Some days he eats like a bird and others he will gobble everything up on his plate. ( I read this is normal) As his cousin Kaylan would say, when he eats all of his food, he makes a "happy plate" :) I am content with what he is getting now since he is much more open to trying new things. He getting better every day at using his spoon and fork like a big boy.

-That reminds me, he holds his utensils in his left hand to eat with, but colors with both his left and right hand. Justin thinks he will be left handed, but I still have my doubts about that. He also still has beautiful blue eyes.

-Tomorrow is his first dentist appt. He is great at letting me brush his teeth, and we do it twice a day. He almost has all of his teeth! I hope it goes well!

What can I say, we love love love this boy! He is our pride and joy :)

Garbage Pail Family

2011-01-05T17:33:00.000-08:00

Because growing up in the 80's was just so much fun....

The big 3-0 is looming in the shadows. I am enjoying every last minute of my 20s for now!!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-26T17:27:00.000-08:00

Get me outta here!

Can we open presents yet?

Snow!!

This Christmas was so much fun!! Christmas has become so much more special now that we see it through Jackson's eyes. He was such a joy to watch and he must have been a very good boy this year because it looks like our living room exploded with toys! :) Here is a recap of our Christmas:

Dec 24th: Had a rough night of sleep the night before because Jackson was up every 30 minutes and then from 10:30-1:30 he was wide awake. This was definitely a deviation from the norm. He was digging in his ears a lot that night. When we awoke Christmas Eve morning, Justin and I were worried that he might have his first ear infection. Of course, all pediatricians were closed that day. We called our pediatrician on his cell phone and left a message that we were concerned and asked if we should take Jackson to our local Doctors Care. We didn't hear from him for an hour or so, so we headed to Doctors Care. When we were filling out paperwork, our pediatrician called and asked where we were. When we told him, he said to come on over to his house instead and he would take a look at Jackson. He insisted. Reason # 1,213 that our ped is awesome-He saw Jackson in his house on Christmas Eve!! Who does that? We ended up visiting for a few hours and sat around the fire with him and talked. He is someone that we definitely consider a friend and we are so thankful for his kindness. Oh, and Jackson's ears=perfect. He said it was most likely teething. Better safe than sorry, though! Then we headed home and I made mac and cheese and sweet potato casserole to take to the family gathering on my dad's side. We then headed out and did Christmas with my Dad's side of the family. It was a lot of fun and great food! Jackson enjoyed playing the drums with his papa.

Dec 25th: Justin ended up coming down with a nasty head cold, so I let him sleep in and headed downstairs with Jackson at 7 AM. We played and then I made bacon and pancakes for breakfast. Justin woke up and we all had breakfast. Then it was time for presents! We all opened presents and Jackson really enjoyed pulling the bows off of the packages and standing on the boxes ;). We all got some great gifts and we started setting up some of Jackson's toys, which he enjoyed playing with. Then we got ready and headed to my Mom's house for Christmas celebration with her side of the family. We had a great time and the food was SO delicious! My mom made me a special quiche (quickie!) that she used to make me as a child and she made one for me to take home. It was even better than I remembered it. It was great visiting with family and spending the holidays together. Jackson got a Mickey Mouse couch from my mom and it is HANDS DOWN his favorite gift. He keeps sitting on it like a big boy and playing with his second favorite gift, his "laptop computer". We then came home and just chilled out the rest of the evening. We were going to go to Dr. Drew's evening church service, but Justin started feeling bad. Instead, we watched " A Christmas Story" for the 4th time in a row. I love that movie!

Dec 26th: We stayed in all day because it SNOWED for a good part of the day. Yes, we got snow for the second time in a year. How strange! It was so beautiful and peaceful hanging out in the living room all day while playing with Jackson's toys, watching movies, and watching the snow fall. When Jackson went down for a nap, we feasted on Christmas leftovers and kicked our feet up. When Jackson woke up, he discovered a new game where he rams his new shopping cart in to me and Justin. He thinks it is hilarious and will laugh so hard over and over as he goes back and forth. It is adorable! Then Matt and Meri stopped by on their way out of town to exchange presents. They gave Jackson some lego blocks and he had a ball playing with them. We had a wonderful couple of days with family and a very Merry Christmas. Hope you did too! :)

16 months old

2010-12-12T16:58:00.000-08:00

16 months came in with a bang in the form of a stomach virus. After my last post, we had one more episode of vomiting/fever the next night, followed by a a few bouts of diarrhea. He is finally back to normal with his eating. All of this (I'm sure) was courtesy of his Mother's Morning out program. I am glad the sickness is over, though! This past month has been such fun! At 16 months, Jackson:

-has a huge vocabulary! Every day is something new. His latest words: walrus, moo, eeyore, pooh, waddle, slide, shell, chair, baby. Granted, he says most of the more advanced words in his own special way (ex waddle-wadewa), but it's close enough! He knows exactly what they are when he is saying them. My favorite is when he says Eeyore. It is so cute!

-He is really into reading. We always read two books before bed, but he now wants to read all the time. He loves the touch and feel books. He is getting really good at learning all of the noises that the animals in the books make and repeating them when we get to the page.

-His new best friend is the elephant humidifier. Seriously, when he gets a glipse of "Mr. Elephant", he lights up and races over to "talk" to him. Jackson loves to point out his eyes, nose, and belly button (the knob to adjust the mist). It is so cute to see. He gets really loud and excited talking to Mr. Elephant and I always hear new words although I can't tell what they mean yet.

-He has moved from screeching when he is frustrated to a full on scream. We have only heard it twice now. The first time me and Justin looked at eachother like "What the HECK was that?". He follows the scream by trying to bite anything he can. I guess it comes out when he gets really mad. We just calmly ignore it until he bites. Then he gets time out. Whats funny is that he has never once thrown a fit at Mothers Morning out. They always compliment him on how sweet and even tempered he is. I guess he saves the good stuff for us!

-Jackson is in a VERY clingy phase with me. If I am not around, he is fine with Justin and will play and have a good ole time. If I am in the room, however, and not paying him attention he gets really upset. He will hang on me and pull on my clothes until I pick him up. He will whine and say MAMA in a very pitiful voice nonstop until I pick him up. God forbid if I leave the room. This has made cooking hard because he will just hang on the baby gate looking at me and whine/cry. Sometimes I am able to tune it out, but if it goes on and on I feel myself getting annoyed. Funny thing is as soon as I start feeling irritated, I also start to feel very calm and patient and I will pick him up and give him a lots of love. I guess I realize that he will only be this way for such a short time. One day soon he will not want anything to do with mommy. He is such a sweet boy!

-He is still a dancing machine. His new move: Get LOW! He loves to get low and dance and come back up. He's got some good rhythm/moves if I do say so myself! He dances to anything that resembles music or has a beat. He is also loving his Fisher Price little peoples Christmas CD.

-He loves to hide and pop out to surprise us. He will say BOO when he pops out. His other favorite game is the slamming doors game. He also loves to be chased and tickled by daddy.

-This last update I will summarize as to not sound like a broken record.
Sleep: still the same-we get into an awesome waking once-a-night pattern and then he gets a cold and we take a step back
Eating: Getting better every day. Loves mac and cheese and peas like it's nobody's business. He is on a cheese strike. Ever since we came back from Dallas, he won't eat cheese. I am not sure why?
Nursing-Yes, were still there. No doubt I have created a nursing monster. A very cute nursing monster. Problem is that he asks for it now and gets upset if I wont give it to him. He walks up and points and says "boo". Is it possible that he wants it more now than he used to? Because it sure seems that way. It stresses me out thinking how I am going to get him weaned. Justin makes jokes about him nursing until he's a teenager and I don't even laugh anymore. I'm just taking it day by day at this point. My goal is to be done by 18 months. Ahhh we'll see!

Everytime we look at Jackson we see him becoming more and more of a little boy. No doubt, he is growing up before our very eyes. We treasure each and every moment with him. I look forward to what each new day brings!

Well, that was fun...

2010-12-09T17:12:00.000-08:00

Last night started out great-Jackson went to sleep very easily and Justin and I kicked our feet up to relax after a long day. Jackson was on the tail end of a mild cold, but otherwise happy and healthy. About 9:15 or so we heard Jackson coughing via our baby monitor but he was laying down so we let it go. Then I thought I heard him gasp for breath so we both kind of perked up and listened to him. Then we heard him wretching so we jumped up and ran upstairs. Poor little guy was laying there wimpering and covered in vomit. This was the first time he has ever really vomited from being sick. And it was ALL over him and his crib, blanket, bumper. Not to mention that we had spaghetti with peas that night, so there were undigested noodles and peas all over the place (eww!). They ended up in my hair before it was all over with (double eww!) We immediately got him undressed and I took him to the bath while Justin started attempting to clean up. Jackson started shaking really badly, which wigged me out pretty bad because I have never seen him do that. Justin was wonderful and very calm and reassured me that he was probably just weak and tired from vomiting. Anyway, I gave him the worlds shortest bath because I was a nervous wreck and then wrapped him up and pulled him to me. We finally got him dressed and all cozy and comfy when he started vomiting again. I'll spare you all of the details, but he started vomiting every 15 minutes. He didnt have a fever and in between sessions, he was smiling and waving at us. Still, when he was getting sick it was so hard to see. :( After a while he was getting frustrated because he was so tired. We started getting concerned after the fourth or fifth time and called his pediatrician and the pediatrician that lives down the street on their cell phones. They both called back within 2 minutes and basically said the same thing: to stop giving him fluids for a bit until the vomiting subsided and then start giving him sips of water/pedialite every couple of hours. They both said there is a cold that is going around that ends in a 8-12 hour stomach bug. They said we (thankfully) did not need to take him to the ER.

This is why I love our Jackson's ped: Drew (he insists that we call him this, but it is still weird)told us that it didnt sound serious at all, but that he wanted us to call him at any point during the night if we got concerned or if the vomiting didn't subside. He said that he would sleep with his phone by his head all night in case we needed him. He also reassured us that this he really loves this part of his job-helping out his dear friends with concerns after hours. Who does that? He is awesome and I can't tell you how much better it made me feel that Jackson's dr was just a phone call away. We are so thankful for Dr. Drew's kindness and we are constantly reassured that we made the best decision for Jackson's care.

Long story short, he finally started doing a little bit better. I think we ended up counting 8 times or so that he threw up before it stopped. I finally gave him water and nursed him at 3:30 AM because he woke up sobbing for "wawa". Poor guy was SO thirsty! He got sick at 4 AM and that was the last time (thank you God). He has not eaten to well today, but has been playing like a champ and in good spirits. I hope the worst is behind us. Poor Justin ended up doing multiple loads of laundry througout the night and cleaning everything up after each time. He slept on the floor beside our bed for part of the night, and then at the foot of our bed for the rest of the night, as Jackson was sprawled out and we wanted to keep him comfy. Justin couldve slept in the guest room, but stayed with me to help out all night. We both hardly slept. Ive said it before, but I'll say it again-I married a good man! All in all it was a right of passage of sorts for us, and one that I hope doesn't happen again for a LONG time. It also reminded me how fortunate we have been to have a healthy baby so far, and I pray that he continues to be healthy. Here's hoping for a better night tonight!

2010-12-06T18:44:00.000-08:00

15 Month Dr. Appt

2010-11-30T17:59:00.001-08:00

Ok well he's about a week shy of 16 months, but today was his official 15 month well visit.

Weight: 24.4 lbs-43rd percentile
Height: 32.5 in-81st percentile
Head circ: 18.5 in-40th percentile

Dr. Drew said he's doing great! He is healthy and growing and we are so very thankful for that! Jackson demonstrated some of is his new words for Dr. Drew and he was very impressed. He said they only look for babies this age to say 2-3 more words other than Mama and Dada and that since Jackson is saying a whole bunch of words, he is already above an 18 month level for his vocabulary. This made us feel good! Jackson got his 15 month shots (MMR and Chicken Pox). It really broke my heart this time. He was so happy and smiling/flirting with the nurse. When she gave him the shots, he just looked so heartbroken. It was like she had betrayed him and he was just looking at her with the most pitiful face and wailing. It didn't last long though, and he was back to normal in no time!

Ain't that the truth!

2010-11-30T10:41:00.000-08:00

I just can't help but love this song for obvious reasons. I love it from start to finish. I have to listen to the whole song every single time I catch it on the radio. Justin loves it too, but changes the chorus from "It's safe to say that I'm gonna get my payback if he's anything like me" to "It's safe to say that I'm gonna get my payback if he's anything like his Mommyyyy" :)

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-29T17:48:00.000-08:00

Daddy and Jackson napping

Once the kids are asleep-don't ask! :)

Jackson loves Aunt Boo Boo

At Breakfast before catching our flight home:

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Dallas this year! Jackson got to meet his Aunt Boo Boo (Brooke), Uncle A (Adrian), and cousins Kaylan and Kendall. We had so much fun getting the kiddos together and catching up with Brooke and Adrian. Justin and I were shocked at how much Kaylan had grown since the last time we saw her 2 years ago. She is getting to be such a big girl! I loved that she still calls Justin "Uncle Bubby" and me "Abadoo", which is what she called us when she first learned to talk. It was also wonderful meeting sweet baby Kendall for the first time. She is such an easygoing and happy baby! Jackson was in love with Aunt Boo Boo and he thought Adrian was the funniest guy out. Everytime they looked at Jackson he got a big smile on his face. Jackson had fun playing hide and seek with Kaylan and Kaylan was so sweet to share her toys with Jackson.

We had a blast going shopping, playing with all of Kaylan and Kendall's toys, going to the playground, jumping on the trampoline, and eating some delicious food. Speaking of food, Brooke and Adrian cooked the most scrum-diddly-umptions Thanksgiving dinner!! Fried Turkey and ALL of the fixins! Needless to say, we were STUFFED at the end of the night. The evenings were nice once the babies went to bed and we were able to kick our feet up and relax. Jackson was a rockstar sleeper while we were in Dallas, although he was up at 6 AM like clockwork every day. He did great on the plane ride there as well.

I have to tell this story, which may only be funny to us, but we sure did get the biggest laugh from this. A little backstory: Many many years ago, we were all over at Justin's Mom's house helping her go through boxes before the move to NC. Justin's mom was on the phone with her sister (Aunt Niece) and Justin let out the LOUDEST burp. Justin's mom got mad and said "DAM*IT JUSTIN!". Of course, we all died laughing which made his mom laugh too. Fast forward to this year the day before Thanksgiving. We all went to a great Mexican place and had a few Margaritas. When we got home and settled, Justin let out a huge burp and I had the idea to call his Mom and Carl to share the love and then hang up...instead of a prank call it was a prank burp (Gross-this is what years of being around my Dad/Brothers/Justin has done to me!) Anyway, Justin (of course) ran with the idea and he and Adrian decided to chug a soft drink so that they could get a really good one going. When they called his mom and Carl, they got the answering machine and so they waited for the beep and then BURRRP!...only Adrian got a little too excited and proceeded to throw up in the cup that he was holding. HAHAHAH They started laughing so hard and then Brooke and I lost it. I laughed so hard I was crying. I guess you kinda had to be there. It was legendary!

THANK YOU Brooke and Adrian for having us and making us feel so welcomed and at home. We had a blast and it was a Thankgiving to remember. We miss you already!!

Just a few family updates-

2010-11-14T18:11:00.000-08:00

-We are headed to Dallas for Thanksgiving! We are so excited for Jackson to meet his Aunt Brooke (Boo Boo), Uncle Adrian, and his cousins Kaylan and Kendall! We will be there for five days. We are flying, but we have a direct flight, so we are hoping it goes as well as our flight to Indiana did. We are getting very excited :)

-Justin is nearing completion of his Master's Degree from University of Florida! He will graduate in late April 2011. I can't believe it has almost been two years since he started. I don't know what he will do once he has his evenings back and isn't attending classes/studying/writing papers all of the time. I do know that he will have a proud wife and little boy watching when he walks across the stage to get his diploma! Way to go sweetie!

-My job is going great, and I am about to officially become home based. There are four of us that cover the state and two have always been home based, so they are finally transitioning me and another coworker to home offices. This is a direct result of increased HIPAA security/scrutiny with the program that I work for, and the lawyers at American Cancer Society deemed our home offices to be more secure than my current office. I will still be affiliated with the Charleston ACS office and work occasionally in the ACS travel office when I have big projects from time to time, but I am so excited to become home based. By making it official, I will have my internet/phone reimbursed so we are making a little money there too. Sweet!

-We have a BIG trip planned in late Jan/early Feb. We are headed to Hawaii!! ALOHA! Justin has a national meeting in Maui and we are making a family trip out of it. We may be crazy for going on a 9 hour plane ride with a 1 1/2 year old (yikes!), but we are going to prepare like crazy and try to make it as smooth as possible. We did buy Jackson his own seat for the plane. We are going to be in HI for a little under 2 weeks. Half of the time will be in Oahu, the other half in Maui. We are counting down the days. I am anticipating a rough transition for Jackson to the time change over there, but Justin and I figure that if we have a rough couple of days while Jackson gets adjusted, they are still a rough couple of days in Hawaii! We went a few years ago and had a blast, so we are really looking forward to it. We did get travel insurance, though, just in case Jackson is sick or something and we have to rearrange travel. I am hoping and praying that all goes well.

15 Months Old

2010-11-13T10:54:00.000-08:00

Check out those curls!

Another month has flown by! Here is Jackson's 15 month update:

-He dropped his first nap of the day, so he is down to one nap a day. He naps, like clockwork, from 1:45-3:45 every day. This has definitely allowed us a little bit more freedom during the days when we are out and about with him. We used to be slaves to the nap schedule, but now we have more time to get out and play, which is great.

-His 4 first molars came in, all at the same time at 14 1/2 months. In the last week, we now see that all 4 of his cuspids (canines) have broken through the gums. This boy has a mouthful of teeth! He hasn't seemed too bad with all of the new teeth coming in. We may have had a few days of discomfort/whinyness, but thankfully nothing major. I have heard the real fun comes when his second molars appear. Also, he loves brushing his teeth. We have his first dentist appt. coming up next month. I hope he does well!

-He continues to surprise us with new words/skills every day. Some his favorite words: UP!, wag (wagon), car, clock, eat, trees, nose, etc. He is jabbering up a storm! He has learned many body parts and loves to say them while pointing them all out: ears, eyes, nose, mouth, hair, boobies (!), belly button, toes. He has also started trying to mimic what we say lately.

-Jackson is a wild child when it comes to physical activity. During playtime, he is fast at work playing, jabbering, squealing, throwing, climbing, running, trying to balance on his toys, racing his cars around, and pushing his toys across the room. He is also a dancing machine! I wish I could bottle that energy up for myself!

-The biting has stopped. Horray! He will occasionally still try and hit if he is really upset, but that is a rarity these days. Time out has been very effective and he is great at listening and following directions. I am amazed every day at what he understands when I talk to him.

-I think he has inherited my wild dreams. He seems to have very vivid dreams and often squeals, wimpers, talks, and laughs in his sleep. The other night I saw on the monitor that he was sleeping while sitting up in his crib. I'm not gonna lie, it was kind of creepy and I made Justin walk to his nursery with me so that I could lay him back down. Something about watching him sleep sitting up on a night vision camera just didnt sit well with me!

-He has been very open to trying new foods lately. There is still a lot that he wont put in his mouth, but we have been having daily small victories. Some of his new foods: bbq pork, pear chunks, apple chunks, scrambled eggs (finally!), carrots slices, cheesy poofs. He can use a spoon to feed himself now on his own, although it is still pretty messy. He has begun wanting to try whatever is on our plates.

-He is still so affectionate and he loves his mommy and daddy, no doubt about it. We are both extremely blessed to have jobs that allow us to be home with him a lot. Although he still prefers mommy when he is upset/sick, he has his days where he is all about his daddy. He loves to climb all over Justin and he will squeal with such delight when Justin lifts him up and throws him in the air. One of my favorite things that he does is that he will walk right up to one of us and give us a big kiss right on the mouth , totally unprompted. It melts my heart every time!

-He got his flu shot a few weeks ago and he weighed 23 1/2 lbs-this falls somwhere in the mid 30th percentile for weight. His doc said not to worry, that it is normal to see their weight gain slow down quite a bit. He is still growing perfectly, but his is very long and lean. His 15 month well visit is scheduled for after Thanksgiving, so he will actually be closer to 16 months. We will get all of his official stats then!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T18:32:00.000-07:00

Jackson had a fabulous time trick or treating for the first time. He quickly learned how to pick out his "treat" and put it in his pumpkin basket. He thoroughly enjoyed himself and waved "bye bye" to each house as we left. Jackson even got to see his buddies Alexander and Evan along the way. When we got home, he enjoyed playing with all of his candy and handing out more to our trick-or-treaters. We had a blast watching Jackson take it all in this year. He really seemed to enjoy himself!

More Anniversary

2010-10-31T18:08:00.000-07:00

We always try and follow the traditional gifts for each anniversary. It is fun getting creative in trying to find ideas that fit with the theme. The traditional gifts for the 4th anniversary are fruit and flowers. Justin got me a dozen gorgeous roses and a dozen dark chocolate covered strawberries from edible arrangements (my favorite!). I made Justin caramel and chocolate apples, got him some pumpkin ale, and godiva chocolate. Just to make sure that I covered all of my bases, I also got him a small card that pops up flowers.

On our actual anniversary, we went to Woodlands for lunch while Jackson was at mothers morning out. It was delicious and the chef sent out a special dessert wishing us a Happy Anniversary. This weekend, Jackson spent time with his Grandma while we went out to dinner at Oak Steakhouse. Let me just say, I had THE BEST steak of my life there. I still can't get hover how wonderful the food was. It is probably my new favorite restaurant in all of Charleston. We had several courses of wonderful food, complementary champagne, and more beautiful desserts wishing us a Happy Anniversary. What a great anniversary it was!

4th Wedding Anniversary

2010-10-27T17:54:00.000-07:00

On October 28th, 2010, Justin and I will have officially been married for FOUR years. I can't help but think back on how it all began. Warning-This is a LONG story, but I want Jackson to know this one day.

Meri (my best friend, maid of honor, etc) was my college roommate and went to high school with Justin. I had heard a little bit about him from Meri, but I actually met him when he and his friend Andy came to visit our apartment one day in 2002. Both of us were in serious relationships at the time, but we struck up a friendship. I remember Meri asking me what I thought about Justin later that day and my exact words were that he was "very hot", but that I would NEVER date him. He came across extremely cocky at the time, but I could still tell that he was a nice guy. Long story short, a couple of years went by where we would hang out with our group of friends, and although we remained strictly friends, it was obvious there was more there. I remember one day we drove to Edisto for the day with Meri and Andy and split a ham and pineapple pizza. Still-we were only friends. I really think everyone else saw it before we did. As time went on, we started hanging out more and more together. At this point we both single (for the most part! :) We were both dating people, but nothing serious. One night our group of friends ended up meeting up for breakfast after a late night out and me and Justin hung out talking for awhile. The next day, something changed.

The next part of the story changes depending on who is telling the story. Justin's version is always more dramatic than mine and makes me look like a lush. He thinks he remembers the night better, but I remember it clearly. Here is what happened. I started the night out early with my friends Ashley and Lauren. We hit up King St. Grill and as I mentioned, the celebration was in full force. Later that evening, we walked across the street to what used to be The Warehouse (now it is a store called Biton) on King Street for a concert by Will Hogue. We ran into Justin. My friend Ashley thought he was gorgeous and basically said "If you don't date him, I will!". As the night went on, I noticed that Justin was there and on a date with someone. I remember thinking to myself "Exactly WHAT does he think he is doing?". Up to this point, I had not seet him with another girl in a long time and it sort of jarred me to see it. I really did feel angry at him. So, what is a girl to do but make a complete fool of herself, right?

And that is exactly what I did. I came sauntering up to him while he was talking to the girl. I (boldly) interruped them and stepped right smack in between them and gave Justin a big hug. His version includes the part where one of my hands ended up on his butt. You can choose who to believe! Ok, I admit, that part is true. HA! And since I hope Jackson will be reading this one day, I will censor the next part. Basically I asked him what he was doing with her. Not in a mean or angry way, but in a "Come on, seriously? Why are you wasting your time" type of way. I told him he needed to drop this chick that he was with and be with me. This was completely out of character for me. As you can imagine, Justin was blindsided and in an awkward place. He said that he had no idea that I felt that way and it was news to him. At this point, he somehow summoned Andy to come to the bar and intervene. Andy offered to drive me home, as the night was coming to an end and I clearly needed to go home anyway (!) The poor girl that was with Justin that night was pretty ticked off. (FYI I think she knew better than to say anything to me. If you know me, you know I NEVER go down like a punk! haha) Anyway, Andy drove me home. This part of the story is where I accidently leave my credit card at the bar, so Andy has to drive me back. You know its a bad night when you leave your card at the bar!

So I get home and my phone rings. It is Justin. He says "Are you feeling ok?" and I say I am fine. Then he says "Are you going to be wierd about this tomorrow?". I can only say "Yes.". He then suggests that we meet up the next day for lunch. In a nutshell: We do. It goes amazingly well. We are inseperable pretty much from that day on-so much so that our close friends start calling us "Jamber". And there you have it. That was in 2004.

Now here we are: happily married for 4 years. Our wedding was a perfect fall day and all that I imagined it would be. I can't say enough about what a wonderful husband and father Justin is. He is everything and more that I ever dreamed of and although he drives me CRAZY sometimes, I love him more and more every day. There is no doubt that I lucked out with one of the good ones. No, one of the great ones! But most importantly, not only is he a wonderful husband, but he is a wonderful father and that makes me love him even more. His family is his first priority and he shows that every single day. What a lucky girl I am! Happy anniversary sweetie!! LOVE!

The first picture of us as a couple:

Yes, that is who you think it is. No, despite his appearance, this is not a wax figure! :)

Engaged at the Biltmore on New Years Eve.

October 28, 2006

An afternoon out

2010-10-24T17:29:00.000-07:00

Justin and I were recently asked to be part of a photo shoot for a local fine dining restaurant. Basically, all we had to do was get dressed up, show up and get our photos taken while "dining" in the restaurant. Of course we jumped at the chance! My mom babysat Jackson and we headed downtown. The restaurant was all set up for the shoot and they fed us delicious appetizers/drinks. We were there with two other couples, but we were photographed individually. We were supposed to be the "young" couple. The photographer had us sit at our (beautifully set) table and gave us direction for the pictures. My longtime friend Ginny was there to make me smile naturally for the photos by reminding me of the time back in high school when we ended up in court together where I was accused of being racist in front of the WHOLE courtroom (story for another time!). Anyway, I hope the pictures come out well. We dont know which photos will make the final cut or if we will be on the website/new ads, but it was a lot of fun! It was nice to get dressed up and get out for a few hours. Jackson did great while we were gone and played the whole time. The restaurant is called Circa 1886 and it is part of the Wentworth Mansion. Justin and I will be back for dinner very soon! Here are a few pictures before we left. Jackson started fussing while these were being taken, so we picked him up so that he could be in the photo. What a ham!

Trip to Grandma's House in NC

2010-10-16T17:35:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took a last minute trip to Hayesville, NC to see Justin's mom and Carl. We left on a Saturday and came back on Monday (short trip), but we made good use of our time there. On Saturday we hit the road and headed toward NC. We stopped in Clemson for lunch at Wild Wing. Once we got to Hayesville, we let Jackson run around a little bit and then we went to a neighbors house so that they could show us a really cool recreation of an old gas station that the neighbors did. Here is a picture-

The next day we took a drive to see a waterfall and we walked down to a mountain creek. We could've stayed there all day. It was really beautiful! Next we went to a fall festival in Georgia and it was a lot of fun. Jackson enjoyed walking around and all of the little old ladies loved him and commented on how cute he was. I have to agree! The next morning Justin's mom made us her legendary biscuits and gravy and we hit the road. On the way home we called my Grandparents in Columbia and met them for lunch. Jackson kept smiling at them the whole time. It was really cute. I am glad we were able to meet up with them for a bit! It was a quick trip, but we had a great time!!

14 months

2010-10-15T16:47:00.000-07:00

These months just seem to be flying by!! Here we go. At 14 months:

-Jackson has found his love of the outdoors. This kid loves to go outside and run free. He will just stand at our front door and grab the doorknob (yes, he can reach it now!) and try to yank it open. He wont budge from our foyer until one of us takes him out. He loves to walk everywhere on his own now, but he understands (so far) that he must hold our hand most of the time. His teacher at mother's morning out says that all he wants to do is play outside the whole time and run around with the big boys and girls. He comes home all sweaty and with dirt under his fingernails like a little boy should!

-Speaking of mothers morning out, Jackson has his first "girlfriend" there! Every time we drop him off, this little 2 year old girl (an older woman-ha!)comes running at full speed toward him. Jackson always gives her a big smile and cocks his head to the side as if he is flirting. A few days ago when Justin dropped him off, the little girl came running up to Jackson and gave him a big hug. Justin said that Jackson wasnt quite sure what to do but he stood there with a big grin on his face. Justin said it was pretty much the cutest thing he had ever seen. I wish I had been there for that!

-Jackson's vocabulary is expanding daily. He has all kinds of words that he is saying now, but some of my favorites: boat, eieio (as in "old MacDonald had a farm..."), doh (window, door), toes, toys, eat, ear, and moon

-He is also getting great at pointing out things in his books when I ask him where they are. The other day while reading "Goodnight Moon", I asked him where most of the objects in the book were and he pointed right to them. I was shocked. I always point them out when we read, but I never knew it was sinking in. They really are like sponges!

-He is learning more and more of his independance and is asserting it daily. When things don't go his way, he lashes out in one of two very different ways: # 1) He either bites, throws his toy, or hits (rarely). OR # 2) he calmly lays down wherever he is and gives me a dirty look until I make him laugh. On occasion, he has been known to stomp around in a circle while fussing. It is so hard for me and Justin not to laugh when he is throwing a fit. By the way, biting or hitting always calls for an immediate time out, and he is learning that time out is no fun. We have the pack and play set up in our dining room, which serves as time out and we put him there for a little over a minute each time. He does not appreciate being left alone in there at all.

-I know I write about this every time and it is probably boring to everyone but me, but I do want to record this. Sleep as a whole has gotten better. He is waking less during the night, which has allowed me to drop a feeding or two. Basically he sleeps from 7:30-1, then nurses, and sleeps from 1:05-5 AM. At 5 AM I put him in bed with us and then he buries his head into Justin and his feet into me and sleeps until about 7 AM. He wakes up in bed with us every morning and he is usually a big snuggle bunny when he wakes up. Occasionally we still have a night where he wakes more than usual, but those nights are few and far between.

-YES I am still nursing him. I can't even believe it myself, but I want weaning to be a gradual process and so we are sloooowly getting there. I am still nursing about 5-6 times a day. Sometimes more, sometimes less depending on his sleep schedule. Overall, the fact that I have been able to drop some feedings has been encouraging. As for food, we are making slow progress with him accepting new foods, but we will get there soon. The same goes for whole milk. He seems to be taking a little more each day.

-He continues to become more sociable with everyone and is hard pressed to meet a stranger these days. He loves to smile, wave, give big slobbery kisses, and "talk" to anyone that will pay him attention. He has begun smiling and squinting his eyes again at people when he gets shy. He had stopped for awhile, but it is back now in full force. He even has been doing it to me lately. He knows he's cute.

-I dont know if I mentioned this before, but THE BEST $10 that I ever spent was on a Fisher Price CD of children's songs. This CD is like baby crack and has been our saving grace on long car trips. It starts out with "If youre happy and you know it". Justin and I can sing you all 27 songs by heart....ha! No, seriously we are SO tired of hearing it, but Jackson absolutely loves it. No matter what, he gets a huge smile every time he hears the opening of the song. Now he has learned how to request that his songs be played in the car. Starting about a week ago, He began to point to the radio and say "oaf" over and over again until we put his CD on. Then he becomes one happy boy. He loves to fall asleep to the CD on long car rides. We have tried playing other music for him, but he insists on his CD. I wonder how long it will last. Justin and I resorted to making up our own lyrics to some of the songs just to entertain ourselves and keep us from going crazy! Those lyrics arent the most kiddie-friendly, though!

I will leave you with a series of pictures from a recent playtime where he got mad at me for not letting him leave our yard. He decided to lay down right beside our driveway...Check him out-We love this little boy so much!

Giving mommy the stink eye-Justin thinks this is when he looks most like me. Go figure!
Get outta my face mommy!

Trying not to smile

There it is! He can't stay mad for long :)

Granola

2010-10-01T17:58:00.000-07:00

Our lease on the BMW X3 was up a little over a month ago and we turned it back in instead of buying it. I am really going to miss that car. We were sad to see it go. I think we both developed sentimental attachment to it. After all, it is the car that we brought our sweet baby home in.

We decided to look into a hybrid vehicle and decided on the Toyota Prius. Since it is my car and I travel a good bit for work, it is perfect! It is much bigger inside than it looks and we have plenty of room in it, even with Jackson's car seat. We leased it for two years, and our hope is that once we turn it in we will be ready to upgrade to an SUV to accommodate a bigger family :) We will see!

This car is so much fun to drive. We get incredible gas mileage, and it is fun to see just how good we can get. Right now we are averaging about 51/52 miles to the gallon. It is so cool to look at our sensor and see that we are running purely on battery and getting 99 mpg. I think Justin is a bit obsessed with what is called "hypermiling". He will call me from the road just to let me know he is hypermiling (running only on battery power). HA! Another perk with this car-My mileage for work just was increased, so it is just money in our pockets every time I travel for work, which is pretty often these days. Sweet!

I guess you could say that the prius sort of fits with our granola lifestyle right now. We are still buying mostly organic, and recycling so much that all we have is one measly bag of trash a week these days. Don't worry, we are not full fledged tree-hugging hippies-You know that is just not our style!! :) But it feels good to do our part (however small) to help the planet. So here is our new car for the next two years: 2009 Toyota Prius with all the fun bells and whistles. We love it!

One year photos and new family photos

2010-09-11T13:40:00.000-07:00

All courtesy of Kim Graham Photography. Kim was our wedding photographer and also did Jackson's baby photos. We love Kim! We are so happy with how they turned out. We got some super cute photos of Jackson!! Here are just a couple of proofs of our family shots. They are screenshots so please excuse the arrow on Justin's forehead below! :) Here is a link to Kim's blog to see a few more. I will try and add a few more later of just Jackson.

http://kimgrahamphotoblog.com/2010/09/jacksons-1st-birthday/

13 Month Update

2010-09-11T11:39:00.000-07:00

Another month has flown by! Man, what a super fun age this is!! There are new surprises every day with Jackson showing us things that he has learned. At 13 months

-This kid is a climber! He is perfectly happy climbing anything and everything. In the past, he had a really hard time getting down from stairs, ottoman, couches, toys, etc. Going up was a peice of cake! He is now learning more and more how to get back down and to go feet first. He has learned to use the stair railing to get back down. It is really neat to see him master a new way to do things. He is also becoming a pro at walking backwards. He loves to push his big cars all the way across the room and hit the wall, only to go all the way back pulling the car while walking backwards.

-He is really blossoming with his words. Out of nowhere, he will say something new. His newest word is "no"! He is really cute the way he says it though-He will say "na na na NO!!" His favorite words to say right now are Mama, Dada, No, Wawa (water), Doh (window), Mote (remote), book, and ball. I got some cute video to post where he says a few, but I couldnt get him to say mama on the video, which is his favorite word-go figure!

-He has become much more open to new foods all of the sudden, which is great. He is still eating baby food with each meal, but we are adding more and more table foods every day. Some new "table foods" that he is eating: turkey, ham, pancakes, biscuits, macaroni and cheese, carrots, peas, green beans, cereal bars, rice krispy bars (earths best ones for babies), buttered toast, small pieces of tater tots, and I am sure there is more that I am forgetting. As for whole milk, it has been a slow process to get him to take it. We give him whole milk with his breakfast in the morning, but he will only drink a little bit. He is still getting breast milk and water the rest of the day. My sister in law suggesting warming the whole cows milk up to get him to take it, which is the only way my nieces would take it. I am going to try it if he doesnt start drinking more of the cows milk.

-SLEEP HAS GOTTEN MUCH BETTER! Man it feels good to say that. Out of nowhere he started sleeping in much longer spurts and is now only waking 1-2 times per night. I was starting to doubt that this would ever happen! He had been getting up 3-4 times a night for what seemed like forever there for awhile. So now this means that I feel like a new woman from getting some good long stretches of sleep. God I hope this isnt a fluke! He's been going strong and sleeping great for about 3 weeks now. He got a small cold early last week and was up EVERY single hour for 2 nights straight, and I thought "well it was nice while it lasted..." but as soon as he could breathe clearly again, he went back to his great sleeping. I really hope this trend continues

-He continues to show us his strong will every day. When he is unhappy about something, he will stomp around in a circle in protest. Justin and I try so hard not to laugh, but it is really funny! Once he sets his sights on something, he will find any way he can to get his paws on it. One of our favorite things is what he does when he wants Justin's sunglasses. Sometimes Justin will set them on his shirt collar while he is holding Jackson because if not, Jackson will pull them right off your face. Anyway, Jackson will lean in real lovingly and rest his head against Justin. Justin will think it is the sweetest thing, but then he will feel Jackson's sticky little fingers gently pulling the sunglasses off of his shirt. He's so sneaky! :)

-The stranger anxiety has all but diminished. He is a really social little guy now and will wave and smile to almost anybody. Sometimes he gets shy if someone is making over him and he will smile and lean his head against us. He especially loves little old ladies and pretty waitresses. He is also playing mostly with the "big boys" at Mothers Morning out. His teacher says he really is good at sharing. He does have a little girl that follows him around there. She is 2 and loves babies. She is always waiting for him at the gate when we drop him off. He will be moving to the big boy room soon!

-He loves to give us kisses. The best is when they are unprovoked. We will just be sitting there and he will lean in and plant a big kiss on one of us. He loves playing the "belly button" game with Justin in the mornings. Jackson will go hunting for Justin's belly button and then will stick his finger in it and make Justin laugh. Jackson gets such a kick out of this and will lean in and give Justin kisses over and over again. Another one of Jackson's favorite games is to "fake" sneeze. We will both say "BLESS YOU" really loud and Jackson laughs every time. He thinks he has really pulled one over on us.

I know we are biased, but we are constantly floored by how stinkin cute Jackson is. We love spending every day with him just watching and interacting with him and seeing what new things he is going to do. There is no doubt that he has both of us wrapped around his little fingers!

Our smart little guy! ;)

2010-09-10T18:28:00.000-07:00

The Jackson Boogie

2010-09-10T18:08:00.000-07:00

He is coming up with new moves every day. Lately he has begun hooking his hands into his pants (or diaper in this case) which makes it look like a country/western dance. It is hilarious!!

Trip to South Bend, IN

2010-09-09T18:17:00.000-07:00

Getting Ready for the Notre Dame/Purdue Game

On Campus
Watching Grandpa play with his band at the Blueberry Festival:

Jackson is mad that he has to sit still for this photo :)

Pointing out Michelle's eyes! He loves to do this to everyone!

Fun on the playground

We decided to take a quick trip up to South Bend to see Justin's Dad and Stepmom. We opted to fly there so that we could see how Jackson does on a plane since we have a big trip coming up in Jan/Feb. Unfortunately, Jackson came down with a small cold several days before we were scheduled to go, but he was feeling much better by Thursday, so off we went. He actually did really well during the flights! We held him in our laps, which meant he was acting like a wild man at times trying to climb over us, but he slept for over half the way there and back. That was really nice! And boy did he love flirting with the flight attendants and waving at the other passengers. One of the flight attendants paid us the sweetest compliment. She said that he was such a happy and well-behaved little guy and she couldnt get over how affectionate he was with both of us. She said that she has rarely seen babies so affectionate with their parents. He is quite the snuggle bunny!

During our trip to South Bend, we: hung out with family which was nice and relaxing, went out to a delicious breakfast, took a stroll around Notre Dame and ate lunch on campus, visited the Notre Dame bookstore, went to the Blueberry Festival in Plymouth, IN and watched Justin's Dad play with his band, ate some delicious food at the Blueberry Festival (this was a HUGE event!) and walked around as Jackson waved to anyone and everyone, visited with extended family (Justin's Dads side) during the festival, Justin and his dad went to the Notre Dame vs. Purdue game, had fun playing with the furbabies- Max, Koa, Meer, Muffin, and Minnie, played with Jackson at a local playground, and visited the South Bend Mall...Whew! It was a whirlwind, but we had a great time. The flight back was a breeze except when Jackson was "reading" (aka tearing out pages) of a magazine and snuck a small piece of paper in his mouth which made him gag. Of course this made him throw up on his pants, but it was only a small amount and well contained, so he went the rest of the flight pants-less! HA! Lesson learned-No more magazines for Jackson any time soon! But what a fun trip it was. Enjoy the pictures!

Grandpa's Band

2010-09-09T18:11:00.000-07:00

Here is a clip of Justin's Dads band. They were great! Justin's dad is the one you hear singing. He is the one on the far left in the black shirt. Jackson is taking it all in!

Boat Trip

2010-09-09T17:54:00.000-07:00

We took Jackson out on his first boat ride a few weeks ago. We recently put our boat in dry stack storage so that it would be easier to get out and use now that we have Jackson. It's awesome: We call the marina and within 45 minutes, the boat is in the water, gassed up and ready to go. We just hop on. For his first boat ride, we took Jackson on a little cruise around the Ashley River. He really enjoyed himself and kept yelling "WAWA" over and over and waving to it. I was a little nervous taking him out, but he did really well and it was a nice smooth ride. I think I had the death grip on his life jacket the whole time! Ha! He started getting a little restless toward the end because he wanted to walk around and explore the rest of the boat. It was a fun little outing!

We also took the boat out on Labor Day with Lauren, Will, and baby Liam which was a lot of fun. Liam was too cute in his life jacket!! It has been nice to be able to take the boat out without the hassle of dealing with the crowded landings. Fun times!

Crickets....

2010-09-05T17:26:00.000-07:00

Is anybody out there? I think by making the blog private, we lost a lot of readers. Several family members and friends have said they have a hard time accessing the blog now and that the whole password thing is causing problems. We are still going to keep it private, but I am looking to see if another blog site might be more user friendly. The whole purpose of the blog was to keep friends and family updated about our family. Hopefully I can figure something out soon.

I have also been really trying to stay on top of the blog updates because I am going to be printing it out via blog2print.com. It basically makes a book out of the blog updates, and it can be edited to exclude the videos and any other posts that I don't want to be in the book. I think I am going to print a separate book for my pregnancy posts and then another one for his first year. I am also in the process of updating his baby book. When I get some free time (what's that!?) I will start working on a video/picture montage as well that I have been wanting to do for some time. There is a bunch of videos from the day Jackson was born that we have that I want to include.

Wow, time seems to flying by so fast. Things in the Whaley house have been busy, busy, busy! There is much to update about, but not enough time to do it right now. Blog posts coming soon:

-Jackson's first ride on our boat
-Our new car
-Jackon's first plane ride
-13 month update
-One year photos

That's all I can think of right now, but I am sure there is more. Now I just have to find the time to write about it and download the photos. Check back soon! :)

Teaser shots from Jackson's 1 yr photos

2010-08-24T18:03:00.001-07:00

I can't wait to see the rest!