7 Weeks

Here are a few photos of Jackson at a little over 7 weeks. I feel a little silly doing weekly updates, but he is growing so fast and I want to try to document all that I can. Justin and I are pretty sure that he is about 10 lbs now...big boy!! He is all smiles these days and loves to smile non stop in the mornings. He is continuing to sleep well, giving us about 5-6 hours each night, although occasionally he has nights where he wakes up early. I think this is related to gas because he will grunt really loudly until he wakes himself up and wakes up really upset. Luckily it doesnt happen too often though! Our days consist of reading ("Goodnight Moon" and "Guess How Much I Love You"), taking walks outside in the Baby Bjorn, singing (Jesus Loves Me and Counting Crows :), looking in the mirror, eating, taking short naps, tummy time, bouncing up and down, and of course diaper changes! Justin and I were a little sad yesterday because he wore his last newborn diaper...he is officially in size 1 diapers now. We took a picture of his last newborn diaper change! I am amazed at how fast he is growing and learning new things. Also, he is almost ready to sit in his Bumbo. He just needs a tiny bit more neck control, but he sat in it for a while today until he started getting tired.

Jackson is such a good baby. Justin and I both feel so blessed that he seems very healthy and happy so far. I have some friends that are dealing with a recent late pregnancy loss of twins and others that are dealing with infertility and it makes me hold Jackson a little tighter every day. I dont know or understand why these things happen to such wonderful people, but I trust that they will have this happiness one day very soon. I pray for that everyday! I am also very aware that Justin and I will blink, and Jackson will be graduating high school and that is why I try to hold on to every moment that I can and appreciate what a gift we have been given. And Jackson is truly the most perfect gift and a joy to be able to spend each day with :)

6 Weeks

Just look at that beautiful gummy smile! This week he has begun smiling at mommy and daddy several times a day and we now know that they are for us...which melts out hearts every time! He is all smiles when he gets his diaper changed and has also begun "talking" to us as well. His personality continues to come out more and more each day. He also seems to have found out how to make saliva and loves to dribble and blow bubbles with it now :) This week has stayed pretty routine with Jackson sleeping every night from 10-3 or 4 AM. Then I feed him and he goes back down from 5:30-7. We are so thankful to have been able to establish a nightime routine with him so early on. Again, during the daytime we are still not on any routine yet.

This week we have been having lots of "tummy time" and I swear the boy has such wonderful and strong neck muscles already. He loves to hold his head up and we have also been working on our leg muscles. We hold him up and he starts bouncing up and down! We estimate that he weighs about 9 1/2 lbs now. We weigh ourselves and then take our weight again while holding him and that is how we try and guess his weight. I know this is not entirely accurate, but it gives us a weekly basis of comparison. He is getting so long and tall! His head and feet touch the ends of the bassinet now, and he is quickly getting too tall for his newborn clothes. He doesnt really look too chubby, but we think its because he is getting so tall. I can't wait to find out his official weight/height at his two month appt in two weeks. At that visit he will also get his shots :( I know that is going to be such a hard thing for me to watch!

I am still working on getting pictures of Jackson and me together. My goal is to get some this week. Also, our wedding photographer is coming next week to take Jackson's newborn pictures. Then I can work on getting his birth announcements out. My 6 week checkup went great and I have been to the gym 4 times so far. It feels GREAT to work out again, especially doing ab exercises. I hope the pounds start melting off soon! It has been neat to see all of the people at the gym who last saw me at over 38 weeks pregnant. Justin and I have had a lot of people (many we didnt even know) ask us about the baby! Also for some exciting news, Jackson is going to have TWO more cousins! Both of my sisters-in-law are pregnant! We know that one is a girl, and we are excited to find out the gender of the other! Congrats Becca and Brooke :)

I know this sounds rediculous, but I sorta miss being pregnant. NOT that I am in any rush to get pregnant again soon, but I really enjoyed pregnancy. Now of course the last few weeks were challenging, but it was overall such a wonderful experience from the start of the pregnancy all the way through labor and delivery. I hope that we are blessed with a similar experience the next time as well (again, YEARS from now!) :) I hope you enjoy these most recent pictures of Jackson...I could stare at them all day!

5 Weeks

Sorry I am a little late with the 5 week update! I think that Jackson has definitely had a growth spurt in the last week because he has been feeding non-stop! Everytime I get a second to myself, it seems that he wakes up ready to eat again. This past week we put Jackson in his stroller and went for a walk down our street. We didnt get very far because we stopped to talk to several neighbors who were out and about, but it was so nice to show him off and to get out on such a nice night! This past week Jackson has continued to sleep for 5-6 hours at night. He goes down at 10 pm and wakes up about 4 am on a pretty consistent basis. Justin basically takes the nightshift and then I take over at 4 AM so that he can get some uninterrupted sleep. I still have to get up and pump around 2 AM, but that is ok. Our days, however, are not near as predictable. He doesnt really keep to a schedule during the day, but we are ok with that since he is giving us such great nights :) He also prefers to nap snuggled up against mommy and daddy now and has decided that he no longer likes his swing for very long anymore. It's amazing how quickly things change with a baby...you think you have some things figured out and then they switch it up on you! Jackson is still giving some of the cutest, gummiest smiles...but they are usually followed by gas (or EXPLOSIVE poos), so the verdict is still out on whether they are for us yet. He has also started to enjoy bath time a little bit more now. Tommorrow I am headed for my 6 week post-partum visit with my OB, and I am excited to get the go ahead to work out again. I have lost about 32 lbs so far, but my goal is to lose another 15. I want to get back to my wedding weight from 3 years ago. I think I can do it, especially since I am breastfeeding, which burns a good amount of calories. I just realized that I have very few pictures of me and Jackson together, so I am going to make sure that we get some soon! That would require me to put on make up, which only happens about every other day these days!! :) Hope you enjoy the new pictures of Jackson...we think he is plumping up nicely and we estimate that he is between 8.5 and 9 lbs. He is such a joy to be with everyday and we love him so much!

4 Weeks!

I can't believe that 4 weeks have already gone by since little Jackson entered this world! He is doing great and is giving us some good long stretches of sleep at night. For over a week now, he has given us no less than about a 5 hour stretch at night, and one night we got 8 hours! That was great, however, when he woke up he fed and fed...and fed until the afternoon when he finally got back to sleep! I was one tired momma that day! I am hoping that he is learning his nights from his days, and we are encouraged that he has been sleeping well at night for a couple of weeks now. This week he got a bit of a rash and some baby acne has appeared, but it looks to be clearing up a little bit. He has also learned how to cry even louder this week. When he gets really worked up (which is rare, thank God!), he can really belt out the cries and lets us know that he is unhappy.

We went on our official first outings with Jackson this weekend. We went to Charleston's Cafe for breakfast and then ran some errands. I got to go to the mall and do a little shopping, which was really nice! Jackson was an angel that day and slept through most of it, only waking up to feed and then falling right back asleep. Yesterday we went shopping at the outlets and then to Babies R Us. He did great at the outlets, but hated Babies R Us! He cried and cried until we walked out of the store and then he stopped immediately. I guess he didnt like it there! We were really happy with how our first ventures with him went and we are officially calling it a success.

It has been nice for me to get out of the house because I have slowly been going stir crazy staying inside all day. It feels good to be able to go for walks him now and get out among the living again. I am still averaging about 5-6 hrs of sleep at night because once he is up around 4 or 5 AM, he doesnt go back to sleep for awhile. Justin has been taking Jackson for an hour or two each afternoon/evening so that I can get good naps. I am so thankful for this!! I think this past weekJackson has seemed more alert and his personality is coming out more and more by the day. He loves to have diaper explosions while sitting with his daddy and seems quite amused with himself when it happens. His little face is getting chubby and is really filling out now. I have been catching more smiles from him lately even though they are not yet at me...I think its just gas at this point! But he definitely has Justin's mouth and my chin and his smiles are adorable!! He also does not like to get naked and cries until Justin offers his fingers for Jackson to wrap his baby hands around and it seems to comfort him...it is TOO cute! Also, Jackson has begun getting Wild man hair after naps and his hair has horns like his daddy. I will have to get a good picture of that and will hopefully post it next week! :) Happy ONE MONTH to our little angel!