16 Weeks

I am getting so bad about the weekly updates. He is already 17 weeks today. I think I am just going to start updating the blog now whenever I get the chance instead of every single week. I did well to last for 16 weeks! Anyway, these past two weeks have been busy! For Thanksgiving, Jackson took his first road trip to the mountains of NC. He did great on the drive up and slept most of the time. It went a lot smoother than we thought it would. That all changed once we got to the house. Jackson was fine for an hour or so, and then started crying....nonstop...for almost five hours. It was a painful cry and it broke my heart. We were trying to figure out if it was altitude change, sickness, tummyache, new environment, etc. Thats when the green poo started (TMI!). Justin and I had Fuddruckers on the way up, and I am thinking that it may have really upset his tummy. Maybe there was some sort of spice on the burger or something? The night before I had chicken and rice, and that morning I had a muffin from ABC, so I dont think it was that. We gave him some Mylecon and I thought we'd be in for a loooong night, but he calmed down and slept the whole night. I am sure he was exhausted from crying! The next day (Thanksgiving) he was great and was all smiles. I was SO glad to have my happy baby back. It took several days for the green poo to work its way out. Poor baby :( He did great on the way home and then on Sunday, Justin left for Atlanta for training with his new job for 4 days.

Thats when the real fun began. It was just Jackson and mommy hanging out together. On Monday morning I noticed that he started sneezing and coughing more than usual. He didnt have a runny nose and seemed happy so I wasnt too worried. Then the fussiness began. I am talking ALL day whining. At least it wasnt crying. By that evening I was lonely, exhausted, and had only eaten an english muffin all day. I realized later that that is pretty stupid since I am still exclusively breastfeeding and I need some calories to be able to function. Jackson was taking a nap around 6 pm and woke up with painful cry and was tugging at his ear. Then I got him to calm down and he gagged on his saliva and vomited (ALL over me) for the first time ever. It was def. not baby spit up, which he rarely does anyway. He got a low grade fever of only 99.3, but it was his first fever and I was alone. So whats a girl to do but call her mom and cry it out. Yep, I called my mom b/c I didnt want to worry Justin and just sobbed, which made me feel better. She offered to come over, but it was almost Jackson's bedtime by then, so I didnt want her to drive over if he was going to sleep soon. Then I talked to Justin who was so sweet and assured me I was doing a great job. We were concerned, but I gave him some Tylenol and his fever went right down and my happy smiling baby returned. Believe it or not he slept all night long (thank god). The next morning he was still somewhat fussy but had no fever. He was still tugging at his ear, so I called our pediatrician and he said it didnt sound worrisome, but that he wanted to check his ears to see if he was getting an ear infection.

Off the the dr we went. Once we stepped foot into the office, Jackson started smiling and flirting with the staff. We saw a nurse practitioner who checked him out and said he was perfectly healthy...what!? She said the sneezing, coughing, fussiness, gagging, ear pulling, and low grade fever could have been due to excess saliva from teething, very mild cold, allergies, altitude adjustment, etc...but def not an ear infection. She thinks it is most likely teething or mild allergies. Also, they took his weight and Jackson weighed 15 pounds even. After that appt he was perfectly fine and has seemed fine since then, except he seems a little fussy still and gnaws on everything. Everything, that is, except his teething rings! :) Being without Justin for a few days really made me appreciate having him around so much more. Justin leaves again tomorrow for work to Michigan until Friday. His mom will be staying with us this week while he's gone. We are looking forward to her visit!

Jackson is just so stinkin' cute. He is our little Christmas elf! We still just look at him and can't believe that he is our sweet little baby. People say he is looking more like Justin as he is getting older, but I think he's a good mix. As for Justin, he is LOVING his new job so far. He is also winding down his semester with school. I am doing great and still working hard to get caught up with work, but making progress. I am getting excited for our first Christmas with Jackson, but disappointed that we wont be getting our tree until after next weekend. With Justin being out of town, we are going to wait until he gets back to decorate and set everything up. Boo! I wish we had gotten it together sooner, but it's been difficult between both of us traveling for work. We did manage to get our Christmas cards done. We didnt do professional pics this year because we just sent the birth announcements out and life has been so hectic. Instead, I took some pictures of Jackson myself. The christmas cards turned out pretty good, but not near as nice as our birth announcements. Next year we will be sure to get some good family Christmas pics made! Jackson will be 4 months old on Tues....happy 4 months to my big boy!