Christmas 2010

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

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...

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!

15 Month Dr. Appt

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!

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

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-

-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

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!

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!