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!