4 1/2 month well visit

Today was Jackson's 4 month visit to the pediatrician, but he is actually right at 4 1/2 months old. His official stats are:
Height: 26 inches-76th percentile
Weight: 16.1 lbs-62nd percentile
Head Circumference: 17 in-65th percentile

He did great and we got to see our friends Stephanie and David with their precious baby Benjamin while we were there. As soon as Dr. Drew walked in however, Jackson got a big frown and started wailing. Im not sure where that came from. He pretty much fussed and cried during Dr. Drew's exam. We got him calmed down just in time for the nurse to come in and do the shots. Jackson reacted exactly like he did last time, so I nursed him and he calmed right down. Dr. Drew came back in and he was much better. I forget to ask the Dr. about solids...I guess a screaming baby will do that to ya :) Maybe I will try and give him a call sometime this week. Anyway, Jackson seems to be doing well tonight, so hopefully that continues!

4 1/2 Months old!

Well, just a few days shy of 4 1/2 months anyway and 19 weeks old. By our estimate he is a tad bit over 16 lbs. He is wearing 6 month clothes now. We will get his official weight at his 4 month well visit on Tuesday. He also gets another round of shots. Justin says that this time I have to be the one that he looks at when he gets the shots...boo! I am not looking forward to that. I am interested to see what the pediatrician says about starting solids. I know babies can start as early as 4 months, but then the American Academy of Pediatrics says that for breastfed babies, other foods, juices, etc. are unnecessary until 6 months of age. Jackson definitely seems to be becoming more interested in eating. He watches both of us eat and starts moving his mouth a little bit. We'll see what Dr. Drew thinks about maybe introducing some rice cereal.

These last few weeks have been so much fun. Justin's mom came to stay with us while Justin was out of town and Jackson did so well with her. He was such a happy baby and he was "talking" to her so much. He did not nap well during the day with her, but I am sure he was just too excited to sleep! Jackson was very happy to see his daddy when Justin got back home from the blizzard in Michigan. It has been great having Justin back home and we finally got our tree up and decorated. Jackson loves to stare at the tree and we got him his very own stocking to hang above the fireplace yesterday.

We did have some sleeping challenges over the last couple of weeks. Jackson has been such a great sleeper since early on. Ever since we made the transition from bassinet to sleep positioner, he started have some periods of fussing in the middle of the night. He never actually wakes up, but he does fuss and it will get louder and louder until I nurse him. I always do because I dont want him to get so upset that he wakes himself up and wont go back down. If I nurse him, he is back in a deep sleep in 10 minutes. Normally it was just once a night, but it had been increasing in frequency as time went on. At one point, he began doing this every 2 hours, which meant that I was sleeping in 1-1 1/2 hour increments! Of all the research I've done, I have found two completely opposite thoughts: Dr. Sears says that you should respond and that the baby is telling you that he is either hungry or needs some bonding time. Dr. Ferber says that by responding every time, you are actually creating negative eating/sleep habits and that you are doing more harm than good. So my dilemma has been: Is he fussing because he is actually hungry? Is he lonely? Is he in some pain from teething? Am I a sucker because he knows that all he has to do is start fussing and I will pick him up and feed him?

Soooo, the first thing we did was get rid of the sleep positioner because our big boy is just too constricted by it. We also moved the pack and play (where he still sleeps) from across the room to next to me...one step closer to his nursery and crib. Then we busted out the pacifier to try and see if he would take it to calm himself down. We tried different things like Justin rocking him, giving a paci, rubbing his back. I dont know what did the trick, but within a day or so, he started only fussing once a night. And it is getting later and later. Now, it doesnt happen until about 5-6 AM, so that is great. Then he goes back down immediately for another 2 hours or so. So I am back to only being up once a night to nurse him, and it is so nice. He does have periods of a little fussiness as his sleep states transition, but he is able to soothe himself back to sleep now. I am thinking a large part of it was that the sleep positioner was not working for him. Now he sleeps from about 9PM-7 AM. Lets hope this continues!!

We also set up his jumper seat and he loves it! He wasnt sure about it at first, but he quickly learned how to make the sounds go off and he is starting to get the hang of jumping in it. He gets so excited and we start clapping when he jumps, which makes him smile and jump even more. He is so cute when he things something is funny, he gives a little chuckle. He is not yet giving us any good belly laughs, and I can't wait until that comes. He has noticed his feet more and starts grabbing at his legs/feet when his diaper is being changed. Yesterday we had to move him to size 3 diapers because his chunky Michelin-man legs were busting out of the stage 2!! We are still working on tummy time and rolling over. He still rolls from his tummy to side, and then eventually kicks his leg to get him on his back. No back to tummy yet, although I think that is just around the corner. I was reading my friend Mandy's blog yesterday and it made me laugh because she was talking about being kinda crazy about making sure that her (beautiful) little girl is meeting milestones and comparing them to other babies. Mandy, if you are reading this I can totally relate and I think every mother must do this at some point! I started to find myself getting a little concerned if I see or hear of one baby laughing/rolling over/etc, and Jackson isnt quite doing it yet. But I am learning more and more that every baby is SO different and unique and they all do things when they are ready. PS Lorelei looks like Brian to me and she is TOO cute! Anyway, Someone said something funny to me the other day. They said that you spend all this time and effort trying to help your baby to walk and talk, and then you spend the next 15 years trying to get them to sit down and be quiet..HA!

I posted some new pictures of Jackson and his perfect little bald head. He is getting some new hair growing in and it looks really light brown. Also, his eyes are still as blue as can be. I wonder if they will stay that way . My dad and both brothers have blue eyes, but Justin and I still think he will be green-eyed. Hope you enjoy the new photos and video. I will update after his appt. on Tues.

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!

15 Weeks

Jackson is officially rolling over from front to back!! Hes done it for a couple of weeks now, but not consistently. He does it every time now and is working hard on rolling from back to tummy...hes getting close! Over the last few days, Jackson has found his voice. He is "talking" to us so much now and laughing. His little personality comes out a little more everyday. His daytime naps are getting more regular now and he is getting back to his 9-9 1/2 hours of sleep at night...thank goodness! I still have to get up around 6 AM because he is fussing and kicking like crazy in his sleep, but as soon as I nurse him he settles right down for another 2 hours or so. I weighed him today and got 15.2 lbs, so its safe to say that he is creeping up on that 15 lb mark..my little baby is getting so big so fast!

He is also letting me know now when he is done nursing and had decided to start biting every now and then...ouch!! Then he gets this big grin afterwards. Thank goodness this doesnt happen every time! He loves to play on his playmat and shake his rattle that has his keys on it. He will switch it from hand to hand and bring it to his mouth. He also LOVES to be sung to and for me to play "this little Piggy" with him.

As for me, I am doing well and work is keeping me really busy. I am almost back down to my pre-pregnancy weight. I have 2 lbs to go. If I lose 5 more lbs, I will be back to my wedding weight from 3 yrs ago...YAY! And for those of you that dont know, Justin has a new job. After almost 3 years with his last company, a new opportunity presented itself. It was perfect timing because in January his old company is having massive layoffs. He is now with a great company and he deals with diagnostic tests rather than pharma. So far this new company is heads above the last one and Justin is much happier. It is certainly a step up for him, and we are thankful not to have to worry about layoffs in a month! For Thanksgiving we are traveling to NC to spend it with Justin's mom and Carl. It will be Jackson's first road trip. We are hoping that it goes well!

14 Weeks

How slack I am for doing his 14 week update today when he is 15 weeks old! I will do his 15 week post in a few days. I have been back to work for almost a month now and needless to say I have been very busy. I feel like there arent enough hours in the day to get everything done!

The biggest news from this week is that Jackson has outgrown his bassinet. One morning we woke up and his little feet were hanging off the end and he was banging them against it. It was kind of sad to put it away! So now he is sleeping in his pack and play on a sleep positioner because we are not quite ready to put him in his crib. I know he should probably be in his crib by now, but Justin and I want to keep him close by until at least 4 months, when the peak risk for SIDS ends. We are going to transition him to the crib probably right after Christmas. So needless to say, it has been a bit of a change for Jackson from being cuddled in his bassinet to having all the room in the world to stretch those limbs out. He has done better than expected, but has begun waking up around 5:00 AM, giving me about an hour or two less sleep a night. Last night he woke up at 4 AM and didnt go back down until 7. So Mommy and Jackson had a party this morning and played while the rest of the world was sleeping! Lets hope he adjusts soon. Still, he is sleeping for about 7-8 hours so I cant complain too much. I am hoping that he steadily starts sleeping longer again once he gets used to the new arrangement. I am also hoping that this will make transitioning him to the crib much easier as well.

We weighed him the other day and we both came up with 14 1/2 lbs. He is really beefing up and still eating like a champ. He also smiles ALL the time and will just stare up at me and Justin smiling for the longest time. Still, nothing is as entertaining to him as much as when he gets undressed down to his diaper and gets in front of a mirror. He continues to love to stomp his feet and laughs, smiles, and coos at himself. It is the cutest thing!!

13 Weeks

This past Saturday Jackson turned 3 months old! He is getting SO big and heavy...the scale is now saying he weighs a little over 13 1/2 lbs. I wonder when his weight gain will level off. He is also starting to look like he is going to roll over very soon. He has almost done it so many times! I think he will roll from tummy to back first, but he is also really working hard on back to tummy rolling. He is sleeping an average of 9 hours each night now which is wonderful! He also seems to love being barefoot and will stomp his feet really hard when we stand him up in front of a mirror. He gets such a kick out of watching himself do this and seems to slightly favor his right foot over his left.

Jackson smiles ALL of the time and is enjoying sticking his tongue out at us lately. He also loves watching the TV, and we are constantly turning him away so that he can't watch it. He has found sneaky ways to sneak a peak sometimes! I have a feeling that Justin is going to have a movie buddy when Jackson gets older, but for now the TV is off limits. Mommy and Daddy are far more interesting anyway! :)

Justin's birthday is this Friday the 13th...he will be 31! This time last year we had a blast celebrating his 30th birthday on Folly Beach with family and friends. He always said that he didn't want to have kids before 30. A week after his 30th birthday, we became pregnant! So that worked out well. This birthday will be very different, but it a great way :) Happy Birthday Justin! Jackson's birth announcements arrived and they look GREAT! Keep an eye out for them in your mailbox soon! Here is a link to many of our favorite pictures that Kim Graham took a few weeks ago. I think she did a wonderful job!

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=85e1711cc8e8203e&sid=8AbuGzhm1ZOGFE

12 Weeks

Jackson is now weighing in at 13 pounds!! He is double the weight that he was born. He is also outgrowing his bassinet and now wearing 3-6 month clothes. We stopped swaddling him at night, and he has done well with that. He goes down at about 10:30 every night and is up at 7 every morning like clockwork. Usually he wakes up in the mornings like a wild banshee and kicks through his diaper change and cries until he is fed, but lately he has been waking up more peacefully and smiling which is a nice change! Lets see, he is now cooing a lot more and has been getting more tummy time where he lifts his head from side to side and looks all around. We love to practice "walking" and standing as well! He is grasping things more now and will hold a rattle if placed in his hand and move it around. He is learning new things every day! One of his new favorite things is to watch me stick my tongue out him and he gets a big grin and seems to start trying to imitate me-it is so cute!!

This past weekend we took him to Charles Towne Landing and he slept most of the time. We walked around and even went to see the animals, but he was more interested in sleeping. We also passed an alligator who was lurking about 5 or 6 feet away from us, which made me slightly nervous, but he didnt seem to really notice us. It was a beautiful day! That night we dressed Jackson up in his Superman outfit and passed out candy. We barely had any trick or treaters this year, but it was still fun. Also, we got the birth announcements done and ordered which should be in on Friday. I am really pleased with the way the look online and I hope they look as good in person!

I also forgot to mention that Justin got his grades back from his last class and got another "A" which means he still has a 4.0!! YAY-Jackson and mommy are so proud! As for me, I am back at work which has been a little hectic, but I have been working hard to play catch up. I cant believe that Jackson is almost 3 months old...time is going by so fast!!