Part Two of Pictures

10 Months Old!

Jackson is officially 10 months old - 2 more months and we will be celebrating his first birthday... WOW. My baby boy is growing so much, so fast. We had a very busy weekend. Friday night, Justin and I had a date night while Grandma had a date with Jackson. We take any date night we can get!! Saturday, we drove down to Columbia and spent the day visiting with Grandma and Grandpa. Jackson enjoyed the visit and especially enjoyed playing with Zeke. After a long day on the road, Jackson stayed up late playing when we got home. I think he was just so excited to not be in the car any more that he was wide open. We had a blast playing together. Then, today, we went to a birthday party for a friend's two-year-old boy. It was at the Greenville Zoo - zoo first and then party in one of the shelters at the park/zoo afterwards. It was quite a hot, busy weekend. But, it was fun.

Jackson has become very fascinated with learning what kinds of things he can do with his new found talent of standing up. Trial and error means that he has taken a few hard hits here and there. He still thinks he is invincible though. The last couple of days he has been quite amused by standing up and immediately sitting down over and over and over and over again. It's hilarious. Jackson had an ear infection this week - so we had a visit to the doctor. He weighed over 22 lbs (I think it was 10 oz, but not sure). He's just growing, growing, growing. He is graduating to the next room at daycare tomorrow. I am a little concerned because they seem to only want to have them take one nap a day. Jackson still needs two naps a day. We will see how it goes. My biggest problem with daycare has been that they have not been able to get him on a good nap routine. I don't understand it because he is such a good baby at home. I try to give them the benefit of the doubt since daycare is completely different and I can't know how he is there without being there myself. Ultimately, I am a control freak and I just don't like not being able to make sure that he is on his routine there too.

Above are a few pictures of our weekend. I have to post them in two different posts - there are so many good ones!

Morning Nap

I failed to mention in yesterday's post that the naptime ritual I established on my week off is still in place. I was so afraid that being back at daycare would mess it all up. My mom (Meme) made Jackson a pillow shortly after he was born. For awhile, we used it to help prop him up in things when he was still not very good at sitting up on his own. I noticed it in the pack n' play yesterday and thought that would be something good to add to his crib - that maybe he might like it in there now. This morning, I laid him down for his nap - awake of course. After I had sorted laundry, I walked by his room to find this....

I snuck a quick picture with no flash - praying it didn't disturb his slumber. Isn't he sweet laying on the pillow?!

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary - to Leslie and Rick today and to Justin and I on Monday. Seven years ago, we arrived in Las Vegas for a fun trip and a perfect wedding! I can't believe how far we have come. This year - through it's ups and downs has led us to be a family - not just the two of us any more. I am so thankful for my family.

I had thought we might take a little road trip this weekend. But, as all things have been lately, the minute I even think about a trip, Jackson takes a turn. The snot turned on this morning. He's been running a low grade fever. I think it all results from the teeth that are coming. One tooth on top has popped through and I suspect two more on the bottom are well on their way. I can only hope that he sleeps good tonight. Attached are three pictures - two from yesterday, one from today where it is pretty clear that he isn't quite himself.

Vacation Recap

Is my vacation really over... It flew by like it was nothing. So, here is a recap of my "to do" list and the progress I made.

1. We worked on self-feeding. He still isn't very good at it - still no patience, but we are still working on it.

2. Nap time is officially a routine. Diaper change, two books (including his favorite) and down he goes wide awake. The first three days were easy - hardly any protest. Day four was all crying, but he got over it both times within a few minutes. Day six was more crying with a little more consoling for the afternoon nap. Day 10 was so so - the morning was fine, the afternoon was terrible. I think he was having some kind of issue. But, all in all, he did fabulous. I even heard him playing at times before going to sleep but it never lasted more than a few minutes. I know that he will have bad days where it won't work out. If it works more than it doesn't, then I feel like I have accomplished something. Now, I just hope that sending him back to daycare doesn't mess it all up!

3. Table food - This week, we actually had two nights where he ate exactly what we ate for dinner - one night he had mashed potatoes and green beans (and a taste of the barbeque). The other night, he had baked rotini with tomato sauce, chicken and cheese. I actually did let him try the chicken. He was very good. I already mentioned that he loves the eggos - I can't get over how excited he gets for them.

4. Work on his scrapbook - that fell by the way side. I got one page done. I am going to make it my goal to do one page a week. I don't think that's unreasonable. Besides, my creativity wouldn't allow me to do much more in a week. Sad but true!

5. I didn't really get the pictures hung, but some of them have actually been placed in the rooms that they are going to be hung in. That's progress! I framed some more of Jackson's pictures.. also progress. And, in doing all that, I successfully cleaned out the dining room so there isn't stuff all over the place (just on the table where I do my scrapbooking!). :)

6. I did get some house cleaning done too!

I also managed to make it out for some errands, to see my grandfather, and to visit my co-workers so that they could see Jackson. It was a busy, busy week!

Of course - it's never truly enough. But, I feel like I did pretty well with the little time I had considering all the chasing around I had to do. Now, for an update on more important things.... JACKSON! He has learned so much this week. He is starting to crawl normally. He still finds the army crawl faster, but he will do both. He is also pretty good at moving around on his knees (upright)... which resulted in the next thing. He started pulling up to a stand this week. The first time - it was really sweet. He has bad mommyitis, especially at night. Justin was playing with him in the den while I was getting his night time bottle ready in the kitchen. He saw me and was trying to crawl over Justin to get to me. In his attempt, he ended up standing up. The second time he pulled up on the ottoman in our living room. It has happened a few more times since then, but I still haven't managed to capture it on film. I have a half-way attempt included in the pictures. It is right before he pulled up on the ottoman. Today, we discovered that he is starting to give kisses. He closes his eyes and goes for it open-mouthed and all. It's not on command, but more in response to us giving him a kiss.... so sweet! I am sure I have forgotten other things... he is just growing and changing so fast!

As a result of the pulling up, I am afraid our tile topped coffee table is going to have to go to another room. We will be getting a faux leather ottoman coffee table to replace it soon!

I think that hits the high points. I had such a fun, but tiring week being at home. It makes me sad to know how much I miss with Jackson being at daycare. I am also thankful to have had the time to spend with him.

Part two of pictures

Happy Fourth of July!

Can I just say - what a beautiful weekend!? I don't think we could have asked for better weather. My sister & family, parents, and friend Karen & family all came up for a long weekend at Twin Lakes Campground. Who could ask for a better situation to have that many people we love in one place at one time.

I intended to take Jackson to see them Friday afternoon. Much to my dismay, when I picked him up on Friday (at 12:15), he had not had a nap at daycare (AT ALL!). How in the world he stays up for so long at daycare and they don't feel the need to put him down for a nap regardless of whether or not he is acting tired is beyond me (but that's a different story for another post). Back to the weekend...

Jackson didn't make it to the campground on Friday. But, my sister and niece were able to come by on Friday before going to see my grandfather (Poppy) with my parents. Jackson and Grace are quite taken with each other now - very cute. Leslie brought some more clothes and toys (YEAH!). Friday evening, courtesy of my parents, Justin and I went down to the campground for a couple of hours to hang out. It was nice to see everyone. All the kids were precious! The company was wonderful.

Saturday, we (my parents, Justin, Jackson and I) ventured out after Jackson got up from his morning nap. Jackson enjoyed his first boat trip on the lake. He was very unhappy with the life jacket, but immediately fell asleep with me. My mom took over and eventually had both him and Grace sleeping with her. We appreciated the time in the lake while he slept! We woke him up about an hour and a half later to let him swim with us in the lake. He seemed to really enjoy it and didn't protest the life jacket on the ride back to the campground.

We have been sticklers about Jackson's schedule. He didn't seem to do too bad with the long day on Saturday. We didn't get back to the house until 9 and he went down for bed. He did not sleep any later in the morning, so it definitely can't be a regular occurence. But, he did fine. The next morning we decided to go back out there (Justin, Jackson, and I). We got up and got ready and headed out in time for Jackson to sleep in the car. He got about an hour of sleep in the car as we stopped here and there for breakfast, coffee, and some festive t-shirts at Walmart. Unfortunately, the boat ride didn't work out on Sunday. I don't know if it was the long day on Saturday, the short nap in the car, or what. But, he was tired and just wouldn't give up screaming. We let him go for 30 minutes before we decided they needed to take us back. Oh well! We tried. It was probably just too much after the long day from Saturday. We took him home where he proceeded to get right back to normal and have a fun day. Today, I hope to take him swimming after his nap (at the neighbor's house). Hopefully, he will enjoy that. I want him to get used to the water so we can plan fun trips in the future.

I am happy to say that I am on vacation all week long. I am so excited to spend the time with Jackson (and Justin too - although he isn't taking the whole week off). I have a plan of things to work on with Jackson this week:

1. Get better at self-feeding. Currently, he has little patience (wonder where he got that from!). I find if I just ignore him in the kitchen and just go about my business cleaning or something, that he won't expect me to do it for him.

2. Get better at nap time - really work on the routine so laying him down awake works. We are on day three of laying him down awake with no problem (fingers are crossed that this continues). He is so good at bedtime, hopefully, this won't be too hard to fix for naptime. Since he has been in daycare, this has been a hard one to work on since I don't get to put him down for naps very often during the week.

3. Introduce more table food. It's hard to do with him being in daycare. At night, sometimes it's just easier to feed him the baby food and be done when I have been at work all day and am trying to get everything ready for the evening and next day. This weekend, I have discovered that he loves eggos, eats eggs, LOVES my mom's pasta salad (including the cucumbers)...

So, that's my to do list for him. I also want to work more on his scrap book, get the house really good and clean, and hang up more of his pictures and other pictures in the house. I don't know if it's possible to get all of that done in one week especially considering how I have started the week. But, it's better to have lofty goals than none at all!! :) Also, I wanted to mention that we got good news this week. Justin's Grandmother is Cancer FREE!! She goes back for another check in September. But, it appears that God has answered our prayers and the chemo worked. It's about time for some good news in this family! YEAH!!

Too many pictures to post, so I will have to do it in two posts...