This Morning...

Jackson woke up fussing this morning at about 5. I didn't try to get him back to sleep in his bed. I just brought him back to bed with me. He rarely wants to sleep with me and the little bit that we do it in the morning (mostly on weekends) isn't going to hurt anything! So, thankfully, he went back to sleep with me. I was able to slide him over to Justin so that I could go make all the lunches for us all and then take a shower. After all that, I was sure he would be awake when I got out of the shower. But, nope! He was passed out with Daddy. I got two pictures and he didn't even budge. I love it!

Fun day Friday

We went to the doctor for a re-check on Jackson's ears. He has been plagued by ear infections lately. Apparently, he meets the criteria for a referral to the ENT. So, we will be visiting the ENT soon. While I hope he doesn't need tubes, if he does, we will deal with it. There are much worse things in life to deal with. After our visit to the doctor, we played (see video attached) and I actually had time to cook dinner while he played in the kitchen. I hardly ever get to cook dinner in time for Jackson to eat it. I cooked a pasta bake of sorts with ziti and chicken. Jackson LOVED it. He couldn't get enough.

On another note... it's GAME DAY! Go TIGERS!!! I hope Jackson wants to watch football today, because that's what we plan on doing - too many good games on not to check them out!!

Box fun from Heather Gray on Vimeo.

Fun Labor Day

Thankfully, Jackson seems to be getting better as each day passes. I am hesitant to look inside his mouth to see if the molars have popped through. We had a fun day today... particularly a fun night. The pictures are for Nichole and Greg - they gave Jackson his first tailgating chair as well as a football. I have been eyeing these chairs, so I was very excited to see it! Thanks Nichole!

Working on it... from Heather Gray on Vimeo.

Busy, Busy, Busy...

As usual, it has been a crazy couple of weeks. Let's recap...

I was supposed to leave Jackson for the first time a little over a week ago. It was a couple's trip to motorcycle races in Indianapolis. Let's be honest - I don't have a lot of interest in motorcycles, but I was going for the company (my hubby!). The wife of the other couple dropped out at the last minute, so it became a boy's trip. Although I missed the time with Justin, I was also just fine spending the weekend with Jackson. It was quite the fussy weekend, but he is trying to cut his top molars. I tried to keep him busy. We walked every day. We ran errands every day... and of course, we played. After a weekend of whining, he woke up Monday morning with a low grade fever.... so off to the doctor we went. He had an ear infection in both ears. The doctor said it wasn't too bad. She prescribed antibiotics and we went on our way. I put him to bed Monday night thinking he would be back at daycare the next day. WRONG! He spiked a fever of 104.4 in the night. It scared us to death. After some motrin and a bath at 2 in the morning, his fever did go down below 104 (but not much below). He battled a fever from Tuesday until Thursday evening. Finally, we went back to the doctor after making it long enough that the doctor thought that it was odd that he still had a fever. I am not convinced that he didn't have some other virus going on too because he was having some stomach issues. Well, it turns out that the antibiotics weren't helping, so they gave him a shot of antibiotics. Those shots must hurt pretty bad, because I can honestly say that I could not calm him down and he was really mad at me. Thankfully, Justin came to the rescue.

Saturday (also known as GAMEDAY!!), we drove down to Dreher Island for my nephew's fifth birthday. We battled whether or not that was the right thing to do. The last fever he had was Friday morning. At the end of the day, we thought maybe it would be good for him to get out of the house for a little while. I know he was probably getting stir crazy from having felt so awful and being confined to the house. We had a quick, nice visit that clearly wore him out. It was great to see all the family and friends that were there. He is still whiny today. Thankfully, my friend Nichole (and her fiance Greg) didn't hold it against him. They came for a visit to meet my little joker. They brought him his first Clemson football chair and big football. Pictures will come soon of that.

At this point, I am not sure if I should just blame the whining on the molars or if his ears are still bothering him. I hope it is just his teeth. And... I hope those teeth pop through as soon as possible... I am tired of the whining!! It's starting to wear me down. Tomorrow, I hope our day is uneventful and whine free! I really just want him to be well again. It's so sad to see him feeling bad. I just want him to feel like his fun self again.

Note to Self...

It only takes a few times for a routine to be broken. We made a trip to Columbia on Friday. I had a pool party with friends, so we took the time to spend with Grandma and Grandpa (Justin's parents) also. We all spent the night on Friday and left at Jackson's bed time on Saturday to come back home... busy, busy weekend. Back to the moral of this story...

Friday, we stuck Jackson in the car for his lunch time nap.... car put him to sleep. Friday night, after much protest, I rocked him to sleep for bed time (bad idea). Not being at home just throws him off. Saturday, I rocked him to sleep for nap time because I didn't want to worry about him having trouble going down again. Saturday afternoon, after swimming, he pooped out laying on me for a few minutes. Then, at bed time... car put him to sleep again. This morning, Justin took him to Lowes. On the way back, Jackson fell asleep in the car... and he was transferred to his crib. This afternoon, what appears to have been a wicked stomach ache (probably induced by too much food on Saturday) made for a terrible afternoon nap in which I let him sleep with me. So, here is the moral of my long story.... The child that I worked so hard to get to the point where he would go to sleep on his own is now all messed up. I do think he is working on another ear infection, but it doesn't matter. He never has issues going to sleep by himself any more.... Way to ruin that in one weekend! So, I think we are back to square one for a few days.... and just before I leave him for the first time this coming weekend. UGH... I hope I can get it under control before we leave. I don't want to add that to that I worry about when I leave him!!

Another thing to remember - just because Jackson wants to keep eating, doesn't mean he isn't full. Apparently, my child doesn't react to being full. Thankfully, he recovered from the wicked stomach ache this afternoon. He ate a good dinner and was wide open playing for the remainder of the evening. He took a very fun bath (pictures attached). He is still super snotty and hacking his head off, so we will be paying a visit to the doctor tomorrow afternoon hopefully.

I ordered birthday invites. I was happy to come home to their arrival. Although we are only inviting family to Jackson's first birthday, I still wanted to have an invitation (mainly for his baby book). Family only will keep it simple and I am looking forward to it! I just need to perfect the cake before his big day arrives.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

I am going to try and keep this brief because it has been a LONG weekend and I need to relax a little before bedtime. The last couple of weeks have been crazy. Jackson came down with a virus right after getting over the ear infection. Then, he got yet another ear infection and I believe he is cutting teeth... as usual. We paid a visit to Columbia this weekend for a visit with some friends. Jackson made his debut to several of them which was pretty fun. He did great with all the people - was social and outgoing after taking it all in. After protesting his afternoon nap while out of town, he went to bed with no trouble (thank goodness!). We were prepared to get in the car and drive home if he didn't want to sleep.

Jackson is starting to be difficult when it comes to lunch/dinner time. Honestly, after trying table food, I think he just wants no part of baby food. Additionally, I really think he just wants to do it himself. That is going to present a challenge for daycare initially as I figure out what I will need to pack him for lunch. Breakfast isn't going to change for now... and this week, he is still getting baby food for lunch. I tried out something new for dinner tonight - canned mixed veggies. He was very pleased to eat by himself. He also has taken quite a liking to cheerios. These are a few pictures of his adventures this weekend...

GOOD NIGHT!!

Just a picture...