Ten Month Pictures

Here are some recent pictures of Jackson. I have to admit that I get a little lump in my throat when I see these because he looks like such a big boy. I can't believe he's growing up SO fast. I just love this little guy so much!



This is the moment Jackson scooted forward for the first time. Thanks Grayson for helping us out! He's been scooting a little every day since. He's starting to figure it out!




Jackson is really starting to enjoy standing up and beating on the table.


And grabbing anything in his path...

Hmmm...I think I'd like to grab that cup...

I'm such a big boy! Thanks, Luke, for the PJ's.

Ten Months

Jackson is just about 10 1/2 months old! He is such a ball of energy these days and provides so much entertainment and joy! Here's what we've been up to...

We took Jackson to have his ears checked today. The doctor says his ears are looking much better but the right ear has some yellow fluid and the left ear has some clear fluid. Jackson has not had a cold in 2 weeks! It has been so nice. But it seems as though he's starting to get one today...we'll see. So, we are just hoping his ears will continue to get better and this current runny nose doesn't cause another infection. Only time will tell...

Jackson is still not crawling. He's trying to pull up on things and he can turn in a circle on his bottom and tummy. He can go from his bottom to his tummy when he's reaching for something. But he doesn't seem to realize he can move forward when he's on his tummy. He just lays there kicking his feet and fusses. Jackson's doctor told me at his nine month appointment to let him know if Jackson was not crawling in another month so I mentioned this to him when he got his ears checked today. The doctor told us we should refer him to ECI. I was a little surprised by this because so many of my friends have told me that their doctor wasn't concerned when their children weren't crawling at this age and I've always heard that you have to wait a while before ECI will come out to take a look. But I figure that it can't hurt so I filled out a referral today.

Each morning when I feed Jackson we call the kitty into the room and pet her. I say kitty-kitty over and over and Jackson is starting to say "ti-ti" and I believe he's trying to say kitty-kitty. He claps when I say, "clap Jackson." So I know that he understands the word clap. Every once in a while he will raise his hand up to say bye or hello but usually only when I am waving too.

He continues to love bath time and being outside. He also does so well when we go out to eat. He LOVES to people watch!

He is still eating lots of baby food. He eats some finger foods but seems to tire of that quickly and wants to be fed the baby food. He is getting better and better at the sippy cup. I really want to wean straight to the sippy cup so I hope he gets it down really well by 12 months.

Jackson is NOT sleeping well at day care. This has probably been the hardest thing for me about working. I hate it when he's tired and cranky. He naps beautifully at home (2 naps - about 1 1/2 hours each) but often only gets two thirty minute naps at day care (and some days like today only gets one short nap!) Those of you that know me well know that I'm very anal about Jackson's sleep. This is probably because I have read so much about how important proper sleep is to a child's learning and development. On those days that he doesn't sleep well at school we have to put him to bed as early as 6:30. This leaves us little time to spend with him each evening. We have basically stopped going to our Wednesday night group (they meet at 7:00) because it would just keep Jackson up too late. Because we are now trying to make it to Bible class on Sundays, Saturday is the only day for Jackson to get two good naps. Every afternoon when I pick him up I leave so frustrated when I see how poorly he has napped. It just makes me so sad. If any of the moms out there have any tips for helping baby to nap well at day care I'd love the advice. Or maybe I just need to relax and accept the fact that he's not going to sleep well during the week. The bright side is that Jackson sleeps well at night. We are SO thankful for that.

I guess those are the updates for now. I'll post more pictures soon!

Buggy Ride

Today when I went to pick up Jackson from school the kiddos were on a buggy ride. I grabbed my phone and got these pictures. Doesn't it look like fun? The little boy next to Jackson looked like he was about to fall asleep.

My finger got in the way of this one...sorry!

Early Church, Here We Come...

Today we finally took Jackson to his Sunday school class. I've been putting it off because his nap time is right in the middle of class. We've been letting Jackson get his morning nap and then going to church. We decided it was time for us to get back into the habit of going to both class and church, especially since I'm volunteering in the class March - May. Well, as you can see from the pictures below it was a rough afternoon. Jackson is the type of baby that will NOT sleep when he's overtired. We did finally get him to go to sleep around 4:30 when we put him in the stroller and went for a walk.

Moral of the story: we need to start going to early church! If we do that then we'll be home in plenty of time for him to at least get a normal afternoon nap. We love going to the later service because we get to visit with all of our friends, but I'm thinking it might be time to make the crossover. We'll just hope our friends aren't far behind. :-)



This is Jackson refusing to sleep because he's so tired. I know...it just doesn't make sense.

I forgot to mention that Jackson did great in class and enjoyed the songs and watching the other babies.

Happy Valentine's Day

Jackson would like to wish everyone a happy Valentine's Day!

Thanks, Aunt Courtney, for the Valentine's Day outfit.

(It says "Mommy's Little Love Bandit.")

We went to dinner tonight at Cheesecake Factory for Valentine's Day. We decided it would be easier to go to dinner tonight rather than fight the Valentine's Day crowds with Jackson in tow.

Duck and Cover and other Fun Stuff!

Yesterday at school we practiced our duck and cover drill with the students just in case of severe weather...little did I know I'd be doing it at home that night! Guess what happens when daddy goes out of town during the school week for the very first time since Jackson's birth....we have a tornado warning!!! At about 9:35 p.m. Pete Delkus (I love him on channel 8!) said that the residents of Frisco needed to seek shelter. Of course I was freaking out. Laine's mom called to check on me as I was trying to get the weather radio and flashlight in the closet. Then, as I was going to get Jackson from his crib the sirens started going off. I was definitely freaking out then. I grabbed Jackson and we got in the closet. I called Laine and was panicking because I couldn't figure out the stupid weather radio. I wasn't thinking straight! Finally I figured it out and got off the phone. Jackson and I sat in there for about 15 minutes. Then Laine's sister called me to tell me that it had passed Frisco and the weather radio said we were no longer under a warning. I put Jackson back to bed and all was well. I never even heard any heavy rain, wind, or thunder. I guess it's better to be safe than sorry but it really wasn't that bad after all. Lesson learned: I do not do well under stress!

In other news...Jackson still seems to be feeling pretty well. The ladies at day care have said he's been a little fussy but he's been okay at home.

Today Jackson and I put together little treats for his teachers for Valentine's Day. We had some leftover candy and look who found it. I think he might have a sweet tooth. Don't worry...he didn't eat any chocolate, it was all covered.

Jackson got some bubbles from a girl in his class. We tried them out today since it was so nice out this afternoon. He LOVED them and giggled when I blew the bubbles. I didn't get any good shots with lots of bubbles but did get a smile!

Attack of the Killer Ear Infection

Jackson has basically had an ear infection on and off since the beginning of December. It flared up again last week. Because he's already taken several kinds of antibiotics, they gave him antibiotic shots. We went Tuesday afternoon for the first shot. We went back Wednesday afternoon to have the ears checked and they were still infected so he got a second shot. We went back on Thursday and they were still not clear so he got a third and final shot. We'll go back in two weeks for a check - unless he shows signs of another infection before then. If he gets another infection our doctor will send us to an ENT. Needless to say, it was a long week. We are just hoping we can make it through this week with no illness! It starts to get a little depressing and isolating when you have a child that is constantly sick.

Here are some pictures we were able to get on some of the good days:

A visit to the park...

Luckily, we were able to make it to Luke's 1st birthday party in between illnesses.

We also got a visit from Aunt Courtney