Getting so BIG

Taking my first steps by MYSELF

Jackson FINALLY started walking yesterday!!!! He still prefers to crawl but he can walk! They said in daycare he was throwing the ball all day and then walking to get it. Last night he would stoop down to start to crawl and we’d have to say “no Jackson, walk” and then he’d walk. He’s wobbly but it’s SOOOO cute. I’m SOOO excited- It’s about time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 16 months old!!!!

Christmas 2007

Merry Christmas

2nd haircut

Happy Halloween

Thanks Uncle Chris and Aunt Leanne

Here's Jackson with one of the Birthday presents his Uncle Chris and
Aunt Leanne gave him----- the present to get on mommy and daddy's
nerves!!!

“Stop putting Brandon Cox in as Quarterback!!!”

Check out my curls.

All ready for bath time

We had a major scare Sunday night.

After we got home from Mimi and Papa’s Jackson was on the couch watching the fish in the aquarium. He was on his knees on the cushion of the couch and leaning against the arm of the couch so he could touch the glass of the aquarium with his hands. He does this all the time. I was sitting right next to him and had his foot in my hand. Well, Jackson got excited at one point over the fish and went to sit back and when he did he turned his body and sat on the edge of the cushion and because there was no back, he just kept going and fell on the hardwood floor and hit his head pretty hard. It all happened so fast I couldn’t catch him. He cried for a few minutes and then fell asleep on my shoulder. This isn’t normal for Jackson- he fights naps and doesn’t sleep on your shoulder. This worried me but Wayne reasoned that he was just scared and tired and that’s why he was sleeping on me. After about 10 minutes Jackson sat up off of my shoulder and started throwing up a lot- not spit up but actual vomit. I knew something was wrong then and went to call the doctor while Wayne went to look up “concussion” on webmd. While I was waiting for the on-call nurse to call me back Jackson threw up more. The nurse called back and as she was saying if he had only thrown up 2 times just to watch him and if he had 3 he needed to go to the ER he threw up a 3^rd time. At this point I had changed clothes twice, he was now wearing nothing but a diaper, and Wayne had called 911 and they had just arrived. They checked Jackson out and said they thought he was probably ok but that he needed to go to Children’s to be sure and needed to be transported by ambulance. So Jackson and I had our first (and hopefully last) ambulance ride and Wayne followed in the car. Grandparents met us there. Jackson had a CAT scan and they said everything looked fine. We were there several hours (thankfully coming in in an ambulance gets you in a room immediately because it was packed!). They said to let him sleep for a couple of hours and then wake him up and make sure he wakes up fine and then let him go back to sleep so we did when we got home. Jackson did okay but he wasn’t back to himself until yesterday- he wasn’t eating right and just wasn’t acting right. I think his neck hurt a little bit by the way he was acting. But all seemed like it was back to normal yesterday and this morning he was all smiles!!! Now I want to line our floors in mattresses and every time Jackson is on the couch I have both arms around his waist (which he doesn’t like). He keeps trying to stand without holding on to anything and rather than encouraging him I keep trying to distract him to get him to sit b/c I’m so scared of him falling again! I know he’s a boy and will get bumps and bruises and may even break some bones- but that was too much!!!!

My new ride

Milk and Doughnuts

Already training to be a policeman like my Daddy. :)

Getting so big so fast

Jackson plays the piano at Mimi and Papa’s. He plays a few cords and then eats the piano keys….. then he plays more and then eats the keys again.

When Jackson got the Tubes put in his ears last Monday, 07/09/07, they had little wagons and things at Children’s South to push the kids up and down the hallways in to take their minds off of things and keep them entertained. Jackson loved this little car that Mimi found so much that she had to order him one….

UPDATE:

Jackson has continued having ear infections in both ears and the doctor said on a scale of 1-10 they were an 11. She had tried everything and finally said he needed to go see an ENT. We went to Dr. Shirley at Children’s South who said that Jackson definitely needed tubes in his ears and that he also wanted to do a nasaloscopy to see if Jackson may need his adenoids taken out. On the day of the surgery (07/09/07) Jackson had been coughing a lot and we learned about 2 weeks prior that he had been exposed to the Croup at daycare. The Anesthesiologist still okayed the tubes but would not okay the removal of Jackson’s adenoids if the doctor felt that was needed and said he would have to do that another time. Jackson did great during his surgery and the doctor said that his adenoids were a little swollen and he would have removed them but there is no emergency- we’ll just keep our eyes on them. Jackson did great the rest of the day and you wouldn’t have known he had anything done after the first hour or so- he was back to playing like normal and fighting sleep!

Jackson had is 9 month check-up on 06/26/07. He weighed 18 pounds and 11 ½ ounces. His length is 27 inches and his head circumference is 18 inches. He is doing well with everything and is VERY active- he DOES NOT like to sit still…. Unless he’s studying what others are doing. He grabs every instrument the doctor puts near him just to show her that he’s in charge, not her. He did pretty well with his shots, too.

Jackson is crawling 90% of the time in a “normal” crawl but still “GI Joes” occasionally. He pulls up to a standing position on EVERYTHING- even if it isn’t stable! He knocks everything down too! We have moved into our new house which is much more baby proof and he has a lot more room to crawl around. Jackson even has his own side of the house complete with his room and a playroom and a bathroom where he gets his baths in a real tub now (with his own little tub placed down in the real tub, of course). Jackson loves bath time and as soon as he hears the water running he wants to put his hands (and sometimes his head) under the faucet! If I’m drying him off and his daddy still has the faucet on to rinse out the tub, Jackson tries to jump out of my arms to get back in the water! Jackson is still doing great with the dogs and loves petting them. He’s gotten used to Hershey’s kissing now and will stick his hand up for her to kiss it and then he’ll yank it away after one kiss and giggle and then stick it back to her face for another kiss. He tried to give Corona a kiss the other day and it was so cute but I just couldn’t let him b/c that open mouth was going straight for her back that sheds so easily- I could just see him with a mouthful of hair! He also tried to use her for a pillow one day- his pillow got up and walked off. He tries to get in the doggy bed with Hershey and has also tried to get in her crate several times when she wasn’t even in it! Jackson is eating baby food much better and has started the meats- he loves ham and applesauce. We gave him some rice and shredded chicken the other night from our dinner and he seemed to really like it- but when I put it on his tray for him to eat himself- he only played with it and didn’t get the concept of putting it in his mouth. Jackson still hasn’t really figured out the sippy cup yet but he’s getting there. It’s probably close to time to start using that more and weening him off the bottle------- is mommy ready for that? I don’t think so.

Can't get enough of this cute little face

On the move an into everything.

Squeaky Clean

ALWAYS the center of attention.

Jackson and his favorite thing ever- his duck at Mimi and Papa's- it's
the first thing he looks for when he goes in their house. He just grins
at it and wants someone to squeak it and then after a while wants to
touch it himself.

Jackson asleep on Papa. He slept for 3 1/2 hours!

Jackson loves this basket that his toys stay in at Mimi and Papa's and
he loves climbing on their TV- if he gets a little heavier he won't be
able to do that!!!

Hanging out at the lake

Jackson’s talking and “motorboating” around!

Jackson is still “GI Joeing” all around but lately every move he makes he spits and sounds like a motorboat. Last night he GI Joed ALL OVER the place and motorboated every move he made- it was too funny!!!! He wore himself out! He also talked to Corona (awa awa- I guess for Chihuahua?) and Hershey by screaming at them as he just grinned and threw his hands in the air up and down and up and down. He GI Joes towards Corona and she always moves just enough to get out of his reach but never far away. Hershey still tries to lick him to death before she gives up and goes to lay down. Jackson is now showing us how NOT baby proof our house is. I had to grab a glass candlestick out of his hand last night from a shelf, grab a glass and silver salt and pepper shaker set that’s on the bottom shelf in our kitchen out of his hand, grab a cord out of his hand, my shoes, and my purse. He likes to eat the strap on my purse and he likes to try to eat my flipflops. (YUCK!)

Jackson LOVES his Ahdada (daddy) and is SO cute with him! He gets so excited when Ahdada gets home and GI Joes over to him and just cuddles on him and gurgles. Jackson also kisses!!!! He opens his mouth real wide sometimes and puts it up to your cheek and then keeps it there for a minute. He also hugs and it’s the sweetest thing ever- he just pulls whatever part of you is closest to him close to his body and squeezes it real tight.

Speaking of gurgling- a few weeks ago Jackson learned how to gurgle and sometimes he can only do it when he cries----- so he will cry on purpose to hear himself gurgle. He was doing this every night for a while after his bath as I was getting him ready for bed and it made me really sad even though I knew what he was doing. Ms. Tara told me one morning at Day care that he was real fussy the day before and nothing would soothe him. I asked if he was fussing in different tones and she said he was. I told her he was trying to gurgle. The next day she said I was right b/c he was doing it again. Thankfully he’s gotten out of that stage for the most part- he still remembers it sometimes and will start to cry to get a gurgle in but it’s not a nightly thing.

The new everyday thing is turning over when he’s being changed. Jackson DOES NOT want to stay on his back when you are changing his diaper. Even on his changing table with the contoured changing pad that goes up on each side- he still turns over! It is impossible to put a diaper on when the child is laying on his tummy!

Jackson has moved up to Infant 2 at daycare. He is now with Ms. Alisha but Ms. Tara is still right next to him. He has a large area that he can GI Joe around in and pull toys off the shelves and do whatever he wants.

He is starting to sort of wave and demonstrated this at Babies R Us on Saturday- he was waving to a customer and to a store clerk…. He was actually the hit of the store for a while- everyone was talking to him as they went by him. He’s doing it a little more waving each day. It’s really more like he sticks his arm out and moves his whole arm up and down just a little. Today when I was leaving daycare he tried to GI Joe after me. I had to pick him up and put him back on the mat next to a little girl that handed him a little book and he started looking at the book so I escaped. It’s going to get hard when he starts getting upset when I leave.