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.

Out for a boat ride.

Jackson fell asleep in his Daddy's lap the second we started moving on the boat. He slept the ENTIRE boat ride. He opened his eyes a tiny bit after we backed out of the boathouse and looked at us as if to say "quit taking pictures of me while I sleep".

Trying to figure out the Sippy Cup

This is the life

Celebrating Mommy and Daddy's birthdays

Updates

New Tooth

Jackson’s other lower tooth is coming in!

GI Joe

Well, our little man is really getting around now. He’s not crawling yet, he’s scooting around with his tummy still on the ground- like he’s a soldier trying to stay low. And the boy can move FAST!!! Ms. Tara at daycare said she’ll be changing a diaper and when she gets done she’ll turn around and can’t find Jackson! She said that he gets behind the rocker, under the cribs, under his crib behind his carseat- everywhere! Yesterday when I picked him up Ms. Kay said that he was scooting all over and would come to a “speed bump” (toys that he’s left on the floor) and would scoot half way over them and get stuck. He’d start making a sort of growling noise at them until someone came to move the “speed bump” and then he’d be on his merry way again. Then he’d scoot along until he would get himself wedged under something- like the floor bouncer holding the new 6 week old baby- and then he’d scream real loud until someone got him out. They said he’s just too funny! At home he scoots around and goes straight for the wood things and metal things- it’s like he knows what he shouldn’t be going towards and goes straight for it. So, needless to say, he has to be watched CONSTANTLY. The dogs seem to be a little confused that he can follow them now when they move away. J

Jackson’s also got some of the older girls in the palm of his hands!

One of the teachers in one of the toddler rooms absolutely LOVES Jackson and comes to see him all of the time and yesterday the Director of the Center told me that she has been spending her lunch breaks with Jackson- just sitting in the floor playing with him and holding him. The Director said that she says “I just love him!” Boy does that make a mommy feel good!!

Giving himself kisses

This is so funny- the first pic is of Jackson looking at himself in the
mirror. The second is of him kissing himself. He did that several
times the other day. It was SOOO funny!

New Portraits

Mother's Day

Mother's Day at the farm in Jemison

Here's some pictures from our Mother's Day outing on Sara and Jerry's

Farm in Jemison. We fished for catfish and ate what we caught. Jackson
played. Mimi and Papa carried a pool out to the pond for him to keep
him cooled off and even brought water, but the water was too cold for
Jackson. He didn't like his toes to touch it at all. He played in it
with his hands for a little bit but then spent a lot of time playing in the shade.

First Tooth

Jackson has a tooth!!! On Saturday night, 05/05/07 (his Daddy’s birthday), I was rubbing Orajel on Jackson’s gums before I put him to bed and felt a little tooth!!!! He wouldn’t let me see it, though, and wouldn’t let me put my finger in his mouth after I got all excited over the tooth- he kept his lips pursed together tight! The next day we were at Blanche and George’s house and I had just told Blanche about the night before. She got Jackson to open his mouth and she said “I see a tooth!” There it was, on his lower gum- looking at him it’s on the left- a little white part of a tooth sticking up out of his gum. It’s so cute!!! It looks like you may can see where one is coming through right next to it too. It feels sharp- but maybe that’s just because I’m not used to feeling new teeth come in. I bet it feels really weird to Jackson. J I guess this explains why he was fussier than normal last week and pulling on his ears a lot.

Jackson at Jacob's 3rd birthday party

I will be crawling before they know it.

Jackson's Baptism

Jackson at Jenn's Shower

Updates

ON 03/27 as I was getting Jackson ready for bed, I was rubbing orajel on his bottom gums and he said “Yuck!”. I’m sure it was an accident but it was so cute and such perfect timing!

On 03/31/07 Jackson was starting to fuss and he said “Mommmmmmeeee” almost in an English accent! It was very clear, though, and then later said “mama” clearly as he was starting to fuss. Again, probably an accident but it still felt good. Wayne didn’t get to hear this so he doesn’t believe it. My mom and Leanne heard it, though, so I have proof! J

Yesterday Jackson went in for his 6 month check up. He weighs 15.11 pounds and is in the 15^th percentile (finally out of the zero percentile- YEAH!!! This rice is really chunking him up!!!). He is 25 ½ inches long, also the 15^th percentile. His head circumference is in the 50^th percentile. He had his immunizations and his last of the oral rotavirus immunization (hopefully he will never get rotavirus again- twice was MORE than enough of that mess!). He was rolling all over the table playing around and was just talking to the wall and the table and the paper on it. He talked to the doctor and kept trying to take her shiny instruments, making it hard to check him out. He did great, though, and didn’t fuss at her when she checked his ears, nose, or even when she put the stick in his mouth to check whatever she checked! We thought he had an ear infection b/c he’s been pulling on his ears and not wanting to suck on his bottle. She said his ears look fine and thinks that he’s teething and that’s been causing his ears to hurt and him not to want to suck. We still can’t see any teeth, though. What we thought we saw before weren’t teeth, they were “mucous pearls.” I know, sounds really gross. We don’t have fluoride in our water, as apparently a lot of cities don’t, so she wrote a prescription for fluoride drops that we are to start using now that his teeth will start coming in. We are also to continue using his Axid for his Acid Reflux, which we were told before he could possibly grow out of. His next appointment will be at 9 months.

Random stuff: Jackson LOVES shiny stuff- he loves his daddy’s police badge and loves glasses and will pull them off of your face. He also loves his daddy’s hat and will play with it for a long time. He also loves “spirit fingers.” If you don’t know what that is, watch “Bring it On.” His uncle, Chris, and Leanne show him spirit fingers all of the time and he just grins at it. Jackson loves to jump in jumpers and loves his exersaucer. He also loves putting things in his mouth. He tends to like guys a little more right now. He likes playing on the floor and is close to crawling and is sort of “GI Joeing” it in that he keeps his tummy on the ground (and his face) and swims his arms and legs and can get far enough to retrieve toys but moves so slowly you don’t realize he’s moving. He gets frustrated because it’s a pretty hard task and makes him tired. He’s like a roly poly sometimes because as soon as you put him down, he rolls onto his tummy. You roll him back over and he rolls back to his tummy immediately. Jackson has started to like to play with the water with his hand as I’m rinsing him off in the tub. He does really well with baths. He’s also sleeping really well at night and has to be woken up most mornings to get ready for daycare. They love him at daycare and refer to him as a “Chick magnet”.

1st Beach Trip

Traumatic week

Daycare called Tuesday b/c Jackson was throwing up and diarrhea. Wayne picked him up and took him home. Wednesday morning he was still having diarrhea so I had to take him to Edgewood on my way to training to drop him off with my mom who then took him to her house and kept him the rest of the day. That night he tugged on his ear a little. The next morning, still diarrhea and he was tugging on his ear a lot so I called the doctor and we went in. She said that he didn’t have an ear infection but did have a stomach virus and then sent us home. I stayed home with him the rest of the day. Friday morning we got up to go to work/day care and things were going ok. He still had diarrhea but the doctor said it was ok to send him to day care. I got to daycare and was about to leave when I noticed Jackson’s lips looked blue. Ms. Tara was holding him and she agreed and looked at his hands and feet and they also looked blue. We took him to the office and wrapped him up thinking he was cold. That didn’t help. So the paramedics were called. They did a whole bunch of stuff and then told us that we’d need to go to the hospital or doctor right then and that the ambulance could take us if we wanted. We just went straight to his doctor b/c we knew going to Children’s ER the waiting time could be hours. The doctor was able to see us immediately b/c of the circumstances. She said that he does have an ear infection now and thinks that maybe his nasal congestion mixed with his acid reflux may have blocked his airway and she wanted him to go to Children’s for a 23 hour observation. We then had to go to Children’s- not through the ER- and he was admitted into the Special Care Unit which is a version of the ICU but not as bad. He was monitored constantly by an oxygen machine and several other machines (luckily no IV required) and nurses. B/c it’s a version of the ICU, there are no private rooms, just those cloth divider things. We had to leave for 2 ½ hours every shift change b/c of confidentiality reasons- they would fill in the next shift on what was going on with each child. So, he was monitored over night Friday night and did well. They put him on an antibiotic for his ears and congestion and ear drops. We are to start putting 1 tbsp of rice per ounce of formula now, make sure he’s eating almost upright, not let him lie down for 30 minutes after he eats, burp him every 2 ounces, and raise his mattress so he doesn’t sleep flat to help with the reflux. And continue the Zantac which has now been changed to Axid. Well, this is all a pain b/c the rice stops up the bottles and we’ve cut the nipples, which now makes it come out fast so we have to pull the bottle out every few sips. The bottle is also so thick that it has to be almost completely straight up and down for it to go into the nipple which is hard when we’re having to keep Jackson upright as well. Then as far as him sleeping with his mattress lifted- doesn’t work so well. He turns all different ways in his sleep. Sunday morning Wayne woke me up b/c he went to check on Jackson and he was upside down with his feet on the lifted part and his head on the flat part so basically, doing the complete opposite of what he should have been doing, and his face was against the side where the bumper pad is- but his nose wasn’t covered up. Jackson is no longer having diarrhea and his ears seem to be getting better. His gums seem to be getting a little worse but that’s ok- we’ve got Tylenol and Orajel. He’s taking the antibiotic ok and doing really well with the ear drops. He hasn’t had anymore blue spells and went to the doctor yesterday for a follow-up and she said he was looking good. So anyway, today is my first day back at work and Jackson’s first day back at day care. It’s been a long, stressful, scary, hectic few days.