Thursday, August 28, 2014

Jackson's 1st Birthday Party

This past Sunday we celebrated my baby boy turning 1 year old with some great friends and family. Thank you to everyone who made it a very special day. Although Jackson will likely not remember it, we will and it meant a lot to us to have everyone there.


The table decor

Lyla, Logan and James

The birthday cake and smash cake

Front yard sign

Entry table

Yummy party favor cookies

The birthday boy and me

My little cutie

Jackson playing with his friends Ruby, McKay and Tristan

Jackson all ready for his cake!

"Yay cake!"

Digging in

I think he liked it :-)

Opening his first present!

 
I just have to include a video of Jackson going at the smash cake. It definitely lived up to it's name! Enjoy!

Jackson is 1!

It's hard to believe, but my precious Jackson turned 1 year old this past Saturday. We just had his wellness check-up and he is doing great (other than being on the small side). Here's his stats:

Weight: 19 lbs. 15 oz.
Heights: 28 inches
Clothing size: 9-12 months
Diapers: size 4 (although he can still wear size 3)
# of Teeth: 8 (4 bottom, 4 top)
Feedings: 6 oz. bottle & 6 ounces of baby food every 4 hours and evening feeding of 8 oz. bottle with rice cereal

I've starting working on feeding him finger foods to get him to feed himself, but he is just not quite getting it. I'm not sure if it's a texture thing that is bothering him or if he is just being lazy and wants me to feed him. I'm just trying different things to see if I can get him to start feeding himself. He does pretty well with the snacks, like the Gerber cookies and puffs, but isn't as interested in real food. I just need to be patient and work with him little by little, which is easier said than done. We have also tried to introduce him to milk in hopes we could get him off of formula...nope, he wasn't going for that either. So we have started to make him 4 oz. formula with 1-2 oz. of milk to slowly get him used to it. So far that has been working well and we are hoping we can wean him off of the formula soon. Anything to save a buck or two, especially since we'll be buying Newborn formula soon!

He is so close to walking, but not quite there. We've gotten him to stand alone on his own without holding onto anything, but he just won't take that first step. He's just cruising around furniture like crazy and loves his push toys. James was already walking at this point (actually at 11 mos.), so I was hoping that Jackson would do the same. Oh well, I guess it's better...I don't want him growing up too fast!

He's not really talking yet either. I'm working on getting him to say "mama", but I feel like he just babbles, "mamamama" and isn't truly saying the word. We're getting there though. He definitely recognizes me as Mama and Mike as Dada though because when either of us say, "Where's Mama?" or vice versa, he looks to us. He's learned the word "No!" really well also as we are using it often to keep him out of things. Gotta love this age where they are into absolutely everything. Definitely keeps us on our toes. Oh how fun that will be in a couple of months when we have a newborn here.

Jackson hit another milestone...he has started preschool for a couple of days a week to give me time to run errands and to start fostering his socialization skills. He's only been twice so far, but he is absolutely loving it. I'm very proud of how well he is doing at adapting to a new schedule and everything. I definitely miss him when he's gone, but it is time I think we both need separate from each other.

Here are some of his favorite things:
  • Baby TV (still)
  • Tickles from Daddy
  • Pulling every piece of Tupperware out of the big kitchen drawer
  • Opening and closing any type of door, especially cabinets
  • Pushing any and all furniture all over the room
  • The beach!
  • My big brother
Ready for our 1 year checkup (little does he know shots are coming!)

Wearing brother's tiger hat

Fully engrossed in Baby TV

All ready for his first day of school!

Loving the beach

He loves his big brother!

Ready for his birthday cake!

My handsome little 1 year old!


Wednesday, August 20, 2014

James' Surgery

As many people know James recently developed a cyst on his right cheek. At first I didn't think anything of it and thought it would just go away, but it just kept getting bigger and bigger. I feel partially responsible because cysts are something that run in my family. I had one removed from my temple when I was a super young and most recently I had one removed from my right upper arm which had grown to the size of softball! My father gets the all the time as well, so it's really his fault ;-). I guess I'll take cysts over malignant tumors any day. My brave little boy did amazingly well leading up to the surgery and after the surgery. We were incredibly proud of how well he did at being brave. I had a little bit of a rougher time with it...he is my first born baby after all. I already knew Dr. Novick was a great plastic surgeon because he had done a number of surgeries on my father with fantastic results, but it was the anesthesia that always freaks me out. Luckily we had a wonderful anesthesiologist who was able to put most of my fears aside. After James was given his "happy" medicine the doctor asked him to tell him a joke, which resulted in one of the funniest videos. I'm not necessarily proud I took the video, but it definitely will be something fun to show his future wife ;-).

 
James before surgery

James after surgery

Jackson's 1 year photos

It's hard to believe but my sweet baby Jackson is almost 1 year old. He will turn 1 year this coming Saturday on August 23rd. After losing Maddie I wasn't sure I would ever get over the pain and sorrow I was feeling, but Jackson has helped tremendously to heal the pain I was feeling. He is an absolute joy and brings me happiness everyday. I still grieve the loss of my sweet baby girl everyday, but having Jackson has shown me that some things are truly meant to be even if we never understand them. On a brighter note, I recently had 1 year photos taken of Jackson by the extremely talented Brenda Marafioto and they couldn't have turned out better. It helps that the subject is probably the cutest baby ever to walk on earth (I'm not biased at all ;-)), but I am so pleased how these turned out. Prepare to be overwhelmed with cuteness :-)

My precious blue eyes

He's always sticking his tongue out

I'm shocked he left the hat on

Too precious for words!

What a cutie!

black and white

"Hey Ladies!"

Jackson with his smash cake

Going for the candle

"Hey!"

He's so serious about cake

The face plant

Loving it!

Happy Baby!

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Port A trip with the Byrds

We just recently got back from a nice relaxing trip to the beach for one last trip before school starts. Our good friends the Byrds had rented a house down in Port A and invited us to come stay with them for their last week. As always we had a great time with them and it was just what we needed before we get back into the swing of things. Here's some photos from our trip:

Jackson hanging on the beach

James and Jackson playing in the sand

playing scrabble with friends

Jackson and Tristan hanging out

McKay playing with Jackson and Tristan

McKay and Tristan

My little man

Jackson in his hole :-)

James and McKay

taking a nap in daddy's arms

James and McKay ready for our fancy dinner at Roosevelts

James and Jackson

James and McKay in front of the candy store

James in the hat he just had to have :-)