Soon

Jackson turns 5 months on Monday (14th) and my exam is Tuesday (15th) and then school is officially done for me.

In lieu of all of that, I will give a big grand update WITH pictures once the exam is good and gone!

Soon... I promise :)

Cereal, sweet potatos, and squash, Oh My!!!

Today, November 14th (4 days before MY birthday), my little man is celebrating his 4 month birthday. Unfortunately he has an icky cough which I'm hearing could be because of his shots that he got this past wednesday :( But nonetheless, he's still my happy, smiling, refusing to sleep little dude.

I last updated about how he is eating rice cereal and eating like a champ. Well last Sunday (Nov 8th) we decided to try out some squash. And the faces he gave were quite amusing. He wasn't feeling the squash so much, but after a few days he definitely changed his mind. Then, yesterday on Friday the 13th, he tried out some sweet potatos and he loved them immediately. I have to say, I'm very happy he's such a good eater. Along with being a good eater, however, he has also become a good pooper of almost normal poops. Not at all like those newborn poops used to be. I can honestly say I miss them.

Jackson is also now 14 lbs 10 oz and he is 24 1/2 inches long. Surprisingly though, he's only in the 25th to 50th percentile for his weight, height and head circumference. At least he's proportional.

In the past few weeks Jackson has done some exciting things. He went to the Poly/City game with Justin and I where we watched Poly win (Poly is my highschool and Poly vs. City is one of the oldest high school rivalries in the nation and the game is played at Raven's stadium), he went to an autograph signing with us where he met Ray Rice, #27 of the Baltimore Ravens, and he had his first sleepover at Grandma's house. He might have a few more of those this month as Justin travels a lot so I'll need the extra help.

Pretty soon, Jackson will get to have his first Thanksgiving, and while he won't be eating our foods, he might get his own treat of fruit for the first time. What an exciting month it's turning out to be!

Halloween and Updates

So our big update this post is that Jackson is now eating rice cereal. And he's eating it like a champ. He opens his mouth to take a bite, and when you're not quick enough, he's grabbing for the spoon. Speaking of biting, we also think that Jax is teething. He certainly is chewing on everything and his hand has not come out of his mouth for like three days. To combat this issue, we've taken a liking to pedialyte popsicles. The pediatrician said it was okay to give him the juice or some water in between meals, so why not frozen juice. Jackson's definitely a fan. He's also a fan of chewing on my fingers, his sleeves, and books. Oh boy! On top of the cereal and teething, Jackson is now a pro at rolling onto his back, which makes bed time difficult since he sleeps on his tummy. But, our boy loves to fight sleep so as soon as we put him in the crib, he flips over and just lays there and cries until we roll him back over. Oh how I long for the day he can roll back to front!!!

For our annual Halloween party at Will and Brittney's, Jackson was dressed as a Ninja Turtle. For Halloween Night, since he was far too fussy for his costume, he was dressed as a skeleton. I had to work so Justin spent the night with Jackson watching scary movies and handing out candy. Hopefully next year when we actually take Jackson trick or treating I won't have to work!

Jackson has his four month check up on Monday. He's due to get more shots, which I'm not a fan of. And hopefully we'll find out where our big boy is on the growth charts.

Since I'm blessed with a quiet house right now (Justin's working) here's some pics that some people have been asking for. Enjoy!

Jackson enjoying his freezie pop

Skeleton Boy on Halloween with his pumpkin cup

Wondering why there's no candy in his bucket!?!

Getting into Halloween Spirits with Daddy

Auntie Krista at the Halloween Party

Uncle Matt as the ShamWow guy

Doctor Mom and My little Ninja Turtle

So I realized that there are still pics from September that I haven't put up... so here it is. What you've all been waiting for. Updated pictures :)

First time in the pool... well, hot tub :)

He actually really liked it.

Big boy on his 2 month birthday.

His first of I'm sure many rides on Carl Beans

Hanging with Lauren and big cousin Max on Uncle Wayne's birthday

Playful baby

His new exersaucer

Meeting Auntie Genisse for the first time, lol

Learning how to eat crabs with Krysta and Dan

Bath time at grandmom's

Mommy and Daddy take a day off to see the Ravens kick butt

Jackson's baptism, 10-4-09

All tuckered out from his baptism

Hanging with Uncle Matt

Watching the game with pops and uncle Chris

At Oma's daycare with Delaney (left) and Lucas (right)

Sleeping like a froggy

Another baptism pic... hanging with Aunt Barb during church

Asleep on Aunt Wenke's comfy shoulder

mommy's little teddy bear

baby's first mohawk

hair spiked like daddy's

Happy 3 month birthday Jax, 10/14/09

Wearing mommy's "Towson Nursing supports the cure" t-shirt

"I WEAR PINK"

New coat and hat!

Yay feet

Weber's Farm, 10/23/09

Hope you enjoyed!!!

I'm terrible at this

I didn't realize how difficult it would be to update the blog once jax was here... once I was back to work... once school started. oye! But alas, here's a post.

A lot has been going on since my 10 week post. Jackson is growing like a little weed. he has finally found his feet which I'm sure will bring him much pleasure as he gets better at grabbing them. He also knows how to blow raspberries now and this seems to be his favorite thing to do. He rolls from side to side when he's on his back, usually because he's trying to get a toy or his feet. His smiles are out of this world. So darn cute and he's always smiling, especially when he wakes up. He's now up to five ounce bottles every three hours and... are you ready for this?... he sleeps through the night!!!!!!! Finally! It's like heaven. He's been taking great naps and when he's done his last bottle between 8 and 9 we take him upstairs and put him in his crib. He usually cries a little but then he goes right to sleep. Now, I know this is taboo these days, I think him sleeping through the night is partially because we let him sleep on his belly. He holds his head really well, turns it from side to side really well and he can even roll over when he tries without getting to frustrated, so we gave in and it has really made a difference. He's a much happier and less fussy baby now. He's so much fun to sit and play with and talk to. He's just a joy.

Jackson is also now OFFICIALLY 3 months old. I cannot believe that time has flown by so much. Just a few weeks ago we had him baptized at Abbott Memorial Presbyterian Church. He wore Justin's baptism outfit from when he was a baby and he was sooooo cute. We were blessed to have lots of friends and family there... it truly was a great memory. Because jax is growing so fast, he's now in 3 month onesies and fitting into 3-6 month pants... he's going to be a tall boy like his daddy. He has finally started noticing that the dogs exist, although he still doesn't bother too much with them. He also does the cutest thing when he's hungry or tired. If you put him close to you and try to give him a kiss, he grabs your cheeks (or hair) and tries to eat your face. It's entirely too funny. Because he's eating so well and he is good at chewing on baby spoons, we are very excited to start rice cereal with him soon.. and then on to the fruits and veggies we go. I can't wait to see all of the expressions and faces we get from these new tastes for him.

Halloween is coming up and we've decided that since one of Jackson's baby shower themes was ninja turtles that he will be a turtle and so will Justin and I. My mom made his costume and it is too cute on him. His halloween won't be too exciting though. He'll be in bed by dark I'm sure, I'll be heading off to work and Justin will be setting up to scare the kids in the neighborhood. But the pictures will be great. We're also going to our annual co-halloween party with our friend will (all of our decorations and his house) so we'll get to show off our family of ninja turtles there. Halloween will also mark the one year anniversary of when we found out about our little guy. It was a shock and suprise but something I wouldn't change for the world. This past year has been a whirlwind for us but we've had so many great memories and our lives are truly better than we ever expected. If things go the way we plan, then maybe next halloween we'll have another suprise to announce. We'll see.

I haven't had a chance to upload any recent pictures, but I promise I will do it soon.

It's been 4 weeks

Since my last update, making Jackson 10 weeks and 2 days old now. As I continuously say, he's getting soooo big. We had a doctor's appointment when he was 8 weeks and my poor baby got 3 shots. He didn't cry for the first one, and for the second and third he only cried for about 30 seconds. He was so brave. He did run a fever later that night though so he got his first bit of baby tylenol... mmmMMmmm grape. The doctor said he's growing well. He was 12 lbs 2 oz which puts him between the 50th and 75th percentile for weight, and he was 23 inches long, which also puts him between the 50th and 75th percentile for that. The doctor also said he can now have a little bit of water or pedialyte between feedings if he's fussy. Yay! We did give him some pedialyte for a small case of diarrhea he had, and he loved it.

We are also now sending Jackson to my parents two days a week while I'm in school, and Oma's daycare two days a week while I'm in school. Oma (Ms. Robin) is a lady from church who retired to watch her own grandson, Lucas whose birth was mentioned on this blog back in March, and she decided to open her house up to Jackson and Delaney as well, whose birth was also mentioned on this blog back in April. Jackson seems to be doing well with it but I definitely hate leaving him. I miss him all day. And, on days when I'm done early, instead of napping or going to the gym or getting started on school work before I pick him up, I rush over to get him because I want to be with him.

While Jackson usually only sleeps about 6 hours at night and then in 3 to 4 hour stretches after that, he has slept through the night 3 times, which has been about 8-9 hours of pure bliss. :) We also have him sleeping in his crib, which he's taking to much better now. One problem we were having was that he ALWAYS wanted to be held. We could not put him down to play on his own without him crying. This seemed normal to us, but when Oma mentioned that he cried when she put him down, I realized that we needed to work on that. So we have, and now Jackson will lay in his pack and play and watch the animals on the mobile, or on his play mat or bouncy chair. I also just bought a mobile for his crib which he seems to like. And he now has a doorway jumper that he seems to like so I can fold laundry upstairs and have him close by, and he has an exersaucer that I just bought that he also seems to like. He's still a little small for it so I have to put a text book underneath of his feet so he can touch the bottom, but I think we'll get a lot of use out of it. The exersaucer was supposed to make it until Christmas, that lasted one day, ha ha.

In other news, we recently became members of our church, Abbott Memorial Presbyterian Church in Highlandtown. It's a great church and we feel very welcome there, and so does Jackson. He fits in great with the 6 babies born to the church this year. And, on October 4th, Pastor Paul will baptize our little guy, which we're really excited about. We tried Justin's old Christening outfit on him, and it looks sooooo cute, so I really can't wait to put it on him again.

In still other news... we FINALLY sold our pool table. We sold it Champion Billiards, so now we have an open living room/dining rooms which will definitely come in handy come Christmas time. I have a feeling Jackson will very much be spoiled this year. In fact, Pops and Grandmom (my parents) are already finished shopping for him. I'm sure it will be a very fun Christmas.

I believe in my last post, the school year was just starting. Well we are well underway now, and I'm exhausted. By the time I get home, get dinner done (or ordered, ha ha), wash the dishes and bottles, and put the baby to bed, I'm so tired that I seem to have no time for school work. The only thing I can say is Thank goodness this is my last semester. I just have to pray that I'll make it through it successfully. Once I do... I'll graduate with my Bachelor's of Science in Nursing. Finally.

Anyhow, I'm sure there's so much more I could say about how the last 4 weeks have gone, but I dont' want to make the post that long. I definitely have new pictures of Jackson, so I'll be sure to post them sometime soon (hopefully).

Thanks for sticking around and keeping up with our baby boy :)

Some new pictures

Aunt Diane meeting Jackson for the first time

Lifting his head like a big boy

Hanging out with Auntie Krista

Meeting cousin Mara for the first time

Silly Daddy

My handsome big boy!

One of my favorite things... smiles from my little man!

My big boy's hand print at 6 weeks

And the foot print too!

Meetime my high school guidance counselor for the first time. He's my Poly grandfather.

My guess is that Jackson is thinking it's Christmas already, ha ha.

Hanging out on the Rode's boat at the church cookout

This is his way of saying he loved the boat ride

A great family picture with our little peanut

And just one of his many cute outfits :)

I'll post a real post sometime tomorrow!