Walking

You are finally over your spring time sickness. Yea! UPDATE: YOU WOKE UP THIS MORNING (SATURDAY) AND BOTH EARS ARE DRAINING...I GUESS YOU ARE NOT QUITE BETTER YET.

Things have been so much better since you started staying with Grammy during the day. You are getting your much needed sleep and you are getting to spend time with Grammy and even Aunt Erin. Aunt Erin absolutely loves you and gives up most of her day off on Wednesday to play with you while you are at Grammy's. She is a busy 19 year old and hasn't really spent much time with you up until this point. I love that you two are bonding. Grammy tells me that Aunt Erin will read books to you and really likes to make you laugh. I am so much more at peace knowing you are there with them.


You are getting bolder in your standing/walking abilities. This past Wednesday you were holding onto the table and then took 4, almost 5, steps on your own to get over to me. It was so exciting. If I stand behind you and hold onto your waist you take off so fast...almost as if you are running! You get so excited and your body gets ahead of your feet. It is very funny to watch.


We are really enjoying the beautiful Spring time weather these days. You love to be outside. One of your new favorite places to play is in the sun room. Daddy opens up the windows and you just stare out as you listen to the birds, dogs, etc. You love to play outside with your riding toys, go for walks, and swing at the park.

This is definitely a Kevin face!

Still Coughing

You have been coughing for over three weeks now. And it's not just a little cough...it makes me cringe every time I hear it. You are coughing up gunk that is draining I guess. I took you to the doctor last Monday and she said you had a sinus infection. You have been on antibiotics since Monday but your cough doesn't seem to be getting better. On Tuesday night your temperature went up to 103 which is the highest it's ever been. After a warm bath and some Tylenol it quickly went down. You haven't had a temp since Thursday morning so I am hoping that means that you are getting better. I am just worried about that bothersome cough...I can hear all the film in your chest. You aren't eating well either, just a little bit here and there. The sippy cup has definitely been out the window for the past week. I am just worried about you getting enough liquids. I am really hoping and praying that once you get over this that it will be the last of your sickness for awhile. Since you are staying with Grammy when I go to work hopefully you won't catch anything else.

You continue to be relatively happy even though you are sick. You are content to play and you are even taking two and three steps on your own. You can stand on your own for about 20 seconds now before grabbing onto something. You continue to sleep well. You sleep about 11 1/2 hours at night and you continue to take good morning and afternoon naps. I just hate to see you sick!

The Game

So my latest hobby is cutting coupons. The game is to try and save more than you spend. Since I have started working part time I have been trying to find ways to save money. At first I thought, "How much money can you really save with coupons, 50 cents?" You actually can save a lot of money! As you can see from the Publix receipt I spent about $37 and saved $39. So essentially I got about $75 worth of groceries for $37. Yea! I now look forward to going to the grocery store to see how much I can save. If you are interested check out the blogs Fiddledeedee and the Coupon Saving Game to see how you can save money too!

Ok Jackson, about you...You are doing lots of fun new things. Your new favorite place to play is in the kitchen. You love to open and shut the cabinet doors and bang on all the pots and pans. You are starting to point at things too. You point at pictures in books and you like to point at other people's mouths and noses. Another new trick you like to do is to raise your arms up above your head. We will say "arms up" and raise our hands above our head and then you raise your arms up too and then laugh. You think it is so funny!

You are such a sweet boy! You have become quite the snuggler. You love to put your head on mine or Daddy's shoulder, especially when you are tired. All day long you are always on the move and it's so nice at night when we rock together and I give you a bottle and you curl up in my lap with your head on my chest or shoulder. It's one of my favorite times. I am really going to miss giving you a bottle. We may still have a few more months left with the bottle as you are still having a hard time transitioning to the cup. Sometimes you will bite on the spout of the cup and get some milk but mostly you just play with it or drop it on the floor! I continue to try and be patient.

The most exciting news is that now that tax season is over Grammy is going to start keeping you again. Yea!!! You are going to go stay with her at her house and I know you will be so much happier. You love her dogs, Baxter and Lady, and she has a nice quiet house where hopefully you will be able to take your naps. It has been really hard on you and us on the days you don't get your naps. We bought another pack and play to keep over there so you can sleep and we took over some toys and other things. We are so grateful for Grammy!

Hallelujah

"Hallelujah, Whatever's in front of me help me to sing, Hallelujah. Hallelujah, Whatever's in front of me I choose to sing, Hallelujah." -lyrics from Bethany Dillon "Hallelujah".

Yesterday was your first Easter and it ended up being a rough day for us. You looked cute but you didn't really feel your best. I know it's going to be a rough day when you wake up crying after a full 11 1/2 hours of sleep. You were very fussy, clingy, and overall unhappy...which is very unusual for you. You had a low grade fever last night and you have had a runny nose and cough for a couple of days. I'm not sure if you are teething or getting sick. I guess we'll find out in the next couple of days.

Even though you had a hard day Daddy and I really enjoyed church and what a great reminder of the FACT that Jesus has risen, He has risen indeed!!! How thankful I am that Jesus loves you and me SO MUCH that he would die on a cross. Thank you Jesus!

We did manage to distract you from your ill mood long enough to get some good pictures. We also did an Easter egg hunt in our front yard for you on Saturday. At first you weren't really sure what we were trying to get you to do, but once you spotted those colorful eggs you went right for them!

First Step

You took your first unassisted step today. You were standing up on your own and got your balance and then took one step before falling. You are on your way!

The Bug

I find it ironic that in my Friday post I mentioned how you have been well for about two weeks now with no runny nose, ear infections, etc. Saturday morning you threw up after breakfast and continued to all day long. It lasted about 24 hours and only today are you able to hold down solid foods. You caught "the bug" and then decided to give it to Daddy and me. I was up from about midnight until early Monday morning with it and Daddy woke up at about 5:30 Monday morning with it. Needless to say yesterday was a long day and with two sick parents it's hard to take care of a sick baby. It's even harder for two sick parents to take care of a baby who is feeling better and wants to play! But we made it through. The bug only lasted about 12 hours so by yesterday afternoon I was feeling better and by bedtime Daddy was feeling better too. Thank goodness it's over.

Language Update

You are "talking" up a storm. In the past week you have become so much more vocal. You are constantly vocalizing and experimenting with different sounds. We are hearing lots of g's and b's and a few m's and n's and of course your favorite "dadadadadada". I love hearing your sweet baby voice. You were quiet for so long and I am so thankful that you are beginning to babble again.

It's also exciting to watch you learn that words have meaning. As I posted awhile back, you understand "that's a no-no". You also turn to your name and have been doing that for awhile. You understand the word "up". While in your high chair and after your mealtime routine I will ask you, "do you want up?" You get really excited, start bouncing up and down and lift your arms up to me. Another word you understand is, "night night". During the day as nap time approaches I will tell you that it is time for "night night". As soon as you hear those words you start whining a little to let me know that you don't want to go.

Other Updates: You are getting closer to walking. You now cruise around the house one handed and you even take both hands off of whatever you are holding onto and stand on your own for a couple of long seconds. When you get really excited you take off walking with me holding just your waist. You are eating more table foods: peas, carrots, bananas, strawberries, pears, kiwi, and cheerios. You continue to just play with your sippy cup and not really drink from it. We will keep practicing. You have stayed well for over two weeks now. No runny nose, no congestion, no coughing and best of all, no ear infection! Yea!

Here's Jackson standing up all on his own!!!

Spring Break

Daddy and I both had the week off for Spring Break. We had a lot of fun! Aunt Erin let me borrow her "professional" camera and I am hooked. The clarity is awesome and I can get the close up pictures of you that I want without the blur. I really enjoyed playing with her camera this week. So here is what we did:

Monday:
Monday was rainy but we still got a lot done. We got new tires on the car, took a family trip to the grocery store and visited your great grandmother Nana. Nana was so excited to see you and you were anxious to show off your favorite tricks. We had fun at home too.

Tuesday:
Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! Tuesday was sunny, warm and beautiful so we headed to Veteran's Park. I have taken you to the park before but all we did was walk. So we were excited to see what your reaction would be to the slide, swing, etc. We also took your walker and let you walk through the grassy field. You had a blast. You actually didn't like the slide all that much...it scared you. But you loved the swing! You were a little hesitant at first but you warmed up quickly...

Wednesday:
Wednesday was another beautiful day so we headed out to the Botanical Gardens. I really wanted to take you to the Gardens to get some good pictures and they turned out precious! Daddy and I enjoyed a leisurely stroll and admired the beautiful tulips and daffodils that have already bloomed. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day:



Thursday:
On Thursday we went to the zoo. It was your first time as well as Daddy's first time at the Birmingham Zoo. You really seemed to enjoy all the new things to look at. We got an up close look at the giraffes which you didn't seem to like. We weren't sure if you were actually scared of the giraffe or if you just didn't like the terrible smell! Your favorite animal was definitely the monkeys! I could have guessed that because they ran around and chased each other, swung from the ropes and the trees and jumped from branch to branch. You were thoroughly entertained and thought that they were hilarious. But you did not want to get close to those flamingos!!!

Friday:
Daddy left early this morning to go camping with some friends. He really can't wait until he can take you with him...but not this time. So you and I headed over to play with our friends Ian and Cannon. It was nice to play with friends and it was good to talk with another mom and ask her my most recent "new mommy" questions. Yes, I still claim to be a "new mommy" because with each new stage brings a whole list of questions and things I don't know but am trying to learn. We had a nice lunch and a nice chat. Thanks Erin!

As you can see we had a very busy week. It was lots of fun though. It was great having Daddy around all week as well. This week I noticed a couple of new things that you are doing: You are initiating and playing peek-a-boo. You will pull your blanket up over your eyes and then quickly bring it down with a huge grin. It's very cute and you do it over and over again. You also have a new face that you learned to make. I call it the "fish face". I caught it a couple of times on camera throughout the week but I see you making it all the time now. It's really funny. "Fish Face"

Wedding in Chattanooga

This past weekend you attended your second wedding. This time was a little more complicated than your first wedding because Daddy and I were both in the wedding and the wedding was at night and went way past your bedtime. Daddy and I went to the rehearsal dinner on Friday night in Chattanooga while Grammy stayed with you here in Birmingham. We drove back late Friday night and headed back to Chattanooga on Saturday for the wedding. You enjoyed the car ride and did great but you didn't get your afternoon nap in. So after missing your afternoon nap and staying up later than usual you were a bit tired to say the least. It was fun to once again see old friends and some of those friends had not met you yet. We had a great time and we were so excited to be able to be a part of the wedding celebration of Marchant and Faye. This week is Spring Break and Daddy and I both have the week off! We are looking forward to spending some family time together and doing lots of fun things. Today the weather is rainy but we are hoping for sun for the rest of the week so we can enjoy the outdoors.

First Pair of Shoes

I bought you your first pair of shoes this past weekend. Now that you are cruising and wanting to play outside I thought it was time. They are so cute on your little feet. They are a little big even though they are size 9-12 months. I guess you will grow into them. At first I let you try the grass with your bare feet but you weren't real thrilled about that. So you were happy to have shoes on your feet although every now and then you would stop and look down at your feet to see what was on them. We had a lot of fun playing outside in the beautiful March weather.