Throwback Thursday

Waking up is hard to do!

24 weeks

Jackson is 24 weeks old today and such an occasion calls for a quick update on the one, the only, Lovey Loo.....

Moves

• Rolling over, from stomach to back and back to stomach
• Sitting up on his own for long periods of time
• Moving from being on his back or stomach into a sitting position (tonight I found him sitting in his crib under his mobile, crying, just waiting for mommy to save him)
• Moving across the floor (not crawling!) commando style. He has been known to wedge himself under the couch and chair.
• He loves our little pig watering can and will climb a mountain to get that thing in his hand.

Eats

• Twice a day he has rice cereal and the veggie/fruit du jour.
• So far sweet potatoes, carrots and bananas are a hit. Peas go down the shoot, but not very happily.
• His two bottom teeth have fully "popped"
• He's still breastfeeding and I'm still pumping at work. I have no idea how long this will last!

Sleeps

• He sleeps through the night about every other night. The non-sleep through nights usually involve a little back rubbing until he quiets down. Sometimes, if he's lucky (i.e., really mad) he gets to eat.
• He is a champ at going to sleep. 9 times out of 10 I just have to lay him down in his crib and he is out.
• He's still napping a lot at school as well.

Talks

• No talking yet! There are more consonant sounding noises, though.
• He is also starting to blow raspberries which is pretty funny now, but I'm sure it will get pretty old, especially if he does it while he's eating.

Acts

• He's starting to cry in reaction to some people, although generally seems totally fine to have anybody hold him
• He's also cried for the first time when he had something taken away from him (my flip flop!)

Where is Jackson?

Look at my moobies!

If you put me in this cage, then I will make funny faces at you

I only caught the tail-end of his antics, but you get the picture!

468 months old

Adam turned 468 months old on Tuesday and we celebrated by having our kickball team (the Sofa Kings) over for an end-of-season barbecue. Perfect, as Adam was getting a new grill for his birthday! His other surprise was that I made him little cheesecake cupcakes that his mom made him for his birthday when he was a wee little one.

More pics here

Transition back to work

How is it going, you ask? Well, after 3 weeks, I'm still employed so I guess that's a start. All kidding aside, it actually feels great to be back and I knew that I made the right decision to return to work within the first day of being back in the office. I need my own time, my own salary, my own adult conversations, my own education put to use. Jackson also needs time without us, to learn that someone won't hold him all the time, to socialize with other babies, to poop his diaper for other people, to learn the baby sign language that I probably never would have taught him.

It ain't easy though. Nights are starting to feel a bit like Groundhog's Day - get home, play time, feed Jackson, eat, clean bottles, make bottles for next day, give Jackson solids, read a book, feed Jackson, pick out clothes for me and Jack for the next day, lights out hopefully by 10. And work is getting crazy busy for me and I'm already being asked to travel. To VA. To Nashville. To NYC. And so when days are long, or crazy, or both, I think of this little cartoon that I saw in a magazine on my way into the office my first day back.

Aa comes to visit

Auntie Andra (aka Aa) came to visit the wekeend of July 16th while Adam went to NYC for a wedding. We had lots of fun doing, well.....nothing, really! We walked, we talked, we drank, we slept, we watched terrible tv, we Targeted, we grilled, and of course we Jacksoned........

And I'm back....

First, a 24 hour bug. Then, a terrible head cold. It would seem that I'm the one spending 9 hours/day at daycare! Thankfully Jackson has been feeling well, so it appears that he's just transporting germs from snot-nose Kyle to me. And now it's the weekend and I'm feeling a bit better, but am just happy to spend time with my own snot-nose baby, sleep, and update this blog, amongst many other things that have fallen by the wayside this week.

BTW, Kyle is another daycare baby I blame everything on. That scratch on Jackson's face? Must be snot-nose Kyle! Jackson peed on himself? Must be because snot-nose Kyle distracted the teacher while changing Jack's diaper! It's just easier to have a blamee!

Throwback Thursday

A little 6 week old ketchup and mustard for your Throwback Thursday.

Notes from Daycare

Some days we have notes from Jackson's teachers when we pick him up. Here are some examples:

"Jackson was giving himself kisses in the mirror. It was super cute!"

"Jackson was giving all of his teachers big smiles all day today!"

"Jackson enjoyed doing one of our many art projects today!"

And we also got this "incident report":
"Another child was interested in the strawberry on Jackson's face and grabbed it. The other child scratched Jackson's cheek. Jackson did not cry or fuss at all." The treatment provdied? "TLC and ice."

And then this note yesterday:
"Jackson had an off day today. He was crankier than normal and he drank his bottles every 2 hrs instead of 3. I will talk to you more about it in the morning. Can you bring in 5-6 bottles for tomorrow. Thanks, Ms. Amy"

Throwback Thursday

Watch him lick his lips while wearing that t-shirt! Lock up your daughters, indeed....

PS - He's 6 weeks old here.

Daddy please come home soon......

.....because this is what I look like after mommy feeds me carrots.

First Tooth

The signs were there - chewing on everything, drooling, stuffy nose, tired, a bit crabby......

Jackson has his first tooth coming through smack dab in the middle of his bottom gum!

Of course I didn't even realize this as I don't like how baby gums feel on my finger, so when I dropped Jackson off at daycare this morning, the teacher noticed and told me! I guess that probably explains how he slept from 9:30 pm - 6:30 am last night and then took multiple long naps today. Teething is tiring him out. He's asleep again, of course!

Weekend

Weekend Highlights (in no particular order)

• Waking up early on Friday morning with a 24 hour stomach bug. I felt worse than I did after my c-section.


• 7th row seats to see Sting on his Symphonicities tour where he is backed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra


• Returning home to hear how our babysitter made out with the neighbor. Lesson: Whether your babysitter is 15 or 45, they still like to get paid to make out on your couch.
  
• Catching the mouse in the mouse trap.


• Going to the new second hand shop down the street and finding a cute clock and rocking chair for Jackson's room.

I just wanted to say hi to all my female fans out there

5 month update

Weight: 20 lbs 10 oz

Length: Will have to get back to you on this one.

Visitors: G-daddy Phil came in the middle of June on a business trip

Sleeping patterns: Usually goes to bed by 9:30 pm and sleeps until about 4:30 or 5. Then mommy feeds me and I go back to sleep until it's time to go to daycare.

My Likes: Getting on my hands and knees and "rocking." Sitting up like a big boy, and then toppling over! Rice cereal and sweet potatoes. Going to daycare and seeing my buddies.

My Dislikes: The Chewbacca noise that daddy makes scares me to death.

Other milestones: Eating solids for the first time. He also had his first "paid" babysitter so we could go out for Father's Day. And to celebrate being able to survive 5 months with a man-child baby, mommy and daddy are going to see Sting tonight! You will be staying home with babysitter Dave.

Trips: We went to Cambridge, MD for a couple days for a business trip daddy had. We also went to VA for 6 nights before I started daycare and mommy went back to work.

Looking forward to in the next month: Auntie Andra coming to visit this weekend while daddy is in NYC for a wedding. Daddy's birthday on July 20 when we're going to have the kickball team over for a cookout!

Jackson demonstrates his newfound rocking skills.

Throwback Thursday

Sorry for the "view" but it's so fun listening to him squeal like a kitty cat!

Toes and pacis

You don't need anything else in this world if you have your toes and paci.

No words required

Check out my new highchair

We finally put together Jackson's uber-chic Scandanvian highchair over the weekend. He seems to like it and it seems to be helping him sit up on his own on the floor. It does not, however, help him get food in his mouth anymore than the bumbo seat did.

Fourth of July weekend

Fourth of July weekend was HOT HOT HOT so we only made a few trips outside.

Saturday we went to Woodside Creamery for the first time. We brought a little picnic, had the best cookies n' cream I've ever had and listend to the random mix of people who had gathered to play bluegrass.


On Sunday we managed to get out for a walk and returned FOUR unsuccessful geocaches later. We also went to the fireworks down on the riverfront. We thought that Jackson may not like the noise too much (as he hates motorcycles and daddy's impersonation of Chewbacca), but he didn't even bat an eyelash once the fireworks started. Apparently he takes more after his daddy than his mommy when it comes to fireworks, because I am not a fan.


On Monday evening we walked up to Rockford Park for a free concert by Jenny & Tyler. Jackson wore an appropriate onesie.

A Day in the Life of a Daycare Baby

What, you ask, does Jackson do all day at daycare?

7:30 am: Drop off by daddy

7:45: Diaper #1 change due to blow out. The offended clothes come home in a plastic bag, minus the pair of MIA socks.

8:10 - 8:30: Nap #1

9:20: Bottle #1

9:35-10:25: Nap #2

10:25: Diaper #2

11:30: Bottle #2

11:45-12:30: Nap #3

12:55: Diaper #3

1:35-2:25: Nap #4

2:30: Bottle #3

2:55: Diaper #4

3:30-4:25: Nap #5

4:50: Bottle #4

4:55: Diaper #5

5:00: Daddy picks up

4 bottles, 5 naps, 5 diapers and some rug burns is all in a days work for this baby. There are "activities" for them as well. Here is what they did on Friday:

-We used the ASL sign for 'please'!

-We enjoyed music time with Miss Sarah!

-We celebrated Friday with a dance party!

-We played peek-a-boo baby!

Interview with Jackson

Here is an interview with Jackson before his first day of school.

First Day of School

Today was Jackson's first day of 'school' and it went really well! I knew we were off to a good start when both him and I slept through the night. I put him down at 10 pm and had to wake him up at 6 am to feed and get ready for his first day. You could just see in his eyes how tired he was.

We spent last night getting our num-num supply ready, as we had already dropped off all of his diapers, wipes, outfits, etc. earlier in the day.

Day care opens at 7 am and we were there not a minute later. I wanted to be there for his first drop off, but normally Adam will take him and it won't be so early. He was the only baby there when we left, so left feeling really good seeing Jackson sitting on his teacher's lap. I surprised myself and didn't cry a single tear.

I only called once to check in on him and the purple-haired teacher said he was a little fussy in the morning but had a couple of bottles and was taking frequent naps.

Daddy went to visit him for 20 minutes during lunch and said that he was doing well and letting the bigger kids crawl all over him.

Jackson had a long first day as we didn't get there until 5:30 pm to pick him up. He was having a bottle and was all smiles, ready to go home. First to drop off, last to pick up = bang for our daycare dollar.

Throwback Thursday

Good old Daddy trying to toughen Jack up at 5 weeks old.