First Easter and Haircut - 11.5 Months Old

Are you out there spring?

I have always LOVED Easter. This year, a titch on the cold side. Is spring EVER coming?? Longest winter ever.

Happy Easter, Jackson!

Anyway, this was Jackon's first Easter. I went to Kohl's because I had a 30% off coupon, thinking I'd pick Jackson up a cute outfit for church. I held up an adorable $40 suit, but could not justify buying it. It wasn't even on sale. Sure I had my coupon but I like to use it on sale items. I figured he'd be wearing a polo or I'd have to get creative with what was in his closet. $40 for an outfit he won't wear more than once... No.

That was until I went and got my oil changed on Saturday morning. It was cold and rainy but I still ran outside from the dealership to the mall to run a few errands. Yes, I was the crazy lady running with a purse slung over her back and lotion still on her face (didn't realize until I got home. Awesome.) I learned two things: 1. The mall doesn't open until 10:00. It was only 9:00. 2. There are a lot of families that get really dressed up to see the Easter bunny. The line was wrapped. I quickly asked myself... Am I supposed to be waiting in line with Jackson right now? I thought back to my childhood. I turned out OK and I saw the Easter bunny only once in my lifetime (thus far). Be nice to yourself, Christie.

Teething. Got his eighth tooth a couple days before Easter

I hear these eggs have money in them...

Sears was the only store opened. And guess what? Their Easter outfits were on MEGA SALE!!! So I picked up Jackson an adorable outfit for under $15!! SCORE! And he's going to wear it again for our church directory pics this Saturday.

We went to church and it was a wonderful service. I love our church. LOVE. I know I haven't been there as much as I'd like this year, but every time I walk in, I feel like I'm at home. From the music to the people, I just LOVE IT. Jackson was on the go, so I did have to step out a few times, but it was just nice to be there. I can't tell you what the message was, but I was just happy we FINALLY made it. Karl's parents came and same with my brother.

Team Orange at church

After church, we headed to the Koester's house. It was a wonderful Easter with great company and delicious food. Grandma Judy has been cutting hair most of her life and we decided to have her trim Jackson's hair. He was pretty tired (i.e. fussy) so she only was able to trim one side. The rest she got on Tuesday. Jackson looks like a little boy now to me!

Getting my first haircut

We all anxiously await warmer weather. I'm so excited to take Jackson to all the parks around our house and go biking with him, and all sorts of fun stuff. After work on Thursday, it was 52 degrees out so we hit up the "pink" park by our place and Jackson LOVED the swings. He could be outside all day long and not have a problem with it.

Look, ladies! No more mullet.

Here's to hoping warmer weather comes soon!

Big boy on the swings sporting my new hair-did

This is way too cool

BEST DAY EVER!

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Jackson's Monthly Milestones - 11.5 Months



Action Jackson Update

A lot has been going on with Jackson during month 11. Wowweee. I feel like he's growing leaps and bounds before our eyes.

Here's the latest in no particular order:

Jackson is a boy. Boys are on the move and are fearless CONSTANTLY. Jackson has already sliced the skin off his nose and gave himself a big fat lip. He is constantly hitting his head on something. It is one thing after another.

First fat lip... OUCH!

There's a way I can get that string down, right?

I'm on top of the world!

Tuckerd out!

And there will be more because....

Jackson is WALKING!!!

He took a few steps last week but yesterday at daycare he got up and went. I brought him home and sure enough, he walked around the entire TV room. I couldn't even believe it. He throws his hands up and goes. It is amazing. He smiles the entire time. I am so crazy proud of him. So yeah, things are about to hit a whole new level of crazy.

Loves opening and closing our windows

Mmmm. Fresh air.

Jackson is back to liking bananas! I know this because I set them on the floor and he bit through the skin. I peeled the banana and he went to town. He loves them.

He seems to call everything "da-da" but will try and say "puppy" the best he can. HE LOVES PUPPIES. LOVES. And monkeys. And cars.

BUT Jackson has a love affair with the Swiffer. The minute the pantry is open, he is there trying to pull the Swiffer down.

J loves the Swiffer and will help clean floors

I love you Swiffer!

I'm weaning... I'm down to one pump a day while at work as of this week. Next week I might keep the one pump but instead of 15 minutes, do 5 and then stop that pump all together the following week. This will bring us to a full year of nursing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!! I DID IT. I DID IT. I knew I could. I KNEW it but I knew it would take a LOT of work, determination and selflessness on my part. And some resentment in there. If only men could nurse...

Someone else likes my pump parts...

Grandma Judy puts me in old-man sweaters...

We now have eight teeth. Eight. All have met my nipple. Ouch.

It seems we're losing Jackson's morning nap. I noticed daycare would put him down in the afternoon only and he'd give them a solid 2-3 hour nap. I tried putting him down this morning. He laid down but then was up. So now I think I know why they are doing what they are doing. He's just not going down. Buh-bye morning nap.

Opens ALL our cabinets now. We stuck his new bike helmet in this one. Tricky!

He slept the whole night through once this week!!! YESSSS. 11 nights of ROUGH sleep and FINALLY...ONE AWESOME night. I hope it continues...

Jackson loves this talking stuffed animal my mom got me for V-day several years ago. Leo talks to Jackson and J will just smile and laugh.

Jackson's friend Leonardo. They talk to each other.

Jackson loves when Leo wags his tail

If I lay down on the floor, Jackson will find a way to come crawl to me and roll all over me. It's way too cute.

I love mommy!

Rolling around

Jackson has been great about keeping himself busy. To the point where he doesn't need me hovering over him as much. This I love. We had a blast together this whole week.

Don't worry about me mom back here. I'm not being naughty...

He ate a TON for dinner last night. Chicken, ham, mashed potatoes, butternut squash, applesauce, yogurt, cottage cheese, more mashed potatoes, cheerios, those dried fruit things. He just kept going. Clean tray club. Growing boy!!

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Jackson's First Step - 11.5 Months

HE DID IT!!! First Step!
(Wednesday, March 27, 2013)

As I was cutting up veggies for our dinner, I let Jackson play with his beloved Swiffer on the kitchen floor. After crawling back and forth between the top of the broom to the bottom for several minutes, he became bored with that and moved to the pantry, where he loves opening and closing the door...over and over again.

Not the best picture but Jackson standing on his own a couple weeks before!

I was busy cutting red and yellow bell peppers as fast as I could without chopping off my fingers. I guess I was too focused. I realized things were quiet. Too quiet. Which usually means Jackson is either eating dirt or ripping out plants or doing something naughty. I looked over at him and he was standing, smiling at me. JUST STANDING THERE.

He's done this before, but this was for longer than 10 seconds. Then he took a step forward and started to get wobbly and leaned forward toward the pantry door. The door was still too far, so he took another step and fell to the door. He caught himself and played with bag hanging from the door.

I couldn't even believe it. I cheered. Jackson clapped!!

I caught him WALKING to DAD tonight (March 28). Here is the video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6tvGqvauiU

And then bedtime came. Oh...the dreaded bedtime. For the 8th night in a row we had another rough night. Could it be this major walking milestone affecting his sleep? Maybe. But he sure pooped a lot. Poor thing. I knew this was coming since I wrote in a previous blog how we haven't had to deal with a whole lot of blowouts. I hit publish, and sure enough, he soiled TWO outfits at daycare because of blowouts and went through a few diapers every couple of hours last night. See what happens?

So what could these sleepless nights be coming from?

• Teeth? Maybe... But he has the top four and bottom three. I don't see anymore coming in but he sure is drooling a LOT and chewing on the wood in his crib and on the chair wood base boards...
• Maybe even molars? Could be... He stopped nursing on and off for a week. Wouldn't have ANYTHING to do with it or me. Nothing. I was left VERY engorged and pumping. Yuck.
• OK...then what? Ears?? He's not pulling on them. They do not smell. Wax looks normal.
• A little bug? Maybe... He was also given corn at daycare. A food he has NOT tried. I think that wreaked havoc on his tummy. He had a TON of gas and a swollen belly last night.
• Learning to walk... Sure. That is a biggie and maybe he just doesn't want to be sleeping??
• Change in his routine with the new daycare? Probably... I guess he freaks when people go in and out of the room.
• Separation anxiety? Possibly... I read babies go through this starting around 9 months, lasting up to 24 months old. He will sometimes freak when people try to take him from me, though he warms up to them. He has no problems around my brother Mike. And he's warming up to Karl more. The art of distraction, I say!

Seriously...who knows!

There are SO many factors. All I know is mom and dad need some sleep!

We are so proud of our little man though!!! Go Jackson, go! WALKING MAN! Watch out!!!

Daycare called and I had to pick Jackson up today. Every couple hours he was blowing up...(out). We ended up going to the doctor. Just a virus and a red throat (probably why he wasn't nursing). So I boiled apples and made applesauce and blended up some white rice and boiled it for 10 minutes. I mixed it all together with some Yo-Baby yogurt and banana baby food and that seemed to do the trick!! So we'll see...

PRAYING for GOOD SLEEP tonight!! Off to bed I go.

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Transitioning to a Daycare Center - Jackson 11 Months

Daycare center two days a week

So we did it. We put Jackson in a center two days a week. This has been HARD on me. HARD. HARD. HARD. Am I freaking out about the germs? Yes. Am I worried Jackson isn’t getting the one-on-one time he gets with me or Karl’s parents or our previous in-home daycare? Yes. Am I worried he’s crying all day long? Yes. Am I worried he thinks I’ve left him at a strange place? Yes. Am I worried he could possibly disown me? Yes. Am I worried he’s eating unhealthy food? Yes.

 

Picture sent to me from Jackson's new daycare. Looks like he's having fun!

 

Like I said this is HARD!!!

But there are reasons we did this. First, we are both working parents. With Jackson at in-home daycare - when those sweet kids caught a bug - I’d have to stay home. Anyone knows this winter has been BRUTAL with illness. And it was ME who was staying home and burning through all my time off. We need my job. And every time I stayed home, I’d get more and more behind and more and more anxious. What was work thinking? Would I lose my job?

It’s been tough. Plus our in-home care was ready for a new chapter in her life. Of course we wanted to honor this. So it was time for us to move on as hard as it was on ALL of us. But we adopted them all as our family. For real. We love them that much. Like...LOVE THEM. This isn’t goodbye!!! Helloooo play dates!

Secondly, Jackson is 11 months old. He is getting older before our eyes and is going to keep growing. I want him to be around kids. I need him to be. I need him to learn to be in a center kind of setting. I need him to get into a different routine, see a different environment – to learn new things. Before I know it, he’s going to be heading to preschool. He’ll be ready for it. And it’ll be easier on me too.

I am leaning on God like crazy right now. My non-existent fingernails are down to my knuckles but I am praying constantly. The second I doubt anything, I’m talking to God. I need him more than ever right now. I feel guilty we haven’t been to church, but I feel like God is carrying me right now. He isn’t far. I don’t feel so alone when I’m conversing with him. This also tells me I need to make sure Jackson has the best relationship he can with God because I need him to lean on him too when he goes through the hard stuff. Nothing is impossible with God. WE NEED HIM.

Really, mom...I'm OK.

 

So I have been telling myself germs are OK. Jackson is building up his immune system. Remember…somehow Jackson avoided getting my stomach bug or the pneumonia Grandpa Jim had or the influenza my mom had and all of us were drooling all over him. Something must be working…

He IS getting one-on-one time from me and Karl’s parents. And that is AWESOME. He is learning patience at the center. Which is something we all need more of.

Would I be doing this sweet move if I was mad? Nope!

 

I have been told to give this new change a few weeks. Yes, he will cry, but the end results will be positive. Sometimes we have to go through really HARD STUFF to get to the GOOD STUFF. And like Jillian Michaels said on The Biggest Loser – we wake up every day and we go about our day and we bust our butts and keep going because one morning we wake up and WE FEEL IT. MAGIC.And that moment is AMAZING and the BEST DAY OF OUR LIFE. We get a TASTE. It’s not forever but that feeling is ridiculous and awesome. We’ve all been there. We know what it feels like to be on top of the world. So we keep going and we keep waking up fighting so we get to that most perfect day again…and AGAIN. I’m waiting for it all to click for Jackson and for him to be OK with being dropped off at the center. I’m ready for MAGIC!

I’m trying to be better about the food at the center. I can’t control everything he puts in his mouth. I could if I was stay-at-home, but I’m not. So I have to accept the fact that he might eat white breads and canned fruits and veggies. BUT…I am on a mission to change this. It’s time to educate centers and schools. We are facing some serious problems out there but at the same time, we’re to blame…

For now, I’m here… praying, praying, praying.

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