12.31.07 - Milestones

On Saturday, Jackson's great-grandparents and his Tante came down to visit. Tante hadn't seen him since July! Brendon and Joe brought their new baby over...a husky/collie mix named Shiloh. She is the sweetest dog and is so great with Jackson. He sat right next to her and pet her and she couldn't have cared less. She gave him lots of kisses too. I'm head-over-heels in love with her. I miss Alex so much, so I'm glad there will be another dog in our lives for years to come. On Saturday evening, after we got home, Jackson crawled for the first time. He took about four big crawls forward before toppling over, but it's definitely a start and he's been working on it every day since! Yesterday, we upgraded Jackson to a brand new big boy car seat - a Britax Marathon. It is such a nice seat and one of the safest on the market. I think we'll go for a ride later today to test it out. I still need to add a few videos here, but we've been so busy I just haven't had the time. Soon, hopefully!

12.27.07 - What a star!

Jackson is so special, that he now has a star named after him. It's the "Jackson Boyce" star in the Ursa Major constellation and it's near where the handle and the pot of the "big dipper" meet. My parents got him a little dog for Christmas that came with a code to register a star, so that's what we did last night. Once it has been officially recorded, we'll get his certificate with the name and location. I think that's pretty cool :). Mom, Jackson, and I went after-Christmas sale shopping today. Jackson sat up in his stroller like a big boy for the first time and I think he liked that much better. He can actually see things while he's strolling now. He also used the high chair in the restaurant for lunch and did real well with that...until he pooped and stunk up the whole restaurant, haha. I got him his own little Christmas tree for his room for next year and a small bookshelf. He has so many books now and we didn't have any place to put them, so now he's set!

12.26.07 - First Christmas

Jackson's first Christmas was so much fun! He woke up around 8:00 and had his breakfast bottle while wearing his Christmas bib. After his breakfast, we helped him open his presents. He was so cute and was excited by all of the toys. Santa was very good to him. He got a big dinosaur, an ark, Elmo doll, Winnie the Pooh doll, lots of rattles and small toys, drums, piano, stacking toys, blocks, and so much more! He was exhausted after opening everything and playing with them, so he went down easily for his morning nap. We had to wake him up to get him ready for the rest of the day. We stopped first at Adam's dad's house, where Jackson got more stuff. Then we went to my parents' house for more presents and dinner, and Jackson got in a short nap. We left after dinner to go to Martinsburg to my grandparents' house for even more presents and dessert. So, by that time Jackson was completely worn out. He was pretty fussy in Martinsburg, but it was past his bedtime, so it was understandable. We finally got home around 9:30. Then of course, Jackson was so hyper he didn't want to go to bed! So, we let him wear his self out again by playing for a bit and he was finally in bed close to midnight. Our house is a disaster now with so many toys! I'm actually looking forward to putting all the Christmas decorations away so we have some more room again! The gallery is full of pics from yesterday and I'll try to have some videos up by the end of the week.

12.20.07 - what a night!

Last night was horrible. We put Jackson to bed shortly after 8:00 and he was running a low fever (100.0). He woke up right before midnight and he was burning up, so I took his temperature and it was 102.5, eek! I took his sleeper off and put him in a short sleeved onesie and put a cool washcloth on his head to try to cool him down. I tried giving him some water to drink, but he didn't want anything to do with that, so I ended up giving him some formula instead, which he downed. He was so miserable. He was exhausted, but just couldn't sleep because he was feeling so bad. I ended up just holding him on the couch until 6:30 this morning when he finally stopped fussing and fell asleep. When he woke up a few hours later, his fever was down to 100.0 again, thankfully. It's gotten up to 101.8 today, but he doesn't seem to be as miserable as he was last night. He still feels so hot though! He's dressed lightly today to help keep him cool and he's kind of just been hanging out...not really into playing too hard like usual. Hopefully his fever will die down soon. This is why I hate vaccines...I know they're necessary, but they are painful and cause fevers! Poor baby :(. I'm giving him Tylenol every four hours, so I guess that's helping keep the fever down a bit. I can't imagine what it would be without it. I hope he's better by tomorrow because his Grandmama and Grandpapa are supposed to be keeping him overnight so Adam and I can enjoy a fancy dinner for our 4th anniversary, which is today. I doubt we'll go if he's still running a fever because I know I'll just be worrying the whole time.

12.19.07 - appt. Update

This afternoon was Jackson's 6 month checkup and shots. He weighed 16lbs, 9oz. (35th percentile) and was 26.5 inches long (54th percentile). So, he's tall and skinny! The doctor was impressed with how well he is sitting up. She said it looks like he has a little bit of baby eczema on his cheeks and chin, so just to keep that moisturized, which we do. Sometimes he wakes up looking fine and sometimes he wakes up and his whole face is red and chapped, like today. She said a lot of that probably has to do with the cold weather lately too. He wasn't a big fan of his shots, of course. He also got a flu shot today, which was optional, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. He has to go back in a month for a booster. He's doing fine since we've gotten home...just being his normal playful self. And he actually sat up on his own for the very first time this afternoon! He rolled right over to the Christmas presents, sat up, and started playing with them. Ugh, I can't keep him away from the tree anymore! He loves the shiny bows. Last night he decided it would be fun to get up and play for a few hours in the middle of the night. He also knows how to turn his rainforest soother in his crib on and off now and was playing with that a lot in the middle of the night. He was getting a tad upset though because the batteries need replaced and it kept shutting off, hehe. Ah, what a smart boy we've got on our hands!

12.16.07 - Jackson's new hobby

Jackson has a new favorite hobby: knocking things off of the coffee table, especially the remotes. He will spot something on the coffee table and get all excited and reach for it, so I stand him up by the table and he gets a kick out of knocking things off...the remotes, the coasters, cell phone. He loves the buttons on the remote and can turn the volume up, rewind, and search so far. He's trying to figure out how to actually change the channel to something more interesting than America's Next Top Model marathons.

12.15.07 - Santa claus

Jackson met Santa at the mall today. We had to wait in line for about a half an hour or 45 minutes, but it was worth it. Jackson did so well! He smiled for his picture and then he played with Santa's beard while Santa talked to him. He wasn't scared at all, which shocked Adam and me. We thought for sure we'd be coming home with a picture of a screaming baby on Santa's lap, but it's perfect! It's in the gallery...unfortunately we don't have a scanner, so it's a picture of a picture, but it doesn't look bad.

12.13.07 - Jackson's Doggy

Jackson and Alex were so fun to watch together. Alex was so jealous of Jackson and all of the attention he got, but when he thought nobody was watching, he'd get right up in Jackson's face and sniff him. Jackson would watch Alex do anything. He really couldn't keep his eyes off of him if he was walking around, eating, scratching, anything. He always held his arms out when Alex would walk by, like he wanted to hug him or pet him. And unfortunately I had to write all of that in the past tense because yesterday we had to put Alex to sleep. He was 12 and a half years old exactly. We got him as a six week old puppy. That was the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life. Mom and I just sobbed, holding him as he drifted away. I've been lucky enough to never have to really experience the death of a loved one before now. Alex was family. He was my best friend, he really was. I don't know what I'm going to do without him now. I put a picture in Jackson's gallery of Alex and me from yesterday.

12.10.07 - half birthday!

Today is Jackson's six month birthday! I can't believe our little baby is already halfway to a year old. No big celebrations planned today...Jackson is pretty modest. He said he just wanted a lazy day with monkey in his rainforest. And maybe some of his favorite food: oatmeal. We were out running a bunch of errands yesterday and Jackson sat in the cart for the first time. He wasn't so sure about that. He seemed to like it when the cart was moving, but when it was still, he just wanted out. We got him a cart/high chair cover for the next time (to prevent catching yucky germs). If you've looked at the gallery lately, you'll notice we took his Christmas pictures finally! Adam did a fantastic job on them and Jackson was the perfect little subject. I mailed our Christmas cards out on Saturday, so everyone should be getting one soon with one of the pictures inside. I've got more pictures (from the weekend and today) to upload today, but the gallery is being stupid, so who knows when I'll get those up. Jackson is still doing fairly well with the napping on his own thing. He wouldn't go down by himself at mom's house, but he is still doing it pretty consistently at home, which is a relief!

12.06.07 - Good boy!

Jackson has gone down for his naps by himself three times in a row now - twice yesterday and once today. I usually have to hold him, bounce him, walk around, rock him, etc., but the last couple of naps, I just waited until he was good and tired, put him down in his crib, covered him up, and said "nighty-night". He didn't even cry...just some slight fussing, but not more than a minute or two. I'm so proud of my good little napper :). Yesterday was Jackson's first snowfall. We got about two inches. He didn't seem to notice though, haha. I think we've come across our first food that Jackson doesn't care for: applesauce. I've tried feeding it to him twice and neither time went well. He even spit it back out yesterday. Oh well, I knew he'd find something he didn't like eventually. I like it though, so it won't go to waste! I hope he hates apricots too, because those are my favorite, and I wouldn't mind eating all those jars myself.

12.03.07 - A yummy pear weekend

Jackson had an eventful weekend. On Saturday, he spent several hours with his grandparents while Adam and I got out for a bit by ourselves. I got to go use up some of the gift cards I got for my birthday...is it bad that I use gift cards intended for me on stuff for Jackson? Anyways, I got him some cute Christmas shirts and a bib, and a photo album and frame. Saturday evening, Jackson tried pears for the first time. He loves them! He is doing so well with the eating thing now. He usually finishes his whole container, or just leaves a bite or two left. He gets excited when he sees me preparing it for him now too. On Sunday, we attempted church. I think we've come to the decision that we can no longer bring Jackson with us anymore. He hates sitting still. Adam walked off with him after he started fussing, but I could still hear him in the sanctuary, so I went and got him and took him downstairs and walked around until he fell asleep. I waited a good 10 minutes to make sure he was good and asleep and then headed back upstairs, but as soon as I sat down, he started fussing again, so off we went. After church, I printed out a bunch of pictures to frame in the living room. Now we're completely Jacksonized in there, haha. Today, Adam worked from home so he could go with me to get a cavity filled this morning. Jackson wasn't a big fan of waiting around for that to be done (and it took a while because I had a bad reaction to the numbing medicine, bleck), but overall he was pretty good. He decided he wanted to give me a hard time today too, which was fun since I still felt woosy most of the day. Now it's time for his dinner...more pears maybe?