09.17.08 - 15 month appt

Jackson had his 15 month check-up and shots today. He is a growing boy - 20 pounds 12 ounces for weight and 31.5 inches for height. He gained a little over a pound and grew two inches in the last three months. He got a few shots today, including the chicken pox vaccine, so we have to keep an eye on the injection site over the next week. They said he could develop a rash and a hard lump under the skin, but it's all normal. I refused the flu shot for him this year after the way he reacted to last year's. I asked the doctor about his night terrors and what we should do. As hard as it will be, the best thing for him is to just go in his room and comfort him, but not to pick him up. If we pick him up, it wakes him up and he'll have a harder time going back to sleep. We'll have to see how this works next time he has one. It's going to be hard just to watch him scream. I also asked her about his thumb, because he's been sucking it so hard lately that it sometimes is getting raw. Her suggestion was to let him chew on a blanket or small toy during the day, kind of like a lovey, and let him take that to bed with him so he'll chew on that rather than his thumb. We'll be on the lookout for a good lovey item to use now. Of course, he'll probably just toss it right out of the crib like he does with any other toys or blankets we put in there. In other news - we have another molar! He woke up crying last night (definitely tooth pain, not a night terror), so I felt around and his other upper molar is just cutting through. A little Tylenol and Orajel and he was back to sleep in a bit for the rest of night. Now we know the source of the excessive drool over the last few days!

09.14.08 - First Vacation

Jackson is getting ready for his first real vacation. We leave next Sunday for a week in beautiful Nags Head, North Carolina in the Outer Banks. We're renting an oceanfront home with my parents and brother. We'll even have our own private beach access - ah, paradise! We plan on visiting the aquarium in Manteo and the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse while we're down there. There's not too much new going on in Jackson's world lately. We just try to keep busy to stay out of trouble. Jackson is into anything and everything these days. I uploaded some pictures taken at our church (for the new directory) to the August 16th gallery, so make sure you take a look at those. Don't worry - all family will be getting some of their own as soon as we get them ourselves. The ones they sent are almost all creased, so we had to reorder new ones and send these old ones back. They're too good of pictures to accept the crease!