Monday, November 1, 2010

Pumpkin Butt!!

Sam always calls Jackson "Pumpkin Butt." I have no idea why. But never has that nickname been more appropriate.


Check out our little pumpkin butt :)


We took about 50 pictures and this was the only one where he was not playing with the plant in front of him, not staring at us like he was braindead, and not crying because he was pissed that he was touching slimy pumpkin guts :)

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Waking up from a nap

Jackson is usually a very happy waker-upper. We usually let him hang out there for a bit so he is comfortable being alone in his crib. One afternoon I took pictures of his face on the monitor as he woke up and Sam went to get him, just to prove it. I also love the way he looks on the monitor :) Here we go....




"Hello! I'm awake!" 
(Doesn't he look like a troll doll? Big eyes, tall hair, and wrinkly face)


"HELLO!!! Come get me!"


"Ok, I'm looking at the door because I know someone will be coming soon."



"Oh HI Daddy! I knew you would come get me."


Then they chatted for a bit and Sam kept the camera on him so I could watch him just be cute :)



LOVE this kid!!

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Jackson's Boating Adventures

We have been out on the boat a few times now and Jackson seems to be enjoying it more each time we go!

Here is Jackson's first trip on the boat on June 26, 2010. He was a mere 4 weeks old. He mostly just slept thru it. I think the roar of the engine, the soft rocking motion, and the wind blowing in his hair was a perfect combination to relax him. 



He didn't really love the sunglasses though....


The next trip (that I actually took pictures of) was on September 5, 2010. We thought Jackson might enjoy feeling the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Not so much! I think it was a tad too cold for him! I am confident that one day he will love floating in the water off the island just as much as we do.




Then we were back at it on September 18, 2010. 


Jackson loves being on the boat with yaya!


And daddy!


And papa!



The boys decided to go on a little sightseeing expedition to check out the lighthouse on the island. Sam brought Jackson back after about 5 minutes...it was just way too hot for the poor guy. So he sat on the boat with me and yaya and relaxed under the bimini.


Jackson: 3 Months Old


I decided I would write a monthly post detailing what is going on with Jackson and his development. I feel like the first 2 months of his life flew by so quickly. I didn't get a chance to write down when he did certain things. So now I can do it in the blog.

Jackson will be 4 months old on Monday....here's all the things he was up to after turning 3 months!

- Still the sweetest baby ever....he has such a pleasant disposition and is so much fun to be with. He is happy to be in anyone's arms and he is able to take a bottle from anyone. I'm so happy he is so flexible. He's got a lot of people who love him and who take care of him for us, and it's nice to know that he is just as happy with them as he is with his mommy and daddy.

- Teething! Ugh. It came out of nowhere too. Sam and I were totally unprepared. One night he was up literally ALL night crying. I had to drive to and from Orlando the next day for work, so I wasn't a whole lot of help in the wee morning hours, so poor Sam had to deal with him. We had no clue what the problem was...and NOTHING Sam did was helping make him feel better. I never even considered he could be teething. The next day Sam went to drop Jackson off at my mom and dad's house and my dad noticed that his mouth was bleeding. Sure enough, there was a tiny little tooth hole where the blood was coming from. Poor thing! But Orajel, Hyland's Teething Tablets, and the occasional Tylenol got us thru. We had about 48 hours of a fussy baby, but he has pretty much gone back to his normal perfect self.

- He is losing his hair :( Well, the hair on the sides of his head. The top is still nice and long (and actually growing, I think) but he is starting to get bald patches on the back and sides of his head. I am always finding little Jackson hairs everywhere. Hopefully it will grow back in quickly. I LOVE his hair!!

- Jackson now tummy sleeps. He has napped on his belly for a while, but I had no problems with that since I could watch him like a hawk. At night was a different story, since (God willing) we would be asleep and unable to monitor him. I was SOOOOO worried about it, but he has really great neck control. When we went to California, we were so exhausted and so was he, and I knew the only way he would get a good nights sleep was on his tummy. So we let him tummy sleep and he slept 8 hours straight. We kept that up and haven't looked back, and he's been doing just fine!

- Jackson has slowly but surely pushed up his bedtime. He used to go to sleep between 9 and 10 pm but he is getting tired earlier and earlier. He now goes down at about 8 pm. He fusses for his binkie usually around 3 am, and maybe a few more times after that. Around 5:45-6 am he eats and then goes back down until about 8:30-ish. As much as I don't love being up with him when it is still dark out, I am trying to enjoy that quiet time with him. He is always so sweet and mellow during his early feeding and it's nice just to sit together uninterrupted and with no distractions. The nights vary here and there (like the night he fussed for his binkie literally every 45 minutes!!), but for the most part that's how it has been.

- Jackson loves tummy time. He is so alert...he just looks around and babbles. If he finds something to focus on (like his binkie on the blanket in front of him) he stares it down like a madman. We keep thinking he will crawl early, because he really gets his legs kicking. I'm sure one day once he gets the movement down, he will not stop moving! Pretty much every time I have him on his belly, he rolls over. He really has gotten the hang of it. No back to belly rolling yet though.








- He loves his activity mat too. He lays under there and loves to look at the lights and pull on the links that hang down. Initially he would just lay there and take it all in, but now he really pulls on them. His arms and legs just move non-stop. He also squawks non stop when he is on the mat. He makes all sorts of noises. He loves to look at himself in the mirror and babble at himself.

- Jackson LOVES to look in the mirror! He smiles when he sees his own face. It's so freaking cute. When I was younger my grandpa would tell me he would give me money if I could go 10 minutes without looking at myself in the mirror. I never won the money. I think Jackson will be like his mommy :)

- We have introduced him to both the bumbo and the exersaucer. When we first put him in the bumbo, he sat there just fine and just stared at us. He didn't hate it, but he certainly didn't love it either. I think he is liking it more and more though. The exersaucer hasn't been all that exciting for him yet either. Maverick definitely interacts with the thing more than Jackson. He is perfectly content to sit there and look at everything while I play with the toys on it for him. I'm sure once he gets started with interacting with it more, it will be one of his favorite things to play with. We have a jumperoo too, and I can't wait to get him started in it. Maybe next week....

Jackson's first time in the bumbo.
- One of my favorite things that Jackson does is talk with his binkie in. When he talks with it in, he says, "Goygoygoygoygoy." It's so cute.  I wonder what he thinks he is saying, because it's literally the same thing every time. Sam and I laugh hysterically every time he does it because it's so adorable.

- He also loves when you sing to him and basically act like a fool. I put him in my lap and sing "We are Dynamite" from my cheerleading days and he LOVES it. In the mornings I also sing other "morning" themed songs and those are hits with him too. Sam holds him in his lap and moves his arms like he is drumming and makes the drumming and beat sounds, and Jackson loves that too. He has the biggest smile and he laughs. It's actually more of a "huuuuuuuuh huuuuuuuh" but that is good enough for me! We have tried video taping it, but every time we do, Jackson just stares at the camera. One of these days I will capture his smiles!

- We (actually I) got his first giggles. It has only happened twice so far. The first time we were in the car and he was just losing it. The last song I heard was, "Bad Girls" by Donna Summer in Nordstrom when I was working. So that was the first thing that came to mind. I started singing that and shaking the toys on his carseat. He went from screaming, to smiling, to giggling. It was awesome. The second time I was holding him and started tickling him under his left armpit. He was giggling and wiggling hysterically. So amazing. I love the sound. I can't wait to hear it more!!

- He just started wearing 3-6 months clothes. Most of them are still pretty big on him, and he can still fit into some of his 0-3 month stuff. He's such a peanut. But he looks bigger and bigger everyday! And the kid can eat, that's for sure ;)

I think that's it for now. I can't wait to see what Jackson has in store for us after he turns 4 months. After his pediatrician appointment, we will probably be introducing solid foods. That should be quite an adventure! I can't believe he is going to be 4 months old already. The time just flies by. We have really enjoyed every part of becoming parents. Sam and I still can't believe we have a kid...haha.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

The Thoughts of a First-Time Mom

First things first...I copied and pasted my birthstory from our "Totsites" page so that I have record of it on this blog and so that it is included when I print it all out. It's long (sorry!), but here it is:

Well it is June 14 today. Jackson has been with us a little more than two weeks, and HOLY CRAP am I tired. Still, as hard as it has been to transition from being just me and Sam to the three of us, it has been the most wonderfully blessed thing I have ever done. To think that last September we were looking at a faint pink line that represented our new baby, and now we have this perfect little boy in our world, is pretty overwhelming and amazing.

A lot of people have asked to hear about my birth story. I love hearing other people's as well. So I'm going to sit and write it all out, and someday will probably be glad that I took the time to remember the details.

My due date was May 25. On the morning of May 24, after spending all early morning at the hospital in false labor, I had my 40 week appointment. We set up my induction for Thursday morning, May 27. As much as I didn't want to be induced, I really couldn't let my body wait much longer. First of all, I was just DONE with being pregnant and was so very ready to have the baby, but second, Demi and my mom were leaving first thing on Monday morning for Demi's Air Force Academy, and I did not want them to miss anything. My dr. stripped my membranes in hopes that it would get labor started. No dice.

We got to the hospital at 6:30 am sharp on Thursday morning. I still hadn't made ANY more progress. I was stuck at 1 cm, my cervix was "pretty soft" but my cervix was still high. I was immediately hooked up to my antibiotics (since I was GBS positive). Around 8:30 am they started the pitocin. My nurse Mary told me, "Here is how it's going to work today....I'm going to put you in to pain, then I'm going to take you out of it, then we'll have a baby!" She was the best. So once the pitocin was hooked up we basically just waited. Every 30 minutes she came in to increase the dosage and ask how my pain level was. I really wasn't feeling much at all. Of course, I'm sitting there thinking how easy it all was and "wow I must have a really high pain tolerance." I was slowly but surely progressing, so once I hit 2 cm, they broke my water. That's also when they broke my spirit...haha. As soon as that happened, the contractions were insanely painful and were literally right on top of one another. I just laid there in the bed looking at Sam crying thru each one. He sat next to me and held my hands and wiped my tears. I was squeezing his hands so hard and at one point he told me I could bite his hand if I needed to. Well, I did, and apparently it was a tad too hard. He never told me until after it was all over, but he said I made him want to cry I was biting him so hard. I know there was a moment where I was in the middle of a contraction and I told Sam, "I can't do this. I just can't." I was so done.

Mary came in and asked if I was ready for the epidural. I told her I felt like a baby because I was only dilated at 2, so wasn't it too early? She said it would take about 30-45 minutes for the anesthesiologist to get there with the drugs, and then said, "Are you sure you still don't want it yet?" My response: "NOW! Yes, I want it now." Sam said I growled it at her...haha. Luckily, she was super cool and totally understood my demanding temperament :) 

When it was time for the epidural, it was really difficult to sit up and bed and stay still so she could administer the drugs. I was in so much pain and was just concentrating on not losing my cool. I sat there and held on to Sam while he encouraged me and kept telling me I was doing great. The pinch of the needle in my back was not bad at all. Totally as described...like a bee sting. I could feel the medicine go into my back a bit. It's hard to describe, but to me it felt almost like funny bone pain, but in my back. Once the epidural was done, I laid back down and almost instantly felt relief. After about 10 minutes though, the right side of my body was starting to feel pain. Not only in my stomach, but really bad in my back. I told Mary and she kept flipping me from one side to the other to distribute the meds. Still didn't work, and I was starting to feel panicked that the pain was going to be unbearable again. She called the anesthesiologist back up and she re-administered more drugs and did some other stuff. That finally fixed it. Hallelujah! I was feeling soooo much better. 

As soon as all that was done, Mary checked me and I was at 5 cm. This was about 2:00 pm. She told me that the rule of thumb is about 1 cm per hour, so we should plan on delivering some time around 6 or 7. I was so hopeful that I would deliver by 7, when Mary's shift was over, because I absolutely loved her and didn't want to have a new nurse there. At that point, my mom and dad were also at the hospital so we were all in "hang out "mode. I was planning on trying to get some sleep before the big event. I called Demi, who was planning on being in the delivery room, and told her that she could start heading down to the hospital (it's an hour away in Clearwater), but she didn't need to rush down because nothing would happen THAT quickly. I was totally wrong! 

Probably about an hour later, Mary checked me and said, "You are ready to push!" I totally thought she was kidding so my response was, "Yeah wouldn't that be nice?" And she told me she was dead serious. I could not believe how quickly I went from 5 cm to 10 cm. She told me she would let me labor down for a while, and that we would probably plan on delivering around 4:45 pm. She called my OB to confirm and left us alone for a while. At about 3:30 pm she came in again and checked me and said, "Ok it really is time to push. The baby is RIGHT THERE. And he has long hair...I just pulled on it." See...told you she was awesome! She had the other nurses page my OB to let her know it was go time. From there, everything happened very very quickly. I started pushing and it was so bizarre because I literally could not feel anything. Mary told me I was doing everything right, so I just believed her and kept focusing on "thinking" of what it would feel like to push, since I couldn't actually feel a thing.

The delivery was a heck of a lot easier than I thought it would be. I only pushed for an hour. In between contractions, I would just close my eyes, take deep breaths, and take sips of water that my mom was giving me. We were all very mellow and were chatting in between. As we got closer to actually delivering Jackson, Mary had to continually page to get my doctor in there because it was all happening so fast. Sam was incredibly supportive. I just focused on his voice and his face. He kept telling me everything was great and I was doing awesome. For some reason, listening to his words of encouragement helped me more than hearing it from my nurse and doctor. At 4:24 pm Jackson was born. The second he was out I just started bawling. As soon as I laid eyes on him the emotions just hit me. It was unreal. They placed him on my chest and I just stared at him and cried. He grabbed onto my finger almost instantly and just laid there. I think that was the best moment of my life so far.

The recovery was actually a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. I was so nervous about labor and delivery that I never even gave a thought to what the "after" part would feel like. It did not feel good. That is all I will say about that! But I am doing much better now, and luckily all that stuff kind of just seems like a bad dream. 

We were supposed to leave the hospital on Saturday late afternoon. That morning, after a very long night with the baby, Sam and I were both super exhausted. I had fed him and sent him off to the nursery so we could get some sleep before heading home. Right after I dozed off, the NICU nurse practitioner came in and woke me up. She told me that during one of the routine vital sign tests that morning, Jackson's resting heart rate was at 60 beats per minute. Normal is 120-160. They took him directly to NICU. The NICU pediatrician and my nurse were also in there, all explaining various scenarios. Sam woke up sometime during that conversation and we just sat and listened. I literally felt like the world was crumbling around me. The flood of emotion and panic I felt was really insane. I just cried and cried after they told me he was taken to NICU, of course thinking the worst possible things about his health.

We were able to go down to NICU a few hours later to see him and he was all hooked up to his halter monitor and just laying there in his little bed. I tried to nurse him and he would not eat. Kim, our wonderful NICU nurse, did everything she could to help me get him to eat - we even tried formula for the first time - and he would not take anything. She tested his glucose levels and they were very low, so he needed to eat - NOW. She had to give him a feeding tube, and Sam and I just held him as she got the tube down his nose. As she did it I cried my eyes out. It was incredibly difficult to see my tiny baby go thru such discomfort. But it was also reassuring to know that he was getting the nutrients he desperately needed. I was in a total fog that day. I was sleep-deprived, had crazy hormones, and a broken heart from what was going on. Sam and I went down to the cafeteria to eat lunch (I wanted to curl up in a ball on the bed and cry while Sam got me food, but lucky for me, he wouldn't let me do it) and I cried as I walked thru the salad bar line. I think people thought I was crazy. My parents came down in the afternoon and took us out to dinner while Jackson was sleeping. It was nice to get out of the hospital and try to think of something else. Besides, I think I was out of tears. We spent the whole night and next day basically napping when he was asleep, and then the nurses would call our room to let us know when he was up so I could feed him. It was overwhelming and exhausting. Luckily, NICU was slow and we had a great nurse who made everything easier on us. During his stay in NICU, Jackson had an echocardiogram, and EKG, and was hooked up to a 24-hour test that monitored his heart rate. 

As it turns out, the echo showed that the opening between the two upper chambers of the heart that all babies have is still open. This opening usually closes when the baby takes the first big breath of oxygen. Apparently, it closes like a curtain. For some babies, it closes later or never closes at all. That actually had nothing to do with his heart rate issue, but we were given this info basically as an FYI. After all the testing, everything looked normal. The bottom line is really just that Jackson's heart was a bit slower to adjusting to life outside the womb. Like our nurse explained, the placenta did all the work for 10 months, and now his lungs and heart need to kick in and take over, and for whatever reason, they were just moving a bit slower. We were so relieved to hear that everything was ok and that we could take Jackson home on Sunday night. It was a huge relief and we were so thankful that our desperate prayers were answered.

Now that we are home, Jackson is doing great. Keeping us up at night and causing us to look and feel like zombies, but still doing great ;) We go to the cardiologist in a few weeks to follow up and make sure his heart is still doing well. I feel really good about it. He has been eating great. He gained almost a full pound in the one week between his first and second pediatricians appointment. She told me my breast milk must be like cream and that it was perfect! I told Sam that it's funny how life changes, because having my breast milk complimented literally was the highlight of my week!! 

If you made it thru this whole thing, thanks for reading!! We are so thankful to have Jackson in our lives and we feel incredibly blessed that he is thriving. As soon as we catch up on sleep, I'm sure we will love this experience even more :)

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers (especially when Jackson was in NICU). As always, they worked!!

xoxo
~Deri, Sam, and Jackson





Now that I've had some time to settle into this "motherhood" thing, I can take a few moments and reflect back on what life was like. It was hell...haha. No, in all seriousness, having Jackson has been the most wonderful thing I have ever done, but man it is hard work. I definitely wasn't prepared for how incredibly demanding it is...and this is with having the support of an amazing husband and a great family who helps out a lot. Those first few weeks were literally just survival mode. Jackson ate non-stop and had his days and nights mixed up. Sam and I would wake up together those first few nights and both be falling asleep as Jackson leisurely drank his milk. It was awful. I honestly could not fathom why anyone in their right mind would have more than one child! But now, I get it. I totally get it. Having a child is the coolest experience, and I look forward to the hell all over again with baby #2, just not anytime soon :)

Jackson is now 10 weeks old, and he is truly the easiest baby ever. He hardly cries, eats like a champ, and is generally just so joyful. He is pretty much sleeping thru the night now...he goes down for the night anywhere between 10-11 pm and sleeps soundly until 4 am, at which point he kind of just grunts and fusses on and off for a while. I usually spend that time replacing his paci in his mouth, which always falls out because he's a lazy sucker. Most of the time I just pick him up out of his co-sleeper and let him sleep with me. He then usually sleeps pretty well until about 7:15 am. When he wakes up, the first thing he does is smile at the fan....and then at me :) I love it. The kid wakes up smiling every single time. It's the best!

Sam and I are both really enjoying our time with him...he's really developing his little personality and we really can't wait to watch him grow up and be a funny little guy. 

Maverick still couldn't really care less about Jackson. He is pretty indifferent about his presence. But it is definitely bothering Maverick that we are now treating him like a normal dog, instead of the spoiled little prince he once used to be. We have a new little prince that demands our time, and I know that adjustment has been fairly tough for Mav. But he's still sweet. In fact, here are my two guys napping away while I type this!


And here is a video of Jackson after waking up from his nap earlier. He was a chatty little thing and was smiling away, so I tried to capture some of that. Then he promptly went back to sleep. See? Told you he was easy!!




The Blogging Begins!!

Well, I have joined the blogging world! I can't say I will update this as often as I would like to, but I'm definitely going to do my best! It seems like time is just flying by and now that Jackson is here, I want to cherish and remember every.little.thing that happens in our life. It will all just go wayyyyy too quickly. So, this blog is my new journal. I found a great website that turns your blog into a book.....so at the end of the year I can print out our family blog. When Sam and I are old and gray we can look back at these years and actually have a journal with photos of what was going on in our life! So even if this blog only has one reader (hi mom! just kidding...) in it's lifetime, I know I'll be glad I took the time to write down and document the memories. Now we just need to go do exciting things so I actually have something about which to write! That's it for now...hopefully I'll be back soon :)