Valentine's Celebrations

Jackson's class had their Valentine's Day party on Friday. During the day the kiddos exchanged valentines by putting them in the specially decorated boxes the teachers made for each one. All the kiddos enjoyed a special snack and then spent some time entertaining us as they danced to their favorite songs. Jackson loved the party if you can't tell...

Barbara, Heath, and Carter also gave Jackson and us a bag of goodies while they were here on Valentine's Day. That afternoon Jackson made his own special card for Dada, which he was able to give him today! That's right...Ross is finally home, and we are SO excited!

Bath Time!

Bath time is often an exciting and humorous event for Jackson. He loves to dump water on his head, splash water every where, and play peek-a-boo with the shower curtain. Tonight was no exception. There were lots of giggles and smiles during JD's bedtime routine...

Checking out the bed before his bath.

Bath time fun...

Drying off and having lotion put on, which JD says "feel good" and apparently tickles too!

Jackson loves brushing his hair and teeth all by himself.

The "Daddy is my Hero" PJs were intentional tonight. Apparently, Jackson woke up from his nap at daycare crying for Dada, and since I think Ross has had a few rough, stressful days, this is a reminder of how much he means to his precious little boy! We love you!

More pics in the album.

Pneumonia!

Jackson has it. He was sent home from daycare on Thursday with a 102 fever. Thursday night it was 103 and Friday morning, 104! Tylenol helped to get it down a bit but I went ahead and took him to the doctor. We hadn't seen any other major symptoms and the doctor wasn't sure what the cause might be but she said that at his age, they want to find the cause for such a high fever.

So, 4 hours later, Jackson and I had been to the lab for them to take blood and the hospital for chest x-rays. They took blood from his arm using a tourniquet and needle like with adults. and the x-rays required a device that held him still and his arms above his head. Clearly, these where not pleasant experiences for either of us. Anyway, the x-rays showed pneumonia so we are now administering antibiotics and dealing with difficult eating and sleeping. Please, keep Jackson in your prayers and hopefully he will be better soon.

In other news, I finished the garage construction this morning and will be moving on to the patio cover and gates soon.

9 Months Old!

Wow, has it really been 9 months? This month in particular has flown by. Jackson has been through a lot and changed so much this month. Aside from getting sick twice this month, he's working on his 6th tooth and crawling. All of these things have produced tears and whining.

For the most part, he's still a very happy baby. He's just ready to be mobile! He doesn't ever want to stay still, and he's already walking anywhere you'll let him go while holding on to something...usually mom or dad's fingers. He seems to enjoy falling over like a board, which is not the best way to fall, but how do you stop him from doing something that brings him so much joy? His favorite game right now is "chasing" Bailey, which involves walking towards Bailey, Bailey running to the other side of a chair or table, and JD walking around the chair to simply start the process all over again. He LOVES this game. It always gets a good laugh.

Jackson also enjoys playing the piano...banging the keys of a real piano is apparently much more fun than those on his toys.

His coordination in general has gotten much better. He's working hard on that pincer grasp. He has officially fed himself a cracker, but he doesn't do it very often. He's eating 3 meals a day and having 4 9-oz bottles a day. It's no wonder he's moving up the weight scale quickly. He has his 9 month appointment tomorrow, so we'll see just how much he's grown then!

Jackson continues to sleep really well. He's doing much better at the new day care with his naps, and he's still sleeping 12 hours every night. His evening routine now involves dinner, immediately followed by a bath, which he loves. In the tub he has fun practicing drinking from a cup and then having his little teeth brushed.

Sorry...no new pics today. It's been a busy week, so we'll try to get some posted this weekend. In the mean time we'll leave you with the 3 songs that almost unfailingly calm Jackson down or make him smile. They are 'Amazing Grace', 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game', and a Taylor original, 'The Pants Dance' to the tune of 'The Hokey Pokey'...

You put your right leg in.
You put your left leg in,
and you shake it all about.

You do the pants dance
to get your pants on,
cause that's what it's all about.

You do the paaaaannts dance.
You do the paaaaannts dance,
Cause that's what it's all about!

Changes

Many of you know that we have struggled with Jackson getting the sleep he needs when he's at daycare. He's so happy and laid back that even without his naps, he seems okay, but by the time he gets home you can see it in his eyes. He still sleeps great at night, but the little time we have with him in the evenings during the week is not nearly as much fun because he's so exhausted, which is a big part of the reason we've decided to change day care facilities. Today was his last day at the old place, and leaving was very emotional for all of the adults. We know how much Jackson loves his teachers and how much they love him!

We know next week will be challenging as Jackson gets to know new people, a new environment, and a new schedule, but we're hoping it's all for the best. We took advantage of the holiday on Monday and checked out several places close to us. Of course, the one place that we all felt really good about didn't have any openings, so we had our name added to the waiting list and resigned ourselves to staying where we were; just trusting God to open the right doors for Jackson. Not even an hour after coming to that conclusion, the day care we really liked called and said they were promoting 2 kids to the next classroom on Monday and had a spot for Jackson!

In the pictures below you can see the kind of time we get to enjoy with Jackson in the mornings as we all get ready. We're hoping this new place will provide a better environment for him, so we can enjoy this kind of time in the evenings too!