Winter is here!

Unfortunately, winter arrived in SC this weekend.  A week ago it was in the 70s and now it is in the 40s.  Yuck! This past week was very busy for me, and Tim ended up picking up Jackson 3 afternoons/evenings.  I have had tons to do at school lately , and I have had to stay late to even stay afloat.  Hopefully, things will calm down in the coming weeks.

We spent a lazy morning at home on Saturday.  It actually wasn't that lazy since someone got up at 5:30.  Jackson obviously does not understand the concept of sleeping in during the weekend.  We need to work on that.  Tim fixed us a wonderful breakfast, and Jackson enjoyed yogurt and grits for the first time.  He loved the yogurt but not the grits. Then we went to Haywood Mall for the Dr. Seuss celebration.  Jackson met the Cat in the Hat.  We had lunch at Frodo's and then headed home.  We took Jackson with us to the grocery store, and it was his first time to ride in the cart.  He LOVED it! He is becoming Mr. Independent.  He also has a new trick.  When we put him on his tummy, he turns around in a circle!  I am sure he will be crawling before we know it! 

 Here are some pictures from the past week!

Ohhhh, Jackson!

Today I took Jackson to therapy for the first time in a month.  My mom has been taking him.  We have been trying different things to try to get Jackson to work harder during therapy.  We tried having sessions at different times, having my mom take him, and having his therapist take him back by himself.  Nothing has helped.  His therapist is so wonderful. I always feel horrible after a session because he cries the whole time.

Today we met with several therapists. Kelly was there with some of her colleagues brainstorming ways to best help Jackson.  He was holding his head in the middle when we got there. It immediately goes to the left when he gets mad or tired. He was fine when we got there, but he cried as soon as we went back to the room.  He did show off some today and rolled across the mat.  Finally!!! He did it all by himself!  That was the first time I have seen him do it. We have decided to the Tot Collar.  Jackson will have to wear it for 2 hours each day, and we are hoping that will help with the tilt.

We also talked to another therapist about the possibility of reflux.  I don't see any of it, but I usually only feed him once a day.  It made me really sad that I couldn't give her more information about his eating, but I am not around him that much during the day.   The therapists at Pediatric Therapy Works are wonderful!  (I do feel bad that Jackson screams the whole time we are there.) They have gone above and beyond to help Jackson.  I am so thankful that we have a place so close to home that works with children!

Blessed

I am so blessed. I have a precious son, a wonderful husband, supportive parents, a great brother and sister-in-law, great in-laws, and the best family ever! I have a house, a job, food, and clothes.

The weather has been wonderful!  It was above 70 on Sunday, and we enjoyed every second of it.  We went for a walk around our neighborhood, and we spent some time swinging on the hammock.  I cannot wait until spring and warm weather.  Jackson loves to be outside, so I know we will be spending a lot of time on the screen porch.

Jackson was cute when I picked up from my mom's house on Monday! He was doing all of his tricks-screaming, blowing raspberries, and playing Patty Cake.  It was so cute!  He also had to show off when Charlotte got there. I love when he is excited when I get there. By the way, I am also so blessed to have my mom take care of Jackson.  He gets tons of attention and love.  There is no place I would rather him be!

I ended up working late at school today.  It has been a long time since I have stayed past 5:00, but there were just things I had to get done. Tim picked up Jackson, and then we went to eat at Moe's.  This was Jackson's first time to Moe's, and I think he really liked it.  We put him in the high chair, and he loved swinging his legs and banging on the table.  He also loved the music.  As the music got louder, so did he. He screamed and laughed the entire time we were there!  It was so funny. He was so loud we thought we were going to get kicked out of Moe's!

We came and took a bath.  Bath time has been really fun lately.  Jackson is totally into his toys and splashing around.  He has also learned how to turn around in the tub. 

Jackson is trying to move more on his own.  He scoots every where and can turn around on his bottom. He is trying to pull up on furniture and toys.  He is trying to go from a sitting position to a crawling position, but then he doesn't know what to do.

His new favorite toy is his personal remote.  That child can sniff out a TV remote, so we bought him his own.  Of course, he still likes ours, but he is pretty happy to play with his remote too.

I apologize for all of the random thoughts, but I had some time tonight.  I just don't want to forget any of these fun things!

Jackson-8 Months

This past month has flown by!  I can't believe that Jackson is 8 months old!  His first birthday will be here before we know it!

Jackson:

• Wears mostly 9 month clothes.  He can wear some 12 months.
• Wears size 3 diapers, but will be moving to size 4 soon!
• He eats 3 meals a day: cereal in the morning, veggies at lunch, and fruit for dinner.  He pretty much loves everything, especially sweet potatoes, apples, and bananas. He tried his first puffs today.  He was a little unsure at first, but I think he liked them.
• He sleeps through the night.  He will fall asleep in his car seat, but otherwise, someone has to be holding him.
• He has 4 teeth including the 2 bottom middle and two upper on the sides of the middle ones.
• He can finally roll from his tummy to his back.  He still hates rolling from his back to tummy.
• He screams all of the time (in a good way)!  He loves to make noises and talk. He especially loves when you mimic him.
• Jackson loves to play! His favorites right now are still his Jumperoo, his tool bench, and his table. He loves anything that lights up and makes noise!
• He still loves to read and chew on books.  
• He loves to chew on his socks. 
• Katy Perry and Elmo always cheer him up!
• Jackson loves to splash in the bath tub.
• He has tried to pull up on some furniture and can stand for a few seconds independently.
• He scoots on his bottom and can turn himself around, but has not attempted crawling yet.
• We had to lower the crib today (like he sleeps in it or something.).

These are some pictures from this past week.  As you can see, he was not really in the mood to take his official 8 month pictures.

Eating Puffs

Moving the crib mattress

Trying on my new bathing suit!

Get me outta here!

No more pictures!

34 Weeks Old

Wow!  Jackson is 34 weeks old today!  That just seems so crazy!  We have had a busy but great week!

My mom took Jackson to therapy again on Wednesday.  He still cried, but he did better than when I was taking him in the afternoons.  We are going to continue going in the mornings and see how it goes!

Tim had several games this week, and I had to travel to Spartanburg for a school thing.  Jackson got a lot of one-on-one attention.

Laurel and Brent welcomed Brynlee Gray on Wednesday, January 25!  She weighed 5lbs, 9 oz, and is perfectly healthy.  All prayers were answered!  We can't wait to meet her!  We are hoping to head down to Charleston in 2 weeks to meet the latest Griswald!  She is absolutely precious and already has more hair than Jackson!

On Friday, we took Jackson for his eye appointment in Greenville. Sometimes babies with torticollis have vision problems that actually cause the tilting.  Since Jackson is not cooperating during therapy, they wanted to rule out other issues.  Dr. Hart thinks that Jackson is just being stubborn, and that does seem to be the case.  His vision is not causing the head tilt.  However, he does have an issue with his extreme left gaze.  It is nothing that we would recognize, only a trained doctor looking at it.  We do have to go back in 6 months to make sure that Jackson's vision is developing as it should.

The weather has been absolutely beautiful!  We enjoyed a great Saturday.  We had breakfast at MaryBeth's, then headed to a consignment sale, Clemson beat Wake Forest, and then we had a nice, long walk around our neighborhood.  There is nothing better than temps in the 60s in January! We spent some time outside, and Jackson was making some funny faces! Tim grilled burgers and we ate in our dining room.  Jackson sat in his booster seat for the first time and loved it!

Here are some pictures from this week:

                                                            Giving Daddy kisses!

I love apples!

Look at all of my hair!

First Time Brushing Teeth

Making Silly Faces!

My first time in my booster seat!

January=Rain

It seems like it has been raining forever! We have had lots of heavy rain the past couple of days, so have spent most of our time inside! I hate that I have not had that much time to blog but that has been because I have been working on one of my goals-to be on the computer less!  When we get home from school, Jackson and I usually hang out on the floor and play with all of his toys. Then we have dinner and then a bath and then a snack before bed. I still want to make sure that I blog enough to remember all of the cute things that Jackson is doing!

Jackson is definitely learning how to get what he wants.  He is at a stage right now where he always wants to be in the same room with you.  I can't even leave him to go fix his bottle without him crying. He is still scooting on his bottom.  He rolling over like a champ from his tummy to his back.  I am not sure if he will ever crawl, because he HATES being on his tummy! He loves his fruits!  So far, we have tried apples and bananas. He loves them both! He still wants to be held while he sleeps.  The only time he will sleep by himself is in the car seat. He loves to play in the bath and drink the water.  He loves it when we squirt water in his mouth with his squirt toys.

I am amazed at how he has learned to play with all of his toys.  He knows which buttons to push and how to get them to move.  He is so observant.  He just seems to get cuter and cuter and sweeter and sweeter.  He loves to give hugs and kisses!  I am going to take advantage of it as long as he is willing to give them!