11 Month Update

Fall is here!!!  We love Fall!  It has been a fun month full of pumpkin patches, playing outside, doing many new things, and trick-or-treating!  Our little boy is 11 months old.  I am in complete denial that he is almost one.  Where did the time go?  He is growing up so quickly...

Here are Jackson's weekly photos:

Jackson, at 45 weeks, playing in the leaves in our backyard.  

Jackson at 46 weeks old.  He is pulling up on everything!

Our little pumpkin at 47 weeks old sitting on our front porch.

Sweet Jackson at 48 weeks, surrounded by his favorite things:  books!

Jaxosaurus 49th week bday was on Halloween!

This month began with a trip to Red Barn Farm in Weston.  It was a gorgeous, Fall day.  Jackson had a great time watching the animals and going on a tractor ride.  One of his favorite things is to be outside!  

Here are some pictures from our fun day:

Look how excited Jackson is!  He loves animals!

Doesn't he look like such a big boy?!

One of my favorites.

Me and my boy!

Jackson has been a busy, busy baby this month!  Wow, he is such an active boy!  He is crawling all over the place and pulling up on everything, and getting into everything!!  Last month's post, I wrote that he was dong the army crawl.  Now Jackson is on all fours and loves to crawl!  He is starting to crawl faster and faster.  He is so proud of himself!  He likes to pull up on his toy chest and dig through his toys and toss them out.  He also loves to pull up on kitchen chairs and cabinets.  I want to put padding on everything or make him wear a helmet!  I love this stage though-Jackson is so much fun!  He is full of energy, talking much more, and giggling.  I know I keep saying this, but he is such a happy baby which makes me feel so, so, so thankful that I have this little bundle of joy that makes me extremely blessed!  He is doing so many new things-it is so fun to see him learn and grow.  It seems like everyday he is learning and doing something new.

Jackson loves music.  When we sing to him or when he hears music, he bounces up and down to the beat (well, a little off beat-he doesn't quite have the rhythm yet, haha!) and just smiles.  As funny as it sounds, this was one of the things that I was looking forward to; I couldn't wait for Jackson to get down to music!  He has started to do the motions to "Patty Cake" that Baba taught him.  It is adorable!

The new meal plan I mentioned last post is going well.  Jackson is continuing to eat three meals a day.  I was really worried about how Jackson would transition to quite a bit less food, but he doesn't act hungry at all.  He LOVES food.  So far, there isn't a food Jackson doesn't like.  He is a hoss, and I love it!  It's been hard teaching him to chew...he just throws food in his mouth and swallows it!  Any suggestions on chewing, send them my way!

Here's Jackson getting into his toy box.  He looks pretty proud of himself, doesn't he?!  
We are so proud of him!

We visited another pumpkin patch later in the month!  Jackson got to see more animals and pat more pumpkins!  It was another beautiful, Fall day.

Picking pumpkins with my Papa!

The Parents as Teachers Organization hosted a Halloween event for kids.  Jackson had a great time playing and watching the other kids play.  This will be his first Halloween!  He is the cutest dinosaur I've ever seen!  Baba and Gmo came, too!

Fishing! 

Photo op' with the Grandmas!

Our little Tyrannosaurus Jax

Showing off his skills!

At the end of the month Aunt Kate, Uncle Wes, and the girls came to visit us!  They were here for Halloween.  Yayyy!  We went trick-or-treating to a few houses.  We also went to Baba and Papa's Annex to play and have a cook out.  It was such a fun visit.  I wish we lived closer to one another.  It's always tough when we have to say goodbye.

Trick-or-treating at Baba's house!

Helping Daddy build a fire at the Annex

Cousins at the Annex!!

Uncle Wes snuggles!  Uncle Wes is always good at making Jax laugh!

A few other favorites from this month:

In our living room we have huge windows that go all the way down to the floor.  Jackson loves watching the animals, cars and people that go by.  On this day he was watching the squirrel.

Oh, so sweet.  Thanks, Aunt Bren, for making this towel for Jax!

Both my boys on their laptops.  This picture cracks me up!

One day after work, I came home to find my little Bubba waiting for me at the door.  Precious!

10 Month Update

September was a fun and busy month for us.  Our little guy is growing up so quickly and is constantly doing something new and exciting.  I seriously just can't get enough of him!  He is such a happy baby, extremely laid back, go-with-the-flow baby.  He is so FUN!  Here are his weekly snapshots of our happy, active little booger:

Hanging out with mom in the kitchen at 40 weeks.

41 weeks old in our spare bedroom on Great Grandma's quilt she made.

42 weeks admiring Baba's flowers!

43 weeks and Jackson is mobile!  Look out!

44 Weeks just a swinging away on his new swing!  Jackson insists on holding his weekly sign.  His sign is looking pretty pitiful, hoping it lasts another 8 weeks until he is one year old.  8 weeks?!!!  Noooooooo!

I know I say this on every post I make, but I can't believe Jackson is 10 months old.  Time has flown by incredibly fast.  I'm trying to savor every second with him.  I'm so blessed that he is such a happy baby, loves to cuddle, and is easy going.

We have had a lot of fun this month!  This month started with a new gift for Jackson from his Baba and Papa.  Papa and Daddy built Jackson a swing in our backyard!  Jax LOVES it so much!  Thank you so much for building it Papa and thanks Daddy for helping Papa put it together. 

 Jackson has started to crawl, well sort of. Heehee.  He does the army crawl.  He gets up on his knees a little bit, and bounces for a while, then falls to his tummy and scoots along.  Jackson is very proud of himself!
Here is a video of him crawling:

Jackson has started to clap, too!  It's adorable.  He is very interested in his hands-he often will just stare and study them.  I love how he watches his hands open and close.  Jackson now waves all the time, at everyone and everything!  
Here is a video of him clapping:

Jackson loves to play peek-a-boo with his blankets and towels.  He cracks himself up when he plays peek-a-boo, and now he is the one that initiates the game.  Thanks to our sweet Baba, when you ask Jackson, "How big are you?", he raises his arms up over his head.  Then we say, "Soooooo big!"  I haven't quite caught that on video yet.  Hopefully next months blog I can share that.  Jackson will do it all the time (especially when he sees his Baba!), but stops when I turn on the video camera.  Little stinker!

 

One of Jackson's favorite things to do is still eat food and drink his milk!  He now eats chunks of cooked foods like carrots, green beans, banana, avocado, blueberries,  etc.  Jackson has tried meat (turkey and chicken), and of course loves it all!  The boy even loves beets, gross!!  We have yet to introduce a food to him that he hasn't liked.  Jackson is such a good eater.  But, unfortunately for Jackson, we now have to take a couple bottle feedings away from the little food monster.  We recently went to his pediatrician, and the Dr. shared with us that Jackson is in the 75% for his weight (he weighs 21 pounds!) and 15% for his height.  Since he is shorter than most babies his age and at a healthy weight, his BMI is getting close to the high end, not high, but close enough.  The Dr. doesn't want Jackson to loose any weight, he just wants Jackson to maintain a healthy growth chart and eat three meals a day instead of 5.  My how times have changed...we once were struggling to get the little preemie to gain weight, now he's on the verge of weighing too much!  I can't help but laugh about it.  I'm just looking forward to the day I go to one of Jackson's doctors appointments or developmental therapists and can be told, "Wow, Jackson looks great.  See you next time."  I know things could be MUCH worse (and we are extremely blessed), and I'm probably feeling sorry for myself and feeling a little frustrated, but I just want to go to one of his doctors appointments and walk away with all happy news, nothing we have to work on or improve or change or add to our list of concerns.

Anyways, Jackson's doctor kindly helped me with a meal plan for Jackson.  He's like us: eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Is that weird it makes me a bit sad?  I'm already missing his infant stage.  We have only been doing his new meal plan for a few days now...so far, so good.  He isn't acting hungry in between meals and is continuing to take a great morning and afternoon nap.  He is, however, waking up in the middle of the night a lot...but he doesn't act hungry when Nick or I pick him up-he goes right back to sleep on our shoulder.  All the food stuff stresses me out!  When to introduce what food to him and when, when to start weaning off the bottle, sippy cups (which Jackson is not a fan of!), when to add more food/less formula/breast milk, how much does chunks of food equal in serving sizes, ahhhhh!  And, of course, every resource I read or mom I talk to does it differently   I just hope that I'm not overfeeding Jackson or not feeding him enough!  But Jax is such a happy and healthy baby, and that is all I care about! 

Jackson is feeding himself his veggies!  Such a big boy.

Jackson has some good chompers!  He has six teeth. Yes, six!!  Can you believe it?!   He has four teeth on top and two teeth on the bottom.  The pediatrician said Jackson has a high arch palate this last visit.  We will monitor it closely, but for now it's nothing to be concerned about.  Thank goodness we have Dr. Papa Palate.

Jackson's Uncle EJ is a Freshman in High School in Smithville and plays football.  Jackson likes to go to Uncle EJ's games and root for him (when he's not flirting with the cheerleaders!)

Silly boy!

We had the King family reunion in Smithville this past month.  It was a gorgeous Fall day.  Jackson had a lot of fun riding a pony!

Giddy-up!

Giving GMo kisses!

9 Month Update

Ok, seriously, time is going by way too fast.  My baby is already nine months old!  Jackson is doing so many fun and exciting things.  It is so fun to watch him grow and change and experience new things daily.  We had an incredible summer.  I am SO thankful for the time I got to spend with him each and every day.  We had a blast!!  Although the transition back to school has been tough on me (much harder than I anticipated), I am comforted knowing that Jackson is in excellent care with his Grandmas and Daddy.  My family, friends, and coworkers have been so supportive as well.

August had five Wednesdays, so here are his five weekly snapshots!  

Nakie baby at 35 weeks on his favorite spot, his Mommy and Daddy's bed!

Tired little 36 weeker, snuggling in his PJs with his favorite stuffed animal, Griz.  We bought that bear for Jackson the weekend we found out we were pregnant, and it went with us to the hospital and Ronald McDonald House during Jackson's hospital stay.

37 weeks, and oh so cute sportin' his hat!

Soaking up some sun at 38 weeks!  Do you see the tuft of hair sticking out?!!  Jackson is finally getting some hair!

39 weeks, and rocking on all fours in his crib!

The month began with Aunt Kate and Uncle Wes coming to visit.  We had fun visiting Papa and Baba's Annex, swimming, playing, and celebrating Adley's 3rd birthday.

Jackson and Papa on the "Bridge to Nowhere" at the Annex.

Jaxi's taxi goes just about everywhere with us!

My niece running across the bridge that Papa built.  I'm sure this bridge will create many memories with the grandkids!

Papa, Wes, and Adley planting Adley's tree at the Annex.

Ella and Mommy planting Ella's tree.

Cousin Fun!

Uncle Wes and Jackson sitting poolside!

Hanging out at Papa and Baba's.

Jackson loves his bouncer even more now that he knows how to bounce!!

This past month Jackson had a photo shoot with one of my friends from college, Nathan Welch.  Thanks Nathan!  You did an incredible job!! Here are some of my favorites from the day:

Jackson, like everything else he does, surprised us by cutting his first FOUR teeth all at once earlier this month!  No, he didn't cut one tooth at a time...he went all out and his first teeth were four at the same time, two on top and two on the bottom.  He was such a trooper!  Once again, we have found ourselves very blessed with such a tolerant little baby.

Check out my teeth!

This month Jackson had a developmental screening at the Children's SPOT in Kansas City for a NICU follow up.  We received great news.  Jackson no longer has the head tilt and tightness he had been struggling with.  He has full motion of his head and neck!  YAY!  Developmentally he is a 7 month old, which is what we were expecting to hear and where he should be due to his prematurity.  We were very pleased with Jackson's appointment.  Way to go, Jax!  We will go back again in six months.  

While we were there, we went by to visit the NICU and some of Jackson's favorite nurses.  Jackson even brought some cookies for all the nurses!  I wasn't sure how I'd feel going to visit the NICU.  I didn't know if I'd be sad or nervous.  It was actually a happy moment.  I was happy that Nick and I could go and tell our nurses thank you and to let them know we care and think of them often.  A "thank you" and cookies seem so insignificant, so small compared to what they did for us.  I wish we could do more.  Everyone greeted us with a smile and were happy to see us, and were just so joyful at how Jackson was doing.  There were a couple of moments that brought me back to his time at the NICU, like the clicking of the security door, the smell of Purell sanitizer, the beeps and alarms of other babies' monitors...sounds/smells that I had forgotten but brought me right back to that time...  I will forever be grateful for the care we received at St. Lukes NICU.  Because of a loving God and caring nurses, we have a healthy little boy. 

Here we are in the NICU waiting room.

Oh, how we love these ladies!!

Jackson being held and admired by his all-time favorite nurse, Stacey.

         

       Thanks Baba, for my shirt!

Look what prayers can do!

Jackson's favorite things this month are swinging, swimming, and BOOKS!  Oh my gosh, Jackson loves books!  He prefers nonfiction (seriously!).  He wants to read about animals or babies.  He just loves looking at the pictures, interacting with the books, patting the pictures, feeling the pages if they are textured, and of course, putting the books in his mouth!  Most of the time, though, he will just sit on your lap and listen and look while you read to him.

And a recently new thing Jackson likes to do is sing with his Daddy.  He even dances a bit!  It is so cute!  I have an adorable video of it, but blogger won't let me upload it (it might be too long).  I'll keep trying.

Jackson is rolling ALL over the place AND started to get up on all fours, and rocks back and forth for a short time before falling to his belly.  He's going to be crawling any day now, getting into trouble!  It is time to baby-proof the house!

Jackson is still a great sleeper and eater.  Jackson still takes short naps during the day and sleeps from about 8:30-6:30 every night.  He loves, loves, loves to eat.  He really enjoys his mesh feeder.  He likes it when we put frozen apples or fresh peaches in it.  I think it feels good on his sore gums.  He has tried all kinds of new foods, and enjoys them all!  His favorite food I think is sweet potato, and his least favorite is green beans.  Jackson still drinks 5-6 oz of milk every 3 hours.  I'm continuing to nurse him every morning before I go to work and every night before he goes to sleep.  We aren't sure how much Jackson weighs-we go to the Dr. at the end of the month, over 20 pounds I'm sure!!!  He is still in size 3 diapers and size 6-9 month clothing.

Here are some other pictures from the month:

While Mommy worked in her classroom, Jackson got some SmartBoard training. 

We had a great day at the park.  Jackson LOVES to swing...

....but not so sure about the slide!

Loving on Daddy after bath time. 

Granny and Jax

I love my GMO!

Mommy and Daddy got some sweet tickets to the Chiefs pregame.  Jax hung out with GMO, Papa B, and Uncle EJ for the evening!

Gooooo Chiefs!!  Future linebacker?!

Jackson waved "Bye-Bye" for the first time as we left for the Chiefs game:

It's time for school!  Time to brush up on my ABCs!  My Kindergarten class last year made these blocks for Jackson.  Each student wrote his/her name on a block and colored a picture that corresponded with the letter of block they had.  Thanks so much for thinking of us and doing this for Jackson, Blaire, Suzanne, and Amanda!  This is a very special gift!  Jackson is already enjoying it!

One of my favorites!  It always seems like my favorite photos are the ones where Jackson is wearing his PJs!

Night, Night!