Baby Caitlin is here!

My sister Jennifer had her little baby girl, Caitlin, on June 12th and here are our pictures from our visit to the hospital. She's a cute little girl and we all enjoyed getting to meet her. Isabella really liked getting to hold her and Jackson just loved seeing her. He is really into babies and will screetch with excitement when he sees one up close. Welcome baby Caitlin (a little over a month late!).

Hair Clip Holder Project

I've been wanting to do something for Isabella's hair clips to keep them more organized. I once bought a container w/ separate compartments & tried to organize that way but she had too many for the container & they never seemed to make it back into the container after she wore them. I saw a giddy giddy hair clip holder (see the one labeled cameo) that I really liked & wanted to do something similar.

Here is our hair drawer with everything just thrown in.

The photo I took of Isabella for the profile image.

Here is her profile blacked out. My brother-in-law, Miguel, was kind & savy enough w/ photoshop to figure out how to make her picture black like this so I could cut it out easier to trace on the peice of wood I had painted pink. After I traced it on the board, I painted it dark brown. I then attached the pink polka dot ribbons.

Finished project on Isabella's wall.

Clips on the holder (they all fit but will have to squeeze together b/c we have more on the way!)

Our hair drawer is so much better now!

4th of July

We had intended to go see fireworks this year (Isabella has never been) but it rained too much & we didn't want to deal w/ possible mud & wet grass. We stayed at home & had a nice relaxing day here. We had Isabella & Jackson's favorite for dinner- corn on the cob. Yum!

Jackson is 14.5 months

Okay, I'm not good at this blogging/update thing.  It nags at me until I finally sit down to do it & then I'm so behind!  

Jackson turned 14 months on June 30th so he's a little over 14.5 months now.  He is growing so fast, developing like crazy, & is so fun to have around!  Since our last update he has started walking!!!  I'd say it happened right around the 14 month mark.  We knew he could do it, he just had to gain the confidence!  He started walking when we'd stand him up but then crawling when he fell.  Then he slowly evolved to where he is now where he can stand up on his own with out using furniture & he gets back up after falling rather than crawling.  It's still surprises me sometimes when I look over & see him toddling around.  He still seems so little sometimes. :)

Jackson has also started talking a lot more.  Some of the words he is saying now are dog, bear, deer, moose, balloon, daddy... I'm sure there are more, they are just hard to keep track of!

He also continues to amaze us with all his motor abilities.  He attempts to feed himself with a spoon, has taken his pajama bottoms off, can climbe the stairs to the slide in his pool, & loves to get in his big sister's bed!  

We go back & forth between 1 & 2 naps a day... a lot depends on how early he wakes up in the morning!  And speaking of sleep, we're still not sleeping through the night... Jackson usually wakes up around 4ish & then 6ish.  I really need to work on him with this (by not feeding him) but it is just so easy to get him to go back to sleep this way!!!  But I will be happy to have a full nights sleep when it does happen!

We had an unfortunate accident in June when Jackson pulled up to the back of our gas grill & burned his palm & wrist.  They were 2nd degree burns & blistered up horribly.  He was in so much pain & it was such a difficult time. :(  The very next day we were referred by our pediatrition to the wound care clinic at St. Anthony's & they drained his blisters.  We had to keep them bandaged up with ointment on them so that they would not get infected and we had weekly check-ups at the wound care clinic for about 3 weeks.  Then we had one last one 2 weeks out & he was discharged the first week of July.  They have healed up really well with redness only on his wrist.  We are so glad this is behind us!

This is a picture of Jackson after he fell asleep in his highchair after eating lunch.  This has NEVER happened before (with him or Isabella) so it was quite shocking!  Of course I didn't end up getting him to stay asleep to transfer so he was awake another couple hours before he got his real nap. 

 

This is Jackson on the day he turned 14 months... he had just gotten a hair cut.  (Man his hair grows fast!)

For Mike

M.D. Creekmore at The Survivalist Blog – a survival blog dedicated to helping others prepare for and survive disaster – with articles on bug out bag contents,survival knife choices and a wealth of other survival information is giving away a 1,000 round case of 9mm – 124 Grain FMJ (a $200 value – donated byLuckyGunner)! To enter, you just have to post about it on your blog. This is my entry. Visit The Survivalist Blog for the details.

Mother's Day 2010

What can I say?  I'm a lucky mom!  I had a really nice mother's day.  I got to sleep in (which isn't out of the ordinary on the weekends which is another reason I'm lucky... thanks to Mike!), didn't have to cook (Mike made lunch & we ordered out for dinner), & I got some nice gifts (including a pressure cooker which I am loving!  The speed I can cook beans, grains, & meats with is amazing!).  Unfortunately Isabella was sick & had a fever so we stayed at home rather than eating out for dinner.  But we still had a nice day together.

Final 1 year update!

It is amazing how much Jackson seemed to grow and develop in his 11th month!  This month he has started pulling up on everything & really cruising around (walking while holding onto furniture).  He has even transferred from one piece to another a couple of times.  Some of his other motor development include playing peek-a-boo (where he covers his eyes... or his face with his hands & he then says "peak") and trying to feed himself with a spoon.  He really has gotten into copying things we do- putting a sock or shoe to his foot, putting a brush/comb to his hair, oh & you can't forget the hair clip he tried to put in his hair. ;)  

He is making lots of sounds & says a couple words (or sounds that mean words!).  We are looking forward to hearing more of what he has to say!

Jackson continues to love to read books and this month for a period of time he insisted on being the one to hold the book we were reading.  Anytime I would try to hold it he would cry.  Thankfully this didn't last because it is hard to turn the pages that way!

One night this past month Jackson slept through the night!!!  It was so nice.  But of course it didn't last.  He continues to wake 2x a night nearly every night, even though I've reduced his feedings to just 1x a night.  Pretty soon it will be time to discontinue feeding at night... I wonder if he'll still wake up then?

At Jackson's one year well baby visit he weighed 22lb 10oz which is about the 50th percentile and his height is 30.25" which is between the 50th & 75th percentile.  So interesting how he is pretty average in size and his big sister has nearly always been in the 90-95th percentile!

Jackson & Isabella continue to have a on again off again relationship.  Sometimes they have a blast together, other times Jackson is bothering Isabella or Isabella is bothering Jackson (and we get to play referee!).  It sure is sweet to see them enjoying one another though when it does happen!  Isabella loves to make Jackson laugh and Jackson loves to follow her around.  He misses her when she is not around & they are both excited to reunite.  We look forward to watching their relationship grow!

We cannot wait to see what the next year holds!