Alright...time to catch up on pictures

It's been a busy month around here.  We went from the ER to Maine to lots of new moves by Jackson.  We've had a great time though, and here are the pictures to prove it!

Scott and I traveled to Maine to attend the wedding of a good friend of his from high school.  It just happened to be near Colby which made me very happy!  Maine is gorgeous in the fall and we had perfect weather.  We were in Freeport (lots of fun shopping!) and Augusta the first few days and then traveled down to Camden, ME which is right on the coast.  So absolutely picturesque!  I only wish we had a few more days to enjoy everything.  Here are some pics from the trip...

The Camden harbor was full of beautiful tallmast ships.  We had intended to take a short cruise on one of them but ran out of time.  Gotta leave something for the next trip, right?

This cool waterfall ran right through the middle of town -- right underneath several businesses.  You don't think of buildings in Maine needing to be on stilts but there were a few here.

Beautiful ships, beautiful fall colors, beautiful blue sky -- doesn't get much better!

Main street in Camden -- quaint and perfect!

It's Maine so you have to have a few lobster traps.  I won't mention how many bowls of clam chowder I had while we were out there.  It's kind of embarrassing!

Scott and I spent some time at Camden Hills State Park.  It had a fantastic view out over the coast and down on the town of Camden.  The beautiful leaves didn't show up as well in these pictures but they really were gorgeous.

The view down towards Camden and the harbor.

The next day, and our last day in Maine, the weather was a little dodgier.  Quite a bit of rain but we still had a good time.  Here is the much more commercial harbor of Rockland, ME.

On our drive back to Portland, we stopped at Boothbay Harbor.  The town was pretty much shut down for the season but it was still pretty.

We had such a great time, especially knowing that Jackson was on the mend when we left!  I don't think I could have left him if he was still sick when we left.  Of course, I called home to check on things at least twice a day.  Grandma and Grandpa had a wonderful time although I think it took a few days to recover from the sleep deprivation.  I know Jackson had a great time and he's looking forward to Thanksgiving!

As I wrote last week, Jackson was having some real issues sleeping but that seems to have turned around.  We're back to basically sleeping through the night.  Yeah!!  He's eating really well and he seems to be enjoying day care.  As hard as it is for me to admit, I think it's good for Jackson to be in day care.  He gets more stimulation there than what I could probably give him.  He is just such a curious little boy.  He studies everything he sees and there is alot more there for him to take in.  That being said, I cherish every single minute I get to be with him after work and on the weekend. 

This past weekend I really wanted to get some fun fall pictures taken.  I bought several pumpkins in various sizes, dressed Jackson up in an adorable bear outfit that his Gramma Carter bought him and Scott and I got everything set up outside to get the shots.  Unfortunately, Jackson had other plans.  The minute we set him down with the pumpkins he started crying.  I tried everything, all of the little tricks we know, to get him to cheer up.  Nothing worked so we gave up, me grumbling all the way back into the house.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we can try again next weekend.  I really want some cute pictures with him outside.

Here are some pictures of what Jackson's been up to this month...

We got out Jackson's new exer-saucer and he's loving it!  I'm continually impressed and amazed at his development (I'm his mom afterall).  He isn't rolling over yet but he "talks" all the time, is constantly smiling and has started to laugh a little bit.  He is also pushing himself up on his arms and likes to "stand" on our laps.  It is just so incredible to watch a child develop, to learn new skills and make new discoveries.  While he hasn't figured it all out yet, he's beginning to realize that he can move around in the exer-saucer and play with the toys.

Chewing on his hand -- one of his favorite things these days.  I'm petrified that he is going to get his hand stuck in his mouth.

I just love this picture!!  Look at those eyes!!

Jackson is also getting really good at pushing himself up on his arms.  He keeps moving his legs too and I'm sure that it won't be too long before he's scooting around.  It actually makes me a little nervous to think about him crawling.  He's so active now that I'm not sure how we'll keep up with him. 

This is one of my favorite pictures!! 

Too cute! 

Next up -- Halloween, Jackson's four-month birthday and my birthday.  Hope everyone is doing well!

Coffee, please....STAT!

I don't know what happened.  When I first went back to work almost a month ago, Jackson was doing so well.  He was pretty much sleeping through the night -- we would put him down around 8pm and he would sleep until sometime between 5-6am.  It was wonderful!  Lately, however, we are regressing.  We are putting him down at the same time but he's been waking up between 3-4am each night.  It culminated with last night when I was up with him about every 45 minutes or so between midnight and 3am.  Each time I got up, cuddled with him for a few minutes and he would go back to sleep, only to do it all over again within an hour.  Finally at 3am I decided he must be hungry so I got up, changed his diaper and got a bottle ready.  He finished only half the bottle and fell asleep in my arms so back to bed we went.  By shortly after 4am he was back in his routine of waking up and fussing which lasted until about 5am.  He fell asleep but at that point I was up for the day.  After all of that, I'm a complete zombie today.  And it's only Tuesday!  Honestly, I'm not sure any amount of caffeine will help.

Sleep...

...I miss it.

It was bound to happen at some point...

Well, I knew it would happen at some point but didn't think it would be so soon.  We made our first trip to the emergency room last week.  I got a call from Jackson's daycare on Wednesday afternoon saying that he had a high fever (101) and I needed to come get him.  In this day of H1N1, schools and daycares are really strict about dealing with sick kids.  I had received a similar call the previous Friday and just assumed that the end result would be the same -- I would show up to get Jackson and he would be his usual cheerful, smiley self.  Unfortunately that was not the case.  I immediately knew that this was different when I got to his daycare.  Jackson was burning up and started crying the minute I touched him.  They took his temperature again before we left and it confirmed the 101 degree fever they told me about. 

When I got him home I called the doctor who told me to bring him in, that it probably wasn't anything to be too worried about but because he is so young, they wanted to see him.  Off we went to the pediatrician's office.  Our pediatrician's office is great.  They have extended hours everynight so despite the fact that it was almost 6pm, we were able to see a doctor right away.  They took some blood and did a chest x-ray and found nothing.  They gave me a diagnosis of the flu and sent us on our merry way.  We were to watch his temperature and come back if it got worse. 

Once we arrived home, Scott gave him a bottle. He drank the whole thing which I took as a good sign.  The doctor said it was important that he keep hydrated.  About an hour or so later we were getting him ready for bed and the vomiting started.  Projectile vomiting to be precise.  It was by far the scariest thing I've seen so far with regards to Jackson.  We got him cleaned up and took his temperature again.  By then it was up to 102.  We called the nurses hotline (at this point it was after 9pm) and after talking with her, she sent us off to Children's Hospital to get him checked out again.  Needless to say, Scott and I were scared to death.  With all sorts of horrible stories about H1N1 and a three month old baby, I just had no idea what was in store for us. 

After 45 minutes waiting in the waiting room at Children's, we were taken back and poor Jackson was poked and proded some more.  More blood was taken and an IV was put in.  Luckily, all the tests came back negative and with a dose of Tylenol, his temperature was on the way down.  By 2am we were all on our way back home, a little worse for the wear but oh well.  They told us to watch him over the next 24 hours and to have him seen again if things didn't improve.  The poor little guy had had a rough night, as had his parents!  I stayed home with him on Thursday and amazingly, he continued to improve throughout the day.  By Thursday  night he was about 80% and we decided that we could still go on our trip to Maine for a friend's wedding.  It was a very scary situation although I know many parents go through so much worse.  It really does make you realize that regardless of the severity of the situation, as a parent, your heart just bleeds for your child.  Seeing little Jackson lying on that big bed with an IV in and a splint on his hand (to prevent him from ripping out the IV) was really scary.  Everything is better now though.  He's back to his usual self -- smiling, cooing and making his parents beam with pride. 

Here are a couple of pictures from the trip to the ER -- of course we had to bring his favorite green blanket to keep him calm.

I think in this picture he looks better than I felt!  He did such a great job dealing with everything -- all with a really high fever.

I think part of his miraculous recovery was due to a long weekend with Grandma and Grandpa.  That can cure anything!  Scott and I had a great time in Maine.  I'll post pictures as soon as we get them all loaded on the computer.  It was so much fun to catch up with old friends and the leaves were gorgeous.  We missed the first snow of the season here in Minneapolis if you can believe that.  We should still be enjoying autumn but instead we are all thinking about winter.  Yikes!

Up next for this weekend -- Iowa vs. Wisconsin in football.  There could be alot of tension in this house on Saturday!

GO TWINS!!

In dramatic fashion, the Minnesota Twins won the ALDS in extra innings against the Detroit Tigers tonight. Yeah! They sure like to try their fans but in the end they pulled it out. Now it's on to New York to (hopefully) kill the Yankees tomorrow night.

Cappy and Jackson have become friends over the past couple of months. Cappy likes to be around Jackson, will come running when he's crying and likes to sit next to him when he's taking a bottle. Here is Cappy trying out one of his bibs. Needless to say, she didn't like it.

Jackson has found a blanket. The super soft green blanket was a baby shower gift from Jean Cook and Jackson loves it! In the last few days he has decided he can't hang out at home without it. Blanket and pacifier -- life can't get any better!

Here is Jackson celebrating his three month birthday on Saturday. Not terribly exciting but too cute for words!

Jackson wants to welcome to the world his new playmate, Christopher Paul Gibson, born this week to our friends Brian and Annie Gibson. Christopher is adorable and I'm sure there will be lots of playdates and Twins games in their future!

We're off to Maine on Friday. Jackson is excited to spend several days but Grandma and Grandpa Blair! They're going to have a great time! Scott and I will miss him like crazy! I know we're going to have a great time but this is definitely earlier than I had planned on leaving him. I thought he would be at least 6-9 months before Scott and I went away for a vacation. Jackson's in good hands though and I know we will have fun in Maine! I absolutely love it out there. I went to college out there and Scott proposed on our last trip to Maine, in Acadia National Park, in 2006 so the state holds alot of sentimental value to me. It's going to be great to be back out there.