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.

Labor Day at the Cabin -- Jackson's first trip

Well, I know these are a little late but things have been busy with going back to work and such. Better late than never though, right? Anyway, over Labor Day we all made the trek up to the Blair cabin on Gunflint Lake. It was Jackson's first trip to the cabin. Very exciting!! Everyone had a great time and Jackson handled the whole thing very well. Some of the firsts that weekend -- first boat ride, first night away from home, first overnight away from Mom and Dad (Scott and I had to return to the cities for a night to attend a wedding). It was a big weekend!

Welcome to the cabin! Eat, drink and be merry!

Jackson enjoying dinner in his bouncey seat with the Blairs -- he couldn't be left out of anything of course!

A little quality time with Grandma!



I think he likes the cabin!

Getting ready for his first boat ride. It ended up being quite the ride after we hit a rock and lost power for our motor about a mile away from the cabin. Thank goodness for good samaritans!

Bridal Falls

The narrows from Little Gunflint into Little North Lake.

Happy Jackson!

We all had a great week up there! I'm already thinking about next spring!

Jackson has gotten into the swing of things with daycare and I'm doing better about it too. I know it's good for him and it's probably good for me too. He's a really active little boy so I'm sure the change of scenery and interaction with other people is good stimulation for me. I'm definitely missing spending my days with him though. He's such an amazing child! He makes me smile constantly!

Scott and I head to Maine next week for a wedding. I'm so excited to go back out there! It's so absolutely beautiful and the fall colors should just be gorgeous! Grandma and Grandpa Blair will be keeping Jackson in line while we're gone. I know both Jackson and the grandparents are excited for the time together. I'm making no guarantees regarding how many times I will be calling home while we're away.

Back to the Grind....

Well, it's that time...I'm back to work after 12 wonderful, blissful weeks home with Jackson. I dropped off some stuff (diapers, wipes, extra clothes and such) at Jackson's daycare last week which ended up being such a great idea. Today was hard enough without having to deal with alot of details. I might have been fine this morning until Jackson started crying when Scott handed him to the woman in the infant room. That broke me and I had to leave quickly with tears streaming down my face. He is at a wonderful daycare, Step by Step Montessori, and I know he is being well taken care of but the idea that I can't be with him all day long -- to play with him, feed him and soothe his tears -- just crushes me. I miss him every minute of every hour. I know this will pass, that both he and I will get used to the daycare routine, but right now I just want to hold him while he takes a nap against my chest.

I've heard the saying that having a child means that your heart walks around outside your body for the rest of your life. How true! Jackson is my life. I absolutely adore being his mother and can't wait to see the kind of person he becomes! This journey has just begun and already I'm enthralled. No doubt there will be some bumps along the way but I can deal with anything as long as I have my boys -- Scott and Jackson -- right by my side. I love you both more than you could possibly know!

Quite a Weekend!

This was quite a busy weekend with Jackson's first trip to the Minnesota State Fair on Saturday and his first Twins game on Sunday. It was a gorgeous day for a trip to the fair and Jackson did pretty well. Scott and I overindulged ourselves but oh well -- what else are you supposed to do? Hotdish on a stick anyone?

This is how Jackson spent most of the day -- peacefully sleeping in his stroller.

It wouldn't be the State Fair without a few tractors. Gotta love John Deere!

And after three hours of wandering around with thousands of people, we had a meltdown. He did well though! Unfortunately there was no formula on a stick.

On Sunday we ventured to the Metrodome for the final time. The Twins are moving to their new outdoor stadium next year. Yeah! Jackson loved his first Twins game! He was awake and looking around for almost the entire game. The Twins won by the way. It was a great day!

Father and son in the Baby Bjorn.

Jackson keeps growing, developing and changing. He's even started sleeping through the night every once in a while -- maybe twice a week or so. I was fully expecting that it would be sometime in 2010 before he would be sleeping through the night. We're off to the cabin this week. Jackson's first trip up north! We're all really excited for the final trip (and only our second trip) of the summer. More pictures when we return!