Time to play catch-up

To say that I haven't been very good at keeping up with the blog is an understandment!  It's been really busy lately and with the beautiful weather finally arriving in Minnesota, it's hard to make myself sit in front of a computer any more than necessary.  I do want to share some wonderful pictures from Jackson's baptism weekend in Iowa though. 

We all made the trek down to IA at the end of April for the big event.  Jackson was just getting over the croup so I was really nervous about how it was all going to go but he was wonderful!  He sat through almost all of the service and made his Mom and Dad very proud!

Both sides of the family made it for the celebration.  What a wonderful day!

We drove down to Iowa on Friday after work so that we'd have all day on Saturday to just hang out and relax.  It was a gorgeous day, a perfect day to play outside for a bit.  Despite the fact that Jackson was still not feeling himself, we thought a trip to the park would be fun.  We went to Spring Lake Park in Cherokee, IA.  It a beautiful place with a nice walking path around the lake and some playground equipment.  You can even rent paddle boats in the summer.  My grandmother often took me there as a child to feed the swans.  Well, there weren't any swans on this particular day but we did see some geese.

This is Jackson's first time in a swing.  He wasn't so sure about the whole thing.

Getting ready to do go down the big kid slide with Dad.

After the park and a nice nap, we hung out out on the deck and checked out the grass in the backyard.  Again, Jackson was a little cautious with the grass.

This is one of my favorite pictures!  He looks like such a little boy in his jeans and barefeet.

His onesie says "I crawl the line."  Ha!  When I saw it I just had to have it being the Johnny Cash fan that I am. 

The rain finally chased us in but it was a really great day to explore outside! 

Memorial Day weekend is fast approaching which means the first trip of the season to the cabin!  Yeah!  It's going to be really fun to take Jackson up there this summer.  He's such a curious little boy that watching him take everything in is going to be great.  He's also much more mobile so it's going to be more work for us to keep up with him.  He crawls everywhere, goes up stairs and walks along furniture with ease.  I wouldn't be surprised if he is walking by his first birthday (yikes!  I can't believe he's going to turn one soon!).  He is also doing really well with food.  He loves fruit and vegetables!  I think he's gotten to the point where he's not too excited about the jar baby food anymore.  He knows what real food tastes like and that's what he wants.  He has six little teeth with which to eat all that food too.  No more cute gummy smile!  It's all teeth!

Anyway, that's about it from our neck of the woods.  It will be another busy weekend with cousin Zachary's birthday celebration on Saturday and then, hopefully, a trip to Minnehaha Falls on Sunday.  Busy but fun, that's how we like it!

Happy Mother's Day!

Wow, it's been a busy couple of weeks, capped off by a wonderful first Mother's Day!  Scott, Jackson and I celebrated Mother's Day with a yummy brunch with the Carter clan and a trip to the Como Zoo.  It was a beautiful day and we had alot of fun! 

There is a gorilla in there although the picture didn't turn out so great.

Happy Jackson!

Mom, I'm not so sure about that Zebra.  I think he's giving me the eye.

Jackson seemed to have fun at the zoo but I'm not sure he was very impressed with anything.  He mostly acted like he's seen it all before.  Ha!  Oh well.  We're planning a trip to the Minnesota Zoo sometime this summer.  Maybe he'll like that a little better. 

When we got home we set up Jackson's new walker.  He is really a boy on the move now!  He loves it and I think it's really only a matter of time before he is walking.  (The bib is for the drool, which is really just constantly pouring out of his mouth these days.  There is some serious teething going on.)

Jackson took to the walker instantly.  It's one of those that can convert into a little scooter for when he's a little older.

My first Mother's Day was truly wonderful.  I never realized how amazing it would be to be a mother.  I never knew you could love so much, hurt so much and feel so much joy that it overwhelms every ounce of your being.  On Friday, Jackson's daycare had a "Muffins with Mom" deal where you could have muffins with your little one before leaving for work.  It was a great event and all the kids had gifts for their moms.  I had been excited about it all week.  Jackson and I sat at a little table eating our muffins.  I was sitting on one of those little chairs built for a 5 year-old, where your knees come up to your chest and the table was about at mid-calf level but I loved every minute of it.  Yes, we could have sat at a larger table but I wanted to sit somewhere that would suit Jackson.  We had a great time eating our muffins.  I couldn't believe how quickly he devoured his!  After about 20 minutes of hanging out with Jackson and the other kids in the infant room, I thought it was time to head to work.  As I left, Jackson was waving good-bye with a big smile on his face.  It was adorable!  His teacher said "Happy Mother's Day" as I walked out and the emotions just came boiling up.  By the time I got to my car, I was in tears.  It was like his first day at daycare all over again.  I just wanted to turn around, scoop him up and spend the whole day hanging out with my little man.

So, as my first Mother's Day has come and gone I want to say this: Thank you to my mom for showing me how a mother lives and how a mother loves because through your actions, you have shown me how to be a mother.  I only hope that I can give Jackson what you have given me -- an unconditional love and support that I feel everyday.  I also want to thank my wonderful husband who has seen me through many tears and fears over the last 10 months (and the previous nine months).  Finally, thank you to my beautiful baby boy.  One smile, one hug from you fills my heart with so much joy.  I will do my best to give you everything you deserve!  Thank you for blessing our lives!

A little food for thought

A friend of mine from work had a nice thing happen to her this morning.  As she was waiting at the drive-thru to get her morning fix (aka Caribou coffee), she noticed the young woman in the car in front of her kept looking in the rear view mirror.  Well, when my co-worker got to the window to pay for her coffee and morning treat, the Caribou employee said that the woman in the car in front of her had paid for her order.  Apparently there is a Christian radio station in town that encourages these random acts of kindness.  What a wonderful thing!  I'm glad that there are still people out there that do nice things for others.  It oftentimes feels like we live in a world where everyone is strictly focused on themselves, sometimes to the detriment of others.  Anyway, it's a nice way to start the day and a good reminder that we need to think of others more often.

Now on to the center of our world.....

This past weekend we had some scary moments.  It started on Friday night.  Everything was great -- Jackson had had a good evening, was happy and went to bed easily, and Scott and I were enjoying another Twins victory.  All was calm in the Carter household until about 10pm when we heard some strange noises coming from Jackson's bedroom.  It sounded very odd, kind of like a seal barking, and I thought maybe it was the cats but they were accounted for.  We looked in on Jackson and it looked like he was struggling for air.  We woke him up and the barking noise intensified.  He had a very scared look on his face too.  Even though I had never heard this noise before, I just had a feeling it was croup.  After a quick call to the doctor, we were told to go immediately to the ER.  Jackson was given a breathing treatment and a steriod dose.  We were also told that he has another ear infection, an eye infection and a 102 degree fever.  The poor little boy was in bad shape. 

We were sent home after a couple of hours with some antibiotics and orders to come back if it started up again and couldn't be controlled with a steam bath in the bathroom.  It was a scary night but thankfully he seems to be doing much better.  Jackson has been sick before but watching him struggle to get air really freaked me out.  I'm praying we don't ever have to go through that again.  The one fun thing about the whole night was that Jackson got to have his first popsicle.  The nurse offered him one which I really didn't think he would like but he devoured it and in the process stained his chin orange.  Cute!  I guess I'll have to get some popsicles next time I'm at the grocery store!

Jackson has been doing really well with eating and trying new foods.  He has had the purreed foods from the jar, cheerios, mangos, peaches, pears, pineapple, turkey, cereal bars and pasta.  He generally will eat it all, however, we've discovered that he cannot stand the jar baby food (level 3) with chunks in it.  Here are some priceless pictures of Jackson being fed one of them.  I think it was chicken noodle dinner.  Not a happy camper.

Is this the saddest face you've ever seen or what?

Thank god it's over!!!

Jackson is such a goof ball.  Here are some cute pictures of him playing with his shape-sorter.  I couldn't believe it when he picked it up off the floor, full of all of the shapes, and almost got it all the way up to the table.  Such a strong little guy!  He hasn't quite figured out how to put the shapes back into the box, mostly he just puts them in his mouth.  Oh well.

Look how strong I am, Mom!

A couple of weeks ago we tried to put Jackson down for a nap but he just had no interest in napping at all.  After about 10 minutes of hearing him try to get our attention we walked in to find this...Jackson standing in his crib holding his favorite teddy bear over the side.

Cuddling with his favorite teddy.  I know you aren't supposed to have stuffed animals in cribs but since we put them in there, it seems like he sleeps better.  He is able to calm himself down and uses them to cuddle.  What can I say?  It works for us.

And finally, he has learned to climb the stairs.  Yikes!!  I'm scared for what this means.  This picture was taken just this past Saturday.  He loves to chase the cats up the stairs.

We are headed to Iowa this weekend for Jackson's baptism.  I know, a little late but at least it's getting done.  May is just around the corner too.  That means the countdown to cabin time is really on!!  I'm so excited to take Jackson up there this summer.  He's going to just be fascinated by everything.

Scott and I are doing well too.  Scott is recovering from a diaper bag/eye incident.  The details are a little hazy but I think the diaper bag won.  It resulted in a trip to urgent care and some wonderfully soothing eye drops.  We managed to make it to a Twins game on Sunday which was great!  Target Field, the new home of the Twins, is amazing and it was nice to get out of the house without the munchkin for a few hours.  I think we're planning on taking him to a game sometime later in the season, maybe to a day game during the week when it might not be so crazy.  He loved his first Twins game last August but he's quite a bit squirmier (is that a real word?) now.  

Anyway, until next time we'll enjoy the warmer weather, cheer on the Twins and look forward to cabin time! 

Happy Easter!

What a wonderful Easter!  We celebrated by enjoying a fun get-together with Scott's family.  Here are some pictures of Jackson with his first Easter basket -- a couple of movies, a new Peter Rabbit book, a stuffed animal and a new bib.  Just what Jackson was hoping for!

Modeling his new "big boy" bib.

We hope everyone is doing well and enjoying this beautiful spring!

Ummm...help!

This is what Scott and I woke up to this morning.  Yikes!

That's right...that's Jackson standing in his crib, happily holding on to the side.  We lowered the crib a couple of weeks ago because he was pulling on the bumper.  After one night of trying to sleep without the bumper (Jackson got his arm stuck between the slats in the crib three times during the night), we decided to lower the crib and put the bumper back in.  Well, looks like we're going to have to lower it again!  Time is flying by and my little boy is growing up too quickly!

Jackson has been pulling himself up quite alot lately.  He can get himself up to his knees and with a little effort he can get himself up to his feet.  It's been so much fun watching him develop and figure out what he can and can't do.  He's still working on crawling.  He "army" crawls and rolls everywhere he needs to go.  He just hasn't gotten himself to crawl on his hands and knees yet.  He comes so close -- rocking back and forth on his hands and knees.  I know they say that some kids skip the crawling stage altoghether and that what Jackson is doing now (the army crawl) is still considered crawling, but I hope he can get it figured out.  I don't want him to miss this stage.

Quite alot has been happening lately.  Jackson has continued with the teething.  Right now he LOVES biting biscuits!!  They are these hard crackers that babies can bite while teething to help ease the pain in their gums.  He can't get enough of them but are they ever messy!!  It's pretty much a given that he will have to be changed after he has one. 

Note how messy his face is getting.  His fingers and face end up covered in the remnants of the biscuits and, of course, so does everything he touches.  Jackson was even nice enough to run his hands through his hair after he was done.  What a mess!!

Did you notice that we switched to a bigger bib in the middle of this episode?  The little newborn-size one just wasn't cutting it.  This one protects his clothes a little more and also prevents him from grabbing (and trying to eat) the straps from the highchair.

Last night we tried to give Jackson a sippy cup.  Well, here are the results...

Ummm...wrong end Jackson.

Not exactly a huge success.  He didn't actually get any of the water that was in it and truthfully, I think he thought it was just another teething toy but oh well.  It's still fun watching him try to figure things out. 

Finally, I just can resist posting these pictures.  As I've said before, Jackson just loves the kitties!  He does the best he can to scoot over to them to play but inevitably they run off before he can get there.  Well, last Sunday morning the kitties were window-stalking a bunny out in the yard and Jackson took his opportunity to hang out with Cappy for a while.  He eventually joined in the bunny hunt.

Cappy wasn't so sure about things to begin with.

She got over it pretty quickly though and she and Jackson continued to look for the bunny.

Enough of this silly bunny -- mom's got a camera!!  Time to be a cheeseball!!

We're off to Iowa on Friday which should be fun!  It's going to be a house full of people with Elizabeth and Reef, Kathleen and Tyler, and us all home at the same time.  I can't wait!

More Great News...

Tooth #2 arrived shortly after the first one, just a few days in fact.  So, Jackson now has two adorable pearly whites (both on the bottom) which he doesn't like to let us see.  We do sneak a peak when is laughs though, which is pretty often.  I think there might be some more on the way since he hasn't wanted to sleep very well lately.  We're back to getting up once in the middle of the night.  I'd forgotten how draining it is to have to get up for an hour in the night since we haven't had to do it much since November.

The other piece of wonderful news came at Jackson's doctor's appointment last week -- for the first time since November, Jackson has NO fluid in his ears!!  YEAH!!  Scott and I did our own little happy dance right there in the office when we heard that news.  Jackson has been battling ear infections since last fall and it hasn't be fun at all.  This was the last appointment before meeting with an ENT specialist if he still had fluid in his ears.  Luckily, we're off the hook for now.  I have a feeling he might still end up with tubes in his ears next fall but at least for now we're good.

In the last post I talked about how much Jackson likes to put his feet up on things.  He literally will roll around on the floor until he reaches something to put his feet up on.  Here are some typical Jackson shots with his feet up on the furniture.  He particularly likes to roll under the coffee table and put his feet up on the bottom of it.

I love how he has his feet crossed in this one!

Lately, Jackson has turned into quite a goofball (I wonder where he gets it?).  When he thinks he's being funny he smiles really hard and in a totally weird way.  We've started calling it his cheeseball grin.  Enjoy!

Of course, it's even better when he has baby food smeared all over his face!  What a funny little guy!

And this is the look I get when Jackson has had quite enough of the camera.

Last weekend Aunt Danielle and Zoe came over to deliver our much-anticipated girl scout cookies.  Here are Jackson and Zoe being goofy.  Jackson picked just the right moment to move in the first picture but I think the look on his face is pretty cute.

These two are going to be buddies!

We are going to be pretty busy in the next few weeks.  Next weekend we are traveling back to Iowa to see Elizabeth and her fiance, Reef, who will be visiting from San Francisco.  Can't wait to meet him!!  The clan will try to keep the food-fighting under control.  We'll also be celebrating Scott's birthday on March 31.  Jackson will also be baptized (I know, we should have gotten this done months ago) at the end of April in Sioux City, IA in the church I grew up in.  Another fun weekend with the family!