Rock & Roll Star

Jackson had two favorite gifts this year...a guitar and a vacuum cleaner.  Maybe it's because they both make noise.  Both were unexpected favorites.  During the three hours it took him to open all of his gifts, he had to take a break between each present to play the guitar and use the vacuum.  Here are a couple cute photos of him rocking with his guitar.

Christmas Eve

After Jackson went to bed tonight, Santa arrived with his new car. And Mickey and Goofy wanted to take it for a spin before Jackson got up. Can't wait to see the look on Jackson's face in the morning!

Santa's Workshop

Santa is hard at work putting together Jackson's big gift. Hope it fits in his sleigh and down our chimney tonight.

Love to Race

This is the first time in a long time that I can say that I ran two races in the same month.  I had forgotten how much I love to race!  In early December I ran the White Rock Half Marathon.  My time was great (post-Jackson Personal Best), but the weather was dreadful.  I hope I never ever have to run a race in cold miserable rain again.  And then the following week I ran the Frisco Frosty 5k (also getting a post-Jackson Personal Best...and I finished 3rd place in my age group!)  Right now I am thinking about signing up for the Rock n Roll Half in March.  So happy to be back running on a regular basis again.

First Dentist Visit

Jackson had his first dentist visit today.  He did so much better than I was expecting.  I had to sit with him in the chair, but he loved the hygienist and typically did everything she asked.  He even let her floss a bit, until he tasted the mint flavor.  We didn't do a full cleaning, she didn't want to push him too far.  As soon as he started to get uncomfortable, she stopped and said that each visit would probably allow additional progress.  He wasn't so sure about the dentist though.  When he came in, Jackson wouldn't even open his mouth.  Oh well.  Maybe next time.

Since he was sitting in my lap, I wasn't able to get a picture of him in the chair.  But I did snap this pic on the way out as he gave the hygienist a high five:

Bad Haircut

Eventually it had to happen.  In fact, I'm surprised it hasn't happened before.  We took Jackson to our favorite kids haircut place for a much needed cut a couple weeks ago.  Everything was going fine until she started trimming around his ear.  Unexpectedly he moved his head very quickly.  She was caught off guard and the clippers took two lines out of his hair.  At that point our only option was to go really short, 1.5 clipper short.  Obviously the two lines were still showing, but not as noticeable.  In hindsight I really wish she would have taken the top a lot shorter too, but towards the end we were all just ready to leave.  So here he is with his bad hair.  The only really good thing is that his hair grows really fast, so hopefully soon we can try for a better one.

Choo Choo Express

Jackson had the chance to take his first train ride at our neighborhood party a couple weeks ago.  He was excited to ride it from the moment we got to the party.  The funniest part for me was the fact that there were a bunch of older boys sitting in front of us.  They were so disappointed that the train didn't go faster.  Poor Jackson thought the train was going way too fast.  Made me smile.

Scared of Santa

Jackson is scared of Santa.  Actually, terrified is probably a better word.  He had three opportunities to visit with Santa this year.  All were brutal.  The first visit was at his school's Winter Festival.  Jackson wouldn't even go into the same room with Santa.  The second visit was at our neighborhood's party.  We waited in line for Santa twice and each time we got to the front of the line he freaked out.  He didn't want to get anywhere near him, let alone sit on his lap.  And I don't think that Santa really wanted Jackson on his lap either.

The third Santa visit was last weekend at the San Antonio Country Club.  Jackson was equally as scared, but I wanted a picture of him on Santa's lap.  So I asked Santa is he was okay with a screaming child.  He said yes, and that is what he got!

Oh well.  We will probably get a huge kick out of these photos years from now.  And hopefully next year we will have more success with Santa. 

November Photos

My stepdad took some photos of Jackson over Thanksgiving weekend.  Most are action shots, as it is very difficult to get him to sit still for a picture these days.  And if he is sitting still, he will usually yell "No Pictures!" when he sees the camera come out.  Here are a couple fun ones he captured:

 

Pouty lip...No Pictures!



Thanksgiving 2011

We had such a great Thanksgiving this year! Jackson had lots of family to keep him entertained...Mimi, Papa, Maymay and Poopah all spent the holiday with us and Jackson loved every minute of it. Well, almost every minute...he does not like having his picture taken these days. I had to get a photo of him wearing his cute turkey hat from school, he wasn't very entertained.

The Joys of Potty Training

I'm not sure where the joy is in the training part, but we will be very happy one day when we are officially through this milestone. We haven't been pushing him, just encouraging him to sit on the potty in the evenings and occasionally on the weekend. He knows he will get "Ms" as a reward if he goes at home, sometimes that motivates him. Overall, we've had a few successes at home and a few at school. After a long talk with Jackson's teachers, we've decided that he is not quite ready to be trained. He's close, but not quite ready. So until then, we are very well stocked with m&ms:

A Visit with Mimi

My mom is in town for a couple days. That means Jackson is over the moon getting to spend time with Mimi. He watched for her at the door for two hours this morning, jumping up and down when she finally arrived. We've had a fun filled day...lunch at Gloria's, a ride in the trike, and lots of stories and cuddles. I took this pic as we waited for our table at lunch today:

Halloween 2011

I loved Halloween this year.  It was the first year Jackson figured out the excitement of getting candy from neighbors.  I had to work most of Monday evening, so I wasn't sure how much time (if any) he would get for trick or treating, so once I found out I had about an hour to celebrate Halloween we had to come up with a quick costume on the fly.  The best I could do on such quick notice was a cowboy.  I would have preferred something more creative, but he was interested in participating in the cowboy costume, so it worked.  We started the evening at a neighborhood party and Jackson had a blast playing with all the other kids.  Surprisingly he wasn't too frightened of the other costumes.  He was a bit scared of the costumes at his school's Fall Festival a few weeks ago, so I wasn't sure how he would react.  Then once it started to get dark (and he got bored at the party) we started trick or treating.  He was unsure at first, but loved the idea after the first house.  He would quietly say trick or treat, pick out a huge handful of candy (people shouldn't let 2 year olds pick their own candy...), and then end with a thank you.  That was quickly followed with a request of "another house" to me.  We ended the evening back at our driveway with a lollipop.

Chillin' on the driveway after a fun filled night!

Scott's set up for the trick or treaters

Pumpkin Fun

Scott captured some really fun photos of Jackson on Saturday evening.  The first two are taken at our front door; the third one was taken at a house up the street from us.

The Arboretum Pumpkin Patch

Jackson and I met up with Sarah and her girls at the Dallas Arboretum on Monday. I love the Arboretum and Monday's trip was no exception. They had the entire place decorated with pumpkins...50,000 or so. It was pretty amazing.

Jackson had a blast and was so enamored with Anna Grace. It was adorable watching him watch her. He wanted to do everything she was doing, too cute.

He even wanted to get his face painted after he saw Anna Grace and Morgan Leigh. I wasn't about to wait in that line, but I did think Sarah's girls looked adorable.

All in all it was a fabulous day! Jackson talked about "Grace" most of the drive home. We can't wait to get together with Sarah, AG & ML again soon!

Horseshoe Bay

Jackson and I spent a long weekend with my dad at Horseshoe Bay. What a beautiful part of Texas and it is always nice to spend some relaxing time on the water. I didn't have a chance to catch too many pics even though I had so many perfect moments to capture (just didn't have a camera in hand at those precise moments). But we did have many opportunities to swim and play in the sand. It was cute watching Jackson react to the sand when we first went on the beach. He has never been on sand before and was very unsure. Especially after he got into the lake and then back on to the sand. He didn't like how the sand was sticking to his feet, he kept asking me to get the "dirt" off. The other great moment was during our long run (which was quite a challenge on those hills pushing the bob!). Along the run we encountered many deer. Jackson loves animals and was super excited to see the deer. He would shout "hi deer" to each one he saw, which naturally caused them to sprint away. It was a great weekend and we can't wait to go back.

My dinner date Thursday night:

Jackson watching the big boat after dinner:

Sunset in the clouds:

Chilling on the balcony watching the boats:

The Twos are Terrible

Jackson adds new meaning to the Terrible Twos on a regular basis. He has been exceptionally difficult the last week or so as they made some changes to his classroom at school (new teachers, different kids) and he's not taking it very well. Each day last week he would scream at the top of his lungs about one issue or another after pick-up. I can't even remember what upset him on this day, but he was having such a fit that I had to capture it. I guess he doesn't like the paparazzi:

Potty Time

Over the weekend we helped encourage Jackson to use the potty. I'm not ready for an intensive potty training boot camp, and neither is Jackson. But I was ready to encourage him to realize the purpose of the potty. So for a couple hours each day over the weekend we put Jackson into big boy underwear and let him run around outside. Day 1 was very upsetting for him. He had two accidents and he was horrified at both. Day 2 was much better. At the offer of an M&M if he peed in the potty, he happily obliged. The only problem was one M&M wasn't enough of a reward, I think he probably ended up eating an entire fun size bag for his potty success. Then he wanted to call Mimi and tell her what he did. So cute. We didn't push him at all yesterday, but he did tell me as soon as he went and was more interested in staying dry than he was before this weekend.

I tried to document to experience, but he repeated "no pictures" and really wanted his privacy. Here he is trying to push me and my camera away:

New Monkey

Jackson received a special gift from his friend Olivia yesterday...a brand new monkey! We gave a similar monkey to Olivia when she was born, and when Jackson met Olivia a couple months ago he took a strong liking to her monkey. Now he has one of his own! Here is Jackson cuddling with his new friend while he watched Mickey Mouse last night:

Stonebriar Carousel

On Sunday we had to run a few errands at the mall, so we had lunch and then let Jackson ride the carousel. He had a hard time focusing on lunch, knowing that a horsie ride was in his future. So we ate quickly and got in line. Here is a picture of him before we got started:He was having a blast while we waited for all the kids to find their favorite horse and get ready. But once the ride started, he reacted exactly as I expected. He wanted off the horse, shouting "hold you mommy" until I unbuckled him and took him off. Thankfully there was a bench nearby and we sat together on that until the ride ended. It probably took him about 30 minutes to recover from the experience, then he was begging to ride the horsies again. Maybe next time.

Jackson's Surgery

As most of you know, Jackson had his adenoids removed and tubes put in his ears on Friday. We had a very difficult time making the decision to undergo the surgery. He never gets ear infections, he has only had 2 or 3 his whole life. And I didn't feel like I was getting any definitive information about whether or not his hearing was being impacted. We finally decided that surgery would probably be best, we didn't want to risk his speech development at such a critical age. At his pre-op doctor appointment last week, they did a hearing test that measures the vibration on the eardrum. He basically failed the test, hardly any vibrations were able to get through the thick fluid on his ears. The results said he needed medical attention. I do wonder why they didn't do that test earlier, it would have saved us a lot of time and worry about whether or not we were making the right decision.

On Friday morning we arrived at Centennial Medical Center at 8AM for his 9:35 surgery appointment. He wasn't allowed to have anything to eat or drink, so he was a total disaster. He screamed for milk for the entire drive to the hospital. He did okay in the waiting room, but was pretty pissed once we were moved into the pre-op room. He was so upset that the anesthesiologist decided to give him something to help calm him down. Within 10 minutes, he was flying as high as a kite. At 9:30 they carried him back to the operating room (he was scared of the rolling bed, so the anesthesiologist carried him instead).

Just a little before 10, his ENT came out to tell us he was done and was being moved to recovery. Within 10 minutes, a nurse came to tell me he was starting to wake up and walked me into recovery. The next 45 minutes were horrible. He was extremely upset and inconsolable. I laid on the bed with him and held him while he screamed and hit and kicked. The nurse gave him a couple doses of some pain meds as he woke up, that seemed to help somewhat.

Friday was a pretty tough day for everyone involved. He was heavily medicated but still pretty uncomfortable. He was exhausted, but didn't want to go to sleep. We were all extremely exhausted by the end of the day.

Saturday was much better and Sunday he was pretty much back to normal. He has told me that everything is much louder now and certain sounds have frightened him (the Mustang, water running in the bathtub, etc) but I think he will adjust to that over time. We have to use special earplugs anytime he is in the water. He wouldn't wear them at all in Saturday night's bath, but he was much better on Sunday night. Maybe his ears were still very sensitive on Saturday.

The bad news is that we will likely be back in surgery in the spring. His tonsils are extremely large and are impacting his sleep. Our ENT won't do a tonsillectomy on a child under 3, she says it is too risky. So unless his tonsils quickly start shrinking, we will be back. And I know that recovery is longer and more difficult. Can't wait.

We go back to the ENT in a couple weeks for a checkup and a hearing test. I will let you know how it goes.

Waiting in the pre-op room, he was a very unhappy camper:

Friday evening, starting to feel better:

The "train" he created with all of his vehicles:

Happy Birthday Drew!

Just a quick photo of Jackson from last Saturday as he celebrated a friend's birthday:It was Jackson's first experience with a bounce house and he was quite frightened of them. That was somewhat surprising, but he is typically a little hesitant when first placed in a new situation. He was all smiles when it was time for pizza and cake though! He ate two full pieces of pizza and a cupcake. Then when we got home he asked me what was for dinner. He must be going through a growth spurt, this kid is an eating machine right now!

Chicago Trip to Visit Amy

I had a quick weekend trip to Chicago this past weekend to visit my dear friend Amy. We had such a great time, but it definitely went by too fast. On Saturday we took the train into downtown Chicago and spent the day checking out the sights, we had so much fun. Here is a photo of us on the water taxi:
Hopefully it will be less than two years before our next opportunity to get together! :)

Fossil Rim

Last weekend we drove out to Fossil Rim for Jackson to see the animals. For those of you who have never been to Fossil Rim, it is a drive thru animal park. I've never been to one, so I was pretty excited about going. It turned out to be fun, but it is a huge time commitment. It is about a 2 hour drive from here and the park takes 3-4 hours to drive. That is a long time to be in a car! Jackson is still talking about the animals he saw, especially the giraffes. Here are some of the photos we took along the way:

This zebra was beautiful, but he reached his head in my window and tried to bite me. Scary!!
Loved the giraffes!
We drove fast past the zebras after our first encounter...

Mal's favorite...

An example of how the animals would get up close and personal

Loved the little baby animals!

Big Bird!
I know the photo is blurry, but I loved how cute Jackson was in his "safari" hat

More Money!

Some good friends were in town last weekend from Denver and we had the opportunity to get together a few times. Jackson had a blast playing with all the older girls! Here are some fun pics we took outside of La Hacienda. As we put Jackson in the car afterwards, he said "Horsie! More money!" He clearly had a blast!