Better late than never...

How cute...

So, how was Jackson's first full day at daycare????



Apparently exhausting...

It's been a while....

Wow, it's been 2 weeks since I have written. What's new?? Well, I was very busy doing things that I needed to do or wanted to do before I returned to work. During that time Jackson did go to daycare 2-3 times a week to start adjusting. He is doing OK considering the adjustment. He is not sleeping as much during the day due to the increase in noise and still not eating much (6 oz or less). He will take the bottle for one of his teachers but she is going to be out 2 weeks at Christmas so the other teacher is trying to work with him now. So needless to say when he comes home all he wants to do is eat and sleep (cuts down on our playing time). Daycare has also messed up his night schedule. He gets up one extra time (sometimes) and then is up at 4am!! I have been working partial days this week and am exhausted. It was bad enough to lose sleep by having to get up earlier and now this. And it takes a lot of preparation the night before to make sure things go well the next morning. Billy and I are working on a schedule trying to get a routine down. I know it will just take time and he will adjust and it will be better.

Work is work. A lot has changed since I have been out so I am trying to get up to speed on a lot of things - not to mention the 206 emails I had waiting on me when I returned!! We have a new system which is nice and will be great once I get use to it. Billy is doing well. He is busy at work and then he helps me in the evenings.

Otherwise, Jackson is doing well. I had him weighed at the hospital on the 18th and he was 14 lbs. He goes back to the doctor for his 4 months visit early November. He is more alert and more vocal. He is keeping his hands open more which is great because you can put toys in his hands and he hold them for a minute (a lot more fun!). He seems to be discovering different things - like his tongue as he sticks it out when he gives the cutest smiles. He is so sweet...

We celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary last weekend. Mimi and Popa came over to keep Jackson so we could go out. Billy took me to the Melting Pot and it was great! I have been wanting to go there for a while so we did. We haven't had a 2.5 hour dinner in quite a while! He did really good while we were gone. He took his bottles and actually slept most of the time. Mimi felt a little cheated out of play time so we invited her back any time she wants and we will go out again!! We had a great time but I really missed my little man....

Pictures to follow on next posting this weekend...

Baby Jack's Big Day

Today was Jackson's first day at daycare. I got there at 9:30 and left at 10:00. I had to fill out some more papers and get some of his stuff settled in. I picked him up at 3:20. All the other babies were there today so he had some entertainment. There are 7 babies and only one is a girl. He was staring at the girl for a while when I left. There are two 10 month old, one 5 month old, two 3 month old, Jackson is 2.5 months and the other Jackson is 1.5 month old. There are 2 Jacksons and one Billy! The 2 teachers look like they have their hands full but they are good at what they do. One teacher has been in there 11 years! They said he would not sleep much while he adjust to the noise of the other babies, the environment (there is a big window over his crib) and also the teachers. He may have slept a total of one hour the whole time he was there so I hope we have a good night! I packed several 2 oz bottles so we would not waste it. He only took one ounce of his first bottle. Then about an hour later he wanted another bottle. It took 45 minutes but he took the second bottle and immediately wanted the third. So he did pretty good. The teacher said to keep working on it and he would be fine. Overall, it sounded like he did great. It was hard but I had things planned that I needed to do and forced myself to stay away. I did call once about 1:50 but just to make sure he had not ran out of milk. They said he was asleep so I waited a while longer. His next big day is Friday!

Today's Success

Tonight I heated a bottle to work with Jackson. It has been a few days since we tried because of the weekend but I try to give him about an ounce to play with every day during the week. So tonight he is tired because he didn't take all of his naps and had not eat as much. I had a 2 oz bottle and wanted to get it all in him one way or another (medicine dropper). Billy was cooking dinner and I sat on the couch with Jackson sitting with his back against my stomach and held the bottle. And as usual, he started chewing on the nipple and pushing it out with his tongue. I stopped paying so much attention and after about .5-.75 oz he started sucking!!!! I was so excited. But Billy said to wait - the fat lady hasn't sang yet.....we will have to see what happens tomorrow.

2 Months!!

I can't believe my baby is almost 10 weeks old!! Jackson went to the doctor yesterday for his 2 month check up. As usual, he got a great report. He is now 13.6 lbs (90%) and 23 1/4" long (50%). His head now measures 16 1/4". The doctor is happy and actually seems impressed (he keeps commenting) with his growth being that he is breastfed exclusively. The doctor seems to think that Jackson will do fine with daycare and the bottle issue. Jackson got 4 shots and an oral vaccine. He did better than I thought but he was still pitiful. His little legs bled briefly but the nurse put some Curious George bandaids on and it was all better. He seems to be over his virus and doing well.

We went to daycare today to do his registration. We filled out all the paperwork and paid all the fees so he is good to go as of Monday. Coincidentally, there is another Jackson starting Monday as well and he is 6 weeks old. So my Jackson will be known as Jackson C. I will not start taking him full time yet - but will let him go a few hours here and there for the next two weeks. Then he will start half days for the first week and then full time after that. I think it will be hard on me so I thought I would ease into it. Everything happens for a reason...I was worried that we would not get in (because the waiting list was so long - we were #12 when we started in Feb) when we needed it and I did not have a back up plan. And I didn't want to have to pay for the whole month when I only planned on taking him for 8 days. But when I heard that his position opened on Sept 4 and the next one was not until November, I was relieved. And now, I realize, it is better because we can ease into it and also that will give us time to see what happens with the bottle issue.

Well, I have to add a picture to update how he has changed so here are a few...