Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Jackson's Firsts

The last couple weeks Jackson has had a lot of firsts, one of them being his first time in the hot tub and he loved it!
Then he went to Cambria for the first time, not his first time at the beach but it was a beautiful day in Cambria and we got to look at the tide pools a little bit!
He also went to his first movie! Marty and I saw Eclipse (my second time seeing it, her first) and he did great! He's so perfect and easy and didn't fuss once during the movie.
He is starting to smile now! He's been giving little smiles for awhile, usually when he's falling asleep but now he is smiling when people talk to him! He gave his first real smile to me on Sunday when I was changing his diaper and later that night he smiled at Brian while he was changing a dirty diaper. Its fun how much personality he has now!
He also has slept through the night 3 times now. When I say through the night I mean he sleeps from the time we go to bed (around 10:30) until about 5 in the morning. Its funny how well rested we are when he does this and how significantly better our moods are. Instead of moaning and groaning because we have to get up and change a diaper or burp him we are both practically jumping up to do it because we both feel so good!
Now he's wearing "big boy clothes" and is all grown out of his newborn clothes. It makes me kind of sad that he's already in 3 month clothes but he's just growing so much! He's in the 95th percentile in length, 75th percentile in weight, and 50th percentile in head size. As of last week he was 10 pounds 10 ounces and 23 inches long.
We've been bathing him in a real bath (not just sponge baths) and he loves that too! If he's at all fussy before putting him in the tub he calms right down once he gets in the water. Brian jokes around that its play time for me too because Jackson and I both love it so much and find it so relaxing.
Jackson also loves listening to music. This morning he was really tired and started fussing and the song "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" by IZ turned on and I started singing it to him and he calmed down right away. It was fun watching him calm down and listen to the song and slowly fall asleep. As soon as the song turned off he woke back up and I'd have to turn it on again or else he'd start fussing again.

He's also started cooing and has so much personality now! It seems like whenever he thinks we've forgotten about him or aren't paying enough attention to him he'll start talking to us. He will also lift up his head and look around whenever we're holding him and he seems so observant and interested in the world. He is getting so big and we're having so much fun watching him grow!

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Jackson: 3 weeks

Here are some pictures of the last couple weeks!
Daddy being exhausted after coming home from work
This one is his first time in a "big boy" outfit. We didn't get many newborn size outfits so mostly he's been wearing onesies but this was his first time wearing shorts and a t-shirt that Mima bought for him! Its so sad he's already growing out of his newborn clothes and growing into his 3 month clothes. He got some pajamas that he wasn't even able to wear once because he was too long!
He always smiles while he's sleeping! But now he's starting to do it when he's awake too.
Brian and I just think its too funny the things he does with his hands! This is him sleeping and even then he's always stretching out his hands and folding them and doing the cutest things!
Brian and I got a little lazy and things started piling up... (We finally put a diaper pail next to the changing table, I don't know what took so long!!)

Thursday, July 1, 2010

What I'm Grateful For

So I realized while looking back on my first post about Jackson that it sounded like I was complaining a lot! There are so many things about my birth story that I am so grateful for and can definitely see the Lord's hand in and I want to share a few of those things:

1. My husband Brian
Of course I am so grateful for him! As much as I went through, it could not have been easy watching his wife go through it either. He was so supportive and I didn't even know that he was having a hard time at all about me not having an epidural until after when he finally told me, "Kaitlin, I was freaking out inside." But one of us needed to be calm and he definitely eased my worries! We were also a little nervous because Brian gets a little queasy when it comes to pain and blood (not to get too graphic!) but when it came down to it Brian handled things like a champ! It was a huge blessing that he was able to stand next to me and even watch as things progressed, we definitely saw the divine intervention on that one!

2. Jackson was healthy and light
So most people wouldn't consider an 8 pound baby as being light, but the doctor had predicted that if I delivered a week early he would be 9 pounds! So since I had to go through it without the epidural I was grateful that he was only 8 pounds and not any bigger! There were also no other complications with the delivery, his heart rate was normal, the cord wasn't wrapped around his neck, and everything went smoothly! I don't know if emotionally I could've handled it if anything else had gone wrong and I'm so grateful that he was safe and healthy!

3. The epidural
No, I'm not being sarcastic!! I am very grateful for the 7 hours I did have the epidural and I consider it a huge blessing! I know that so many women go the whole delivery without one and I probably sound like a huge whiner but it just wasn't in my birth plan to not have one and I am so grateful for the 7 hours of pain relief where I could be with my husband, watch tv, read books, play cards, and even take a nap! That night ended up being a long one so the nap I took definitely helped me out!

4. The nurses
Brian later pointed out to me that we had a perfect nurse for each part of our time there. We ended up being in the hospital for 5 days so we went through a lot of nurses. The first nurse was fun and made us feel very comfortable there. The second was an older woman who made sure to explain everything to us and informed us on more than anyone else! The third nurse was our favorite, Lindy, who helped me through the night. She was so kind and sympathetic during a time I was in need. The fourth, the one who helped deliver Jackson, was, as Brian put it, "a little more brute." She was the perfect person to really push me! I'm grateful for the help they gave us and how we always ended up with someone perfect for what we were going through!

Most of all I'm grateful for our beautiful son who is such a good baby! He sleeps almost through the night, usually only waking up once at about 3 and then sleeping till around 7. At his 1 week appointment he weighed 8 pounds 4 ounces, so he had not only returned to his original weight but gained 3 ounces! He eats really well (obviously!) and I haven't had any trouble feeding him. He is just so perfect!

Jackson 1 week

My sister Michelle is so amazing! She took 650 pictures of Jackson while visiting in CA and here are just a few of our favorites, there are more to come!