Sunday, June 28, 2009

8 Weeks

Jackson – You’re now 8 weeks old. You started the day off by giving Mommy a hard time. You are sick, so you have been fussy. While I was feeding you, you puked in my lap. After I finished, I spent 30 mins sucking snot out of your nose. Then, you pooped on me. Your daddy woke to me calling for help. He scooped you up to change you out of your poopy diaper and clothes. I joined him so we could attempt to get your onesie off without getting the poop in your hair or face. We gave you a pretty good wipe down and decided it was time for you to have your first shower. I went to start the water, and realized there was no hot water! I don’t like cold showers and baths, but you hate anything cold on your skin. Daddy went to the attic to check and sure enough, the pilot light was out on the water heater. Since it had been off all night I knew we’d have to wait for it to warm the water. After Daddy came down from the attic the fire alarm started beeping. Although we were pretty confident that it was just a low battery, since Daddy just lit a fire in the attic, he had to go back up to check and make sure there was not a fire in our attic. After all of this you looked at me and flashed me the biggest, cutest smile ever! That brings me to some of your firsts.

This month you learned to smile. Now, you could smile before, but it was accidental and usually related to gas. But, now… you smile on purpose! You smile when other people smile. You smile when people make silly faces at you. You smile when Mommy touches your nose. You smile when daddy snaps and claps at you. You smile when we read you a story and turn the page to a new animal. And sometimes, you just smile because you are starting to recognize Mommy and Daddy and you see us.

(This was your first smile caught on camera)


This month you had some first brushes. Grandma brushed your hair and gums for the first time. These activities made you smile, too. But, I think you will smile during anything if Grandma is doing it.

Hair brushing

At first you aren't sure if you will like it

But you do
Gum Brushing


This month you attended your first birthday party. Violet turned 2.
Following your first birthday party, you had your first sickness. I think it was worse for Mommy and Daddy than for you. At first you were just congested. We couldn’t put you on your back to sleep because you would choke and cough on your own snot. Then you had some trouble breathing. You had your first trip to the ER. Every few minutes your breathing stopped. It only stopped for about 10 seconds, but it scared us and we decided it was better to be safe than sorry. Luckily, your oxygen levels were okay, but they monitored you for a few hours and did a couple of tests. You had your first x-ray, which made you cry almost the whole time even though you cannot feel an x-ray. They also tested you for a respiratory infection. This meant they had to stick a tube down your nose to suck some liquid out. Even though you cried during the x-ray, you were a champ during this test and didn’t shed a tear! Even though we had a few sleepless nights, just watching you struggle to breathe, hearing your congestion, and seeing your red eyes was the hardest part.

This month you met two of your great aunts and first-cousin-once-removed for the first time. They thought you were beautiful. You smiled for Aunt Shelly and fell asleep in Aunt Lori’s arms. Hopefully, they will come back and visit you again.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Rob's First Father's Day


Yes, Father's Day was nearly a week ago, but as you can tell, we are behind in our postings.

Happy Father's Day, honey. I hope that you had a great day and felt well loved. I love you as my best friend. I love you as my husband. And now I love you as the father of my child. I love getting to see you experience new roles in life and love the way that you want to be everything for Jackson. You cherish every smile Jackson flashes, every stream of urine that hits you, me, or his own face, and every moment you get to spend with him. I love how you want to show him the world and look forward to many future adventures with him. I will never forget how moved you were the first time Jackson fell asleep in your arms after being upset. I know you will continue to grow as a father along side me as a grow as a mother. Together we will figure out this whole having a kid thing. I love you, babe. Happy Father's Day.

For Father's Day Jackson got crafty and made a decoupage clipboard for work. It has paper from children's stories, quotes about little boys, Jackson's birth information, and his footprints. Below is a picture of it and a couple of others.


Saturday, June 20, 2009

Birthdays

May and June are busy birthday months for us. Let's see if we can remember everyone in order...

Melissa - May 1st
Jackson - May 2nd
Granny MacGregor - May 28th
Joseph - May 31st
Scott - June 16th
Stephen - June 18th
Violet - June 18th
John - June 18th
Kristen - June 20th
Shannon - June 21st
Mom MacGregor - June 25th

I hope we're not forgetting anyone... Happy Mass Birthday! You all rock.


Today we helped Violet celebrate her 2nd birthday.



We went to Pump It Up, which is the same spot as Noelle's 29th birthday! Jackson was great, but I think he'll have more fun there when he can hold his head up.

Here are some random pics from the party

Dave gets some early
Father's Day love from Violet

I will choose to think little V is shooting the finger
at the camera, not the photographer


Someone - teach this girl to keep her eyes on the road!
Jackson does a little dance

Mommy and Jackson

Little Jackson in a big chair

Will sporting the pink shades

Jackson thinks

Rob, Elizabeth, Karin, Bethany, and Jill - "Old school" friends

Mommy and Jackson

Silly Lily


Rob

There were some issues with the flash today, but we're going to post a few pictures that didn't turn out well, but still should be shared...

Mimi almost hits Will

Mom and Violet go down the slide

Monday, June 15, 2009

Sending a Smile Your Way!


Not the greatest quality picture as it was taken with a cell phone, but the cuteness makes up for what it lacks in resolution.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Random

Stig and Sean - Thank you for the wonderful book about my name. I love it!
"Who loves you, baby?"

Bathing

Jackson used to hate baths. He would scream nearly the whole time. He screamed in the beginning when they were sponge baths and he screamed when we started bathing him in the tub. Thanks to a tip from Grandma, we tried a new method. Now he gets a bath with Daddy. He is calm the whole time and almost fell asleep in the bath tonight. Compared to the pics from last time, he’s much calmer, as you can see… Now we can’t wait until he’s old enough to play with toys in the tub!

Friday, June 12, 2009

MFF

Today we were excited to introduce Jackson to Dneirf Etirovaf Ym while he was in town from Boston. We rarely to get to see him, so when we do, it’s a special treat. Since Mexican food is lacking in Boston, Dneirf wanted to get some while in town, so we hit up Escalantes. Then, we returned a book Noelle didn’t need for grad school and then Dneirf’s brother treated us all to some Starbucks. We also received some beautiful flowers from Dneirf. I’m sure it will be too long before we get to see him again. Dneirf – Jackson will miss you!



Mornings

Although we are not morning people, the mornings are starting to be our favorite time of day. After Jackson has his breakfast, he usually hangs out in Mommy’s lap staring at her. Then, after a while it’s playtime and tummy time. His favorite toy is still Mallory the Monkey. He loves to hit her and grab her hula skirt. He also likes it when Mommy or Daddy makes her sing and dance.
This is how Schuley spends much of her time...




Sleep

Over the past couple of weeks we have had many a conversations about sleep. Everyone asks – are you getting any sleep? Does Jackson keep you up all night? And we always respond that typically he’s good at night. We wake him every three hours to feed him, and he usually goes right back to sleep. Some people respond in shock that we wake him every three hours to feed him, but we’re just doing with the pediatrician told us to do.

A few nights ago Mommy accidentally turned off her alarm when she should have gotten up to feed Jackson. Jackson slept five and a half hours before he woke up hungry. It was the most consecutive sleep we had enjoyed in quite a while. This happened during another night as well. Since Jackson doesn’t have another appointment for a few weeks, we asked our OB/GYN about it, and she recommended we let him sleep.

So, last night – we did.

Jackson had a feeding at 11:30, was put in his pack-n-play, and slept until 5:30 this morning. Noelle fed him, put him back in his pack-n-play, and then we slept until 8:30. It was amazing.

Ahhhh sleep.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

MacGregor Cousins Meet

Today, we ventured out to go to the doctor and work at school. The doctor said Noelle could swim again, school said here is paperwork to swim in. In between, we met up with two other MacGregors, Uncle Chris and Cousin Colin! This was Colin's first chance to meet Jackson, who was basically comatose. Here's the pic:


Colin dazzled us with his usual imaginative chatter about flying beanies and his plans for the future. He was excited to meet the only other MacGregor cousin of his generation, even though he was asleep the whole time.

Chris told us more about his upcoming wedding plans, which you can read up on here if you are so inclined. He and Melissa have most of the wedding planned, but still have some major bits to take care of. He was glad the celebrant was easily taken care of - Reverend Rob is performing the ceremony, which means he'll have married both of his siblings.

Rob wants to tell the world that he takes back almost all of his harsh reviews of Chili's, being as he discovered you can replace a burger with a grilled portobello mushroom now. That's good healthy eating!