Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Jackson and Eeyore

As always, there is just too much going on for a good post updating you on all the exciting things happening here. When we have the time, you'll get to read about the zoo, Chewbacca, the McGraths, and the always playful little boy who will be 11 months old soon. For now, just watch how much he loves his Eeyore doll that Uncle Stephen (Houston version) brought him. They snuggle in his crib each night now.


Sunday, March 28, 2010

Uh oh.

I wonder how long this phase will last.

Object dropped. Uh oh. Mommy picks it up.

Object dropped. Uh oh. Uh oh. Mommy picks it up.

Object dropped. Uh oh. Uh oh. Uh oh. Uh oh. Uh oh. Uh oh. Uh oh. Uh oh. Mommy picks it up.

Object dropped. Uh oh. Uh oh. Uh oh. Uh oh. Uh oh. Uh oh. Uh oh. Uh oh. Uh oh. Uh oh. Uh oh. Terradactyl yell.

Later in the car this is the conversation we hear from the backseat. Note, nothing is dropped and there is nothing to uh oh about.

Uh oh.

Uh oh.

Uh oh.

Ohhhhhhhhhh.

Uh oh.

Uh oh.

Uh oh.

You get the picture.

A nice mixture of cute and annoying.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Blabber Mouth

It's so much fun now that Jackson is starting to vocalize stuff more. He's been saying Mama for months, but now he's starting to say other stuff.

When he drops something he says, "Uh uh." Of course, since we thought it was so cute at first, he now drops stuff on purpose over and over and over again.

When something amazes/surprises him he says, "Oooooohhhhhhhhh." What's exceptionally cute about this is the mouth drop and eyes wide open face that he has at the same time.

Every once in a while, we think we hear, "Da-da". Even though he's not proficient in saying it, you should see his arms fly up and the smile he gets as soon as he sees his daddy.

When we hand him the phone and tell him to say, "bye bye" he will repeat it into the phone if he's in the mood and not interested in something else.

He'll say things occasionally like up or puppy. But, they aren't consistent enough for us to know he knows what he's saying.

Ever since he got the tubes in his ears (which improved his hearing), his babble has sounded more and more like he's saying real words. When I said, "I love you" the other day, he responded in babble that sounded a lot like, "I love you." Although it was babble, I'll take that.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Updates

It's been a while since there has been a post, so this is just a quick update and we will hopefully have more time to post soon.

Since Jackson's surgery he has had his follow up appointment and the ENT said his ears were perfect! So that's good news.

We had a farewell party for our beloved principal, Paul. It was good to see him again, but also reminded us of how much we still miss him. Rob wrote and sang a song about Paul during the department presentations. It was hilarious and perfect. Jackson has loved baths since he was about 2 weeks old. Now he REALLY loves baths. A cup floated away in the tub and as he reached for it, he created a big splash. Now bath time means getting soaked by Jackson going nuts splashing. We can't wait for the pools to open!

Noelle has started a photography company called Noelle MacGregor Photography and Design. Become a fan on Facebook if you haven't already done so. The website is almost finished. A huge thanks to Stephen for making it for Noelle. He's just waiting on the last bit of info from Noelle.

We took a fun trip to San Antonio to celebrate Maddie's 2nd birthday, but that will have to wait for another post. Here's Jackson sitting at a kid picnic table like a big boy.


A few new things for Jackson:
He loves to drop things on the floor and say "Oh Oh."
When we put the phone to his ear and tell him to say hello he will blab. It sounds nothing like hello.
When we put the phone to his ear and tell him to say bye bye he will blab. It sounds something like bye.
This weekend Jackson let go of everything and stood for a second. Then, he fell.
Jackson will sing into the microphone on his keyboard. Video coming soon!
And Jackson loves bubbles.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Jackson's Tube Surgery

Jackson has only had three ear infections, but they seem to just hang around. Jackson's 2nd ear infection lasted 4 weeks. It finally went away after a round of antibiotic shots. His 3rd ear infection lasted 6 weeks and he still had it when he had the surgery. The round of antibiotic shots didn't take care of it, so Dr. Gonzalez referred him to Dr. Jakob, an ENT.

He went to see Dr. Jakob on Wednesday. She checked his ears and said they were still awful. Then, he had his hearing test. It was a 2 part test. The first part consisted of putting something in his ear, which any baby with an ear infection is not going to like. The second part was much better. We sat in a small room with Jackson on my lap. They had 3 boxes in the room: one in front of us and one on each side. Above the box was a speaker. A sound would begin very quietly and get louder until Jackson heard it and turned towards it. Then, the box would light up and the character in it would start spinning. It was very child friendly. Unfortunately, the test showed his hearing in his left ear was really bad. I'm guessing it's from the fluid in his ears.

Dr. Jakob said he needed to get tubes right away and we scheduled the surgery for Friday.

We know pretty many people who have children with tubes and they say it's one of the best things they ever did. That made us feel a little better, though the whole thing was still stressful.

Jackson was scheduled to be the first surgery of the day since they schedule them from the youngest to oldest. After filling out all of the paperwork, we waited about 5 minutes to go back. We met all the nurses and the anesthesiologist. Jackson got his monitor so they could watch his heart rate and check his vitals. As you see below, Jackson was wearing Mommy's lucky number

Then, when Dr. Jakob arrived they took him back. Jackson wasn't bothered in the least by a complete stranger taking him away from us. We went out front and about 10 mins later, Dr. Jakob came out. She said Jackson did well, but that his ears were really bad and full of infected puss. Poor little guy. A few minutes later we were able to go in and see Jackson. He was crying a little bit, but as soon as he saw us he was okay. He was drowsy still, but after about 30 mins in recovery his heartrate was back to normal and we were able to take him home.

Since, he's been a little fussy on and off and his sleeping has been a little off. But, overall the whole thing was relatively easy.
He has a follow-up appointment on Thursday and hopefully everything will check out.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Peckham Park

Jackson looks more and more like his Uncle Stephen every day, especially in this picture!

This past weekend we discovered that Katy does in fact have a park. I've seen pictures of Peckham park online before and wasn't impressed. Apparently they were just bad pictures because it's pretty neat. There's a lake to walk around that is full of ducks and fish (they stock it). There's a playground, a put put golf course (it's deserted but playable), benches, a great covered pavilion (a possible site for our annual picnic in the park) and more. Rather than staying home and stressing out over Jackson's surgery in the morning, we decided to go and play. Here are some pictures from the afternoon.








Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Doctor's Appointment

Jackson had his appointment with the ENT today. She looked at his ears and gave him a hearing test. He's on week 6 of his infection and he's already had a series of antibiotic shots, which is the strongest antibiotics they can give him. Now, it's time for tubes. He goes in on Friday morning. They do it in age order, youngest to oldest. He should be one of the youngest. I'm hoping he has the first time slot, since he can't have anything after midnight. He usually eats between 5 and 6, so he's going to be flipping out for a bottle by the time he has surgery.

Everyone who has a kid that has had tubes has assured me that it's one of the best things they have ever done. But, putting a 10 month old down for anesthesia is still scary.

Think about our little man on Friday morning.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Perfect 10

Happy 10 Month Birthday! I can't believe that in 2 months you will already be a year old! This month you turned into a ball of energy. You are constantly moving around and busy doing something. You like to play with mommy and daddy now. You like it when we chase you. You like to hand us stuff. Over...and....over.....and.....over.....and......over....again. You never tire of that game. You have a favorite song on your exersaucer. You hit it and hit it until it plays. As soon as you hear it, you stop. You proceed to "dance" to the song. It is the cutest thing ever. Despite you waking us up at 1am...3-5am and so on because of your ears, we both couldn't stay cranky this morning because of your cuteness. You have also started playing peek a boo on your own. You will cover your face with anything you can find whether it's your blanket or a stuffed animal. Then, you pull it down with a huge grin.

You gave Grandma Stockman a run for her money yesterday. You wanted to get into everything from the toilet to the dishwasher to the dog bowl. You like being helpful and handing her the plastic dishes from the dishwasher.

You love playing with your blocks. Your favorite games with them include knocking down anything Mommy or Daddy builds and watching Mommy hold it with her mouth. You think it's the funniest thing ever. Currently your other two favorite toys include the grocery cart walker and the motorized animals. You will push the cart across the room (many times on your knees) and then spend 30 minutes taking things in and out and in and out of the cart. You can start the motorized animal yourself. You crawl after it. When it stops, if you aren't ready to stop, you push it across the floor as you continue to crawl. I'd say your pianos are up there with your favorite toys as well. Then, of course, there is the whole class of toys that are off limits such as the remotes, cameras, phones, Wii controllers, and more.

You are definitely cruising now. Sometimes you think you can stand or walk and decide to let go. But, you can't. And then you fall. You are a big boy and rarely ever cry. I think every fall hurts Mommy and Daddy more than you.

Your ears continue to be a problem. You currently have an ear infection that you have had for almost 6 weeks. Tomorrow we go to the ENT to see what they recommend.

Oh, and how can I forget, you love Wheel of Fortune. I don't think I have ever seen someone so interested in the TV as you are when Wheel of Fortune is on. Yup, you're a keeper. We love you little monkey.