Afternoon Activities

Full of yummy goodness!

Enjoying his food with his WHOLE body!

All clean!

All snuggly in an outfit from Nan!

Apparently I have nothing to worry about! Let me back up to review Jackson's healthy eating habits: he LOVES cereal and bananas!!! We just got back from a visit to my mom and dad's house and he was chowing down! He seemed ready to eat whenever we offered it to him and just ate tons. For the past two days and this morning, he really wanted nothing to do with the food. Of course, just when I thought I was figuring out how this solid food thing was going to go! But, this afternoon, when I knew he was really hungry, I stripped him down and tried feeding him one more time. Well, he scarfed down about six tablespoons of cereal mixed with an entire tub of bananas! Woo hoo! I tried to capture the fact that there was food between his toes, on his tummy, covering his chins, and in his eye! After a bath, he was quite happy and is now napping happily with a full tummy :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Five Months Later...

Jackson (five months old) and TC

Jackson (two weeks old) and TC

As of last Thursday, Jackson now weighs 15 lbs 10ozs!

What a Big Day!

Last Thursday was a BIG day for us! We had an afternoon doctor's appointment and after the nurse weighed Jackson, we were back in the exam room. We always let him play on the table while we wait and I had layed him on his back. I got excited at first because he immediately raised his feet to his mouth and started sucking on them! He definitely had not done that until then! I was just finishing up a video on my phone to show Josh later when Jackson rolled himself right over; back to front! WOO HOO!!! YAY JACKSON! Rolling over had actually been on my list of questions. That took care of that. He did it two more times while we were with the doctor. Josh hasn't gotten to see it yet because Jackson seems to really only be in the mood while he's supposed to be sleeping.

Somehow, while swaddled, he will roll himself over onto his tummy and then get stuck. Then, we hear the saddest little (well, not so little) cry because he can't back to being comfy :( We are slowly but surely getting him used to being on his tummy more. I'm convinced once he gets the hang of it, he'll love sleeping on his stomach. Right now we are swaddling him with one arm out to start the transition to no swaddler. So far, so good!

Other little changes: when I read to Jackson, he grabs for the book, wanting to put it directly in his mouth, he squirms a little more when we hold him to get a look at whatever is going on, and he is loving cereal!

Puppy Love

We are so lucky that Pax has accepted Jackson into our pact from the very beginning. But, I have noticed recently the two of them noticing each other more. It is so stinking cute! Pax will usually come down to the family room whenever Jackson is on his playmat and lie down right by him and watch him wiggle around. He has also found the Exersaucer is the perfect height for licking his little friend. Pax is very patient about letting Jackson touch his face and fur. I don't think Jackson has tried to pull any whiskers, but I hope Pax would be patient then too and understand Jackson was just exploring... Yesterday, I was trying to feed Jackson some cereal while he sat in his Bumbo, and he heard Pax's tags jingle as he got off the couch. You could hear him start paying attention to what Pax was doing and as soon as Pax started walking around within view, it was all Jackson could do to stay in his seat as his eyes followed every move Pax made! SO CUTE! Just now, Paxton tried to cuddle Jackson while Jackson was on his play mat. He lied down near him and slowly rolled onto his side. Unfortunately, Jackson's arm was under him so Jackson got this look on his face like, "Why can't I move my arm?!" He wiggled just enough that Pax moved :( A few minutes later I could tell Pax wanted to try it again. While I am sad that Pax isn't interested in cuddling us grown-ups, it will be super sweet if he and Jackson get in some cuddles. In fact, when Pax spent a night at a family friend's house, he came back accompanied by the report that he snuggled their daughter! I was quite jealous! Right now, Pax is lying by Jackson's feet and letting Jackson's little feet kick him and he wiggles around :) What a good sport!

Snow Bug!

As his Daddy explained just the other day, the biggest Virginia snows happen in March! Sure enough, the night of Sunday, March 1st, the snow started and kept going! By Monday morning, we were covered and when all was said and done, we had about eight inches! We took full advantage of the rare weather and got Jackson fully involved :)

We started off with a family walk in the woods. The trees were beautiful as they were covered in snow and hanging at cool angles. Josh was able to use the hiking backpack for the first time! Jackson loved it! We think he especially liked being up high to see all around him. He happily bobbbed along for most of the walk, but started to fade towards the end. By the time we got home he was totally zonked out!

After dropping off Paxton, we made ourselves a sled out of the Exersaucer box and headed back into the woods. We found some appropriately sized hills for the little man's first sledding experience. He seemed to have a great time! He got a bit fussy at the end (I think he finally realized he was wet and cold), but after a warm bath and dry clothes, he happily took a nice, long nap :)

Chow Time!

And we have cereal! Woo hoo! Yesterday Jackson had the pleasure of dining on some tasty rice cereal mixed with breast milk! He seemed to enjoy it and did great for his first time eating off of a spoon. We definitely felt like there was more pouring-into-his-mouth action, than him actively eating. Today, however, he has made great progress and is doing a little slurping action! We tried the cereal two different times today and he was really into it tonight! Of course, it goes without saying that he was a mess afterwards, but it is totally worth it!

Our original plan was to exclusively breastfeed until Jackson was six months. As we've gone along we have wondered if he wouldn't benefit from starting "solids" sooner. He has been showing the big signs of being ready: holding his head up really well on his own, becoming VERY interested in Mommy and Daddy drinking and eating, and moving his lips toward his bottle. We also have read/heard conflicting advice on the effects of cereal and other solids on sleep. On the one hand cereal isn't supposed to provide any nutritive value; it's purpose is mostly to let babies become accustomed to a new texture and eating off of a spoon. On the other hand, we have friends say their babies starting sleeping so much better once they had cereal. We thought we'd go ahead and give it a shot! Jackson is overall doing great with the sleeping thing (long stretches at night and multiple, lengthy naps during the day), but if we can get him to sleep even longer at night without waking up hungry, that would be great :)