Saturday, November 27, 2010

1 Month & 2.5 Years Old

Sweet baby Jackson, you are already one month old today. It's amazing how long each day seemed when you were overdue and all-too-happy in my belly, but how quickly the days seem to be passing now that you're here. A few things we want to remember about your first month:
  • Your sneezes are beyond adorable to us. After you sneeze, you make the cutest little noise.
  • Upon meeting you, people's first comment is typically about your gorgeous long eyelashes.
  • You pretty much have two cries: "Feed me" and "Oh my gosh, I'm so tired but I'm going to fight it til I pretty much pass out".
  • You love your baths, and never went through a phase of disliking them as your sister did.
  • However, just like your sister, you wanted to stay awake for a couple hours in the middle of the night during your first two weeks of life. And also just like your sister, you quickly outgrew that phase but it seemed like an eternity at the time!
  • A couple of days before you turned four weeks old, you began having one stretch in the late evening/early morning where you went 5-6 hours between feedings. This meant that I got 4-5 hours of much needed continuous sleep.
  • We were given two small packages of Newborn sized diapers as gifts. We had used them all up before you turned 3 weeks old, which was great timing since you had already outgrown them.
  • At two weeks of age, you were in the 97 percentile for height.
  • You love being held. Many times when you are seemingly sound asleep you'll wake up when we put you down and then protest loudly! Luckily, you are already getting so much better about self soothing and putting yourself back to sleep when you're drowsy. You're doing particularly well at this during the middle of the night, which is fabulous!
Precious always-be-our-baby-girl Julia, you will be 2.5 years old on Tuesday the 30th. You have endured so many changes over the past few months between potty training, transitioning to a big girl bed, adjusting to having a baby brother, going back to school in a new class, etc. You definitely act every bit of a strong-willed two year old, as you test our boundaries and exercise your independence. Sometimes mommy and daddy lose our patience, but there are many many other times where we are amazed at your kindness, politeness, humor, imagination, and learning. Daddy has been taking you to gymnastics all month, and you are a pure natural and love every minute of it.

You've also gotten a lot of Big Sister toys and even had a Big Sister party the day after Jackson came home. You deserve all those presents because you are a fabulous big sister! Here's a few pictures from your party, complete with cupcakes Aunt Katie made for you that spelled Big Sister Julia:





On to the rest of the pictures...

When Julia climbs into bed for a nap or nighttime, she asks us, "Lay on my heart Mommy and Daddy." Then she proceeds to pat her chest where she wants us to lay our heads while we pray for her. Here, she is laying on Jackson's heart to comfort him in the same way we love on her:


She has been so gentle with Jackson and gives him lots of love:

She's a very helpful big sister who is eager to fetch a diaper, burp cloth, or boppy when needed. But her favorite way to help is to try to give Jackson his paci:





After a trip to Chuck E. Cheese with my parents, who have been helping me so much with the kiddos:

Our first Thanksgiving as a family of four (though the house we celebrated at was already decorated for Christmas, so the photo's background is deceiving!):


Our annual Christmas photo session with the Eubanks clan!!! :








Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Jackson is Here!!

Happy one week birthday, sweet Jackson! In seven short days, you have completely captured our hearts and we are beyond thrilled to be a family of four. You are a really good, easy baby. You eat great, you sleep great, and you are generally very happy during your awake times. We love to hold you, and I'm definitely cherishing your sweet snuggles after realizing with Julia how quickly this phase passes.

At the Hospital
We arrived Wednesday morning October 27, 2010 at 7:30am to have my water broken. At the time I was 5cm dilated and 90% effaced. At the hospital laboring:





The Facebook post at 5pm that I was ready to go and we needed to call the doctor! He was with a couple other patients before me, so we had to wait nearly an hour for the doctor to arrive.


Then we waited another 45 minutes of me pushing. But finally at 6:43pm, Jackson Keith entered this world!





Jackson's stats:


Mommy's first embrace after Jackson got cleaned up. I couldn't stop kissing him:



Daddy and his new son:


Finally together with our baby boy we waited so long to meet:


And now a family of four!!!


Jarret and I absolutely adore this photo of Julia holding Jackson for the first time. She was beaming with pride and excitement, and I would give anything to have that first moment on video when she walked into the room and saw me holding him..."It's baby brother! He came out!"


Julia giving me some sweet hugs:


Three generations of Eubanks. Larry, Jarret, and Jackson all have the middle name of Keith:


Gran holding her new grandson:


Grammy & PaPa holding their only grandson:


Cousin Caden:


Cousin Kendall:


Aunt Erin loving on and calming down an unhappy boy:


Karla & Andrea visited the night Jackson was born and caught me in complete euphoria!


Me getting good snuggle time:




About 30 minutes before leaving the hospital, we did a quick photo shoot of Jackson and then of the 3 of us:







Funny story about the photo above: We were going to do a photo where we were looking at each other. But Jarret was reminding me that for a better photo, we actually needed to look in front of the other person just slightly rather than directly at each other. He kept saying "Look out here" while he was staring into blank space and shifting his eyes back and forth. You probably had to be there, but the laughter in this photo is quite legitimate. I started laughing so hard I was actually crying in the next picture (not posted).

Homecoming
We came home on Friday evening, to the greeting of Julia, Gran (Bev), and Grammy & Papa (Jane & Jim) waiting in the front yard for us as we drove up the street. Poppy (Larry) came over as soon as he was able to get away from work.

With Grammy & Papa's help, Julia made us a Welcome Home sign complete with Dora stickers:


Once inside, Julia was very eager to hold her baby brother:


Then we snapped photos of us with the kids:




Snuggling Daddy



First Bath
Getting ready for his first bath. We had a space heater going so he was nice and toasty, while daddy and I were sweating! We left his diaper on until the very end, so as to avoid getting sprayed in the face. :-)


NOT a happy baby. Amazingly, the fussing only lasted for a fraction of his bath:


The majority of the time, he was completely calm and happy while sucking his paci and holding my finger:


All wrapped up:


Halloween
Julia dressed up like a ballerina (or ballereen as she calls it). She has a Mickey Halloween book with a doorbell that dings, so she was well practiced for trick-or-treating and she couldn't wait to get started:


The Kids!:


First Visitors at Home
Aaron & Jill:


Karla (the kiddos came too, but I failed to get a pic of them holding Jackson!):


Katie B came in town for a quick but great visit: