missin daddy
week 1 in atlanta
we spent this past week with paul’s parents (nana and pops) at their house. they worked so hard to create a “home away from home” for us. jackson’s uncle nater came home for the baptism and slept in the basement because his bedroom had been taken over with baby gear for the magoo.
paul left atlanta today to have a day in jacksonville before he heads to fallon, nevada for 2 weeks. he and billy were selected for a training school/program with the navy, so they will have two weeks out there together. eventhough paul misses us already, i’m thankful to know that he will have a break from diaper changing and feedings for two solid weeks. school will be tough and being away from us already is tough, but he will be able to sleep through the night knowing that both jackson and i are with family and being well taken care of.
as for me and the magoo, we are now at my parent’s house (grammy and granda’s) for the next 2 weeks until paul returns. we already enjoyed taking jackson for his first “swimming lesson a couple of days ago. paul and i can tell already that jackson will be following in his parent’s footsteps and be quite a water baby.
meeting uncle steveo…
our wonderful friend, steve, came home from his second deployment on tuesday! steve and his wife, amy, are part of “the family” we have here in jacksonville. steveo was one of paul’s roommates at USNA, and he and amy are very dear friends of our’s. needless to say, we have been “so amped” (to use amy’s exact words) to get him home. i honestly have never been so thrilled to have my friend’s husband get home before. i couldn’t hug steveo enough when i saw him last night.
when steve left for deployment, i was still pregnant with jackson. being the fabulous “uncle” that he is to jackson, steve made paul and i a shower gift. he made us an IOU book with pages of tasks for paul and i to cash in. this sweet book that steve made is in jackson’s baby book and is something that will always be so precious to us. (there’s nothing like a homemade gift… especially when it’s related to your child.) amy was so good about sending steve pics of jackson while he was away, but once steve got home, he couldn’t wait to meet his new “nephew.” uncle steveo and auntie amy came over last night, with pizza, salad, and a movie (that we never ended up watching) and hung out with us all evening long. IT WAS WONDERFUL!!! words cannot express how awesome it was to see steve and amy back together again. it’s great having him home.
our magoo and uncle steveo bonded instantly last night. within minutes of steveo holding jackson and lovin’ on him, jackson was asleep in his arms. amy was telling me last night that she had the best nights sleep on tuesday night, once steve got back…. she could finally relax…. i guess jackson could too, knowing that his uncle steveo was back safe and sound.
finally a happy baby!!!
FINALLY we have figured out what works for jackson in terms of his feedings!!! ok, to be perfectly honest, “we” didn’t figure it out…. 2 weeks ago, jackson’s nurse, miss mary mentioned that we might want to try adding a tsp of rice cereal to jackson’s formula. this would coat the stomach even more, helping with his reflux and making him more satisfied. 2 weeks ago, paul and i felt like what we really needed was consistency. i ended up dismissing what miss mary suggested simply out of selfishness and not wanting to change something else just to end up miserable, like we have been for so long. then…… i talked on the phone with mom one day this week….. and as it happened, mom mentioned the same thing. apparently my brother, brian, had been starving as a baby and mom needed to add rice cereal to his formula to make sure he was getting enough to keep him satisfied. when she mentioned this on the phone to me, i told mom, “funny you mention that, 2 weeks ago miss mary said the same thing….” so we tried it……. AND IT’S GREAT!! what we do is add 1 tsp of rice cereal to jackson’s bottle and then take a fork to the nipple on the bottle and poke it through the hole. then you push the prong on the fork all the way through and turn the fork a few times. this creates a little slice instead of a hole in the nipple so that jackson can get the rice cereal through. it’s absolutely amazing in two ways…. 1) jackson is getting a heartier meal and is satisfied longer, and 2) jackson can suck out of a bottle faster and feel like he is getting more and not getting so frustrated during his feedings. this weekend was the perfect time to try this out because paul had thursday and friday off with the 4th so we have had a 4 day weekend to experiment. the look on jackson’s face, as he eats with these bottles that have been tampered with, is enough to sell you on this method. he looks like he is in sheer bliss. he latches on to the bottle and won’t latch off to save his own life. it’s like christmas morning with each feeding for him. he takes 5 ounces at his 8 am feeding, 6 ounces at noon, 5 ounces at 4 pm, and then 6 ounces at 8 pm….. then HE GOES TO BED FOR THE NIGHT!!!!! usually around 8:30 he has passed out and gone to bed for the entire night. granted, on the 4th of july, he was up later because we took him to see fireworks, but then he slept til 7:30. last night, he went down at 8:30 and slept til 6:30, then waking only wanting his pacifier and then went back to sleep until 8:15. 
HOW GLORIOUS TO HAVE A SATISFIED BABY!!!!! he is happier during the day time, which i have missed so much. he really had started to fuss quite a bit during what used to be his happiest time of day…. and now we have that back, which is wonderful. he is playful and content because his belly is satisfied. i’m nominating both mom and mi
ss mary for the nobel peace prize in the category of “baby happiness.”
so this weekend has been GREAT!!!!! we enjoyed the 4th with good friends and “family” coming over for a cook out over here and then taking in some fireworks on the river. it was so nice. paul and i did a ton of housework on friday, before having people over for a cook out. it was awesome though!!!! we got so much done….. cleaned the house top to bottom, lawn duty, furniture rearranging… and red graduated from his crate. we finally moved his big old crate out of the house. red has, with time, shown us that he can totally handle being alone in the house without being crated even though there is baby stuff everywhere to tempt “the animal within.” getting that crate out of the house was a wonderful moment for me because i felt like i was claiming back a small piece of my sanity. we put a book shelf against the wall where the crate once stood, and made our home that much more “home-ier.” and since this was done on friday, paul and i were able to enjoy our house all weekend long. then yesterday we visited our friends, jamie and rob (baby jago’s parents) and played rock band all afternoon while jackson danced like a madman. needless to say, dear blog readers, this weekend was a big one for our small family.
enjoy the pictures from our weekend with a happy baby!!!! we head to atlanta on friday for jackson’s baptism. we will be there for a whole entire week together, then paul heads to fallon for work for 2 weeks, and jackson and i stay with grammy, granda, and uncle b for those 2 weeks!!!!! HAPPY SUMMER VACATION TO US!!!! ~
“my rachel”
i have read up on how important names and identities are to babies when they’re young… you’re “supposed to” (which is always over-rated to say but nevertheless) talk to your baby using the third person. instead of saying “i love you” to the baby, say “mommy loves jackson” and things like that. this way, as the baby starts to recognize people, he can associate the name with that person. so in keeping with this mind set, everyone who jackson encounters has a special name…. jackson will grow up saying “this is my grammy” and “this is my granda” and when i realized this, i realized that possession of that person is also included with the name… “my” seemed to be a part of everything. jackson will most definitely grow up having amazing people in his life…. he has his family, his “family” which is our USNA family and we refer to them as all his “aunts and uncles”……. and right now he gets to enjoy “his billy and his rachel” who are his GODparents. in my opinion, they deserve just as much importance in terms of a name than everyone else does. so with all of that being said, from day one, i started referring to billy and rachel as “your billy” and “your rachel” whenever i tell jackson they’re coming over or we’re going to see them. well today jackson got to enjoy “his rachel” all by himself while she babysat him so that i could go to a doctor’s appointment. jackson’s rachel makes every effort to spend at least one day a week with him and it’s just so awesome to watch. i can tell that he has started to recognize her voice and who she is because she has had this precious time with him. she and her husband, jackson’s billy, truly LOVE our baby boy so much and they blow my mind every time i watch them with jackson. they are the epitome of what we wanted in GODparents for our son…. patient, kind, caring, hilarious, encouraging…. they’re simply wonderful. next weekend is jackson’s christening and paul and i are constantly thanking GOD that we have billy and rachel in our lives, and more importantly, in jackson’s life. all three of our lives are truly better for having them in it. this morning, i looked at jackson and said, “your rachel is coming to play with you today!” and his eyes got big and a little grin came over his face. i know in my heart that jackson was thinking to himself…. “yes!!!! MY RACHEL!!!”
Have a Sip
