Saturday, December 27, 2014

Merry Christmas from the Deans!

We hope you had a great holiday and that you have a wonderful New Year!

Here are some highlights of our Christmas festivities!


Thursday, November 20, 2014

Happy 2nd Birthday, Jackson!

I can't believe it-- my baby boy is 2 today!!!!





It seems like just yesterday I first held that 7lb 9oz baby boy in my arms-- and now he's two years old!

Here's the 411 on my sweet guy!

  • Height/Weight-  32 inches; 26lbs
  • Clothing Size- 18-24mo & 2T (depending on the brand) and he's in size 5 shoes
  • Potty Training?  No not yet, we have introduced the potty but he's not overly interested so we aren't pushing it.  He's still in diapers (size 4)
  • Milestones- He is meeting and exceeding ALL 2 year milestones.  He is walking, running, climbing stairs, using proper pencil/utensil grasp (though still switching between left and right hands), talking in sentences, getting into pretend play.  He knows several colors & shapes and all body parts.  He has 14 teeth, one on its way in, and then after that 5 more to go!
  • Sleep- He takes one 2-3 hour nap a day (usually from noonish to 3ish).  He goes to bed between 8 and 9.  He still doesn't sleep completely through the night.  He usually wakes once sometime between 11 and 1 and comes into our bed to sleep the rest of the night.  He wakes up around 7.
  • Favorite Toys- cars, trains, and tractors (pretty much anything with wheels!)  He also loves to play outside, and "pretend play" especially with the play kitchen at church.
  • Favorite Foods- any fruit, green beans, hot dogs, macaroni & cheese, chicken nuggets, goldfish, pretzels, applesauce pouches
  • Favorite TV show- Sesame Street and Mickey Mouse
  • Yes, we are still breastfeeding- Never in a million years did I think I would still be nursing at this point but it's happening lol.  I only let him nurse before bed and then once at night when he wakes up and occasionally before naptime (that's only when he's with me at naptime so really only 2-3 times a week does that happen).  So most days it's only twice.  I will do a whole separate post on this later though- with how the weaning process is going and our plans...
  • Comfort items- He still uses a pacifier, but now that he's two we are limiting its use to naptime and bedtime.  Or in case of an emergency (aka the rare complete total public toddler meltdown).  He also has his little monkey (Kiki as he calls it) that he loves and must have to sleep or when he's upset.  No restrictions on Mr. Monkey though, he can have him as much as he needs :)


I think that's about all on my little guy.  Overall his personality is just ornery and loving.  He is the BIGGEST cuddler and gives the most awesome hugs and kisses :)  He is sooo much fun at this age (though toddlerhood DOES have it's moments!)  He has just been the biggest blessing in our lives and we are so happy to have him as our little boy!



Here is Jackson's 2 year update video and also a "day in the life" from today!





Saturday, November 15, 2014

Catching You Up-- Fall Recap

Well I've been majorly neglecting this blog lately!  (sorry!)

Fall is nearing its end (or at least the fall weather is!).  Jackson's birthday is in just a few days and Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away.  Crazy!  So I thought it would be a good time to do a quick recap of our Fall so far... sooo here comes the bulleted list!

  • Jackson gets his first haircut!!! We took him at the very end of August sooo I guess it was still summertime but oh well. He was NOT a fan (cried the whole time)- but he stayed really still and looked adorable (and all grown up!) afterwards!


     

  •   In September we visited not one but TWO pumpkin patches!  We went to one as a family (on a super cold day in September!), then Jackson came along again to another when I took my preschool kiddos there for a field trip.  He had sooo much fun at BOTH!










  • We had family pictures done in October.  We had them done with my parents in law, sister in law and her family.  I was really happy with them... here's the ones with our family in this slideshow/video:
                                               [[[[ I'm still editing this video... check back soon ]]]]
  • Halloween was fun!  Jackson went Trick-or-Treating (for real) for the first time.  My neices came over to trick or treat too.  He had so much fun, though I'm fairly certain he would've been just as satisfied dressing up and going on a wagon ride.  The first half of the neighborhood he didn't want to get out of it. lol!  I was impressed though because he pretty much walked the entire second half of our neighborhood-- had to be still pushing his "waggy" aka wagon though!




     
  • And then on November 4, I got the biggest suprise of my LIFE!  My cousin Stefani (who lives in Europe) came to visit!  Her hubby Bas had to go on a business trip in Chicago and Stefani and the kids came along.  She totally surprised everyone though.  We were supposed to FaceTime that afternoon and she showed up on my doorstep!  It was too short, but we had a great visit.  Now just counting down the ten months before they move back to the states!







 And now here we are with November half over.  I cannot believe that my baby boy will be two years old in five days.  We've got a lot of exciting things coming up-- his actual birthday, then the Saturday afterwards we are taking him to see Sesame Street Live!  (He will flip lol), then Sunday the 23 is his party!  I'll be vlogging all of these things for sure- and I'll try to blog them as well :)

Hope everyone is doing well (all two of my readers, right? lol-- seriously if you read this regularly leave a comment below! :)).  I'm hoping to be better at updating more often on here!

Friday, August 22, 2014

21 Months Old!!!

Seriously?

I have a 21 month old!
It doesn't seem possible that in just THREE months (well, less than three as I'm writing this) I will have a 2 YEAR OLD!

Jackson has changed sooo much since his last "update" at 18 months.  He is now RUNNING, and he's talking even more.  He says way more words than I can count (learns new words everyday), and also says several phrases.

He is the funniest kid.  So much personality.  He is super sweet and cuddly too.  He never meets a stranger (aka he's a flirt!).  He can be strong willed at times but for the most part is pretty laid back.  He loves playing outside, playing with cars/trucks/whatever has wheels, sesame street (in particular- Elmo), books, coloring, and he's really getting into "pretend play".  He knows all of his body parts and we are working on teaching him his colors.  He is still nursing at this point- (weaning hasn't been going so well- more like not at all lol but that is for another post!).

coloring!


I don't know his exact "stats" on physical size, but he's around 25lbs and 32in.  Wearing mostly 18mo clothes still; some 24mo & 2T depending on the brand.  He just recently outgrew his size 4 shoes so he's sporting 5s now.  And he is still in size 4 diapers.

One minute, I need to take this call... lol

He used the potty TWICE now!  We just introduced it and are starting with a super laid back approach.  He's not totally ready I don't think (and I wouldn't expect him to be- he's not even 2 yet), but he has shown some signs of readiness and plus he thinks the toilet is this really cool toy (aka we have to keep the bathroom door shut to keep him out of it!).  So we bought him an Elmo potty and let him sit on it whenever he's interested in it.  

Uh don't think that's how that works lol!


He's such a little stinker and I love this little boy to the moon and back.  Every day he amazes me with something new he has learned or picked up; and he brings so much joy to my life.  I love being his mama!


 Here is his video update I recorded on the 20th (day he actually turned 21 months!) and also a video composition of random clips of him taken throughout his 21st month (when he was 20mo old).


Sunday, July 20, 2014

Adventures in Weaning .... Episode 1!

Today my baby boy is 20 months old!

Mr. Handsome at church this morning


We have been talking about weaning him off and on-- just things like when and how...  I'm super happy that we have made it to 20 months of breastfeeding, it's been an amazing journey so far and though I'm not ready to give it up completely (and neither is he), we are ready to start the process. 

I had somewhat hoped that he would start to self-wean a little past a year and he would be done by now.  He isn't slowing down much lately though and actually since school has been out for the summer and I have been with him all the time now he has picked it up a little more.  Pretty sure he would be nursing well beyond 2 if I let him.  But this mama is about ready to be done.  I'm happy we have made it this far and we have both benefited from it immensely.  I am ready though to have my body back to myself for a bit; and we are not preventing baby number 2 right now so a break between nursing and being pregnant will be nice. 

Our typical day goes like this--- he wakes up in the morning and nurses first thing.  Then we are up for the day and he usually goes the whole morning and down for his nap without it.  (Once in a while on a day where he's fighting the nap I will go ahead and nurse him before.)  Then he usually asks to nurse as soon as he wakes up, another random time in the evening (sometimes), then before bed.  He also still nurses a couple times at night.  This isn't a huge deal because he spends half the night right in our bed.  He usually wakes up in his crib between 12 and 1, I bring him to our bed, nurse him back to sleep and then he will wake up again around 3:30-4, nurse back to sleep, then wakes up for the day around 7/7:30 and we start all over again.

Recently, my babysitting job for the summer ended prematurely (job issues for their family) sooooo that left me without a summer job (ahh!)  It worked out ok because I started back up working at the YMCA.  I will have to do one evening shift a week if I want the hours I need so Brew and I decided that it would probably be best to cut out the bedtime nursing session first.  We were going to night wean first but hopefully by cutting bedtime it'll make it more consistent for him, and not to mention it will give me/us a little more freedom.  If we want to go out on a date night and go see a movie or something I won't have to worry about him not going down for bed without nursing.  He usually does ok for daddy but I've been a little worried it might not work as well for my mom or mother in law.  Most people when they wean cut bedtime last because it tends to be the hardest so we will need lots of prayers to get through it!

Our game plan is this-- I will nurse him in the evening if he requests it but no more nursing in our bed like I was before.  I just will plan on cuddling him to sleep.  He is going to protest like he did tonight but if he doesn't calm down after 5 minutes then I will let him nurse for just a few minutes and decrease the time each night until he's not nursing at all.  I'm trying to take the gentle approach.  It'll be easier on BOTH of us even if it takes a little longer.

So tonight it worked ok.  He threw a major fit when I declined his first request so I did allow him to nurse for 5 minutes only, but I told him before "ok but you can only nurse for 5 minutes then we are all done".  I know he doesn't have any real concept of how long five minutes is but I figure he understands more than I give him credit for so it can't hurt.  Besides it prepares him for it being taken away (I know he knows what "all done" means!) and it also enforces the idea that I am the one setting the limits here.  So tomorrow should be easier because I won't be here at all (Daddy is doing the bedtime); I will be working.  We will see how things go the rest of the week.  On Tuesday he will get 4 minutes, Wednesday 3, and so on-- but I am hoping he quits asking for it altogether during that time.  I will do an update at the end of the week and let you know how it is going/how it went and then we will be starting on phase 2-- Night weaning!

Monday, July 14, 2014

Jackson's first ER trip

Well it happened.

I knew it was bound to having a little boy; but I guess I got overconfident because I have a late walker who is generally pretty cautious.

This past Friday I stepped out on the back porch to roll up the hose (we were planning on taking it to my in-laws so they could use it).  Jackson was safely quarantined to the living room and kitchen.  The kitchen cabinets have locks on them- the basement door was shut- and the living room is baby proofed and also where the majority of his toys are kept.  I wasn't worried in the slightest.

I wound the hose all up and glanced back to check on my boy who was tapping on the inside of the door looking out at me.  I carried the hose a few feet down by the car and tossed it over the fence.  Then I heard him start crying.  I figured he was just freaking out because I went out of sight.  So I came back inside and to my horror saw this:

I took this pic while trying to keep ice on it to send to my husband
My stomach sank.  I nearly panicked as I scooped him up and held him and tried to get him calmed down while frantically searching to figure out what on earth he hit his head on.  I deduced that he made contact with the corner of the wall because of the abrasion on top of that horrible goose egg.  Major mom fail and mom guilt!!!  I checked him over to make sure he wasn't showing any immediate signs of a concussion (he wasn't) and called Brew.

After he calmed down :(
We decided that even though he wasn't showing signs of a concussion we wanted to take him in to get him checked out by a doctor.  Worse case thoughts of course were going through my head- like a skull fracture or some sort of other latent concussion/brain injury.  Since it was after hours rather than take him to his doctor we headed to the emergency room.


Though still swollen a ton- it got a good deal better during our wait
We ended up having to wait in the ER for two hours.  We eventually saw the doctor though and after asking us questions and doing an exam he said a cat scan wouldn't be neccessary and that he looked ok- we just had to observe him for 6-8 hours after the incident (so for us that meant until 10:30-12:30 that night).  He could go to sleep but we had to wake him each hour and make sure he was still acting normal for him.  He was thank goodness.

I'm so glad my baby boy is fine!  I on the other hand, am pretty sure I lost at least a good two years off my life!

Back to his ornery self the next morning!

He did end up with some bruising around his eyes-- I took this video of him today.


Monday, July 7, 2014

4th of July!

We had an awesome 4th of July!  Jackson and I went to a local parade in the morning, we came back home and he napped for a few hours, then in the evening we went to two cookouts- at my sister-in-law's and then one at my brother's.  A great day full of family!