Jackson is THREE

What happened? It seems like it was only last week when our sweet little Jackson Lee was released from the NICU and into a room with me... it feels like I quickly blinked my eyes and BAM -- our 5 lb. 13 oz. Jax is THREE YEARS OLD!

I don't know where to even begin this post... Jackson has absolutely flourished this year and has become his own little person. I'm sure I'm not the first parent to say this, but Jackson really is the sweetest little boy I have ever known.

His smile spans his entire face and his big eyes can light up a room.

He loves watching/observing (and copying!) people and literally squeals with delight whenever he sees "big kids" that he can play with.

He's smart and amazes his dad and me every single day. (He has a tendency of putting his mind to something new and doing it on his own -- like the other day when he just randomly started singing the ABCs to me during lunch or when he had just turned two and started just randomly counting things!)

I have never seen him push or hit another child, which seems to be a pretty feat at 3.

After months and months of worrying about how our only child would do with a younger sibling, he completely exceeded our expectations and hasn't shown an ounce of jealousy toward Gabe since we brought him home... In fact, he won't leave him alone and will often stand over him until he wakes up! One of the sweetest Jackson/Gabe moments was a few weeks ago at mom's group when I had a giant box of pastries I was taking home to freeze for our next meeting -- anyway, I can never leave Jackson alone at church (because he's completely scarred from the one time I left him in the childcare room with his friends for an entire 3 minutes), so I brought him out to the car with me to leave off the pastries while a few of my friends were still in the room with a sleeping Gabe. I guess Jackson thought we were leaving because he began to fuss and I couldn't figure out why and asked what was going on and with tears in his eyes, he points back to the door and starts saying "Baby! Baby!" He was NOT about to let me forget his brother and became really upset at the thought of leaving him behind. Gabriel is very lucky to have such a loving and protective older brother :) Other memorable big brother moments include him informing us that Gabe is "WAKE" every time he walks by (which is comical when we're either holding him and/or Gabe is crying), his random forehead kisses, and making faces at his brother in an attempt at making him smile.

Jackson loves to "read"/be read to, which makes this book loving mamma very happy. (I have even found him laying on his bed, legs crossed a few times just reading a good book to himself!)

He gets SO engaged with whatever he is watching (which has recently been Fixer Upper and Finding Dory), acts out what is happening with toys (like cars, if the characters are driving), and copies whatever is being said.

I have never seen a toddler act so well during church! He is usually really great about sitting through mass with or without his snacks.

The list seriously goes on and on, so instead of sitting here making myself tear up, I will share a few pictures from his 3rd birthday party!

Our original plan for Jackson's birthday party was to once again have it at our local rec center, but they were completely booked through the month and we needed to come up with a Plan B. Since Jackson LOVES movie theaters and talks about seeing Finding Dory in the movie theater last summer, we decided to throw him a movie theater birthday party at home! Since our December was crazy busy, we threw it the Saturday of the month and the kids had a blast!!!

Happy Birthday, sweet Jackson! Thank you for making me a mommy three years ago today!

Gabriel's One Month Update

It's hard to believe that our sweet Gabriel Anthony turned a month old on November 21st! I once heard that the days with a newborn are long but the months go fast and boy is that the truth. Our first week home actually seemed to go by at a nice pace (probably because Brandon was home and we did a lot of fun little outings but also gave ourselves some time to rest), but since then it has just flown by. Gabe is about as sweet as they come and I love seeing him grow and watching him and Jackson interact.

Without further ado, I give you Gabe's first month:

Something tells me that every photo shoot from here on out is going to be photo bombed by big brother...

Weight: 9 lbs. 6 oz. (Up nearly 3 pounds since he was born... oy!)

Length: I believe he was at 21 something at his last appointment, but I will double check and update later.

Nicknames: Gabe, Gabey, Baby Gabey, Baby, Chunk

Wearing: Unlike his older brother, Gabriel outgrew newborn clothes in about 2 weeks and is starting to outgrow 0-3 as well... I definitely wasn't planning on him growing so quickly! 

Sleep: As long as I'm holding him (or he's sleeping in the crook of my arm), he sleeps wonderfully. On his own though is a big no-go. He does okay in his car seat, but cries a bunch at first before falling asleep. 

Gabe likes: Eating, Jax, cuddling, sleeping, diaper changes, bath time, stretching out on the floor, watching mommy and/or daddy, being held and bounced, rocking, singing, 

Gabe dislikes: Dirty diapers, hunger, tummy pains, when mommy sets him down to help Jax, car seat, being laid down for long periods of time

Mom & Dad's Favorite Things: How much he looks like daddy, watching he and Jackson interact, how cuddly he is, how well he sleeps at night (in the crook of mommy's arm -- which we swore we would never do again, ugh), his cute little jabbers and big eyes, and his adorable rolls of fat

~It's really amazing how similar, yet different the boys look! I can definitely see a lot of the same facial features (like their lips, eyes, and hair) and expressions, but at the same time they look so different (coloring, head shape, and noses) -- it'll be interesting to see how Gabe looks a year from now!

~We had Gabe's newborn pictures taken at around 17 days (which was close to when Jax had his taken) and got some absolutely adorable ones that I will share later this week :)

~For the most part, Gabe is a pretty good trooper wherever we go and does a pretty good job of just sleeping... (With the exception of a few trips where I had to either wear him in the Ergo or walk and nurse him while trying to keep us both covered.)

~This poor baby got sick for the first time at about a week and a half... it all started when I came down with a cold on Halloween, passed it onto Jax the next day, and then -- of course -- gave it to Gabe, who ended up getting really congested :( Thanks to the Nose Frieda, I was able to keep him somewhat clear, but found out at his two-week checkup that he wasn't only congested, but had an ear infection as well.. ugh! After 10 miserable days of tummy destroying amoxicillin, we went back to the pediatrician only to find that he still had it, but not nearly as bad as before. The doctor gave us the option to either start a new round of more potent meds or to try keeping his nasal passages really clear to see if that helped drain it. (This next part actually happened after one month, but since I'm late in writing this update, I'll just go ahead and finish the story!) At his next appointment, we had some good news and bad news: The good news is that his ear was clear -- yay! The bad news is that now he had it in the other ear :/ Since he eats like a champ, looks great, and was no longer congested, the doctor said we could just keep an eye on him until his 2-month checkup (since it didn't look too terrible) or start him on that new medicine that would just upset his stomach and make things worse. We decided to keep an eye on it for the time being and will find out in a few weeks if it cleared up on its own... Pray for us!

Oh and she also diagnosed him as colicky (which didn't come as a huge surprise), but I'll save that for his two month update.