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!

Jackson's Birthday Week Shenanigans

Are you shocked beyond belief that I'm blogging two days in a row?!

ME TOO!!!

Actually, one of my New Year's resolutions is to blog more... it is truly something that makes me happy/de-stress, so I am figuring out a way to manage my time better so that I can sit down and write. Anyway, enough about me, because today's post is all about Jackson's 2nd birthday shenanigans!

As I mentioned yesterday, we hosted Jax's 2nd birthday party last Saturday at our local rec center -- and I'm pretty sure that we will host every single birthday party there from now on! The price to rent both a party and gymnastics room for an hour each is extremely reasonable, they supplied EVERYTHING (cake, ice cream, juice, plates, napkins, decorations, etc.), and we had a hostess who took over the minute we walked in. It was by far the lowest maintenance party we've ever hosted and waaaaaaaay less stressful than Jax's 1st birthday party.

Anyway, not everyone we invited could make it, but we had a great group -- my parents even came out for the weekend which made it even more special.

A failed attempt at getting a group of toddlers to play musical chairs... only 3 of the girls played in the end!

He wouldn't take his eyes off the hostess as she cut the cake...

After the party, my aunt and uncle came over and we had a pizza party (with my fruit pizza for dessert) and opened presents! 

On Monday, Cassie (our favorite babysitter) came over for a couple hours so I could get ahead on work and then Jax and I made cookies and left over party cake and ice cream in bed with dad... this doesn't necessarily pertain to Jax's actual birthday, but it was fun nonetheless :)

Yesterday (Tuesday) was Jackson's actual birthday and we started the day off on the right foot by meeting his buddies Joshua and Jeremy at a nearby shopping center for cake pops and playtime at B&N. (I'm not sure who has more fun at our get togethers; the boys or the moms!) The rest of the afternoon was pretty laid back and consisted of a long walk/stroller nap, gift wrapping, and resting in anticipation of our big dinner at Dave & Busters! 

My aunt gifted him this "dos" shirt for his birthday, but he wanted nothing to do with my photo shoot! 

The J's: Joshua, Jackson, & Jeremy. 

Nap time in the stroller. 

At around 5:45pm, our good friends Logan and Tracy (Jax's honorary uncle and aunt) met us at our house and we carpooled over to Dave & Busters, where we met Brandon for dinner. The meal itself/the service was a hot mess (long story short, we sat there for literally 2 hours because our server kept messing up orders, forgetting to bring us our check, eventually charging both bills to Tracy's credit card, etc.), but the arcade itself was a blast! Go figure that Jackson's favorite thing to do was to insert the card into the card reader...

We had to wait 30 minutes for this slice of cake, but it was worth it! 

JACKPOT! 

Skee Ball with "Uncle" Logan.

Jax and I ended up leaving D&B's before everyone else because he was having tummy troubles and I didn't have enough diapers :( It was a rough evening of teething/bottom pain, but our guy is sound asleep now and will hopefully feel better tomorrow.

I just love this little boy and can't believe he's ours... Happy 2nd birthday, Jackson Lee!

Jackson's 24 Month Update

Well, it finally happened... my baby turned 2! HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN?! Weren't we just in the hospital anxiously awaiting our little guys release from the NICU? Weren't we just bringing him home to meet the entire family Christmas morning (2013)? Wasn't he JUST trying to learn how to roll over from his back to his stomach?! Bear with me a moment as I take a look back at the last two years... (For your viewing enjoyment, please YouTube Barbara Streisand's "The Way We Were" as you look through these pictures.)

*long heavy sigh*

Okay, before I get even more mushy, let's take a look back at Jackson's month:

Weight: 23.5 lbs.

Length: 33 inches (that's a total guess...)

Nicknames: Jax, Buddy, Tinks, Stinker, Jacksie, Bubs, Buttercup, Stinker

Wearing: 18 month pants & 24 month tops (he has short legs and a long torso) and pajamas; Size 3 diapers.

Sleep: Between teething troubles and a bit of a cough/cold, we didn't sleep very well... the last few nights, however, he has slept in his crib until at least 6:30 before coming into our bed for another hour or two.

Jax likes: Bella, friends, building things, reading, opening presents, going for walks, doing puzzle, coloring/drawing, taking pictures on mommy's phone, Grammy & Grandpa's house, Mickey Mouse, "helping" around the house, showing off, church, playing at open gym, Family Feud, clapping

Jax dislikes: Snow, being told no, time out, bed time

Food: Cheese, veggie pasta, sweets, breads, oatmeal, Belvita, strawberries, peanut butter crackers, Greek yogurt... and that's about it for our picky boy!

Teeth: This poor kid... he FINALLY cut his 4th eyetooth and now his 2-year molars are beginning to emerge! You can tell he doesn't feel good at all and tries his hardest to shove his hand/wet washcloth/anything he can possibly find toward the back of his mouth to chew on :(

Happenings: Meeting his BFF Oliver for the first time; 2nd Thanksgiving (at the Hansens); tree/house decorating; Hays trip to see Nana, Russell, Aunt Britney, and the kids; singing carols and delivering Christmas cards to the senior center; snow day; visit to Grammy & Grandpas; 2nd birthday party at the rec center.

~This boy is all about Christmas and I couldn't be happier! On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Brandon put up the Christmas lights on the house and then we went to mass, ordered a pizza, watched Frosty, and decorated our tree! It was such a fun night!! Aside from loving our tree (and occasionally giving it hugs whenever we come home), this kid is all about outdoor Christmas lights! We've had a few unseasonably warm December nights, so we've taken advantage by walking as a family around the neighborhood to see all the decorated homes. On the first night, Jax was so cute and kept saying "MA?" (more.) Christmas really is more fun when you have kids!

~A few weeks ago, we had our weekly popcorn night and shared a bag while we watched Family Feud in bed. Anyway, once the popcorn was finished and I'd taken the bowl back downstairs to clean, Brandon and I both noticed Jackson still chewing on something. When I asked him what was in his mouth, he said "NOTHING", clear as day! Brandon and I looked at each other puzzled and asked each other, "did he just say 'nothing'?" Of course, he hasn't said it since, so I'm not sure if it was a fluke or if he's just holding out on us... 

~For his birthday, my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Rolf gifted Jax with a Melissa & Doug puzzle containing a bunch of different locks (which is the same one he LOVES playing with at the library). Anyway, he was all about latching and unlatching every lock, but eventually started pointing to the numbers on the board. That's when everyone started asking "Where's 1, 2, 3, etc." and he actually pointed to each one -- I was shocked!!! We count all the time but I have never actually sat down with him to show him what each number looked like, so the fact that he could point to each number (even when we didn't do them in order) was amazing!! 

~We hosted Jackson's birthday party at our local rec center on Saturday and it couldn't have been more fun! MUCH more to come later this week.

~I mentioned earlier that we've had a rough month of sleep and I'm starting to think that part of the issue is night terrors... I've done a lot of research and it seems like he's too young to have them, but it's the only explanation I have for him waking up screaming in the middle of the night, freaking out if I try to pick him up, standing in a corner of his crib staring at the wall, and repeating the process over and over for the next 30 minutes, when he finally collapses and falls back asleep. My dad had night terrors as a kid and our nephew has them, so I'm not sure if it's a genetics thing or what, but will definitely be bringing it up to his doctor at his 2-year well check.

Since Jacksie is now two, I will only be posting these updates quarterly... so, we'll see you again in 2 1/2 months! 

I Think That 25 and I Are Gonna Be Friends..

I turned 25 less than a week ago and have already decided that I love it.. after all, having a great birthday week means you're guaranteed a great year, right?!

My actual birthday day was filled with Easter cookie baking, naps, and a delicious Hibachi dinner with my two favorite boys (Jackson enjoyed the experience for the most part -- minus the giant flames, which was to be expected). On Friday, Jackson and I worked around the house, ran a few errands, ran into our favorite neighbors at the park, and made marvelous maniconi for supper. It was a very relaxing couple of days which was perfect because..

..we began doing some front yard landscaping on Saturday! I don't want to share too many pictures yet (though I took a bunch to share down the road when our project is complete) but it already looks SO much better. My big job for the day was hauling yard waste from the front to the back and that was flat out exhausting -- Brandon did way more of the "heavy lifting" than I and somehow managed to find the energy to take me on our special birthday date!

After dropping Jackson off at his Great Aunt Nancy & Uncle Rolf's, Brandon and I headed to Cherry Creek to take a couples cooking class at Sur La Table. The kitchen (pictured) was amazing, the food was delicious, and we learned how to prepare a 3-course Parisian meal. The class itself was fun but Brandon and I both decided we would have preferred something a little more private (we had to partner up with another couple which was super intimidating considering they'd taken one of these classes before and had mastered several of the techniques). Despite having to partner up and be social (ha), the class was a ton of fun and I'd highly recommend it to anyone looking for a unique date night. 

25 has definitely started off on the right foot and I'm excited to see what the year has in store for our family. As always, thanks for visiting my little corner of the internet -- it truly does mean the world to me!