First Easter

Jackson celebrated his first Easter on Sunday. He woke up and saw that the easter bunny brought him a basket with a toy car and the movie Kungfu Panda. He liked playing with the tissue paper more than anything. We went to church where we got to see all of the fam! Of course we only made it through the music and then Jackson wanted to talk to everyone so we watched church from the bench out in the hall (we have done this for a while now). We are going to try the nursery again soon.

After church we came home to change into comfy clothes and then we drove over to my parents house for lunch. We had a great time and ate some great food! Grandmommy and Grandaddy wanted Jackson to have an easter egg hunt so they did that in the front yard. Grandmommy had Jackson a basket with a bunny and the book Pat the Bunny. He had fun being outside and picking up eggs and putting them in his basket.

After we left my parents house Andrew's parents and Uncle Mark came over and brought dinner to us! This worked out so great since Jackson had been out all day! We had fun and after dinner Andrew, Mark and Andrew's dad changed out the light fixture in our dining room. They are such hard workers and did a great job! Thank you guys, you're the best! Andrew's parents gave Jackson a picture frame to hang in his room and a Dr. Seuss book! Jackson had such a great first Easter!
So tonight is the eve before Jackson's first birthday. Thinking back how far we've come in a year is insane! I only think I have made it this far because of God, my wonderful husband, and our wonderful families. I remember the night before we were going in to be induced and we were so excited and scared at the same time. We knew our lives were about to change forever but had no idea exactly how much it would change. You can never fully prepare for that change.

I remember the day he was born. We were going in to be induced at 10 am. Of course, we were late...lol. My parents and sister beat us to the hospital! We calmly filled out the paper work and waited for our names to be called. Going back in the room where we would meet our little Jackson the nurses gave me my gown to change into and started hooking me up:) I was already almost fully dilated but still had a way to go. The entire day Andrew was right by my side through the funny times and rough times. I will never forget when Dr. Turner came in and said "It's a great day for a birthday, lets start pushing." I thought to myself "what?? push now, I'm not ready...can I come back tomorrow?" But she is the most wonderful doctor and talked me through everything. I remember getting freaked out when in the middle of pushing she walked out of the room. She said that there was another lady in the room next door that she was going back and forth to...little did we know it was Elizabeth with little baby Ella!

At 6:48 p.m. Jackson David finally made his arrival. He was the most beautiful baby with a gorgeous head full of hair (which everybody's mother's brother said would all fall out and it never did). That first night I couldn't sleep, not because Jackson was up all night but because he was sleeping and I kept checking if he was breathing. Don't worry he then kept us up the whole next night!

Over the past year Jackson has brought such joy into our lives. He has made not only me and Andrew's relationship stronger but has made my relationship with God stronger. I couldn't have made it without those two important men in my life! This year we have tackled being peed on, puked on, projectile pooped on, gas, strained veggies and fruits, teething, boo boos, crawling, high speed crawling, biting, furniture walking, "talking", Barney, Baby Einstein, crocodile tears and everything else that comes with a baby's first year. Our lives have changed forever but for the best and I wouldn't change a thing. I cannot wait to see what God holds in store for this next year! Happy 1st Birthday Jackson David Caldwell, thank you for making me a Mommy!

Paris Update

Well when I did my last post I didn't tell you that Paris had gotten up that night and had thrown up all over the house and wasn't feeling well. I stayed up with her Saturday morning and she wasn't acting like herself. She wouldn't eat, couldn't lay down comfortably, was shaking uncontrollably, and was crying. We watched her for a little bit and then decided to go to the vet. She was very lethargic and couldn't stop shaking. The doctors gave us some medicine to make her nausea go away and told us to fast her for the day.

We got home and she was in pain and still crying and shaking. I decided to stay up with her during the night to comfort her. She was still doing the same things and was not the normal Paris at all. She still drank water but wouldn't eat any food.

Today we decided to take her back to the vet. She is not shaking anymore or crying and is able to sleep. She also is still drinking water but would not eat anything at all. The vet kept her and gave her iv solutions to get her feeling better. They looked over her xrays and could tell her stomach and intestine linings were thick which meant they were inflamed. So we have a few more pills to take and a new food diet of fish and potatoes...which is a prescription diet...oiy! The good news is she is up more and acting like herself. She has also eaten food!!!! She can only have like a tablespoon at a time but she ate it up!!! Praise God!

I will keep everyone updated. Other than all of that drama we have had a great weekend together!

Kidney Stones and Barricades

For those of you who haven't heard, Paris (our Lhasa Apso) has been having a few medical problems for the past year. It started about a year ago she was bleeding when she urinated and was tested and had crystals in her urine. The medicine they give her helps her and her skin not to itch but makes her go to the bathroom more often which irritates her causing her to "scoot" on the floor.

Recent visits to the vet led to x-rays which showed she had three kidney stones. We tried to dissolve them by feeding her a special diet food from the vet but she was allergic to it which cause crazy itching which drove us all crazy! The food didn't work and the stones were starting to cluster together so our last option was to surgically remove the stones.

Monday we dropped her off for her surgery. We got a call later that afternoon from the vet that said he didn't have to do surgery on Paris. He medicated her to calm her down and so she wouldn't feel pain and hooked her up to an IV. They filled her with fluids to flush her kidneys. The Vet pushed hard on her kidneys and was able to get the stones out without operating! He flushed them a few times to get all of the stones and Crystals out! She came home last night with a little bandage on her leg, a bruise on her belly, pain medication, and a take home parting gift of 3 kidney stones in a tube!

So thank God Paris didn't have to have surgery which makes the healing process faster! (And Cheaper) The vet has recommended we take her off of the dry food diet and start a canned food diet. So we shall try! Paris LOVES the canned food...of course...wouldn't you instead of that other stuff??? Even though she gobbles down the new food it is still taking some time for her stomach to adjust, so we have to take her out a little more often.

Monday out of no where Jackson held his bottle. For those of you who don't know it...Jackson will hold a cup and drink out of it but will not hold a bottle. Well he did Monday and I'm glad a photographed it because he hasn't done it since...boo!

I feel like in this picture Jackson is saying with his eyes, "enjoy this now Mommy because I will never do it again...you will hold my bottle FOREVER!"

We have had a good week. It seems to have gone by fast, but thinking back it has been forever. It has rained so much, which is good, but I was teased with that gorgeous 70 degree weather a few weeks ago. I was doing so great about taking walks in the neighborhood with Jackson. Oh well it will come again soon, and on a positive note the rain washed away all that stinkin' pollen!

Wednesday night Elizabeth and Ella came over for dinner. This was the first time Andrew got to meet them. Andrew was too cute in the floor playing with Jackson and Ella, he really enjoyed it!

Jackson is bound to be walking any day now. He can cruise around any room as long as he has something to hold on to. He gets braver and braver each day...soon he'll be running, oh no!

We have had to "barricade" Jackson in the living room so that I can contain him in one spot. Since our house is so open and there isn't really and place for a baby gate we have to get creative with our barricading. My barricading skills are tested everyday. So coming out of our living room we have a couch blocking most of the entrance way and then I use an ottoman, a basket of toys....and a walker to make sure the seal is tight;) Well yesterday I was unloading the dishwasher and I kept hearing him getting frustrated...those of you that know Jackson know he's frustrated when he squeezes his fists and makes this funny face and noise. I go into the living room to find that Jackson has climbed into the basket of toys...trying to escape out of the living room...and can't get out. It was too cute.

Friday Jackson and I also went to the Jefferson Parkway book fair. It was so great seeing everyone. Jackson loved the library and all of the books. Mary Dean bought Jackson the cutest frog counting book that makes the croaking frog sound. Jackson learned how to push the button and it would make him smile. Thank you Mary! Miss Mary is too sweet!

We are still in the process of planning Jackson's birthday party... I can't believe my little man is going to be 1 soon. Time really flies. Most things are done but one of the big things is his birthday cake. Since it is his first birthday I decided I was going to try to make it myself. So I have been making cakes, tweaking the icing and such. I think since it is going to be a rainy day I'll try my hand at a bigger cake, that will be more like his cake. It makes me nervous putting this on my plate but I think it will be special. It will taste good but it may be ugly...oh well it is the thought that counts right?

Fun Friday!

Since it has been warm Jackson and I have been taking daily walks. Most of the time this ends with Jackson falling asleep on the walk, which works out great.

On Friday me, Sarah and Jackson went up to Atlanta to visit Andrew at work. We went and ate lunch at The New Yorker Deli (an Uncle Mark favorite) and it was delicious! We had so much fun eating lunch. After lunch we drove back to Andrew's work so that we could see some of his coworkers. Jackson had fun seeing everyone. Once we warmed up he was a HAM! He brought everyone a little sunshine! Jackson liked spending time in Andrew's office and Jackson fell in love with daddy's calculator...maybe we have a little financial analyst like Daddy:)
After we visited Andrew at work we went to IKEA to do a little shopping. Aunt Sarah bought the whole store! (I'm teasing you Sarah) She got some really great stuff that she had been looking to buy for a while! We did have a small adventure at IKEA. One of Jackson's favorite toys is a little ROO (from Winnie the Pooh) that he got from his Aunt Sarah. He is a small bath toy that Jackson likes to carry around everywhere. Well he had ROO with him yesterday and of course he dropped it and didn't realize it. When we did realize it was missing we back tracked and Super Aunt Sarah actually found it! After that ROO went in my purse not to return until we got home..... We got home safely and had a wonderful Friday night together. I guess we wore Jackson out because he passed out around 8:30 and didn't wake up until 7:30 this morning! Whew! Today I think we are going to work out in the yard and spend the day outside!

First Major Boo Boo

Well we have had little boo boos before but last night we had our first bloody bloody boo boo. We were all on the living room rug playing and watching Jackson "walk" from one piece of furniture to the next and then he was trying to go from standing up to crawling and instead of getting both hands down he got one down and then his face hit the hard wood.... He started crying like he usually does when he falls. Andrew picked him up and started soothing him and then blood started gushing from his mouth. Now on an honest note I have been dreading moments like these (bloody boo boos: I know I have a boy and it is bound to happen, alot) and I am not NOT NOT immune to the sight of blood. I usually pass out! Well I was very proud of myself and Andrew. Super Mommy mode took over my body. We ran to the sink and I got paper towels to put on his mouth so we could clear it to see where he was bleeding from. Andrew saw it was coming from his poor little tongue so I got a wet paper towel for him to bite on and that seemed to help.

Unfortunately the little booger's teeth bit the top of his tongue and the bottom...those dang teeth! Poor little guy, his teeth had been bothering him all day with screaming and clawing out his gums and then this had to happen. Andrew had the idea to give him Tylenol and some more Orajel to calm the pain and it worked. Andrew put in Baby Einstein and Jackson was smiling in no time! He is such a little trooper! On a funny note I really wanted to take a picture of Jackson last night with Daddy holding him and he had big crocodile tears and he was holding a paper towel in this mouth. It was all so cute but I thought it would be cruel to pull out the camera at a moment like this.

Okay we'll as I finished typing this I looked down and Jackson had blood going down his chin. I think maybe he bit the bottom of his tongue worse that the top. Poor little man:( He is all better now. Backyardigans healed the little boy!

The longest blog EVER!

So I haven't posted in a LONG time! So where do I start....well as if you didn't know it snowed randomly a few weeks ago. Our weather went from a week of 70 degrees to 65 degrees the day before it snowed...then snowed!!!! We actually got almost 3 inches!!! (This is huge for our area)

Jackson and Paris watching Andrew use his sled...

So of course after the "blizzard" it was back up to 70 degrees. Me and Jackson went to the park with Ella and Elizabeth. They sat on a blanket next to the lake and played.
One night Andrew had to do some work and Jackson wanted to get on Daddy's laptop so I found Jackson one of my old play laptops. He liked it for a little while.....

Until he found out it wasn't a MAC! That's my baby!
Any hoo since it has been really warm lately we have been taking Jackson to the park to swing. Jackson loves the park especially the swings! So we had decided for his birthday we were going to buy him a swing to attach to our porch. We went ahead and bought it for him since we were always going to the park. Andrew spent time hanging the swing for Jackson. While Andrew put up the swing, Jackson played in the back yard!

When he got in to swing he LOVED it!

One Sunday after church we let Jackson cruise around outside in his walker. He had so much fun!
Twins:)
Uncle Brian came to visit and brought Jackson an Aubie and an Auburn tee shirt! Thanks Uncle B!
I love wagon wheels!

And lastly I made a home made cake! Yummy!!
Hopefully it won't take so long to update next time!