Friday, September 23, 2011

Three Years Old!!!!!!

Our sweet boy turned THREE on Friday!!! Here is a post all.about.him.

This is one of my all-time favorite pictures, taken just minutes after Jackson was born. Can you tell his Daddy was smitten?!?Newborn Jackson, our big boy at 9lbs 4oz!
One big new thing that Jackson has undertaken recently has been preschool! So far he really enjoys it! He's always been a little more cautious than Kathryn about new things so we weren't sure what he'd think about it, but he's done great! I think it helps that his big sister is at the same school and they can walk in together.
This is the morning of his birthday. We got him a mini trampoline for his birthday, because he LOVES to jump! We find him jumping all the time, on the bed, on the couch, etc. So we thought a trampoline may help with that, um, habit. :)

These were also taken Friday morning. A good example of his many faces.
Sweet.
Sweet again.
Snickering.
Goofy.
Trying to listen.
Long eyelashes.
Our boy.
Some other things about our THREE year old:

He can now count to 20! He may miss a number or two in the teens, but one day he started counting and went all the way to 20! Wow! He still doesn't quite know all the alphabet yet, although recognizes several letters, including "J for Jackson". And he is still a little iffy on colors sometimes. However, his favorite colors are always blue and orange (go figure!). Obviously, he loves UVA, and recognizes their logo anywhere. If he sees his UVA shirts, he wants to wear them and asks to go to the football games. He also loves going to baseball games. Again, go figure!

He loves to play ball out in the yard: baseball, golf, soccer. He swings the bat and club left-handed but does everything else right-handed.

He loves to give big, puckered-lip kisses. And only on the lips. He is very sweet and compassionate, and will cry if someone else is upset, especially his big sister. He also loves to snuggle.

He's talking a lot more now too, and will say almost anything, although we don't always understand him. He will often insert "mama" after much of what he says, for instance, "I want one too, mama." And it's a long, drawn out way of saying it ("maaaaamaaaa"). One of the funniest things he says is "WeeWee" for Waverly! The nickname has stuck, and now we often call her WeeWee too! Along with the talking comes more understanding and obedience. He still has his times of throwing tantrums, but he is understanding so much more and with that is coming obedience. We are so thankful to see the Spirit's work in his heart already on that.

Jackson is also really into wrestling. He's started getting into singing, and loves listening to his verses in the car. He loves people. He's potty training and doing so well! We had one week to do it over the summer, and he's done great! We are still working on the #2 part, but hopefully that will come soon! He loves Buzz Lightyear and Cars, although doesn't mind too much of his sister's princess stuff either. :)

Jackson, we love you so much and are so thankful for your life these past three years!!!

Monday, September 19, 2011

Ballet

Kathryn started ballet class through the Y this fall and LOVES it! Isn't she the cutest in her outfit?!?


Jackson wanted in on the photo shoot too!

Friday, September 16, 2011

UVA Game!

A couple of Saturdays ago we all enjoyed our first UVA football game of the season! It was Waverly's first game, and she was excited to be able to go! (For pics of Jackson's first game, see here. And for Kathryn's first game, see here.)

Sandra, Johnny's mom, made matching outfits for all the kids...dresses for the girls, and shorts for Jackson (even though he really wanted a dress like the girls...!). Here are our three little ones! The cousins. (Aubrey wasn't feeling the photo shoot...)
Grandma with her grandchildren!
Grandma and Granddaddy with the grandchildren.
Our family!
Up close.
We had to do another running shot like last year (I don't think I have any pics of that one though...).
On the lawn.

She was asleep, so we just left her in the stroller.
At the game. She did well in the Ergo for a while, then we took her out because it was hot.



"What's going on back there? Did we score?"
This is how you eat, g-tube style, at a football game!
With Aunt Lindsay.
We were so excited to all be able to go to the game as a family, since it's an important part of our fall tradition. We hope to be able to all make it to another game or two (or more!).

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

First Day of Preschool!

The big kids started preschool last week! So far they are loving it! I of course took the obligatory first-day-of-school pictures! Waverly wasn't feeling it that morning, and just wanted to sleep. Even after I got her up, she rolled onto her side and was snoozing soundly! Ready to go!
Big stuff!

Stinker!
Walking down the sidewalk to go in.
Walking down the hallway to their classrooms.
Finding his cubby. We didn't have to show him, he recognized his name and showed us!
Hanging his backpack.
Posing with his teacher!
Hanging her backpack in her cubby.
Sometimes I can't believe we are old enough to have kiddos going off to school! But they are loving it, and I am thankful for a little bit of quiet time in the mornings! :)

Thursday, September 08, 2011

Waverly at 4 months!

Today is Waverly's four month birthday! Happy month-day little girl!

This picture is from this morning during her tummy time. She's demonstrating one of her newest skills...sucking on her fist! She brings her hand to her mouth often now, even when she's on her back, and sucks on her hand. We've been working on this in Physical Therapy for some time now, so we are so excited that she's figured it out! Dressed up for church a couple of weeks ago.
She's also got a very pretty UVA dress that she's very proud to wear!
She's been spending time in the Ergo some, and seems to like it really well! She likes to sleep in it when she's all snuggled against me, and I kinda like it too... :) Kathryn is showing what a good mama she is to her babies also!
Waverly got to her first UVA game last weekend! She did really well for such a long day. She wasn't a big fan of the loud noises, but ended up doing really well (even though it was reallly hot!).
Of course, she reps JMU as well! Go Dukes!
Finally, here are some more pics from this morning. Jackson of course had to get in on the action!


Cooing!
Silly face.
Our biggest news for her 4 months is actually from today. She had a swallow study, and did SUPER! She didn't aspirate at all, and now we can start feeding her bottles some! We will have to take it very slowly, so we are going to give her bottles twice a day, and only do about 1/2 ounce, but it's exciting all the same! She chowed down on that bottle, and got so mad when they took it away from her!

Our other really big news is that she now has a MIC-KEY button! We LOVE the button (SO much better than the PEG tube hanging out of her), and she did really well with that surgery. Also, as a result of the button, she is now allowed to take tub baths, which is so nice! She seems to enjoy them and I am so happy to be able to bathe her!

Other news from this past month is that she is no longer swaddled for bedtime. She seemed to be waking up during the night and being agitated about being confined, so I just decided to stop and see what happened. She sleeps on her side with her hands crossed in front of her face (SO cute!). She still has a not-so-sound sleeping time sometime during the wee hours of the morning (3-4a.m.), so at that time I transfer her to her carseat to finish the night sleeping. She seems to like that pretty well and settles back down to sleep well there. During the day she really isn't on any sort of a schedule. She naps when she naps, and she's awake when she's awake. Some days she seems really sleepy, and others she hardly naps at all! We never know what kind of day it will be!

She hasn't been weighed in 3 weeks, so I'm really not sure what her weight is right now (the past few appointments she's had didn't have an infant scale). I will be sure to update her weight when we get a new one next week.

She still loves to "play" with the animals on her toy bar or on the handle that hangs over her carseat. She will smile and coo at them so sweetly. She also smiles at us some now, and will give us little coos and sweet noises. She still loves to be held by anybody who is willing! We are just treasuring these days with her, and count each one as a gift.