Letters to Jackson: 9 months

Jackson,

Since I've put a lot of focus on your unruly nighttime habits, I'd like to switch gears and talk about you during the day...you are wonderful in so many ways!  You are certainly your own person who knows what he wants (and will let it be known).  You like food, but prefer the grown-up kind.  You like to feed yourself, so its up to me to find non-baby food for my toothless baby to eat.  Blueberries, bananas, strawberries, broccoli, potatoes, and waffles are some favorites.  You loved the lasagna I let you try last week (one of several things I would never think to give your brother at this age).  I think you have a sense that baby food is for babies and while you're only 9 months old, I wouldn't dare try to explain that to you.

Speaking of trying to be older...although you can't do it yet, walking is in your near future.  You love to pull up to standing and you're much steadier on your feet these days. You love to explore and get into things, but I don't mind, because you're a happier baby now that you've got some freedom (to destroy).

You are one tough cookie and have taken more falls than I care to admit.  Your brother likes to play "football" with you, except there is no ball and from my vantage point, the game simply consists of him tackling you and you taking it.  Usually you're laughing though, and if you're not laughing, you're at least not crying...which is generally my threshold for not stopping any activity that is occupying you both.

I never imagined having two boys would be this fun.  It's a new adventure every day and you and your brother reaffirm to me daily that staying home with you crazy kids was the best decision I could have ever made.



 

I love you more than sleep, which is why you're still with us.

 

Love,
Mom

Sleep! (but not like a baby, please)

I feel like one of the most uninteresting things in the world (especially to non-mothers) is a baby's sleeping habits.  Talking about it makes me want to go to sleep...I just wish it had the same effect on said baby.  But I need to record the ridiculousness of this baby, just so I remember and re-read if we decide to try for a third child.

Not to sugarcoat it, but Jackson really sucks at sleeping.

Whenever you find yourself army crawling out of a 9-month old's room, you know he owns you.

At this point, Jackson wakes up 3-4 times per night, every night.  Two nights ago, we had a major breakthrough.  He woke for the first time at 3 am...which meant I slept 4 consecutive hours...a means for celebration.  It was awesome.  But then he woke at 4:30, then 6:30, then woke up for good at 7:30.  It seems that after he wakes for the first time, things spiral downhill and he wakes every two hours.  Its a classic parent frustration -- the first several hours of sleep are usually the best - which is awesome if you're a person that goes to bed at 8 pm.

Usually, Jackson wakes up for the first time around 11 or 12.  As a rule of thumb, its usually about 10  minutes after I fall asleep.  Inevitably, if I stay up to wait for him to wake as to decrease the number of times I get awoken from slumber, he will use those nights as opportunities to sleep longer.  So kind. 

The good news? I have a really comfy chair in Jackson's room so I can generally sleepwalk through the whole process. Which sadly, means feeding him almost every time he wakes, although I know he doesn't need to eat, and I'm probably feeding into the problem, literally.  But I'm simply too tired to do anything else.

There have been several nights I've held strong and not nursed him each time.  I'll make Eric go in - he's crying though, so of course I'm awake anyway through the whole process.  It takes a while, but Eric can generally get him back to sleep.  Then he'll wake up 30-45 minutes later and its usually those moments I wonder if we can take him back to the dealership for a trade-in.  Same goes if I let him cry.  He'll eventually put himself to sleep, but is up shortly after and I'll wonder why I didn't just feed him the first time and save us all the misery.  

The other night I realized the stark difference between standing at your child's crib in the middle of the night when you're bone tired and sitting down while you're bone tired.  At the time, Jackson was falling back asleep but would cry if I left the room.  As long as I was standing at his crib, he was fine.  I use the term standing loosely, since I was depending on the crib to support myself.  I think this is the time I ended up crawling out of the room in attempts to be inconspicuous.

Other good news, he falls asleep on his own every night (with the aid of a paci) and getting him down for bedtime and naptime is generally breezy.  He's become a fairly good napper and we've got a good schedule going, so its not all doom and gloom on the sleeping front.

What I really need is a vacation away.  Let Eric deal with Jackson for a few nights.  Eric sleeps like the dead, so there is a good chance he'd wake up and report that Jackson didn't wake up once!  This is sounding like a pretty good plan...

"Where's my ball?"

There is no doubt, Brady loves balls...baseball, soccer ball, bouncy balls, bowling balls. I'll never know if its by accident or not, but basketball certainly reins in our house and if you ask Brady what he did today, "shoot basketball" is surely the answer you will receive.  I try to remind him that he did do other things as well, not wanting the person asking to think we don't allow any other activities in our house.  Now judging by the embarassing number of balls in the video below, you may call my bluff.  I mean, we only make him practice 3 hours per day, which I think is reasonable given his the lack of commitments in his life.

As an aside, I ran over a basketball the other day with my car and Brady wouldn't let it go. "You run over my ball?" he asked 30 times with the seriousness only a 2 year old an muster. Like I'd just run over his pet turtle.

But anyway, given his strenuous practice schedule, it's no surprise he makes more shots than he misses. I like this video for several reasons, but his question at the end makes me giggle.  After his shooing session, I have him a lesson in the word "irony."

 

And while I'm sharing videos, here's two more.  After Jackson gets out of the bath and is dressed, he loves going to the side and watching his brother.  The feeling is mutual.

If you're wondering, Brady is saying, "Drop down, Jackson" and is a little annoyed when his brother isn't playing by the rules of the game.

We got a hand-me-down toy from a friend and it has proved to be a good walker for Jackson. Trouble is coming.

 

Project 365

Some of my favorites from the past month

 

 

Sun, snow, and a wedding

Where did January go?  I can't say I'm sad to see it go, but it did seem to go fast.  My mom came to visit last week and she brought some snow with her from Iowa.  In college, my parents visited me in San Antonio inand I think it snowed the first time in decades.  They visited us a few years ago in Durham before Brady was born, and we had a big snow storm.  So it shouldn't be surprising that we witnessed the Winter Wonderland.  In a few years when Brady's in school and he's itching for a snow day, he'll be calling grandma to come visit. 

But before the snow, there was sun and warmth!  My mom most definitely didn't bring that from Iowa, and she celebrated the weather by doing hours of yard work (with Brady's help), since Eric and I essentially ignore our yard (and all the work that should be done). 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday, before my mom headed back to Iowa, Jackson and I hopped on a plane to Birmingham for the wedding of my old teammate, Martha.  Our good friends, Jerod and Mindy, were kind enough to put us up, along with a few of my friends.  My old teammate Beth came with her baby and adding our crew with the three Haase children (all homebound with school cancellations), it was an active house!

The first night we got there, we went to cheer on Jerod who's the head coach of UAB.  The Blazers won, although (thankfully) Jackson witnessed very little of the game. 

The youngest Haase child is Gabby, who was unsure about the baby who invaded her home and tried to take her toys.  She's cute as a button though.

 

On to the main event.  It was beautiful noon wedding so I was able to drag Jackson along.  He and his buddy Adelaide (thankfully) slept through the whole ceremony so they were ready to party for the reception.

 

 

We headed home on Super Bowl Sunday.  Lucky for Beth and I, we got on the same flight to Charlotte.  Unlucky for all the other passengers, Adelaide and Jackson got on the same flight to Charlotte.  I think Adelaide screamed 80% of the time and Jackson picked up the slack for the other 20%.  We may or may not have got a round of applause when we exited the plane.

 

I love traveling, but it always makes me appreciate home.  It was cute to see how happy Brady was to see his brother.  The first thing he wanted to do was rub his head.  Strange kid.