Spring Forward

It's been a long time since my last post. It was cold, now it's warm. My baby was crawling, now he's walking. I was working part-time, and now I'm full time. The season has changed, and the Jackson household is moving along with the times.

We are working on some renovations to our backyard. It is a ton of work (for Nathan)! The process started with pulling out the deck (which was rotting and had creatures living under it). Then some trees (which are still lying in our backyard - for weeks now) were cut down. Next will be jack-hammering the old pool deck. All this before we can lay a new patio and set up a big playground for the kiddos. This is what we plan to do with the trace amounts of free time over the summer. If you're up for some manual labor, let us know.

We're finally planning some vacations again. This May, we'll be going to South Carolina to visit my cousin and her family. Grammy & Grandpa Joseph are going with us, so Nathan and I will actually have some time to ourselves, as well. Then, in October, we're going on a cruise with our friends Karen & Cody. We are looking to our first vacation without both kids. We're very excited!

It's busy season, so I've gotta get back to work. Will try to write again soon!

Thank God for the Naughty List

Over the last few months, my Naughty Avery, has started acting a lot more like a big girl. Not so naughty. She still does things like cutting her own hair, saying "I'm just cooking some sh*t," and throwing sand in her brother's face. But she comes up to me for no reason and says, "Mommy, I just love you SO much!" What could be better than that? Simply, nothing.

Over the years (with such a spirited little girl), I've found that telling others about the good things is fun. But telling them about the naughty things is FUNNY. It's who she is, and I love it. So now that she behaves more, I find myself really enjoying when her naughty side comes out. I don't see it as much lately, and it's part of who she is, and I LOVE who she is.

Avery is a contradiction rolled into one child. Shy, but loud. Impatient, but sweet. Smart, and calculating. Soft and gentle (mostly) with her brother. I can drop her off at the gym day care, and she's fine. Her shyness melts away as soon as I leave the room. She doesn't cry. She makes friends. Many boys already have crushes on her (which SCARES me), and her teachers rave. Nice reminders of how sweet my naughty little girl is, and how lucky I am to be her mom.

I love seeing her play with her little brother. Taking turns on the trampoline, and making the goofy faces that make him laugh. He (mostly) brings out the sweetest side of her. He is pure joy. His favorite game is for you to roll him away from you or knock him down. He loves to be the center of attention, and if I take him anywhere, he often is. His smile is from within. To make him smile, you just have to smile and make eye contact. He steals the show.

My little boy hasn't developed his naughty side (I'm sure Avery can teach him) yet. He likes being the baby. He wants Mommy to hold him, and hold his bottle for him. He can play independently if I'm sitting nearby, preferably watching him. His favorite toy - Avery's kitchen. Open the door, close the door, open the door, fall down, close the door. He LOVES it.

He loves to swing at the park, too. And chasing the puppies. And playing in the sandbox. (He doesn't even cry when his sister throws sand in his face.) And sliding on the slide. And walks. Basically, Nolan likes everything. Except maybe, taking a nap!

So this Christmas, I can't wait to see the magic of the season through my children. To give them everything I wish I had, and more. To expand their imaginations. I want them to know that anything is possible. To teach them that the most important thing in life is to be nice to people. I definitely haven't mastered it, but I'm working on it. EVERYONE is worth something. I want to raise these children to see value and gifts in everyone. Not to judge others. To share. And in the longrun, they will see that the best gift of Christmas is giving to others.

I want them to be good people, but hang on to some of the naughtiness, too. Merry Christmas, everyone. Be naughty, this year ;)

Back at it again.

I was just reading over everyone else's posts, and I miss updating our blog. So here goes.

August and September were really busy with tax deadlines, so not a lot outside of work was going on. We did manage to refinance our townhouse since we don't anticipate being able to sell for a couple more years.

October 2nd, we celebrated Avery's 3rd birthday (twice). She had a party at Bounce U in the morning, and a family party at our house in the evening. She got SO many presents. Among the biggest were a new clubhouse bunkbed (which she got about a month early), a play kitchen, and a new bike. She is really enjoying all of her new toys.

In between the parties, we even did a photo shoot with Diem. Neither Avery or Nolan cooperated, but we managed to get a few good pictures anyway.

Right now, I'm gearing up for the end of tax season, followed by my favorite time of year. Halloween (Avery will be a cowgirl, Nolan will be Nemo), Thanksgiving, and Christmas will be here before we know it. I'm also starting to plan for Nolan's birthday in January. I'm thinking Gymboree. If I book this month, I save $40, so we'll see if I go with that plan.

Back to work and busy-season, and I'll write again later.

Where I Stand

This was from July 2010 - Here are some fun things going on right now: When I ask Avery "what's your name?", she replies, "What's yo number?" Ridiculously cute! Nolan is learning to roll over, talks a lot, smiles a lot, and is extremely ticklish. He's starting to eat baby food, which is interesting for now. I'm going to try to finish up Nolan's scrapbook. Wish me luck!

Remember Me?

I cannot believe it's been over three months since I've posted. Life with two kids is much more than twice as hard. A co-worker told me "One is like none. Two is like ten. Three is like one." We're not planning for number three...yet! Let's see if I can catch you up on the last few months. Avery has really regressed with her potty training, having about five accidents a week. Can you call it an accident if she's doing it on purpose? Basically, if we're not giving her enough attention, she'll pee in her pants. I used to bathe her in nice warm water afterwards, but realized that was rewarding her for this behavior. Now, when she does it, I bathe her in the coldest temperature water I can get. I don't think she's doing this on purpose quite as much. Nolan is doing really well (although he's sick today). At about a month old, he wouldn't breast feed any more, so I pumped and gave him a bottle. Magically, around two months old, he wanted the breast again, so I worked in at least two feedings a day. Then, when he was three months old and I was returning to work, he started teething. Breast feeding was O-V-E-R within two weeks! We hired Nanny Angie two months ago. She is PERFECT. She's American, but fluent in Spanish, and she is VERY hish-energy. We share her with our neighbor (whose son is two months older than Nolan). Avery also started gymnastics about two months ago. She did very well, and just got a trophy last Thursday. I'm going to keep her out of classes for the summer, and re-enroll her in September. She'll get to go to the three-year-old class, which means she'll be doing gymnastics with her coach, and Mommy will just sit and watch. For the summer, I'm hoping to get Avery in swim lessons, and start Nolan in Gymboree. I'll probably wait on the Gymboree until he's at least crawling and pulling himself to a stand. Then in September, Avery will start pre-school two days a week. After six months on the market, $15k in reductions, and no offers, we are renting out our townhouse. I really hope this is a blessing in disguise, and that next year we can sell for more than we paid for it, and get some of our equity back. My Thursdays/Fridays home alone with the kids are wearing me thin. Nolan is pretty easy-going, but still needs quite a bit of care. You know, food, changing, holding... However, Avery wants all my attention. This results in LOTS of very LONG tantrums. I think Avery is averaging about two-three thirty minute tantrums a day. Most of these days, I feel like I'm losing my mind. Plus, I'm usually taking care of them, trying to keep work moving along, and either grocery shopping or doing laundry. This drains me, and I feel very unproductive at the end of the day. I asked Del if I can please come back to work full-time. We'll see... Three close friends of mine are expecting babies. Melissa is due with a baby girl in just nine weeks. Ashley and Megan are both scheduled to have their babies in November. Can one of you please have a boy? Then our boys will be less than a year apart. May has been crazy. We celebrated Mother's Day, then Nathan went for a guys' trip for a few nights, and I've had two girls' nights just last week. Mimi came to visit this weekend, and with Grammy, we took the kids to Schlitterbahn. It was awesome! I think we're caught up for now. If things go smoothly, you'll hear from me again soon. If not, it could be a while. Catch 'ya later!

Tolerating My Toddler

So, we're almost a month in with new baby, Nolan, and so far so good. Before I forget them, I just wanted to share some of the funniest and cutest moments from the past month, as well as some things that have helped us cope with an active toddler. Avery is growing up and maturing so quickly. Some of the things she is able to apply (at not even 2 1/2 years old) is amazing. Last night, when Nathan was putting Avery to bed, she said, "Daddy. I'm sick. I have fever. Need medicine." Not only does she understand how being sick relates to having a fever and also getting medicine, but she knows this is a good stall tactic if she doesn't want to go to sleep. She's curious about Nolan's penis, asking "His tail's dirty?" while I was changing a diaper. She'll also tell me "Mom, your baby's crying." I'm amazed that she is so attentive to him, and observant of all the changes around her. I am glad that she's able to articulate her thoughts and feelings to let her dad and I know that she's okay (and also when she needs more time to herself). Last week, when Grammy was staying with us, Avery saw me drop something (I think), and said something incomprehensible followed by "Oh Man!" After listening to her repeat it, we realized that she was saying something hilariously inappropriate..."Fuck-Oh Man" (all ran together). We couldn't stop laughing; the more we laughed, the more (and louder) she would say it. I covered my face with the blanket to hide laughter, and she asked me what was wrong. I told her I was crying because I didn't like her saying that. That made Grammy laugh to the point she had to use the restroom, and Daddy had to leave the room. We've really eliminated almost all cussing in our house, so I'm surprised that she remembers this vocabulary from probably as much as a year ago. Unfortunately, the F-word was one of her first 200 words, and she's always used it in the appropriate setting (which is scary, but impressive). Either way, Avery seems to be adjusting well. She is having more tantrums, and has had 2-3 potty accidents, but overall she seems to love her baby brother. Following are some things that have helped me cope with double the trouble: 1. Recycle Toys - At least twice a year, I go through all of Avery's toys - storing some and giving away others. This keeps our playroom from getting overcrowded, and also allows me to pull out toys that she used to play with every once in a while. It's as if she's getting all new toys, and she gets so excited to see her old toys again. For at least a couple of days, she is more capable of entertaining herself, since she already knows how to use all these toys. 2. Baking Activities - Like me, Avery has a sweet tooth. This makes baking cakes or cookies especially fun. It's an activity that holds her interest (even though I do most of the work), and ends in a sweet reward. 3. Art Activities - Two days ago, Avery and I made bath paints. Toy told me about these paints, so I looked up the recipe online. Making the paints completely held her attention (mix 1 cup of clear soap with 1 tbsp of corn starch, and add food coloring). Afterwards, Avery was so eager to test her paints, that I let her play with them in the bath after we were finished. All together, this activity kept her attention for almost two hours. That means, I had two hours without any tantrums. 4. Time Outs and Going to Her Room - Avery has always done time-outs. Now that we have a baby that might be sleeping, if she throws screaming tantrums that last more than a few minutes, I take her to her room. So far, she just sits on her bed, or goes to the corner and pouts. Each time I've gone back to get her (generally two minutes after I left her), she runs up to me and says "sorry" before I even ask her to. I think this gives her a "safe" place where she can calm down. It also (hopefully) keeps the baby from being woken up. That's all for now. It's almost time for Nolan to eat and I'm trying to keep him on a schedule.

Nolan's Arrival

What a whirlwind. I'm going to backtrack about four days, or so. Last Wednesday, I wrapped up a lot of things at work, and finalized plans with my family for Nolan's arrival. Dr. Norton had let us know that I would be induced on the following Wednesday (February 3rd), so we were using that as our best estimate for his arrival. Nolan had other plans. Around 1 am that night, I passed my mucus plug. I looked it up online, and this doesn't necessarily mean labor is soon to follow. You can still go another two-three weeks, so I just went back to sleep. I noticed some period-type cramping, but other than that, was uncomfortable as usual. Every now and then, I would get more painful contractions. But they would go very frequently, and would come back sporatically. There was no specific timing apart. In the morning, I considered asking Nathan to stay home from work, but decided I was probably over-reacting. Around 9 am, these contractions got more painful. They would be about 6 minutes apart, and then 4 minutes apart, and then 10 minutes apart. I didn't think that was how they were supposed to work, so although I was in VERY SEVERE pain, I thought they were still false labor. I called Tejal, and she seemed to think it might be early labor. Purely because of the amount of pain, I called Nathan and asked him to come home. Even if it just meant I could lie down. By the time he was home, I knew we needed to head to the hospital. We got there around 10 am, and I was already 5 centimeters dilated. My water had broken (although I have no idea when this happened). They got me in a room, and it took three nurses to finally get my IV. Since I was dehydrated, they wanted me to get a bunch of fluid in me before the epidural. It felt like forever, but I FINALLY got my epidural. It was fantastic. They checked me again, and I was 9 cm and +1. I think I started pushing about 15 minutes later. I only pushed for three contractions, and he was out. This delivery was so different from Avery's. He was smaller, so that made it a lot easier. I was also told that the epidural I had last time (which made it so that I couldn't move or feel a thing from the waist down) was very hard to push through. With my epidural this time, I could feel pressure and move; I just couldn't feel any pain. Overall, recovery went well. Nolan is a delight of a baby. He nursed right away, and doesn't seem to cry very often. He is covered in hair (literally head to toe), and resembles a monkey, but oh my goodness, do I love him. He is just perfect, and I feel so lucky to have him. Nathan has his Daddy's Girl, and now I have my Mommy's Boy! Please keep him in your thoughts & prayers. He was re-admitted to the hospital for jaundice. His levels are already declining, so hopefully he'll come back home today or tomorrow.