Play time at home

We had a nice weekend at home and even were lucky enough to have a visit with our friends from college, Kristin and Mark. They were in Florida visiting Mark's mom who lives up in The Villages.....we were fortunate in that they had some time and came down and spent a day and one night with us. It was great to see them! Now we are preparing for our trip home to Toledo.......we will see everyone on Thursday!!

Our Little Sailor Man!

We have had a good couple of days with Jackson...we wish we could say the same about the nights, but we take the good with the not so good and luckily I am able to be home now for another month and don't have to work and be sleep deprived at the same time. Last night my friend Lindsey volunteered to spend a few hours of her Friday evening with Jackson (Lindsey was his first official babysitter, thanks Lindsey) and Jon and I got to go on our first post-baby date! We tried out the new Olive Garden in Vero.....probably sounds like no big deal to all of you, but we have not had an Olive Garden within an hour of Vero Beach since I have lived here so it was a nice treat. We had a great dinner, then ran a few errands together including a trip to Sam's club to get some books for me to read during this comnig last month of maternity leave and we picked up an infant life jacket for Jackson to be able to go on the boat soon! We had seen these life jackets there about a month ago, they are truly labeled "infant" and are for a baby that weighs 8-30 pounds. Enjoy some pictures of Jon trying the life jacket out on Jackson...it straps under his legs and even has a handle on the top to pluck him out of the water (that won't ever be necessary, but you get the idea). The pet life jackets I have seen are similar to this with the handle on the top in case the dog goes overboard:) I have also attached some photos of Jackson smiling as he played with his Gymini baby gym...he LOVES this toy, I put him on gym mat yesterday when he seemed particularly alert and awake and his whole face just lit up when he saw all of the colors and toys hanging above him. He is really starting to be very vocal and even starting to bat at the toys from time to time. Bella wanted to play with him too as you will see from the pictures. She loves Jackson and goes wherever he and I are in the house:)

4 week check up

This morning Jackson had his 4 week check up with the Pediatrician. He is a growing boy as we had suspected, he has gained almost TWO POUNDS in the past two weeks! This is a great sign since he is mostly breast fed and we don't have an accurate idea of how much he is getting at each feeding. This weight gain indicates he is thriving which is, of course, what we want. He has also grown 3/4 of an inch more and will be out of his newborn stage diapers soon. These diapers are only desiged for up to 10 pounds, he weighed in at a wopping 9 pounds, 4 ounces today! He now officially weighs more than our cat, Nicco!! His belly button FINALLY fell off on Monday, just two days shy of him being 4 weeks, that took forever. The doctor thought she saw what looked like an umbilical granuloma which she treated with silver nitrate to cauterize the belly button. Basically, it was like there was still a part of the umbilical cord growing up and out of his belly button which could lead to infection and other nasty stuff so she had to do this treatment to cauterize it. It sounds bad, but it did not hurt him, he did not even cry one tear:) That's it for us today...it is raining cats and dogs now, finally we are having the wet rainy days we are supposed to have in June in Florida which we really need now, it had been very hot and dry and the yard was very brown. It has greened back up though due to all the rain we have had this past week. Hopefully this trend continues.

4 Weeks Old

Attempts at Tummy Time

Enjoy some photos of our attempts to give Jackson tummy time. I read that a baby his age should have 3-5 minutes of time on their tummmies on a daily basis to prevent cradle cap and also to help them build muscles for eventually crawling and lifting their heads........he is quite strong and can roll over from his stomach to his back already. He DOES NOT like to be on his tummy for long so mastered the roll over trick early we think!!!

A busy day running errands

We had an unusually busy day today. We had a normal morning at home, then just after noon, Jackson and I left the house for the first time, just the two of us, and we went to the hospital to have his DNA taken again and a DNA chip made in case something were ever to happen to him. They were supposed to give this to us before we left the hospital but they forgot. After the hospital, we went to visit Jon at work and got to keep him company for a bit at his Vero branch office. Next we went to our friend Kelly and Alex's house and visited for a while with Kelly and her 8 month old daughter Ella. We had a nice visit and then it was off to Target to get labels for Jackson's announcements and to pick up some other baby necessities...including Jackson's new shades he is showing off in these photos. He was a real trooper for all the errands and made me feel confident in taking him out on my own. Wednesday we go to visit my office and then on Thursday we have another check up with the doctor.

The weekend is here!

The weekend is here......the days are all pretty much the same for me these days since I am on maternity leave, but it is nice to have Jon home with us all day to help out. I was able to sneak away for a few hours this morning to get my hair cut and highlighted while Jon stayed with Jackson. Then we switched and I took baby duty while JOn went to the grocery store. Tonight we are just home, grilling some dinner, trying to get settled into our new life and routine and starting to think about preparing for our trip home for the 4th of July!!

A better couple of days

We had a much better day yesterday, and an even better day today.....we even went out to dinner with our friends Clint and Shannon tonight and Jackson slept peacefully the entire time through our dinner and let us all eat and enjoy dinner together! What a relief that was, the dinner hour has been known as "the witching hour" at our house for the past three weeks.

A very fussy baby today:(

Jackson was very fussy today and wanting to eat often....luckily we had no plans other than a day with mommy laying around the house eating, sleeping and dirtying lots of diapers...it's rough to be a baby!! He seems to be growing before our very eyes, it is amazing to watch. He fits into clothes that he swam in just a week ago. Here are some more pictures.....we spent a good deal of time on the porch today, he loves the warmer air and enjoyed a few short naps in his travel size swing.

More pictures from the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa

Enjoy some more pictures from the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa. Jackson is lucky to have had so many visitors come down from Ohio to meet him...now we are all on our own again:( We'll see everyone over the 4th of July. I just confirmed the last Baptism details with Deacon Tom...he will do the Baptism for us which is just what we wanted and Aunt Julia and Uncle Craig are all set to be Jackson's God Parents:)

Jackson meets his Grandma and Grandpa!

Today Jackson got to meet his Grandma and Grandpa who traveled all the way to Florida to meet him from Toledo, Ohio. Luckily, their plane got off the ground just in time before the airport was closed due to bad thunderstorms!!

Visit with the Burrow Family!

Emjoy some photos from our visit with Aunt Julia, Uncle Craig and Cousin Elisabeth.

2 week check up with the Pediatrician

Jackson had his two week check up today with the pediatrician. He is growing well, he has grown one inch in length since his birth, he is now 21.5 inches long...the doctor thinks he will be tall, she said he has long femur bones...and he has gained 5 ounces since last week...a great sign...he now weighs 7 pounds and 8 ounces! His head circumference has also grown about an inch since his birth which is great. We'll post more pictures later.

Newborn photos are here!

We got the newborn photos already...enjoy some of our favorites......Aunt Julia, Uncle Craig and cousin Elisabeth are here...we'll also be posting some pictures from their visit soon!

Newborn photo shoot today!

Jackson is getting his newborn photos taken today...at 12 days old...we are lucky as our photographer is moving to California this coming week Friday so she squeezed us in. This is the same person who took our pregnancy photos so they will be great...hopefully Jackson is in the mood to cooperate with us:)

Jon is taking Mimi and Papa to the airport right now, we had a wonderful visit with them and can't wait to see them again when we travel to Ohio for the 4th of July weekend and Jackson's Baptism at St. Pat's. We will also get to see all of our other Toledo area family and friends at this time which we are looking forward to.

Jackson is lucky because he has move visitors on the way this coming week...tomorrow Aunt Julia, Uncle Craig, and his only cousin, Elisabeth, arrive. Then, on Friday of this coming week, Grandma and Grandpa Donahue arrive.

Here are some pictures from the past 24 hours or so...it will be awhile before we get the newborn photos as our photographer is moving, etc. but we will post some of those once we get them.

The littlest Buckeye Fan!!

We are continuing to have fun bonding time with Mimi and Papa...here are some pictures of our little Buckeye, and his chicken legs...maybe he got those long skinny legs from Grandpa Tim!!

Morning Pictures 6/6/08