Thursday, September 29th - Happy Birthday Jackson!!!!

We have a 1 year old!!!! So unbelievable. Today to mark Jackson's big day we went to the NICU for a visit. All of the nurses and doctors were excited to see Jackson. We also took him to get his birthday pictures. They came out so cute!!! We love our little bundle of joy so much. What a difference a year makes.....

Jackson at birth

Jackson at 1 year

waiting for lunch

 Some of our favorites from today's photo shoot:

Wednesday, September 28th

Today is Jackson's last day before he is the big 1! We cannot believe how quickly it has flown by. This has been a crazy, insane, trying, hard, emotional, blessed, joyful journey. And we could not have made it without the support of our family and friends. We have so much to be thankful for. One of our biggest things we are thankful for is the amazing staff at North Austin Medical Center and Nurse Jackie. She was our calm in the storm and has become a wonderful friend, so it was only fitting that we had dinner with her tonight. She and her granddaughter joined us for sushi. Her granddaughter was so cute with Jackson. We are very lucky to have such a loving person in our lives.

Nurse Jackie and Jackson

Jackson trying to use chopsticks.

Tuesday, September 27th

on Monday Jackson was so worn out from the weekend, he went to bed super early - hence the lack of post and pictures. He had a follow up visit with his GI doctor who was pleased with his progress and is lower his reflux medication.

on Tuesday Jackson was in a much better mood after getting a ton of rest. He was playing with all of his new toys. He is moving across the floor really fast now and we really have to watch him. He can cross the room with amazing speed -- all while not crawling. he is more like an inch worm, but it gets him where he wants to be.

making music with the toy from Rick and Nurse Jackie

happy...

happier...

happiest!!

Sunday, September 25th

Today was the day of recovery. The family stopped by before heading home and Jackson was able to play with everyone one last time. We knew he was worn out because he took 3 naps today and went to bed at 8:45. He had a wonderful birthday weekend and we appreciate everyone who was able to come and celebrate with us.

Playing with Papa and his new toy!

Saturday, September 24th - Birthday Party Time

Jackson had a wonderful time at his Superman themed birthday party. We thought it was a good theme since he has beaten all odds and is doing so well. He surprised us all when he shoved him cupcake into his mouth and proceeded to eat all of it!! The kid who hated to eat loves cake -- go figure!

Jackson after lunch, ready to get down and party

modeling his superman cape Aunt Jaime made

Super Jackson

Awesome cake made by Aunt Sarah!

we even found a superman candle!

almost cake time

someone is very excited!!

cutest birthday boy in the world

Make a wish!

trying to figure out what to do....

shove it in my face--thats what I should do!!

loving it!!

Mommy this is the best thing ever!

opening presents with Emily

Friday,September 23rd

Friday Greg's parents came in to town to help us with Jackson while we prepared for the party. Greg and I enjoyed our date night -- we went to the grocery store together :) it was a nice treat!!! Jackson loved having his Grandmom and Papa here to entertain him.

where's Jackson -- under his bouncer!!

the baby gates are starting to go up around the house

passed out after a long day with Grandmom and Papa

Thursday, September 22nd

We spend Thursday trying to get the house ready for Jackson's birthday party. Jackson got an early present from Mommy -- his very own remote control. He loves it, but still really wants to play with Daddy's remote.

doing the inch worm trying to crawl to us

Jackson wouldn't hold still while getting changed. He demanded to be naked!

having dinner, but wanted to hold his remote too!

Wednesday, September 21st

TEETHING!!!  I know people warned us about teething, but I assumed like the rest of the things they warned us about so far, that Jackson would handle this marvelously.  Even Jackson can't ignore the apparent pain of teething.  He finally got in his second tooth, right next to the first, in the middle, and on the bottom.  And since he is sort of acting like a monster, we decided it was time to break out the monster PJ's.

Monster Mash

The monster up close and personal

Duke isn't afraid of the Monster

Tuesday, September 20th

Jackson is so wiggly now.  He no longer wants to sit still and stare into your eyes.  He is on the move, constantly looking around for the next best thing to play with or put in his mouth.  He LOVES electronics.  He wants the remote, the camera, my phone, Julia's phone, all of it.  We have finally taken the batteries out of two remotes that we hardly use, and let him play with those.  But those aren't good enough.  That's not the one daddy uses.

He is all over the place.  He can roll, military crawl, barely crawl, and bear crawl.  That opens up a whole new world all over the living room. He can move from one corner of the living room to the other, before you know it.  He is officially teething, and I can understand why people are so upset about it.  It turned our angel baby into what most people call a "normal baby". 

OOOHH, look at that remote!!!

What do you mean that's not one of my remotes?

Sunday, September 18th

Jackson and Mom went to have lunch with Lisa today at Cheesecake Factory. At the restaurant, they brought Jackson a snack plate when we sat down - bananas and pieces of bread. Jackson loved the bananas and the big surprise was he loved the bread. He was gnawing on it and was pretty upset when Mom took it away- but it had become a mushy mess.

Jackson is all over the place now, and today we heard his jumparoo going off, but we knew he was on the floor. We found him under it, looking at his book - we assume its his new fort!

Ft. Jumparoo

Mommy's little sailor  - ready for lunch

so sweet!!

ok Mom - Im done taking pictures