13 Months Old

Jackson turned 13 months old 2 days ago. Here is the latest on him....

Sleeping: He sleeps for about 9.5 hours at night when we are in school and around 10.5-11 hours at night when we are out or on weekends. He takes 2 naps (usually - he is currently screaming in his bed refusing to nap) per day, both anywhere from 1 hour to 2.5 hours.

Eating: Wacko has become uber picky! All he seems to want is bread or some sort of carb. If he never sees it, then he will eat anything else, but if someone else is eating a biscuit, roll, tortilla -- forget about it! He HATES ground beef. I'd say he will have a long life ahead of him considering half of what we cook has ground beef in it. His favorites are Cuties (clementines), pizza, & mac-n-cheese. He loves yogurt too.

Words he says: "Dada", "Mama", "Yaya", "Hi", "Bye-bye", "Cat", "Leyla" (our dog's name, but it sounds more like Lah-la) and I think he has been trying to say "light" too.

Tricks: He can tell you where his nose is (he has been doing this for about 2 weeks, but just recently started doing it consistently); when he hears a phone ring he will put anything up to his ear & say "hi" - very cute!; he can take 2-4 steps by himself and is getting much more brave about it; he will give kisses or sugar & he wants to kiss pictures all the time especially his own baby pictures; he will blow kisses, but usually just puts his hand over his mouth & doesn't actually "throw" the kiss; and rocks in his rocking chair by himself

Favorites: swinging; riding in the wagon; rocking or standing (shame, shame!) in the rocking chair; playing ball; chasing the dog or cat; climbing the stairs (supervised, of course); eating Cuties

I can't wait to see whatelse is to come! He gets cuter & cuter everyday and Aaron & I simply adore him!
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I went for my 14 week check up today. It was very quick. Dr. Cone said everything is going perfectly on schedule and we have a healthy little one with a strong heartbeat. We go on January 28 for the big ultrasound when we find out the sex and can start working on the nursery!

Christmas #1 & 2

**Disclaimer -- mammoth post with lots of pictures!**
We have had a fun filled week! We started off last weekend on a trip out to west Texas via San Antonio. Before we left we got Jackson a new big boy car seat -- it was time he turned around to see the scenery! He seems to like it, but wouldn't cooperate to take a good picture. This was the best I could do.

We stopped off in San Antonio for a visit with the sweet Williams family. Hailey is getting so big and she's absolutely beautiful with this big green (sorry, Tiff) eyes & gorgeous long eye lashes! They gave Jackson some fun little cars and some puzzles. Tiff's mom, Linda brought over a gift for him too -- a precious book with a doggie bookmark. Thanks guys!

Here is Jackson stuck in Hailey's play mat. I guess that's why those things have age limits.

We then went on to Denver City (about 80 miles south of Lubbock) to see my Mimi (Jackson's great-grandma), Aunt Christie, Uncle Hoot and cousins, Leah & Lisa. This is Jackson being tickled by Leah. Unfortunately, Mimi was sick the whole time and so we didn't get to spend as much time with her as I would have wished. We did get to have a lovely visit with the rest of the fam! They showered him with Christmas presents, including a stuffed Elmo, a workbench, some bath toys and Leah & Pete bought him these adorable John Deere camo boots. It was COLD, COLD there, which was nice, I thought!

Uncle Hoot helping Jackson unwrap his presents.

Lisa showing Jackson his new stuffed Elmo pillow.

Aunt Christie playing carpenter with Jackson. Jackson is pretty good at swinging that hammer!

We then went back through Abilene on the way home. Aaron's grandad & Aunt and cousins live there. Aaron's aunt Jean had never met Jackson so we met her & Shaylee for lunch and had a great visit!

Shaylee, Jackson & Jean at El Chico's.

Santa came to see Jackson. One of his UPS elves did not deliver his main gift in time, but he had plenty. We still were pretty upset about it, but Jackson didn't seem to notice. Jackson woke up Christmas morning VERY grumpy, but was ok while checking out what Santa brought him. He fell apart again as soon as we got to my parent's house and stayed that way until nap time.

Some of what Santa brought him -- a soccer ball and more balls for his ball pit he got for his birthday.

Apparently, Jackson was a very good boy because Santa came to see him (and us!) at my parent's house. He got a wagon, a bear, and 2 cute hats and mittens. Santa would have taken them back if he could have seen his breakfast behavior, but after a nap he was a different child!

Here is Jackson with all of his loot from the first 2 Christmases. He wasn't too happy about taking his picture, but I wanted it! His little rocking chair is adorable and contrary to the picture, he starts immediately rocking away when he gets in it. We got a video on my parents' camera and I'll post that later.

Video of Jackson's first wagon ride.

Our 3rd & final Christmas will be on Wednesday or Thursday of this week once Aaron's brother & sister-in-law get into town all the way from Arizona. Jackson can't wait to see his cousins and we are looking forward to visiting & spending New Year's Eve with them at Gabby & Papa's house.

Nuchal Translucency

We got preliminary results back today & the numbers look good. They gave me a 1/10,000 probability of this baby having Down Syndrome and a 1/10,000 chance of having Trisomy 18 (Edward's Syndrome). Even though I wasn't worried, it sure is a relief to hear those words! I will have one more round of blood drawn in a couple of weeks and then we will get the final results. Because these results are good, they expect the next ones to be also.

Drumroll please.....

Those of you that don't know already, I think it is finally time to announce it. Jackson is going to be a big brother. Yep, that's right, I'm pregnant again. I am 12 weeks and 5 days as of today and I figure now is "safe" to spill the beans. The baby is due June 29th and that makes my babies 20 months apart. Our neices are the same distance apart in age and it seems to work out perfectly! I love that they always have someone to play with even without inviting a house full of friends over. I am a little nervous that this might disrupt Jackson's potty training, but we'll make it work. Everything has been pretty good through the pregnancy so far -- I have been WAY more nauseous & sick than with Jackson (I never got physically sick with Jackson and it has been the pits with this one!) and the headaches have been worse, but overall the first trimester was pretty smooth. Looking forward to more energy & nausea relief!

Monday I went for the Nuchal Translucency ultrasound, which is a 2 part test that gives you the probability of having some funky genetic disorder. It is a no-frills sort of ultrasound and they don't even let the father back there, so Aaron didn't even go. They simply meansure the fatty pad on the back of the baby's neck and then let me go. We did a test sort of like this with Jackson, but this one is suppose to be more accurate due to the fact that you repeat it all again a month later. I pray that everything is normal, healthy and the baby stays safe and comfortable in there. The only real reason we opted for this test was because we get 2 extra ultrasounds than you do if you don't do it. That's 2 more peeks at my "bean" before his or her arrival. We are hoping that this baby is a girl, but we just want a healthy baby either way. Aaron's aunt, Anita says that she will be "thinking pink" for us. I love it! Here is what I got to see Monday--

Jackson is NOT Santa's Biggest Fan

Santa came to Jackson's school yesterday. I was not there, but it was reported to me that he did not care for Santa AT ALL! They said there were lots of tears and reaching for Miss Autumn, his favorite teacher. He was not alone though. All but one child in his class cried. Guess it's the age group. We had planned on taking him to see Santa sometime this week, but I'm sure it will just be a repeat. Hopefully, he will remember that he survived his first meeting and then won't be so scared. I won't hold my breath though!

Wacko is a weirdo!

Jackson has still been feeling a little under the weather. He's very fussy and wakes up with giant boogers caked to his nose - ick! Usually, I let him eat breakfast at school, but lately in order for me to put him down without him crying I have had to give him a clementine. He loves them and gobbles them up! So this morning he finished his clementine while I was still eating my Fruit Loops. He was pointing and whining for some so I gave him some dry Fruit Loops (very sugary, I know, it's bad). He would eat all of them except the green ones. He would put the green ones in his mouth just like the others, but then spit them out. **Side note: He has been doing this spitting food out thing a lot lately and it is driving us bananas! It is mostly with meat, especially ground beef, but sometimes he'll do it with foods we know he loves. It is an enigma!** The Fruit Loops all taste exactly the same so I have no clue why he wouldn't eat them. What a weirdo!

Update on the 12 month shots

So not only was the 12 month visit traumatic with the blood draw & shots, but the fun continues.... Apparently, it is not uncommon for a child to run a high fever after getting the MMR immunization. This is exactly what happened to Wacko! Thursday night he spent the evening with my parents so that Aaron & I could go to his office Christmas party. My parents said Jackson was not acting like himself - not playing as much as he normally does, but of course ate normally. He started running a fever that night & when we woke up in the morning, he was burning up. I called in a sub & stayed home with him (twist my arm, right!?). He was relatively fever free all day, but then that evening his started getting worse. At 6:30 I gave him some Motrin, but at 7:30pm we took his temp and it was 103.5. OMG! He had never run a fever that high and of course we were freaking out. I called the on call Dr. and she said to give him lots of cool liquids to drink, give him a bath and then at 10:30 give him Tylenol. This is what we did, but we didn't sleep much that night. I was worried sick. She said to take him to the ER if he acts listless even when the fever was down, if he's so sleepy he can't be awakened, or if he is inconsolably crying. Luckily, none of these things occurred and he woke up in the morning sans a fever. When he woke up, it was clear his fever had broken sometime in the night because this is what he looked like:

This was short lived. He began running a 102 fever yesterday afternoon and refused to nap. He did lay on my chest on the couch just watching TV with me for like 2 hours. That is so unlike him to be still for that long. Again came the worry. Finally, about 5pm the fever seemed to subside and he has been fever free since. We did give preventative Tylenol/Motrin throughout the night just in case, but he hasn't been warm today yet and this is what he is currently doing:

Catching up...

I am finally uploading some pics from Jackson birthday party weekend. Here you can see Jackson already adores Hailey. I showed him her picture as I was uploading & he got a great big smile on his face & said "Hi." Too cute!

Here is the video of Jackson's birthday complete with an injury at the end. ;(

12 month check up

Jackson had his 12 month check up yesterday. Dr. Pielop said he was on schedule developmentally, so we were happy! He was impressed that he can say "hi" & "bye-bye" and that he has taken a handful of unassisted steps. Oh, how we love to brag!
These are his current stats:

30" tall - 55th percentile
19 lbs 15 oz - 10th percentile
46cm head circumference - 50th percentile

I do not know where this skinny baby came from -- Lord knows his dad & I do not have the "skinny" gene. And many of you have witnessed the boy eat. It seems almost gluttonous! But, Dr. Pielop said feed him until he's full. Sometimes I feel that isn't possible, but we'll do it!

Jackson also got 3 shots, which was bad enough, but then....he had to have blood taken. Mommies with little ones take note: I did not know this was going to happen & so I was not prepared. It is totally routine -- CBC and lead count, but still. It was horrible! Luckily, Aaron was there and could hold Jackson while he screamed and the phlebotomist did her thing. He kept reaching for me with his free hand. I almost had to leave. God forbid something serious ever happen to him. I won't be able to take it. I think about those parents who watch their kids struggle with cancer or other horrible diseases and see them in pain or scared everyday -- breaks my heart and makes me thankful God has kept my child safe and healthy!

Overall, the appointment went really well and we don't have to go back until 15 months. Yea!

No longer the toothless wonder!

Jackson now has tooth #5 & 6 coming in. This is less than a week since #3 & 4 came in. These are all top teeth and he still just has the 2 bottom ones. Suddenly he is going to have a mouthful of teeth! With all this teething comes runny noses & yucky diapers, but we are coping and other than that, it doesn't seem to phase him too much. He is beginning to look so much like a toddler & less like a baby. ;(

Jackson's 1st Birthday Party

We had Jackson's birthday party on Saturday. His birthday isn't until this Friday, but given that it is the day after Thanksgiving, I didn't think many people would be in town/available for a birthday party. The theme was Sesame Street and Jackson wore his awesome "Elmo is my homeboy" t-shirt that his aunt & uncle sent him. Thanks J, Jenn, Lynzi & Autumn!

His party was great and his cake was ADORABLE! It wasn't exactly what I wanted, but it was pretty darn cute & more importantly, Jackson ate it up! He ate an entire half of the smash cake. It had yellow & blue icing, so we had a giant green mess. The mess continued all day yesterday with every diaper change too (if you catch my drift!). We had mainly family there, but Tiff, JC & little Hailey came down and Miss Ashley came too. I'll post pics of the Jackson & Hailey soon! Jackson got tons of toys (including a ball pit - thanks Tiffy!) & clothes -- I have NO idea what's left for anyone to get him for Christmas!

His birthday hat that he didn't want to wear for very long

His new chair from Gabby & Papa

Opening presents

The cake

His smash cake -- we had a little incident right after the candle was blown out. Jackson immediately reached for the candle & got burned, so after we got him calmed down again he was a little timid about the cake. He soon warmed up though. I'll post a video of us singing Happy Birthday later.

Not scared anymore! Notice that half of the cake is gone.

Tough Love

Aaron & I have had to practice tough love the last 2 nights. When Jackson got sick, well off & on since Ike really, we would always attempt to put Jackson down in his bed, but when he would wake up we'd bring him back to our bed. Many nights he would wake up within an hour of going down and we were soft -- he was sick or there was a hurricane. ;) But lately it has progressed & Jackson has been so restless at night that he crawls around in his sleep and ends up waking himself up -- usually after banging his head into the headboard or something.

So Tuesday night I decided enough was enough and after an hour of trying to rock him to sleep, I decided to just put him in his crib and let him cry it out. And cry it out he did. For 45 minutes, which I must admit killed me, but I knew it had to be done so I turned the monitor down (not off, but down) and waited. He fell asleep after the 45 minute fit and slept PEACEFULLY the remainder of the night -- I even had to wake him up the next morning. It worked so well, Aaron did the same thing last night. This time he only screamed for 30 minutes off & on and off to slumbertown he went. We again had to wake him this morning, so I figure he must be resting better now also. We will do it again tonight & hopefully it will only be 15 minutes of torture for me!

Rough Weekend

Well, this one was a doozie!
1. When Aaron & I got home on Friday night we noticed that there was a small trickle of water coming down one of the posts in our living room. Aaron then noticed that the ceiling in the kitchen was wet and immediately knew it was the toilet in the master bath. He turned off the water valve & then went to Home Depot to get some supplies. He spent all day Saturday fixing the dang thing & I think we had made 7 trips to Home Depot before it was all said & done.

2. Aaron & I woke up at 2:00 in the morning on Friday night/Saturday morning to Jackson coughing...we waited thinking he'd cry or go back to sleep, but he just kept coughing. So I went to check on him and realized he was NOT coughing, but throwing up. It was all over him & his bed. I called for Aaron's help and we both went to work -- I bathed Jackson and Aaron focused on his bedding. We both were gagging the whole time and Jackson was screaming from being rudely shoved into a bath. It was crazy! Then I got him out and tried to get him to drink water to get rid of his puke breath & the terrible taste he had to have had, but he refused, so Aaron gave him a bottle. (This is where all the seasoned parents start to laugh at us.) We all crawled in our bed and gave Wacko his bottle. He only drank about half an ounce and then about 20 minutes later he gave it back to us all over our comforter. Ugh! So Aaron & I went back to work - same song & dance as the last time. So...on the coldest night we've had all year, the 3 of us lay huddled under the sheet & a small throw blanket. Luckily, that was the last of Jackson getting sick. He does, however, have an insanely runny nose and a cough. I think both are due to teething -- he has both of his top center teeth coming in and one has already broke through the gum.

3. THEN, on Sunday morning I woke up & felt horrible! I threw up ALL day long, couldn't do anything. I didn't eat anything & barely drank anything. Water even made me sick. My mom brought over some saltines since I had thrown up the animal crackers we had. By 5pm, I had had enough and I finally called my Dr. He said he'd call me in some Phenergan since a GI bug was going around. There was drama with that too...the pharmacy I first gave them was closed so I had to call the answering service back and wait for the nurse to call me again to give them a different 24 hour pharmacy. That pharmacy happened to be hella-far, but Aaron was a champ and trecked over to get it for me. He was so good to me all day -- waiting on me, taking care of Jackson (feeding, diapering, wrangling, & playing), all while trying to prepare the house for Jackson's birthday party this coming Saturday! He even went & got me Japanese Clear Soup, gingerale & gatorade. He is the best husband & daddy ever! Thanks hunny, I really appreciate all you do for us!

Jackson's First Steps

Jackson took his first 2 unassisted steps last night. He walked from the coffee table to the ottoman, which was a distance of about 3 feet. It was so funny -- Aaron & I sat there with bated breath watching Jackson contemplate the move. He took one step, teetered back-n-forth weighing his options, and then took the 2nd step to the ottoman. We immediately erupted & in classic Jackson fashion, he clapped for himself! It was adorable! Aaron & I set the stage again so that we could get it on video, but of course, he fell in the middle. We'll keep trying though -- we have exactly 2 weeks until his FIRST birthday, so maybe by then he'll have gotten the hang of it!

A week of many firsts!

Jackson has been one busy boy! Last Wednesday, Jackson & I played hookie (shhh...don't tell)! He had a Dr's appointment for a follow up on his ear infection & to get his 2nd flu shot. Well, not only did his ear infection not clear up, but now he has 2 ears infected. Ugh! Poor little guy. But he seems fine and so I thought we'd do something fun.

First we went to see Miss Abigail. She's 3 weeks old now & cute as a bug! I took Denise some Chick-fil-a and held Abigail while Denise & Jackson played. It was great to chat with Denise and hold a bitty baby again seeing as mine is almost 20 lbs. Jackson was MUY jealous so I can already tell it is going to be rough when another baby comes along.

Around 3, we met Aaron downtown and we all went to the ZOO! This was Jackson AND Aaron's first time at the Houston Zoo. They both LOVED it! Jackson was so cute, reaching for & waving at the animals (especially the CRAZY monkeys), pointing at things & trying to go to the giraffe. For those of you not familiar with Houston, our zoo is in the medical center and so there are many hospitals with helipads surrounding the zoo. Jackson would freeze the second he heard a helicopter & look up in the sky until he saw it at which point he begin pointing at the helicopter. It was so cute! We stayed for 3 hours & closed down the zoo -- I remember when we used to close down the bars now it's the zoo. My, how times have changed! ;) Here are some pics -- of course, I forgot the camera so we had to buy a disposable. Sorry for the quality...

Mommy & Jackson as Prairie Dogs

Jackson did not like being an eagle!

Pointing at the sea lions

Hi, Orangutan!

The Hiler Fam at the Zoo

Saturday was Jackson's first night away from Mom & Dad. He spent the night with Yaya & Pops and they had the best time! From what I hear, he slept in between them and flip flopped all night long -- that sounds about right! He woke up Sunday morning about 9am (late for him!) and ate breakfast. Any guesses to what Yaya & Pops allowed him to eat? Pears & pudding. Pudding for breakfast? Seriously? My mom said it is very similar to cereal -- hmmm... do you think I got to eat pudding for breakfast when I was little? THEN, not 45 minutes later my dad gave him blackberry cobbler & ice cream. Crazy people! Anyway, he did great and we did great, but we couldn't wait to go pick him up! Now, I'll feel more comfortable leaving him for the weekend in February when we go to Fredricksburg for Gina's wedding.

One 19 lb Lobster Coming Right Up!

Here is our little lobster. The cutest one you've ever seen, right? We went to a Fall Festival at his school. It was lots of fun with a costume parade, face painting, a pumpkin patch, and other games for the bigger kids! The costume parade was adorable -- seeing all the little ones all dressed up -- so cute! Afterwards, we went trick or treating at Yaya & Pops house. Little Wacko won't be partaking in candy this year so we figured one stop was enough after the festival.

Whoever heard of a lobster with a pacifier?

Yaya & Jackson

Guns Up! Beat Texas!

I am very nervous & excited all at the same time for the game this weekend. We are planning to go out with my family for my birthday on Saturday afternoon, but Aaron has made it abundantly clear that we WILL be home in time for the game & we WILL NOT watch it with my family. Aaron loves my family, but does not love our talking during football games, so I have emphatically promised that we will make it OUR home in plenty of time for the game sans any of my relatives. Sorry Mom, Dad, Nana...

I was reading an article in the Chronicle about TTU. Mike Leach had this to say about his coaching strategies. I thought it was hilarious & very fitting.

“I think that in the world of football, a lot of times there’s a temptation to pick up rat droppings when elephant droppings are flying everywhere. So we try to focus on elephant droppings around here.”

I hope my boys in red & black kick some Longhorn boo-teh! Guns Up!

Jackson is 11 Months Old!

As promised, here is the video of Jackson saying "Hi" & "Bye-Bye" while in the bath.




Jackson is 11 months old today! Man, how time flies! I can't believe that in just one month it will have been an entire year that we've had this precious little man in our lives! We are so blessed and now it's hard to imagine a time when there was no Jackson Dean Hiler. He is the absolute light of our lives and we enjoy EVERY second with our Wacko! Now for brag time:

• Jackson drinks 12-15 oz of milk a day & at least 1 sippy cup of water a day. He won't hold the sippy cup by himself, which is really frustrating, but we're working on it.


• Takes 2 naps a day - one at school from around 10 -12:30 & another in the late afternoon from 4:30-5:45 or 6. He goes to bed later than most babies, so this works for us!


• He crawls on all fours (finally) almost exclusively. He finally figured out that army crawling is MUCH slower & who has time for that?


• He walks around the coffee table, behind push toys, ottoman, & boxes -- if you haven't seen the box video, check it out below!


• He can climb up as many as 7 stairs (supervised, of course). We are working on learning to go down on our bottom.


• He eats almost any kind of table food, but has started to reject certain veggies (peas, mainly). I try & make him eat them anyway by disguise. He still LOVES broccoli & asparagus!


• He says: dada, mama, hi & bye-bye -- has said yaya a couple of times, but we're still not sure it's the real deal. He also says "ba," which we think means bath since he says it when he sees his duck bath tub.


• He waves at everything - even a picture of a prisoner on TV this afternoon. He's an equal opportunity waver! ;)


• He loves to swing, go for walks, play with boxes, playing catch & taking baths.


• He gives kisses - the good open mouth slobbery ones! We love 'em!


• He claps usually after we clap, but occasionally when he knows he's done something good.

He is generally the happiest, most easy going baby so Aaron & I are scared to have another one. They say the second one is nothing like the first. (Not that there are any plans, yet!)

Well, Jackson: Mommy & Daddy love you with all our hearts! Happy 11 Month Birthday, little one!

Jackson said his first phrase!

We were SHOCKED to hear him say "Hi" yesterday, but then this morning when he said "Hi Dada," we were floored! We started laughing and he started clapping -- he knew he had done something special! It was so awesome to literally hear him develop right in front of us. He sort of said "hi dada" yesterday, but it was further spaced and so I wasn't sure he meant the words together. We have a video from last night while he was in the bath -- I'll post it later.

Figured it out!

Thanks for everyone that emailed help! Once I had a little more time (instead of in between classes) I was able to figure it out.

Background Issues

I am trying to change my background & got it partially changed, but I can't get the green background in the body of the blog to go away. Anyone with specific knowledge of this?

Pushing diapers

I can't seem to get a video of Jackson playing with his push toy, but I was able to get him walking behind a diaper box. He zoomed all around and then Aaron made his entrance....

Pumpkin Patch

Despite his ear infection & thrush, we went to a pumpkin patch yesterday -- I cleared it with the Dr. first. This pumpkin patch looked great online and it was called Old MacDonald's Farm. Now, Aaron & I had been hearing about this all our lives and about how there was a moo, moo here & a moo, moo there and a quack, quack here & a quack, quack there, so needless to say we were excited about it too. Unfortunately, I think Old MacDonald's Farm had seen better days! We were seriously disappointed, but it still beat sitting at home & doing nothing.

A wallaby in Houston, TX...hmmm.

Jackson's souvenir - Don't worry, I washed it. It was inevitable that it would end up in his mouth!

Jackson - What a fungi!

Yesterday morning when Jackson woke up I noticed his lips & tongue were coated in white. I tried to wipe it off thinking it was dried milk & when it didn't wipe off, I immediately knew it was thrush. For those of you not familiar with thrush, it is just a yeast infection that occurs in the mouth. Having worked in a pediatric clinic, I had seen thrush a lot so I was quite confident in my diagnosis. I called his Dr.'s office to see if we could get in and luckily Dr. Pielop was actually the Dr. in the office this weekend. We went & sure enough, it was thrush. Oh but wait....that's not all....Dr. Pielop also found an ear infection in his right ear. Ugh! This is the 2nd one and both have been in that ear. So now Jackson is taking Amoxil 2 times a day for his ear, Nystatin suspension to swish around in his mouth 4 TIMES A DAY, and Motrin prn for pain. We are new to this illness thing -- this was the first true "sick visit" we'd had. The first ear infection was diagnosed at his 9 month well check and the only other non-routine appointment we have had was for diaper rash. Hopefully, this ear infection thing won't be a recurring trend!

Oh..ma..gaaaa!

I found out yesterday that Jackson walks around behind various push toys at school. I couldn't believe it! He sort of takes a few steps around the coffee table now, but nothing like that. So, Aaron & I went out and bought him a push toy last night and sure enough he walked behind it. Now, it isn't the most graceful walk, but a walk nonetheless. He sort of waits to the last possible second to move his feet forward so he ends up being outstretched, looking like he's about to face-plant, but he doesn't. It was an amazing sight - I can't describe the feeling. It's a feeling nonparents wouldn't yet understand. We were so proud! If we are this excited now, I can only imagine when he actually starts walking on his own.

Uncle Brennan visits

The last couple of times Jackson has seen Brennan he cries at first. We think it is because he only sees B every so often and I guess that is so because Friday night Jackson cried. Saturday he went straight to Brennan and they were besties the rest of the weekend. So, moral of the story....come home more, Brennan!

Daddies...(I'm shaking my head)

So sometimes their judgement isn't top notch, but it does make for a funny picture and hey, no harm no foul!

Another, more appropriate situation. Notice Aaron did not want to have his picture taken while on a walk around the lake in our neighborhood.

My Little Man!

Jackson wore the cutest little outfit the other day when it was a little chilly outside. He looked like a little man. It's hard to tell from the picture, but trust me - little man! (Pic also shows his tremendous pulling up skills - he loves to stand!) I can't believe how big he is getting & his first birthday is around the corner. I've already started planning - cake is ordered, invitations are in the works, party supplies have been purchased - now if we could just get a few things done around the house so that it is acceptable for company!

** I was told that boys do NOT wear "outfits" so excuse my previous vernacular!

Stood up...

Well, unfortunately Hailey is going to get stood up this weekend. She & Jackson were supposed to have their first date this weekend, but sadly we can't go to San Antonio after all. My car is still having some issues since the 18-wheeler accident -- nothing major, just the airbag light & Traction Control System light keep coming on -- so I do not have my car right now & can't leave town in the rental. I think it is crazy, but I'm not paying for it so what can you do? Hopefully we'll get to San Antonio before Hailey turns 7! No - we'll probably go next weekend, I was just really looking forward to meeting that little angel! The silver lining is that Brennan is going to be in town helping my parents move into their new house, so Jackson will get to spend some time with his Uncle B! The TTU/Nebraska game better not be at the same time as the UT/OU game or my family will have some issues to contend with.

Our Weekend

A tiger & his cub








Lunch with Denise at Chuy's on Saturday. Jackson ate quesadillas and waved at EVERYONE & EVERYTHING!








Jackson's first shopping cart experience on 10/3/08 at Garden Ridge Pottery. It was windy so excuse the hair!








Jackson playing catch. He throws pretty well and LOVES to play with his Daddy!











Jackson pulls himself up now ALL the time. Here he is on Sunday standing looking downstairs at his Daddy.

My new favorite pic

Who is this kid & what has he done with my baby?

Jackson turned 10 months old yesterday. I CAN'T believe it! He's doing so much now:
- He still army crawls, but man is he fast! He even chases the dog & cat on his belly.
- He has 1 tooth & 3 that are poking through - teething is fun, let me tell you!
- He can pull himself to standing - usually does this on someone, but has pulled up on the coffee table
- Eats everything in sight! His favorites are chicken fajita, mac-n-cheese, avocado, carrots, & of course, mandarin oranges. He recently was introduced to pizza (at school - I had nothing to do with it). He has eaten salmon too and seemed to like it. His Yaya gave him chocolate chip cookies & created a monster! We switched to ginger snaps 'cause they're cleaner.
- Drinks pretty well from a sippy cup, but will take the lazy way out and let you hold it if you let him
- He waves at everything - plants, reflections, the dog, complete strangers. (Don't worry Brennan, we will have the stranger talk with him).
- Says "dada" on a regular basis and at the right times. He says "mama" too, but only when he cries & I'm not sure he is really calling for me, but I like to think he is.
- Starting to clap, we think.
- Sleeps well in his bed usually. We had a little adjustment period after Hurricane Ike, but he seems to be back on track.
- Imitates sounds we make -- he clicks his tongue after us
- Survived his first hurricane
- Loves his mommy & daddy!

Baby Hailey is here!

Hailey Josephine Williams was born last night. She weighed 6 lbs 9 oz (a petite little thing!) and was 19 inches long. I think she has Tiff's nose. I can't wait to meet her in person & hug Tiff & JC. Congrats you two! You did a beautiful job!!!

I stand corrected!

I swore I would print a retraction....

We have 26 bags of debris not 17. Aaron worked so hard to bag all that up and he deserves full credit! Thanks hunny!

We now have power! -- it was restored late Sunday afternoon. I polled my students today & over half of them are still without power. This is crazy! Never seen anything like it.