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