Jackson's 2nd Birthday Party

As I said before, Jackson turned two today, but we had his 2nd birthday party on November 14th. It was a train theme since Jackson is in love with all things train! I worked with an etsy girl out of Dallas to design the invitations and they turned out absolutely perfect! They were made to look like an old train ticket. On the front it said All Aboard For a Birthday Party! with a vintage train. The back looked like this and came in a ticket sleeve:


The kids were all given a train whistle and engineer hat wrapped in a red bandanna when they came in. Jackson wore his the whole time and Lonon wore his part of the time, but they others wouldn't wear them very long. They looked cute though! I also found some train coloring pages on the internet, printed and bound them together to make a train themed coloring book as a favor for the kiddos.

The cake - I wasn't super pleased with it because

I suck at frosting cakes, but it served it's purpose and

Jackson loved his train cake!

Jackson missed his nap & was so tired that

he cried as we sang Happy Birthday.

He snapped out of it though & eventually blew out his candle.

Who eats a cupcake with a fork?
Jackson does.

Notice this one is red & the other one was blue.

Yeah, he had two.

Uncle Bryan & Emerson in her engineer overalls. I searched high & low for these things and the ONLY place I could find them was in Australia. So Emme's overalls are Aussie overalls.

Jackson, of course had engineer overalls on & I found some engineer striped pants at the GAP for me too.

New Cozy Coupe from Yaya & Pops

Opening presents

Ami teaching Jackson to ring the bell on his new tricycle.

Hailey & Jackson playing outside.

We bought a bouncy house thinking we can get at least 4 or 5 years out of it.

It was a big hit with the kids!

My little train engineer!

How cute did he look?

Playing with Beau

Jackson had so many family members and special friends that came to his party. Tiffany & Hailey traveled from San Antonio to celebrate. Uncle Brennan & Megan also came from San Antonio. Aunt Candace & Uncle Bryan came from Austin. So many others from here in Houston. It was a great time and unforgettable 2nd birthday!

2 Years Ago Today...

...my life changed forever! Little Jackson Dean Hiler entered this world at 12:45pm on November 28, 2007. And now, two years later it is almost impossible to remember life without him! He is the best little boy - so good natured, easy going, full of life and laughter. I am in love with his smile and his laugh is intoxicating! He brings a joy to our lives that we cannot even begin to describe. Jackson's vocabulary continues to expand exponentially. This morning he told Mickey Mouse that he needed a bridge to get across the river. We were impressed that he knew what a bridge was. Jackson's 2nd birthday was spent driving home from having Thanksgiving with family near Lubbock. Don't worry - he had a birthday party on November 21st, but more on that later. We had a wonderful trip with Yaya & Pops. Both kids did great on such a long road trip - Jackson did not get car sick once - VICTORY!

Jackson then....

...and now!

Happy Birthday, little man!
Mommy & Daddy love you SO much!

Photos from our trip:

Ever seen cuter luggage?

We stopped in Abilene to see Aaron's grandaddy. Emerson had never met him. He was smitten, of course!

On to Denver City - Aunt Christie reading to Jackson.

Emerson meeting my cousin, Leah.

Jackson helping Pops deflate an air mattress.

4 generations of Kuceras.

Me, Emerson, Mimi, Jackson & Pops

My cousin, Lisa and Emerson.

Then to Lamesa.....

5 generations of Lambert ladies.

Yaya, Me, Grandmother, Emerson, & Nana.

Emerson & her great-great-grandmother.

Yaya, Pops & their babies!

Jackson at Abuelo's.

Thankful

I'm most thankful for these two little pilgrims!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We're off to visit the fam around Lubbock.

5 Months Old!

Emerson turned 5 months old yesterday, November 16th. She's growing up too too fast! I can't believe all the things she's accomplished! She is getting very close to sitting on her own. She can hold the pose for a bit, but slowly starts to fold. I bet anytime now she'll be a sitter! While still inconsistent, she can roll from tummy to back, but usually only if she is mad enough. ;) She recently started this shrieking thing - it reminds me of how Paige described Kylie's shrieks. Emerson sticks her tongue out and makes these very high pitched noises. It's really obnoxious, but it isn't a cry or distress signal or anything. I think it's more of a I'm bored. Look/play with me type thing. We don't go to the doctor this month, so I am not sure about her height & weight. Hopefully, she won't get sick and we won't be able to find out! I keeping thinking I should get bathroom scales, but I forget - not a high priority, I guess.

SLEEPING: She sleeps anywhere from 9 to 11 hours at night. It's weird, but she seems to sleep longer if we put her down at 7:30pm than if we put her down at 8:30pm when Jackson goes to sleep. She takes 2-3 naps ranging from 1 to 2.5 hours in length each. She's not that consistent or great of a napper, but we'll take what we can get!
EATING: She still eats every 4.5-5 hours, taking about 5-6 oz each time when she gets a bottle. We have added cereal, which she is not a fan of, once a day and sometimes we mix in a veggie. She seems to eat it better like that! To date she has eaten: carrots, butternut squash, applesauce & bananas. I am making her baby food this time. I feel like it is fresher and I can control what goes into it. She seems to like everything so far. I have one cookbook - Top 100 Baby Purees, so something like that by Annabel Karmel. Any suggestions of other good ones? I know there are several of you out there that I follow that made your kids food too.
CLOTHING: She wears mostly size 3-6 month or 6 month stuff. She seems to have the tiniest feet. All the baby shoes that say they fit 3-6 months are still too big. Not that she really needs shoes, but there are so many cute shoes out there and I have to start her early! She has grown out of the size 1-2 diapers and is strictly in a 2 now. Aaron wants to move her to a 3, but I don't think that's necessary yet.
LOVES: Emerson still loves her baths. She likes the jumper even though she can barely touch. She loves her play mat. She's an outside baby, just like her big brother, but the mosquitoes have been horrible lately. I mean it's November, come on! Mostly, Emme likes to be loved on and this is in no short supply 'round here! Jackson is her biggest fan and Mommy, Daddy, Yaya, Pops, Gabby, Papa, and Nana (to name a few) are always happy to give her squeezes and kisses! She smiles every time.

5 Month chair pics

First carrots -

She was super mad when they were all gone!

And look at how messy she got!

Got Milk?

I am having significant milk issues and as I am still breastfeeding Emerson almost exclusively (she gets some cereal every so often), this is a big problem. It all started last Friday - It was my birthday & I felt awful! My throat was scratchy and I had so much pressure beind my eyes. It sucked, but I went on about my day. I usually pump at school once at 10:00am and again at 3:00pm. I did that and all was fine - getting about 3 oz out of each breast each time. When I got home from work & picking up the kids, I was feeling even worse and here's where I made the fatal error....

I took a Sudafed. It made me feel so much better and we were able to go out to eat with my family to celebrate my 29th year! Saturday morning Emme was a little off schedule and was asleep during one of her normal feedings, so I pumped instead. I pumped for 25 minutes and got .5 oz on one & 1 oz on the other. What? How could my milk supply change so quickly in less than a day? I started doing reserach & quickly found out that antihistamines can cause milk supplies to dry up. Why did I not know this? I'm sure I took them while nursing Jackson. I guess just like pregnancies, every nursing experience is different. So I started feverishly feeding Emme every 2 hours and I pumped a few times after she finished also. This helped, but now a week later I am still not back to what I had before. It is so frustrating! I am drinking tons of water, taking Fenugreek like it's going out of style and pumping more than I ever have. I can see it rebounding, but I don't know if it will get back to what it was. Any suggestions? I'm about to get on the horn to LaLeche! Argh!

Halloween 2009

What a fun Halloween this year! And busy. We had so many events tied to this holiday and with two kids now, it was crazy! Jackson was Mickey Mouse and Emerson was Minnie Mouse. I made their costumes this year. My mom helped me extensively on Minnie's dress since sleeves & button holes were beyond my skill level. Thanks Yaya!

The kids had their annual fall festival at their school on Friday. There was a costume parade and then typical fall festival games, etc. All the little kiddos looked too cute, of course Mickey & Minnie were the cutest! Emerson looked hilarious - her bow was bigger than her head - and Jackson looked perfect! He actually kept the ears on. I was amazed!

Pops & Yaya came to see the parade too.

Here, punkin' for Emme.
This is what Jackson kept saying at the pumpkin patch.

Jackson was a little overwhelmed at the masses during the parade.

HALLOWEEN NIGHT:

Trick or Treating

We only went to about 8 houses - the people we know or at least have waved to on our street. Jackson had a lot of fun and can actually say Trick or Treat. He always said Thank you too. He has such great manners!

SUNDAY: Neighborhood Fall Festival

Sadly, we don't know that many people in our neighborhood with kids. There are plenty and I'm part of the Mom's group, but since I work we don't get to go to many of the gatherings during the week and this summer I was kind of busy having a baby & all. We went to the fall festival hoping to meet some of our neighbors, but we didn't really talk to that many. It was kind of disappointing. But Jackson still had fun running around (earless, but I mean it was day 3 of those stupid ears - I can't say that I blame him) playing on the playground. He see-sawed with a few little kids, but he preferred to "jump" off the mounds of dirt around the small trees they have planted around the playground. Goofy boy! I'm thinking this summer we will be able to get more involved & cement our places in our community.

Jackson see-sawing - Papa held on after one wipe out

JUST FOR FUN: Check out Jackson last Halloween. My how things change in just one year!