More teeth & chatter

Emme now has 3 of the 4 1st molars - the 4th should be out any day now!

I forgot to mention a few of Emme's words in the last post:
bubbles
there - she says then when she closes a door or puts a up a toy or something like that

Emme has added more new words to her list:
bird
duck
ball
shoe
train
PaPa

She has also started forming a variation of the same small, 2-word sentence: There's Jackson! or There's Dada!

When Jackson was her age, he was all about animal sounds and would never say the name. Emme seems to be the exact opposite, saying the name, but only making the sounds of a few. I think she is starting to say cow too, but I'm not 100% sure. I love seeing how different their little personalities are!

Emme Talks

Emerson's vocabulary has really been expanding lately.

Friday, Oct 8: She surprised me by saying fish & play in the correct context.

Saturday, Oct 10: She said please (pshee) when she wanted milk - I thought it was a fluke, but she did it again over & over on Tuesday, Oct 12!

So for my sake - her current vocabulary consists of:
- Mama
- Dada
- Jackson
- Yaya
- Thank you
- More
- Milk
- Dog
- Cat
- Please
- Fish
- Play
- Book
- Done (sounds a lot like down)
- Down (sounds a lot like done)

She will attempt to say any word you ask her to, but these are the only recognizable ones!

Also on the 10th, her bottom left first molar popped through the gum. I felt like such a ninny - I had no idea it was even close. I secure my nomination for Mother of the Year everyday! ;) The bottom right one is almost there - I expect it anyday!

A Word From Emme

Emme said dog today for the first time! She kind of ruffs too! So that brings her words up to 4 - mama, dada, jackson and dog....I actually think she can say cat too, but I was never sure that she was connecting it. One thing's for sure - this kid is in no hurry to talk! Here's the best video I could get of her fourth word!

Oh, and she cut the left top lateral incisor yesterday! The other one is still on its way.

She talks....

Emme is finally saying Mama on a consistent basis. All day yesterday, it was Mama, Mama, Mama, Mama. I was beginning to think she would be (and she may still be) one of those 2nd children who talk very late because the first does all the talking for them.

She is also getting very good at using her spoon. I, of course, still have to put the food on it, but she can navigate to her mouth very nicely without dropping any very often.

Eating on a blanket in the living room because the kitchen in inoperable!

I was reminded of some of Boogies other words:
rain
cahcahcopter (helipcopter)
barn
ready (he says this ALL the time when he wants to see something. For example, we will point out a helicopter in the sky and after it flies away, he will say Ready. because he wants to see it again. He will usually do the sign for more also. It's too funny!)
yellow
green
red
blue (for the most part everything is either blue or yellow right now, but we are working on it)
two
moon
cookie
cracker (cookie & cracker sound virtually the same)

I can't believe I forgot all of these. Silly Mommy, but last Thursday & Friday were my first days back at work after taking leave and boy was I tired! Thanks Yaya & Daddy for reminding me of the ones I forgot.

Let the record show..

Jackson said "I Love You, Mommy!" last night (8/22/09) as we were going upstairs to bed. Aaron asked him if he could say I Love You, Daddy and he said Mommy instead. ;) He may have meant Daddy but my heart melted immediately!

He also cut his last incisior - top left - yesterday too. Hooray! It doesn't seem to be giving him too much trouble either.

Emerson wore her very first pair of jeans today and I must say, she looked pretty darn cute!

New Words

Jackson is quite the talker these days. He starts talking immediately when we get in the car and doesn't stop well, ever! He has added many new words lately, but the most impressive are cashew, cactus and railroad. He uses them appropriately and everything. He also told his uncle Bryan "I love choo choos" twice on Saturday. Aaron then asked him "What about Daddy? Do you love Daddy?" and he said "choo choo." Ahh...poor Daddy.

I didn't do a 21 month post on the 28th so here are his stats based on when he was sick 2 weeks ago: weighs 26lbs 5oz and is around 33.5 inches tall. I measured the height on our growth chart at home and he wouldn't stand real still, so I don't know how accurate it is. I think his weight may fluctuate because he has wanted nothing but bread products lately. Saturday he ate a biscuit for breakfast; 2 diced pieces of tomato, 1 bite of fish, and loads of chips and tortilla for lunch...the only saving grace was the chicken slathered in ranch dressing he ate for dinner. If it wasn't for milk, there would be days he wouldn't eat protein at all. Does anyone else have this problem? It makes me crazy! Dr. Pielop told us we need to cut Jackson's milk intake back to a cup with his 3 meals only, none in between. He normally is a quart a day kind of kid, so this has been hard for him. But I just keep telling myself that if he is truly thirsty, he will drink the water I offer.

He is definitely hitting the terrible twos. Last night we were at my parents and he was in to EVERYTHING! By the time we left, all 4 adults were exhausted! He was digging in the trash, the dog bowl, my purse, dragging all the toys out of the playroom, playing with the needle on mom's sewing machine, trying to play with scissors, chasing the dog and the list goes on and on. It was crazy and the poor kid heard No! more times than he has ever heard it.

We love the little booger more and more everyday though...I can't get enough of this kid! He lights up our life!

19 months & 2 weeks

Jackson turned 19 months yesterday. His vocabulary is the only significant change...he seems to add new words everyday. Since I have run out of room in his baby book & I am using this as a sort of virtual baby book, I am going to go through it all....

Here are some of his words: tractor (this is his word for any car, truck or tractor), banana (he calls every fruit a banana), yea!, hot, bath, go!, waffle, please, thank you, boat, car, poo-poo (he uses this to mean diaper & that he has poo-poo), owl (this is the only animal he will call by name before saying the sound), mammy (his word for his pacifier), shoe, book, mem (milk), uh-oh, baby, puppy, eye, nose, there, see, cheese, ball, walk, bubbles, shampoo, water (wa-wa), bye-bye, hello (he has always said hi, but now he also says hello), night-night, vroom, choo-choo, then of course there are the proper names - Mama, Dada, Yaya, Papa, Gabby, Pops (who he sometimes calls Baba or Bubba, but he can say Pops), Nana, Emme (which sounds like memmy), Leyla (he says our dog's name exactly right now, as opposed to LaLa before), Elmo (he says Elbo). He's started putting small phrases together, like bye bye Mama, or Go, Leyla! or Memmy mammy (Emme's pappy). He actually has to say bye-bye to all his bath toys & the shampoo when he gets out of the bath and then he says night night to our fish and his stuffed animals.

The owl & sheep are his newest animal sounds and he will occasionally do a chicken too, but he confuses pictures of chickens & roosters. For some reason it took us forever to teach him the sheep and now he screams BAA! at you if you ask him what a sheep says. His others are: cow, dinosaur, lion, tiger, bird, rooster, dog, cat, pig, frog, duck, snake, bee, monkey, elephant (he holds his arm up to his nose when he does the noise - thanks Yaya for teaching him!).

He takes one nap a day anywhere from one & a half to three hours. Since school has been out, we've had some difficulties getting on a consistent schedule, but we're working on it. Jackson is doing so well with Emerson! He loves to kiss her and hug her and pat her on the head. He'll say "pat-pat-pat" when he does it and it is so cute! We need a little work on gentle patting, sometimes he gets too rough, but most of the time he does great! He loves to give her the pacifier, even when she is eating or sleeping peacfully without it. Jackson squeals when he sees her toes and he likes to point to her eyes, nose, ears & belly button. Everything is going so well, in fact I haven't seen any significant signs of jealousy. We are truly blessed!

He's such a big boy and amazes us everyday. We could not love a little boy more - he makes us laugh all the time and is the light (or now one of the lights) of our lives!

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Emerson went for her 2 week well check today even though she won't officially be 2 weeks until tomorrow. Dr. Pielop was pleased with her growth and checked all the basics...hips, soft spot, girly parts, ears, eyes, etc. She has been having milk come out her nose - well, it has happened a handful of times, so I asked about that and he said he would only be concerned about it if she also cried for 3 hours a day or took a long time to recover from it. Since it never even phases her and she rarely cries, he does not believe it to be reflux, but we'll keep an eye on it. We are keeping her upright after eating & burping for at least 20 mins and then I also put her in her vibrating bouncy seat to help work extra air out also. Hopefully this will help. Her weight today was 7 lbs 13 oz, up an ounce & a half since birth and 9 oz since discharge. She is in the 45th percentile for weight. Her height is 20 1/4 inches, up 3/4 of an inch since birth and putting her in the 50th percentile for height. Her head circumference is 33 1/2 cm, which is in the 5th percentile.

She is becoming more & more alert every day for longer & longer. We are really blessed that she sleeps and eats well! Nursing is so much easier this time around, and I am very thankful for that! Emerson's umbilical stump fell off on the 24th, so she has been able to bathe in her tub now and seems to find them relaxing...she slept through the first bath.

Emerson in her pretty dress Yaya bought her

First tub bath & no, we did NOT use Dawn!

Caught a smile - I know, it was gas, but still.

Aaron with my Moby wrap....there aren't words!

Ashley visited on Friday

Aunt Candace & Uncle Bryan visited on Saturday

Emme's Mobile

We finished the mobile for Emerson's room yesterday. It was quite the labor of love....no, it wasn't really all that difficult, just time consuming with a toddler sharing my time too. I made 11 fabric birds using this pattern & random scraps I had. Then Aaron & I used our mad physics skills and attached the birds to branches and voila! The pictures really don't do it justice - you need to see it in person. It is super cute and we are quite proud of it! Jackson LOVES it too -- he says "caw caw" everytime he sees it and I even had to make him a couple of birds so he would leave these alone. I guess I need to figure out a way to make a more manly version since he loves it so....maybe camo & cowboy print birds, lol!

Speaking of Jackson, here are a couple of pics from our week....

He only looks angelic!

My dad grilled yummy steaks with veggies and baked potatoes yesterday. Jackson's clothes got COVERED in food and he had already changed outfits once, so he had to go without clothes the rest of the evening. I thought he looked hilarious riding my brother's old rocking horse in nothing but his diaper & tennis shoes.

Here is a video of Jackson showing off his animal sounds. For some reason he would not tell me what a dog says, even though that was one of the first animals he learned. He also says his name in the video too.

Update on Grandmother

Apparently, Grandmother's episodes were from dehydration and possibly from having a mini stroke. Once they got her rehydrated, she stopped losing consciousness. I'm still unclear on the "passing out" leading to "reviving" her. The message in our family occasionally gets altered as it goes from person to person (kind of like the game Telephone). She has since been released from the hospital, so I guess our hub-bub was all a little premature. It did however worry my Nana, so Nana....here is something to brighten your day!

Our Long Weekend

We have had a busy, fun-filled extra long President's Day weekend. First a bath update...well, initially we went ahead & put Jackson back in the duck tub and again, he was happy as a clam in the bath. Then.......

The duck died! I thought it might just be needing to be refilled, but after blowing it back up it was flat again the next day. So....Jackson had no choice but to be in the big tub and he has done great since. Maybe he needed to get his bad experience out of his mind, I don't know. The video below is of Jackson telling us what a duck says. It's pretty cute!

Then, Hurricane Hiler hit our playroom. This was all in one morning....what a crazy person!

Pops & Yaya brought over a Valentine's Day gift for Jackson. A new tunnel! His name is Toppy Triceratops and Jackson L.O.V.E.S. him! He has played in tunnels like this at school, but we didn't know if he'd be out of place at home with it, but Jackson knew exactly what to do the minute it sprang into form. He just crawls and crawls in it. Yaya & Pops also brought Emerson a bunch of precious dresses and bubble suits. I can't wait to see her in them! Thanks Yaya & Pops!

Last night, I spent ALL night making a stick horse for Jackson's Stick Horse Rodeo on the 27th. It has been quite the ordeal and without a formal pattern, I was pretty much wingin' it! I think it looks pretty cute so far (if I do say so myself). I have the head done and now all I need to do is put the bridle on & attach it to the stick. The mane took FOREVER! I'll post pics of the finished product once it's done.

Today, we went to Pottery Barn kids to see The Cat in the Hat! It was jam packed with kids, mommies & grandmas and a few daddies. They read several Dr. Seuss books and then The Cat took pics with the kids & signed autographs. We waited in line for about 30 minutes (not too bad) for Jackson to get his picture with The Cat and for him to sign our book. It was too cute!

Story time

Not too sure about this cat thing!


Jackson's autographed Cat in the Hat book!

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.