Four Months

Sweet Baby Jack is now four months old. I can hardly believe it, the time is passing so quickly. He has such a fun little personality. He has found his voice and loves to babble and coo  all day long. He has figured out how to grab things with his hands and holds onto his toys much better now. He will occasionally bring his toys to his mouth and chew on them. He has a blanket-monkey and blanket-bear that he absolutely loves! I would have to say that they are his favorite toys. He also has an elephant that sings "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" that he smiles each time he sees. And he goes to sleep either listening to a monkey that plays lullabies or Primary songs.

We have been taking advantage of the nice weather we still have to go on walks each day. Jackson absolutely loves to be outside. Even when it gets cold (which is supposed to happen this week), I will bundle him up and off we will go. It will keep us both sane, I think. He doesn't much care to be buckled in his stroller, but the second we start moving he starts happily kicking his legs.

Three weeks ago we were at church and I was visiting with the Relief Society President in the hall and Jackson started laughing. It was so funny! He just chuckled and giggled. My heart melted at the sound of his first laugh. That afternoon Jeff got him to laugh again. We try most days, but he his very selective with his laughter. :)

Jackson is a very easy baby. He only cries if he is exhausted or wants to be held. He generally stops crying the moment we pick him up. He fusses if he needs his diaper changed or if he is hungry. And most mornings I wake up to him talking to himself in his crib rather than crying. He loves to talk to his stuffed animals. When he is tired we can simply swaddle him tightly in a blanket and lay him in his crib and he will fall asleep. Occasionally he will cry for a bit, but he will fall asleep on his own 9 times out of 10. He usually only wakes up once during the night around 5 or 5:30 when he goes down around 9:00, then he will go back to sleep for another 2 or 3 hours. He takes 2 or 3 naps a day for about 2 hours each. And if I have things to do during the day when he is awake, he will happily lay on the floor and play with his toys. We feel so lucky to have him!

I substitute taught for the first time this past week. I had a difficult time preparing myself mentally to leave my sweet baby all day. But it was actually much easier than I thought it would be. It was good to be back in the classroom, but it did show me how terribly blessed I am that I am able to stay home with Jackson each day.

My days consist of playing with my sweet boy and trying to keep the house clean. I am also cross-stitching a Christmas stocking for Jeff (I have mine from when I was a child and my mom is making one for Jackson). I may be crazy for that project because I didn't order it until the end of September and I want to have it done by Thanksgiving so it will be done when we decorate our home for Christmas. I am also trying to get my Pampered Chef business going.

Jeff is staying busy with school and work. He is enjoying his classes. Right now he is in the process of searching for an internship for winter semester so he will be able to gain more experience. He graduates in May (only 6 more months!). He is in class all day 2 days a week and works the other 3. But he always makes sure to spend time with his boy. I love watching him interact with Jackson. On Sundays he takes Jackson for the 3 hours of church which is nice. I enjoy watching him with Jackson as I sit at the organ. He loves being a daddy.

Our little family is doing well. We are happy. We are healthy. And we are so very grateful for all that we have. We feel blessed to be where we are and to have the many opportunities we have been given here. We are excited to see what the upcoming months will bring to us and the new adventures we will have with our sweet little boy.

Four Months Old

He loves his stuffed animals

Tuckered out from playing with his toys

Time Flies

Little baby Jackson will be 3 months old on Sunday. The time has flown so quickly! It has been so much fun watching him grow and develop. He is such a good little eater and is growing so quickly! He has completely grown out of of his 0-3 month onesies because he is so tall! When I took him to the doctor for his 2 month check (a month ago) he weighed 10.5 pounds and was 25.5 inches long. He does very good holding his head up (unless he's on his tummy...he still hasn't figured out how to pick it up from off the floor yet). He hates tummy time. When we put him on his tummy, he usually cries and cries until he falls asleep. He's tried to pick up his head, but just hasn't succeeded yet. His legs are very strong and he can support his weight if we are holding him in a standing position. He loves laying under his activity gym, especially since he has discovered that he can make the toys move when he hits them with his hands. He is starting to pick up his own toys and play with them. He loves cuddling with Mommy and Daddy. The past 3 nights he has slept 7 straight hours (though that ends around 5 or 5:30 in the morning...luckily he goes back to sleep for a couple hours after he eats). And his most recent development: Jackson has started rolling over! It surprised me the first time he did it. He'd been trying for a while, rolling onto his side and trying to pull/ kick himself over and I think it frustrated him when he couldn't get any further. Last Thursday night/ Friday morning I went in to feed him during the night because he was crying, and when I got into his room he was laying on his tummy screaming! (Remember he HATES tummy time). I was so shocked! I didn't think babies roll over this early! And again on Sunday night I put him in bed after he fell asleep while eating  and went to get ready for bed myself. When I came out of the bathroom he was again on his tummy and crying. Just yesterday we were getting ready to go out and I laid him on the floor while I grabbed a couple more diapers for the diaper bag and as I walked back down the hall I watched him flip over! I was reading an e-mail about baby development yesterday and it said that most babies don't roll over until they are 4-5 months old...and that they roll from tummy to back first. Jackson isn't yet 3 months old and is rolling from back to tummy. Crazy kid!

Jackson is a happy baby. If he's grumpy we take him for a walk and he calms him right down. He loves being with Mom and Dad, but is so good with others as well. I love being able to spend my days with him. No, it's not necessarily easy having given up a career that I loved and staying home all day with him. But he is such a sweet little boy and it would just kill me to take him to daycare every day. I would much rather give up my job and make countless other sacrifices to be able to wake up to his smile each morning. To spend the day cuddling with him. To play peek-a-boo. To see how happy it makes him when I'm being a big goof. To see his Daddy come home excited to play with him and read to him. Being a mommy is all I have ever wanted and to finally have that in my life is so incredible. I am grateful for my sweet little family and for the joy that my two boys have brought into my life.

Blessing Day

Peek-A-Boo with Daddy

Family pictures on Jackson's blessing day

Bedtime Stories

I love waking up to this face!

Trying to roll over

He did it!

Jackson watching for the bird show at the zoo

Baby Jack with Great-Grandpa Jack

Baby Jackson

Little Jackson is 5 1/2 weeks old, closer to 6. That is hard to believe. The time is going so quickly. I've been a mommy for almost 6 weeks, and Jeff a daddy. It's been hard, but so fun. Jackson is really a pretty good baby. For the most part he sleeps pretty good at night. (Last week I was super excited because he would sleep 5-6 hours at a time at night, but this week it's back to his typical 3). He has given us a few little smiles. Today he was laying on the floor and grabbed hold of his rattle for about 2 seconds. He loves laying face down on your arm, but hates tummy time on the floor. He's an excellent eater. He enjoys going for walks and rides in the car. He's outgrown his newborn size clothes. He's almost outgrown his 0-3 month jammies because he is so long! I really love being able to stay at home with him. I left him with my brother Lance on Saturday so we could go to the temple with my parents and Devin. It about killed me to be apart from him, even for 3 short hours. I am so glad I'm able to stay home with him. (If I couldn't, I'd be back to work next week...there's no way I could do that.) Granted, me staying home and losing my income from teaching will be hard, but I'm going to sub for APA a few times a month just to keep my foot in the door and not lose my touch (plus it's hard to leave the classroom, so this will help keep that part of my heart satisfied). I also signed up to sell Pampered Chef. I decided to do that because I love cooking, and the products are amazing. And it will give me the chance to get out occasionally to make new friends. I'm so happy I have the opportunity to stay at home and be a full-time mommy to this sweet little boy. Enjoy some pictures of our cute boy!

One month old

Daddy trying to get him to stop crying

Uncle Devin holding him his favorite way. Devin has the perfect arm for football holding :)

Out on his first walk

With mommy on his one month birthday. I chopped off my hair to make it easier and faster to do and donated it to Locks of Love, about 16 inches total

Church outfit

Introducing Jackson Snow Pond

He's here! Actually, he's been here for 12 days now. Little Jackson Snow Pond was born on Saturday, June 22, 2013 at 8:17 pm. He weighed 7 lbs. 1 oz. and was 21 inches long. And he was absolutely perfect in every way. He still is. The little guy sure makes us happy.

I went in Friday night at 8:00 for a scheduled induction. I was almost 41 weeks, and my doctor doesn't like to let women go past 41 weeks. Not to mention, I was ready to be done being pregnant. I'd been having minor contractions throughout the day, but nothing to get too excited about yet. I was nervous beyond reason, and I knew that my life was about to change forever. But at the same time, I was excited to know that my sweet little boy would soon be in my arms.

Just before leaving to the hospital

 We got to the hospital and they hooked me up to the monitors and Pitocin, then told us to get some sleep. The night wasn't too bad. We were both able to sleep...as much as one can in a strange environment with strange smells, strange noises, strange lights. Not to mention we weren't cuddled up like I was used to. And poor Jeff was in the uncomfortable bedside chair. And the nurses kept coming in to adjust the monitors because my wiggly little boy kept moving so it wasn't picking up his heart rate. We were awake by about 6:30 Saturday morning and excited to get things going so we could meet our little boy.

Throughout the morning they slowly increased the dose of Pitocin, but I kept smiling and talking through the contractions and was able to pull out my book and read some more (I was at one of those points where I couldn't put it down!). My doctor came in and broke my water around 11:00 or so and things went very quickly downhill from there...pain-wise anyway. I went from being happy-go-lucky to "give me pain meds and give them to me now" very quickly. I really wanted to avoid having an epidural because the size of the needle absolutely terrified me, plus the sensation of not being able to feel my legs...weird. They gave me something through my IV that helped relax me a bit, but by the time I was able to have a second dose, I'd given up on not having an epidural and told them to do it. I didn't know how much longer I was going to have to wait to have the baby, but I wasn't going to do it without something stronger. The anesthesiologist was in my room probably 10 minutes later. I was pretty miserable and did not appreciate the feeling of being stuck with the needles along with the contractions. But I was feeling much better very quickly. I was even able to sleep for a couple of hours. 

By about 7:00 that evening it was time to get the show on the road. The nurses changed shifts, and my new nurse came in immediately and started getting things ready to go. I don't know that I ever even learned her name. I felt a lot of pressure and was feeling pretty miserable again. I was pushing by 7:40, ready to get that baby out of there. At 8:17 pm, little Jackson Snow was born. Daddy was able to cut the cord. He had a bit of meconium so they took him over to the NICU team to clean out his lungs. But within just a few minutes, my sweet little boy was handed to his Daddy to bring to Mommy and I was able to hold him for the first time. What a sweet experience to hold my little boy for the first time. 

A very grumpy little Jackson

Curiously looking around his new world

One very tired Mommy cuddling her new little boy

A proud, but tired, Papa

We are so happy to have our little boy here at last. My sleepless nights started in the hospital. The babies room-in with their mothers, which I appreciated because it was just wonderful to be able to admire my sweet boy throughout the night. But nurses kept coming in to check on both of us and he woke up periodically. I didn't mind cuddling him though. I was so much in awe that I made this little person. 

Our parents came to meet little Jackson Sunday morning, mine before they had to go back to Idaho Falls (we were hoping he would be here earlier so they could have come on Saturday, but I was too tired by the time we got up to our room) and Jeff's parents before church. He already has them wrapped around his little finger.

We were able to spend Sunday together as a new family, just getting to know each other and enjoying the new little baby who was sent to our family.

Our first family picture

Jackson sleeping with Mommy

Daddy spending some quiet time with his boy

Daddy reading Jackson a bedtime story before he went home for the night

We came home on Monday. It felt good to get out of the hospital. We were nervous to have full responsibility for this brand new baby, but we were excited at the same time. Jeff took the week off work so we could spend time bonding with our new boy and so he could be here to help me. It has been fun watching Jackson grow over the past 2 weeks. 

All ready to go home

Happy to have his boy here

Morning cuddles in bed with Mommy

He loves his swing!

Seriously Mom, another picture?

Beautiful Baby Boy

My mom was able to be here for the first part of the week, and today is a holiday so Jeff has been here again. Starting tomorrow, it's just Jackson and I all day long. It will certainly be a learning curve. Overall, he's been a good baby and we're both doing well. He has had a few rough nights (of course none of them were while Grandma was here helping out), which means Mommy has had a few rough nights. I take advantage of his nap times to nap myself. We sure love our little boy!