Randoms

Saturday mornings are usually pretty relaxed at our house. Should we be up and doing chores around the house? Yeah, probably. But, it is so much easier to just sit on the couch and do nothing or just spend time playing "po po cars" with Jackson. Amongst all of this relaxation, I have spent some time updating myself on all the blogs I follow. I don't want there to be any postings that I haven't read. I really enjoy all the writing styles of each blogger... so unique and characteristic of their own personalities. However, I also had some time to look at old postings of my own. One that really caught my attention was the one from August 5th, 2010. I had a recollection of "Day One of No Cable or Internet". So, it has been five months and I do have to say that there are a lot of days that I miss both of those unnecessary amenities. For instance, watching cartoons in bed with Jackson on Saturday morning or being able to post pictures to my blog at any time. However, for the most part, I think we have survived well without them. I may not be up to date on my favorite TV shows like the Biggest Loser but it has been nice really enjoying my family and spending an extra 5 minutes playing with Jackson as he takes his bath. These moments will always be cherished. However, I will say that he probably already has Toy Story memorized... I have to have something to keep him occupied while I cook dinner! :)

Here is a picture of him I snapped this morning with my phone. I apologize for the poor quality.

** Side note: I posted my picture after typing my post so Blogger automatically put it at the top of my posting. Of course, my touch screen cell phone will not allow me to highlight and move text around. But hey, it's there! Only my perfectionistic ways will be aggravated by the placement of the picture!

New Year, Fresh Start

Happy New Year!
Wow, I cannot believe another year has passed us by. In an effort to try and play “catch-up”, I am going to help you re-live our past year in a quick little posting.

January: Jackson turned 1!! We planned a small birthday bash at our home and the snow fell, and fell, and fell some more. There were many who couldn’t come but we still had a great time celebrating this wonderful milestone with Jackson.

February: Wayne and I were able to enjoy a weekend to ourselves on a marriage retreat with our church. It was definitely nice to get away but it was even better to get home and see little man again. I also was able to purchase a new digital SLR that month. It has been fun trying to learn how to use that.

March: Jackson had his first battle with the stomach virus. That was just lovely. Oh, and he didn’t keep it to himself either. He just had to give that to Mommy too! Enough said about all of that! Bo did celebrate his fifth birthday this month. He is such a special addition to our family. We sure do love that dog!

April: Wayne turned another year older! He had to work on his birthday this year but I did take him his favorite dinner… fried chicken and yeast rolls! We also celebrated the day of our risen Lord and Savior, Easter.

May: Another year was added to my life this month as I turned 28. We also celebrated Mother’s day. My May was very special this year. You see, I was actually born on Mother’s day in 1982 and every so often, my birthday will fall on Mother’s Day. It happened in 2010. So, in an effort to celebrate my birthday and Mother’s day, my mom planned a surprise trip for her and me. The destination? San Fransisco, CA. Didn’t actually find this out until we got to the airport the morning we left. She told me she chose the destination because it was her mother’s favorite city and she wanted to go and see the city for the first time with me.

June: We took Jackson to his first baseball game. He really LOVED the french fries. I tell ya, he is a boy after his mom’s own heart! He did make it through the whole game, he was just a little frightened when the fireworks started at the end. Typing this makes me reflect on those nice summer days/nights spent with family and friends. Nothing could ever replace those moments.

July: We took a trip to Atlanta see my aunt and her family. It was kind of a reunion for my mom’s side of the family. It was nice to spend a long weekend with everyone. Wayne and I were also able to go to a Braves game. I had been to one before but that was a first for him. Jackson also turned 18 months old this month!

August: Jackson had his 18 month check up scheduled for August 13th. I was a little concerned because by the end of July, he wasn’t walking yet. I told Wayne that I was definitely going to mention it to the doctor when we went. However, I didn’t want to have to discuss this with him, I wanted Jackson to walk. Well, low and behold… the week before his appointment, the boy was walking! We were so excited. However, we knew that this was another step for gaining more independence and that definitely frightened me a bit! My baby was growing up.

September: Wayne and I celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary in Atlantic Beach. Jackson also went to an ENT specialist to discuss options for tubes. The doctor told us if he had another ear infection within the next 6-8 weeks, to call him and we would schedule a surgery date. He also explained that having his adenoids removed would be best as well so that we could try and resolve a lot of Jackson’s congestion.

October: Jackson had a pretty big bang up at day care. He was walking on the side walk and tripped. He scratched his nose pretty bad. We went to Charlotte to celebrate my cousin’s daughter’s (Sydney’s) 2nd birthday. Jackson went bowling for the first time. He also helped her open her presents. We went to the fall festival at our church and Jackson dressed up like a cow and had fun playing several of the games. It will be interesting to see next year when he really tries to play for candy!

November: Jackson did have another ear infection so his surgery to have tubes put in and have his adenoids removed was November 17th. He did really well with the surgery and slept most of the day after the surgery. He spent the rest of the week with Wayne at home and they definitely got a lot of bonding in! I also cooked a Thanksgiving meal for my in-laws. This has seemed to become a tradition. I hope it sticks. I really enjoy doing that for them. It is always great to sit down and reflect on the things that we are thankful for and to count our so, so many blessings. Many that we don’t even deserve.

December: Wow, did this month run upon us! My brother got married on the 4th of the month. Christmas seemed to just jump into my lap and then run away really fast. Because of Wayne’s work schedule we did celebrate with family three weekends in a row. It was nice to have plenty of time for each family group and not have to rush off to the next place and try and see everyone in one day. We also learned that Jackson definitely found a larger portion of his vocabulary. It was so neat to see how much more he was talking since he had tubes put in his ears. I guess he could really hear for the first time.

On the last day of the year, we spent the evening with my brother and his wife at a joint friend’s house. We all brought in the New Year watching the ball drop on tv. Jackson even stayed awake for the midnight ball drop!

I know that I am leaving something out but I think this definitely highlights 2010. I am so thankful for another year and we will just have to see what is in store! Please know that much to your liking (hopefully), I will try and blog more often. My husband talked me into getting a nifty “smart” phone for Christmas so, now I have the internet on my phone. Pictures may be limited but hopefully I will be able to just write more often. I really do miss it!

Merry Christmas

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Contentment

(please note: this is a long one!)
Recently, I have had several battles with being content. I believe that this is evident in many of our lives because we are all human, but I have just been severely struggling with it and I believe Wayne has too. I have blogged about our ventures in trying to pay off some debt and that is going well. We both know that we need to get that off of our shoulders and we have been praying that we never allow ourselves to get there again.

However, both of us are striving so hard these days for the next step in life. Wayne really wants a new house – a bigger house. I, most days, would like to have another child soon so that Jackson will not be so much older than his sibling. I know that it is okay to dream. That is healthy for us; we need to strive to have more. However, I find that at times, these two items just consume us. Consume our daily lives and most of our conversations.

On several different occasions Wayne has told me that he is just tired of me talking to him about another baby. He is tired of everyone saying something to him about another child. I told him that I would do better about it but we are in the time in our lives when others are just going to mention it. We are in the childbearing years and that is what people our age talk about.

I was talking to my mom Saturday evening about all of this and that I had been going through these battles internally. I had mentioned that if I have to stop talking about another child and be content with Jackson, then why can’t he (Wayne) be content with the house that we have. Why do I always have to hear about his plans for the new house, what he wanted to do, where he wanted to build at, etc. The response? The wise words from Mom? “DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT!” “Don’t worry about any of it. God, in his perfect timing will provide”. “You will kill each other dealing with this mess.” She is so right.

“Don’t worry about it!” filled my head for the rest of the evening. I have consciously made an effort to quit worry about it. I have prayed that God would help me be content and I have continued to thank him for everything he has provided for us and everything additional that he has allowed us to have.

Yesterday I was driving to get Jackson after work. The thoughts and conversations about all this stuff hadn’t come to my brain so far for the day. However, the radio announcer started introducing the next song… “Waiting Room” by Jonny Diaz (lyrics below)… I had heard this song before and listened to some of the words. However, this time I listened to each word and boy, did it hit home.

God definitely has his perfect plan for our lives. Again, just because Wayne and I want a new house and another child doesn’t mean that we need them right now. God knows what He is doing and if we have to wait a little longer, we need to be happy with that. Even if He tells us no for one of them or both, we have to still continue to praise Him for the blessings that he has given us. There is a reason for every decision that He makes and we must strive to be content with those decisions.

Here in this waiting room yearning for You to say go
And though I’m convinced that a yes would be best
This time You’re telling me no

It’s not that I don’t have an answer
It’s just not the one that I’d like
But through this time Lord I must keep in mind
You’re always wiser than I

You have a much better purpose
And You have a far greater plan
And You have a bigger perspective
Cause You hold this world in your hands

The things that I seek are from You
Like the strong healing touch of your hand
But when You say no help me trust even though
There’s a reason I can’t understand

When that miracle comes cause Your answer is yes
I will praise you for all of my days
But when Your wisdom declares that a no is best
I will praise You just the same

Update

Wow. I thought I was doing a little better about the blogging thing, but time really flies by and before you know it, I am a month and some change over due! As I sit here and ponder things, I feel like so much has happened in the past month but when I really look at my calendar, I find that is not the case. Just normal day-to-day happenings, that’s all.

I will say that our baby is turning into a little boy too quickly! Everyone told me, but things like that seem so surreal until it actually happens – until you actually live it yourself. All three of us have found that walking definitely turns into quite a bit of independence! We are learning so much more about Jackson’s personality and his temperament. He is a curious little fella too. It is so fun just to sit back and watch him sometimes.

He has really gotten the hang of this walking stuff. He almost never crawls anymore and he is steadily getting faster and faster. Sometimes he just non-shalauntly walks through the house just swinging his arms like he doesn't have a care in the world. Side note: I know that I have misspelled "non-shalauntly" because dictionary.com can't find it. However, I wanted to use the word so that is my phonetic spelling. Back on track: I have even caught him a couple of times standing around looking at different things with his hands on his hips! Too cute!

I have got to find a way to get some video posted to the blog because I have a few things I want to share. Guess I will have to pay a visit to Mom's so that I can borrow her wireless internet for a bit.

Speaking of that… the whole no cable/no internet thing is going good so far. We really haven't missed it too, too bad. However, the fall seasons of some of our shows are starting this month so we will just have to live without them. There have been just a few times where Wayne really wished that we had the internet. Looking at things on the internet with his little Blackberry tends to get a bit frustrating.

I did take Jackson to an ENT doctor at the end of August. He had another ear infection. I was not happy with the doctor I saw so I ended up taking him again to a different doctor and office this week. The actually checked his hearing at the second doctor's office (I really thought they should have done that the first time… hence one of the reasons why I was upset the first go-round). The second go-round, I was told that he had really good hearing and he didn't have any more fluid on his ears. However, we have to keep watch of him and if he has another ear infection within 6 to 8 weeks, we will have to go back and consult with the doctor about ear tubes.

We did have one accomplishment this month. No more pacifier! The first ENT doctor told me that the pacifier was the root of all of his ear infections and she wanted me to get rid of it. I am not sure if this was the right way to do it, but I pulled it from him "cold-turkey". He never asked for it. The first night, he cried for about and hour but once I held him for a few seconds, he went right to sleep. After that, I have been able to lay him down and he has done well with getting himself to sleep. Come to find out, the 2nd ENT doctor told me that the whole paci thing was not a valid argument. That frustrated me even more, but you know… it is done with now. I am glad we did it now and not later when he was more attached to it. There are some days when I give myself a guilty conscience and tell my self that he probably really misses it… but I try to get over that quickly because he won't remember it next year.

I guess that is all the updating for now. Maybe this will suffice for a few more days… I will try and post more this weekend … especially the video. Have a good weekend!

18 months

A co-worker of mine has just started taking pictures, so I offered up Jackson as one of her guinea pigs. He needed his 18 month pictures done anyway and wow am I pleased! These are just a small part of the pictures she took. There wasn't anyway blogger was going to let me put all of the pictures on here. I hope you enjoy though!

Sneek Peek

Just a preview to Jackson's eighteen month photoshoot! Stay tuned for more!