Photos

On Saturday Matt and I went to the "Oh Baby" expo and a photographer took a few cute pics of Jackson for free, here are the links to the pictures!

http://babyblox.digitaleventsonline.com/gallery/?cat=32887&image=46
http://babyblox.digitaleventsonline.com/gallery/?cat=32887&image=44
http://babyblox.digitaleventsonline.com/gallery/?cat=32887&image=45

First Train Ride/Torticollis

Yesterday Jackson went on his very first train ride when we drove out to Georgetown and went on the "Georgetown Loop". Then we drove up through the Guanella Pass to see all of the beautiful fall colors. Jackson was wonderful and we had another beautiful Colorado day.



Today Jackson and I went back to Children's to have his brace adjusted. The doctor thinks that he is doing well, but we won't know for sure until he has another ultrasound in five weeks. Along with Jackson's Hip Displaysia he also has a problem with his neck called "Torticollis" where his head is tilted to one side. The torticollis goes hand in hand with the displaysia and also has to do with not having enough room to grow inside of me. There are some neck exercises that we have been doing with Jackson since he was a week old, and today the doctor gave us more to do with him. Hopefully doing these more often will help stretch out his neck muscle and correct the problem. The worst case scenario would be that if the stretches don't work he would have to have surgery on his neck when he is about a year old. We are praying that the stretches are successful so that we don't get to that point. These are also really painful for Jackson and hard for Matt and I to do to him. We know that it will pay off in the long run though, and he won't remember all of this pain he had to go through as an infant.

First Trip to the Mountains

Today was Jackson's first trip to the mountains. We made the drive up to Estes Park and then drove through Rocky Mountain National Park and he did excellent. It was a beautiful fall day and we got to see lots of elk, some snow at the peaks, and lots of beautiful fall colors.
In Estes Park Matt bought Jackson his second "Ugly Doll", this one is larger than the first and has chest hair, it is both ugly and cute and the same time.
Jackson is also starting to get used to his brace, he still screams when he tries to stretch, but not as often as he did at first. I think that it is harder on Matt and I than it is on Jackson. His new style is an oversized shirt with a diaper, since none of his pants fit! He still looks adorable though.

Tough Day

Today was a very tough day. We had to bring Jackson to Children's Hospital to have an ultrasound on his hip. When he was 1 day old the pediatrician had felt a "click" in his hip and was worried that maybe there was a problem, but they could not do an ultrasound until he was three weeks old. So now that he is three weeks and 2 days old today we brought him in and they found out that he has something called "hip displaysia". Basically his left hip socket isn't deep enough and if they don't deepen it now it could cause bad arthritis when he is older. They said that it happens to about 4 out of every 1000 babies, and has to do with him being breech when he was in me without enough room to grow.

Luckily it can be fixed with a brace. They fit him for the brace today and they say that it does not hurt him, but it also does not allow him to straighten his legs which drives him crazy. As a parent it was so hard to listen to him scream in agony all day because he could not straighten out. Over time he will get used to it, but for now it is difficult. It is also incredibly difficult to change his diaper because we have to wrestle it under the brace. He can wear clothes over the brace, but they have to be pretty baggy to fit, so I guess that we are moving on to all of those adorable 3 month clothes that he has! It is also hard to figure out how to hold and cuddle him because there is so much Velcro and we don't want to bend him into an uncomfortable position.

It's only going to be for 6 weeks, and hopefully then he will be healed. We will go for a check up at Children's every week and then have another ultrasound at the end of the 6 weeks and hopefully that will be it.

He's Three Weeks Old!

Jackson is now three weeks old, and getting cuter every day! The only time he isn't so cute is when he screams, which has been happening a lot lately. The night before last he slept for approximately 3 hours total, and then only napped for a total of 2 hours, giving Matt and I no sleep. Luckily last night he slept from 10PM to 4AM for a total of 6 hours, his longest stretch ever! It sure was a relief. Yesterday we took Jackson to church for the first time and he did excellent, he slept through half of it, and then enjoyed just sitting on Matt's lap. Hopefully he is always that good at church!

Here is a picture of Jackson sucking his thumb, he is getting better and better at finding it, but still struggles so it is a big accomplishment when he actually gets it into his mouth!
This is a picture of Jackson in the "dress sleeper", this is Matt's favorite way to dress him because it makes changing diapers in the middle of the night so easy. Matt says that we will keep him in these until he is walking with his little feet out the bottom!
This weekend Erin Johnson and her boyfriend Mark came to Denver from Tampa for a wedding. It was nice to see her and meet him, and they got a lot of cuddle time from Jackson! Amanda Kuure also came to Denver from Vail and we all caught up and went out for dinner.
Yesterday after some time on the computer I came out to find both of my boys snoozing away!
I'm not quite sure where Jackson's pants went, but he was just so adorable laying on the couch that I had to get a picture!

He Smiled at Me!

Today Jackson started smiling at me! It was the first time that he wasn't smiling from burping or passing gas and it was adorable. Luckily I had the camera right next to me and caught a few cute looks from him on camera!

Our Growing Little Boy

The other day I tried snapping one of Jackson's newborn onesies, and it would barely snap, he is already growing out of it! Matt and I measured Jackson, and he is now 21 and a half inches long, that's 2 and a half inches longer than when he was born! Today Matt picked out Jackson's outfit for the first time, the pants were a little big, but he was so proud that it got my approval that we had to get a picture, can you believe it, even his socks match! Jackson absolutely loves to be held, and the only place that he will sleep when he isn't being held is in his swing, Matt calls it, "The Silencer". The other picture is of Jackson and Matt watching the Bears game. Matt hasn't let him miss one game yet, even though he does sleep straight through them!

He's Two Weeks Old!!!

Here is the cute little outfit that Grandma and Grandpa Debbie and John gave Jackson... he wasn't too happy at the moment, but I had to get a picture!On Thursday night, this is the sleepy little "Pea in the Pod" that Matt came home to! It's still a bit big on him!
Since Jackson was born he has been trying to figure out how to suck his thumb, but he always has it clenched in his fist so he ends up just sucking on random parts of his hand. Today he had a breakthrough and actually found the thumb!
Jackson's favorite place to be is on his changing table, he just stares at his stuffed animals, and loves to listen to the musical one that he got from Uncle Jake.

Baby Announcements

I'm pretty sure that I am losing it... I had two stacks of baby announcements, one that already had return addresses, and another that still needed return addresses. Well... today I mailed out the stack that didn't have return addresses. Let's just hope that I had everyone's addresses right, or there will be no knowing if they ever make it out or not!

First Solo Outing!

Jackson and I had our first solo outing today and it was a success. First we went to the pediatrician. Last Thursday Jackson weighed 7lbs 14oz. and today (one week later) he weighs 8lbs 12oz! That's almost a pound in exactly one week! The doctor said that he is very healthy which was good news. Then Jackson had his first visit to Target for some baby essentials, who knew you needed so much formula and so many infant hangers??? We also picked up his halloween costume! We're going to surprise Matt tonight when he gets home from work to find his cute little "pea in a pod"!

I wanted to post my baby picture in contrast to Jackson's, because he looks so much like I did when I was a baby. Here are the two, side by side, can you see the resemblance? As a joke Matt says his theme song is the rap song, "Dat Baby don't look like me". If you want to hear it here is a link, it is pretty hilarious. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBI_sjZrhFY

More Pictures of the Little Cutie

I'm probably going overboard with all of the pictures, but I can't help it, so here's a few more pictures of Jackson! As you can see he loves to sleep with his hands above his head. He also likes to put up a good struggle at bath time. Today he has another checkup with the pediatrician. Hopefully she says he is still doing great. I don't know how much he weighs yet but his little cheeks are getting chubbier by the day! He is getting much better at night, Matt's been feeding him before he leaves for UPS at 1:30AM every morning which lets me get a full six hours of sleep before I have to get up and feed him at 4:30. My parents left for Minnesota early this morning, and I am definitely going to miss them, and their help! Luckily we will get to see them again in only three weeks. Well, it's time for another diaper change so I will post more later!
-Jess

VIDEOS FINALLY!

One Hour Old... narrated by Matt



Jackson's First Frown... narrated by Matt



Two Days Old moving his arms... narrated by Matt

Going home from the Hospital

He's already 6 days old!

Jackson has been home for 4 days now and is doing excellent. He is definitely a "night owl" as his favorite time to be up is from about 10PM to 2AM. Luckily we have had enough grandparents around that every morning at about 7AM I have been able to hand him off and go back to sleep. Yesterday Matt's mom and stepdad (Glenn and Diane) arrived and they were so happy to see him. They brought tons of gifts and clothes, and I think that now we have enough baby clothes to put him in a different outfit every day and never have to do laundry! He is going to be one stylish baby. He also got some more Cubs and Bears clothing... Matt is going to teach him where his loyalties lie young! My parents left to go camping yesterday, and will be back on Monday, hopefully they enjoy their new camper.

For everyone back home we have made our travel plans and we will be leaving Denver on Thursday October 2nd and heading to the Twin Cities. Then on Saturday, October 4th we will be heading up to the lake for a few days. Then on Tuesday, October 7th we will be spending one last night in the Cities. Then on Wednesday, October 8th we will be driving to Crystal Lake, and staying there until Monday, October 13th when we make the big trip back to Denver. We would love to see as many people as possible, and let you all see Jackson, so just get in touch with us so that we can make plans to see everyone!

I know that you are all anxious to see videos, we have been slow getting them up, but hopefully we will get them posted soon. In the mean time here are some more pictures... he sure is a cutie! Also, if you are interested in ordering any of the pictures from his first week, they are all available in a shared Shutterfly album. The quality of the pictures in the album is a lot better than copying them from the blog. Here is the link to that album: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0QbtGThmybsXWQ

He's Home

Today we brought Jackson home from the hospital and he is doing great. My mom and dad (Curt and Jan) are here to help us out and it is really nice to have them around. Matt's goal is to see how many diapers he can avoid changing, and so far he hasn't had to change too many! Matt has also gone crazy with the video camera, video taping every single "first" that Jackson has. One of today's firsts was the baby swing, which didn't go too well, I think that we need to wait a few weeks for him to get a little bigger. Here are a few more pictures for all of you that want to see the little guy. Hopefully tomorrow we will post some of the videos that Matt has been taking.

-Jess