In honor of Grandparent's Day

I figured I'd post some pics of the boys for the Grandparents to enjoy :) Oh and there are more videos for your viewing pleasure - I'm addicted to taking random vidoes of the kids, in case you haven't noticed (the link is on the right side titled "Kerry's videos". Enjoy!!!

Yesterday I took the boys to the park in our neighborhood. Aside from loving the huge field to run around crazy in, Colin loved the slide and went down it a million times:

And then took a reflective moment in the gazebo:

While Jackson happily layed in the stroller sucking his fingers:

Jackson has become a fan of his tummy. As soon as we lay him on his back, he rolls right over. Makes it easy to have him do tummy time, but the playmat we have for him is going to waste because he won't stay on his back long enough to play with the animals dangling from it LOL Oh and yes, he's now sleeping on his tummy too, which makes his Mommy incredibly nervous and extremely paranoid!!! As you can see, he's very happy on his tummy:

And today, Jackson got a new seat - a bumbo seat. It allows him to sit up, even though he's not strong enough to do it on his own yet. It was a huge hit with Jackson.... and Colin!

And I have to post this pic of Jackson - look at these cheeks!!!!! He giggles every time I try to "eat" them ;)




At one point this afternoon, Jackson was getting a little tired and started fussing. Colin was right there to try to cheer him up, he even offered Jackson his blankie! Anyone who knows how much Colin treasures his blankie will understand that this is a huge deal. Anyways, here's a pic of the "moment" between the boys. *sigh* I just love them so much!!!!



And last, I have to send a HUGE congratulations to Amy on the birth of her son, Sean. He was born yesterday and after everything she has endured on the road to getting pregnant, and how the pregnancy ended, I cannot imagine anyone who deserves to be a Mother more than her. I was able to meet Sean today, and he is just about as beautiful as they can come. I just know he's going to make her so happy in so many ways. Congratulations sweetie (and Happy Birthday to you today), and welcome to the world, Sean!!!!!

Someone turned 4 months old... and a trip to the zoo for the family!

Jackson is already 4 months old as of Sunday - crazy how fast time has gone! He had his 4 month appt last Friday and it went well. He weighed in at 17lbs 2oz (90%) and was 27 inches (100%). He's got his brother beat for this check-up. His shots went okay - I can't imagine any babies actually like getting shots, but although he cried, he was very easily consoled. We did get the news that he has a "nasty" ear infection according to the Dr. I guess that explains his restless sleep lately. The Dr even suspected it had been there awhile, that's how bad it was :( It bummed me out that he already has an ear infection - Colin didn't get his first one until he was 6 months old and eventually ended up with tubes. I always blamed daycare, but since Jackson's never been to daycare, I guess my boys just got bad ear genes from their Daddy. Jackson also has eczema just like his brother too. The only good news is that I have become quite good at handling both ear infections and eczema LOL Jackson has met his developmental milestones too - giggling, rolling over, putting weight on his legs, and grabbing toys.


I can't believe how big he's getting though. He's just about out of size 2 Swaddlers now, but they've come out with size 2-3, so that's what he'll be in as of tomorrow. He's moved up to size 6-9 month clothes, and size 9 month sleepers. He could probably go into 12 month sleepers, but the only 12 month sleepers I have from Colin are fleece ones and it's still too warm here in Michigan for those. I guess it's finally time to shop for him!

Colin is as funny as ever. He's really into being silly and making people laugh. We took him to the zoo again this past weekend and he had a blast, although I think his favorite part was throwing money into the pond. He seemed a little scared of the snakes (just like his Grandma!), alligators and of the polar bears & seals. We have quite a few new videos of him from the zoo and they're hilarious (www.dropshots.com/kerry0928) - make sure to check them out! The polar bear and seal exhibit have an underground tunnel so that they can swim over you. Colin did not find this amusing at all and would freak out anytime a seal would swim towards us and over us. Scott tried really hard to get Colin to relax and enjoy it, but he wanted nothing to do with it. The videos show his reaction pretty well ;)

Here's some pics of the boys this past week:

New pics!

This post is going to be short and mainly just pics. I don't have time for much of an entry right now, but that last post was such a downer that I want a new post on my page ;)

Here's a family pic from Jackson's baptism 2.5wks ago:

Colin at the seal exhibit at the zoo (he like this until the seal came right up in his face!):

Climbing on the rocks outside the polar bear exhibit:

Here's Colin with his new girlfriend, Sammie (who he actually stayed awake to play with this time LOL):

Kisses goodnight - notice my guy going in open-mouthed:

A pic of the boys "playing" - Colin wanted to hold hands, Jackson doesn't look so thrille about that:

And last, a smiley pic of Jackson:

Hope you enjoyed!

And so this is life

Sorry I haven't posted lately. There's just so much going on that I'm having a hard time seeing straight, and well, I'm just not dealing well with it emotionally. I usually don't blog about my personal life, but I guess this is a time where I need to just let it out.

Scott and I are living in different states - no, we're not getting divorced - it's just something that needs to happen, I guess. I'm here in Michigan with the boys to take care of all on my own and that stresses me out beyond belief. I've just become a stay at home Mom when Jackson was born, so I'm still trying to adjust to that, and now I'm thrown into being a single parent too. It's incredibly overwhelming and I don't think I'm doing a very good job. I'm getting some help from my Mom and Scott's aunt, but I hate more than anything to ask for help - I'm stubborn and I want to prove to everyone that I can do it on my own, that I'm a strong person. But the truth is that I'm just trying to function until we can be a family again. I'm really trying to pull it together for my kids, but it's hard. I'm constantly stressed, and as much as I want to play and laugh with my kids, I feel like there's no time. It's all 100% on me to clean, cook, do laundry, grocery shop (forget any other kind of shopping), and battle getting the kids dressed or down for naps and bedtime. Not to mention that I'm doing all of this on very little sleep since Jackson still isn't the best sleeper -I haven't had a full night's sleep in about 4 months (last time I posted, I said he was sleeping through the night, but that apparently was just a fluke because he's only done it twice since). If only we could fast-forward the next month, then maybe I'll be breathing a little more calmly. I know I'll get through this, bottom line is that I have to. It's not really my choice that things are the way they are, but so be it. This is life... roll with the punches, right?

So what triggered me to actually post this? A phone call this morning. A call from one of my best friends. When I saw it was her, I was elated, I thought - OMG, she's going into labor, her son is coming today!!!! What I wasn't prepared for - it wasn't her going into labor at all. Her sister had committed suicide last night. It was a complete blow to the gut. I'm still in shock. I cannot imagine what she is going through right now. Her son is scheduled to be born in only 12 days. She has had so much anxiety with this pregnancy and now she gets to end it with her sister's funeral. I wish there was something I could do. This is a time where she should be excited, enjoying the last moments of pregnancy, getting things ready for her son's arrival, and instead she's making funeral arrangements for her sister. Life is not fair - not fair at all.

It's been an emotional day. A day I wish I had my husband here for. And that leads me to this post and why I had to let it out.... Next post I promise to be back to my usual happier self and post some pics of the kiddos - I know there's Grandparents out there who would love to see them ;)

3 months old!

Jackson is 3 months old today!!! I remember wishing for his first 3 months to be over just because they seemed so difficult, and today I got my wish. He's sleeping through the night (7:30pm-6 or 6:30am) as of last week, so it's been nice to get some good night's sleep around here. And he has become an all-around happy baby. He's not the best napper, but considering there's been so much change going on since he was born, there hasn't been time to get him into a very good routine. Not to mention getting last minute phone calls for showings lately, so most of his naps have been on the go the past couple days.


This week has been exceptionally long. Although my parents had Colin stay the night from Sunday - Tuesday, it still didn't make time go by any faster for me. I feel like the weeks that Scott's gone are getting longer and longer. I cannot wait until we're finally all moved down to Texas, just so we can actually be a family. And today Colin asked where Daddy was. That was the first time he's ever asked that while Scott's been away. It broke my heart :(


Anyways, on to fun stuff. Here's a pic of big J on his 3 month birthday, a cute little video of him talking/grunting to me, and a pic of Colin who didn't want to be outshined by his little bro ;)

Hair today, gone tomorrow

Jackson is now 12.5wks old and despite all the hair he was born with, he's slowly losing it all. He's pretty much completely bald on top, but still has a ton of black hair in the back. It looks kind of goofy, but yet cute of course ;) And the new fuzz growing in on top looks blond. It could be too early to tell though. So I have yet to see if my 2 boys will both be blond-haired & blue-eyed, or if they'll look alike, except for having opposite hair colors. I don't want to wish time away, but I cannot wait until they get a little older and can play with each other!


Anyways... we got home from a trip down to Louisiana to visit Scott's parents this past week. It was a great trip for all of us. I know they enjoyed being able to spend time with Colin and you could see a definite change in his temperment from getting so much attention again. And they were able to see how much Jackson had changed, since he was only 3.5wks old when they left - he's practically a whole different baby now.


While we were down there, Scott & I went to Dallas for a night to find a place for us to live. We found a 3br/2ba apartment that we'll live in for about a year until we get our bearings for the area and decide where we want to live permanently. And the apartment even has a toddler pool, so I think Colin will be in heaven. He loves the water!


On a good note (for me anyways), Jackson slept through the night the past 2 nights! Two nights ago he slept 7:30-5:15am and last night he went from 7:30-6:15am. It is so nice to be getting a decent night's sleep lately. Now if we could just get Jackson to nap better in his crib, then we'll be all set ;)


Here's a couple pics of the boys:


Colin having fun in the pool at his Grandma & Grandpa's. Oh and I need to mention that the arm floaties he's wearing, he did not want to take off - he loved them! LOL

And here's Colin doing is "happy baby" face. We kept saying to Jackson that he was a happy baby and Colin said he was a happy baby too, so we asked to see his happy baby face, and this is what we got:



And our smiley guy, Jackson, who has been quite a happy baby lately (yay)!!!

That's all for now!

My son, the fish

This kid cracks me up! I cannot wait for my inlaws to see him do this in person. He can also "talk" like a whale (not sure where he learned that - an episode of Diego, maybe?) - I need to catch that on video too!

Our first vacation

It's hard to believe, but we finally went on our first family vacation. Colin's over 2yrs old now, but we had never taken him on a vacation, other than up north to Scott's grandparent's house on the lake for a night or 2. This past Thursday we headed to Wisconsin to visit my brother and his family.

I drove there with my Mom and the boys and it went really well. It was a 6hr car ride and we stopped twice so Jackson could eat and we could all stretch our legs. We had gotten a DVD player for the car as a gift, and it came in handy - Colin watched Finding Nemo 3 times on the way there and loved every second of it.

Friday we braved the heat and headed to Six Flags. Surprisingly, both boys did great. Colin had a blast riding kiddie rides and running around Wiggles World. Jackson just seemed to like being outside and slept almost the whole day away and even slept through the night by not waking up until 6am, which was a nice break!

Scott came there on Saturday (he had just gotten home from Texas Friday night), so that day we hung out at the pool, then went to Ryan's house for dinner and out for ice cream.

Sunday we went to the best kid's restaurant ever - StoneFire Pizza Co. (their main website is down, but you can see pics here). This restaurant needs to be a national chain because it was incredible. Not only is it a salad, pizza, & ice cream buffet, but they have different rooms to eat in, depending on your mood (or age) - they have a quiet dining room, a sports room, a movie room (which was playing Finding Nemo), and a discovery play room (which had different toddler activities). We ate in the movie room so Colin could watch more Finding Nemo, which of course distracted him from eating LOL Then we headed to the discovery play room where Colin was able to climb, go down slides, play with legos, a water table and a train table, and a giant play kitchen. We didn't think we'd be able to get him out of that restaurant! But 4hrs later, we did ;-) Oh, and did I mention they also had a game room where you could play games and ride some small rides? Yeah, it was a great time!

The hotel we stayed in had a huge toddler pool with a frog slide and 2 fountains, so that kept Colin busy when we were there. He loves being in the water, so anytime he got crabby, we just took him to the pool!

And now it's time for picture overload -

Colin riding the ladybug ride:

Me and Colin riding the Wiggles airplane ride:

Colin riding the bumble bee ride:

Colin with his Grandma & cousins:

Here's how Jackson spent the day at Six Flags:

Even Colin needs his downtime:

Colin and Jackson with their cousins and 2nd cousins:

Time for ice cream!

Colin riding the carousel at StoneFire:

Me and Jackson:

Scott and Colin playing video games:

Playing at the water table with his cousins:

And finally, our first family picture, which didn't go too well as you can see....

So we took another...

Hope you enjoyed the pics! There's a couple new videos loaded up at www.dropshots.com/kerry0928 if you care to take a look :)

2 months old today!

I can't believe Jackson's already 2 months old! Time sure does fly... We had his 2 month appt this past week and he's already 13lbs 7oz and 23in long - he's giving his big brother some competition! Colin was 13lbs 11oz and 24in at 2 months old. Jackson did well with the shots, better than expected.

Other than the Dr visit, this past week we didn't really do much. Scott was finally home and got to spend time with his boys. Jackson has been smiling for a couple weeks now, but those smiles are becoming more and more frequent and easier to come by. We love it! And boy is he becoming quite the chatterbox. Considering how much Colin talks, we think we're going to be in trouble when Jackson gets a little older! Speaking of Colin - he's taken interest in pop recently. We don't let him have any, and actually what I've been telling him is that when he's 3, he can have a drink of pop. So now if I happen to have a can of pop, he'll point to it and say "when 3, pop, when 3" in this cute little sing-song voice. It's hysterical! But he seems to understand what it means, so I'm going with it.

This coming week, the boys are taking their first big car trip to visit their cousins, Cameron and Jessica in Wisconsin. It's about a 6hr drive, so we'll see how they both do. We're prepared with a DVD player, movies, a couple toys, and lots of snacks! Scott's in Texas this week, but he'll be meeting us in Wisconsin on Saturday.

Sorry this post is short, but the kids are keeping me busy. I've taken some pics lately, so I'll post couple and if you're really bored, I uploaded a few videos - go to www.dropshots.com/kerry0928 to take a look! Sorry the pic of Colin is so blurry - he's getting very difficult to take a picture of because he's always on the move and doesn't have patience to hold still very long, plus he's back to doing the scrunch smile thing, so his smiles are pretty cheesy LOL. Jackson's a little easier because he can't go anywhere... yet!

For Grandma and Grandpa

Scott's parents have been gone almost a month now and they sure are missed around here! Both boys wanted to say hi to them :)

Here's a video of Jackson - he wanted to send a couple little smiles to his Grandparents, but you have to be patient, the smiles are at the end:

And here's Colin saying hi to "Neema and Geepa" (his version of Grandma & Grandpa):

Both boys are doing good. Colin is loving the summer weather because he gets to be outside a lot and swim in his pool. When we're stuck in the house he really likes playing with his magnetic letters - we're practicing the alphabet every day and he's getting good! Jackson is starting to be awake more during the day and is on a pretty good schedule. He finally is enjoying his playmat and bouncy seat, so we make sure he gets time with each one during the day, and of course lots of tummy time! Last night he slept from 9-4:30am, so no complaints on his nighttime sleep.

All of us are anxious for Saturday when Scott comes home for a week. Him having to be down in Texas every other week is pretty stressful. So we just make sure to enjoy the week's that he is home and eventually we'll all be down in Texas and can finally relax a little bit :)

6 weeks old!

Time sure is flying! Big J (as I call him) is 6 weeks old now and doing great. Everything I've read and been told says that fussiness peaks at 6 weeks, and considering this guy hardly ever cries lately (aside from when we try to put him down for bed, but that's another story), I think we've got a fairly smooth ride ahead of us *knock on wood* He's been sleeping for 6-7hr stretches at night starting about 4 nights ago. Hopefully we're onto something there because I sure am enjoying getting my sleep again :) He started smiling last week, so that's been fun to see what and who can make him smile. Those gummy smiles are the best!

Colin's still doing great too. He tells everyone "my brother" when they start talking about Jackson. And he loves to hold him - actually he'll lay down and ask to hold him, so I just rest Jackson's head on his belly and that'll last for about 30 seconds when Colin declares "all done" and I have to grab Jackson's head before Colin moves and it hits the ground. Toddlers sure like to keep us on our toes LOL Colin does seem to like getting his picture taken more now too - anytime I get the camera out to take a picture of Jackson, Colin's there saying "my cheese, Mommy", which means "hey, take a picture of me too!", which I of course do!

Here's some new pics of my boys:

Colin doing tummy time with Jackson

Colin doing his infamous "cheese":

Here's a couple pics of me attempting to catch Big J smiling:
And finally, here's a video of Big J in action taken this morning. If you listen, you'll hear Colin hiccuping & laughing at his hiccups (he was standing next to me) and saying his version of "Jackson" and "Mommy, Jackson here".

It's been 4 weeks already

I cannot believe Jackson has been in our lives for 4 weeks already. I still feel like my entire pregnancy went by in a blur, and now the little boy we created is almost 1 month old!

Things in our house are starting to fall into place. Of course Scott leaving for the week on business didn't help, but we're managing. Jackson was even nice on me last night and only woke once at 3:30am. It was heaven!!!

Jackson finally had his first bath last week and he's had a couple more since then, so far he doesn't seem to mind them. Thank goodness for that! He has a nasty case of baby acne, so we're anxiously awaiting that to go away. Colin still seems to like his little brother - he helps out so much. A few days ago I was fixing Jackson a bottle, and Jackson was crying, so while I put the formula back in the cupboard, Colin took the bottle and started feeding Jackson. It was so cute! Of course I grabbed the camera:

On a sad note, my inlaws are moving to Louisiana today - my father-in-law's job was transferred down there. We said our VERY emotional goodbyes last night :-( My mother-in-law has been a huge support for me since having Jackson and I'm going to miss her more than I can say. They have been a huge part of Colin's life, seeing him about 4-5 days a week, so it's going to be hard on them to not see him regularly. They said goodbye to him last night, but then called this morning and asked if they could have him over for 2-3hrs before they left. And of course I let them. I wish they didn't have to go, but this is life.

Anyways, here's some recent pics of me and the kiddos - sorry the pic of me and Colin is so blurry:

Another week has past

I'll be honest, we're learning that having 2 little ones is pretty tough (and exhausting!) work. Two nights ago Jackson woke up around 3:45am to eat, no big deal. As I'm feeding him, I can hear Colin coughing. He continues to cough until he throws up. I should probably mention that Jackson does not go back to sleep easily when he wakes during the night. We have to be extremely careful not to jostle him too much putting him back in the bassinet, otherwise he wakes up, cries, and we repeat the nursing process again. Anyways, Scott gets up to take care of Colin - changing both him and his bedding, while I continue to nurse Jackson. When I think he was done, I put him in the bassinet and went to help Scott. Of course Colin was wide awake and ready to play, so it took some convincing to get him back to bed. And he wanted Mommy to put him to bed, not Daddy. So I finally get him back to bed, go into our bedroom and Jackson is awake and starts crying to eat some more. I continue to nurse him and he falls back asleep and then I was able to put him back in the bassinet and go back to sleep myself. This may not sound too bad to anyone else, but this whole "process" took 1.5hrs. And of course that wasn't the only time I had to get up to nurse Jackson that night, so I didn't get much sleep.

Then we have the whole nursing issue. I'm really enjoying the time when I'm nursing Jackson, but I don't produce much and he usually still requires a bottle of formula aftewards and that's frustrating. Plus, Colin doesn't seem to like me nursing him. I think because Jackson is a slow nurser, Colin gets jealous. I try to pump, but I only get a total of 1oz each time, which yet again is incredibly frustrating. So I'm torn on this whole issue. There's a huge part of me that wants to make it work and do what I need to do, but then the small part of me keeps saying it's a losing battle. Basically I tried, it didn't work out, and need to move on. And I'll be honest, I think the small part of me is winning. Mostly because I nurse Jackson and he is still starving afterwards and cries until we give him a bottle. When I give him a bottle of formula, he is unbelievably content and happy. I actually have time to enjoy my little boy when I give him a bottle. But I so badly want to be the one nourishing him. So as you can see, I'm torn.... Sure I can pump and bottle feed that way, but it takes a whole day of pumping just to make up one bottle for him. UGH! I was prepared for this to be difficult, but I thought it would be hard because of Colin. I hadn't anticipated having such a low supply of milk :(

Anyways, despite our struggles with having Jackson here, I can say with certainty that I would not change it for the world. I cannot believe how much he has completed our family. I always said I wanted 4 kids, Scott only wanted 2, but now that I have my 2 boys, I am so happy and feel so fortunate for what I have. I cannot imagine changing or adding to our family in any way. To me my 2 little boys are the world to me!

Here's a picture of Colin on Mother's Day. He was being a goofball on our drive home and liked wearing his sunglasses upside down.

And here's Jackson from this past Wednesday, when he was 2wks old:

And last, a picture of the boys together. It's not a very good one because Colin doesn't sit still very long LOL But he loves giving Jackson hugs & kisses so I had to attempt to get a picture of it :)