Jackson's 3 year appointment

We went to the doctor today for Jackson's 3 year check-up. Dr. J said he looked great and was right where he should be for a normal 3 year old.

Here are his stats

Weight: 28 lbs 3.2 oz (15%)

Height: 35.25 inches (6%)

He is tiny but oh, so cute..and most importantly healthy!

Buggy Time

Tonight we took a family trip to Wal-Mart. Not wanting Philip to spend yet another shopping adventure cramped in his car seat, we decided to try him out sitting in the buggy. He can sit on his own for a few minutes while playing so I thought he might be ready for this next step.

He did a great job and looked like such a big boy! Here he is loving this new view of life!


Here's the picture of Jackson on his first outing in the front seat. I wish I knew when this was taken. I bet he was about the same age, around 5 -6 months.

Potty Training

There are two words that bring fear into every mother – Potty Training!

These dreaded words have been slowly creeping into my vocabulary as we have inched our way to the beginning of 3-year-old preschool. Knowing that Jackson had to be out of diapers by September, I decided (why exactly, I am not sure) that the best time to conquer this task would be by myself while Wesley was in Jerusalem.

So, after our week in Nashville, I ventured home to prepare for…well, I wasn’t exactly sure. All I knew was I needed patience, prizes and liquid! After Jackson went to bed Thursday night, I set up his award station. Friday morning, we began.

I really had no idea what I was doing. Scared that my carpet was going to be completely destroyed, I rushed poor Jackson to the potty every 10 minutes. Even still, we had several accidents as Jackson learned what it felt like to go with out the familiar comfort of a diaper.

We survived day one and had amazing success day two. Sunday was a different story. After spending the day cleaning up accident after accident, I put both boys down at 6:30 and called my sister in tears. Had he forgotten everything I had drilled into his head the past two days?

Being the older, wiser, experienced sister (she trained two at once!) she told me to stop stressing and if need be, put the training on hold for a few days. Sensing that either Jackson or I would not survive another day in the house, she strongly encouraged me just to get out and celebrate the successes Jackson had had over the weekend. Yes, Sunday was bad, but Saturday was great.

It was really difficult to change directions in my potty training regimen. I had a goal – to have completely potty trained Jackson in four days – and I felt as if I left the house, I would not achieve my goal.

It was then I remembered this wasn’t really about me, was it? It was about Jackson and if my stress was stressing him out, we wouldn’t get anywhere! I decided to take her advice, and a trip to the mall for a ride on the train quickly went on the agenda for Monday. I put Jackson in a pull-up and vowed that if he had an accident, it was no big deal. It would happen eventually.

Well, it turns out removing the stress from the situation was a huge motivator for Jackson. We went to the mall, rode the train and carousel, and even attempted to tinkle in the mall potty (which he thought was a hoot!) He came home with a dry pull-up and went right back into the underwear. Wow! What a difference a day of low stress makes!

We had a great time at the mall and enjoyed the rest of our time together until Wesley returned home so proud of his little man!

Overall, I can honestly say the experience wasn't all that fun. We ended on a high note but I now know why potty training gets a bad rap. It is quite stressful, discouraging and down right miserable at times, but in the end, it is pretty amazing to see your child achieve such a milestone. He was proud of himself and I was so very very proud of him. He is doing so well and it was worth all the frustrations and tears those four days brought.

Now's the big question: will it be easier the second time around or should I just go on vacation in about two years and leave Philip's training to Wesley??

I was ready! I had all sorts of snacks and prizes for him if he went (or attempted to go) and stickers - stickers - and more stickers!

Riding the train (Philip's first time!)

Attempting the carousel with both boys

So we got really really bored in the house for three days straight. We ended up dressing Philip up for some laughter:

Just Because

I was going through some random pictures mainly from my phone and Wesley's phone and realized I wanted to share. These are taken over the last several months of nothing in particular. Just snapshots of my boys as they grow:

4/5/2010

One of his first smiles!

4/13/2010

Brotherly Love

4/26/2010

4/30/2010

4/30/2010

Using his "banana ears" that helped with his torticollis

5/4/2010

Brothers loving and playing

5/17/2010

5/19/2010

Emily, Jackson and Philip watching as Wesley and Ryan unloaded some furniture. Check out P's hat!

5/29/2010

6/2/2010

6/4/2010

6/4/2010

6/7/2010

6/17/2010

I bought some of the Huggies Jean Diapers just for fun..what a hoot!

6/25/2010

7/15/2010

7/17/2010

Jackson has started to love watching the tennis players play on the neighborhood courts

7/26/2010

Happy Birthday, Jackson!

Today was Jackson’s 3^rd birthday. He celebrated with Mimi and Pop Pop who had come down for the weekend.

The celebrations started last night when Pop Pop took us to Chick-fil-a for Jackson's favorite: chicken nuggets, french fries and ketchup. This afternoon after church, we had a lasagna birthday lunch and opened some presents.

Mimi and Pop Pop’s presents of a microphone and guitar were an instant hit! He immediately started singing and entertaining.

Here are some pictures from the day. Happy Birthday, Jackson!

My first attempt at a homemade lasagna. I think it turned out okay! Jackson asked for seconds!

Ready for the cake!

Again, he LOVED having everyone sing him "Happy Birthday"

Precious smile!

Jammin' on his new "titar" and microphone. First song he decided to sing for us "Hey Soul Sister" by Train...maybe I ought to watch what I listen to around him!

Mimi helping him read his card from Emmie and Ry-Ry

Showing Baby Philip how to open a present! What was it? A Trash Truck...he got two new ones today to add to his every growing collection:

He's now up to 16..well, actually 15. The orange one is a recycle truck, which he got from Emily and Ryan. He opened it and said, " Look, it's a trash truck with two persons on the back...oh, no, it's a recycle truck." I told Emily his response and her response was "Oh no! We didn't think he'd notice!" Believe me, he knows the difference between his trash trucks! But he loves it just the same!

Solid Foods!

I can’t believe that Philip is already eating “real” food! We gave him his first taste of rice cereal on Tuesday, July 6 and today he started with green beans.

He loved the first bite of cereal but that doesn’t surprise me. This boy has been waiting to join us at the table for awhile! So far, he has preferred rice over oatmeal, and green beans over cereal. He loved the beans! Hopefully, we will have this success with all the vegetables!

First taste of Rice Cereal

7/6/10

First taste of vegtables (green beans)

7/22/10

This is not a face of dislike. Instead, it is a face of "why did you stop feeding me to take another picture!"

Not to be forgotten, Jackson wanted me to also take a picture of him eating his waffle and cantaloupe.

So, who's the crazy one?

Am I crazy for suggesting that a fun activity would be picking blueberries in July at noon with a 3-year-old and 5-month-old?

Is Kate crazy for thinking it would be fun to join us with her 3-year-old and 4-month-old?

Or are we both crazy for actually going??

Well, one things for sure...the boys weren't crazy when after 15 minutes, covered in sweat, they wanted back in the air conditioned car! Jackson used words; Jack and Philip just showed us in tears that this party was over!

Only little Sam enjoyed the hunt for the blueberries...which he correctly informed me, weren't really blue after all...so why don't we call them purpleberries?

Here are some pictures from our yearly trip to Blueberry Hill. A trip that from here on out will come at 8:30 in the morning instead of midday! Good did come out of the trip though - I got a whole bucketful of delicious fresh berries!

Jackson was actually very good at spotting the ripe berries!

"So, how many do you have?"

I guess it was too hot to smile!

I'm all done here!

Liz and Austin's Wedding

Tonight Wesley and I were able to attend the wedding of Liz Peterson and Austin Alvarez. This sweet couple started dating in high school and both were in the teen program at the Alpharetta Y. Though they each went onto different colleges, their relationship stayed strong. They hold a special place in our hearts, and we were so happy to celebrate with them tonight.

It was so much fun to dress up and go out! We tried for a cute picture, but of course, the best we got of Wesley and me had an extra smile in it as well!

This was the second best shot of the two of us all dressed up and ready to go.

Thank you to Jack and Lynne for coming down to babysit the boys for the night!

Let's Talk Trash!

Today was Jackson’s 3^rd birthday party. Keeping true to his passions, we let it be Trash Day!

We kept it very simple only inviting a few of his friends. We had a few games, ate some delicious cake (I can say that because Susan made it for us!), opened presents, and just let the kids play!

Here are some pictures from the garbage -filled festivities.

The Birthday Boy in the garbage truck shirt my mom made for him.

We had an awesome Trash Truck cake that Susan made. It looked great and tasted yummy! That was our centerpiece and was surrounded by some of Jackson's trash trucks and some extra cupcakes.

We played a game where the kids (dressed in trash bags) picked up "trash" in our back yard. There was candy hidden in each bag. I think the kids semi-enjoyed this little game.

Happy Birthday!

Jackson had been looking forward to the day all his friends would sing "Happy Birthday" to him. He was all about it and actually started singing - Happy Birthday to Me- before everyone else joined in.

Blowing out his #3 candle!

Here is Jackson playing in the "Dump" (where we had all the presents). You can see his video in the background (a selection of garbage-themed Curious George episodes we bought on I-tunes)

Philip (here with Susan and Joshua) joined us for the last 3o minutes. I don't know how he slept through the party but he did!

Philip with Caleb

Not sure he understood all that was going on!

Wesley worked on a little photo opt for the kids. Using his Mac, he put all the kids with Oscar. They didn't turn out 100% but they still looked cute!