In Fayetteville....

Ryan, Jackson and I are in Fayetteville this weekend for my 10 year high school reunion! I can't believe it's been 10 WHOLE years! It doesn't feel like that long but last night, we had a get-together at Grubs and caught up w/ a lot of old friends and classmates! It was really cool to see everyone! Tonight, we have casino night at the Springdale Country Club so that should be fun too. Jackson has had some sort of a funk the last few days... He has been crying a lot and is very hard to console. I think he's got some bad gas again, but he's definitely getting out of his routine by being here... He didn't really nap well yesterday and today, he's not wanting to nap at all. Last night, he didn't sleep all night like he normally does (he was sleeping 9 hrs straight) - he woke up a couple times crying... I think part of that is a new environment and stuff. He has something called "thrush" on his tongue which is like a yeast infection on his tongue and it has been bothering him for weeks. We started him on the medicine on Monday but it doesn't seem to be clearing up very well at all. I'm wondering if that's contributing to his funk. Poor baby.

Uncle Ken and Aunt Hollie Visit!

Jackson got to meet our good friends Ken and Hollie today... :) We went to eat at Gadwall's and Jackson slept like an angel! Ken and Hollie are in town visiting from Fort Worth and are keeping their 2 dogs at our house... So hopefully, we will get to visit with them several times before they go back to Fort Worth! Hollie is due Sept 11th w/ their first baby - Elizabeth Clayre. So Jackson has another girlfriend lined up! :) Hollie looks so cute pregnant! I know they will be such great parents!

Make me stop!

I think I take about 50 pictures a day of Jackson! I just can't stop! He's just cuter every single day!! These are from today.

35 To Go...

Well, I'm not going to get discouraged... I'm not going to get discouraged... I'm not going to get discourged... I'll just keep telling myself that. I only lost 1 pound this week despite a VERY healthy eating schedule and working out as scheduled. It's a real bummer... I think I've decided that I just don't get ENOUGH exercise... so I'll just have to fix that.
Well, my friend Ken has just turned our competition - which WAS friendly - up a notch. He has posted on HIS website (http://www.kennethpwoodruff.com/) that he will "kick my butt" among some other smack talk.... Well, anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE a good competition and I HATE to lose. I'm very pleased that I saw this on his website because it has definitely given me some great motivation. I know it's going to be a LOT easier on him to lose the weight but I figure, I probably have more time than him since Jackson (usually) takes naps, so we'll call it even. So - it's ON! I will begin weighing in on Fridays instead of Sundays because my free day is Fridays... (if you can even call it a free day - this week, I had chicken fajitas and 2 oreos - whoopie...). Stay tuned for future postings on the Keisha/Ken battle. :) Bring it on!

Baby Bjorn!

Mike was dying to try out the Baby Bjorn.... Jackson, of course, loved the attention!

Uncle Mike Came To Visit!

Our good friend Mike from Dallas flew up to Little Rock to visit! He and Ryan golfed Saturday and this morning and then spent some time hanging out w/ Baby J.... We had a good time! Jackson proved what a GREAT baby he is by continuing to sleep through the night!!! It's almost unbelievable!

Jackson's "Party In My Crib!"

Last night, Jackson slept so perfect and this morning, Ryan and I were awoken to him talking to himself at 600am... I let him talk and talk until about 630am and when I went in to say Good Morning to my precious angel - this is what I found!!

Chunky Monkey!

Jackson had his 2 month pediatrician visit today. Unfortunately, he was given 3 shots for vaccines and he didn't like it one bit! Of course, it made me feel good cuz he immediately stopped crying when I picked him up - but that probably had more to do w/ him not having a needle in his leg anymore! :) Either way, made me feel good! His weight and measurements were taken at this visit... and drum roll.... he weighs 11lbs, 14oz! They were very impressed w/ his weight gain at this point.. especially considering he was down to 5lbs, 12oz at his lowest... So the doc said WOW on that one! :) He also is 22 1/4inches long (he was 20 1/2 at birth) and his head is 40 1/2 cm around. They said he ranks in the 50th percentile on everything... so yeah! My perfect baby!!! Doc did say that after evaluating Jackson (we were in there together for about 15-20 minutes - which is a long time w/ a doctor!), he thinks Jackson may be developing a bit faster than most babies his age - based on his eye contact, strength of neck and agility. Here are some pics I just took of Jackson w/ his bandaids on!

Daddy scored LOTS of points w/ Mommy today cuz he surprised me by showing up at the doc's office!!! He told me he had meetings he had to be at and couldn't make it so I was bummed, but he surprised me!!! Jackson was happy too!

Sleeping All Night! :)

Jackson has slept all night for 3 days in a row now! I highly recommend "BabyWise" for any parent who needs a good night's sleep! Jackson seems happier and is laughing a lot ... I never realized how important it is for a baby at that age to get enough sleep! The problem is we have to TEACH them to sleep... Otherwise, they fight it and then seem cranky all of the time. For the last 2 days, Jackson has let me know when he wants to go down for a nap... The premise of "BabyWise" is feeding, waketime, naptime... In that order. So... sometimes, I try to keep Jackson awake a bit longer for waketime cuz - let's face it - he's SOOO cute! But like this morning, he hung out w/ me for a little while after his bottle (like 30 minutes) but then, he was ready for a nap! He started fussing and squirming... So I took him upstairs, set him down in his crib, gave him his paci and fast asleep he went! It's SOOOOO awesome! Granted, it took us a week to get to this point, and it's not perfect yet but WOW- what a difference a week makes! There is hope for new moms who are sleep deprived! WOOHOOO!

Jackson's 2 Month Birthday!

Today is Jackson's 2 Month Birthday - I cannot believe he's already 2 months old! YIKES! It happens soooo fast! Here is a pic of him from this morning w/ an adorable onesie that his Aunt Janet bought him!

Jackson and Mommy Have A Secret!

It's 2 minutes long cuz I couldn't stop videoing!!

What A Weekend!

This weekend, Ryan, Jackson and I were visited by Ryan's mom - aka Grandma! We had a great time just relaxing... On Sunday, David and Carla and Carla's parents stopped by on their way thru to Memphis. Jackson was fascinated with Carla's dad - he just kept staring at him! We took a trip to the Clinton Presidential Library - which was very cool... Jackson did SOOO well! He rode along w/ Ryan in the Baby Bjorn Carrier - and didn't make a peep! He even fell asleep at one point! What a good boy! Here are some recent pics.

Dang it. 36 still to go.

... well, T Minus 17 weeks.... Still 36 pounds to go. I weighed this morning and didn't lose anything this week. I feel good about my workouts though. I didn't miss any and worked a little extra this week. I'm not going to get discouraged - but I am changing my "bad day" to Sundays since that's the day I weigh in... Friday is too close to "weigh in" for it to be on that day... So no bad day until a week from today. Anyway, I think now that I have Jackson on a routine (almost there!) - I will make my workouts a bit longer... Up until now, they have been about 20-30 minutes... but I think I'll add some stuff... so hopefully, that will help.
My friend Ken is going to lose weight too - he's far ahead of me w/ his running - he's been doing pretty fast 5K's - so I have a while to catch up w/ him but he's going to post his success too... He wants to lose 30 pounds... So we're going to use this posting online deal as motivation slash competition-for-bragging-rights type deal! He needs to lose approx 1.5 pounds/week to make his goal... So root him on too! I, on the other hand, need to lose my regular 2 and the 2 I didn't lose this week... this should be an interesting week for me!

What a cutie!!

Fingers Crossed!

Well, last night - Jackson slept very well - 7 Hours! The book says that he could (and will be) sleeping 9-11 hours consistently... but I'm thankful for the 7! So far today, he's taken both naps very well and I just laid him down for the 3rd... I have a feeling this one won't be as promising since he didn't seem as tired, but so far, no crying! It definitely takes some time to teach a baby to fall asleep on his own, unless you started that from the beginning... We were gradually walking down the "spoiled" road w/ Jackson and hoping to break those bad habits now since he's still very young... OH boy - the crying just began! Here we go! I'm holding on w/ a vision of a beautiful road up ahead! Stay tuned!

Not a good day...

Jackson and I are not having a good day. With much talk and MANY people's personal success stories, I have decided to try the "Babywise" philosophies for sleeping... Jackson is NOT a fan so far. He is not enjoying naptime and HATES that I'm not rocking him to sleep. It's been a LONG exhausting day and I'm so glad that it's 500p cuz that means daddy will be home soon and he can help! Jackson's crying is quite possibly the worst sound that I have ever heard. I'm going to give this thing a go - I know that magic takes time and I have some serious bad habits to break already... It's worth it in the long run to have a rested, happy child w/ predictable patterns for eating and sleeping. So it says on average, children can break those habits and establish the new ones w/in a week... So I'll keep you posted. Right now, it's not fun. Great things don't come easy.

7 1/2 Weeks Old!

Here are some new photos of our little angel!

HE DID IT!!!!!

JACKSON SLEPT THRU THE NIGHT!!!!!!! WOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!! I'm so excited! It's amazing because I was worried that our chances of that had ended because he had pretty rough nights on Friday and Saturday nights.... Ryan and/or I was up with him about every hour or 2... and we'd stay up about an hour at a time! It was pretty tough since Connie was here and I didn't want to be tired! Well, yesterday, he was ancy all day and fussy.... I was prepared for a tough time - so I prayed to GOD that he would sleep through the night soon.... I didn't think it would be last night, but he did!!! I got him down at 930p and he didn't wake up until 430am!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!! I feel like I just won the lottery! I think the trick is, we are keeping the routine going... No matter what, we do not deviate from it... Plus, he's eating a LOT at night - about 6-7 oz .... He tried to fall asleep several times but I kept waking him up and making him finish his bottle and WHALAH - sleepy baby! :) Then, he went back to bed at 530am or so and slept another 2 hours! I am one very blessed mommy!

Connie came to visit!!!

My best buddy Connie came to visit us this weekend from Fayetteville! It was SOOOO nice to have her here - she and I went shopping, went to Olive Garden and watched I Am Legend and just hung out and talked... We had a good time! It's pretty special since she had to leave her BEAUTIFUL 1 year old at home to come spend some alone time w/ me... I want her back already!

Halfway there...

I know that this site is all about our family and that all topics should pertain to our family, but I am going to step outside the box for a second. Besides, Keisha does an excellent job of keeping the world informed about all of our exciting happenings! Instead, I would like to take this time to talk about:

THE CUBBIES!!

The regular season is officially half way over as of today, and my beloved Cubbies are in first place in their division and are tied with the Angles for the best record in all of baseball!! Now I don't want to get ahead of myself (since it has LITERALLY been 100 years since my team has won the world series...), but our squad is looking really good. How good you ask? So good that we are sending a league record 8 players to the All-Star game this week! I just ask that all of you keep my cubbies in your prayers. If this keeps up, it is going to be an exciting October! I encourage everyone to visit cubs.com everyday to stay in the loop!