May 31

Five years ago today, I met the man of my dreams on a blind date that began with a handshake and four years ago today, I was engaged to this man, who was, and still is, my best friend.

While I'll never live that handshake down (C even included mention of it in our wedding vows), it's amazing to look back, knowning what I know now and with all the experiences that we've had together since then, and remember that while we both thoroughly enjoyed that date, we had no idea at that time that five years later, we'd be happily married for nearly three years and have a precious baby boy and loveable Frenchie completing our family.

It's been an amazing journey with C thus far and I can't wait to see what the next five years bring us.

Happy "First Date" and "Engagement" Anniversary, C!

1 Month

Jackson is four weeks old today - can you believe it? I sure can't. While in some ways it feels like he's been a part of our family forever, the last four weeks have flown by and it's crazy to think that he's now a month old. Over the course of the month, he's completely captured our hearts and I can't imagine life without him.

He's loving to "talk" lately and, when left alone, you'll hear constant baby sounds. He's rapidly gaining weight (he's up to 11.4 lbs now!), which is evident from the rolls forming on his arms and legs. He smiles more and more and has more and more awake time each day, which he spends looking around and at us.

I can't wait to see what the next month brings --- hopefully a bit more sleep for mommy and daddy among other things!

Recent Favorites

We obviously love our little man to pieces and love everything that he does; however, there are a few things he does that we have deemed our current favorites. In no particular order, here they are:

- His shrill Steven Tyler-like scream in the midst of a peaceful sleep.
- His wood pecker-like head movement looking for more food when trying to burp him in the middle of a feeding.
- The rolls forming on his thighs. (Rolly baby thighs are my absolute favorite thing on babies.)
- The way his arms and legs never stop moving unless he's eating, which brings me to the next favorite.
- The way he sits, completely still, with his hands either clasped or on his thighs while eating.

- His man-sized farts, which sometimes catch him by surprise, causing all limbs to fly out in opposite directions. (This is obviously one of Corey's favorites, not mine!)
- His ability to stare at lights for long periods of time with 110% total focus and interest and a look on his face that resembles a 'WOW!'.
- His love of shopping (or sleeping, I should say), which allowed me to get out of the house for a few hours on Friday for a U Village trip. It was a definite success with just a few Steven Tyler screams while in the dressing room at the Gap (as soon as the stroller started moving again, he went right back to sleep).
- His love of the BOB, which allowed me to get two 2-mile walks in last week!
- The way he is not scared of Roxy and doesn't mind sharing Corey or I with her.

On a separate note, in case you weren't aware, Corey has a Jackson 365 blog dedicated to posting a photo a day of Jackson throughout the course of his first year. We know he will grow so fast so this will allow us to capture the many fun moments and exciting changes along the way. Check it out if you're looking for the latest and greatest Jackson photos! (While this doesn't necessarily belong within this blog as one of my Jackson favorites, I've gotta give my hubby a shout out every now and then, since he single-handedly contributes 99.9% of the photos for this blog. And besides, one of my favorite things about C is his passion for photography and his willingness to brilliantly capture so many of our fun times to look back on and treasure forever.)

2 Weeks Old

We took Jackson in for his two week check-up on Friday and he did great. He was very alert the entire time, and even though he was starving, he hardly made a peep as they did his check-up and pricked his heel for his second PKU test (the first happened in the hospital).

Here are his two-week stats:
- Weight = 9lbs 4.5 oz (he's gained a pound since birth!); 75th percentile
- Length = 22" (he's grown 1.5" inches since birth!); 90th percentile
- Head circumference = 37 cm; 85th percentile

Obviously he loves to eat but it's still amazing to me how fast he's growing. He's more and more alert every day (which also means he's sleeping less throughout the day) and we love seeing his eyes more. And because he's up more during the day, he is sleeping more at night - he even had a 4.5 hour stretch one night last week! He smiles occasionally, though it's probably still just gas at this point. And his arms and legs never stop moving, except for when he's eating.

Looking forward to his next check-up at 2 months!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to both of our moms - you are such fabulous women and such positive influences in our lives and we couldn't imagine life without you.

We are so lucky to have you both and so appreciate everything you do, and have done, to support us and help shape who we are today. And now with Jackson here, we are so excited the he has such amazing grandmas in his life.

Enjoy your day!

First Date

Last night, Jackson had the honor of meeting Adalyn, the 5-week old daughter of our friends Kevin and Jen, and who I hope is Jackson's future girlfriend. (Kevin says she can't date until she's 25, but we have a few years to change his mind.)

From the photos below, I'm sure you can tell that Addy and Jackson really hit it off. (Nevermind the fact that neither baby really noticed they weren't the only baby in the room, or that either baby did much more than sleep (though props to Addy for opening her eyes in time for the photoshoot), but I can totally see the love in each of their eyes and the excitement they each have over the fact that they'll be a couple in the future.) Can't you tell, too?

The Kid's Got Aim

Corey called me into Jackson's room while he was feeding him yesterday and told me to bring a camera. This is what I found.


Impressive aim. Impressive amount. Pretty impressive all around.

Rub-a-Dub-Dub

Jackson had his first big boy bath tonight and he loved every second! He didn't cry at all like he did during his previous sponge baths, and seemed very content kicking his feet, doing muscle man poses and looking around. And no bath would be complete without a good pee --- Corey just wasn't quick enough to capture that on film. Next time.

It was a family affair.

"Check out these guns, guys!"

"That was so much fun, Mama!"

Family Portraits

My parents were back in town over the weekend and they brought my grandma along with them as she hadn't yet met Jackson.

Corey had been wanting to play with around with some photography set-ups and my family wanted to have photos with Jackson, so it worked out to do a little family portrait session.

Corey got some great photos --- check them out below.