10 Years?!

This last weekend was my 10-year reunion, and as Senior Class President in high school, I had the pleasure of planning the reunion. (Can you sense my sarcasm?) 

I began planning last July with a survey that many of my classmates took to fill me in on what activities they were interested in, and it ended with a dinner and tour of our high school this past weekend.  All I can say is that I am SO glad it's all over and done with.  There wasn't anything all that complex to plan, but I've been responsible for a lot of different activities throughout the past year, and being the primary (and often sole) reunion planner, this past weekend has been hanging over my head.  And obviously, with Jackson here these last few months, it's been one of the last things I've wanted (or had time) to do.  The last few weeks of finalizing logistics and scrambling on a few things that had been miscommunicated to me and unaccounted for, all while being back at work, have been pretty stressful to say the least and it was the first time ever that I was actually looking forward to a weekend being over!

All stress and frustration aside, the weekend went well. On Saturday, we had a dinner and social gathering at the Apple Tree restaurant and on Sunday, we toured the new West Valley High School (my old high school became the freshman campus and a new high school was built next door and it is AWESOME).  With 300+ graduates, I was hoping for somewhere between 75-100 attendees but we only ended up with around 60 folks. Regardless, it was good to catch up with my old classmates - many of whom I hadn't seen in 10 years.  And speaking of 10 years, it's still so hard to believe I've been out of high school for that long.  Time really does fly.

But now, I'm looking forward to passing the reunion planning torch to someone else who is eager to do some planning in 10 years.  WVHS Class of 2001 Reunion Committee is now accepting volunteers!

Here are a few photos from the weekend.

More Giggles

You're probably sick and tired of hearing about Jackson and his giggles, but I just can't get enough since they're so far and few between.

Here's another video of some giggles I got out him last night.  Hearing these giggles lately makes these rough nights a little more bearable.

Enjoy!

I remember when...

...he used to sleep through the night.

[By Corey]

Only a few weeks ago, Jackson would sleep through the night. We'd put him down for the night and then he wouldn't wake us up until any time after 5:30 a.m. or so.

This week, I've been up 2-3 times a night. Since he's become more active when he sleeps, we'll find him in his crib like in the picture above: arm busted out of the swaddle and lying on his side (somewhere in the crib, not where we'd placed him).

Sometimes it just takes a little adjustment, like re-potisioning him, or rubbing his feet, and he goes right back to sleep. Other times, he wakes himself up and realizes that he's hungry, which takes another feeding and 20-30 more minutes.

The latest was that, while swaddled, he'd managed to flip onto his stomach, like the opposite of a turtle. This is obviously a suffocation hazard (although as all parents know from reading warning labels before baby even arrives, pretty much everything is a hazard). So, we've been swaddling him with one arm out to transition to sleeping with both arms free. But now, a flailing arm might catch him in the face while sleeping, increasing the chances of him waking up...

Two steps forward, one step back...

And now, I'll try and go back to sleep until he summons next.

Giggles

Sounds like Corey and Jackson have been having a great time together so far this week, since I've gone back to work.  My first day back wasn't too bad at all and there were no mommy meltdowns, most likely because I knew J was in good hands at home with C. 

Monday passed quickly, but I still raced home from work so I could see my boys and get some cuddles in before J went to bed.  I got lots of big smiles from my boy right when I got home and then later, while he and I were hanging out on the couch, I even got some laughs, which made my entire day.

Check out a quick video C got of the laughter.

Note: Please disregard the drool J is covering me with; he's quite the slobber monster these days.

Daddy Daycare - Day 2

C8095717, a photo by C. Moran on Flickr.

[By Corey]

Today was a boring, uneventful day -- just like I'd hoped for.

After going down at 8 p.m. last night, he didn't quite make it to a wake-up time we'd like and I ended up having to feed him a bottle around 5 a.m. After that, he went back down and I had to wake him up at 7:40 a.m. so we didn't get too far off track. But from there on out, it was just the usual stuff: Hanging out, eating (him more than me), napping (him more than me), making weird noises (me more than him)...

It's only my second day on the job, but here's an observation that I'm sure many of you already know. Yes, aside from being tiring and a lot of work, taking care of a child takes some adjusting to -- especially if you're used to organization and wanting to be in control of things. In the working world, I've gotten used to a degree of structure, deadlines, timeframes and managing your own time.

In this world, it all goes out the window. The only certainties are that he's going to need to eat, he's going to need a nap, and I'm going to need to keep him entertained in between. As for when each of those things will occur, I can give a guess, but that's about it. And in my personality is the desire to fix things. I don't want to hear about a problem unless I can try and fix it. But the problem here is that a fix one time isn't guaranteed to work the next -- he'll love the dangling birds one playtime and then scream the second he's in front of them the next.

Again, I'm sure this isn't very insightful for anyone that's spent a full day with an infant, but I realized today that I have to be a lot more reactive than I'm used to.

Anyway, I continue to enjoy my time with Jackson. I also enjoy bed time more than I used to (mine, not his).

Here are a couple random pictures from today (and probably my last post for the week):

Daddy Daycare - Day 1

C8085570, a photo by C. Moran on Flickr.

[By Corey]

With Jenny going back to work and daycare starting after Labor Day, I was first up to bridge the gap. It got off to a bit of a rough start this morning, when the first wake-up call came at 1:45 a.m. when the motion sensor alarm on his baby monitor started going off, because he'd moved himself into a corner. One arm had gotten free, but I moved him back to the middle and went back to bed...

...until 3:00 a.m. when his other arm got free and he woke himself up, at which point he realized he was hangry (hungry + angry--a Moultrie-coined phrase). So, after 45 minutes of fighting the bottle, I put him back down to bed...

...until 5:45 a.m. when he woke up a little upset. A quick visit to comfort him and I was back to bed...

...until 7 a.m. when he was ready to get up for the day, so I fed him and put him on the changing table. While reaching for a spare diaper I heard a sound similar to a hose filling a plastic wading pool. That would be the sound of Jackson peeing on the table. Thankfully, he managed to pee right over his head and I wasn't forced into an emergency bath.

The only other incident came with his next feeding. The sure-fire jinx was thinking: "What if he has an accident on the only clean changing table cover left?" So, the instant I sat him on the table, he spit up all over it. Not like a little drool. More like half of what he just ate. So, add a load a laundry to the list of things to do in the morning.

But after that point, the rest of the day went pretty smoothly and I managed to get both a shower and lunch.

Not sure who was more excited to see Jenny come home though. I'm exhausted.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho...

...it's back to work I go. 

In many ways, it seems as if there is just no way that 16 weeks have come and gone and that tomorrow is my first day back at work.  In other ways --- like seeing how much Jackson has grown in his 15 weeks and the fact that it feels like he's been a part of our lives forever --- it seems like I've been away from work for far longer than 16 weeks.

Corey will be watching J this week, followed by my dad next week and Joan the last two weeks of August, so knowing that my babe will be around family for the first month I'm back at work definitely helps me feel better about going back.  And by the time September 6 rolls around and he heads to daycare, I think I'll feel a bit better dropping him off on his first day, plus we really like where he'll be going (Young Child Academy).

I am sure tomorrow will be hard for me.  I will totally miss these cute chubby thighs and happy, little feet that never, ever stop moving:

And this adorable 'fro-hawk that earns J lots of compliments from the strangers and passersby we encounter daily:

But most of all, I'll miss this adorable face and happy smile that I normally get to enjoy all day, every day.

Honestly, the only things I'm looking forward to tomorrow are seeing my co-workers, who I've really missed, and getting to wear a new outfit, which isn't jeans and a t-shirt or the workout clothes I have been living in the last few months (my mom and I may have done a bit of shopping last week when she came to visit for a few days).  Hopefully the day will pass quickly so I can get back home to hang out with my two favorite boys!  (And I really hope I get through the day without doing any baby talk, making funny faces and noises to get someone to smile, or doing any raspberries on anyone's tummy.)

Seabrook with the Shawvers

On Friday, we packed up and headed  to Seabrook for the weekend. There, we met up with the Shawvers for a little beach getaway. Corey and I had been before - once with our friends, and once with our family - but we hadn't been in almost two years, and the Shawvers had never been, so we were looking forward to heading back.

The weather was amazing and the house we stayed in - Eleanor Cottage - was perfect. (Fun fact - it is owned by Kevin's old boss from his Starbucks days.) We had a great time relaxing and catching up with Kevin and Jen, and we loved being able to spend more time with their 4-month old, Addy. Though Addy and Jackson were on completely opposite nap schedules, and they didn't really acknowledge each other the few times they were awake together, it was still so much fun to have them both along with us. We are looking forward to seeing these two kiddos grow up together.

Here are a few photos Jen captured this weekend:

Jackson slept through his entire first trip to the beach.  We had to capture this photo to ensure that we have proof for when he's older that he was actually there.

Love this - it's one of our first family photos since the day he was born.

I just LOVE those lips of his. 

And here are a few photos Corey snapped while we were at Seabrook.  Others can be found here.

Jackson's been much more verbal and very into making faces; this captures one of these moments.

Finally able to snap a few photos when they were both up at one point; Addy wasn't so sure of Jackson and his cooties for some of the shots, but she put her feelings aside for the sake of a good photo opp.

The Shawver fam.

Group photo in front of Eleanor Cottage.

Three Amazing Years

Three years ago today, Corey and I were getting married at the Seawatch Restaurant overlooking the beautiful Wailea shore. During the ceremony, as I was reading C a note I written him, an obnoxious local drove by shouting "Don't do it!"

Three amazing years later, I'm so happy that we didn't listen to this local's advice - these have been the most wonderful three years...even better than I ever could have imagined. C is the most fabulous best friend, husband and daddy I could have ever asked for and I can't wait for many more happy years to come.

Happy anniversary, Corey - I love you!

Night Away from J

Last night marked the first night both Corey and I were away from Jackson and I'm thrilled to report that it went very well for all involved!

Our friends Matt and Christy were getting married at the amazing Seattle Tennis Club so we'd lined up my parents to watch J while we attended the wedding and reception. Then, a few weeks ago, we decided to take my parents up on a previous offer to watch him overnight so we could get a full nights sleep / sleep in. With our 3-year anniversary coming up this week, and no other plans to celebrate it, and our plans to be out late at the wedding anyway, we decided to get a hotel downtown (which actually turned out to be the hotel that many of the out-of-town wedding guests were in) to stay after wedding.

It was the first time we'd been away from J together and while I had complete confidence in my parents, I was concerned that J would give them a hard time. I'm so happy to say that he did GREAT and took several 2-hour naps, slept 9 hours overnight and gave them plenty of smiles to repay them for being such great babysitters.

In addition, he learned a few new tricks in the short 20-hours we were away from him - he can now hold his thighs up / pull his legs back when you change him as if he's trying to help keep his legs out of the way (he started to do this right before we left but improved while we were away), he grabbed his feet for the first time, and appeared to be trying to pull his feet up to his mouth. It's amazing how fast he changes and learns new things, which is even more evident when away from him for a night.

This morning, we couldn't wait to get home to see him, and Roxy as well, so after sleeping in until about 8 a.m. (that's "late" for us these days!), we grabbed a quick breakfast at 5-Spot and headed home to our little fam.

We had a wonderful time celebrating with Matt and Christy on such an amazing summer day, dancing the night away, hanging out with some of Matt's college friends after the wedding, and having the opportunity to spend some quality time together in honor of our upcoming 3-year anniversary. Thanks again to my parents for watching Jackson for us!