2 weeks is too long!

Clearly, 2 weeks is too long for me to go without blogging. I feel like I've forgotten to share so much. Right now it's late on Sunday night and I'm wiped out from lots of activity this weekend so I'm going to make a list here, share a few pictures, hit the sack, and make it a goal to update at least once this week to try to catch up and share more pictures because I know that's the best part of the blog!
1. I still need to find a way to better share the video of the Rangers Live team congratulating us on Jackson's arrival while also sharing his picture during the broadcast.
2. Poker Run for Grandpa Lynn
3. Shower for Stan & Kim (and Baby Benjamin Paul on the way)
4. Visiting the Stutlers (the other Benjamin Paul). :)
5. Baby Pictures of Joey
6. College Football will soon be here!

...and some pictures:
Aunt "Nina" (aka Christina...Colleen's little boy, Rhys, calls her Nina, but has started to be able to say Christina and she really likes Nina so I'm calling her that for Jackson now.) took us to breakfast the day before my birthday before Joey had returned from Bryan's bachelor party weekend. She's very busy working at JCP way too many hours a week while also working on her MBA from SMU, but always makes time for loving on Jackson!


We got a very nice gift from a couple who live in California and used to be in MAPA (Mooney Aircraft Pilots Association) with Joey's dad. I've never even met them...and Joey's not sure that he ever did either, but they wanted to give Jackson something in memory of Ken. We got a beautiful blanket, coordinating burp clothes, and a personalized onesie - very detailed and special as the plane on the blanket even has the same number as Ken's plane. It's just another testament to the great family I married into (along with the great family I was born into). :)






...and another little one loving on Jackson (The Shoup men are definitely charmers - even to other little boys! Bryan's nephew, also named Bryan, or "Little B", just wanted to hold Jackson. His mom Janet helped. Jackson didn't mind at all and just kept right on snoozing.



...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

My first day of school and my many faces

OK, so it's not exactly school, but this week Jackson started daycare as it was time for me to head back to work. I actually dropped him off Monday and Tuesday to get some things done before my Wednesday return and managed to leave him there until 5pm so that Joey would actually get in the routine of picking him up as that . He was wonderful for the ladies there of course, however, they commented on his # of feedings, etc and I noticed Jackson's eating habits changing this week as well. It seems he's in a growth spurt evidenced even more today when he wanted to eat pretty much every 2 hours so we're adjusting and I'll probably have to add an extra pumping session at work this week to make sure we don't miss out on all that extra milk he's needing. He's been a bit fussy with the growth spurt, but has still been a pretty happy baby for which I'm very thankful.

We ventured to Keller today for our friend Lisa's baby shower, but Jackson was being a bit fussy and there were lots of other kiddos there so I held him the whole time and didn't snap any pictures, but I'm hoping to snap some tomorrow at Meagan's bridal shower.

Pictures of his first 3 days of daycare:
Day 1 - getting loaded up to go - always with the "fists of fury" up. In fact, Joey's mom sent me some pictures of Joey as a baby and there's a picture of Joey doing this too at his first Christmas. I can't wait to scan in these pictures of him as a baby and share them. I need to get some from my mom too so we can compare and see whose features he's developing...but for now...
Like father, Like Son!

We also took some pictures that night of Jackson and Joey to send to a vendor that sent Joey his Roger Staubach jersey


Day 2 - Getting loved on immediately after arriving at daycare

Day 3 - Self portrait with Mom as she got ready to head out for her first day back at work

...and I've been trying to capture a smile, but they're so quick and sporadic that I miss them and end up with a camera/phone full of funny faces that are worth sharing.
Surprised

Happy (almost smiling?!)

A little Cross eyed (I try to get him to stop crossing his eyes by clapping or something as soon as he starts, but he continues to do it)

Future kissy face?!

...and while I'm listing this last, it doesn't mean that Buddy has become any less important to us. We still love him and take pictures of him too, but obviously we are taking a lot more of Jackson. I snapped this one last night on my phone of Buddy - probably missing Daddy since Joey is out of town for a bachelor party.

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Home Sweet Home

Getting home always feels good, but after the past 2 days, it was especially sweet to come home today.

Wednesday was an "off" day for Jackson. He was unusually fussy and seemed a bit warm, but did not have a fever so I wasn't sure if he was indeed just having a bad day or really getting sick (mother's intution was right - I just had a feeling something wasn't right with my baby). I got up with him around 2am Thursday morning when he continued to be fussier than usual (he's been sleeping through the nights about 10p-6a for a few weeks now - yes - lucky us!). He still did not have a fever at that point, but I figured keeping an eye on him would put my mind at ease so I cuddled up on the couch with him. At around 430am, his fussiness turned to screams and the whole house was awake. This time, he had about a 102 temp so after calling his pediatrician's office to speak with the on call nurse, I followed their recommendation and calmly took him to the ER of one of the children's hospitals (Medical City Childrens is closest to us). They ran tons of tests in the ER, including bloodwork, x-rays, and even a spinal tap, to rule out things like meningitis before following the standard procedure for a patient of his age and admitting us for preventative treatment while waiting for the test results. Thankfully, when all the cultures came back this morning, it was just as the doctors suspected from his positive reaction to Tylenol and antibiotics, he just had a little "summer virus" - something that isn't a big deal in an adult or even a child a few months older wouldn't need an overnight hospital stay for. With a 7 week old though, since his immune system isn't 100% developed, they err on the side of caution and run all the tests on the off chance he's that 1 in 100 that does have something serious. It was the first time I've cried scared mommy tears and it isn't something I would wish for anyone. I'm just so grateful that everything is OK and that the staff there took such great care of us. We didn't end up seeing our pediatrician as he wasn't the one from his practice doing rounds the days we were there, but Dr Dreiling from Dr Foster's practice was extremely comforting and just really made me feel at ease about why they did what they did. We will still go back for Jack's 2 month appointment with Dr Foster on Monday 7/27. He'll get shots at that time and I'm hopeful that I won't cry for those. I haven't so far and after all the poking and prodding I witnessed Thursday, a few routine shots should be a walk in the park!

In the meantime, I do now know his updated weight! I've felt like he's been eating well (he never hesitated with the nursing even when sick so we're very lucky - our boy is a good eater!) and from what our home scale says when I weigh with and without him, it seemed he was right out target for the 1 oz per day weight gain...and that's almost exactly where he is. On 6/26, he was weighing 7 lbs, 7 oz and on Thursday am 7/16, he weighed 8 lbs 10 oz (I actually didn't find that out until Thursday afternoon since they weighed him in kilograms instead of lbs/oz and that's when I finally managed to ask the conversion...I'm still not sure why they weighed him in kg and measured him in cm...I never did get the head measurement and length converted from cm so we'll have to wait until 7/27 for those updated stats). On Friday evening when they weighed him, he was up to 8 lbs 13 oz! I'm sure some of that was "water weight" since he had been on an IV, but still - he's gaining healthily. I'm sure he'll still be in the low %'s for weight/age, but as long as he's not losing ground, all is good!

I didn't take a lot of pictures of the whole experience, but did snag a few on my phone to document the actual hospital experience.

I actually took this one Wednesday at home with my camera of him being unusually fussy because it just doesn't happen that often. Usually if we make crying noises, he'll stop and look at us funny as he doesn't cry a lot of "real tears". He's a good fake crier when he needs something! :)

The first picture of "Robo-baby" (which I dubbed him when seeing the shield over his IV which reminded me of RoboCop)

All cozied up in the ER after all the blood was drawn, x-rays were taken, etc

Up in our room after being admitted - he was only hooked up the monitors for a while since the fever was really the main symptom. He didn't like having his blood pressure taken, but it was pretty stable the whole time

Having a snooze with Mom on Friday

On Saturday morning - pretty much back to normal, just waiting for the official go-ahead to go home!

Having some tummy time on Mom right before heading home. I have a feeling "Bobblehead Baby" will soon be gone - he continues to grow stronger and hold his head up longer and longer each time.

"Seriously, Mom?! Enough with the pictures!"


Precious baby feet, barcode and all!



Going home!

I have to say that given the mild circumstances of the visit, I just don't know how those of you who've had longer stays with sicker babies did it. I know you do what you have to do, and I had admiration before, but it's deeper now! One of Joey's friends commented on facebook that he and his wife "hired impersonators" when their son was kept in the hospital for quite a while when he was born quite early last year and that they weren't as strong as they appeared. I know that's not true, but the humor wasn't lost on me. As I sit here typing with a peacefully sleeping normal Jackson (although maybe a bit more clingy today, but maybe he knows I'm headed back to work on Wednesday) I'm thankful for his health and pray that it only makes him stronger.

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Daddy's little man

OK - so far Jackson really is a mama's boy since we spend most of our time together, but I'm sure in time, he will be Daddy's little man too...He already wants to be like Daddy - and other than being a bit smaller, looks just like Joey here (complete with an outfit just like many that Joey wear - polo type shirt and khaki shorts - which thankfully weren't soiled in today's "sprinkler incident") AND hogging the remote:

Sidenote about the "sprinkler incident" - I was changing Jackson this morning after his morning nap (that I'm hoping he'll take while I shower/get ready on work days) and since I haven't been peed on lately, I let my guard down while trying to figure out what to dress him in today. You can all guess what happened - that's right - the sprinkler came on...while 2 drawers were open (as my OCD had taken over and I was doing some reorganizing while deciding what to dress him in - something I do in my own closet from time to time while trying to decide what to dress myself in)...Did I mention that as I was trying to clean up and toss all the clothes that were soiled in the incident to the hamper, I forgot to cover Jackson up or hurry up and get a diaper on him. Care to take a guess what happened AGAIN? Yes, that's right - more pee! I'm not sure how he mustered it all up, but I guess I don't have to worry about him being dehydrated! :) Reminder Lesson learned - no more hanging out naked on the changing table for Jackson! It was a good laugh and luckily I managed to avoid getting sprayed - but I am having to do an extra load of laundry!

Later that morning we headed downtown to have lunch with my friend Pam and Jackson was great in public as usual. I took a few pictures because he just looked so cute in his outfit (obviously I have a thing for guys dressed like him since what he's wearing is pretty much Joey's attire anytime he's not at work or required to be in something else) and then realized that in picture 1 it looks like he's doing "pounds" and then picture 2 it's like a few people I know do that open their hand because the "pounds" got "blown up"...Oh, and yes, his feet look huge from the angle, but I assure you they're still tiny and proportionate to the rest of his body. :)



...and last but not least, I was wanting to send a picture to the Dallas area K-State alumnae chair to announce his birth on the weekly e-mail. I went ahead and put him in one of the outfits that some of my fabulous ABC peeps gifted me with even though they're Baylor, Mizzou, and UT alums (shout out PJ, Nick, and Luke!) and put him on the blanket that Christina, got me/him. The outfits are for 6-9 months so they're obviously a bit big, but Jackson is growing and I can see that he WILL grow into them, hopefully in time for football season - or at least towards the end of it!

We have lots planned this week as it's our last full week together. :( I go back to work next Wednesday and while he might not stay full days Monday & Tuesday, Jackson will be starting daycare then so I can do a few more things around the house and I guess adjust to being away from him. We will be visiting Jackson's girlfriend Camryn and her mom Jamie on Thursday. Friday, we have a lunch date with some of my Fox peeps and then Saturday, Courtney will be in from Wichita Falls then we have a little birthday party for Joey's friend Collin.

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!

Jackson's first big roadtrip

OK, so we sort of had his first road trip when we ventured to Fort Worth for Kim's baby shower on 6/27, but this one was the long one - to Kansas. Unfortunately because of Dad's treatments, traveling just isn't feasible for him at this time so Joey, Jackson, and I loaded up the car Thursday evening and headed out, driving through the night to spend the weekend with my family. We arrived right around 5am Friday morning, making pretty good time thanks to Jackson's excellent sleep habits. We only stopped 3 times...and those were as brief of stops as we could make them and only for fuel and pitstops/driver changes for Joey & I. Once we got there, Jackson had breakfast and we all napped and just spent the day with Mom, Dad, Phil, and Sammy. Saturday we had a full day of visiting before making our return trip on Sunday. It was great to have 2 full days and went way too fast. As much as we love being home in our own beds, it's always hard to say "bye". While we were there, Jackson continued to work hard to hold his head up on his own and we continued to see more of his personality come out with smiles. OK - some of the smioles might have been gas as we discovered that when I ate anything with cabbage (including my favorite when I'm in Lawrence - Runza!) that Jackson's tummy hurt so no more cabbage items for me for a while, but I have a feeling the "Bobblehead Jackson" days are numbered, which is exciting and a little sad all at the same time! The following are quite a few pictures of our visit from our cameras, although I know Mom and Aunt Joyce got some great ones too so I'll wait for those and maybe share them later.

Who knew that 3 people going for just a few days would need this much stuff - plus the other 3 bags in the back seat! (Yes, you do see golf clubs - Joey got in a round of golf with Dad's approval while Dad was getting his fluids)

Jackson was ready to hit the road! He fussed for a bit and then zonked for most of the trip.

...Mom and I brought lunch and Jackson to the hospital so the nurses and doctors could meet the little ray of sunshine that helped Grandpa gain 5 lbs back last week!.

Meeting Uncle Phil for the first time

Telling stories with Grandpa

Sammy wanted to meet Jackson too!

Phil took the picture while the rest of us napped (Joey wasn't yet back from the golf course)

On Saturday, Christi and Jeff Claycamp, and their 2 beautiful girls, Natalie, and Nicole came to visit. Christi helped Natalie hold Jackson

Nikki got a turn too. Unfortunately the pictures I took of the girls kissing him didn't turn out as well as I had thought - my camera is too slow!

We spent a little time out by the pool. Jackson and Grandpa Lynn have the same kind of hat!

3 of my favorite guys (missing Phil, Buddy, and Sammy of course)

Christi, Jeff, and the girls had afternoon plans, but the visitors kept coming! Granny Great immediately got to hold her 20th great grandchild!

With Great Aunt Dee with Granny Great and Deano looking on.

With Great Aunt Joyce and her grandaughter (my cousin Dustin's little girl), Elliott.

Jackson wasn't so sure about Deano at first...


...but then he decide he's alright! :)


4 generations!


My immediate (Habluetzel) family!

Meeting Dad's sister Karen (aka Aunt "Sheila")

Joey feeding Jackson at the Cracker Barrel in Owasso, Oklahoma on our trip home on Sunday. It's amazing how different people act when you have a little one. No less than 5 of the employees came up to check Jackson out, ask how old he is, how much he weighed, etc. He's a charmer already - just like his daddy!


Our first experience in a public bathroom changing area at the Cracker Barrel. Jackson says "Go Mom!" (or maybe he was just stretching from all the time in the car)


Asleep in the backseat. That mirror is greatness!


Crossing the Red River - officially back in Texas!

...Til next time, Keep Shuffling!