It's been a busy few weeks

We're at the end of the year, literally, and a lot has been happening for us in the past few weeks. Like I mentioned in our previous post we've moved to San Diego (or technically Carlsbad). It took a lot of doing, but we made it happen on a fairly quick timetable. Jill's mom came out and helped us pack and then, along with the help of her aunt Jenny, they drove the Scion to San Diego and brought Einstein along with them as Navigator. Jill and Jackson flew out from Austin to San Diego, and I coerced my sister in to making the drive from Austin with me. With the help from my good friend Bob, we loaded up a 26" Uhaul and attached a trailer with the VUE on it and started our drive out here. It should take about 19 hours for that drive, but that is for a normal car that can make decent speed. We we're driving that behemoth and could only make 45mph up some of those hills. Over two days we drove for a total of 27.5 hours, and traveled 1,337 miles. To say that drive sucked would be an understatement, but on a morbid note we did count 43 dead deer on the side of the road in Texas. It's a weird thing when you see Tara jump up and shout, "There's another one! That's 43 so far!"



We got a great house in Carlsbad, that's only a few miles from the beach. We just moved in a couple of days ago and are still in the process of unpacking everything. I'll post some pictures of the house when I get a chance to take some. It's great being back in California and we're excited that Jackson is going to be able to spend more time with his family.

Speaking of Jackson, his first birthday will be on January 4th. We've got lots of people coming and we hope that the weather stays good for the party.

I can't forget to mention that we took holiday photos, and I've posted those up. Please check them out!

Holiday 2008

http://picasaweb.google.com/phorne96/Holiday2008?feat=directlink

What's the news in town?

The news is we are moving back to California! Woot!

It's been tough living away from our family, especially with Jackson. Everyone wants to be able to see him but it's a pain to fly out here. Flights are expensive, and there are almost no direct flights from California to Austin. A while ago Jill and I made the decision that we wanted to start looking at moving back. I've been looking for jobs for a while and nothing has worked out for me so far. But, Jill has had some really good luck. She applied to a bunch of jobs and heard back from one that she was perfectly qualified for. She did the phone interview for that job and they made her an offer the next day. Pretty awesome. The pay is decent enough that we can survive off of one income for now. If I'm lucky I may qualify for Texas Unemployment too, which would be really helpful while I'm looking for a job out there.

The job is in Carlsbad, which is just north of San Diego along the coast. We'll probably live either in Carlsbad or one of the other north San Diego county coastal communities. Living there will also give me some flexibility if I find a job in southern Orange County, like Irvine.

The plan is to be moved out there over the holiday break, and Jill will start her new job on the 5th of January. That's about 30 days away, and we've got a lot of work to do. Better get to it.

It's time to fall in to autumn

Another month goes by and it's time to post some more pictures of Jackson. Let's see, what do we have to share with the good people of the internets?

We took Jackson to a local pumpkin patch where they have a little fair each year. Jackson got to see lots of pumpkins, and I don't know if he knew what to make of it all, but he likes to get outside and see people.

From 10-28-08

He also got to see some animals at a little petting zoo. I can't say that he was very impressed, but I think he enjoyed it.

From 10-28-08

We also went to Kansas City to visit Jill's dad and her sister Nicole. It was just starting to get cold up there and we had to bundle up when we went out to see Nicole cheer at her High School's football game.

From 10-28-08

Here's a link to all of those pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/phorne96/102808#

Then, my parents came out at the end of the month and visited for Halloween. We dressed Jackson up as a pumpkin since that is one of our nicknames for him. He turned out to be a pretty cute pumpkin.

From 11-6-08

Here's a link to those pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/phorne96/11608?authkey=PDMPVxHvHCA#

Be sure to turn in next time, same pumpkin time, same pumpkin channel for more pumpkin cuteness.

Interactive Jackson 1.2

Jill's mom, Jody, came out to visit this weekend. She hadn't seen Jackson since August and was so excited to see him grow and doing all the new things he's doing like crawling, and cruising. We took a bunch of new pictures, so be sure to check them out:

http://picasaweb.google.com/phorne96/101208#

10-12-08

Also, we think we hit a new milestone with Jackson yesterday. At dinner, after he was done eating Jill had given Jackson the spoon and he was playing with it and making a mess as usual. But, then Jill leaned over and said "Jackson, mommy is hungry!" and opened her mouth wide. Jackson turned to look at her and immediately brought the spoon over and put it in to her mouth!

From 10-12-08

It doesn't sound like much, but it means several things. First, Jackson recognized his name, which he's been doing for a while. Secondly, it means he saw Mommy's mouth open wide which he knew meant that she wanted food. Lastly, it means that he knows that spoons carry food, and they go in to mouths. Yay for learning!

OMG, is it October already?

Boy, time is sure flying along this year. Jackson just turned 9 months old last Saturday, and it still seems like he is growing and changing almost every day. He's moved from his army crawl to a full hands and knees crawling which allows him to get around even faster. It's as if Jackson has some sort of Terminator vision where he scans his environment and identifies things that he hasn't yet put in his mouth. Once he finds that thing he bee lines for it and in to the mouth it goes. You could put a dozen of his favorite toys in front of him and one old dirty shoe and he'll go for the shoe every time. I guess it just means we have to clean up all the time, and don't forget to baby proof!

Jackson has also started to do what's called "cruising." That's where he can pull himself in to a standing position on something his size (like a piece of furniture) and then start to walk along the piece of furniture. It's pretty exciting to watch him start to get close to full on walking.

My family came out to visit us in September. My sister, Tara, and her friend Katie came and out spent several days with us and took the opportunity to check out one of Austin's big events, the Austin City Limits festival. My parents came out for a long weekend. All told, we had a great time, and they all loved seeing Jackson.

We're going to have a pretty busy fall and winter as we've got lots of visits and trips happening. Next up, Jill's mom is coming out to visit this next weekend, and then some of Jill's friends will be in town the next weekend. After that, we have a trip to see Jill's dad in Kansas City. Moving on in to November, Jill's mom will be in Austin for Thanksgiving. Then in December, we'll be visiting my grandparents in Ventura. Lastly is the Holidays, and lets not even get started on that.

I know that no one wants to read, they just want Jackson photos, so here you go:

CAUTION! OBLIGATORY BABY IN THE BATH PHOTOS AHEAD...

http://picasaweb.google.com/phorne96/100808#

10-08-08

Picture Delivery

Jackson has had another great month. He is really scooting around on the floor now. He's still just doing his army man crawl, but it gets him where he wants to go. Also, now that he can move he seems much happier. He has always had that look of "If I could just get over there and put that thing in my mouth I would be much happier." Well, now he can.

He did have an ear infection in each of his ears a couple weeks ago, but a round of antibiotics cleared that up and he's feeling much better now.

Here are some new pictures of Jackson:

http://picasaweb.google.com/phorne96/91708#

Forgot the link!

I forgot to add the link to the photos when I posted my previous post. Here it is:

http://picasaweb.google.com/phorne96/82508

Month of August Update

I've uploaded some new photo's of Jackson. In the first few you can just start to see him kind of crawling. He gets up on his toes and does these pushups. It's really cute because he grunts the whole time. He has started to move himself around though. He can spin around on his belly, and if he really wants a toy he puts his arms out in front of himself and he can drag himself forward in a kind of army crawl. I've got some video of him doing it, and I'll post it when I get a moment to convert it for the web.



Jill's mom, Jody, is out for a few days before she has to start school again, and we have a few photos of her and Jackson.

Then we have photos of our plot where the house is being built. We also went inside of a house in our neighborhood that is under construction. It is the same plan and layout as our house so we took a bunch of photos of the inside.

Need a Jackson Pic

I just noticed that we haven't posted any pics of Jackson recently. So, here's a couple to satisfy his ravenous fans.



Jackson and his Aunt Nicole


Jackson and Mommy


Jackson watching Sesame Street in the morning

Buying a house

After a year in Texas we decided to really lay some roots, and we put some money down on a new house. Jill, as usual, spent a lot of time researching different areas of Austin and the surrounding communities. We decided on focusing our search in the city of Cedar Park which is just north of Austin's city limits. It's a relatively small city, but it has lots of new developments and new stores, restaurants, and the like. We're going to be about 15 or 20 minutes from downtown Austin, which is not too bad. Most importantly, we're going to be pretty close to a Alamo Drafthouse (not that we get to go see movies anymore).

We chose a house being built by KB Homes in their Silverado Ranch community. The house itself is 2,446 sq ft, with four bedrooms and two baths. We had our appointment with the Design Studio and we went through all the options that are available (the option list is 50 pages long) and made our basic choices. We're pretty excited.

We actually got this process started a couple of weeks ago, but we haven't posted anything because we were waiting to be approved for the loan. We just received the phone call from our Loan dude yesterday and he told us that we've been approved. Now we have to go through the remainder of the loan process, which, for those of you who haven't applied for a loan before, is a lot like being groped in public.

However, if everything goes well, then we're hoping that we'll be able to move in around mid-December.

Here's a picture of the lot where we'll be building:

Flat tires suck

In the last week I've had three flat tires, two on the Scion and one on the Vue. Now normally you'd think that some kids were running through the neighborhood slashing tires, but all of my flat tires were caused by FOD, or Foreign Object Damage. The Scion had one flat caused by a a screw and the other by a nail. The Vue had a flat by a screw again. I don't remember driving both our cars through a construction zone any time recently, and I don't think kids are going to go through the effort of driving a screw in to tire.

The only good thing is that Discount Tire fixes flats that can be repaired for free. Go Discount Tire!

Our First Texaversary

One year ago today Jill(still pregnant with Jackson) and I arrived in Austin, Texas. We had to spend our first couple of days in the La Quinta Inn while we waited to pick up our keys for the house we would rent. It was hot, muggy, and a very strange place for us. However, over the last year we've explored a lot of the city. We've found the great parks, some good restaurants, a few good bars, and the good shopping(for Jill). Just like any city it has its good parts and its not so good parts but overall we've come to really enjoy Austin and all it has to offer.

People ask us what we think of Texas, and we don't really have an answer to that because we haven't traveled anywhere else in this state except one short evening trip to the outskirts of San Antonio. So, we don't really know what Texas is like. But, Austin is fantastic.

Jackson's first pseudo-words

One of the signs of Jack's continuing development is his ability to begin vocalizing. At first he just coo'd a lot. Then he started to make raspberries ( where you blow bubbles with between your lips). Next he started to giggle (which is amazing).

Next on his list is to make vowel-consonant combinations. Things like BaBa, DaDa, or GaGa. He just started doing this a couple weeks ago, but it wasn't until this last weekend that he really started stringing together long combinations of these sounds. They are not words, more like pseudo-words. Almost words. He's babbling. Here's a clip of them I recorded in our car on Sunday:




To give you context, he sounds so fussy because he was in his car seat when we were stuck at a stop light and he does not like it when the car stops moving.


Jill and I have talked a lot about how fast things change in Jackson. Sometimes he'll start doing something new everyday. Things that you would never even consider significant, but when you see them happen it amazes you. Jackson is the most fantastic thing that has ever happened to us.

iPhone fever

I've given in to the iPhone fever and I received mine in the mail today. All I have to say is that this is an absolutely amazing device. It really delivers on what Bruce Stirling said at his 2006 SIGGRAPH keynote, that mobile phones are no longer just phones. They are computing platforms from which you can deliver an entire experience to. We'll be picking Jill's iphone soon. :-)

This is a short post but it's the first from my iPhone.

Monthly update

Here is our monthly update for the blog. :)

Let's see what's happened in the last month or so.

My mom came out to visit for a long weekend. She got to see Jackson and spend some time with him. Here are a few pictures of that visit:
http://picasaweb.google.com/phorne96/NanSVisitToSeeJackson

Nan's visit to see Jackson

We also went to Livermore, CA for Jerin and Kim's wedding. It was a wonderful event all together. The rehearsal dinner on Friday was at a place called Stacey's at Waterford, and the food was fantastic. Saturday had a picnic at the Concannon Winery, which was held under a trellis of grape vines. The ceremony was on Sunday at the Wente Vinyards which was absolutely beautiful. Many congratulations should go to the bride and groom, who are at this moment enjoying Hawaii.

Again, here are many pictures of the event:
http://picasaweb.google.com/phorne96/JerinSWedding

Jerin's wedding

5th Anniversary

Yesterday was Jill and my 5th wedding anniversary. 5 years ago we were married at the College United Methodist Church in Ventura, CA. This is the same church were my parents were married at.

It's been a great 5 years, and we wouldn't trade away any of it.

Jill got me a great picture frame with an engraving that said:
" I love you more and more each day,
Still forever yours in blue jeans"

Which is a reference to our first dance at our wedding to Neil Diamond's Forever in Blue Jeans.

I got her a necklace with three small diamonds; one for her, one for me, and one for Jackson.

For dinner we went to the Domain and ate at North, a nice Italian fusion restaurant. We had a caprisi salad to start, followed by a nice pasta with a Parmesan cream sauce with pine nuts, and an herb crusted pork tenderloin and potatoes.

Jackson had a good time while were there, and you can check out the pictures at the link below:

http://picasaweb.google.com/phorne96/5thAnniversaryAndOthers

A month of updates

Well, what has happened in the last month? Not a lot, and at the same time, a whole bunch. To name a few:

- Jackson started solid foods
- I tried to climb Mt. Shasta
- Jackson started giggling
- Jill and Jackson went to Kansas City for a week.
- Jackson went to the pool for the first time
- Jody came out for mother's day

Here is a link to a bunch of pictures from the last month:

http://picasaweb.google.com/phorne96/May08

Jackson's Baptism

We went to Ventura this last weekend to celebrate Jackson's baptism. The pastor that married Jill and I five years ago, Rev. Dave Horning, did us the honor of officiating Jackson's baptism at the St. Paul's Methodist Church in Oxnard, Ca. It was a wonderful service and there were many tears in church that day.

The trip was fantastic, and it was wonderful to see all of our family. It's amazing and humbling to know that so many people love Jackson just as much as we do. We took lots of pictures and you can see them here:

Jackson's Baptism

Jackson did a great job on the trip and he slept or just hung out for the flights and didn't fuss too much. It's strange now being the person with the baby instead of the wary traveler who scowls at the families with young children.

Getting ready for Mt. Shasta

Jackson and I have been taking walks in the morning to help get me ready for my attempt in May to summit Mt. Shasta in California. Jackson adds about 13.5lbs to my walk, and I wear 5lbs ankle weights on each ankle to help build muscle strength.

Walkies

Updated pics of Jackson

Here are some new pictures of Jackson. He turns three months old in just a few days, and we're so excited to see him grow up. He can recognize Jill now and knows her voice. He smiles a lot, but only when he's well rested. He's started to grasp things, and he can hold his head like a 4 month old, or so the Dr says.

Click on the picture below to see more pics:

3-27-08

Baby photo madness!

We're uploading even more photos! We're crazy with photos of the baby!

Tara came out to Austin this weekend to see the baby and hang with me for my birthday. Tara just fell in love with Jackson, as I'm sure the rest of our family will when they meet him. Here are some photos of Tara and Jackson as well as some others. :

http://picasaweb.google.com/phorne96/31008

It's a Photo Bonanza!

Click link for more Jackson photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/phorne96/3808

Some more smiling

Here is the new toy that Jeremy and Heather got us. It really is just amazing. He can watch this toy, and it makes him smile and laugh.

Jackson is almost 2 months old

Jackson is two months old tomorrow, and he's growing every day. He's almost 11.5lbs now, and he's outgrown his newborn clothes. He's fitting just right in to his 0-3 month clothes.

Also, it's like his brain just turned on in the last week or so. He now notices things that are going on in the world. Instead of looking at bright lights all the time he can look at and follow objects across his vision. He can focus on our faces, and will smile back at us when we smile. It's really amazing to watch him grow!

I have some new video of him watching a toy and smiling. I'll try to post it tonight.

Finally a video

Here's a video of me trying to get Jackson to smile. I'm not very successful and I only get about a quarter of a smile. And, yes, that is American Idol in the background. Stupid writers strike.

Baby bath time

 

Jackson is getting a bath!

New Pics

Here are some new Jackson pics!

http://picasaweb.google.com/phorne96/22208

No posts lately

Sorry we haven't posted lately. I'm working on some videos that I made of Jack, and I'll post them as soon as he stops fussing and gives me a few minutes.

Here's a new pic just to keep you satisfied:

Jackson is 1 month old today!

How far he has come!

Walking in the park one day

We went to the park today with Einstein and Jackson. Of course Jackson slept through the whole thing so we don't know if he enjoyed it or not. But, none the less it was a great time. It was funny to see how Einstein was protecting the pack. Usually if other dogs come around he hides between us and maybe growls at the dog. This time, he actively chased down other dogs that looked like they might come towards us, and wouldn't let any dogs near Jackson's carrier. I guess that is just his sheep herding instincts coming out.

Here are some pictures of the park and a few others:

http://picasaweb.google.com/phorne96/230802

Fussy face:

Our baby is so advanced

"The Old Man"

We've been remiss in updating the blog recently. We've just been busy with that thing..what's it called? Oh yeah, raising a baby. Just kidding. :)

Jack has been doing really well. We went to see a Lactation Consultant today to work on Jill's breastfeeding, where they weighed Jack and he's already gained a full pound since our visit to the pediatrician last week. Baby's are supposed to gain about an ounce a day and Jack is gaining almost 1.8 ounces per day. What can I say? Our baby is so advanced.

I've been bugged by numerous friends and relatives to update the blog with more pictures and some videos so here we have some.

Here's a slew of new pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/phorne96/Jackson123

Here are some videos. It's tough to get quality videos because Jackson invariably stops doing what ever cute thing he's doing by the time you've found that camera and turned it on.

Tummy Time
It's important for babies to get at least a half an hour of tummy time every day. Since doctors no longer recommend babies sleep on their tummies because of SIDs concerns they need time to strengthen their neck, back and arms. Here you can see Jackson enjoying his tummy time.



Hiccups
Babies get the hiccups a lot. Here you can watch him make weired faces while having a diaphragmatic spasm. I believe you can here a Scrubs rerun in the background.

A small update

Jack's been home with us for a few days now and things are going great. It's so much easier taking care of him here at home as opposed to in the hospital. Jill and I have a good system down for the feedings at night. We have to feed him every three hours, so we have feedings at 12:30AM, 3:30AM and 6:30AM. I'm taking the 3:30AM feeding, where I'm using a bottle with breast milk to feed him. This allows each of us to get some decent sleep while making sure that he's fed.

We went out on our first trip with Jackson today. We went to Home Depot and Target real quick to pick up a few things. Jack actually slept the whole time, so I don't know if he got anything out of it, but Jill really enjoyed pushing around the stroller.

I am working on some video of the little guy, but he stubbornly refuses to do anything except lay there when the camera is on.

New pics have been uploaded also:
http://picasaweb.google.com/phorne96/Jackson11308

Heartfelt Thanks

I wanted to express our sincere thanks and heartfelt gratitude to all the staff of the North Austin Medical Center, especially those members of the Labor & Delivery, Postpartum, and the NICU groups we met. It was their professionalism, caring, and concern that helped Jill and I make sure that Jackson was delivered and came home safely. I'd like to specifically thank the nurses Caitlin, Marla, Sherry, and Chris as well as Doctor Smith for delivering him safely, and then Doctors Wong and Breed for looking after him in the NICU.

Again, thank you for all of your help.

So excited

New pics of Jackson at the bottom of the post

Jill and I are just so excited that we were able to bring Jackson home today. We spent a total of 6 day's in the hospital and it really was beginning to feel like we'd never leave. It was almost like being in a prison. We stayed in a room that we kept dark and we walked the same few hallways for that whole time, and there are almost no windows. It was becoming a little surreal.

I don't think I mentioned this, but Jill was discharged from the hospital yesterday and they were letting us stay in one of the rooms free of charge because Jackson was in the NICU.That was pretty awesome of them, and I don't think I've ever seen an institution give anything away like that. However, they did evict us today because a woman who had just gone in to labor was going to need the room. They had warned us that was possible, so we weren't surprised. That kind of forced us to go home, shower and change which was a good thing. We swung back to the NICU a couple of times for feedings, and the doctor came by around 4PM and told us that he felt pretty confident in letting Jackson come home today. We were ecstatic, and as soon as the nurse got the discharge papers we were out of there.

We had Jill's mom, Jodi, meet us outside with Einstein when we got home so they could be introduced to each other in a non-territorial way for a dog. (Which was something someone told us was a good idea) It was the funniest thing to watch Einstein react to Jackson. We thought that he might sniff at him and then go do his thing like he does so often. But, when Einstein saw him as we pulled Jackson out of the car in his car seat he flipped out. He started jumping up and down trying to sniff him and running around at my feet trying to see him. I assume it's the smell of a newborn baby that must trigger some sort of pack mentality in him. Now, Einstein sits at the feet of whoever is holding Jackson and tries to sniff him, and when Jackson cries out Einstein will pop up his head and moan a little. It's wild. And it's even weirder when he starts pacing around Jill when she breast feeds.

Ok, I'm going to sign off now. With 45 minutes of sleep last night, and something like 8 hours in the last 5 days.

New pics of Jackson:
http://picasaweb.google.com/phorne96/NewJacksonPhotos

We're bring Jackson home! Doctor signed off on a good bill of health. Huzzah!

Jackson update

It turns out that all the blood tests for infections came back negative including the blood culture that took 48 hours to complete. So, they've stopped the antibiotics and are no longer looking for an infection.

The next step the doctor took yesterday was to do two more tests. One that would test his blood for acid levels to make sure that he was getting rid of the CO2 in his system properly. That came back with a good result. The next test was to check his blood pressure in his arms and legs. The first time they took his blood pressure there was a difference and according to the doctor this has scary implications that I won't get in to. None the less, they took his blood pressures again later that night and they were fine and the doctor canceled any future tests going down that line.

Then they decided to let Jackson out of the NICU last night and he was able to sleep in the room with us which made us really happy. Of course Jackson decided he was going to show us what really having a baby is about and stayed awake for hours on end crying and wanting to be held. Nothing we did he would get him to go back to sleep. I got about and hour of sleep last night so I'm a bit of a zombie today.

We also talked to the doctor this morning and he said that one of the respiration checks they did last night clocked in pretty high, while all of the others including the tests this morning were fine. Because of that one high resp rate he wants to keep him for the rest of the day and do some further observations just to make sure he's OK. The doctor said this is just as much a medical/legal concern as it is a health concern for the baby.

However, the doctor said he feels totally confident that Jackson is going to be fine and he'll probably be coming home this afternoon or early evening.

We're really hoping that happens!

A little delay

Well, we hit a little snag in trying to get out of the hospital. Yesterday, one of the nurses noticed that Jackson was having an elevated breathing rate which is one of the vital signs that they check for throughout the day. Apparently, the maximum normal breathing rate for newborns is about 60 breaths per minute, and Jackson was breathing at about 70 BPM. The nurse was a little concerned and had Jackson go be observed for a while in the nursery, and they called his pediatrician to come take a look. After the doctor came to take a look she said that all of his other vital signs appeared normal, his heart and lungs sounded fine, and he was not breathing under distress and that those were all good signs. However, the breathing rate was still a concern so she went to speak with the Neonatologist. After consulting with the other doctor they decided that it would be best to move Jackson to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for observation just to make sure that he was OK. That sounds a little scarier than it is, but it's the best place he can be observed. There is almost a one to one ratio of nurses to babies in the NICU so he gets a lot of attention (Especially because he's so cute, they say).

After talking to the NICU doctor it seems that elevated breathing rates can be a sign of infection so it would be best to watch over him as infants can get very sick very fast. To check for infection they ordered a battery of tests includ blood counts, electrolytes, a chest X-ray, a blood culture, as well as I'm sure others that I'm not aware of. Most of those tests are quick and were back within a couple of hours with all negative results, and that was good to hear. However, the blood culture test takes 48 hours to perform, so they are going to hold on to Jackson at least until Wednesday afternoon to see the result of the test.

The other possibility is that he's just a fast breather for now and it will go away and they'll never find the cause of it. I spoke with the doctor again this morning and tried to get an impression of how she thought he was doing. She said that she felt very positive since all his vitals are good and the tests so far have been all good results. She also said that her "gut feeling" is that he's just fine and that we'll be able to go home tomorrow. We're all hoping that is the case.

Right now his breathing is still a little elevated, but it goes up and down all day. Jill and I are with him as much as we can be, and we're feeding him every three hours. Which is pretty tough when you can't get more than 3 hours of sleep at a time. But, we're there with him all day long.

Jackson is an incredibly strong little boy and we're sure that he's going to OK.

Jackson, Day 2

Today was a much better day than yesterday. Over the night, Jill and I had the nurse take Jackson to the nursery between feedings. We didn't really want to do that, but after essentially 40 hours without sleep we needed to get some rest. We got about 2.5 hours of sleep each time, and a total of about 6 hours of sleep last night. We felt much better day, and it was such a great day with our new baby. We spent most of the day still resting, but did a lot of holding him, and took him on a couple of walks around the postpartum ward.

Jackson is doing great. He's still spending most of his time sleeping, but there were a couple of times today when he was awake and he just lays there and looks all around him. It already feels like he has such a personality. Of course, we think he is the cutest baby in the whole world, but I'm sure every parent feels that way. Jill and I both feel really lucky that he's come in to our world.

We are slowly getting better at the breastfeeding. It was still really frustrating and he doesn't seem to want to stay latched on for very long so he's not getting much colostrom. But, we're sticking to it and he and Jill both get better at it at each feeding. The doctor was a little concerned today about his drop in weight, which was 7.1%, and they start really getting worried at 10% loss of weight. Each ounce means a lot when you only weigh 7lbs 1ooz. So, to combat the weight drop the doctor had us supplement the breastfeeding with some formula, which he loves because it's so easy.

Jill's doing well. She's pretty sore from the c-section, but she's up and able to move around. She was able to take a shower last night and is eating solid food after the anesthesia wore off.
She's really excited and loves just staring at Jackson when he sleeps.


It's tough to take pics when he sleeps so much, because most of them would fall under the them "Baby wrapped in blanket. But, here are some more pics from today:

http://picasaweb.google.com/phorne96/NewJacksonPhotos

Jackson, T plus 20 hours

Jackson has been alive about 20 hours now, and it's been a long 20 hours already. Neither Jill nor I got really any sleep last night. We were too excited, and with trying to Jackson to breast feed we had our hands full. Breast feeding it turns out is a much more complicated and nuanced process than we previously appreciated. We couldn't quite get him to latch on, and all he ended up doing was biting Jill.

Then in the morning, when the nurse shift change occurred, the new nurse noticed that Jackson was sighing a lot and shaking a little bit. She was concerned so she took him back to the nursery to have him checked out. They did a variety of blood tests, and had the on call Doctor come give him a quick check up. The Doctor said that he appeared to be healthy with no obvious problems, but one of the tests came back that his blood glucose level was low. Apparently a score of 50 is considered low, and Jackson's score was 42. They gave him some formula which he gulped down with a passion. They left him in the heat ray for a while and within an hour he was looking and feeling good.

He's already developed quite the personality, and when he's awake he's always looking around the room and trying to focus. He makes the most cutest little cooing and gurgling sounds that we're sure everyone will fall in love with.


Jill is pretty wiped out and I'm giving her a little alone time right now so that she can try to catch a few winks before Jackson needs to feed again.

More pics after the link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/phorne96/JacksonOneDayOld

Welcome to the world!

We had a successful launch this evening and Jackson Walker Horne was born on January 4th at 10:10PM. He weighed 7lbs 10.3 oz, and was 19.25" long.

Mommy and baby are both doing well, and will be staying in the hospital for the next couple of days.

More pics of Jackson and the event at the link below:

http://picasaweb.google.com/phorne96/JacksonSBirth02

Change of plans

There has been a change of plans. The doctor has decided to move the launch up to today. I will post more information as we move forward.

T minus 3 days to baby launch

All systems appear normal. We are now at T minus 3 day's to baby launch