This past week, Sean and I drove up to NC to visit my parents. We easily were able to pack everything into the Explorer, which was so nice! I even did all the diaper changes in the seat! Much cleaner than those yucky fast food bathrooms. And Jack did beautifully! He barely cried at all, and he seemed to be able to eat and sleep on the go just fine. He even took his bottles at room temperature in his seat, so that we only had to stop when it was time for his solids. That was a life saver!

We got there on Thursday night, and Jack slept great in the Pack ‘n Play. He didn’t do well at all the last time we visited, so Sean and I were relieved that he was comfortable in it. On Friday, we went shopping and ate out for Sean’s birthday lunch. Our lunch was very yummy!!!!!!! And of course, Jack got new clothes from both us and the grandparents. It was super cold though! The wind would just cut right through you. Since he had an ear infection, I bundled him up as much as possible while we were walking to and from the mall. He didn’t seem to mind.

John and Megan drove up on Friday night and stayed in a hotel. Mom and dad have a cute two-bedroom house with one bathroom, but you can imagine how tight that gets with all of us there. Mom had everything decorated for Christmas. Jack had his very own “kiddie” tree in the living room with a train around the bottom. He really liked that train! The funniest Christmas decorations were everyone’s stockings lined up at the fireplace, and then Jack’s stocking on the end, which was three times larger than everyone’s stocking! Hahaha. Can you say spoiled much?!

For Thanksgiving dinner, dad fried a turkey while mom prepared all the scrumptious side dishes. Jack enjoyed his sweet potato Gerber puffs while we all chowed down on dinner. He tried the mashed potatoes but didn’t care much for them at all! He was gagging and choking on it, and it wasn’t even hardly a taste. Crazy kid! Least to say, he stuck to his baby snacks for the rest of the dinner.

We wrapped up our visit on Sunday at dad’s church. Dad and I sang a duet for the first time in a LONG time, and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. We sang “Remember Me” by Mark Shultz. It went perfectly with dad’s sermon, too. Dad challenged us to really be thankful during Thanksgiving and to just take the time to be still, get on our knees and truly thank God for what He has done for us. It was a really special time, especially with my son sitting right beside me. I couldn’t help but have tears running down my face as I bowed my head before my Lord and Savior and just said THANK YOU for such an amazing blessing! I’m thankful for many other things too, but especially for my son on his first Thanksgiving!

We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families this holiday. Take the time to get on your knees this week and thank God for what He has done for you. Stay tuned for my “Thankful List” on Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jack has a very stubborn ear infection in his left ear. Two weeks ago, I took him in to be checked because he was running a slight fever and tugging at his ear, not to mention constant whining and clinging to me all day. It seemed to clear up, but he has still had the runny nose and coughing. The clinging and whining started again yesterday, and he started tugging on his ear today. So, back we went! He had an appointment to get two of his shots today anyway, so we waited a little longer to see the doctor, since we are going out of town tomorrow. Low and behold, that left ear still looked bad. Although not as bad as two weeks ago, it was still infected. So, we’re on a new antibiotic tonight. I’m a little nervous since we’re going out of town and hoping he doesn’t have a reaction to the new meds. Please pray for Jack this week - for his ear infection to clear up and that he does not have a reaction to the new antibiotic while we are out of town.

On a side note, he weighed 21 lbs. 5 oz. today!

Well, we know it won’t be long now! Both last night and this morning, Jack got up on all fours by himself and started rocking for a brief second. He is only days away from crawling now. I wish I could get a picture, but he won’t do it again after he does it once. And Sean and I kind of freeze when he does it because we are holding our breath and not wanting to distract him if he does start crawling at that very second. HA! We’re so silly!

Jack is still working on going to sleep on his own, but he is making good progress. We usually start out by rocking him until he either gets drowsy or until he starts squirming so much that we just have to lay him down. It takes a lot longer to get him down for naps this way, and it does test your patience once in awhile, but we know he is ready for it and it will take a little time for him to get use to it. Right now, he is up there playing with and talking to Pooh. HA! It usually ends with him crying and needed help calming back down once he starts getting really tired. That’s when we go back in there and rock him, which usually results in him immediately falling asleep. But he has fallen asleep on his own several times now without us having to rock him, so we’re crossing our fingers.

I just can’t believe how much he has grown up, especially over this past month. He is starting to get very good at picking up the Gerber Puffs and putting them in his mouth. Last night, he even started chewing on them a little bit. He also drinks his juice exclusively from a sippy cup. Just this week he has gotten real good with drinking out of his sippy, even though I still have to hold it for him most of the time.

Well, mommy needs a shower now. I’m hoping he goes to sleep soon, so I can get dressed and start the day. Sean and I are driving to NC with Jack this week, so I’m finishing up cleaning and packing. It’s our first road trip in the Explorer, and we are already looking forward to having more room on this trip!

Jack has learned how to wave. At first, we thought it was just by accident that he was waving his arm and moving his hand. But then, he started reacting to us waving to him. We couldn’t believe it! Here are a few videos of us capturing his new talent.

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As I mentioned in my previous blog, Jack is not a good “rocker” when getting to sleep lately. He will turn and twist, bite and scratch - anything to get down. So, I have decided that he is old enough to have a “lovey” and start learning to fall asleep on his own for naps and bedtime. Yesterday morning, he did it all by himself without Pooh. But since then, he has been crying a lot and having a hard time. I have been letting him cry for about 5-10 minutes, and then I’ll go in and calm him down. Today, I decided to let Pooh rock with us and stay in Jack’s crib during naps. So, after crying and crying, I went up and rocked him in one arm and Pooh in the other. Jack cuddled up to Pooh and ended up falling asleep laying on Pooh’s head. I gently put him in his crib, and he began to cry. So, I grabbed Pooh and put Jack’s arm around him. The crying immediately stopped, and this picture was the end result.

Aside from sleeping commentary, Jack has started grinding his teeth. It makes me want to climb a wall and start pulling my teeth out one by one! I have tried everything to get him to stop, but I think it’s just the discovery of something new in his mouth that is making him do it. So, I’m hoping this is something that won’t continue and will stop soon. I don’t want him messing up his new beautifully white teeth.

Apparently, Mr. Jack is having a hard time getting himself to sleep tonight, so I better go see what I can do. It’s a slow process, but I know he will do it more consistently as time goes on.

Holy guacamole!!!!!!!!! We have reached a new milestone in our house that I am so proud of. Jack has learned to go to sleep on his own! WOOHOOOO!

We have been working on this for the past few weeks. I noticed one day that after his bottle, Jack would start squirming and rolling around in my lap. He seemed unsettled and uncomfortable. Normally, he would curl right up next to me and fall asleep for his nap or bedtime. So when he started doing this, often pinching and grabbing me, I would lay him down in his crib, tell him I loved him and walk out of the room. The first day he only lasted two minutes until I had to go in and rock him to sleep. The next day it was five minutes. The time gradually got longer and longer. Until today… I heard him start getting upset, so I stood outside his door where he couldn’t see me, and I told him that mommy loved him and was right there. He immediately calmed down and soon fell fast asleep - all on his own!!!!

Our little boy is growing up so fast. He even sleeps like a little boy now. He is all over his crib. He kicks his blanket off. He rolls around and has his hair sticking up all over his head by the end of his naps. He sleeps on his side a lot now. It’s the cutest thing!

So, congratulations Jackson! You are growing up so fast!!!!! Mommy will always rock you anytime you need me to, but I am so proud of you for learning to fall asleep all on your own, in your own timing!

And not to be arrogant, but I’m proud of myself too. I have always been against letting Jack cry-it-out. I’m not a fan of it, and I’ll never do it. Jack always needed more security than most babies do. He wanted to be held, he wanted to know we would be there when he needed us, and he was a terrible sleeper for the first half of his first year. However, Sean and I continued to provide the security he needed. We were tempted a few times to just let him cry, but we never could bring ourselves to do it. He had a scared scream when we would do that to him, and I knew it was not the right thing to do in our household. So, we just waited and continued to be patient. I knew he would do it on his own when he was ready, and I held fast to that.

I get so aggravated at all the books and advice on “sleep training” your baby. Come on, people! All babies are different. They all have different needs. We need to just listen to them and their cues and do things in their own timing when they are ready for it. They will tell us! I know this by observing my own son. He has taught me so much this year! I’ve realized that although being patient isn’t always the easy way to do things, that it makes transitions with your child so much easier. I’m so glad I didn’t force my child to sleep the way I wanted him to, and trust me, I wanted him to after six months of no sleep! I let him mature and develop those skills in his own timing, without taking any security away from him. He knows that when he cries and needs us, that we will be there. Yet, he has still learned to sleep on his own now.

And I also heard time and time again that if I rocked my son to sleep, that when he woke up, he would never be able to put himself back to sleep because he would freak out that I wasn’t there like when he first fell asleep. BALONEY! I rocked him to sleep every single night, and he quickly learned to put himself back to sleep on his own. It was a MATURITY thing with Jack’s sleeping patterns and behavior, it was not that I rocked him to sleep every night. Sorry for my tangent, but I have been getting some crazy advice when it comes to sleeping and babies. It’s really very simple: Every baby is different, and a parent will know what is best for their child by simply listening to them. Maybe it’s not easy, maybe you won’t sleep for six straight months, like Sean and me. Nobody said being a parent was easy. Just listen to your babies - they will tell you what they need. *tangent over *

About the time I suspected Jack had an ear infection, I had forgotten to give him his reflux medicine that he takes daily. He didn’t spit up at all and seemed to be his happy, normal self, so the pediatrician said I could try and take him off of it to see how he did, if I wanted to. So, the weekend comes, and Jack is still fussy. I assume it’s his ear infection, even though he had been on antibiotics for four days at that point. Then last night, he had a terrible night sleeping. He slept for a good stretch at first, but then he kept waking up crying. I knew something was wrong - I just didn’t know what. He hadn’t been eating as much as usual, and he would cry in the middle of his bottle. Well, today the light bulb finally flashed in mommy’s brain, and I realized he is hurting from his reflux!!!!!!!!!!!! I felt like a complete idiot. He had been trying to tell me all weekend, and it took me three days to figure it out. Oh, how I wish he could just talk and tell me what was wrong. I feel awful… Least to say, he is back on his reflux medicine. It will probably take a week or so for it to get back into his system, but we’re not taking that stuff away for a LONG time! He has been a nightmare, although it’s not his fault he doesn’t feel good. *sigh* I hope you feel better soon, my little guy!

Now, here are some fun photos from this weekend that I thought I would share!

Jack Playing in his Playroom

Sean and Jack

Check out Sean’s new website at onehundredseven.com. He is blogging about losing 107 pounds in 31 weeks!

Our poor little guy has developed an ear infection this week. I noticed he was pulling on it a lot yesterday. Then, he started only eating half his bottle, getting real whiny and fussy, and had a low grade fever. So, off we went to the pediatrician’s office to check him out. Unfortunately, he has an ear infection in his left ear. We got an antibiotic for him and some drops to relieve the discomfort. Sean had a lot of ear infections as a baby and ended up having tubes in his ears, so we are praying Jack doesn’t have the same problems.

We’re taking a brief aside from focusing on Jack to remind everyone to get out and vote today! This is a very important election, and we all need to do our part to get out and cast our ballots. My biggest pet peeve is people complaining about our country’s leadership when they didn’t take the time to vote. We will not discuss WHO we are voting for in this blog; we just want to remind and encourage everyone to go vote today! As soon as Jack has his morning nap, we will be taking off to the polls. It should be interesting voting with a 7 month old - haha - but we will be there nevertheless!

VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!