When it rains...

So... it has been a fairly eventful week again. It seems our lives never slow down, only keep getting more hectic. I went back to work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and they were fairly normal days. Wednesday, Tyler turned in his notice at work that he will be going PRN as of May 17. That is a HUGE thing for us as a family. Tyler will be staying home Tues-Fri while I work and working on his masters' of healthcare administration online. He will probably be working on Mondays since I am off, and still taking call one weekend a month. This is going to be a positive thing for our family, because lately his job has been taking him away from us multiple nights a week and him getting called out in the middle of our nightly routine makes for a cranky daddy, mommy, AND baby! Let the countdown to May 17 begin!

Thursday, my mom called while I was at lunch and let me know that Grayson was running a high fever and she thought he might have strep throat. At such short notice, I had to take off work on Friday so that Jackson would not be around him. I'm so glad that I did, because it turns out Grayson has mono, and Jackson could possibly catch it even though he is so young. Now, Sunday night, Grayson's fever still has not gone below 101 degrees and until he is feverless, Jackson cannot go to their house. The doctor said that could be several weeks. Time to get creative for babysitters! :) Tyler's dad is going to come up Tuesday and Wednesday to stay with him, and my friend Kristen is going to watch him Thursday (which was thankfully already arranged). Hopefully by Friday, my mom can leave for a while to come watch Jackson at our house.

This weekend we worked on our flowerbeds... I say "we" but I guess I mean Tyler and his brothers, because I was inside most of the time with Jackson. We replanted some shrubs that were not really alive any more, and put down new mulch. In the process of this, we used our water hoses for the first time since the winter. Well, you can imagine what happened... both our outside faucets apparently froze in the nasty weather we had this year. Thankfully, after a long afternoon of trial and error today, my grandpa and Tyler got the back one fixed and it was nothing that could have hurt our foundation or inside floors. We'll have to fix the front one at a later point.

Jackson got a Bumbo chair on Friday, and he really likes it, though he barely has the head control to sit there for very long! He's getting the hang of it. The past two days, we've been working on getting Jackson to go to sleep in his crib without one of us rocking him to sleep. So far, so good. He has taken several long naps in there. Tonight, we're gonna try to let him sleep in his crib for the first time. He has slept in a co-sleeper in our bed since he was born. He's already sleeping now, so we'll see how long that lasts! Last night he slept from 9:30 pm to 4:30 am without waking up. I'm praying that tonight will be the same.

And... here are some pictures from this week! And, now I realize these are the only pictures I have taken this week. Which means tomorrow we will be having a nice photoshoot. :) This has been the most random post ever.

Turning points

Do you ever look back at moments in your life and think, "Man, if I had known that was going to be a turning point in my life I would have paid more attention and soaked that in a little longer?"

Oh, sure, the big stuff - your wedding day, buying your first car, the day you graduated college, buying your first house, or the day you had your first child - but I'm talking about the little things that are less obvious:
The last Christmas you spent with the grandmother that then passed away.
The first time you met the person who you would eventually spend happily-ever-after with.
The last time you cleaned out your above mentioned first car before you traded it in on something bigger.
The last birthday you spent in the house you grew up in before your parents unexpectedly sold it.
The last time you & your mom went shopping before she found out she had cancer.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that lately I have realized how quickly our lives can change, usually always for the better. It also seems to me that those turning points never seem to come with warning signs, and so maybe we should cherish each and every moment that passes, especially the little ones, while we have them in front of us. Not only cherish them, but turn those little moments into everyday celebrations full of fanfare and excitement and wonder.

That's something my great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother all know how to do... turn the ordinary into extraordinary... and I hope that I can pass that on to my children as well.

What is life, if not to live and love?

First week back!

So... I went back to work on Thursday! And.... it was really a lot easier than I thought it would be. Amazing how God gives us grace and strength to walk through what He has called us to walk through. Thursday and Friday, Tyler was able to be home to keep Jackson, which probably made things a lot easier as well. Friday, he even got to see his GranGran, Poppy, and Uncle Dustin, so I'm sure he didn't even miss me that much! Tomorrow, I go back to work "for real" and my mom will be keeping him, which means up and at 'em early & across town to drop him off. We'll see how that goes in the morning! He's like his momma and likes his sleep in the mornings. Here's a picture from last week (8 weeks old):

The Easter Bunny brought Jackson some much-needed short-sleeved clothes! Suddenly the weather got much warmer!

Love this smile! He has my heart, for sure.

Friday night, Brennan was home from Belmont and we went to eat dinner with my family. We grilled out burgers and just enjoyed hanging out. It was also the day Jackson turned two months old! Jackson had a nice conversation with Grandpa Chris:


This weekend, we also bought an SUV! It's a 2003 Lincoln Navigator. We were really out of room with my little car, and Tyler had a Ford Ranger, which you cannot put a carseat in, so we had to get something a little bigger. It's so nice to be able to haul things around, too! We are blessed.

We took Jackson to Easter service on Saturday night. He was great through praise and worship, but got a little fussy when the sermon started, so he and I hung out in the foyer the rest of the service. It was still nice, though, and we honestly met a few other families while we were out there! Here are some pictures of us on our way to Saturday night service:The loves of my life!

Sweet, sweet, sweet!

My favorite boy on the planet!

Then, since we had gone to church Sat night,we slept in late. This is quite possibly my most favorite picture EVER!

We had an early lunch at my grandparents' before Brennan had to go back to Belmont. A nap ensued:

Sassy and Grandpa Chris with the sweet one:

Uncle Brennan getting some loves:

Today, Jackson and I went for his 2-month checkup. He weighs 11 lb, 11.5 oz now! 50th percentile. He's getting so big, so fast! I can't believe it! Then, we went to Sam's to stock up on formula and diapers... it's incredible how fast you can go through that stuff!

Whew... I guess we had a pretty eventful week after all! Day by day, that's all we can do.

(My current view! Couldn't resist!)