We have a walker!

Jakson's days of crawling appear to be over, we have a full fledged walker now!  It was only a couple of weeks ago he took his first steps and as of this weekend it seems crawling is a thing of the past. Although he is still a bit unsteady and does fall down a fair bit, he is not taking the easy route and crawling. No sir! He will get right back up and try again...and again...and again!  It's quite cute and scary at the same time.  Look out world: here comes Jakson!!

Here is a video of him walking, and "playing golf" his new favourite sport!

In other exciting news, he's also talking.  Well...sort of.  He says 'ball' (ba) and he says 'bye' (buh).  He's been saying 'mama' for a while now.  And he learned 'duck' (da) a while ago.  So we've got a few words on the go.  Just need to teach him some things that will help me figure out what he wants instead of our daily game of charades where he grunts and points and I guess what it is he wants.  Usually it's cheerios, but that's a lucky guess most of the time!

And here are some recent pics of the wee man celebrating the Queens Jubilee, which was quite the celebration here in London:

Watching the boat pageant from tower bridge.

Waving the flag with mummy.

The Carrol/O'Brien crew.

Block party with Arron's gorgeous girls.

Major Milestone!

Oh, hi.  Remember me?  I'm so sorry i've been neglectful of my beloved boo blog.  I've started 3 or 4 different posts over the last (gasp) two months and just keep getting side tracked before I post.  Well, no more.  Today is too big of a day not to post as we had a major milestone this weekend: Jakson took his first steps!!  He actually took some sorta steps on a few different occasions over the weekend but I'm counting the ones tonight as the official steps as he took multiple steps (three, i think?) and he actually walked forward, instead of sideways or with a minor aid.  So YAY Jakson has officially moved into the toddler category.  And boy are there mixed emotions about that!!!

So what else has happened since Jakson turned 1?  Let me see...we had a super fun 1st birthday party for him.  It was a "Rainbow Rob" party, his favourite book (thanks to the darling Katie Lane for the gift).  Here are a few pics from the special day:

Rainbow Rob cake + other rainbow delights.

Happy birthday baby boo!!

The inside of the cake was also a RAINBOW!!

Eat some of my rainbow cake, Nanny. 
Mmmmm!!

Party People

As mentioned in my last post, we took Jakson to the London Zoo for his first birthday.  So I thought I'd share a couple of photos from Jakson's birthday trip to the zoo:

See the gorilla above their heads?

Great apes.

Other happenings include an O'Brien family holiday to the lake district.  We're just back actually after having a week of gorgeous sunshine and beautiful weather up north.  It was an amazing holiday with the O'Brien clan, including us, Carol & Danny, Clare & Arron and Nan.  We rented a small cottage in Ambleside, Cumbria for Danny's 60th birthday.  Spent the week hiking, walking and driving all over the lake district.  Took Jakson on a hike to see his first waterfall and just enjoyed some family time in the sunshine. 

En route to Jakson's first waterfall!

Family photo at the fall.

Jaksons first boat ride across Lake Windermere.

Family photo on the ferry across Lake Windermere.

So those are the exciting things happening in our world.  Lots of fun and lots of sunshine in London - which is a mega bonus as it rained almost all of April and May.  In addition, Jakson spent most of his days since his birthday being very ill with impetigo as well as hand, foot and mouth disease.  Long story and although worth a mention i can't bring myself to go into the details as it was such a horrific ordeal.  Oh, and did I mention he also broke his hand?  Minor break and no cast but after 3 (or was it 4?) visits to various doctors and x-rays we finally diagnosed it as a break in the bone on the outside of the hand.  He's fine but yeah, April and May were pretty rough months.  I think/pray we are on the opposite end of all this bad luck and especially the 'getting sick from nursery' craziness we've been having.  Let's hope anyway, it's starting to feel like a cruel joke the universe is playing on us!!!

I will leave you with a couple of videos of Jakson recently.  The first is him tackling a single stair in his oh so cautious way.  Cracks me up.  The second is of Jakson 'walking' with his lion.  This was before he took his first independent steps but you can certainly tell he was ready to go on his own.

A year of boo!

I can't believe my wee man is one year old!!  He has grown up so very fast...although how many times have I said that in recent posts?  Honestly, the past year has just flown by! 

As it's his birthday and i'm heading back to work in less than a week (yikes!) i'm sure it's only natural to do a bit of reflecting on the last year.  I keep saying to Rob; just think what we were doing at this time last year...sitting in the hospital, waiting for boo...getting rushed off for surgery!  And most recently I thought about how at this time Rob would have been leaving me alone in the hospital for my first night with Boo!!  How crazy to think it's been a year since it all happened!

What a crazy, exhausting, mental, amazing, rewarding and oh so special year it's been.  I honestly feel so lucky that I was able to spend the entire first year of Boo's life at home with him.  What a privilege to be there for all of the things that have happened during the past 13 months - to watch him grow and develop.  I know I sound so soppy but it's true, i often think if we lived in America that I would have had to go back to work after only 12 weeks/3 months.  And how different our experience would have been.  I feel so blessed to have had this time with him.

To celebrate this very special day, we took Jakson to the London Zoo.  It was an awesome day.  We saw all sorts of animals; lions, gorillas, giraffes and more.  I really think Jakson enjoyed the day, he pointed at animals, seemed genuinely interested in looking at them (and the people all around - this kid loves people!!).  It was a nice sunny day, aside from a short rain shower that just happened to fall while we were eating lunch inside (bonus).  It was an all around lovely day.  And when we arrived home Rob's parents and sister came over to give boo his presents - which he LOVED!  A set of instruments, some mega blocks, clothes and a west ham kit from Auntie Clare (and there are still more pressies to come at his party!).  And his pressie from Nanny & Grandad was an amazing swing/slide for their back yard.  He's already made out like a bandit and hasn't even had his party yet!  More to come, just trying to figure out where we put it all!?!  Time for a clear out I think!

I also took Jakson for his 1 year development check this week; only fitting to see how he measures up one year later.  I talked with the Health Visitor about his development, what he's doing, how he's eating/sleeping, etc.  He is very, very close to walking and can stand on his own, until he realises and scares himself!  And he's talking ALL THE TIME.  Lots of mama, baba, dada, etc.  He now has six teeth: two on bottom/middle plus four more at various stages of coming in on the top/front.  And boy does he love to show these new teeth off!!  Although along with these cute little teeth comes a new challenge: he refuses to brush them! He hates toothpaste.  He gags, spits, cries, etc. I've tried letting him hold the brush, holding him down to brush for him, sneaking the brush in when his mouth is open and it all ends the same: gagging and crying.  He hates it.  We bought him a chewable toothbrush and although he chews everything in sight he won't chew the toothbrush!  I'm trying not to worry about it too much...eek!!

At his 1 year check he was also weighed and measured and at 1 year he weighs exactly 20 lbs and is 70.5 cm long.  That's 25th percentile in weight but only just over the 1st percentile in height.  He's also lost weight as he's gone from 50th down to 25th percentile.  Tho the HV wasn't all too concerned as he's moving a lot and he's been ill.  So we have a little shorty on our hands, tho is anyone surprised?

So the next big event in the life of boo is his 1st birthday party - which is this Saturday.  It should be an event to remember and I will post pictures as soon as I can after.  Until then, wishing our darling little boy a very happy first birthday.  We love you SO very much and can't wait to see what the next year will bring.  xxx

The end is near...

Or should I say, the beginning?  Yes, i'm referring to my maternity leave, which ends in two short weeks...2.5 to be exact, but who's counting?   After 13 long, but seemingly quick, months we begin a new chapter in the book of Boo.  So, if I'm trying to be positive, I suppose it is a beginning.  And although our current way of life has slowly been changing for some time, it will be quite a big change for us all come the 16th of April.

The first step in this new chapter is Jakson starting nursery, which he did on the 12th of March.  This is a pretty big deal for us and something we've been nervously anticipating.  Rightly so as it's been quite challenging due to a very sickly boo.  I won't do justice to all the illness that we've had to endure but let me summarise by saying the last 3 weeks have been plagued (literally) with a constant runny nose, coughing, numerous fevers, a prickly rash, diarrhea (lots of diarrhea), conjunctivitis in both eyes, one ear infection (for mummy) and one very poorly and unhappy baby.  My poor wee ba has been oh so bloody ill since starting nursery :( 

We've been to the doctor on a 2x/week basis for going on 3 weeks, called the NHS hotline and seen an out of hours doctor on another occasion.  They all say the same thing; there is nothing they can do and it's important that he's drinking and getting his fluids .  But what they fail to understand is that a once very happy baby who was thriving has turned into a very unhappy, often lethargic baby who's not eating and rarely finishes a bottle (he used to love both food and his milk!). 

Now add on top of all this sickness a terrible struggle with teething and you have a family that is very close to breaking point.  He's no longer sleeping through the night, he wakes up screaming in agony most of the time and he just isn't the baby he once was.  I have no idea how we will get through these next few weeks but I suppose we just will.  We have to.  The only silver lining is the hope hope that jakson is slowly building up his immune system so this will all be a thing of the past very, very soon.  It has to be or i will have to re-evaluate the entire situation and maybe even pull him out of nursery.  Something we are getting close to seriously considering.  Ugh!

With all that considered, there have also been some really good times over the past weeks, mostly in the hours between fevers and mucus filled eyes.  Jakson has learned how to do 'peek-a-boo', he knows how to find 'the monkey' and when he has the energy he is walking around holding onto whatever will support him.  I just can't help but think he'd be so much further along if he wasn't plagued with these awful sicknesses.  But I digress. 

So we will leave you on a positive note with some recent videos and pictures of the wee man over the past couple of weeks. Even as a sickly wee one, he's still oh so very cute :)

Playing at the park with daddy!

Taking a rest from all the fun at the park with Mommy!!

The wee man LOVES toilet paper these days! 
Must remember to close the bathroom door!

Eating a chicken leg w/mac & cheese

He also loves the recycle bin.  Why? 
Lots of stuff to pull out and make a mess with!!

Having some water from his big boy cup!
The cup looks bigger than him!

Mama!!

I swear the little man is saying "mama" (and knows what it means), what do you think?

10 Months Old?!?!

My little man isn't so little anymore!  He's 10 months already and I'm finding it hard to believe that he's growing up!  He's no longer a newborn baby, he's nearly a toddler!  Ok, enough with the exclamation points (!!!) but it really is difficult to believe.  He's having so much fun these days - crawling everywhere and pulling himself up on everything so he can 'cruise' around.  He likes to pull himself up on the couches and walk along them to get things like the remotes, the pillows, my phone and anything else that may have been left lying around.

We attempted our first round of baby proofing a couple of weekends ago but it seems the things we can't 'baby proof' are the things he really wants - things like door stops that keep the living room and bedroom doors open.  No matter how many times we say NO he still goes for them every chance he gets.  They don't seem much fun to me, not sure where the fascination comes from?  And the garbage and recycle bins, for goodness sake you'd think there was gold in them!  You can also add to the list his dirty nappy bin - gross!  You can be certain if I set him on the floor he will go for one of two things: door stop or some sort of nasty bin.  Bleh!  So i'm constantly chasing after him to make sure he's not covered in dust, garbage or poop.  Fun times :)

In other exciting news; Jakson has figured out how to wave...well sorta.  When we say 'bye bye' he tends to wave both arms up and down in an effort to say farewell.  It's pretty cute.  And he's getting better at 'kisses'.  Rob and I show him every morning how to give a kiss.  Before Rob leaves for work he says 'kisses' and plants one on me.  Then he goes to Jakson and says 'kisses'.  Sometimes he will get a big open mouth, tongue out kiss from Jakson, sometimes he gets nothing :)  I am usually the one to get lots of kisses during the day.  Big, wet, tongue wagging kisses from me wee boo.  And I certainly don't mind being covered in the drool.

So here is my big boy recently - always standing up:

Is it time to play?!?

I can get my own toys thank you very much!

And here he is having some fun in his cot (the only thing that can contain him these days!!):

Time for Some Video!

It's been a while since i posted a video of Jakson.  Since he's getting around quite well these days, it's only appropriate to post a video of him on the move.  Brace yourselves!!



And a recent pic of my boo standing up.  He's such a big boy now :)

The final count down

It's only a matter of months (2.5 to be exact) before life as we know it really changes.  I mean it's changing ALL the time in so many ways already but the real shake up will be my return to work and Jakson's introduction to life at nursery.  So the final count down is on but I have to say, it doesn't feel like an impending doom like I thought it would.  I actually went in to work this past Friday for a 'Keeping in Touch' day, which allows mom's on maternity leave a chance to go in to work without jeopardizing their maternity leave.  So I went in to the office to meet with HR, my team, my boss and say hello to the old stomping grounds (i.e. go out for drinks after work).  It was a great day and the 'test drive' felt pretty good.  I actually loved seeing my team and all my old colleagues and just having a few intellectual conversations.  I think I have a long way to go to get my brain back to where it was pre-Jakson but it was nice to pretend i was smart again, even for a day.

So the return date will be 16 April 2012, which equates to me taking a bit more than a year of maternity leave (can you believe I've been off since 14 March 2011!!!?) and returning 3 days a week for 3 months and then 4 days a week once I've used up all my holiday accrual from 2011.  It's crazy to think I've had all this time to spend with Jakson as he's grown up and changed (holy crap has he changed!) and I've not had to worry about juggling work + parenting + life at home.  I feel so, so, SO lucky.  But I will also admit I'm scared sh*tless to starting being a working momma.  After just reading my dearest friend Jenn's blog it makes me even more scared to think i'm gonna have to juggle everything I do now with work.  Yikes.  But i must remind myself people do it every day, all the time and they do it as a single parent or with multiple children or any number of additional challenges so I just have to take it one day at a time.  Harder than it sounds, I'm sure but at least I know it can be done!  And I'm lucky enough to have Jakson starting nursery a month before I go back, so we'll ease our way into it.  We will start with a few hours at a time, then a couple of half days, slowly working our way up to 3 full days.  This makes me feel much better about leaving him and also gives me a bit of time for myself before I head back to work.  I think it's the best option for everyone!!

And while all the planning for the return to work is happening, the wee man is growing so very quickly.  As I said on facebook earlier today; he's a crawling tornado on the move.  Crawling around all over the house, pulling himself up on everything, pulling CD's and DVD's and books off every shelf, reaching for things that were once out of grasp only to now pull them down.  Nothing is sacred to the wee man!  I keep saying it, with much love in my heart, that my baby is crazy!!  I do totally wonder if he's like other babies or just a little, extra special :)  I'm pretty sure it's option 2 :)  Here is some recent mischief:

No CD is safe in our house! 
The cheeky monkey even has his tounge out!

Going for a little stroll with his lion friend.

Jakson loves his lion!!

Baby's First Sign!

I am very pleased to report that after many months of teaching Jakson some basic signs (milk, more, mommy, daddy, bath, etc.) he is finally signing the most important: MILK!  It is the cutest thing EVER!  And while i still need to capture it on video, click here for a cute animation to show you what it looks like.

A sick boo :(

I can't believe I'm writing this as it was only my last post where I mentioned poor Jakson getting the flu and already i'm writing about another illness!!  My poor wee man was hit hard these past couple of days with another bug - not sure what to call this one but he had a horribly high fever (39.4C/103F) and was in a terrible state.  I knew he was really under the weather when he wouldn't let me put him down, even for a second and cried constantly for almost 48 hours.  The poor little man had yet more diarrhea, runny nose, no appetite and was so hot you hated to feel his little head.  And the most heartbreaking was that he wouldn't (or should i say couldn't) sleep unless I held him...all night long!  The poor little man was just inconsolable. 

Luckily by day two his fever dropped a bit to 38.1 (just over 100F) and he started to act a bit more normal.  Still quite fussy and still lots of diarrhea but he ate a bit more and seemed a bit more like himself.  Today is day 3 and although he's still not 100% better he seems a million miles away from where he was just 24 hours ago.  He's been smiling today and eaten both breakfast and a snack along with some milk. 

I can't even begin to explain how terrifying it is to have a sick baby and be unable to do anything to make them better.  The sick feeling in my stomach just doesn't do justice to how helpless i've felt the last couple of days.  As he was crying, I was crying.  It just killed me to know he was poorly and there was nothing i could do for him!

Luckily he's a happy man again today, here he is enjoying his snack of apples and cheese:

In happier news; Jakson has figured out how to 'get around' in his crib!  I went in today as i thought he had fallen asleep for his nap to find him nearly standing up in the crib playing with the mobile!  And when he finally fell asleep it was like a pretzel...still 'sitting' but with his head at his feet resting on his stuffed elephant (from Jenn McCarthy Gahm!!).  I had to pull the animal away and pull him forward to sleep on his belly.  Luckily he was ok with that and went down without a fight.  Oh and that's another thing - he's transitioned almost over night to sleeping on his belly!  I honestly can't believe he's slept on his back all the way past nine months but seems this is now a thing of the past.  He is quite keen to get on his belly in the cot these days.  He's also keep to sit up instead of lie down - i keep finding him backed into a corner of the cot, quietly playing, in the dark!!  He's a silly little boo I tell ya!!  I wonder what will be next, and i hope it isn't walking!!  I'm not ready for that yet!!

The return to normalcy...well sorta

We've been home in London for over two weeks and I must admit it was difficult getting back to some sense of normalcy.  Jet lag took a serious toll on the wee man and it took him nearly a fortnight to return to our pre-Iowa sleep pattern, including his naps.  It seemed he was waking up way too early from his morning nap; instead of 2 hours he would wake after 45 minutes.  And the afternoon nap, well that has certainly been hit or miss.  We often end up with Mr. Cranky pants around 4 pm and when he just can't keep himself awake he will just crash.  And most difficult has been bedtime.  We've got him staying up a bit later these days so he can enjoy dinner with us but getting him in bed before 9 pm was a major challenge, after which he would wake 2 hours later for more fun.  But, knock on wood, i think we've finally got him back to the routine and he's sleeping pretty well, tho not as well as before we left.  Ugh, i guess it's the price you pay!

The sleeping issues weren't helped by the poor man getting a case of the flu!  His first proper sickness!  First Rob got it; puking and diarrhea for 24 hours!  And shortly after Rob got ill, Jakson got ill as well.  It was horrible.  He woke up on the 2nd of Jan and had a bottle which he immediately projectile vomited up...all over the living room.  It seemed to come out exorcist style, over and over again.  Funny thing was, he didn't seem bothered by it at all.  After he puked up for about 5 minutes he just carried on playing.  He didnt' have a fever and didn't seem ill in any other way.  That is until the diarrhea started.  Ugh, the diarrhea.  It was the worst of it all, and he had it for nearly two weeks!  It seemed after every bottle there was an immediate wet, runny, poohy, stinky nappy.  It was horrible.  But as of the last week or so he seems to be past that.  He's back on his bottles and back enjoying his food. 

And oh the food, as always Jakson is enjoying his food.  As you can see in these pictures and one hilarious video:

Jakson's first sandwich: tuna and avocado!!

The wee man LOVES pasta but boy does it make a mess!

And then of course there is the crawling!  Still not an 'official' crawl but he is certainly on the go!  His favourite  position is similar to the yoga pose: downward dog.  He gets up on hands and feet (no knees) like he's ready to stand, then drops down and kinda rocks a bit.  He's so so so close but just not got the actual 'crawl' down.  It's quite amusing, quite scary and certainly will keep us on our toes!

Trying to catch him in motion has been difficult!

We thought maybe a leftover xmas box would give him
some incentive to crawl...but no luck!

Opening a late xmas gift from James & Ginny xxx

The last update for now is the dreaded nursery registration and return to work.  Luckily we've found a nursery that we like (fingers crossed) and I've just dropped off the registration form this past Friday.  I've done a lot of back and forth in my mind about what the right thing would be for Jakson; should we get a nanny so he gets the same level of care that he would by being with me OR do we go the nursery/day care route and hope for the best?  I hated the idea of 'hoping for the best', which was not helped by the first nursery we saw.  I just didn't get a good vibe and felt a bit more inclined to look for a nanny.  But we saw a second nursery and i had almost the opposite reaction: I WANTED Jakson there.  Plus, Jakson loves (like really LOVES) being around people and i thought at a nursery he will get so much more interaction with other babies, children and adults.  Plus they have an excellent curriculum of learning/teaching activities that a nanny could never offer.  It helped me decide against a nanny and go for the nursery.  So again, fingers crossed, all goes well.  Nothing has been finalised here so there is surely another update to come on this topic!  Stay tuned!

More Firsts!!

I started this post more than 4 weeks ago but unfortunately time just went too quickly while we were in Iowa.  Busy, busy, busy is what we were!  Jakson had loads of fun no his first trip to Iowa where he seemed to develop at rapid speeds!  It's almost as we left an infant in London and have returned with a big boy! 

His first big achievement is getting around - he's well and truly on the move although i'm not sure i'd call it crawling - he sort of belly shuffles around the house - backwards!  That's right, he goes backwards, which i think is normal for many babies???  He's all over the place tho - if i turn my back for a second he's backed his way across the room and ended up under a table, or under the couch or into a corner.  It's hilarious watching him go.  He does get up on all fours (or on two arms, a knee and a foot) only to belly flop back down and start his little army shuffle.  Oh and he also scoots on his butt around the place, quite amusing if you ask me.  Here he is under the chair/table in the kitchen:

Where's Jakson???

He is also talking up a storm!  Dadadadadada or baabababababa or blahblahblah, whatever sound he wants to churn out on repeat is what he's saying.  It seems as tho he has a lot to say these days.  And he's also holding his own bottle - which is just way too cute.  He will literally snatch it out of my hands when he's hungry, pop it in his mouth and start chugging!  My little baby isn't so little anymore!!

Now thinking back over the last six weeks it's hard to remember when he started doing these things, it just seems like when we arrived in Iowa he changed.  But we had so much fun in Iowa it's no wonder.  He got to spend lots of time getting to know Nanny Kat and Grandpa Don, which was certainly the highlight of our trip!

Snuggling with Nanny Kat & Grandpa Don

Hanging out with Grandpa Don

And would you believe the weather was pretty amazing in Iowa?!  I could hardly believe how much we were able to get out and about and enjoy the days - it was a nearly 40 degrees for a number of days - IN DEC!! Now that's simply unheard of!  But it was great for us as Jakson was able to take his first ride on a real swing, which he found....interesting.  He didn't get super excited on his first go but he didn't reject it completely either.  He just sorta went with it.  But by the second and certainly the 3rd time we had him smiling. 

Nanny Kat pushing Jakson on the swing

And of course we celebrated Jakson's first Christmas while in Iowa.  I think he was still too young to understand it all but it sure was fun getting him dressed up in his Christmas duds and watching his reaction to it all.  Here is Jaksons first Christmas in photos:

Christmas Morning

Jakson's 1st stocking

Enjoying a walk before lunch

We stopped at the park for some fun

Christmas ride down the slide!

More fun on the swings!

Happy Christmas with Nanny Kat & Grandpa Don

Santa Butt is on the move...

Jakson enjoying christmas cuddles with daddy!

Jakson got to meet one of mummy's oldest friends
on Christmas eve!

I'm so bummed I didn't get any pictures of Jakson with some my other friends Jaime, Tina & Sarah + their gorgeous children.  Jakson got to spend lots of time getting to know his Iowa friends and he even went swimming, to a soft play area, to the mall (a lot) and out to eat (also a lot).  It was lots of fun hanging out with everyone and getting to spend some quality time with some of my oldest and dearest friends.  I miss you all!! xxx

Once we returned to London we had a few days to chill out and recover from jetlag before New Years was upon us.  We had a pretty chilled out New Years, went over to our friends Adam & Lou's for the afternoon and spent the night.  I think the babies had a pretty good time, as you can see from the pictures below:

New Years bath fun w/Livvy & Joshua

Story time before bed!!

So all in all we had a great time in Iowa and Jakson had some great first experiences.  Now it's time to kick-start an amazing 2012 with the little man and wait for the next couple of firsts!!