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!!