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 :)