Hi everyone. I thought it was about time to update Jackson's blog and send out some photos. new photos can be found through the link above "Our Photographs"
The past few weeks have brought many new words to Jackson's arsenal. Eyes, nose, mini, fall, glasses, fuzz, and baby are a few of the new words he has picked up.

His latest favorite activity is playing in the guest bedroom. He loves to crawl up on the bed and throw himself down on the pillows. He also likes it when we throw the pillows at him, it always gets a big laugh. He's getting really good a puzzles and can now make the sounds of a bunch of animals. My favorite right now is the Lion sound because it's really scary when he roars and swipes his claw at you...LOL. :)

He has taken a liking to leading Jim and I around the house by a finger hold and dragging us to what he wants to see or do. His new favorite TV show is The Little Einsteins. He talks to it far more than Sesame Street or Dora.

I will try to get some video cut and posted in the next few days. For now enjoy the pictures. Also in the photos of Jackson are some pictures of the latest cakes I have done. The chocolate one was a "Death by Chocolate" Birthday cake made for my friend John(The Artist)It was a flourless chocolate cake and the garden cake was a vanilla buttercream cake layered with real strawberry buttercream frosting and covered in soft fondant flowers and a picket fence. The garden cake was made for a women's retreat that my friend Valerie helped with. It was very well recieved.

April was a busy month for Jackson. He finally got sick! Lucky for all of us it was just a stomach bug and his lungs were not bothered by it at all. (Huge sigh of relief). It hit both of us pretty hard and he was sick for a good 6-7 days before he started to get better. This was the first time he had been really sick since coming home from the hospital so it was a big deal. He spent most of the time on my chest watching TV as he was too ill to do much more than that. By the time it was all over he was a few pounds lighter and very pale with big black circles under his eyes. He was such a sad sight!

His new words lately are: Puppy, Baby, Oh Man!, and Poo-Poo. He started signing too for Food and Milk which is a welcome relief to Jim and I since it is much better than crying and whining for food. One of his Therapists did some testing yesterday on social and self help behaviors and he was testing pretty high in these areas....around 30 months! So proud of my boy!

I have posted pictures on Shutterfly as well as a new video on Youtube. Hope you all are well!
Love,
Tara

Happy Easter!

Whew what a Weekend! We had a wonderful Easter :) Jackson was visited by Aunt Leah and Uncle Robert as well as Auntie Angie and cousin Phillip. Jackson had a great time with them all, especially Phillip. Phillip did a great job of being Jackson's shadow this weekend and kept an eye on him most of the time and that was a great big help for us. Jim and I made a bunch of food and had Valerie and John over (neighbors) for dinner with everyone on Saturday night to celebrate Jackson's Birthday. Jackson opened gifts and ate cake (dairy free and made by Mom of course) stayed up late and had an awesome time.

The next morning was Easter Sunday and we awoke to find that we had been visited again this year by the Easter Bunny. He hid eggs and all kinds of goodies in the field across from our house so of course we were all off on an egg hunt bright and early(after coffee). Jackson had great fun finding what the Easter bunny had left but seemed more excited by the fact that Daddy was outside chasing him around and trying to keep him out of trouble. The Easter Bunnie also brought a new word for Jackson "Bubble". Now the boy loves bubbles and I say bubbles almost every day when we play with them but he has never said the word Bubble until Sunday. When he saw some Easter eggs he started saying "Bubble" loud and clear. No matter how many times I said "egg" he said "Bubble" this made me giggle to myself every time I heard it. But you've got to give it to the kid because they do kinda look like Bubbles. Especially the clear ones he saw.

It's now Tuesday morning and I am just now getting to this posting and pictures because Jackson has been sick with a high fever since yesterday morning. It was a long night and I worked last night too but he seems to be feeling a bit better this morning. We cancelled speech for today to give him the time he needed to rest up. That's about it so I'll close by telling you all that you can find new pictures posted to the Our Photos link above. Included pictures are mostly of Jackson's Birthday cake and the Easter egg hunt.

Happy Birthday Jackson!

Well today was Jackson’s 2nd birthday. We all had a wonderful day together starting with a Big Boy Birthday Breakfast. I haven’t seen him eat so much in weeks, but then again bacon and waffles aren’t usually on the menu. The first thing he noticed this morning was the presents wrapped up in “Cars” gift wrap paper that were waiting for him up on the bar. He kept saying “oooohhhhh” and “yeah” and stalking them from far below at ground level. I swear it was like a vulture circling its prey….it was so funny. I think he was trying to be subtle but that is definitely a skill that he has yet to master. Jackson played all day with his new toys and us and received phone calls of birthday well wishes from all over the planet…literally…ate like a little piggy, got his sugar rush on, and he went to bed a very happy little boy.

Jim and I both had a few moments today where we recounted to each other about the day he was born. Just talking about him back then and looking at him now always gets us choked up. It is still hard to even think about what we went through during those first few days of his life and the weeks leading up to his birth but from time to time we do and I think it has been for the best that we talk when we need to, cry when we need to, and continue to be grateful every day for our wonderfully fortunate lives.

New pictures have been posted in the “Our Pictures link above”

Welcome to you all. This is Jackson's new Blog. I was recently inspired by another preemie parent to establish this blog. I met her online through the videos I posted on YouTube. She told me how much our videos meant to her when her son was doing his NICU stay. She told me that they gave her hope. It was then that I realized that Jackson's story could offer hope to many parents of preemies out there. So I am compelled to start this blog to keep family and friends old and new updated on the Joy Ride that is Jackson's journey through this world and shine a lantern of hope for all preemie parents who feel the reality of prematurity upon their shoulders every day.

I have added a few different links to the site so let me walk you all through how to find what the site has to offer. Up top under the scrolling photographs you will find some links to more content. First is a link to my journal from the NICU which is old news for those of you who read it to get updated while Jackson was in the NICU but I posted it for other Preemie parents to read hoping it might be helpful. The next link is a link to some of our NICU photographs. The 3rd link down is where you all will find the pictures that are new and this will be updated as often possible. When you click on that link you will be taken to Shutterfly.com where you will have the option to view albums new and old. The last link is one to my YouTube channel where all of Jackson's videos are stored. Further down on the page you will see a count down timer counting down the days till Jackson is officially a free toddler and will not have to be kept out of public anymore. And lastly all the way down at the bottom of the page is a news feed from the March of Dimes website. Also if you want to subscribe to the blog you'll have to click on a link that looks like this at the end of one of my posts. Subscribe to: Posts (Atom) Follow the instructions and it will automatically let you know when I post new content to Jackson's Blog.
Well I guess that is about it for the tour. Oh one last thing, don't forget to sign the guest book!


You'll find the latest pictures by clicking the link above and the latest video is posted down below this post.