They All Laughed

Week 27 and doing great!

The week started off a bit down... last Sunday, Jackson woke up with a runny nose and had his first little fever. We didn't know whether to attribute it to teething or his first little cold. I am thinking cold because on Wednesday I woke up with a sore throat, runny nose and feeling like crap-ola. Luckily, Jackson awoke Monday morning bright eyed and fever/snot free. I attribute that to awesome Mommy Milk.

Monday I had my first Aqua Aerobics class in the morning. That is harder than it looks! It was me and 10 old ladies and they were powering along... I was out of breath! I loved it though. When I got home we evaluated Jackson's mood and health and he was as happy as ever so I went ahead and took him to GymbaROO.

This week's theme was "ball" so we took his little ball that Nana and Bapa bought him. He loves that ball. We sit on the floor and roll it back and forth almost daily. He saw his little girlfriend, Candice. They played in the big ball tub together and hugged and held hands. Jackson stroked her hair and tried to eat her hand. I told him he had to buy her dinner first.

Monday night was quite interesting. Jackson wasn't interested in a before-bed breastfeed. About 45 minutes after going to bed, he started SCREAMING! Inconsolable...this just wasn't like him. It took a good 25 minutes to calm him down... he still wouldn't take my breast. Assuming I was dealing with a teething baby, we tried a frozen banana and baby teething gel with no luck. Finally, I was able to rock and sing him back to sleep. 45 minutes later... the same thing. SCREAMING! I walked him around the house and eventually rocked him back to sleep. I was preparing for a long night, but he ended up sleeping until about 8 the next morning. So I started thinking back... I started him on oatmeal Friday morning, just one ice block. All weekend he had these MASSIVE poos...the kind where you have to put him under the shower to clean him off. Horrible massive messy things... and he started spitting up through his nose. On Monday for breakfast, David gave him 2 blocks of oatmeal... and then I started wondering if he had a sensitivity to oatmeal. So I immediately stopped the oatmeal and no more messy poos, no more spitting up through the nose, and no more screaming. I am guessing he could be sensitive to gluten. But I'll give him oatmeal again next week to see if the same things happen. And if it was teething... we still don't have any teeth. Hmpf!

On Tuesday was another swimming lesson. He had a substitute teacher who really pushed him to kick and be independent in the water. He did really well much to my surprise. I really shouldn't have been surprised... he wants to try everything and really gives things a good go. I hope he carries that through life! I got a couple of pictures... again, not of him in the water because I had to be in with him. But here we are at the pool, pre-swim:

And here is the post-swim shot:


I have FINALLY gotten some giggles on camera. He started giggling Friday evening when we were playing peekaboo and I got some more from the same game on Saturday. Isn't it funny how babies can turn you into the biggest fool just to get a giggle? Still not belly laughs, but very cute! And very infectious :)
He has also figured out how to bounce his ExerSaucer by "jumping" up and down...


Jackson reaches for everything, wants to touch everything, wants to put everything in his mouth, and loves playing. He was able to enjoy some quality daddy time this week while I taught. He loves his Daddy Chair:


New foods this week: Pears, Bananas, and Green Bean. After trying for 3 nights to give him peas I have finally resigned myself to the fact that he just doesn't like them. He is his Nana's grandson. That won't stop me, however, by trying to mask them with pears (it ISN'T trickery, Mom... it's all in the presentation). I spent all Friday afternoon making baby food - more rice cereal and sweet potato, and adding pumpkin and applesauce to the menu. We are currently on 2 meals a day with 2 ice cube blocks of food at each meal. Morning meal typically consists of rice cereal and bananas or pears. And the evening meal of sweet potato and carrots or green beans.

29 Days until we leave for the U S of A! We can't wait to see those people who love us so much in Henderson KY!