Benjamin B. Talbert, PE

So it has officially arrived....Ben's certificate confirming that he is, in fact, a Professional Engineer! Congrats honey, we love you & are so proud of you!

Snow!

A few weeks ago (amidst the blizzard of 2010), we headed to Blowing Rock to spend the weekend with Poppy & Nanny at their mountain house. Part of our Christmas present from them was lift tickets to go snowboarding + a day's worth of Jackson-sitting. So we were very eager to take advantage of a day of grown-up fun while little man was hanging out with his grandparents. It snowed all weekend; we got at least 14" of powdery snow. The snowboarding was epic for NC. It was bitter cold so Jackson only got to go "sledding" for about 5 minutes.

Staying warm with Nanny & Poppy

Sew little time...

I love to create. I have so many little projects going on in my life but I never think to blog about them. So I will start sharing my creativity. If only there were more hours in the day, I can only imagine the things I could make!

I work part-time doing product development for a fabric company here in Greenville...so I get lots of great fabric scraps from work as well as tons of creative inspiration. Many of my personal project ideas are modifications of ideas I've come up with on the clock.

A current work project I'm doing involves baby accessories such as bibs, burpies & wipey holders. I took the pattern I developed for work & modified it to create a cute-funky-girly bib set for a friend of mine who is expecting in May.

Another mini-project I did a few months ago was a mobile-like item for Jackson's crib. I am not into novelty decor & all the mobiles I found online were very theme-driven. So I made my own. I took 1"-diameter cotton cording & sewed a sleeve around it, sewing colorful ribbon loops into the seam as I went. I inserted a wooden dowel into the sleeve for stiffness & then added long ties on each end of the contraption. The result is a mobile that I can tie across the top of J's crib & hang dangly toys from. I simply untie it when not in use & use it anywhere where I can attach the two ends. It doesn't rotate or play music like the plastic, mass-produced mobiles but he has yet to complain :)





I also made Jackson's crib bedding & window treatments (you can see the bedding in the pics above.) However, the walls needed something to help tie the room together and what better then fabric-covered canvases? Like I said, I'm totally not into novelty themes, but the fabrics I chose for his nursery lent themselves to jungle animals. So I covered 3 12" x 12" canvases with leftover fabrics from his bedding, printed out enlarged animal silhouettes, traced them onto Heat-n-Bond, ironed on contrasting fabric, cut out the shapes and VIOLA! Instant wall art!

Buh-bye Daycare!

Wow, what a crazy, overwhelming 2 weeks its been!! Where do I start? Let's see...Jackson's had high fevers, severe wheezing, RSV/bronchiolitis, croup-like coughing & an ear infection in a matter of 14 days. He is back to his old self now, but we have finally faced the fact that he picks up every little thing he is exposed to. Dr. Jones has suggested we reduce his exposure to other children...and the most logical way to do this is to take him out of daycare (although he was only going 3 mornings a week.) When he gets sick, he gets really sick and digresses developmentally (like refusing solids because he thinks they are medicine or refusing to nurse). So we are trying to either find a nanny to watch him while I work 3 mornings a week or else I will give up the job I love to stay home and raise our son. We are letting God lead our decision in this & thankfully we have 3 sets of grandparents & several friends that are more than willing to help us with childcare during this transition. So needless to say...Bye-Bye Daycare!

In the meantime, Bella will be watching him :)

Prior to the 2 weeks of sick babyness, we went to Georgia to welcome Oma & Opa back to the east coast! We had lots of fun helping them move into their home in Brunswick & Jackson did fairly well on the 5 1/2 hour car-ride (except for the 1 hour of screaming on the way down).

Hangin' out with Oma & Opa - so glad you've moved closer!

Helping Daddy drive (note: truck was parked)

On a more fun note, Jackson has 2 (very sharp) bottom teeth & tries to put EVERYTHING in his mouth...toys, fingers, my face. He is also is reaching & grabbing on everything he can get his hands on, especially my earrings & necklaces. He is so wanting to get mobile & I swear he'll be creeping soon. He's started eating solids (thankfully) but will only do so while watching tv (the distraction makes him forget he's eating). We are working on weaning him from the tv while eating.

6 Months Old

So little Jackson just turned 6 months old. He's changing so much, its hard to keep up! At his 6-month well check, he weighed in at 17lb 6 oz (39%tile) & was 26.75" tall (50%tile). By looking at his chunky legs & multiple chins, you'd think he'd be on the upper end of the charts in weight, but he shocked us all :) He had a heyday with the paper on the exam table...when he was done, it looked like a puppy had gotten a hold of a roll of toilet paper!

Over the past couple weeks, Jackson has been:

- Sitting up unassisted

- Cutting his first 2 teeth (both on the bottom)

- Rolling over the minute you lay him on his back

- Locking his lips the minute he sees me get out the spoon to feed him

- Sleeping through the night (Thank God!)

- Rocking his new Cowboy boot socks

- Putting his face underwater during bathtime (with help from Daddy)

If I haven't mentioned it before, J is a very needy baby. He wants to be held constantly & demands attention 24/7. In his defense, for the first 3 months of his life, I held him all the time because he was so tiny & helpless. Is it nurture or nature? Anyways, I thought it was just something he did at home, but his teachers at Mother's Morning Out asked me if I carried him around in a sling at home (I don't)...because at playschool, he has a meltdown if they put him down or don't interact with him all the time. I'm very open to suggestions to help wean him from demanding my undivided attention & teaching him how to entertain himself. I've tried the whole "let him cry if his needs are being met" strategy but you can only do that for so long before its just painful to hear. I've heard that if a child demands constant stimulation, it can indicate that your child may be very bright...but my guess is that it can also indicate that your child could turn into a real brat!

Oh, and on Thursday, he cried for the first time when I left him...those poor little pitiful alligator tears. I guess he just really loves his Mommy.

Baby's 1st Christmas

The holidays have come & gone and its hard to believe that Jackson's first Christmas is over! We spent most of our time in Hickory visiting my family.

Fortunately, Bebe & PopPaw & Nanny & Poppy have lots of baby essentials, which lightens our load. However, we still haul a car's worth of must-haves, which means I end up spending more time packing & unpacking then we do being gone. The little dude racked up with the presents...a handmade rocking horse, a red wagon, new Trumpette cowboy boot socks, bath toys, lots of new outfits & toys galore.
Here are some of our favorite pictures that capture Jackson's first Christmas.

Mischevious little rascal!

Enjoys the ribbon more than the present itself.

Did I mention that this little guy LOVES his Daddy?

Holding on to Poppy's hiking stick.

I know this is ridiculous, but hey, we had the Santa suit so we had to get a picture in it :)

Christmas Eve with Nanny & Poppy

Christmas Day with Uncle Mikey & soon-to-be Aunt Jenn!

Playing with Bebe!

Trying out the rocking horsey that PopPaw made with love!

Last weekend, we celebrated New Year's Day with a trip to Lowes...which resulted in Jackson's first ride in a shopping cart. He was a rockstar.

On the mend!

Our pediatrician & I are quickly becoming BFFs. We have been to the doctor's office 5 times over the past 15 days. Little J has gone through wheezing ("potentially asthma??"), rashes ("allergy-related eczema"), more wheezing ("definitely allergy-related"), double ear-infections & more wheezing ("let's start on him nebulizer meds twice a day"). By the fifth visit, we were finally referred to an allergist, who was coerced into seeing us the same week. Based on the symptoms & the opinions of our pedi, J's teachers at nursery school & various co-worker of mine, we just knew he was going to be allergic to everything from nuts to dogs to wheat.

Then yesterday -- Oh what sweet relief for everyone to be so wrong! After giving the allergist the rundown on J's situation, he tested him for the top 5 food allergies, all of which he would be exposed to through nursing -- nuts, dairy, soy, wheat & eggs-- plus dog (since the dogs lick him daily). All of the allergy tests came back negative! And environmental allergies are not a factor since he has not been exposed to much yet. So the diagnosis on the eczema was that he just has very sensitive skin & still requires lots of moisturizing. As for the wheezing, he thinks it sounds like tracheomalacia, which just means that the walls of his windpipe are floppy & the cartilage very partially blocks his airway, hence the wheezing. This is common in infants & our course of action is for him to outgrow it. We are so thankful for this better-than-expected diagnosis and can finally rest assured that our little man is on the up and up!

Despite the seemingly perpetual sickness, we continued our Christmas tradition of going to a tree farm in Brevard to pick & cut our tree. It was a family affair -- the few & far between "rides" the dogs to get go on. Although this year, they had to ride in the back of the truck as opposed to the toasty warm cab. And they didn't make the family picture, either.

I've also been busy whipping up organic, homemade baby food. Yesterday, Jackson had his first bite of veggies -- carrots! He thought they were delicious & cleaned his plate...though it appears most of it ended up on his face.

Other tidbit -- Newly aquired skills this week: Jackson has learned how to scratch his itches, habitually kick off his right sock, scream out loud to get our attention and can almost sit up unassisted. He has become really interested in his little stuffed Wolfie & is constantly grabbing for my hair, necklace, anything he can reach. He is such a joy and each & every day, we learn something new about our little blessing.