Baby's 1st Birthday Party

We had Jackson's 1st Birthday Party last Saturday.  His real b-day is June 22 so the party was several days early.  He seemed to love all the attention & excitement but still had absolutely no idea what the big fuss was about.  As you will see from all the pictures, Jackson also tolerated the party hat suprisingly well.

We opted for an evening cookout to avoid the mid-day heat, but it was still sweltering.  Ben got to sweat it out in front of the grill for a good part of the evening. 

We had a great time celebrating with lots of friends and family -- all 3 sets of grandparents were able to make it!  Jackson was showered with plenty of love and attention!  (Uncle Mikey also came down for the day, but we didn't get a good snapshot of him & the birthday boy)

Bebe made sure Jackson was well fed!

Hi, Poppaw!

Snuggling with Nanny & Poppy

Rockin the jammies with Oma & Opa

We set up Jackson's new water table & our baby pool along with a borrowed ball pit and the kids had a ball.  Most of the babies were too little to enjoy the water toys, but they seemed happy enough to just hang out!

Poppy & Jackson, watching the big boys swim

Loving the ball pit

Our neighbor, Ivanna.  She is a month older than Jackson &

they love to practice walking together in our cul-de-sac.

Nolan (7wks) is already trying to get Brynli's digits (11 wks). 

There's stiff competition in our n'hood -- baby boys outnumber the girls!

Nolan & Cooper getting acquainted.

My dear friend Julie & her little boy, Slade.

Jackson & Slade are 3 months apart & have so much fun on our playdates!

All the Mommies with their babies

(everyone but Julie lives in our neighborhood)

The Daddies' turn

The cake smashing was rather disappointing, however.  Jackson, who typically LOVES to play in his food, wanted nothing to do with his cake and was extremely bothered by the gooey frosting once it got stuck to his hands.  I'm not sure if he was just tired, over-stimulated or freaked out by the singing & staring, but most of our cake pictures are of him screaming.  

He did, however, enjoy opening his presents and was particularly fond of playing with the cards, wrapping paper and trash in general. 

After a day brimming with sun, fun & friends, Jackson was tuckered by the time everyone left.  He somehow managed to stay up until 9pm, sharing his new toys with Opa & Oma, who were spending the weekend with us. 

This time last year...

...I was laid up on bedrest, awaiting the arrival of my baby boy.  Last June 12, I went in for my 32 week appointment complaining of some cramps...which turned out to be contractions and when checked, baby was +2 (we could feel his head)...which sent me to the hospital for pre-term labor for a night.  I got sent home with dozens of huge pills & orders for strict bedrest for the next 5 weeks.

However, Mr. Jackson had alternative plans and my water broke only 10 days into bedrest, at 10am on June 22.  Ben was out of town for the day, so my BFF Alisha (aka Florence Nightingale) left work & came to pick me up.  Dr. Heidtman confirmed that my water had indeed broken & sent us over to St. Francis to have this baby.  We certainly were a sight to be seen, 2 pregnant chicks checking to the labor & delivery.  Alisha was due 2 weeks before me and I always joked about how I hoped her water broke while we were at work so I could take her to the hospital.  Who knew she would be the one taking ME to the hospital?!

We got settled and bravely listened to the NICU surgeon go over the statistics of a preemie...he may not be breathing, I may not get to hold him right away, we could expect a 6+ week stay in the NICU, depending on his health they may have to do certain procedures immediately, and on and on.  But I never gave those disclaimers a second thought -- God had given me a sense of peace (or else I was too naive to know how serious this could be).

Ben arrived a couple hours later -- he was 4 hours away and managed to "safely" make the trip to the hosptial in 2 hours.  I was just starting to have major contractions so he got to practice his lamaze "coaching" skills and was such a supportize & loving hubby. 

After only 4 hours of ative labor & 2 pushes later (with an audience of 12), Jackson Isaac Talbert was born, weighing 4lbs ll oz and 19 inches long.  He was only 34 weeks gestation, but came out screaming & I got to hold him immediately.  He was as healthy as a full-term baby and was only in the hospital for 3 nights.

Its amazing to think that almost a year has passed since God gave us this precious little blessing. We are so thankful for our son and strive every day to nurture, teach and lead him.  We are constantly amazed by him and fall more in love with Jackson everyday.

Yardsale, swimming pool, wedding shower, oh my!

So rather than buy other people's junk this week, Ben & I had a yard sale of our own.  We've been in de-clutter mode for a while and our pile of stuff to get rid of was taking over our garage, spare rooms & office.  We also wanted to get rid of the pool table (circa 1968) that we inherited from Ben's parents when they moved to Texas several years ago -- it was occupying prime real estate in the garage that is much better suited for parking my car.  So after hours of sorting, organizing, pricing, displaying, selling & hauling off, we netted $400.  Not bad for a bunch of junk that we would have donated. 

Our driveway, chock full of junk!

The proud new owners of our pool table

By 1pm, Jackson was up from his post-yard sale nap and we were suited up & headed to the neighborhood pool for his first swimming experience (other than the torturous Labor Day swim when he was 10-weeks old).  To clarify, we don't have a neighborhood pool of our own, but the pool we go to is definitely a neighborhood pool, just not ours.  Jackson absolutely loved the pool, he is a water baby for sure.  He would dip his face under the water & just giggle.

Sunday, Jackson & I headed to Hickory for Jenn's wedding shower while Ben chipped away at the never-ending honey-do list.  Jackson got to see lots of grandparents and Uncle Mikey & spent some QT with Poppy while the ladies were at the shower.  This little boy certainly has lots of people that love him to pieces!

Bebe & her little grandson

Jackson was mesmerized by Uncle Mikey

Poppy even taught Jackson how to eat cheerios from his toes -- eww!

Mom & I with Jenn & her mom at her bridal shower on Sunday. 

Less than 2 months 'til the big day!

It's the simple things...

We did a little bit of everything & not much of anything during our 3-day Memorial weekend this past week. The weather was spotty so outside activities were limited.  We did, however, indulge in a few of the simplest, most under-rated things. 

On Friday, J & I slept in, did a few chores, then spent the afternoon playing in his kiddie pool on the deck. Or should I say attempting to play in the kiddie pool, seeing as it had about 2 dozen itsy-bitsy holes in the bottom. During naptime, I filled it up & left it unattended for an hour or so while I got Jackson up & dressed. Apparently, one of the dogs Maddie hopped in the pool to cool off, forgetting that her less-than-pedicured toesies could potentially damage the flimsy, inflatable rubber baby pool.  Jackson, however, seemed perfectly content to play in the remaining 2 inches of water.

The culprit trying to look innocent...

Saturday morning started off with a trip to Target, where Jackson practically insisted on riding in the basket of the shopping cart, standing up no less.  No worries -- the cart was deep enough where he could not realistically fall or jump out.  Jackson inched up in the front of the cart as far as he could, arms out-stretched, attempting to touch anything within reach, baby mullet blowing in the breeze as we zipped down the aisles -- it was very "Titanic-esque".  (Note the gross drool-soaked shirt...poor baby is teething!)

After church on Sunday, we let Jackson run rampant in his diaper (his clothing of choice) while we starting weeding out closets/drawers/etc for our upcoming yardsale this weekend.  About 2 weeks ago, we converted a huge box into a tunnel which J LOVES to crawl through, roll balls through, push his car through, etc.  Talk about cheap entertainment...boxes are SOO under-rated. 

Which reminds me of last summer... I tried to GIVE a huge appliance box to the 2 boys next door & they turned it down.  They said they didn't know what to do with it.  How do you not know what to do with a huge, empty box?!? What can't you do with a huge, empty box?? What is wrong with these kids?!?  Where is their imagination?!?  At least crawl in the thing & roll around and beat each other up.  I mean, Really!

  

Then we moved on to the drawers, which he found equally as exciting...

We finished off the day with a trip downtown for Shakespeare in the Park, the outdoor summer theatre series.  Jackson was much more interested in macking drooling on pretty little Ella then he was in the drama unfolding onstage...can you blame him?

Afterwards, Jackson enjoyed the scenic view overlooking the Reedy River Falls and then got to pose on a miniature park bench that he spotted at Spill the Beans.

  

 We capped off our weekend with a wet, stormy Memorial Day.  Daddy built Jackson his first fort, which he was relatively uninterested in.  Ben, however, had a blast playing with Legos underneath =)  Jackson was more excited about pulling down the blankets then he was crawling underneath them. 

We had a wonderfully laid-back, relaxing holiday weekend.  These days, those are hard to come by!

Yardsales & Bachelorettes

This past weekend, I hit the road & headed up to Raleigh for my future sis-in-law's bachelorette party. This was my first overnight away from Jackson and I missed him dearly. However, Ben assured me that he and Jackson would "bach it up" (bach as in bachelor pad) while I was away. Since my weekends away are few & far between, this also doubled as one of the semi-annual girl's weekends I have with my BFFs from high school, Sally & Charlotte.

We played it safe on Friday night, meeting Mike & Jenn for sushi then just catching up over a few drinks. After all, Sally (the fellow Mommy) and I had big yard-sale plans on Saturday morning. Everyone knows the early bird gets the worm and 6am comes pretty darn early!

I had done a bit of planning and knew our route, which was limited only to neighborhoods who's homes were at least $400K. (Thank you Wake County Real Property Search) After some minor re-routing due to unforeseen roadwork, we had a successful morning, yielding 2 convertible carseats, a color flatbed scanner in the box ($5), tons of children's books, a bubble machine, Legos, Finding Nemo, several toys & quite a bit of other treasures. We celebrated our successful bargaining by laying out by the pool for a few hours prior to heading back to Mikey's condo to get ready for our Jenn's shower & bacheloretty party.

We headed over to Jenn's for dinner, lingerie shower & a little pre-gaming prior to hitting up the bars. Jenn has a great group of girlfriends and it was great meeting everyone. Sally, Char & I were practically chaperones, considering most of them were in their early to mid-twenties & the three of us are on the brink of 30. However, these old gals did not let our age hinder our ability to represent. Despite being up since 6:30am, we were the last of our group to leave the bar (which was incidentally around 2:30am). And best yet, we all felt relatively decent on Sunday morning! Considering this was my first time out & about since I first got pregnant with J, that is quite impressive.

Jenn, our bachelorette

Me, Sally & Char


Who knew my soon to be sis-in-law was such a dancing diva?

First Mother's Day

I realize I am a bit overdue, but I am practically obligated to do a belated Mother's Day post since this was my first Mother's Day as a Mommy. Ben started off the holiday weekend by taking Friday off work and taking me shopping. The shopping adventure was extremely out of character for Ben, as he a) hates the mall, b) hates spending money on non-necessities & c) would prefer to spend his day off doing anything but shopping. However, it was his idea & he willing cruised the mall for over an hour, offering suggestions as to things he thought I'd like & then surprising me with new perfume a my Mother's Day gift. No better gift than quality time & smell goods.

Saturday morning, we got up and headed up to Dad & Linda's mountain house for the night. Linda watched Jackson while Ben & I strolled around Blowing Rock all afternoon. We had delish steaks for dinner & a finance lesson from Dad on the in & outs of the recent stock market hoopla, followed by an extremely sleepless night with a out-of-sorts baby that cried off & on for 12 hours straight. Sunday, we headed down the mountain to Conover to spend the Mother's Day afternoon with Mom & Bruce. Jackson loved riding in their golf cart & had a blast showing Bebe all of the things she needed to babyproof :) Best of all, I got to spend time with MY mom, who I love dearly & cherish more and more the older I get, especially after becoming a mom myself!!

Fascinated by Poppy's make-shift top

Nanny & Poppy

Mother's Day with Bebe & Poppaw

Self-Appointed Social Chair

Due to no contest, I have appointed myself as social chair of our neighborhood. We've lived in our neighborhood for over 3 years & every spring, we talk about how we need to have a neighborhood block party. Our neighborhood is full of young families & its a shame that we don't really know each other.

So finally, I declared myself social chair & decided to get the ball rolling. With the help of Kim & Andrea, we organized the 1st Annual Hammett Grove Cul-de-Sac Party. I whipped up some fliers & turned our afternoon stroll into a mail route. At Andrea's suggestion, I resurrected my cheerleader "spirit sign" making skills & made reminder posters for the entrance to our subdivision. My dorkiness came out full-force, as I had big plans for a name tag station as well as a sign-in sheet as a way to acquire a master email list =)

Despite impending scattered showers, we had a great turnout of about 40 adults & several dozen children. Each family brought a dish to share & everyone seemed to enjoy themselves (and I had no complaints about the name tags)! The rain held off until 9pm, just as we were cleaning up. Due to popular demand, the 1st Annual Part II shin-dig is being planned for the end of the summer.

Ben & Brian with their little boys (for the record, Ben's drinking O'douls). Jackson is leading the baby boom in Hammett Grove, followed by Kate (Dec), Cooper (March), Brynli (April), Nolan (due in May) & Campbell (due in June).

Good turn out!

Krystal, John & Ben. Baby Campbell is due in June!

Jackson's manning the beer cooler.

Staci, Jayci & Baby Brynli (currently the newest baby in the 'hood)