Tuesday, January 26, 2010

He finally did it!

I've been waiting for this day for more than a year now. And yesterday it finally happened. Jackson climbed out of his crib! I will go ahead and say now, he's fine, didn't get hurt at all. I, on the other hand, am not so fine. I put Jackson in his crib yesterday for his nap and went out to run a few errands since Nick was home. When I returned, I asked Nick if Jackson had taken a good nap. Nick said he hadn't slept at all. He was in his crib talking and singing for an hour and then became very quiet. Nick thought he had finally fallen asleep. A few minutes later he heard Jackson so he checked our video monitor. To his surprise there was no one in the crib! A few minutes later Nick heard Jackson's bedroom door open and next thing he knew, Jackson was knocking on our bedroom door.

Even though I knew this day would happen sooner than later, and compared to other toddlers it happened later for Jackson, I'm still not ready to make the switch. Not to mention the fact that Jackson has been fighting his nap all together the last few weeks. I'm hoping this is just a phase and he will go back to his great two hour naps very soon. However, I know the crib climbing is not a phase and we will have to move him soon.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Jacksonisms...one of my favorites!

Recently, anytime Jackson asks for something whether it's to watch TV, eat, drink or anything that's considered "special" to him and we say no or we'll see, he responds with "Maybe yes?" And then we go back and forth for a few times and each time he pauses as if he's going to come back with a better argument for his case but all he says is "maybe yes?" It's pretty adorable :)

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Our first visit to Richland's ER

While we have been to the hospital many times to visit Nick, we have never been to the ER. Well this morning, that changed. A little background on the issue...last April we noticed Jackson started wheezing. The pedi put him on albuterol and told us it's not asthma yet but it could be in the future or it could just be that he wheezes when he gets a virus or an allergic reaction to something. Since April, it has happened a handful of times and normally the albuterol does the trick and within a day or two, he's back to normal.

Yesterday afternoon, Jackson started coughing and wheezing all of a sudden. The albuterol wasn't helping but Nick didn't think it was anything serious at this point so we just gave him a warm bath, put the humidifier in his room and attempted to give him honey for the cough. Jackson didn't sleep well at all. I could hear him all night coughing and at 2AM he was up and crying for me saying it hurt. I went into his room to soothe him and could tell the wheezing had become worse so I gave him another round of albuterol. He laid back down so I left his room until I heard him calling for me again a few hours later. This time the wheezing was much worse, and the albuterol didn't help at all so I took him into our room to see what Dr. Daddy thought we should do. Nick agreed that it was definitely worse and time to take him to get some breathing treatments and possibly steroids. We tried calling our pedi after hours location but after waiting an hour with no call back we decided it wasn't worth the wait...

So off to the ER we went. Luckily, we were the only ones there and were taken back immediately. His stats weren't good, he had a low grade temp and didn't look good at all. It was obvious how much trouble he was having breathing. I was internally falling apart watching my baby have so much trouble breathing. Luckily Nick was with us and I was able to hold it together so Jackson didn't see his Mommy so scared. He had some breathing treatments which helped almost instantaneously, a chest xray which thankfully was clear and some steroids. We explained that the chest xray was just a picture so he smiled and said, "Cheese," it was so cute. A little over three hours and we were sent home with a prescription for steroids and directions to follow up with our pedi tomorrow.

Jackson seems to be doing much better. The steroids are altering his mood but we can handle two year old mood swings ;-) Unfortunately, we didn't get a definitive diagnosis much different than what we were told last April so at this point we just have to wait and see and hope he grows out of it.

Jacksonisms

1. Jackson is now potty trained and whenever he has to go number 2, he says, "It's coming out of my body!" We aren't sure where he got that from but needless to say, we think it's hilarious.
2. He loves to play with phones and when he makes a pretend call, he says, "Hewwo, this is me."
3. We introduced him to the Grinch this past Christmas and ever since, he makes a scowly/mean face and says, "I am the Grinch."
4. On our way to his school, there are always cars in stop n go traffic coming the opposite way. And almost every morning, Jackson tells me, "Oh no, all the cars are stuck!"

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Christmas and NYE

Christmas and NYE wrap up

We had a wonderful Christmas this year, and hope you did too. We spent the week of Christmas in Atlanta, and weeks before we arrived, we already had a packed schedule! There were so many people to see. We were certainly busy, but it was a lot of fun to catch up with so many that we hadn't seen in a while, especially since we hadn't come home for Thanksgiving this year.

To start off, the Kelly family had their annual Christmas party, and it was nice to see all the extended family. We planned on staying fairly late (minus Jackson), but he had a minor freakout so we ended up leaving relatively early. The next day, we had brunch with the Salman side and Emerson and Jackson got to play (fight over toys). I guess it's the age. Later that night, we hung out with Nick's siblings and their significant others. In lieu of getting each other gifts this year, we all decided that we would spend some quality time together. We ordered pizza, played some games, and just had a blast!

The rest of the week leading up to Christmas was spent catching up with some friends. There were two girls' nights! One is an annual holiday dinner that a high school friend hosts, and it's always nice to see those who are able to make it -- almost like a mini-reunion. Jackson got some quality time with both sets of grandparents, and I'm sure they all got their fill of babysitting for a little while!

Christmas Eve day came quickly, and with that came the hustle and bustle as we ran around to all of our family events for Christmas Eve and Day. It's definitely nice to have both families in town, so we can see everyone and celebrate with everyone. But it can also be exhausting! By the end of Christmas Day, we were pooped!

Saturday came way too quickly, and we were back on the road to Columbia. It was nice to get an extra day of doing nothing (unless you count unpacking, laundry, and cleaning) before Monday came around. That week was very busy for Nick, as the hospital had a skeleton staff.

We made some fun party plans for New Year's, but Jackson ended up getting sick, and Nick was on call the night before, so it was just me. Nonetheless, I had so much fun with my friends and got home in time to enjoy the ball drop right before going to sleep.

Happy New Year to all! May 2010 bring you happiness, prosperity, and good health!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Jacksonisms

1. Last week I took Jackson to see Santa and he freaked out as many two year olds do. He wouldn't let go of me and kept saying "No Mommy, no Mommy." So we left without a picture, as we got to the car, he said, "I don't want to see Santa, I want to see Baby Jesus!" I can't complain about that, can I?!?!

2. This year we watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas for the first time with Jackson. And ever since, Jackson keeps holding his arms, sways from side to side and sings, "Abbu sabbu, abbu sabbu..." but I guess he's not far off since these are the real words the Who's sing as they stand hand in hand around the Christmas tree, "Fah who for-aze! Dah who dor-aze!"

Thursday, November 26, 2009

The 1st Kelly Family Thanksgiving SUCCESS!

We hosted our first Thankgsiving dinner at our home in Columbia and it was an absolute success. We spent the morning lounging in our pj's watching the Thanksgiving Day Parade, which Jackson absolutely loved! My parents arrived shortly before lunch and we are so grateful they were with us to celebrate today. Nick fried the most delicious turkey and we had an abundance of yummy sides especially for only 4 adults and a toddler!

This was the first year we were not able to spend with both of our families in Atlanta. Although we had part of my family here, it definitely was not the same as seeing 50+ family members. When we first found out Nick had to work and we couldn't go to Atlanta, I remember thinking I may not be in the celebrating mood missing our family and friends too much. Luckily, I realized I have so much to be grateful for here in Columbia. A year ago, I was still travelling to Atlanta at least once a month if not more and couldn't imagine how depressed I would be if I had to spend a holiday away from home, which at that point I still considered to be Atlanta. This year, Columbia is my home. That's not saying I don't miss Atlanta and our family and friends, but I am so appreciative of my good friends here in Columbia. I have met so many people and I am truly thankful for all the support and awesome friendships I have made over the last year.