Fun Times as a One Month Old

Everyone warns you how fast babies change, but you don't really know until you have your own. At his one month visit Jackson had already gained 2.5 lb bringing him up to 10 lbs and grown 1" for a grand total of 22.5". He only wore size Newborn diapers for one week! By the end of Week 4 he had outgrown almost half of his Newborn clothes but wasn't quite fitting into 0-3 month, which limited his wardrobe quite a bit.

My friend Mary and her daughter Hannah brought us even more baby gear to borrow. Mary lent me almost everything we have, so we are forever indebted. Hannah is the sweetest baby and had a great time playing with Baby Jackson.


While some dads might be embarrassed to wear the koala carrier, Matt sports it proudly. In fact, he wore it into a port-a-potty with Jackson inside at an art show.


So far, Jackson is a helpful little guy and is happy to sit next to us while we work. I had a conference in Montgomery so he and Matt came. Jackson spent most of his first hotel trip obsessively staring at the giant window in our hotel room.



It's hard work being a growing baby. By the end of Week 3 Jackson was smiling, first at me and then at everyone including Aunt Robin and the man who owns 2nd and Charles. Aunt Robin was sweet enough to come stay with us for several days while Matt was out of town. She was our first babysitter and the first person other than Matt to give Jackson a bottle. We loved having her stay with us.

By week 5 he started cooing and talking up a storm, especially in the mornings. He loves having his bath and will stay in his little tub content as a clam for as long as we let him. Something tells me that he will love Grace even more than his tub, although so far she is still pretending he doesn't exist. We'll see how that goes.

Let the Spoiling Begin

Sara and Jen are my oldest friends. Jen and I were in the seventh grade together. We went to different high schools, but somehow Jen ended up in Birmingham at UAB for two years and we lived only a few miles from each other. She has lived in NY since 2004 and is just about done earning her DMD at Columbia. We call Jen "the smartest dumb person" we know. Case in point, at one point while visiting she excitedly informed us that Birmingham is at the foot of the Rockies. Did I mention she lived here for two years?















Sara and I met in the ninth grade. She lived a few blocks away and we had all kinds of crazy fun in high school, most of which if she wanted to, Sara could use to blackmail me. She married into the Navy and currently lives in Texas in a little town we affectionately call "Brownhole". She is a nurse by day, yoga/artist/superhero by night. It is impossible to fully describe Sara, but suffice to say everyone loves her, many are scared of her (rightly so), and has more random talents than most people have hairs on their heads.




Sara and Jen have known each other for years, mostly as the result of my telling them each stories about the other. They planned to come meet Jackson at the same time. It was hard to tell if they were more excited to see him or each other. We spent a great few days catching up, laughing, cooking fabulous food, and telling stories that made Matt just shake his head.

Just being a newborn

It's a rough life being a newborn. His favorite time of day is the morning when he gets to snuggle in bed with mama after daddy wakes up. He wiggles over so he is touching and can even roll onto his right side. We call him "side sleeper".



Daddy giving Jackson his first bottle. The first bottle was pretty messy and ended up more on him than in him, but after a couple tries he caught right on. We originally said we weren't going to give him a paci, but the first time Matt spent the night away in Mississippi I broke out the pacifier. You do what you have to.

Happy Halloween

It isn't easy to costume a newborn, but Aunt Robin sent him a Halloween outfit and I happened upon the cutest penguin hat so he would be appropriately dressed for the holiday. One of the parties we took him to had a Quentin Tarantino theme but dressing him like a Pulp Fiction character seemed a bit much.

Great Grandparents

Not every baby gets to spend time with their great grandparents and Jackson is lucky enough to have 5 of them! My grandparents were sweet enough to drive up from Florida the week after Jackson was born and stay for a few days. The best part of their visit... Gran's banana pudding :)

There aren't too many Grandads that will ride a jet ski over the age of 75, but this one does, and he gave Jackson his first life jacket so they can ride together this summer.