Sitting

I keep on bragging that Jackson is now sitting on his own, but I have not posted any pictures yet. So here they are. Jackson is getting more and more steady all the time. Hopefully he will soon be able to get into a sitting position by himself.

Whenever I make a big deal about Jackson sitting up, Annika will sit right next to him and say "I can sit too." Maybe a little jealously going on.:)

Jackson giving me his silly smile.

Jackson loves to sit in Annika's princess chair.

Children's Museum

My sister, Lynae, and her kids came down to visit us and we went to the Curious Kid's Museum in St Joseph. Annika loved to play with her cousins, Elliot, Joseph, and Lillian, and everyone got to run off a lot of energy.

Annika on the volcano slide. She dares climb up it, but everytime it thunders that the volcano is going to erupt she screams and climbs back down.

Jackson just chillin' in his stroller. Hopefully one day he will be able to explore around the museum too.

Elliot in the bubble tank

Joseph climbing through the turbine.

Sweet Lillian-future ballerina

Birthday Party

Annika had a birthday party with some of her friends to celebrate her 3rd birthday! She wanted to have a Mickey Mouse themed party so I attempted my first and last Mickey Mouse cake. It took me so long to make, but Annika loved it so I guess it was worth it. Annika had so much fun at her party and loved playing with all her friends.

ready to blow out the candles

Annika's Mickey Mouse cake

Yummy!!

Happy Birthday Annika!

Happy 3rd Birthday Annika!! We cannot believe how fast time has flown. It seems like just yesterday that we brought you home from the hospital, watched you learn to crawl, take your first steps, and say your first words. We are so very proud of you and we look forward to what this coming year has to bring. You are such a loving little girl and a wonderful big sister. We love you so very much.

Love, Mommy and Daddy

The proud 3 year old

3 months old

6 months

1 year

2 years old

One Year

It was one year ago today that Jackson had his shunt placed. When it was first placed I was constantly worried about it malfunctioning or getting infected. Now one year later it is still working great. It was also about one year ago today that Eric and I finally realized the severity of Jackson's syndrome. Before he was diagnosed with hydrocephaly we would read about kids with M-CM and think that Jackson just had a mild form of the syndrome. I know that we were in denial at the time and it just took us three months to really accept that we had a special needs child. I know that God placed Jackson in our care for a special reason. Jackson has taught us so much about love and patience and he reminds us that God is always in control. I know that God has great plans for Jackson and already Jackson has touched so many peoples lives. Just in the past few weeks Jackson has really started to show some progression. He is now able to sit unassisted for short periods of time and he is starting to get what he wants by doing a "commando crawl". His crawl is basically him reaching out with one arm and then he will push with his leg to move forward and he rocks back and forth doing this until he gets to what he wants. The first time Eric and I watched Jackson do his "crawl" we were both almost in tears. All of Jackson's accomplishments are so huge to us. So hopefully crawling will be coming soon!!