Sleeping

Several nights ago, when getting ready to go to bed, Noah had a BRILLIANT idea.  He convinced Sierra to trade places with him...Noah would sleep in her crate and Sierra would sleep in Noah's bed.  They both thought it was wickedly funny.  Too bad Mama had to put a stop to all the fun and send them to their own beds.

Last Night

This is what last night looked like...

{5:36}

Bubs was so tired after fun and long weekend that he walked over to Daddy's chair, laid his head down, and was asleep in seconds.

{5:48}

I attempted to pick Bubs up and transfer him to his own bed.  He woke up just enough to tell me he wanted to snuggle with Mama...aww... now how could I refuse that???

{5:51}

Bubs and I snuggle together...I assume that as soon as he's asleep again, I'll transfer him to bed.  Little did I know that I would fall asleep with him.

{6:58}

Kc wakes me up and asks if I wanted to continue sleeping or get up from my "nap".

{7:02}

I successfully transfer Bubs to his own bed, feeling quite refreshed from my late afternoon "nap".

{8:46}

Bubs wakes up, feeling quite refreshed from his late afternoon "nap".  He announces to Kc and I, with the largest smile on his face, "I took a nap", and now he is WIDE awake.

{9:32}

Bubs is still WIDE awake, playing ever so nicely with his toys in the living room.

{10:12}

I announce to my Little Man that it is time for "night-nights" and he reluctantly heads towards his bed.  After much tossing and turning, he finally settles down and falls asleep. 

It will be interesting to see what today brings!  

I hope you have a very Happy Memorial Day!  Thank you to all the active, retired, and former military service people and their families for sacrificing so much to ensure our freedom!

My Boys

I just love these boys!

Bubbles

Now that the weather is heating up,  we've been spending quite a bit of time in the backyard.  Bubs got a bubble machine and just loves to play with it.  He knows how to turn it on and off and loves to run around trying to pop all the bubbles he can.

Notice the rocket ship cracker that has joined in the bubble fun!  Who says crackers are just for eating?!?

He's my silly little Bubs!

One More Look

The Jackson Family woke up early this morning and headed out, on the all too familiar path, to Lucille Packard Children's Hospital for yet another scope. 

This is surgery number 24...in case anyone else is counting.

Our MOST FANTASTIC Otolaryngologist wanted to take another look at Mr. Man's trachea since his stoma closure surgery last October.  Once Noah was given his "happy juice" and taken back into surgery, Kc and I barely had enough time to grab some lunch in the cafeteria and head out to the courtyard to eat before our MOST FANTASTIC Otolaryngologist came out to give us the good news.  He felt that Bubs' trachea and vocal chords looked great!  So great, in fact, that he wants to do one final scope...two years from now!

Are you kidding me?!?

Two years?!?

WOW!!!!!

Two whole years!

The second Kc and I walked {ok, I practically ran} into the recovery room and saw Bubs, I had the most vivid flashbacks to Noah's initial trach surgery.  I remember walking into the NICU room and seeing my Little Man like this... 

It's amazing how things that happened so long ago can be brought back so quickly...so vividly...so painfully. 

Bubs has come a l. o. n. g. way over these past three years...thanks in part to the love, support, and prayers from all of you.  This road that we are on continues to have its ups and downs, twists and turns, but through it all, our God has been faithful and our hearts are full.

Family Photos

It's been a L.O.N.G. time since the Jackson Family had any professional pictures taken.  If you remember, way, way long ago, Cori Derksen of Derksen Photography came to Nana and PopRo's house and took these pictures of the entire Smith Clan.  

Almost a year ago, I found a Groupon for a photo session with Chance James.  I quickly purchased it, without a second thought, but one thing after another came up and we didn't get a chance to use it until a few weeks ago.

I was THRILLED with how the pictures came out.  We, once again, went to Nana and PopRo's backyard and Chance was so good at finding interesting spots and capturing us in all our silliness.  Please excuse the picture overload but I just couldn't resist.

 

 

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!!!!

I am feeling so loved and blessed this morning!  Kc and Noah have been secretly working on the most spectacular art project for me.

I love the pallets, the burlap, the initial...Isn't it just fantastic!!

Kc started with 1x4 boards that he distressed and stained.

Next, he cut out a piece of burlap to cover the N.   

Noah told me, "N is for Noah".  Too cute!

Now the fun painting began.

 

Bubs had a blast covering the burlap.  He painted it with a brush and used a cup to make circles of paint.

Almost finished.

Kc finished the initial by wrapping the burlap around it and securing it to the pallet.   

I absolutely LOVE my artwork.  It was created with love by my two favorite guys.  Now I just need to figure out where to hang it.

Surprise!

A few weekends ago, we woke Mr. Man up bright and early and jumped in the car. We were headed for a wonderful place...a truly awesome surprise...an "I can't even believe we're actually here" location...The Monterey Bay Aquarium!!!! 

Ever since our last trip in December, Bubs has been talking non-stop about the fish, and the sharks, and the kelp forest, and the octopus, and the scuba divers, and the tide pools, and the sea horse, and the starfish, and the sting ray, and the jelly fish, and the, and the, and the...

We knew that another trip was definitely in order.  Once again, we arrived early enough to see the scuba divers cleaning the tanks.  Bubs jumped up and down and got such a kick out of waving to them {notice that shark and Squirt got to come along on the trip}.

 

Mr. Man just kept pointing and waving at the divers and they were so kind to wave back.

Once again, the seahorse exhibit was a definite hit...especially the larger than life seahorse.  Bubs spent quite a bit of time playing with the seahorse statue. 

He was fascinated with the baby seahorse that was coming out of the father's pouch {yes, the male incubates the eggs} and kept trying to take it out.

 

The new Jellies Experience was spectacular and Noah loved to stare at the hypnotic jellies.

There were plenty of buttons to push and things to explore.

The touch pool was another hit.  Bubs loved to touch the kelp and starfish.

I got the chance to hold two hermit crabs in my hand.  Noah got a kick out of touching them...until...they came out of their shell and started to crawl on my hand.  He was NOT OK with things crawling around on his Mama.  He immediately started to cry and tried to save me from the terrible creatures.  I had to quickly place the poor, unsuspecting crabs back in the water before Bubs could swat them off my hand.  I'm so glad my Little Man is so protective of his Mama!

 

It was very hard to say good-bye to the ocean, but I know we'll be back soon enough.