1 year ago today....

...I saw Jackson for the first time. I had my first OB appointment to confirm my pregnancy and have an ultrasound done. I had to go by myself since Jerry was working. I was nervous, excited, scared, happy...you name it, I felt it! I remember that my appointment was for 9:30 in the morning but the doctor's office called me around 7:30 and asked to reschedule to noon. That just made me even more nervous!

So I go in at noon and there is absolutely no one there! I'm the only patient in the waiting room. It was lunch time for the office but since my doctor, Dr. Schneider, had had an emergency come up in the morning she decided to see me during her lunch time. They called me back and did the usual checkup stuff, asked me my symptoms, and confirmed that I was indeed pregnant. The four at-home pregnancy tests several weeks prior still hadn't completely convinced me! It wasn't until actually hearing it from my doctor that I thought 'OH! MY! GOD! I'm having a baby!!!"

Dr. Schneider then took me to another room to perform the ultrasound. I was so nervous but then there he was...a tiny little bean with a beating heart. His little arm buds and legs were flailing like crazy! She measured him and said he was right on target and that everything looked great. He measured exactly 9 weeks, 4 days (which is right where I should have been) and his heart rate was beating at 160 BPM.

It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. I was so sad that Jerry wasn't there to share in the moment with me but at the same time it was cool for me to have that moment to myself. I saw my baby for the first time. This was a huge life changing event for me and at that moment it was just me & my baby.

I did a scrapbook page based on this experience and included a quote on the page that I feel summed up how that moment felt to me. It says "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." I couldn't have expressed it any better.

I remember wondering last year what life would be like in a year. We'd have a 5 month old and I just couldn't even wrap my brain around that! :) Well a year has passed and we now have a 5 1/2 month old who is the best thing in this entire world! He's so much fun and every day is new day with him. I honestly can't even remember what life was like before him but maybe that's because it's all a blur! At any rate, we're having the best time with the little dude and we couldn't be happier!!!

-Erica

A few pix of Little Bean Jackson! Actually, we didn't know Jackson was Jackson then, so he was affectionately called Baby Blob or Baby Cohen.

Dear Future Aunt Crystal,

My mommy, daddy, and me are sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry that we forgot to leave a special birthday message for you on our blog. It completely slipped our minds and we didn't remember until last night that we never left a message for you! Actually, I reminded mommy and she thought "Oh no! I completely forgot!!" At least we didn't forget your actual birthday and I hope that you liked the card I sent you. I picked it out all by myself especially for you! Anyway, I digress. We're so sorry and we hope you can forgive us (well, mostly my mommy since she's the one that does all of this blog stuff anyway!).

Love, Jackson



Future Aunt Crystal, how can you not forgive this sweet face!?! :)

Buds

Jackson got to hang out with his buddy Wilson at the park last week. Actually, Jackson mostly watched Wilson get dirty! Wilson was all over the place, picking up rocks & sticks, while Jackson sat in my lap munching on his fingers. Jackson did take some time to swing on the swing set and before they left, Jackson & Wilson sat on the bench to take some pictures together! Just two cute buds, hanging out!
-Erica

Tripod

On Friday, Jackson sat in the tripod position for the first time! We were so excited. He sat for what seemed like forever but it was probably only a minute or so before he toppled over! He then looked at us bewildered! He didn't know what had just happened. It was too funny!

Sorry about some of the blurry pictures! He was bobbling around so much that we couldn't get too many clear shots! **notice Amber in the background**

5 months

So this is a week late but Jackson turned 5 months old last Sunday (4/29). Seriously, where has the time gone? The past couple of weeks have been pretty exciting around here. Jackson is doing a lot of new and different things. Here's a list of what he's been up to:

• playing with his feet & toes


• grabbing up at the toys hanging from his play mat and his car seat


• sleeping 11 hours at night


• sitting up in the triangle position


• teething! His two bottom teethies have cut through!! We can totally feel those little guys coming in.


• refusing to eat solids!


• babbling, babbling, and babbling some more

No Words....

...the pictures speak for themselves! :)
-EYC

Jackson's 1st Music Festival

Jackson attended his first music festival on Sunday, which also happened to be his 5 month birthday! Our neighborhood was having its 6th annual Front Porch Days celebration so there was music, food, a petting zoo, and lots more! Jackson's Uncle Diego came to hang out with us too. We had a great time! Jackson definitely rocked it hard! He has now become a huge fan of the Biscuit Brothers and can't wait to see them again! He slept through Full Service Music but one of the guys from the band still left him a cool band sticker. He understood that sometimes good music, good company, and good weather can wear out a guy!

Ready to go to the Music Fest!

The Biscuit Brothers!

Jackson with his Uncle Diego watching the Biscuit Brothers. Well, JJC is looking at his daddy, actually.

Listening to some good music with mom.

The crowd The Biscuit Brothers drew to their show.

Okay, I had a hard time deciding whether or not I wanted to share this picture. I absolutely love it. Jackson and his Uncle Diego look so cute together looking at the animals but the man in the orange shirt thoroughly grosses me out! I wish I could have cropped him out of the picture somehow!!! So please ignore him as best you can!

Welcome Home Uncle David!!!

Woo Hoo!! We're so excited! My brother David is back from a 7 month tour of duty in Iraq. It was his 2nd time over there and we're thrilled that he's finally home. He arrived this morning in North Carolina, where he's stationed. He'll be coming home to Austin for about a 3 week visit in mid-May. We all can't wait to see him and Jackson just can't wait to meet his Uncle David! Glad you're back safe & sound, David! We love you!!

-Erica

Happy Birthday Uncle Dado!!!

Today is Jackson's Uncle Dado's (Diego's) birthday!! Jackson thinks he's the most top notch Uncle & Padrino in the whole world and can't wait to learn how to play drums at his house!! ;) Rock hard, play hard, Uncle Dado! We love you! Happy26!

-Jerry, Erica, & Jackson

Jackson with his Uncle Dado just hours old - Jackson, that is, not Diego!

Swingin'

We bought Jackson a cool outdoor swing and hung it up at the back patio. We weren't sure how he'd react but he loved it. He chilled out & enjoyed the ride. He enjoyed it so much that he eventually fell asleep! Ah, the life of a baby!

Bluebonnets....for real this time!!

I know, it's a ridiculous amount of bluebonnet pictures that I just posted but it was so hard to choose just a few to share! So I decided to make a slideshow, okay two slideshows, of some of my favorite pictures. We found a nice patch of bluebonnets here in our neighborhood out near the golf course and snapped away!
Later y'all,
Erica

A special message from Jackson!

,''''''''''''' mbv ds b f c ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
imfkmnmnm

The Great Rice Cereal Disaster!

Rice cereal....YUCK! Jackson tried rice cereal for the first time last Friday (4/13). It didn't go so well! He probably wasn't ready for it but we were ready for a good laugh so we thought we'd try it. How's that for parenting! :) Anyway, very little rice cereal actually made it into his mouth! It went all over his face and covered most of his bib. He did not like it one bit and spit it out immediately. It was really quite amusing! So he's taking a break from the nasty stuff for now and will try again later this week. We'll let y'all know how it goes! :) For now, you can enjoy the silly pictures of Jackson during the great rice cereal disaster!

Um, guys, what are you doing? What's this thing near my mouth?

Yuck! What is this stuff?

Seriously, what is this? Why are you doing this to me?

No! For the love of God...please make it stop!

Good, it's over!

Listen here, don't ever do that again!

Okay, well maybe it wasn't so bad. I think I might be willing to try it again sometime!

Cousins

My cousin Jason came into town about 2 weeks ago with his wife and baby - 10 month old Jason, Jr. (Little Jason). They currently live in Connecticut where Jason is stationed in the Navy. It was great to see them! We haven't seen them in years. Jason and I grew up together and have always been really close so it's always a lot of fun catching up with him. It was also very nice to have the two little cousins - Jason & Jackson - meet for the first time. We went to breakfast one morning at Kerbey Lane and took pictures of the boys. Unfortunately, Jackson conked out during breakfast! Anyway, we hope to see them again real soon and we hope they have a safe trip back to Connecticut!

-Erica

The Blubonnets & Mr. Gnome

So in Texas EVERYONE and their grandma takes the obligatory bluebonnet pictures. Instead of going to a bluebonnet patch Jackson took his out in our front yard! We made him take a few with Mr. Gnome. He wasn't too happy about that!

Easter 2007

Jackson had a great Easter! It was unusually cold. Actually more like freakishly cold for April but he totally scored with the Easter Bunny, or I should say Easter Bunnies! He ended up with 4 Easter baskets full of lots of goodies like clothes, bubbles (FUN!), stuffed animals (including a cute, little dalmatian), candy (for mom & dad, of course), and a UT football. He also got to spend lots of quality time with his family. He didn't get to participate in the Easter egg hunt since he's still a little guy but his cousins, Zach & Ashleigh, had a great hunt! Anyhow, the little dude looked awfully handsome so of course, we took lots of pictures! Here are some of our faves!










With Uncle Dado (Diego) and Mina (Aunt Stephanie)


With Dad, Mom, & the Three Little Pigs ;)

4 month old Jackson

Jackson had his 4 month well check appointment on Monday. He weighed a whopping 15lbs, 9 oz, measured 24 1/2 inches in length, and his noggin measured 16 3/4 in. So we have a short and stocky baby with a decent sized brain! He got his second round of vaccinations....1 oral vaccine and 4 shots. The little man was not pleased! He even hated taking the oral vaccine, which apparently most babies love. Guess we have a weird one on our hands!

So the little dude is now 4 months old. Let's see, what's he up to now?! Well he seems to be growing more hair. His fingernails grow like weeds therefore making it quite easy for him to scratch up his face. He 'talks' a lot, does a lot of whining, and still does a lot of poopin'! We call him The Poopsmith (who also happens to be a character on one of our favorite sites...Homestar Runner). We hope no one takes offense to us calling our son The Poopsmith...that's just our sense of humor! :) Okay, what else? He has really started to notice the cats and watches them as they walk by. He's grabbing a lot at his toys, bibs, burp cloths, our fingers...basically whatever he can get his hands on. He's doing a great job at holding his head steady and is getting better and better at sitting up with our help. Oh and we believe he's in the early stages of teething. There's a lot of drooling and gnawing on fingers, toys, clothes, what have you.
So the little guy just keeps on keepin' on!

Happy 4 months Jackson! Happy Birthday Mommy! Happy Birthday Mimi!

Well the little guy had a pretty eventful weekend. He started it off early...and with quite a bang by turning 4 months old on Thursday (3/29). He celebrated by having dinner over at his Uncle Dado's (Diego's) house. He got see his Mina (Aunt Stephanie) and his future Aunt Crystal as well. He decided that he wanted to show them how well developed his lungs were by throwing a HUGE fussy fit. They were quite impressed! ;) He currently has not taken his 4 month pictures. He's waiting to see if he'll drop any of that baby weight he's carrying around in his tummy but we don't see that happening anytime soon. Check back in a few days though.

Friday (3/30) was Jackson's mommy's birthday. She turned 30! 'sigh' Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate so Jackson, his humble servants, err parents, and the rest of the Ybarra family were unable to go on the sunset bat watching cruise they had planned. Instead, Jackson, his mommy, and his daddy went out to a nice dinner.

Saturday (3/31) was Jackson's Mimi's birthday. She turned 49 years young. Jackson and his mommy went to his Mimi's house for a lovely BBQ with the fam.

And today, Sunday, Jackson got to chill with some baby friends (Hannah and Carson), their parents, and some of his parents other good friends for a small birthday get together for his mommy. Jackson was quite the party pooper though. He conked out midway through the get together for a 2 hour nap!

Until next time...
Happy 4 months Jackson!
Happy Birthday Mommy!
Happy Birthday Mimi!