one

Taken from my Facebook post earlier today: "It took a little while to dawn on me what was happening, but by this time one year ago today, I realized that I was most definitely in labor and needed to get to the hospital! (I had never gone into labor on my own before, and had a c-section scheduled for the next day, hence the skepticism at what I was feeling. ) Amy Smith was here wishing me well for the next day; I called Mike to tell him I thought things were happening and we'd better head in to get checked out, but I failed to tell him I wanted him to HURRY. When he got home from work and said he wanted to take a shower before leaving, I just about flipped. But, we had to wait for his mom to get here for Levi anyways. Thankful she's close, thankful Mike takes fast showers, and thankful the hospital is only 5 minutes away. Got to the hospital and ran into Mike's cousin's wife on my way in (who had her baby the week before and didn't wait for me so we could be in the hospital at the same time!). Didn't take too long before they had me in surgery and we were anxiously waiting to find out whether we were continuing the boy theme or completely changing things up with a girl. At 2:01pm we were thrilled to meet our fourth baby boy! Certainly the birth of each of our children is special in it's own way, but this one was special because it was the most "with it" and the best I felt for any of them (really helps to not have been in labor for several hours/a couple days before delivery...). We didn't decide on a name right away, but after I was able to spend my recovery time with him and we were brought back up to my room, we decided on Jackson. They weighed him and I was floored that he was only 8 lbs! (After having an 11 pounder, you have no idea what to expect.)

Jackson's big brothers were excited to meet him, and one year later the excitement still hasn't worn off. They LOVE playing and interacting with him, to the point of driving us batty with their baby talk. :) A few days of peace and quiet at the hospital and then it was time to go home and embark on our adventure of managing the chaos of four little boys. I LOVE IT. There are plenty of days that I'm pretty sure I'm not going to make it and I don't think there's any hope of guiding these hooligans into decent, functioning members of society, but oh how I love these energetic, rambunctious, thoughtful, creative, imaginative BOYS. From not being sure what God's plan was for our family regarding children, to having four boys...that's pretty intense!

On the one hand, I think God is using Jackson to teach me even more flexibility and that each child is unique and different, but he also fits right into our family. To make sure he doesn't get forgotten, he gets quite vocal (it's a last born thing, trust me, right Mom?), and he loves playing with his big brothers. I can only begin to imagine the trouble they are going to get into together.

Happy 1st birthday to my baby! Like it or not, you'll always be my baby. We love you and are so thankful that God chose to bless our family with your arrival!"

I know it's cliche, but seriously, how did this last year go so fast??  I suppose part of it is just a blur because of lack of sleep and constantly trying to figure out WHAT IS GOING TO GET THIS KID TO SLEEP MORE?!?!  And, then there's the busyness of the three other boys, that kinda makes things fly by, too.  One year ago and for several months following, I had a snuggly little baby that nursed for a long time and fell asleep on me.  Now, I've got an almost-toddler that won't sit still and snuggle for anything and just wants to be on the go.  

This age is a lot of work (what age isn't??), but boy is it fun.  The more interactive he gets, the more his physical development progresses, the more his personality comes through, the better it gets.  Jackson is doing really well walking with his walker, and he almost stands without hanging onto anything.  He eats lots of table food and holds his own bottle.  He has six teeth.  He still uses a pacifier, but mostly just for bedtime.  He can clap, almost do "peek a boo", and sign "more".  He loves having his brothers push him around on his new scooter.  That really gets him smiling and laughing.  He's very vocal - our drive home from church on Wednesday evening's just makes us laugh.  I don't know if it's the excitement of his brothers getting back in the van and being all jazzed up or what, but he really starts jabbering (loudly) then for most of the ride home.  

Love the addition that Jackson makes to our family!