Samuels Family Blog

School Daze

2010-09-12T18:16:00.006-05:00

Well we are already three weeks into school and it has been a crazy year. We started to transition Jackson into a home-care daycare situation before I started back to school. After 3 really terrible weeks of separation anxiety (constant crying and vomiting), lots of prayer, and a long talk with our pediatrician we removed him from that situation. Mind you I had started school and we didn't have full time place (thank God for grandmothers), so after talking to LOTS of people we sought out Crowley First Church of the Nazarene and fell in love! We love the teachers, the place, and even more Jackson loves it. He has been going everyday for the past two weeks and doing really well. He is in a class with 3 other children and seems to be thriving. We are truly thankful that we found such a loving place for Jackson to stay while we work.

Jackson is getting into EVERYTHING! We are having so much fun listening to him "talk", try to walk, and learn new things. He currently has 6 teeth and seems to be getting 2 more. At his 9 month check up Jackson was nearly 30 inches long and nearly 23 pounds, we are in the 95th percentile for all of the above! Where did we get this big boy?

We are getting ready for all the fun Fall events that are coming up! We will be celebrating our cousins/nephews first birthday, our first Halloween, Jackson's first birthday, and SO much more! This is going to be a very busy Fall for us, we are hoping to be able to keep up with blogging and will try our best.

Here are some pictures from the first day of school, our recent visit to the park near our house, which we will be making many more trips there once the weather cools off and one from our first North Crowley football game.

Jackson Samuels Project

2010-08-15T17:52:00.000-05:00

Jackson is starting his filmmaking career with a remake of the Blair Witch Project. He was in his bed and all of a sudden this is what we saw on the monitor. It is officially time to mount the camera on the wall.

Update on Us!!!

2010-08-11T11:14:00.006-05:00

So it has been a long while since we last posted. So here is a quick run-down with some pictures of our latest adventures.

On April 17, Jackson was baptized at Arborlawn United Methodist Church, by his uncle Bryan Patrick. We then had about 40 family and friends to our home to "picnic", but with the Spring showers we ended up in the garage. It was a great time and we were truly blessed to be able to share such an important day in the life of our family with so many people.

We celebrated our first Mother's and Father's day with Jackson here and had a great time.

Jackson began crawling at the end of June and was really moving by the time we went on vacation to Breckenridge, Colorado. He also has gotten down a few words, including "mama", "dada", and sometimes "bababa" (bath). Now we are starting to pull up on things and move around very quickly. We all have such a good time watching Jackson "crawl" because it is more of a slide, he puts one knee down and pushes off with the other leg, not the typical crawl, but he's moving pretty fast.

July 6-13 we took a family vacation, literally our WHOLE FAMILY, to Breckenridge. We drove the entire 13 hours and as worried as we were Jackson did great in the car. It was fun to be away from home and explore Breckenridge. We enjoyed many of Jackson's first's on this trip, first long car ride, first hotel stay, first vacation. The weather was beautiful, in the 70's most days, we saw lots of rain and even some snow as we drove Independence Pass to Aspen.

After returning from vacation it was time to think about going back to school and Jackson's new routine. :( Jackson will be staying Monday and Wednesday at home with Nana and G-Mom, and the other three days with a new sitter named Doris. For the past few weeks we have been having some transition time to staying with her. He has done pretty well, but still has adjustments to make.

Carrie will head back to school on August 16, with students beginning the year on the 24th, she is still going to be teaching 10th grade, English/Language Arts. Aaron is still with State Farm and working hard.

Hope you enjoy the pictures and we promise that we will try to better about posting. I got an iphone in June, and can now post to the blog on the go, so that will make it a little easier.

2010-08-08T18:34:00.001-05:00

I wonder what I should do next?

New Post

2010-08-08T18:29:00.000-05:00

Today we are working on getting back to posting. We are trying out a new way to post on the go.
This is just a test.

First Big Laughs

2010-03-02T08:42:00.002-06:00

Here is something new we are up to! We got our first big laughs on camera.

Finally an update...

2010-01-07T14:42:00.003-06:00

WOW! I can NOT believe that Jackson will be 8 weeks old on Monday. The past 8 weeks have been life-changing, for not only Aaron and I, but Tex and Rebel too.Jackson is growing, growing and doing something new everyday. He has just found his hands this week, we're trying hard to not let him put his thumb in his mouth. He also started smiling last week...so fun. If you hadn't heard, Jackson also already his first cold, it was not fun for any of us, but we're over it, thank goodness.

We had a great Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. We are looking forward to 2010 and all the new adventures in our life. I will return to school on Monday, January 11 and though I LOVE teaching, I am going to miss the time that I get to spend with Jackson, but knowing he will be in good hands will make it a little easier. We are so grateful that my mom (Nana) and Aaron's mom (G-Mom) will be taking care of Jackson when I go back to work. Thankfully, Aaron and I only work about 5 minutes from the house, so we can get quickly home to see Jackson after long days at work.

Here are some new pictures of our family from Christmas. Jackson will have his 2 month check-up on Monday, January, 18th, we are so excited to see how much he has grown and we will share with you as soon as we have a moment (ha, ha, ha!).

Introducing Jackson Patrick Samuels

2009-11-18T17:13:00.006-06:00

Jackson Patrick Samuels was born at 11:33 pm on November 16. He wieghed in at 9lbs 40z and is 22 1/2in long. It ended up being a longer process than we had anticipated, but he is here nevertheless. He and mom are both doing great and we should be going home from the hospital tomorrow morning.

Here are a few pictures of our new baby boy!

Due Date

2009-11-12T21:05:00.001-06:00

Well, tomorrow is our due date! I can't believe that we've actually made it. However, it does not look like we will be having a baby until Sunday or Monday. As of this past Tuesday I was only dilated to a 1 and Jackson had not dropped. So we will head to the hospital on Sunday evening to start Cervadil, and then Pitosin on Monday at 5 AM. We are very excited, just trying to finish up loose ends at work and make sure that we're as ready as we can be for this life changing event.
Aaron will be texting out messages throughout our stay at the hosptial and we will try to keep everyone updated as much as possible. Please feel free to call or text Aaron if you need an update.
Hopefully the next time I post it will be pictures of Jackson.

Chubby Cheeks

2009-10-30T22:31:00.004-05:00

Today was an amazing day! We are 38 weeks and 1 day, we went in for what we assumed would be a "run of the mill" sonogram and not expecting to see much as he is getting crowded and big. However, we had the regular sonogram and to our surprise the sonographer turned on the 4D sonogram machine and we got an amazing shot of our little boy's chubby cheeks and face. Of course we're biased but we're pretty sure that he's super cute already.

Just so everyone's up-to-date, the measurements that the sonographer took said that Jackson was weighing in at 7 pounds 9 ounces TODAY. His head is measuring 40 weeks and the rest of him is right on track. I am dilated 1 centimeter and 50 % effaced. If things continue to progress at our next appointment (next Thursday) we will most likely set an induction date. Our choice now is the 12th of November. Of course as we all know babies have minds of their own so we'll see what Jackson wants to do! No matter what we are most likely right at 2 weeks away from this new chapter in our lives beginning. We THINK that we're as ready as we're going to be.

Here is the the best picture from today,

The picture to the right is looking straight on at his face (forehead, eyes, nose, mouth) and then his arm is coming across the bottom of his chin.

We will keep you posted on our possible delivery date as we get closer and have more information to share.

Hiccups and nesting...

2009-10-12T16:13:00.011-05:00

The past couple of weeks have been very busy, as we have spent time trying to find a place for all the wonderful things that we recieved for Jackson from our shower in Cleburne. I have also been working to get all my plans for my susbtitute ready to go, so that whenever it is "time" we're prepared.

We had another shower this weekend, hosted by our friends from church. It was SO nice and we got SOOOO many nice things. We think that we may be as ready as we're going to be. Aaron has spent the last couple of days putting together strollers, bouncers, pack'n'plays, and playing with the baby monitors. Here are a few pictures from our "Fort Worth" shower.

The past couple of weeks has also brought something new from the belly...the hiccups. Everyone had been asking me if I had felt Jackson hiccup, which I hadn't until about 2 weeks ago. Now it seems that every time I eat or drink anything he is hiccuping like crazy. It's very fun to watch my belly bounce up and down. Jackson also seems to be running out of room. I have been able to grab a knee or foot, not sure which, in my rib cage for about the past week. I saw Dr. Suba today and everything is perfectly normal and we're right on track. We will start seeing the doctor once a week from now on. We will have another sonogram on October 30, to check where Jackson is and make sure that everything is good with him before the birth.

We also attended a shower this weekend for my cousin and his wife Jennifer, who is due one week after Jackson on November 20. We did a Hannah to Jackson shot and I thought everyone would love to see it. We areexcited for Hannah and Jackson to meet, if you're a Miley Cyrus fan you will know that Hannah Montana's brother's name is Jackson, which has made this whole pregnancy thing even more confusing for our niece Hunter.

In other baby news, our friend Candace had her Jaxon a couple of weeks ago. After a couple of bumps and a few extra days in the hospital they are at home. We are also excited for Jackson and Jaxon to meet.

Until next time, here's hoping I begin to get a little sleep....

Exciting Times....

2009-09-26T08:55:00.005-05:00

It's been awhile since our last post, but not much has been happening. We've been having two week check-ups with Dr. Suba and everything has been great. Being back in school has been more tiring than I ever imagined, of course as many of you have heard the AC has not exactly been working in my room and with 29 students and me in a classroom with no air, things have not been pretty some days. Hopefully with the weather beginning to cool off, it will get better.

We had our first baby shower a couple of weeks ago and it was wonderful. We got so many great things and are looking forward to Jackson's arrival in just 7 short weeks so that we can start using all of them. Here are a couple of pictures from the shower.

This week at school was Homecoming. Our football boys are allowed to give their jersey's to a teacher to wear on game day. Here is a picture of me with one of my students from last year, Kendray. He is one of my favorites and look at that smile!

We also had more exciting news this week in our family, Jackson's cousin Luke Wesley was born on Monday, September 21 at 3:10. He is absolutely beautiful with lots of blonde hair! We can't wait for Luke and Jackson to meet. Of course, as soon as Luke was in my arms Jackson decided he was going to start kicking, I apologized to Luke!

So things are moving along and time it passing very quickly. We are getting very excited to meet this little person that's keeping me awake all night!

Week 30

2009-09-08T17:37:00.002-05:00

So we're finally less than 10 weeks away from the arrival of our baby boy. I have now gone back to school and though it's exhausting, it is nice and is making the time fly by even faster. I saw Dr. Suba last Thursday and he thought Jackson was between 2 1/2 and 3 pounds, although as we all know this is a guess. Everything is good, we're both happy and healthy.
This coming Sunday, September 13th will be our first baby shower. It will be in Cleburne with lots of friends and family. We're excited to get to see everyone and visit about all that has been happening with us.
Guess that's pretty much it, nothing new to report. We will be seeing Dr. Suba every 2 weeks for the next 6 and then once a week.

Ready and waiting....

2009-08-21T18:24:00.004-05:00

So the nursesry is DONE!!! Here is another look, though not much different than the last ones other than that we added my grandparents rocking chair. It matches our furniture nearly perfectly.

As we mentioned, Aaron and I spent an entire afternoon registering at Babies'R'Us a couple of weeks ago. It was very overwhelming, yet still so much fun.

Today, I went to see Dr. Suba for a check-up. I also had to drink the disgusting glucose drink to then have my blood drawn and checked for gestational diabetes. No matter what anyone tells you, that red drink is NOT anything like any "fruit punch" I've ever tasted! UGH!!! However, Jackson and I are both doing great, according to Dr. Suba. Jackson's heartbeat was in the 150's, which is just right for a baby boy.

It is hard to believe that we will now start seeing the doctor every 2 weeks! I've been growing and growing, so much so that my belly button has finally flattened out. Here is my "belly picture" from week 28. As you can see, Jackson is sitting VERY high, usually in my ribs (or at least it feels like it), but I'm not complaining, I absolutley LOVE feeling and watching him move!

Jackson is also going to start is "formal" education next week as I start back to school. With budget cuts in progress across the district looks like Jackson and I will be meeting about 170 new friends on Tuesday! Hopefully, Jackson will sleep and I'll be able to stay awake!

More Nursery

2009-08-10T21:06:00.004-05:00

Tonight we hung letters spelling out Jackson's name above his crib. We also hung the boat pictures that match the boats from the bedding. Here is what it looks like all together.

Nursery

2009-08-10T08:25:00.006-05:00

This weekend has been a lot of fun for us. Aaron finished all the touch-up painting in the nursery and we went and picked up our furniture. Once we got all the furniture together and in the room, we put the new bedding in the crib. We think that Jackson will love it. I have attached pictures of the room with furniture and some close ups of the bedding.

As this is my last "free" week before school starts, we are going to register at Babies R'Us and Target on Wednesday. So look for us on the registries after that.

So much fun stuff is going on and we can't believe that we are only about 3 months from meeting our little man! The count down is on....

Fresh Paint

2009-08-04T08:30:00.007-05:00

This week we (when I say we, I mean Aaron) have been painting Jackson's room. The room went from 4 white walls to 2 kaki and 2 red walls in just a week. Thank you to Behr Paint and Primer (we highly reccommend)!

Here are the before pictures from the room.

Now for the after photos, we still have some touch-ups to do this week. Then we are planning to go get the furniture this weekend.

As far as Jackson goes, he has been really moving and grooving the past couple of weeks. We watched him move across my belly for the first time which was fun. He really moves when I lay still, yet has been moving more and more. I went to see the doctor last Thursday, everything was perfect. I will do a glucose test next time to check for gestational diabetes, then I will start going to see the doctor every 2 weeks, time is going by so fast and we are ready to meet our little boy.

More picture of the room to come after the weekend.

NKOTB with Jackson and Jaxon

2009-07-20T21:08:00.005-05:00

Last Friday, a group of girls and I braved the heat to go see our favorite childhood boy band New Kids on the Block. The group of girls included our friend Candice that is also pregnant and expecting a boy, Jaxon. Here's a photo of the pregnant girls with Jackson and Jaxon in the bellies, of course we're sitting while everyone else stood most of the time, I think that we still had a great time.

We have still been planning for our Jackson and getting the nursery ready. I will go to the doctor again next Thursday just for my regular check-up, then it will be off to Possum Kingdom for an end of summer getaway.

Movement and Preparation

2009-07-17T09:38:00.004-05:00

This week has been full of excitement. First of all, I have been feeling Jackson squirm and move all over the place, but the most exciting part is that for the first time Aaron has been able to put his hand on my belly and feel Jackson too.

We have also spent the past couple of weeks making the rounds at the baby stores and trying to figure out about furniture, bedding, and everything else that we will need to get for Jackson. We picked out the bedding that we liked and are trying to pick out paint colors so that Aaron can start on painting the nursery. The bedding is a dark red, kaki, and lite moss green quilt pattern with little boats spread over the quilt. While it's not your basic navy, baby blue, and white, we think that it is more us. If you're interested you can look at it online at Babys R'US, search "Nautica Quinten crib bedding".

The other adventure we had this week was going to Build-a-Bear Workshop for the first time. At our last doctor's appointment, we recorded Jackson's heartbeat, then we took it and made a little stuffed dog for Jackson. Since Aaron and I had never been to Build-a-Bear we didn't what a production it was just to make a stuffed animal, but now we know why kids love it so much!

For those of you that don't get to see us that ofter here is a picture of what I'm looking like during week 23. We have been taking a weekly "belly" picture for a book that I'm putting together called "The Belly Book", it has been fun to watch how I have been growing over the weeks and I'm sure it will be fun to look back after November.

Jackson Patrick Samuels

2009-07-05T20:29:00.004-05:00

We found out on Thursday, March 5, 2009 that we were pregnant. Shortly after we shared our good news with family and friends. Now a few months later we have found out that we are having a boy, Jackson Patrick Samuels. Jackson is scheduled to arrive (around) November 13, 2009.

We decided to start this blog so that our family and friends could keep up with us and now our new addition. As we move closer to the due date we will keep you updated with everything that is happening with us and our family. Even before Jackson arrives we will have more exciting adventures, Jackson will have a cousin that will be about 7 weeks older, so we will include all our good news here.

The day we found out Jackson was a boy, was Thursday, July 2. He weighed approximately 15 ounces and was the length of a carrot. We was being a wiggle-worm at first and didn't want to let us get a good heartbeat, but the sonogram tech was persistent and she got a great sounding heartbeat at 158 beats per minute. We also got to see every part of Jackson, from head to toes. It was great to see how he is growing and developing. Then the big question, boy or girl. I was a little nervous that he wouldn't cooperate, but as you can tell from the picture, we may have an exhibitionist on our hands. The best part of the sonogram, was to know that he is healthy and growing.

I am starting to feel Jackson move around, especially in the mornings as we're waking up. He also apparently liked the music in the In Search (contemporary) worship service this morning at church. Maybe its in the genes, because Jackson's cousin Hunter always danced in her mommy's belly during church.

2009-06-07T22:21:00.001-05:00