The boys chilling outside

Josh

Jackson's 3rd Birthday

Since it has been a while since I blogged anything, I will start with Jackson turning 3 and then get into the ole life update. We had a small party, which was a success. Our friend Denise and her Daughter Maggie (picture in the blue) made a home made Ice Cream Cake, which was (in a high pitch voice) "Fabulous!"
Nothing too crazy happens at a 3rd birthday party, he opened gifts, got mad at Harrison for wanting to play with his new toys, you know the norm.

Both boys still go to the Community College where I coach. It such an amazing facility and we owe a lot of Jackson's speech advancement to them. Both their teachers are amazing. We had a parent teacher conference last week for Harrison, which to us is incredible. The teachers are extremely involved in their lives and their advancement. The above picture was taken before their first school show. Each classroom had a 5 minute song they performed. They mainly just dance around, but we thought it was the cutest thing we have ever seen. Jackson spent most of his time on stage looking for us. We stood up and waved a few times until we found us, then he danced. 

Harrison will be 18 months, and it is hard to imagine that at this point in Jackson's life, we were bringing Harrison home. Life has flown by and I have a feeling it will only go faster in the up coming years. 

Harrison is still a mini me, just with blonde hair. Believe me, it does satisfy my male ego to have one of my boys look just like me. I am not sure if other Dad's feel the same about, I might just have a large ego, but either way, it makes me happy. 

He is a ball of energy right now, into everything he can get his hands on, a typical toddler. Harrison loves to cuddle, which makes bed time very relaxing and a great 5 minutes to sit there and sing him a song as he lays his head on my shoulder. 

Jackson is still in speech 2 nights a week, he is doing much, much better. Currently he is about 6 months behind, which is a far cry from not talking. It is a lot to rush home, Emily has dinner ready, stuff food in everyone's mouth and turn around and get Jackson to speech. But, every level of stress, every moment of heart burn from eating too fast and every minute I am exhausted is all worth it to hear my son say: "I love you too Daddy." 6 months ago he could not say that. 

As for his love for Harrison: it changes every day. It is getting much better though. He has moments when he is the sweetest little boy in the world to Harrison, and then moments of being the meanest little boy, but I guess that comes with brothers. Over all, he is great with Harrison, as long as Harrison is not touching his toys. When Harrison cries, Jackson is right there to hand him his 'bink' and makes sure that we know he is crying. Then an hour later, he is will push him down the stairs. I have a feeling this might never change. 

Life is good, it really is. I can't say it is super easy, because there are moments of pure stress and anxiety. Moments that, as parents, we second guess ourselves, wondering are we doing the right thing for our boys. At the end of the day, we do what we feel is best and hope they turn out okay. And if not, hope we save enough money for their shrink bills. ha ha. 

We have an amazing support systems with my Mom (MoMa) who is so involved in their lives. Emily's folks MiMi and PaPa are super supportive and Jackson loves his PaPa right now. Harrison sides with MiMi right now, she likes those cuddles. Uncle Justin and Aunt Meg love the boys like their own. Bobby and Denise and their family have great. Not only allowing us to get out more, but just being great friends. There are many more, and we are so grateful for all the love and support that we get. We feel so blessed to have a great family, great friends and 2 healthy, beautiful boys. 

Keep on Keeping on!