Justin was getting Jackson out of bed in the morning when Scottie walked in.
Justin: “Look, it’s Scottie!”
Scottie meows.
Justin: “Is he saying good morning?”
Jackson: “No. He’s not saying good morning. He’s saying meow.”
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Doggy regression
Everyone keeps asking how Jackson is handling the adjustment with the new baby. He really seems to be doing just fine. He gets excited about seeing and playing with Beckham, helps me out if I need things for the baby and otherwise has fun playing with Justin all day.
The real problem child is Luc.
Luc, Luc, Luc.
The thought never even crossed my mind that he might react poorly. I guess I assumed he already adjusted to kids when we brought Jackson home, so what’s the difference now? But he has been terrible!!!!
I don’t know if it’s just my lack of sleep and lack of patience right now, but it seems like his barking has gotten worse, if that’s even possible. He is just barking non-stop. Plus old OCD habits that we had been making progress on have come back — barking at light reflections, barking before meals, etc. He’s chewing things more, grabbing toys, napkins and such. And he peed on the floor a few times.
Sometimes it seems like he just sniffs around the room looking for ways to cause trouble.
He’s also become more aggressive about food. He’ll bark at Justin when he brings me dinner on the couch. He gets into my (empty) ice cream bowl if I leave it on the end table. And all of a sudden, out of the blue he discovered how to jump up on the dining room chairs and steal food from the table. He never did this before! So the second Jackson steps down from his chair, Luc jumps up and grabs his food. It’s totally impossible to manage.
He’s driving me nuts. Helppppp!
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Holding hands
Jackson is really getting the hang of holding the baby. He asks to hold Beckham and then he’ll run to get a pillow, setting it all up under his arm on the couch.
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Oh, the memories
Jackson, on his way up the stairs for nap time:
“Daddy, remember when we saw Beckham?”
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High spin cycle
“I told him to pick out a story and he just keeps spinning.”
Justin, trying to put Jackson to bed.
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Extra protection
Jackson is not yet interested in his bike, but he sure does love the helmet.
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Heavyweights
Beckham is officially past 8 pounds now. Meanwhile Jackson feels like he weighs over 100!!!
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Good enough
I swear the second I start picking up any of Jackson’s toys, he instantly wants to play with them again. Or if I do it while he’s sleeping, he’ll later notice what’s been put away and immediately dump everything back out. I finally gave up trying, and just started vacuuming around them.
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Royal treatment
“Warm please!”
Jackson, while Justin was changing his diaper. Apparently when Grandma was here, she warmed up the wipes in her hands first.
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Gifts from Beckham
Jackson got a whole backpack full of cool toys “from Beckham” when we came home from the hospital. It was a “things that go” backpack filled with things that go: a sea plane, two new cars for his racetrack (including a British bus for his England obsession!), a wooden train and monster tuck that you can paint, and a search and find book about different vehicles. I don’t think he fully appreciated my theme, but it was a hit nonetheless.
“Is that where they go potty?” -Jackson pointing to the porta-potty 
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Who is that again?
Jackson, showing me the welcome home signs he and Grandma colored:
“Look at the decorations we made. It says Mommy and….and….and….and….tell me what the baby’s name is.”
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Our first night with two
“Sooo, do we need a baby gate now?” – Justin, upstairs with me and Beckham, realizing Jackson left us and went downstairs by himself.
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Homecoming
Just like with our Zoom meeting with Jackson, I initially didn’t want to be holding Beckham when we returned from the hospital.
But Jackson was in bed napping when we got back, and by the time he woke up, I was curled up on the couch with the baby — I guess too tired to move. So Justin carried Jackson downstairs for the official brothers meeting.
Talk about a rude awakening! Jackson did not seem pleased. He refused to even look at me. He just wanted to sit with Justin and kept turning his head away from me — with the occasional dirty look at the baby.
I think it was just a bad combination of Jackson being sleepy and me holding Beckham. But thankfully he warmed up to both of us not long after. He opened up some special gifts that Beckham brought for him — I think that definitely helped!
Later he was happy to hold the baby and especially excited to put him in the swing. By the end of the night, he was already sharing Lamb and Soldier Teddy Bear!!
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A virtual visit
Thanks to COVID, no one was allowed in or out of the hospital room.
So, for example, Justin couldn’t leave to get me some ice cubes. Or to pick up food the next day. (After our first order from the cafeteria, we learned we had to actually get two or three “meals” a person in order to not be hungry, lol.) And while normally spouses leave when you get the epidural for sterile reasons, this time they kept Justin in with us during the procedure.
Unfortunately, this policy also meant no visitors could come meet the baby. I was so sad that Jackson couldn’t visit us there. But as with everything these days, we had to make do with Zoom!
Initially I had the camera set only on me, and Justin was out of view holding Beckham. I didn’t want Jackson to be jealous or upset that we were there with the baby and not him.
He didn’t seem to mind, though.
After saying hello, he told me he was exercising and ran away. I thought for sure that would be the end of our visit, haha.
But he did come back to the camera, and I started asking him about what he was doing but he cut me off.
“Where did the baby go?” he said.
Apparently I didn’t have to hide Beckham, after all. We showed him Justin and the baby, who was sleeping, and Jackson said he was sleeping, too. When I said the baby was wrapped in a blanket, he ran to get a blanket, too.
Then Jackson showed us the little baby dolls my mom had brought for him. He was laying them down and putting on their blankets, too.
He was way more interested than I was expecting him to be. And the best part of our virtual visit is that I was able to record it, so now we have a video of the special moment that we can watch again and again.
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It’s go time!
We head off to the hospital bright and early tomorrow morning. I still can’t believe it. It does not feel real AT ALL.
Hopefully I can get some sleep tonight, but I don’t know if that’s possible. Maybe finish watching Survivor?!
This evening Jackson joined me in bedrest for a bit, and I told him that tomorrow mommy and daddy are going to go to the hospital and then we’re going to bring home the baby.
“Well, I want to come, too!” he said. (So bummed he won’t be able to visit us in the hospital!)
Then a little bit later I said tomorrow is going to be such an exciting day because the baby is coming.
He started bouncing up and down saying, “I’m excited! I’m excited!” followed by “I’m laughing! I’m laughing!” as he panted like a dog.
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K, bye
Justin and I were both tucking Jackson in to bed, saying goodnight and wishing him sweet dreams. To which Jackson replied:
“OK, can you go downstairs please?”
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My 1st baby
Everyone has said that when baby #2 is here, Jackson is going to seem SO big to me. Looking at these photos, though, he already does!
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