As Promised...

Here are some recent pictures of Jackson. He took pictures at school today too. His teacher said he was the only baby that smiled for them, so I'm hoping they turned out good. They will be the first professional pictures Jackson has had.

Here's Jackson with his new favorite toy.

Here's proof that his Uncle Philip has held him...this was the one picture we took while we were in Leakey!

This week Jackson and I are getting some practice to see what life will be like at the end of the month. Ross is in Canada for 5 days this week, which is just a taste of what it will be like when he goes to Hawaii for 3 weeks at the end of October! We've been doing great, but we're both ready for him to be home again!

Rolling Over!

I just found out this morning that Jackson rolled over for the first time on his own at day care on Friday! I'm having a bit of a hard time dealing with the fact that I missed it and that they forgot to tell us on Friday, but I'm so excited too! He just keeps growing and changing everyday. It's so much fun to watch!

We all had a pretty good week last week. We got settled back into our normal routines, and Jackson is sleeping better at day care, which makes me feel a lot better. We spent most of the weekend continuing our clean up efforts around the house after Ike, but we took a break Saturday evening and went to a BBQ at our friends' Christie and Jason's, new house. I was so happy about how well Jackson did while we were there...people actually got to see him awake for a change!

We have taken a couple of pictures recently, so I'll try to get those posted soon!

POWER RESTORED!

The power at our house was restored some time last night, so we'll be moving back home tonight! We are so thankful to everyone who has helped us over the last couple of weeks!

More Wonderful Friends

We came back to Houston on Friday and found our house still without power. Our friends Stephen and Sara, along with several others, offered to open their home to us, which we gratefully accepted. The four of us (Bailey included) have been made to feel right at home, which is good because it's looking like we may be here a while since most of our zip code has power restored. All but 7% of our zip code now has power, but we are part of that lucky 7% without it.

We spent the day yesterday cleaning out our refrigerator and doing more yard work. With all of the windows open there was enough of a breeze to keep Jackson comfortable. It made us realize how much we miss getting to stay at our home, but we are so thankful for the option to stay somewhere with power!

Today our church, Gateway Community Church, held one service for everyone. They got power back yesterday, so we were able to worship with A/C. They have started their C.O.R.E. (Christians Organized for Relief Efforts) operations again, which they began after Katrina a couple of years ago. If you or anyone you know needs help during this recovery effort, they would like to help. Just let us know, and we'll put you in contact with the right people.

We go back to work tomorrow, but Jackson's daycare is also without power, which means we'll be taking turns staying with him...not that I'm complaining about that!

All Cleaned Up!

Here are a couple of pictures of what our house looks like after Chris and Shannon and one of our neighbours worked on our yard yesterday. We can't thank them enough!!!

Amazing Friends & Family

I've said it before, but I have to say it again. We have the most amazing friends and family. I was starting to feel a little down today. I've been a little homesick after evacuating from Ike and worried about the mess we will have to go home to. Just to top that off, I had a flat tire this week, Ross is on a business trip that got extended an extra day, Bailey had a seizure today, and Jackson has not been sleeping well at all.

Then I got to thinking about it a little more. We have been so blessed to have a place to stay and hang out. Philip was able to fix my tire, which unfortunately was just the beginning of a really long day for him...fixed my flat tire, took an injured worker to the emergency room, and then lost and fixed the water at his house at 4 in the morning.

Our friends Emma and Chris have been wonderful about taking the time to check on our house and keep us posted in the midst of their own recovery efforts, and then to top all of that off our friends Chris and Shannon (Ross works with Chris) cleaned up our yard today with the help of one of our neighbors! Emma and Chris were going by to see if we had power yet and found Chris and Shannon working in our yard. What a HUGE blessing!!! They have suggested we stay put as long as possible since we still don't have power and would have to boil our water. That's the plan for now I guess. Work starts back up on Monday, so we'll probably make the trip this weekend. Hopefully, we'll have power back by then. Even if we don't, we have SO much to be thankful for...especially our amazing friends and family!

Pics of Damage

Here are pictures of the damage at our house and some of our neighbors courtesy of Emma and Chris. Ross was able to get his flights rearranged, so he's on his way to Philly now. We're still planning to stay put until we have power.

My day's off to a great start...I got a flat tire this morning. Philip is going to try to fix it later today...THANKS!

Hiding Out in Leakey

We got a report from our friends Emma and Chris on our house yesterday. They made their way down to the Clear Lake area after hurricane Ike tore through Houston. They said our house is fine. However, our fences are down, and we have a lot of yard work to do because a lot of limbs fell. We are without power and water there, so we're staying put for now. We can't thank them enough for the report. It has really put our minds at ease. We feel so blessed that it wasn't worse.

We're also thankful for having such a great place to stay and hang out. We're staying at Ross' parents' cabin in Leakey and hanging out with his sister and brother-in-law, Leslie and Philip, during the day. Ross is supposed to go to Philidelphia for work tomorrow, so we're working on rearranging flights so he can leave from San Antonio. Hopefully, when he gets back our house will have power and water so we can go home.

Jackson turned 3 months old while we were here, and he got to go on his first Polaris ride around the ranch. It was pretty funny to see his car seat buckled into the Polaris. I'm hoping to get a picture of it so everyone can see.

Football Watching Boys

We all had a nice relaxing weekend and tried to catch up on sleep. Ross and Jackson had fun just hanging out and watching some football. Go Cowboys!

Jackson is still having trouble sleeping at day care. I picked him up early yesterday and today, and he continues to sleep well at home. I'm not sure they're putting him down early enough, so he's probably getting over tired. Here's the face we're often seeing these days when he gets home and isn't crying...

Now we're trying to figure out what to do with hurricane Ike headed our way. Jackson's day care is closed tomorrow and Friday, so at the very least we'll have a long weekend. Hopefully not too long though!

Back to Work

We survived my first week back to work. I'm so glad it was only a 4 day week because I don't know if I could have made it another day. I am exhausted. The first day Ross and I dropped Jackson off at day care together. I got emotional, but I was able to hold it together. I did pretty well until I called the day care and found out he wasn't sleeping well. Then I made sure to keep myself busy until I could leave for the day. When I picked him up he cried the whole way home. Then he ate and went to sleep only waking up to eat. That's how most of the week went, which meant we didn't get to see much of him this week, so I'm really looking forward to the weekend. I'm exhausted because I tried to get everything I was doing while on leave done in the evenings, which meant I stayed up too late. Then Jackson would wake me up around 2 to eat. I have a hard time getting back to sleep, so I only got about an hour of sleep after that feeding before it was time to get started for the day. I'm going to have to change my habits so I can keep going. It's hard not to want to try to do everything, but it's just not possible.

We think Jackson isn't sleeping well at day care because he's not used to the noise and the bright lights. Hopefully he will adjust quickly. The teachers have been great so far. They are great at communicating. I really feel like I still know what his day is like even though I'm not there. I think the week went about as well as it could. We just both need to work on getting more sleep!

Labor Day Weekend

This weekend was the Stone family reunion, which is Ross' mom's side of the family. As you can see in the picture below, it's a large family. Every Labor Day weekend we get together for a fun-filled weekend.

The reunion started Saturday night at Dottie and Jim's house where we celebrated Ross' mom and dad's 60th birthdays.

Sunday morning we all had brunch at Ross' parents' house and then spent the evening at Ronnie and Laura's swimming, singing karaoke, and eating more good food. There are a lot of pics in the album, but here's a shot of the three of us.

We also got to spend a little time with my family while we were in Shreveport. My grandparents came over for lunch before the Louisiana Tech game. Both my Granddaddy and Jackson were supporting the bulldogs for their big win!