Naming Baby Jackson

Eric and I have not considered many names for our son. We have always known that if we had a boy, we would name him Collin. Eric has always loved the name Collin. He has told me for as long as I can remember that he wants to name his son Collin. I love the name, and honestly love the idea of our little guy having that name.

As for Collin’s middle name, this has very special meaning for Eric. One of Eric’s closest friends, Blake Benton, lost his battle to brain cancer in 2006, after a five year struggle with the disease.

Eric went through a rough time after his death. He still has dreams about his dear friend Blake. At first this was hard for me to understand. I try so hard to be sympathetic to Eric when he has a dream, or every year on August 15th, the anniversary of his death. I have never lost a best friend. I have lost family members that I was close to, but never a best friend. I have gone with Eric out to Blake’s grave. Every time we go I am an emotional mess. Eric is so strong. I believe that the reason for Eric’s strength is the knowledge that Eric will see his friend again one day in Heaven.

I actually went to high school with Blake. Conway is a big school, Blake was a year older than me, but I still knew him. When my family first moved to Conway we attended Second Baptist Church. This is also where Blake and his family attended. I was not close to Blake, but knew very much about his health problems. I thought about his family many times. I just can’t imagine.

At our wedding, we had a candle in memory of Blake on the stage with us. I am so proud of Eric for continuing to remember his friend. Sometimes we to try to forget the horrible times in our life, but Eric sees it as nothing but an opportunity to learn. Learning to appreciate the relationships we have, and not to take them for granted.

So, our little guy will be named, Collin Blake Jackson. I’m so excited for Eric to share with Collin where he got his middle name, and the stories and memories he shared with his friend Blake.

22 week appointment and painting the nursery

On August 31st, we had our next doctor’s appointment. Dr. Martin was finally back from maternity leave! She walked in the room and said “long time no see!” We enjoyed meeting all the other doctors in the office, but we really missed her! This appointment lasted all of about 5 minutes. All she did was measure my stomach, and find baby Jackson’s heart beat. Everything looked right on track! We did talk a little about the rest of my pregnancy. She told us that we would have one more appointment like this one (just a belly measurement and to listen to the heart beat) in four weeks, then I would need to start coming to the doctor every TWO weeks! Crazy. I feel like this pregnancy is starting to fly by! I wish I had more to report from this appointment, but like I said, it was all of about 5 minutes long!

Here is an update about baby Jackson. I get a weekly email from babycenter.com on his progress. It really is interesting to read about it!

This is 22 weeks:

At 11 inches and almost 1 pound, your baby is starting to look like a miniature newborn. His lips, eyelids, and eyebrows are becoming more distinct, and he's even developing tiny tooth buds beneath his gums. His eyes have formed, but his irises (the colored part of the eye) still lack pigment. If you could see inside your womb you'd be able to spot the fine hair (lanugo) that covers his body and the deep wrinkles on his skin, which he'll sport until he adds a padding of fat to fill them in. Inside his belly, his pancreas — essential for the production of some important hormones — is developing steadily.


We also painted the nursery this weekend. Eric’s dad and step-mom came from Benton to help Eric with the painting. His little sister also came with them! His sister, Tori, and I decided we would hang out while they painted. Tori and I went and got my sister and niece Kyndall. We all went to get a snow-cone! One of my favorite things about summer are the snow-cones!! Kyndall loves them too, so we all had a great time. When we got back from our little outing Eric, Tammy, and Jack had the room finished!!! Eric wanted to put another coat on the next day, but I was already excited. It seemed like they had only been painting for 10 minutes and they had made it look so great!! I wish I had taken a ‘before’ picture, I forgot... but I did remember to take an ‘after’! Better than nothing I guess.

I love it! We are going to paint a border in blue and I have ordered wall art to go above the crib. I’m so excited to have it painted! I'll post more pictures when we get more things finished.

Thank you to my wonderful in-laws for giving up their Friday night to come help us paint! I am so blessed!

Me vs. Target

My sister found the most amazing crib in the Target Sunday sale adds. I was so excited when she showed it to me. Eric and I had gone to Benton Sunday afternoon, so it was Sunday night before I saw my sister. If the crib was purchased, we would receive a FREE changing table!! The picture looked so cute!

As soon as she told me about it I called my friend Robin to see if she was up for a trip to Target. Eric told me it would be a good idea to go ahead and buy it, if it was something I liked. We were afraid they would run out of them quickly. Robin and I went to Target that night- oh; did you know that Target closes at 9:00pm on Sunday nights? I sure didn’t. We walked in with about 3 minutes to spare. We were practically running back to the baby section to get a look at the crib. We looked at the display model, and I LOVED it. So, guess what… they were ALL OUT! Ugh! I found a lady that worked at Target and asked if she could find out if the Target in Little Rock had the crib. I was fine with driving to Little Rock the next morning to get it. However, her exact response was “I have no way of knowing that!” she was kinda rude about it too! I know it was time for them to close for the night, but being that rude was not necessary. Here is a picture of my friend Robin and me. She is such a blessing to me. Maybe one day soon I'll write about all the adventures we have been through together. Ha! We always have fun.

I got home that night and told Eric all about it. I decided that since I was off work the next day for Labor Day, I would spend my Monday searching for that crib and changing table. I started at 8:01 the next morning calling every single Target store in the state of Arkansas. You think I’m kidding? Nope. I called every one. I bet you can guess my next sentence… Every single Target in the state of Arkansas was out of the crib and changing table. I couldn’t get a “rain check” because it was a sale item. I was beyond frustrated by this time.

I was worried about ordering something so big and important online and having it shipped. I was afraid it wouldn’t make it here in one piece or something crazy would happen. Eric convinced me that ordering it online was our best option. The price was great, and I really liked it. That Monday I ordered it online. The next Friday when we got home from work the crib was on our front porch!! Yay! The changing table had to be shipped separately so we were expecting it the following Monday. Monday came, and so did our changing table! I was so excited. Eric and I opened up the boxes to inspect everything. Not one piece was damaged or missing. Such an answer to prayer! We didn’t want to put everything together just yet because we wanted to wait until the room was painted so that we didn’t get paint on the furniture.

I went to work the next morning so happy about our furniture. Eric had to work late that day, so I beat him home. When I got home that night, guess what was on our porch… ANOTHER changing table!

What?! They sent us two changing tables. Weirdest thing ever. I tried to call them to see how to get it back to them, but couldn’t ever get a reasonable answer from anyone. So, to this day, we still have a second changing table in our living room, still in the box. I have decided to donate it to our church nursery. Target won’t take it back, we don’t need two changing tables, and I’m sure the church will get some good use out of it. Plus, baby Jackson will be in the nursery most Sunday’s anyway! Ha!

I guess I learned a lesson from our crib drama. If you want something out of the Sunday Target add, you better RUN there to get it. We still got the deal by ordering it online, but I like to actually go and pick it up. That way I know it will get to my house safe and sound!

Half Way There! (20 weeks)

A couple of weeks after our last appointment I reached the half way point! I really started to think about how much stuff I hadn’t even started on yet! I had no clue what I wanted to do his nursery in- and honestly, didn’t even really know which room I wanted to be his nursery.

We have a three bedroom house. Our two spare bedrooms are the same size one is just in the front of the house while the other is closer to the back. The front bedroom Eric has “claimed” to be our Razorback room. Together, Eric and I both have SO MUCH Razorback stuff. When we got married we decided it would be cool to have a room for all of it. So, this left the back bedroom for the nursery. Now that this situation had been figured out, I had to stop stalling and actually decide what we were going to decorate it in. I really didn’t want to do any sort of “theme” for his room. I just wanted something calm, relaxing, and simple.

My mom and I went to North Little Rock one weekend to find me pants that actually fit. There is a Motherhood Maternity store in McCain Mall in North Little Rock. I really like the clothes they have, especially for work. While we were at the mall, my mom suggested we just go look at the baby stuff at Sears. I ended up finding the cutest blanket, and set of crib sheets there. The blanket was on sale! (Even better) It was everything I had been thinking about for his room! I bought the blanket and sheets so that we would have some starting point for other ideas! I was so excited! I think I was more excited about the blanket and sheets than I was for the pants I bought! Ha!

So, I had a plan (kinda). I like the color of green that is in the blanket. I want to paint the walls a shade close to this. I would like to do some sort of border with a shade of blue. I decided I wasn’t going to do a theme of any kind-- just calm, simple colors. Everything seemed to be falling into place.




At this point in my pregnancy I had only gained one pound. When I say I had been sick, that was an absolute understatement. I couldn’t go more than a couple of hours without getting sick. I LIVED on KFC mashed potatoes and gravy (a wonderful suggestion by my mother-in-law). It was the ONLY thing that helped my stomach to feel even a little better. My doctor didn’t seem to be too concerned with my weight issue. I was told that if I started losing weight I would need to be put in the hospital to get an IV to help with fluid loss. Thankfully, this never happened. I have always heard that women tend to be more sick with girls than boys… um, apparently nobody told baby Jackson this!



Baby Jackson also started kicking this week!! Friday night, August 13th, I was sitting on my bed getting ready to go to sleep and all of a sudden I felt this little pop. It felt like a little bubble popped inside my stomach. I wasn’t sure at first that it was actually a kick. I sat there and tried to talk him into doing it again, but no such luck. I guess he just wanted to say “hi”. The next day I waited all day to feel it again, but never did. I was starting to question if I had really felt it the night before. Well the next morning at church, Eric and I were sitting in the service and out of nowhere, he kicked AGAIN! I waited for a second confirmation, and he kicked again!!! I couldn’t even wait until we got out of church. I leaned over to Eric and told him what I was feeling. I will never forget the look on his face. He could tell how excited I was, and was equally excited himself. When we got to the car we talked about it the whole way home. I really wish Eric could have felt what I felt that day. It must be so hard for the daddy to not get to experience that feeling. I knew it wouldn’t be long before he could feel it from the outside, but it can’t feel the same as when I feel him kick. I can’t wait for him to be here so Eric and I can experience the same things with him.

18 weeks (it’s a Boy!)

After my kidney stone drama we had our official doctor’s appointment on August 3rd to find out the gender of baby Jackson. We already knew he was a boy going in to the appointment, but neither one of us had been able to actually SEE that he was a boy. We didn’t have any ultrasound pictures or anything. I wasn't even able to look at the screen when I had the ultrasound done of my kidney. This was also the time that they were going to check all of his measurements to make sure everything is on track. My mom came with us. She hadn’t been able to make it to any appointments yet, so I was really excited. Eric met us there as soon as he got off work.

During this appointment we were also meeting a new doctor. All of the doctors in the office that we go to are women. Well, now they have hired a brand new doctor who is male. I’ve never really been one that had a preference for a male or female doctor, so I was fine with either one. Dr. Ward measured baby Jackson’s head, heart, arms, legs, and abdomen to make sure they all measured what they should be for 18 weeks. He was actually a week ahead of schedule! Yay! Keep on growing little buddy!

Here are some pictures from the appointment and ultrasound.

I know this one is hard to see. The printer on the ultrasound machine ran out right when he printed this one. It's all wrinkled and everything! Sad thing. Anyway, his boy parts are that white dot right above the "T". Hope you can tell what it is. I was there, and still have a hard time knowing what I'm looking at!

He also got his Very First Outfit this week!!!
My mom has already started shopping. Our family is full of girls, so us having a boy is exciting for everyone. My mom bought baby Jackson a cute little outfit that says “Party in my crib”. It is precious!!!



I think this is the belly picture from 18 weeks. I should have labeled better. :(