Jackson's 12 month visit to the doctor/Pictures from my 27th Birthday

I had a great 27th birthday in Sparkle with all my family...Aunt Sandi and Uncle Larry even came! I am so blessed! The last 2 pictures are of Sophie who came to play with Jackson (Sophie is Meg's baby girl and 3 weeks older than Jackson).

At the Doctor:
He was in the 50 percentile in Head—Yay!! He has always been in like the 20%
He was 50% in Length
He was 25% in Weight weighing in at 22 pounds. My doctor said she was not worried about the weight because of switching to whole milk and being so active walking everywhere. Right now he is on track to be 5'10," but who knows...

She said he was doing great and that I did not have to give up bottles as long as he does not lay down with it or go to sleep with it (that is what rots their teeth)
He is still on the bottle. Because we have had so much change the last couple of months, I am just taking things slow. He does eat whole milk all day and one formula bottle right before bed. He eats about 18 ozs of whole milk a day. My next step is to get him to drink it cold, and then we will go to the cup (which he is drinking 2 or 3 ozs of right now). By 15 months I really want his bottle to be gone .

He had 4 shots (even the chicken pox one!) and was hot the next day.

What I wish I had known/done
I wish I had tried many different foods at 9 months because he really does not like too many different kinds of food.
Started the cup more at 9 months.
That Target has the best plastic bibs.
Whole milk is harsh on their stomach and they do not need a lot of it. Formula is a well balanced meal and they get iron from it but not so much from whole milk
I was really glad that someone here on the blog recommended me to add 1 oz of whole milk everyday with the bottle. That was one of the best advices ever and worked. He was more fussy with the whole milk so some days I would not add any more whole milk
Babies need iron that comes from greens so I would have pushed the greens more.
The best toys for him is a “popper” that is like a vacuum that we got at Once Upon a Child, and this Noah book he can pull parts out of. He also loves anything that plays music loudly or any kind of ball or toy with a ball.
They stop listening when you say “no” and the Pack and Play works well with discipline issues.

Jackson's Schedule- 12 months old

Charlie and I are in Columbia right now and my parents have Jackson. We packed boxes all day in Sumter in a no air conditioned house. Praise the Lord we got 80% done! We are going to the USC game tomorrow and have a weekend just us! Next week is our last week in Spartanburg and then we are in Columbia for good. This is the crazy detailed schedule that I typed out for my parents for the weekend….I thought some of you might find this helpful/humorous

Jackson’s Day 1 year old

Morning
a) Wake up anywhere from 7:15-7:45 (do not wake him up)
b) Diaper Change
c) Eat either eggs first or adult yogurt (he will not usually eat both just one or the other)
d) Offer juice
e) While fixing the bottle if fussy and REFUSING TO EAT give him the little sweet potato puffs while in the high chair
f) Heat up 5 ozs of whole milk and 1 oz of formula (make sure the formula is on the top so he gets it) for 6 ozs total
g) Play time usually watching tv, Disney playing with balls, etc
h) Nap time AT 9:40 AT THE EARLIEST 10:30 at the latest–try to get him down about 10 AM. Make sure all 7 passi are in there and located all around the crib, turn fan on and turn down the ac. Make sure he has pants on when taking a nap

Midday
a) Wake up anywhere from a little after 11 am to 12 pm (Usually right at 11:15 am)
b) Diaper Change
c) Eat anywhere from 11:30 to 12:30 try for like 11:45 pm..try to get fruit in him if he had no yogurt that morning. Most days he will just he yogurt but you can try squash, bread, sweet potato or basically anything you can get in him. Offer juice again
d) Heat up 4 ozs again like stated earlier with 1 oz formula on top (he usually only eats 4 ozs or so here)
e) Play this is a hard time here I would advice going somewhere

Snack earliest 1:45-latest 3 pm ...try to do 2 pm
a) Diaper Change
b) Heat up 6 ozs again with 1 oz formula on top
c) Usually eats all his bottle here and usually does #2 here

Afternoon Nap earliest 2:45 latest 4 pm Usually sleeps till about 5:10 or so

Dinner earliest 5:15 LATEST 6:30 (this is important here not to feed him past 6:30) Usually eats at like 5:45
a) Diaper Change
b) Eats usually some sort of meet as some baby food or pudding or whatever you can get him to eat
c) Heat up 4 ozs here—he normally only eats 4 just make sure the top oz is formula
d) Play

Bath time at 7:30 I think yall know how to now

Night Bottle earliest 7:45 latest 8:30 try for 8 pm
a) Diaper Change, ALL FORMULA HERE YOU CAN GIVE HIM 8 OZS use the same bottle different drop in

Bed time earliest 8:45 latest 9:30 READ A BOOK TO HIM OR HE MIGHT CRY WHEN YOU PUT HIM DOWN HERE

If he wakes up in the middle of the night and cries for more than a couple minutes just get him out of the bed and comfort him and then put him back down after a while even if he cries when you put him down WAIT AT LEAST A COUPLE OF MINUTES BEFORE GOING BACK IN

When traveling the bottles can sit out a couple of hours and be ok so you do not have to bring cooler to go to Greenville just make sure you have 1 more bottle than you think you will need.

You can give him crakers whenever he is fussy be sure to pack them when you go to Greenville along with diapers and juice cup and toys

Jackson's Big First Birthday Celebration

I am so grateful to God for giving me Jackson. He is a blessing in every way. He has brought so much joy to my life. Maybe the joy comes from grasping more how our Heavenly Father loves us. Maybe the joy comes from knowing that God entrusted a beautiful soul for me to be his mother. Or maybe it is because I know I am investing in eternity just by being his mom.

New Milestones:

1. He rarely crawls anymore, he walks everywhere

2. When he does something he is excited about he claps his hands together and gets very excited

3. He is drinking half whole milk and half formula

4. He loves you to read him books

5. He recently pointed to himself when he saw a picture of himself

6. He says dada mama bye bye and go...he tries to say whatever we get him to say

7. He loves balls and will throw them all day long. He will even go get the ball when I asks him to.

I am sorry I am late posting this. We came to Spartanburg Monday, we went back to Columbia all day Tuesday and found our perfect house that is being built right now and signed a contract (we will hopefully be in mid Oct). Kelly came all the way from Atlanta and we had a fun family Mickey Mouse themed first birthday party here in Spartanburg (he loves Mickey Mouse!). We ordered the banner from BirthdayExpress. He did not go after the cake like he did the cupcake at last weekend celebration. He loved us all singing to him all day long. Overall, it was a really fun day...he got lots of great clothes, a really fun Birthday hat from Aunt Sandi, and of course some toys.

Jackson's First Hair Cut!

Jackson got his first hair cut last Thursday. His hair was sticking up every day and he was pulling the hair around his ears all the time. It was driving me crazy so I got the girl who cuts my hair in Sumter to cut it. He did so well....Kim gave him a curler and he did not even seem to notice what she was doing. Kim did a great job and had a certificate made for him and everything.

Fun Labor Day Weekend!

Well, we have had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend. We decided not to go to the game Saturday since we were making so many trips to Columbia to look at houses. Alyssa and Sammy, friends from college, came over Saturday night and we had a fun visit with Jane Mac and Asher (Asher and Jackson are 1 day apart in age). Then, last night our entire immediate family came to see the house that we love and we celebrated Jackson's Birthday early with Charlie's sister Lauren. Jackson will be 1 September 12th! Last night we also offered on the house so pray that no one else has already made a better offer. Jackson is doing great. He loves Yo Baby yogurt and bread. I have given him 2 ozs of whole milk mix in with his bottle heated up today. I am going to add 1 oz of whole milk every day now. Pray that he starts to eat more food though...we offered him a waffle this morning and he wanted no part of it. Any suggestions with how to get Jackson to eat more food, I am all ears! He also cannot figure out how to drink out of cup so we have a lot of work to do this month. I am going to be consistent with trying the cup 3 times a day for 2 weeks. He still loves his formula and would eat 32 ozs every day and no food and be happy. Enjoy the pics!

Life Changing News For the Wallace Family

Wow, I did not think so much could happen in one year, but it can. We have been clearly called to First Baptist Columbia for Charlie to be the children’s pastor there. It is not something we sought out, but rather it was God definitely calling us there. It is extremely hard to leave here, but it is even harder because we did have the fire, and people at Crosswell carried that burden with us. The people at Crosswell are unbelievably giving, and wonderful people. I have really become close with many of the girls here, and so needless to say last Sunday was very emotional, and I am going to miss every single person here a lot! Carol held my hand through it all, again carrying the burdens with me. We are really excited about serving at First Baptist and it is a tremendous responsibility. They have I think 450 children enrolled and the church itself has about 5,500 members. Charlie will have a full time ass. children pastor and 2 part time workers to assist him

Pray that:

1. We find a house soon. We were apart a lot this summer and I will be living in Spartanburg during the week and coming down on the weekend. I had no idea how hard it is to find/buy a house….we are going Thursday to look again at house in Lexington so pray on Thursday for us
2. That Jackson adjust well
3. That God will supply Crosswell all its needs and that people will step up even more than they already have.
4. That I stay stress free and stay joyful in my God who has blessed us with everything

Here is Charlie’s resignation letter it is so well written I just had to post it:

Dear Crosswell Church Family,

A few months ago I received a phone call from the First Baptist Church of Columbia. The purpose of the phone call was to find out if I was interested in talking about the possibility of joining their staff as children’s minister. The phone call came as a surprise to me and my wife as we were not particularly interested in the idea of leaving Crosswell.

After many lengthy discussions with different people at First Baptist, it started to become clear that First Baptist had some unique needs and the type of man that they were looking for seemed to fit my personality, leadership style, and overall skills. It also started to become clear that God seemed to be at work in the process. In the end, after much discussion and prayer and with the blessing of Pastor Charles, my wife and I have decided to accept the distinct call of God and to accept the position of children’s pastor at First Baptist Columbia.

My last Sunday at Crosswell will be next week, September 2 and my last day is Thursday September 6. I have been and will continue to keep putting things in place for my departure.

Despite the new challenge ahead, we are not leaving Crosswell easily. We count every single one of you as dear friends. I consider each and every one of you as a brother, a sister, a father, a mother, a grandfather and a grandmother in Christ.

We will always have many fond memories of our rewarding time at Crosswell. First and foremost, your generosity has not gone unnoticed. A house-warming party, a baby shower and a love offering were just a few of the many ways that you as a church reached out to us.

We also experienced a lot of monumental occasions – my ordination, my first baptisms, my first full-time ministry position, and our first child. Most importantly, we will have a lot of memories that we can laugh at and fondly recall for the rest of our lives.

It is going to be hard to leave. But we will always thank God for the time that we have had together and we pray that you will invite us back in the future for special occasions. Please hold us, Crosswell, and First Baptist in your prayers as we all undergo this transition while trying to reach people with the Gospel of Christ.

With Much Love in Christ,

Charlie, Emily, and Jackson Wallace

Video of Jackson Walking a Little

Jackson took 10 steps in a Row! Walk, Walk, Walking?

Well last Thursday, August 16^th, Jackson walked to Edna, the church secretary, up at the church offices. She had a cool box that she was playing with and he walked straight to her---I counted like 10 or 11 steps. From that point on he has taken 4 steps or so in a row but nothing like with Edna. However, since Jackson is into everything and I think I say “no” a million times a day, I am not anxious for him to start walking before his 1^st B-day which is right around the corner. Once he starts walking we will have to buy many baby gates.

Today in church I was thinking about how proud I am when Jackson walks. Isn’t that how God is with us? Isn’t he very proud of us when we walk with Him or just show Christ’s love through our actions? I just cherish every time Jackson hugs me and whatever he is interested in, I become interested in. Sometimes we don’t pray to God about “little” things in our life because we don’t think that He will care. He does. And it takes having a child to understand that.

Something else that has been on my mind is that I want to give my heavenly Father a hug…but how does that exactly work? I am sorry but Jesus is NOT my boyfriend and I am not madly in love with Him in ‘that way’ – contrary to some modern worship songs. I love God and Jesus with all my heart, but how do I exactly show him that. I guess by telling him how much I love Him, and doing things that please Him. My son gets so excited when he does something that pleases me…isn’t that how God is with us?

Ps-Jackson said "Mama" today after I said it to him and he has 5 teeth!

Pray for Jackson...He has a Viral Infection and Teeth are Coming Through

The last two pictures are Jackson when he does not get his way....He really wanted the camera. He is very dramatic. Yesterday, at the doctor he could have won an Oscar when they pricked his finger. He held his finger way up in the air and then buried his head in my chest. He acted like the nurse had just cut off his finger. We have had to break out the spanking spoon. I only used it once, and VERY lightly when he kept on knocking over Millie's water bowl when I had said "no" many times. Now, all I have to do it break out the spanking spoon and say "no" and he stops on a dime. Two front teeth have come through and he is very congested. We took him to the doctor yesterday and she took blood work and said it was just viral and gave us some dimetapp (this has worked well). He did not wake up at all last night....Praise God! The last couple of nights had been tough. He might be having allergies from the new carpet.

We are Back in Our House!

We moved back in last Thursday and it is so good to be back at our wonderful house where Charlie is just steps away!

Here is furniture that my dad's co-worker DONATED yes I said donated to us.... all of it! Thank you so much Lisa! I love all it!!!! Jackson has a new room with tons of furniture that is great. I really like the crib (it has wheels) and the changing table is huge!






The above picture is of Charlie when he was 10 months old....see the resemblance?

Visiting Virginia and Mrs. T in Sparkle!