Back to work

Matt's two weeks of paternity leave is over and so I am on my own starting today with a newborn and a 2 1/2 year old. I am so thankful to have had Matt around during the day for so long. So far, things have been going pretty well. We've had a couple mishaps but nothing too bad. I was trying to do too many things with one hand and while trying to make Eliza a peanut butter and jam sandwich while holding Jackson, I dropped a big glob on strawberry jam on his foot and he freaked out. I guess it was a little cold. Sorry buddy! Eliza thought it was hilarious. Also, Eliza had put her toy train engine that she borrowed from Grandma on the back of the couch and when I sat down, it fell off and clocked Jackson in the forehead. Okay, so maybe I'm not off to the best start but I'm sure I'll figure this out. They are both so sweet and good natured. Matt and I feel so blessed to have such happy, healthy children who we love so much.

We were able to do a lot of fun things with having Matt home for so long. Last Thursday we went to the Oquirrh Mountain temple open house. Eliza loves temples and she was really excited to go. In the car she kept saying, "Let's go to the house of God." And when we walked through the baptistry she wanted to go swimming. I'm sure with all the thousands of people who have walked through it, there was at least one child who got in the water. Thankfully it was not ours. It is a beautiful temple and we're excited to have it so close to home.

Speaking of swimming, the one thing we really miss about our condo is the swimming pool. We decided it would be fun for Eliza to go again so Matt took her swimming on Friday. She was kind of scared of the water at first but after a little while she was fine and had a great time.

Thank you Matt for all your help and support. We love you!

Two weeks

Jackson had his two week appointment today. He is doing great! Here are his stats:

Weight - 9 lbs. 11 oz. (95th percentile)

Length - 22 in. (95th percentile)

Even though he's really big, he doesn't look it. He has the skinniest little chicken legs. I think it's because he's so long. He's getting a few little thigh rolls. I'm sure he'll chunk up pretty soon.

He did really well during the appointment and was awake and looking around the whole time. Well, besides when they did the PKU test and he screamed his head off. Poor little guy, it is so sad when they have to do that.

We're so grateful for our healthy baby boy! And look at that cute dimple!

The fruits of our labor

We planted some tomatoes in May to try our hand at growing something in our new backyard. We never thought they would turn red with all the rain we had in June but the big day arrived and Eliza finally got permission to pick one. She takes after her dad and absolutely loves tomatoes. I'm not the biggest fan but I'm glad that she'll be able to enjoy them all summer long. Here she is with her precious "red, ripe, juicy tomato." (Her words)

1 week old

We have survived a whole week being parents of two. It has been great. Jackson is doing really well and I'm pretty sure he gets cuter everyday. Eliza loves having him here. She likes to hold him and look at his little fingers and toes. She also laughs at all the funny faces he pulls. She told me the other day that she was going to teach him to walk. She is a good helper and doesn't seem too jealous yet. Let's hope that lasts for a while. We're a little sleep deprived but very happy and thankful that everyone is healthy. Jackson has had to have his bilirubin checked a couple of times since we left the hospital but it had gone down last time so we don't need to take him in anymore. It's a good thing because his poor little heels were starting to look like pincushions.

First day at home

Eliza and 'baby brother' (that's what she calls him most of the time)

Matt calls this Jackson's 'playboy pose'

His first sponge bath

Finally. A New Baby!!

Jackson Matthew McCann was born this morning at 5:16am. He weighed 9 pounds and 7 ounces and was 22 inches long. Here is the story of how things went down.
Last night was like any other night and Emily and I went to bed at 10:30. At around 3:30 Eliza woke up and walked in our room and just like every other time(there have been so many). I picked her up and put her back in her bed to go back to sleep. Just as I started to close my eyes I heard the words, "Ouch!" followed by the words, "I think my water just broke." I helped Emily get up and get into the bathroom and both of us had the thoughts of the baby coming, but we thought we might even be able to go back to sleep for a few hours before we went into the hospital. Then the contractions started, and there were many and they happened very often. Emily quickly called her mom and told her to rush out to our place to be with Zi. She arrived at about 4am and we had the car started and left for the hospital right as she pulled up to our house. I have never driven so fast in my life. Emily was in pain from the contractions occuring so often and said she had never felt that much pain in her entire life. At this time the contractions were only about 2 minutes apart and we said a special prayer that we would be able to make it to the hospital in time. I ran a red light and was doing around 90 mph on the freeway. It is a very good thing that there weren't many cars on the road and this is an advantage of going into labor in the middle of the night. When we got to the hospital and got checked in, the nurse checked Emily and said she was dialated to a 9 and we both knew the baby was coming very, very soon. It was close to 5:00am when Emily got her spinal block, which I guess is a quicker way to numb Emily versus an actual epidural. A few minutes later, Dr. Froerer arrived(he must have driven pretty fast too because they called him after we arrived at the hospital) and he did a little prep work to get a feel on how close we were. He asked Emily if she was ready to push and after 5 quick pushes, we had a new baby. What a contrast to what Emily went through when Eliza was born and the 3.5 hours of pushing she went through. Our little guy is such a blessing in our lives and we(mainly me) are already looking forward to the days of getting him into soocer, baseball, basketball and football. With how big he is, I am holding out for him to be a linebacker and made the joke in an email to some friends that Bronco is already wanting him to sign on for the class of 2027 at BYU. Emily and I also agreed that Jackson looks a lot like Eliza did, only not quite as chubby in the face. We will let you decide. Eliza is so excited to finally have a baby brother. Special thanks to Grandma Burton for coming to our house at 4am and then spending the day with Eliza. Also, thank you all for your thoughts and prayers through this amazing time in our life!!

Look at little Eliza on top and compare him to little Jackson on bottom.

Night Time Prayers

Tonight when we were getting Eliza ready for bed, we had her in the bathtub and decided to cut a few locks of hair because it is getting so out of hand. She was really good while we did this and we were pleasantly surprised. After her bath, we were going through our normal bedtime routine(prayer, then story, then singing a song) and we asked Eliza who she wanted to say the prayer, and she said that she wanted to. Normally she will defer to Emily or I but tonight she wanted to. Here is what she said:
"Hevenly Father -
"Thank you for our day,
Thank you for our blessings,
Thank you that I could take a bath,
Thank you that I could get a haircut,
Name of Jesus Christ,
Amen"

Both Emily and I looked up at eachother and both began to laugh it was so cute and funny. After we left her room, we both thought that we better write this down so we can remember.

Anxiously Waiting

So Monday is the official due date but tonight when I left work today, I added my "out of the office" email response and voicemail saying I would not be back in the office until July 20th (love the 2 weeks paternity paid leave). I really would hate to have to go back into work on Monday if this baby doesn't come. I really need a break from work. I think Emily and I are both ready. We are trying to make plans for this weekend but have to do so with a contingency that we can only do stuff if the baby doesn't come. Tonight was Classic Roller Skating night, which is the best $2 you can spend to please a 2 year old. Eliza won't let me hold both her arms while we rollerskate anymore but will only hold one of my hands. She is so independent and it can be very frustrating at times. Although, it took 20 minutes to get around the rink, she can do it by herself with only a couple falls. In order to talk her into leaving, we had to buy her a candy bracelet. She is such a candy junky like me.

I think tomorrow we are planning on a bbcue at the Burton's as a pre 4th of July celebration. It is always nice to get together with family and there is not a lot of better things in life than a sunny, warm evening and a bbcue with family. Eliza especially likes it over there because she gets to jump on the trampoline. If Emily hasn't started having contractions, we might just let her jump on the tramp as well. On Saturday, I am going to let Emily sleep in and Zi and I will go to the Stake breakfast in our area. Since she gets up at 7am anyway, and she struggles eating breakfast at home, this should be a good idea.

Everything else around here is pretty normal but it is amazing how fast time flies. I was walking through the house this morning and still had a hard time believing that this was actually our house and that we are going to be here for the long term. So far, we really like our ward and teaching primary makes me both excited and scared for when Eliza is 8-9 years old. Only 64 more days until the BYU Oklahoma game down in the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium. It will be really fun to see all of my cousins that I grew up with. It doesn't hurt that they some of the funniest people that I have ever sat through a sporting event with. We used to go to Bees games together and used to heckle the players and remind them why they were still in the minor leagues and not making the big money. It should be exciting.

Everyone hope that the baby gets here soon. We are bored sitting around watching reruns of Scrubs and Seinfeld everynight. We would much rather have the newest Jazz/Cougar fan here with us to hold and feed. Maybe soon.