Our last days in Florida

This blogging process is coming along very slowly but I am determined to get caught up soon! So yay Jackson made it home. I wish I could say it was all smooth sailing from there but not so much. He was physically better. Just the remnants of a rash but no other symptoms. But emotionally, mentally and ya behaviorally he was still not back yet. Being at the hospital for 3 nights really messed up with his sleeping.

His first night back home he went to bed ok, but then was up almost all night screaming, crying whining for an ipad or a show or chocolate milk to then refuse it once we gave it to him. It was so emotionally draining for Tyler and I. Luckily Abbie and Tyler's parents slept through it as we tried to keep him away from their rooms. But he really was up all night and demanded Tyler be with him that whole time so Tyler got no sleep. At around 7 am he had maybe gotten 2 hours of sleep so Tyler's parents took him in the car with them and he finally fell asleep and so they kept him with them for a few hours sleeping while Tyler caught up on sleep and I watched Abbie.

Jackson sleeping on the back bench of the van

This was Saturday, the day we were going to have a garage sale after cleaning out our house all week. Yeah, that didn't happen. We did try to get some of the essential cleaning out done that day as our movers were literally coming the next day. The main project was the garage, everything else would be fine if we just moved. I had cleaned out 80% of the house already and had a huge pile in our room of "garage sale" stuff that is no sitting in our attic in Connecticut. But Tyler did get the garage cleaned out and that was our major event of the day.

After the little guy came home he was acting much better and just like a normal day dressed up in his pirate gear and watched a show with Daddy.

Pirate & Daddy, and notice Abbie and Grandma in the back

Can I give a shout out to Abbie right here? Those who know her realize she has a hard time going to new people. But honestly she did great with Tyler's parents. Such a blessing. Normally when I leave her she cries for a while but does ok when I'm actually gone. But it's rare for her to ever be held or go to someone else while I am actually present. Notice in the above picture she is sitting with Grandma just fine while I am in the other room taking this picture of Jackson. She really stepped it up big time when she needed to.

She learned how to climb outside for the first time that day

 OK Bad Mom Alert! I just realized I haven't blogged about Abbie taking her first steps! It happened just a few days before Jackson went to the hospital so I guess I have an excuse? It was Thursday night and I was just putting her to bed and she just started taking off all over her room! She had taken a few steps here and there for the past month but this was the first time it seemed like she was actually trying to walk and would try again after she fell! Within a week of that time she was walking 90% of the time and crawling was a thing of the past. So I guess she started walking at 12 1/2 months and was a full fledged walker at 13 months.

some of her first steps

A little wobbly at first

The next week she was walking around outside!

You'd think she had been walking for weeks!

OK back to Saturday, that afternoon Tyler's parents took Jackson out for a few hours while we packed our bags. We would be living out of these suitcases for a week in CT while we waited for the moving truck to arrive. Once again, we could not have survived this weekend without Vicki and Terry! Thanks to them times a million. Jackson was still not acting himself. Like I mentioned earlier he was very whiny and fussy and very quick to throw a tantrum. They claimed that he behaved much better when Tyler and I weren't around and I hope that was really true. It was really hard to see him so miserable even when he was supposedly better. It was really emotional for me and I was scared that this was the new Jackson or maybe something was still wrong because really his behavior was terrible. It worried me so much that he was about to have his whole world ripped out from under him as we packed up his house and shipped it across the country away from all things familiar. Ahh don't even get me started. But luckily (spoiler alert) a couple weeks later after we got settled in the new house he started acting much much better.

During the afternoon they took Jackson to Millenia Mall and Toys'R'Us, two places they knew he could run and play and just have fun.

 That night Tyler and I went on a much needed final date night in Florida. We ate at Casey at the Bat, rode Thunder Mountain, Pirates, and some of our other classic rides. This could have been such an emotional sad night saying goodbye to Disney but with all that was going on with Jackson at home, our hearts were more with him. It was a great last night and the next morning the moving trucks arrived.

The final Dole Whip!