Happy 5th Birthday, Jackson!

On Sunday, October 4th, our little superstar Jackson turned five-years-old!  Because of the current circumstances, it was a very quiet birthday celebration at home.  His only request was that he had a superhero birthday cake with "red, yellow, and dark blue--my favourite colours" and a game called 'Pass the Parcel.'  In England, this is a mixture of Hot Potato and Musical Chairs.  When the music stops, a layer of wrapping paper is peeled off of a present (which has many layers) and the person who unwraps it finds a small candy to eat.  As the music continues, the present is passed around the circle.  The person who unwraps the last layer gets a 'real' present.  Jackson was worried that he wouldn't win Pass the Parcel at his own birthday party, but . . . surprise:  he was the winner!  Jackson received so many presents from far and wide from our friends and family and he was so grateful for everything he got.  His big gift this year was an acoustic guitar and the day after he turned five, he had his first guitar lesson which he loved.

Today, our little Freddie turned one-month-old already!  He is beginning to reach for toys and bat at them and he started gripping onto blankets and muslin cloths and holds them while he sleeps.  Freddie is very alert when he is awake, although he is still an incredible sleeper.  Every few days, he is very hungry and will only sleep for short stints, but I think these are phases where he is getting bigger and needs to prepare for a growth spurt.  Other than that, he will go to bed around 11 o'clock at night and then only wake up two or three times during the night to eat.  Freddie's last weigh-in with the midwife was on October 5th and he weighed 9 pounds 11 ounces (up 7 ounces from his birth weight) which she said was right on track.  He has big, dark blue eyes and is very cuddly.  Freddie still loves to be held, but he has finally adjusted to sleeping in his Moses basket without worrying now.

Yesterday was Lee's birthday, too!  (It's been a busy month.)  His birthday was even more low-key than Jackson's, and although I didn't have to make a superhero birthday cake, we did still manage to have fun as a family at home.  Lee and I haven't grown tired of the lockdown restrictions and we really enjoy our time with Jackson and Freddie.

Speaking of restrictions, on Wednesday, we got a call from Jackson's drama school that another student in his learning 'bubble' contracted the virus.  We immediately had to take him out of school and he was ordered to self-isolate for 14 days.  Thankfully, Jackson has not shown any of the symptoms thus far and neither have the rest of us.  We really don't want him to miss so many days of school, but these are the government's regulations so we'll continue to abide by the law and avoid any hefty fines.  In the meantime, I am teaching Jackson at home.  Since he is currently only working on phonics, handwriting, and number recognition, it isn't too difficult to balance with caring for a newborn.  Sometimes, I feel guilty when I have to share my time between our two little ones, but I decided that any time that I do have with Jackson and Freddie, I am just going to try to fill-it-up with as much love as I can and cherish the moments that we do have together.