Believe it or not, Jackson is grandchild #17 for my parents! I know, right??? You’d think my parents would be tired of grandkids by now, especially considering that they live within about a 10-mile radius of most of the other grandchildren (numbers 2 through 16 live in OH). But seeing them with Jackson last weekend, you’d think he were their only grandchild. They were so excited to see our beautiful boy.

Of course, Jenny and I are no fools! We made sure to soak in as much of my mother’s child-rearing experience as we possibly could during their visit. Given the hands-on role she played in caring for every single one of my nieces and nephews, and from her own experience as mother of seven, my mother is probably the closest we will ever get to a manual on caring for newborns. She’s got all these tips and an unbelievable ability to instantly calm Jackson (during any state of hysteria). Now, I know they won’t confirm it, but I’m pretty sure that my parents felt that #17 is, by far, the best of the lot! 😉

Daddy-O