Happy Valentines Day!

Will you be my Valentine?

With love,
Jackson

Jackson's Smile: Give the gift of smile; buy a photograph!

One of the side effects of Jackson's syndrome and all the medical issues he has dealt with since birth are the overwhelming medical bills. We have been inundated with medical bills for over a year now. Without insurance and the generous financial gifts we have received from others throughout this past year, Jackson's medical expenses would total over one million dollars to date.

Daniel and I have tried to stay positive throughout this past year, all the while getting deeper and deeper in debt because of all the medical care Jackson's condition necessitates. As some of you may remember, we moved in with my parents last April so we could put a dent in some of the debt we had accrued since Jackson's birth, which we were able to do. However, no matter how much we are able to pay off, it seems there is always another bill coming in. We just can't seem to stay afloat. Because of this, one of the primary reasons for moving to Texas was the lower cost of living. We just couldn't keep up living on the Central Coast, regardless of how much we loved living in such a beautiful place.

One of our good friends, Cameron Ingalls, is a renowned photographer. He has known of our financial situation, and together with his wife, Anna, came up with Jackson's Smile. Jackson's Smile is a coalition of photographic artists dedicated to giving Jackson, and others like him*, some of their most precious resources; their time, money, and talent. Each month beautiful photographs will be featured, donated by incredible photographers, to raise money to offset Jackson's medical bills; "to give Jackson the gift of his smile."

We are so grateful for our friends, Cameron and Anna. And for all of you who have been our support system over the past year or so.

* A portion of proceeds will go directly to support more kids like Jackson at the Craniofacial Center at Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas.

Jackson is crawling!

This is huge. It has been a long time coming. Jackson is finally crawling! We have been so excited and he is enjoying new levels of independence.

So I have attempted to film it. The story behind the two videos...

Jackson loves anything technological and anything belonging to anyone but himself, meaning cell phones, computers and cameras specifically. So I tried to video him crawling the first time and soon discovered his crawling was motivated by his desire for the camera. He worked so hard to get to it and then Mommy wouldn't let him have it. Such a mean Mommy. Thus this first video:


Crawling & The Camera Dilemma from Halle Whittington on Vimeo.

Later on, Daddy was encouraging him to crawl, so I tried to capture it yet again. Needless to say, it was a bit dark in the room. I hope you can catch the gymnastics Jackson throws in there. It's pretty classic.


Crawling! from Halle Whittington on Vimeo.

We have so much more to update but that will have to wait till next time! But I will say this... We are loving Austin thus far!