Life and Stories of the Nelson Family

A long way for a hashbrown...

2012-01-29T14:38:00.000-06:00

It was last Wednesday morning. Still suffering the effects of my ear infection (going on 2 weeks at this point), I had an appointment with an ENT doctor at 9:15 that day. I decided to see a more specialized doctor than the local clinic's doctor, to make sure my ear was okay....even though the ENT was across town, 30 minutes away. I had everything timed perfectly. I dropped Jack off at school at 7:45, got back home at 8:00, fed and changed Jason, and then pulled out of the driveway at 8:40 for my 9:15 appointment. I should arrive at the doctor's office around 9:10, giving me 1 hour to spend there before needing to turn around and drive the 30 minutes back to pick Jack up at school at 10:50. My plan was doable, and I was going to succeed!

Flash forward 20 minutes into my drive, and despite the heavy rain, I encountered little traffic on my way there. That's about the time I came to a sudden stop, and spent the next 20 minutes moving about one mile. This is what I saw:

Hopelessly optimistic, I thought I could get through it- that it was just a bottleneck that once I rounded the corner, I'd be okay. I called the doctor's office to let them know I'd be a few minutes late. (I'm so close to their office at this point, only 10 more minutes.) And Jason has been so good for the car ride, which is a major plus, because he typically despises the car. So now I'm stuck in gridlock with no hope of escaping, fading hopes of actually making my doctor's appointment, a baby who is starting to fuss in the backseat, and my older son needs to be picked up from school in an hour. On the phone again with the doctor's office, I tell the receptionist of my dilemna and where I am....please don't cancel I'm thinking, I've already come all this way and need to have my ear looked at, I've sat in this traffic for at least 30 minutes now in addition to driving 20 minutes before even hitting the traffic.....DON'T LET IT BE FOR NOTHING!!!! The receptionist informs me that her husband is in the same traffic jam, and has been for the past hour and a half. It's at this point that I come upon a turn around, and I decide to just go back home. I'm glad I took the turn around when I had the chance, because the receptionist told me I had to reschedule my appointment. Yay.

Luckily, traffic wasn't bad once I turned around. Not so luckily, 50 minutes into our car ride, Jason finally had had enough and began screaming. I think an angel was watching out for me, because Jason only screamed for about 7 minutes before conking out....and he never sleeps in the car. So I enjoyed a quiet ride home after that. Dejected over the whole debacle, I stopped at the McDonald's by my house and got myself a sausage biscuit and hashbrown, so at least I got something for my cursed car ride. It was really good too. Just ironic that I drove 20 minutes in one direction, sat on the highway for about 30 minutes, and then drove 30 minutes back (add an extra 10 mins on for a detour), just to pick up breakfast from the McDonald's a mile from my house. What I wouldn't give for a crystal ball.

The happy news was that I picked Jack up from school on time and as of a couple of days ago, my ear seems to be near normal now.

Roadtrip

2012-01-17T14:37:00.000-06:00

The weekend before last, we took a roadtrip to Lubbock, Texas. The reason for our trip was to attend Jon's sister's wedding. Heather was married in the Lubbock temple and it was beautiful! Below are a few photos to document the trip. I have tons more, and am going to put together a slide show soon, once the pictures I ordered from the photographer arrive. It was a great weekend!

In the car on the way there...only about an hour left to go! The boys were very well behaved and even tried to hold hands. This was not posed.

The annoyingly cute couple- Heather and Logan, first picture as newlyweds!

Aunt Heather with the baby Jason

Heather impressively holding Jack (seriously she's in a wedding gown)

"I'll go someday..." Jack standing at the temple gate

Jon and the boys at the reception

outside the temple

this is how the weekend wrapped up....the boys snoozing in the car on the way home

Jason even slept some (I say 'even' since he's immune to sleeping in the car, even if you drive across the state of Texas. That's the curse of a tummy-sleeper)

It was a busy and all too short weekend. We got to spend it with siblings and cousins, eat yummy steak, play games (I won!), and celebrate Heather & Logan's marriage. Congrats to the newlyweds!

Swinging

2012-01-17T13:40:00.000-06:00

Above is a video of Jack & Jason swinging together. It's very cute. I like the fact that Jack is swinging in the toddler swing, as he insists on doing everything Jason does. He didn't want the big kid swing. He also wants to wear a bib while eating, be carried around, and fake cries by yelling loudly "WAH!" He looooves when we call him Baby Jack.

Jason is also too cute in the clip- I love his sweet smiles at the end. He's not the most adventurous baby as of yet, but he definitely enjoys the swing.

Still Exhaling....

2012-01-14T15:22:00.001-06:00

The night after writing my recent post on my boys being sick, I awoke around 1 a.m. to a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I'll spare you the gory details, but 5 hours later I finally fell asleep after spending the night suffering the effects of Jack's stomach virus. Thankfully that was the worst of it, but the rest of the day Wednesday I was basically zero use to anyone and my sweet husband stayed home from work to tend to the boys. Migrating between couch and bed the entire day, I basically slept with sluggish awakenings every so often to nurse Jason. I never knew it could take so much effort to sit up. The happy news is that my bug only lasted 24 hours, and I've felt right as rain since Thursday morning! The oh so annoying news is that later on that Thursday evening, my ear began to fill with pressure as if I were on an airplane or scuba diving. By Friday morning an intense ringing overtook my ear and still persists as I'm typing this update. Knowing this wasn't normal and was not going away, I went to our local Care Now and was diagnosed with an ear infection! Are you kidding me? I'm grateful for the diagnosis, since now I can take antibiotics and get rid of it. But, seriously, I haven't had an ear infection since I was a kid. Do adults really get these?

Jack seems to be recovered from his stomach bug, although every time I think this he proves me wrong by tossing his cookies one more time...so I'm weary of putting it in writing. It's been 36 hours since he's thrown up. Jason's nose- still runny. Jon, miraculously, seems to be fine.

I'm officially ready for this week to be over. Please no more.

Exhale

2012-01-10T16:09:00.001-06:00

For the majority of the month of December, my 2 boys were sick with colds and coughing. Jack began the fad, with Jason following suit 3 days later. I then too caught it, which is highly unusual since I usually have mommy immunity from getting such things. Jack recovered fairly quickly, left with only a residual cough. Poor Jason though. He began to get better, only to be hit with a second cold. He was snotty for 3 straight weeks, and contracted a double ear infection over Christmas. My poor baby. After being on antibiotics for a few days, he felt much better and his congestion cleared. Only 4 days after finally recovering from his back-to-back colds, Jason wakes up with yet another runny nose. Ughhhhh. Not again. We are hoping this one clears soon, minus the ear infection. And to top it all, Jack came down with a stomach virus on Sunday, throwing up countless times, in such places as his car seat, bed, and all over the dinner table (while we were eating). The dinner table was actually my favorite place, seeing as I was able to simply wipe it up, instead of taking apart a car seat, scrubbing blankets and sheets at 1:00 a.m., and running multiple loads of laundry. I'm fairly certain that vomit is the most detested of all bodily functions to clean up.

After spending a couple of hours today scouring toys to prevent the spread of Jack's stomach virus to Jason, doing loads of laundry, and trips around town to the doctor, pharmacy, & store, both boys are napping and my house is peaceful and clean. It's amazing what a clean house does to your mood. I already feel much better and prepared to handle my boys' illnesses. (At least until one of them wakes up, haha.)

Choo, Choo!

2012-01-04T14:57:00.000-06:00

Over our Christmas holiday, we visited a local man's impressive Christmas light display. His house was incredible- thousands of lights twinkling all around, with its crowning display: a life-size train that rides thru the lights. The guy offers free rides to kids and their parents every night, so we took Jack and he was dazzled by it all. What a great memory!

"Choo, Choo!"

I think we'll return next year.

Our Big Christmas Morning Post

2012-01-03T14:59:00.001-06:00

We had a wonderful Christmas in 2011, and enjoyed visiting with family! We spent Christmas morning at my parents' house, along with my two sisters visiting from Virginia. Trying to get Jack super hyped-up for Christmas this year, we checked out library books all about the holiday, explaining about baby Jesus, Santa Claus, Christmas trees/lights...and it worked! He was so excited to see presents everywhere, and kept saying, "presents! open!" Jason loved, loved, loved playing with the bows and bags. (And the adults enjoyed some present opening I'm sure too.)

First Christmas as brothers

my parents, or Mimi and Pappaw as they are now called

one of Jack's first presents opened...a Cars felt book

ohhh, what fun ribbon to yank!

playing with his new V-tech book from Mimi, a cool find

my sister Kristi, or as Jack now calls her "Aunt Kristi!"

Aunt Kristi tried to corral the boys in this big box. It didn't take long for Jason to start eating his way out.

Jason is eating 1 of the 3 elephants he got for Christmas...elephants must be a fad for 2011?

40 piece Cars puzzle...Jack is so good with puzzles, and loves the challenge of putting them together- and I love the absorbing focus it takes for him to do so!

video of Jack opening his favorite gift:

remote control monster truck- need I say more?

video of the blessed truck:

video of Jack getting his first scooter:

Jason with his hot momma and dadda....(fyi, not trying to exclude Jack, we needed a picture of just Jason with his parental units for his bedroom.)

a fitting end for a fabulous day: Jack collapsed on his daddy after all the excitement.

It was so special to have Jack finally care about a holiday and be revved up for it. Little Jason had some unopened presents the next day, and Jack insisted that he open them; I worried that he'd be upset that they were for Jason, and told him, "no, they're for Jason." Jack opened them anyway, and to my surprise and delight, he walked over to his brother and handed him his gift, saying "for Jason." So sweet.

It was the first year that Jack gave gifts too. I thought him old enough, so we crafted cards, and he really enjoyed painting them. Yes, my little boy is mature enough to use paint. Sigh.
It was great to spend so much time with my family, especially my sisters who I only see a couple of times a year. Prior to the big Christmas morning, we enjoyed eating out (barbecue and Spaghetti Warehouse), seeing the latest Twilight movie (sans the children), riding trains, playing games, shopping, and catching up.

Halloween pictures

2011-11-23T14:51:00.000-06:00

I am late getting these Halloween pictures up this year. We went with the color green for the boys, which I didn't consciously realize until seeing all these pictures together. Jack was the monster Brobee from the show "Yo Gabba Gabba!" and Jason was a triceratops. Jack loved his costume and insisted on wearing it all day, for the first few days it came home from the store. He even napped in it, the cutie.

Our ward's fall festival (Jon as Sherlock Holmes, me as a crazy cowgirl)

Love capturing the sweet moments between these two...

Jack eating his prize donut from the donut contest (donut hangs from string, and you free it with only your teeth....after two attempts to bite the hanging donut, Jack trumped the rules and grabbed it. I'm pretty sure that makes him smarter than the rest of us.)

Lil' triceratops and a green monster

Halloween night- going trick or treating!

all my boys

We ran into our friends the Knudsons while trick-or-treating, and forced 3 of the 7 kids to pose together. We joked that Jacob (on the right) was so righteous that he was kneeling to pray, haha.

We had so much fun trick-or-treating this year. Jack is starting to get into these holiday traditions now, so it's like re-living my childhood thru him. After about 15 mins of going from house to house, it got dark out, and then the neighborhood was packed with kids everywhere! We stayed out another hour, Jack filling his bucket with tasty candy. Jason also enjoyed the brisk night air (and being carried around for an hour). I'm looking forward to the next Halloween with my boys!

The Sticky Sneak

2011-11-16T13:52:00.001-06:00

It was a typical Tuesday evening at our house. Dinner included tasty french toast topped with syrup. After dinner, Jon came into our bedroom to help me with a computer problem. While paying attention to the computer, we heard chuckles coming from the direction of the kitchen. Assuming Jack was laughing at a scene from the movie Cars, I foolishly ignored it. A few more minutes pass while Jon tries to get the computer to cooperate, with the laughter continuing in the background, when I tell Jon to give up and go pay attention to Jack. That's when I hear Jon yell, "Jack! Stop it!" This can't be good, I think to myself. It turns out Jack's laughter wasn't triggered by the movie, but by his pouring syrup all over the table and floor. By the sizeable syrup puddle, I can guess that he'd been pouring for a good while too. It turns out it takes quite a bit of energy to clean up syrup, but not nearly as much to pour it.

Lesson learned: never leave a 3 year old alone, for any amount of time, with a bottle of syrup. Thank goodness our dining room isn't carpeted.

Time to lower the crib, and other things...

2011-11-10T14:27:00.002-06:00

Jason surprised us with a new learned skill this past week: pulling up! He is no longer content to crawl and play on his tummy, he now must pull up on anything remotely tall and play with it while either on his knees or standing. He is just too darn cute. Honestly, I could have waited for this new skill to develop for a few months, as I don't need another mobile boy in this house. Also, Jason makes for a more enticing target to Jack, now that Jason has a farther drop to fall when he stands.

getting into the bookcase...

getting into his toy basket, with his cute little toosh...

another recent development: baby food! Jason enjoys eating rice cereal and any veggie (peas below)

always willing to smile

in the tunnel at the park

Other things Jason is up to? As of a couple of weeks ago, he has 2 bottom teeth. He is 6 months and a couple weeks old now, and grew an inch since his 4 mos doctor's visit, making him 27 inches long (50th-75th%) and weighs around 15 lbs. So he is long and skinny. He is always a happy baby, unless tired. He naps well and sleeps thru the night; he puts himself to sleep without any help from me or a pacifier (thank goodness). He is the type of baby that makes you want to have another one (not that we are!). Jason, in case you couldn't tell, we love you.

The Pum'kin Patch!

2011-11-04T13:59:00.000-05:00

We visited a local farm, which hosts a large pumpkin patch extravaganza in October. They hold a host of activities for kids, and they're all free! We took our obligatory pumpkin pictures, enjoyed a hay ride, watched Jack slide down the bounce house slide, and lots more.

All the boys

Jack holding baby Jason (I thought it was miraculous that they both looked up and happy at the same time, without Jack letting go of Jason!)

Isn't he a cutie pie?

Hey, I'm actually in a photo!

pumpkins galore...

Jack's favorite movie ever: Cars!

Another beloved movie character, the rat from Ratatouille

A classic & favorite of mine too- Scooby Doo!

Jack & I enjoying the hay ride

The wagon ride back to the car; Jack is holding 2 little pumpkins for our 2 little boys

I melted when both boys sat in the wagon together! Seriously, I nearly went out and bought a wagon that week for more such brotherly moments.

A quick video of Jack sliding down the bounce house slide:

I think this pumpkin patch will have to be an annual family tradition from now on. We all had fun, and could have spent the whole day there if we had wanted. They had the yummiest smelling barbecue slow-cooking in the background, but we resisted. Next year I'm thinking we won't.

Sweet Surprises

2011-10-31T14:12:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, Jon returned home from work to a stressed-out wife. I pleaded with him take our oldest boy out of the house for awhile, so I could enjoy a quiet home while I finished some chores. Not only did Jon immediately agree to take Jack out, but he returned home with a couple of sweet surprises:

a divine chocolate silk pie,

and a dozen roses

Later he told me that the whole day he had been planning on taking Jack out and about after dinner, and to surprise me with flowers and dessert afterwards! Thank-you to my husband for the thoughtful and romantic gifts; they were wonderful!

Our computer died...

2011-10-15T15:57:00.002-05:00

....a few weeks ago, the poor thing. So my blogging has taken a hit in the midst of us getting a new computer, and dealing with getting to know said new computer. I am trying to catch up over the next week with all that we've been up to lately, so check back for more posts, since I know you're dying for more of us! P.S. To all of you fellow bloggers, is it just me, or is blogger acting especially retarded lately?

Jason update

2011-10-15T15:32:00.004-05:00

My little man is no longer rolling to get where he wants, but crawling to get there! It started a few weeks ago with him strenously pulling his arms, and a slow progress to get to his desired toy. Now he is much more adept and getting faster and faster by the day! Soon, I won't be able to leave the room because he is getting too fast at getting into trouble. Ah, Jason, I figured I'd have at least another month before you'd be dangerously mobile! Little man is also starting to sit without help, using his long gorilla arms as support...as seen in the last picture.

Dear Jason, you are now just 1 week shy of your 6 month birthday. You are growing too fast and at times, not fast enough; one thing is for sure, you are the best baby to be around with your peaceful and sweet demeanor. These past 6 months have been wonderful, and we can't wait to see what the next 6 bring!

....more crawling footage

Addendum--Jack's language boom

2011-10-01T17:57:00.000-05:00

Since writing the recent post on Jack's growing language skills, we've had a couple of more exciting developments. A week ago, while at speech, his therapist tested his skills by having him point to pictures she named, and having him say words for other pictures. The results were better than I had hoped for.....in his receptive language (what he understands) he is now considered at the language age of a 2 year 1 month old, and his expressive language (what he says) is equal to that of a 2 year old. To put this in perspective, his therapist showed me his test results from 6 months ago, and he had tested in receptive language at 12 mos old, and expressive language at 12-15 mos old, meaning on average he has gained 2 months of language per 1 month time period, and he's closing the gap between his chronological age and language age!!! I am a BIT excited about this, if you can't tell.

Then, on the following Monday, Jack had an audiology appointment and did beautifully. During audiology, the audiologist tests his implants' inner electrodes to make sure they are working and then tries to pinpoint Jack's thresholds for the softest and loudest sounds he can hear, so she can set his "ears" to the perfect level for him for optimum hearing. This can be a tricky process since it involves relying on a 3 year old for feedback on what sounds he can hear. With Jack, we do conditioned listening and when a sound is presented to him, he throws a ball in a bucket upon hearing the sound. He has gotten really good at this, and now gets m&m's as a reward for listening. He sat so patiently for his audiologist on Monday, for about 30 minutes, listening to the sounds she gave him and cooperatively throwing the balls in the bucket (and eating endless amounts of m&m's). She was able to pinpoint his thresholds on each electrode in both ears, a total of 44 electrodes. This is so important because we now know that Jack is hearing the soft speech sounds clearly, sounds like the letters 'p' and 't'. To sum up, she made small adjustments to his left ear and bigger ones to his right ear, and thinks that this should be his final "map" or setting.

The reason that I went on so much about his audiology appointment is because 2 days after it, Jack said the 't' sound for the first time in his life! I pointed out a picture of a star to him, and he clearly said "star" back to me! Typically, he would have said "saw", but this time he said the entire word. I'm pretty sure I scared him a bit with my excessive clapping and shrieks of excitement. And in speech a couple of days later he said the 'ch' sound which is a difficult sound to make. Another difficult sound to make is the 'sh' sound, but that is one of Jack's favorite to say. Way to go Jack!

Dear Jack,

2011-09-25T18:48:00.000-05:00

Why is it that during the school-week I'm rushing into your room at 7:10 a.m. to wake you up, but on Saturday and Sunday mornings you bound into our room at 6:30 a.m.?

WHY?!

Sincerely,
Your annoyed mother

Jack's language boom

2011-09-12T14:30:00.003-05:00

I've been meaning to write an entry on Jack's progress with his cochlear implants for awhile now, but just haven't gotten around to it. One reason being that I used to keep a running list of the words he understood, and the words he said....and now he knows so many and learns so quickly that the list has gone out the window! Let's see, the last time I posted about Jack's progress was months ago, I think in January; at that time he understood about 5 words plus varying sounds that animals make, and was starting to say a few words like 'bye' and 'up.' Fast forward to September, and it's becoming really difficult for me to quantify how much he understands & says! If I had to estimate I'd say he understands at least 100+ words, and probably more like 150-200. He says around 50+ words, which doesn't include his imitation of speech that's modeled to him.

To keep this in proper perspective, I have to constantly remind myself of his hearing age, which is currently 9.5 months. It's hard to judge where his current language level would place him, but we know it's somewhere between the language of an 18 month old- 24 mos. His speech therapist said that about 2 months ago, so I would say Jack is approaching the language level of a two year old now. I was told that one of the hallmarks of a 2 year old's language skill is putting two words together and using sentences, so I'm looking forward to that.

One of the biggest changes I've noticed is in my trust that Jack hears and understands me. I used to have to repeat myself, while pointing emphatically at things to get him to understand what I wanted. And now, I trust that he understands so much more of what I'm saying to him, minus any visual cues. It's awesome! Just the other day while riding bikes with friends, I told Jack to share the bike with his friend, and he did it when I asked. A few months ago, I would have had to get in Jack's face and explain to him to share, and *hope* that he understood why the bike was going to the other kid and not flip out over it, because he thought I was just taking the bike away from him. Now he has the language to understand the situation and it is so much easier. While riding bikes that same day, Jack was riding down the street and getting too far away- about 5 houses too far- and when I yelled his name, he turned around. I literally thought, what a miracle, my child heard me....my deaf child heard me from such a distance.

Jack loves learning new words, and pays attention to things we point out to him. We can now teach him a word in a single conversation, instead of repeating it over and over again for days. For example, at dinner he pointed to the honey mustard sauce on the table, and I told him "sauce." He loved that word so much that he wouldn't stop saying it during dinner that night. He kept saying "sau...(long pause)....ssss." It was hilarious and very cute.

Jack's favorite toy as of late has been a set of puzzles, and when he finishes one Jon and I exlaim "yay, Jack, yay!" So now Jack eagerly completes his puzzles so he can praise himself as he says, "yay, Jah, yay!" He's learned all of his colors, can count to 10, and names everyone in our family including himself. He usually either leaves the beginning or ending off of his words, but says the vowel sounds correctly. He loves to say the 'sss' and 'shh' sounds. When he pays attention to me and concentrates, he will say the entire word back to me correctly. But typically, he copies the vowels in the words. He doesn't quite understand yet about us asking him questions. For example, we'll be in the kitchen looking for a snack, and I'll ask him "what do you want?," while throwing my arms up in the air and cocking my head to the side. Jack's response? He cocks his head to the side, throws his arms up, and says "wha you wan?" It's really funny and maddening at the same time. Because, then I'm thinking- 'no, really, what do you want?!' So we're working on understanding questions.

Well, I could go on forever about Jack's progress with his CI's, but it's enough to say that he is learning at an exponential rate the longer he has them. To think, just a year ago, Jack was diagnosed with a profound hearing loss, unable to hear or understand a word we said to him. And earlier today, while playing a game of chase at the park, he called out "Mommy!" while looking for me. It's literally my dreams come true.

Lil' Engineer

2011-08-30T14:15:00.000-05:00

Over the past week Jack has been really into his train set, building endless combinations of train tracks. He then connects every train he has and runs the track. His only problem was his insistence on using 6 or 7 trains connected together, causing him to derail on every curve. After the first hour or so, he finally figured out that he needed to slow down on each curve and was much more successful in staying on the track. It was really fun to watch his creativity flow as he built different tracks; he has a l-o-n-g attention span for such things, and built the tracks for a few hours every day for about a week.

On another note, Daddy loves that Jack is now interested in building instead of destroying things, and loves to build train tracks with Jack. It's quite amusing since I have to remind Jon that he needs to let Jack help him and not to take over. Jon is now eager to buy more tracks for Jack. I think it's cute, because I think the new tracks are for Jon and his dreams of creating an incredibly elaborate railroad. I guess when you think about it, we're all just really big kids at heart.

4 months and counting!

2011-08-27T14:38:00.006-05:00

Jason turned 4 months old this past Monday, the 22nd. Time is flying by with our second boy. He is just developing so quickly, I can hardly keep up with him! His stats from the doctor's office: 13.8 lbs (25th %) and head circumference is in the 25th % too. They mis-measured his length though...saying he was 24.5 in (25th %), meaning he only grew 3/4 inch in 2 months....I don't think so! Once home, I got out my fabric tape measure and Jon helped me measure him from head to heel and he was 26 inches long (75th-90th %). That is consistent with his previous height percentiles. Do ya'll ever get irritated with your doctors' offices for mis-measuring your kids? One time they shrunk Jack's head circumference from one visit to the next, seriously.

Anyways...he also got his latest vaccines, poor little guy. He gave a good scream- he has the most blood-curdling scream you have ever heard. Or maybe you did hear it, it was around 9am this past Thursday; if you heard a baby screaming, chances are it was Jason. Haha.

For memory's sake here is what Jason is up to now:

-easy to smile

-he is charming with his killer combination of blue eyes, smiles, and endless coos

-ticklish in his ribs, and has a quiet laugh that almost sounds like hissing when he wants to laugh really hard (it's too funny)

-has a sweet and sensitive spirit to him

-rolls over from back to tummy both ways

-pushes up onto forearms while on tummy, holds head level to floor and looks around

-reaches for and grabs toys

-loves to eat his fingers

-puts himself to sleep without a paci or any help from me (AWEsome!)

-knows his name and looks up when you call it

-locates sounds when heard

-grabs his feet

-loves to stand up

-loves to be sung to, spoken to, or cooed at....he just loves sound!

-converses with anyone within a 10 ft radius who happens to be speaking at the time (this boy is a talker)

-lets me put him down and plays with his toys contentedly

-sleeps thru the night 70%ish of the time, and the other times wakes up once to eat

-born with tons of hair...now he is rubbing lots of it off sadly, making me have to cut it soon to keep him from looking crazy with long hair and bald spots alternating on his head

-he is all eyes- big, round, blue eyes that just lock you in....irresistable

-he is a peaceful, happy baby to be around and is the *perfect* addition to our family

back-bending curl, don't know how he does it

We love, love, love our Jason.

1st day of school

2011-08-24T21:55:00.004-05:00

I can't believe it. I officially have a kid in school. Jack started preschool this past Monday and attends every day for 3 hours in the morning. Because of his speech delay, he qualified for our district's preschool, so I'm excited to see him learn even faster than he currently is!

Monday morning I walked him to his classroom and spoke with his teacher for a few minutes and told him goodbye, at which point the tears and freak-out ensued. To be honest with you, since he's so independent all the time, it was kinda nice to have him cling to me for a bit. He gave a few good screams and I gave him one last hug and left. Talk about hard! I just wanted to soak up his clinginess for awhile, but I knew it'd be harder on him so I didn't draw it out. 3 hours later when I picked him up, his teacher reassured me that about 1 minute after I left he was fine. That sounds about right. Glad he recovered. The second day back- zero tears, zero clinginess. We kissed goodbye and that was about it.

Below: Jack is a little unenthusiastic to have been walked back inside the school after dismissal to have his picture taken with his teacher:Once we walked back outside the school and towards the car, his smiles started back-up:

What a little model! He posed about 4 different poses for me with his cool new "Cars" backpack.

He has not taken off that backpack except to bathe (and that was a fight) for the past several days. I'm so proud of my little man. I can't believe he is in school!

Brothers

2011-08-23T09:18:00.003-05:00

Anytime we wake Jason up in the morning, Jack asks me "up" so I'll put him in Jason's crib. He then wants a blanket to be put over both him and Jace, so they can cuddle. Just give this boy a blanket and he's tamed. I love how it looks like Jason is telling Jack a secret in this picture!

And three years later, Jack finally wants to play with his baby playmat. Hmmm, I wonder what could possibly be motivating this change of heart? It couldn't be that his baby brother, unlike Jack at that age, actually enjoys the mat. No, that couldn't possibly be it.

Jason loves to grab for the hanging animals and coo at them. Jack is also much obliged to knock the animals around for Jason's pleasure. I'm just amazed Jack was able to get under the arches without smothering Jason, or collapsing the whole mat.

Field trips around town:

2011-08-21T14:31:00.002-05:00

Over the past month, we've had fun visiting a couple of trusty favorite spots and then tried out a new one.

We ate at our local BBQ place which has the best bread ever, and afterwards chilled out in their fabulous lawn chairs on their shady lawn. We not only love their food, but love the atmosphere of sitting beneath the trees and feeling the summer breeze. We went to a tried and true favorite: The Zoo! (twice!)
I love the look on Jack's face in the above picture, classic Jack. He has the best faces.

Below, I made him pet the bronzed frog. On our second trip back to the zoo, he must have thought you were supposed to pet the frog because he went out of his way to pet it that time.

I let Jack pet the snake, even though they are my least favorite creature in all the world.

Jack posing with Jon's brother, Uncle Brian, and his younger cousin in action behind them.

Jack and his cousin Eloise, looking at some type of monkey

me with my friend/sis-in-law Aslinn

swans....

I like this shot since it shows my 2 boys in their differing physical stages, with Jack on top of the fence and Jason looking on while in the stroller

The new spot we visited- our local flying museum!

This was Jon's favorite plane there, as he's picture below with it:

Bomber plane with super cool graphics on the side, called the "Pacific Prowler." (Its propeller is in the above picture)- this plane was quite intimidating to stand next to, it was BIG, with guns all over it (Jon would probably be embarrassed that I don't know what type of guns they were, but there were lots of them)

a navy plane....'hey Jack, look at the camera!!'

Since there are 3 boys in my family, I figure I had better learn about all the boyish activities/sights in our area to do. The airplane museum was a success, and I bet will get even more popular the older my 2 little ones get (Daddy already loves it). The zoo is a classic favorite. Next stop is the Children's Science and History museum downtown!

Roly-Poly

2011-08-12T14:33:00.002-05:00

It's official. Jason has started to roll. He started his latest trick with such subtlety, that we weren't sure at first what he was up to. About a week ago, Jon and I alternated laying Jason down, and then a few minutes later Jace would be on his side. Jon and I both doubted ourselves as to whether we had put him on his back or his side. Well, now Jason is a full-blown roller. No doubts about it.

See for yourself below (he rolled so fast in the video at first, that I had to keep it running, to catch more action than just the first 5 secs):

So far he prefers to roll to his right. He is not an ambi-roller. Haha.

One of those mornings...

2011-08-10T13:51:00.002-05:00

It's been one of those days. You know, those days where nothing seems to go right, in fact it's almost comical how wrong things go. It starts out with me feeding Jason around 5am in my bed, and I decide to just leave him there once he falls asleep, with me heading to the couch for a couple more hours of shut-eye before Jack wakes. Jack gets up and I lure him to the couch with the promise of his latest favorite cartoon, in the hopes that I can snooze longer. Only I feel his pj bottoms are wet, and now the couch cushion is wet. Darn. So much for that idea. I quickly change Jack, and then attend to the couch.

A couple of hours later, I decide to take Jack and Jason to Chick-Fil-A where Jack can play in the A/C for awhile and have fun. I thought myself clever to have timed our visit at 10am, so as to avoid the lunch crowds. It just so happens, that this morning was the one morning every 2 weeks that they hold storytime. So not only are the tables in front of the play place taken by the kiddos and their parents, but the tables adjacent to the play place are reserved by their deserted trays and diaper bags. Thanks. Oh well. I order their breakfast item, the chicken minis, and Jack and I both enjoy one. It's pretty tasty. Then he runs off to play, leaving me and Jason to play amongst ourselves. Not 2 minutes later does Jack return with an odd look on his face, when I notice throw-up on his shirt and shorts. For some reason I think to myself, "it's just a little, I'll wipe it up and he can go play." After wiping him down, I realized that no, we really must just go home. During the wipe-down, the Chick-Fil-A manager informs all the other moms that the play place is temporarily closed while it's being cleaned, and it'll only be a few more minutes. MORTIFICATION ensues. I'm hoping that nobody notices that it's my kid, who I'm discreetly wiping down, that dirtied the play place. And then the inevitable walk of shame out the door and to the car. I think we were there about 10 minutes total.

So my day began with pee, with some throw-up in the middle- I'm too afraid to think how it'll end.

jump & swim!

2011-08-09T11:35:00.002-05:00

We love the water here, and get to the pool whenever we can. So of course, I have to post the latest video of Jack swimming. He is a natural in the water and it's so fun to play with him. His endurance and strength has really improved since last summer.

I have to brag just a little, because he doesn't wear his "ears" in the water, meaning he can't hear you at all. So he learned to swim without any verbal instruction, just visual cues and instinct. I'm so proud of him. He gets many stares from adults as he jumps in the 4 ft and swims past their kids in life jackets.

Jack & the Bumbo

2011-07-22T15:12:00.006-05:00

If a picture is worth a thousand words,

then is Jack asking to be potty-trained?

Really?

2011-07-22T14:53:00.004-05:00

I got this great new sling to tote Jason around in; it's called a Maya ring sling. After watching the informational dvd on how to use it, I finally figured out how to use it successfully. I was also warned by the dvd to never leave baby unattended in the sling. Thanks for the advice.

Uncool Me

2011-07-15T13:53:00.003-05:00

While jogging with a friend yesterday, I asked her if she felt her kids made her feel older. She then posed the question "do you ever feel like your kids make you uncool?" Definitely.

Here's an ever-growing list of how my cool factor plummetted once I became a parent:

1.) I used to love cruising in my red Mustang, with the radio blaring. Now I drive a Camry, with the music turned down so as to not bother the kids. When I go out by myself and have the choice to drive the Mustang, I opt for the Camry since it's higher off the ground and has better shocks. Lame I know.

2.) It took me months to know who Lady Gaga was. Enough said.

3.) I'm excited to go to bed at 10pm, and ecstatic if I sleep through until 6am. Sleeping in for me is going until 8am, and that is really exciting!

4.) More on #3- I used to think it was torture to wake up at 8am. Sigh.

5.) I complain about big crowds and annoying teenagers at the movie theater.

6.) To get my exercise, I generally opt to walk over run, because my knees bother me.

7.) In college I thought myself to be an intellectual, immersing myself in literature and the history of ancient civilizations. Today, my biggest concern is getting my 2 boys to nap at the same time.

8.) A trip to the grocery store alone is a chance to enjoy myself.

9.) I drive the speed limit, most of the time.

10.) I get excited when P&G coupons arrive in the mail.

There you have it. If you still want to be my friend after reading that list, feel free to commiserate and share how your kids make you uncool.

A quick update

2011-07-13T18:23:00.001-05:00

What have we been up to lately? Here's some footage...

We've shot some hoops...

We've played hair stylist:
We've slid down really tall inflatable slides:

We've enjoyed some brotherly cuddles: We're bonding more and more everyday:

smiles and coos, oh my!

2011-06-27T15:05:00.004-05:00

Jason is smiling lots and cooing lots, and I eat it up. It's one of my favorite things when we coo back and forth with each other. He's happiest in the mornings, and I've tried to sneak a video of our coo-fest a few times without much success. He gets distracted by the camera and stops talking. But finally I captured some of his priceless coos, featured in the video below. Triumph!

He loves when you talk or sing to him, and I love when he does it back. Love, love, LOVE it.

Jack and Jason baby pictures

2011-06-16T15:20:00.001-05:00

I wanted to compare Jack's and Jason's baby pictures. They are both 7-8 weeks old here, and in the same outfit.

The obvious difference? The hair of course. Jason's picture is on bottom, and he has way more hair, and it's much darker than Jack's. Jason is also getting some pretty good chipmunk cheeks there. (To be fair, at the time of Jack's picture, he had only been home from the hospital and growing for about 3 weeks, so it's not a truly accurate comparison.) I think that their facial features are pretty similar, especially the nose and mouth. They both got their noses from their gorgeous mama.

Profile Shots:

JackJason

I think you can see the similarity better in the profiles. I can definitely tell they're brothers. But I think the hair throws most people off. Differences besides the hair? Jason's longer; even his fingers and toes are longer than Jack's were.

I love having 2 boys, and seeing the similarities and differences in them, both physical and in personality. And I love seeing the relationship between brothers. I can't wait for Jason to grow some more and interact with his big brother; Jack is either mimicking the baby or trying to make him laugh. When the baby fusses, Jack is there to pat him or to give him his pacifier. Jack has wanted more attention lately, but I think that's pretty normal; and I'm more than happy to cuddle my oldest baby.

Jace photos and update

2011-06-13T13:35:00.002-05:00

Jason is now 7 weeks old and growing like a weed! He is developing beautifully and showing us more of his personality. He loves to smile when he first wakes up, and as he drifts off to sleep. He also loves to coo and lay down on his tummy on anything soft- so sweet.

Below are some photos showing his growth over the past 7 weeks; he's already changed so much.

1 day old in hospital- He started out like this:

2 days old, 1st day home 1 1/2 weeks old
1-2 weeks old

I love that spiky hair! His hair is SO much fun to play with.
About 3 weeks old here, more alert now

Enjoying the breezy afternoon in the backyard another hair shot, here it's curled over, haha

blurry pic, but shows how l-o-n-g he is

cuddle time is the best, he loves to be on his tummy, especially on your chest.

I made Jon do this. Jace is about 5-6 weeks old here.

about 6 weeks old here- I love his pose, he looks like such a little man

7 weeks old, happy on the soft blanket

His hair is still really dark and straight. If I spike it up after bathtime, it'll stay spiked thru the next day, even after sleeping. His eyes are still blue, and hoping they stay that way! As of his 1 month doctor's appointment, he weighed in at 9 lbs, 9 oz and 22 3/4 inches long, with a head circumference of 14 3/4 inches. His weight moved up in percentile to the 50th, his height is in the 90th percentile, and his head is in the 25th percentile. (He must get his head size from his Daddy, because I've got a big head.) His 2 month appointment is now just around the corner, so we'll see how much he's grown since then.

He is being much more interactive and alert now, which is very exciting and rewarding. He is pretty laid back usually, and content to lay on the floor. He cooed back and forth with me last night and was all smiles, probably because he had just finished eating. He loves bathtime...and pooltime. We've had him in the pool twice now and he was content and relaxed both times, thank goodness. I think we may have another water baby on our hands. (Our other boy Jack, is jumping in at the 4 foot whether you're there to catch him or not, but that's another story.) And I hate to put this in writing for fear of jinxing it, but Jason is only waking up once during the night to eat, yay! Perhaps I love that most about him. We're starting to get into a predictable schedule, and life is normalizing around here with 2 children. Love that too. We love our sweet Jason.

Jack Tales: Part 2

2011-06-06T14:50:00.000-05:00

"Where's the 'Open the Door' "?

I took Jack and Jason for a walk around the neighborhoood the other day. When we walk back towards our house, Jack likes to hold the garage door opener so he can open the garage when we come in view of the house. So he opens the door, and I park the stroller inside the garage for a minute while Jack and I water the flowers out front. Because I'm a smart Mommy, I take a set of keys with me in case Jack decides to use his "garage door opener powers" for evil and and close the door, locking us out, (and thus, Jason IN the garage alone). Imagine my surprise when I'm done watering the flowers and Jack is now garage door opener-less. Hmmm, for all my smart-Mommyness, I did not anticipate him hiding it. I'm now in the predicament of retracing my toddler's footsteps thru the front yard, and asking him where he put it. Only, he doesn't know the words "garage door opener," he only knows that whenever he uses it I tell him to "open the door." So I'm asking my 3 year old, "where's the 'open the door' "? He finally relents, and points toward a certain spot in the bushes....where I find the garage door opener- only now, it has been freshly watered with the rest of the flowers. Note to self: next time watering flowers, confiscate garage door opener from rascally toddler, and be an even smarter Mommy.

Jack Tales: Part 1

2011-06-02T12:20:00.002-05:00

My Little Navigator:

Since the latest addition to our family, Jason, arrived, we've been taking walks around the neighborhood in our new Sit & Stand stroller, which has the option of an older sibling either sitting or standing in the back. Jack opts to sit. Well, to get my exercise, I walked the farther distance to the park on the other side of the neighborhood. One day while out again, I wanted to go a different route, turning on a different street. Well, Jack lost it and threw a mini-tantrum because he thought we weren't going to the park. Now, whenever out in the stroller, he makes sure to direct Mommy where to go: i.e. the park. See for yourself below:

This way Mommy! Go STRAIGHT.

Now turn RIGHT (after I jokingly veered left)

Keep going straight, that's it.
Turn LEFT Mommy!

And somehow, miraculously, Mommy was able to find the park once again. We were literally within 10 feet of the park benches and Jack strongly pointed at the park one more time, just in case I decided to make another wrong turn. Where's the trust?

2 very different, but equally special stories

2011-05-31T22:20:00.003-05:00

Disclaimer: If you're not the type of person who enjoys when women describe their labor stories, feel free to skip this post! More than anything, I'm writing this so that in a few years- or 50- I can look back and remember.

My entire pregnancy with Jason, I was apprehensive, if not terrified, that my labor and delivery would happen like it did the first time around. Thankfully, it was nearly opposite in every way- a completely different and new experience. Anyways, I wanted to compare the two deliveries.

With Jack, I was 36 1/2 weeks pregnant and completely unaware and unprepared that I would be having a baby that day. I mean, no diapers, no clothes, no bottles- nothing! Not to mention the fact that we were planning on moving from Lubbock to Dallas in a couple of weeks, where the baby's crib and dresser and things were residing at my parents' house. Jon was out of town for a job interview, so I was left alone in our apartment. I felt the first stirrings of labor on a Wednesday night around 11, and it increasingly intensified, making me more and more nervous since Jon was out of town and it was my first time experiencing this. Gratefully, my sis-in-law Erin and her hubby were kind enough to stay with me thru the night so I didn't have to be alone! So I called the hospital to tell them I'm having contractions, and they tell me to time them, yada, yada, yada, and to drink plenty of water because it's most likely false labor since I'm so early and it's my first baby. So I'm drinking water like crazy, having consistent contractions every 5 minutes, and now due to the water I have to use the bathroom constantly! Meanwhile, Jon hopped on an earlier flight to get back to Lubbock and arrives home around 7 a.m. He takes me to the hospital to get checked out, and to this day I am angry at the staff for not admitting me. They said my contractions weren't consistent and I should go home. Honestly, I think they would have admitted me had I been farther along in my pregnancy, or if it weren't my 1st baby.

So I go home on Thursday morning and no lie, experience contractions every 5 minutes for the remainder of the day. I'm lying on the living room floor watching movies to try and distract myself. Thursday evening rolls around, and I'm supposed to be in Dallas at my baby shower! So I'm talking on the phone, in between contractions to my friends in Dallas and thanking them for coming to my shower and apologizing that I didn't come, irony of ironies! After the phone call, Jon and I go to "bed," meaning we lay down on the living room floor since I can't get up the stairs to our bedroom. I have the worst back pain every few minutes stabbing me. Jon complains in his sleepy state for me to stop waking him up! I'm still drinking water like a mad woman trying to stop my "false" labor and thus, must make it to the bathroom in between contractions to relieve myself every half an hour. Oh, will this night ever end? Friday morning rolls around, and we decide to take our chances with the hospital again, in hopes they would finally admit me. Turns out I'm dilated to a 3 and they admit me- hallelujah! I get set up in my room, and the nurse informs me that I might not stay at the hospital after all; my OB has to check me because I'm so early and will then make the decision. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! The doctor checks me and finally relents that I'm progressed to the point of no return and I'm having my baby. Few more hours pass, and I get the blessed epidural and RELIEF.

Jack's heartrate during this time fluctuates and isn't looking good, so I get oxygen. To make matters much worse, when they break my water, meconium comes out (baby's 1st bowel movement). Apparently, babies can pass meconium while in the uterus if they are stressed during labor. Hmmm, I can't imagine why he would be stressed during my nearly 2 days of labor at this point. (Sorry I'm still angry 3 years later that I wasn't admitted sooner to the hospital.) The doctor for whatever reason, doesn't do a C-section once the meconium is seen, and instead 5 hours later I deliver Jack vaginally. Luckily, it only took about 15 minutes of pushing to get him out. That was about the easiest part of my labor. Now comes the sad part; Jack is critically ill, his lungs are coated with meconium, and he's whisked away to the NICU. I was told 4 weeks later, when we were close to going home with him, that he was the worst case of meconium aspiration they had ever seen and he was truly a miracle baby for surviving. Glad they didn't tell me that earlier. A note about how he is a miracle baby- once Jack took a turn for the better during his NICU stay, he recovered faster than basically was medically possible. The nurses and doctor were astounded at how fast he recovered. What should have taken him 3 weeks to learn how to take a bottle, took him 1 day. They were throwing around the date of July 4th for a release date, and he came home on June 10th. He is just so special and has a purpose, I know it.

So after about 3 weeks after being born, I finally get to hold my baby, only he's still attached to the breathing tube so I can't even pick him up. It takes 2 nurses to get him situated on me while I sit in a chair. Prior to this point, we weren't allowed to touch him because he had taken a turn for the worse; whenever stimulated his stats would drop. Another miracle? A seasoned nurse warned me that meconium aspiration babies often didn't like to be touched because of the experience, and to not take it personally. Well, once better, Jack craved to be held. In fact, he refused to sleep unless someone held him. He is still the most cuddly boy.

Well now, writing that, that wasn't the most pleasant trip down memory lane. Thankfully, my second time around was perfect. With Jason, I expected to go into labor early, and furiously worked to get his room ready and the house perfect (see my nesting post for evidence). Once 36 weeks hit, I figured I'd made it and was ready at any time to have my baby. 37 weeks rolls around and nothing. My doctor says I probably have at least 2 weeks left and I'm showing no signs of labor. 38 weeks rolls around and same thing. Okay, not expecting that! Finally I start to have some (excuse me if this is TMI) bloody show on Monday, the 18th, and think it's happening! I'm going into labor today! (Because when this happened with Jack I did go into labor that night.) Nope, nothing for 3 more days! At this point I'm thinking, did this kid not get the memo that I'm not supposed to get this far along? FINALLY, on Thursday, the 21st, something happens. Jon went out for food, and I'm not kidding, the second that food hit the table, my water broke. It's the start of Easter weekend, and Jon is so mad at me that he doesn't get to eat dinner and that his plans for sleeping in on Good Friday are ruined! Haha. We had joked about the baby coming on his day off from work on Friday.

So we leave for the hospital, and I'm still not having any contractions. Weird, right? They check me and blessedly admit me! Still zero contractions. I guess this kid really didn't get the memo that he was supposed to come out....I mean my body is practically kicking him out at this point with the water breaking and all. So I'm in my delivery room and in no pain whatsoever, just waiting for something to start. So opposite and ironic from Jack's delivery; with Jack I had to practically beg for them to admit me after 1 1/2 days of labor, and with Jason my contractions hadn't even started yet before I was sitting in my delivery room watching a movie. Anyways, they jumpstart my labor by ripening my cervix and within an hour I started hard labor. It literally went from nothing to intense within an hour. NOT FUN. I was not mentally prepared to just start hard contractions that lasted a full minute each. What about starter contractions that have 5 mins of rest in between? These came every minute. I felt like such a wimp requesting the epidural that soon, but I couldn't wait any longer. Finally, the epidural comes and sweet relief, oh thank-you.

I'm told it will most likely be 7 am or later before baby is born. Well since ripening my cervix around 10 pm, I was fully dilated and the baby was engaged, at around 4:15 am. The nurse was completely surprised, as was I, that I went from being a 1 to a 10 so soon. I was just so grateful, because then I didn't have to get pitocin or any extra help. They get everything set up and ready for me to push and ask if I want to use the mirror to see the baby being born. Three years ago with Jack I resoundly told them no, while thinking "ew, yuck" in my head. This time around, I'm a little braver and curious so I say sure. It was so cool! I can't believe I liked seeing Jason being born, but it was just the most wonderful experience ever. I think I pushed for 7 minutes, and the doctor had to tell me to stop at one point, and then said to give a tiny little push, I guess so I wouldn't shoot Jason across the room! And then he was here. The nurse plopped him on my chest and I got to hold my little baby within seconds of him being born. It was AWESOME and miraculous to me that I could hold him so soon. He was healthy, no problems, and came home from the hospital with us after a few days. It was such a wonderful, and peaceful experience.

Reflecting on the differences between my two deliveries, I'm just so grateful to have my 2 boys with me, both healthy and happy. It doesn't really matter how they got here, just that they got here. Jack and Jason- you're both unique and precious and I hope you know that.

Extreme Home Makeover: Nesting Edition

2011-05-05T20:10:00.000-05:00

This past pregnancy I enjoyed my nesting instinct, (or should I say suffered from?). When pregnant with Jack, we were in the midst of a move when he was born and then settled into my parents' house for awhile, so I never satisfied my urge to nest. I think I may have overcompensated for that this time around. That is why I am not sure which word to use in reference to my nesting: enjoy or suffer? After the fact, I'm glad we did as much as we did, but yeesh, I sure stressed myself out on having everything be PERfect before Jason arrived. Take a look for yourself:

I wish I had a before picture for the landscaping, but there was a front row of bushes in place of the flowers here, which Jon happily dug out for me! I planted flowers instead and love how it brightens the yard. Unfortunately, a hail storm just rolled thru town before this photo, so they're a bit downtrodden looking.Sorry for the poor picture taking....replaced the old brass light fixture here with this new one. Love it!Replaced the old white/brass living room fan with this new one, and then moved the old fan into the baby's room.Jason's new ceiling fan (re: old living room fan) in his room. Now we're ready for the summer heat.... Jason's room, pre-Jason:Did a LOT of work here, since this space was basically our storage room before. Cleared out lots of things and then pained the blue wall, hung new curtains, rearranged the furniture, organized the closet, and decorated.

Freshly painted with new window treatment

I framed different fabrics for Jason's room- baseballs, cars/trains/planes, and footballs.

Jason's letters- I love these colors and really enjoyed painting the letters.

Not to be left out, Jack got some new framed wall art too, with soccer and football as his sports. I really don't like how off-center his name looks here, but we didn't move the left frame over farther because Jack could reach it from his bed if we did.

Our kitchen cabinets before, a lovely boring shade of bleach or something...

And AFTER:

Love the new color with the handles. Now our countertops and floor look better, and the cabinets flow with the living room furniture/wall. I will say: what a pain!!!! Take the cabinet doors and drawers out, sand them, prime them, paint them, paint them again, and re-install. Then touch-ups, and handles. I think I was a little insane to start this just 3 weeks before Jason arrived!

We wouldn't have replaced the kitchen faucet, but the old one died. At least the new one is much prettier and matches our new handles.

Exhale a big sigh of relief, now all that's over with! I love all the improvements! Mega-thanks to my hubby for doing all the work I created for ourselves! He took down old light fixtures, installed new ones, dug out bushes, sanded/painted more than he cared to, and took care of his crazy preggers wife. Love you!

Coming Home

2011-04-30T11:15:00.000-05:00

We were released from the hospital on Sunday morning, and have been home since then. We had my parents bring Jack to the hospital on Sunday so he could make the return trip home with us as a family. So far he has shown zero jealousy towards Jason, instead showing extreme interest and curiosity, and even affection. While visiting in the hospital, Jack showed how much he loved Jason by- of his own free will- giving a teddy bear to Jason; he said "baby" several times and smiled coyly, shrugging into my mom's legs. When asked to give Jason kisses, Jack gave kisses to the closest adult. Another way I know Jack likes the baby? I gave him a chocolate chip cookie, which he LOVES, and instead of eating it, he insisted on sharing it with Jason. He never took a single bite, but just kept holding it for the baby to eat. Isn't that the sweetest thing ever? Below is a shot of him with the cookie, and wearing his new "Big Brother" hat. I love the video of Jack making funny faces for Jason, and shrugging into my mom's shoulder. He was so excited to meet the baby; I just know once Jason's old enough, Jack will have him laughing all the time with his crazy faces.

Anyways, home from the hospital 1 day, on Monday morning I note Jack's forehead is feverish. Oh no, I think. Not now please. We give him alternating doses of Ibuprofen and Tylenol, in hopes it's just a little bug. Turns out, by 7 pm that night, his forehead burns your hand when you touch it and his temperature was 105! He went to the clinic Care Now and was diagnosed with strep throat! My poor baby. Not only do I feel terrible for Jack, but now I'm seriously concerned for Jason and that he not catch it. So basically, we've quarantined Jack/Jon from me/Jason the past 2 days and it's been so sad. I want Jack to play with his new brother, and we haven't let him touch him- I hope he gets over it and doesn't hold a grudge. Thankfully, after being on an antibiotic for the past 24 hours, Jack's no longer contagious and we can lighten up now. He's feeling much better, and Jason's fine.

Also on the agenda for Monday was taking Jason in to see the pediatrician for a weight check, and to make sure all was well. He lost 9% of his body weight while in the hospital, which approached the borderline set by dr.'s for maximum weight loss; luckily though he already had gained 5 oz when weighed at the doctor's office, so he's doing good. He has been a very good baby, and peaceful to be around. He will just gaze around, content to see the world. (Since starting this post on Tuesday, we saw the pediatrician again on Friday to check Jason's circumcision, and he had already passed his birth weight! Born at 7 lbs, 14 oz, he now weighs 7 lbs, 15 oz. I'm guessing he's going to be a strong little guy, like his big brother.)

Daddy with his two boys; Jack wants in on the cuddle action too The way he's sleeping here reminds me of how Jack used to sleep with his hands up by his face. You can definitely tell J & J are brothers.

Jason Kenneth

2011-04-22T12:16:00.006-05:00

I'd like you all to meet our newest little member of our family: Jason Kenneth! We are so excited he's here and healthy- ecstatic actually. He was born on April 22nd, 4:46 a.m. He came about 1 1/2 weeks early and weighed in at 7 lbs, 14 oz and measured 21 inches long! He is a good size boy with a head full of black hair!!

Jack hugging my tummy (and little brother) one last time before leaving the hospital with my parentsMinutes after born, Mommy and Jason bond. This is most precious to me, since Jack and I missed this special time when he was born.Jason getting his first bath.
Swaddled and happy, life is good.

Happy Birthday Jason! We are so happy to have you here with us.

37 Weeks and counting...

2011-04-13T19:46:00.007-05:00

So I'm still pregnant...just over 37 weeks to be exact. I figured I'd document with at least one more picture: I'm now 1 week past when I delivered Jack in my last pregnancy....and I'm genuinely shocked! I just figured I'd go early this time around too. I am totally unprepared mentally to go to my due date. I went to see my doctor 1 week ago today, and was excited to get checked, expecting to be dilated to a 1, or showing some type of sign of impending labor. Instead I get: "I'd say you've got at least 2 more weeks, maybe 3." HUH? You're kidding me, right? After spending the last month obsessing and worrying about delivering too early, I'm now one of those women begging to have the pregnancy over with? The irony is not lost on me. I am relieved to know that the baby is officially full-term and can come at any time, but I'm just so anxious for him to be here and know he's all right!

An interesting sidenote: 2 weeks ago today, I stopped by Quizno's to get a sandwich. The lady who worked there was older with deep-set lines on her face; she just seemed like one of those mid-wives you hear about with all the sage wisdom to dispense. She took one look at me, asked when my due date was (April 30th), and immediately disputed its accuracy, saying "you'll never make it. No, you've got 2 weeks." According to her, I was carrying low. Well, today it has officially been 2 weeks, and no baby. It'll be interesting to see who's more accurate in their prediction, the woman or my doctor. As for me, I'm pulling for the woman.

The mystery culprit

2011-03-29T14:56:00.000-05:00

The other day I put Jack down for a nap, and shortly thereafter I heard him playing in his room instead of quietly sleeping. Eventually he fell asleep, and I always like to peek in on him. I opened his door and spot my sweet darling's little face...glistening at me from across the room. Yes, glistening. A shiny sheen emanated from his cheeks and forehead. At first I thought maybe he was really sweaty. I wish. Noticing the curtains are askew, I investigate the window area, only to see the same shiny, greasy substance coating the window. There sitting on the window sill is a tub of vaseline. I swear that vaseline was on top of his very tall dresser, pushed all the way back; but leave it to Jack to figure out a way to get his little paws on it. Needless to say, the vaseline now resides in a different room.

In case you were wondering, the average time for a face full of vaseline to be completely non-greasy again= 3 days.

Puppy Jack

2011-03-22T13:44:00.002-05:00

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Well then, I'd say Jack is in love with anything canine! We took the car to get the oil changed, where the place's owner keeps his small dog at work; Jack loves to imitate this dog. Here he is sitting in the chair with his "paws" out in front of him. It's too bad the dog didn't have his tongue out too. If the dog got down, Jack got down. If the dog walked under the chairs, Jack crawled under the chairs. If the dog panted with tongue out, Jack panted with tongue out. Jack entertained everybody who waited for their car to be ready. Sometimes I think it'd be a great idea to get Jack a dog, but then I quickly realize that he's all the puppy our household can handle!

surgery and recovery

2011-03-03T14:03:00.008-06:00

This past Monday, Jack had his 2nd CI surgery on his right ear. I'm thrilled and relieved to say everything went well and there were no complications! We checked into the hospital around 7:30 am, and he went behind the surgery doors at 9:30. Here are a few pictures to document the days of and after surgery.

This is actually before the surgery, but Jack wanted to lay down and cuddle his blankey and teddy. He had his blood pressure, temp, weight, etc. taken and was starting to get nervous with all the nurses, but he calmed down after a few minutes and started smiling for us. Then he climbed on the bed and I covered him with the hospital blanket and he stayed like that for about 10 minutes or so.

This is in the recovery room after surgery, he's cuddling Daddy. He woke up very sweetly, no attitude. The recovery room is an open room full of other kids waking up, and many of them do not wake up sweetly. When Jack's first ear was done, we heard a kid waking up in recovery angrily yell "I want Chuck-e-Cheese!!" He was mad. But Jack was very calm and just wanted to be held; the nurse commented on how Jack just let her hold him when he first woke up and she enjoyed the cuddles so much! That's our Jack.
We came home from the hospital the same day, and unfortunately Jack couldn't keep any liquids down without throwing-up, so it was a tough day. He napped on and off the rest of the day, and HAD to be held if was awake. He was very clingy which is very unusual for him, but I enjoyed that part secretly. Monday night was tough because we had him in our bed, that way we could make sure his head bandage stayed on (he had already pulled it off in the car). He was getting pretty cranky and wanted his Daddy, so Jon slept with him the WHOLE night, meaning Jack would finally fall asleep and Jon would wriggle a few inches away for some space, then Jack would wake up 30 minutes later screaming and jump on top of Jon to be held. He had to be held. Jon blessedly let me sleep in the other room so I could get some rest.

Then Tuesday morning arrived, and hallelujah, we could take off the head band! Jack was much relieved to have it off. Jon went back to work and Jack and I lazed around the living room watching t.v. Jack napped in the morning about 1 hour, and then crashed mid-afternoon for a couple of hours on the couch (pictured below).

And Tuesday afternoon Jack was acting more like his normal Jack self, playing with his cars and coming to Mommy every few minutes for a much-needed hug. He was still very clingy and loving (the best part about recovery). Oh, he also was no longer nauseous on Tuesday and was able to eat and drink normally, yea.

It's now Thursday, and Jack is back to complete normalcy in his routine and behavior. His ear is still healing and we've kept it dry the past few days, but it's now allowed to get wet. In a few weeks, once all healed, we'll visit the audiologist and "turn-on" the right ear! Having two ears will really help him localize sound and hear better in noisy environments. He's doing so well with just having his left ear, I'm excited that soon he'll have the surround-sound experience. On the subject of how well he's doing, he's now saying "uice" for juice and "moh" for more! Another sidenote- when given his initial dose of anesthesia, I was still with him and we were watching Curious George on t.v. Jack was starting to act pretty drunk from the medicine, but when he saw the monkey on t.v. he slowly slurred "ooo, ooo, ooo, ahh, ahh, ahh." Now if that's not darn cute, I don't know what is.

surgery #2

2011-02-25T14:38:00.004-06:00

Jack is having his 2nd cochlear implant surgery this upcoming Monday morning. This time they will implant in his right ear. I can't say I'm looking forward to going through the surgery process again, but I am looking forward to putting this behind us. Jack did well with the first surgery, so I'm anticipating him doing well the second time around. We would appreciate any prayers on Jack's behalf! I know they make a difference- thanks for thinking of us!

A big kid trapped in a toddler's body

2011-02-23T13:46:00.003-06:00

Sorry about the video being sideways. I tried to reshoot it horizontally, but Jack refused to climb and perform for me again, the little rascal. Anyways, a few days prior to this video, Jack was climbing the same ladder, and as he reached the top of the ladder, an older boy probably about 4 years old hung his head over the side and said "Hey, little dude! You're not allowed to climb that. That's for big kids. I'm not even allowed to climb that." The boy then turned to me for some kind of back-up, which I failed to give, instead saying that it was okay and Jack was fine on the ladder, but thank-you very much for your concern! It was too funny; he was seriously offended by Jack being on the big kid ladder. Oh well. They just replaced the old wooden playground in our neighborhood with a new plastic one, so we've gone several times this week and Jack loves it. Below he's swinging, being funny with his cap pulled over his face. This boy loves his hats; we went shopping last Saturday for spring/summer wear, and he loved putting on the hats and holding the clothes up to his body. He is certainly an entertaining one.

29 Weeks

2011-02-14T21:05:00.005-06:00

I'm in my 3rd trimester, and am now 29 weeks pregnant. This pregnancy is flying by and I feel great. Below is my obligatory belly shot: I went in for my glucose test and sonogram *finally* last Friday and everything looks perfect. I passed the glucose test, yea! And the drink wasn't as bad as I was expecting, so bonus points for that. I somehow lost a half pound in the last month, despite the baby weighing in at 3.4 lbs, which puts the baby ahead of schedule weight-wise. Turns out his weight put me at being nearly 30 weeks preggers, when the sonogram was done when I was nearly 29 weeks....so he is a good size! Heart-rate was good (can't remember the #), he's developing beautifully, and he is definitely a boy. The sonographer put any of our doubts as to his gender to rest by highlighting his manhood; it was so apparent, that it was borderline obscene! Then I talked with my doctor, and I'm now at the point when I go in every 2 weeks. I can feel the due date fast approaching.

What do ya think?

2011-02-12T10:13:00.000-06:00

So I have a question for you:

On a scale of 1-10, how disturbed would you be if your neighbors hadn't set out their trash for 3 weeks in a row? And by the way, they are definitely home.

Just wondering.

Free at last!

2011-02-07T13:48:00.002-06:00

The snow and ice are melted away, and we're free to leave our house once again, hallelujah! From Tuesday thru Saturday morning we were house-bound due to the icy road conditions. The weather never stays below freezing here for more than a day or two, so when it does ice over, it usually melts the next day. However, this time around the sub-freezing temps stuck for four days, virtually unheard of here. Plus, they don't salt the roads or plow them, and our driveway happens to be at a near 45 degree incline, so death was imminent if we tried to go out. Thankfully the weather is much warmer and sunnier and life is back to normal.

We thought we were going to be able to go out on Friday, but imagine our surprise when we woke up to several inches of snowfall. My OB appt was canceled a second time. I was so frustrated because I was scheduled to do my glucose test (1st on Wed, and then on Fri) and was eating light and healthy throughout the week- even though I was majorly craving ice cream- and then I didn't even take the stupid test! Well, once Saturday's sun came out and melted enough of the ice, Jon and I seriously binged on take out food. It was like we hadn't eaten in a week! It sure was yummy though. We also stopped by Babies-r-us and traded in our old stroller, for 25% off a new pack-and-play; a good deal I thought, since we wanted to dump the stroller off anyways. Ya'll should check out their website if you need any new baby gear; they're doing the trade-in for big items like cribs, car seats, strollers, high chairs, playyards, etc. I was hoping to have sonogram/prego belly pics to post by this time, but should have them up this weekend (that is if the weather doesn't ice me in my house again).

The BIG freeze

2011-02-02T21:19:00.012-06:00

Wintry weather blew into town Tuesday morning and refuses to let us leave our house!! It's been *freezing* outside and there's a solid sheet of ice beneath all the snow, making us captives in our own home. But, it has been nice to have Jon home from work- today we lit a fire and enjoyed it all day long. Forgive me for all the pictures, but here in Texas, we HAVE to document when we get snow; it's a wonder to behold-Poor Jon shoveling snow, so he could get to work. He only went in for a few hours, and earned an extra day's vacation for it, yea! Hmm, maybe we shouldn't have left our shoes outsideburied tee-ball stand

We went out for about 20 minutes to play in the snow; Jack loved it! Though he did not want any of that white stuff on his mittens.

Jon & Jack (that would be Jon behind the scary ski mask)

Jack kicked the tee ball thru the snow, watching the snow spray with each kick. He was consumed with this activity, and protested when it was time to go inside. Mommy and Daddy are wimps when it comes to cold, I think Jack would have played another hour if we let him; he's impervious to such weather conditions, especially when distracted by a ball.

It's supposed to get above freezing by 5 degrees on Friday, so hopefully the ice will melt soon! I had to reschedule my OB visit from today for Friday, so it'd be nice to be able to make it- then I could post sono pics this weekend. Hope everyone out there is surviving the cold weather.

Weekend round-up

2011-01-31T20:41:00.001-06:00

This past weekend we tried out a Hibachi & sushi place we've been wanting to go to for awhile now...and it did not disappoint!

We were a little concerned that Jack would behave for our duration there, since eating at hibachi's typically take like an hour or more, but it turns out that fire is a great incentive for children to sit and be good! I wish there was fire and a show at every place we eat! The chef asked us if Jack liked fire; Jon responded, "He loves it," and I responded, "We're about to find out." So the chef lit the grill and "whoosh!" went the flames 3 feet into the air. Before the flames finished rising, I found Jack in my lap clinging to me for dear life. But the fire died down, and Jack was okay, though the fires at the other tables kept him in my lap for awhile. He definitely wasn't quite sure about it. Anyways, we had a wonderful evening and enjoyed tasty fried rice and chicken/steak.

Afterwards, we walked around the outdoor shopping mall the restaurant was located in, and since Jack was being so good we stopped in the Nestle Tollhouse cookie shop and bought him a peanut butter cookie the size of his face (ok, like half the size). I wish I captured the expression on his face when he saw the cookie- priceless. He devoured that thing in like 60 seconds, dropping a few pieces on the ground- we quickly kicked those away before he could eat them too (and believe me, he would have).

We also spent much energy on baby's room this past week. Jon did a lot of work; I'm so proud of him. Baby's room didn't have a ceiling fan before, which is a definite necessity in Texas; so we bought a new fan for the living room, and Jon switched the old living room fan to the baby room. That was a lot of work and I didn't envy Jon's job of installing them! Jon also painted the accent wall in the nursery and I LOVE it. It's a midnight blue, with the 3 surrounding walls a silver gray. The curtains are a bright white and I feel so relaxed walking into the newly done room; it reminds me of the ocean.

We still have more organizing to do in this room, mainly in the closet. Over the past year and a half the room became our storage room, so we're having to get rid of lots of stuff, and find new homes for the rest...meaning the attic. I also have baby's name in letters that I'm going to paint the midnight blue and put on the wall above the crib....though since we're not divulging his name until he's born, I can't put them up yet!

A montage of zzz's

2011-01-19T15:15:00.007-06:00

Jack fell asleep today in THE cutest spot ever- next to his window and below the curtains. I couldn't help but post that picture.... Bird's eye view of his new sleeping spot:
And as a sort of tribute to the adorable-ness of Jack sleeping, below are a couple more pics of his naptime zzz's...

It's one of my favorite things to do as a mom to sneak in and see what position I'll find my son sleeping in. Imagine my surprise earlier today when I didn't find him in his bed, but could hear his breathing, and finally discovered him under his curtains!

And on a more random note, here's a video of Jack climbing a tower meant for 5-12 year olds at the playground. Unfortunately I shot it sideways and can't flip it around on my computer!

Jack's latest progress (and a few pictures)

2011-01-09T18:45:00.001-06:00

This post is a little late, but better than never! On Dec. 20th, Jack visited his audiologist and had his processor adjusted to be in the normal hearing range and he did impressively well. We went in the sound booth, where Jack is always a bit weary, and he consistently responded to the sounds presented to him. Afterwards we went into a different room, where they connected his processor directly to the computer and presented sounds that way; he was a champ and always looked at the audiologist to tell her he had heard a sound. She responded by cheering for him and throwing her arms up in the air, so after a couple of minutes, Jack's response to a sound would be cheering for himself with arms high in the air. He is soooo entertaining. We did this for about 45 minutes and he cooperated the entire time, what a champ. They were able to find his "thresholds" on each of his electrodes, basically meaning that for example, they could tell at what level he could hear the letter "p" or "s", and make sure everything was fine-tuned. He did beautifully and his audiologist, who was training another audiologist that day, remarked how she wished Jack could come in and train her other kids to respond the way he does. She said he was the ideal outcome for a CI candidate....how blessed Jack is. I'm also impressed with his competency with the processor; if the coil (magnetic part) falls off, he knows just where to place it, to get it back on his head. The other day, while playing outside on the back patio, Jack came back into the house holding his processor in hand; turns out his battery had died and he wanted us to fix it for him! It's obvious he enjoys hearing.

I am seeing big differences in Jack by the day now, both in his comprehension of language and sound, and even in his development of some words now! We aren't sure when he lost his hearing, but since having hearing aids, he has been hearing for about 4 1/2 months now, and of those 4 months, he's been hearing with his CI for just under 2 months. I have to remind myself to not expect too much from him too fast, but sometimes he just floors me with his smarts. He understands me when I ask for "kisses," say "bye-bye," "more," "pee-u" (stinky diaper), "up," and varying sounds for vehicles and animals. I know he understands the word itself, without any kind of gesture to help; I ask him for kisses while he's turned away from me, and he turns around and kisses me, melting my heart every single time. His response to "pee-u"? He gets a diaper or feels the back of his pants.

Further showing his comprehension of certain sounds, Jack is beginning to say words on his own without someone modeling for him first. He says "up, up, up" the most often, and says it to get you to pick him up. He's also applied it to other situations, saying "up" once while watching a cartoon character fly into the air. He says "bye-bye" to his toys and people. He LOVES animals sounds and now barks, growls, moos, and clucks when he sees the picture of the appropriate animal. His favorite is barking and growling, and in fact he growled at me when I picked him up from nursery last week. He also exclaims "ahh" when spotting an airplane in the sky (we learned in speech that the airplane says "ahh"). We visited the zoo earlier in the week and Jack enjoyed putting his new animal sounds to real-life use, growling at the big animals and saying "ooo, eee" for the monkeys.

Jack and Jon in front of 2 white tigers- ensue growling...

Jack watching the penguins dive and flip around

We had a nice day at the zoo, and luckily Jon had the Monday after New Year's off, so it was crowd-free that day.

Christmas 2010 in review

2010-12-31T14:15:00.000-06:00

About a couple of weeks ago, we witnessed a short-lived phenomenon in Texas: autumn colors and changing leaves! Here's our pear tree, with its bright orange leaves; it was so beautiful, for the week or so that it lasted. Now the leaves are gone...After that we saw a different sort of tree- a 30 ft Christmas tree in downtown Fort Worth. Sadly, the picture came out a bit blurry.The lights of downtown are so breathtaking this time of year. One of our favorite things to do together is walk down the cobblestone paths, and enjoy the streetlights.My sisters flew in for the holiday and we spent Christmas Eve together, eating ham and potatoes, exchanging presents, and playing games. Aunt Kristi got in some quality cuddle time with Jack.Aunt Teri got some snuggles too.Jon and I dutifully posed in front of the Christmas tree, with me looking a bit rounder than normal (pictured here at 22 wks prg)Daddy opening J's presents. We did our gift exchange at night, so Jack was a little tired to be too into it.On Christmas Day we went over to Jon's sister's house and spent the day with his family. Can you believe I don't have any pictures of this? We took a family portrait, so I'll upload that when I can. Jack's present from Mommy and Daddy?--a shiny, red tricycle! He loves it; he refuses to try the pedals, instead opting for the "Flintstones" method of scooting. Whatever works, right? Short video of Jack riding his trike in the driveway. FYI, the first few seconds are the best. Unfortunately, my phone was retarded and deleted the longer video of him performing for me by mistake.

Christmas night- we went downtown with my parents and sisters and ate...what else, but tasty Mexican. Afterwards, Jon and Jack gazed at the Christmas lights outside.Kristi, Teri, and IAnother blurry shot, still figuring out my new phone's camera. The pink ornament in the middle was about 6 feet tall.Jon, Jack, and me. I had a crisper version of this picture, but my phone yet again deleted the wrong picture and left me with the blurry one. Oh my gosh, possibly the best video ever. Jack entertaining us downtown, dancing and running. No one got him started on this, he just spontaneously started performing.

Awesome Christmas gift from Aunt T, an easel paired with an assortment of crafty supplies. Here is Jack in his artist "smock" (my old tee); I love how it goes down to his ankles. He has created many masterpieces for us over the past few days. Of course Jack wasn't the only one to receive presents this year. Jon got a new game for his Xbox, cell phone, some clothes, and best of all....$$. I got cute maternity wear, boots, cell phone, and a zoo membership for 2011. We had a wonderful time sharing memories with both sides of the family and are grateful that we have a long New Year's weekend to recover and rest. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year's to everyone out there! Hope ya'll have a safe and fun weekend.

Quite the predicament

2010-12-22T20:50:00.000-06:00

"Do you have your wallet?"-- Jon asked me in a skeptical voice.

1 HOUR EARLIER:

It was a normal Tuesday, just like any other Tuesday before. Jack and I were doing our daily activities, when I received an interesting text from Jon- he had forgotten his wallet at home, and was short on gas, so there was a possibility that I'd need meet him to buy gas for the car. Okay, no problem. Moving on. It's now 4:15 in the afternoon- the time of day that every mom out there dreads, you're tired and want a break from the kid(s), it's coming up on dinner time, and you're just waiting for Daddy to come home. Basically from 4-5 pm, I try to kill time. So Jack and I went outside, going thru our garage, to check the mail. Afterwards, I let Jack ride his ride-along truck along the sidewalk, while I talk to Jon on the phone, who is now on his way home from work. I didn't make it to the store that day, so I told Jon that we were going to eat at a pizza buffet. Excited at the prospect of not cooking and stuffing my face full of pizza, I was in a happy mood.

Then Jon arrives home, pulling his car into the garage. We chatted for a few minutes about our day, and then Jon goes to go inside. And this is where my mood shifted. "You know this door is locked right?," he asks me. "No, in fact, I didn't know that actually, because I didn't lock it, and that's really quite terrible because I don't have a key for that door," I think to myself. Jon notices the keys in my hand and thinks I'm playing a joke. "These are the keys for the front and back doors, and they're both deadbolted from the inside!," I say in a slightly raised voice. In a vain attempt to hope we can miraculously will the deadbolts to slide unlocked, we try the key on the front and back doors......stubbornly they refuse to open. Hmmmm, thinking, thinking, I guess we'll just call a locksmith. I call the locksmith and am told to wait for the "technician" to call me back "shortly." I'm not sure what "shortly" means exactly, but in a situation like this, I'd appreciate a definition. It turns out it means 25 minutes. The guy calls to tell me he should be here in 30-35 minutes. I get off the phone with him, and turn to Jon and suggest we kill time by going out to eat dinner. He agrees with me, and then skeptically, yet with a hint of hope in his eye asks, "Do you have your wallet?" Sadly, and honestly at this point, a little comically I answer, "No, it's inside." Now we start laughing. I'm mad at him that he left his wallet at home, and he's mad at me I didn't grab mine before checking the mail. Jack, meanwhile, continues to ride his truck up and down the driveway, happily oblivious to our predicament.

We decide to let Jack drive his truck around the block a few times to kill the half hour long wait, which was effective until it got dark. Now we are back in the garage, huddled in the car, waiting... Did I mention that the light switch for our overhead garage light is located INside the laundry room and as the sun is setting we must resort to shutting and opening the garage door to get some light?! There's nothing like that to make you feel ghetto. Finally, the "technician" arrives and tells us "No problem, I'll get you in your house, and won't even damage your door." Thank-you, hallelujah! 10 minutes, and 5 openings/closings of the garage door to get light later, he is still trying to pick the lock and get us inside. Now I'm officially worried. It's completely dark outside, starting to get cold, we have NO money, Jack's things (like diapers) are inside, and the expert technician is unable to pick the lock. He alerts us that the lock is broken, he can't possibly pick it, and he'll have to break the knob. Luckily it's an old knob that we were planning on replacing, so we say, "just do it!" 2 minutes later, and we're in our house! And just think, it only cost us $74 including tax.

Honestly, the situation was rather humorous. My main frustration stemmed from the fact that our vacuum cleaner broke, the water heater died, and our year and a half old tv needed repairs........ all in the past 2 weeks! And I had to pay a guy to break my door knob, how irritating. Could this not have waited until after Christmas?

More news...

2010-12-08T21:50:00.003-06:00

Over the past couple of months, Jack has been sporting a new shirt around town. What makes this shirt so special? Take a look---->

That's right! We're pregnant! And super excited and a little terrified of what adding baby #2 means for our family. I am most excited about seeing Jack with his baby BROTHER and the two of them becoming friends, rough-housing, and getting into trouble together. I hope they have a special bond to last thru the years. We found out today that we are having another boy, so that puts me right at half-way and due on April 30th. I was sincerely shocked when they said "boy" to me; I had convinced myself it was a girl. I think right up until the final seconds before the sonographer said the word, then I couldn't imagine "girl" escaping her lips and I thought "boy." But I am thrilled, and Jon is even more so. I am so happy for Jack; he really needs another boy in the family to wrestle with and throw around. And I love little boys- there is just something so sweet about raising a boy, knowing they're going to be big men someday. Okay, enough of that....below are sonogram pics of baby.

This pic is from Oct. 15, so baby is 12 weeks here. These pics are from today, so baby is just shy of 20 weeks. Baby is healthy and growing as he should. We are so happy and grateful, and now I know that baby is a boy, I'm turning my thoughts to decorating! I'm open to suggestions for color palettes; baby's room is already a silver gray, so I'm thinking of colors to coordinate with that.

Progressing quickly...

2010-12-05T17:51:00.004-06:00

Jack had a fantastic audiology appointment this last Wednesday. He went in for his 2 week follow-up to his initial stimulation, so at this point he'd been "turned on" for 2 weeks. Remember that he was hearing a full range of sounds, but only at high volumes, so he really wasn't hearing too much. We were told that it would take a couple of months for him to reach the "normal" hearing range where he heard everything. Well....imagine our surprise when his audiologist programmed it so he was extremely close to the normal hearing range! He should be at "normal hearing" in the next week. She was able to program it this quickly because he responded so well to the sounds she presented him. Imagine if you'd never heard a certain sound before in your life; once you heard it, would you recognize it as an important sound and respond to it? That's how it is with Jack; he is learning that sound is important and has meaning. So for him to respond to whisper-quiet sounds is a miracle!

We went into the sound booth where they test hearing by playing a wide range of sounds, and Jack responded consistently to nearly ALL of them. It was amazing to witness and truly the only word that comes to mind is, miraculous. Only 2 months earlier we sat in that same booth and Jack failed to respond to the loudest of sounds. Once equipped with his hearing aids, he responded to about 1/3- 1/2 the sounds. With his cochlear implant, he responded to about 90% of the sounds...including sounds that were so quiet, I was questioning they were actually putting sound out. I'm talking about sounds that are comparable to the breeze....and this is only 2 weeks since being stimulated! His audiologist was so excited and said he did so well; I looked at her, like "uh-huh, thanks," because what else is she going to say? She sensed my hesitation, and was like, "No, you don't understand. He was amazing! He is progressing very quickly and to respond consistently the way he did is awesome." She called him her superstar and said he was in her top two of patients because of how he performed in the sound booth. It's really interesting how they train kids to respond to sound. We have a bucket of balls and Jack holds 1 ball up to his ear, indicating he is listening; once he detects a sound, he throws the ball in the bucket. And the process starts over again; he did this for about 15 mins in the booth and was incredible, he's so smart.

So anyways, in case you can't tell, we're super excited about this and so grateful. Jack is just so special and watched over by his Heavenly Father. I can literally see His hand in Jack's life in his short 2 1/2 years of being on this earth.

B-I-G Changes

2010-12-02T14:24:00.006-06:00

Jack had a fun new arrival a couple of weeks ago....a new big boy bed! He LOVES it, oh my gosh. He literally races me to his bedroom at naptime, pushing me out of the way. And after bathtime with Daddy, he no longer comes out to give me kisses; he stays in his room, climbs into bed and waits to be covered. He loves climbing in and out of the bed all by himself, and then lays his head on the pillow, waiting to be covered up. I was so anxious about him leaving his crib, worrying about him getting out of bed and not sleeping; but the wonderful part is, he stays in the bed and sleeps no problem- then after waking up, he waits for you to come get him! Hallelujah. I'm betting that since he's the only child he doesn't know his options about getting up and roaming around. Oh well, I'm enjoying it while it lasts. It's so fun to sneak in and peek at him while he's sleeping; the bed dwarfs him and you never know what position you'll find him in.

He is too adorable here, he was sleeping like a baby with his legs tucked under himself and the blanket covering him.

A new car pillow for a new bed. While at Target picking out sheets, he found their collection of car bedding and insisted on "driving" the pillow around the store, while on his knees.

Perfect example of my cuddly boy, snuggling his pillow.

Stay tuned, an update on Jack's latest audiology appointment is coming soon.....

CI Initial Stimulation

2010-11-21T19:08:00.006-06:00

Jack had his cochlear implant's "initial stimulation" this past Wednesday. Basically that means he got "turned on." His audiologist ran a series of tests on the implant's electrodes (which are inside his cochlea) to "map" his hearing range and program his processor (what is worn behind the ear). He gave some good, obvious responses to the sounds, enabling her to better program the equipment. There is, I think a perception out there that the process is magic- meaning that not only does he all of a sudden hear everything, but he understands what he hears. I wish this is how it happened! The reality is, it is a process. Right now he has access to the full range of sounds, low to high frequency, but has a limited range on volume. He is only hearing loud sounds. Over the next few weeks, he will progress through different hearing programs and gradually hear softer sounds and nuances. This is so he isn't overwhelmed and will leave the processor on his head; he needs the time to adjust to hearing so much. After the first several weeks, his processor will then be "fine-tuned" to make sure the sounds coming thru are correct; for example, the "s" sound is the most difficult speech sound to hear, so this is where the fine-tuning comes into play. After the first few months, Jack will be on a regular program which stays the same and he will hear everything.

Jack's new processor; we chose the chocolate brown to blend with his hair, I think once his hair *finally* thickens up it'll look even better.

How does it work?? The processor is behind the ear and receives the sounds, which then travel thru the cable, up to the coil (the round part on top), going directly to the electrodes inside the cochlea, stimulating the hearing nerve and sending the signals directly to the brain, allowing him to perceive sound. The coil doesn't defy gravity as it may seem-- it holds to his head with a magnet, connecting to the magnet placed inside his head during surgery. It swipes off easily enough and he doesn't sleep in the equipment. (I've had some people ask me if he would be able to take off the equipment once put on, like it would be permanently attached to his head.)The stuffed koala bear Jack received with his equipment. I thought it was too clever; it's a "deaf" koala and comes with its own toy processor for Jack to play with and place on koala's head.
Jack really enjoys putting the processor on koala. He immediately made the connection between the toy processor to the one he wears.

Over the past few days, Jack has done very well with his CI. He leaves it alone and tries to fix it when it gets knocked out of place. At first, when initially stimulated, he stopped responding to his name when called; I'm sure it sounded weird to him and he didn't recognize the sound. After a few days, he is responding about half the time now when I call his name; so I can see definite improvement. He also learned the word "slow" yesterday when Daddy played cars with him. He showed him how to move his cars "fast!" and "sloooow." Jack started saying "ohhh" when Daddy modeled "slow." To check his comprehension of the word, I had our cars going fast, and then said "slow," to which Jack immediately made his car go slow. It's moments like that which make this whole process worth it and encourage us to keep going. I know that he is hearing and learning, and that's what it's all about.

Autumn activities

2010-11-17T11:31:00.000-06:00

Last month we visited a nearby pumpkin patch after hearing great things about it. It did not disappoint! Not only was it huge, but it offered a variety of *free* activities. Located on a family farm, there were countless pumpkins to choose from, as you can see.... Jack's favorite part was the wagon ride from the parking lot to the farm. He hated leaving the wagon behind.

You can see him longingly looking after the wagon here, ignoring the camera.

Smile Jack!

They offered hayrides, which was fun, except it irritated poor Jon's allergies.

They had atleast 5 bounce houses, and one specifically just for toddlers. Jack was just starting to get the hang of it when he got knocked over, and then he was done.

Log cabin- open and close the windows and repeat.

Jon and Jack in jail, where they belong.

They had these fun cardboard cutouts all over the place including the most current ones from recent movies.

Toddler hay maze, unfortunately Jack took just the right route to get out, so our search took like a minute.

After the visit to the pumpkin patch, it was time to get ready for Halloween!

"Safari Jack" on an adventure at the church carnival

Jack on the stage, monopolizing the bowling game; you can see his friend behind him also monopolizing the game. Jack refused to release the ball from a distance; he had to walk right up to the pins and throw the ball at them.

Jack in the white shirt on the left, doing the cupcake walk. Once he got the hang of it, he ran the circle repeatedly, laughing the whole time. Just kept running.

Mimi & Pappaw came with us, it was my Dad's b-day too.Jon and I, we didn't dress up. I spent my creative energy assembling Jack's costume. Halloween night, outside our house. Jon and Jack are ready to go trick-or-treating.

Post-Halloween, I have learned that my son is a candy/chocolate-aholic. He goes in search of his candy and once found, doesn't give up until he gets some. Among his favorites: m&m's and dum-dums. Jon is also a candy freak; I foresee problems in the future as Jack gets old enough to defend his stash from his dad.

Post-Op

2010-10-29T19:36:00.001-05:00

Jack had his CI surgery on Monday; it was successful with zero problems! What a relief. We checked into the hospital at 5:30 a.m. and he went into anesthesia around 7 a.m. They began actually operating at 8, and were done by 9:45, which was a little faster than we were expecting. We got to go back to the recovery room to see our little man, thinking he would be awake, but he was fast asleep, knocked out by all the medicine. The nurse asked if we wanted to hold him or keep him in bed, and I said "hold him!" Little did I know I'd be holding him for the next hour and a half, arm cramping, while he snored loudly. This kid showed NO signs of waking up anytime soon. So we opted to let him lay in bed so we could sneak off to eat some lunch. Jon and I ate cheeseburgers, relaxing some, afterwards returning to our boy who was still asleep. We wanted to return home the same day so we could rest at home instead of a hospital, so the nurses said it was time to wake him up and get him to eat a popsicle. He was so adorable and groggy, with this head band wrapped around his head. He looked like a ninja or the Karate Kid. He gladly sucked on the popsicle and kept it down. So we were released and left the hospital around 2 p.m. We had definitely been there long enough!

Jack slept about 4 hours on the couch when we got home, for which I was very grateful. I slept on the floor next to him and enjoyed a lazy afternoon. He never cried once, but did have a glazed-over, mean look in his eye attesting to his discomfort. He needed to keep the headband on, which held the gauze in place over his ear, for the next 24 hours, so we decided to have him sleep in our bed. I knew that thing would never survive a night alone with Jack. He had already tried to rip it off once. What a restless night! We have a king-size bed, but you wouldn't believe it sleeping with Jack. He started off next to Jon and ended up next to me, with me having a total of 10 inches of space before I fell to the floor. And he was so restless, moving and shifting and sighing for hours. I eventually moved to the couch, leaving Jon to fend for himself. Jack slept peacefully in the early morning hours, at which point I was so grateful it was just about time to get up and take off that headband!

So we took off the headband, and the incision looked pretty good. Truthfully I was expecting much more swelling and redness, but he looked like normal Jack, just with an incision by his ear. Tuesday he was still tired, and laid in our bed all morning (which I kind of enjoyed!) and he napped in our bed too. By the afternoon he was more energetic and played with toys, but took rest breaks to cuddle Mommy (enjoyed that too). And by Wednesday he was his normal Jack self; you would never guess he had surgery 2 days prior. I took a picture of "ninja" Jack on my cell phone, but not our camera, so I'll have to figure out how to get it on the computer.

In a little less than 3 weeks, Jack will see his audiologist and get "turned on," meaning he'll get his processor and have it adjusted. It will be another few weeks before they turn him on fully- where he hears everything; this is so all the sound won't overwhelm him. We are excited to get the equipment and see the difference in Jack. Thanks for all your support and prayers; they mean so much and we're very grateful. In the meantime, check back for Halloween pictures!

It's time to share

2010-10-22T15:00:00.000-05:00

I have been terrible lately with blogging, and I am determined to catch up and re-commit myself. The main reason I haven't updated is because I wasn't ready to share. Over the past several months we have been worried over Jack's speech development, because he wasn't talking. He would babble for several days in-a-row, then quit for several weeks, never progressing past that point. We finally had a hearing test done about 2 months ago, and the results were shocking. Jack has a severe to profound hearing loss, which basically means he's deaf. It was really hard to hear such a diagnosis and I was in denial about it for days afterward, refusing to believe it could be that bad. I mean, how could we have not known? His newborn hearing screen was normal and he babbled as a baby, and he is very convincing at following directions and doing what you tell him. It turns out, he's super smart and figures out what you want thru other cues.

I wanted to post an entry about this for weeks now, but couldn't make myself sit down and do it. I guess I wasn't ready for the rest of the world to know yet. If you know me, you know I have a tendency to down-play things so I can remain more optimistic about it. I'm not the type who calls all her friends and cries about it. When Jack was born, he stayed in the NICU for 1 month and 1 day, and nearly died. I never told any one about the seriousness of the situation until after he came home, when it was all clear and no worries. I think that's something I need to change; it's just not healthy to deal with it all on your own. Anyways, the doctors suspect that his hearing loss is a result of the aggressive antibiotics received during the NICU stay. It's frustrating to think about that, but it's easier when I consider he wouldn't be alive if not for those medicines and treatment.

So what's the plan for Jack? He has been in hearing aids for 7 weeks now, and is scheduled for a cochlear implant surgery on Monday, the 25th. I am thrilled that we have this option available to us; with it, Jack will be able to hear within the classified "normal" range, and I am told that he will even be able to hear whispering. With his hearing aids, Jack is in a mild to moderate hearing loss range; the difference in him the past 2 months has truly been amazing. He knows my voice now and looks for me when I talk. You cannot imagine how much you take hearing for granted, until your child cannot hear. It's a miracle to me and I feel true joy when Jack responds to my voice. With just 2 months of hearing Jack is learning that sounds are important and have meaning. He is imitating everything we do, and tries to talk like we do. He knows that specific sounds are appropriate for the toys he plays with; for example, cars go "beep, beep" and airplanes go "ahhhh" (according to his speech therapist). He says "mama" for "more," and "ba-ba" for "bye-bye." He is thriving with the limited hearing he has now. That is why I am so excited to see him once he has full access to sound, with his cochlear implant. He is having his left ear done first, and then, within a few months, we will decide if we will implant the right ear.

I feel as if I were being prepared for this years ago. I grew up with a dad who was very hard-of-hearing, who eventually got a cochlear implant. Additionally, I took ASL (sign language) classes for 2 years in college. For a normal hearing girl, I have a fair amount of knowledge about the deaf community and sign. I remember learning all about deaf culture in college, and specifically about this controversial procedure with a cochlear implant. The deaf see it as a negative, as if you were taking one of their own deaf children away from their community. Sign language is a valid option, and if it were 20 years ago, I would have zero problem with Jack signing. Our family would learn to sign and communicate in that way. But the fact is, it's not 20 years ago and cochlear implants are very, very good. The implant inside the cochlea is designed with extra "space" so no further surgeries are needed to update the device; you update the external processor (what's worn behind the ear) and that's it. Why wouldn't I choose this option for my son? The fact is that I want him to live as normal a life as possible. I don't want him to struggle in school or to feel like an outsider. How often do you see a person signing, and you go and strike up a conversation with them? You don't. You don't know how. That person is perfectly capable and social, but you don't know how to communicate with each other, without feeling awkward. With this implant, Jack will never know this dilemna. He can be mainstreamed in school, and talk with his hearing friends. I am so grateful for this technology, and feel so blessed.

We have excellent medical people, including his audiologist and speech therapist to guide us through this process. We have a family who loves Jack more than the world, and gives us continual support. We know this journey will be long and at times, difficult, but I know that everything will be okay and that most importantly, Jack will be okay. I thank Heavenly Father that Jack will never know the difference between natural hearing and electronic hearing. For him, it will all be natural and the sounds lovely. He can grow up in primary and sing during their sacrament programs. These are all things I look forward to. He is truly so smart, and has such a happy, joyful attitude, that I know the sky is the limit for him.

so much to catch up on...

2010-09-19T17:18:00.001-05:00

The past month has been so crazy that I neglected blogging, and I'm sure, all of my many adoring fans out there. Apologies to you few! I'll post more on why it's been so crazy the next time around, because this post is dedicated to the cuteness that is Jack. He has become so much more of a helper lately and an independent little man- I never cease to be impressed by him.

Here is Jack helping with the laundry. I gave him the full laundry basket, and he knew just what to do with it:

Here is Jack helping Daddy mow the lawn. (I know his dad really appreciated it!)

Here is Jack showing me how a bike is meant to be ridden. (note: I originally tried to put him on his attached toddler seat so I could ride the bike, but he knew where the better seat was and insisted on sitting THERE)

We went around the block like this- me balancing the bike while he cruised. I am thinking it's about time for his own tricycle.
Jack demonstrating how to swipe a credit card.
Jack using the "credit card" (I don't think I'm quite ready for him to master this skill)

Jack showin' how it's done, miniature golf style.

While golfing, after I hit my ball I'd have to race to beat Jack to get in my second putt, or else he'd pick up the ball and return it to me. Ever so helpful.

Jack mastering the art of tee-ball while riding a truck:

I'm not sure how much everyone else will appreciate this video since you can't see the video Jack is dancing to, but I love it! He's copying the monkeys from the website playhousedisney.com as they dance some funky monkey moves. My favorite is when his hands are overhead, mouth w-i-d-e open, and head shaking. I laugh every. single. time.

Jack is growing up so fast that I feel overwhelmed trying to capture all of the memories. He is such a good and sweet boy; we're truly blessed to have him. I think his terrible-two's phase lasted about a month, which is witness to his sweet temperament. Case in point: while picking up diapers at Babies 'r' Us the other day we let Jack ride around on a really fun tricycle. He loved it! The only problem was that it was time to put it back up. We tried to coax him off the bike and upon Daddy returning it to the aisle, Jack started to cry. I luckily was struck with inspiration and gave the trike back to Jack and asked him to put it away. He quietly and no-fuss put the trike where it belonged and walked away. I am just so impressed by him! I love you Jack!

I don't deal with terrorists!

2010-08-12T14:23:00.002-05:00

I am sure you're all familiar with the phrase "I don't deal with terrorists." Well my ever helpful husband summed up my attitude towards Jack's tantrums perfectly for me the other day. I was relating to him how whenever Jack cries or whines or screams or (fill in the blank for whatever YOUR kid does) I ignore him, and wait for him to calm down before giving him what he wants. Jon put it this way: "You don't give into terrorist toddlers." YES! That is exactly how I feel- that when he throws a tantrum, especially in public- it's like a terrorist tactic designed to get Mommy to submit. Oooooh, sneaky. Now I must give Jack his credit; he is not especially prone to tantrums, thankfully. But, once employed he uses them very strategically. For example: we ran into the grocery store the other day for a quick stop to pick up some milk. I go to put Jack in the cart's seat and he is not having it, because he wants to walk and push the cart. Well, I sit him down and he SCREAMS and cries and gnashes his teeth, with all sorts of drama ensuing. Now I realize that all I have to do to make the very-public meltdown stop is to let him push the cart. But- I don't give into terrorist toddler tantrums!! I can only imagine what the poor passerbys are thinking, but I will not give in!

Now I've shared....what's your most embarrasing public meltdown story?

Slideshows and other news...

2010-08-09T14:54:00.004-05:00

So I am in the process of learning to post slide shows....why can't they just have an icon in your posting box when you write? Oh well, I ended up getting the above slideshow of our Florida pictures uploaded as a gadget and then moved it over from the side bar-- anyone know how to upload it into the actual post? I'm terrible with these things.

We're all doing well and surviving the heat. It's been in the 100's the past few weeks and our A/C was out of freon, so we suffered for awhile. But it's all fixed now and life is good again. Jon and I enjoyed a Jack-free weekend as my parents watched him. It was wonderful and we ate at Macaroni Grill and finally saw the latest Twilight installment. I am happy to report that the 3rd movie was enjoyable to watch and I didn't cringe once from bad acting, much unlike the first 2 movies. Even Jon conceded that it was the best of the 3 movies. And last but not least, we celebrate our 4th anniversary this Wednesday! I told Jon that he could cook me dinner that night :) Hard to believe it's already been 4 years, where does the time go?

Divine Destin

2010-07-26T15:15:00.000-05:00

We just got back from a fun-filled vacation in Destin, Florida! The water and beach were thankfully oil-free and beautiful. The sand was sugar white and felt like snow to walk on! We had many adventures including seeing a 'gator show and parasailing-- both amazing. More pics to follow, but for now I can't stop myself from posting yet another video of Jack swimming. What can I say?-- I'm a proud momma.

Zoo trip

2010-07-10T15:17:00.000-05:00

Earlier this week, Jack and I visited the Fort Worth Zoo with my parents. We had a wonderful time seeing the animals. The best exhibit was a large enclosure for parakeets, where they let you feed the birds using a stick covered in seed. Jack was such a brave boy and loved the birds. He didn't mind them flapping around him, and in his own way, tried to love on them (i.e. hit them with the feeding stick). There's a cute video capturing his loving attitude. (He's one of those boys who "loves" things soooo much and squeezes reallllly tight, if that makes sense. We're still working on being gentle.)

Love the white tiger- gorgeous. I totally want this as a pet, you know, a tame one.

parakeet enclosure

gorgeous blue macaw

Jack's first carousel ride. He sat so well on the horse before the ride started, and as it went up and down, he was a little unsure about it, but got over it fast and had fun!

action shot!

I'm only a little worried that upon seeing the massive crocodile, Jack's first action was to put his arm into the croc's mouth.

The weather was perfect for a zoo trip; it threatened rain, so most people stayed away and we enjoyed the zoo crowd-free! (And lucky for us, it didn't actually rain.)

blue paint and pizza toppings...

2010-06-15T13:53:00.002-05:00

It's dinner time on a Monday. I just finished making a pizza with pineapple and pepperoni toppings. I think to myself, "if I put the pizza in the oven now, it will be ready too early. I better wait a few minutes..." So I put it in the fridge. Hmmm, what to do? I've got a few minutes to kill. Ah! I'll put away the paint can I used to touch-up a wall earlier today. I put the can of paint back in the garage and I SHOULD have just walked back inside. But, no. I notice another can of paint which has blue paint around its bottom, glueing it to the floor. This bothers me. I try to separate it from the floor and in the process realize it's actually upside down and now the lid has come loose and blue paint is spilling all over the garage floor! So I run inside and grab a hand towel from the laundry room, using it to ineffectively soak up about 10% of the bright blue, ever-spreading paint. I ball up the used towel and take it inside to throw away (I know-- stupid); and end up trapped in the laundry room which acts as the gateway between garage and kitchen. The door to the kitchen is closed. Are you KIDDING me? Now the towel begins to drip. Awesome, great timing. I miraculously open the door with my wrist and, towel dripping the whole way, throw away the paint-soaked towel. Realizing it was another miracle that my 2 year old hasn't popped up during the action, I decide to mop up the paint in the kitchen first. Then I grab a much larger bath towel and throw it on the paint, soaking up much more than my ill-conceived first attempt. I throw away this towel, successfully avoiding dripping this time. After resolving the paint debacle, I suddenly remember Pizza!! I grab the pizza out of the fridge and, to my horror, knock it against the door and drop it...I catch it as it's falling, and manage to save the pizza from completely falling off the cookie sheet. I cannot, however, save about half of the toppings from flying off the pizza, into the air, and all over the fridge and floor. Enter my 2 year old. And this all happened in 10 minutes.

And that is why dinner was late and the garage floor is now blue.

Port Aransas

2010-06-03T11:28:00.001-05:00

We just got back from a blissful, week-long vacation in Port Aransas. (PA is an island of off Corpus Christi, Texas). We went with Jon's family and had a wonderful time swimming, building sandcastles, riding waverunners, playing golf, and visiting the aquarium.

Jon & Jack gazing at the Gulftoo cute...Jack really enjoyed throwing the sand tools into the tide and trying to catch them as they washed on and off shore.JAWS...that's Jack and Jon inside there. Many of the area's shops had these huge sharks out front to attract easily impressed tourists such as ourselves!Us at the TX state aquarium, in case you couldn't read the picture. Pretty cool entrance- you walk through the waterfall arches.

Dolphins JUMP!

Fun video of dolphin tricks.

Stingray-they let you "pet" them there. I didn't try it because I'm a wimp like that, but I was told they feel like jelly, all mushy....

Sorry for the blurry picture, I just liked how the seahorses clung to the coral.

Creeepy shark. I love how this picture came out so dark with the shark's eye glowing at you. How'd you like to swim by that in the ocean?

Underground viewing area of the dolphin tank. It was so pretty with the glowing blue water reflecting in the room. Dolphins are so cool, I really want to swim with them some time.

Last, but best--video of Jack starting to swim. He is my water baby...love it. I love how he just jumps out in the water and floats, and he doesn't care about going under. The only problem is you have to watch him because he WILL jump or push off of you and just try to swim out in the open.

Jack's 2nd Birthday

2010-05-09T17:43:00.011-05:00

Today is Jack's 2nd birthday. It's hard to believe he's already two! Yesterday we had a b-day party for him, and we had tons of fun celebrating. We hung out in our backyard, ate burgers, played some lawn games, and ate tasty cake and ice cream. It was close to a perfect day. Jack was in a good mood all day long (a small miracle for a 2 year old!). He loved all the attention, and had fun playing with his little friends in the pool and blowing bubbles. He also ate his first hot dog, and loved it.

"The haul"

Jack and friend Halle in kiddie pool with diving rings and bubbles. He almost could have taken a bath with all the bubbles he dumped in the pool.

Jon in the background playing ladder-ball, a fun but frustrating game!
Mimi and Jack chillin'
Synchronized smiles!

B-day cake, yummy. Idea came from Playhousedisney.com- cute site for preschoolers.

About to sing "Happy Birthday"...

Video of the tail end of b-day song

Jack about to "open" his presents. (Meaning I opened them while he pawed at his new b-ball hoop box) His presents this year were mostly sports related: b-ball hoop, pop-up soccer net, tee-ball, and golf clubs. He LOVES the basketball set...and I confess I enjoy it too! He also got much-needed summer clothes, yea!

LOVE this video. Jack playing with his new b-ball set. How many swishes do you count? Impressive, no?

What a fantastic weekend! Great party and company. It's so amazing to see Jack grow and learn. He's becoming more and more curious about the world around him. It's one big adventure to him, and I find myself envious of that quality at times. Happy Birthday Jack! 'Til next year!

Rascally behavior

2010-04-18T15:20:00.006-05:00

The other day I was at the kitchen sink washing dishes, when I see Jack driving his tow-truck into the adjacent laundry room. I continue with my chore and notice the laundry room lights flicker on and off. Hmmm, how in the world? I go into the room and find Jack, not only standing on his truck........ BUT standing on the steering wheel of his truck, flipping the light switch! He pushed it against the dryer and door, and somehow managed to stand on top of it without the wheels taking off on him and leaving him splat on the floor. He's super coordinated, but jeez, no more standing on the steering wheel of your tow-truck Jack!!
And here he is in all his rascally glory. Cuddling his bunny while on his tow-truck. After hearing me tell this story, my mom said that Jack is going to give me gray hair. Hope not, but probably so! Oh well, I'm happy that he is such an adventurous and courageous boy.

My weekend

2010-04-11T15:21:00.005-05:00

Dear Journal,

This past weekend was full of activity! Friday was an especially happy day since the IRS sent some money our way! Thank you to Jack for helping increase our return. I'm starting to understand the appeal of having more children, (she says jokingly). So the start of the weekend was spent shopping for a dining set, and my favorite--a new stove, yea!. My weekend ended with my giving a talk in Sacrament meeting, yea?. Actually it went pretty well and I needed to learn what I taught, so it was a good experience. I made sure to comment in my intro that since we've moved several times these past few years, I have spoken in sacrament meeting one too many times, so the trend better stop here! Luckily with our house, we will not be leaving in the foreseeable future. Sigh of relief.

But, the middle part of my weekend is what I'm most excited about. In case you didn't realize I have the cutest kid in the world. Seriously, the cutest. He melted my heart for about an hour one evening when he came up to me every 2-3 minutes, stretched his little face up to mine, and kissed me! Words cannot describe. Jack, please don't ever stop kissing your mother, even when I'm old and wrinkly. He is so sweet, and honestly, just the perfect mixture of sweetness with boyish mischief. An example: Jack knows not to climb up on the kitchen table and crawl around on it. He knows not to. While I was sitting down eating, he climbed up on the table and crawled over to me, blinked his innocent eyes at me, and kissed me. Then he turned around, crawled across the table and got down. Now you tell me- how am I supposed to tell him to get off the table when he is giving me kisses?! And I tell you, that is exactly why he kissed me, so he could get away with crawling on the table. As of yet, I am not immune to these mischievious kisses.

The second example of Jack's sweet mischief involves hamburger theft. On Saturday, I picked up burgers from Wendy's on the way home from shopping. Jon stayed home with Jack while I was out, so Jack had just finished his lunch by time I got home. Here we are, Jon and I enjoying our cheeseburgers when Jack pops around the corner with a certain look in his eye. I ask, "Jack, would you like a french-fry?," (he loves fries, can't get enough of them). No, he could care less about those. "Jack, would you like a bite of my burger?," as I hold the burger to his mouth. He takes a timid bite, and then walks away satisfied. Not more than a minute later he returns, wanting another bite. Only this time, he wants to hold the burger himself. Hmmm, I'm not too sure about this idea. What if he lets everything fall out?, I'm thinking to myself. Turns out he held it together and took a successful bite. "Tasty, isn't it Jack?...Give it back to Momma." (another bite). "Okay, give it back...Hey, stop!...Where are you going?!...Bring back my cheeseburger!!" Jack has stolen the burger, leaving me with the rejected french fries. Thief.

A Cuddly Boy...

2010-04-02T20:34:00.002-05:00

I am so blessed to have a cuddler. My boy loves a good cuddle, and I am always happy to oblige!

His Mimi and Pappaw came over today and brought him a big, stuffed Easter bunny-- pictured above. I don't think he let go of it for hours, just held on tight, laying his head against its fur. On another occasion while watching him, my parents took Jack to the mall where he saw the Easter bunny (re: person in costume). Jack's reaction?? Run straight toward the giant creature and hug it. He refused to let go even though other children wanted to see the Easter bunny. He thinks all things furry and soft are made for him. Precious.

Birthday Weekend

2010-03-28T21:02:00.008-05:00

Last weekend was my birthday and I had tons of fun celebrating! First off, my parents were kind enough to take Jack for the weekend! So Jon and I enjoyed alone time and, most of all- sleeping in! For dinner we went to this really cool restaurant downtown called Reata. It literally occupies 4 floors of a building, all filled with seating areas. We were fortunate to get a spot on the rooftop patio. Below are views of the FW skyline. Pretty, no? The food was to die for- we started off with tenderloin tamales, yum, and then I enjoyed quail enchiladas which were also yum. And we couldn't help but split the apple pie dessert. The tragic part is that after taking my 3rd picture of the evening, my battery died! SAD. We took some pics on our phones, but they aren't featured here...

Isn't this building charming? I love the blue with the red brick. One of the more modern bldgs in downtown- where Jon works

I'm kicking myself for not charging the camera before our outing. Oh well. The next day we were lazy and slept in, ah...it was wonderful. And then we went shopping where Jon graciously obliged me in holding my purse while I tried on clothes. Got some shorts and tees for the approaching summer heat. That's about it on my b-day weekend. On Sunday the spell was broken and I turned back into Mommy, but that's okay because I love my baby. Isn't it funny how when you are home with your kid(s) all you want is a break, and then the second they leave, you miss them?! How is that fair? Jon always thinks I'm crazy when I miss Jack when he's at my parents'.

And before I forget, my awesome present from my parents is below. I am so excited! I haven't had a bike since my 10-speed way back when. Can't wait to take Jack on bike rides. And kudos to Jon for hanging it on the garage ceiling. I don't have the patience for such things.

I'm super lucky to have such caring family. Many thanks to Jon's parents for my b-day gift- I can't wait to use it for my patio set! Well, I suppose that is enough about me.... for awhile. Heck, it's only your birthday once a year, right? ;)

Ironic, I know

2010-03-11T21:54:00.008-06:00

Ironic because of my post directly below this one. While Spring is nearly here, I still have some catching up to do on my Winter activities. The video and pics are from the snowstorm we got here in February. I think we got around a foot of snow here, which for Texas is unheard of. We'll get snow "flurries" which melt once they hit the ground, so for snow to stick and stay was, well, cool. For AWHILE. Then it melts, and freezes into ice, and then it's no longer welcome here. But we had fun with Jack- making a snowman, throwing snowballs, and just enjoying the picturesque white scenery. FYI, about 5 seconds into the video Jack gets tackled fairly hard- don't be alarmed, to him it's all fun and games. What a boy.

Are you wondering what this picture's of? It's my, Jon's, and Jack's footprints in the snow. Jack's are in the middle, in case you didn't figure that out. Ahhhhhh.

That snowstorm was crazy, it literally snowed for 24 hours straight, non-stop. It must be global warming.

Can you feel it???

2010-03-09T12:22:00.003-06:00

Can you feel the weather changing and bringing with it the breezy, warm days of Spring? I am SO excited because once Spring is here, Summer is not far behind. Can't wait to be at the pool and beach!

Love & Hate

2010-03-01T13:54:00.006-06:00

After living in Fort Worth for over a year now, I've discovered the things I love and hate most about the area. I'll start with the cons first.

CONS

1. TRAFFIC. We live near 2, two-lane highways that should each have atleast 4 lanes. The result is endless congestion at even non-peak hours. The irony is that since moving here, people always exclaim how grateful they are to not live in Dallas and deal with the traffic there! Are you kidding me? This particular two-lane highway we live by was just mentioned on the Yahoo list: "top 50 worst highways in the nation"! Need I say more?

2. Lack of malls. There is 1 mall within 20ish miles of us. ONE?! Not to mention I have to drive through the traffic gauntlet to get there, making it take twice as long as it should. Dear Fort Worth, please build a mall within 10 minutes driving distance. Much appreciated.

3. "Where the West begins." This slogan describes Fort Worth as the last stop before you hit the Western frontier of Texas. I'm not entirely sure if this is a negative or a positive yet. I'm annoyed that the city has a huge population and job base, yet portrays itself as a small town. All this accomplishes is too-small roads, and not enough shopping! Please accomodate the number of people that live here. You are a big city; it is not evil to be a big city.

4. Referencing #3, Fort Worth despises Dallas. It thinks of it as a cosmopolitan, shallow city with no character. Get over it. Dallas has its negatives, but atleast I can get to 5 malls, each within 15 minutes of my parents' house.

5. Trains. This is a train city. And I do mean that. I cross no less than 5 tracks to get to church. And that is just one direction. Go in any other direction, and you're bound to cross a set of tracks. Annoying when you're late getting somewhere. Annoying hearing the train whistles all day and all night long. You can't escape them in this town.

PROS

1. Downtown Fort Worth. I love downtown here. It's clean, architecturally beautiful, got great restaurants, alluring ambiance, and perhaps most importantly: it's safe. This is one thing Dallas does not have- a safe downtown. I can take my son there at night and feel perfectly comfortable. There are lights up in the trees, cobblestone roads, and a great Barnes 'n' Noble for kids' reading. Love it.

2. The Zoo. The Fort Worth Zoo is awesome. It's clean and in a nice neighborhood, which is more than I can say about the Dallas zoo. It's got a variety of animals and a kid-friendly layout, with tree-shaded paths. There's also a train that crosses the zoo in case you don't want to walk all the way across. It's a great zoo.

3. Rosa's. Rosa's is a fabulous Mexican restaurant. I don't know why, but Rosa's is unique to Fort Worth and West Texas. You just won't find it in Dallas. They have delicious homemade tortillas, and paired with the queso- well, life just doesn't get much better. But, then again, I'm a Mexican fanatic.

4. "Where the West begins." On a positive note, at times I enjoy living in a city that prides itself in its western/cowboy heritage. Sites like the FW stockyards are fun to visit. Here you can see old railways, cattle, and small shops filled with cowboy boots, hats, etc. It's something different in a modern world.

5. The Texas Motor Speedway. This racetrack is just up the highway from us. I'm not a Nascar fan or anything, but I figure it's pretty cool to live so close to the track. Who knows, maybe we'll catch an event sometime.

Well that is my most current list of pros/cons, of which I hope the pros will soon overtake the cons.

Mini Family Reunion

2010-02-25T14:03:00.007-06:00

I was really hyped to catch up on my blogging last week, especially because I started to feel better, when it hit me all over again. More fever, more aches and pains. Blah. So now I am officially better and will officially be posting more over the next few days. These pics are from my mom's family visiting about a month ago. My grandparents, and Aunt Lynn are in the middle of the pic below. My sisters Teri and Kristi flew in too! It was awesome to see everyone at once. And everyone fought over Jack and who got to hold him. He is a really cuddly boy, so people literally pushed each other out of the way to get him up from nap, and tried to steal him away from whoever was holding him at the time.

Jack with his Great Grandpa

Jack and Great Grandma

Jack with Great Aunt Lynn and Great Grandma

Aunt Teri with the cuddler

We had a nice time visiting and catching up. Jack was the entertainment, running around and putting on a show. He never fails to make people laugh. He is just the perfect combination of a sweet, fun-loving, adventurous boy and I love him!

I need to blog

2010-02-17T15:33:00.003-06:00

I am behind on my posts! I hate getting behind, because then I have to catch up... So anyways, I'm going to be posting a lot over the next week. Currently, I'm getting over the flu. It was zero fun. It totally wiped me out and I fought a fever for a couple of days, but I feel like I'm finally winning the battle now. Thank goodness!

So for today's viewing pleasure, is a blurry picture of a potato!

You're probably wondering why I'm posting a picture of a potato, and a blurry one at that. Well, it's the funniest story. A few weeks ago I was over at my parents' house. My mom was making baked potatoes for dinner, when my Aunt Lynn asked how big the potatoes were. So my mom goes and grabs one to show us the size. So my mom is holding out a raw potato for us to see, and Jack walks over to her, grabs the potato, and takes a bite out of it! It was really gross to behold. Jack apparently realized the grossness of what he just did, as he made a disgusted face and then took the potato where it belonged: the trash can. And that is why the blurry potato picture is relevant. Hilarious.

ICE!

2010-01-30T14:01:00.023-06:00

The day after Christmas, my parents, sister Kristi, Jon, Jack and I headed over to this cool (freezing actually) ice exhibit in Grapevine, called Ice!. Using ice, these artists carved out sculptures, for visitors to walk by and admire. This year the theme was Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas so there were all these colored-ice sculptures of the Grinch, and the Who's, and scenes from the book. It was hard to believe that it was really ice; it looked so life-like! It was also FREEZING cold in there, and they gave everyone a huge parka to avoid hypothermia. The hard part was taking the pictures. I had to take off my glove to get good shots, which resulted in frozen fingers by the end of our visit.

The entrance Imagine a "Ch" instead of that woman standing there!
Jon, me, Jack, and my dad (or Pappaw)
I love how Jack looks tortured here. The smallest parka they had was made for a 5 year old, judging the size on him. Atleast he was warm.

Furry green creatures are soooo irresistible! The Grinch's sleigh and "reindeer"

I wish this picture would have turned out better! Jack is posing underneath a life-size candy cane with his daddy.

This was AWESOME. It's an ice slide. They let you slide down it, except the line was ridiculously long and it was ridiculously cold so we opted not to wait. Next time.

Aunt Kristi and Jack. I'm super impressed by the colors of the ice here.

So on your way out you got to walk thru a tunnel of ice, which I like to imagine is how eskimos feel when walking into their igloos. It was really pretty.

All the Who's celebrating Christmas together.

At the end of the exhibit, they had a Christmas room, displaying candles and angels. Very pretty.

Me eating some Who-cake.

Ice nativity. After seeing all the colored ice, the white nativity scene was simple and beautiful.

This picture is outside the exhibit. It's a train with white Christmas trees surrounding it. The whole area was decked out in Christmas trees, sparkling lights, and Grinch decor. Fun, fun.

After walking thru the exhibit, which they kept at a frigid -2F, we were ready for some warmer air. But I would definitely go back. I'm excited to find out what next year's theme will be, and hopefully take my turn on the ice slide.

Jack's Loop of Glory

2010-01-22T13:41:00.004-06:00

Lately Jack has gotten into the habit of running while putting his hands up in the air, as if he were finishing 1st in a race. It's hilarious and endlessly entertaining. He loves the attention it creates. In the video, we have just gotten back from dinner and Jack started running a few dozen loops around the kitchen while throwing his arms in the air and laughing. Then a couple of weeks later, he did the same thing when my grandparents, aunt, and sister were over. He was so ecstatic that everyone was watching him, laughing, and moving our arms with him. What can I say? He has us well-trained. In fact, in the middle of his loop, in the living room, he stopped and looked at each of us individually to make sure we were throwing our arms in the air too. Once satisfied that we were all participating, he would continue running his loop.

He loves this new game so much that yesterday, while home alone, he pulled me into the living room, pushed me onto the couch, and made me watch as he ran more loops of glory.

Magic Cards

2010-01-06T15:03:00.005-06:00

There's a scene in the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic where as a little girl, the main character watches some older girls use a credit card to buy shoes. A wide-grin spreads across the little girl's face as she remarks how it's a "magic card!" People can buy anything they want with one swipe of this magical card. A whole new world opens up to this little girl.

Well, I think my son has already been exposed to this world. Yesterday while at the dry cleaners, I sat him on the counter while waiting for my order. Jack opened my wallet, grabbed my credit card and handed it to the lady. She laughed, commented on how smart he was, and then swiped it! She didn't even ask me if that's what I wanted to use. She then gave it back to Jack who knowingly put it back in my wallet. He was so proud of himself. His first time to use the magic card! He was such a lucky boy that today he got to use the magic card again at Walmart. You can totally tell that he feels as if he "is in the loop". I love that he is so observant and clever! Except, now I'm going to have to be much more careful with my magic.

A White Christmas

2009-12-29T13:40:00.010-06:00

For the first time in Dallas' recorded history, we experienced a white Christmas! It was a magical feeling to watch the snow fall on Christmas Eve. Luckily, we didn't travel and could just enjoy the white weather. Here we are enjoying the snow outside my parents' house on Christmas morning.

Jack loved the snow and threw some impressive snowballs

Hmmm, what is this cold, white stuff melting on my mitten?
Jack with my parents (Mimi and Pappaw)Jack with Aunt Kristi. She was very helpful in packing the snowballs.And, before I forget to mention, we did open presents too! Jack opening his "big" gift: a pop-up tent with attaching tunnels. He loves it, and I love that it folds up afterwards!Overall, it was a lovely Christmas and we enjoyed spending time as a family. I hope that it's not our last white Christmas here, but if so, then we have plenty of pictures and footage to last. It's not everyday a Texan gets to have a snowball fight!

2 days left...

2009-12-23T14:56:00.003-06:00

Merry Christmas Eve (Eve)! I am getting really excited for Christmas this year. I can't wait for Jack to open his presents. Hopefully this year he can get past the excitement and allure of the bright ribbons and bows, and instead appreciate the actual gifts! During his naptimes the past few weeks, I have spent my time wrapping gifts and getting things ready for the big day. Of course, all the pretty gifts are stuffed in my hall closet, safely out of the reach of curious Jack. He finally learned to leave the tree alone, at least until Mommy leaves the room that is. He has been a real angel lately about things that he knows he is not allowed to play with. For example, last night he picked up the remote control. He then walked over to me and freely of his own will, gave it to me while sweetly smiling. WHAT? Did he really just give up the remote without a fight?! Wow, talk about evolving. So I figured I could trust him, right? Fast forward to this morning, and I have the diaper wipes out ready to change Jack. He decides to go off to play in his room, so I decide to go use the bathroom real quick. Big mistake. By time I get back, Jack has returned from his room and emptied the entire contents of the diaper wipe box all over the floor. And he pulled each one of the wipes out individually! Now, they're all stuffed back into the box, not connected, so you have to reach into the box over and over and over again for each wipe! So now, I'm a little more cautious of Jack's "evolving"- is he really more angelic, or just even sneakier? Do ya'll have any sneaky kid stories to share?

It's the little things

2009-12-11T20:35:00.006-06:00

Jack is doing so many precious things lately; I feel crazy trying to remember them all! Here's one example of his cuteness. Earlier this week I put Jack down for a nap...1 hour later and he's still awake, playing in his crib. He usually falls asleep pretty quickly, so I went in to check on him. Turned out he needed a diaper change- so I changed him and put him back in his crib (anticipating screaming and crying b/c he HATES if you take him out of his crib, and then immediately put him back in the crib). So to placate him, I tucked a blanket around him and he gave me the sweetest smile as if to say, "thank-you Mommy." Ahhhhh. 10 minutes later I check back in, and here's what I find: He was fast asleep in the comfort of his blanket. Ever since he was a newborn baby, he has always buried his head in blankets and cushions to sleep. I don't know how he breathes, but he just loves to snuggle. And that is just one of his many adorable qualities.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-12-01T14:40:00.008-06:00

Here's our Thanksgiving recap:

Remember how I previously posted on how wonderful nursery is? Well, it turns out there's a down side. It's called catching a cold, and getting an ear infection. Poor Jack was sick over Thanksgiving, and because our family in Midland was sick too, we decided to stay home and not risk Jack getting worse. So we spent Thanksgiving day at home alone, eating zero turkey or dressing!! Luckily, we had a nice turkey dinner the next day at my parents' house. My sister Kristi was in town, so we got to spend some quality time together. Here we are at a creek feeding the ducks. Jack was so adorable the way he threw the bread. He threw it so hard at the ducks, and then he didn't understand why they waddled away from him when he tried to walk up to them.

Aunt Kristi and Jack sharing a moment

Here's some footage of Jack's throwing skills:

Saturday night we ice skated! I've always loved ice skating, especially around Christmas time. We went to the Galleria mall in Dallas, and they had the biggest Christmas tree I've ever seen. It spanned 5 levels, and was beautifully lit.

me and Jon

me and Kristi

We had a good time, and I can't wait for Christmas! This is my favorite time of year. Happy Holidays everyone!

Nursery

2009-11-17T14:16:00.004-06:00

A few weeks ago, our new ward's Elder's Quorum president dropped by for a visit. During our conversation I remarked how excited I was for Jack to start nursery in a few weeks. The EQ prez responded a little smugly, "well, you know, if he stays in nursery. Some kids don't like it, and end up staying with the parents."

Fast forward to a few weeks later... I'm taking Jack to nursery for the first time, and so I ask the teacher if I could stay for awhile. I figured Jack might at least put on a show and cling to my leg for a COUPLE of minutes. Nope, the second I put Jack down he was off and running to the toys, playing with the duplos and car garage, talking to the other kids, and completely ignoring me! Honestly he couldn't have cared less where I was. I actually ended up with another kid in my lap while Jack played with a 3 year old. (At this, he did kind of give me a weird look, as if to say, "Hey kid, that's my spot!") After about 45 minutes of this, I told the nursery leader I might as well leave and enjoy the rest of church. Jack watched me leave the room, and I thought that this might make him cry because he DOES NOT like to see people leave. No, no, he doesn't care. Just goes on playing. After church, Daddy picks Jack up and tells me that he found him sitting on top of the table, taking the crayons out of the bucket and putting them back in the bucket. That sounds about right.

Well, I am thrilled that Jack is so social and happy. And I am especially happy to be able to sit through the last 2 hours of church without him, able to actually listen and participate! At least until the next kid comes around...as my mom happily pointed out to me.

Pictures, Galore!

2009-11-10T14:16:00.013-06:00

Over a month ago we moved into our new home....and it has taken me way too long to post pictures! Sadly I didn't take any "before" pictures, so I'll just tell you what the walls looked like pre-painting. Enjoy.

Jack's room. I LOVE his stripes, and the photos really don't do them justice. Sigh. Anyways, every single wall in his room was a greenish brown color. ICK. So we did this feature wall with chocolate brown, royal blue, and this awesome green (which isn't translating in the picture).

The other walls were painted a white. Sorry I don't remember the cheesy paint name for the color, but they're white!

Jack's bathroom- I thought the monkey shower curtain was appropriate for a toddler! This room was a dark blue before, and it just made the room feel even smaller. So I chose an aqua, which brightened it up.

Second bedroom, currently used as an office. This was by far the most drastic improvement. The entire bedroom was covered in bubble-gum pink, Yuck. It is now silver-gray. This silver is used in the dining room and our bedroom because we loved it so much.

The two below pics are of the entry, but I couldn't get a good shot in just 1 picture. I love the alcove here. Oh yeah, this was a green entry before. It's now a pink-white, which was supposed to have darker stripes to contrast....but that didn't happen. Oh well, a future project, right?

One thing that sold me about this house was its beautiful entryway, and how it uses arches to lead to different parts of the house. We chose to paint them red- they were just white before.

The kitchen, duh. I fell in love with the layout. Because it's open, Jack loves to run a loop around the kitchen, living room, and hallway. What a cutie.

We only painted the arch. We were too tired and beat-down to paint the kitchen!

The dining room. We did a lot here. Before it was white, with the window seat painted an orange-red. We painted the bottom walls/window seat a deeper red, and the top walls silver. We also did the chair rail ourselves, amazingly. Actually, it was pretty easy.

Our living room, we just painted the wall behind the fireplace a chocolate brown. Before it was a purple color.

Master bedroom, featuring the silver again. This wall was previously the icky greenish-brown color.

Normally, I wouldn't have put a pic of our bath on here, but let the record show that it was a dark green before. Now it's a sky-blue and it feels much, much lighter now.

Lastly, my favorite 2 men enjoying the back yard. Love it.

That concludes our tour for today. Thanks for stopping by!

A Day in the Life...

2009-11-02T14:23:00.009-06:00

While not each of these pics were taken on the same day, they show the latest adventures of our growing boy. In one week he'll turn 18 months old! He is continually learning new tricks, which never fail to entertain his captive audience.

Has anyone seen my shoes? Of course!- in the kitchen sink- where else would they be?

On our way to a party: (from left) angel, pirate, and Magnum P.I.

Captain Jack!

Swinging pirate

Here Jack's placing his little trucks on his big truck. He had such intense focus while doing this, I had to capture it on film!

Like father, like son. Jack helping Daddy play video games.

Ahhhhh, I LOVE this picture! My cuddly boy snuggling Mommy.

Mommy's Little- BIG helper

2009-10-14T12:50:00.005-05:00

You see this little boy to the left? He is learning all sorts of new skills lately, (including brushing his teeth.)

In addition to this, Jack has become a great helper. He loves to help me clean- it's so cute! He LOVES the broom and dustpan and follows me around helping me sweep. He also picks up crumbs off the floor and throws them in the trash. Perhaps the cutest thing he does is when he takes a dish-rag, wipes the floor with it, and then shakes it over the trash can!! How adorable is that?! He's also learning laundry skills by handing me the laundry to throw in the washer (in addition to a few toys as well). He's great at throwing things in the dryer- mostly non-laundry items. And lastly, he loves closing doors. After seeing me and Jon constantly closing doors to keep Jack out of rooms, Jack thinks it's normal to close every single door. If he sees an open door he runs to slam it shut. I never realized how observant this little boy is. He studies you to learn how to do tasks, and then puts his new-found knowledge to work! I'm a little concerned that he's eagerly watching how I open the pull-out freezer drawer. I just know I'm going to find frozen peas scattered across the kitchen floor soon. In the meantime I'm enjoying my little-Big helper.

PAINT!

2009-09-27T09:55:00.004-05:00

We are officially homeowners. Gulp. In an ambitious attempt to make our new house into our home, we have launched a full-scale painting project. We're able to do this because we're not moving for another week, so luckily we can make the house a mess and not worry about living in it. Anyways, Jon and I accomplished a lot over the weekend and the place is starting to look like ours! I'll post pictures when we're all done. But for a preview--we've changed one bedroom from a suffocating bubble-gum pink to a soothing silver, and we've mastered the art of the miter saw. We cut wood for a chair rail in the dining room, and I love saying that I used a compound miter saw! How cool is that? (Especially considering that when I rented it from Home Depot I asked the guy if it came with instructions.)

I just realized that sadly, I did not take "before" pictures of the rooms we've worked on. But I'll start doing that for the next rooms. One negative effect of painting? You are covered with paint, head-to-toe afterwards...even after showering, you find unexpected paint splotches on your skin. You can never get rid of it! I am just imagining the looks I'll get at church when people catch a glimpse of my brown and biege nails.

Did I forget to mention...?

2009-09-19T14:35:00.000-05:00

In just a few days we will be closing on our first house! We are ecstatic and can't wait to get settled into our new home. There are so many little details involved in moving that it's starting to get stressful. I've spent the last few weeks calling to switch utilities, cable, water, insurance to the new house. Not to mention the organizing and packing. Oh, how I despise packing! And sadly I realized-- (much to Jon's pleasure) that I need to get rid of some of my books. *sigh* Since I majored in history in college/post-grad, I have TONS of history books. And I LOVE them! I don't even read them anymore, but they're mine and I'm freakishly possessive of them. Do ya'll have any psycho possessive tendencies like that?! So anyways, I just sorted through them and am going to try to get some cash from Half Price Books later. No doubt Jon will protest I kept too many books, but I've got to have my European history books, and those T-H-I-C-K Norton Anthologies of Shakespeare/English Literature (which weigh 5lbs each), and my WWII/Nazi Germany collection, and my Harry Potter collection, and all 4 Twilight books....those are deal-breakers.

Enough of that tirade. To sum-up, we're moving in 2 weeks and are thrilled. Anyone willing to join us in a paint/pizza party, give me a call!

Slurrrrrp, slurp!

2009-09-11T13:03:00.003-05:00

The other night I made chicken stir-fry with noodles. It was Jack's first time to eat it, and honestly, I figured I'd be sweeping it off the floor and walls! Imagine my excitement (and relief) when he cheerfully slurped down the noodles. I guess noodle-slurping comes instinctually to kids, who knew? Check out his noodle slurp-fest below...(the last second of the video is the best slurp).

Tire Swing

2009-09-06T09:15:00.003-05:00

Here's Jack on the tire swing. He held on like a champ, just chillin' out on a nice summer day. I love his smile...

The perfect chute

2009-09-04T20:06:00.004-05:00

I love this park! This slide is perfect for young toddlers. It's a half-pipe, so you can let go of your kid at the very top, without having to worry about them going over the side. Jack really enjoyed the slide and kept going back to it over and over and OVER again. When we walked back to the car, he refused to get in and tried to escape back to the slide! Too cute.

The Tee-ball Tot

2009-09-03T14:06:00.004-05:00

Here Jack is playing tee-ball with one of his birthday presents from my friend Jill. Lately Jack is very into balls- throwing and rolling them.

This is actually from a month or so ago, but I'm lazy in posting videos... To catch-up on my recent lack of photos and videos there will be a new video/photo posted each day for the next week! Aren't you lucky?!