Jack was feeling better ...

... so Jim put the boy to work washing his police cruiser.

On The Mend

Well it seems that Jack is finally on the mend. Yesterday was pretty hard on the little guy. He kept battling a fever all day. As I would give him tylenol every few hours, you could see the effects kick in because he suddenly would be up and playing with his trains about 30 minutes after I gave him the medicine. But after about an hour or so of playing, he would be back on the couch feeling horrible again.

I took him to the doctor yesterday afternoon. He took one look in Jack's mouth and said the word that I have come to hate - "Strep". As he went off to test the swab for strep, I had visions of dousing the house in rubbing alcohol and disinfectant all over again. I still remember very painfully two years ago when Jack, Laura, and myself all came down with strep throat at the same time. Jim and his super immunity stayed clean. It was also how we got our second cat, Sammy, that Jim found on the side of the road when he went to get medicine for all of us. I was too sick to protest keeping the cat. So, yes, I hate that word now.

Thank goodness, it came back negative. But he did have a very red and inflamed throat and raspy cough. So he is sick with just some bug he caught somewhere. I did a very stupid thing after the doctor's yesterday. The doctor told me that I could give Jack some ice cream or smoothies to help numb his throat. So we stopped at Smoothie King and we both got some smoothies and went home. We were home about 30 minutes and he was laying in the chair and bam, he threw up all over the chair. Strawberry, very pink, smoothie (can you say stain). So I rushed him to the bathroom where he proceeded to throw up some more in the toilet. As I stood there watching him, he seemed like an old pro at throwing up into the toilet, even though this was his first time doing the deed. Poor thing.

But he is doing better today. He managed to sleep the entire night without a fever coming back. And that means I got to sleep the entire night also. I tell ya, I am tooo old to do that middle of the night thing anymore.

It looks like another day at home for us. It is driving me crazy because I have been cooped up in this house since Sunday afternoon, except for the hour trip to the doctor yesterday. I need out! Maybe today, I can get out into the backyard a bit. Jack is not quite so clingy today and needing me to hold him like the last two days. I hate to say this, but I missed my energetic, non-stop little boy. I mean you can watch the same Thomas video just so many times before you go legally insane.

On a sad sidenote, I just wanted to let my family know that I am thinking of them today as they have to bury my Uncle Bill today. He died on Sunday at the age of 78. That makes my father the last surviving sibling from his family, even though he was the oldest. In remembrance to Uncle Bill.

Three AM Sickies

It is 3 am on Tuesday morning and we in the Jackaroo house are all up. The reason for that is because a certain three-year-old is sick. He is quite sick. I was awoken to the sounds of coughing and then gagging and then the ever so lovely sound of puking, which followed by the sound of "MAAAMMMMMAAAA". So after taking the child's temp and finding out it is 103.9, I came to the conclusion that he is a lot sick. I see a trip to the doctor in our future today. Right now he has been filled up with tylenol and is laying on the couch watching the Thomas video AGAIN. How is it that kids can watch the same thing over and over again? And if I dare put another video on, the screaming that ensues can be heard in Alabama.

I guess I better go make coffee. It is going to be a long day. And Jim is working and won't be home for another four hours. Gotta love days like this.

Weekend Fun ... Monday Sickies

On Saturday we took a little excursion to Dauphin Island, Alabama that is right off the coast of Mobile. It was very pretty over there and we had a fun time. It was also fun looking at all the houses where the rich people get to live right on the water. But then there is the threat of hurricanes and such, so I think I will keep my 8 mile inland house, thank you very much. But it was a fun day.

Jack and Daddy playing on a boat on the island.

We went to the little aquarium on the island. Jack enjoyed looking at the fishies.

Pretty picture of the island and the bridge connecting the island to the mainland.


It was a bit chilly that day with the wind whipping around.

Because this is the south and the civil war is still very much alive around here, there is a huge civil war fort on the island. And also because my husband is THE biggest history freak ever, we had to go see the fort. Actually, I have to admit, that it was pretty interesting, despite my lack of enthusiasm.

Daddy and Jack by the cool cannon.

This was a neat tunnel going inside the fort.

But then yesterday, Jack came down with some yicky crud of some sort. He has been fighting a fever all day today and it has spiked up to 103 at times. He also has a bad cough. So no school for him today. He got to stay home and lay on the couch and watch Thomas videos over and over. I know he is sick because he is very content to just lay on the couch and not do anything. Nothing like what he normally is like. I hope it gets better in the next couple of days because he was VERY disappointed to miss school today. Hopefully he can get back to school on Wednesday. We shall see.

Fishing Pictures

Here are a few pictures that were taken yesterday during the fishing trip.

Jack and Daddy with the fish that Jack himself caught.

My little fisherman.

Jack on the phone talking to his Aunt Ann just before the fishing trip. This kid absolutely loves to talk on the phone.

Blissful

Our brother-in-law and his brother have been spending the last few days with us. They are basically using our house as a pit stop while they do some marathon fishing on the coast. These are like really die-hard fisherman, I tell ya. They have been fishing until 2:30 in the morning for the last two nights. I don't understand it at all. There is absolutely no lure (hehe get it) for me to fish. Period.

However, I have a husband and a son who love to fish as well. And today, they both went off fishing at the pier on the beach. And in one word it was Blisful! They have been gone 6 hours now and I have loved every single minute of my alone time. I got some laundry done. I took a nap. I finished painting my hallway. And now I get to relax and blog and maybe go read a book. All. By. Myself.!!! Love it.

I did talk to Jack about an hour ago when I called them to see how it was all going. And Jack was missing me. Awwwww. He said that he was having fun, but he was "too far away." When I asked him too far away from what? He said "from my house". He then said he missed me. Awwww. And now after my day of alone time, I am ready to see my boys again. Well maybe after they shower and get that icky stinky fish smell off. Yuck. Did I say that I hate fishing?

Enjoying The Sunshine

Some pictures I took yesterday when Jack and I were out enjoying the sunshine and warm. Not hard to do with 80 degrees and sunshine both yesterday and today.

Spring Forward

It sounds like such a lovely thing to do huh? Spring forward. I have images of running through the tulips "springing forward". But not so lovely is it huh?

I hate this whole time change thing. People, you just took an hour away from me. Do you not know how precious time is and you just zapped an hour away. Do you not know how hard it is to have a three-year-old adjust to a new time? And the amount of grumpiness happens because of the loss of that one hour? Do you know the fights that ensue because kids do not want to go to bed when it is still light out? Don't you know that is what I use to get the boy to go to bed at times, even if it is only 7pm? "Look it is dark outside. The moon is out. You need to go to bed." Sigh.

I think my husband is the only one happy about the time change last night. Instead of his 12 hour shift, he only had to work 11 hours last night.

New Look

As you can see, I have again changed the look here at the Jackaroo World. I have been really wanting to sit down and change it up, but the time thing with the toddler thing with the projects-to-do-around-the-house thing just has made it difficult to do. But yesterday while the child watched the Thomas video for the 9 millionth time, I worked on my blog.

I added some pictures over on the sidebar. The first is a picture of a sunrise also known as dawn. Hehe my name is Dawn. Get it. Hehe.

The other pictures are stuff that are important to me. The first is coffee. I think I have explained my love of the dark liquid. Yeah I like coffee. In fact, I think I need to go get a cup right now. Be right back.

Alright back. Thanks for waiting. Ahhhh. Yummy. Anyway, the next picture is books. And well my love for books is right up there with my love for coffee. You can just imagine my high that I get when I walk into a Barnes and Noble. Whoever came up with the idea of putting Starbucks together with B&N, I just have one word. Genius. Pure Genius. So yeah, I love books. Any books. I love to just be surrounded with them. I love the thrill of opening a book to find out what adventure or knowledge is inside. Ahhhh. Love em.

The next picture down is a magnolia flower that comes from the magnolia tree. It is the state flower of Mississippi. We had a pathetic little magnolia tree planted in our yard in California that I am pretty sure the new owners tore down. Jim planted it to remind himself of Mississippi and I now understand why he did that. While I have only been here a few months, I have come to love Mississippi. It is beautiful. You have the beautiful coast with the white sandy beaches down here. But you also have the beautiful country up north with the green trees and rivers and lakes. So I guess I am little bit Mississippi now.

And the last picture is a picture of an abbey in Kilmore, Ireland. It is located in County Wexford on the southern tip of Ireland. It is a fishing village mostly with a lot of tourism today. And it is also where my ancestors come from on my father's side. It is where my grandmother's father was born (I guess that would make him my great grandfather) and emigrated to the US in 1849. My great grandfather was the baby of the family that emigrated to the US and somehow found their way to Marshall, Michigan to settle. It has been fun journey researching the ancestory with my father. So I had to put that picture up there also.

So a little bit of me on the website dedicated to my little guy, Jackaroo.

Where did that come from?

This morning was "get some projects done around the house time" for Jim and I. He was outside with the chain saw trimming the really ugly tree in our backyard and doing other yard type projects. I was inside painting the hallway that has been screaming at me to paint for six months. So yes, finally we were getting stuff done that needed to be done.

During this time, Jack kept running between Daddy outside with the really cool chain saw and other assortment of cool tools and me inside with the irresistible paint, brushes and roller. Everytime Jack came inside the house to see what I was doing, I would "encourage" him to go see what Daddy was doing in the backyard. Because, lets face it, three-year-olds and painting just do not mix. Period.

But after about an hour or so of Jack going back and forth between Jim and I, he got a bit tired of doing that and decided that he needed to "help" me with the painting. Oh joy. So I had him to retrieve stuff for me in hopes of keeping him out of the paint. But soon enough, he was reaching for the brush to "help Mama". I told him in a maybe too stern of a voice that he could not help me. It was just a "Mama job". At this point, being the emotional toddler that he is, decided to go running into the family room and throw himself into the chair, exclaiming "YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT ME"!!!! Now where in the world did he get that from? I didn't even know that he knew the phrase, let alone use on me. And why did he feel the need to use it? Oh Lordy am I going to have a drama boy on my hands?

Of course, I dropped the roller and went to him and hugged him and told him that I did care about him very much. And then made going outside to be with Daddy while he was fertilizing the lawn would be so much fun. Hehe.

Big News

Well it looks like I am going to be having a baby around September!!!! Now that I caught your attention, it will be a part-time baby and definitely not mine. I am going to be taking care of our Pastor and his wife's new baby when she goes back to her nursing job. They are expecting a baby boy at the end of July and will be needing childcare for only two days a week. She works three days (12 hour shifts) at the hospital and her husband is going to take care of the baby one day. So I piped up and said that I could take him the other two days. When I first offered my services, I was mentally kicking myself. What am I going to do with a baby two days a week? Yikes. That is a lot of work. But now I have to say that I am a little bit looking forward to the experience. It will be fun to have a little baby around again and this time I get to give him back to his Dad for the night! HA! And I can sleep in peace. Good arrangement.

The other big news is news that I am kinda reluctant to even share because it has been known in the blogging world that once you say something about your child achieving something, it comes back to bite ya in the butt. But I am going to go out on the limb and say this. I do believe that Jack is daytime potty trained!!!! That doesn't mean we don't have the occasional accident and he does seem to freak out a bit about the pooping thing, but he knows what he is supposed to do and when he is supposed to do it. He has been staying in his big-boy underwear all day and staying dry for the most part. The key is that I have to make sure the kid goes to the bathroom at least every couple of hours or we are needing a change of clothes, which I carry with me at all times. I talked to his teacher and told her that I was thinking of sending him to school in underwear since he has stayed dry in his pull ups for the last week and she told me to go ahead. So we shall see how that goes next week with underwear at school.

So long story short, I think he is potty trained enough to semi-trust him in his underwear all the time during the day. Of course there is the issue with naps, but since he so rarely actually takes naps, it is a non-issue unfortunately. The problem is that when he does take a nap, it usually is the kind where he just kinda passes out from shear exhaustion and I don't have time to change him into a pull-up, which ends up very messy in the end. And lots of laundry.

The next thing is to get rid of that nasty nasty diaper champ. Yuck. I think that since we are down to one or two pullups a day, it will be going out of his room in the next few days. Of course, come September, I will need it again with that new baby boy coming into our house two days a week.

Weighty Issues

I added a new ticker up there. The one counting down the weight loss that I NEED to do. I started in January on Weight Watchers and as of my weigh in yesterday, I have now lost 10lbs officially. The last few weeks I have not been so good on the diet. There was the trip back to Michigan and then Jack's birthday with the tons of birthday cake (really good cake thanks to Walmart) and tons of pizza left over from the party. But now back on track.

I have to say that I have probably lost in my lifetime a total of 100lbs. But I have gained 130 lbs. Not good math there. This time is the absolute slowest I have ever lost weight. "They" say that it good and that is the way to do it because it will stay off that way. However, it is frustrating. I at least wanted to get down to my pre-pregnancy weight (yes where I was FOUR years ago) before Jack's birthday, but that is another 13 lbs away. So now I am making that a goal before my birthday. The one where my age will start with a 4 and not a 3. I know that this is a long-haul type thing and I am in it for the long haul. Just wish the long haul would go faster ya know.

Stuff and Thoughts

** We are coming down from the 3-day celebration that was known as Jack's birthday. Between the birthday party on Saturday night and his cupcake party at school yesterday, I do believe the kid had a good birthday.

** I need to get the thank you notes out. I should do that today. I really should.

** I need to call the health insurance company that we finally are on after Jim switched jobs. Hate dealing with that kind of stuff. But all they gave us was the prescription card, no other information regarding doctors, what is covered, or anything. Hate doing that stuff. Hate it. I should do that today. I really should.

** I have been trying to figure out what to do with the boy today. We might go to the Discovery Center or to the library story time or to the train store (Barnes and Nobel), or just to the cool toddler playland area at Chik-a-filet. Who knows.

** If it were up to me, I would stay home and clean my filthy house and do some more painting since the hallway and dining room still need to be painted. But having a certain 3-year-old around makes those jobs downright difficult or impossible.

** I also need to do our taxes. Ugh. Even though I am pretty sure we will be getting a good refund, I just haven't gotten up the courage to do them, nor the time. Again, the 3-year-old issue gets in the way.

** Are we bad parents, if we didn't the boy anything for his birthday yet? I figure he got a ton of stuff at his party and he hasn't missed out on anything. Maybe we will go to the toy store today and let him pick out something. I was thinking of a t-ball setup. Ya know for the practice when those games start up soon. Or maybe the little piano that he sat down at the other day and started playing like a little expert. Even the lady in the store said he was a natural. But again, where are we going to put it?

** Alright, I really need to get into the shower so I can get going and do at least one of the things on my list. Oh yeah and Jack is asking me to "fix" the wheels on his trains with the imaginary screwdriver. I best be getting to that job too.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy - Year Three

Wow. Here you are three years old. I know I will say this a thousand times or more in my lifetime, but where has the time gone? Seriously, I can remember the day you were born like it was yesterday. You were so small and I was so totally unprepared to be a mother. But as they say, it has been a learning experience for both of us. And look at you now. Three years old. Again. Wow.

I first of all want to say that I admire you. I admire the way you look at life and other people. You go about your life without abandon. You love life. You are not afraid of living your life, but instead you jump into it with both feet. When you decide to do something, you do it with 100% conviction. Your grandfather made a comment about you, which I am convinced will be true. He said that you are a born leader. That people seem to look at you and will follow you, be it on the playground today or in the world that you make for yourself tomorrow. Yet, you do all these things with a tender heart and a love inside you for your fellow people. For that, I admire you and want to be just like you Jack.

Family is very important to you. It is important that you know where all your family is at any given time, and this includes aunts, uncles, and grammies and papa. You have learned how to talk on the phone this past year and boy do you love to talk to all of your family. In fact, you often times make your father or I call somebody just so you can "check in" with them and you end up talking to them for quite a long time. I love how you answer "I am doing pretty good" when they ask you how you are.

This past year has been quite an adjustment for all of us. We moved to Mississippi when you were 2 1/2 from California. It means that we are now living in your third house of your short life. I promise, we won't move again for a long time (hopefully) if I have anything to say about it. But, I just have to say that I am so proud of the way you handled the transistion. I could tell when it dawned on you that were not going to be going back to your house in California. We were driving to Mississippi and you were in the van with me and the four animals, while Daddy was ahead of us in his car. I think we were somewhere in Texas and all of a sudden you wanted to go to "your house now". I told you that we were going to our new house and I looked back at you in the rear-view mirror and I could see your face getting totally flushed red and you started to cry. You realized that we were not going to see our house nor your old room ever again. But after about 10 minutes of crying, you calmed down and I watched you start to get excited about the new adventure we were on. In a short time, we were both talking about your new room in our new house and you were all set for the change that was coming up. I hope you are able to take this sense of wonder and excitement with you throughout your life. I wish that I were a little more like you and able to move forward with the awe of change.

You started to go to preschool this year and it was the best thing for you because you absolutely love school. You only go two days a week right now for three hours each day, but during those 6 hours a week, you are in your own world. A world without me. A world with your own friends and your own schedule each day and your favorite teacher Ms. Kelsey. You have a new best friend, Kyle and I just have to say you guys are adorable together. I love how you are so caring to him and so willing to share your toys with your friend. And each morning when you guys see each other, there are many smiles and big hugs amongst you. I love seeing that side of you. The social side. The side that is so free to care about other people and not be shy to show it. You are so completely different than me in that regard, because I was so shy when I was younger, I barely even functioned in public. And even now, I am not as free as you are when it comes to interacting with other people. Again, I admire you in so many ways.

I see you growing up so fast, but I love what I am watching. I love watching you grow into a caring young man that I know you will be. I love having you as my son. I love having the responsibilty to raise a good and decent man. I just hope that I can look at you when you are 21 and be even prouder of you and admire you that much more. But for now, I am just the luckiest Mama in the entire world because I have YOU as my Baby Boy. Even if you don't like me to call you Baby Boy any more.

Love,
Mama

PARTY TIME!!!!

Well we had Jack's third birthday party tonight. I can safely say that it was a success. It was held at an indoor playland where the kids could just run around and burn off the sugar from the cake. Most of the kids from Jack's class were there, as well as all the family. Jack had an absolute ball running around with his friends, so much in fact, that he didn't even want to stop from running around to open presents!

Jack and his friends Kyle, Seth, Kamden, Nick, Jay, and Will. Yes all boys, no girls were at the party.

I have no idea how Jack got dressed up in this outfit, but I saw him walking around with it on and just had to snap the picture. He was playing chef in the kitchen.

Do ya think he enjoyed his cake?

More toys! Yay!

The aftermath. I had to carry him in from the car because he passed out on the way home. I think he will sleep good tonight. And me for that matter. In fact, I just might sleep in tomorrow morning ... all the way until 7 am. Wow!

I will probably post more pictures when I get them from Jennifer, Kyle's mom. She is such a great photographer and she promised me she would send me what she took. But all in all, the boy had a pretty great party.

Only Five More Hours ...

till bedtime if I am lucky. It is one big lazy inside the house kinda day here today. It is raining. A lot. In fact, the rain is going sideways. It is thundering. It is lightening. The wind is going about 200 mph (give or take). The little lake (pond) behind us has white caps. There was something on the tv about a tornado watch. Yeah. The weather is bad.

So that means it is just me and Jack all day and night here by ourselves. With the trains, trucks, tractors, and cars. With the Thomas video we have watched now twice. And the Garfield movie that is playing right now. How many times can you watch Thomas before going insane? Just wondering.

Jim is at the academy today doing a refresher course and then he has to come home in a couple of hours and change and head out for work for the night. I know that he is going to be tired and it will be a long night with this weather the way it is. But, it is going to be a very long night until bedtime here. Okay, back to playing trains. Choo choooooo.

Potty Training ... Update

I haven't had a whole lot to write about these days. It has been same old same old here in the Jackaroo World. He still doesn't seem to need as much sleep as the rest of us human beings... namely me. Most days he goes full steam from 6 am until about 8:30 pm without stopping much. How he does it, I will never know. I keep trying to come up with stuff to do that might wear him out enough to just sit, but haven't found much that will do that. A day of school, playing, an hour walking, and another hour riding his bike doesn't seem to phase the kid. Man do I feel sorry for his Pre-K teacher when he is 4 years old and getting him to take the required nap everyday. Maybe I should warn her?

The other big thing going on is the potty training, otherwise known as "The Major Frustration" in our house. Somedays I think he is about 75% daytime trained, then there comes days like yesterday where he just didn't seem to care that he peed in his underwear 3 times. I have started to venture out of the house with him wearing underwear with a little bit of success. The other day we were gone for about 4 hours and he stayed dry the entire time and went to the bathroom at Barnes and Noble. And yes, I bribed the kid with the Salty train that I bought him that day. It was pretty funny watching him trying to decide which train he wanted. It came down to Diesel and Salty and I swear he took 10 minutes trying to decide. Important things these trains are to the boy. However, I do know that I am going to go bankrupt getting this kid potty trained.

I just have to remember that he will get it and it will be another milestone that he passed, just like crawling and walking and talking. Just those things were fun to watch him learn. Going potty in his underwear and the subsequent clean up is not so much fun. Sigh.

SEVEN Days!

Have ya'll seen the ticker above? The one counting down to Jack's third birthday? The one that says it is SEVEN days away? Oh my gosh! How did it come up so fast? We do have plans this weekend for his big birthday party at the indoor playland. We invited the entire family (clan) and all of his class and a neighbor. If everybody shows up, I am thinking we will have over 30 big and small people. We are going with the Tonka truck theme. So I ordered this birthday cake. I also bought the yellow hard hats for all the kids and party favors for the goody bags. We still have a ton of candy left over from halloween, so I will dipping into that to help fill the goody bags. It should be fun and most of it is done, except for filling the goody bags and picking up the cake and pizza the day of the party.

Jack is sooooo excited about the party. It is fun to see him really understand the whole concept of a birthday this year. He even told somebody the other day that he was "almost three" when asked how old he was. He really does understand the year older thing.

I also signed him up for T-Ball starting in April. He is going to be on the same team as his friend Seth from his class. We went to the YMCA today after school to get all signed up and boy was he all jazzed about "playing baseball". I really can not wait to sit there watching him swing the bat and run around the bases. The first game is April 9th, so expect lots of T-Ball action pictures forthcoming.

I have to admit that I am thoroughly enjoying this age. While I do miss the baby stage a little, I am having so much fun looking at everything through his eyes and experiencing things for the first time all over again. Although, I just wish he would sleep a little more. The kid is wearing me out. Again, it was 10:30 last night before he went to sleep. I have given up trying to put him down at 8 because that is a joke. He is wide awake at that time. Now it is closer to 9 and still it doesn't happen. He ends up playing in his room. But the thing is, the kid is up at 6 am like clockwork! Oy! I think he is going to be one of those people who does not need a whole lot of sleep to function. Yay. Lucky me.

Sleep? What is that?

I think the travel day on Thursday made the boy really tired. Yesterday, he was really really needing a nap and went down about 1:30 in the afternoon. I thought it was early enough in the day that it would not affect his sleep time at night. HA. Wrong. In fact, the boy slept three whole hours and did not wake up until almost 5 pm. I tried to wake him up several times before that, but to no avail. He just was not getting up period. At one point, I shook him a bit and he opened an eye, rolled over and muttered something about wanting to sleep. So I gave up.

When 8:00 came around last night, I really tried to get him to go to sleep. In fact, I really NEEDED him to go to sleep because I was fighting sleep myself at that time. Jim was working last night, so it was just half-asleep me and the very wide-awake boy. After bathtime, he ran around in circles all over the house for a good hour. Then he decided it was time to decorate the family room with every single train, car, truck, and tractor that he owns. He was going full steam until 10:30 last night! And I was sitting in the chair literally nodding off. Finally at 10:30, I was granted a reprieve and the boy fell asleep and then 30 seconds later, I was in my nice cushy bed.

Then 5:30 this morning, I hear "MAMA. MAMA Are You There?" I said to myself out loud, "he is sooo not awake". But sure enough, he was. He had gone poopies all over the bed and himself, which required a full change of clothes and sheets. Yay. Love that at 5:30 in the morning.

At 8:30, I RAN out of the house and left Jack and Jim alone so I could go to my bible study at the church. It was the first time in two weeks that I was away from the boy and I NEEDED the time. Thank you Jim for staying awake another couple of hours so I could do that. Now, I am not sure what we have in store for the day. We are supposed to be having some big rain storm today, so getting out of the house isn't very appealing to me. Who knows, we may end up at Barnes and Noble playing at the train store or something. Or the free petting zoo (Petsmart). Or it may just be a very long day of playing trains and cars and tractors. Sigh.

Back Home

The big reason Jack and I went to Michigan was because of Papa's big birthday. He turned 80 years old. He is quite a celebrity in town because he was the first baby born in the local hospital and thus a local hero and part of local history. Here is a link to the newspaper article about him. Of course you can't trust the media these days because they have my age wrong at 32 instead of almost 40 (gasp). Hehe I can take a wrong age that way any day.

We are very happy to have Papa still with us because if we were betting people, we would not have bet 25 years ago, he would still be with us at 80. He has 20% left of his heart after a massive heart attack, but he is still doing great and still able to get out in the snow and play with Jack. He even helped us build a snowman. Happy Birthday Papa!

We had the opportunity to tour a local fire station while in Michigan, thanks to my 2nd cousin Steve, who is a "real fireman". Oooohhh. WoW! He was so nice to us and we all got to ride on the big fire truck, even Grammy and Papa and Mama! Of course, Jack was all smiles while on the truck. Steve showed us all kinds of neat fireman gadgets that Jack just thought was the neatest things since trains!

Jack, the real fireman, putting on his mask and air tank. Yes, he was very thrilled.

Jack playing with the hoses, just like a real fireman.

Jack and Cousin Steve the Fireman looking at the thermal image camera, which by the the way, was totally cool.


We arrived back home last night. Of course, the plane was late leaving Grand Rapids, which meant we missed our flight out of Atlanta. In fact, as we were pulling up to the gate in Atlanta, I watched my Gulfport bound plane taxi away without me and Jack. So then we had to wait almost 3 hours in Atlanta, during which time, Jack and another little boy crawled all over the floor playing trains. Jack was absolutely filthy by the time we finally got home.

My husband, being the greatest husband in the world, cleaned the house from top to bottom. It was absolutely spotless when we walked through the door. However, Jack could not let it stay that clean for more than a few minutes. It is back to having trains, trucks, cars, and tractors strewn all over the place. But there was a few minutes there where it was clean. I can say that I DID have a clean house at one point in time.

More Michigan Fun

We are still in Michigan having all kinds of Michigan fun. Yesterday Jack had the opportunity to ride Papa's tractor and ride in the bucket. Kind of a full circle moment for me because I rode in that same tractor bucket as a kid many times myself and thought it was more fun than any Disney ride. Jack, of course, thought it was pretty cool also.

Jack also figured out the joys of sledding on snow. We went up and down the hill many many times. Of course, the going down part is lots of fun.

But there is always the proverbial "walk up the hill dragging your sled". Jack had quite the difficult time walking up the little hill beside the house. The snow was almost up to his butt. However, he was willing to do it over and over and over again.

SNOW!

Jack and I arrived in Michigan on Thursday. It was a balmy 15 degrees that day and I think Jack was a bit speechless for a few minutes after venturing out into the cold. However, the boy LOVES snow. Here are a few pictures of him playing in Grammy and Papa's yard.

Busy Days

Busy Busy Busy. That is the Jackaroo House.

Jack and I are going to be going to church this morning. This afternoon, we have to go to a three-year-old's birthday party (don't let me forget to wrap the gift!). Jack's friend, Seth, from school is having a big party. I guess it is going to be a double party. His older brother, Josh, who turns 5 in the same week, is also having his party at the same time. Katie, their mother, is very brave to have all this commotion in her house!

And then an hour after the party ends, we have to be back to church for the new kid's program they are starting up. And yours truly has been recruited to help out with the toddler program! I really don't mind, since my kid will be one of the toddler's. It should be fun. But we shall see how I am after spending two hours at the birthday party and then another two hours with the church's toddlers. Yeah. Insane. Busy. Day!

On top of all this, I probably will not see my husband, except for about 10 minutes, until tomorrow night. He is supposed to be home from work in a couple of hours. He will come in the door, say hello to me and Jack, and then head off to bed until this afternoon. Then he will have to go back to work while Jack and I are at church for the kid's program. Then tomorrow morning, the poor thing will have to come home from work, change his clothes, and then drive an hour for a refresher police course at the police academy all day Monday. He will be back tomorrow night. Thank goodness he has Monday and Tuesday night off. I don't know how he does it!

So I hope ya'll have a good Sunday. See ya tomorrow!

Good Mood Jack

Jack was in a really good mood today. I have no idea what prompted this goodness in my child, but I have to admit that he was fun today. He did however, wake up at 4:30 calling me "Mama! Mama Do You Hear Me?" Yeah I heard him, I just wanted to roll over on my bed for a few more minutes/hours. But no, he was up and raring to go. Unlike most mornings, he was actually in a good mood and funny (he does NOT wake up well). He had me laughing when he told me that there "were fleas all over his room". I told him that you can't see fleas very well because they were so small and besides, I don't think we have any more (knock on wood). To this, he replied "The Dogs had them!" He was just a fun little Jack today from the start.

We went to the Discovery Center toddler program today. This usually starts out very bad for us because we have to pass by the BIGGEST train table ever to get to the toddler room. And as you can imagine, it promptly creates a whining, screaming fit because I won't let him play with the trains as soon as we get there, but instead make him go to the toddler program. Today there was NO fit! I was absolutely dumbfounded.

I wish I had my camera with me today because he was absolutely laugh-out-loud funny today. During this program, they have a lot of singing and dancing and story telling. Well today during the Freeze Dance (where you have to freeze when the music is shut off), he was shaking his little booty for all his worth. It was hilarious and I have to say, I was not the only one laughing my butt off at him. And when it came time to "freeze", he would yell "FREEZE" so loud, I would think they heard him in the parking lot. It was hilarious and I wish I had a video of him dancing.

And now with the early morning wake-up call and all the dancing the boy did, he is now granting me the luxury of taking a nap! Ahhhhh! Love days like these.

Sale!

Just thought I would let ya know that JcPenney is having an amazing sale right now. I went there today after I picked up Jack from school. I went primarly to check out the winter coats (as in they don't exist in South Mississippi I am finding out) and had to laugh at the 3 available. They were not winter enough coats to stand up to the Michigan cold where it was 10 below this morning. And why am I going there in the winter again? Oh yeah Papa's birthday. Why couldn't he be born in June?

Anyway since I was there and I am a huge sucker for the clearance racks (ya gotta be to live on a Cop's salary), I found some amazing deals. I picked up a new purse for $6.97 (originally $36) and then I bought 5 new shirts for Jack all in size 4. (Oh my gosh, he is going to be out of the Toddler sizes by next year since he is now wearing 4T.) The sum total I spent was $24!!! I thought I did pretty good.

However, Jack while standing in line for almost 20 minutes just to pay for the stuff was not pretty good. In that short amount of time, he managed to tear down a display full of towels (yes they all came tumbling to the floor and don't ask me how he did it, the boy is good and fast) AND he also managed to make the sign that read "Line forms here" go crashing to the floor. I came thiiiissss close to just dumping my load and walking out the door, but gosh darnit, I really wanted that new purse!

I'm Not Sure Which Is Worse

Jack took a nap this afternoon. The first in a very long time. He needed one. No, he NEEDED one is more like it. He was crying for no reason. In fact, I am pretty sure, if I told him that we were going out for ice cream, the boy would have thrown himself on the floor in a screaming and crying fit. Yeah he needed a nap. And he took a two-hour one.

Fast forward to now. It is 9:00 at night. I am tired. I want to go to bed. I have been up since 4:45 this morning. Jim is working tonight. The boy? Not so tired. Right now he is in his room reenacting rescue scenes with his fire truck. The one that goes "Tonka Rescue on the scene. Tonka rescue on the scene. Tonka rescue on the scene." The same one that goes HONK HONK. I hear him in there tearing off every last truck off the shelf and somewhere somehow "Thomas is in Trouble!" No, the boy is nowhere near going to sleep. And all this activity is with a Benadryl dose!

So which is worse? An incredibly grumpy and impossible toddler with no nap or a toddler who takes a nap but will not go to sleep at night? I am really not sure which is worse at this moment. Maybe I should make a pot of coffee??? I think it is going to be a long night. Sigh.

Ickies

Jack has been a bit sick these days. He isn't really bad, but he does have a persistent cough, especially at night, and very stuffed up. And look out when he sneezes! You don't want to be around for THAT. Ewwwwww. Of course, the cold weather has not helped at all. It has been below freezing here at night, which is cold from what I hear for this area. I know that my friends and family elsewhere in the country are way below what we are and I do feel for ya. I hate being cold. One of the main reasons I no longer live in Michigan.

We are leaving next week to go to Michigan for a week. Papa's big 80th birthday is coming up and Jack and I are going to help celebrate the big event. Jack is so excited about seeing snow that he keeps talking about it all the time now. He says he is going to build a snowman. We shall see how much building we are actually going to be doing with the chill index hovering around 20 below. BRRRRRRR. Yeah I hate the cold.

And now I have to stop blogging and start paying bills. Ick. Hmmm maybe I should go get one more cup of coffee before I start. Yeah that sounds good.

Back from The In-Laws

We went up to Grammy's and Aunt Ann's for the Super Bowl. Of course, it is a chance for Jack to get spoiled, fawned over, and become the center of attention for a few hours. In fact, Aunt Ann gets Jack going so much, that he was full-speed until 10:00 last night when the game ended. We spent the night at Grammy's house, where he did not want to go to bed. Between being totally wired and high on sugar and attention and the coughing from his cold, he did not get to sleep very easily last night.

Aunt Ann put on this HUGE superbowl feast. Seriously, the woman does not know how to scale back on the food. She could have invited the entire county to her party and fed them well. And every last morsel was fattening and way too good. Is it no wonder that I gained 10 pounds since moving here? I am happy to say that I have shed those pounds in the last month doing Weight Watchers, but now I need to shed another 50 or so. I just need to stay away from Aunt Ann's house because she is the devil with all her cooking.

Even though we were only gone for a day, it is always nice to get back home.

Plans

Today was going to be a very busy day. In fact, we had more activities to do than time to do them in. Jack and I were going to go with Kyle and his mother to the Biloxi Children's Mardi Gras parade this morning. We also could of gone to the Discovery Center with a mother's group that I have been wanting to join. This afternoon there was another parade near our neighborhood (yes they go overboard for Mardi Gras here). Just everything in the world was happening today, February 3rd.

And then Jack came down with a nasty cold or allergies. Lots of snot. Lots of red eyes. Lots of sneezing. Lots of complaining that his eyes hurt. And lots of Benadryl. So no parades or playgroups. Just at home today. In fact, I think I got him to take a nap. So that does mean that I get to take a nap today! It is turning into a good day :).

Fun In The Sun

Summer in Gulfport, Mississippi. It is hot. It is humid. It is miserable. I am not looking forward to the humidity. I am really not sure what is worse - the California heat of 110 + degrees (it was 114 the day we moved) or the Mississippi humidity of 90 degree heat with 5000% humidity. I am learning toward the humidity as being worse. We shall see.

I do have a couple of plans in force to beat the heat AND the boredom of having two kids with me ALL SUMMER LONG with NO SCHOOL. (I think I may become a proponent of year-long-school.) The first of these plans is the community swimming pool. It is a short walk away from our house. It is really not that big and I have a feeling that it will be crowded with having over 100 homes in this neighborhood and one small pool. But it is a way to cool off and it is free! Free is always good.

The second of these plans is not so free. It is the water park that is only 10 minutes away. It is a really cool (hehe get it cool) waterpark with all the slides, wave pool, toddler splash area, and my favorite - the lazy river where you just float down on an inner tube. And now we get to go all summer long as many times as we want! I just bought tickets for a season pass for all four of us. I figure if we go more than 3 times, it will pay for itself. I have a feeling that we just might be there more than three times a week!

Where? How?

According to the news, a mother in Cancun delivered a 14.5 baby boy. This is what he looks like next to an "average" 8lb baby:

I just have to ask WHERE did he fit? and HOW did he fit in there? And thank goodness for C-Sections because all I have to say is OUCH! The report also said that her previous baby was over 11 lbs! Jack was 7 lbs 3 oz when he was born 3 weeks early and I thought that he had taken up every last possible square inch in my uterus. I can not even imagine what this poor mother was going through nor the utter relief when he was taken out!