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!

Just Like Daddy and other stuff

Jack wants to be just like Daddy in so many ways. It has become a tradition in our house that Jack "shaves" with Daddy when Daddy is getting ready for work. Notice the concentration and technique.

Last Sunday Jack and Daddy dressing alike for church. From their blue shirts, khaki pants, ties, and even both had tie tacks on, to their ...

matching penny loafers. I bought Jim his pair for Christmas and we were at the outlet and saw an exact matching pair in Jack's size on sale 75% off. I couldn't resisit.

This one shows the true mischievous Jack. You can just see him contemplating something that is no good.

And this one shows my angel Jack. The child who started to pray with his little hands folded and everything when our Pastor was visiting us last night.

Here is Jack teaching Foo Foo how to use the big boy (or big dog?) potty.

Coffee Klatch

I went to coffee klatch today and it was so much fun!!! I didn't really plan it. After dropping Jack off at school today (where he proclaimed proudly that he is now using the potty), I decided to run over to my favorite internet cafe to grab a coffee and read a book. So there I was reading and drinking my non-fat, sugar-free vanilla latte, when Katie, another mother in Jack's class, walked in. She sat down in her very social buterfly way and started chit chatting. Now, everybody who knows me, knows that I am so not a social butterfly. In fact, I am pretty much in a coccoon until I get to know somebody or I meet another mother, then I blossom. But Katie, she is the butterfly of the preschool and she knows EVERYBODY.

So while we were sitting there, another woman carrying a very newborn baby walked in and of course Katie being who she is, invites her to sit down with us. And before I knew it, the entire two hours had disappeared along with my yummy latte. It was so much fun to just kick back and not worry about what errands needed running, or the house, or the laundry, or more importantly entertaining Jack. It was fun talking about mommy stuff or just women stuff in general. Katie and I gave Ashley, the new mom of an adorable 2-month-old baby girl, all kinds of advice. Like any new mom, Ashley was a bit overwhelemed with the whole thing. We reassured her it does get easier, but yet harder in different ways (potty training). And boy oh boy was my uterus contracting when I got to hold the little munchkin! I keep having to tell myself, no no no more pregnancies. Of course, I felt incredibly old when Ashley told us that she graduated HIGH SCHOOL in 2002! Oh my word, what a way to feel ancient.

Katie and I made plans to sign our boys up for T-ball starting in April. I can not wait to watch Jack out there with his little baseball helmet running the bases. Good grief WHERE did my baby go?

They're Everywhere!

You know how when you are pregnant, you suddenly start seeing fellow preggos everywhere. Well, I am not pregnant, but the preggos are popping out everywhere around me. Not only is blogland filled with them, but in my real life too. Just last week on the very same day, I had two friends tell me they were pregnant. One of them is a friend from California in my old playgroup. She had a miscarriage right before we moved and I am really happy for her.

The other preggo is my next door neighbor, Erin who is married to Ben. He is deployed right now to Guam, thank goodness not Iraq. But she went to visit him over Christmas and guess what happened. Yep. She was stunned to say the least. It was really funny because she and I were talking outside the day before while Jack ran around like a wild thing that he is and I told her "just wait your turn is coming." Ha! That night she peed on a stick. I guess it really is coming hehe. I feel really close to her, even though I have only known her for a few short months since we moved in. She went to the same small business college outside of Boston that I did, Bentley College. Of course I graduated in 1990 and she graduated in 2001 yielding even more proof to my advanced age.

But as I was talking to her about pregnancy and the joys and sorrows of being preggo, I got to thinking about Mrs. Flinger's post the other day (yes she is a preggo also). It was about the joy of motherhood, or more specifically the lack of joy a lot of days. I wanted to tell Erin that she has absolutely no idea how her life is going to change in September. I wanted to tell her that while being pregnant is so exciting and miserable, that when you hold your child the feelings you are going to feel are not what you think you will feel. I will tell her that the first month is pure hell with no sleep and many tears, both hers and the baby's. And that got me to thinking that motherhood is one huge roller coaster ride. The biggest and longest one of your life and will last till your last day on earth.

By George Again!

I have no idea what triggered in Jack's brain in the last 48 hours, but some light has come on in regard to potty usage. He stayed dry on the hour long car trip up to see Grammy and Aunt Ann for lunch, even with drinking a full sippy of milk on the way. And when we arrived at the restaurant, we went to the rest room where he proceeded to go potty in the toilet! He was a good boy all through lunch and then ASKED to go to the potty where he both pooped and peed!! Miracles do happen!

I just have to say that using the public toilets is a real pain. Or at least it is for us because the boy literally has to strip down naked from the waist down in order to go potty. The whole idea of just pulling the pants and pull up down half way is not good enough for Jack. No, we have to kick the shoes off, take pants and pull-up completely off and then we are ready to sit on the toilet. Not before.

Since we have been home, he has kept his underwear dry. But geesh that boy has a lot of pee! In the past 3 hours, I swear he has gone at least 5 times and all times he has half filled the little potty! No wonder we were going through diapers so fast! I really should have looked into stock for Pampers over the years.

So maybe, just maybe we can be potty trained by his third birthday. Or at least daytime trained and worry about the night time later. Yay! We are definitely on the right road and I can not wait to stop buying diapers!

By George I think he's got it

It is a miracle. Yesterday Jack stayed dry almost all day long! And went in the potty many times. In fact there was one time that I was standing in the kitchen and I see him run out of the kitchen yelling something that I couldn't quite understand. I thought it had something to do with a train or a truck. But no, he was yelling "I have to go potty!" and before I know it, he is in the family room (where his little potty now sits) and he had his big-boy underwear off and was sitting on the potty going peepee. Big time peepee because the potty was singing to him constantly for about 3 minutes (yes, we have the one that sings).

So yesterday when Jim took Jack out, they went by the train store (aka Barnes and Noble to you and me) and Jack brought home the James train. He was soooo proud. And Daddy even said that Jack went potty at the store! He stayed dry the entire time they were out. In fact there were no accidents at all until I put a pull up on him when we went for a walk. I didn't want to be a half mile away and suddenly the boy have a wet spot and have to walk back with that. And indeed there was an accident. But I do have to say that we might have turned a corner in the potty training department. Of course the weepy, sappy, emotional mother that I am is now mourning the loss of my baby once again.

We are going to be driving up to Hattiesburg to meet my MIL and SIL for lunch and maybe some antique shopping, we shall see how the hour drive and subsequent lunch time goes with the whole potty thing. I am not expecting much, but who knows, the kid might surprise me!

Reprieve and Long Weekends

I got a reprieve today. Jim took Jack out today to go get haircuts and do some guy things. I think those guy things involved going to the police station where Jim works to pick up something, which Jack loves because that is where the "police cars live". Even though we have a police car parked in our driveway every single day, the police station is ultra cool because there are many many police cars. And it is located across the street from the fire department where the "fire trucks live". How incredibly exciting is all that? Yeah. I know. Ooooooooooo.

But I got the afternoon to myself! Let's all say Hooray! I love these days. They come about once every two weeks where I can be alone. I can watch what I want to watch (no Thomas, no Sesame Street, no History Channel!). I can read in peace and no interuptions. Life is wonderful. And I deserve it because we are approaching "THE LONG WEEKEND" weekend. Every other weekend Jim works Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday night and sleeps pretty much when he's not working. So that makes for very very very long weekends with the boy. Him and me. Staring at each other expecting the other to do something to entertain us. It usually involves the showing of The Polar Express at least once. Yes, I know it is January. But it makes the boy happy.

So on the agenda this weekend might involve a Mardi Gras parade or two. People, did ya'll know that Mardi Gras happens this time a year? Because when I lived in California, I had absolutely no idea when or what Mardi Gras was. All I knew that a lot of people got drunk in New Orleans and showed a lot of boobs. But who knew that this entire area goes crazy??? I mean there are a few billion Mardi Gras beads for sale in Walmart! In Walmart people! Right there next to the cat food! And parades! Good grief, I think there are about 20 parades in the next 2 weeks within 20 miles of here. No you don't have to go to New Orleans and show your boobs there, it can be done in your own backyard here! From what I hear, that the parades here are very family oriented and no bare-chested anything happens here. But seriously who knew Mardi Gras was practically a major holiday here! Wait a minute, it IS a holiday here. The kid's are out of school for that week!

But the problem is with all the excitement in the air and all the parades and those 500 billion beads being sold by Walmart, I still do not know why it even exists! I think it has something to do with Lent and all that, but do people really need to show boobs?

So after all that, I might just eat up some time this weekend by standing in the cold catching Mardi Gras beads from floats going down Main Street. Weird.