To Jack...

To my sweet boy:

 

Today, you turn a year old.  I cannot believe a year has gone by.  There were moments when I thought the days would never end, but somehow the world still turned on its axis way too fast. 

 

I want you to know that I have loved you every second of every minute since the moment I first laid eyes on you.  I don't think that there are any words to describe the kind of love that a mother has for her child.  And I don't think that any mother could describe for me the way that I love you.  Simply put, I love you absolutely and completely.  There is nothing I would not do for you, and I vowed a year ago today that I would give my life to keep you safe.  Now that a year has passed, my resolve has only gotten stronger.  Still, I want you to learn to fall down and pick yourself back up.  I want you to learn that its okay to make mistakes.  And I want you to trust that I will always be there to pick you back up. 

 

You have brought so much joy into my life.  The minute that the doctor laid you in my arms, the world I knew simply slipped away and you became the anchor tying me down.  I never imagined I could love anything as much as I love you.  There is nothing that a smile from you can't cure.  The highlight of my day is walking into your bedroom each morning or picking you up from school in the afternoon.  You have a special smile that I'd like to think is reserved just for me.  When you wrap your arms around my neck, there is nothing else in the world that matters. 

 

I love watching the world through your eyes.  There are new things that you discover each and every day.  You are so curious - constantly exploring and discovering how things work.  Things that never held any interest for me are suddenly new and exciting.  I hope you never lose the sense of wonder you have about this world.  I hope you always remain curious.   

 

I think a lot about the person you will grow up and become one day.  Whatever path you choose, it's going to be alright with me.  But, I want you to be kind to others you meet.  I want you to live your life with passion.  I want you to work hard at whatever vocation you choose.  But most of all, I want you to still need your mommy's hugs and kisses.  Because she'll always need yours.   

 

Happy birthday to the most perfect soul on this planet.  I loved you then, I love you now, and I will love you always...

 

Love,

 

Mom

 

 

Turkey Day...

I've been noticeably absent the past few weeks, I know. 

 

But, we've been busy.  Tomorrow, my amazing little man will turn a year old.  In some ways, his birth seems like a lifetime ago, but I still can't believe how quickly this past year has gone.  I can't remember my life without Jack.  I had coffee with a girlfriend a few weekends ago, and I commented that I don't remember what I did with my spare time before I had Jack.  I'm sure I did something, but I could not tell you what it was that I did.

 

Anyways, life at home is busy, crazy, and incredibly satisfying.  There is nothing I love more than picking Jack up from school, bringing him home, and playing with him.  Blue loves it too.  He's been with us just a little less than a month, and that little dog has worked his way into our family quite nicely.  I think it really helps that he and Jack get along so well together.  I'm still hit with incredible pangs of guilt though, thinking about my Maverick.  I still miss him and I'm sure I always will.  But, the other night, Jack walked over to Blue and took a bone right out of his mouth.  For a moment, I just froze, thinking Blue was about to attack.  But, it didn't happen and Blue just looked at Jack like he couldn't have cared less.  And then I breathed a huge sigh of relief. 

 

For Thanksgiving this year, we celebrated early with my family.  On Monday, we all got on an airplane and flew to Las Vegas (or Lost Wages, if you're talking to Grandpa Bob) to visit with Jeff's grandparents.  Unfortunately, I got sick about fifteen minutes into our flight and was down for the count for the next twenty-four hours.  So, while Jeff and I had planned on having some fun in Vegas, I was confined to our hotel room.  Jack had a good time though...

 

 

I will just say this - Las Vegas is not a place for kids.  When we got off the plane, I went to the bathroom to change Jack's diaper - but there was no changing station.  When we got to the hotel, I rolled the stroller over to a chair in front of a slot machine to sit down (seeing as how I was going to pass out) and I was kicked out fifteen seconds later for having a kid in the casino.  There's also cigarette smoke everywhere, and Jeff and I were hurrying through the casinos as quickly as possible to minimize Jack's exposure to the second hand smoke.   

 

Jack did pretty well on the flight.  But, his sleeping schedule got royally messed up.  So, we were up at 2:30 in the morning with Jack.  He was raring to go, but his parents definitely needed more sleep.  So, finally, at about 4:30 in the morning, Jeff and I brought Jack into bed with us and he eventually went back to sleep.

 

When we got up on Tuesday morning, we hit the road early and headed with Grandma and Grandpa back to Arizona.  Jeff and I took Jack to the park for a bit that afternoon and then we got to have some homemade manicottis and meatballs for dinner.  Jack loved his great-grandma's meatballs.  We went to bed pretty early, since I was still feeling under the weather and we'd been up for a good portion of the previous night with Jack.  Unfortunately, I woke up with Jeff grabbing my arm at about midnight, which was followed by his sprint to the bathroom thirty seconds later.  So yes, Jeff caught the flu too. 

 

And he was down for the count on Wednesday. 

 

Still, on Wednesday, Grandpa Bob, Jack and I headed up to Oatman, a "cowboy" town in the Arizona mountains.  We drove along Route 66 for about an hour and the drive was simply stunning.

 

Oatman is an old mining town where donkeys roam free.  Grandpa, Jack and I had lunch in a bar up there, and we learned a lot about the history of the town.  Apparently, the donkeys were used in the mines and when the mines closed, the townspeople just turned the donkeys loose. 

 

 

The walls of the bar where we had lunch were covered with dollar bills.  The bar estimates that there is between $80,000.00 to $90,000.00, all in dollar bills, covering the walls.  Apparently, when the mines began paying their workers with paper money, it would get ruined in their pockets after a few hours of work.  So, the miners would head to the local bar, write their name on a dollar bill and tack it to the wall, representing their bar tab.  The bar keep would keep track of how many drinks the miners would consume at the end of their work shift and take the dollar down to pay the tab. 

 

 

Also, since the donkeys just hang out around the town, Grandpa Bob bought some carrots for us to feed the donkeys.  But, once the animals know you've got carrots, you've got a feeding frenzy on your hands!  Grandpa was so proud to push Jack in his stroller up and down the streets, but started to run interference for me when the donkeys started chasing after me for more carrots.  Grandpa also got bit on the butt by one particularly fresh donkey...

 

On Thursday, Grandma and I spent the majority of the morning cooking and getting things ready for Thanksgiving.  Jeff and I did take Jack to the park again, mostly so he could work up an appetite.  We had a really nice meal and afterwards, Jack and I went for a walk and watched the sunset in the desert...

 

The picture doesn't really do the scenery justice. 

Anyways, on Friday, it was time to head home.  We stopped off at the Hoover Dam for a bit, however I was getting scared of the height and Grandpa and Grandma were having a tough time walking around, so we didn't spend too much time there...only enough for a few picture opportunities...

When we got back to Minnesota, it had snowed, and boy, was it cold!  But, I was happy to be back, and even happier to get Jack back to his normal routine.  The kid just doesn't do well if you try and mess with his schedule.

 

The rest of the weekend was spent unpacking, getting ready for the week, putting up our Christmas decorations, and getting ready for Jack's birthday party this weekend.  I did a lot of cooking and a lot of laundry.  Both Blue and Jack love the Christmas tree - but they both REALLY love the Christmas ornaments.  Jack takes them off the tree, runs around the house with them, and then brings them back to me to put back on the tree.  Blue, on the other hand, takes them off the tree and hides them. 

 

Jeff's mom comes in from New Jersey tonight and I am so excited to see her, I can hardly stand it.  I've been talking about Grandma Terry coming to visit all week.  It's also going to be nice to have an extra set of hands around the house to help with Jack and help to get ready for the party.  We're having a lot of people over on Saturday, so it's going to be a full house.

 

Tomorrow, Grandma Terry and I are going to Jack's school for a little birthday celebration.  On Friday, we're going to go downtown to see the Christmas display at Macy's and then, hopefully, see Santa Claus.  I'm hoping Jack does well.  We've got his one-year photos on Saturday morning, and then everyone is going to start arriving for the party.  I don't think I've ever been this excited to celebrate someone's birthday - and that includes my own! 



Jack and Blue

Call them what you will...Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello, Tweedle-Dee & Tweedle-Dum, Frick and Frack...Jack and Blue are a comedy team. 

 

There are days that there's almost too much cuteness for one house to handle.  At this time last week, I was having serious doubts about our decision to bring a puppy into our already busy household, but over this past weekend, those have somewhat faded away.  Now, don't get me wrong - life is still completely crazy and I barely have time to sit down before I'm chasing after one of them, but it's so much fun.  Jack and Blue are like brothers, in some weird way. 

 

They've bonded over their love of Tupperware.  Jack likes to walk over to the cupboard, take out the Tupperware and throw it and bang it on the floor.  Blue likes to chew on it.  Both are fascinated with Blue's leash and they play tug of war together on the ground.  Or, Jack will take it away from Blue and run away - or Blue will take it away from Jack and try to hide.  So, they're finding their own kind of mischief to get into every single day. 

 

There are days when they fight like brothers too.  Blue is learning that he can't wrestle as aggressively with Jack as he wants to.  The other night, after Jack had gotten ready for bed, Blue kept pulling Jack backwards along the hardwood floors by his footie pajamas.  That was pretty funny to watch.  And then Jack will beat on Blue, pet him harder than he should, and will pull on his ears, feet, and tail.  They take toys away from each other too.  But, they're learning how to get along and play with each other. 

 

Last night, as I was giving Jack his bath, Blue was next to me in the bathroom, with his paws up on the tub, watching Jack intently as he splashed and played in the tub.  Jack couldn't stop smiling and every once and a while, he'd reach out his hand to pat Blue on the head.  After his bath, I sat Jack down on the mat to dry him off and Blue wrapped himself around Jack and stayed there.  When it's time to go check on Jack before I go to bed, I ask Blue if he wants to go see the baby, and Blue runs up the stairs with me to Jack's room, puts his paws up on the side of the crib and peers in at Jack. 

 

Talk about making your heart melt, huh?

 

 

So, we had a pretty busy weekend - Jeff had been on bed rest most of the weekend to try and get his neck feeling better before we travel to Arizona next week.  On Saturday, we had some friends come over to play with Blue.  Jack seemed to have a good time while he was awake, but Blue got tired pretty quickly and needed to nap.  We ran a few errands and then managed to get outside to play with the neighborhood kids in the afternoon.  Both boys had fun playing and chasing after all the kids.  My grandparents managed to stop by to meet Blue as well. 

 

Yesterday, Blue, Jack and I went over to my sister's house for a play date.  I also was able to do a few loads of laundry at her house since our washing machine is broken.  Afterwards, we came home and Jack had a quick nap and then we went to my friend Julie's house for "Friends-Giving."  So, nothing too exciting happened, but we were busy!

 

This week and week end will be insane - we've got to get ready for our trip to Arizona and we're celebrating Thanksgiving with my family on Saturday.  Before we know it, Jack will be turning one and then Christmas will be upon us...

 

Bring it on! 

Frogs and snals and puppy dog tails...

So, I'm finally getting around to writing an update.  And be prepared - I think this will be a long post since I've got a lot of ground to cover! 

 

First off, Jack celebrated his first Halloween.  It wasn't really that exciting - I don't think he really knew what was going on.  The day started off with a costume party at school.  I had to bring his costume to his school as a change of clothes.  Then, his teachers got all the kids dressed up, took pictures of them, did arts and crafts, and danced to some music.  However, if you ask me, the thought of changing eight little kids into their Halloween costumes sounds completely exhausting to me.  It's like getting all dressed up in your winter gear only to realize you need to pee...

 

Anyways, when Jack got home from school, we had dinner and an early bath.  He then got into his costume.  I opened up the front door and lit our Jack-o-Lanterns to let all the neighborhood kids know that we were open for business!  Jack had so much fun sitting in the front entryway watching all the kids come and ring the doorbell.  Nana and Papa came up too.  Papa and I took Jack around to a few houses in the neighborhood to "get some candy" and show off Jack in his costume.  He looked so cute.  Anyways, after we were done with that and returned home, Jack started having a melt down - too much stimulation, I think...so he went to bed.  My parents stayed around with me for a bit, and we ended up shutting the lights off a little before 8:00 that evening as we had run out of candy.  I bet we had about 100 kids, although I will admit to giving my favorite ones a few extra pieces... 

 

So, over the past ten days, Jack has had a lot of fluid coming out of his ears.  He's had a bad cold for a while and stuff has been just pouring out of his nose and his ears.  Last Friday, Jack's school called to tell me that his ears had really started draining and one of his ears had started bleeding.  That kind of scared me, so I went to pick him up and I took him to the ENT doctor.  He's just fine and the good news is that his tubes are working and doing what they're supposed to do - mainly drain all that gunk out!  But they had started to irritate his ears which made one of them bleed.  So, the doctor vacuumed out his ears (seriously) and gave us some ear drops.  He's doing much better than he was a week ago, but we can't go to swimming lessons until his ears stop draining. 

Instead of hitting up the pool on Saturday, we went to the Eden Prairie Center to their indoor play area.  Seriously, that place is amazing.  There are a lot of kids there, so it's kind of nuts, but Jack had so much fun walking around, climbing and playing.  My mom met us there for a little bit.  There was this little boy at the play area who was about three years old and started pushing Jack over - intentionally.  The first time, Jack really didn't mind and kind of ignored it...to be honest, I thought it may have been this little boy's way of telling Jack to move.  But then it kept happening.  So, Nana had to intervene.  No one messes with Nana's boy.  But, by that time, Jack was ready to leave and was getting kind of sleepy. 

So, we came home and Jack took a nap.  Uncle Alec came over to spend some time with us again.  My parents came up for dinner and I made jambalaya.  Jack had a great time playing with everyone. 

So, on Sunday, we got a new dog.  I have a lot to say about this... First off, when we got home, I started feeling incredibly sad.  I felt like Maverick was just a thing we could replace.  I know he wasn't, and I know we did the right thing by putting him down.  But still, I was incredibly sad.  I will always miss Maverick.  I loved him very much - and I always will.  But he was my dog.  He never really got used to being second place.  A part of me feels like I failed him for never really teaching him that he was a dog and not my baby.  And I think that's all I will say for now. 

So, enter Blue.  We went out to a farm in Plato to look at dogs.  We were there all of twenty minutes before we decided to take him home with us.  We were sold when the breeder's three year old son started picking him up by the tail and carrying him around the farm.  The dog seemed to take it all in stride and didn't fuss or seem to mind at all.  So, we brought Blue home, cleaned him up and stocked up on puppy supplies.  We were not prepared, to say the least.  Blue is named after "Tangled Up in Blue" by Bob Dylan.  Blue's dad was called Bob Dylan and so Jeff and I picked our favorite Dylan song (after discarding Watchtower, of course).   

Blue loves Jack.  Jack likes him too, but we're dealing with the typical puppy behavior - beyond the potty training and chewing.  Blue wants to wrestle with Jack, tries to nip at his hands and feet, and tends to get his nose in Jack's face.  This is kind of a change for Jack, especially since Maverick really never gave him the time of day.  But, if Jack can control the situation, he likes petting Blue and they've been bonding over their shared love of Tupperware, tug of war, and chew toys. 

Over the past five days, Blue has shown more interest and affection towards Jack than Maverick had shown him over his entire life.  He's a purebred golden retriever...they're supposed to be great family dogs, and I'm hoping that Jack and Blue will grow up together and be the best of friends one day.

So, Jack is pretty much a professional at walking these days.  His language skills are also starting to develop.  His school teaches American Sign Language and he's been learning basic words such as "more," "all done," "please," "thank you," "mom," and "dad."  But, one of the funniest things that I think he picked up from me is telling people no... 

If you listen carefully, he also has started saying, "all done" even if it sounds like "ah duh."  I can tell what he's saying.  He's also learned to ask for "more" if he's still hungry at meal times.  This is helpful for me although it does surprise me how much he eats.   

Anyways, it's Friday night and Jack is in bed.  Our nights are absolutely crazy these days - while we have a neighbor boy letting Blue out during the day, when we get home, both Jack and Blue want to play.  And they play hard - running all over the house, climbing on things, throwing Tupperware and toys, and pulling things out of cupboards and off shelves.  It's like I have two babies at this point - except I can only crate one and only put diapers on one.  I may wish I could put diapers on Blue and I may wish to put Jack in a "crate" for a minute so I could pee without feeling like I'm competing in some kind of sprinting sport.  It sort of feels like I'm running in two directions...I'm trying to make sure Jack doesn't do something he shouldn't and then I'm running after Blue so he doesn't pee in the house.  Before I know it, I'm passed out in front of the television and The X Factor isn't even over yet. 

We've got some friends coming over tomorrow to meet Blue and I'm going to start getting things ready for our trip to Arizona for Thanksgiving.  On Sunday, we're going to my sister's house for a play date for Jack and Blue.  Plus, I'm going to do some laundry since our washing machine broke this week and the part we need won't be in for a while.  Then, Jack and I are going to my Bennie Thanksgiving.  Jeff hurt his neck last week and has been put on bed rest for the weekend, so I'm manning the ship solo.  And now, I can feel my eyes getting heavy, so until Monday (hopefully)...