Osage Beach

Our weekend vacation consisted of alot of rough-housing...

playing at the park...

sliding down slides...

and playing with play-doh...

all while enjoying the lake view!

first love

It's official, Jack has his first girlfriend - Bella!

Jack and Bella - They look like they are so much in love, right?

Jack and Bella have been going to daycare together for about 16-17 months (since Bella was 6 weeks old!) and they have the stereotypical love/hate relationship! They remind me of elementary kids on a playground, where the boys are mean and tease the girls they like!? Well that's them, except Bella gets her digs in on Jack too!

One minute, these two will be pushing each other down, tackling each other, and "yelling" at each other...the next minute they will be "making out" in a corner! When Tonya first mentioned them making out I thought she was kidding...she.was.not.kidding!

Jack and Bella are both really fond of Tonya's storm door that looks outside, they love standing there! In fact, this is where most fights begin b/c at their age they don't share well! Recently, the storm door has also become their "love nest"! Tonya said they will stand "making out" and hugging while they enjoy the outside scenery! "Making Out" consists of hugging each other and kissing - mouths open! Can.You.Believe.That? Disclaimer - No, Tonya does not encourage the kissing and does not allow the kissing to happen and stops them when it does happen!

Jack and Bella always give each other hugs and kisses before they leave daycare every day! So stinkin' cute!

Jack Update

Here is a LONG overdue update on the Jack Hammer! It started out as an email to my friends Chelse and Chelsea but as I wrote it turned more into a draft blog post! Yea, a two-for or is it two-fer? Either way, you know what I mean! Enjoy!

Note: I just posted this and it's totally crummy format, I'm going to try once to make it look better and if it doesn't I apologize...

Boys are CRAZY or at least mine is!

He is a t-total brat! He whines and cries if he doesn’t get his way and enjoys multiple time out session every evening! And he is such a motha faker (while I was proofreading I almost deleted this b/c it might be blog inappropriate, but I left it b/c it's funny)! Like he will look to see if you are watching him and he will cry, if you look away he will stop, but the second you look back he is back to crying!

Last night he was in the tub and it was time to get out, here is our conversation:

Me: Jack, time to get out.

Jack: No!

Me: Jack, come on let’s get out and get your diaper on.

Jack: NOOOOOO! NOOOOOO! NOOOOO! (never looking away from the picture he was drawing on the shower walls with his blue bath crayon)

Me: Jack, it’s time to get out. I’m going to count to 3… ONE

Jack: (interrupting my count) TTTTTWWWWOOOO (looking at me out the corner of his eye like the little devil man that he is)

Me: (flabbergasted that 1) he was being a brat, but 2) that he knew TWO came after ONE!) Jack, if you get out I’ll give you a piece of gum!?

Jack: (jumping up) GGGUUUUMMMM, GGGGUUUUMMM, GUM!

Ugh, boys!

He is starting to talk up a storm like overnight – he added Tonya, Darin, Piper, Bella, Karlee, Meme, Papa, Coco, Kayla, and Baby K, and Jo (George) to his vocabulary. I think he has like 60-70 words now and he is starting to make more and more 2-4 word phrases!

He is a BIG help when he wants to be – he puts his shoes away every night and throws his dirty clothes in his hamper and dirty diapers in the trash. He puts away his laundry (socks only, but hey it’s a start), he loves to help clean up and put things away. He is also responsible for putting all his toys back in the basket at the end of the evening before bed!

Speaking of bed – we have finally (knock on wood) made it back to his own bed for the majority of the night! I also broke him of his cup/milk obsession in the middle of the night! There were nights he would wake up 3 times wanting MORE and MORE milk! WTH?

He has also decided that he is SCARED.TO.DEATH of the pheasant hanging on the kitchen wall that has been there since he was born. He will NEVER turn his back to it so when he walks by the like shuffles sideways never letting his eyes leave the pheasant like it’s going to jump off the wall and peck him to death! Ha! It’s funny!

He now drinks from a pop can or water bottle by himself and doesn’t spill it – big achievement! He also can be handed anything to eat and he can eat it by himself without leaving a food disaster in his midst!

He is still obsessed with balls, not his own balls (again probably inappropriate, but oh well), sports balls – baseballs, footballs, soccer balls, basketballs, golf balls! Looks like I might have to give in to the typicall sports themed big boy room when the time comes and those of you that know me know I.AM.NOT.HAPPY.ABOUT.THIS! I hate anything tyical, overdone, and baby/kid-ish...so we will see!

He is also obsessed with being OUTSIDE! Which I love, but sometimes is super annoying! He would always insist that Chris or I were outside as well, but just in the past month or so he will go out and wander around the back yard by himself (well, with the dogs) so that I can comfortably watch him from my view from the sofa! :-)

We go the end of the month for this 2 year – TWO.YEAR. – checkup so I’ll have all the stats then!

Easter + Candy = Happy Jack

Jack had an AWESOME Easter - we all did for that matter!Jack bringing out his inner - Jersey Shore-ness! :-)

I have a friend at work that thinks Jack looks like Ronnie with his new hair-do!

Check out all my candy Momma!
The ONE and ONLY picture of us from the entire weekend!
Candy Melt DOWN!
Check out my stud! He is so stinkin' cute!
And YES I'm biased, but I think you KNOW he is cute too!

Pretty Addy! Love her! She wasn't feeling well, but was such a trooper!

happy st. patrick's day!

could potty training really be on the horizon?

Jack has started showing signs that potty training might be upon our horizon, not that I see it happening tomorrow, next week, this month or even 3 months from now, it's just barely becoming a speck on the horizon!

Jack started correctly responding to "Jack, did you poop in your diaper?" or "Jack, do we need to go change your diaper?" questions a couple months ago. Here in the last few weeks he has started moving to the corner of the room when he is doing "his business" and does not want anyone to look at or see him during this time and when he is done he will promptly walk over to you and pull you by the hand to get a fresh diaper!

We have also been letting Jack come into the bathroom with us when we go and we tell him, "Mommy/Daddy are going to the potty." it must be starting to click because tonight I asked him to take his diaper to the trash can (he has been doing this for a couple months and has never put the diaper anywhere BUT the trash can) not following him or even thinking twice about where he actually put the diaper...This was until I went into the bathroom and saw his diaper soaking in the toilet! Haha! What a stinker!

I'm definitely not in a hurry to potty train and will not push until Jack is really, really ready and I know he really understands what's going on. I look at it like the longer we wait, the shorter (and hopefully easier) the whole process will be! Just know I am starting to see the speck on the horizon!

dr. baker follow-up

Jack's ears received a B+ at his follow-up appointment at Dr. Baker's this afternoon. I mentioned that he had been pulling, tugging, and sticking his finger in his left ear for the past few days, but I hadn't used his ear drops again because I never saw any drainage. Dr. Baker said the day of surgery that unless there is drainage, then Jack wouldn't have an ear infection.

Kelly, Dr. B's P.A., checked Jack's ears and gave the right one a clean bill of health. The left he said wasn't infected, but looked like it had been draining some. He said it could have been if it has gotten wet or that the tube in that ear was still just opening everything up (or something like that), he just said to use Jack's ear drops in that ear for 3-5 days and that should do the trick!

If not, I'm supposed to call the office - if so, we'll see them in 6 months! Whoop! Whoop! Again, so easy!

Oh and Kelly didn't do any type of hearing screening today and I asked him if I should take him to Greenbush and he said if I wanted to that I should, but he said Jack is still pretty young for a true "hearing" screening. He said at his age all they are going to look for is if he responds when he hears noises/name...he asked me if he responds when I say his name? YES. He asked does he follow directions? YES. He then said, well that's about all they are going to be able to tell you at Greenbush. He said he is too young to do a true hearing screening that will allow for us to get a true sense of his hearing ability and the frequencies, etc. that he hears. Remember the test we all took when we were younger, raise your hand if you hear the "beep"! Haha! I hated those!

happy valentine's day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We have a card that was sent out, but Walmart won't let me save a copy (jerks) so this is all you get!

xoxo

PAT visit...finally

We hadn't had a visit from Dacia (our PAT lady) in about 4 months! Our schedules kept conflicting, then visits were cancelled because Jack was either sick or the weather was nasty! But Dacia finally made it over last Thursday! Since she hadn't seen Jack in so long this visit consisted of a screening of Jack's skills! This one was a little different then the past screenings because Jack actually has to participate now, where before he was always too young and mainly she observed him and asked us questions BUT this time Jack had to do and say and react to the questions she asked!

I was thrilled because I always love getting progress reports on how he is developing! All in all Jack cooperated quite well, I was surprised! But he likes Dacia so I think that helps and he is somewhat familiar with her (even though it had been a long time since he had last seen her). She asked him tons of questions, asked me questions, asked him to do things, etc. She had a piece of paper with 5 different things on it - A dog, a cat, a horse, a man, and a bird....Jack knew everything but the horse (I'm having trouble deciding if it's a horse or a pony...as in what I call it when speaking to him). He also showed her his eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hair, tummy, pee-pee, and pooper! Haha! There was lots more involved, but those are the biggies. He is saying plenty of 2 word phrases and starting with 3 word phrases which is great especially since he was supposedly having such a hard time hearing us before his tubes.

Jack has also started helping with chores around the house, he knows where to put his laundry away at in his room, he throws his diapers in the trash, he puts our shoes and dirty clothes away (after he pulls them all out of the closet or hamper), things like this - he has even helped take out the trash a few times!

The things we are focused on next is jumping up and then jumping over something, learning colors, and putting on our clothes! Seems like a good list to me!

We have his 2 week follow-up appointment with Dr. Baker this afternoon. Dacia said that if they don't do a hearing screening then she can set us up with a free screening at Greenbush - just to make sure Jack didn't have any "permanent" hearing loss/damage prior to getting his tubes put in! I'll keep you posted!

that was easy

Jack's first surgery to have tubes put in both of his ears was yesterday morning and I'd have to say it was so easy, the whole process! I can remember waiting at my OBGYN's office for a monthly visit longer than we were at the surgery center!

We had to be at the surgery center (not even the hospital so no annoying admitance/paperwork to do) at 7:30am! Dr. Baker does kids on Mondays and Wednesdays and they stagger them in every 30 minutes or so, 3 every 30 minutes! We were third to arrive in our group, but it took about 2 minutes to sign the couple papers I had to sign and for them to get Jack's temp and listen to his heart!

Then I was told I had to wear these "painters coveralls", booties, and a hat since I was going to go back in the OR with him while he was put to sleep (I wasn't really excited but oh well). We waited about 30 minutes and then it was Jack's turn! I went back with him in the OR and he was put to sleep - not gonna lie watching him being put under was a bit freaky! No more than 5 minutes after I got back to the waiting room where Chris and his dad, Doug, we waiting Dr. Baker came walking up the hall, my first thought was oh crap, something went wrong! Nope, he was just finished! We were moved to the recovery waiting room and not 5 minutes later I was let in to be with Jack!

Boy he was pissed and drunk! Haha! He just didn't know what the heck was going on, but he knew he didn't like it! We were back there for 20 minutes or so then it was time to go! Once we left Jack settled down and was fine. We all came home and took a good 2-3 hour nap (Dada slept the longest). Then Jack was ready and rearing to go, he ate lunch like a champ and returned to all his normal crazy, wild, boyish activities!

Dr. said he took out quite a bit of fluid from both ears so Jack should definitely be hearing better and I think he is actually. Tonya also said she noticed him talking more and reacting the first time she spoke to him, instead of her repeating things multiple times! He also slept much better last night than he has in weeks, months! He still ended up in our bed, but he didn't wake up once crying and screaming and tugging at his ears!

All in all I think we made the right choice and Jack is feeling better and that was the outcome we wanted!