Jack, the greatest, most wonderful boy ever
I love my kid. God, he's the best. This afternoon was full of laid back... ease. Hard to believe. I got home from work around 4:30. He was still napping and woke up soon after.
But he woke up happy... and proceeded to just be very "whatever" about the rest of his day. We hung out, ate a little dinner, took a walk (did anyone else in Central Florida notice how nice it was today?), came back, played, took a bath, drank a bottle, went to bed.
No crying.
Well, at least very very little. This afternoon was so nice that I felt compelled to write about it so that when we have those days where I'm like, "Jeez!!! Stop being so cranky!!" I can remember that he sometimes does. The funny part? He
was cranky this morning... but it was when he was with his grandpoppy... hee hee.
By the way, did you guys see that a real JW commented on yesterday's post? Cool!
Can I get a Witness?!
So, apparently, Jehovah's Witnesses are still around. Where in the world have they been hiding? I personally hadn't seen any in at least ten years (at least in the dressed up, walking around your neighborhood sense), but this morning, as Jack and I arrived home from Target, there in our little cul de sac, walked a little old couple, and two younger women, all dressed up carrying briefcases, with that "Jehovah" vibe. Luckily, Jack had fallen asleep in the car and was still sleeping so I wasn't planning to get out of my car any time soon... we were just going to sit in the car until he woke up. I was worried that they might actually come right up to my car, but they didn't.
I watched them as they walked back to their car, I guess their canvassing was over already, got in and drove away.
Eventually Jack woke up and we got out of the car. I expected to see a leaflet talking about the good book or something hanging on my door knob, but there wasn't one. In fact there wasn't one on anybody's door. So...
Either it's a case of mistaken identity and they weren't J.W.'s...
Or... J.W.'s don't leave presents for people on their doors anymore. Is this the case? Does anyone know? Like I said, it's been a long time since I've seen a J.W.
Or... J.W.'s have gotten lazy.
I think it's that they've gotten lazy. Come on, J.W.'s have to know that NO ONE wants to talk to them or get crap put on their door. So, maybe having that knowledge, they go out to spread the word, and just maybe "forget" to leave their parting gifts. Maybe they even "forget" to knock on a few doors. Maybe they just drive to a neighborhood, park the car, take a walk, talk about what it's like to be a J.W., get back in the car, go back to their church and just say, "Sorry, Boss, no takers."
I would definitely understand if that's the case. I would be extremely unmotivated to provide a service to people if they clearly didn't want it, even if providing that service was part of my religious belief. I still wouldn't want to hassle people about it.
So, what does everyone else think? Are J.W.'s lazy? I know, maybe they're really into the environment now and are just trying to save trees by not handing out paper to everyone. So, OK, environmentalists? Lazy? What's up?
And hey, if anyone is a J.W. and reads this... Don't EVER EVER EVER!!!!!!! try to talk to me about your religion. Grrr.
follow up to last night's blog
OK. I don't know what happened to my play by play blog from yesterday. I do know that I was having computer problems while trying to post it... so, who knows what happened.
The rest of the day went like this. No one threw up. Jack drank most of his bottle and went to sleep after a few minutes of screaming. Not too bad. I was able to call a friend while making spaghetti... multitasking!
We ate spaghetti, which tasted weird. Why? I don't really know. Then we went to sleep.
The End.
So this is how the day goes.
Mondays and Thursdays I work my part time job in the office. The day goes a little somethin like this:
7:00am wake up, if not already. Get ready for work in five minutes, hopefully before Jack wakes up and starts crying.
7:15 Diaper change and dress Jack for the day.
7:20 Downstairs to give Jack his morning bottle. If it's not already prepared by Keith, add an extra minute to make it.
7:25-7:45 Give Jack bottle... mind races about work, Jack, household chores that still need to get done.
7:45- 8:15 Wash dishes, get Jack's food for the day ready, get him set up with toys and/ or tv.
8:15 Help arrives! Grandpoppy arrives to take over and I leave for work.
8:20 I haven't left yet because I'm still trying to explain to Grandpoppy how to make Jack's bottles.
8:20 Leave for work.
9:00 Arrive at work. Today I drove to an elementary school about forty miles away from home to meet with two of the counselors I supervise.
10:30 Back in the car, driving to the office.
11:00 Arrive at work, realize that I have no lunch and it is lunch time, but I just technically arrived at work.
11:30 Return messages/ emails.
11:30 Get lunch and eat it at my desk. Work on administrative things.
1:00 Person interviewing for available position arrives. This goes well!
2:00 Person leaves, paperwork and phone calls follow.
4:30 Leave work, call friend on the way home, fight traffic.
5:00 Walk in to find in laws with Jack. Grammy is feeding Jack mashed potatoes that she didn't heat up and is wondering why he keeps taking a bite and then removing the food from his mouth with his hands and dropping it on the carpet. Grandpoppy is having a VERY loud argument over the phone with his own father and refuses to go outside. Grammy and I can't even talk about the day over the noise from grandpoppy. Jack just somehow keeps eating(?) his cold mashed potatoes.
Eventually, I find out that Jack refused to take one of his naps and drink one of his bottles.
Great. I reassure them both that this is fine.
I play with Jack while cleaning up the kitchen and living room.
6:00 Jack starts doing weird cough/ gagging and I'm sure he's about to throw up. Again. He got his
I am rendered powerless by the cuteness.
One of the cutest things I've ever seen? Watching Jack playing with his new dump truck, trying to put blocks in the dump part.
What's the cutest thing you've ever seen?
Birthday recap
The party was a success! Keith really summed the whole experience up well when, while jockeying for position to get the best picture of Jack with a rainbow of frosting on his face, said, "I feel like Steve Martin in Parenthood."
Indeed.
Well, we are parents, so that makes sense. But our little birthday shindig for Jack felt like the Cowboy Dan/ Gil birthday party craziness of Parenthood.
We had about twenty people come, and we quickly realized that our house is too small to host a birthday party in with twenty people. However, we kept things on a tight schedule with three main objectives:
One quick get together game (called You Don't Know Jack... everyone had to fill out a questionairre to see how much they knew about the birthday boy).
Presents (open them fast to avoid boredom, yet make sure to fawn over each item appropriately. Try to make light of when your son picks up a new toy and the giver is watching with delight, only to have son throw the toy across the room and pick up a piece of carpet fuzz.)
Cake (get messy, get pictures, get cleaned up. Quickly.)
All three objectives were attained. Jack hung in there like a champ, only really losing it as the party was winding down, therefore sending a subtle message of , "OK, thanks for the presents, you can leave any time now."
He got tons of toys and clothes which was what was needed, people were nice, happy, ate most of the provided snacks, and went on their merry way.
I said to Stef and Jay as the whole thing started to die down, "I feel like I just got married". We had put so much work and time into this and having it be over was a relief, but sad, too. We also were pretty stressed out in the minutes leading up to the party because a) Jack refused to take a second nap and b) because someone fed him Indian food just hours before the party, with the exact effect that you might think Indian food would have on a baby.
It was great though... I'm happy for Jack that we had so many people that wanted to share his birthday with him. He's lucky.
Additional Shout Out
Jack's Back!
Thanks to Sandie, David, and Dane for the birthday wishes!! You guys rock!
Blog Hi"Jack"ing
Hey Guys,
It's my birthday! I took over my mom's blog... she thinks I'm napping. She still doesn't get it that I only want to take one nap a day. Duh.
Anyway... I felt that some "thank you's" were in order due to the fact that I've been around for a whole year now and a lot of people have done a lot for me.
Stef and Jason~ Thanks for being such great friends to my parents. They really need good people like you guys in their lives and I know that they are both so grateful to know you guys.
Aunt Karen~ Thanks for babysitting me that time when I was really little. Sorry I cried the whole time.
Zip~ You light up my life. Seriously.
Elmo~ You crack me up. Keep on keepin' on.
Puppy~ Thanks for keeping me company in my crib on all those lonely nights. Love you, Pupster...
Grandpa Joe~ Thanks for Puppy!
Ant Pile~ Thanks for making the efforts to spend time with me this year. I can't wait to hang with you and you can tell me about the Bell Witch.
Aunt Sunny~ Thanks for always singing the Jack Song with me.
Hayden~ Don't tell your mom, but you're my new girlfriend.
Grandee and Grandpa Brad~ Thanks for coming to visit me... I can't wait to see your place in NC.
Angie~ My Girlfriend... you make me so happy. Thanks for babysitting me all the time. You are the best!!
Grampy~ I'm so lucky to have a grandpa who comes over to babysit all by himself. Thanks for always taking such good care of me and trying to do everything that my mom and dad ask you to do. Love you!
Grammy~ I love you so much, Grammy. You are so good to me and make me feel so happy. Thanks for completely rearranging your whole life just to come take care of me. My mom and dad are immeasurably grateful.
Mom and Dad~ Without you guys, I would'nt be here today (ha ha ha). No, no, seriously... Thanks for getting your asses up in the middle of the night to feed me, thanks for putting up with my colic and reflux. I didn't mean to be such a pain.
Dad... you make me laugh more than anyone on the planet. Thanks for playing monster and frog pond wizard and making up songs for me. I hope I"m just like you one day... but even weirder!
Mom... thanks for giving birth to me a year ago today. Thanks for all the pain you went through and for being a loving mom who always makes sure I'm taken care of.
Well, peeps, that's about it. I gotta go rest up because I'm going to party my ass off tomorrow. Love you all. Peace.
Sleepy little boy
Jack.
OK, we are making progress on the switch from formula to milk... I think. He's drinking the bottles, going to the bathroom fine, etc. However...
The past couple nights, Jack's been waking up around 8:30 or 9:00 SCREAMING. I mean, the unsettling kind of screaming where thoughts of "OK, does he need to go to the hospital?" race through your head. Why is he doing this?
Good question. The jury is deliberating. One possibility... the milk factor. This is a big dietary change. He is maybe getting stomach aches/ pains from the milk and they are consistently bothering him at the same time every night.
Or, the good old standby... teething...
Another possibility... new work schedule. Used to be that Keith and I were there with Jack, every night, bathing him, playing with him, walking him, putting him to bed, together. Now, four out of seven nights a week, it's one of us, going solo with Jack. (Homework Club duty calls) In the moment he seems, ok... he's going to bed, all that stuff. But then, he's waking up very upset.
I do know that Sep. Anxiety tends to hit it's peak around now. My theory is he's waking up in his crib, alone, in the dark room and remembering how one of his parents were missing when he went to bed. He gets upset. Like, really really upset.
It took about an hour to calm him down last night. I walked in from HW Club at 8:40, to find that he'd just woken up. Keith was getting him to calm down and I'm sure it didn't help to have me walk in the house. It probably just undid everything Keith did. But he calmed down, got tired again, and... Eventually, we put him in his crib and he just went to sleep.
This meant that we didn't eat dinner until 10:00. This is a problem when it's the couple that had been going to bed at 9:30.
THEN! At 6:15am, we were awakened by more SCREAMING. This is a switch. Usually, Jack wakes up around 6:30 and makes some noise. Keith puts some toys in the crib and we get ready. Then at 7:00, I get him out of the crib and we start the day. There's usually not even any crying during this whole thing.
So... I'm thinking that Jack is bucking the new schedule, which sucks. It's hard enough to get used to it ourselves. It's time away from Jack and each other, and let's just say that these kids are keeping us very busy.
And, looking back, Jack pulled some stuff like this when we first moved into the place... and after a few days it went away.
So tired. And so is he. This is how I knew it was time to put him down for his nap. He was sitting on one of those really big board books, but trying to pick it up while he was sitting on it. After about five seconds of trying to pick it up, he started screaming in frustration. I feel bad for him.
Zzzzz....
What do you do when there's no coke in the house, therefore it's 2:00 and you've had no caffeine ALL DAY? Maybe that's why I have a headache and why I felt like I was falling asleep while talking to my mom on the phone.
I can't just run to the store to buy coke... Here's why:
Jack is about to have his afternoon bottle.
Then Jack is hopefully going to take a nap.
I'm too tired to figure out a way to put Jack in the car, drive to the gas station, get Jack out of the car, buy a coke, put Jack back in the car (because he will be screaming, oh, yes, he will be screaming) and drive home all before the above mentioned afternoon bottle is needing to be drank (drunk?).
I'd rather lay on the floor and watch him eat carpet fuzz.
Jack can type good.
Jack is ONE is six days. Hello? Did you get that? ONE!!!!!!!! So exciting. Well, today was the first day of the transition to milk from formula. HE. THREW. A. FIT. Not too surprising, since neither Keith or I like milk. But this boy is going to have to learn to love it. I'm sure he'll just get used to it.
Today Keith is Mr. Salesman, trying to get more people to sign up for HW Club. He will be home in about three hours. In the meantime, J.I. and I are hanging around, here, I'll let Jack type something:
fgnithei4hrejhrure
Thank you, Jack.
The first week of HW Club was good although I can see it will be a major adjustment as far as Keith and I not seeing each other until about nine pm four days out of the week. This sucks because we go to bed around 9:30. But... we'll make it work.
Singular Nap
Well, I guess we're pretty much one nap a day-ers now. Jack skipped the morning nap while the grandparents were watching him and fell asleep peacefully at 1:00. Maybe it's one nap a day at 1:00 now? Who knows... we'll see what happens tomorrow.
Business news... we're off to a good start and today I purchased an important part of room decor... a lava lamp! I know, it's a little dormy, but what kid doesn't like watching globs of lava float around?
I love everything that Jack does now that tells me he's getting bigger. He can almost walk, he's starting to talk, playing by himself, feeding himself, etc.
But... there's one thing that tends to happen at this age that I DO NOT LIKE. The transition from two naps to one.
About 60% of the time, Jack still takes a morning and afternoon nap. And then, sometimes, he just skips one of them. Usually it's the afternoon nap. Like today. Drank his bottle at two, he was super tired, falling asleep, I put him in the crib and here we are at three. He's playing happily while I type out my frustrations. He just won't fall asleep.
Of course, it could be worse. He sleeps well at night and I didn't have to get up until seven am today. So, that's cool. But those naps are very important. To me! Breaks are important, highly anticipated, and necessary.
How can I get him to keep taking two naps a day? Of course, without giving him sedatives or hypnotizing him. I am not interested in changing his nighttime sleeping schedule and he already spends most of his day crawling and playing... so I know he's burning up energy. Any ideas?
Truly a Labor Day
Starting your own business, I have found, takes a lot of time and work. And money. We're tired. And trying to open tomorrow. ugh.
Amy!
Happy Birthday, Amy. Now that I know you'll be reading the blogs again, I had to give you a shout out.
Weirdest day ever!
So weird, this day has been.
1. Jack refused to take his morning nap. Huh?
2. Jack got so tired from not taking his morning nap that he FELL ASLEEP in his highchair after eating lunch. Que!?
3. Mother in law calls to ask if she can bring some of her students over to see Jack... Whaaaaat?
4. Jack wakes up from impromptu lunch nap screaming. After 15 minutes. I change his pee pee diaper and he falls back to sleep. Phew...
5. Hurricane Ernesto finally hits. Huge storm with strong winds arrives, knocking over our potted plants, breaking one pot and knocking special one year anniversary bonsai tree out of her happy little pot. Shit!
Jack still sleeping. Me still cleaning up plant matter. Weird.
