Wonderful Weekend with my boy!

Oh, we had a great weekend! Saturday, J.R. slept in until 9:30am! We missed gymboryee that morning so we played at home. We played everything you could think of, hockey, basketball, baseball, golf, hide and seek and we can't forget about watching the Wiggles over and over and over again!

Tony had his car driving experience at 3pm Saturday at the Speedway, so no nap for J.R. We couldn't have him miss his daddy driving a Ferrari! We got home around 5pm and played some more. J.R. didn't go to bed until 9pm, an hour late! He's so cute lately, he wakes up and cries to me to cover him up. I run to his room, cover him up with his blanket and he goes right back to sleep. He's crazy right now with being covered up, this too shall pass!

J.R. playing with his race cars while waiting for daddy to drive his Ferrari!

J.R. getting excited for Daddy!

Sunday was J.R. and mommy day. We went to a new Presbyterian Church. Boy, I thought my church was small in Chariton Iowa.... oh no, this church is small. J.R. was the only child in the nursery and there was one 10 year old there for the children's sermon. This minister gave a great sermon but I need to find a church that has more children, so J.R. can thrive and want to go to church when he's older. So next Sunday off to a different Presbyterian church!

After church we went to the Springs Preserve. There are so many fun things to do with children there. Today was special, they had a "behind the scenes" look at what the Zoologist do. J.R. got to see crickets, hissing cockroaches, lizards, rats, mice, spiders, worms and snakes up close and personal! He loved it, I probably loved it a little more than him to be honest. When I got home, I told Tony to hurry up and get done with this doctor thing so I can get started on my Biology degree to become a Zoologist! You may think I'm kidding but I'm not!

After the "behind the scenes" we went to a raptor show. They were so cool and J.R. loved it! The raptors swooped down so close to us, their wing span was enormous. J.R. got to run around and pretend he was a raptor!

Later, we watched some lizards eat mice. Yeah, J.R. liked that too. He oohed and awed while I looked away. This may detour my Zoologist idea but I think I could get use to that.. it's the food chain right?

Springs Preserve sand box.

Watching the Raptor show!

J.R. went home to nap for his typical 3 hour nap. Once he woke up and got his bearings, my boy and I had a date at Red Lobster. I keep seeing lobster fest advertised and I've been dying for a lobster tail. As I watched the lobsters in the tank while we were waiting for our table, I thought to myself, I can't eat these little guys, then it occurred to me if I want to be a Zoologist this would be a step in the right direction.. again, part of the food chain, right?

J.R. wanted milk at the Lobster but they ran out so I ordered him a milkshake, next best thing right? Once he got his milkshake, he tasted it and realized it wasn't milk. He looked at me with concern and said, "Mama, where's my milk?" I told him, instead of milk you have a milkshake. So, J.R. shook the milkshake thinking he could get milk if he shook it.... priceless!

Being adorable at Red Lobster.

This kid keeps asking me to take his picture so he can see himself in my phone!?!

J.R. is fast asleep now, except for the 4 times I've been in to cover him up at his request. What a wonderful weekend with my little boy!

Poor Little Ty

The blog I follow: http://tylouis.blogspot.com/ is so sad yet hopeful at the same time. I'm pulling for this little boy and pray for him whenever I get the chance. This little boy has made me appreciate J.R. more and more everyday.

I want to share an excerpt from this little boy's mother today.


When he suffers from headaches it is simply unbearable.  He tells me, "Mommy I have head pain" over and over and over and over and over again.  I give him medicine, I put cool rags on his head, I try changing his position but nothing helps.  It's a terrible feeling when your baby cries out to you for help and there's nothing you can do.  It makes me want to jump out of my skin.

I can't imagine how this must feel. Two weeks ago when my little boy had an ear ache I felt helpless and that was only for 2 1/2 hours. J.R. looked to me to make him feel better and fix it. When he breaks a toy he always brings it to me with full confidence I can fix anything. I still look at my grandfather through same eyes, thinking he can fix anything but I know the reality of the situation. J.R. will come to know over the coming years that mommy and daddy can't fix everything.

So far in my life being helpless when it comes to your child is the worse feeling I have experienced. This poor mother, I don't know how she does it. She is a hero. If  you get a chance say a little prayer for Ty, this amazing boy with amazing family surrounding him.

Good Morning!

Just a typical day that I'm grateful for....

Nothing special happened yesterday, just the typical day.

I've been having to wake J.R. up in the mornings to go to daycare because of the time change. I wake him up at 7:45am and he gets to daycare at 8:15am just in time for breakfast with his buddies. I had my typical workday, meeting with customers, fielding phone calls, etc. then picked J.R. up from daycare a little early. He had a doctor's appointment to follow up his ear infection. He has fluid in his ears but no infection so we have to go back a month from now to make sure he's okay. Here's a picture of J.R. at the doctor's office waiting room. Oh, yeah, it was St Patty's Day! When I dropped J.R. off at daycare I noticed everyone was wearing green, except for J.R. I felt like such a bad mommy, I quickly ran home and dropped off his green Lucky Charms shirt so he wouldn't be the only one not in green!

After the doctor's office we went home to pick up Tony and headed to Chuck E. Cheese. I had to bribe J.R. to be nice to the doctor and his reward would be Chuck E. Cheese. J.R. had the attention span of about 30 seconds per game once we were there. Here's a picture of J.R. playing one of the games. Notice how he's standing, he has the wide stance so he could hit the beaver's as hard as possible.

After Chuck E. Cheese we headed to Hooters, Tony's favorite place. As I was ordering chicken for J.R., he asked for fries. My question was, how did he know I was ordering for him? Once he got the fries he ate a TON! Tony and I both commented we have never seen him eat so much in one sitting. Here's a picture of J.R. and Tony at Hooters! This is a picture of my boys patiently waiting for their food.

We didn't get home until 8pm. J.R. stayed up until 9pm. He sat on the couch watching tv with his dad. It was a wonderful sight to see, my two guys sitting there together, enjoying each other's company.

This was just a typical, ordinary day, nothing special, nothing extrodinary. I felt so lucky to have a typical, nonextordinary day with my family. The time we spent together was so fulfilling, thank you my family.

Busy week but when isn't it?

Ah, my poor little boy was sick last week! He had a bad cough/cold. Then Thursday we were at CostCo at 4:30pm and he started grabbing his ear crying saying, "Mama owie". By the time I left it turned into sobbing and I ran out of the store. I ran home, grabbed Tony and headed to the doctor. J.R. cried for 2 1/2 hours until the doctor gave him two shots, one antibiotics and the other steroids. Ten minutes after the shot he stopped crying, thank goodness! I think Tony was going to have a nervous breakdown. By the time we got home he was passed out in the car! He woke up when I got him out of his car seat and I put him down on the couch. I turned to put down my bag by the time I put everything away he fell asleep sitting up! Pretty funny!

The following night J.R. decided he needed a pillow to sleep with... he grabbed a throw pillow from the couch and took it to his crib. He's a picture of him sleeping.

Sunday we went to the Cubs vs Dodgers baseball game. We had so much fun! Needless to say, J.R. had the attention of all the people around us. We laughed the entire day. This is a day I will always remember, this was one of the best family days we have had, I loved it!

A bath, what a simple thing.

The blog I read every day about this little 3 year old boy fighting cancer is heart wrenching. Every mother should read this and be thankful for every annoying little moment they have with their child. The post today really hit me hard... here's part of it...

In fact, today Ty took a bath.  It was a very special moment, one that I will always cherish.  He hasn't actually gotten into a tub since December and he really enjoyed the feeling of being submerged in the warm water.  He even smiled wide and told me I was tickling him when I washed his feet.  Just knowing he could feel me washing his toes, and that he was enjoying it was so reassuring.  At one point he when he was quietly staring out the window I asked him if he wanted to get out and he softly said "no."  It felt great to be able to give him that time doing something that felt really good.

Us mothers with healthy children should be so lucky to give our children bath's on a regular basis and not think of it as a hassle. Could you imagine your child being given a bath as a luxury? I am so lucky to have a healthy little boy.

Here are some pictures from the last few days.

At home sick playing loving Toots!

At daycare playing the cashier.

Lookin cute just waking up Saturday morning.

Making pizza at daycare.

Having fun outside at daycare.

Having popcorn with my friends.

Toots is a good sport!

Funny story I never want to forget!

Last night I went in to check on J.R. before I went to bed. I tried to sneak into his room like I do many times during the night. At 11:30pm he woke up as I walked into his room, his eyes were wide open so I rubbed his back and tried to sooth him.

J.R. turns to me points to the door and says, "Mama out!". I can't believe my ears this kid never wants me to leave, he wants me to sleep in his crib with him. So I crouch down and look at him through the slats of his crib and ask, "What did you say?", he responds again by pointing to the door, "Mama out!". He didn't have to tell me a third time. I left my son's room giggling to myself and running to tell Tony our 2 year old son just kicked me out of his room!

I wish I had a picture to post! Here's a few pictures from this afternoon.

The wonders of static electricity!

Just playing hockey in front of our home, what a gorgeous day outside.

I love our little boy!

Last night I was rushing to put J.R. to bed because I had so many things to do. I didn't want to read him a story (even though he asked me multiple times to read to him) and I cut his rocking time short.

Our nightly routine: Momma, Toots and J.R. go upstairs, take a bath, read books and then I rock him to sleep in my grandma's antique rocking chair that was her great grandfather's. I love the sound of that rocking chair, it is so comforting and reminds me of when I was a child. But like I said, last night I was in a hurry and cutting things short. I put J.R. in his crib and said, "good night, I love you baby boy" quickly shut the door and ran off to my office to begin my night's work.

For the past month I have been following this blog: http://tylouis.blogspot.com/ I can't stop myself from reading about this sweet, innocent little boy who has a brain tumor. The doctor's said he wouldn't make it to Christmas 2010 and he's still here March 2011, he's been fighting the cancer since August of 2010.

So, when I went to my office last night I pulled up the blog to get the latest daily update for this amazing little boy Ty. The last paragraph of her blog entry was:

Last night, Ty allowed me to hold and snuggle him for the first time in weeks.  He is usually too apprehensive about moving his head around and he thinks it will hurt if I hold him, so I know he must be feeling better.  He fell asleep as I cradled him and I just couldn't help but begin weeping and weeping.  The tears just wouldn't stop.  He's grown so much over the last six months (and in so many ways), but his face is the same face I've been staring at for hours on end as he lay in my arms since the day he was born.  He's the most beautiful thing in the world.  Please God, don't ever let my arms be empty.

Needless to say, I was in tears and I ran to J.R.'s room, flipped on the light and said do you want mama to read you a book? J.R. was SO adorable (you probably had to be there) and responded, "yeah, mama!". So I hopped in his crib (yeah we both fit, not sure how) with 6 books and we read them over and over. J.R. then asked if we could rock (in the rocking chair) and we did of course. Normally after the rocking chair I put him directly in his crib but I grabbed his hockey guy, elmo and blankets and we cuddled on the floor and both fell asleep. I woke up around 10pm put J.R. in his crib and went directly to bed. I didn't want to ruin the wonderful feeling I had with work or anything but the thought of spending the night with my son. There are so many sick children out there and I know I take for granted how healthy my son is... we are so lucky to have him in our lives and so very lucky he is thriving and not being held back by health issues. I love you my son. I love you my son. I know there will be times that I will take you for granted but I will do my very best to "catch" myself, slow down and live in the moment with you.

We have been so busy with everything going on, I haven't posted any pictures so here you go!

Playing Vet at daycare.

Valentine's sensory table at daycare.

Lunch on Valentine's Day, so adorable!

Havn' fun!

Playing with buddies at daycare.

Spending some time with Papa.

Football with daddy.

Trying to jump on daddy.

Poor Toots!

We are in a sausage stage right now, lovn' sausage!

This is the second time he's been in heels!

Good morning... just waking up!

Getting better everyday on skates!