Thursday, January 29, 2009

New Shoes and Bath Time

There's a song titled "New Shoes" by Paulo Nutini and part of the chorus says, "Hey, I put some new shoes on and suddenly everything is right." It's a fun song and I thought of it today when I bought Jack some new shoes. If you've read this blog before, you might be aware that he loves crocs. He's got 3 pair and he really loves them. Problem is, they're all summer crocs. I found this fun furry pair on sale today at Dillard's and knew he had to have them. I also found him a pair of cool Merrells on sale as well and thought I'd see if he liked those, too. Here's the story of Jack's new shoes:

I picked Jack up from from school today and we drove to Popo and Momo Jo's because I had to pick up some stuff to take to Kelly. When we pulled into the driveway I pulled out the furry crocs and said:

"Jack, look what I got for you today."

"Are dey mine?"

"Yes, do you like them?"

"Yes!"

We put the crocs on with the tag attached and told him we'd have to see if Popo would cut off the tag. We got into the house and he proudly shows off his new crocs and tells how well they fit and asks Popo to cut off the tag.

"Dey are my new crocs. Are dey warm! Dey fit me!"

Here are Jack's new crocs:

"Jack, I got you another pair of shoes. Let me go get them out of the car and you can try them on, too!"

(panic)"No I want to wear dem. I want to wear my crocs."

"Jack, I just want you to try them on, then you can put your crocs back on."

Moma Jo begins to talk up the new shoes and when I got back in the house he had his crocs off and was ready but not happy about it. I opened the box to show him and in an attempt to get him excited about them Moma Jo exclaims,

"JACK! LOOK! They are just like Popo's shoes! Popo, come here and show Jack your shoes."

Popo says, "Jack are your new shoes like Popo's?"

(A little thinking and a realization) "DEY ARE YIKE POPO'S SHOES!" Wow, this is so cool. Jack and Popo have the same shoes. Suddenly, he doesn't want to take them off his feet.

Here are Jack's shoes that are like Popo's:

Yes, the sticker is still on the bottom. He didn't want to take them off. He paced up and down Popo and Moma Jo's floor and looked at his feet, very proud of his new shoes.
"Jack, do you want to put your crocs back on?"
"No. No I yike dem. I yike dese shoes. Dey are yike Popo's."
He takes his crocs and puts them in the box the Merrells came in, closed it up, started walking down the hall and said,
"I will take them back."
I guess the crocs have been replaced.

Tonight in the bath Jack was concentrating very hard on pouring water into his basketball net. No matter how hard he tried, it would not fill up but he never gave up. I tried to capture his concentration, but just ended up with some cute pictures. We are headed to Nashville to see Ryan, Kelly and Abbott so I have a feeling I'll have more to post about after the weekend!

Picture Tag

I think I should get different rules, because this isn't even one of my pictures. The rules are to open the 4th folder in your picture section and pick the 4th picture in that folder. My 4th folder is called, "Dad's camera". So, here it is. Jack is playing in the laundry basket at Popo and Momo Jo's.
Now I'm supposed to tag 4 people. What happens if all the people I would tag have already been tagged? Ok, Janna, Jennifer, Gina and Tiffany. Have fun!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

An Unusual Day

I haven't blogged in awhile because I haven't had much to blog about. No major events, no news, just going on like normal. Today is no different except that it was just a strange day.

Last night we went to bed to temperatures in the 40s. Nashville was getting ice predictions but we were just getting "wintry mix" predictions and I thought I heard the weatherman say something about temperatures in the 50s. WHAT? This morning there was ice and no school in Nashville but in Knoxville it was rainy and in the mid 50s. Yep. Weird. I thought it would be a good day to get out so I decided that Jack and I would go to the East Tennessee Discovery Center. We've never been but it sounded like he would really have a good time. Then things changed.

After I got out of the shower, Jack came up to me, holding his "hiney" as he calls everything in that general area and saying, "Mommy, my hiney hurts." I took his diaper off and checked everything out and it all looked normal so I decided to watch him throughout the day. Next he starts crying and holding his left ear and saying, "Mommy, my ear hurts." He had an ear infection in the right ear last week so I thought maybe he's got one in the left ear now. I'll keep an eye on that, too. I keep getting ready and he's in the bathroom and bumps his head on one of the drawers. He starts to cry again and we go through all the consoling. He won't stop crying though. He lays on my bed and cries and cries and tells me his head hurts (nothing else hurts at this point). Normally head bumps don't cause this much emotion from him and he didn't even hit his head hard. He cries for about 30 minutes, still telling me his head hurts so I call the doctor. Maybe, he just hit his head in a funny spot, who knows? They tell me to go ahead and bring him in. We get in the car, pouring down rain and drive to the doctor. Jack's crying and saying his head hurts the whole time. He even points to the area that hurts (right above his left ear). We get to the doctor and they get us right in since he's complaining of head pain and has been crying for so long. Here's where it gets fun.

The nurse comes in and gets his stats, he cries. She comes back in and says, "Do you think he will pee in this cup?" He doesn't even want to pee in the potty right now so I say I have my doubts but we'll try. No luck. He won't get off my lap. The doctor comes in and looks in his ears, the right one looks fine but he can't see the left one because there's so much wax. He tries to scrape it out, but still can't get a good look so, we'll have to flush it out. HUH? This sounds fun. Oh yeah, and because he won't pee in the cup, we'll have to bag him to get some pee. HUH, again? When I hear "bag him", I'm thinking catheter and wondering how in the heck they're going to catheter a 2 year old. Turns out they just put a sticky bag around him so when he pees it will go in there. The ear flushing thing was fun, too. Me and a nurse had to hold him down while another nurse squirted a water and hydrogen peroxide solution in his ear. Funny thing about this, while they were squirting it in his ear, he got calm and even closed his eyes. I wonder what it felt like. They can't get all the wax out but do get enough to tell that his ears are clear. That's good. They don't think he has any head trauma since he's not vomiting or stumbling around. That's good, too. Now we just have to wait for him to pee. They give him some apple juice and finally we get some pee. They test it, it's fine. That's good, too. So.... what is wrong with him? Nothing that they could tell. Here's where it gets weird, again.

We leave the doctor and he is a different kid. He talks non-stop out to my parents and says, "No anything hurt, Mommy. No this toe hurt, no this toe hurt, no this finger hurt, no my head hurt, no my ear hurt. Mommy, I want to sing Old do donal have a farm. Mommy, I want chicken and french fries. I love chicken and french fries, I love wenna-nade." The list goes on. He is the same way at my parents house. Happy, talkative, wants to play. He is not anything like he was this morning. That's good, I guess, but I still wish I knew what was wrong with him this morning!!! Anyway, he had a great nap and woke up still in a great mood. He said, "Mommy, I fweep good. No I feel bad." I guess he knows.

On unrelated news, we tried to go to Nashville last weekend but Jack, Abbott and I were all sick with something or another so we're going to try to go this weekend. Abbott is sick again, but we're hoping he'll be better so we can go. I went to the foot doctor because the plantar warts on my feet had come back and he said I should have them removed again. I scheduled the surgery for Monday but talked myself out of it and decided to try some other creams, oils, whatever to see if that will help them before I have them cut off again. I was off my feet and limited for such a long time and I just don't want to go through it again.

I guess that's about it for an update. Jack said a funny thing in the car after we left the doctor today. He said, "Mommy, Popo is a good dator." I said, "Popo is a good doctor?" He said, "No, Popo is a good TAH-KER". I said, "He's a good talker?" "YES"

We've had so little going on this month that I haven't even taken very many pictures. Shocking. Here is one picture of Jack I took a few days ago and a picture of the sunrise out my back door this morning in the 50 degree weather.




Wednesday, January 14, 2009

That was very nice!

I have such a sweet little boy... today at least. We had such a fun day, being silly and playing. Jack now likes to pretend he is going to sleep. He is so tired, he wants to fweep. 2 seconds later, "I waked up. I fweep good!" Lately he has been going to sleep a lot easier with the help of Hokey Pokey Bear (his name, not mine). Hokey Pokey bear was given to him by Ryan's mom, Janet for Christmas last year (I think). He hasn't really been into stuffed animals, they have mostly sat nicely on his dresser. This bear is a nap bear from Brookstone- it's super soft, small and perfectly Jack sized. He stumbled upon in the other day and decided he wanted to sleep with it.

Every night without fail, the routine is the same.
"Jack, it's time for bed."

"No fweep."

"It's time to sleep, let's go to bed. Give daddy a big squeeze." He walks willingly into his room and climbs into bed. I cover him up and give him a kiss and start to walk out.

"Pat Jack's back."

"You're a big boy, go to sleep. I love you."

"WAAAA" (Ok, he doesn't say WAAA but he cries.)

However, the night he decided to sleep with the bear it was different. We walked into his room, he climbed into bed, snuggled up with the bear and I didn't hear a word. Since then he has slept with the bear for every nap and bedtime and hasn't cried out once. Must be a magical bear! Today we had this conversation in his room about the bear:

"Who made it for me Mommy?"

"Miss Janet gave it to you."

Imagine a face of happiness and excitement. He makes his "oooohhhh" face and his eyes get big.

"That was very nice!"

"That was very nice, Jack."

(signing Thank You) "Thank you Miss Janet! I yike her!"

Then he squeezes the bear. So cute! I made him re-enact it so I could get some pictures.

Sleeping with his bear.

Hugging his bear.

Thank you Miss Janet.
"Sleeping" with his bear.
Ha ha, not sleeping!

Just cute. :)

Friday, January 9, 2009

A Little Perspective.

Jarred, Jack and I drove- yes DROVE- to Texas for our Christmas vacation. Now most of you who read my blog know Texas is a big place AND it's pretty far from Tennessee. When you put traveling the 2 together, it makes for a rather long trip. I was curious to know just how far it was so I mapquested it. Here you go: all 2216.14 miles. Anyone wanna send some gas money?

Now, as I'm talking to my friend Dixie about our trip, she suggests since we're touring the state of Texas, we might as well come to Amarillo, too. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time.. or energy to make that trip this time. It would have only added 718 more miles to the trip so- next time, Dixie, next time.


It really puts into perspective just how far we drove when we put it on the map. In all we were in the car for approximately 36 hours. Boy, we sure do love our Texas families!!!



Monday, January 5, 2009

Resolutions

Almost everyone makes them and I bet almost no one completes them. I'm posting mine here so that may hold me more accountable. You can check up on me from time to time to see how it's going. :)

1- LOSE WEIGHT- Isn't this the most common, generic resolution? I have joined weight watchers, lost 10 pounds so far and even entered a bet with my friend Dixie. We are meeting in Memphis in March and want to look smokin' hot for all the Elvis impersonators. We have challenged ourselves to lose 15 pounds by our trip. The winner gets $2 per pound lost for a new article of clothing. I think if I win, I will let her buy me an Elvis jumpsuit. I am also committing to walking on the treadmill at least 3 times a week, hopefully more. So far, so good. ;)

2. REDUCE DEBT- I'm sure this is another typical resolution but I need to do it. We'd like to eventually move into a bigger house thanks to all the toys Jack got from his generous family and friends so getting rid of some of our debt will obviously help. I plan to pay chunks at a time and NOT BUY ANYTHING I DON'T NEED! Mom, you can help me with this one.

3. ORGANIZE- My house might seem a little bigger if I got rid of half my crap. I plan to go room by room and eliminate stuff I just don't need anymore. This will be my most difficult because I hate to clean and procrastinate until I just can't stand it anymore.

4. BE MORE CRAFTY- I made Kelly and my mom an apron and Abbott a blanket and I want to use my sewing machine more this year and try to make more gifts for people.

5. DO MORE GOOD DEEDS- In high school, our English teacher made us do Random Acts of Kindness (RAKs). I think I should do this again.

There you go. I think 5 resolutions is a lot, but doable. What are your resolutions? I'll help you stick to them if you'll help me.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy 2009!

Well, 3 of 7 were able to make it to midnight last night although Kelly rang in the New Year giving Abbott a bottle. He didn't want to miss the New Year! We are getting ready for a big lunch of black eyed peas, greens and cabbage so that we can have lots of luck and money in 2009. We've had a great time in Athens, but we're heading home tomorrow. Here's a few photos from our time in Athens. We also had a 9 month photo shoot with Abbott but you'll have to wait for those! Hope you all have a Happy 2009!

Jack is helping pass out presents at Wannie's house.

All the 3rd cousins. Landon, Caroline, Bryce, Sydney, Abbott and Jack.

Landon is showing Jack the ways of the farm with his Jeep.

Jack on the old tractor in the barn.

One chore is to fill the tree stumps with leaves. A tennis racket works best for this task.


Abbott made his first trip to Dallas to meet Treville.


Abbott giving me his suave face.

Jack trying to give Abbott hugs. Abbott only likes this for a few minutes.
I'll get more posted when I get home! Happy New Year!