Play Time!

Jack and I have started hanging around our community center a bit more often. They have special times and days each week for little kids to come and have art time, gym time, pool time and even skate time. Jack and I have started attending the gym and art time. He loves running around the huge gym and playing with the basketballs, big blocks and following all of the other kids around. On our first experience there, Jack was the victim of assault. He had his eye on a little girl that was about 4 months older than him. He was following her all over the gym and she was growing quite tired of this, so, she turned around and gave him a big shove. Jack landed on his tushie and looked quite confused, he wasn't really sure how he ended up on his bottom. Well, Jack, take this as your first lesson in love. This is only the first time of many that you will be interested in a girl and when she finally gives you some attention, she just shoves you to the ground and you are left wondering what the heck happened. I would love to say that Jack was so bothered by this act of violence, that he went to play with other children, but no, as any other male would do, he jumped right up and continued to follow her and try to win her over.

When the little girl left (not in handcuffs even though the little criminal deserved such), Jack found new friends to play with--teenagers. I don't know why he is so attracted to teenagers, but he finds them wherever we go, ditches me and hangs out with his new buddies. On this day, he was giving them high fives and they were trying to teach him "knuckles". He would bring them a ball and they would roll it back and forth with him. If they forgot about him, he would go up to them, pull on their pant leg and hand them the ball again! It was so cute to watch him make friends all on his own! At one point, Jack watched with amazement while the teenagers were climbing on the rock wall. When they finished and went back to what they were doing, Jack instructed them to do it again with a series of grunting, pointing and pulling on pant legs! I really did try to get Jack to leave the teenagers alone, but he has a one-track mind! The kids were excellent with him, however, I do wish that Jack would be his normal self around kids of this age, he is the poster child for abstinence around most people.

Jack has also started hanging out with the neighborhood boys. As soon as we go outside, he runs to the side of our driveway that is closest to the house that they all hang out at and looks for the boys. He then will do a series of grunts as though he is calling them--sometimes it is a "Hey, I am coming on over, guys!", sometimes it is a "Hey, where are you guys at?". Luckily the friendship appears mutual and the kids love to impress Jack with their skateboarding and bike tricks! A couple of nights ago, the big boys had a game of basketball going while Jay, Jack and I watched from our yard. At one point, the ball was knocked in the grass and Jack jumped up, yelled "I got it!" (or something that really sounded like "AJHERGAADRE!") and ran over, picked up the basketball and brought it back to the kids. It was so darn cute to see him carry this basketball that was almost the size of him and bring it back to his buddies!

Here is a picture of Jack hanging with his neighborhood friends. On this evening, they all took turns letting Jack play with their glasses, bracelets and cell-phones (which by the way, EACH of these kids have cooler phones than I do and none of them are over the age of 14!). Jay and I were cleaning our vehicles and these kids just sat and entertained Jack for well over an hour before I had to tell the guys that it was Jack's bedtime!

Jack and I made it back to the community center again today. There were no teenagers to play with, so he just ran and ran and ran. At one point, a mother there with three kids ages two and under (the middle one was one she babysits), said to me with great sympathy, "Wow, he must really keep you busy!" How sad is that....a mom taking care of three small children was feeling bad for me and I only have ONE! The whole time we were there today, that other mom never moved, she sat in the same spot the whole time and the kids just kept running back to her and never caused any trouble. Jack and I, on the other hand, were running back and forth across that basketball court so much that you would have sworn we were actually playing a basketball game with imaginary friends! Jack was also climbing into people's strollers, getting into their diaper bags and even discovered how much fun it is to play with the drinking fountain!

New Milestone

Jack reached a new milestone on Wednesday. It is not a milestone that has a space allotted for it in the baby book, but it is a life changing one just the same.
Jack can now reach up and grab stuff off of the counters. CRAP! He literally went to bed on Tuesday night NOT being able to reach and on Wednesday afternoon, anything that was close to the edge was in his grasp and free (or so he thought) for his taking. I was in disbelief! At first I thought I was just misplacing things, but then I saw him do it.
It has taken us a few days to get into the habit of placing things further back on the counters--both Jay and I have been quite guilty of forgetting!
Jack is quite proud of himself when we have had a relapse, he takes the item and runs with it!

Hmmmmm.......

Conversation in our home last night:

Jay: Why are there marks all over our [white] doors [and door casings] [that Jay worked on for an entire summer in our garage] [and has sworn that he will never again buy doors unfinished]?
Stacey: Are they all about three feet high?
J: Yes.
S: Jack.
J: Oh.......(and at that moment I could actually HEAR him THINKING "Crap, she is going to make me paint all of these doors again.")

No, don't worry Jay, I won't make you get out your paintbrush yet. I think repainting while the tornado is still in the house is pointless. (Not that I said that last night, I will let him sweat it out a little longer.) Just think, when we sell our house we can ask more money for it having a "distressed" look!

Also, speaking of the "tornado", WHY do they put the buttons for the television on the bottom of the television?!?!? Or should I just calmly ask, Can it hurt your t.v. to be turned on and off repeatedly... and I mean 50 times in 10 minutes? (Yes, I will be buying one of the plastic thingies for this problem tomorrow.)

Mother's Day

Here are Jack and I celebrating Mother's Day at Old Chicago. He was wonderfully behaved for the entire meal and had all eyes on him when he erupted in laughter! I am so lucky to be a mother of such an absolutely wonderful little boy!


In honor of Mother's Day, I thought I would give you my top ten list of what I always swore I would NEVER do as a Mom.

10. The parents bed is for the parents, kids should never be allowed in the parents bed. Well, Jack started sleeping with me at 3 weeks and we didn't kick him out until he was 8 1/2 months.

9. Breastfeeding past 6 months is just gross! Jack is now 12 1/2 months and he is still nursing every morning.

8. Why bother with Organic food? It's all the same and we are all just fine. When I put Jack on baby food, I became obsessed with making sure that all of his food was organic. As he has gotten older, it is not as easy to do, but when I buy foods just for him, I make sure they are Organic.

7. Moms should just trust their doctors and vaccinate their kids on time. Well, I have been known to argue (I know, what a shocker) with my doctor about the vaccination schedule and I will not allow Jack too have to many at one time. I am currently reading The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears and I now know (a little bit more about) what vaccine brands to ask for and which vaccines to delay.

6. Parents need time to themselves, go ahead leave them with a sitter. I thought I would still go out on a date with my husband at least once a month. Instead we have gone out once since Jack was born and it was for about an hour!

5. My baby will sleep through the night by the time he is three months old. Nope! Jack started sleeping through the night at 8 1/2 months!

4. It is easy to fit in a work out while being a mom. Just get up before the baby does and go work out in the basement. HAH! I sleep until my baby wakes me up!

3. I will loose all of my baby weight before the baby is three months old. I don't even want to go there! (Can you still call it baby weight if the baby is no longer a baby?)

2. I won't be one of those people who treat pregnancy as an excuse not to do anything, come on it's not like you are sick or something. Well, I tried this mentality, it ended with me going into labor at 28 weeks. Luckily, my labor was stopped and I was forced to slooooooow doooooown.

1. I will not be THAT mom. The one that is obsessed with her baby. OK, in all actuality, I knew I would be THAT mom. Jack not only has his own blog, but had more pictures taken of him in his first month than I have in my ENTIRE life (granted I was the third born), but recently, the little tyke has even gotten his own e-mail address (thanks Brie for the idea! Jay LOVES getting e-mails from Jack!!!)!

About the only thing left that I swore I would never do is buy a mini-van. I still have my SUV, but we are seriously considering having a mini-van for my next vehicle. (I just got the shivers typing that, no joke. I REALLY don't want one, but a little bit of me actually wants one!)



Happy Mother's Day to my Mommy, Jay's Mommy, my Grammy and all of the other wonderful mothers I know!

Food Rules

When you read the title of this entry, you probably thought, hmmm, food rules? I wonder what the rules are. But, I too am wondering what the actual "rules" are. I have come to learn that pastas are only sometimes eaten. I have yet to figure out if it is a rule that pasta can only be eaten on days that have a "t" in it or if it has to do with a "third Thursday after ......" kind of thing. Hamburger is another one of the sometimes foods as well are potatoes. I have yet to fully crack this code and I am getting a little frustrated (and Jack is as well) at not knowing the "rules" as I am meal planning.
These are the rules (that I have actually figured out, who knows when I will learn the rest) as Jack has explained them to me (and that I have reluctantly agreed to follow) :
*Favorite meals can be served again as a leftover, but NEVER twice in the same day.
*I will show you that I am done eating by throwing any remaining food onto the floor.
*You (meaning Mommy) must leave the Nilla cookie box on the counter at all times so that I can point to it and show you that I want one of those, which will happen to coincide with EVERY time I wander into the kitchen. If you forget this rule and put the box away, I will be forced to yell and tantrum until you figure out that was what I was looking for.
*I like to wander around the kitchen with my snack whether or not I plan on eating it (which has now resulted in an ant problem in our home!).
*Green beans taste different depending on how they are cut, so you better not give me the "French Cut" ones (well, Nana, you always claimed they taste different this way, I guess Jack agrees with you).
*I must eat the same thing that you are eating. If you cut mine up and it no longer looks like your food, I will be forced to scream until you cut up your food in front of me and give me the food off your plate.
*Bibs are for babies. I am not a baby. I will not wear a bib. If you put a bib on me, I will take it off. If you put a bib on me that I cannot take off, I will scream until you take it off of me.
*If you have a spoon, I must have a spoon. Maybe even two.
*I will ALWAYS have room for a dessert.
*Meals MUST be on time. I cannot be expected to wait 5 minutes because of your poor planning.
*I need variety. I will eat pancakes (or substitute "pancakes" with any food item) two days in a row, but not three.
*If you put salt or pepper on your food in front of me, then you must also (pretend to) put salt and pepper on my plate.

*There is no "grace period" for learning the rules. You must know them and follow them at all times. When I (make up) announce a new rule, you must figure out what I mean and follow it from now on.

After reading the (known) rules, I bet you can't wait to have us over for dinner!

Children's Museum and Macy's Flower Show

The day after Jack's birthday party, Jay, Jack, my parents and I all went to the Children's Museum. This was the first time that we had ever taken Jack and we all had a ton of fun. I didn't end up with very good pictures though, 99% of the pictures I took ended up being of Jack's back as he ran from one thing to another.

The museum was amazing and I think we will be headed back there many, many more times! There was so much to see and do!

If you are wondering what is "on" Jack's nose--he got his first "road-rash" the day before his birthday party. Jay and Jack were walking
back from the park when all of the sudden, Jack did a nose-dive into the walking path. His one-year photos have been postponed until he is all healed.

After the museum, we were ready for lunch. We stopped at McDonald's. I, the crazy mom, fed my child organic graham crackers, organic applesauce and McDonald's French Fries. Hopefully, one will cancel out the other.

Next, we headed to Macy's Flower Show. Jack wanted to run around soooooo badly, but was somewhat content being held. Jack enjoyed looking at the flowers and really enjoyed sniffing them!