Meet Jake Anthony: A Little Rain Can't Slow Us Down!!

Sunday, November 2, 2008

A Little Rain Can't Slow Us Down!!

Well, we had been SO looking forward to our playdate with Jake's donor sibling (who he just calls his "sister" now...very cool), Hallie and of course, his girl Jordan and his other two little buddies, Alyssa and Morgan and all the various adults that go with them (Aunt No-No, Aunt Bear, Aunt Razz, Aunt GG, Titi, Sharon and Abby). We were supposed to go pumpkin picking (like I needed anymore pumpkins?!?!) and on a hayride and enjoy a beautiful fall day outside. And to make it even more special, the date we chose was his Aunt Bear's birthday!! (He told her she was 14 now, although we all know she's acts closer to 4...LOL)Well, in spite of our best "no rain" dance and a little tease of morning sunshine, it was coming down in buckets by early afternoon. ...Time for the back-up plan!!!

So, we all went to Kid Junction for a little sliding, jumping, riding, shopping and/or dress-up fun. Now Jake and I have been there a few previous times and I must admit, a couple of those times the place was just PACKED with wild kids running around and a bunch of birthday parties...so, immediately following the failed "no rain" dance, I began to furiously pray for something a little less chaotic. Luckily, it wasn't too bad and in the end, as I should have suspected, we just took over one part of the place and basically made ourselves right at home. (Of course, this was supposed to be the "little kids" area reserved for the "under 3" crowd...but you know how we are when it comes to rules that don't fit with our plans!)

The kids had a total BLAST!!! It was awesome to get to see them all play together...well, sort of "together". (I've come to realize that "play dates" are really about selecting a date to meet to play in the same place...not to actually play "together", as the word "date" might otherwise imply. I've also learned a recent lesson about "sleepovers" and how equally deceiving the word "sleep" can be in that as well...but we'll leave that for another time.) Of course, I had both my new digital camera and my video camera out on the counter to take with me and NEITHER actually made the trip. Sometimes I'm amazed that I actually remember to take the boy with me...LOL Sharon and Abby had their camera with them and they took some good shots, some of which can be seen on blogginghallie@blogspot.com. (Which, by the way, is the awesome blog that was the inspiration behind my starting this one! Thanks, Abby!!)

Well, 3 hours later...YES, 3 HOURS LATER, we walked out having played and eaten pizza and without any trips, slips or boo boos to be had. I think the longest Jakey has ever lasted in one of those places without either getting bored or turning into monster child was about 45 mins to an hour. Needless to say, a LOT of fun was had by all!!!

Afterwards, though you might have imagined the children would have been tired out...ahhh, that would be NO, Hallie, Alyssa and Morgan came back to play in the Toys R Us room at Jake's house. We had ice cream cake and sang "happy birthday" to old Aunt Bear...

Then we played in the wagon inside the house...what are kitchens for??

Check out his arm around her, could they possibly be any cuter??!?!?!?

There's Aunt Razz taking video of the event for us. (Thank goodness, since my new camera was taking mostly blurry pictures...uggh!!)

Check out Hallie with that BIG smile!!! We all had a great time and we were soooo happy to get to spend time with Hallie, Sharon and Abby again!! Next time, we promised to take the trip out their way and spend the day with them in Philly.

Halloween Update:

Although I've taken nothing but abuse for the costume choice, which of course, was NOT mine, but my son's...here's a couple of shots of Jakey and his best friend, Logan and his sisters Brianna and Kailie from across the street out trick or treating. They had much more fun riding in the wagon and running and squishing their little bottoms back into it after each house than they did actually going to the doors. But, in the end, they all made a killing and went home with a mega pumpkin full of candy...

Line of the week... Jake went to a birthday party for one of his friends from his old school yesterday. At the play place, there were two of those piano keyboard toys...one had 8 keys and one had 5 keys. He checked them both out, counted them both in English and Spanish and then came back over to me and said "Momma, that one has 8 keys and the one over there has 5 keys, that makes 13 all together!" The mother sitting to my right nearly fell off of her seat... That's our boy!

Time for some SLEEP!!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: All the kids had a total blast. They all had a great time.; November 5, 2008 at 5:32 AM

Post a Comment

About Jake Anthony

Jake was born on Aug 19, 2005, he weighed a hefty 9lbs 10oz, was 22 inches long (before you say "ouch" it was by C-section) and was welcomed into this world by his mommy, nanny, pops, uncle JJ, LaLa, Aunt Bear, Aunt No-No, Aunt Amy, Aunt CC, Aunt Razz, Aunt Titi, Aunt GG and Aunt Tracey (soon to be Aunt Dana too). To say he was a "dream come true" would be the understatement of the century!!

I had always dreamed of being a mommy and for some reason, had always wanted a boy. (So much so, that I enrolled in the MicroSort clinical trial for gender selection and had the sperm sorted to increase the odds to 85%.) Jake was conceived using IVF and donor #1876 from Fairfax. The donor selection was a VERY serious process including a thorough analysis of every detail imaginable. In the end, the pool was narrowed down to four possible choices, and each of the Posse (his group of Aunts) had an opportunity to evaluate the bio and stats and vote for a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice. The votes were tallied and actually, there was a tie between the one we called "Giraffe" and the one we called "James" (because he looked a lot like my brother). For the initial attempt, I went with Giraffe, but after no luck with 2 AI cycles, I switched to "James" (1876) and transitioned to IVF.

The first IVF attempt resulted in 8 eggs, 6 of which survived the fertilization process and 5 of which made it to day 5. PGD testing revealed that there was only 1 healthy normal embryo in the mix and luck would have it, it was a boy! The pregnancy, however, lasted only 8 weeks before I was told it was a non-progressing pregnancy. After that VERY big disappointment and weeks of waiting (and a DNC...uggh), I had the opportunity to try again.

This time, I was rushed in at day 3 and told that the 3 remaining fertilized eggs would not make it to day 5. The absolutely FUNNIEST part of this whole story involved my mom. I had not planned to go to have the procedure on Day 3, so my mom and I had to scramble to get there. (I received the message so late that they actually had to stay open late for me and I had to drive up from South Jersey 3 hours to get there....talk about driving at the speed of light.)

So, my mom meets me and we drive up together and on the way up I tell her "mom, no matter what they say, I only want to put 1 egg back in. I'm having this baby on my own and we already have a strong history of twins in the family and I don't want to risk ending up with 3! Mom, I really need you to be with me on this because they always push you to put more in to increase the odds of success." To which she replied, yes, no problem, I understand."

So, we meet with the doctor and he says, you have 3 remaining embryos, we couldn't do the PGD so we have no idea if any are normal (let alone the sex), so I'm recommending you put all 3 back in. My eyes open wide and I say "ALL 3????" I turn to my mom and she says "I agree with the doctor"...LOL!! And before I knew what hit me, off I went into the surgical suite...

And the result, is the most lovable, adorable, smart little boy in the whole world...hope you enjoy reading about him even half as much as I enjoy raising him...