Catching Up...Part 1

It's been so long, that I'm honestly not even sure where to begin?!?! Since my last post, Jake had his tonsils out, met his new sister, Lea (twice), visited with Hallie twice, has been in a bunch of trouble at school and last, but not least, spent 8 wonderful days in Punta Cana with the Posse.

So, with a little distance under our belts, the tonsils ordeal doesn't seem all that bad...though I must admit, at the time, it seemed VERY bad. The day couldn't have started out any worse, as we had literally 4 or 5 inches of snow during the night. Then, of course, there's the part where you have to try to explain to a 3 yr old why he can't have even a sip of water. While he's saying over and over and over again..."water, momma, water, momma, drink momma, drink please!!!" And running from sink to sink to the refrigerator and all through the house trying to get there before Nanny, Aunt Bear or me. Ohh, that seemed so cruel!!!

Then we arrive at the children's hospital and he's his normal happy go lucky self and is running around, riding on the little toys they have there and we're trying to keep from showing any worry or concern and all the time we know he's about to have a surgery that's going to leave him feeling REALLY, REALLY badly...which Aunt Bear describes as "your throat's going to hurt a little bit"... ok, so at that point I'm thinking, hmmmm, how many of those little white lies does a Godmother get??"

The surgery went well, without any complications and of course, he emerged in the recovery room crying hysterically in pain. One of the worst feelings anyone could ever experience... holding your child, knowing there is absolutely nothing you can do to comfort him!!! My stomach was in my right shoe for the entire day. Here's a picture of our little guy in the recovery room... momentarily asleep in between bouts of crying, waiting for the morphine to kick in.

Aunt Bear, Nanny and I were there to see him through it all and of course, once he was feeling better, to shovel in the ice cream as fast as he could take it. We thought we were doing fairly well and the nurse agreed and next thing you know he was released and we began to make our way to the lobby to wait for our car to be brought around... when out of no where, all of that ice cream decided to make its way back up... At that very moment, just as we were trying desperately to catch it in the basins we just happened to take along with us, this parking valet guy comes in and starts pestering Aunt Bear for her valet ticket. So, after trying to put him off 3 or 4 times (and each time he asked, I was sure he was going to find his nose on the other side of his face), she finally shoved the (full) basin at him and said "here, you want to hold this while I find the damn ticket?" Needless to say, it bought us another a little time because he wanted nothing to do with that basin!!!

Over the next couple of weeks, it was very interesting to hear our little guy speaking with this squeaky little voice. And he played it for all it was worth and continued asking for ice cream for breakfast long after he was fully recovered (and of course, sometimes even got it from his nanny...but that's a whole other story;-)!!

A few weeks later, we were fortunate enough to be able to visit his newest baby sister (donor sib), Lea Paxton in Philly at the hospital a couple of days after she was born. Ohhh, Lea is BEAUTIFUL and such an incredibly good baby!!!!! We just loved meeting her and having a chance to spend a little time visiting with everyone.

Sharon and Abby gave him an "I'm a Big Brother" shirt that he proudly wore throughout the entire visit. And he and Hallie had a good time playing with puzzles and monkeys and balloons made from gloves... We are SO fortunate to have met Sharon, Abby, Hallie and Lea and to have them all within an hours drive will make it easy for the kids to grow up spending a lot of time together.

Of course, we may need to work on that big brother hug, as he tends to strangle whoever it is that he's hugging;-)
Not long after our visit with Lea and Hallie, we went on a short trip to the Zoo with the Posse and his girl, Jordan. These two are SO incredibly adorable together and Jake is always wanting to hug her, kiss her or hold her hand. To say they adore each other would be the understatement of the year!!! Here's a shot from the zoo...

If it looks like it was a little "chilly" for a zoo visit...well, you're right, it WAS! But the kids had fun...the big ones and the little ones and then we went back to the Brooks-Minardi residence where El Presidente whipped up a delicious meal, including our boy's favorite dish...raviolis.

I'm going to have to continue this post another day, but I am going to attach a few vacation pics because they're just too good not to!!! Back soon...

Line of the week... "Jake honey, why on Earth would you bite a little girl in your class?!?!?"... "Because she wouldn't let me kiss her!"