Paci Crisis!!!

When I picked up Jake from camp tonight I could tell it was going to be one of those nights. He was already showing signs of being tired and every little thing that wasn't exactly right brought him to tears. So, I was very intent on getting him home, fed and ready for bed as quickly as possible...before things turned ugly.

We managed to survive dinner (though he did cry because his fish sticks took way too long, according to his internal clock anyway) and I even bribed him into his pjs by baking him some cookies (yes, yes, I AM capable of baking cookies, especially the kind that come all ready to go into the oven...LOL)...the kind that say "you must be in your pjs to eat these cookies". Too bad (wink, wink) I had thrown the wrapper away before he had a chance to "read" that part.

Then, post-cookies, as we ascended the stairs, I heard this primal scream which made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I turned to find that he had chewed just a little too hard on that one remaining paci and this time (cause God knows there have been many, many, many times when I've warned him NOT to chew on it) it broke. YES, the final paci had a BIG hole in it and according to him, "kept letting the air in" now. All I could think was "oh God, NO, I'm not ready"!!

Now, I must admit, my very first instinct was to go out to the car and find the spare one that I have hidden there...or the emergency one in the diaper bag. But, we've been working our way up to giving up this one last paci when he turns 4 in August and I just wasnt sure it was the right thing to do to magically "find" one at this point in time?!?!?!?

So, we go through out bedtime routine...brush teeth, read books, put my ipod in the player and start up his bedtime playlist and into bed he goes with the broken paci. After about 30 seconds that paci was thrown across the room and a NON STOP, broken record like series of "momma, paci...momma, go buy me a new one...momma, call nanny and see if she has one, ask her to bring it to me, momma, paci, paci, paci...and on and on and on". Even the waddle wasn't an option or acceptable alternative.

So, what, you may ask goes through a (very tired) mommy's mind during a time like this...well, at certain low points, I found myself thinking..."oh, hell, he's likely going to need braces anyway, so what's the big deal"..."what's more important holding to my principles about this paci thing or having ANY chance to get some sleep tonight?!?!?..."nobody ever walked down the aisle with a paci in their mouth, now did they?!?!?"..."he's not 4 yet and we agreed he would give it up when he turned 4, right, so maybe I should give him one of the spare ones??"...All of which were immediately overshadowed by a visual of him, age 5, looking the size of a 10 yr old, with a paci still in his mouth...or a visual of him with "bunny rabbit teeth", as his dentist likes to call them...uggghh!!

After rocking him, rubbing his back, threatening him, consoling him and nearly giving in a hundred times over the course of an hour and a half, he finally fell asleep out of pure exhaustion and despair. Still remains to be seen if he makes it through the night without it and so I'm wondering if I shouldn't sneak out to the car and grab that extra one just in case I need it during the night?!?!?! Damn, I'm SO weak!!!!!

Not sure who's more NOT ready for this transition...him or me?!?! LOL First thing tomorrow, I'm going to get someone on my staff at J&J working on a nicorette-like device for "paci cessation"...maybe a gum and/or a patch or something. Probably need 2 in a pack...one for the mommy and one for the kid! LOL

Stay tuned to see how we made out...Our very first paci-free night in almost 4 years!!!

What Ever Happened to the Days of Counting Words??

These days I find myself wondering how it was that I EVER really counted words?!?! Was there really a time when I was worried that he would be severely speech delayed?!?! And why, on Earth, did I not value and appreciate some of those quiet moments when I had them????

In sharp contrast, I now find myself counting seconds of silence...LOL I'm quite sure that we rarely go more than 60 seconds without a "mommy look", "mommy here", "mommy why...", mommy "did you never know...", mommy stop, mommy go, and on and on and on. I've got myself a real live chatterbox and man, for an almost 4 year old, can he carry on a conversation...BOTH sides of it, if necessary.

And of course, the time he wants to, needs to, just MUST talk to me without fail, coincides precisely with when the phone rings. What is it about phones and 3 yr olds? Is there some kind of internal alarm that goes off when the phone rings...one that says "quick, run and find mommy, and talk to her before she gets on that phone and ignores you for the next 5 minutes!!! Talk and just keep talking, don't stop, and if that doesn't work, pull on her sleeve, pinch her arm, grab for the phone, talk louder...and if even that doesn't work, spill something, throw something, bang something, break something, but whatever you do, don't give up and don't let her talk on that phone!" I can remember pre-Jake, when I used to actually look forward to the phone ringing...now, I actually get heart palpitations because I KNOW what is about to happen...LOL

Jake's vocabulary is expanding in leaps and bounds. And the funny part is he's not afraid to use words that he can't quite say...and of course, translation is your problem, not his! Some very funny staples of his include..."hosiple" - which is where sick little boys and girls go (something he's way too familiar with)..."air magician" - which is what cools the house, just like magic, only much more expensively..."Jacolyn Stove" - which is what he believes the name of his class in school is when it's really Jacques Cousteau, though don't even try to convince him of this...this past week he told nanny and I that he had "pedodies" for lunch and we were both stumped by that one - turns out he had perrogies (which floored us, considering how picky an eater he is)...he also love MMMs - his version of M&M's..."last day" is his version of "yesterday"...and so many more that escape my mommy brain at this late hour.

He also continues to amaze us with what he's learned in his Montessori school this past school year. I bought him a big floor puzzle that contains all of the continents and oceans, etc. this week and although I knew he had learned the continent song, I had NO idea that he really knew which continents were which!!!! At 3, this down right amazes me!!!!!!! He was more than happy to teach his girl, Jordan and the rest of the posse the continents this past weekend. I have a feeling, we're going to be learning a lot from him over the years...LOL

All in all, he appears to be changing and maturing with each and every passing day. Today, while driving home from school (oops, camp), I looked back at him and thought, WOW, he looks so much older to me...like my baby is turning into a little boy right before my eyes. Then, a couple of hours later, he was laying on my bed with his new headphones listening to a Hannah Montana (Miley Cyrus) music video on my ipod and I thought, WOW, how long till he's asking me for the car keys??

HOW SCARY is that?!?!? On that note, I'm off to bed... Contrary to popular belief, it takes a lot of sleep to keep up with an almost 4 year old!!!

Life Lessons From My 3 Year Old...

Every once in a while, there comes a day full of wonderful reminders of what it's like to view the world through the life of my 3 (soon to be 4) year old...today was one of those days. School ended for Jake early last week and after spending the rest of the week running Nanny and La La ragged, and having a total BLAST at his sister, Hallie's, 3rd birthday party, it was time for his new "camp" to start today. (I've come to learn that "Camp" is the word you use to describe pre-school during the summer.)

Personally, I was nervous...anxious...ok, if I'm being honest, I was DREADING taking him for this first day. I blocked 2 hours off on my calendar and began praying for the best at least 3 weeks ago. After all...NEW place, NEW kids, NEW teachers, NEW routine, NEW EVERYTHING!!! Enough to tie my stomach into knots. But not my little guy, he was his happy-go-lucky self. Of course, we started off with our normal "I don't want to go, I want to stay here"...but this is par for the course each and every day, and hey, why not give it the 'ol college try, right? Can't fault the kid for trying...(besides, who wouldn't choose to stay home with "the world revolves around you" Nanny?) But, without much fuss, we were on our way.

In the end, he had a "frantatic" day...his version of "fantastic"...LOL And the school even was kind enough to send me some pictures so I could see him in action, smiling, and doing puzzles and clearly not agonizing over any of the things I had feared. Looking back over the event, I thought there were quite a few really cool life lessons to be learned, including:

1. Friends don't take years to make, they take minutes if you start by assuming you can trust everyone and that they're all worthy of friendship, until proven otherwise (or in this case, until someone steals the piece of chalk you're playing with or tries to kiss you...LOL).

2. The best way to make friends quickly is to bring cool stuff with you on your first day and more than enough to share with everyone. In this case, Jake asked to bring 4 big boxes of sidewalk chalk...BIG HIT!!

3. You only get one chance to make a good first impression...which we assume is why he proceeded to count all 80 pieces of chalk for his teachers when we first arrived. First, he started by ones, but then realized that he'd be there a long time...so he switched over to counting by 5's as the teachers stood with their mouths dropped wide OPEN as he counted up to 80. And just to be sure they were duly impressed, he began again and counted by 2's. That's our boy!!

4. Friends don't let friends do big floor puzzles alone... Check out this enormous solar system puzzle he and his two "friends" were able to do... Of course, he was the only one who could name all of the planets too...not to mention reminding everyone that Pluto is NOT a planet anymore (and Pluto is still so sad about it...LOL)

5. And there's no better way to leave a lasting impression than to show off by writing your name (first AND last) on the sidewalk for all to see...(you'll need to read it upside down)

All in all, for him, a FRANTATIC day!!! I, on the other hand, am going to try some of those same tactics at work tomorrow...should be interesting. LOL

On another note, Jake and I had a wonderful time at Hallie's 3rd bday party this past Saturday!!!!! It was held at this really cool kids gym place in Philly and the kids were able to bounce (on a big trampoline), jump, roll, balance (on a balance beam), run wildly through obstacle courses, play with dozens of balls, eat pizza and cake and generally just be KIDS however they chose.

Hallie and her two new singing doll friends snuggle in her new pillow

Jake, Hallie and Sharon with Hallie's birthday presents...

Have you ever seen a more beautiful baby??

Guess who that is in the background bouncing the birthday girl?!?!?!

Jake spent most of the ride there explaining to me how "big brothers" are supposed to help their little sisters unwrap their presents by starting to rip the paper for them. And he was so excited about the presents that we got for Hallie that he even convinced Hallie's mommy, Sharon, to let her open them before getting them home. Here are a few pics of Hallie and her presents and Jake...looked like they were a big hit!

We're really looking forward to 4th of July weekend when we're going to all pile into a big Expedition and make the 3 hr trek down to the first ever Donor Sibling reunion for the 1976'rs...Jake, me, nanny, Sharon, Abby, Hallie and Baby Lea. There will be 8 children there all together ranging in age from about 6 to just a few months (Baby Lea)...ironically, 4 boys and 4 girls. For those of us who are familiar with the 1876 traits...this should be VERY interesting!!! More on this later...and of course, after...assuming at least one of the parents survive to tell the tale and share the pics...LOL

In closing, there are 2 cute Jake stories to leave you with... Last week, Jake and I were playing this game that's made up of 50 or so wooden shapes with holes in the middle. These pieces are used to make patterns on sticks and the game comes with some examples of the patterns and the child is supposed to find the right shapes and put them in the right order (PGTM, I know you know exactly which game I'm talking about here!). This, of course, was no problem for our little guy and we had a good time playing for quite a while. Once he was bored with this game, he asked if we could play another and I said we could as long as we cleaned this one up. So, he picked up all of the sticks and all of the templates and put them away while I put all of the 50 or so pieces back into the box. Now, this is the kind of box that comes with a clear plastic cover that slides in so you can see all of the pieces, not a "dump everything in it" kind of box. So, I was about to pick it up to put it back on the shelf and he grabbed my arm and said "Momma, that's not right!" I looked in the box and thought for a moment that maybe I had missed some pieces or something...boy, was I wrong. Jake proceeded to take the box, empty out ALL of the 50 pieces, group them by shape and by color and arrange them neatly in the rows. Funny part is, as he started to do this, I almost said "oh come on now, Jake, you're not really going to do that are you?" and then I realized...just like that song "Cats in the Cradle"...My boy was just like ME...he's growing up just like ME!!! Oh, am I in trouble!!

Driving in the car the other day, he asked "mommy, do you know how many stripes are on an American flag?" And to my dismay, I must admit, I did NOT. To which he replied...there are 13, my silly mommy and 50 stars! Well, alrighty then... I'm not looking forward to the day when he can put all of the states in the right place, cause I never make it before the buzzer for that one either...LOL

Hope everyone has a GREAT week!! And happy birthday to Aunt Amy (tomorrow)!!! We love you!!!!

Catching Up... Part 2

So, enough of the bad news of the past month (from my Catch Up - Part 1), how about some of the good stuff!!! Well, we had a GREAT vacation with Nanny, La La, JJ and Aunt Adriana at our favorite resort in Punta Cana. This was our 4th trip there (Jake's been to Punta Cana 5 times and he's only 3...that's the life!) and we were welcomed back like friends of the family. We stayed in the newly opened "Reserve" which was designed with families and kids in mind. Here's a few shots from our balcony...the place was AWESOME!!!!

And some of the awesome kids pool with the 4 slides (where Jake could stand)...
(yes, that's nanny's finger in the picture...LOL)
The rooms were also incredible, as they had a full kitchen, an indoor Jacuzzi tub AND an outside one, a huge bathroom which was broken up into two rooms (3 sinks) and a shower built for 2 (which was almost the size of jake's room at home...LOL) and a balcony that had both the other Jacuzzi tub, a table and chairs and a sofa and easy chair. Just UNBELIEVABLY beautiful.

As you might expect, Jakey took advantage of both the indoor AND outdoor Jacuzzi!!

The very best part of the trip, though, was how comfortable Jake became with the water. Remember, this is the kid who cries every time he has to get his hair washed because he does NOT like water on his head or face. Here are some pics of him sliding down the slides and just generally loving the water!!


(Yes, that's his FACE in the water!!! Of course, it would help if he remembered to close his mouth)

He also had a great time playing with JJ and Aunt Adriana. Here's some high flying fun he had with his uncle... (and check out the bod on uncle JJ...wow, what a difference a year makes!!)

And of course, some generally cute shots and some of him and Nanny and La La (aka, the SKINNY TWINNIES.

(wearing nanny's reading glasses...LOL)

Only thing he missed was his girl, Jordan, and the rest of the Posse (who he just assumes should always go everywhere that we go)!!!

Bye for now...

Catching Up... Part 1

Man oh man, this blogging thing is hard to keep up with! I was thinking about it last night, and it really comes down to choosing between blogging about something we did vs. doing something new (which may end up being something worth blogging about)...LOL And then, of course, there's always the question of "sleep" which always seems to get in the way. I'm starting to think there really is no way to "blog at the speed of life"...if things keep up this way, I may need to hire someone to hang around to take care of the blogging thing.

All that aside, it's definitely been WAY too long since I last updated this blog!! SO much has happened (good and bad), that I honestly don't even know where to begin?!?!?! I guess I should start with the not so good stuff...

Sunburn in April in NJ???

For those who wonder if that's even possible, let me put that question to rest once and for all...YES!!!!!!!!!!! I, of course, had to learn this lesson the hard way (well, Jake and I both, really). Yes, me, the mommy who uses 70 EVERY time he's at the beach, the pool, etc. Me, who has managed to take him to the Dominican Republic and Mexico 4 times without so much as a hint of a tan line anywhere on his body somehow manages to get him totally fried here in NJ in April!!!!!! This all occurred while playing on the waterslide across the street with his friends Logan and Brianna while mommy sat right there watching in total ignorance (and getting burned herself on her arms).

He was burnt crispy on his arms and shoulders, because on top of the dingbat move of NO sunblock I also allowed him to to pull the 'ol "Logan doesn't have a water shirt on, why do I need one?" ploy...Oh vey! Needless to say we had a few VERY uncomfortable nights and also learned that he is VERY allergic to aloe...which every product known to man for soothing sunburn has in it:-(

The next day he was feeling much much worse and had a bad runny/stuffy noes that appeared to have no intention of slowing down. Off we went to the peds office where we were seen by the nurse practitioner who told us that his symptoms all pointed to allergies and that we should simply pick up some zyrtec and be on our way. That night, he awoke with a 103 fever and we were quite sure the zyrtec wasn't going to be the answer.

The next day, he was looking much worse and now was saying that it hurt him to pick his head up. We were thinking it had to be the sunburn on his shoulders, but his fever just kept climbing and so off we went to the peds (again) for what I thought was some kind of sinus infection or one of a million other things kids his age are always picking up...all of which every mother assumes an antibiotic will quickly cure. Well, they checked him for strep, which was negative, found a rash that was spreading even as we sat in the exam room and then just as we were about to be sent home with some kind of "virus" diagnosis, Dr. Scott said "I'm not comfortable sending him home because of the way he's guarding his neck. I want you to take him to the ER for a spinal tap to check for meningitis." OK, whether you're a mommy or not, the whole "spinal tap...meningitis" thing has to grab your attention in a BIG way!!!! SPINAL TAP on a 3 year old?!?!?!?! WHAT??!!?? (Note to self at this point...stop watching so much HOUSE)

After the shock began to wear off, we left for the ER. Luckily, we were able to avoid the spinal tap when the ped on staff noticed that the lymph node on the right side of his neck was very swollen and getting larger by the minute. At that point, the diagnosis changed to some kind of infection that had gotten into that lymph node. About an hour earlier, I had spoken to Aunt Bear and although we have this very same conversation each time I call her while in the middle of some medical emergency, we were both still torn about whether or not she should come all the way to the ER? (Just for the record, EVERY time this happens, we look back and wonder how we could even have questioned whether or not she should come? LOL) Luckily she decided to come and join Nanny and I, who admittedly had checked our brains at the door of the ER. Aunt Bear asked the doctor about the rash that was continuing to spread and with that added piece of info, they decided that Jake might have Kawasaki disease and that we needed to be transferred by ambulance to the infectious disease ward at St Peters in New Brunswick. First, SPINAL TAP, now INFECTIOUS DISEASE ward???!!! And what the heck is KAWASAKI disease?!?!? I must have aged 20 years over those 2 hours...

All the while, Jakey was laying there very listless and lethargic and we were all so worried about him!!! After an ambulance ride where we almost hit a deer, swerved and were on 2 wheels for about 10 seconds (there go another 10 years), we were admitted to St Peters. To make a VERY long story even just a little shorter, after about 5 days on IV antibiotics and a hundred cups of ice cream, Jake recovered enough to be released. (Not sure Nanny and I have yet to recover) Also not sure we'll ever know what caused the infection, but we were all very relieved to just go home. As usual, we couldn't have survived without nanny going back and forth to our house each and every day to bring us anything and everything we might need and of course, our daily visits from Aunt Bear!!!

Throughout the entire experience, he was a real champ, unbelievable when you consider what he went through. Here are a couple of pics of him during the time when he had taken over the playroom on the ID ward. Most amazingly, while playing one day, he actually wrote his ENTIRE ALPHABET on a piece of paper for us...this was a first and I couldn't have been prouder of him!!!

Here's a picture of it... and a few pics of him in his cute little hospital gown.

Not too bad for a kid with an IV in his writing hand!!