Meet Jake Anthony: What Ever Happened to the Days of Counting Words??

Friday, June 26, 2009

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!!!

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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...