Crazy week...of course

I'll have to make this quick because I'm a little on the sleepy side and should get to bed.

Vacation went by WAY too quick as it always does, but we still thoroughly enjoyed it. I've been feeling a little under the weather for quite a few weeks now, so I finally decided to go to the doctors. Looks like it's just an upper respiratory infection so I'm on some nasty antibiotics to help clear it up. I'm just glad Jack hasn't gotten it yet.

Jack was great during the whole break, and Mark and I both really enjoyed spending more time with him. He's now starting to put two words together when he talks, sing his ABC's (his version of them anyway) and he's playing by himself a lot more than he used to....which is great for all of us. He's just a great kid all around =)

Last Friday, Mark and I went down to Albany for a Relay for Life fundraiser...a Gaudy Galla. The point was to dress up as crazy as you could. Joan and I thought we were dressing pretty Gaudy in old bridesmaid dresses, crazy earrings and necklaces and 80's style hair, but we were actually too nice for this event. It was pretty interesting to see what people found to wear. This was the first time I was more than 30 minutes away from Jack. Needless to say, it was a rough night for me. Jack was of course fine. His Mammy, Papa and Auntie Kim stayed at the house with him so he could at least be home. Didn't seem to help much, because he woke up in the middle of the night asking for mama. Made me smile a little knowing my little boy loves me that much =)

On another exciting note, the pictures from Katy's wedding are up on the photographers website. Click here to see them. They are beautiful! Jack was quite the camera hog and I look horrible....but Katy and Ryan look awesome! I think I'm going to have Jason and Vanessa do our next family pictures. I just love their work.

Here are a few left over pictures from the wedding and a cute one of Jack with a cheerio on his nose. What a kid!!

Kim and Kenna
Erika eating her flowers...
Jack just waking up from his 20 minute nap...
My goofy kid...

Weekend Update

This will be a quick update because I'm a little on the tired side...it's been a long weekend.

My poor little boy has been pretty sick this week. He has one of his two year molars coming in and he caught a cold that I had last weekend so he was in pretty rough shape. Poor baby had to go on the nebulizer again for a couple days, didn't eat much and was really cuddly for most of the week. It breaks my heart to see him like that.

He didn't take long to recover though, and was feeling much better by this weekend. Yesterday (Saturday) he had his swim lessons and then spent the rest of the day with Grammy. Mark and I did some shopping and then headed to Lake Placid for dinner at The Whiteface Lodge. Grammy got us a gift certificate to use for our anniversary, but we never had a chance to get down there to use it, so we used it for my birthday. I have never been to a restaurant where they check your coat and they have a sommelier, so needless to say it was a pretty fancy place. We had a very nice meal, one that was much overdue.

On Sunday, I again had a busy day getting ready for Katy's bridal shower. We had a really nice party for Katy up at Joan's house in the afternoon and Katy got some great stuff for her house.

Jack also enjoyed himself eating all of the munchies we had. We didn't end up leaving Joan's until about 5:15, so I was just able to do some laundry and play with Jack for a little bit before he headed off to bed. This weekend just seemed to fly by.

I of course have to leave you with one more picture. Jack loves playing with his boots and putting things in them lately. His newest thing to do....


Yep...that's his sippy cup. What a strange little boy.

We have another busy week ahead of us again, but what else is new. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Swimming and more....

As promised, I took a few pictures of Jack at swim lessons on Saturday. He is starting to love the pool more and more and Mark and I are just glad he's not afraid of the water anymore. He kicks his feet like a big boy and loves going down a little slide they have set up for them. (You'll see it in the pictures)

Just coming up from being dunked...
Going down the slide...
Coming out of the pool to get on the slide...

We had a pretty busy and fun weekend. On Friday we got together with a few of our friends from high school, Keith and Erika, Aimee and Jaramy and Andy and Danielle. We headed to Koto for dinner, where I enjoyed a long overdue drink and had some great conversation. We then went and bowled a few games and of course the boys beat the girls all three games. I did alright, but I'm very sad to say that Mark beat all of us in the first game. (this is the guy who usually bowls a 33). It was a wonderful, much needed evening away from the kids. I love Jack to death and he means more to me than anything, but I also love having adult evenings. He and Auntie Kim had a great night playing and watching Diego, but he did get a scratch while she was playing with him....so we just deducted some of her pay =)

Saturday was swimming lessons followed by a dress fitting for me and Mark took Jack to McDonalds for lunch and to play at the play place. Jack is very unfamiliar with McDonalds (this is only the second time I think he's been there) so he was very excited to play. He did manage to eat all of his hamburger and apple dippers though...hungry little man. That night we then headed up to Grammy's house for dinner and some Wii. We ended up spending the night because it was late and we were going to have lunch there the next day, so instead of wasting gas we just stayed there. It works out great for Mark and I though because Grammy and Gramps get Jack in the morning and let us sleep in. I love staying the night up there =)

Mark and I also had the day off on Monday, so we got caught up on some work and also visited with Meme and Pepe Brown (Mark's dad and Kandie). Jack enjoyed running around and eating home made donuts. He also has been getting a little stuffy so Kandie checked his lungs and it just sounds like he may have some upper respiratory things going on Nothing new....every time this little man gets a cold it's all in his lungs and it sounds like he is a heavy smoker. So out came the Nebulizer and he's been on treatments the past two days. I'm at the point where I want to test him for asthma because he always has such a hard time breathing, especially when he is sick or runs around too much. Oh well....we just will have to baby him for the next few days...nothing new.

Last thing, my sister Katy informed me that for some reason my blog only allowed comments from people who have an account. I have since changed that so anyone can leave comments on here. So feel free to comment away or make requests for certain pictures. I have several thousands of Jack to share =)

Okay, this really is the last thing....Jack on Saturday on Gramp's tractor. Obviously not a happy boy (it was nap time and he was WAY over tired.)

Visits with Santa

Well, it's official, Jack does not like Santa. We took him Saturday morning up to Begor's in Mooers to see Santa and Mrs. Clause. He had no problems with Mrs. Clause, I think it's because she slightly resembled Grammy, but he cried every time we tried to bring him near Santa. He did have a good time hanging out with Ryan (they met this summer at camp) and a few other little girls, Sophia and Olivia, whose parents are friends of Grammys.

At least he wasn't crying....but he still isn't happy.
He seemed much more comfortable with Mrs. Clause...I also got a few cute pictures of him while we were there. He had a great time running around and playing with the other kids. He also got to color a little bit with daddy, eat a candy cane and a cookie, and he got a movie from Santa. Mark and I also got a chance to meet a few friends of Grammy's that we have been meaning to get together with and I got to see a few kids that used to be in my classroom. It was a pretty fun morning.

Playing in the racks of clothes...
This is what happens when Jack gets a hold of my camera...
We attempted to bribe Jack with a soda that Santa had, but that still didn't work...
After that he passed right out and then later in the evening he went and had his picture taken with Kasey. I was working my last night at the studio (YEAH!) and did Keith, Erika and Kasey's pictures as their Christmas present. I wanted to try to get a picture of the two of them together, so we attempted it. It turned out pretty cute, but Jack wanted no part of it. Kasey was a great sport through the whole picture experience and we got some pretty cute ones of him. The rest of my night was a little hectic because I started getting a little sick and didn't end up leaving until an hour after we close. Grammy and Gramps took Jack for the night so Mark and I could go shopping for him on Sunday. I ended up catching Jack's stomach bug and was a mess all night and all day Sunday. I still got out and went shopping though...although it was pretty rough.

We are both feeling much better today, but neither of us is really eating much. It's a good thing for me to not eat, but I worry about my little man not eating much. He still is full of energy, no fever and making enough wet and dirty diapers though, so I don't think I need to worry too much.

Today Jack's day care provider took him to have breakfast with Santa at Duke's Diner in Plattsburgh. I figured this is his third encounter with Santa and it would probably go smoother...wrong again. Of course he cried and would not sit on Santa's lap. Oh well, maybe when he gets older we can get a picture of him smiling.

I'll leave you with a picture of Jack near our tree playing with his Santa he got last year. He is a little blurry, but it's still a cute picture.

Brownies!

I have been trying to let Jack try to help with some of the baking and cooking lately; i.e. mixing or placing toppings on pizza. He brings a chair up to the counter, takes his spoon (or cheese) and starts copying me. He loves helping and I'm an advocate for having children help with a lot of household things, of course all of them being safe things. So the other night I was in the mood for chocolate, but the only thing we had were low fat brownies. It has been a while since I made brownies, so I decided to go for it. Jack of course brought his chair over and starting stirring away. After everything was mixed well, I poured them into the pan and let Jack lick the spoon. The licking of the spoon turned into dipping the spoon in the bowl and making a mess all over...see pictures below.



Don't worry, low fat brownies do not require anything but water, so he wasn't exposed to any raw eggs. He absolutely loved being able to dip the spoon in the bowl and of course getting chocolate on the spoon was an added bonus. We had to take it away though because it was getting all over him and the floor. This is what happened after we took the bowl away...

Thought everyone would get a kick out of those pictures. Anyway, our monkey has had the 24 hour stomach bug and resting with Grammy all day. Lucky lady. He seems much better tonight and has been playing for quite a while at Mammy and Papa's. He was tired though, and just passed out about 20 minutes ago.

Tomorrow is a big day for us...we go see Santa and Mrs. Clause up at Begor's Supply in Mooers. The owners are Gramps' Aunt and Uncle, so we are going to visit with them and some other friends and family. Look for lots of pictures of that =) We also have pictures to take of him and Kasey (and auntie Erika and uncle Keith) and one of Jack alone (I forgot to order the 10x13 for our living room and I need more wallets for x-mas cards). So he needs his beauty sleep.

Hope everyone is enjoying the snow!!

Sick, sick baby =(

My poor, poor baby is sick. Of course it's probably my fault too, so I feel even more terrible about it. He's been out of sorts for a few days, but just in the past two he has started coughing really hard, wheezing and his nose is running like a faucet. Last night, the first night this has EVER happened, he ended up sleeping in bed with us. He just couldn't get comfortable in his own bed and kept crying and coughing and it was a vicious cycle of the two. So I got up, went and got him, and per Mark's request, put him in between us. Needless to say Mark and I slept horribly, but Jack slept better and that's all that matters. He's been getting his nebulizer treatments and Grammy is coming over tomorrow to keep an eye on him so he doesn't get the other boys he goes to daycare with sick. I hate to see him so miserable...it breaks my heart. =(

We did have a nice weekend before he got really sick. Mark was gone Friday and Saturday to a Leadership conference, so Jack and I got in a lot of bonding time (not that my kid needs to bond with me anymore). We went over to Mammy and Papa's house for dinner on Friday night and took a trip to Target with Mammy and auntie Kim. Jack got some Christmas presents and we picked up his pictures from Sears while we were in the mall. It was a very busy night, all ending with Jack watching about 10 minutes of The Wizard of Oz and getting a little scared of the lion. I decided to turn it off, read him a book and then put him to bed.

He then spent some time with Mammy on Saturday while I went to work and then we went up to Lyon Mountain to visit with Mark's family. Mark's aunt Missy was up from Florida for a few days so we wanted to go visit with her and baby Hunter. Unfortunately because Jack was not feeling well, he couldn't go meet his new cousin. I know I'll have another chance to take a picture of the two of them together soon. While we were there, Jessica got the cutest video of Jack with Aunt Pam and Aunt Missy playing ring-around the rosie. Jack's new thing is to pull on people's clothes (or hair in this case) to get them to sit up or lay down. Thanks, Gramps for teaching him this!

Here is Jack, Aunt Pam (left) and Aunt Missy (right) and Jack pulling on their hair to get them to sit back up and play again. What a kid!



So on Sunday we headed back up the mountain so Mark could visit with everyone. Jack was getting pretty ill by later in the evening so we called it a night pretty early. It was still nice getting to visit with everyone when it is not a holiday or someone's birthday. I did manage to get one picture of baby Hunter while we were there...little guy wouldn't not wake up while I was there though. Oh well, maybe next time =)


Well, hopefully my next post will have better news about my baby feeling better. Wish Grammy luck tomorrow...she's going to need it watching this poor little guy!

Sick, Sick, Sick

Quick update about our week and weekend because as the title says....I am sick. Not too sure what it is...hopefully just a bad cold and not Bronchitis. I have a feeling this is going to be a rough year for me being in and out of all sorts of houses. Time to start taking vitamins again!

Jack has surprisingly not caught my cold. Which makes me extra happy. He's had a pretty calm week compared to our usual busy weeks. He did have a nice weekend....from what I hear. Gramps came to pick him up last night around 5:30 and took him to dinner at McDonalds and to play at the Play Land. Gramps and Grammy offered last week to take him off our hands for the night and it ended up being great timing with me being so sick. He didn't eat too much but he did have a great time chasing a three year old little blond girl. We all know how he loves his older women! He then went to WalMart with Gramps and flirted with everyone that walked by him. He went back to Gramps and Grammy's house and watched some TV then went to bed. I don't know how they do it, but every time Jack stays at their house he sleeps until 7 am. I can't get him to sleep past 6:30 in his own bed. Doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but sleeping 30 more minutes a night would be nice.

I guess today he went to Price Chopper with Grammy, played a little bit and made a cake. I have been resting most of the day and Mark has been busy doing work. We miss our little guy though and are heading out in a little bit to go see him and have dinner at Grammy's.

It looks like it'll be a busy week for us once again. Mark has some workshops, as do I, Pepe Brown is going to stop by tomorrow to visit and Grammy and Mark's birthday's are at the end of the week. Back to our busy selves once again. Lets hope my cold breaks up and I can make it through the week.

Well, I have to apologize for not having any new pictures of Jack. I haven't had an opportunity to take any pictures so I'll post a couple old ones that I haven't posted yet. Have a great week!

Mowing the lawn...
Talking on my phone...
Kissing Marble...
Watching Backyardigans...
I was trying to be all artistic and take a picture of his eyelashes...