HUGS!

Jack has begun giving hugs when asked, and even sometimes without being asked, and it is the CUTEST THING EVER!  Here are just a few of the cute hugging stories of late:

• It seems like it began with Ozzie in the mornings.  Jack will hear Ozzie in the other room, or Ozzie will come in and lay down in Jack's room, and I'll ask Jack if he wants to give Ozzie a hug.  Jack will walk over to Ozzie, bend down and gently place his forehead on Ozzie.  So adorable. 
• Yesterday when I picked Jack up from daycare, he was holding a doll.  I asked him if he had his baby, at which point he dropped the doll and pointed to the little boy sitting on the floor (one of the other daycare kids), and said "baby".  He then walked over, and ever so gently placed his arms around the little boys head.  He didn't squeeze, or even come too close, it was so gentle.  Of course the little boy's natural reaction was to arch his back away from Jack, he fell over and started crying.  But Jack really was careful.  Too cute.
• This morning at daycare, one of the other mom's bent down to say goodbye to her daughter, and Jack was close by, wanting to play with the little girl.  The mom asked her daughter if she wanted to give Jack a hug, to which the girl offered a pouting face and took a couple small steps backward.  Jack advanced on her slowly, holding out an arm and bowing his head slightly.  The mom, noticing that her daughter wasn't having it and Jack was offering a good hug, quickly jumped at the opportunity to give Jack a hug herself.  He is so sweet.
• And my all time favorite story... Yesterday morning, shortly after Jack woke up from a good night's sleep, he drank some milk and sat with me for a few minutes.  When he was ready to start moving around, I put him down on he floor, got his attention and said to him, "Hey Jack, I love you very much.  Do you love mommy?"  He smiled at me, walked over, and placed that sweet little head down in my lap for my hug.  It makes me want to cry as I write about it.  So unbelievably amazing!  My heart leaps!

I am sure the willingness to dole out these endearing little hugs will not last forever, but I wish it would.  It is amazing!  Either way, I will try to capture these precious little moments in my memory for the rest of my lifetime.  And I'll try to catch a couple with a camera.  Admittedly I don't have one in his room first thing in the morning, and I seem to be without a camera whenever I really wish I had one.

Fresh Gear

This weekend Sonia and I finally motivated ourselves to go shopping for "new" clothed for Jack.  We were a little tired of having to pre-stretch his clothes with our hands before painting him into them.  We both despise shopping, so it goes to show our desperation.  We got him a bunch of fall and winter clothes and two pairs of shoes and he's wearing my favorite pair in this pic.  They look like a toddler version of air force one's.  Which used to be cool when we were in college... a mere decade ago, but I still like them.  We got everything at a second hand store for a deal.  I really do love "gently used" goods.  $3-$4 per item is reasonable as Captain Chaos has the potential to ruin any clothing at any time.

Hilarious

One morning this last week (couldn't tell you which one, they run together), I got up with Jack and gave him his morning milk and was hanging out with him in his room. But lately he has really been enjoying dad's company, so he left the room to go wake daddy up. I sat in his room and waited for his return, which usually doesn't take too long.

From the room next door, I heard Justin tell Jack hi and good morning, all while laying in bed. Justin then started asking Jack what he was doing. Shortly thereafter, I hear Justin laughing next door, and telling Jack to "go show mommy."

Next thing I know, Jack comes strutting back into his bedroom with a clean pair of my underwear hanging around his neck. Hilarious!

Jack is talking and signing

Jack has made a lot of progress in the last 2 months regarding language and communication. At his 1 year appointment, I spoke to the doctor about his lack of speaking, and it's like he understood me and decided to show me what he's got. He says mama, then smiles at me when I turn my attention to him, even though he has nothing else to say but "Hi". He says "out" constantly, and knows quite well what he's asking for (but will say "out" when he wants "in", and even "up" usually sounds like "out"). Both "socks" and "shoes" sound like "saw", but he holds his feet out adorably! He says "wow" and "uh oh". He has started in on some animal noises (Ozzie pants, other dogs say "woof woof", a fish is a smacking lip, monkey is "ah ah", and he likes the sea lion impression of "arp arp").  Oh, and did I mention he can say "baby" and "people", too cute!

On top of the speaking, he is using sign language. He was using "more", and "bird" pretty well when we got back from France and he's added "milk" (easily confused with "bird" and "light"), "night night" (I love that he practically puts himself to bed with this one - and he will even say "night night" as he signs it), "eat", and he recently added "please" which is so cute cause he rubs his whole tummy! He will walk over, put out his hand or grab my finger, sign please, and when his hand wraps around my finger, he will walk me around with him so he can stay on his feet and try some otherwise questionable climbing or walking on uneven ground.  He signs please and I admittedly melt!  He has his own little gestures for music and help, which are tougher signs because they involve 2 hands, but it is unmistakable to us when he uses them.

Demonstrating "More"



Telling me he's ready to "Eat"

I love that he is starting to tell me what he wants. Now if only he would get better at hearing "no" when he can't have what he wants!

Looking Sharp

A couple weeks ago, Jack was having a tough Sunday, but I decided it was time for a haircut anyway!  So, we found a nearby Great Clips, and went for it. We tried sitting Jack by himself, wouldn't have it. So, then I got to hold the crying, squirmy child for the duration of his cut.  I was so thankful that the lady cutting his hair was extremely patient, and the other lady kept coming by to try to help.  Jack was a real handful.  He just hates sitting still these days!  I tried feeding him snacks the whole time, which probably means he ate as much hair as food.  Oh well.  He didn't seem to mind.

Before:  (while playing with stickers, and yes he is wearing one dad sock and one mom sock, the ones that come out of the laundry without a match)

And After:

He looks stern, but it was just before getting a Jamba Juice, which he LOVES, so he cheered right up.

Hospital Trip

So, we've decided it wouldn't be a normal Sonia pregnancy without a hospital trip (sad but true). So, last Friday turned out to be the big day. I had my 24 week doctor appt in the morning, and did my glucose test to make sure my body is still processing sugar ok (it is, no worries). After meeting with the doctor and drinking the sugar beverage, Jack and I met our friends Lauren and Camden at the water fountains for some fun in the sun. We all splashed around, and Jack stayed while I returned for my blood draw. I was starting to get a small headache, but didn't have any Tylenol, and it wasn't bad enough to ask for some. After the blood draw, we all did a little lunch and a little more splash time, then hopped in our car to go home. We had such a fun time with the Roots!!
All the while, and especially on the way home, the headache intensified! By the time I got home, I could barely keep my eyes open as I grimaced through the pain, my body got the chills due to any sense of light touch, and I was basically incapable of any decision making. I called Justin to come home early for help. He got home shortly after Jack got up from his nap. I basically didn't leave my bed from 1:15pm to 9:45pm.

Justin was amazing taking over with Jack of course.  They went to get a profession photo taken of Justin, trying to leave me with a quiet house. They did dinner, brought me dinner in bed, and Justin put Jack down.  Jack was pretty happy all evening hanging with dad, which was such a relief since he'd skipped his morning nap for the first time ever.

Shortly after 9pm, Justin came in to check on me, noticed I had a temperature (about 101) and decided to call the doctor (I probably wouldn't have).  Good judgement on his part, the doctor recommended we go to the hospital.  We called my brother Steve to come watch Jack, and having just completed a double and working again in the morning, they decided Carrie would come instead.  She arrived around 10:30, and we headed across the street to the nearest hospital.  They sent me straight up to the OB unit, hooked me in, and discovered the baby's heart rate was high, averaging between 180-200 bpm.  They ran a bunch of blood tests, but decided I needed to stay for monitoring.  A night of broken sleep since the baby was so active the nurse was in adjusting the monitors at least every 15 minutes.  Not to mention how sore I was from lying around all day.

In the end, Justin returned home at about 5:30 to help get Jack going (we know Carrie could have handled it had we left her with any instruction, which we didn't because we just didn't think we'd be gone all night). He returned at 7am, just as they were discharging me.  We stopped by the pharmacy to get some pain killers (headache still not 100% gone) then we returned home.  We both slept during Jack's naps, and spent the next couple days around the house trying to recover.  Long weekend!

Water Fun

Jack loves splashing in the water! I started out by buying him a bucket set which was on sale as fall is somehow closing in on us (trees are beginning to change here in town). He has had so much fun with those toys, and we've had to change many soaked outfits. It's amazing how much fun $6 and some water can bring.  He carries the long handled rake and shovel with him everywhere - in and out of the house.  Here are some photos from the first splash event.

Run away!

For his birthday, Jack received some gift cards, so we got a sand and water table to enjoy even more fun with the water in the back yard.  I'm not doing sand this year (pretty sure Jack would try to eat it), but the water and extra toys are even more fun.  I love that I can open the back door, and Jack can roam in and out (he does SO well with the stairs right outside the back door) and play.  And it is so nice to have the deck above to shadow the back patio!

Field Day

Justin Cammon and Cambry hosted their annual Cammonville field day tonight.  We had a great time as always.  Unfortunately for team Hulk a Mania we didn't win, but Sonia still pulled out the best female award for highest total female score.  There were about 75 participants about half boys and half girls.  The events included: keg toss, ring toss, hula hoop, ball toss, cornhole, soccer juggling, longest drive, shoe kick and egg toss.  Pretty impressive for being 23 weeks prego... Here's some photos of our MVP and her gold medal.