Congratulations!, Howdy!, and THANK YOU!

Congratulations to our "little brother" John. He graduated from High School last week. We are officially graduates of the Big Brothers/Big Sisters Program....but we got John a Netbook for Graduation so that we can all stay in touch.

"So Proud"


HOWDY GRANDPA!!!! Grandpa hasn't been to visit since JJ was TINY......we're thrilled that he is here.



THANK YOU!!!! To Marc and Michelle who have passed along toys their three beautiful daughters have outgrown.....JJ is thrilled! and so are mom and dad. We won't have to buy anything for a LONG while.


We LOVE to recycle! Especially TOYS!

I'm feeling blessed, this is a fun age and we are all enjoying it very much. Sleep is much better, not great but it's enough to survive on now.....Mom and Dad even get a few hours in the evening to watch a movie, read, play farmtown......

We're looking forward to our next big adventure: Traveling with JJ. We have a trip to NY planned for this summer and a week in Sedona planned for the fall....

Well, it's 1:30am and I can't sleep......I have a busy day tomorrow and am just thinking of a million things.....thought I would share a couple of them with you web people:

I was wasting time on the internet the other day and came across this great website. It had a recipe for Black Bean Soup and I had all the ingredients....so guess what I made yesterday? I put it in the fridge and enjoyed it today for lunch with my friend and my cleaning lady....we all agreed it was DELISH.

Mary, the cleaning lady said "if you added cliantro this would be even better" and we all agreed.....

After reviewing that thought today (I can't sleep remember?) I was hit with this High School memory: in 9th grade English we had a "technical writing assignment" to write out "how to" do something. One option was how to cook something and so I talked it over with my mom (since I was in 9th grade and wasn't cooking a whole lot) and I wrote out Spaghetti sauce or something (damn that was a long time ago)....one of the steps was to "chop and add cilantro"....I nearly failed the assignment because my teacher didn't agree that the recipe would have cilantro.....he kept me after class to discuss it and everything (because he was Italian and just knew how to cook everything).....well it was MY recipe, and I added Cilantro (well, Mom's recipe and SHE liked Cilantro).....the spelling was correct, the steps were easy to follow he just didn't want to use Cilantro?????

Well, this is just one of 587 reasons (which I might list one day) I hated High School......that AND:

I had more than one teacher suggest I would not be successful in life due to my performance in high school....

my cleaning lady would probably disagree.....she liked my bean soup.

Our Trip to Children's Hospital:

It went off without a glitch!

The hardest part was keeping him awake for several hours before the test to ensure sleep during the EEG.......so the car ride was awful. Daddy drove us downtown and I sang and basically annoyed my baby for an hour.....he screamed and just kept closing his eyes and then looking at me "Mom, I WANT TO SLEEP, you usually want me to sleep, I don't understand".....and then he got hungry.....I felt like a bad mamma keeping him awake and hungry.....

When we arrived, I took him out of his carseat and he was HAPPY! We even got a great parking spot, arrived early enough to take a stop at the Trainscape. He LOVED it, and we loved it too. Daddy just kept saying "it's a good thing he's not any older, we would never get him outta here".

(yes, he and I are "jailbirds")

Can you believe our boy started to fall asleep just during the set up for the EEG? Daddy asked if we could feed him while they poked on his head.....GOOD THINKING DADDY.....happy tired baby....that is red marking pen....it was a "painless test".



Then we woke him up so they could compare his "awake" brainwaves. He didn't want to wake up....look at that tired little man


He slept all the way home.....mommy and daddy wanted to too.....it was a long but SMOOTH AS SILK day! Thank you for all of your prayers and good thoughts.....THEY WORKED!

We already have the results as of 9:48am this morning: JJ is perfectly normal! Our doc says: It doesn't completely rule out Epilepsy, but makes it HIGHLY unlikely. So JJ's tremor is just a tremor......I was really hoping for mutant powers.....but I'll take normal, in fact I LOVE normal....

Note: tomorrow is our EEG at Children's Hospital. We should have results by Friday.....


SIX MONTHS:
("You want me to do what? I can't sit still!")

Dear Plankton,

A year ago today I was feeling you wiggle inside me for the first time.....I could hardly imagine what it would be like to be a mother...how hard and wonderful it would be. During my pregnancy I told daddy that you were FUNNY! he didn't believe me, he also could not figure out how I could know from your kicks and wiggles that you were FUNNY.....but you and I had our little jokes and I swear you were laughing while in my belly. I also knew you were blonde haired and blue eyed. I told Daddy your name would be Jason Jr. Daddy was not too sure but agreed to "see what you looked like before we committed to a name". He also shocked me by asking "what if he is dark haired like you"......I freaked out for two days just thinking about that....it seemed so wrong......

You are not only funny, you are HILARIOUS and you not only LOOK like your daddy but you have his jovial spirit, his ENERGY and his love of making other people smile......

And I have come to know you, not just a little glimpse but really getting to KNOW you......at first you were a stranger to me (so tiny and cranky), motherhood was strange to me......we have come a LONG way in the past six months (15 months really). We are learning to be a family, to work together, play together, BE together.

I look forward to every day with you. As I watch you grow, I know that my heart is growing too. I didn't know if I could really change for you and with you.....you have left me no choice....you are making me into a mother. It's a beautiful and some days painful thing to become. I look forward to watching you and your mate go thru this transformation as well.....

I won't say I have enjoyed every day of the last six months, but they have been AMAZING and I can say that I look forward to the next six.....WE HAVE A PARTY TO PLAN!!!!!

I love you!,
your mamma

Enjoying a walk during our camping weekend


First Sippy Cup

A trip to the Farmer's Market

Angels