Archive for the ‘Jake’ Category

I’m on a mission – I’m on a mission to get rid of half of everything we own. This house contains enough to furnish ANOTHER house/apartment and clothe another family. That’s a bit much. There are constant piles of dirty laundry in my house. I can never get through it fast enough, so I’ve stopped trying. I don’t like that – my husband doesn’t like that. My well being doesn’t like it either. My goal is to get us back to the basics. I want to be able to keep my house clean AND tidy and have my laundry caught up, so I can spend more time playing with my family and doing things for ME. I’ve filled 2 huge boxes with kitchenware and shoes/clothes. I anticipate filling at least 10 more boxes. I can’t wait.

My aunt passed away in April – my only aunt. We weren’t close. There were many issues and I tried hard to get past them. But, years of habitual lying will break down a relationship. The lying broke down MANY relationships between my aunt and other family members. I’m sad for my mom (her only sibling), my cousins and my grandmother. I pray she’s in a better place.

My mom has recently been evaluated for a heart transplant. She spent almost a month in hospitals – some time was spent with small town doctors not having a clue how to treat her and some time was spent in the 9th best hospital in the country with amazing doctors treating her. I’m 10 hours away from my mom (by car), so my sister is having to deal with the majority of the stress involved. I sometimes feel like I’m being punished for living so far away. I also feel like my husband gets punished for it, which is not fair AT ALL. We, as a family, chose to live here. When I need to be there, I’m there. I hate guilt – especially when it’s adults who are throwing it around.

My oldest son Will played baseball in the spring – he was amazing and had loads of fun.

We spent MANY days at the baseball field watching him play – I love seeing him doing something he loves. He also made the league’s all star team.

We also did our obligatory trip back to see family for the summer. We had a mostly enjoyable time. I won’t go any further than that. We always call it a “vacation” – mostly because my husband is getting paid for it. But, based on the true definition of the word vacation, it’s the exact opposite……

So, as you can see, we’ve been really busy. Some good, some not so good. I guess that’s called life!

I had BIG plans to be up to date on Henry’s scrapbook. I would do each month as it passed and I would be able to open the book today and see pages done up to 22 months (he’s 23 months old). That never happened. In fact, he’ll be 2 in a few short weeks and I don’t have one page in that book. I have a few done, but they aren’t in order. I’ve heard scrapbookers say that one can never be behind in scrapbooking. My oldest boy will be 8 this year. I have his 3rd birthday done. I’d say that’s being behind. My middle boy turned 6 in January – I’ve got his 1st birthday done. Again, behind.

Here are some that I’ve worked on recently:

I think it’s something that’s embedded into the genes of women who become mothers. You know you’re done having children. But, seeing babies makes your uterus and ovaries quake like nothing else. You see a fresh from the heavens baby and you sigh and look longingly. I do it often. I see pregnant women and long for that belly again. I know I don’t want anymore children. Sigh.

I’ve been forced to sort through the baby clothes in my house. Henry is moving into 2T stuff and I need to clean out the smaller stuff. I hold up the itty bitty pieces and tears well up in my eyes. I’ll never have another peanut to put in those clothes. I’ll never be able to soak up that baby smell. I’ll never sit on my couch and hold a newborn for hours. and hours. and hours. It amazes me {and saddens me at the same time} that time has flown that quickly. I look at some of those clothes and remember my sweet Will wearing them and now, he’s 7 1/2. I held the outfit that Jake wore when he first learned to walk. I smelled the clothes that I swear Henry wore last week, but really, it was many, many months ago. Time is funny – it has a way of making you mourn what you don’t have anymore, but it also has a way of making you treasure where you are right now.

My sister in law is having twins this summer – we’re all very excited. I’m sorting the clothes for her {if she has a boy or boys}. I took out one outfit that I’ll keep forever. It reminds me SO much of my two younger boys – it makes me smile every time I look at it. I’ll keep one that reminds me of my big boy, too.

I’ll pass these clothes on to people who need them, treasure the few pieces I keep for myself and smile. I have lots of pictures and memories that no one else can have.

Six years ago today, my heart was forever changed by the birth of this little gem of a boy. I’m a better person for knowing him. He makes me see the silly side of life. His laugh is infectious. He has the sweetest smile. He would eat pizza for every meal if I let him. He loves ICarly and Spongebob. And doughnuts.

He has a very tender heart. He loves his brothers. He’s a mama’s boy. He wants very much to please people.

He loves life with every ounce of his being. He gets his feelings hurt very easily. He loves food as much as his big brother loves sports. I think, if given the option, he’d still be in utero. If he couldn’t be in utero, he’d be permanently planted on my lap.

I pray thanks to God every day for letting me borrow this sweet boy for my time here on earth. I’m so thankful God chose me to be his mama.

Happy Birthday, Jake. I love you more than you’ll ever know.

My big boys raised $115.00 each for their school fundraiser! The children who raised over 100 dollars had their names put into a drawing for a chance to go in the school’s “Money Machine”. Well, my boy Jake’s name was picked. He’s following in his big brother’s footsteps – Will’s name was also chosen when he was in Kindergarten!

Jake was incredibly nervous – he was so afraid he wouldn’t grab any money and everyone would laugh at him The awesome gym teacher, Mr. K. got everyone ready. We watched some of his friends go in and everyone grabbed something. It was my boy’s turn and he ROCKED that money machine. He walked out with 6 dollars! He had the highest amount of anyone that I saw go in there and his big brother only got 2 dollars. He was quite proud of himself

That’s what I’m trying to do. The first day of school is Tuesday. I’ve met both boys’ teachers and I believe they’re going to LOVE school this year. That makes me happy.

I’m not sure I can describe the feelings I have about sending Jake to school. I’m just not ready. He is SO ready. I can’t keep him here forever (but, I’d like to).

I’m desperately trying to push these feelings away. I want to show him that I’m excited for him to go, excited for him to learn new things and make new friends. I’m certain my eyes will fill with tears on Tuesday morning, while we wait for the bus. I’ve never been so happy to have transition lenses in my life – I WILL NOT show him my sadness. Instead, I’ll hug him tightly, smile and wish him a fabulous day. Once that bus drives away, I can’t promise the tears won’t fall. In fact, I’m certain they will.

My crew is heading to Columbus, Ohio tomorrow. The boys and I are going to the Columbus Zoo on Saturday morning while my husband and my in-laws go to the Navy/Ohio State football game. I didn’t want to sit around here by myself for the weekend, so we invited ourselves I’m geeked, the boys are even more geeked and I need a day or two in some new surroundings.

Pictures will follow in a few days.

Happy Labor Day!

The Bert to my Ernie. The Patrick to my Spongebob (this one would be his favorite).

My middle child. The child who plays that role VERY well. The child who has been by my side more days than not. The child who will plant himself outside of the bathroom, so he knows the second I walk out.

I’m sending him off to Kindergarten in 49 days. I’m heartbroken about that. He’s my shopping partner, my helper, my snuggler during quiet time. He loves to hold my hand, just because. He’s an excellent big brother and will entertain Henry when he gets fussy and I can’t get to him in time.

What am I going to do without him? I suppose I’ll continue to prepare him the best way I can and be proud of the fact that he’s a good boy with a very tender heart, a feisty personality and desire to please and do well. I can think of nothing else I want in my children.

See this adorable, stubborn little man? He’s FINALLY POTTY TRAINED! I’ve panicked about this – he starts Kindergarten in 6 months. Last Monday, the doc told him he needed to be potty trained for Kindergarten – he started the next day and hasn’t looked back. He hasn’t worn a diaper since.

Can you say KA-CHING?!?! I can hear the money jingling in the bank account now!

Five years ago today, at this very moment, I was recovering from an insane natural childbirth experience. My sweet baby boy, Jake Allan was born at 8:56 a.m., on January 22, 2004, weighing 6 lbs. 6 oz. and he was 19 inches long. He was born at 37 weeks, 2 days, which totally threw me off.

My bag wasn’t packed, my sitter for Will wasn’t available because of timing issues and I just wasn’t ready emotionally.

He’s an amazing little boy and I’m blessed to be his mama. I’ve had loads of fun with him over the last 5 years and I look forward to many more years of fun with him. He’s brought joy to my life that I didn’t know existed. He’s been counting down the days ’til his birthday for weeks now and he came running into our bedroom this morning with a huge grin on his face. He said, “Today is my BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!” Yes, my love, it is!

Happy birthday my sweet boy!

Our sweet boy Jake is different – it’s hard for me to describe to anyone and only my husband truly knows what I’m talking about when I say that.

He has done EVERYTHING later than his older brother – didn’t walk until he was 1 1/2, didn’t speak a word until he was 2 and at 4 1/2, he’s still not potty trained.

The whole potty training thing has been a long and difficult journey. Our oldest son potty trained himself in 3 short days – woke up one morning and said, “Mommy, I don’t want to wear diapers anymore!” and he didn’t. It took 1 full day of reminding him to go on the potty and after that, he was good to go. He wore diapers at night for 6 more months and then did that on his own, too – took 1 night. In the 2+ years he’s been potty trained, he’s had ONE accident. Stupid me thought Jake would be a piece of cake to potty train – he’d want to be just like his brother….

OHHH no, it just doesn’t work that way.

He had surgery in 2005 for what the doctors called “Anal Sphincter Dysplasia”. He was born with his sphincter muscle detached. He had an awful time going to the bathroom after he started eating solids as a baby and it just went downhill from there. We had to give the poor baby 3 enemas a day for months before the surgery, to get his body ready. Once he had the surgery, he did VERY well. Going to the bathroom was easy for him – he seemed MUCH happier.

We moved back to the U.S. (we lived in Switzerland from 2004-2006) and he was good for about 6 months. Then, the problems started all over again. Fast forward a year and a half and we’re still stuck. Part of me thinks he’s just lazy and another part of me thinks there might be more medical issues. I just know, and call me selfish if you must, that I’m TIRED of changing 10+ yucky diapers a day on a 4 1/2 year old child. He’s stuck in a 3 year old preschool class because he’s not potty trained – all of his friends have moved up to the next class and I know he’s going to be VERY sad to go back next month and be with kids he doesn’t know. He can’t go to the next Sunday school class because he’s not potty trained, he can’t go to our church’s VBS Sports Camp because he’s not potty trained….you get the picture.

He always runs and hides when he has to go – I know what he’s doing based on that AND the look on his face. I forced him on the toilet this morning and he went 2 times! I danced a jig in the bathroom and our boy got a bag of M & M’s as a treat! I knew there was more that needed to come out, so I had to resort to the one thing I DIDN’T want to do, but knew would work like a charm – the dreaded enema.

He agreed, I did and he screamed The stomach cramps were awful for him and the tears were awful for me. He hugged me and sobbed and I felt like I had failed him – failed to protect him from pain, but I was just trying to help him. After 20 minutes or so of bad stomach cramps, it finally happened. He went….and went A LOT. I’m not sure I’ve ever been more proud of him OR happier for him. The look on his face was pure joy – He was empty and felt so much better. I’m hoping (and praying, too) that this will be the beginning of GOOD things for our boy – he’s got a clean slate and knows what he needs to do to go on the potty all the time now.

He’s been clean all afternoon – wearing the same CLEAN diaper all afternoon. He’s so happy – he feels so much better AND since he’s been clean all afternoon, we’re heading to Chuck E. Cheese in a bit. He’s giddy. I’m giddy for him.