almost there

January 1, 2009




January 1, 2012

school prep

April 2010
June2011


In preparation for pre-school we had to bring Jack in for a few immunizations that we had skipped over the last 2 years so we decided to get his 30 month checkup at the same time. Next month we will celebrate Jack's half-birthday and in a few months he will start school. Our little baby is growing up.





Jack is so excited to go to school. When we went on the tour he saw all the kids and started waving at them through a glass door saying "HI KIds!"
When we went through the classrooms he wanted to play with all the toys, color with the crayons, sit in the chairs, he couldn't get enough of it. I know he doesn't fully know what it means to go to school but he is very excited and I know he wants to learn so much. He already knows his letters, numbers, colors and

blinding me with science

Last year I did this and it said that Jack looked more like Chris. Lately everyone has been telling me that Jack looks exactly like me and I still think he looks a lot like his papa so I decided to let science decide.....

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebs - Collage - Morph

And that settles it!

stretch

I took this picture last night of Jack and I right after his bath. When I looked at it later, it reminded me of a photo that I took nearly a year ago.





My, how he has grown.

a kid'll eat ivy too. wouldn't you?

Lately, I find myself thinking of things in terms of "back when Jack was a baby". It's strange because I see him every day and how much he changes and how he is turning into a real live person, with his own personality and I have begun to think of him as more of a kid and less of a baby. See, this is a baby:

and this is a kid:




baby:

kid:


baby:

kid:

I can't believe he is almost 8 months old and will be a year before I blink and then he really won't be a baby anymore. This must be what women go through when they start to think that they want to have another baby because you really do begin to miss some of the baby things and I can see someone in my position wanting to do that all over again but..... I am very very happy with just my kid. For now.....

4 years ago

happiness, love, rain, smiles, nervous laughter, whispers,

water taxi, unhemmed pants, love, happy tears,

muddy shoes, lost cars, ocean, storms, smelly dogs, cake,

photos, anticipation, sailboat, tissues, phone calls,

love love love, dropped rings, flowers, ocean, headache, kisses,

hugs, deep breaths, i do, yes yes yes,

intertwined fingers, at last, champagne, love, music,

kisses, smiles, vows, muddy roads, mountains, sigh, ilyhb!

5 months

Dear Jack,

This week you turned 5 months old. You may notice that I am writing this a little bit late but it's not because I forgot or I stopped caring, it's because I am more exhausted than I have been in a very long time. See, we went to visit your extended family this past weekend and while it was great to be able to introduce you to everyone and see you with your Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles and Cousins, it was a 4-day trip that left us all very happy but very tired. You stayed up well past your bedtime 3 of the 4 nights and... let's just say that I no longer have any doubts about putting you to bed by 6:00 every night. Despite the late nights, you were a great little traveler and laughed, smiled, and charmed your way through New York and New Jersey.

This month you have started rolling all over the place. Sometimes I put you on your activity mat on your back and look back 2 minutes later to find you on your belly five feet from where I left you. You have also "found your voice", meaning you shriek at the top of your lungs at absolutely nothing and then laugh hysterically about it. You really are the happiest baby I have ever seen and 90% of the time, unless you are hungry or over tired, you have the best attitude about everything. You have discovered that people love it when you smile at them and you honestly charm every girl you run into with that mega-watt smile of yours. If this is any indication of the future, you will be the biggest flirt the world has seen by the time you are 5 years old.

You also have begun to discover that you can be in control of your hands and feet and you will reach out to grab anything in sight, including my nose, hair, and most recently, your own feet. You also love to grab your bib and pull until the velcro gives up. This is usually followed by a good spit-up down your shirt so I wish you would stop that.

You have started being more affectionate with me and your Papa and sometimes when I am holding you, you casually put your own arm on my shoulder and reach out to grab my nose and it melts my heart because it feels so grown-up of you I can see in my mind the little boy you are going to be in another year or two and in some ways I cannot wait to see you walk and hear you say your first words but at the same time, I want you to stay just the way you are because I know I just have to blink and you will be graduating college.

Love,
Your Mama

12 weeks later

yesterday and today

January 5


March 18

a year ago today

just me ranting again

Monday morning I go back to the OB for my six-week check and hopefully I will get the all-clear to resume normal activities. This, to me, means returning to the gym and I have to say I am a little bit scared. I have had times in the last 15 years or so where I have been what I called "out of shape" but my Today Body laughs at my Then Body when it hears that. I have NEVER been THIS out of shape in my whole life and I really don't know where to begin to get it all back.

I've been reading about things you should and shouldn't do to begin regaining your abdominal muscles. (Abs? Where are you abs? I'm looking for them on the side of milk cartons. I have put out an Amber Alert for my abs because they are gone-er than gone.) Everything says to start slowly with leg lifts and to try to do a sit-up right now is actually going to do more harm than good so I guess that is where I start. I'm thinking about dusting off my Prenatal Pilates DVD and try that out because it actually had some core work in it. (Which is why I promptly stopped playing it 4 months ago and put it back on the bookshelf.)

I have been trying to be more aware of holding in my stomach while I am sitting and walking and I have been walking a lot every day, usually in the morning with Jack in the stroller for 1 1/2 to 2 hours and in the afternoon with Chewy, usually for a much shorter time. I weighed myself at Publix 2 days ago and I have lost another 2 pounds since last week so I am hoping that after an active weekend, I may have less than 15 pounds left to go by the big weigh-in at the doctor. The thing is, I can't lose too much weight too quickly because I am still breast feeding and intend to continue doing so for a few months and losing too much weight and working out too hard can affect supply so I have to be very careful how I do things. At the same time, I know that my agency is expecting me to get back to work before the season is over the end of April or so, and to be honest, I expect myself to also, but maybe I need to lower my expectations a little bit? I gained 50 pounds in 9 months and I probably should not expect to lose it in 2 months or less. But it would be nice.

Anyway, yesterday we went to the dog park and Jack slept and Chewy ran and everyone had some fun.

weekend wrap-up

Chris and I got up Saturday morning and rented the smelliest van in history to pick up the baby furniture!

(Chris is wearing sunglasses so you can't see his eyes tearing from the stink.)

My sister Cathy and her husband Jack were in town so they met us for breakfast and to pick up the furniture (luckily they had their own car so they did not have to ride in the stink-mobile.) (Really it smelled like 300 sweaty men had just gotten out of it 4 seconds before we rented it. I almost rode with Cathy and Jack and made Chris drive in it by himself but I am a team player and couldn't do that to him.) (But I wanted to.)

Anyway, we got the boxes out of the van before they melted from the smell and Cathy and Jack made quick work of the crib before Chris even got back from returning the van. Then we all worked on the dresser and it eventually came together.

And they are so gorgeous!On Sunday I washed all of the baby clothes and put them away in his dresser (!!!) It feels so nice to have everything washed and put away neatly. I keep going in there and opening the drawers and looking at all the cute little clothes and thinking that in just a few weeks, he is going to be wearing those clothes and sleeping in the crib.

Sleeping in the crib, that is, once we get a mattress that actually fits in the crib unlike the one we already bought and have to return.

Chewy remains un-excited and generally melancholy about all the goings-on.

Thanks to Cathy and Jack for all their help in putting together the furniture because I have to admit I was pretty worthless in the helping department. I have been having Braxton Hicks contractions since Thursday and once they get going it becomes really hard to do anything besides sit and complain about it. UGH!

It was so nice to see them though and we were really lucky they were here to help because Chris and I would still be trying to put the crib together today if they weren't here. I guess once you have kids, you get lots of practice putting things together so hopefully there is still hope for us.

21 days to go!

a very miami weekend

On Saturday, we did some of this:

(Thank god for flattering angles)

And on Sunday, we did some of this:

There's nothing like December in Miami.

Also, if you will notice at the bottom of this page, Kumar's Countdown is on the LAST BABY! We have 28 days left until the big day and I'm afraid my luck with certain things is about to run out. I have been much more puffy all weekend and there is nothing I can do to help it except to lay on my left side with my feet up and drink a ton of water. That is really not making it easy to get anything done (or have any fun at all) so I guess I'm just going to be puffy for a while. We're in the homestretch and the end is in sight!