Keeping Track of Lauren & Jack » December 2006 Journal Entries » AboutMyBaby - online baby scrapbooks, photo albums, videos, birth and pregnancy announcements

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Fri, Dec 29, 2006 11:43 PM
So I'm full force into birthday planning for Lauren's Little Mermaid "Under the Sea" Treasure Hunt extravaganza next Saturday. I finally ordered the rest of my party supplies and favors online, so I am just praying everything gets here in time. Why do I do this to myself? I decided that I like the design from last year better, yup, the one that's been discontinued! I investigated ordering the cake today, and that should be easy. In fact I think I'll order it at the bakery right across from the party venue. Less time for it to melt or get squashed! Now I'm just looking for gummy fish and rubber sharks for the goody bags. The quest continues!

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Thu, Dec 28, 2006 11:46 PM
Oh yeah, new words for Jack: airplane, mermaid, "what's this?"(I guess that's his first full sentence!), bath (Baff!) And he's starting to use NO! in response to just about any question. Oh yeah, and he can say outside and empty which I find amazing because they aren't objects, they're concepts!

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Thu, Dec 28, 2006 8:34 PM
Ok, I know 11 days is a long time not to blog. In my own defense it was sort of crazy getting ready to travel, and then in Oklahoma we didn't have much internet access. Our trip went well, no major upsets, although Lauren has had a little cough just about the whole time. It was cold in OKC, but not especially so, and it was a welcome releif from the heat we've been experiencing in Tampa. We stayed in hotel this time, which had its advantages, but maybe not the homiest place to spend Christmas. We didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked with Mike's relatives. There were only small windows between meal/nap times, and of course both kids were on a different schedule. But still, over the course of a week we still managed plenty of visiting and ate way too much food!

The best surprise is how well the single umbrella stroller worked. Lauren behaved very well in the airports and doesn't seem to miss riding at all. My next concern about travel gear is that Jack is just about too big for the packNplay. He's not climbing out of it yet, but he's almost too long when he's laying down. I don't think there's any chance he's he's going to stay put on the Aero bed like Lauren does!

Christmas itself was very exciting for Lauren, she recieved a lot of princess/dress up regalia and she spent the rest of her time there putting it all on. She would put it on over her clothes and wound up looking like a drag queen with her dangly rhinestone earings and feather boa! Jack was sort of oblivious but enjoyed his gifts too. No matter what he got though, he still seems to like the boxes better. We ended up with so much loot we had to ship a box back home. We were informed by Mike's cousin Angie that you can send a box on the airplane, but we never would have fit it in our car coming home form the airport. Lauren has been asking where all her stuff is. Luckily we have a lot of things here that Santa left for them!

So today has been all about getting back to normal, unpacking, laundry, getting the dog back etc. Jack has been a bit fussy and I'm worried that he may have an ear infection. He's not feverish but he's been rubbing his right ear. It's also possible that they're still popping from the air pressure of the flight, I know my sinuses are still a little wacked out. But it's good to be home!

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Mon, Dec 18, 2006 2:48 PM
Uncle Peter was here for a very brief visit. In fact he was only able to be here for a few hours around dinner. He did get to witness the whole bath/bedtime ritual including a streaking parade from Jack and reading a story with Lauren!

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Sun, Dec 17, 2006 10:43 PM
Today was a big day. A colleague of Mike's at the University has a 13 acre ranch with 3 horses and 7 dogs, and she offered to take care of Sadie for us during our trip to OKC. So today we went for a "meet and greet" to check out if Sadie would get along with their pack. It went very well and Sadie got the neccessary stamp of approval. I wasn't worried, she's a good dog, friendly to other dogs and people. She did bark at the horses at first. I don't think she's ever seen one before. What was fun was seeing how the kids reacted to horses and the lake and all that space to run around. We picked oranges and Kumquats right off their trees. Jack was just thrilled with their fountain which was low enough for him to climb into. That and their koi pond. He got really soaked!

We made it home just in time to get Lauren and I changed and we wisked off to see a local production of the Nutcracker. It was right through nap-time, and Lauren had also just started having the sniffles, but I decided to go because she was really looking forward to it. She looked adorable and was fairly well behaved considering the lack of sleep and not feeling well. At internmission she was trhilled when I got her a little sequined tiara and star wand. We only had one potty run in the middle if the second act.

So I gave her some Benedryl when we got home since her symptoms were a runny nose, sneezing, and watery eyes. That seemed to help and I thought she might take a late nap, but there was just no convincing her. We put her to bed early but she's been fitful ever since. I think she's got a slight fever too, but every time I go off to get her some Motrin she falls asleep by the time I get back with it. I'm pretty sure she shouldn't go to school tomorrow, especially since we have to travel so soon.

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Sat, Dec 16, 2006 11:16 PM
Lauren had her holiday party at school on Friday. She was very excited to get dressed up and to have me there. I decided to leave Jack at home with the babysitter because he just tears that place apart and I would have spent the whole time trying to keep him from destroying everything. I'm so glad I did because Lauren needed all of my attention for all the projects that were going on. We made gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and white ready-made frosting, (a really quick and easy way to do it). Then there were snowmen made out of felt shapes glueg together, and last but not least there were the jinglebell necklaces. At one point we broke into a spontaneous singing/dancing/jumping frenzied version of the song jingle bells which was hilarious. At another point we went aside to let them run off some of that crazy energy and they all wanted to go on the trampoline which turned out to be a bad idea becuase we had to take all their shoes off only to put them all back on again a few minutes later!

I managed to get Lauren's birthday party invitations in the mail, so there's no turning back now! I stopped by the place where we're having it and there was a holiday party going on and it looked really fun, so I'm getting almost as excited as Lauren. I'm nervous because I sent 24 invitations. Now, of course not everyone will come, but most of Lauren's friends have siblings, so it could easliy be at least 20 kids and babies. And their parents! Yikes!

The language explosion continues with Jack. Today he said cat. Well, more like "caah" but he was pointing to a cat in a book. And when asked what the cat says, he said meow! I think Barbara's been teaching him that. He also thinks all the animals on the quilt hanging in his room are cats. And he said apple. Or something like it. He has a little trouble with his ending consenants. But that doesn't matter, I'm just glad to hear him expressing himself.

Today we went to our next door neighbor Dominick's 4th Birthday. Lauren was in heaven, they had a huge bouncy house! She spent most of the party in there. I was surprised that she held her own because it was mostly boys and they were dogpiling! I'm just glad no one got hurt because it got pretty crazy. Jack went in there too but he couldn't stand up to save his life. He had fun rolling around though. They have a playroom with tons of toys, so Jack had fun with all the trains and helicptors etc. Mike had graduation so I was there by myself even though I vowed not to do these things alone. It was OK though, because when I'd had enough of chasing them around we just walked next door and collapsed on the couch. Lauren never did nap so she went to bed early. Wow, she really needs that nap, she was one cranky girl around dinner time!

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Thu, Dec 14, 2006 11:34 PM
This week has been sort of a blur so far. Our temporary babysitter had to leave early Monday, became unavailable Wednesday, then she called in sick today, so she's not really helping as much as I had hoped. Oh well. We have to find someone new anyway. I hate this process!

Tuesday was the Mom's Club Holiday party at a nearby country club. Mike had to teach, so I braved it alone. I thought things were going to be OK because I managed to feed Jack before we left. What I didn't anticipate was how difficult it would be to wrangle them when they're both running in opposite directions! Lauren was suspicious of Santa but she did agree to sit on his lap. I couldn't get Jack to hold still for long enough so I gave up trying after the 4th time! Both kids did enjoy their books from Santa, and eventually Jack consented to sit in the stroller because he was getting tired. That was much easier. Then I just had to keep an eye on Lauren as she chased Thomas (her buddy from preschol) around in circles.

I did go to BabiesRUs the last night after Mike got home at 8PM because they're open late. I got a new Maclaren single stroller in preparation for our flight to Oklahoma. We're slowly outgrowing the need for the double stroller. Lauren usually wants to walk these days. In the past when we travelled we've been using this cheap umbrella stroller we got as a shower gift because it's so small and light. I've just been annoyed because it doesn't recline, have a basket or a sunshade. So I decided that if we're just using a single stroller, I need those features!

Jack has said OK, outside, up, and this!(usually pointing at something he wants). Choo choo train is used for any vehicle including cars and tractors. Moon is now beng used for any ceiling light as well!

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Mon, Dec 11, 2006 11:10 PM
I did it, I braved ToysRUs. It wasn't too crowded when I first got there but by the time I went to pay the line was pretty long. I just needed to take a look at stuff in person before I do anymore online shopping. Of course time is also running out so my options are limited. I used to love shopping, but I just can't do it anymore, I don't have the eneregy. I thought I would get so much more accomplished but that was all I did today.

The nice surprise was that Jack napped a lot of the time I was gone and the new babysitter cleared up the toys and kitchen. I don't quite recognize my home when it's this orderly! Not that I'm complaining! I just need to get rid of a lot of the clutter. Sometimes it's hard to know if Jack is really done with certain toys.

This evening we watched the animated film The Polar Express (about 3 times), and I'm amazed to find that I actually like it, the animation is amazing. It makes me worry about the place of actors though,when the CGI is so effective!

Oh, Lauren did her reading homework, and she read out loud through her entire little book by herself,which had about six sentences about the letter P. Like, "P is for popcorn". Now I know she's memorizing and not really reading as such, but it was sort of amazing to watch her pointing to the words and saying what they mean!

Jack's new word today was bath. Well, really it sounded more like baff, but we knew what he meant. He also says something very close to back-pack. He also says Elmo, choo choo and moon. And he certainly knows the word dance because he will dance on command!

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Sun, Dec 10, 2006 11:44 PM
Saturday morning was our Holiday party at the community center. There were pictures with Santa (which was sort of a disaster), face painting, making your own chocolate dipped pretzels, coloring and crafts table, goodies like popcorn which was a first for Lauren. Mostly they ran around the center like maniacs. Mike spent most of the time trying to keep Jack from running INTO the pool which was right there. Jack seemed very determined to get in there, and when prevented, proceeded to lay down and have little fits on the ground. Good times! Why they have a party with tons of tots running around without fencing it off somehow is beyond me. I also waited forever in line to get Lauren's cariacture drawn and we ended up with the lousy one (there were two) who did an awful job. It was dissapointing becasue the other guy was really good, but I guess that's just the luck of the draw. We decided Jack wouldn't sit still long enough.

Our new temporary babysitter Barbara came today so I could walk her through how everything works around here. She's coming tomorrow to take care of Jack so I can finally get some errands and Christmas shopping done in-between dropping Lauren off and picking her up again. I am actually contemplating ToysRUs which should be a madhouse, but at least it won't be on the weekend and at least I won't have both kids with me! If they don't have what I want I'm getting everything online.

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Fri, Dec 8, 2006 2:23 PM
Got a lot accomplished today. In between dropping Lauren off at school and picking her up we managed to get Jack to his check up with the doctor AND go pick up his new shoes. He was a trouper with his shots, didn't even really cry, just wailed a little as each needle went in. They couldn't give him a flu shot because apparently the vaccine derives from egg. I asked if we could go get a referral to see an allergist because I think we've gone as far as we can with the G/I specialist and we've had no improvement. He still has fluid in his ears which seems to be true every time we go to the doctor, but he said it didn't look infected which is a relief.

Then we went to pick up Jack's new Stide Rite sneakers which we had to order because the store didn't carry his size in extra wide. I don't know of any other shoe company that makes extra wide so we may be in for some expensive shoes. Luckily boys really only need 1 pair of sneakers or sandals at a time. But who am I kidding, right now he has about 6 pairs of shoes! I justify it by telling myself that two pairs came from the garage sale($1.50 total) and one from the consignment store($5), and he has to have dress shoes for the holidays and those were just from Payless. But the kid needs one really good pair of sneakers that fit right and go with everything and that's what we got.

I was starving because I never got breakfast, and we had a few minutes to kill before going to pick up Lauren, so I stopped at a fast food place called Sonic Burger. I had forgotten the last time we went there that Jack LOVES their tater tots. He ate like 5 in a row, and I can't get him to eat the ones I make at home at all. It's so funny, he stuffs the whole thing in his mouth and then works on it for a few minutes. His mouth is so full,it makes him look like he has a golf ball in there!

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Thu, Dec 7, 2006 4:10 PM
Jack is 18 months today!

Our new nanny (who only came twice, then called in sick 3 days in a row), has just quit! She said that she's stressed with all her school work but I'm not sure that's the whole story. She didn't give me any notice at all, just said she wouldn't be coming anymore. She said that it wasn't us and that she just didn't think she was prepared to take on a job right now. I asked her if she could just see us through the holidays since it would be hard to find someone at this point. But she said no. So I quicky put an ad on Craig's List and I already met with somone today. She seems fine but she's actually pregnant herself and due at the end of January. So I think we'll use her temporarily until we can find someone else.

Jack is talking up a storm, he has a lot of words, hi, bye, mama, dada, shoe, cheese, eyes, teeth. When you ask him where his nose is, he points to it! I guess that means there his receptive language is far ahead of what he can say. He says Sadie and Sissy, (meaning Lauren). He says DVD. Well, it's more like DDD but he uses it in the right context! He seems to learn new words every day. He's expressing himself with a whole variety of new sounds, which include blood curdling shrieks. He's saying something that sounds sort of like "this" when he's pointing at something he wants. He also says sometging that sounds like the French expression "tiens" which is like "Hey! or "well!"Or something like that, I don't remember. What I'm really looking forward to is overhearing the conversations the two of them will have together!

Here's a mildly amusing story, the other night Lauren and I were doing her homework sheet which asked her to count the number of objects and color them in. We happened to be coloring two bunnies with a brown crayon, so I said they look like chocolate bunnies. Well, I went to put Jack down to bed, I come back and she's sitting in front of the TV chewing on the brown crayon, saying, "It's not chocolate Mommy." It just makes me realize how I have to really watch what I say, becuase she takes everthing so literally!

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Sun, Dec 3, 2006 11:10 PM
Today I had one agenda, get a Christmas tree and at least START decorating so I don't make the same mistake I made last year, which is wait so long you almost don't want to bother. At least this way we'll get to enjoy it for a few weeks. So I did get the tree and I did start, but I have to admit defeat when I got to the little twinkle lights. They're all in a tangle and I just don't have the energy to tussle with them any more tonight. I just wanted to get a lot more done while the kids were asleep!

I'm worried about Lauren. She seemed fine all day and then at bedtime started coughing quite a lot. I gave her some cough medecine but she still has coughing jags every once in a while. I'm now in a quandry about waking her up in the morning for school. I think she'll be really tired. Jack has been fitful too, but it seems to be his stomach or gas that's bothering him. My poor babies!

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Sat, Dec 2, 2006 10:26 PM
Today Lauren had a birthday party at a kids gym for a girl she knows from playgroup and also school. We brought Jack too since he had an unusual two good naps and we thought he's be up to it energy-wise. I was amazed at how Lauren was willing to particpate in the group activities, and wait in line for her turn patiently etc. I completely attribute that to her preschool experience. It's amazing because we went to a party at the same place right before she started, so I can clearly see a difference. Any guilt I've been feeling about sending her is slowly disintegrating because it's had such a positive impact on her, with potty training and all the socialization. And of course there's the academics, but I'm not really as concerned about that right now.

Jack did well, and he kept shrieking with delight and running around with a bounce in his step. He even ate dinner in his stroller without too much drama, so that gives me hope for events like this in the future!

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