Finally catching up...

I'd like to start this update by giving a congrats to anyone with more than two kids (Sathers, I'm looking right at you) who manage to regularly update a blog.  Seriously...how in the world do you do it?  By the time we get home from work, cook, eat, feed the kids, do bath and bed for both...we are exhausted.  I can barely manage to read a book most nights, let alone think of anything to say on here.  But let's try this again and hopefully have more updates going forward.

 

I won't even attempt to recap all of the past six months, as they have been busier than we can possibly express.  Let's just say lots of fun and laughs, lots of work, lots of sickness, and lots of bottles (Jackson eats his weight in formula daily).  Luckily we have a big sister who loves her little brother (or Little Bother as she was calling him at one time...something she picked up from Oliva the pig, her one-time favorite show).   From day one she has always wanted to hold him, kiss or hug him, or just be around him.  I am sure that will change when he gets older and becomes the annoying brother every sister has (and vice versa), but for now it is very cute.



For a while we did not think he would ever be well again.  For almost 6 weeks he was sick.  He had the bacteria which cause strep, pneumonia, and influenza.  After countless breathing treatments, antibiotics, and switching him back to his original in-home daycare provider, he finally kicked it and has been in the clear (knock wood) ever since.  He lost some weight through the illness, but regained it quickly thanks to a very healthy appetite.  At dinner time he is a bottomless pit when it comes to baby food.  He will eat practically any flavor, and lots of it.  Riley on the other hand is still a little picky about what she eats, but she has surprised us here and there with some of the things she likes.  For instance, she absolutely loves guacamole.  She also loves spaghetti, or "piece-a-getti".  When it comes to restaurants, she knows that Subway is "mommy's sandwich", and certainly knows what "Whataburger" serves ("fries fries").

(One of the many breathing treatments)



At two and a half, she is a never-ending drama/comedy.  We go from hilarity to insanity in a matter of moments some nights, so there is never a dull moment.  For me, one of the funniest things she does at the moment is to dance to the theme song of The Office.  If you've ever been to a dance club and heard "your" song, and made a dash to the dance floor...well that's basically what she does whenever she hears that song.  Everything else, including food sometimes, becomes less important at that moment.  She also loves to dance to "Five Days Old"  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRkR9T71BzQ)  Very entertaining to watch I must admit.  I would be remiss if I did not mention an incident from week or so ago, as we were walking into Albertson's.  A lady on her way out stopped us to remark how beautiful she was, and kept us waiting there while she figured out who it is she reminded her of.  It was Farrah Fawcett.  REALLY?!  A two year old looks like Farrah Fawcett?  :)  I appreciated the compliment of course, but that does seem like an odd comparison for a two year old.  Maybe it's just odd to me, I dunno.

To compare and contrast for a moment, when Riley was a baby she was not exactly a great passenger when it came to taking long trips.  In fact not for short ones to and from the store either.  Eventually, thanks to Yo Gabba Gabba, Olivia, and Mickey Mouse, she improved (although the jury is back in session on this verdict again these days).  Jackson on the other hand is very laid back.  About everything.  You lay him down this way or that?  No problem.  Car ride?  No worries...he just hangs out.  He is definitely a dude...and she is definitely a diva.  So I can't think of a more perfect title for the blog now.  It makes for a lot of fun (most times!)  to have such a stark contrast in personalities, and I can just imagine how it's going to be when they are older if the current deal holds true then. 



One of my favorite things is our Saturday morning ritual.  Since January, Riley and I go out to pick up donuts (for mommy), donut holes (for Riley), and jalapeno sausage kolaches (for daddy), and afterwards we are off to The Little Gym in McKinney for an hour of fun and learning new skills (she kills it on the balance beam and monkey bar).  At this point I'm not sure who enjoys going more:  her or me.   This previous trip she gave me a glimpse of my future:  We pull up and she sees a little boy walking toward the door.  As she strained to look up over the front of the car from her car seat, she said "Look at that boy Daddy!  I wanna see him!  Let's go catch him!".  When I got her out, she really did run toward the door to try to catch him.  Of course, once she got inside where he was, there was no interest at all.  Definitely a glimpse of the future, without a doubt.  She also wants to catch the fire truck and trash truck whenever we see one of those on the road, and will tell me to "go faster Daddy!".  Of course, just today when she was out with mommy she had a chance to get IN a firetruck but turned it down.  What a bummer!  I would have enjoyed that one myself.  Maybe next time. 

(First time on a carousel at Dallas Zoo)

Jackson is now to the point where he is figuring out how to get up on to his knees and rock back and forth.  He is sitting up on his own very well.  No crawling yet, but we can not be too far away from some forward movement at this point.  And when we get there, things are going to get interesting to say the least...especially when he starts to get into Riley's things, which she is very possessive of most of the time.  Should make for a few good laughs. :)  Speaking of good laughs, he laughs about any and every thing.  If we got a laugh out of Riley when she was a baby, it was because we worked hard for it.  With him, he has quite the funny bone, and especially loves it when I yank the bath towel away as he's trying to grab it.  That can sometimes cause so much laughter that we have an accident.  Now if only I could ever find something THAT funny.  He is also very into trying to steal the remote now.  Or the phone, or anything else you may have in your hand these days.  We are not far away from his first (Riley's second) trip to the beach.  Needless to say we are looking forward to that very much.  Should be a lot of fun for all, especially Riley who talks about it often.  In fact she's been talking about it since last year's trip.



(Growing up way too stinkin' fast)

On a non-kid note, we'd like to thank the Dallas Mavericks for giving us two of the most exciting months we've ever experienced.  Two solid months of countless, heart-pounding (literally) playoff moments and clutch wins brought something long, long over-due:  An NBA title for the Mavs in general, and Dirk Nowitzki in particular.  Couldn't have happened for a better guy.  During Game 6, we spent the better part of the game in separate rooms, dealing with the anxiety in our own ways:  Her doing stuff for work.  Me:  Walking a path into the carpet for the entire second half, hiding behind the couch as the last seconds ticked away, and then finally going out into the backyard at 10:00pm and screaming at the top of my lungs.  The ghosts of 2006 were finally vanquished once and for all, and in dramatic fashion at that.  We celebrated with 250,000 others in downtown Dallas a few days later.  Didn't get to see very much thanks to all of the people in front of us.  But hey, we were there at least.  What a ride it was, not soon to be forgotten. 



(FINALLY)

This past weekend, I spent the weekend with Riley while Jackson and mommy took a short trip to Lubbock to see her grandmother.  According to her, he was quiet and content for practically the entire ride, and of course they had fun while in Lubbock.  As for Riley and I, it was a lot of fun to just hang out at home.  We did our usual on Saturday morning, and then went to get a pretzel at Firewheel and play on the "choo choo" later in the day.  Of course it was near record heat that day, so we didn't hang out there very long.  Unfortunately the weekend ended with her coming down with yet another cold (in summer!?).  But all in all in was a fun weekend.  It's funny...years ago I never imagined I'd think spending a weekend just hanging out with a 2 year old would be fun.  But I can't think of anything I'd rather have been doing.  As we put her down to bed last night, mommy told her to tell me Happy Father's Day again, and she then said I was "a good daddy...and a good boy".  I'll absolutely take that.

3 to 4...

  
On December 16, 1944 at 5:30AM The Battle of Bulge began on the Western Front, marking the beginning of the end of World War II.  On December 16, 2010 at 12:17pm, our own personal Battle of the Bulge was finally over in Texas as Jackson made his way into the world.  

We dropped off Riley around 9:30am and made our trip to Plano Presbyterian for the new edition to the family.   Just like last time, it wasn't until Melissa was being strapped up for the final check of the baby's heartbeat, getting her i.v., etc that it hit me that this was about to happen.  We hung around in the room for around 2 hours getting everything ready, and then at around 11:40 or so they came to take her back for the epidural.   At just after 12:00, the nurse came to get me, and I headed back to join the festivities.

I took my place behind the curtain as we talked and waited for Dr. Webster to arrive.   Right on cue, she walked in at 12:10...precisely the time at which she walked in for Riley's delivery just over 2 years earlier.  This time around she worked slightly faster, as Jackson was born at 12:17pm...1 minute earlier than Riley two years before.   Leading up to this day, we were not exactly sure what to expect for his size.   We had been told 9.5 lbs by a specialist, and Dr. Webster had lowered that prediction by around a pound with just over a week to go.  As it turned out, they were all wrong.   Our little chunk tipped the scales at 10.5 lbs (21 inches long), to the delight of practically the entire operating room, nurses and doctors included.   Before he came out, and just as Dr. Webster got a good look at him in there her reaction was:  "Oh my god...He is HUUUUUGE Melissa...I am sorry!".  :)  I think she may have felt bad for being so off on her prediction and also for the agony Melissa has been enduring these past few months...hence the "Battle of the Bulge".

After all of that I went back to the room with our nurse and waited for Melissa to be brought back.   She came back after about 15-20 minutes, and then Nana and Granddaddy were able to come in and meet him.  Their reaction, along with Nana and Papaw's after I called them to tell them the big news, was one of joy and shock at how big he was.   Finally, we were taken to our regular room for the remainder of the stay around 2:15.

Unlike last time, I did not spend the nights at the hospital just in case Riley had a bad night sleeping.  We had prepared for the worst with her not seeing her mommy for several days, but in the end we could not have asked for a better few days.   We kept her normal routine of going to her sitter during the day, but after that Nana and Granddaddy were taking over for the afternoon/early evening, and it went very well for all three (Thanks Nana and Granddaddy!).  

The big meeting, and the one we were of course most anxious about, took place yesterday when Riley went to the hospital to help bring everyone home.  We had no idea how she would react to seeing her mommy after several days...with a baby.   Before leaving home, I asked her if she was ready to go bring mommy and the baby home.  Her response was "No, mommy".  I asked again once we arrived and at first her answer had not changed, but then she finally said "Yeaaahhhh!".   When we walked into the room, she was very happy to see her mommy.  After what was surely an initial surprise to see Jackson, her first reaction to him was that she wanted "to pet him".   Then she wanted to give him a kiss.  Needless to say, things started off as well as we could have possibly hoped.

 

 

 

We had to wait around for a while before being discharged.  In that time Riley explored every inch of the hospital room, at one point walking out the door and heading to the elevator on her own (she has no fear sometimes I think).   She entertained two different nurses, neither of whom could believe she was only two years old given her very large vocabulary.  She also took the downtime as a chance to hold her little brother for the first time, which she loved.   One of the cutest/best moments of the day was when she looked at Melissa after being in the room for a few minutes and said "Missed you mommy!".  Neither of us recall hearing her say that before, and it could not have been timed more perfectly.   Of course, she did also say that instead of bringing Jackson home with us she wanted to "leave him on the bed".  But luckily she didn't hold that opinion.

When we arrived home it was time for him to eat.  So what does every newborn need?  Applesauce, of course.  At least according to Riley.  One of her favorite shows, Olivia, has an episode where Olivia's baby brother is fed applesauce.  So when Melissa sat down in the chair, Riley made her way to the pantry to look for applesauce.  When none was available, she decided he could eat the next best thing...yogurt covered raisins.  Obviously we will have to watch what she tries to feed him.  :)   The day went well though, as she was constantly wanting to hold him, "pet" him, kiss him, and just be around him.  Day two has started off much the same, so hopefully we are in the clear as far as that goes.

Our first night home was on not a lot of sleep, but not too bad either.  I somehow feel surprisingly fresh after only 3.5 hours or so of sleep.  If we can get that every night, this will be a smooth ride.  Fingers crossed.  So now we are off into day two at home and hoping for many more days like the first one ahead, even though Riley is coming down with a cold already.  Go figure.  Now comes the hard part...thinking of a new name for the blog.  

 

Good times and changing times...

 

Where to start?  Thanksgiving should work.  Good times as always.  How can it not be with plenty of food and good company.   We celebrated with Nana and Granddaddy this year.   Everyone had a good time, and there were no explosions or fires from the turkey frying, which is always a plus.  Unfortunately, like her birthday, Thanksgiving was not one of Miss Riley's finest days.   After her "nap", for lack of a better word, she was extremely cranky for the better part of the afternoon.  But that's OK...all divas have their cranky moments of course. 

Since then, the countdown to Jackson has officially been on.  What a bag of emotions these last few weeks have been.  On the one hand, it's hard to imagine loving anyone or anything as much as we love her.   On the other hand, we know we'll do just that very thing as soon as he arrives.  In a couple of years, she is going to thank us for removing her from the absolute center of the universe because she will have gained a play pal and best friend for life...even when he's annoying her as I am sure all little brothers will do to big sisters at some point.   But still...the center of our world is about to be split and shared, and with 12 hours or so to go, that's still very hard to imagine.  

Last weekend we had quite a momentous journey to see Yo Gabba Gabba Live!  I am not sure what this says for us, but that was seriously some of the best live entertainment I have seen in years.  All kidding aside, it was amazing to watch her absolutely stunned reaction to seeing DJ Lance Rock jump out of the screen after having watched him on TV for the past year.  Then seeing Muno and the rest of the gang come out had to be crazy for her.  I know for sure it was for Mommy and I.  She enjoyed it for a while, but eventually began to lose interest and was ready to go.  We ended up leaving 10 or so minutes before the show ended, but not before the highlight...we got to get up close and actually touch Brobee and Toodee.  Yes, I do realize that if anyone else is reading this they are asking 1.  Who is Brobee and Toodee and 2.  That was really a highlight?   But yes, it was.  Even for Dad :)  Sadly, Muno was too nimble working his way through the crowd, so we could not make it over to him. 

Unfortunately the picture above is the only one we have from the Gabba show due to us being silly and folling the rules of no cameras.  Never again!  :)  But the one picture of her below after the show should speak volumes about the day she had.

(sporting her new Foofa shirt)

(feeding her new Muno doll after the show)

Some random thoughts on a few things she loves to do these days...playing drive-thru is one.  She loves to open the window of her play house and pretend she's running a drive-thru.  I get offered fries fries (french fries), food (yes, just food), and coke.  Like any good restaurateur, she tells me I have to wait "just a little bit".   She still loves chocolate more than life, mommy, or daddy.  She loves to run around the house with the draw string from a sweatshirt while the cat chases her.  That is fun to watch.  And she absolutely loves to dance.  Anywhere.  Anytime.  If the music is right, of course.  

On to Christmas preparations.  What a warm run-up to Christmas this year has been.   The lights went up outside for the first time with me in short sleeves.  Of course, we did put them up the week before Thanksgiving this year, so that didn't hurt matters on the weather front at all.   Riley was introduced to Santa this year, partly from our inflatable Santa who she really liked, and partly from her shows...Olivia, Team Umizoomi, and Mickey Mouse.   All of which lead us to the real thing, finally.  We had attempted to meet Santa twice, and had basically given up hope.  The first time we were standing in line with a bone-chilling wind, so we decided it wasn't worth it.   The second time we actually made it into Santa's workshop to see him...but before we could make it to him the camera malfunctioned.  The 10 or so minute delay spelled doom, as from there she lost all interest and proceeded in rapid fashion to melt-down mode.   So we exited stage right and gave up again.

Finally today we had a successful, even though it was unexpected, mission.  We went up so that she could see the cats at Petsmart (one of her favorite journeys), and dance around the huge Christmas tree again.  As luck would have it, Santa was opening for business 30 minutes after we got there, so we kicked around in the play area until it got closer to opening time.  With 10 minutes or so to go, the doors opened, and it was Santa himself opening the door.  Riley saw him and screamed "Saaanttaaaaa!" and was immediately ready for a visit.  She met him at the door and we were second in line.  FINALLY.  So as I am holding her, she starts sliding into melt-down mode again...except this time it was because she wanted to see him, not leave.   Luckily with only one kid in front of us, we didn't have to wait long.  She found her spot on his knee, and after a moment of shyness, warmed right up and loved it.  Success!

 So our last day as a family of three was spent with a lot of fun and memories to be held.   Putting her down to bed for the last time with just us three was very emotional for us, but we are thankful that we will now have been blessed with two.   It has been a wonderful two years and the years ahead a family of four should be nothing short of eventful, hectic, fun, and down right crazy.  We are looking forward to it (Riley as well, even if she does not yet know it).   What a day tomorrow will be.  :)