OK, so it has been a really long time since I have blogged. It's not that I don't want to, just that I seem to always be so busy. But, I am going to try to catch you up and try to blog more often. I really should blog every day because Jack does something funny every day.

Jack hasn't even been sick one day since we took him out of daycare. His recent well-baby visit went well and his ears look great. He is still a maniac, more so everyday I think. For example, he has taken to jumping off of the furniture. One guess and I bet you can figure out who taught him that. Sometimes he just face plants the sofa when he jumps from the table. He thinks it is funny. We spend a lot of time outside. He loves to play with his little tikes spray nozzle on the hose. He also loves his pool. Jonathan and Jack decided the other day to move the slide over to the pool. It wasn't long before Jack decided it would be fun to jump from the top of the slide into the pool. Keep in mind that this is a kiddie-pool, 6 inches deep. Part of me wants to stop him from doing things like that out of fear that he will get hurt, but he has so much fun that I can't. He also does pretty good hitting the tee-ball, but you have to clap after he does it.

He has really started talking a lot since the tubes were put in his ears. We can understand lots of things and it's pretty funny. It is even funnier to hear his animal sounds, "moo" is the latest. He is still chasing Oli around. Oli is still a pretty good sport about it.

He is also a dancing machine. Any time that he hears music he starts to dance. It is hillarious. He has even learned how to turn on the stereo himself so that he can dance. He also recently started to laugh out loud at his cartoons. He doesn't watch TV too much, just a little in the mornings and in the car. But he loves Looney Toons, Jungle Book, Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc.

I recently looked back through all of his photo albums, starting with when he was born. It is so hard to believe how much he has grown. I remember the day that we had him like it was yesterday. I remember thinking that I didn't know what we were going to do with him and now I don't know what we ever did WITHOUT him.

More pics

That is a picture in his looney toons gown for his surgery.

Catch Up!

OK. So, I'm really behind on the blog. Although we have been really busy and I have good reasons for being so behind, I still feel bad. No worries, I have not abandoned the blog. I am going to do my best to catch you up without going on for pages and pages.

We had a great Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with our Gruber family and Christmas evening with our Jones family. Santa Claus came to deliver stockings at the Gruber's house on Christmas Eve night. Jack wasn't so interested in Santa. As a matter of fact, didn't really want anything to do with him other than the Thomas the Tank ride-on toy that he was carrying. He loved playing with all of the kids at Aunt Angie's on Christmas night. He wanted to play with all of the "big boy toys". He also started to get the hang of opening gifts. He figured out to pull the gift wrap off. And is that picture napping under the tree not too cute?!

So, remember the ear infection from November when we started daycare? Well, it was a persistent little bug. We just got rid of it, hopefully. We continued antibiotics the whole month of December, January and most of February. Just a vicious cycle of fever, earaches, doctor's visits and antibiotics. Then to make matters worse, Jack got a respiratory virus in January called RSV. Not so fun. It landed us in the emergency room one night with a high heart rate and respiratory rate and a low oxygen level. Then, the next morning it got us admitted to the hospital from the doctor's office because of the low oxygen level. So, we spent a couple of days getting IV antibiotics and breathing treatments. As a bonus, we got to bring the treatments home with us for the rest of winter. Jack was a great sport through all of it. It made Jonathan and me really sad to see him so sick, and the rest of the family for that matter. We also ended up with a consult for the ENT specialist. Jack had tubes put in his ears last Friday. We can already tell a difference in him. He feels so much better. We also took him out of daycare. Well, today is his last day. I changed my schedule around a little and we found a sitter to come to the house.

Now let me update you on the fun and new stuff that he is doing. He is truly a monkey. He climbs up on anything that he possibly can. It was a little of a shock the other day when I noticed that he was quiet and found him sitting in the middle of our three feet tall platform bed watching TV. He stands up on all of his ride on toys and his activity tables. He now chases Oli around and thinks that it is pretty funny. He still loves his tent. He has to show it to everyone that comes over. He can climb up on his horse now and he loves to take wagon rides.

It's funny how if you ask him if he is hungry and he drags his high chair over to you. He loves to play outside. The other day he was playing outside and he walked over to me and reached out his little hand to give me something. So, I reached out my hand and took it. It was a piece of bark off of the firewood. I said "thank you". He reached out his other little hand to give me something else. I, thinking it was more of the same, reached out my hand and took what he had to offer. Quite to my surprise it was not more bark. It was dog poop!!! He thought it was hilarious when I threw it and whisked him up to go wash our hands. He is such a little chatter-box. I would love to know what he is actually saying. We are getting pretty good at deciphering his language. We also discovered that he loves hot wings. Even if they are a little spicy. I could go on and on, but I will save more for late. I will do my best not to wait so long for new blogs!

First Haircut and First Birthday!!

We decided to take Jack for his first haircut before his birthday party. He was such a good boy. He just sat on that little bench like a big boy. He ate his cereal while she was cutting and would occasionally look back at her like, "what are you doing?". We were so proud. He looks even more like Jonathan now.

Jack had a great first Birthday!! He was so amazed at all the new toys. He couldn't even decide what to play with. He got to take a ride in his new radio flyer wagon and took a ride on his new rocking horse. And he danced and danced to his birthday frog and snowman. And he just laughs while he is pushing his talking lawnmower. And he and Jonathan played his guitar in his tent. He loved his cake. He got a little messy, but not too bad. The only thing is that every since his birthday party he has been bringing us Christmas gifts. He doesn't quite understand that it is not time to open those gifts.

Jack's first day of daycare was quite traumatic. For me that is. Jonathan and I both took him. He cried when I handed him over to the teacher but had stopped crying before we left. I cried the whole way home and for the next three days that I dropped him off. He came running to me when I picked him up that afternoon. Since then, he just seems kind of impartial to daycare. I take him in and put him in his high chair for breakfast and he just watches me leave until he can't see me anymore. I know that it is good for him. They do a lot of teaching and it is a Christian-based school. The other day one of the little boys said, "bye-bye Jack" and it was the cutest thing.

Jack was kind of sick the Monday before he started daycare and by Friday had 103 temp. He was so pitiful. He hasn't been sick since he was born. He just laid around in our lap the whole weekend. Of course that is completely unlike him. He is usually running around like a mad man, which is how he has earned the nicknames, "maniac Jack" and "Jack attack". On Monday, we went to the pediatrician and she said that Jack had terrible ear infections. So he got a shot and a prescription. That was at the beginning of the month. This past Friday we went back to the doctor for follow-up and he still has infection in both ears! Another prescription. I really hope that this one clears it up. At least he feels better. He's back to being maniac Jack.