Did you know I have two puppies???

Of course, we adopted Val in September from Wylie Animal Shelter. We found her on PetFinder.com and knew we couldn't live without that sad face and those sweet, floppy ears!


Who wouldn't love this sweet puppy face?

But I said that I have two puppies living at my house...


Can you guess who the other one is?


Ta-Da!! It's Jackson!

Jackson is so sweet with Val and really thinks he's a puppy too! Every time we put her in her kennel before we leave to go somewhere, he reaches through the bars and looks at me, as if to say, "Mom, can't we bring her too?" And when I say "No honey, Val can't come with us, let's go to the car." He waves and says, in the sweetest little boy voice "Bah-Bah Ba-Pah" (which translates to "Bye-Bye Val Pal")


In fact, despite being the puppiest of puppies, Jackson is racking up quite a few words. He can say: Ball, Val, Val Pal, Bye-Bye, Ducks, Woof-Woof, This, and, new this weekend, Mama!!! 8 words at 14 months? Not bad! Of course, Jackson can say things that sound like other words, but these are the words he says consistently in the right context.


My sweet girl puppy is cuddled up next to me as I write this, so I suppose it's time to go to sleep. I need a lot of energy to keep up with my two active puppies!

Nice Pats

First of all, this is my 100th post!!! (imagine confetti exploding everywhere)

but I'm not going to write about my 100th post, I'm going to write about something so much more special than that. I'm going to write about pats.

When Jackson is upset or when he first wakes up from sleeping, I pick him up and I pat him on the back. A few months ago, he adopted this method of showing affection. He doesn't give out "nice pats" very often, but when he does they are just the sweetest thing ever. He puts his head on my shoulder, and gently pats my back with one hand.

Today Jackson woke up early. The sun was just coming up, and I was exhausted. I don't get out of bed unless there are blue skies overhead. I don't get up early, I just don't. I do, however, get up when I can no longer pretend that Jackson will probably "roll over and go back to sleep ANY time now." This morning, I took him to bed with me, attempted a snuggle, failed, and brought him back to his crib for more sleep.

It worked!!!

We woke up at 9:00 and went downstairs for breakfast. By 10:15, Jackson was done. He was cranky, and despite my efforts to calm him down, he kept running around whining. So, against my expectations, he took another nap.

Unfortunately, my phone rang as soon as I got downstairs. I had a great chat with one of my PEO sisters, but just as we were getting off the phone I heard it. The unmistakable sound of my Jackson waking up from his nap. I closed my eyes and sighed, and reluctantly went upstairs to get him.

At this point, I had almost lost hope of having a shower. The days of sitting Jackson in front of Baby Einstein for a few minutes while I sneak off for a quick shampoo are over. Instead, I get a longer shower, but I have to wait it out until Jackson gets a good nap in or ask Steven to watch him. But, lo and behold, Jackson was ready for another nap around 12:00. Yes! 20 minutes later I was clean, happy, and ready to face the world.

Of course, what else could have happened in that moment? The doorbell rang. I struggled to get some clothes on while trying to see who was at the door. It's the mailman, and he's already walking back to his truck. He must have left the packages at the door. I guess when he heard our ferocious, 25 pound guard dog barking, he must have decided to drop them and run. (haha!) Sadly, Jackson heard our ferocious guard dog barking as well. Also saddening, Jackson was cranky and still sleepy, but not actually sleepy enough to go back to sleep. Awesome. Thanks for that, Mr. Mailman.

So we go downstairs and I make Jackson a snack - PB and crackers with water in his sippy cup (I worry he isn't hydrated enough, so I keep pushing the water). He finishes most of it, then asks for more food. I give him more. He feeds it to Val. He asks for more food again. I give him more and tell him not to give it to Val. He gives it to Val. I take him out of his high chair and inform him that he is "All done." He asks for more food. I say no. He insists on more food. I say no and the cycle continues, with varying degrees of frustration from both of us.

All day today, I was feeling like I was at the end of my rope with Jackson. He was cranky, I was cranky, and neither one of us was giving the other one much slack. (Ok, really, I'm the parent here - I wasn't giving Jackson a lot of slack)

After dinner we went upstairs and I decided to try something I hadn't tried all day - getting on the ground and playing with Jackson. All day I had been watching TV or tidying the kitchen, or doing laundry, or talking on the phone, or doing just about anything except playing with Jackson. After all, why did I decide to stay home with him instead of putting him in daycare?

We wrestled, we threw balls at each other, I fed him water from my water bottle (faaaaar superior to a sippy cup!), we stuck our tongues out at each other, we played "Peek-a-boo" from across the room, and giggled until it hurt. At one point, Jackson came over to me, climbed up on my legs, put his arms around my neck and gave me "nice pats." I melted.

I live for these moments.

As I watched him toddle off towards his ball pit, I thought about my sweet little boy and what the future holds for him. One thing is certain - I won't have my little Jackson forever. He will grow up and become a child, a teenager, and one day, a man. I hope he always gives me "nice pats" full of the same gentle, clumsy, innocence they have now.

Perhaps more importantly, I hope I remember to thank God for the time I get to spend with my young son, and take full advantage of it every day.

Nana

You may remember my post in September about our exciting trip with my Dad to go visit my Nana.


At the time, I talked about the fact that I brought Jackson to see her so we could later on tell her about all the fun they had had together because she had Alzheimer's. There was also a second reason, which went unsaid, but became a reality this December.

Last month, my Nana had a heart attack, which caused her to fall and break her hip. We've known that she has Osteoporosis as a result of malnourishment as a child, but she's beaten a broken hip before. Unfortunately, her body was much more frail this time, and the doctor didn't think she would make it through the week. My Dad flew back from Taiwan to see her, and my sister and I took that as a cue that we should be there too.

As she did with the Alzheimer's diagnosis, Nana surprised everyone by fighting through and outlasting the doctor's expectations, but her body just wasn't strong enough to win this time. Early in the morning on December 20, my Nana passed away to be with her husband and brothers and sisters in Heaven. She was 88 years old.

I flew up again for the funeral and learned a lot about my Nana in the days that followed. She once applied for a job as a house cleaner, only to find out, after receiving the job, that she was really applying to make bombs for the war effort. She worked hard to earn a high school education as an adult, and as a result received her first office job, which she loved because it was the first time in her life she was able to dress up for work. She loved to tell stories, and she would repeat the same stories over and over again, but to the same people every time. My cousins knew different stories from my sister and me. My Nana's life impacted more people than I realized. There were a few of my Dad and Aunt's friends who stood out in particular, and they told me how profoundly her hospitality had affected them in their childhood.


I miss my Nana like crazy, and it's both harder and easier knowing that she was gone before she passed. I'll always remember the little joys of those last few visits with her. Watching Nana play with Jackson, the few moments when she realized who I was, and the times she told me that she loved me even though I knew she couldn't remember why.

I like to think she's in Heaven with my Papa, who passed away 25 years ago, and whose wedding ring she wore right until the end.

Miss you Nana. I love you & goodbye.

OWIEEE!!

In less than a month I'm traveling to meet some of my college friends in Arizona for a Bachelorette weekend away. Since we plan to hang by the pool, I thought I'd take a shot at losing a bit of the baby pudge.

On a semi-related note, if my child has had his first birthday, is it still baby pudge or has it now been promoted to "fat"?

Anyways, when we were living in Japan I bought a "sport hoop" which is basically a large, weighted hula hoop. The idea is to use it for 15 minutes a day to slim your waist. Since we didn't really have enough room to hula-hoop in either of our apartments, and I may or may not have been motivated, and I was pregs for 9 months, it has mostly spent time under our bed for the past few years. As in, all but probably 45 minutes.

So, I decided to pull the hoop out.

I forgot how much that thing hurts!!! Holy cow. I did it for just a few minutes the first night, but in a period of insanity, I decided to go for the full 15 two nights later. Bad idea. Even carrying Jackson on my hip has been painful. But, I took a night off, and decided to go for it again tonight.

OWWWWWIEEEEE!

The hoop has these ridges that are designed to help keep the hoop up, but they're more like torture. Wow, those things have left bruises.

So, armed with salad and chicken breasts, my hope for a bit of a slim-down continues.

Taking a break.

After watching last night's Grey's Anatomy/Private Practice crossover, Steven and I headed to the bedroom.

"Honey, write another blog." he said.

"Right now?" I asked.

"Yeah, I like reading about our family."

Melt. Yes, I melted right there. I am typing from a puddle of goo on the floor right now. I really did well marrying Steven. I like to hassle him from time to time (ok, almost constantly... gotta keep him on his toes!), but he really is a wonderful husband.

So, what should I do for my wonderful husband but write a blog about our family so he can read it when he wakes up.



That's my other favorite guy sleeping. Lately Steven and I have been going in to Jackson's room to watch him sleep before we go to bed. We give him kisses and sometimes even cuddle him, but tonight when I snuck into his room, he was curled up like a little bird inside an egg. He looked so sweet and peaceful, I had to take a picture. Notice the little diaper bottom? Jackson almost always pulls his pants off and throws them out of the crib. Such a silly baby.

Why is he so tired? It could have something to do with the fact that he was a very good host this afternoon for our first Friday play date.


Actually, this was the first play date we've hosted at our house! We joined a (very large) meet-up group and after a few months, I started noticing that a lot of the moms I talked to were really interested in finding a smaller group as well. After one of the play dates I thought "We keep talking about this, but nothing ever comes of it" so, I got the ball rolling, and after exchanging a few emails, we decided to start meeting weekly after the holidays. Today was the first day and, even though a few kids couldn't make it, it was a huge success. Our first friend arrived at 12:45 and our last friend left around 3:30. After almost 3 hours of playing hard, Jackson was ready to crash! I have to say, I am so excited about this group (I think Steven may be really sick of hearing me talk about it, but he's been so supportive and hasn't let-on that he's ready to talk about ANYTHING else. Sorry honey, now you're reading about it on the blog too).

At the play date today, Jackson would NOT stop eating. I don't know how he manages to eat so much, but even the other moms were surprised by how much he kept eating. I kept telling everyone "I feed him! I swear!" as if it weren't apparent by his adorable Buddha-belly. His favorite food lately has to be these little fruit pouches.


They're pureed fruit in a little pouch (the pouch itself is similar to capri sun), with a little spout on top to suck out the fruit. Jackson can. not. get. enough. If I accidentally let him catch sight of one, he smacks his little lips as hard as they will smack (Jackson-language for "I want that") and starts to giggle-whine, which sounds like he's really excited about something, but afraid it won't happen. I can't complain though, they're good for him!

Another smack-worthy item today: the balloons at Verizon Wireless. Wow, he was crazy about them! He pulled one off and let it go, not realizing that it would go up rather than down. The next 15 minutes we were in the store, he pointed to the balloon on the ceiling and smacked his lips, asking us to get it down for him. He thought it was really funny when I pretended to jump to grab it for him. Silly mommy. We're very lucky that the employees at that store have always been so wonderful and patient with our family and our very energetic and curious little boy.

Well, we have another play date in the morning, so I should get to bed. This play date is very special because it's on a Saturday and Daddies are invited!

Oh, and let's not wait another month to write another blog, ok?