Week 63

May 19-25

Even though Daddy is still gone all of this week Jack and decided to make the best of our time together and stay busy, busy, busy! Wednesday we made plans with a friend from my work. Her name is Angi and she works in the X-Ray department at the hospital. She also works the weekend shift so we have a ton in common because we understand the hardships of leaving our families all weekend and not always getting to do the fun things that most people do on a weekend. :) The sacrifices we Mommies make for our babies!! That could turn into a whole other post.

So we decided on a pool date for the kids. Angi has two girls Kiera and Mackenzie (who goes by Kenzie) and they are ADORABLE! Poor Jack had to go on a playdate with TWO girls! :) He was miserable as you can tell in the pictures. Haha! Kenzie and Jack are pretty much the same age so it was neat to see them interact with each other.

This was Jack's first time in a big swimming pool since last summer and oh what a difference! I will post a picture of last summer to compare the two because it is amazing! I wasn't worried about Jack not liking the big pool because he definitely likes the bath and his kid pool...and the ocean. I was more worried about him liking it so much that he is fearless. He has no qualms about putting his face in the water, gulping it all in. I started getting nervous about him drinking too much pool water and drowning in his sleep later (yes, this is really possible). When he was out of the pool I pretty much followed him around because I could totally see him diving in without thinking twice.

We are definitely going to have to work on baby swim lessons" to at least teach him how to hold his breath when going under and the basic kicking. Luckily some of my nursing friends are experts on this and I have a little bit of lifeguard/swim lesson background. I'm sure Jack will be just fine...it's just the matter of finding the time to work on it consistently.

At one point we got out of the pool for a snack break and Jack was all over Kenzie. He kept trying to kiss her, help her with her cup, etc. There are a couple of pictures where she has her hand behind his back like she's hugging him. We had an AWESOME time and thank Angi for inviting us!!

On another note Jack has definitely been working on expanding his vocabulary. He walks around talking all day long in his own little language but he also has a few definite words that are associated with objects. His latest additions are: "dadi" for dog; "nana" for banana; "beep-beep"; "wooowooo" for a siren noise on a firetruck; and of course his other usuals: "mama", "dada", "bye-bye", "baby", "bah", "ba-ba", and "lala." I've also noticed a couple of times that he sings. It's the cutest thing. :)

Jack eats pretty much all foods that we eat. He LOVES macaroni and cheese, sandwiches, fruit cheerios, chicken pot pie, veggies, and of course ice cream. :)

He is caught up on shots according to my personal shots record. I am getting them one at a time, although I received a letter from stupid Tri-Care the other day pretty much telling me that Jack was due for a bunch of shots and they said in a sugar coated way that he was probably going to die from measles or some other childhood illness if I didn't get him immunized right away. I am tempted to write them back and tell them that according to the CDC Immunization schedule the MMR can be given anywhere from 12-18 months and in fact states in the footnotes that 12 months is the MINIMUM age it is to be given. Hmmm. Then I'm going to wait until 18 months and they can kiss my you know what. :) So there. I am going to stick to my schedule that I made. It spreads them all out and they are still never technically "late" because they are within the ranges suggested by the CDC. At 12 months they can get up to 8 immunizations. Forget that!

Okay I'm finished with my rant. I hope everyone has a great week! We are going to go visit Daddy tomorrow so we are VERY excited! Jack can't wait to go swimming in the hotel pool. He also wants to visit our friends Sammie and Troy and their new puppy Daisy! Can't wait!

Week 62

May 12-18

***Before I start, the pictures dispersed throughout this post are from a trip to the zoo.

So as most of you know, Ed is gone for a little while. Of course I can't really talk about it much on the computer, but lets just say Jack and I are on our own for a bit. One good thing out of the deal is my mom (Mimi) and sister Caroline drove down from SC to visit for the weekend and help me out with watching Jack while I went to work.

Of course, my luck the days I had family here to help I was called off and I didn't end up going in at all the whole three days until Sunday at 3:00 pm...after they had left to drive home. OF COURSE! Oh well, I just ended up taking Jack to work with me even though it was horrible for his little schedule. By the time I got everything together and got there it was almost 4:00 so I figured 3 hours of boredom wouldn't hurt him. Luckily I work on PEDIATRICS so there were plenty of toys and activities for him to look at. It definitely wasn't ideal....but what do they expect when I'm called off 4 shifts in a row??? I can't keep a babysitter dangling for 12 hours at a time. Enough about that...

Back to my mom and sister coming into town. They got here Thursday night after Jack had already gone to bed...but they got to see him first thing when he woke up Friday morning. I'm not going to lie, it was kind of nice being on call and getting to spend time with them. We ended up having a lot of fun. Friday we went swimming in the backyard, cooked dinner together, had a few drinks (after 7:oo pm when I wasn't on call anymore), and talked on the back porch for a few hours.

Of course I had to get to bed at a decent time just in case I had to work the next morning...but once again I was put on call. Saturday we decided to be adventuresome and go to the zoo. My mom really wanted to see Jack's reaction to the animals. We took two cars just in case I got the call and I had my phone with me at every moment set on high. I'm liking the Blackberry b/c one of the features is you can personalize the ringer AND the volume for certain calls. I make the hospital this obnoxious ringtone and set it for the loudest setting so I am sure to hear it. :)

We had a nice time at the zoo. It wasn't too crowded and although it was hot, there was a nice breeze blowing that made it tolerable. Jack loved it. We went to the "Paws-On" kids area, but of course the water part was closed for a short period of time for cleaning. Something must have happened because I've never seen it randomly closed for cleaning in the middle of the day...especially on a Saturday when it's usually busy. We decided we were hot and tired so we went ahead home so Jack could go down for a nap.

That afternoon my mom and I went out again to hit up the sale at Old Navy while Caroline babysat Jack. My mom bought me 2 pairs of shorts and a dress. I can't wait to wear them! On our way home we picked up some Chinese and had a lovely dinner. The next morning I was on call again and they had to leave around 9:00 am for their drive home. It was very sad! It gets pretty boring being home without Ed. Jack and I definitely have fun and hang out, but it's mostly the same thing every day. We can't wait until Daddy comes home!!!

Now the weekend is over and I have my 4 days off. I am thinking we will be spending much time in the backyard pool and maybe a trip to the beach. :) One awesome tradition that us Navy wives have started is picking a night to cook dinner and having everyone over. It's awesome because you only have to cook 1 night a week and then the other days you just show up at everyone else's houses and get a nice dinner! LOVE IT! Last night we had Jessa and Riley over. I made a chicken noodle casserole that was Deee-lish! I also made some veggies and crescent rolls. Surprisingly, Jack ate the mixed veggies like they were candy. I will definitely have to make those again.

Tonight we are going over to Andrea's house for spaghetti! I will try to remember to bring my camera and get some pictures!

A few new things this week...Jack has decided to learn how to climb up onto chairs and the couch. We now have to remember to push the chairs in after we stand up so that he can't get onto them. He also has developed this occasional attitude. I'm not sure if it is because Daddy is gone and he is mad or just doesn't understand...or if it is just because he is getting a little older. He used to just do what we told him to without thinking twice about it. Now it's as if he realizes that he knows he has his own mind and decides that he wants to do what he wants to do.

When you tell him no he will throw a fit because he didn't get his way. When I say fit I mean he will cry for like 10 seconds and throw himself on the floor. I just say something like "it's okay to be frustrated, but you have to listen to Mommy," and then I walk away. He quickly realizes I'm not paying him one bit of attention, pulls himself together, and usually will come over and give me a hug. That's pretty much the extent of his misbehavior up to this point. If only it could stay this way forever. :)