The Story on Morning Glory

Remember back here when I was in the middle of making all of the stuff for Jack's room?  And I said that I just knew that he would one day look at me and tell me how much he loved his bumper pad?  Well, get in line, folks, let me tell your future! 

Ok, maybe not that severe, but Jack definitely loves his bumper pad.  How do I know?  Remember back here when I was trying to gently nudge Jack towards his owl lovie?  Well, Jack has found his own lovie.  His bumper pad.  Seriously. 

When he goes to sleep for a nap or for the night, he rolls on his side and....hugs the bumper pad!  It is adorable.  When we walk in to check on him, you can usually spot his little hand on the outside of the bumper pad, arm wrapped around it and pulling it to him.  Or, he's rolling around in his sleep, arms flailing, looking for the bumper pad to grab!  So cute.

Yes, he has stuffed animals, he's not in need, people!  We had about 1.5 million of them!  He's just being inventive and using what he's got.  He's gifted, don't you think?

One day I walked in to Babies R Us. 

Now, as a preface to this story, I strongly dislike hate Babies R Us.  Before I had a baby and would go there for baby shower gifts, I would take a deep breath, walk in, and get busy deciphering the codes to 80 million tiny little things, things I had no idea about, and, truthfully, didn't care about.  I would spend 20 minutes figuring out if the precious friend had registered for this bottle nipple or the one next to it, that looked exactly the same to me, so why did it matter anyway...bad attitude, but true.  I would leave the store, battled and weary, guessing that one day, when I had a baby, I would love this atrocity of a mega store.

Well, things did not change when I had Jack.  Now, instead of wondering the difference between this bottle nipple and that one, now I think it's just a crazy over priced black hole of mass produced baby garb.  Still bad attitude...and not one I expected to hang around! 

Anyways, one day I walked in to Babies R Us to get some teething tabs.  Teething tabs are t hese little golden nuggets are tabs that dissolve in a teething monster's mouth and seem to settle them down for about, oh, 95 seconds...and these tabs of goodness are not found at Target...they're only found at Babies R Us.  Of course.  Taking a deep breath and diving into the isles of baby land, I found my gold-priced teething tabs and made a run for the register when I passed a small display in the front of the store.  I recognized my favorite baby food label and stopped to take a glance at the probable rip off they were offering.

I love to read blogs, especially other mommy blogs.  Who am I?  I don't know.  Anyways, some of these blogs are so cool they are constantly contacted by vendors to do a giveaway!  Isn't that fun?  Anyways, I've never entered any of the giveaways, out of laziness, mostly, and I never win anything, so why waste the time?  But last week, I entered my first giveaway...and...I won!  Woohoo!!!

One of my favorite blogs hosted this really fun giveaway for some adorable mommy jewelry, and I couldn't resist entering!  Ok, I entered like 8 times...

of Jack sitting up in things not designed to sit up in!

I've been excited all week.  I couldn't wait until Saturday morning!  Why?

Jeff has been taking Jack to swim lessons for a few weeks now while I go to tap.  It's been great for him to do something on his own with Jack and great for me to tap the morning away, knowing that they're having a great time together!

Since we've moved into our precious neighborhood, the neighborhood patrol has been after Jeff to sign up to help with the patrol.  He's been more than willing, even looking forward to it!  Only thing is that in order to participate, you have to take a Saturday 8am-4pm class to learn the ins and outs of the radio system.  It's a pretty official operation they're running here, people!  So, Saturday was the day that he could finally work that into his schedule, which meant I got to take Jack to swim lessons!

Now, I'm sure you're wondering what swim lessons for a 7 month old looks like...well, from what I hear, it's not much, just some water time, a little splashing, and there's something to do with a rubber ducky.

You see, I still don't know. 

Jack was up at his usual 7am this morning, not super happy (stuuuuuuuuupid teething) but happy enough to play for a little while and eat some breakfast.  It was getting close to time to go, so I spent my usual 15 minutes packing the swim bag filled with towels, extra diapers, his swim suit, and began my usual prayers, praying that Jack wouldn't poop while he was in the pool because, well, I imagine that's a gross clean up. 

I recently ordered myself some new swim suits, very mommy-ish and in a larger size than I'd like to admit, so I tried them on and decided on the best one to wear, and started getting all of my stuff together while Jack happily played on the bed.  He loves sitting on our bed.  It's positioned that I can put him on the bed and he can see himself in our full length mirror, and he loooooooooves it!  And I was loving that he was happy.  Good start to the morning over all!

It's 8:30 and it's time to go, so I buckle Jack into his car seat that is increasingly too small and get ready to head out the door.  I couldn't wait to see him in his adorable swimsuit!  I've got everything ready, and go to grab my keys.  Now, my keys usually sit on the table right beside the door.  If they're not there, they are usually in my purse.  Checked both places.  Not there.  It's then that I remember what we did last night.....

Jeff was the MC for a Relay for Life last night.  I drove out to the stadium so he could work on what he was going to say.  He drove back home after we ate dinner.  It was then that I remembered that before we went into eat, I saw my keys sitting in the cup holder and thought to myself (responsibly, I might add), "I better hide those keys!  Heaven forbid someone walk by the car while we're inside, see the keys, break the window, and use my keys to steal my car!"  So I tossed them in the console. 

Which is where they still are.  Right now.  Remember when I said that Jeff had a meeting that started at 8?  Well, that's where he is.  Where are the spare keys to the car?  In his pocket.  Really?  REALLY?  Needless to say, no swim lessons this morning. 

After wallowing in my own responsible thinking turned stupidity, figuring that I would obviously miss swim lessons and my much looked forward to lunch with the ladies, I took Jack out of his car seat and put him down for a nap.  And after thinking about it, I called the locksmith.  It's really not safe to be home with a baby and no way to get anywhere.  What if something happened!  I might need to get somewhere!  Or maybe it's just that I don't like feeling stranded.  Anyways, after I called the locksmith, Jeff called and is on his way home to unlock the car.  He could basically just do a drive by, click his clicker, and keep on moving back to the meeting.  Thankfully, it's not too far away. 

So, lesson learned!  Always know where your keys are.  At least lesson learned until next time...

Like I said the other day, Jack usually goes down for his nap about an hour after he gets up.  Seems kinda quick, but he always acts ready!  Although in the past week, I've thought about holding him out a little longer...his morning nap is becoming incredibly short!  Like 45 minutes short.  This wonderful break-for-mamma-time-to-shower-and-read (and maybe even watch a little Rachel Ray) nap used to stretch for at least an hour and a half. 

Well, since this nap has been so short lately, I've been just letting Jack stay in his crib for a little while once he's awake.  I mean, when it gets to the point that I turn off the shower and hear him jabbering after being asleep for 30 minutes, there's not much left to do but towel off and go about my morning routine with him happily jabbering away in his crib!  So...usually he stays in his crib for an extra 30 minutes after he's awake...is that bad?  I assure you he's not crying, just talking!  If he cries, I head in there and know nap time is surely over.  But if he's not crying, he's just fine, right?  And it's not all selfish, I promise!  I honestly think he'll fall back asleep...which he usually doesn't, but maybe sometimes does...

So next week we'll start pushing it and stay up an hour and a half or 2 before napping to see if that helps.  See, when he gets up, he's still tired, I can tell!!  So maybe staying up longer will equal longer nap time...hopefully!

Remember this picture that I keep coming back to?

Jack had a cold on Easter...and was not happy about it.  We did snap a few decent pics inbetween fuss sessions!

I can't believe it's already been another month!  Jack's getting so big. 

2.  He's loving eating a few finger foods.  His favorite is toast that I've cut into sticks.  Apparently they're called toast soldiers...learn something new every day!  Anyways, he gnaws on these until they're pretty mushy and gross...and he loves it!

So, Jack's first teeth popped up!  Yay!  So fun.  And then the not sleeping happened. 

I'll spare you the gory details, but just know that last night, he cried in his crib for an hour and a half before finally falling asleep.  And this was with a dose of Motrin and some teething tabs.  I can't even tell you what constant crying does to the mental state of a mom.  Oh, we cooked our hamburgers like we'd planned, watched America's Funniest Home Videos (guilty pleasure), all with the sounds of a crying 7 month old in the back ground. 

No we didn't neglect him.  We would go in every 10 minutes and make sure he was ok, give him his paci back, pat his tummy, talk him down, but as soon as we left his sight, it was back to the crying.  I mean, he was so worked up that he was sweating and his hair was wet with drool and tears.  It was terrible.  I took him out a few times just to comfort him, but as soon as he was back, crying ensued. 

He doesn't have a fever, so I figured it's not an earache...but I just called the DR and the nurse said he could have an earache with out a fever!  Who knew!  So we're going in this afternoon.  Hopefully there's something that can help this little man!  And his mamma!  As of right now, baby needs some meds and mamma needs a glass of wine!

My first few years of teaching were spent in a low socioeconomic area and my last few years of teaching were spent in a high socioeconomic area.  People always ask me which one I liked the most...which is a super hard question, because both were absolutely wonderful for completely different reasons.  One place taught me to deeply love my students and how to be their friend, care taker and advocate.  One place taught me how to set my expectations high for the students, how to spur them on to their greatest potential and how to actually teach! 

Last night, I was asked by one of my early former students to be their friend on Facebook.  She's now a senior in high school, which makes me feel incredible old...since I was her 4th grade teacher!  Dang, I'm old.  Anyways, it was so interesting checking out her profile, reading how she's doing, learning that she is pregnant, and just realizing how much I prayed for my kiddos at the time, but haven't in a long time. 

I was checking out her friends, seeing if she was friends with any of my other former students when I came across a little girl who I absolutely loved.  I honestly thought of her as my child.  She was from a difficult family, a minority in a predominately minority group, picked on, strange...she was finally diagnosed as having aspergers when she was in my class.  She was enthralled with the Revolutionary War, and could give any history professor a run for their money.  She loved Japanese animation and Scotland...where her ancestors were from.  She looked unkept, never had her hair combed, wore dirty clothes to school.  And I fell in love.  I was her stability.

Each morning before school, she would come into my room and I would fix her hair...comb it out, braid it or put it in pig tails with cute, colorful, girly clips (and some days, wash and sanitize my hands immediately!).  And then she would catch up on some of her never ending pile of late work or read under the reading tree.  She would talk to me about the Japanimation books she was reading, and even lent me a few to read...I learned that Japanimation books are read from the back to the front, and countless things about the Revolutionary War...and even tried to get her parents to allow her to go to a youth camp I worked at during college. 

After I left my school, I lost touch with this little girl.  Seeing her on Facebook brought back so many memories.  And convicted me to never forget God's children who he let me teach for a year.  She's listed her religious beliefs as atheist, and is into war reenactment.  Man, have I been burdened to pray.  I used to pray that she would make it through the tough years of middle school and high school, and then go on to something great, because I knew she was so bright and capable...I used to talk to her about going to college, hoping to set her mind to what she could do.  And that will continue to be my prayer.  She's made it through middle school, graduates next year, and I will pray fervently that a Godly mentor will come into her life, someone who she identifies with and trusts, that will spur her on towards good, bring her life into the light, and love her as I could do 7 years ago.

Pretty much the past month, Jack has been teething.  Just kinda grumpy, spontaneously crying, not being his smiley self.  This wasn't all the time, it would come and go, but it was definitely there.  We used teething tabs (not really sure what they are or what they do...but they kinda worked) and Tylenol when times got tough to give the poor guy some relief! 

We've been feeling around in Jack's mouth for what seems like forever, hoping to feel that little ridge of a tooth.  They say (whoever "they" is, who always seems to have such wisdom for child rearing) that once you can feel the tooth pop through, the worst is over. 

And.............Tuesday, I felt a tooth!!  Yay!  I have to say, they were right.  Tuesday Jack was the happiest and most playful he's been in a while! 

No, I didn't take a picture, he's way to squirmy and you're lucky to get a finger in there to feel anything...but once that one toothed grin shows up, don't worry, you'll be seeing it!