good-bye ear infections

4:50am came rather early this morning. we needed to leave the house at 6:00 to arrive at the hospital at 6:45. well....we made it to the hospital at 6:50. not too bad. i signed some paperwork and the sweet lady who registered us and helped with all the paperwork prayed with us before we went upstairs....how sweet! we waited a few minutes and then it was time for us to go back. the nurses listened to jake's heartbeat, took his temperature, and put a little thing on his toe to check his oxygen level. then we got to go play in the fun little waiting area. (my heart was racing the entire time....oh the anticipation!!) then the time came. the nurses came and had a warm blanket ready to wrap jake in. as she wrapped him she took him from my arms. it was such a smooth transition that neither one of us really got too upset. jake cried a little and i didn't cry at all. i was sad and scared, but felt so comfortable with the nurses taking him (which is weird because i didn't think i would feel that way). my mom and i sat in the recovery room for about 7 minutes total. dr. smith came and said everything went great. after a few minutes, i heard a little whimper. i looked at momma and said "that's him." then he started to scream and cry..."yep, that's definitely jake!! when are they going to bring him to me?" i waited for what seemed like forever. i finally stood up and looked outside our little room and found him right across the room. i watched the nurse try to calm him down and the other nurses were looking at me. i said "that's my baby crying." and as soon as i said that, the nurse came out of the room holding him and said "can i get his mom in here!" i'm sure i was over there in half a second flat! nobody had to find me...i was ready to hold my baby. it took him about 15 minutes to calm down. he drank some juice so they let us go early. we only stayed in recovery for about 20 minutes. i can honestly say that i am glad it is over. and hopefully we can say "good-bye ear infections!"

17 months old

jake is really beginning to develop a fun little personality. he loves to laugh, twirl, stomp his feet, clap his hands, read, color, play with the magnets on the refrigerator, climb on the couch, flush the toilet (over and over and over), wave at random people, blow kisses, and give hugs. on the flip side, i believe we may be hitting the terrible two's a little early. even though jake is a sweet, loving little boy, he can throw a temper tantrum like no other! i'm serious! if he doesn't get his way or we tell him "no", whoa!!!! watch out! he will pitch a fit!

as far as stats go, jake still weighs around 26 pounds and is about 33 inches tall. he is still wearing 18-24 month clothes and 2T pajamas. he wears a size 6 double wide shoe. jake has 16 teeth and his second molars are on their way. he's still in a size 4 diaper.

jake loves to try to copy what we say. he is starting to jibber-jabber. it's like he's trying to tell us something! he clearly says :: ma-ma, da-da, no, ball, wow, baby, and uh-oh. his new words are :: "spuh" - spoon, "dis" - this, "psh" - push.

we're still working on the separation anxiety. i can't even leave the room without him running after me. he still cries when i leave him in the nursery at church. i read an article about separation anxiety. supposedly, he should grow out of it around 15-18 months. we'll see.

happy 17 months jake!!!

the time has come

most of you know that jake has been having consistent ear infections since march. our pediatrician decided to send us to the ENT. we went for the consultation appointment last thursday. dr. smith, our ENT, agreed that tubes would be the best route for us to take. so now i just had to wait on the phone calls to get the surgery (scary word when it's your baby!!!) set up. i finally received a phone call yesterday from one of the nurses. she just needed the basic information and a few other things so that i wouldn't have to do all that when we go on monday. i asked her what time we needed to come. she said another nurse would call with that information. so this morning the nurse called with the time for his surgery. we will have to be there at 6:30am (tentatively...it could change) and surgery at 8:00am. wow....that will be a really early morning for mommy and grandma!!! she also gave me a lot of rules to follow. we have to bathe him the night before in dial soap and can't put any lotion on him. now, those of you who know jake....he's got eczema....so this might be a little (HUGE) problem. but i understand this particular soap will keep the infection chances down, so i'm gonna do it, but not willingly. perhaps there's a hypoallergenic dial soap or something. another rule is no food or drink after 12 which will not be a problem. but the not eating breakfast when he first wakes up might be. he can bring his blanket, paci, and favorite sippy cup. needless to say, this is going to be a really big deal for me!!! i'm worried and very nervous, but i know there is relief in sight for my sweet little boy. please keep us in your prayers!!

the mystery of the missing remote

perhaps i should write a book about all the cool hiding places that kids put things. this morning jake wanted to watch elmo. well, i just had the remote like 15 minutes before because i used it to turn on the t.v. i remembered sitting it back on the couch. and now....it's missing. gee....i shouldn't be surprised since my son is notorious for making things disappear so frequently. i look at him and said, "jake, where's the remote?" his response (of course), "gone gone." i should have known that was coming. so after looking for about 5 minutes, i told him that he couldn't watch elmo until he found the remote. (i had to blow dry my hair and get ready for church) anyway, i begin blow drying my hair. he seemed pretty content with watching "bob the builder" on t.v., so i thought nothing more of finding the remote. i thought i'll just look for it when we come home from church. about 10 minutes later, jake comes running into the bathroom, takes my hand, and pulls me to his room. he points to........

the remote!!!! what a great listener my little boy is.....and a good remember-er too!!!! thank goodness he found it....it would have taken me forever to find the remote here!!!

the mystery of the missing keys

jake loves to play with our keys, or as he says "ksssss". we usually watch him while he plays with our keys so we know where he lays them down. but yesterday, i didn't. i had just gotten home from a summer academy class and wanted to change clothes and eat lunch. so jake is playing with my keys while i am fixing my lunch. i eat my lunch and begin playing in the floor with him. he begins playing with his toy keys and i thought, "hmmm....where did he put my keys?" so i ask him where he put my keys. his response, "gone-gone". gee, thanks jake. so like a crazy woman i begin tearing the house apart looking for my keys. i started in the kitchen because that's where he was playing with them while i was fixing my lunch. i look in every drawer and even in the refrigerator. nothing. i then look in the living room. i pull all the toys out, took the cushions off the couch, looked under everything, looked in the bookcase drawers, in the magazine baskets, and still...nothing. i go into his room and look in all his drawers, in the diaper champ, under his crib, in his closet....nothing. i look in the bathroom...fearing the worst because he did flush the toilet while i was fixing my lunch. oh dear...the panic set in. the last place to look was our bedroom. i look in the drawers, under the bed, in our bathroom, the closet, and even in all our shoes....hey you never know!!! i still can't find them. so i start all over looking in the kitchen again and this time i look in all the containers, pots and pans, corning ware dishes and even in the trash can. i still can't find my keys. how in the world am i going to tell josh that i lost my keys. not only are those the car keys, they have the house key, momma's house key, and my grandma's house key. so i just sat down on the couch and waited for josh to come home. (jake was taking a nap....he went down for one while i was frantically looking for my keys) so....as i'm waiting for josh, i decide to clean up the house a little bit. i walk into our bedroom and guess what i found......

yep...my keys...in the door where keys belong. i probably walked past these keys at least 10 times. and to top it off...i told josh the whole story and i said to him, "you'll never guess where i found them." he said, "in our bedroom door." what!?! you've got to be kidding me. josh said that's where jake always puts the keys!!! okay, where have i been? so the mystery of the missing keys....solved!!!!

happy 4th of july

what a fun filled weekend we had with both our families! we started on sunday night at aunt carol's house. josh and jake went swimming and had tons of fun. then we ate supper and watched melissa and matt's wedding video. when it finally got dark, we went outside and shot some fireworks. jake liked watching them and only jumped a few times on the really loud ones. here are some pictures from aunt carol's house ::

josh and jake swimming in the pool

waiting for the fireworks

fireworks

best seat in the house

on monday, we went to my grandma betsy's house for their 64th wedding anniversary. my momma made baked chicken, the best macaroni and cheese, fresh green beans and corn from their garden, zucchini muffins, and blueberry muffins. it was simply delicious! jake didn't have much of an appetite, but he definitely enjoyed playing with all his toys, watching sesame street, and playing the organ with his great grandpa. here are a few pictures ::

jake found his cup...he loves to twist the lid on and off

me, jake and john

we left grandma's house and went to josh's parents house. jake took at little nap on the way there. we brought jake's BIG ball for him to play with. but he wanted to play with the magnets on the refrigerator. jon and billy grilled some BBQ chicken (which was a-maz-ing) and we also had rice, green beans, and corn on the cob. robin also made a blueberry cobbler, apple cobbler, and had some chocolate chip cookies. jake still didn't have much of an appetite. but he sure did enjoy his dessert. we got to see a few fireworks outside and lots of them on the way home. we had a great 4th of july weekend!

jake really enjoyed his chocolate chip cookie - grandma robin helped clean him up

playing with the magnets on the refrigerator

playing outside with papa billy and grandma robin

VBS 2011

jake has really enjoyed going to vacation bible school this year. he loved playing in the nursery with denver and brandin. i'm pretty sure his favorite thing to do was ride in the taxi. by the end of the week, he finally learned how to get both legs in and out of the taxi. if you could only hear the noises that he made too!!! very cute!

we'll start with pictures from day 1 :: our lesson was about having faith in God.

jake making his craft "the big apple"

jake waiting for his turn in the taxi again

day 2 :: our lesson was about loving God.

denver and jake sharing the ball

jake playing outside during our recreation time

day 3 :: our lesson was about trusting God.

making our second craft....NYC picture frames

cute picture, huh?!?

jake cooking us some food

day 4 :: our lesson was about sharing the love of God with others

hunter and jake LOVE the taxi

day 5 :: our lesson was about showing God in our lives

the late nights of VBS finally caught up with jake.

he slept from 6:30 - 8:00. he was one tired little boy.

denver kept wanting to give "jay" his paci. cute!