Even Bees Aren't This Busy!

Whew. I'm exhausted and it's only Wednesday.

This past weekend we had my son's birthday party at the Houston Zoo. It was fun but really, really HOT. I know, you're shaking your head at me right now and saying, "Well duh, it's August in Houston. What'd you expect?!" But honestly, I booked the zoo before we starting having the record triple digit weather.  I booked it for the morning slot 9:30-11:30 (see, at least I didn't book the party in the middle of the afternoon) and although I melted by the time the party started, everyone had a great time.

We served Chick Fil A mini chicken biscuits and fruit salad, and tons of water. I did the easy route and had cupcakes instead of a cake. I had made binoculars for the kids using toilet paper tubes wrapped in animal print paper, and attached yarn so they could wear them around their necks. Then I had a bunch of animal stickers for the kids to decorate them which turned out to be a big hit. After the party was done, we boutght all the kids a round on the carousel and then handed out goodie bags.

The family walked around the zoo (there were 12 of us counting us, parents and siblings and kids) and at 1pm we headed over to the elephant barn where my teammate Kim let us in. She's one of the elephant keepers there and we got to have a meet and greet with a mommy elephant and her baby. They were so cute, and we got to pet and feed them! The baby was still getting used to using her trunk so when they let Jakob hold out a piece of carrot, it took her a few tries to grab it. Of course she left a big trail of nose slime on his hand, and he was slightly grossed out by that. But he still loved the experience.

Monday back to work was nice and hectic as any Monday would be. Luckily it went by quickly and I didn't have to grumble about it anymore. Yesterday was even busier, as one of my customers is doing a huge promotion so I was up to my ears in paperwork and dealing with issues. I was glad it was Tuesday Bruiseday becasue I needed to skate out all that stress!
At my doctor appointment last week, they took x-rays and said my hip joint looks fine, and after explaining all of the details the doctor thinks I strained the muscle pretty hard. He told me to continue icing and stretching and he gave me some Mobic to help with the pain. Told me I could still skate but if the pain was bothering me to scale back and not push too hard. If it still hurts a month from now they'll do an MRI to see if the injury is more severe.

So last night I was cautiously optomistic about practice. The anti inflammatory was already helping (it had gotten so painful that my hip ached badly even when sitting), and I was hydrated and feeling good. I was able to stay in the advanced group for the whole practice, and it was nice being back in my group since the last two weeks I took it easy and skated with the intermediate girls. I got home around 10 and thoroughly worn out, I went to bed.

This morning was another stressful one, I think I got up from my desk a total of 2 times. My mom took me to lunch so we could start planning my sister's baby shower (she's due 2 days after Thanksgiving!) and I'm creating some art to turn into the invites, and also as a gift for her to hang on the baby's wall. Thankfully the afternoon has slowed down enough that I was able to catch up on some other things, not to mention this neglected blog. *ahem* I am hoping that tomorrow and Friday are a bit breezier, but not in terms of indoor temperature, as right now I am bundled up in two sweaters due to the office AC being on full blast. But that is a whole different issue.

I am looking forward to this weekend, my sister and brother-in-law are having their housewarming party and it's also my brother-in-law's birthday. We got to hang out with them at the zoo, but it will be nice to visit with them and not lose 8 pounds in sweat at the same time. But that means I have to do some shopping for both their house and my BIL's birthday present. Yay, shopping! But, maybe tomorrow because I'm ready to fall asleep right now... zzzzzzzzzzz

I Have A 4 Year Old!... Already?!

Today is my little man's birthday!

I know every parent uses the cliche, "They grow up too fast!" but it's true. So much has happened since Jason and I found out we were pregnant, I look back and realize that it really did go by too quickly. And Jakob is only four, the next thing I know he'll be graduating high school and I'll be bawling my eyes out like my mom did when I graduated. (Yes, I'm a crier. Even the Kodak commercials get to me.)

Here's a summary of the last 4 years:

I had a GREAT pregnancy. Seriously, I'm not just remembering all of the good things the way most pregnant women do when they start thinking about having another child - nature's way of making sure those with five months of morning sickness/long labors procreate again. I really did have a fantastic experience and I was one of those glowing, happy pregnant ladies that only gained weight in my belly and wore high heels and worked up until the day Jakob was born. All of my pregnant friends hated me because I was so positive and bouncy and happy while they were all uncomfortable and sick to their stomachs. Sorry ladies!! I feel blessed that I was able to enjoy my pregnancy.

I went in for my 40 week appt with no progress, but my amniotic fluid was getting a bit low so my doctor set the eviction date for two days later, on a Friday. I was a bit worried about being induced because I had heard tons of horror stories, but it turned out to be okay. The worst part of it was we had to be at the hospital at 5am, and I am not a morning person.
They hooked me up to the pitocin at 6 and I made halfway through labor before I asked for drugs. Go, me! Once I got that, labor was pretty fun even though my legs felt fuzzy and I felt like I was wearing a heavy pair of snow pants. Jakob was born at 1:59pm, so it was a normal labor. Thank goodness I didn't have to be in labor for days like I made my mom do. She still reminds me every year on my birthday about how I took my time. Jakob was so clean and pretty when he was born that even the doctor remarked at how beautiful he looked. I'd like to say it's because of good genes, and also the excessive amount of water I drank while pregnant. It's amazing I didn't float away, but in the third trimester I did have to literally pee every 5 minutes. Jakob was so alert and cute! It was so emotionally overwhelming the minute they handed him to me, and I still to this day can't put into words how much in love I am with him.

Jakob did almost everything early except grow hair. He sat up by himself around 3 months, got teeth at 5 months (ouch!), was speaking words at 8 months, walked at 11 months, was stringing 3-4 word sentences at 15 months and so on and so forth. He didn't grow any real hair (other than the cute baby peach fuzz) until he was about two. For his second Halloween - the first one he was only 2 months - I dressed him up as Charlie Brown and he was a spitting image. What was even cuter was when we had a baby Snoopy show up at our door, and Jakob got excited, saying that was his doggie. :)

 At age two, Jakob was again ahead of his age group with speech and understanding/reasoning. He was using words like "Actually" correctly in a sentence. Jason stayed home with him so I credit Jakob's progress to him and his endless patience and teaching. He says the same thing about me, as I was able to stay at home with Jakob for most of his first year. [Insert a lovey-dovey, "Awwwww!" here.] We enrolled Jakob in a preschool for a few days a week so he could get interaction with other kids in a school setting. His teachers constantly remarked at how polite, courteous and attentive Jakob was. I can tell you, hearing from other people what a great kid you have makes you extremely proud and fills you with the confidence that you must be doing something right. Jakob started telling jokes, and the knock-knock ones were the best because they made no sense at all, making them even more funny. It's also nice that we got through the "Terrible Twos" with only a few epic tantrums. For the most part he listened and followed directions well, and didn't push too much if we said no to something.

At three, he got interested in puzzles and could put together some reasonably hard ones by himself. (I'm talking about the kind with small pieces - not the giant pieces, or the wooden ones with the pegs.) His favorite is a Star Wars puzzle - it's 3 puzzles in 1 with each one having smaller pieces than the one before it, and they all fit together to make one big puzzle. He also started coloring and drawing more, and I must say, I think he got both my and Jason's artistic talent because for a 3 year old, the drawings are quite good and easy to tell what they are.
He started showing his slight daredevil side, on the preschool playground he'd jump off the equipment - a good foot or two, and when we took him to Sea World he wanted to do the big water ride where the people watching get just as soaked as those on the ride. His favorite game to play indoors was "Shopping at Target" (Gee, I guess my obsession with Target had rubbed off on him) where he'd line up a bunch of toys and use pieces of paper or a deck of cars as his money, and he'd push one of his stuffed animals in a ride-along toy as his shopping cart. He always liked Batman because it's Daddy's favorite, but he also got into Star Wars and Transformers this past year, along with continuing his intrest in Cars and Toy Story. He told me this Halloween we all need to dress up as Star Wars characters -  he said he'll be Luke "because Luke has a light saver and is really cool, " I can be Princess Leia "because you're pretty like she is, Mommy" [insert another "Awwww!" here], and Daddy can be Han Solo "because he's in love with Princess Leia like Daddy is in love with you." [Here is where you melt from my son's cuteness.]

Year 3 we had a few more tantrums than when he was 2, including the record-holding 2 1/2 hour one where he was sent to his room and he wailed non-stop saying things like, "Nobody loves meeeee! Nobody will give me a hug! Why won't you guys come talk to meeee?! Please somebody out there just come rescue meeeeeeeeee!" Fun times. You know, when your kid is throwing a tantrum it's not nice to giggle at them no matter how funny they are. It just makes them more upset... Which is why I stayed out of his room until the tantrum was done.
Speaking of funny, my kid is a riot. The things that come out of his mouth crack me up on a daily basis and Jason says we seriously need to get him into acting or something of the sort. If he doesn't end up in show business when he's older, I will be surprised. He is clever and witty and quick. He's not like me where I think of a great one-liner long after an event has occured, and then I'm saying to myself, "Man! I wish I would have said that!!"

That was about as quick of a summary as I could get, if you're still with me you can slap yourself awake now because I'm done gushing about how smart, cute and funny my child is. (Or not.) It has been quite an adventure so far, and I've really enjoyed being part of this amazing kid's life. He has taught me so much about the world around me, helped me remember what it's like to see things through a child's eyes. He helped spark my creativity again and get me to start drawing more often like I did before life got in the way. I am truly proud of the person he is becoming, and feel honored to call him my son.

Happy Birthday, Jakob!! Daddy and I love you so very much.