Working Out

As I mentioned recently, I've been diagnosed with elevated cholesterol. I actually still don't know how elevated it is since I found out via a message from my doctor's office and I never took the time to call back. I wasn't particularly shocked by this revelation, considering a long family history of heart attacks and two parents on cholesterol meds, but I suppose I was hoping to avoid this diagnosis this early. I'll admit that my eating habits aren't stellar, but compared to the average person, I think they're actually pretty good. A quick scan of my kitchen produced very few products with more than a few milligrams of cholesterol, and I rarely see anything with more than 1.5 grams of saturated fat. Now, we do eat out from time to time, maybe 3-4 times per week depending on the week. And I know I could make healthier choices when we do, but really, if I'm going to go out to eat and pay that much, I'd prefer to eat what I want, within reason. And it's not like I have dinner out every night, so a couple not-so-healthy meals per week really doesn't scare me. But if push came to shove, yes, I could get steamed broccoli and grilled chicken instead of the burger and fries. My issue at this point is that I don't think that cutting that stuff out is going to make that big of a difference since in general my diet isn't that horrible. There just isn't that much there to overhaul. I could be wrong, but I just feel like I'm destined to end up on Lipitor at some point anyway, because, let's face it, a life without french fries just doesn't sound that appealing.

One of the other things I can do to lower it is work out more. I currently work out once per week on Thursday evenings. I go to an Instructor's Challenge class that is taught by a rotating set of instructors. No two classes are ever the same, and I like that. They usually follow a similar form, but not always. It's generally a few sets of strength training exercises interspersed with cardio. Sometimes the weight training is a series of different moves, and sometimes we have a circuit that we rotate all the way through. Cardio might be running the endless stairs in the building, grabbing a cardio machine, or running outside. I like the variety and it's definitely enhanced my fitness a bit. Unfortunately, unlike my old class I don't think this one will be as flexible when pregnancy #2 comes along. But for now it's been really helpful. It's even gotten me on a bit of a running kick, which I have never done. I still don't particularly like running, but I do get a better sense of the power and potential within my body when I run. Last year at this time I completed the Chase Corporate Challenge, a 3.5 mile race. I'd never run that long before, and it was pretty impressive considering the whole race was in a torrential downpour and I was probably carrying around about 10 pounds of water in my clothes. This year's race was last night, but my company didn't participate. I decided to run the 3.5 miles anyway, just to make sure I could still do it, and so last night I hopped on the treadmill and did it. It was hard, but it felt great to finish.

Even before the cholesterol diagnosis, my doctor had suggested I work out more. Before Jacob I tried to work out 2-3 times per week. The summer before I got pregnant, I also bought a bike, so even if I didn't hit the gym, I could always take a nice bike ride. But I haven't ridden my bike at all since that summer, because the next year I was pregnant and since Jacob was born I just haven't felt like I've had the time to do it. I'm sure I'm wrong and I'm just not utilizing my time well. I often think about how easy it should be to take a run or a ride, but it's just not. Time on the bike is time away from Jacob. Our weekend afternoons are usually busy anyway, even with naps (which I often like to participate in myself), and evenings are tough because we're usually rushing from dinner to the little bit of playtime I have with Jacob each day to bedtime...and by then it's dark out and less safe for riding. Perhaps I should be more selfish and take the time, but my time with him is so limited as it is. Oh, and in case you're thinking I should just take a walk with Jacob, that's generally a tough prospect in the evenings because he inevitably falls asleep and it makes for a much more complicated bedtime if he falls asleep too early. But it's not impossible, just awkward.

One thought I had was to get a baby seat for my bike. I rode around in one on my mom's bike when I was little and I remember enjoying it. The back-mounted ones like that make me nervous, though, for many reasons. I can see it seriously throwing my balance off, and I don't like that I can't see behind me. Trailers make me nervous for that reason as well, and probably even more because Jacob would be that much farther away from me in general. If I got one, it would probably be a front-mounted one. I think I'm short enough that it wouldn't bother my legs, but I think I'd still be able to see over it ok. I'd also feel like I might have the ability to shield Jacob somehow in the event of a crash. Wishful thinking, perhaps, but it would still be easier than it he was behind me. I'd need to get a helmet for Jacob (and yeah, probably me too one of these days), but baby helmets are tough to find. Standard ones in stores are for 3+, so it would most likely be a slightly pricey online purchase. But the whole thing just scares me. Granted, in all the years that I've ridden a bike, I've never had a major accident. A couple minor falls, perhaps, but nothing that gave me anything more than a few scrapes....and not in a very long time. So why would accidents start now? But still, if anything ever happened to Jacob while he was on my bike, I'd never forgive myself. There are a lot of sobering statistics about injuries to kids on bike seats, but I'd have to think that most of those are helmetless and in the typical back-mounted version that throws off your balance more than the front-mounted ones. But still, it's scary. But I do think it would get me out and about more, and I think Jacob would like it too. But is it worth the risk? Or should I just forego time with him and force myself to get on my bike solo or head off to the gym an additional day? On the bright side, Craig's schedule eases up considerably during the summer, so if there's any time it's possible, it's now.

I'd like to get in better shape. Running is empowering, and there's always a nice rush from a good workout, regardless of the type. I'd like to think that taking care of an active toddler and keeping a household up and running is enough activity, but based on what I see in the mirror, it's not. But there's always the lure of that adorable little boy...and when he's not around, dozens of things on a mental to-do list readily take his place. The never-ending battle of motherhood--arranging priorities so nothing suffers...

News and Notes

Just wanted to do a quick overview of some of the stuff we've been dealing with lately...

- Jacob is officially obsessed with his first annoying kid-targeted video. We got a hand-me-down video from Jacob's cousins, this "Elmocize" video featuring Elmo as an exercise camp leader. There's basically a TV reporter that's reporting on the camp (he's a Muppet too, along the lines of Guy Smiley) and gets sucked into the world of exercise. There's a handful of Elmo segments with a few Sesame Street-ish animated segments in between. There are also a handful of catchy and overly perky songs that have serious superpowers for getting in your head and staying there. And Jacob LOVES it. He asks for it all the time. And much to my dismay, DVR'ed episodes of Sesame Street are not a worthy replacement. So instead we usually have to put the tape in for a least a few minutes most days upon request. I'll admit it's cute watching Jacob dance along to some parts, like tonight when he followed along with almost an entire segment, touching his toes and doing what the animation on the screen was. We were pretty impressed. It makes me crazy that the songs are so stuck in my head. Ugh. And honestly, every time I see the parts with the real-life kids, who are all now at least college age, all I can think is, "How embarrassing would this footage be for them to see now?"

- Jacob is really starting to spew words. Whether he's putting words together into phrases or is repeating things that we say, he's really getting good. It's still hard to tell how much he's understanding, because on one hand he seems to understand a lot, but on another hand he's like talking to a brick wall. You can practically have a full conversation with him, but then five minutes later you're repeating the same thing to him 20 times because he just doesn't seem to be absorbing whatever it is that you're saying, whether it's yet another reminder not to throw balls in the house or telling Jacob for the thousandth time that we can't go to a hockey game because the Amerks season is over. But I find it astonishing (and really cute) how much he can repeat back after hearing it one time. All of the baby books and emails I get talk about the language explosion between 18 and 24 months, and boy were they right. Last night it sounded like Jacob was practicing talking in bed. It's still not all clear, but he's really got a lot to say about a lot of things. We still have trouble getting him to use words when he's upset, which still makes it hard to fully communicate with him. And like I mentioned earlier, he doesn't always seem to listen to what we're telling him, which makes things even more difficult. But it's nice to know we're on our way to having meaningful conversations with him at some point down the road. It's a far cry from always wondering what the heck is going through your little baby's head when they're not communicating at all!

- Jacob likes to snack. He's not a big fan of meals, but the second he gets a chance, he's running to the snack cabinet in the kitchen to pull out a bag of pretzels or the giant carton of goldfish. Or worse, he goes into another cabinet looking for "beans", his term for M&Ms or any other candy coated chocolate. He somehow learned that a stash of Sixlets (like spherical M&Ms--one of my old Halloween favorites) from a post-Easter clearance sale lived in one cabinet, and he's been trying to get to them ever since. They have now moved. It's pretty annoying at dinner time, especially because he gets an afternoon snack at daycare every day so I know he can't be that hungry...and even if we manage to get him through without snacking, the chances of him eating his dinner are sketchy. He also keeps asking for juice these days, which he gets usually once a day at daycare, but I'm trying to steer him away from that. Not that he's a fat kid, by any means, but water is preferred in between meals.

- Jacob LOVES fruit. He did last summer too, but he's really enjoying it a lot this year as well. Berries of all kinds, in particular. He also loves smoothies. Last year for my birthday, Craig bought me one of those Magic Bullet blender sets because I had mentioned that they were tempting. However, at at least $50, I didn't feel that my use of it would be worth the price tag, so I returned it promising that if I ever saw a good sale I would go buy one to replace it. Well, a couple months ago I saw a great sale for the JCPenney version of it. Really cheap, assuming I ever get my rebate back. Even still, it was cheaper than the real one. And I love that thing. It's just so much quicker and easier than the big blender. Saturday morning Jacob was saying no to every breakfast option I presented him...until I mentioned a smoothie! Then he readily said yes! I just put a few strawberries, some frozen banana (great way to use ripe bananas that won't get eaten), a little low fat vanilla yogurt, some milk, and some ice into the cup, blend it up, and we can split it. It's really good and Jacob drinks it right up. It's a lifesaver. And when he doesn't eat his dinner very well I try to supplement with fruit whenever possible. At least I know he's getting something.

- He still talks about sports non-stop. Hockey, lacrosse (usually in the form of the Knighthawks), baseball, basketball, soccer, football...you name it. And I finally have started to put my foot down about him playing them in the house. His throws are getting harder and he's now got some bigger equipment (kid-size lacrosse sticks, for example) that could do some damage with the right ball and some good (bad) aim. I just don't want to risk broken lamps or knicknacks or any of that, so I'm trying to relegate that to an outdoor activity...and this is a good time of year to do it. Of course, Craig wants to encourage the sports thing, and it IS all Jacob wants to do most of the time, so I'm sort of fighting a losing battle at times.

- Not much to report on the potty front. Still no real successes. He wants to sit on it once in a while, but no luck. However, at the risk of brutally embarrassing him 15 years from now, here's a really cute picture of him giving it a shot. At least no important body parts are showing :)

I know there was something else I wanted to mention, but I guess it will have to wait for now since I can't remember it. Hope you're enjoying your short work week!

Another weekend, another boo-boo...

I'm thinking that boo-boos are going to be an ever-increasing occurrence in our lives for a while, now that summer is here and Jacob is as active as ever. Unfortunately, increased activity has not been accompanied by increase gracefulness, so Jacob's clumsiness is becoming more of a factor than it was before. I'll get to the full story in a bit, but here's the rundown of our Memorial Day weekend.

On Friday afternoon I discovered that the carousel down by the lake was giving out free rides. We always enjoy our visits to Charlotte (pronounced Shar-lot, with emphasis on the "-lot"), which is the northernmost area of Greece, right up on the lake. It's the same place we went to when we did our big beach day last summer. We figured we'd get our free carousel ride, then get some ice cream to enjoy on a lovely evening. Well...when we got up there, there were emergency vehicles everywhere. There's usually a decent police presence around there, but nothing like this. There had to be 20-30 vehicles with flashers everywhere you looked. As we headed to the carousel, which is in the park adjacent to the beach and the Charlotte pier, we could see people crowded around the railings near the area where the Genesee River empties into Lake Ontario. Since we only had a half hour to get our ride in and we weren't sure what kind of line might await us, we headed to the carousel and figured we'd find out the big story later.

I figured Jacob might like the carousel a lot since he has no problem spinning himself until he's dizzy or playing Superman while perched on my feet when I lay on the ground. He never really seemed to shy away from speed or bumps or any of that stuff, so I was hoping that we had bred a new little roller coaster freak for me to ride crazy rides with, since Craig definitely does NOT fill that role. So, we got to the carousel building, a classic, wooden, open-air pavilion with a cool pipe organ providing the riding music. The carousel has a variety of animals to choose from. The top two rows of animals move up and down, and the outside of the ring has a variety of options including traditional animals on poles and benches. Jacob seemed intrigued from the moment we got there. We waited through two rides for our turn (not bad considering it was a nice night and it was free), and selected a couple rabbits to ride on (since Jacob likes bunnies). Here he is scoping things out once we were on...
And yes, here he is once the ride started...

Ok, so we don't have a rider on our hands...yet. As soon as the ride started moving, Jacob got this scared look on his face. You know the one...where he starts figuring out that it's more than he bargained for, the one that quickly transitions into the trembling lower lip and sudden sobs of fear. We did our best to calm him and distract him until the ride was over, and other than a few bursts of tears, he did ok. He did bring up the "horsies" again on Saturday in a more positive light, so I think he'll grow into it. It might have just been a little too much to process the first time around. Anyway...once we got off the carousel we took a casual walk to where all of the activity was. The crowds were starting to thin by that point, but we got an idea of what had happened from the remaining on-lookers...and the full story on the news that night. A group of friends were jumping off the pier and one, a 20-year-old guy, never resurfaced. He was underwater for 45 minutes and was apparently pulled out alive, but by the next morning the paper reported he had died. So very sad and such a needless tragedy. It brought up the thought yet again--how do you teach your child to have fun but think intelligently and make good friends that won't get them into situations like that? Ugh. After that we headed to get some ice cream. Craig and I were both going to share ours with Jacob, but he took a liking to my fat-free chocolate with sprinkles and could only be enticed away by Craig's cone near the end. Still, it was a nice night out.

Saturday Craig had an event to go to for most of the afternoon and all evening, so for most of the day it was just me and Jacob. Still, before Craig left he got to take an unexpected nap with Jacob when Jacob fell asleep out of the blue on the way home from a trip to Wegmans with me. He slept for a good hour and a half, if not two hours, and I got to be nice and productive. I put assembled the pictures on the flash drive, as I mentioned in my last post, and I filled in some of the blanks in Jacob's baby book, with the aid of this very blog. Once Craig took off, I did a little work outside, including inflating and filling Jacob's little pool, the one he slept in one night last summer when we found ourselves without a pack and play for him on a trip to Buffalo. Despite the crazy hot weather all weekend, our schedules never worked out for Jacob to play in it. Between our many activities and his crazy nap schedule, it just didn't happen. Ugh. But still, it was quite an undertaking and it was nice to get it done. One of these days we'll get OUR pool open. Anyway...after a productive shopping trip in which I got Jacob a new baseball cap (less than $4!), new swim trunks (less than $5!), and the last package of medium swim diapers that still had the travel sunscreen sample attached (score!), among other things, we headed out to Craig's event. It was at a bar downtown, where some of the big lacrosse fans and one of the Knighthawks were watching the NCAA lacrosse semifinals out on their patio. It was a gorgeous night and Jacob had a blast. There was a mini-net and lacrosse sticks galore...and not just the ones he brought from home. Here he is showing his form in his new hat...

Many of the people there took turns playing lacrosse with him. I think they just liked the idea of such a little boy being so obsessed with the sport, and they wanted to encourage it! Jacob wasn't shy, either, so he had a busy night in front of the net. And yes, people are convinced he's going to be a goalie. He does have a great stance already, but I'm not sure mommy can take the stress if he ends up being a hockey or lacrosse goalie, or even a baseball pitcher or a quarterback, considering his love of throwing. Yikes! Later in the evening he got his hands on a real lacrosse goalie stick, courtesy of the Knighthawk in attendance, goalie Aaron Bold. It was HUGE, and Jacob loved it!

After two late-ish nights, we knew Sunday was going to be a challenge. And it was. Church was tough. But before that, I did catch a smile on Jacob's face as he was running around the house in an old batting helmet of Craig's. He wanted this helmet (an old Baltimore Orioles one) as his constant companion.

Sunday was shaping up to be another wacky nap day, but we managed to have a nice lunch out (at Olive Garden, with a coupon...I can't remember the last time I was there, seriously.) and then lulled Jacob to sleep with driving our leftovers home and then heading to the zoo. It was the first time we went this year as a family. Unfortunately, it was probably too hot to really see the animals doing much, but it was still a nice day for it on our end, and once Jacob woke up upon arrival, he actually got into the animals quite a bit...he loves the monkeys and thinks the rhinos are cool. He also really liked the otter, who was swimming around quite a bit that day. I tried again to get a good picture of him with the big stuffed polar bears, but this was as close as I got this time around...

Craig got in on the action and added his own fun to the photo...not sure how well you'll be able to see it, but notice the props he added to the bears...in the left bear's paws, and the right bear's mouth...yep, Jacob's constant companions have been taken over by the bears... ;-)

Jacob took a good nap after that escapade, and Sunday night would have ended up pretty low key if not for Jacob's new boo-boo. We had just finished dinner and I got Jacob down from his high chair. Craig was upstairs in the bathroom, and I was finishing up the kitchen cleanup. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, Jacob started screaming. Craig saw him first, and he was on the floor next to the foot of our chaise armchair. It became apparent that he had bumped his head. Originally we thought it was on the chair, but then he pointed to the coffee table. All we can figure is that he fell into the coffee table (like I said, he's clumsy) and he hit his right ear on the corner of the coffee table. His ear was tough to figure out, though. There was a small cut on the backside of the ear that bled a little bit. The front looked like it had a little slit as well, but that wasn't bleeding. He wouldn't let us get close enough to figure out if it cut all the way through, though. Still not sure, actually. But the thing that freaked us out was that the top inside of his ear turned purple. Really purple. We called the doctor and the afterhours person that called us back wasn't very reassuring. He said that we had to make sure it didn't get worse and swell up, because that could mean that the blood supply was getting cut off and it could do damage. He said that if it got worse we should go to the ER. Now...I know this going to sound bad, but our copay for the emergency room is $150. That is a lot of money. Back when we had our first two ER visits, it was only $50. It stunk to pay that then, mostly because in both cases they couldn't really do anything for us except give us peace of mind. Obviously if Jacob had a visible, serious injury like a broken bone or a gaping cut we would just bite the bullet and do it. You do what you need to do. But when it's a borderline thing, like a cut that stops bleedin or possible (but admittedly not probable) dehydration, it's a tough call. We erred on the side of caution both of those times, but this one was a tough call. On any other body part, you'd say, ok, it's purple...it's a bruise and it will go away. But it wasn't swelling up. But the fact that the afterhours guy was a little less comforting made me want to go on the internet and see what the risks were. Basically, there's a condition called cauliflower ear where a hematoma (bruise) blocks the blood supply to the cartilage (because the skin around the cartilage is its only blood supply) and the tissue becomes deformed. When I was looking at Jacob in the bathroom before we put him to bed, I noticed that the good ear was transparent in the light, while the other ear was not, thanks to pooled blood. So, armed with that knowledge and what I'd seen on the internet, I called back to ask more questions, like how quickly damage might be done, or how we'd know the difference between a bruise and something that could do serious damage. This time the woman that called back told us not to worry about it. If it got noticeably worse, then we could start to get concerned. But it was just a bruise and we were ok to relax. And sure enough, so far so good. His ear is still really purple, though. And for the record, it wasn't just a money thing either. I have a nasty cold myself and the thought of dragging Jacob to the ER at his bedtime and screwing up his sleep even more than it already was was just painful to think about. S0, $150 saved, plus our sanity. But it made for an anxious night.

Monday was a busy day, with a visit from my parents in the morning. They brought Jacob's basketball hoop that he tested out last weekend. He played a lot outside that morning, and the heat was already pretty unbearable. Around noon we headed out to my Aunt Lynne & Uncle Cliff's for a Memorial Day party with a good chunk of my dad's family. We had a good time, but the heat was pretty awful. Jacob played through it all, reveling in the opportunity to play hockey and lacrosse with his big second cousin Jaxon, who's probably as sports-crazed as him! Jax probably prefers golf above all, but he's definitely all-around talented. They had a lot of fun, and Jax actually saved Craig, me, and my parents from a full-on bout of heat exhaustion, I think! After that, we headed home and a friend of ours came over to watch the NCAA lacrosse final with Craig. Jacob fell asleep on the way home and ended up sleeping for over three hours (!) before I finally went in and woke him up after a two hour nap of my own. Needless to say his sleep schedule has been off for a few days. He's napped here and there and stayed awake in bed for an hour after we put him there...and you can definitely tell in his behavior. He was actually a bit of a mess even today after daycare, but he went down on time and relatively easy tonight, which I credit to a nice, quiet bedtime routine.

It was quite the weekend and it's nice to have a four day week this week. More weekend fun is just days away :)

Scenes of Thanks

I hope everyone's having a great Memorial Day weekend. Ours has been busy with a lot of fun times, though I've been beaten down by a nasty cold that has prevented me from really relaxing like I wanted to. I'll have a full review of the weekend soon, but in the meantime I just wanted to share a little snippet of the weekend that sums up, I think, what this blog is really about.

On Saturday I had a chance to get a few things done while Craig and Jacob were napping together on the couch. As I think I mentioned the other day, for Mother's Day Craig and Jacob got me a flash drive that was meant to store pictures for a small but very nice digital frame that Craig won me at his brother's campaign fundraiser. I wanted to go through all of our digital photos (nearly four years' worth, which is hard for me to believe!) and pick out my favorites. During the boys' nap, I picked out nearly 200 pictures, I think. There were photos ranging from our trip to Seattle and Portland to our baseball trips to Pittsburgh and Cleveland, from our pre-baby trip to Florida to my favorite artistic shots over the years, and finally, to a Jacob-heavy batch of photos from the last two years. As I watched the photos flip through the first time, it really amazed me to see all we've been through in the past four years. From our fun times as a couple to the absolute joy we experience most days now with such a happy, funny little boy. Amazing to see. We are indeed very blessed. The title of this post was taken from the moniker that the long time Pastor at our old church gave to the annual Thanksgiving service slide show showing various happenings throughout the past year. It was always a big deal to watch the slides and see if you'd make an appearance from some church or school function, but as a whole it was just a nice year-in-review. But to have the pleasure to watch a slide show of just our little family and its development over the years was a nice bright spot in my holiday weekend. Definitely a lot there to be thankful for.

Well, time to go wake up Jacob from his over three-hour-long nap. I think his second cousin wore him out playing hockey and lacrosse today...and I'm sure the crazy heat didn't help! I think we're definitely going to have to rehydrate ASAP once he's awake. Been a great weekend...I'll check in again soon!

Photo Friday

I braved the chill of our downstairs office last night (seriously, it's generally a lot cooler down there, but even with the vent closed the A/C made it downright fridid) and loaded up the pictures and video I mentioned yesterday. I called the pictures "honorable mentions" in yesterday's post because I love them but I didn't think they were necessary in retelling the story of last weekend. When I print pictures for our photo albums I tend to pick one or two pictures out of a certain group, and I guess to some degree I do that on the blog as well. But once in a while it's too hard to pick, and in a post as long as that one, I felt I should. But nothing prevents me from posting them later, right?! So, here goes...

These three pictures are from our nephew's baseball game. I don't know what the draw is of this first one, but I suppose it's just cute how intensely he's checking things out, with such a distinctly wrinkled up nose! Such a little boy! I also love in all these pictures how he's such a rainbow of colors...



I think he's even more of a little boy in this one, with his jeans and baseball bat...so cute!

Here he is getting baseball pointers from Daddy...and loving every minute of it!

And finally, here's a little snippet of Jacob playing basketball...or bakeeball, as he calls it.

Enjoy :)

So much to do...a.k.a. Misc. Ramblings

I've been meaning to post all week with a couple of "honorable mention" photos from the weekend (and maybe a video too), but I haven't taken the time to go on to the computer at home in the evenings. I think we've been too busy trying to empty the contents of our DVR. I also had one night this week where I absolutely HAD to sort through piles of stuff...bills, stuff Jacob brought home from daycare, coupons, etc. They were piling up and it was driving me nuts. Plus the last couple evenings I've been outside doing the never-ending trimming around our property. I either need a better trimmer or Craig and I need to take shifts, because it kills my back and takes FOREVER. The trimmer starts losing its charge by the end, so it's quite the job. But I do love many parts of our yard and hope to enjoy many years of just chilling back there, enjoying the pool and the swingset and all of the lovely landscaping around the patio. It's a great yard. And we do still love the house. I know, duh, we better like it! But it's nice to really be able to say that we do. I love the dishwasher, I love my big sink with the little side section, I love how open and airy it is (and on less hot days, I like the fans instead of the central air...but on hot days like we've had this week, I love the central air, too), I love all of the flowering bushes we have, and I love all of the storage. Oh, and I love that our neighbor brought over a big box of pizzelles...yum. Sorry, high cholesterol, you're just going to have to wait a few more days.

So, anyway, there isn't a lot to talk about but I wanted to post something since I wasn't sure how the next few days would go with the holiday weekend and all. Sometimes that means more time, sometimes it means less. Although I am loving the house, I am starting to get agitated by the piles of stuff that's still sitting around from two months ago when we moved in. There isn't a lot, but there are a handful of low priority items--donations, stuff without a real spot, a handful of decorations and pretty much the entire contents of our garage--that need a new home or some sort of better organization. At first they sat there because they weren't a high priority when boxes needed unpacking, pictures needed hanging, and closets and cabinets needed to be stocked. But now most of that has been done for a while and yet there the stuff has sat, victims of Jacob time or busy weekends or the aforementioned trimming or our full DVR or just plain laziness. But they're really starting to bother me. So maybe this weekend I will have a few minutes here or there to get that stuff done. Or maybe I will finally put some pictures on the flash drive I got as a Mother's Day gift so I can view them on the digital frame that Craig won me at his brother's campaign fundraiser. Or maybe we'll try to cram so much into three days + an evening that I won't get anything done. One way or another I'm hoping for a good weekend with fun visits with/from family and friends. The weather is looking decent right now, so that's a start. So...I'm hoping to post again soon with the stuff from last weekend. But if I don't, have a nice holiday...and sorry for the random ramblings today...

(Not) Long (Enough) Weekend

I hope you all had a nice weekend and that you had a chance to enjoy some lovely weather like we did. Craig and I decided to take off on Friday and head to Buffalo a little early this weekend. Since we didn't get to spend much time with the families on Mother's Day, we tried to make up for it over the weekend. But before I begin, here's a cute picture from mid-week last week...Jacob and his monkey got a "boat trip" in our living room courtesy of the laundry basket and Craig. Too cute. So, yeah, this wasn't actually from the weekend, but I didn't want it getting lost in the shuffle.

We headed to my parents' house on Thursday night so we'd be there and ready to go on Friday. We decided to leave Jacob with my parents for the day and head out to Niagara Falls to enjoy the weather and do our usual wander up Clifton Hill. We didn't rush out in the morning, though, so we still got some quality time with Jacob. Before we left, Jacob got his early birthday present from my parents, a basketball hoop. The inspiration was Jacob's temper tantrum on Easter weekend when he desperately wanted to play basketball with the real hoop next door to my parents. This one is actually going to come home with us soon, so we'll probably still have to fend off the basketball freak outs when we're there, but he had a really good time with it...and we have plenty of basketball hoops to tempt him in our neighborhood as well.

Check out this look of intensity...

He had a lot of fun, though we'll see how it goes when we raise it up a bit--it's at the lowest setting here to keep it easy to transport!

Craig and I had a good time in Niagara Falls, though we weren't successful in any of the random shopping exploits that inspired the trip. We also didn't have any luck at the casino. Still, the weather was lovely and we had a very pleasant walk around the Canadian side (and across the bridge both ways). When we headed home it started to sprinkle a bit, which was a concern because we were headed to the Buffalo Bisons baseball game that night. Fortunately the weather held out and it turned out to be a beautiful night to watch baseball. But anyway, once we got back to my parents', we had a very nice dinner with them and their friends from Rochester (you may remember them as Colin's grandparents), who were in town for an evening show at the casino and some (apparently wet) geocaching the next day.

The baseball game was great, though I didn't take any pictures. I think when I remembered to take pictures at first, Jacob was still in his "zone" that he gets into when we go to a sporting event. He's sort of quiet and focused, just staring at the action. Eventually he loosens up and starts talking again, which he did. But then we got in the bathroom break/food break/take a walk/watch the game routine, and I forgot about pictures until it was late in the game and Jacob was getting sleepy. And at that point I knew I wasn't getting a smile. Still, we had a great time. Jacob wasn't a fan of fireworks after the game (neither was his mother back in the day), but he did enjoy his new mini-bat that came with the ticket package we got.

Saturday morning we headed out to see our nephew's Little League opening parade (sort of missed that thanks to the road closures it caused--but we did drive behind it for a while!) and his season opener. It was a pretty miserable morning...cool-ish, and on and off rain. We held out for the whole pregame and a few innings, with Jacob losing patience with his stroller and and constantly wanting to run around with his mini-bat. He kept saying "Pay!", which means "Play!", but obviously he couldn't join in with the kids on the field so that got to be a bit of a challenge. But here he is in the midst of a happy moment...
Eventually the rain got worse. Jacob needed a change, it was lunchtime and Craig wanted to stop at the mall to pick up some shorts that fit him...so we headed out. The mall was productive but it had its moments. Jacob fell asleep on the way there and we successfully got him into the mall and in his stroller without him waking up...victory! He slept through lunch and a bit of shopping, then finally woke up while I was trying on clothes (no victory there--you know how everyone thinks they're between sizes? I seriously am. Juniors stuff is skanky and not made for curves, but women's stuff is too big. Even in between places like Target and Old Navy aren't working. Do you know how hard it is to find a size 2 of anything in JC Penney? Not complaining about the size 2, mind you, but seriously...I'm running short on bottoms because nothing fits!). Shortly thereafter he said "Potty", and I immediately looked down and noticed a wet stain on his shirt. Remember how I said he needed a change? Well, Craig convinced me to wait until we got to the mall since it was raining so hard at the game, but then Jacob fell asleep so I couldn't change him. Apparently his first awake duty was peeing, and it was a little more than the diaper could handle. Ugh. Of course I didn't have any extra clothes (that rarely happens and since we're out of the poop blow-out phase it hasn't been a high priority...though I suppose we're getting into the age of spills and mud baths, so I probably should start again), so I changed his diaper in the dressing room amidst loud screaming, and headed out to find Craig and get out of there. Lesson: Always trust your instincts and change your kid when you think you should!

After that we headed out to another nephew's birthday party (same family, VERY busy day for them! They still had an art show for another child later that day!). Other than Jacob's constant need to climb upstairs and raid his cousins' rooms, we had a nice time. Here's Jacob playing with his hockey stick...

Sunday was a lovely day! We had a pleasant, lazy morning, and headed to church at noon. Mercifully, Jacob fell asleep shortly after we got there, so at least the first half of the church service was quiet and uneventful...and we had that much less time to kill once he woke up, so the handful of ammunition we had was sufficient! After church we got some lunch and then got ready to go in the pool. Craig's parents have a lovely heated pool, which was probably a tease since our pool (assuming we ever figure out how or when to get it open) is NOT heated and probably will not warm up quite that well this summer. Oh well. I guess we're easing into pool life with a pleasant water temperature. Here's Jacob looking cool...though it never ceases to amaze me when you can see ribs AND a gut at the same time. That pretty much sums up his eating habits, I suppose.

Here he is down at the pool in his floaty suit. Of course, Craig convinced him it was a hockey suit (the built-in floaties do sort of look like hockey padding) and he loved it. Here he is throwing a ball...
As a whole he really liked being in the pool. At first he rode around in an inflatable car, and then I walked around holding him for a bit, and then he sat in this tube thing with a seat in the center and played catch with Craig. He loved that stuff but freaked out anytime I tried to put him on his belly and teach him to swim. He can kick his legs like a maniac, though, so that's a start. He did get a couple mouthfuls of water when he slipped out of my grasp or reached too far out, so he stuck to me like glue whenever I had him. The suit can keep him afloat, but he still needs to control his head--not ideal, for sure. But we had a nice time and eventually he took one of the deepest sleeping naps ever. I don't think he moved a muscle for the first hour or so of it. That might be a good thing to know once we start using our pool ;-)

After dinner, Jacob was standing at the sliding screen door looking out at the pool, and despite our constant warnings this weekend, pushed on it. The door slipped off the track and fell, creating a ramp down the two steps to the patio. Jacob tumbled down with it, and banged his head pretty good on the step...with the screen as a buffer. It was pretty scary and definitely one of those moments you play back in your mind as a parent--trying to dissect the fall and what might have been hurt, or trying to figure out if there was anything you could have done differently to stop it or make it less damaging. Ultimately you can only do so much. We told him not to touch it, and up until the moment he pushed on it, he was just standing there looking outside. It only took a second. And that's the scariest part. We're lucky it wasn't worse. He had a tiny cut on his nose that bled for a minute or so, and a BIG goose egg on his forehead with some minor scrapes. No scabbing yet, though, thank goodness. I think he was mostly scared, though I'm sure the bump on the head hurt like heck. But he seemed back to normal fairly quickly, with none of the symptoms of someone with a head injury. He was in a good mood (so I'm guessing no headache), running around (no balance problems), talking up a storm (so his brain was working fine), and no vomiting or anything else...so we're assuming that he's ok. He whined a little this morning when he touched the goose egg, but was his normal self in no time. But yeah, that was tough to watch. We did try to use it as a lesson later on, telling him that we had told him not to touch the screen, but because he didn't listen, it fell and he got hurt. We tell him no about other things, too, so he doesn't get boo-boos like that one. I'm still not sure he got it, but let's hope so. It's hard to see in this picture, but here's a shot of the goose egg on his forehead...



We had a pleasant trip home and it was so nice to come home to our wonderful (albeit warm) house. Unfortunately the evening ended on an annoying note, as I had a message from my doctor that the bloodwork I had done a while back came back showing that I have high cholesterol! I know I don't eat perfectly, but sheesh, I think I eat well enough to not have high cholesterol. Must be the genetics finally catching up with me. Ugh.

On the bright side of medical news, Jacob had another visit with the pediatric pulmonary specialist this morning. He looked good so she gave us the green light to start weaning him off the Reglan, which he's been on since last March. I can hardly believe he's been on it for over a year, considering how stressed I was thinking about him being on it for the original six months they guessed! We have to keep him on it--but only one dose a day--for another couple months, and then he can go off it and we'll see how he does. He still has to have two doses of an acid reducer, though, but there aren't any side effects for that one so the doctor's less concerned about keeping him on that for now. Cold season is over, mercifully, so Jacob's cough has subsided for the most part, making this a good time of year to wean him from the Reglan. We'll see what happens next fall when cold season returns and we go back to the doctor. That's the other good news--no specialist visit for six months--and with a $40 copay, that's a big deal these days.

Well, that's enough for now...more to come soon, I'm sure!