A new 'first' for Jesse

Jesse loves going outdoors after dinner each night, and a new found favorite is to walk the block with daddy or mommy. Leaving our driveway and walking to the right is a slight downhill slope, and he loves to walk really fast on the sidewalk. He will walk a whole block if we agree to it. Well, tonight he ran, fell and scraped his knee up pretty bad. This is his first big boy knee scrape. How silly of me to journal about it, but I'm archiving it anyway so raspberries to all of you who think I'm a goofball!!

Labor Day, auto body damage, and Sign Language

It's labor day weekend, and we're hanging out at home. Ezra's out of school Monday, Jonathon's off of work, and oddly - so am I (from the work from home job, not the mommy/wife/etc part)... we don't really have plans. If the weather is ok tomorrow we may go up to the lake and feed the ducks and splash around at the water banks. Ezra would be happy just staying home playing with matchbox and hotwheels cars ... he's all about cars right now. Even planning which one he'd like to have when he's a grownup. He agrees that spending more then 20k on a new car is silly.... smart kid so far. I've officially paid all taxes on cars (Mecklenburg County even charges a special 30.00 per vehicle on top of regular county/city taxes), and had registration renewals on cars, and even a state inspection on mine today... which turned out to be an adventure. Since I work for the dealership (have for 7 years now) that's where I go for most things, while there for picking up I had my state inspection and oil changed. I had Jesse w/ me today - Ezra opted to stay home and play. Jesse and I ventured into the showroom where there's a $91.000 Saleen Mustang (yes, seriously) that has a $17,000 paint job - as we were walking (Jesse was walking) Jesse reached and grabbed one of the 'ropes' that was around it... to my dismay the poles the ropes were attached to were NOT attached/bolted into the floor. So the pole came crashing down onto this car, just above the right headlight and put a chip about the size of this: ** on the car. Ok, so this could happen with ANYONE, but it happened with ME!!! Why weren't they bolted down?? Well, all of that was irrelevant at this point, innocent mistake on an 17,000 dollar paint job. The sales manager was very disturbed, and at first thought I was playing a sick joke on him - but I reluctantly told him I was not. I ended up speaking with the owner about it, who eased my tears (yes, I cried - I felt horrible!) and worries by telling me that it could have happened with anyone, even could have been chipped on a test drive. He seemed more understanding then I expected, and made me feel at ease somewhat. But I still feel horrible, I mean - it's just a car - but GEEZ, it's a $91,000 one! Needless to say, after I left, at the end of the day - one of my co-workers called me and told me that they were planning to bolt the poles down - go figure.
Here are two pics of the actual car from our showroom floor (pre-damage of course) - one of them is a pic of the sticker, notice on the right hand side you can read 'paint - $17,000' WHO BUYS THESE THINGS?? Notice the pole in the picture? Well, that's the one that slammed into the car.

On to the importance of modeling and being consistent... Since Jesse was about 5,6 months old I've been trying to introduce sign language; and he's done well with understanding it since about 9-10 months old... actually doing it for me was another lesson in learning all together! He started doing a few things here and there, and from about 12 months forward he's just progressed with signs signs signs! Now, he's saying the words along with signing! Ok, so I'm proud. Indulge me will you? Excuse me being super silly in the video! He's signing 'eat' and saying it - with a strong emphasis on the 't' of eat. He's so funny. His vocabulary is growing so fast!!

A 'blah' kind of day.

Right now, I'm sitting at the kitchen table writing, drinking coffee and listening to my 18 month old babble. Life continues for us, and I have to figure out where my strength is because I have a family to take care of! Jesse's 18 month old well visit was Thursday, 3 shots, lots of talking with the doctor, and finding out that he's 'slightly' underweight for his age... the doctor seemed to be less concerned with the weight then me. I guess when he told me his percentile I just hear it as I'm not doing something right. Genetically he has my history of skinniness (is that a word??) to live up to! I guess I shouldn't worry, he's meeting all other developmental milestones and the doctor SAID not to worry... but I will keep a close eye on things anyway, just because that's what I do! ---break in blogging, thank goodness I saved this. Our power was out from 815am until appx 6pm, due to an accident, and according to Duke Power - 2 accidents. Appx 8000 customers without power in my area. The temp. in the house reached 80 and Jesse was in a diaper only, we 'tried' to nap - that didn't really work out... back to my thoughts... A general update on me that I really don't discuss in general! I have had potential cancer scares now for over 5 years, and have had biopsies each 3 months to determine my status; for 5 years I've had this monkey on my back and I've wondered whether I'd be told 'it's cancer' each time I had a test done. I had 3 tests done during my pregnancy, that easily could have effected my pregnancy, but they didn't cause any complications until delivery. I have Lupus symptoms down the chart, but because it's not full blown they don't call it 'lupus' yet. I still managed to have a healthy pregnancy and a baby without a heart block due to lupus complications. I get the phone call on August 3rd (Friday) from my nurse's at the OB/Gyn office about the new test results - and I sit on pins and needles... they call and tell me that I am IN THE CLEAR (for now)for the first time in 5 years. I didn't believe it - I even asked her to verify my ssn, my date of birth, and my full name to make sure they had the charts right. I was in the clear!!! I called in this order, husband, Mike, and parents. I'm constantly finding myself in a daze, wondering if all of this is real or if I'm in a bad dream... My phone doesn't ring nearly enough; I'm so used to having at least 2,3 calls a day from Mike during the work week and it's lonely without that. We both work for ourselves, and we both could be very flexible with phone calls - so losing that connection to his everyday life has really left me feeling like I got short changed. It's selfish isn't it?!? I keep asking WHY? I know I'll get my answers ONE day; but I guess the human in me just wants them NOW, and even IF I had them - I wouldn't be satisfied, because I wouldn't agree... My birthday was August 5, and I had been given the best gift in the world - being in the clear, for now with my health! My brother called me on August 5, 9am - my first phone call for my birthday. Our joke - "I got you the same thing I got you last year.... nothing!!" we both felt that gifts were a bit trivial at this point in life, that a card is nice, a gift is nice, but actually putting forth the effort to call - that's really meaningful. So we talked, we talked and then we talked again Monday August 6. I NEVER saw his death coming, just when you think everything is beginning to fall into place something tragic happens. I can say this - my brother, if he had any thoughts prior to his passing, knew he was loved. Right now, that's my peace, knowing that he KNEW he was loved, we had a terrific bond, his kids are absolutely amazing, and each person he met was lucky to meet such a man.

Life changes forever...

I can't even begin to express emotion right now; but I needed to document this somehow. We've lost a treasure, my brother, my friend, a father, a son, an uncle. My brother passed away on Monday, August 6, 2007 and it was very unexpected and has left us all in utter shock and sorrow. There are no words to describe how special he was and will always be to me. We talked each day! How proud I am to have been able to just call him, or hear from him each day and know the 'little things'. We had so much fun talking about life, kids, and just 'stuff' as he'd put it. I will write a special page all about him someday soon. I am so sad that Jesse will never know his Uncle Mike the way I had hoped for him too. Jesse is so small that he won't even remember the times they have shared together. I know that some of my close friends and family read this from time to time, so I will ask that each of you pray for Mike's children - they have a lifelong journey without their father. Those shoes can never be filled, Mike was a very involved father and spent every second with them that he had when he wasn't working. Haleigh is 9, Nicholas is 15. Please remember them in your prayers.

You can view/sign the obit/guestbook at:

http://www.legacy.com/Link.asp?I=LS000092314579X

Lazy 5 Ranch

We spent the day at the Lazy 5 Ranch - saw some really neat animals up close, some even stuck their heads in our vehicle!! We bought some food to feed them and had a blast. Ezra seemed more eager to play at the pirate ship playground while Jesse was amazed at all of the 'cats'.... EVERY animal is a cat right now. HA!!!

Everything IS bigger in Texas!! ((Hotter too))

I've not posted in a while! The month has just gone by so quickly! July 4th came and went with a n'hood bang! Some of the people in our community indulged in a 'big' firework show ... of course they were not legal fireworks, but they were great to watch from our back yard! We even enjoyed them for a few days after the 4th!!

July 14 we took the boys on their first flight out of state! Both of the boys did terrific w/ airport chaos/customs/etc - flights went smooth and we had a wonderful trip! The only discouraging part was leaving our family! We miss them dearly and absolutely enjoyed our time with them!! I will upload and add a link to more pics once I organize them; but for now here's a few w/ some comments on when/where they were taken.

Splash pad fun!

Of the 2 pool locations in our n'hood, this one is the one for 'families' really... it has the fun splash pad and a 3.5 foot deep pool for kids and parents to have fun!! We're going several times a week!!

Home for the summer

We've started off summer w/ the boys at home! The last few years I've worked, and Ezra's been in summercamp style daycare during the summer, and he really enjoyed it; however, it's VERY costly!! Since we have several pools in our community, we've decided to stay home this summer and pack each week with field trips to the park, pool visits often, libraray visits, lunch out with daddy once a week, the local Zoo, Ray's Splash Planet, Discovery Place, and so much more!! Even though that sounds like alot of stuff, it does not even add up the the summer camp expense, and the biggest bonus is that the boys get to spend alot of quality time together!! This is the first time since Ezra's lived with me that we will have spent the whole summer together, and I'm looking forward to it. Ezra's just pleased that he's not in school, in general!!

Jesse's changing in remarkable ways, he's communicating more with signs and learning words. I wouldn't say that everyone would know what he's saying, but he's giving such effort to learn words!! This week he has learned to put his 'quiet stick' up to his mouth and say shhhh shhhh shhhh. For anyone who doesn't know, that's his finger, HA! His 8 teeth are coming in, four of them are the outer incisers, and the other 4 are molars. All but 3 have broken thru the skin right now, and he's still having miserable moments; but overall, has been such a trooper with so many teeth coming in at once. We have been giving lots of hugs, and cuddles to make him feel better!!

Splish Splash - Run Run Run!!!

The boys and I are spending alot of time at the n'hood pools - our n'hood has 4! Two adult pools and 2 toddler pools. We also have FUN home owners fees, just in case you're curious.... HA!


The boys love it, these pics are of the boys taking a pool break. Jesse really spends most of his time at this splash area - it's easier for me with him there because he's not restrained to me holding him in the big pool w/ Ezra or having to stay in his float. He just wants to run!!!! Ezra takes pool breaks and comes and plays with Jesse in the splash area.

Memorial Day Weekend

I've been really slow on posting lately, and I'm trying my best to do better! Memorial Day weekend was spent at home, hanging out, near the baby pool... we went to the lake again Saturday for a bit. We have a favorite Chinese restaurant to eat at that's close to the lake park that we enjoy, so we made an afternoon of it. Jesse and Ezra absolutely enjoy throwing rocks into the lake, Ezra tries to skip rocks - while Jesse copies Ezra by throwing them into the water to make them splash. Jesse eventually just sat down in the water on the rocky banks and just got muddy!!! He was very upset when it was time to go. He absolutely is at peace outdoors, and I'm so grateful for that!! We grilled out each night this weekend, including tonight. With race traffic, and lots of race fans who are camping, we didn't go anywhere locally, just stayed in. We live so close to the Lowes Speedway, we just opt to stay home or go out to the lake - somewhere away from the track!! Tonight Jesse and I sat on the patio tossing small rocks into the baby pool and watching Jonathon and Ezra play soccer. Jesse's getting in what looks to be 7 teeth, 3 of which are molars. So it's been a pretty touchy weekend for the little guy. He also fell this weekend and popped his eye on the corner of the coffee table, thank heavens I replaced our old coffee table with a safer wooden one w/ rounded edges or he'd have been cut!! He recovered quickly and has a small bruise, but it's definitely happening more often. He's so interested in exploring that he loses his balance!! Overall it was a nice weekend with the family! Beautiful weather, and lots of fun!!