Sad Mama

Jack left yesterday for a trip to his Grandparents house in Georgia. Cheryl came in Tuesday night and took him back yesterday. This was his first time flying across the country. I was a little nervous that I wasn't with him. But I knew he'd be fine. He's adjusting well and having lots of fun with his grandparents, so that makes me happy. I got news this morning that he had 8 Oreo cookies for dinner last night, with a glass of milk. Oy. I guess that's the fun part of going away to grandma's house ... you get SPOILED to death!

It was so quiet last night. Luke kept looking around for Jack. I must say though, that Luke did enjoy scooting around the house and not being stepped on or tripped over once by his big bro. But I imagine he'll be missing him soon, just like me.

Jack doesn't come home until the 19th. That seems so far away. SIGH.

I'm just glad he's got his cell phone and can call me whenever he wants.

I miss my boy.

Conversations with Jack

So last night Jack and I were sitting in the swing at my parents house and talking about the trip he's going to be taking to Georgia. I was explaining that he's going to be all the way on the other side of the United States and how it's really far away. And how he'll fly over lots of mountains, lakes, and rivers. He's listening with wonder. This is a big and exciting trip for him.

Then he turns to me and says "Mom, have you heard about Middle America?", I reply "Yes" and wondering what exactly he is talking about. Then he says "You know they got wiped out by a flood, and now they are rebuilding" I say "Yes, I did hear about that" and then he says, with a very excited yet serious tone "Yeah, they're rebuiding and they're doing things different this time, they're going Green Mom."

He's such a crack up. It's funny the things he picks up. But this story made an impact, and that is a good thing. We proceeded to have a really good conversation about what it meant to live Green.

I'm going to miss him this next week.

My Boys

Let me just say it here and now, for the record. I have the two CUTEST kids in the WORLD! Not that any one would actually question that, I mean, just LOOK at them!

I can hardly believe that Jack will be 6 in just over 3 months, and Luke will be 1 in less than 2 months. Where has the time gone?

Well they're both growing up to be amazing boys. I can't give them enough kisses and hugs. Just love them so much!

Bath Time

So much fun to have the kids take a bath together. They have a ball.

Another First Date

But this one was with Jack! Yeah, no other new boys, I'm happy where I'm at with Travis :)

Anyway, Jack has been needing some good one on one time with me. So my friend suggested I have a special date night once a month with jack. She does this with her two boys and says they love and appreciate the one on one time with her. So she offered to watch Luke while Jack and I went out on a "date".

We had so much fun. I talked Jack into going to Claim Jumper instead of Mc Donalds. I know I probably should have let him choose, but I thought we'd have more time to visit at CJ. It was a good call.

We played several nail biting rounds of Tic-Tac-Toe . It's hard to believe but Jack won almost EVERY round! He informed me that was because he is the "Best Tic-Tac-Toe player in the WORLD" Geeze, if I would have known that, I would have never challenged him to a game in the first place ;)

For dinner I had Tri Tip and a glass of J. Lohr. Jack had the mini corn dogs. And like the good eater that he always is, he finished the sliced apples and baby apple before his corn dogs and barely touched his fries. I'm not sure how long he'll eat like this, but I'm thankful every day for his good choices.

To wrap up the evening we ran over to Starbucks for a Hot Chocolate. It was rainy tonight, so it was a perfect end to a perfect evening.

Skate

Today I Bought Jack his first Skateboard. He picked it out himself and he is stoked!

Oh and for the record, after this picture I made him put on his helmet and pads.

The Happiest Place On Earth

Like a good American I invested part of my ecomonic stimulus check back into the economy. Rather than pay off bills I purchased Annual Disneyland Passes for Jack and I (Luke is free). Kim, George, & Matthew have passes as well as some of our other friends. We met K,G, & M there on Friday night and got our passes, then hit a few rides. Want to know what the best part was?? Leaving after just a few rides!! NOT feeling like we had to stay ALL day just to get our money's worth. And even after just a few rides the kids were pooped. It was perfect!

Happy Easter

Sit Up

Yes that's right, Luke is sitting up now. He can't quite get himself into a sitting position just yet, but he can hold himself up pretty well now and can even kinda catch himself when he starts to go over.

....crawling is just around the corner. EEK!!!

Go BRAVES!!

T-Ball has begun. Jack is in heaven. I felt so bad for him on his first day, he whispered in my ear that he was Nervous and didn't want to go. As a mom, my heart swelled. That anxious feeling when you are starting something new. I thought to myself...Baby, you got a lifetime ahead of this kinda feeling, sorry. So I said, ok, how about we just go watch, you don't need to do anything at first. He agreed, and off we went. Of course we were late. But I think this was kinda good, because it wasn't so intimidating. We found the bucket lid with his name on it and I tried to catch him up. Then one of the dads came over and asked if he could help, and just took over. Jack went along. Then they moved onto the next drill, batting. I walked him over to the batting T's and asked him if he wanted me to stay there or go sit next to Katie. He told me to go sit next to Katie. Ahhhhh my boy IS growing up.

Saturday we had a scrimmage game. It was pretty cute to watch them all attempt to play baseball. The cool thing about T-ball is everyone bats, and everyone runs all the bases.

From the Beach to the Mountains

The move is complete. Well the physical act of moving is. I still have to unpack and organize my entire condo. Uncle R was able to hook me up with this really nice condo in Portola Hills. I live in the fricken mountains again ... or atleast it feels like it. I think the elevation is only about 1400 feet, but that's pretty significant since I was literally at sea level. It's really pretty out here, nestled at the base of Saddleback, there should be plenty of wild life around. Jack gave it the ok too, so that is cool. 2 pools in the community, and a great park just around the corner. I think this place is going to work out just fine. A fresh start, and one more chapter into my new life.

First Tooth

Luke's firth tooth broke through today. He's such a good baby, he's hardly fussed at all with this tooth. I can't believe he's got a tooth already. Seems like yesterday when I held him in my arms for the first time.

Today was also Jack's dental cleaning. So we had teeth on the brain! When we schedule Jack's next cleaning we also scheduled Luke's first dental appointment. They like to start early. LOVE Jack's dentist, they are the BEST.

Training Him the RIGHT way

One of the greatest and scariest things about being a parent is your ability to influence your children and breed good habits (the scary part is the bad habits you unfortunately also teach them).

So this morning I'm getting ready for work, I go to drop the tissue that I used to remove my eye make up in the toilet and notice it's been a week since the toilet was cleaned. I don't really have time to do this before I leave for work, but figure I'll go ahead and squirt the bowl with Clorox toilet bowl cleaner and let it sit. Jack comes in while I'm doing this and asks if he can clean the bowl. He then proceeds to tell me how to clean it and shows me how to get down in the hole real good. The following conversation ensues:

Jack "Aren't you glad I showed you that mama?"
Me "Yes Jack, thank you so much."
Jack "You didn't know how to do this before. You didn't know how to get it real clean in the hole"
Me "No Jack I didn't"
Jack "Don't you wish you had known how to do it so good before mama?"
Me "Yes Jack I do. Maybe you should be in charge of cleaning the toilets now since you do such a good job."
Jack "Ok mama, since you don't do it very good. I'm the best toilet cleaner in the world"
Me "Yes Jack, you ARE the best toilet cleaner in the world"
Jack "Can I use wood cleaner to do the seat, cause the seats made of wood?"
Me "Honey, you sure can"
Jack "Aren't you glad I showed you mama, so now when I'm not here, like when I'm with daddy, you'll know how to clean the toilet as good as me"
Me "That's great Jack, but you do such a good job, I think I'll just wait for you to come home"
Jack "Ok, mama, that's a good idea, so you don't mess it up"

Some day Jack's wife is going to LOVE me! Gotta start the brain washin' early!!!!

Moving

Yep, that's right, I have to move. I have to move from my beachy house a block from the ocean. SIGH. I'm really bummed. But I'm also a little excited, I get to make a fresh start. First I won't be living in the home I shared with the X. Secondly, it will force him to finally get all his crap outa' my place. And lastly, as much as I love the location of my house and it seems really cute, the place is a dump. The landlords are just one step up from slum lords.

I don't know where we're going to end up. Looks like I'm going to have to downsize (which is great since it will save me lots 'o $$) but all in all I think it's gonna be ok. The thing I'm REALLY worried about is the dog, most the listings I'm seeing don't allow dogs at all or dogs over 25lbs.

Luke - 5 months

It's hard to believe Luke is 5 months old today. When I think back to his birth I can still intensley feel my anxiety after they started my epidural, when I wanted to get up and walk out of the OR. Good thing I was numb from the waist down AND strapped to the table YIKES! I was afraid of being a new mom alone. It didn't take long before I knew there was nothing to be afraid of. By the time evening had come around and most of the meds had worn off I already knew what a blessing and special baby he was going to be. Jack will always be my first, and Luke... it was just the two of us our own and we're doing it! I was afraid, I worried that I'd have enough love to be both mom and dad to him, but I soon realized there was nothing to worry about. He is a happy little guy and he KNOWS he is loved so much. He's teething right now, Grammie called to say that he wasn't having a very good day... sorry little man. It's a good thing babies can't remember how much pain those teeth cause. Anyway, Happy Birthday to you Lukey! Mommy loves you more than you'll ever know.

2008 is going to be GREAT

So I haven't posted in F-O-R-E-V-E-R. Not that I had an regular readers, but it's nice for me to keep my thoughts in one place. It's been a year since I've really posted anything of substance...that's gonna change. My mom always told me if I didn't have anything nice to say than I shouldn't say it ... and well this past year, I didn't feel like I had anything nice to say. There would have been lots of swearing at X and saying how much I hate him. True feelings at the time, but certainly not constructive. ANYWAY, I'm starting a new year, and an new attitude (actually the new attitude has been around for a while). Here's what I sent out in my New Years Greeting for 2008 ... this sums things up pretty good, then I'll start blogging for real again!!

This time last year I was quite afraid of what 2007 would bring me, I had no idea what the future had in store for me. I had just found out I was pregnant, on top of facing the sad reality that my marriage really was over. I remember sitting with Kim and telling her how scared I was to be facing the new year and a new life. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to handle it. Kim, thank you for being my rock this year, I don’t think I’d be here in the positive state I am with out you. So here it is the close of 2007, as it turns out it wasn't so bad. I was blessed with another perfect baby boy, and Jack who has been such a treasure and the best big brother in the world. Jack is such a special boy, I don’t think he knows how wonderful he is, so much wiser and stronger than his 5 years of life, he’s definitely an old soul. And Autumn, I need to thank you too … my other rock and voice of reason. You assured me that I would be able to date with a new baby…and you were right, breastfeeding isn’t an issue. So yeah, 2007 has turned out pretty great. There were some rough parts, that’s for sure, but the blessings and sweet memories far out number the negative. It was a year of transition. 2008 will continue to be a year of transition, while I finish finding my old self, and making a new life for my family. I’m looking forward to 2008 and all the new memories and fun which awaits me. I have a couple of new friends, who I'm looking forward to getting to know a lot better. A year of firsts with Luke; his first tooth, his first steps, his first words. First for Jack too, he’s going to playing his first team sport this year, T-Ball starts in February. He’ll also start school next fall. Oh how I love being a mom!

I will ring in the new year quietly and peacefully tonight. I will be thinking of you all tonight, and always. I hope you are looking forward to 2008 as much as I am. The best is yet to come.

Peace
Love
Happiness
Health
Good Will
Fun

All my best,
Gina

A Very Special FO

Newborn Sweater for my baby due to arrive 8/18/07

I'm sure much of my knitting content will involve babies in the coming months...bare with me :)