New cravings?

I just ate a whole pot of macaroni and cheese. Jack's lucky I shared some with him. Then, I sent Jose to Publix for some Organic Valley Chocolate Milk. Have you ever had that? It's delish!

Jack mimics everything his daddy does. When Jose gestures with his hands while talking, Jack is beside him, twirling his fingers, putting his palms up and nodding his head. It is the cutest. I can't help laughing. Jose was trying to sweep the floor today, but Jack wouldn't have it! He chased the broom around until he caught it and started sweeping through the pile of dirt. Every chore takes twice as long with a toddler.

Jose won't let me drink bottled water anymore, or bottled anything. Something about chemicals harming fetuses. I need to research this.

Roomba

Brah-brah! This is Jack's annunciation of the Roomba, the circular vacuum. And he is obsessed with it. We now keep it on the dryer, out of reach. And Jack bounces up and down in front of the dryer, pointing up and yelling Brah-Brah! And this is the constant of our day. It is nonstop.

I bought Jack a potty yesterday. I know it is early, but why not try? So I did what Dr. Phil said to do. I took Jack Rabbit (Jack's favorite stuffed animal), sat him on the potty, got really excited, and clapped for him after he got off (with my help). "Yay!! Jack Rabbit peed in the potty, YAY!"

"Does Jack want to sit on the potty?" Then Jack would sit on the potty for a nanosecond, jump off and put Jack Rabbit back on, clapping his hands. Sigh. We'll try again tomorrow.

We're seven weeks today! Beebee is a blueberry, half an inch in size.

Lethargy.

Mom says, "You're having a girl."

Me, "Oooh, really?!"

Mom, "Yeah, she's sucking all the beauty out of you."

And I'm sure all of us girls hold our mothers' words dear to our hearts. My mother keeps offering me under-eye makeup. If I could just get 18 hours of sleep every day, I'm sure I'd be more chipper. I'm looking for a hole to hibernate in for the next month.

Aunt Judy found an old rocking chair. She sanded it down, painted it white and put these beautiful decorations on it with stamp art. Jack loves his rocking chair. He picks a book from his shelf and rocks back and forth while flipping the pages. Thank you Aunt Judy!

Jose has been amazing, as always. He has taken Jack over! Today, they made a fort under my dining room table. Then Jose taught Jack how to drive his motorcycle. They are a cute pair.

Beer Belly.

Ugh, my boobs are making milk, my uterus is making a baby. If I could just shit out diapers, I'd be an official factory. I definitely feel like one. I'm noticing that moms show earlier the second time around. The beer belly is apparent. Only, I'm not drinking the beer. I SMELL EVERYTHING! Which is the worst advantage in the emergency department. The other day, I sat ten feet away from Tim, who had two small tubs of ketchup on his desk. I swore I was sitting in ketchup, it smelled so strong. Today, I sniffed out shrimp with Old Bay. And what do you suppose they were cooking up downstairs in the cafeteria? You betcha.

Jack points to HIS belly and says BABY. He looks a lot farther along than me! At night, he wakes up and knowing that I won't take him out of his crib, he calls for DA-DA. Jose goes into the room and Jack says UP UP. Jose will pick him up and Jack will point in my direction and say MAMMA. Hahaha!

Jose is loving his night shift and so far, it's working out. We rented Gran Torino and we are about to watch it. Nite nite!

Bottomless pit.

I can't stop eating. I'm starved! It's ten at night and I just made myself an egg, tomato and cheese sandwich on toast. Two hours ago I made a chocolate milkshake. An hour before that I had two full servings of chicken stir-fry. Somewhere in between, I've had yogurt, nuts and granola and a banana.

Tonight is Jose's first night shift in the ED. I wish him luck. He didn't get much sleep today.

I think everyone is pregnant. I've been trying to warn people that this preggo-bug is airborne. We are still keeping it secret. Laura and I are due the same week and I'm itching to tell her, but I can wait. She is so happy and we are so happy for her. Jack points to my belly (well, lack of) and says baby. I think he associates baby with belly button. We want him as involved with the baby as we are, minus midnight feedings. He will be present at the birth, at home of course.

Mischevous

Today, we met Mindy at the mall. Jack was excited to see Nee Nee (what he calls her) all the way until he saw her. Then he became shy. Mindy bought him a super soft giraffe and he's been loving it all day. Tight hugs. Thank you Aunt Mindy!

I'm sure there is a reason they make safety plugs for sockets.

I don't know how this happened. He couldn't get back out.

I love this kid. He always makes me laugh!

Here fishy fishy.

Yesterday, Jack wanted to feed the fish: Mortormer and Randolf. I always confuse their names with Mohammed and Gargamel. Anyway, he found the fish food, opened it and dumped it all over the carpet. Then he makes guppy lips as he holds the fish food up to the fish tank. This is to demonstrate to the fish that he wants them to eat. He does the same to us when he's trying to put soggy chewed up food in our mouths. When the fish don't respond, he shows by example. We walk in to finding him eating fish food. I grabbed the camera.

Who pooped in the pool?

So I took Jack for his daily swim today. We try to go every day unless the rain beats us to the pool. There was a sweet couple with their young son at the pool. I prefer to be alone at the pool when I throw my 14 month-old son in head first and expect him to flip over. I'm afraid that some wouldn't approve of this scene and call Child Protective Services.

He did very well today. We practiced two flips, some hops in the pool, some dunks and he swam to the steps. I was about to toss him for his third flip and float when I heard that familiar sound Jack makes when he bears down to drop a load. Oh shit.

I dodge to the steps with my hand pressed firmly on his ass. You see, we can't put swim diapers on him because they get too heavy and he can't float. And who has never peed in a pool? Anyway, it is this point in time that the very nice couple decides to ask me where he learned to swim. I briefly give them details about his swim lesson experience, location, cost and duration and fly through the gate, all the way home. One hand locking his knee together and the other hand still holding pressure. If this kid is anal retentive due that Freudian potty-training stage, it's my fault.

Following a thorough hose down in the shower, I pull him out to rinse the tub and peel the load from his trunks into the toilet. Meanwhile, he's butt naked in the nursery marching in a puddle of urine on the carpet!

I really need a shower.

PB & P.

And so it begins. It is the middle of the night and Jack and I are up eating pressed PB & P. That would be peanut butter and preserves on the George Foreman. Jelly is no good. I don't know what woke Jack up, but I was starving!

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to my best friend! Here is a picture of my hoban licking the candles from my homemade chocolate cake (all made from scratch!). It was so good. Worth all the mess in the kitchen. Jack had his own spoon that I kept dipping in icing. Sometimes gobs of icing would fall on the kitchen floor and he would turn it into artwork with his fingers and his toes. What a sticky mess!

This is before he decked the walls with chocolate icing. I'm proud he uses a spoon! :)

SO, what did Jose get for his birthday? An oxygen tank from Daddy. Well, from my family, but Dad picked it out. Pretty soon, Jose will have all the scuba gear. Some clothes from his mom, tasty whiskey from Kirkman and a watch from Jack and me. I also picked him up some board shorts that were too small and had to be exchanged by delivery.

So, the night before his birthday, after work and before we all went to bed. I came upstairs with my hands behind my back to bring him a special surprise. Nervous and a little shaky, I climbed the stairs to the nursery where he was playing with Jack while singing Happy Birthday. "Are you sweating? Did my board shorts come in?"

Then I pulled out a little white plastic stick with two lines. "Uh oh," Jack said.

Green Meadows

Today, I took Jack to Bright Horizons and had him enrolled. He starts in August, two days a week for four hours. I felt so good visiting that school. All the teachers were welcoming, let Jack join the class in their water activity. He walked away and didn't even look back. It's meant to be.

Then we went to Green Meadows Petting Farm. Jack got to pet all sorts of animals, rode a pony, a train. We went on a hayride. So fun, so hot. Now, if you ask Jack, "What does the cow say?" His response is MOOOOOOO. I love him. He's so smart. When we got home, I picked the dried poo off the bottom of his sandals with a toothpick. He can identify the sternum, clavicle, head, hair, eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, cheeks, ears, chinny chin chin, neck, shoulder, toe toes, fingers (teek teek teek), hands, feet, knees, legs and elbows. And we're working on his colors!

My Star

My mom is my star. I model her as a woman, a mom and a wife. People say I sound and act just like her. What a compliment! This is picture of her in a box. She hates this picture, but I think it's my favorite one. She will do anything to entertain Jack. He calls her Amma. He LOVES going to Amma's house where there's tons of mess and mischief to be made.

Pay up.

Jack and I always share chocolate from my side of the box. So I took a piece from Jose's side and gave it to Jack. I call it child support.

The Sun and The Moon

Jose is my moon. He is an awesome ball of energy who loves to make people laugh. He is an amazing husband. I'm talking about the kind who cooks, cleans, changes diapers, makes the bed and changes the oil. I always believed he spoke every love language even though he never read the book. Women will know what I'm talking about. I say he's my moon because the tides change with the moon and the moon is always constant. I dig that. I could elaborate on this poetic rubbish, but I don't want to.
I have a son, who is really my sun. He's my everything. He makes my day everyday. Having a baby is like falling in love again. Your eyes meet, it's love at first sight. You know this soul will be in your life forever. It is decided. You put aside everyone around you, everything loses it's priority spot, because you're in love. And I still get that feeling every day.

Jack is just like me (note Jack and his baby-chino from Starbuck's). He would do a back flip for chocolate. But when you have the addiction, you shouldn't make your loved ones suffer. He's super careful, thinks through everything first and holds on tight.

Chocolate.

I have this friend from middle school who blogs. Is that the right word? Her blog is so cute. I'm horrible with journals. But I really want to record our "isms". I can't seem to get those in pictures. I have to start my first blog with my number one favorite thing in the world (aside from my family, of course):

That would be Konfekt. This is the best chocolate in the world. For those who know me, not a day has gone by when I haven't had a piece of chocolate. One can only find this divine treat in Iceland. Luckily, we brought back two boxes! It is unfortunate that Jose happens to like this chocolate. He has divided the chocolate down the center and counted his pieces. He recently discovered that each box has two layers. I kept this secret from him for as long as I could. Chocolate keeps me coming back.