Remember the immunity??

Do you remember the life before you had children? I'm not talking about the late nights at bars, movies on a whim, dinners at 9pm after being out all day, last minute plans, etc. I'm talking about the immunity you had to the various germs floating around in the world. You didn't even know they were there! They would float by you as you roamed the mall and know you were not the right target. Just bouncing off of you as you went through life. Sure, every now and then you might get a cold or a stomach virus. Probably more an after effect from an undercooked hamburger at a BBQ where the cook was drunk and couldn't judge the inside color or the beef.

But now, now is the time that you are like sugar to a bee in those germs eyes. It doesn't matter of the germ is roaming around a day care on the other side of town. It's out there and it will find you. On every doorknob, playground, and restaurant table. Purell has become your best friend, the product that , once finding you have left home without it, you break into a cold sweat and have the urge to tuck you hands in your pockets for the rest of the day. Can you wear gloves in June?

And your child is Patient Zero, the one who starts the plague, and grows in a similar fashion to that old commercial "and then she told a friend, and they told friends, and they told friends, and so on, and so on...".

Excuse me as I go for my eyedrops for pink eye and sore throat lozenges.

Pink eye, thou evil plague!

Pink eye, thou hast returned!

Pink eye made an encore performance at our house this weekend. No, not Jack. Me! I woke up from a nap on Saturday and felt something in my eye. John turned on the light and "Yuck" was his reaction. Mommy has pink eye. And not the nice, bacterial one that you can treat with drops and make go away. No, I have the viral one that makes your eye all cloudy and teary and just sits there and slowly works its way through your system.

The thought of posting a picture of my eye did cross my mind but then I looked at it and thought "Yuck" and had enough sense to keep that in the privacy of my own home. So here is a picture of Jack instead to leave you with a warm fuzzy.

Words to live by

Jack's vocabulary seems to grow overnight as he sleeps. In fact, I often think that he will wake up in the middle of the night because he'll have a new word pop into his head and feel a manic need to use it immediately.

For a while, Jack has favored the word "Daddy". I point to John and he says "Daddy", then I point to me and he says "Daddy". We are one and the same, a parental unit existing as one being in his mind. But the other night Jack woke in the middle of the night whimpering. I got to his crib to comfort him and he suddenly stood up and started saying loudly, and with great emphasis, "Mommyanddaddy, mommyanddaddy, mommyanddaddy!". Like he had just realized we are separate, can exist in two separate places and had the urge to tell everyone this new knowledge.

And sometimes it is just the simple words. Two night ago, John and I laughed as we heard Jack over the baby monitor sleepily repeating over and over "car, car, car..."

Recipe from hell!

Tonight Jack and I were getting started with cooking dinner and I asked him if he wanted to help. He immediately dashed off to the pantry and made trip after trip bringing me ingredients to make dinner with.

His final ingredient list:
Peanut butter (low fat)
Peanut butter (regular)
chai
tea bags
taco shells
green tea
fruit tea
coffee
salt
tuscan olive dip mix

Ummm, I was making steamed artichokes and chicken piccata.

Think Pink!

Guess what's come a visitin' to our house? That's right. Pink eye. Apparently Jack's classmate went home with it yesterday and Jack started showing signs last night. His doc agreed, let's nip it in the bud fast! So somebody gets to stay home today and get drops in his eyes.

This is Jack's second bout with pink eye, his first being when he was just an infant. I'll reserve judgement on which is worse, a helpless infant having it or a fully involved, and stronger, toddler.

Back into Action

Well, after the flu, a sinus infection and a hefty cold, Mom and Dad are back on track (mostly). Jack luckily weathered the storm without sickness and was very obliging to us as we moped around the house and took turns crashing into bed while the other watched Jack. Tag-team parenting at its best!

So, what else have we been doing? GARDENING! The vegetable garden that Pawpaw helped us set up is going gangbusters. Check out this harvest by the Jackelope...

Jack with his first harvest of squash and green pepper

Bounty harvest! Mom had so many she had to bring some to work to give away.

We also got some nice shots of some flowers at the new house- some naturalized daffodils I think and a prickly pear flower.

Go away!

{sniffle} Some plague has struck our house! John has fever, probably the flu. I'm sniffling and sneezing. Jack on the other hand is doing just fine. {sniffle}. Will write more once this pox passes.

My kingdom for quality childcare!

What's with the quality of childcare in this country?

I started my day by finding out via phone from John (who does drop-off in the a.a.) that once again, we have lost another day care teacher. This is an all-time record. We lost this teacher before we even replaced the last teacher that quit. They're changing so fast I'm sure they're all going to have therapy when they are older because of their sense of abandonment, not by their parents dropping them off but by the new face that greets them every time they walk into their daycare class.

This all follows a weekend in which we had theater tickets on Saturday. No sweat because we have out babysitter who we have, on a steady basis, EVERY SATURDAY NIGHT. Notice I didn't say SOME saturday nights. The agreement is that she is scheduled with us EVERY Saturday night unless she lets us know she has a conflict. And we're understanding. Spring break? Sorority formal? Of course she can have those nights off. But the whole point of having an ongoing agreement for every Saturday is so that we don't have to call her every week and ask her. So we had theater tickets and , just to make sure, I call her and say "Hey just wanted to make sure we were on for tonight- we've got theater tickets.". Then I get the dreaded pause. "Oh, I didn't know you would need me THIS weekend. I have an exam on Monday so I have to study and can't take the time."

So, after calling all 3 of our backups unsuccessfully, we blew the tickets off and spent the evening with the Jackelope.

You know, it's not just the situation working moms are in that makes them feel the constant guilt of leaving their child at daycare daily. It's the knowledge that these are all just temporary people in your child's life and how can any of them care for him if they are in and out of jobs every few months.

Jack possesses great skills!

Jack's been picking up some new skills lately. You can see him in the picture trying on a new hat that John got for working outside. Now, you have to understand that Jack has been anti-hat since he was a baby- perhaps due to his large head size. I have to threaten him with inside time in order to get him to wear a hat outside in the sun and even then, he tests me every 5 minutes by sliding it off his head, seeing if I am still watching.
Other new skills Jack has picked up-

giving kisses on the lips: So far, he'll only do this with me. He sneaks it in at wierd times, like while he is getting his diaper changed. I think he is plotting to distract me during the change, thinking I will leave him alone if he gives me a kiss. None for daddy yet, but he loves to snuggle with daddy and not mommy.

Riding in the gardening cart: loves to climb in the gardening cart his Nana bought for us and hang his legs over the end so he is facing you as he gets wheeled around. Only unfortunate occurence is when he shifts his weight to the front and the whole cart tumbles over with him in it. He usually bounces right back up.

Carrying his potty around: has no clue what the true purpose of this contraption is but right now it serves as a good container for new diapers, socks, pajama tops and shoes.

Feeding the animals: Jack enjoys showing exactly where the dog and cat food goesm while the cats frantically meow saying, "hurry up, you know where it goes, why are you waiting for the little pipsqueek to show you!"

Shout to Cali

Today we're sending out a big shout out to our friends in California, Taku, Laura and little Kyler. Kyler is about to become the second youngest member of his family with the pending arrival of his little brother any day now. So we just wanted to send out our love and support to Kyler and his parents and let them know we're thinking about them.

Yo Kyler, I got your back, man!