Crib diving

OK so last night we heard Jamie thump thump thumping like we often do when she is in her crib, when we checked her at 11 before I went to bed she was sleeping in a hole, she had broken one of the supports by jumping and the crib was slanted quite a bit towards the wall. I laid down with her in bed while Mike fixed the crib.

Tonight there was a loud THWACK!! -she had climbed out and landed smack dab on her head...pretty big bump but otherwise ok. After tears and snuggles and a bit of a session with an ice pack on her forehead we just put her back to bed with piles of pillows and comforters next to the crib.

Does this mean we should get her a toddler bed now? Or should we wait and see...I can't believe my baby is turning into such a big girl!

Parks and Fun with Jamie

Jamies New Push Buggy

Choo Choo

First Pony Ride


Park between Rain Showers


We have been having so much fun. Yes we both went back to work last week which was tough, especially since I had a work event on Friday night which kept me away from my family until 10pm. Last weekend we went to Kids Kampus and on the way it was pouring rain. We almost turned back but after we crossed the river the rain slowed and when we pulled up it stopped. So we grabbed the trusty towel I keep in the Mommy van for just this purpose and played in puddles and wiped down the playground equipment for Jamie to use. SHe got soaked anyway, and when we left it started raining again.

Then this weekend, on Saturday morning first thing, we went to a garage sale where this lady was holding a Push Buggy I had found on Craigs List...We got it for only $15 and it should be good for another year or so. We found a park down there in that part of town, but not until we tried to pull into the YMCA where they were having some sort of carnival and we were waiting for this lady to back out onto the road...and she backed right into someones car who didn't notice her backing out...MIke was mortified, he felt guilty that he didn't honk the horn. Too bad I wasnt driving, I never forget to honk the horn. Anyway we found another park and we played and rode her new buggy and she even tried out a battery powered car these folks had just bought for their 2 year old. Very cool, but is that necessary do you think? I like the idea of the Push Buggy - let me have the control while I can! Mike got to fly his kite for a bit but it really wasn't windy enough.

Then we went further down the road in search of food really, we were going to go to Q..znos because we had a Entertainment book coupon for $5 off with the purchase of $5 in food. On the way we saw another carnival at an elementary school and it had ponies and other farm animals as well as a Bounce House and a small train. We stopped and it was a fund raiser for this public elementary school. Tickets were Four for a Dollar and most of the stuff cost four tickets - even the Pony ride, bounce house and Train ride. Well we do enough bounce houses at no charge and Jamie had never been on a pony or a train. We did the Pony first and she like it, but there wasn't a meltdown like there is when we take her off the carousal horses...maybe she was a bit intimidated? There were lots of animals right there where we got off the pony so maybe that was it. Baby rabbits, chicks, goats,ducks and a baby pig all there to pet and touch.

Then we put her on the train ride, it was so cute, this guy had fixed up a lawn tractor to look like a train, and taken barrels and cut them and painted them and put on wheels for the little kids to ride in. After the train ride I asked her 'Which do you want to do again? Pony ride or Train?" And she Picked the pony ride. She cried a bit when we went to leave, but nothing like the melt down she has exhibited both times after the carousal ride.

Then we went to Q...znos. Do you think it's right that they change the offer of the coupon? They had a sign up that said 'Because everything has gone up so much in cost we need you to purchase a drink and chips to get the $5 off.' What a rip...Well i had just seen that clip on Negotiating for what you want, and I offered to buy 2 large subs to get the $5 off - In other words to spend $20 to save $5. It was turned down the first time, but not the second. I just can't see buying chips and a drink when you have that at home. So that is my rant about using coupons.

Anyway life is grand, wish I could take another week off soon with my girl.

Jamie's Spring Break

Spring break

Well my Mom was here for a visit - she stayed a week and left Friday at 8pm to drive back to Clearwater. Why 8pm you say? Well she had brought her cat Kiwi because she didn't want to leave her alone so soon after her boy cat Corky died. Anyway, Kiwi wouldn't come out from under the bed so I went up there with Mike and we attempted to get her. After 20 minutes of struggle, in which we moved furniture while wearing socks on my arms, I was bitten right through the sock- quite a painful puncture wound. So we gave up, and Mom spent the next 7 hours sitting up there waiting for her to come out, which finally happened at 8pm at which time she left. ( We had taken Jamie to the Mall play area to get her wiggles out so we were quite surprised to see that she had left that late to drive 5 hours home!)

She thinks she found a place that she can move in here in Jacksonville, but she still needs to sell her mobile home and that may not be doable so quickly.

Jamies first hunts

We went to a egg hunt at a local park on Saturday. When we got there Jamie wanted to 'See the Bunny!' which was fine, at first she was a bit timid, but with me holding her she was thrilled to meet the Easter Bunny. Then they gave her a sucker...well the egg hunt was about to start...and all she cared about was that sucker! So when they blew the whistle she could have cared less about running out to get the eggs! They even had some golden eggs which gave the kids some huge prizes, like bikes and big baskets full of toys. Oh well we had fun, she was a bit traumitized when after hunt was over the bunny took off his head and put it on the picnic table...I am still hearing "Bunny head momma" four days later!

We also went to Anders house on Sunday morning and did another egg hunt. This time Jamie was too enamoured of Anders wonderful playground like back yard to care much about looking for the eggs. Ander was sweet enough to restrain himself from taking all the eggs, even helping Jamie find the ones she missed. Now days later I hear from Jamie "Ander park?" she wants to go back to Anders park! hehhehee... I wish we had a better playyard for her at our house, with the pool it's tough to feel real comfortable out in the back yard with her, unless we are all in the pool that is. (which is coming up soon! yippee!)

Blogger is giving me issues when I try to load more pictures so I will try to do a slideshow later. Hope everyone had a Happy Easter.

Spring has sprung

And it has knocked me for a loop. I woke up the other day feeling like my nose had gotten punched. Every day the pain behind my nose spread farther along my jawline and this morning my left side looked like I had been punched but hadnt bruised. Very puffy and swollen and so very painful. I thought I was going to make it through the winter without a sinus infection but no, I am not so lucky. I hear the pollen count is really bad this year. Could it be from global warming?

My mom was going to come this weekend, she is hoping to move back to town from downstate. I think she misses her friends, me and wants to be near Jamie. Anyway she is coming next week sometime instead as I am off March 31st for a week. So I will be able to spend some time with her, and her with us and Jamie.

I hope I am feeling up to doing Easter egg hunts tommorrow. This will be the first time for Jamie and I think will be very fun. I am making her a custom basket, I have been picking up trinkets since Christmas - I am trying to keep it to fun stuff, not just candy. There will be a bit of candy of course :-) I am sure we will help her eat it.

I need to stay out of the thrift and consignment stores until I sell some of the clothes Jamie has outgrown but I can't seem to. This week I got her a beautiful pink pair of Tennis shoes that were hardly worn for $2 in size six which will be her next size and a couple of barely worn size 4 dresses, and some cute tees. I am buying ahead as she really does have enough clothes in her size. It's a sickness I am telling you. (As some of you already know!)

Dancing again this time with Mommy

Ander this one is for you

Dancing in the new mirror in the kitchen

Jamie has recently become quite 'girlie'. She has expressed interested in shoes and has been very vocal on choosing the footwear of the day for quite some time. "Mommy Sponge Bob!" or "No Mommy, want those!" I try to give her choices between a couple of pairs that could be suitable. Because I am a prolific thrift store shopper she does have alot of shoes. (12 or so pairs in her size - is that alot?)

Anyway, she has recently become interested in wearing dresses, and while wearing them she has noticed the new big mirror in the kitchen. We got a new dishwasher - in black - so she uses it to showcase her dancing talent, but only while wearing dresses. Just now she was in my lap and I showed her the two videos that I downloaded for this post and she ran right to the kitchen and started dancing to the dishwasher. (and yes she was wearing a dress!) Maybe I will post that video later. I have recently figured out how to post videos via youtube so now I will be be putting them on the blog regularly.

Jumping with Bobo

Here are the videos I talked about in the last post. Notice Jamie yelling "OWL! OWL! OWL!...She was impatient for Ms. Owl which follows storytime in the children's theatre- a mechanical owl in the dark theatre with birds and woodland creatures all around. Also notice the wild boy child on her left and how he ends up smacking Jamie in the face...and her reaction - poor baby ran to her momma.




This is part 2, notice Jamie holding her own with the wild child and look at the kids faux temper tantrum during the exciting part. Doesn't Jamie do the yelling part pretty well?

Storytime, nope make that thrift store finds

Jamie loves the routine at the library storytime, but is sometimes a little anxious for what is to come. She is shouting 'Owl, owl owl...' during the Jumping with Bobo session. You can see the librarian dutifully trying to ignore her as he continues with the routine. Watch closely as the boy on her right accidently strikes Jamie in his exuberance during the session. Later he lays on the floor and does a little mock temper tantrum- fists pounding, and legs flailing -like he had all this pent up energy he didn't know what to do with or something. Ok I give up. I have tried to upload this video 5-6 times. First it was going into hibernation and knocking me off, then it just wouldnt do it despite changing my settings. Take my word for it the video is cute. Any bloggers out there who can give me some advice I would really appreciate it. I have yet to be able to do this on blogger. The videos posted have been done by Mike. Maybe I should try another computer? Meanwhile check out Jamie and her new pink boots, her princess shirt and saxophone we got from the thrift store this week - $3.50 for the boots and .50 for princess shirt and the horn. She loves all three.

RIP Corky October 1997-Feb 21, 2008

Corky in his glory

Poncho and Kimba (who passed away in October)

My mom called me at work sobbing this morning. She had just found her beloved boy cat Corky dead under the couch. She is disabled and isn't able to get down on her knees so I am not sure how she got to him. It was horrible... I felt so bad for her. And with her now living on the other side of the state I couldn't come and help her like I did the last time one of her pets passed away. I had to make suggestions and just commisserate with her over the phone. This will be so hard for her. Corky was her constant companion and she loved on him so much. She does have another kitty-Kiwi but Corky was her favorite.

In 1997 she had just lost 2 cats in quick succession and I knew she needed another kitty. I went to my local pet store to get cat food and saw this litter of kittys - 2 all black females, and two males - one tabby and white and a black tuxedo(black and white). The tabby and white looked alot like my moms previous favorite boy Grantlee so I stopped and inquired. It was mothers day weekend, so I found out the lady would be bringing the adoptable kitties back to the store the next day on Sunday, so I brought my mom out there and sure enough she fell hard for him, and I fell for the little tuxedo. So Mom got Corky and I got Poncho. They were 9 months old and were not little kittens, they were pretty much grown they were really adolecents. But that way you could see what their personality would be. I love my Poncho, and she loved her Corky. I thought Poncho would be the first to go of the two as he has a kidney stone and I have been irrigating him with solution 2-3 times per week for the last year and a half and has gotten very thin and languid since Christmas. My poor mom. I feel her pain and know that Poncho's day will be coming all too soon.

Pet Expo

Today we joined our friends at the Pet Expo - Aunt Patty & Unka John and Uncle Craig, Aunt Cinda and Ander and James. Jamie enjoyed herself, Mike couldn't come as he is still diligently working on his tasks. We saw some cute dogs and cats that need homes. We just can't adopt another pet right now as our kitty Poncho is not doing real well. He has a kidney stone, following in his sister Katie's footsteps. I have to administer fluids subcutaneously (under his skin) three times a week to help him to feel better and he is quite thin. I am preparing myself for his eventual demise. :-(

We didn't get the chance to count anymore birds for the weekend, but following the link below gets to some pretty cool bird watching pages that show how to identify the different types of birds. Out peanut butter pine cone that we made at Tree Hill last month has been picked clean so we bought a couple feeders for the kitchen window last week. The birds are turning their noses up at the new offerings however.

Great backyard bird count

When going to our local nature center yesterday we found out this weekend is the great backyard bird count and we are participating. It is much easier than I thought it would be. I have already submitted 3 lists of different birding periods. Funny thing is I saw more birds during our walk from the library to the van than when we were at the nature center. (Only one cardinal spotted at the nature center, and 3 house sparrows outside the library) If you have 15 minutes and you want to jot down what types of birds you spotted head over to this site and log them in. Help in this national project to see where the birds are.

http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/

Wuv you mommy

The other night we were putting Jamie down for the night, and I asked her to tell Daddy she loved him. 'wuv you daddy' she said! So I asked her to say it to me and she did...'Wuv you mommy' So exciting and on Valentines day too! Today we went to see the goats at our local nature center, and then to the downtown library for Toddler art and story/song time. We are pretty predictible my girl and me. Daddy has been hard at work every night and weekend working on tasks he needs to be fully certified as a teacher, so Jamie and I are on our own for the most part on the weekends. Daddy does join us for meals (usually) but he doesn't accompany us on our jaunts too much anymore. He has to be done with these tasks the end of March. We can't wait to get our Daddy and Hubby back.

Jamie is a music lover - especially the French Horn!

She was enthralled

After we were ousted


Jamie is so excited on Sunday morning at nine am when CBS Sunday morning show starts. Those french horns just really get her going. (See sidebar for video).
So when one of our symphony members who plays the French Horn put on a free concert at our library auditorium one Sunday afternoon, we woke Jamie up from her nap and took her there. She was mesmerized for the first 20 minutes and then she got a bit restless. Although she didn't yell or cry she said "mommy" a few times, so we whisked her out of there. We sat her at a chair outside the auditorium to get her picture by the sign, and this older usher woman come cluck cluck clucking out and said we had "already disturbed the performance" enough... Hmmm, guess Jamie wasn't welcome to come back. I told the old hen that if you don't encourage the young to listen, then the symphony won't have any fans in 30 years or so and that we would be back again. She responded that they do have childrens concerts...Hmmm guess she really doesn't want us back there. Too bad. I work during the day and that is when they have the children's performances. And besides I want Jamie to be exposed to all different types of culture and music. Today we went before Toddler Art and listened to an Appalachain story teller/poet. Jamie lasted about 20 minutes at that too. Guess that is about her attention span right now. And that is ok.

Jamie is 2!

We had such a good time for Jamie's birthday party this past weekend. Neither Grandma could come as they were just here for Christmas but others who love her were here. I took the day off before the party and had most everything done which made for a stress free day for all. She loved her phone and she also got 2 different MP3 players - one where we can download songs onto it for her. We have already loaded Laurie Berkner, her current musical fave.

We're going live today at 5:00 pm!

Join us today as we celebrate Jamie's 2nd birthday. You see in the photos how much she has changed over one year! The left was taken when she was 11 months old. The right was taken for her Christmas 2007 picture.

We will be broadcasting live today through UStream.tv. In the right sidebar you will be able to watch the festivities as we fete our daughter and celebrate a momentus milestone for her and us!

Come on by and join us. I'll try and set up a chat room so you can comment on the party! If time permits there will be commentary and play by play as the babies play. We are looking forward to hearing from you as you celebrate along with us.

DInner out with Aunt Patty & Unka John

We went out the night of one of the big games our team was about to play and it was fun to dress Jamie in her cheerleader togs that Aunt Patty and Unka John got her for Christmas. We don't eat out very often as we are trying to get out from under huge debt and also because eating out with a toddler doesn't always go smoothly. Aunt Patty & Unka John always love to see us (Jamie) so it was great to join them. Here's hoping we have no other major home systems or appliances go out on us for a year or so, so that we can swim up from underneath this debt. My friend who teaches political science at a college in Michigan says getting out of debt is the new American Dream. We don't travel or wear expensive clothes and go out to eat except maybe once a month. We do own two houses (one we rent out) that seem to demand constant expenditures...Heat & Ac goes out, need to replace the oven, the refrigerator, the dishwasher, the plumbing (for both houses!) and soon it will be 2 roofs. I am thankful we didn't take out a home equity home to accomplish any of the constant holes these two money pits put us into. Just put it on credit cards and keep moving to a new card with lower interest. I have managed to keep the debt on cards with very low interest rates so far (3.99, and zero % currently), and hope we can pay it all off before it catches up with us.

So is getting out of debt the New American Dream? What is your American Dream?

Adoption issues

We were so lucky to have adopted Jamie from the foster care system. When we got her she was 4.5 mos old and she was in her second home and had been in the system since birth. The first home she was in was trying to adopt a baby and they preferred a boy. A baby boy came available (His birth parents were getting their rights terminated - he was already in foster care) and in our county the judge always wants the child to be in a preadoptive home when the parents rights are terminated. The family that had Jamie originally had too many under three, so they 'traded' Jamie for the baby boy they wanted to adopt. So at 3 mos of age Jamie was moved to this other home who didn't want to adopt any others. At that point in the process it looked like the birth mom was working on her case plan. We found out about Jamie at that point because I went to the foster/adoptive parents meetings and met a mentor. A lady who was currently fostering one sibling group of four and another child she was hoping to adopt. This wonderful lady knew about Jamie's situation because of the original foster mom being concerned about Jamie's current home. (The concern came in part because the baby boy that had been there had some issues - the back of his head was flat, and his clothes all smelled of smoke etc.) So we found out about Jamie in April, but our license didn't become official until the end of May. 2 days after our license became official Jamie's current foster mom called the agency and said she wanted to stop fostering - that she wanted the two babies she had removed from the home. Since the agency knew we were interested we were the lucky family they called and picked her up that night!

When we picked her up it was apparent that she was scared...poor baby, can you imagine? Some strangers come to get you and you are carried out to the driveway with all of your possessions in a garbage bag. Everything smelled of smoke and of the 6-7 items of clothing only one fit ok but it was long sleeved and too warm for Florida in late May. The back of her head was completely flat and when she woke up in her crib she didnt cry. She would just lay there and wait on someone discovering she was awake. I had been told that I may just want to let her nap in her swing - that "she just loved it", although no swing was sent with her. Also she didn't come with any 'lovey' or soft toys. She had some blocks and beads and a little mirror. That was it...not even some diapers!

Anyway over the next few months Jamie did begin to cry when she woke up in her crib, but her head remains flat. In the first few months she often avoided eye contact but this doesn't seem to be an issue anymore - I guess she has learned to trust. Poor baby... She does still do some 'mommy shopping' - which is when we are in a group of folks Mike and I are often invisible to her. She is more concerned with getting the attention of other adults.

As Jamie just turned two, it is hard to tell what long term issues we might encounter from her adoption experience. Many experts believe even newborns have abandonment issues and can experience attachment disorder issues. I wish we had been the parents that picked her up from the hospital but things worked out the way they were supposed to, of that I am truly convinced.

We finalized her adoption in August of 2007. Here is Jamie on the first weekend in our home- May of 2006.

I blog for comments!

I was told yesterday I needed to 'step it up' with the blogging, that she was (Aunt Patty) was coming daily to check and there wasn't any fresh content. Well I do the same thing, I come to the blog to see who has visited and what they commented on. Not very many comments. Hmmm, maybe I need to be more interesting? or post more often? Or both!? But as I stated above "I blog for comments!' If you come here, please take a minute and say hey!

Here are some of the recent pictures from Christmas.



Here is the photo I was allowed to take with my camera (she was a bit scared of Santa):



Here is the photo they took with their props and funny faces:



Now Jamie wants to see the Santa! photo anytime I am on the laptop. Guess we need to scan, print and laminate her her own copy of it. I am not sure which one to do it with as she seems to like the one where she is crying.

Here is a family shot with Mikes mom and brother Bruce:



Now for the Christmas Card adventure. Here is the first card we had made before I got the picture I really liked of Jamie in the Black Bodiced dress:



Well they also didn't crop the family shot as I had so I wasn't pleased at all, it was also a bit dark. So I had it redone, not only did they not crop the shots they way I wanted....well look and see.



So, I had to go back to Walmart again and they redid it, but the first time I went I took the pictures on a jump drive which they couldnt use...so the fourth time is the charm!