Happy Mothers Day! << @ @ @>>

Mike got Jamie up and was changing her this morning, when I came in Jamie said 'Ha..y mdders AY!' Hee hee so sweet of Mike to prompt her with that greeting!
Then after breakfast (Mike cooked us French Toast - yum!) we spent a good part of the morning in the pool and had a great time despite alot of wind and an approaching storm.

Jamie wanted her 'Waddy' earlier when Daddy was cleaning up after breakfast and I was striping the beds and putting her clothes away. As we had the big bed stripped her Waddy was up on the tall dresser too high for her to reach. Waddy usually spends the day on our bed as Jamie doesn't get to bring Waddy downstairs. Waddy is excusively for napping and bedtime. It has become quite the cue to her to bring on sleepiness, fingers go in the mouth and she begins rubbing her eyes furiously once she 'assumes the position'.



Anyway she asked me more than once for Waddy while I was running around upstairs and I kept telling her 'not now sweetie', or 'it's not naptime yet' So next thing I know she went downstairs and got her little chair and dragged it up the stairs, took it to the high dresser where Waddy was and got him down! She's a smart one, maybe she will be an engineer! Uncle Bruce thinks so.

I want to get some sort of widget on the side that would let our friends know that we are in the pool and they are welcome to come by and join us. Any ideas? I thought I could post something during the week like: Tentative pool schedule for the upcoming weekend is 12:30 - 2:30 Saturday and 11-1pm on Sunday, come back and check the blog to see if we are in the pool! Then have the widget indicate that we are 'In the swim'. I don't want to use the Live Video function though I did think about it, as it is a bit of a pain to set up. I love to have people over to swim in the pool but if it is a formal affair it always involves a meal and I can't stay in the pool with the guests very much of the time - I have to be setting up the meal or cleaning up. So I was thinking I really like to just have people over to swim...this would allow me to enjoy the pool with my friends, then when I do have a Pool Party where a meal is involved it would be easier to tear myself away from the action.

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I was looking at my stat counter at the bottom, it gives me lots of info on where people are coming from who read my blog. I had some wierd 'come froms'

One of them is a search for 'Michigan lawn tractors on craigslist
another is a search for a bounce house on craigslist, ( I guess I do mention Craigslist now and then) but the oddest by far is a search for 'the pony went poop on the couch' Strange indeed. I did the search and we were 8 pages in and of course it was fragments of what I have posted in the past all strung together:

Jamie & Us Now and Forever He was in the kitchen when I cooked, on the couch or in my lap when I was on the .... And she Picked the pony ride. She cried a bit when we went to leave, ...

I don't see poop mentioned in this fragment, but know it has been mentioned on more than one occasion on this blog. :-)

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A fellow blogger (Click on Leap of Faith on the right) got these shoes for Mothers Day today:


After going to the site and reading reviews I just had to have them! They are Crocs with a kick! So much cuter than the Caymens and one of the reviews I read said they are more comfortable than Birks!! They were $30, they didn't have the Khaki colored so I got black as I have been holding off buying the Black birks I want for the last 5 years! So I told Mike this was like saving $100~! How do you like my rationale?

Jamie & Friends - Ander and more

First time in the pool!

First she went in the little pool that I warmed up for an hour or so, then it was time to plunge in the big pool. A girl after my own heart! 80 degrees sounds warm but it felt a bit chilly.

RIP Poncho 1997-2008

I will miss him so very much. He was my constant companion whenever I was home. He would follow me into the bathroom even while I took my shower, sitting on the vanity waiting for me to pet him...He was in the kitchen when I cooked, on the couch or in my lap when I was on the couch, following me down to laundry, out on the porch or on his leash when I went outside etc.

After the downturn on Sunday, and going to the vet, he just got worse every day. I started to force him to eat on Monday, and Tuesday morning, but it was apparent he didn't care to go on. He would just lay there moaning...and last night he crawled under the couch - I think to die...I was able to get him out this morning by wedging Jamies step stool under it when I managed to raise it, thinking he was dead. He was alive, barely...I had an important meeting at 9am in Flem Island so I went and made an appt at the vet for late this afternoon. I sat and held him and cried and said Goodbye, Jamie sat with us for a couple of minutes before we left the house...Mike and I took him together to the vet this afternoon and the Dr agreed - It was time. It was very peaceful...

We decided to share the experience with Jamie as when we got home she asked for Poncho and cried when he wasn't there. We showed Jamie his body and explained that this was Poncho's body and that Poncho was gone. But we had to go into further detail because she knows the word gone in the context of her best friend in daycare Sydney who left the home daycare 2 weeks ago. She is constantly telling us in a very sorrowfilled voice 'Syndey gone' so we had to explain Poncho had died. Not just gone, but died.

Then tonight we did our regular ritual and watched the beginning of a dvd I bought for .50 at a garage sale called Cats & Dogs (we finished Finding Nemo last nite - it was great) and read her "goodnight Moon" and "the Napping book" and we put her down as we always do. Well she was crying like her heart was breaking. Mike went in a couple times, and then I did and rocked her for a while, she was really crying...and she said "Poncho Gone?" "Yes baby Poncho is gone, he died" She calmed down and went immediately to sleep when I put her back in the crib.

Gosh I hope it was Ok to handle it this way...I am so sad.

I think my kitty is dying

Poncho is the last of our three cats, Kimba died in Oct and Katie died 2 years ago at Christmas. Poncho has a kidney stone which was diagnosed a year and half ago and we hve been administering fluids subq (under the skin) three times a week since the diagnosis. The diagnosis came shortly after we got Jamie and we were just leaving for a trip north to see the relatives - Mikes folks in N. Carolina and my dad in Michigan. A friend of mine had been a medic in the army and she felt able to come in and not only feed and scoop poop but irrigate Poncho.

Sunday Poncho had a downturn, he was crying (Yowling) and straining at the litter box, and just lying on his side. So we took him to the vet yesterday and did his bloodwork. The vet said he could live another year or another month or two, that there wasn't really anything we could do and that he wasn't in any pain. So we brought him home. He isn't doing well...I am not so sure he isn't in pain, he doing a lot of yowling and not much of anything else. I force fed him by syringe last night this morning...but I hesitate to do it tonight. I think he wants to go. I have an important meeting first thing in the morning, I think I will come home from that and if he is still so bad, I will take him in. This is so hard.

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.