Helpless

Tuesday night I woke up to Jack calling to me from his room. He wasn't crying or upset, so I ignored it, hoping he would go back to sleep, or at the very least that my darling husband would be generous enough to go check on him. It worked, Stuart went to check on him. Jack was very adamant that there were "eyes" in his room watching him and that the "eyes" were scaring him. Although, he wasn't crying about it, it was a little freaky. (He still asks what the eyes were doing in his room...) Anyway, it turns out he was burning up with a fever. A fever that has held on for the last few days. Stuart was worried to the point of insisting that he sleep with us a couple of nights so we could monitor him. He is better today, but I really hate when he is sick. Not that you can really tell when he is sick. God blessed us with the happiest sick baby ever. He laughs and plays, despite having a fever of 102.7!

We are very blessed that he is so healthy. In 2 years we haven't had any doctor visits, except for his well checks and flu shots. It's good because I hate when he is sick. I just feel so helpless. I just want so bad to take away his pain.

It's Good to be Jack

This is the life...

Oh, for the record, he is wearing underpants. They are just hidden behind the bag of popcorn.

Silly Boy

Normal kids are so boring...

Slow Down and Enjoy the Ice Cream

We ran some errands this morning...in the heat...and Jack was an absolute angel. So, as mom, I made an executive decision. Ice cream for lunch! And the best part for Jack was that we got to go into Dairy Queen to enjoy it, instead of hitting the drive through.



He's a smart kid. It tastes so much better when you take time out of your day to really enjoy it.

Forever a Part of Me

Stuart snapped this picture while I was watching TV last month. Jack had to sit next to me...cheek to cheek. No matter how much I moved, he repositioned himself right next to me...like we were attached.

It reminds me of when he was a baby. I had an overwhelming need to keep him close to me. Maybe it comes from carrying a child for 9 months, but after I gave birth, I felt like part of me was missing if he wasn't right next to me.
I still feel that way. If I am driving in the car without Jack, I can't help but turn around and check his empty car seat. What can I say? He's forever a part of me. We are bonded forever.

STAR WARS

If you are not familiar with Star Wars, feel free to skip this post as most of it will not make sense to you...

For those of you still reading, if you haven't heard, Jackson is becoming increasingly obsessed with Star Wars. He wants to watch the movies all the time...well, really just the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, which is just fine with us. As Stuart put it, at least he is watching something we want to watch too. Let me share a glimpse of Star Wars through the eyes of a 3 and half year old little boy:

His names for the characters are great. He calls Obi-Wan Kenobi "Oh One Nobi." R2D2 is "RD2." Jabba the Hut is just "the slimy guy." Oh, and it's not Star Wars...it's "Star Whores"...I just love it!

He loves the "robot cats." (Imperial Walkers, but you have to admit, they do look like robot cats.)

He talks about the storyline all the time, specifically about Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. He continually asks why Darth Vader was bad and tells me, in a very concerned voice, that Luke doesn't want a bad dad, he wants a good dad. He is so happy when Darth Vader redeems himself in the end. He has a Darth Vader action figure. He loves to put the helmet on when he is bad and take it off to show when he is good again.

After watching the original Star Wars movie, Jack and I had this conversation:

Jack: Why they get a medal?

Me: They did a good job.

Jack: RD2 wants a medal. RD2 did a good job.

Last week we were driving in the car. Jack was in his car seat playing with a light saber one of the older neighbor boys had loaned him (he slept with it most nights until we returned it.) Jack dropped it and tried to use the force to pick it up. It was so funny. He kept saying his force was broken.

He gets very involved when watching the movies.

These last 2 videos are long, watch them if you want. I just wanted to give you an idea of how much we talk about Star Wars in our home now.

New Injury

We interrupt our current blog posts with a report on Jack's latest injury. We spent yesterday morning playing with some of the neighbor kids, Jack's friend Connor and his older sister, Elaina. They had a great time watching Star Wars and building a fort, oops, I mean a Millennium Falcon.


No one wanted the morning to end. When their dad showed up to pick them up, Jack eagerly ran to the door to walk the kids to their car. Unfortunately, he pulled the heavy front door right over the top of his foot.

He really wanted to make sure he didn't lose too much blood, because he didn't want to die.

Lucky for us, he's a brave kid.

And pretty handsome in this picture, if I do say so myself.

Robot Butterfly

I believe we may have found the perfect pet for Jack. The little electronic butterfly. No allergy problems for dad, no smells, no messes, and we don't have to remember to feed it.

Forts are FUN

Where's Jack?

There he is!

Lessons from Jack

Don't do anything half way. If you are going to decorate a cookie, remember frosting and sprinkles are to be used in abundance. If there are still some left in the jar...eat them.

SIDE NOTE: I completely left out the best part of the story in my "Girl Crazy" post in June. Being the sicko that I am, I had to go back and add it.

Bad Dreams

Last week Jack woke up crying in the middle of the night. Stuart went in to calm him, but Jack only wanted me. When I came in, he stopped crying. (It's hard to be frustrated when he just loves me so much!) I asked if he had a bad dream. He said he did. I asked him what happened and he told me:

I was driving your car.

(sob)

But, I didn't know how to drive.

(sob)

And I crashed... (sob) in the water.

(sob)

And I was crying.

I helped him calm down and then told him he should never drive mommy's car because he is too little to drive. He replied, I'm sorry mommy.

Luckily, most nights he doesn't wake up, but occasionally, he has a bad night. Like last night. 3 times he woke up with nightmares. Once we could hear him loudly say:

Go away bad dream!

Go away bad dream!

Leave me awone!

Fireworks

After much debate, Stuart and I had all but decided against taking Jack to see fireworks. It is HOT and we didn't want to drive somewhere, park a long way away, walk in the heat to a park, then sit in the heat waiting for a show. We thought we would just drive Jack around in the car and see what we could see from the air-conditioned comfort of our car. Well, a few of our neighbors decided to go up to Anthem Saturday night to see the fireworks. They assured us they knew a place to go and park...further away from everything, but still with a great view. They let us know the kids could play in the grass, but we would be nowhere near the carnival so we wouldn't have to worry about Jack begging for treats and kiddie rides. Stuart and I discussed it, but were not convinced it was something we wanted to do. Jack, hearing our conversation, felt otherwise. He was so excited we had to go. He was, literally, bouncing around the house in anticipation.

Jack picked out a special outfit for the occasion. Apparently, he felt a celebration of America's independence was more of a formal affair than we did.

First thing he put on was his tie.

Then, his shirt. Backwards. He was more than a little frustrated that I insisted on taking his picture before helping him turn his shirt around the right way.

He even insisted on a belt. Although, his only belt did not match, I thought it was too cute to make him change.

The kids had a blast and ran around like crazy waiting for the fireworks.

Stuart took a few pictures.

Since they lasted till almost 10:30pm, Jack was a little tired and was asleep the second we got him in the car.

Going...

Going...

Gone...

Sewing with Mom

This week I broke out my sewing machine to finally finish some pillows for our bedroom. Jack was very excited. Anything mechanical excites him. When I finished, I decided to hem a pair of his pajamas that were too long for him. In my continual effort to let go of my desire for everything to be perfect, I let Jack cut and sew them himself (with my help, of course.) They look a little weird, but Jack is so proud of them!

And, the pillows look awesome.

They make the bed look so much nicer.

I asked Jack if my tools were better than his dad's tools. Nope. He still thinks dad's are cooler.